Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

     Keith swept through the living room, deaf to Mom’s greeting, fury burning in his chest as he took the stairs two at a time, still unslinging his backpack from his shoulders. He dumped it in the hallway just outside his and Matt’s bedroom door (even though Matt only used the room on weekends since his acceptance into the Galaxy Garrison three years ago), but it was his little sister’s room that he burst into. 

     “Who do I need to punch?!” the fifteen-year-old demanded.

     Katie shifted in her seat at her desk, turning so that he could just see her face, her expression a strange mixture of annoyance, pain, and just the slightest hint of relief, her eyes significantly more red than she would ever admit. “No-one, Keith,” she grumbled, turning back to stare at the laminate surface. “It’s nothing.”

     “Don’t give me that, Katie; I heard about what happened! You ditched me at school without saying anything and you expect me to believe you’re not upset?!!”

     “I said it’s fine, Keith!” the twelve-year-old snapped back, annoyance shifting to anger as she twisted towards him. “It’s just some stupid jerk calling me a nerd; it’s not like it’s never happened before! I should be used to this, I should… I shouldn’t be this torn up about it.”

     The older teen felt some of the tension slide out of him as his little sister deflated, slumping into her chair with her chin resting on her folded arms. With a quiet sigh, he picked his way through the inevitable mess her room always turned into and crouched beside her, gently rubbing her back. 

     “It shouldn’t be a big deal. Why does his opinion even matter?” Katie huffed without meeting his eyes, frustration apparent as her hands squeezed her upper arms. 

     “I’m still up to punching him if it’ll help you feel better.”

     His sister didn’t even glance at him. “No. He’s not worth you getting suspended. Again.”

     “Hey, that was one time.”

     “This year, maybe.”

     “Why did I even bother coming to cheer you up?” Keith deadpanned, but at least it pulled a smirk, however small, out of his kid sister.

     “Am I too late to join in?”

     The quiet voice drew both their eyes to the doorway, where Matt stood with a small smile on his face and three carefully-balanced plates of strawberry shortcake in his hands. When he wasn’t denied, their older brother carefully waded through the mess to join them, nodding in thanks when Keith stepped up to take a couple of the plates of cake off his hands and lay one on the desk before snagging a forkful of the other. 

     “How we doin’, Pidge?” Matt asked gently, leaning against the desk beside her.

     “I hate it when you call me that,” she replied, still staring at its surface; it was obviously more of a knee-jerk reaction than anything else. 

     “Sorry. How we doin’, Katie?” he corrected himself. 

     She groaned, slowly straightening up in her chair before flopping backwards, staring ceiling-ward. “I don’t know,” she mumbled. “It’s like I told Keith: it’s not like I haven’t heard it before. Why is being called a nerd this time any worse than all the others?”

     “Maybe because this time other people laughed?” Matt offered. 

     Katie cringed, curling in on herself. “Yeah. That might be some of it. And the teacher didn’t try to stop them.”

     “Sho I nee’a pu’sh ‘e tea’sher?”

     “Keith, don’t get expelled. That won’t look good on your Garrison application.”

     The older boy swallowed his mouthful of cake and offered a shrug. “You’d be worth it.”

     Katie rolled her eyes at him, although the corner of her mouth did twitch again. 

     Matt laughed quietly. “Keith, when did you get better than me at cheering her up?”

     “You’ve been at a military boarding school; it’s not my fault you’ve lost your edge.”

     Matt and Katie chuckled at that, the latter scrubbing the last remnants of tears from her eyes. “Well, I guess if you’ve taken over my job here, then there’s no reason for me to share the news,” the eldest of the Holts sighed melodramatically, taking his plate of cake and shoveling an oversized bite into his mouth. 

     “Wait, what news?!” Katie exclaimed, jolting to her feet, eyes immediately fixed on him. Keith’s were, too; they both knew there was only one bit of news that Matt was waiting on right now. 

     “Oh, nothing much,” their big brother shrugged, affecting casualness as he stabbed his slice of cake once again. “Just that I made it into the Galaxy Garrison’s advanced program.”

     Katie immediately squealed--drawing a slight wince from Keith at the shrillness of the sound--and leaped to her feet, throwing herself into Matt’s arms and nearly making him drop his plate in the process. She was a little too big to give him a Koala Hug TM anymore, but the principle was still there in the strength of her grapple. “Oh man, this is amazing!! I’m so excited for you!!” Katie laughed, stepping back to give Keith a turn. 

     “Good work, genius,” he murmured, squeezing the taller boy. 

     “I mean, I assume it was my genius. Unless, you know, it was my good looks or big muscles.”

     Keith snorted, pulling back. “Oh yeah, you could take on a bear with those.” 

     “Ah, so you concede that I have good looks?” Matt grinned mischievously, waggling his eyebrows.

     “I know what you’re angling for and the answer is still ‘no’,” his brother rolled his eyes, tone flat as he reclaimed his cake. “I’m not gonna help you ask out Maria Sanchez.”

     “Why not?!” the older boy wailed in dramatic fashion, flopping across the desk and forcing Katie to snatch her piece of cake out of the way to prevent him from knocking it off.

     “Because the only way I will ever wear a cupid outfit is under penalty of death. Maybe not even then. Besides, I’m pretty sure romantic relationships between officers and students are frowned upon.”

     “I’m not an officer yet,” Matt huffed, propping himself back up and taking another bite of his dessert. “Heck, I’m not even eighteen. I’ve still got time for an angsty teenage romance if I want one.”

     “Uh-huh. I’ll believe that when you actually get a girlfriend.”

     “Rude!” 

     “He’s got a point, though.”

     “Katie! Who’s side are you on here?!”

     Their little sister giggled, rummaging through one of the various piles on her floor and withdrawing a heavy textbook with a noise of triumph.

     “What are you doing?” Matt asked as she dropped it on her desk and dropped herself into her chair.

     “Studying! So I can get into the Garrison with you and Dad!”

     Keith and Matt exchanged quick grins over their sister’s head. “See?” the elder smirked, ruffling her hair. “There’s advantages to being a nerd.”

