Don't Ask, I'll Never Tell

Nightmares

"Shiro!" Keith ran into the control room.

Allura, Coran, and Shiro seemed deep in conversation but stopped abruptly upon hearing the urgency in Keith's voice.

"There's something I have to tell you."

Shiro put a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"I'm a--"

At that moment, a series of shots blasted against the side of the Altean ship. They jolted backward but only Keith fell to the ground. Coran and Allura were immediately at the the controls.

"It's the Galra. They've found us!" Coran called, turning around. He froze instantly and went pale.

Keith shot to his feet and turned to find the source of Coran's alarm. There, standing before them, was Sendak. The other three Paladins were held back by Galra soldiers.

"Get them. Leave the boy." Galra soldiers rushed forward. They hardly had a chance to fight back before they were held down by the Galra. Shiro, it would seem, required three Galra soldiers just to hold him down.

After everyone else was securely captured, Sendak turned to Keith and smiled. "Are you ready to come home?" Such a simple question, yet the words crashed down on Keith.

Keith shook his head vigorously. "Never. I don't belong there."

"Nonsense! You belong amongst our ranks. You are a true Galra soldier."

"What are you talking about? Keith is a Paladin!" Shiro shouted.

A Galra soldier kicked him to the ground, holding his head down with an armored foot and pointing its blaster at Shiro's head.

"No!" Keith shouted.

"Does that upset you?" Sendak asked with a grin.

"Leave Shiro alone." Keith responded with acid in his tone.

"Show them what you are."

"Never."

Sendak turned to the Galra soldiers who held Shiro. "The leader, kill him."

"No!" A shot rang out and Keith fell to the ground in a mix of anguish and rage. He shrieked with fury, averting his eyes from Shiro's lifeless body.

"Show. Them. What. You. Are."

Keith watched the Paladins' faces shift from confusion to recognition... then disgust as he allowed his true form to show.

"You're one of them!" Lance shouted.

"We should have never trusted you!"

"Traitor!"

"Galra spy!"

The insults blended together in Keith's mind. After a while, he couldn't figure out who said what and why Sendak was laughing.

Then a voice pierced through all the rest. "Keith! Keith! Come on, wake up!"

Keith jolted awake. "NO!"

Lance grabbed Keith's flailing arms to prevent himself from being slapped in the face. "For the love of Quiznak, calm down!" Lance held Keith's arms down against the bed. "It's me. Would you stop trying to hit me for one minute? I brought food." Lance released him to pick up the bowl of green goo from the floor.

Keith sat up. "You... what?"

"Yeah, don't you remember? Allura told me to go get you some food while you took your little nap. When I came back, you were shouting 'No' repeatedly and tried to hit me when I got close."

"It's just a dream." Keith responded.

Lance's brows furrowed but he quickly turned away as if pondering something. Keith decided that Lance couldn't possibly have the intellectual capacity to ponder so he was most likely daydreaming about some girl who refused his advances.

"Yeah, well, just eat something." Lance pushed the bowl toward him.

Keith scrunched up his nose but did not complain as he shoveled the bright green food into his mouth.

"So you think you'll be alright soon? 'Cause I'm tired of pulling your weight."

"That depends." Keith responded between bites. "Has Red been taken care of?"

"Yeah, about that. Pidge, Hunk, and Coran have inspected the Red Lion..."

"...and?" He pressed.

"And..." Lance continued. "Red is completely fine. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it."

"But then how..."

Lance scratched the back of his neck and shuffled his feet nervously. "They all agreed that the issues had nothing to do with the lion. But the lion's Paladin, on the other hand, was a different story."

"No. That can't be." Keith shot out of bed allowing the bowl of green goo to fall all over the floor.

"Aw, COME ON!" Lance shouted from Keith's room. "I hope you don't expect me to clean this up! Keith? KEITH! GET BACK HERE!" Keith marched to the control room with a hand against the wall for balance. He refused to let anything, not even a mild case of dizziness, distract him.

"Stop! Stay! Sit! Um... Hey Mullet! Nothing? Really?" Keith ignored all of Lance's attempts to get his attention. As he reached the door to the control room, Keith stopped short. This was all his fault. The red lion was fine. Keith, on the other hand, wasn't. He was broken. He was a liar. He couldn't deny it any longer. The Paladins were better off without him.

Keith reached out to open the sliding door then hesitated. His hand hovered over the scanner. This is it. Why can't he just open the door?