Disappearing Act

Disappearing Act

Voltron

Keith & Voltron Paladins

The other paladins each wish for Keith to disappear at some point in their acquaintance. Kolivan can see that something is wrong and Lance is the first to realize that he was an integral part.

Be aware that there is a lot of out of character stuff here.

Also posted on AO3.

“Dios mío!” Lance shouted as Red darted in front of Blue and narrowly missed getting hit by the blast he had just sent toward their target. “Keith, you can’t do that!”

“I just did,” he replied, entirely unconcerned by how close he had just come to being hit by one of his teammate’s shots.

Lance ground his teeth in annoyance. Some battles would be much easier if the Red Paladin was not part of the team. He was the one that caused so many issues between them and kept them from more easily forming Voltron. He even showed them all up just because he could, killing the easy vibe that the rest of them had with each other. Only Shiro seemed to be able to do anything about getting him to be more of a team player, but he could only do so much. He growled shortly to vent his frustration. If only Keith would disappear, it would all get better.

Shiro wanted to be selfish for one night. Adam was not a fan of him joining the Kerberos project, but was determined to make as much as they could out of the time they had left before the launch. They had just settled in for a relaxed evening when there was a knock on the door. His eyes shut and he took a deep breath before he got up to deal with the interruption only to find his mentee in the entryway.

As soon as he thought that he wished the kid would disappear so he could return to his boyfriend and the evening they had planned, he felt guilty. The kid had nobody except him and this had to be hard on him as well. He just wanted to have one quiet evening in with the man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with - he was actually planning to propose when he returned from the expedition since he would then have enough to get a ring that would be good enough for Adam.

“What’s wrong, Keith?”

Hunk grumbled as he tried to find the fruit they had picked up not long before that tasted like a mix of strawberries and bananas but had the look and feel of a peach. He had left it in a specific place, but with how many people came in for midnight snacks, he would not be surprised if it had been moved around. However, it appeared as if this particular thing was just gone. That was upsetting since it was supposed to be the main ingredient in the pie he was going to try and bake for Lance’s birthday and he did not want to have to try and find something to replace it on such short notice.

He rummaged through the refrigerator again and was just turning around to look through the cabinets for the third time when Keith entered the kitchen, one of the fruits he was looking for in hand, bite already taken from it.

“Where are the rest of them?” he demanded, too frustrated to even think of being polite about asking.

Keith froze for a moment in the middle of sinking his teeth into the fruit before finishing the bite and chewing it. “I’ve been eating them the past few cycles?”

Hunk froze for a moment before he turned back to the kitchen with a growl. “Get out.”

“Hunk?” the red paladin asked, concerned about what was going on and how him having eaten the fruits was a concern since they had not been labeled as belonging to someone or as being earmarked for something.

“Just, get out. Disappear.”

Pidge had a system set up with the way she had everything arranged in her room and in Green’s hangar. Any deviation she did not either do herself or approve of someone else doing was something that she hated. As soon as she walked into the hangar, she could tell that something was different, something was wrong.

“Who was in here last?” she questioned Green.

The picture she got in answer made her frown. There was probably a reason that Keith had come in looking for her, but then he had moved something. Ridiculous. Why did he even have to be there? He did not really have a purpose like the rest of them did. He got in Blue’s way frequently, showboating when he really should not. Why could they not have a better red paladin?

Allura frowned as she saw that the red paladin was in the training deck yet again. That seemed to be the only place he really went and it frustrated her to no end. Red could have chosen much better than him, or switched to another paladin after they had gotten her from the Galra. If he disappeared, everything would be so much easier. He was the only thing that got in the way of the rest of the paladins’ teamwork and threw wrenches into the plans made.

On top of that, she did not think he was truly worthy of wearing her father’s armor or piloting his Lion. He had absolutely no idea how to interact with people in a diplomatic capacity. Very rarely did he even have anything to do with any of the other paladins and he got in the way of a lot of the maneuvers they tried to pull in the field. She just wished that everything would go smoother and knew that it would when Keith was gone.