     “Yeah, yeah, you told me so,” Katie rolled her eyes at them, but she was smiling. “Now leave me in peace to eat my cake.”

     “Don’t study for too long!” Matt waved as the brothers headed towards the door with their own cleared plates.

     “Did those words actually just come out of your mouth?” Keith deadpanned.

     “What? Mom said something about a celebration feast! Apparently even Shiro’s coming, and it’s not a family dinner without the whole family!”

     “Fair enough,” Keith snorted. “See you in a bit, Katie!”

     “Mmm!” was about all she managed through the cake in her mouth. 

     “So, have you started thinking about your entrance exam yet?” Matt said with a much-too-innocent smile.

     “Of course I’ve been thinking about it,” his little brother scoffed.

     “Yeah? How’re you feeling about it?”

     Keith shrugged. “Okay I guess? I’ve taken all of the classes Dad recommended, I’ve kept my grades up, and Shiro took me to the Garrison to try out the sims and he said I did well, so-”

     “Just ‘well’?” Matt scoffed. “That’s not how I heard it. I believe the phrases Shiro used were ‘absolutely incredible’ and ‘never seen anyone pick it up that fast’. I think the words ‘prodigy’ and ‘natural’ might have gotten thrown out somewhere in the conversation, too.”

     The younger boy flushed, ducking his head a little bit. “Yeah, so anyway, that probably means I’m in good shape, right?” he mumbled.

     Matt chuckled at his little brother’s embarrassment before his expression softened. “Just probably, huh?”

     “I am a bit worried about my suspensions,” Keith admitted. “I don’t regret it--those jerks deserved every punch--but it’s still dirt on my records and I don’t know how the Garrison’s gonna take it.”

     “I don’t think it’ll be a problem,” his brother hummed. “The Garrison is where Earth’s defenders are trained, right? So tell them what you just told me in your interview. You stood up for yourself and others and accepted the consequences.”

      “Ugh, thanks for reminding me about the interview part,” Keith groaned.

     “You’re welcome,” Matt smirked. “Well, when the inevitable freak-out hits, just be sure to talk to me, Dad, or Shiro, got it?”

     “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

     “I am confident in you!”

     “Mm.”

     “Hey.”

     Keith blinked as Matt stepped directly in front of him, taking the plate from his hand to set against the sofa arm and then lightly gripping his upper arms, forcing him to meet his smiling, liquid gold eyes. “You’re going to rock this, Keith. I know it. Dad knows it. Shiro definitely knows it. The only person who has any doubts about the matter is you. So when you get lost in that head of yours, come talk to one of us before you psych yourself out. Got it?”

     Slowly, Keith felt a small smile curl his lips, a tension he didn’t even know was there slipping from his shoulders. “Thanks, Matt.”

     “Anytime, baby bro. Now come on; Mom’s making garlic knots!”

.oOo.

     “I can’t do this.”

     Matt sighed, his expression one of absolute exasperation, as he glanced up at the clock. “Keith, I know I asked you to come talk to us when this happened, but did you have to freak out two minutes before going into the sim? You were just fine before your interview-!”

     “Don’t act like I planned it this way!” Keith snapped, his gait a little frantic in his effort to work off even a small amount of his nervous energy. “I wasn’t being interviewed by half the Garrison!!”

     “Sorry,” Shiro grimaced, watching him pace. “Word got out about your practice sim and, well…”

     “They all wanna see the kid who beat your entrance scores without breaking a sweat with their own eyes, huh?”

     “Matt, that is not helping take the pressure off!” Keith hissed. “I don’t know how I beat Shiro’s score!! It was probably a total fluke; it’s not like I’m anything special!!”

     “Keith-”

     “I’m going to crash and burn in the first ten seconds and they’re going to know I was never supposed to be in the Garrison to begin with-”

      “Keith-!”

     “-or worse they’ll think I cheated and I’ll get thrown out on my ear and oh gosh, what if they implicate Dad or you guys-”

     “I apologize in advance for this.”

     “-and you lose your chance at Kerberos-!”

      Thud!

     WHAM!!

     “Ow!”

     Keith froze, fist still clenched, arm still thrown out where he had landed a punch right across Matt’s cheek, the lankier boy staggering as he struggled to get his balance back, Shiro’s hands half-extended in an aborted movement to prevent whatever-the-heck just happened. 

     “I just hit you,” Keith blinked after a solid ten seconds.

     “That you did,” Matt agreed.

     “Why did I-? Did you hit me?”

     “Compared to that punch? I don’t think mine counts.”

     “Why…? Why would you do that.”

     “I was trying to snap you out of your spiral.”

     “Oh.” Keith looked down at his hand, steady and unshaking. “I think it worked.”

     “Glad to hear it.”

     “Don’t do that again.”

     “Oh, trust me, there is no danger of that,” his older brother groaned, slowly working his jaw as he prodded what would doubtless become a very painful bruise over the course of the next day or so.

      “Next candidate, Keith Holt Kogane,” a slightly tinny voice announced over the speaker system.

     “Just in time,” Shiro managed, shaking his head slowly, his expression caught somewhere between disbelief, distress, and resignation. Still, his charcoal eyes softened into a quiet smile when the younger boy turned towards him. “You’ve got this, Keith. Just relax, and show them what you’re capable of.”

     “Go get ’em, tiger,” Matt smirked--then winced, massaging his jaw again.

     Almost half an hour later, Keith stepped out of the simulator to roaring applause and the proud grins of his family.

     “Toldja so,” Matt teased, lightly shoving his shoulder.

     “Yeah,” Keith huffed a laugh, glancing up at the new high score with the name ‘K. Kogane’ on the display. “You told me so.”

Chapter Text

     Keith’s first impression of the Garrison: it was incredibly, sometimes even painfully, boring. 

     Well okay, so the math and science courses were far more interesting than his old advanced placement classes, or at least the topics were. But the lectures themselves were so dry. Keith would take one of their family debates around the dinner table any day. Especially since his family’s dinner conversations didn’t involve hours upon hours of graded busy work. And the writing and history courses? Those were simply mind-numbing. 

