Chapter Seven

Ethan, Jack, and Keith stood outside the examination room, Ethan and Keith leaning on opposite walls and Jack restlessly pacing up and down the corridor. Keith had his arms crossed over his chest, his dark eyes turbulent as he stared at the toes of his boots. Ethan's arms were hanging loosely at his sides and his boot tapped an impatient tattoo as they waited for Pidge or Bethie to emerge. Jack had given Keith and Lance a brief report of what had happened at the Castle of Lions but Keith hardly had time to digest it all before he had been hit by this new surprise. Somehow, he had managed to send Matt and Jordan to the desert to get Hunk and Olivia but his brain seemed to be in a slow motion when he considered the possibility that he was about to become a grandfather.

"Pregnant," Keith muttered. "I can't believe this."

"Merla could have been wrong," Jack said.

Keith glared at him. Jack's eyes widened with surprise at the viciousness in that gaze and immediately he knew why Keith was so irritated. The thought of what was going through his uncle's head made his collar feel suddenly tight.

"It's not mine," he said hurriedly.

Keith's eyes narrowed.

"I swear to Riaru, Uncle Keith. The baby's not mine. Bethie and I are just friends."

Keith snorted.

"Yeah, her mother and I were just friends too."

"So, Merla put my Mom under some kind of spell," Ethan said hurriedly, needing to focus on more immediate problems.

"She definitely wasn't herself," Jack said. "Dulled somehow, soulless. You of all people know how lively Aunt Allura usually is and when we saw her...it wasn't her."

"Whatever Merla did to her, it better be reversible," Keith said dangerously.

"Are we still going to go head with attacking the castle?" Ethan asked.

"If we're going to lose this war, I'd rather we went down fighting rather than huddling like cowards," Keith replied.

The silence that followed Keith's words was heavy. The Admiral moved his gaze from his boots to the young man standing across from him, taking in the furrowed brow and thinned lips. It was an expression that was not foreign to him, having seen it in the mirror more than once during his reign and even before that.

"What is it?" he asked his son.

"Well...I know it's the honorable thing for soldiers to die on the battlefield, but the refugees, the others hiding underground, they're not soldiers, Dad."

"We're out of options, Ethan," Jack said. "She wants Arus and Voltron. She wants to take over this planet whether we cooperate or not."

"We're not out of options," Keith said. "It's time that we consider the magic angle."

"I left my magic wand in my other flightsuit," Jack said dryly.

"That's no problem because you've got one standing right next to you."

Jack glanced at his old friend, saw the puzzlement then realization dawn on Ethan's face.

"Those weird feelings," he said. "And what Merla said to Bethie...about how the magic from Mom may have dispersed over the three of us."

"Yes. But I'm not going to tell this more than once."

Keith pushed himself off the wall and rapped lightly on the closed doors. They opened and Pidge stood in the doorway. He gave one nod and Keith's eyes shot to his daughter, who was sitting on the exam table with her head bowed. She looked up when he stepped into the room and their eyes met. Pidge, Ethan, and Jack hovered outside, giving them some space.

"If Mom were here, she would have pulled my hair out by the roots," Bethie said, a corner of her mouth lifting upward, but it barely registered as anything more than a twitch.

"How many weeks are you along?" Keith asked.

"A little over four."

They looked at each other uncomfortably. Keith stared down at his booted feet as Bethie rubbed her still-flat stomach. She'd figured out that it must have been the last time they were together that resulted in this baby. Birth control was never full-proof, at least the ones that did not involve surgery of any sort, and they had been lax the last time. It was that sense of urgency, the need to be together before they were separated, and she wondered if she had realized the risk she had been taking. Maybe it had been a subconscious way to keep Skech with her always, but even the thought that she would always have a piece of him now did not loosen the knot in her chest. She could barely breathe.

"Did you love him?" Keith asked.

"With all my heart. I wanted to tell you and Mom...but it wasn't time for that yet." Bethie paused, stared at her hands. "I guess now we'll never have that chance. Did he...was he in pain when he died, Dad?"

