Masquerade
by JoAnn
Quick Disclaimer: Voltron is the property of World Events Productions.
Notes:
"" = spoken ** = thought _ = emphasis [] =
movement I didn’t want to bother with detailing.
This began as kaie’s werecatKeith story. As
you can see, I put my own spin to it, but used the
idea of werecatKeith -- sometimes human, sometimes
cat, sometimes half and half; along with the idea
that one of Keith’s ancestors was a werewolf... I
think there’s some Taryn brand angst mixed in as
well...
In the first part of the story, I flip between
viewpoints. I tried to separate different
viewpoints with a blank line. The general trend
is, first Keith, than someone else, then back to
Keith. Most of the rest of the story is the more
traditional omniscient viewpoint.
___________________
The entire team, Coran, Nanny, and even the
mice are trapped. Lotor is gloating, the Princess
is proclaiming....
Keith tunes them both out, as he struggles
with the ropes that bind him. *How the heck did
Lotor and Haggar get so good suddenly? They
usually don’t think this far ahead and aren’t this
careful... All the mice are trapped in that
force-field bubble, and the rest of us are tied up
too far from one another to help each other.
Besides that, our utility belts are gone, and
Lotor has our Lion-keys... This time, it really
would take a miracle to get us out of here...
unless...*
A deep, rough voice interrupts Lotor's
gloating with a growl, "You didn't do what you
were told to do."
Lotor starts to whine, "I don't see how he
could possibly..."
Keith whips around to glare at the newcomer,
[shifts], snarls, and pounces.
"Keith?" Pidge whispers. One minute, the
scene was familiar, except that _all_ of them were
captured, even down to the mice. Suddenly, this
big, golden-furred cat-like being just _appears_
out of the forest behind Keith and speaks. And then
Keith turns around faster than Pidge has ever
seen _anyone_ move before, breaking with apparent
ease the ropes that had bound him, even as _he_
changed into a black-furred cat-like being...
*Keith's going to have a great deal of explaining
to do... To all of us.*
The two cat-people fight, becoming a blur of
black and gold, accentuated with silver fangs,
steel claws, and deep red blood. It’s over in
minutes. The loser leaps back with a defiant
snarl, coat maroon now, and flees into the
forest. The winner roars his victory to the
stars.
"ohmygod" Lance's sarcasm deserts him. *i'm
sick. Keith just changed into some sort of ..
of.. cat-human cross, tore at that other cat-human
with his _claws_... and all i can think of is how
magnificent he looks with his head thrown back like
that, his mane of hair haloing his face... his
clothes _gone_ with the transformation...*
After savoring his victory, Keith turns his
attention to where Lotor and Haggar stand,
stunned. *I’ve got to get the keys back.* Keith
takes a deep breath *After that fight, I’m in no
shape to deal with Lotor, claw-to-blade.* His dark
eyes narrow thoughtfully. *Maybe I can scare them
off... Menacing. Posturing. Not my usual way of
dealing with interlopers, but I _have_ done it
before. I can do it now...* His eyes narrow
further, and his fur starts to rise. The
bristling begins over his shoulders, then spreads
over the rest of his body. He stalks toward Lotor
in a silence somehow more menacing
than his previous growling.
"eep" Allura's eyes are wide as she watches
the great Black’s sinuous approach. *He looks...
bigger... He still looks like Keith, even with
all that fur, but I have never seen him look so
_passionate_. His eyes burn. If he had ever
turned that look on me...* Allura wrenches her
eyes away, and turns a deep shade of red.
Keith’s nostrils flare as he paces past the
Princess. *What the? .... Pheromones?! From her
about me? Even when I’m like _this_?* He catches
himself before his reaction spills over from his
thoughts to his body language. *Now is not the
time. I have to get close enough to Lotor while
he’s still stunned, and get the Lion keys back.
... I wonder what Lance... No! Duty first.
