Keith's Knights: Part One
The people in the docking bay had been shocked when Keith walked in. He calmed them and told them that the Queen was fine and that the Voltron Force was working hard to free them. He could see that his words had calmed much of their fears and they deferred to his leadership as they always did. For the first time in a long time, he felt the weight of his responsibilities on his shoulders and it took all he had to keep the neutral expression on his face and he moved amongst his people, giving them confidence in the plan that he and Allura had concocted.
He wished he had the same confidence in himself. Sitting down in one corner of the docking bay, alone, he leaned his head back against the cool wall and closed his eyes.
His children, all three of them, had been ripped from the warmth of their home and straight into the fire. He wanted them where he could see them, to make sure they were safe...to keep them safe. He was their father, that was what he was supposed to do. When each of them had been laid in his arms, his life had become better, more full. When Bethie had taken her first steps, her blue eyes fixed on him and a gummy grin on her face, he didn't think about the day when she would be living underground, like her mother before her. When he'd come back from a trip to Galaxy Garrison and Ethan met him with muddy hands from a day of digging holes, leaving little handprints all over his dress uniform, he didn't think about the day that his son would be risking his life in the Blue Lion. When Alana had fallen down and scraped her knee, then looked up at him with teary obsidian eyes, lisping 'Dada' for the first time, he didn't think that at sixteen, she would be flying into the heart of what had been enemy territory.
Keith's only consolation was that all three were with people he trusted. Lance and Pidge were somewhere out there, in contact with his eldest daughter and son and Hunk was with them. Sven had given Romelle and Alana the green light to off on their adventure and Keith was not so sure that he would not have done the same--even if he thought that Alana was too young. These men had been his friends for more than half his life and he had to believe that they would protect his children as surely as he would protect theirs. He'd been in battle with them, bled with them, and there were few things in the universe that could sever the bonds that he had with them. Lance had known him when he'd been a broken boy, Sven had watched him grow strong from it. Hunk and Pidge had been there when he worked to make himself worthy of the Black Lion...and then worthy of Arus' ruler. They were his knights and though he knew that there were elements of his personality that made him a good leader, he became a great one because of the men he led.
A soft clatter drew his attention and he looked down at his side. The one object in his pocket had fallen out and was now lying by his hand. He reached for it, his fingers grasping its familiar handle, his eyes tracing the same famliliar scratches on its surface. The penknife was black and he'd put it in the pocket where the key to the Black Lion used to be. There was no writing on the handle, but there was a tiny Lion head screw that acted as the hinge for the blade and the handle. It turned when he flipped the blade out and he watched the head, hypnotized, as it turned. He'd gotten it during happier days, days when he really did not need it beyond opening letters or peeling an apple. Studying it, he let his thoughts drift and he remembered.
Sixteen years earlier...
The sleek silver fighter was one of the newest and fastest in the market and Keith tried really hard to love it. Its controls were butter-smooth and he believed the ad when it said that the fighter could take turns on a dime. However...it was not the Black Lion.
He was frowning when he got out of the cockpit, his helmet tucked under his arm. It had been four years since the Lions had stopped flying but he was not over it. Allura teased him about it often and she was enjoying her own fighter to its fullest extent, but he could not help missing the Black.
"That is a nice new set of wings, oh Mighty King of Arus," Lance said, leaning against the wall. "Is that where my taxes are going?"
"You bet it is. Consider it revenge for all the grief you've put me through."
Lance straightened and fell into step next to his friend.
"Shouldn't you be working?" Keith asked.
"I took a break," Lance said, rubbing his eyes. "The contractors are battling with Link over the agreed price and I would have started a brawl in the middle of the Mayor's office if I didn't leave."
"I'm surprised I didn't see you on my radar."
"The old fighter, definitely not as pretty as yours, just doesn't have it in her to give me what I need."
They glanced sideways at each other.
"Maybe we should have a support group or something," Lance said.
"Is it sad that I dream about flying the Black sometimes?"
"As long as it's just flying the Black you're dreaming about."
Keith let out a laugh and he gave Lance a hard shove, making him bump his shoulder against the wall. Then, he let out a gasp when something small and fast ran right into his gut.
"Oh, I brought company," Lance said dryly, rubbing his shoulder.
Keith picked up the shrieking little ball of mischief that was Jack Branegan and grinned at the five-year-old boy with Link's eyes. Jack grinned back, those eyes dancing in a way that Link's never did--but were certainly echoes of Lance. And where Jack was, he knew that Bethie was sure to follow.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to run in the castle, Jack?" Keith said.
"I dunno. How many?"
Keith rolled his eyes as Lance unsuccessfully tried to keep from laughing. He set Jack back down on the ground only to have the little boy take off at full speed past him. Bethie came careening around the corner and narrowly missed her father. Shouting back an apology, she chased after her friend and ignored Keith calling her name. He stared after her, exasperated.
"Seeing that makes me afraid of what'll happen when we teach them how to fly," he confessed.
Lance laughed.