     The simulators weren’t a reprieve either. Even though everyone had already been placed into classes--only generally at this point, in terms of pilot, engineer, and communications--everyone had to take basic piloting classes. The idea was that if the pilot were to be incapacitated on a mission, any of the other crew members should be able to take over long enough to at least land the ship safely. 

     It made perfect logical sense and Keith appreciated the Garrison’s efforts to be prepared--they were having the pilots take basic crossover classes in engineering and communications, too. But spending his first few weeks in the simulator adjusting his flight angle by five degrees at a time for over two hours on the daily was nearly enough to make him throw the virtual plane into barrel rolls and loop-the-loops just to see how everyone would react. It was only Shiro’s and Commander Iverson’s presences in the simulator room that kept him in check during those moments. 

      Back when Keith first joined the Holt family as a foster kid, his birth mother’s lack of presence on any official records led Admiral Sanda to believe he was a security risk. She tried to make the Holts give him up, but they refused, saying they’d quit the Garrison entirely if she insisted. It wasn’t until months later that his family learned that Iverson had stood up for him as well, arguing that losing the Holts was a bigger risk to international security than allowing a nine year old boy into their home. Somehow, he managed to win over enough support that when a vote was taken, Keith was permitted to stay.

     So instead of pushing the limits of the instructors’ patience, he practiced his own, chanting the “Patience yields focus” mantra Shiro so often used during their martial arts lessons and throwing himself into P.T. every day after the sims in a frantic effort to work off his pent-up energy. Even if he could be an annoying, by-the-book stick-in-the-mud, Iverson’s efforts to protect Keith’s family meant he deserved at least that much respect. 

     Still, if he had to endure this for the next three years, he was going to snap.

     His family noticed, of course, and they did their best to help. They couldn’t get him out of drills--at least, not without getting in trouble for nepotism--but they found other ways to help him vent his frustration. Matt took to seeking Keith out during lunch or free period, helping him finish his assignments and using him as a sounding board for whatever project the Garrison had him working on. Dad would join them when he could, but he often had meetings around that time of day, so that was less often than any of them liked. And even when he could join, it still wasn’t the same without Katie and Mom, but it helped Keith to control his occasional impulse to throw his tablet against the wall.

     It was more common for Dad to find Keith at the end of the day, plunk down a mug of hot chocolate or tea for Keith and coffee for himself, and then begin ranting about how frustrating the top brass were being or whatever issue he was having with a particular project. It was an open invitation to commiserate, and more often than not the boy would accept it.

     What helped the most was when Shiro began asking him to spar every few days. Although his intense workouts did help soothe his frayed nerves, there was nothing quite like a fight to make Keith cool down and get his head on straight. Of course, after nearly six years of self-defense lessons, Keith knew Shiro’s fighting style pretty well, and seeing as Shiro had taught him most of what he knew, the reverse also held true. So, rather than stick to the same old routine, the younger boy began experimenting, throwing in crazy ideas he’d seen online or in movies--half of which didn’t work and the other half of which he didn’t expect to work, but somehow did--adding some more acrobatic twists and leaps, and generally working out all of his boredom as unconventionally as he could think to do. 

     Keith had to admit though, he didn’t expect to start gathering an audience during their sessions. In fact, it rather startled him the first time he pulled off a risky leap to dodge Shiro’s latest strike and someone started clapping--enough so that Shiro managed to take him off guard and put him in a headlock a few seconds later. Within a matter of weeks, they would have anywhere from five to twenty people in the gym just… watching them train. 

     Frankly, all of the extra attention made the teen more than a little uncomfortable. He got more than enough from his simulator scores already. 

     After a few weeks, the pilot students were given more advanced lessons and a little more time and leeway to practice on their own. Keith… may have gone overboard that first day. He just felt free every second that he was in the air, even if it was only virtually for now. Being allowed to direct the simulator without any restrictions, at any speed he wanted, taking hairpin turns and controlling the virtual plane in rolls and loops that, Shiro told him later, took most pilots years to master-

     Well. Suffice it to say, Keith loved flying, and a lot of people noticed--for good and for ill.

     By the end of his first year, Keith had gained quite a reputation as both a show-off and a teacher’s pet among his fellow cadets. They seemed to take offense at the fact that he was getting private attention not only from the esteemed Lieutenant Shirogane, but Commander Holt and even Commander Iverson to some extent. Keith didn’t bother explaining that Commander Holt was his dad, nor that he and Shiro had a history. He got the feeling that would just give his critics more ammunition rather than less. It meant that Keith didn’t really have friends beyond Shiro and Matt, but that wasn’t really anything new. And anyway, he’d rather debate theoretical physics with Matt or race hoverbikes with Shiro than deal with those judgmental morons any day.

     Things changed at the beginning of his second year, though.

     “I said to leave him alone!”

     Keith froze mid-step, glancing around the hallway. A small crowd had gathered near one of the first year classrooms, with a group of boys at its center. One was a tall, lanky kid with dark skin, standing in front of an even taller and darker-skinned, heavy-set guy with hunched shoulders and downcast eyes. Both were wearing orange jackets without stripes, the mark of a first-year cadet. The skinny one was obviously the speaker, standing protectively in front of the taller boy with his hands clenched at his sides and his jaw set in fury.

     “Or what?” a blonde facing away from Keith sneered, flanked by a hulking creep with black hair and a brunette with a weasel-y build. “Gonna run back to Mexico and cry to mommy?” 

     The lanky boy immediately bristled, his expression a mixture of rage and something like embarrassment. “If you’re gonna bully me for my race, at least get it right,” he snapped. “I’m from Cuba, you-!”

     The boy cut himself off as Keith slipped in between him and the trio of bullies. “This is your only warning,” he growled, dark amethyst eyes burning as he glared up at them. “Back off and get to class.”

     “What, you think being a second-year is gonna make us listen to you, pipsqueak?” the dark-haired punk with bloated muscles taunted next after getting over his surprise, his eyes flicking over Keith’s single-striped uniform.

     “What, you think being taller than me will make those muscles any less useless?” Keith leveled him with a flat glare, inserting a scathing edge into his voice. 

