I Am The Red Paladin

Smooth Talk

Keith had brought Pidge yet another green goop dinner and forced the small girl to take a break. She hadn't stopped working since Keith crash landed his lion. He couldn't help but notice the girl watching him, the way his hand would twitch under the heat of the plate or the way the spoon sat between his Galra fingers. Keith honestly didn't mind Pidge staring intriguingly at him like that, the girl accepted him for who he was but he couldn't help but wonder how long that would last. If his Galra DNA did spread then would the girl still look at him the same when he grew ears? Had yellow pupils? Or extremely sharp canines?

"Do you remember your parents?"

Keith glanced from his plate to find Pidge staring directly into his eyes. His father yes, the man was a country boy through and through, when he died Keith had been taken to the orphanage close to the city.

"I remember bits of my dad, he passed away when I was five." Keith explained, "He never spoke of my mother. Now I guess I know why."

"So you don't recall anything about her?" Pidge seemed saddened by this. She had a loving family and she couldn't fathom ever being without her mother.

"No." Keith shook his head. "Nothing."

"And your father never spoke of her?"

"No, I mean I remember one thing he said," Keith put his plate down, examining his hands as he spoke. "He said she was beautiful. A woman who knew right from wrong."

"Haven't you ever thought about trying to find out who she was?"

"Of course, I checked the orphanage records, the garrison records." Keith slid down to the floor bringing his knees to his chest. "I tried everything."

"Do you think when this is all over we could go look for our families?" Pidge sat beside him, twiddling her fingers.

"You mean together?"

"Well yeah, why not?"

"O-Okay." Keith agreed, caution of his face before letting a genuine smile appear as Pidge chewed away at her goop.

  ***  

"No that's not going to work." Coran shook his head. "Zarkon will just bypass the laser."

"Well, couldn't we just-"

"It's not going to work." Allura slammed her hands down in frustration snapping at the talkative blue paladin.

"Perhaps we should contact the Blade of Marmora again." Shiro flinched ever so slightly as Allura turned sharply towards him. "They had a solid plan."

"We will not be associating with them again."

"Allura this isn't about you anymore." Shiro finally stood his ground, he understood what Allura was feeling but it was clouding her judgement.

"Excuse me?" The princess gasped and Lance put a hand to his mouth covering his amused but shocked mouth.

"You need to put aside your hatred for the Galra and see the bigger picture." Shiro swung his arm across his body. "This is about defeating Zarkon and saving the universe! The Blade of Marmora have a full proof plan and you can't just push them to the side because they're Galra."

"We can find another way." Allura snapped.

"No, we can't!" Shiro yelled right back, "We've stood here for hours and we've come nowhere close."

"We just need time."

"We don't have time! We need to move and we need to move now!"

"You can't-"