Being a paladin of Voltron was hard. Being a Galra-human-hybrid paladin of Voltron was even harder. So many things happened in a hybrid of two very different species. It left Keith wondering if he was able to have children. Not that that was of immediate concern, but he wanted the option somewhere down the line. Although he wondered if any woman would want him since there was no telling what kind of children he would sire. He sighed and rested against the cavern wall as his thoughts drifted to his fellow paladins.

They had been doing a training exercise on some remote planet when he had been seized by excruciating pain. He had lost himself in his screams and Red's roaring in his mind. The lion had known something was wrong and immediately ejected his pilot. The small craft had quickly dropped to the surface, beneath the thick layer of cloud cover. It had crashed landed, completely out of control. Blindly, Keith had pushed himself out of the craft, tumbling to the sandy ground. He was still screaming, now groaning between breaths, as he hauled himself forward, away from the crash site.

"Keith! Keith, can you read me?" A voice echoed in his helmet.

He could hear Shiro's worried voice but he didn't have a voice of his own to reply. It was at this moment that he realized they needed text messages to scroll across their visors. He would have to talk to Pidge about that later. When he was able to talk again. He had a feeling if he simply crawled from the cave, stood and waved, they would see him. But what then? He couldn't just hop in Red and blaze back to the ship. That was currently impossible.

His eyes slid to the metal cat that was curled around him, purring up a storm. Idly, he scratched the top of the lion's head. God, his hand covered the cockpit. It was slowly sinking in just how massive he was. Sitting down, his and Red's shoulders were nearly even, with his pulling out a few inches, feet, on top. This was trippy.

Another frenzied call, this time from Pidge, made him rethink his desire to hide. Red purred reassuringly in his mind, coaxing him from the hole he had squeezed into. Green and Pidge were nearby. Fine, Keith relented. He leaned forward and felt Red slide out from behind him and trot back outside.

"Guys! I see the red lion!" came Pidge's over-excited voice. Their teammate's voices rang in the helmet, asking for coordinates and landmarks. Pidge rattled off the numbers on her screen as she circled in the air. She looked up as she landed and ended up face-to-face with a massive wall of white. "What the...? Guys, I think my screen is messed up. It turned completely white."

Suddenly, that white screen moved. The top turned red which seemed to bleed into the rest of the screen until, finally, it came to a stop. Except, now she was literally face-to-face with, well, a face. A giant face. That strongly resembled... "Keith?!" she yelped.

A familiar scowl was plastered across the face. Then, that head dipped in acknowledgement. Her voice rattled in his helmet, frantic and concerned. "What happened to you? You're taller than the lion!"

Keith looked away as he rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. He glanced back at her when she called him again.

"Why don't you say something?" she pressed.

Again, Keith shrugged. He touched his throat and shook his head. Sometime during his dramatic transformation, he had lost his voice. And not just a hoarse tone that had crept in, but totally and completely gone.

The frown was evident in Pidge's voice when she spoke again. "Don't worry. We'll figure this out."

Heh. That was definitely Pidge. Even knowing the girl's brave personality, he was still shocked when she dropped from her lion and landed right between his feet. He froze, not trusting himself to move. He didn't want to hurt her. She put her hands on her hips and sized him up. "Stand up," she ordered. "I want to see how tall you are."

Keith scowled and shook his head. He was not moving. Not when she was so close to him.

"Keith, I need to see how tall you are. I need to figure out how to get you back on the ship."

The red paladin heaved a reluctant sigh and slowly, carefully stood. He didn't dare move when Pidge walked right between his feet, behind him and muttered calculations into her helmet. "My best guess is you're around sixty-feet tall. Not a legendary monster height, but still respectable for a human. What I can't believe is that your body hasn't collapsed in on itself! Human frames aren't made to carry such size."

Keith shot her a look over his shoulder. Not helping, it said.

Pidge didn't even flinch. It was Keith. He wouldn't hurt her. "Shiro, what's your ETA? I found Keith."

"So I gathered," came his chuckle. "What's all that about legendary monster height?"

"You'll see when you get here. Just hurry up." Her eyes looked to the yellow sky where a blue streak was directly incoming. "Really hurry up. Lance is almost here."

There was a groan from the older paladin. "I'll be there in two minutes. Just don't let Lance start something he can't finish."

"No promises."

Keith followed Pidge's gaze and he frowned when the blue lion dropped to hover right in front of his face. "Dude! You're huge!" The red paladin had to resist the strong urge to smack the lion down. Moreso the pilot than the lion. "Look at you!" Lance continued. "You're like a hundred feet tall or something."

"He's sixty feet," Pidge cut in, annoyed. "He's about the same height as the black lion."