     The guy growled, flushing angrily as several faces in the crowd snickered. “Just get out of our way, runt,” he hissed, shoving Keith’s shoulder.

     Or, well, trying to.

     Just before his hand made contact, Keith subtly shifted his weight, causing the bully to stumble when he wasn’t met with any real resistance. In the same movement, his hand snapped up to snatch his assailant’s wrist, twisted it behind the bully’s back, locked his arm, grabbed his shoulder, swept his feet and took him to the floor--all in less than two seconds. 

     “Oof!!”

     “Holy crow!” the Cuban boy yelped, stumbling back at the blistering speed of his attack. 

     “Dustin!” the skinny brunette bully shrieked, although he didn’t attempt to jump in himself.

     “Oh gosh! Oh gosh are you okay I mean obviously you’re okay, the other guy doesn’t look so okay, but I mean I guess he was asking for it-”

     “Alright, break it up!” a stern, familiar voice barked. 

     Keith growled low in his throat, his instincts balking at the thought of letting this creep walk away now that he had him restrained. Patience yields focus. The teen forced himself to take a slow, deep breath, then released the bully’s arm and climbed to his feet.

     “What is this all about?” Iverson demanded, glowering directly at him with a one-eyed gaze.

     “This brat picked a fight with us!” the blonde snarled before Keith could respond, pointing accusingly at him.

      “He picked a fight? You jerks were the ones harassing me and Hunk!” the Latino boy jumped instantly to his defense. “‘Sides, you attacked him first!”

     “Shut it, donkeys! Now explain yourself!” the Commander growled.

     Keith lifted his chin to meet the older man’s eyes, completely unapologetic. “I encountered an incident of bullying and came to the defense of the victims. When this guy-” he jerked his thumb towards the blackette “-tried to get physical, I restrained him.” 

     “Get physical, all I did was push you!”

      “Dude!”

     “So you admit to fighting then?” Iverson growled, glaring at the trio. 

     “Er-”

     “Come with me. All four of you.”

     “Yessir,” Keith agreed, falling into step behind the Commander. He’d most likely get written up for fighting, but he didn’t regret stepping in. He would never regret standing up to bullies. 

     “S-Sir!”

     Iverson turned back, glaring warningly at the speaker. The Latino boy in question flushed, but stood tall regardless, shifting into a more formal parade attention position. “Sir, may Hunk and I accompany you as well? To- To testify or… something?”

     Keith stared at the boy, reappraising him. He looked nervous, a slight tremor to the hands hanging at his sides, but his gaze was steady, and there was a trace of fire in those dark eyes.

     Huh. Interesting. Keith had defended people in the past, but aside from Katie, none of them had ever tried to return the favor.

     Iverson’s expression softened, so minimally that Keith wasn’t sure he hadn’t imagined it. “No need,” he replied, gruff. “Get to your next class; I’ll call on you if we need clarification of the security footage.”

     The first year hesitated, glancing towards Keith. The older teen shrugged. Perhaps not the most reassuring gesture, but he’d jumped in knowing there would be consequences. And anyway, Keith knew Iverson well enough to trust that he would at least hear him out. 

     The Latino boy deflated slightly, dark eyes flicking back to the Commander. “Yes sir.”

.oOo.

     “Heard you had a packed morning.”

     Keith glared at Matt as his brother plopped down in front of him, honey eyes dancing with amusement. “Shut up,” the teen growled back, stabbing at his spaghetti. 

     “Fine, fine. But I don’t speak for Katie.”

     “Ugh, don’t remind me,” Keith groaned, slumping back in his chair. “She’s never gonna let me live this down.”

     “No she is not,” Matt agreed, grinning unrepentantly. “Your first suspension at the Garrison! But hey, at least it’s only a day; heard the other guy got a week.”

     “Yeah,” his brother grumbled, “but the other two didn’t get any.”

     “Well that’s dumb. Who made that call?”

     “The top brass; who else?”

     “Morons,” Matt muttered under his breath. “Dad take it okay?”

     “He wasn’t happy with the general if that’s what you mean. But he wasn’t too upset with me.”

     “Mm. Sounds about right. Well, you wanna talk about it, or would you rather have a distraction?”

     “Distraction,” Keith replied immediately, straightening up and grabbing his fork. Then he allowed himself a small, wicked smirk as a thought occurred to him. “How about you? Is it official yet?”

     “Is what official?” Matt blinked, a piece of garlic bread half-way to his mouth. 

     “Kerberos, of course.”

     Matt inhaled sharply, choked on his food, and fell into a violent series of coughs. “What?!” he gasped once he finally had his breath back.

     “You think I didn’t know you applied?” his little brother grinned. “Shiro and Dad are basically locks for the pilot and chief science officer positions. The big question is who’ll take the junior science officer position. And where dad’s background is largely in engineering, it sure wouldn’t hurt to have someone with a stronger communications background.”

     Matt flushed, his eyes fixated on his food. “I’m still a brand new officer,” he muttered. “Barely a corporal. The chances that I actually make it are a million to one.”

     “Hey,” Keith lightly tapped the table to grab his attention. “You’re going to rock this. So when you get lost in your head, come talk to me before you psych yourself out. Got it?”

     That drew a small smile out of his brother. “That sounds familiar.”

     “You’ve given me some good advice.”

     “D’aww, thanks baby bro. Just don’t punch me again; I don’t think I can take another hit like that.”

     “That was your own fault, you jerk!”

     “Oh hey! You made it out okay!” a voice broke through Matt’s laughter. 

     Keith looked up, surprised, to where a pair of familiar, dark-skinned young men were standing by the table, clutching their lunch trays. 

     “Thanks for helping us out earlier, man, seriously. I hope you didn’t get in too much trouble,” the Latino boy grinned, dropping his tray on their table and sliding into one of the free seats.

     “Oh, so you’re the guys Keith got himself suspended for!”

      “Suspended?!” the heavy-set guy squawked, scrambling into a seat of his own while Keith flushed, ducking his head behind his hand and shooting a withering glare at Matt that didn’t bother him in the slightest. “Are you okay?! Why did they suspend you?! Well, okay, I guess you did hit that guy pretty hard- Or I guess you didn’t hit him, exactly? What’s the right term for a takedown like that? Would you say that you took him down hard instead, or body-slammed him or-?”

