Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Krolia doesn't know how long they'll be stuck on this space whale, but she's beyond grateful that she's here with her son.

He's grown. Once a tiny, cute baby. Now a strong, beautiful man. She's endlessly proud of her boy, especially after seeing quite a bit of his life in flashbacks. She can't take back the missed time, but she can (and will) try her best now to be there for him no matter what, as it always should have been.

She watches as Keith works on getting the wolf to bathe in the small pond they've found over the last year and half. She chuckles in amusement when the wolf disappears in a dusting of sparkles, reappearing about ten feet away from her son for the twelfth time now. Keith groans in frustration before sighing, plopping down onto the rocks and dangling his legs into the surprisingly (but not really considering the whale is alive) warm water.

“Alright, alright,” he grumbles before crossing his arms and pouting. It's the most adorable thing Krolia has ever seen besides that one time Heath had made a mess while trying to bake some Earth desserts for her. She'll never forget the surprised and embarrassed look on his face as she came in the kitchen, flour on his head and purple food dye all over his hands. The cupcakes had been delicious though. She shakes herself out of the memories, gazing at her son, “No bath for you. But don't get mad at me and use your puppy eyes when I refuse to sleep next to you because you stink, got it?”

The wolf just huffs before disappearing with a pop, reappearing in the water. Before either of them can react, he's gone and by Keith's side. Just like any canine, he shakes himself off, looking rather smug as all the water lands on Keith.

“Showing off now, huh?” The younger rolls his eyes before sighing happily, “Okay, I guess I'll sleep next to you.”

The wolf wags his tail before disappearing again, this time not coming back.

“Crazy cosmic wolf…now I'm all wet…” He murmurs to himself before beginning to strip, “Gonna take forever to dry this out completely…”

She just smiles before removing her own armor and undersuit. Neither of them are shy about their nudity, especially after seeing some of the flashbacks. They've grown comfortable with each other. She just climbs into the pool, sighing as the warmth surrounds her. She can hear Keith doing the same from a little bit away. It's like those hot tubs she heard about on Earth.

Either way, they both relax. After a moment, she opens her eyes, checking on Keith. The younger is neck deep like she is, resting his head back against the rocks. It's pretty clear that he is actually sleeping. She grins fondly, staring at him to commit the sight to her memories. He needs the rest anyway. From what she's seen, he's a frequent insomniac and trains too much. Sleep is needed, especially if he's as young as she suspects he might be, in Galra instincts.

After a good while, the wolf appears again, sniffing at Keith before tilting his head at her. She shrugs before going back to relaxing. The wolf seems to understand, laying down not far from him to take a nap.

They rest there for a bit longer before she decides that they should probably get out of the water. She pulls herself out, getting dressed before checking Keith’s Blade suit, noting with relief that it is dried off. Walking over to Keith, she gently shakes him awake which earns a soft whine. She chuckles quietly before doing it again.

“Time to get up.”

Keith groans before sighing tiredly. He opens his eyes anyway, nuzzling into her wrist and staying in place. It’s very adorable. And also kit behavior.

“Come on, we got a little before any flashbacks hit,” she holds out her hand to him as he begins to wake up more. He takes it with a tiny grin, yawning deeply before beginning to get out.

Krolia freezes at the sight of his chest.

She knows where most of those scars came from. She has the same one on her shoulder for the trials. It's the very first move done to all those taking part in it. She’s seen the memories of pretty much every injury that caused these scars.

But she’s never seen this one…

It looks like an English Y on his chest. It’s fairly old, probably years if the white lines say anything. She just stares at it in cool dread, already knowing nothing good happened with it.

“You okay?” Keith’s words knock her back to the real world as she glances at him, “You kind of went silent there.”

“I’m…no, I’m not,” she shakes her head before barely tracing the nasty scar, feeling sad, “What happened here, Keith?”

“Huh?” Keith raises a brow before seeing what she’s talking about, gaze going a bit dark and pained. So she was right. The wolf apparently woke at some point, for he stares at her and then the marks. She’s not sure whether he’s intelligent, got an instinctive connection with Keith, or both, since he looks protectively angry at the sight, “Oh, that…I got used to the others knowing it was there in the castle. We haven’t seen it yet, but I got injured pretty badly one time around the time we found out I was Galra. Allura wasn’t being the kindest but that changed when she saw them. Couldn’t hide it. Coran had to patch me up.”

“I’m glad your friends are here for you,” Krolia nods before getting back to business, not backing down, “But what caused this? Who do I have to fight?”

“I…” Keith raises a brow before snorting in amusement, “You’d do that?”

