VOLTRON ONE-SHOTS

Acira - Unwanted Change

"They should be," he repeated, choosing now to raise his head and look me in the eye, and I suppressed the gasp that managed to work it's way up my throat.

His eyes were no longer that soft violet that I had grown to love, they were instead harder, like someone had decided to the take the color of his eyes and mix a dark fuschia with it, the end result had my heart skipping, not in a good way, an a bad way. A very, very bad way.

He was getting worse.

How could I have been so stupid to ignore it?

"Keith," I swallowed, getting slowly to my feet while his eyes, those eyes, tracked my every move, "You know they're trying their best, but it's just going to take some time-"

"We don't have some time!" He suddenly shouted, shooting to his feet and the whites of his eyes reseeded ever so slightly from the edges, replacing it with a dull yellow.

That's never happened before.

"I need to get out now, you're wasting the time we could take to end this war!" He took a scary step forward and I, in turn backed up a step. By now memories were running rampant through my head, bringing back flashbacks of when we were both trapped in the fighting arena, and Keith was racing to kill me.

"Keith, calm down, please, you can't blame them-"

"I can blame whoever I want, I'm not a monster-"

"Keith-"

"I'm not changing-"

"Keith, please-"

The whites of his eyes were now completely engulfed in a yellow hue.

"I'm fine-"

"Keith!"

He stopped, his mouth snapping shut and it was like watching a switch being thrown. His eyes widened as he actually took in where I was now standing, crushed up against the wall, and I was sure he could see the fear in my eyes.

His eyes widened and he stumbled back a step suddenly, and squeezed his eyes shut, squeezing both of his fists against his temples, taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes again, and it was gone. His eyes were back to their normal color, and the yellow that was there only moments before was nowhere in sight.

"I- I'm sorry," he said, and it sounded like he genuinely meant it as I watched him take another step away from me, clenching his fists at his sides.

"I-it's not your fault," I said, my voice a light whisper.

"No, it is," the smallest sigh escaped his lips as he looked down at his hands, "I guess no one's safe around me anymore."

"Keith-" I reached a hand out to him, only for his to pull back with a barely heard snarl, and his whimpered as he pressed his fists to his head again.

"Maybe you should leave."

"But-"

"Leave!" He suddenly shouted, his eyes flashing that frightening yellow again, and with his voice still echoing in my ears, I left the room.

Biting my lip, I let the door slide shut behind me, regret instantly pooling in my stomach the moment I heard the lock slide home.

"How is he?"

I jumped about a mile in the air as the voice spoke behind me and I whirled around to see Lance, shifted comfortably against the wall next to the door, arms crossed as he looked at me with a concerned gaze, and I wasn't doubting that he heard what had happened.

"Uh, L-Lance! Hey, I-I was just on my way to the, ah, kitchen, do you want-"

"Cut me the slack, Acira, I've been standing here this whole time."

"Oh," I barely whispered, looking down at the floor.

"Yeah," he said, his voice lighter as he shoved himself off the wall and walked to where he was now standing in front of me.

It took me a minute or two to meet his eyes, but when I did, my heart broke all over again at seeing his more-than-concerned gaze. "How is he?" He asked again, voice low.

"He's," I swallowed, looking back down, trying to get the tears that welled up again to go back down so I could actually speak. "He's getting worse."

I sould see him stiffen ever so slightly at my words, and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"He's getting angry, erratic, restless, and scared, Lance, so so scared. I-I don't even think that he'd be sane right now if it isn't for the face that he's-"

I broke, the tears started to fall, and in response, Lance pulled me into his arms and we both sunk to the floor.

"He's not getting better, Lance, he isn't-"

"Shh, Acira, he has to be okay-"

"But he isn't, he's-" I broke off, sobbing.

I didn't want to lose him, I didn't, but after what just happened, some part of me was already starting to accept Keith's fate.

He wasn't okay.

And I prayed, for Keith's sake, that when Shiro and Allura found out, his death would be quick.