They went to Keith's study and Lance settled into the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table. Keith tossed his helmet on an armchair and went to his desk. There was a pile of datapads waiting for him, as usual but he picked up the messages first, refusing to think about paperwork, especially with Lance there to distract him. The first message was from Sven saying that he was coming for a visit but the second one made Keith mutter a curse. Lance looked over at him.
"What?" he asked.
"Pidge is being transferred," Keith answered angrily.
Lance jumped up and went to stand behind Keith. He read the message still in Keith's hand, glaring at it as if it was responsible for taking Pidge from Arus.
"Can you block it?" he asked.
"I doubt it," Keith answered. "Being in the Alliance means we have to make sure we don't throw our weight around or else we're gonna pay in other ways. Besides, I'm already getting flak for being the King of Arus while remaining in the IAF. I can't touch this one."
"How about Allura?"
"Don't get her started. She'll get us kicked out of the Alliance if we set her on them."
Lance sighed.
"I suppose it was inevitable," he said. "Pidge is a hot commodity. He's rarely on Arus as it is because of all the special missions the IAF has him going on. Out of all of us, he's got nothing holding him here."
Keith sat down in his chair and rested his cheek on his fisted hand. He tossed the message back on his desk.
"Without the Lions, we couldn't stay together as the Voltron Force," he said thoughtfully. "I'm just surprised it took them this long."
"Life marches on."
"Yeah. I guess it does."
The door chimed and neither of them were surprised when Allura came in. She had Ethan balanced on one hip and a message clutched in her other hand...and she did not look happy. Ethan was blissfully unaware of his mother's mood and was playing with a strand of blonde hair that had come loose from her bun. She put Ethan down and the three-year-old went straight to Lance's lap. It helped that Lance was holding out a lollipop for him to take.
"Did you get this?" she asked Keith, waving the message at him.
"I did."
"Why aren't you angrier?!?"
"You should have seen him earlier," Lance assured her. "Lightning bolts were coming out of his eyes."
"Don't you have work to do?"
"Nope."
Allura went to stand on the other side of Keith's desk and she put both hands on it, leaning forward so that she could look hard into his eyes. He looked at her calmly, one eyebrow arched.
"Don't even think about it," he said, putting a finger up.
"You don't even know what I'm thinking," she protested.
"Yeah, I do. Don't go sending off some strongly worded letter--and that would be putting it mildly--to the Garrison or sending Romelle in there like some crazy avenging Senator to get Pidge's transfer rescinded."
She glared at him and he knew he'd hit the mark.
"Arus is his home," she said. "He doesn't need to live anywhere else. They've got him running around like a wild man as it is, but at least he has a warm home he can come home to. How can you even consider not fighting this?"
"Neither of you have even asked Pidge what he thought," Lance pointed out from between tossing Ethan up in the air and catching him.
The King and Queen stared at him. Lance shook his head at them and put Ethan down.
"Pidge," Lance said, taking out his communicator. "Could you come into Keith's study?"
"Is this about my transfer?" Pidge said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Yes. And they can hear you loud and clear, little Buddy."
"Oh. I'll be right there."
It didn't take long for him to show up and his expression was meek when he came in. Allura leaned against the edge of Keith's desk and Keith stayed in his seat, his hands steepled in front of him. They both waited for Pidge to talk. Lance stood by the window with Ethan.
"Hi, Unka Pidge," Ethan said.
"Hey there, Ethan," Pidge said, pushing his glasses up his nose nervously.
"You want the transfer, don't you?" Keith said, thinking to himself that a blind man could read that body language.
"Yeah...yeah, I do," Pidge said, avoiding their eyes. "It's not that I don't love it here. I do. Arus is the only home I've really ever known, and the house that you gave me in Voltronia is great..."
"But," Allura prompted.
"I'm tired of living out of a suitcase," he sighed, sitting down on the couch. "They really need my help getting the IAF back in shape and it would be easier if I just had my own ship and went where they needed instead of keeping Arus as a homebase. We're just too far from the main hubs of activity and all I've been home for maybe two days, tops, before I get called out again. My things are strewn across the galaxy and I'm not exagerrating. I lost my favorite hydrospanner the other day!"
"Hunk is gonna be torn up," Lance said.
"Not just Hunk," Keith said. "We weren't going to fight the transfer, Pidge."
"He wasn't," Allura clarified.
"But we just wanted to make sure it was what you wanted in case you wanted us to," Keith added, ignoring Allura.
Pidge smiled at them.
"Thanks, guys."
We'll miss you, you know," Lance said, nudging Ethan in Pidge's direction. "This little guy here...he's just gonna cry himself to sleep every night."
"Cry?" Ethan repeated, confused and he looked up at Lance curiously.
"Sure, kid, cry."
Allura swooped up her son and glared at Lance. Turning, she went to Pidge and hugged him.
"We'll throw you a great going away party," she promised. " When are you leaving?"
"Next week."
"Make sure you save that last day for us then," Keith said.
"I wasn't going to have it any other way."