Kolivan was concerned. His newest recruit had not made the last check in, something he had never failed to do before. The young one could definitely take care of himself, but there were so many variables to take into account that he was not always the best at keeping track of. Perhaps it was not a good idea to have sent him on this particular mission, but nothing could be done about that now. He was there, he had missed his check in, something had gone wrong.

The normal protocol was to wait until the third missed check in before going in after an operative or even notifying anyone that the agent was involved with or related to. In Keith’s case, it was better to get a jump start on everything based solely on the fact that he was a former paladin. He would still wait until the second missed check in before mounting any kind of rescue efforts, but it might take a while to get in contact with the other paladins, so it was better to contact them at this point than to wait.

Anticipating worried and fearful reactions, he was surprised to be greeted with mostly ambivalence at his announcement. He knew that they were faltering recently. Voltron formed very infrequently and, even then, was unstable. It was obvious to those in the know what the difference was that was causing the issue, but it did not seem as if the paladins themselves had figured the problem out. The Coalition was losing hope and losing faith in the competence of their savior, but those that formed Voltron were missing that, just as they were missing an integral piece.

Now he knew the reason that Keith seemed to believe he had little to no worth. How he was going to address that, he still had no idea. But, no matter what he decided, he first had to get him back.

Something was wrong, Lance knew. Something was wrong with the bonds between the Lions and their bonds as paladins. Everything seemed to take more effort and they all ended up with worse injuries and in longer fights than they used to. Not even that much had changed when Keith had switched to Black, he to Red, and Allura to Blue. The only thing that had changed since then was the fact that Black had finally taken Shiro back, but that should have made them work better together. The only variable was that Keith was gone. He never thought he would say it, but he actually rather missed the guy. He had been able to keep up with the rest of them for the most part and was steps ahead in some cases.

When Kolivan’s call came through, he could almost feel the ambivalence with which the rest of the paladins handled the call. Red, on the other hand, was furious and almost terrified for her former pilot, something he had kept off his face in the meeting to keep from being scolded later. She wanted to go to the Blade base and get in on the action she was sure was going on there.

He sighed. What did it say when the Galra that had known him for only phoebs treated Keith better than his own teammates, most of which had known him for years? Nothing good, that was for sure. And, by this time, he was regretting ever having wished that he would leave Voltron.

Comforter Comfort

Voltron

Keith & Voltron Paladins

Bonding with the other paladins, blanket included.

Also posted on AO3.

Shiro was the first person he ever allowed himself to get close enough to for him to feel comfortable curling up near on the couch. It was during the spring break at the Garrison his first year there. With his father gone and his foster family not having planned for him to join them on their vacation, he had thought he would have to stay in the dorms. However, when Shiro found out about that, he had insisted that Keith spend the week with him. That was how they ended up on a ratty, but comfortable, couch with the TV playing an ancient episode of some documentary on an ancient civilization. He guessed it was interesting enough.

He slowly scooted down a bit further and stretched his legs out of the curl he normally preferred. They were going to be there a while considering what his mentor had said about the channel holding a marathon on that particular civilization. Maybe he could catch up on some of the sleep he had missed while studying for midterms. Those had been more difficult than he had expected, but also easier in some ways.

Just as he was on the verge of dozing off, a weight fell lightly against his thigh and he startled slightly. A glance showed that Shiro had beat him to sleep by just a few short minutes. He was not about to wake him just to get him to move. The man had to be even more exhausted than he himself was.

He looked around for a moment before his eyes settled on the blanket on the back of the couch. That was the only thing missing and he slowly grabbed it and shook it out over them. It settled over them and he hurried to uncover Shiro’s head but kept his own knees covered. Once that was finished, he turned his attention back to the documentary. This was such a new development that he would need a bit of time to acclimate, but he would sleep soon enough.

