Chapter Text
Keith was asleep when the wristband on his blade suit lit up for the first time in weeks, letting him know he was receiving a video call. The faint lilac glow and gentle buzz had woken Keith up immediately, being used to waking up from a deep sleep to pick up a call from the castle whenever he could. He couldn’t believe it. He thought Kolivan had told everyone that he and Krolia were MIA and probably presumed dead too, and that’s why they hadn’t called. Or more likely they had been calling and Space Signal didn’t extend to Quantum Abysses (Abyssi? What was the plural of Abyss, Keith wondered).
“Krolia!” He yelled, startling himself from his thoughts and her from her watch so badly that she hit her head on the cave’s wall.
“Keith! What has happened?” She panted, eyes frantic.
“They’re calling! They’re calling, we must’ve gotten a signal or they must have- wait I have to pick up before I lose them!” Keith taps his wrist and Lance’s face pops up on the holloscreen.
“Keithers!” He exclaims, and hearing his voice for the first time in weeks sends shivers down Keith’s spine. “Guess what, today Allura and I-”
“Wait Lance, I have to apologize. I’m so sorry I haven’t called these past few weeks. I have a lot to tell you, but I can't imagine what you guys must have thought. I don’t know what Kolivan told you, but last phoebe he sent me on this mission to find one of our spies and it turns out that-”
“Hold up hold up hold up Keith I need to stop you for a sec,” Lance interrupts. “Kolivan didn’t tell us anything, you told Shiro about that mission two days ago. Like, right before you left. Sorry I didnt ask about it right away but I just assumed it went well cause you picked up my call?”
“What? Lance, I haven’t spoken to Shiro since I left for this mission, since before I met-”
“Yeah, Keith, that was two days ago. Do you need me to ask you slower, howwww did it gooooo?”
“Lance, I haven't talked to any of you guys in weeks.”
“Buddy, did you hit your head or something? Are you okay? It’s been awhile since you visited us. Maybe you could wormhole back and let Coran check you out, you’re being weird.”
“I’m not being weird! Lance you’re not listening!”
“I’m listening perfectly fine Keith, thank you very much, it's not my fault that you’re not making any sens-”
“Would you just stop talking for like two seconds and let me explain?” Keith asks, his voice low and panty, the way it gets when he’s really trying to control himself. Lance backs down and motions for Keith to keep going.
“Lance, I found my mom.” Keith says, and Lance smacks both hands over his mouth and makes muffled pained sounds, “I know, its big, but let me keep talking okay?” Lance nods, hands still pressed up against his mouth.
Keith tells Lance all about finding Krolia and escaping the galra base. Lance’s eyes go wide but he keeps his unspoken promise and doesnt interrupt. Keith talks about how they ended up trying to navigate the Quantum Abyss on foot, but they found the space whale and their cave and they’re just… existing for now. The way they have for weeks. He doesn’t mention the memories. The visions. That can wait for, well, probably forever.
“... so, um, yeah, its been a bit since I talked to you guys. I guess… not for you so… well Krolia mentioned that time works differently here.” Keith trails off. His voice is hoarse and he doesn’t know how long he’s been talking. He looks back at his mother, who is sitting patiently, watching Keith with a neutral expression on her face. Lance is staring too. Keith’s cheeks begin to heat up.
When it’s evident that Keith has nothing left to tell, Lance removes his hands from over his mouth. “Well I guess we can rule out another Keith-cussion. And I guess wormholing you to the castle won’t work.”
“Guess not.” Keith says, mouth quirking up just barely.
“I should get everyone else man, they’re gonna want to know what's up.” Lance says, and Keith nods. Lance makes no move to get up.
“Yeah, I’ll go get them but um, are you okay man? That’s like, a lot to happen to a person in just a few weeks.”
“Its-”
“And I know, I know, you’re not a person, you’re a Keith, I know. You’re as emotionally constipated as Hunk is on the goo-only diet. I get it. But seriously, are you okay?”
“I obviously haven’t processed like 90% of this Lance. I’m okay though. I have… time. To be okay. Krolia doesn’t know how long we’re going to be stuck on this thing.” Keith says. Lance’s eyebrows scrunch, but he doesn’t push. Then, he comms for everyone to come to the rec room.
“Not right now Lance,” Keith hears Pidge say over the scratch of the intercom, “I’m working on a new version of my-”
“I have Keith on.” Lance states. Within ticks, everyone is gathered on the couches starting at Keith through Lance’s holloscreen. Pidge is nose-to-nose with Allura, and the two are trying to subtly push each other out of the way in order to have a better view of Keith. Shiro stands behind them and chuckles, pulling Keith’s signal from the small screen to the larger one that they watch movies on. Allura and Pidge settle.
“So Keith,” Shiro begins, and hearing his voice makes Keith’s eyes well up and his throat close, “to what do we owe the pleasure? Your mission go alright?”
“Well, I, um,” Keith struggles, and looks desperately to Lance, who clears his throat.
“Esteemed castle ship colleagues,” Lance begins, “I have gathered you all here today because earlier, I called Keith to tell him about Hairpocalypse: Space Madness. But alas! Instead of recounting the delightful tale of a beautiful princess and a dastardly piece of gum, I got very topsy-turvy news from our dear friend Keith. You guys remember Keith, of course.” Shiro groaned, Allura giggled, and Pidge called out “move on with it!”