Both paladins watched as Red came in, pushing her way into Keith's touch as if she were a living cat begging for attention. Keith smirked and obliged, gently rubbing her head and around her ears. That's my partner, he thought. You always know when to show up.

A minute later, Shiro and Hunk landed, completing the five paladins. Sure enough, Keith was just about the same height as the black lion, give or take an inch, foot, or two. Shiro and Hunk disembarked and Lance followed suit. The four paladins were gathered around Keith's feet, just admiring his new height.

"Well, at least his suit didn't rip," Lance finally said. Shiro gave him a look. "What? You see it all the time in tv shows and comics! Look at the Hulk. Every time he grows, he shreds his shirt and pants."

Keith sighed. That was definitely Lance.

"Dude, how are we going to keep him fed?" Without a doubt, that was Hunk. Always driven by food. Keith didn't bother to hide his smirk.

"But how are we going to get him back into the castle?" Shiro asked. "It's not like he can fit in the front door anymore."

"No. But he can fit through the lions' bays. Especially Black's," Pidge explained.

"Good thinking, Pidge," Shiro praised. "Allura, come in. Do you read?"

"I hear you, Shiro," came Allura's voice. Just the sound of it eased something in Keith. "What happened? Did you find Keith?"

"Yes, but we need the castle down her on the surface. He can't exactly leave the atmosphere as-is."

"What? Why not? What's happened?"

"You'll see when you land. I'm sending you our coordinates now."

Keith slowly dropped into a couch. Hunk skittered back a few steps while Lance's reaction was much more dramatic. He jumped back several paces and yelped. "Don't do that!" he scolded "You could sit on me or something."

Keith rolled his eyes. If he had actually wanted to sit on any of them, he could have done so easily. But hurting one of his teammates was the last thing on his mind. Carefully, he shifted to sit cross-legged on the ground. He was immensely grateful when Red curled against his back, giving him support. He felt something on his leg and was surprised when he saw it was Pidge and Shiro, casually reclining against his thigh as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He shook his head as the ghost of a smile curved his mouth.

Hybrid, Chapter 2

Keith stood and watched as the Castle of Lions slowly descended from the sky, righted itself, and landed on the sand. He brought his arms up to block the sand and wind kicked up from the ship's boosters. He registered his teammates' grumbles in his helmet as they struggled to stay standing. The red paladin didn't hesitate to crouch down once more, dropping to one knee and using his body in an attempt to sheild the other paladins.

He could hear the wonder in their voices when they were no longer pummeled by the wind and sand. Pride was evident in Shiro's when he thanked Keith. After the boosters had been turned off and the dust settled, Keith lowered his arms and looked up. Allura and Coran were descending from the ship.

"Oh my," came the soft, Altean voice.

"Quiznak!" shouted Coran.

Keith sighed. Pidge walked in front of him, between the lions that seemed to be standing guard around the massive paladin. She stopped and looked over her shoulder when Keith didn't move.

"Well?" she huffed. "What are you waiting for? We need to get you into medbay immediately. Maybe, if we hurry, we can figure out what happened and reverse it."

Keith hesitated. He didn't want to hurt anyone with a careless step. He glanced down at the three normal humans at his feet. He shuffled in place, unsure about taking even a single step forward. Lance, dramatic as always, turned and ran for his lion.

Shiro shook his head. "Give him time," he said, looking up to Keith. "This is new to all of us. And Lance is, well, Lance. There's no changing him."

Keith nodded mutely but still refused to move. Hunk, sensing his friend's trepidation, smiled and jerked his thumb towards his lion. "I've got to get my lion back in his bay. I'll see you inside, Keith."

The red paladin pressed his lips into a thin line and just barely dipped his head. His eyes shifted to look down when he felt something rest against his calf. Shiro had his hand there and was looking up to the younger paladin.

"Come on," he said softly. "Pidge is about to put her hands on her hips and tap her foot if you don't hurry." When Keith still didn't move, Shiro smiled. "Keith, you're not going to hurt anyone. You're the red lion's paladin. The most agile among us, remember?"

Keith frowned a little. The lion was agile. Not necessarily him. And not at this size.

"Keith!" This time it was Pidge's voice that echoed in his ears. "If you don't come on right now I'm going to have Black to drag you in like the big baby you're being!"

This took him aback for a moment. Then he laughed. Well, his shoulders shook, his eyes creased with mirth and his lips turned upwards, but no sound ever came. After a moment, he shook his head and took his first step forward. He paused, making sure no one was hurt, then took another step forward. A few more steps and he was standing right in front of Coran and Allura.

To the princess' credit, she didn't even flinch when he walked up. Coran, just like Lance, skittered backwards a few steps.

"Princess!" the older man called, a worried tone to his voice. "Stay back. He may not be safe."