-

He had been co opted by Pidge not that long before when he had stopped to check on them. They were sifting through the data, both scrolling on their laptop and the data pad they had handed him, looking for anything that could indicate that their family was being held somewhere or transported. He could tell that the files he was skimming were death records. Understandable. While they were not giving up hope, the records still needed to be checked for thoroughness.

A bump against his shoulder dragged his attention from the data scrolling before him. Pidge’s arm was outstretched with the blanket they were curled up in, a wordless invitation to join them underneath. He obligingly scooted over and pulled the free edge up over his shoulder, knee to hip pressed up against them and he curled an arm around their shoulders, knocking his temple against their’s comfortingly. They returned to their tasks, both more comforted by the contact.

-

A frown pulled at his mouth as he watched Lance stare out of the window with a rather devastated expression. He turned on his heel and made for his room, returning quickly with his comforter in hand. To announce his presence, he dropped the blanket on the blue paladin’s head, causing him to sputter in indignation while he sank down to sit near him.

“What was that for?”

Keith shrugged in response, settling his chin on drawn up knees. “I miss sundaes.”

Lance quirked a disbelieving eyebrow in his direction even as he curled the comforter over his shoulders, hands fisted in the material even as he rested elbows on knees and propped his chin up.

“There’s got to be some kind of ice cream up here in space. Or maybe we can get Hunk to try making it?” he tried again. When he got no response, he continued as if Lance had answered. “You’re right. Hunk would be the better option. At least we know most of what we’re getting into there. And how do we know that ice cream won’t murderously offend someone up here? Maybe it’s like insulting their mother and not in the funny ‘yo momma’ jokes way either.”

That brought a light chuckle from the cocoon next to him.

“You know ‘yo momma’ jokes?”

“I mean, I went to public school.”

-

Hunk was surprised when Keith wandered into the lounge, blanket wrapped around his shoulders and dragging like an extra long cloak or one of those extremely fancy veils or dresses behind him. If that was not weird enough, he then proceeded to flop on the couch and butt his head up against Hunk’s arm like a cat demanding pets. He was just going to go with it and not think too hard. If he did that, he was only liable to freak himself out.

Eventually, he needed his hand back to continue with the calculations he was working on just to hear a whine from Keith before he was scrambling to perch, sprawled out really, on the back of the couch he was lounging on and resting his forehead against the yellow paladin’s neck, draping the edge of the comforter over Hunk’s other shoulder. Apparently that was how the rest of the evening was going to go. He shrugged, settling Keith in a slightly more comfortable position. At least it was warm.

Irresponsibility Hurts

Voltron

Keith is shot in the desert in the time he was living by himself.

Also posted on AO3.

Keith stared at the device in his hands, trying to make sense of the readings it was gathering from his surroundings. Something was really off the charts, but he had no idea what. His sensors could not pinpoint the particulars of whatever it was and his computer could not make heads nor tails of it either. It was almost time to turn in for the day and he had gotten no closer to figuring out what he was seeing, which was nothing new as it had been happening for weeks at that point. With a frown, he shut the device off and logged his coordinates in his GPS so he could return the next day and continue further. As it was, he would not be getting home until a while after dark and sleep had become a luxury by that point.

He turned and began retracing his steps, moving through the vegetation confidently as he had done so frequently for the past couple of months. This was comforting, reminding him of his first years when he still had his father and they would go on long walks around their cabin. Before he could dive down that rabbit hole, something seared along his ribs and a gunshot echoed through the dusk.

“Fuck!” he cursed, loudly enough that it carried for a fair distance. His hand clasped over his ribs, teeth bared in a snarl as he heard some scrambling and cursing. Damn amateur hunters that had no idea what they were doing and inflicted it on those around them. Of course, they would not even try to help whoever was injured. They would be brought up on charges if they did that and the police were called. This way they could not be identified. And, if a body was found, it would be quite difficult to link back to them. In a lot of ways, that ranked them lower than dirt at that point in his eyes.

