Work Text:
If they’d known ahead of time that this ship was holding one hundred rogue Galra troops, rather than their expected thirty, they’d probably have brought more than just one Paladin. But they hadn’t known. All of their intel was more than three years old by this point. As Krolia fought alongside her son, trying to carve a path back to the waiting Black Lion, she grimly reminded herself why the Blade had always been so cautious, so thorough about their intel. So that things like this didn’t happen.
Krolia didn’t so much as flinch when her luxite blade went spinning past her nose, imbedding itself into the chestplate of one of the enemy Galra. Keith’s blade, she reminded herself as she mechanically gunned down oncoming troops. Though it still held a connection to her life force, the blade had bonded to Keith when he had awakened it. By all of the Blade of Marmora’s standards, the knife belonged to him now.
A flash of violet light caught her eye. Krolia turned just in time to hear her son scream when the laser blast caught him in the shoulder, burning right through his Paladin armor and sending him stumbling backwards. He remained on his feet and raised his bayard again, but the soldier was already charging.
She set into a sprint without having to think. But she was on the other side of the room, and there were at least four troops between her and Keith. She wasn’t going to make it in time. Thankfully Keith was a good warrior in his own right and managed to block the blow from the attacking Galra.
Then another came up behind him and put a spear through his leg.
He cried out again, this time crumbling to the ground, but that wasn’t what made Krolia’s heart stop. What made her stop breathing was the vibrant splash of red leaking down his leg, smearing over his white armor, splattering to the metal floor. Blood.
He was bleeding. Her son was bleeding. They hurt her son.
Her vision went red.
Ha, they had him now. Injured, armor broken, on the ground, outnumbered. A tick to pull his helmet off and a quick strike, and the leader of Voltron would be dead. One less problem for them.
Herek was already imagining the victory feast they would have, and judging by the smirk on his comrade’s face, she was thinking the same. Until he heard the growl from behind him-- it made the fur on the back of his neck stand on end. The horrified look on Ferza’s face didn’t help.
It wasn’t until the voice began speaking that Herek remembered: the Paladin hadn’t been alone. He’d brought a Galra with him, a traitor.
“Don’t. Touch. My. Son.”
Instantly he went cold, all the way down to the tips of his claws, and Ferza’s violet skin turned a sickly lavender as the blood drained from her face. They hadn’t known the two of them were related… let alone mother and kit. If they had, they wouldn’t have been stupid enough to injure the kit first.
But they hadn’t known, and that utter terror was the last thing Herek felt before a laser blast went through his throat.
Keith watched with wide eyes as Krolia tore through every last Galra in the room. He’d always been impressed by her fighting prowess, of course, but he’d never seen her go quite so… feral. She was fighting with a frenzy he hadn’t seen from her, revealing a crack in her normal controlled facade, utilizing her claws and her teeth just as much as her blaster. If he wasn’t half high from adrenaline and distracted by the pain in his shoulder and leg, he might’ve been afraid of her.
Before he knew it the room was empty, filled only with the sprawled corpses of Krolia’s victims. She dashed to him, crashing to her knees at his sides in less than a second, and one of her blood stained hands reached out to cradle the back of his head, the other going to the spear wound in his leg. She was breathing hard, and underneath Keith could still hear some rolling growls.
“I’m alright,” he said, lying through his teeth. “I’m ok.”
Krolia swallowed and closed her eyes. Keith recognized the motion as part of her calming technique, similar to the deep breathing Shiro had taught him. When her eyes opened again the growls had subsided, but there was still some wildness in her eyes, and her voice came out husky and strained.
“We need to get you back,” she said, then shifted closer to his side, pulling his uninjured arm over her shoulders. “I’ll help you stand.”
He braced himself for the pain, but still couldn’t resist the sound that emerged from his throat when she hoisted him upright. What he wasn’t expecting was the noise she made in answer; a deep rumbling, gentler than the growls from earlier, that inexplicably made his racing heart slow.
“What’re you doing?” he asked. She didn’t answer. Just started walking, supporting practically all of Keith’s weight.
The strange noise continued all the way to the empty hangar where they’d parked Black. By the time they were in the cockpit Keith was practically asleep, soothed down and down and down by the sound, and with an amused brush Black reassured him she could get them back to the Atlas with minimal participation from him.
But even when they were in the air, off the ship and out of dodge with Keith reclining, hardly feeling any pain, Krolia didn’t seem calmed in the least. Her body was a line of tension behind the pilots seat, and she kept one hand on his good shoulder at all times, like it comforted her to feel the movement as he breathed.
The Atlas came into view quickly. Well, Keith thought it was quickly. He was about seventy percent certain the dizziness was due to his mother’s purring and not blood loss. Hopefully.
The moment they landed Krolia was moving again, helping him back to his feet and towards the ramp. She was still making that purring sound and it had turned his muscles to jelly, so much so that she was almost having to drag him rather than hold him up.
Shiro was waiting for them in the hangar, the other paladins grouped behind them as they waited for the results of the mission. All of their expressions quickly turned to concern, however, when they caught sight of Krolia pulling Keith along with little drops of blood decorating their path.