Besides, he probably doesn’t care...* Keith, now
three paces from Lotor, begins a slow, gruesome
snarl. His head lowers, eyes lock onto Lotor’s,
his muzzle wrinkles, and his lips pull back slowly
to display his impressive teeth.
Lotor is mesmerized by Keith’s stalking, his
focus, and the almost palpable aura of menace
radiating from the captain. All focused on him.
*Now I know how mice feel...* His eyes widen
suddenly in fright as he realizes Keith is barely
an arms length away. He tries to back off and
Keith leaps. “Haggar!” The two tumble to the
ground, rolling.
*Blast it!* Keith growls in disgust.
*Almost... There! I have the keys. Now, to free
the others...* He disentangles himself from
Lotor, and slides over to slice Hunk’s bonds.
“Oh no you don’t, kitty cat,” Haggar cackles.
“Great Lords of the Dark, lend me your strength!”
She raises her arms in supplication, and is
swiftly answered. A surge of dark magic washes
through her; she directs the blast toward Keith.
*Ha! Just what I need. But I can’t take any
chances with the others....* As Haggar chants,
Keith leaps awkwardly away from Hunk, betraying
the wounded state of his body. He whips around
barely in time to face the sorcerous blast.
Before it hits, he smirks at Haggar, and mouths,
“thank you”.
"What is this?" Haggar’s eyes snap open, and
she stumbles back a few steps at the odd [feel] of
her magic... *That foolish boy jumped into my
blast of power!* She starts to grin in triumph.
*So much for the captain of the Voltron force.*
Haggar's eyes widen in fright as she feels energy
now being _pulled_ out of her...
"ahhhh," Keith sighs, head thrown back, ears
flat, eyes almost completely shut, back arched in
pleasure. *It’s been a long, long time since I've
fully _felt_ magic.*
Still in a heap on the ground, Lotor watches
in shock. For a moment he is again mesmerized,
this time by the raw joy radiating from Voltron’s
captain. Abruptly, he realizes that _now_ is
their chance to escape, while Keith’s occupied
with whatever it is... "Snap out of it, witch!
Now is _not_ the time!" Lotor unwittingly breaks
the link between Keith and Haggar with his voice.
*Idiot!* [a small voice, ruthlessly quashed,
wonders if Lotor is talking about Haggar -- or
himself.] *We need to get _out_ of here. If I
didn't need her to get us out...* He rolls to his
feet and starts to back away.
Keith’s eyes snap open at Lotor’s
interference. He shields the Lion keys with his
body while he watches warily, ears pricked, as
Lotor and Haggar hastily retreat. When they are
gone from his senses, he turns to free the nearest
person, Nanny. Who death-glares at him and
struggles away from his touch. “What--?”
"Get away!" *If you think I'm going to trust
you after that... _display_... No _properly_
brought up young man would _ever_ consider acting
like _that_ in front of a _lady_! Prancing around
_naked_ and moving in that _vulgar_ fashion!*
“Humpth!” Nanny’s eyes blaze with self
righteousness, and she does her best to look down
her nose at Keith (hard to do when he’s standing
up and she’s sprawled tied up on the ground, but
this is Nanny.) *Not to mention lying to us
all!* [heaving breath] *The Princess should not
be associating with the likes of you!*
[snort] "Fine, Nanny, if you want to stay tied
up, be my guest," Keith mutters as he backs away
from Nanny's flailing body and glaring eyes.
Turning away, he dismisses her odd reaction in
favor of savoring pleasure. *It's so odd, being
like this now, after being in human form for so
long...* Keith stretches on his way back to Hunk,
luxuriating in the feel of sun on his fur and the
play of fully healing muscle and skin, courtesy of
Haggar’s magic. *It's been so long... It feels
so good to relax. To sense everything fully, and
to be able to move almost properly... Though I
don't want to even _think_ about explaining
this... Maybe if I left them all tied up...*
Keith pauses for a moment over Hunk’s bindings;
claws [snicking] out and in... and then out again,
decisively. *No matter what happens after this,
_now_ I am a captain of the Alliance, and this is
my team....* With one quick swipe, the ropes
tying Hunk’s hands together fall apart. After
handing Hunk
Yellow Lion’s key, Keith swiftly moves to free the
others. *With his hands free, Hunk can untie his
own feet, while I free the others. I’d rather not
linger here.*
"Whew! For a moment there, I thought you were
going to leave us all tied up. Thanks, Keith."