It hurt Keith to see such naked pain on his daughter's face and anger blossomed anew in his chest as he thought of what Merla's invasion had cost them. Bethie had lost her heart and was now left to raise a child alone in an unknown future. She would never know the happiness her mother and mothers before her had experienced to share a child with the man she loved. They stared at each other for a moment before Keith went to her and put his arms around her. She clung to him, unhinged.

"This child won't live in a world that Merla rules," Bethie said vehemently.

"None of mine ever will," Keith said, stroking her dark head. "That child will be born in freedom. I promise you that, Bethie."

Over Keith's shoulder, Bethie stared at a point in the wall, her expression deadening and light slipping away from her sky blue eyes. Little did she know her mother had had the same look on her face the day her parents had died. Bethie thought that she wouldn't be the same after she learned of Skech's death, but now with the knowledge of the child she carried, she was sure of it.

"Dad," she said in a voice that was flat and devoid of emotion. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I never do," Keith said fiercely.

Bethie pulled away from him and gave him a look that was too much like Allura that it hurt.

"Tell me about Mom's magic," she said.

Keith waved Ethan and Jack in. Pidge gave him a wave and went down the hall to his work. This was something he'd heard already and he had a feeling that the smaller the group who knew, the better. Ethan sat next to his sister, putting an arm around her shoulders as Jack began to pace the perimeter of the room. Keith wanted to tell him to sit down, but was sure that would only result in impatient shifting that would drive him even crazier. He focused his attention on his children and let the Black's pilot work off his restlessness.

He told them of the final days before Zarkon's defeat when Lance and Link's wedding had been the staging area for one final, destructive blow to the Alliance and to Arus. The poison that Hagar had unleashed on the wedding guests made up of galactic leaders and Allura, Romelle, and Bandor's part in healing them. He told them how close he had been to dying but all it took was Allura laying her hands on him to bring him back from the precipice. *

"That was the last time she used her magic then," Jack said.

"First and last," Keith affirmed. "Nanny knew more than we realized and we went to her when we had questions about Voltron, but she could not answer many of them. She knew more than us but not as much as we needed. She told us that Allura's blood held powerful magic, but she could not teach her how to use it to its full potential. Unfortunately, the only person she knew who could was Hagar and there was no way Allura was going to have her as a tutor. So...she locked it up and hoped that it would not manifest itself in her children."

"I wonder if Alana's felt anything," Ethan said.

"If she finds the man that Lotor sent her to find, she might have more information that we can use," Jack said.

"We don't have time to wait for her. What did Mom do to harness her power, Dad?" Bethie asked.

"She told me that Nanny led the three of them in meditation and they just...they just tapped into it. I think that the magic is tied to its being needed, but don't ask me to prove that."

"Meditate...I've never meditated a day in my life," Ethan said. "Are there any writings that might help us learn how to do at least that?"

"Some."

Keith put a hand in his pocket and pulled out a datapad, handing it to Bethie.

"Those are the texts that I managed to pull up. Study them and see what you can do. I'm also sending Archent to join you because Lance tells me he felt whatever it was the two of you did."

"Interesting," Ethan said.

"Jack, we need to get back to central control and start planning," Keith said.

"Wait, Dad," Ethan said. "Don't turn this into a kamikaze mission for all of us. We're soldiers, we expect death, but the civilians...you have to find a way to protect them."

Keith wanted to argue with his son, but Ethan's words rang true. He was right and Keith was not too proud to admit that.

"I'll do what I can, Ethan."

Jack started to go, but then he turned and met Bethie's eyes. He reached out and she took his hand, giving it a squeeze. They exchanged a smile and then he let go and trotted after Keith. Ethan looked at his sister.

"You're not going to name the baby Jack, are you? Because he might be your best friend, but I'm your only brother."

Bethie smiled and hugged him. He patted her back reassuringly.

"You'll be a good mother, Bethie. This is just an unexpected turn on the road."

"I know. But I just wish Skech was here to share it with me," she said, but then she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "Enough about that...let's get serious about this meditation business."

Ethan took the datapad from her and called up the first page of their new lesson book. He held it out for both of them to read and they began.