It took hours to get back to his shack and, by then, he was exhausted, in pain, and fading fast. Everything hurt, any movement jarring the wound. The shakes had, thankfully, subsided pretty quickly so he had been able to drive the majority of the way, but it had taken so much longer because he could not pull his normal stunts. Plus, he had needed to take the time to tear his shirt into strips and wind them around his chest to help stop the bleeding. By then, he was shivering from the chill and stumbling due to exhaustion.

Falling down on the couch pulled painfully against the t-shirt strips and he could feel the wound reopen and warmth spreading down his side again. The fabric was soaked through and he would probably need to soak in the tub to loosen the strips enough to take off. Some parts had surely clotted better than others or were not jarred quite as bad. The question was whether he had the energy to run the bath and then take care of himself. He would have to just hope he could make it through. There was nobody he could call and it had to be done.

He groaned as he pushed himself upright and toed off his boots, using the arm of the couch to help keep himself upright. The jeans he unbuttoned and pushed down until they fell down to pool around his feet, which he stepped out of and then toed his socks off - a frustrating process that took longer than he wished. At least the cabin was small, so he grabbed a bottle of whiskey on his way to the bathroom and settled into the tub before he turned the water on. The longest part of the process was, thankfully, the filling of the tub and, soon enough, he was letting the tinted water drain. There was a small pile of fabric on the floor and he carefully dried off before sitting on the edge of the tub and finally putting a true bandage on the wound and could tell that something in there was broken to some degree. That was going to put a damper on his explorations.

i swear to god, men raising their voice is the most terrifying thing in the whole world. they dont understand, like its an immediate panic response, game over

Training Issues

Voltron

Keith hides injuries from the paladins and then attempts to in the Blades

Also posted on AO3.

“Hey Keith!” Lance greeted as he slung an arm around the red paladin’s shoulders and leaned heavily against him as he illustrated his point with a bunch of hand gestures that pulled on one of his injuries.

He bit back a groan by sheer force of will and leaned on his bond with his Lion to keep himself upright. Training that day had been killer with the injures he was still sporting from the mission the day before. Pidge had been put in a healing pod and only came out a few short hours before. He could probably get in at this point, but then they would all give him those disappointed looks he so dreaded. Red rumbled in the back of his head, trying to convince him to take the healing.

Nobody seemed to remember that he had been thrown by the arm just the cycle before and then landed on his leg wrong. Apparently the limp he was sporting did not even remind them before Allura had pushed a practice weapon into his hand and set them to a mid-range difficulty level against the gladiators. His only saving grace was that both of his injuries were on the same side of his body - his non-dominant. It meant that he could conceal them a bit better since the fact he was essentially ambidextrous was relatively unknown among those in the Castle. What he would not give to have Shiro’s friend Matt back some days.

As soon as Lance released him, he took the chance to duck away and leave the training deck. That was probably going to piss the blue paladin off when he realized, but that was nothing new. Red grumbled at his stubbornness even as she welcomed him into the pilot seat and reclined it back slightly to help him get more comfortable. He really needed to stay off of his leg to allow it to heal along with limiting the movement of his arm. He was already resigned to not having the time to rest.

-

Kolivan frowned at the back of one of his Blades as they left his office to return to duty. There was no reason for Keith to hide a minor training injury, or even attempt to, in any way. Everyone ended up with them, more frequently if they were new. It was expected and the medical staff would never turn him away. Ulaz would even be ecstatic to see him. He always complained about not seeing the kit enough. He rubbed his temples. Perhaps shifts with Ulaz would do well for their youngest member in showing him that none would judge him for seeking help for a minor injury.

His communicator blinked, signaling a message, as he considered his options. When he looked at the contents, he had to smother a grin. Ulaz just took care of one issue for him. Now only the root of the problem needed to be addressed, which he had little experience in doing. Galra grew up knowing that they could never hide an injury based on smell alone, but Keith had not grown up like that so, perhaps, he needed to learn more about his physical heritage as well, not just the cultural aspects. No matter the case, he was not looking forward to having that conversation with the former paladin.