“Of course. Never harm a mother’s child, especially not a Galran one,” she brushes her hand to her son’s cheek, smiling fondly as he leans into it with a pleased hum, “I would do anything to keep you safe and happy, Keith. And I’m beyond sorry that I’ve missed so much of your life. But never again.”

“Never?” Keith asks with an insecure, shaky voice.

“Never,” she says with absolute certainty before the wolf snarls, making them look at him. He stands by Keith’s side, looking ready to take on the world for this one special boy, “See? I’m not the only one.”

“Thank you,” Keith responds gratefully at them, petting the wolf.

“Now tell me about this?”

Keith glances at her for a long minute before nodding. He climbs out of the water, drying off before slipping the suit on. He sighs while stretching and looking at her.

“Can we talk about it at the cave?” He asks softly, “I’ll be more comfortable there.”

“Of course,” she nods before they make their way to their temporary home. They get settled in with the fire going before Keith begins.

“We’re probably going to see it soon anyway, so I want to let you know,” Keith says quietly, staring at the flames. She (along with the wolf) gives him plenty of time to gather his thoughts, “Around the time I turned 17, we had our yearly health check-ups. That includes some blood tests. I don’t how but the Garrison found something off with them and assumed I was alien.”

She can see where this is going. She’s seen it happen to new prisoners that the Empire has never seen before. Like Shiro and his crew, who luckily all escaped that fate, as far as she’s aware. She remembers a flashback about the Green Paladin asking Shiro if he had that happen, screen showing a video of someone being sliced open while awake.

She knows they probably found something at that time because Keith’s slowly growing. His Galra side had to have been starting to kick in. That also explains why the other tests came back clean.

“They took me in the middle of the day while I was outside where there weren’t any people. I’m just lucky Shiro had been looking for me at the time and tried to stop it. They wouldn’t,” Keith scowls in deep thought, “Before I knew it, I was in a room. I think they drugged me before that? I was…I was scared. They thought I was still out of it so they weren’t paying attention to me. I tried to sneak out but whatever they gave me made everything too…cloudy? I think I tripped over something.”

He lets out a small whimper.

“They grabbed me and I fought them as much as I could. Pretty sure I left some black eyes and split lips. Unfortunately, they weren’t exactly holding back either,” Keith winces before leaning on his knees, curled up in a small ball. The wolf senses this, resting against him in worry, “Somehow, they sedated me enough so I couldn’t fight them anymore, but not enough to knock me out. They strapped me to the table…and then…”

He makes an honestly distressed kit sound. Krolia hurries to hug him to her side, feeling him shaking some.

“They were going to do more the next day, worse tests,” Keith gets out after a while, resting his head against her shoulder, “I thought…I thought I wasn’t going to ever be free again…It was only hours but it felt like forever and it hurt a lot…I almost gave up…But I could feel some type of energy…I found out later that it was Blue…And I held on a bit longer…And then Shiro saved me.”

Krolia is more convinced that Keith is sensitive to quintessence with every little thing she hears about feeling energy and stuff. But she'll focus on that another time as she just holds Keith, petting his hair.

“When we get to Earth, we're going to make sure they see consequences. I'll make sure of it.”

“I think…you're going to have to battle Allura and Shiro for that right,” her son chuckles weakly, “They're both pretty scary.”

“I won't have to battle them,” she shakes her head before hugging him tighter, “We'll just join forces. Then we'll be three times as scary.”

“Oh, no, what am I unleashing on the universe?” Keith asks sarcastically, grinning in amusement, “And the wolf too. Honestly, they should probably be terrified of Hunk the most…cheerful people are the scariest when they're pissed off.”

“I'm sure he'd be more than happy to do so.”

They hang out with each other for a few minutes before the light flares up again. She holds onto her son as he grips her armor.

She then sees it all and it enrages her. If she was on Earth at this very moment, she would hunt down the monsters who cut her son up on a table and kill them right then and there.

By Galran law, she'd have the right to.

“I'm okay, mom,” Keith answers back, but she shakes her head, holding onto his face.

“I left Earth to protect you,” she rubs his cheeks with a tender touch, “But I never thought your heritage would lead to this. If I had known, I'd have taken you with me.”

“Mom, you couldn't know,” her son says calmly before grinning softly in a way she only sees when he talks about one person, “Besides, I never would have met Shiro if you did. There might be a lot of stuff that was bad, but not him.”

“You love him,” she grins back before brushing her hand through his lush hair, getting a small purr from her son. She holds in her surprise before going on. Looks like his Galra side is emerging as time goes on. He may still end up gaining some features. She very much suspects Keith's still in the kit phase despite supposedly going through his human puberty, which means he still has more coming even though he's an adult in human culture. He's also probably aging faster than a Galra but slower than a human. And if he does, she'll make sure no one ever touches her son again, especially not like that, “He's your Chosen Mate.”