     “Hunk, hermano, take it easy; don’t overwhelm the guy,” his friend chuckled, before something more serious slipped into his expression. “Seriously though, that’s real dumb. Are you okay? That jerk didn’t hurt you, did he?”

     “N-No, I’m fine. Um. Are you… okay?” Keith asked, internally cringing at his own awkwardness.

     The Latino boy grimaced. “Yeah, we’ll be fine; it was nothing we haven’t heard before.”

     Matt hissed through his teeth. “Doesn’t mean the words don’t stick with you. Anything I can do?”

     “Er, no, sir, thank you, sir,” the Polynesian guy smiled nervously, his hand twitching towards his temple in an aborted salute.

     “Ew, knock off the ‘sir’ thing would you? I’m not nearly old enough for that,” Matt wrinkled his nose. “Just call me Matt; no need to be formal.”

     “Lance,” the Latino kid grinned, extending a hand to shake. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

     “M-My name’s Hunk,” his friend added, offering a shy smile. Then three expectant sets of eyes turned towards Keith. 

     He blinked back, having just shoved a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth. 

     “Ah. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered,” Matt nodded, a spark of mischief flaring in his eyes as he rose to his feet and moved to stand over the younger teen’s shoulder. Keith swallowed quickly, then twisted to glare warningly at hi-

     “My name is Keith. I’m so emo.”

     For a split second, the table fell dead silent. 

     Then Lance burst out laughing and Hunk snorted--then immediately clapped a hand over his mouth and shot Keith a wide-eyed, apologetic look that did nothing to cool the heat rising in his face. He managed to land a punch to a cackling Matt’s shoulder, but the older teen was already dodging backward, so it didn’t land nearly as hard as he deserved. 

     “That’s it; I’m out,” Keith grumbled, fighting valiantly to ignore his blush as he stood up and grabbed his tray to put in the dish line.

     “Nonono, Keith, come back!!” Matt cried, chasing him. “I’ll be good, I promise!”

     “Oh yes, your track record for such promises is very reassuring.”

     “Oh come on, you know you love me.”

     “Nope. Not anymore.”

     “How dare you say such a thing to your own brother!”

     “I’m disowning you. Shiro’s my only brother now.”

     “Noooo!! Keeeiiith!! I’m sorryyyy!!!!”

Chapter Text

     “Hey guys!”

     Keith glanced up from his tablet as Lance ran into the cafeteria several weeks later, dropping his tray on the table.

     “’As mm?” Matt hummed questioningly through a mouthful of burrito.

     “Did you hear the news?!”

     “What news?”

      “The news! Oh come on, Mullet; how could you not have heard about this?!”

     Keith rolled his eyes. Obviously they weren’t going to get a straight answer out of Lance, so instead he turned to Hunk. “What is he going on about?” 

     “Oh,” the Polynesian boy sighed with the weariness of someone who’d been hearing Lance’s news repeated all day. “Apparently someone beat Lieutenant Shirogane’s all-time sim record.”

     “Don’t say it like it’s just a rumor, Hunk! You saw it in the sim room as clearly as I did! ‘New Record: K. Kogane’! Someone actually broke it!!”

     “Oh. Um. Well,” Keith managed, heat crawling up the back of his neck as Matt choked on both his lunch and his laughter. “That’s… big.”

     “Oh come on, Keith, that’s all you have to say!?” Lance cried, slamming his hands down on either side of his tray, practically vibrating with excitement. “This is Shiro we’re talking about!! You know, the youngest pilot in history to lead a mission into space?! And someone beat his record!! Whoever this Kogane guy is, he’s gotta be incredible!!”

     “Oh does he now?” Matt gasped breathlessly, wiping his eyes and fighting a grin as he recovered from his choking attack.

     “Yeah!” Lance continued with oblivious enthusiasm. “Come on, Keith, I know you’re in the piloting program, too! Is this guy in your year? Because I know he’s not in ours! Or I guess he’s probably a third-year, right?”

     “Well, uh-”

     “He’s in Keith’s year.”

     “You know him!?” 

     “Oh yeah, he and I go way back,” Matt grinned, unable to contain himself.

     Lance paused. Frowned. Leaned forward. Squinted suspiciously. “Are you punking me right now?”

     “No, no! I really do know him!” the young officer protested, although the snickering didn’t give him much credibility. “He’s been my best friend for seven years now!”

     “Wait, but I thought Keith was your best friend?” Hunk cut in, glancing between them curiously, then frowning as Matt cackled.

     Keith groaned, burying his rapidly-reddening face in his hands. “Matt-”

     “I c-can have more than one best friend! Katie’s my- my best friend too!” Matt gasped between giggles.

     “Wait, who’s Katie?”

     “You can ask him later, Hunk; we’re getting off-topic here! Keith, is he for real? Does Matt actually know this guy?! Wait, do you!?”

     “Lance-”

     “C-Come on, Keith,” his brother wheezed. “Are you- Y-You gonna tell him, or should I?” 

     “Why does anyone have to tell him?!”

     “Okay, well now I’m getting curious,” Hunk spoke up, leaning forward. “What’s the big secret here?”

     Keith dropped his face tiredly onto his arms, wishing the heat in his cheeks would just die already. Well, might as well rip the bandaid off before he lost any more dignity. “My name,” he mumbled, resigned. 

     “Your name? What about it?”

     “My name is Keith Kogane.”

     Silence. 

      “WHAT!?” Lance shrieked over Matt’s howling. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US!!!”

     “Look, it’s not that big a deal!” Keith protested, glancing around the cafeteria to where several heads were twisting towards them. 

     “NOT THAT BIG A DEAL?! YOU BEAT SHIR-!!!”

     “Shut up, Lance!!” Keith snarled, shooting out of his seat and clapping a hand over the boy’s big mouth. 

     And shut up he did, surprise and something like hurt flicking across his face. Hunk was staring at them, jaw dropped and brown eyes wide. Even Matt had fallen (mostly) quiet. Ocean eyes blinked at Keith, then narrowed. With deliberate slowness, the younger boy reached up and plucked his wrist away. “Alright,” he frowned, arms folded across his chest as he dropped into his seat. “What’s going on.”

