Take Over

Chapter 18

Third Person P.O.V.

After the whole Keith debacle, the team ended their vacation short. Which meant that they could interrogate Keith without feeling as bad about it.

"Keith," The boy looked at the team standing over him, "What happened at the beach?"

"H-Huh?" He tried to play it off, show them how uncomfortable he was, but he knew they wouldn't drop it. That was who they were. The paladins of Voltron don't just drop a problem, but Keith does. He pushes it down until he can no longer see it, hiding it from himself. Maybe that was why he wasn't really a paladin like the others, he could push down his problems where as the others would fix theirs. Tears sprung up in his eyes but he blinked them away quickly.

"You know what I'm talking about," Shiro crossed his arms, "You fell asleep at the beach and started getting all twitchy. When you woke up-"

"I know, I know what happened," Keith muttered and the group waited expectantly. Keith looked up and his eyes found Allura. She looked sympathetic, for real this time, and he was confused. Did she feel bad about something? Surely it couldn't be about him, he was nothing and she took no hesitation to tell him that.

"Hello?" Lance snapped his fingers in my face, pulling me from him thoughts. He broke his stare and focused on the whole group, glancing at Allura to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. She caught him glancing and glared, making Keith look away quickly. His head is really messed up if he's seeing sympathetic Allura.

"Keith!" Lance shouted and he almost jumped off the couch.

"Right, right, sorry," He rubbed his neck as a blush crept onto his cheeks, "It was just a nightmare."

"That's what you said last time, too. Why won't you tell us the truth?" Pidge mumbled but he heard every word due to his enhanced ears. They flicked back and he shrunk into the couch, his heart breaking at how hurt he made his friend feel.

"Keith? Are you alright?" Hunk asked. Pidge looked up at him and he looked down into his lap, sneaking glances a couple times.

"Dang, I forgot about the ears," Pidge mumbled, cursing under her breath. Keith flinched and she swore again, only mentally this time as she sat next to him, "Sorry, I didn't mean it."

The rest shared a look before turning back to see Keith nod and hug Pidge as he cried, "I-I think...I think I have sl-sleep paralysis Pidge."

"How do you know?" Pidge asked as the team digested what was said.

"What's sleep paralysis?" Lance asked.

"It's a temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or upon waking," Pidge explained as she pushed up her glasses, "Did you see a big black shadow-like monster thing?" Keith nodded and Pidge sucked in a breath, "Maybe sleep pills will help," She rambled as she left the room, her brain firing hundreds of solutions to help him.

"Is she going to be alright?" Lance joked and the team laughed. Keith took that as his chance to leave but Allura pulled him down the hall towards the air lock.

"Keith I..." Allura looked away and he froze. She wasn't going to say anything else, was she? She wouldn't hurt him twice in one day, right? She was still Allura...right?

"Pl-Please, don't say anything else, i-it hurts," Keith pleaded and Allura whirled around, something flashing in her eyes.

"It hurts! It hurts! Don't talk to me about hurting, Galra!" Allura spat and Keith backed into the wall with tears in his eyes, "You have no idea what it's like to be a survivor of something as horrible as what the Galra, your kind, did to me. They took my father from me!" She pressed her finger into Keith's shoulder and he whimpered. She faltered before getting close to his ear, "A nothing like you doesn't get its way."