Keith watched Lance’s face go from what he called Normal-Lance-Mode to the lesser-exposed and always startling Serious-Paladin-Lance. He told everyone Keith’s story on his behalf, exactly how Keith had told it minus a lot of “umm’s,” and without mentioning who exactly Krolia was.
When he finished, Hunk was already in tears, and Pidge looked like they were about to follow. They turned to Coran, chin wobbling and asked, “have you ever heard of something like this?”
Coran looked exhausted. Keith knew that Prince Lotor was being held in the castle and was still under constant surveillance, and Coran must have had watch duty last. He placed his hand gently on Pidge’s shoulder.
“I have and I haven’t,” he said, “I have, of course, heard of a quantum abyss. I’ve never ventured into one myself though, and I can’t say I know anyone who has. They’re simply too unpredictable.”
“Well do you at least know how Keith can get out?” Hunk asked.
It was then that Krolia decided to speak up. “Keith and I are currently on the best course of action in terms of both chances of survival and departure. This creature-”
“The space whale.” Keith interrupts.
“Yes, that, it has created an atmosphere that is conducive to our survival needs. Additionally, it seems to be following a steady course. We have reason to believe that eventually, this- this whale will lead us to an exit area of the abyss.”
Shiro looks pale. Allura is fidgeting the way she does when she doesn’t have inspiring words for everyone, absently tying Altean Knots in Pidge’s hair. Pidge is looking from Keith to Krolia to Coran and back to Keith again. Hunk is biting his fists. And Lance. Lance is looking right at Keith, smirking the way that he does. The way that he does when he’s about to tell a stupid pun. The way that he does when nothing is wrong.
Keith stares back, furrowing his eyebrows.
“Well Keithy boy,” Lance starts, “looks like you’re in for a whale of a time.” Keith groaned. And then he laughed. He laughed for the first time since one of the other Blades made a pun that, now that he thinks back, reminded him of something that Lance might say. Hunk chuckles too, but he still looks disturbed.
“So, um,” Hunk starts, “how is everything with this Krolia person?” He whispers Krolia’s name because he knows she’s in the room and wants to talk about her anyway. Even Keith knows this move, Hunk uses it to talk about everyone when they’re in the room and it’s not subtle.
Keith freezes. How even is Krolia, besides the fact that she’s his mother? He guesses she’s fine. It’s been really awkward. He tells the team, “uh, besides the fact that she’s my mom, she’s fine. Right?” He turns back to where Krolia is sitting to confirm. Krolia adds with a curt head nod, “yes, I am well.”
Allura’s eyes snap up from where they were focused on Pidge’s hair. And Shiro moves forward towards the screen. “Keith,” he says, “you found her? You- you found your mom on this mission? And that’s not the first thing you said?”
Keith shrugged. “I guess not.” He said.
Shiro begins to rub his temples with his forefingers, making Pidge and Keith smirk.
“Listen guys, I know this is a… weird situation, and none of us really know what’s gonna happen,” Keith starts, “but I dont want to keep you guys, by the looks of Allura’s pajamas and Pidge’s eye bags, it’s late. I’m glad we got to talk.”
“Call us again Keith! Or we’ll call you again!” Hunk yells out.
“Yeah, yeah of course. I can’t reach you guys from here. I tried, uh, a few times and it, you know, didn’t go through so. If you guys ever want to give me a call…” He trailed off, ignoring the voice in his head that was screaming at him to beg them to call, beg them to call and never hang up.
“Listen keith, if you dont hear from us in, say, a month in your space whale time. Then its okay to worry. But we’ll try to at least check in with you every few hours!” Pidge says.
Shiro steps forward. “And, uh, Krolia. You take care of keith for us.”
“Of course.” She answers. “Im not going anywhere this time.”
Lance’s head snaps up at those last two words, just as Keith’s ducks down.
“Goodnight, keith,” lance says. “Or good morning. Or afternoon. Or evening. Dusk, dawn, tiempo para siesta, whatever just, take care man.”
Keith nods and looks up. “I will.” He says, and tries not to let any tears slip through as he watches their feed go out.
“Your teammates are-“ Krolia starts, but then pauses.
Keith feels his hands start to shake. Those are his friends, his family. Those are the people who have stood by him, protected him, let him protect them, taken shots for him. Thats shiro, who took him in and- and if krolia who was never ever even there at all insinuates that theyre anything other than-
“-Charming.” Krolia interrupts his spiral. “I think that is the word your father called me. Years ago. Yes, your friends are very charming people.”
Keith is panting, having let out a breath he had no idea he was holding.
“Yeah, they're uh. Super charming.” He says.
Krolia looks at him the way she has been for days now. Like she’s about to say something but cant even fathom where to start. Keith doesn't know either. Maybe the visions that the abyss keeps sending them have said enough for the both of them. They’ve both been through so much, and they didn’t go through any of it together. What else is there to say?
“Im gonna head to sleep if, uh, it’s alright with you.” Keith says. Krolia nods, says an awkward “goodnight” and turns to go back outside. Keith falls asleep thinking about the castle, and dreams of the upside down pool, Hunk’s scaultrite lens cookies, and Lance’s laugh.