     Keith groaned and fell back in his chair as well. “Can we please just leave it at ‘I don’t want to talk about it’?”

     “Yeah, no. That reaction was out-there even for you. What’s got you so riled up?”

     “Lance-”

     “Nope, you are not getting out of this.”

     “It’s already on the leaderboard anyway,” Hunk pointed out reasonably. “Anyone who knows your last name is gonna put it together eventually. And, you know, military institute and all; most people call each other by their last names here. It’s gonna make the rounds whether you like it or not.”

     “Come on, Keith,” Lance prompted when the older boy remained quiet. “You’ve made history here. Aren’t you even a little proud of that?”

     Keith grimaced, one hand lacing in his bangs and the other picking at the case on his tablet, if only to give his fingers something to do, anxiety and a little guilt pulsing in the pit of his stomach. “Of course I am,” he muttered. “It’s just… Ugh…”

     “Take it easy, Mullet. We all know you don’t do feelings.”

     Keith shot Lance a half-hearted glare that only made the younger boy smirk at him. He sighed, rubbing at his face as he struggled to form words. “Did you know that Shiro just got officially selected as the pilot of the Kerberos mission?” he finally asked.

     “Wait, he did?!” Lance exclaimed, a little bit of his usual enthusiasm returning to his posture before he suddenly froze, eyes narrowing. “Wait, don’t you go changing the subject on me-!”

     “I’m not changing the subject; hold your horses and let me finish,” the amethyst-eyed boy grumbled. “Shiro just got officially announced as the pilot of the Kerberos mission. He’s gonna be flying farther from Earth than anyone in history, and not even you knew about it, all because I beat a sim record and that’s all anyone is talking about!” he growled. “And I know Shiro! I know he’ll never stand up for himself because he never wants to stand in my way, but he’s not just some has-been; he’s still the best pilot in the Garrison and I hate the way people keep talking like he’s already started falling apart! And to add icing on the cake, it doesn’t even matter that Shiro’s no good anymore, because hey, guess what, Kogane is even better than Shiro; it’s no big deal! It’s just like turning in a phone and picking up an upgrade! Who cares that Shiro’s still the best pilot in the Garrison and can still run rings around me in the sim? It’s not like he taught me everything I know or anything!”

     Keith was breathing heavily by the time he finished his rant, his fingers digging so hard into his tablet that he could hear the plastic case creaking. He started slightly when a gentle hand reached out to grip his shoulder, and glanced up to meet Matt’s sad, honey-gold gaze. His brother didn’t say anything, but Keith still slowly deflated, his fingers relaxing on his tablet and his shoulders slumping tiredly. 

     “So, yeah,” he mumbled finally. “I don’t want everyone to know that I’m the one who beat Shiro’s record. I don’t like people comparing us every time someone brings it up.”

     “…People are stupid,” Lance finally declared after a tense, silent minute. 

     Keith huffed under his breath. “What else is new?”

     “I’m sorry,” the Latino boy said, his voice softening. “I didn’t know.”

     Keith managed a small smile at the sincerity on his friend’s face, shrugging. “It’s fine. It’s not like I’ve ever talked about it before.”

     Lance smiled in turn, leaning back in his chair. “I still can’t believe I didn’t know your last name, though,” he chuckled.

     “You never asked.”

     “Well, yeah, but we go to a military school! How have I never even heard it in passing?”

     “That I couldn’t tell you, McClain.”

     “Wait, how do you know my last name?!”

     Keith smirked and Matt grinned. “Trade secret.”

.oOo.

     Several days later, Keith glanced up as Lance slid into a chair across from him, staring silently at his tray. Hunk plodded after him, eyes darting between his best friend and his own food.

     Great. Of all days for Matt to be busy.

     Keith turned off his tablet and set it aside. “Okay. What’s wrong?” he frowned, straight to the point.

     “Nothing’s wrong,” Lance grumbled back.

     “Yeah, no, that’s a lie,” the older boy rolled his eyes. “Seriously Lance, what’s wrong?”

     “I said it’s nothing, Keith.”

     “Quit denying it. You didn’t call me Mullet; something’s definitely off. Now tell me what’s going on or I’ll make Hunk tell me later.”

     “What? No!” the Polynesian boy yelped upon mention of his name. “Leave me out of this!”

     “I will if Lance fesses up. Now talk.”

     “I messed up in the simulator, okay?” Lance snapped, metaphorical hackles bristling. “Happy now?”

     Keith’s frown deepened. “Not really,” he replied, ignoring Lance’s responding scowl. “You’ve had off-days before. Something’s different this time.”

     “What is this, an interrogation?!”

     “’Course not. But if you won’t let me ‘wallow in my grumpiness’, why would you think I’d let you wallow in whatever this is?”

     Keith met Lance’s glare for a moment longer before the younger boy deflated, his resolve crumbling. “Iverson’s threatening to pull me out of fighter class,” he mumbled, glumly pushing his mashed potatoes around his tray.

     Keith blinked. “Hold on,” he frowned. “Threatening to? He hasn’t pulled you already?”

     “No,” Lance muttered again, stabbing savagely at his cornbread. “’Think he’s trying to make an example of me. Ranted in front of the whole class about how I’d better get my act together or else. It’s obvious he means to throw me out no matter what. And I can’t even blame him, really; I’m obviously the worst pilot there. ’Guess I’m just not cut out to-”

     “No. Stop. Just stop,” Keith interrupted, raising both hands, his thoughts racing. The young pilot would never claim to be Iverson’s biggest fan, but the man was still Dad’s friend, not just his coworker. Iverson might not be the type to pull his metaphorical punches, but he certainly wasn’t the type to humiliate someone for the sake of it. So then… 

     “Get up,” Keith ordered, rising to his own feet and snatching his tablet.

     “What?” Lance blinked, a forkful of potatoes half-way to his mouth.

     “You heard me: get up! I only have thirty minutes before my next class and it’s on the other side of the school from the sim room.”