“What the heck happened?” Pidge cried, the first to scamper over to them. Krolia plowed right past her without acknowledgement, and Keith was finding words difficult to find within his whirling mind.
“Is Keith alright?” came Shiro’s voice. “Is he injured?”
Krolia swept by without so much as a glance in his direction.
“Hey, Krolia, what gives? Is he dying?” When Lance’s question also remained unanswered, he reached out for Keith as Krolia rushed towards the hallway. Then the purr cut off, and Keith’s world spun when she whirled. He didn’t know what kind of expression she was making, but judging by Lance’s terrified face, it wasn’t a pleasant one.
“Stay away from him!” she snarled. “Stay away!”
Keith blinked. The grogginess was beginning to lift, and the burning of his wounds was returning.
“Krolia--” Before he could finish she’d turned them again and proceeded down the hall, taking Keith with her. The others followed in a confused mob, but no one was too concerned.
Until she walked right past the infirmary.
“Uh, Krolia?” said Hunk somewhere behind them. “Shouldn’t we go to the med bay?”
The twitch of her ears was the only thing that indicated Krolia had heard him. She ignored his words and kept walking, dragging a very bemused Keith along with her. Snarling at anyone who drew near, she marched them down one hall after another, passing both the common room and Keith’s bunk before arriving where she’d apparently been heading.
A single press of her hand opened the door to Krolia’s bunk. Before taking Keith inside, she reached in and felt along the wall until she found the light control, plunging the room into darkness.
“Krolia?” Keith asked again as she pulled him inside. The moment she heard his voice she started up that weird purring again, and Keith’s body automatically began to respond, but this time he fought it. Something wasn’t right here. Krolia never acted like this; so unreasoning.
“What are you doing? What’s going on?”
Without a word she dropped him onto the bed, pushing his shoulders back to the pillow with one hand while the other hoisted his legs onto the mattress. The movement twinged his wound and Keith winced, which only invoked another wave of purrs. Over her shoulder Keith could see the faces of the others at the door, all of them concerned and, in Shiro’s case, dangerously protective.
Krolia noticed him looking and turned. Instantly her shoulders hunched and her fur poofed up, making her look bigger as she bared her teeth at the intruders, the purr becoming a growl. She said nothing, but Keith heard the sheets tear underneath her claws and recognized the coiling of her muscles. She was about to pounce.
“Krolia. Krolia!” He tried grabbing her shoulder to get her attention, but she didn’t respond. In desperation, he cried, “Mom!”
Her head snapped around. He hadn’t noticed until now, but her pupils had become thin slits.
“It’s ok.” He didn’t know what else to say. “It’s ok. I’m ok.”
For a long moment they just stared at each other. Then, all at once, Krolia’s shoulders slumped and her fingers uncurled from the shredded sheets. With a shuddering sigh she sat back on her heels.
“Are you ok now?” asked Hunk nervously.
“More to the point,” said Pidge, “Will you kill us if we take him to the infirmary?”
“No.” Her voice came out thin and reedy, and she cleared her throat before continuing. She still wouldn’t look at any of them, not even Keith. “No, I won’t hurt you. I’m-- I’m sorry.”
Shiro was the first to enter the room, making a beeline for the bed. Keith wanted to stay, just a minute longer, but his leg and shoulder really hurt. Before he could find any words he’d been whisked away, leaving his mother behind in her dark bunk.
“Kolivan warned me this would happen.”
Keith looked up from petting Kosmo’s ears. He’d been all stitched and bandaged and given medication for the pain, and after relentlessly reassuring Shiro that he’d be fine, the other paladins had finally gone to bed.
He hadn’t noticed Krolia come in. She stood against the wall next to the door, her head bowed and avoiding his eyes.
“Warned you about what?”
She heaved a bit of a sigh. “Galra are very protective of their kits. He warned me that now that we were reunited, I would be more... “ She gave an irritated shake of her head. “I don’t know how to describe it. But I should’ve had more control. I’m sorry.”
He leaned back against the pillows. He could see why she felt bad-- Kolivan went on so much about controlling your emotions. It had its impression on Keith, and clearly on Krolia too. But he didn’t necessarily mind. He opened his mouth to say as much, but she was already talking again.
“I know you’re not a helpless kit anymore, not like when I was on Earth. But I saw blood and I… I thought I’d lost you again.”
“Come over here.”
Krolia looked up in surprise, only to find Keith holding out a hand to her, an encouraging smile on his face. A shadow of an answering one curled her lips. When she was close enough Keith didn’t hesitate to pull her into an embrace.
“I love you too, Mom.”
It was near midnight when Shiro stopped by the infirmary again. Just to make sure one last time that Keith was alright and comfortable before he went to bed. He couldn’t hear any voices from within the room, and when he cracked the door open to take a peek, he understood why.
Keith was in the middle of a Galra/Wolf sandwich, Krolia curled up against his back and Kosmo against his chest. All that was visible of him was his mop of wild hair poking out from Kosmo’s blue mane, and a pale arm wrapped around the animal’s shoulders.
It was soft, but if he listened carefully, he could hear Krolia making that purring sound again.
With a smile, Shiro closed the door and moved on.
Keith was exactly where he needed to be.