Hunk flexes his arms and legs, watching as Keith
turns to free the others. *When he paused like
that... He has to know we're all his friends --
well, except for maybe Nanny -- we're not going to
turn on him just because he kept a few secrets. No
matter how big those secrets were. Or is that
are...?* “Hey, Keith, you better let someone else
free the mice!” *I trust that you _will_ explain
it all to us. Soon.*
Keith smiled, carefully keeping his teeth
covered. "It would be better for someone else to
handle the mice. And, you're welcome, Hunk" *Why
do I have a bad feeling about that look on his
face?* "I promise to explain everything, just,
let's get back to the castle first." *Everybody
agreed. Thank God, a reprieve. Though, Lance
looks .. strange. And Pidge looks as though I'm
some sort of odd puzzle for him to solve... I
don’t even want to think about Allura or Nanny...
First things first. Cut everybody loose. Pilot
the Black lion back, and then, I guess I'll have
to face the music.* As he idly watches Coran
struggle with Nanny’s bindings, he sighs at the
thought of the explanations to come. *At least I
had enough sense not to let my tail grow out. It
would’ve made piloting Black lion a lot harder...*
The flight back to the castle was oddly quiet,
almost everybody trying hard *not* to think.
__________________
Back at the castle, everybody moves to the
dining room to talk. On the way, Keith swipes a
large sheet and wraps it around himself and
[shifts] back to human form.
Once everybody settles down, Keith, without
preamble, starts his explanation. “One of my
ancestors had been hit with a spell that forced
him to change into an animal with every full moon
-- in other words, he became a werewolf. He was
married at that time, to an understanding woman.
The sons of my ancestor also changed into animals
with the full moon, but not all of them changed
into wolves. And they could keep more of their
human thought processes when they were in animal
form than their father. So, as my ancestor’s
bloodline mingled more with unmagicked humans,
each succeeding generation had more and more
control over their shifts -- the few who did
shapeshift. Part of the training all the children
in the family get is basic training on how to deal
with a first time shape shifting, even though
shifters are rare.”
Smiling slightly, he continues, “I come from a
family of scientists -- my ancestor was cursed
because he refused to believe in magic. But once
he was cursed, he was determined to study his
condition and learn better ways of dealing with
it. And the ways in which it could be useful.”
Keith’s grin turns into a smirk. “I wonder what
the person who laid the curse thought when that
ancestor of mine refused the option of removing
the curse?”
Lance snickers. “So, stubbornness and
strangeness is an familial trait?”
Keith grins. “Yep.” Grin fading, he returns
to his explanation. “My family is very meticulous
-- there are books upon books about each person’s
way of dealing with shifting, and ways of keeping
human thought while in animal form. There are
also many tips on how to hide amongst
nonshapeshifters. People who don’t shift have
historically treated the us badly, reacting with
fear and hatred. So it’s a very strong tradition
in my family to hide that sometimes a shifter is
born. If anyone in my family, shifter or not,
takes a mate where there is any chance of having
children, we tell that person about
shifters. This is the only immutable law of my
family -- after many very bad situations, no one,
not even the nonshifters, take mates who are at
all disturbed by the notion.” The dark look on
Keith’s face, and the underlying growl to his
voice causes everybody to recoil slightly.
Keith shakes himself, and goes on. “At any
rate, there are multiple copies of every book of
the family archive. The books are stored in
several different places and planets, so that all
who need them can read them, and that there is
less chance of the knowledge being lost. One of
the requirements for all the shapeshifters is
keeping a journal of their life, writing down the
ways they deal with the family curse so that later
generations can learn. Copies of the journal are
sent periodically to the storage sites. Each
storage site is considered a neutral meeting
place, always having the potential that many
shapeshifters may meet there.”