      “What?”

     “Just come on!” Keith rolled his eyes, walking around the table to grab the back of Lance’s jacket and yanking.

     “Whoa, hey, hold on!” the younger boy yelped, scrambling to get his feet under him, then shoveling the last few bites of potatoes into his mouth and snatching the rest of his cornbread before abandoning his salad. 

     “I guess I’ll see you guys later?” Hunk waved uncertainly, bewildered, as Keith dragged led Lance away. Keith waved absently back, thoughts already focused on the task at hand. 

     “Okay, so are you going to explain what this is about, or not?” Lance eventually managed, after he finally choked down the remainder of his lunch.

     “If Iverson really thought you couldn’t make it as a fighter pilot, he would have already pulled you from the class by now,” Keith explained shortly. “He’s not trying to make an example of you. He’s trying to motivate you.”

     “Well, he’s got a funny way of showing it,” the younger boy grumbled, lengthening his stride to keep up with Keith’s rapid pace.

     “No arguments from me,” Keith muttered. “Definitely more drill sergeant than teacher. Here.” As he and Lance quickly slipped into the simulator room, Keith felt several eyes turn towards them, including multiple grumpy gazes from his own class.

     Hopefully they wouldn’t start spreading rumors about Lance next.

     Keith stepped up to a free simulator, pushed his friend into the pilot’s seat, and buckled himself into the copilot/instructor’s chair. “Pick a level. I need to see how you fly.”

     “Uh, sure,” Lance agreed, firing up the machine. He chose a relatively complex asteroid field level and took the controls, leg bouncing slightly but his expression set and determined. Keith watched as his friend guided the virtual plane through the debris, dodging and looping and spinning-

     and crashing about midway through. 

     Lance groaned, slumping back in his chair as the Simulation Failed message flashed up on screen. His expression was one of severe disappointment and a little bit of resignation. Keith, however, frowned.

     “Why did you wait?”

     “Huh?” 

     Keith reached for the controls, navigating to the instant replay and fastforwarding to the crash. “There,” he gestured, pointing to the offending obstacle’s first appearance on the screen. “You had plenty of time to avoid that. Why did you wait until the last second?” 

     “Well- Um…” Lance hesitated. 

     “And why did you throw in so many stunts?” Keith added as the thought occurred to him. “Most of those weren’t really necessary.”

     “Because… Well…”

     “…Well?”

     “…Because that’s what you do,” the younger pilot finally muttered, staring at the ground, a little red in the face.

     Keith blinked. “What?”

     “They… They show us clips from your sims in class sometimes,” Lance shrugged, awkward, still not meeting his eyes. “You- You’re always dodging and spinning at just the right moment and-”

     “And I’m stopping you right there,” the amethyst-eyed teen cut him off, shoving a freakout over that little revelation to the side for the moment. “Lance, the point of the sims isn’t to mimic my strengths. The point is to find yours.”

     Lance stared up at him, looking strangely crestfallen. “But… I don’t have any-”

     “Don’t give me that. I’ve seen your scores at the firing range-”

      “What?!”

     “-and they’re better than most of the officers’.”

     “How have you seen my marksmanship scores!?”

     “Another trade secret,” Keith smirked, silently thanking Matt for both his insatiable curiosity and his hacking skills. “Point is, you may have the best eyesight in the Garrison. You definitely have the best eyesight in your class. Use it. Now try again.”

     Keith watched as Lance restarted the simulation, ocean eyes narrowed in concentration. He wasn’t waiting as long to avoid obvious debris, but he was definitely still adding way too many unnecessarily risky twists and loops.

     “You’re too tense,” he warned quietly after a particularly close dodge resulted in a clipped wing and a censored curse from Lance. 

     “Shut up; I’m trying to focus!” the younger teen snapped back, his teeth audibly clenched, then yelped a moment later when he crashed again.

     “Case in point,” Keith sighed over Lance’s groan. He’d gotten farther through the field at least, but still. “Loosen up. And knock it off with all the trick maneuvers; they’re throwing you off.”

     “But you-”

     “You said they showed you clips of my sims in class, not full runs. Do you really think I’m doing barrel rolls every two seconds?”

     “I… guess not.”

     Keith nodded, returning his attention to the screen. “Run it again.”

     In the end, Keith was almost twenty minutes late to his class. But, he decided when he remembered his friend’s excited whooping as the Level Cleared screen finally popped up, it was absolutely worth it.

Chapter Text

Thud. Thud. Thud.

.oOo.

     “I made it,” Matt breathed, somewhere between hysterical and slaphappy. “Keith, I- I made it. Oh my gosh I can’t believe it; I made it!! Keith, I’m going to Kerberos with Dad and Shiro!”

     Keith tried to smirk, but his pride in Matt’s accomplishment softened the look into a proper smile. “Told you so, didn’t I?”

     “Yeah. Yeah, you told me so,” his big brother giggled, recognizing the sentiment as he reached out to tousle his hair. “Smart aleck.”

     “I learned from the best.”

     “I know, I know, I taught you everything you know.”

     “I was talking about Katie.”

     “Hey!”

.oOo.

      Thud! Thud! Thud!

.oOo.

     “I wish I was going with you guys,” Katie groaned, pouting at their dad and brother across the dinner table.

     “You’re still a bit too short for that ride, Pidge,” Keith grinned, then promptly dodged her kick under the table.

     “Like you’re one to talk; you’re not that much taller than me!”

     “I’ve got almost a foot on you; that’s kind of a lot.”

     “Alright, take it easy, kids,” Dad chuckled. “And I wouldn’t worry about it too much, Katie. Something tells me you’re going to have your own crew some day, and you’re going to travel to worlds so far we can’t even imagine! I’ll bet my bottom dollar that you’re going to be a part of something that makes the whole universe sit up and take notice.”

.oOo.

     Thud!! Thud!! Thud!!

.oOo.

     “Alright, Katie-”

     “No,” his little sister cut Matt off, shooting him a melancholy smile, “Call me Pidge. I’m gonna miss that.”

     “I could always call you Pidge if that would help?” Keith offered, strolling up and innocently raising his eyebrows at her.