"Coran," Allura chided. "It's just Keith. He may be a little, uh, taller. But he is still a paladin of Voltron. And our friend." She smiled up at the giant young man. "I am glad to see you safe and sound, even if you did have a bit of a growth spurt. Get into the medbay and we will see how to fix you."

Keith gave his ghost of a smile and nodded before walking around to the black lion's bay. The door opened and he ducked his head just slightly to get inside. Once in, it was roomy and spacious. He could see the big rolled door that opened into the common room and the significantly smaller ones meant for humans to easily travel between bays.

He would not be using those, obviously. The large door rolled up and he once more ducked as he walked into the common space. One glance at the normal door that led into this area told him he was not going to be getting to the medbay. He pulled his helment off and sighed as he settled against the far wall, one leg stretched out and one bent at the knee to rest his arm on. His helmet sat on the floor between himself and the wall.

The noise of the other lions entering their bays and the exterior doors closing behind him echoed in the massive room. The floor was comfortable enough for the moment, but he doubted it would last long. Although there was little he could do about it. He would have to figure out some way to be comfortable. He was stuck in here until they figured out what was wrong with him.

His eyes shifted to the door when it opened and Pidge came in, a tablet in hand. One eyebrow arched as she paced over to him. Her attention was nearly wholly focused on the tablet and whatever the read out was telling her.

"Here," she said as she stopped beside him. "I'm going to scan you since we obviously can't get you into the medbay. But I sync'ed my tablet to the computers in medbay, so the computers can still tell us what's going on with you."

Keith sighed in acknowledgement. At least something was getting done.

Pidge started at his feet, letting the tablet scan his legs, up to his torso and stopping when she reached his chest. A frown tilted her lips as she sized him up from behind her glasses. "I need to get to your heart, lungs and brain scanned," she said. "So lay down."

Keith rolled his eyes but shifted to lay down. Pidge scanned one side of him before huffing. "I need a better scan of your other side. Bear with me, here." With that, she pulled herself onto his chest, slid across and off on the other side. Pleased with herself, she continued the scan.

The red paladin froze when she climbed onto him, hardly daring to breathe. He had no idea where she got her bravado from, but when she was off of him, he realized he appreciated her attempts to not make him feel any more out of place than he already did. She completed her work, stepped across his legs and walked back up to his face.

"You can sit up now," she said, a bit of a smile curling her lips. "All the data is transferring over to medbay. I should get a report update soon." She took a half-step back to give her fellow paladin-in-arms room to brace himself as he sat up. "But prelimanary scans show everything functioning normally, aside from your sudden size change."

Keith nodded. That made sense. Other than being sixty-feet tall and not having his voice, he felt fine. Remembering his lack of voice, he caught Pidge's eye and tapped his throat.

She frowned a little and looked back to her scans. "I'm still waiting on medbay's report. This prelim didn't tell me anything about your vocal chords."

He sighed and let his head thunk against the wall. Pidge marched up to him, squeezed herself between his arm and chest, and punched his ribs. Keith blinked and looked down at her, surprised with her brass.

"Don't be stupid and wallow in self-pity. We'll get you fixed. I promise." She smiled up at him. "We can't have Voltron without you."

Heh. Keith couldn't help the little smile that curled his lips. He reached up and, carefully, ruffled the girl's hair. She protested and batted at his hand. He complied and pulled it away, still grinning at her disgruntled expression. She fixed her hair before turning her own smirk up at him.

"See? You can be careful if you want. So quit being a big baby about it. Just relax. Shiro said he's going to bring your mattress in here. You can use it as a pillow."

Keith rolled his eyes. But the thought of somewhere comfortable to lay his head when he slept, if he had to do it at this size, was a pleasant one. He watched as the green paladin sat down and slouched against his side. She made herself comfortable, crossing her legs and resting her head on a softer portion of his suit.

Pidge glanced down at her tablet when it chirped. "Alright. The update's in." They both looked up when the door opened. Shiro and Hunk came through, carrying the mattress.

"Where do you want this?" Shiro asked, grunting as Hunk nearly dropped his end, forcing Shiro to heft his end properly back into his grip.

Keith arched a brow and leaned forward, Pidge not moving from her spot against him, and carefully picked up the mattress. He brought it close and slid it behind his lower back. Relief was evident on his face. The little bit of support it offered went a long way.

Pidge looked over her shoulder at Keith. "Do you want to hear the news?" she asked in a very serious tone.

Keith gave her a flat look. Of course he did. What kind of question was that?

Pidge took a breath, inadvertantly drawing Shiro and Hunk closer with the way she wasn't quite speaking.

"Alright. The scans say..."

Keith managed to get a look at the tablet over her shoulder. His eyebrows disappeared under his bangs. Well, that was unexpected.