Keith lips quirk upward in something that is
not a smile. “One unfortunate side effect of
shape shifting is that all the shapeshifters (and
some of the nonshifters) are extremely
territorial. Part of the territoriality stems from
the fact that most of us shift into predator
animals. Another reason is that shapeshifters
require magic to keep control of their shifting.
In this day and age, magic-carriers are rare, and
magic-users are even rarer. As such, they are
guarded jealously. That was what happened today
-- Hyrrar -- the gold cat -- was in my territory
and feeding off of one of my major sources of
magic -- so my instincts took over. Generally
speaking, unless a shapeshifter is prepared to
meet another, they will attack once they sense
another shifter. Hyrrar was expecting me, so he
could control his instinctual need to attack me,
but I wasn’t expecting him, so I didn’t control
myself. Before you ask, my guess is that Hyrrar
risked speaking at that clearing because
he thought he was more skilled than I was. He
knew that I’ve been pretty much locked in my human
form. He expected me to be out of practice with
battle, shifter style. And he expected some
preliminaries -- most shifters do a warning off of
some kind: growling, snarling -- posturing before
a fight.” Keith shrugs, an aura of danger
radiating from him for a moment, before
subsiding. “I have always thought those were a
waste of time, and so I taught myself to skip all
of that.”
Lance remarks thoughtfully, “Somehow, I’m not
surprised by your view on preliminaries...” Keith
twitches in embarrassment, but keeps himself from
flushing, and refuses to respond to the gibe.
Tilting his head to the side, Pidge asks with
an air of scientific detachment, “Are you out of
practice?”
Gratefully turning his attention to Pidge,
Keith grins ferally for a moment, “No, I’m not.”
Keith’s grin disappears as his face smoothes out
to his usual mask of calmness. “I need a lot less
sleep than normal humans. While I was at the
academy, I learned how to sneak in and out of high
security places so that I could shift and practice
fighting in my
other forms. Once I figured out the trick of it,
sneaking out of any of the other places I was at
was a piece of cake.”
Puzzled, Hunk wonders, “If shapeshifters fight
whenever they meet out of those neutral places,
how come they aren’t discovered more often? And,
how many shapeshifters are there in the Alliance?”
Keith shrugs. “Shapeshifters don’t always fight
when they meet. We’re territorial, not
homicidal. If a shapeshifter knows another is
coming, steps can be taken to quell the instincts
before the two meet. Also, the more skilled
shapeshifters can hide their presence from the
lesser skilled shapeshifters. So I can’t tell you
how many shifters there are in the Alliance. I
can tell you that not many would do what I did.
There is too much close contact with nonshifters
as an officer in the Alliance, especially while in
training, which leaves very little time for
shifting. For shapeshifters, the most natural
form, despite the fact that we began life
completely human, is our half-human, half-animal
form. Shifting is sort
of like having a craving for chocolate -- it’s not
necessary for life, but it is hard to resist the
temptation.”
Pausing, Keith quickly glances around. He
stands up, absent-mindedly letting the sheet he
was swaddled in fall to the ground. Not willing
to look anyone in the eye, he speaks quietly
toward a wall. “There you have it. I think you
have enough information to decide if you are
willing to let me stay. I’ll be in the library;
let me know what you decide.” Keith hesitates for
a moment. “To be complete, you ought to see my
fully animal form. I didn’t show you earlier
because in that form, my jaw isn’t formed in a way
that allows me human speech.” With that, he
[shifts], becoming a large black mountain lion,
and pads off. Still carefully not looking at
anyone.
Comments for JoAnn should be sent to
me with either JoAnn's name or "Masquerade" in the subject line. I'll forward them
immediately to her without looking. Arigato.
On to Part 2
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