To Build A Home

The End Of It All

     Word of the Paladin's final fight spread like wildfire throughout the coalition, and for Krolia, who was on her way back to Earth when the fight ended, she had more reason than anyone to get there.
   She now sat in the hallways of the infirmary of the Galaxy Garrison. It had taken much convincing and negotiating with the security guards to even get inside. After being attacked by the Galra, the people of Earth weren't too keen on letting her inside the only fortified building remaining on the planet.
   Even though she was inside, she was still not allowed to see her son, Keith, despite telling multiple guards that she was his mother. Not one of them believed her.
   Seeing a member of the medical staff leaving one of the occupied rooms, Krolia took this chance as one last try to see her son. She had heard from simply listening in on conversations, that most of the Paladins were awake by now, and she refused to let Keith wake up in an empty room.
   "Excuse me, sir." she grabbed his attention as politely as she could. "I am Krolia, with the Blade of Marmora, an group allied with the Paladins of Voltron."
   The guard looked at her with unsure eyes. "Yes... I know of the organization. What do you want?"
   "If you could, I would appreciate it if you would take me to the room where the Black Paladin is. He's my son, you see, and I'm the only family he has."
   "Not a chance." they replied shaking their head. "He needs rest, and contact with your species will not help him to do so."
   Your species?! Your species?! Not only is there lack of trust, but clearly a lack of compassion and thoughtfulness. Yes, Krolia is Galra, and yes, that race tried to take over the entire universe, but she's not with them.
"Please, sir, you have to let me through." Krolia begged the security officer, hiding how offended she was as best as she could.
"Authorization is required. Family and friends only beyond this point."
"But I am family."
"None of the Paladins have you as someone they are related to. No Galra is on record as a parent of the Paladins."
"But Ke—"
   "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we have to take precautions."
   Taking a deep breath, Krolia stared the guard down. "Keith is my son, and I deserve to see him...!"
"Krolia!" A familial voice pulled her attention from the guard. A young girl of about eighteen or twenty—in human years—approached her and the guard.
Krolia immediately recognized them. Romelle. The Altean that her and Keith had rescued.
"Keith has not woken up yet, but he should soon. I can take you to him—" the Altean paused, looking to the officer. "This is Krolia. She is Keith's mother. I'm not surprised she's not on record. Your people don't exactly handle alien life well."
The guard, being unprepared for this interaction, gave in.
Romelle kept to her word, leading Krolia to the room where Keith was resting.
"Thank you, Romelle."
The young girl simply smiled, "don't mention it. Coran and I had some trouble getting in to see Allura. They're quite strict here."
The Galran only nodded, thanked Romelle again and said goodbye.
The door slid open with ease and the mother of the Black Paladin stepped in.
Her eyes instantly fell on the bed. A boy, twenty or so years of age  lay curled up under the light orange and white covers.
"Keith..." her eyes filled with tears, but she refused to cry. Silently, she took a seat next to him, next to Keith, her son... her boy.
The boy lay still, sleeping rather peacefully despite the bandages around his head and arms.
Krolia slid her hand into his, stroking his fingers as she used to do when he was a young infant.
Keith seemed to respond to her touch, simply closing his fingers around her hers.
Feeling a wave of emotion overcome her, she desperately wanted to leave. After having to leave his side for a second time, and almost losing him forever due to his injuries, it's no wonder why she is, at present, so vulnerable to emotions that would, under normal circumstances, lay dormant. Krolia felt the need to leave the room, however she did not want to, and something was holding her there. Something actually kept her from leaving.
Though he was unconscious, Keith had a somewhat tight grip around his mother's hand.
She sat in silence until something caught her eye. She noticed her son's finger was twitching. Before she could even think about his sudden movements, some sound pulled her attention from their hands to her boy's face. A voice.
"Mom...?" Keith weakly opened his eyes, focusing his attention on his mother.
Krolia tightened her grip around her son's hand, smiling as she did so. "Hey, Keith."
"Where..." he paused, looking at his surroundings, "where am I?"
"You're in the Garrison. The hospital wing."
He nodded holding tighter to his mother's hand. "Thank you... For coming back."
"You're welcome."
Keith forced himself to sit up, placing a hand to his head as a pulsating pain moved through his forehead. "How did you get here...?" He asked as the pain subsided.
"I saw the lions go down. I saw the end of your fight." Taking a deep breath, she continued. "I probably wouldn't have been here so soon if I hadn't known of how your fight ended."
"You just happened to be in the right place at the right time again, didn't you?"
"Yeah... That's one way of putting it."
   Keith weakly smiled at his mother, he was glad that he was not alone, and that she was there with him.
   "So..." Krolia hummed quietly, thinking of what to say. "How are you feeling?"
   "Great, actually." He answered sarcastically. "My entire body aches all over, and I have this wonderful headache which I'm pretty sure is a concussion."
   The Marmoran smiled at her son's complete lack of concern for himself, at least mentally he was okay. "Well, I heard that you have in fact been given medical treatment to help with the pain, although, I think your planet definitely needs to work on their healing methods."
   "We're a primitive species... It's not our fault."
   "You are the black paladin, maybe you could persuade them to change their ways. Especially their security policies. I wasn't allowed to come see you until Romelle intervened."
   Keith simply shrugged, "you're a Galra, Mom. Hamas don't trust aliens, remember?"
   "You're father did..."
   "Yeah... But not everyone is like him..."
   Krolia pointed to her son, an affectionate smile on her lips, "you are." Gently, she tapped his nose, something she used to do when he was an infant.
   The boy just smiled, he had nothing to say, he just felt calm and content with the situation at hand. He was with his mother again, and if it weren't for his personality and his tiredness, he would tell her how happy he was.
   However, Keith didn't need to say anything, Krolia knows when her son is happy just by his facial expression. She doesn't need verbal confirmation, she just knows.