“My…what?” Keith asks in confusion, tilting his head just like plenty of her people do. It's a very Galra habit, but not necessarily something that would give away that he is one, “Chosen…mate?”

“It's a Galra thing,” she grins before leaning against the cave wall and patting her lap. Keith blinks for a second before making a small chirping sound (that he doesn't even notice and is very much a kit sound) and then laying against her. She runs her fingers through his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp. He obviously craves touch that she's seen he hasn't gotten enough of in his life, something vital to their people, especially kits. Keith melts into her with a tiny joyful sigh, making her smile fondly, heart filled with love, “A Chosen Mate is a person our Galra instincts naturally picks to spend their life with. They're the one they can turn to no matter what. The person who will accept them even with their flaws. The person who cares for them deeply and treats them well.”

She hums softly before brushing her hands to Keith’s neck, gently rubbing where she knows a scent gland would normally be on most Galra (some hybrids didn't get them and some full Galra don't gain them because of malfunction in the body somewhere but it's rare). She's seen her boy nuzzle Shiro plenty of times and even herself when he's too sleepy to realize what he's doing, so he likely has them. She's proven correct when he makes a different sound, like a gasp mixed with a needy whine/moan. While nearly invisible, the glands are powerful and touching them makes them feel good, especially when done by trusted loved ones. Kits are even more sensitive because their bodies are learning still, not mature enough to know how to react to the touch. Add a touch-starved one on top of that and you get a very sensitive Galra.

It's likely why Keith has never liked being touched, especially over that area. And she doesn't blame him. It's one of their most sensitive and important spots and it's a vulnerable location. She still remembers the one horrible foster father she has seen, among many, who literally pinned Keith to the floor by holding onto his neck from the back. She'll never forget the terrified look on her son's face at the action, face white and eyes wide as they can go, making tiny sounds of kit distress. Even afterwards, he was out of it for hours.

What she would have given to hold him during that time…and to murder a bunch of people…

At least those sadistic scientists didn't know the Galran body or they would have purposely cut them up to find out more. That is one of the most painful things that can ever happen to them. And if they had, she'd have been headed straight to Earth after they got off the space whale and dismember some people piece by painful piece. And she'd probably get quite a bit of help from her fellow Blades. That is a serious crime against them. Even Haggar doesn't mess with those, and she's deranged.

Never mess with a Galra's kit. Never.

“Mom, you good?”

She blinks before realizing that she had stopped messing with his glands, instead getting lost in thought. She sends him a reassuring grin before he slowly settles down once again. She messes with his hair once again, which earns a small pout although Keith's probably not even sure why he's doing so or that he's missing being touched along his neck. Heck, he probably doesn't even know he's doing it.

“You look really human,” she says after a moment, making sure Keith can understand her. It's why she chose to play with his hair instead, “But I can only assume you're going to gain more Galra features as time flows on. You're starting to purr and make certain sounds. Your scent glands are active. Your Galra instincts are progressing. I wouldn't be too surprised if you begin gaining physical traits eventually.”

“Like?”

“It could be anything, just depends on your DNA and how your sides match and which ones are more dominant in the long run,” she answers honestly, “Your ears might sharpen. Your teeth might get replaced with fangs. Your hair might change color. Your skin might too, or just parts of it. You might get claws. You might get stripes. You might even grow a tail still.”

“But you don't have one,” Keith winces in pain, “And that sounds painful.”

“It usually is painful when our bodies mature. That's why they come in slower phases, especially for hybrids who are dominant on their other side from birth on. It's why you're gaining some stuff but not a whole lot at a time. And we have ways to treat these things and lower the pain and risks,” she nods before humming softly, “And I'm sure somewhere in our family line that someone had a tail. Just like someone on your father's side had to have black hair because that's definitely not a Galra trait. I never got to see any pictures of his side. Genetics are strange.”

“Okay,” Keith nods before peering up at her, “Thanks.”

“I'm here for you, Keith,” she grins softly down at him, “And I'll never let anyone hurt you again. Not if I can help it. And I think your friends feel the same way.”

She wraps her arms around her son, leaning her chin on his head before releasing some of her scent, something a kit can't do yet. He relaxes further, beginning to steadily purr in pleasure.

“I love you, mom,” Keith says after a long moment, half-asleep before yawning adorably.

“I love you, too,” she answers back before rubbing along his glands, “Just rest. I'll be here.”

No one is ever going to hurt her kit again.