     “Not a chance,” Katie rolled her eyes back at him, but the quirk at the corner of her mouth gave her away.

     Matt laughed, squeezing Keith’s shoulder and ruffling their sister’s hair. “Take it easy, you two. Don’t go killing each other while I’m not on-planet to mediate.” Immediately, Katie’s expression fell again, and her eyes slid towards the rocket that would soon launch Matt, Shiro, and Dad into space.

     “Hey. What’s wrong?” their big brother asked gently.

     “I just… can’t believe I have to finish middle school without you,” the fourteen-year old mumbled, melancholy quickly transforming into misery. “And you might not get back in time to see Keith graduate from the Garrison, either! I just- We’re… really gonna miss you.”

     “You can talk to us any time, you know.”

     “I thought we weren’t allowed to contact you on your mission?”

     “Oh, yeah, of course not,” Matt agreed with a suitably straight face for anyone that didn’t know him better. Then he gave a conspiratorial wink that ruined the whole effect. “But you know the code…”

     “What the Garrison doesn’t know,” Keith and Katie chorused back, grinning.

     “What are you three talking about?”

     The siblings glanced to where Shiro was approaching, his expression playfully suspicious. “Just showing Keith and Pidge how I don’t need my glasses anymore,” Matt replied, pulling them off with an exaggerated flourish.

     “Wait, seriously?” Katie blinked, holding out her hand to accept the item. “But why?”

     “The Garrison fixed my eyes! I look way cooler now, yeah?” Matt smirked, pulling a ridiculous suave pose.

     “No,” Keith and Katie replied in perfect unison.

     Matt pouted for a moment while Shiro joined his younger siblings in laughter, but soon enough he broke down laughing, too. “Don’t worry,” he reassured, pulling the two of them back into a tight hug. “We’ll be back before you know it.”

     “You’d better be,” Keith mumbled against his shoulder.

     “Yeah,” Katie agreed, “or we’re coming up to space and getting you!”     

.oOo.

     Thud!!! Thud!!! Thud!!!

.oOo.

     “Kogane.”

     Keith looked up from the notebook app he’d been using, quickly noticing the tall figure in the doorway of his advanced calculus class, one eye closed and face a stern, calm mask. He immediately set down his tablet and rose to his feet, easily slipping into a salute. “Yes, sir?”

      “Come with me,” Iverson ordered, taking a step back into the hallway. Keith frowned, but grabbed his tablet, tucked it under his arm, and walked towards the door, ignoring the low, curious murmur among his classmates. 

     Iverson led Keith down multiple hallways to an area of the compound designed with more conference rooms than classrooms. It wasn’t technically off-limits to students, but Keith had never had a reason to be here, so he wasn’t super familiar with it. After a few minutes, the Commander led him into one of the smaller rooms and closed the door behind them. 

     “Have a seat,” Iverson said, his tone gruff, just shy of an order. 

     Keith frowned as he obeyed. It wasn’t exactly like him to make an effort to be considerate. What exactly was this about? 

     “Is there something I can help you with, sir?” Keith asked as the man sat heavily across from him, hands folded on the table. The teen’s concern only mounted as Iverson paused, closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply through his nose before finally meeting his gaze.

     “Kogane,” he began in an almost gentle tone that Keith hadn’t heard since he first met the man years earlier, “there’s no easy way to say this. The Kerberos mission has gone missing.”

     Keith froze.

     Missing. 

     The Kerberos mission was missing.

     The Kerberos mission was Matt, Dad, and Shiro.

     Matt, Dad, and Shiro were missing.

     His family was missing.

     “When?” Keith gasped, breathless. “H-How long have they-?”

     “We lost contact approximately thirty-six hours ago. We’ve been trying to reestablish a connection in case of cosmic interference, but we haven’t managed to do so as of this time.”

     Thirty-six hours. 

     That was only about four hours after Matt’s last transmission to Katie, excitedly detailing how they had finally arrived and would soon be landing. They’d been in school at the time, but Katie’s receiver had recorded the message. She had sent back a response as soon as she saw it, but they never heard back. Keith had just assumed Dad, Matt, and Shiro had gotten too caught up in collecting and researching ice samples to respond, or that there was some sort of interference. But if the Garrison hadn’t been in contact for just as long-

      “How?” Keith pleaded. “What happened to them?”

     Iverson swallowed and took another deep breath. “We received their last transmission while the crew was landing. We believe that they likely crashed due to pilot error.” 

     Keith’s brain whited out.

     He didn’t know how long he sat there, waiting for his thoughts to reboot. 

     “That’s not funny, Iverson,” he finally whispered, his voice far more ragged than he expected it to be. “What really happened?”

     “It’s not a joke, Kogane,” the Commander replied, his eyes even darker than normal, in a way that whispered of suppressed guilt. “The mission was lost due to pilot error.”

     “That’s a load of crap and you know it,” Keith snarled, his hands tightening against the edge of the conference table. Even without seeing the lie in Iverson’s eyes, he knew the truth. “Shiro was at the helm; there’s no way that pilot error was the cause.”

     “…Kogane, I don’t know if you were aware, but Shiro’s arm-”

     The next thing Keith knew, there was a resounding crash!! and the table was knocked on its side and he was on his feet and Iverson was stumbling away from him as the cold fury in Keith’s chest erupted into hot rage.

     “Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare bring his illness into this!!”

     “Kogane-!”

     “Even if his arm were deteriorating, Shiro would never risk my family’s life for the sake of his ego!! He would never have tried to land that ship if there was even the slightest chance that he could get Dad or Matt killed!! Now what happened to my family!?!”

     “Keith, that’s enough!” Iverson barked.

     Keith gasped sharply, a strange, yellowish sheen clearing from his vision and when had he gotten so close to Iverson? When in the world had his hand curled in the officer’s lapel? When had he slammed the man against the wall?

     What…? What had he been about to do?

     Slowly, Keith forced his fingers to uncurl from Iverson’s jacket and took a single step back. “S-Sir, I-”

     “Kogane,” the Commander cut him off, oddly quiet, “I know this must be hard for you.”

     The anger flared in Keith’s chest again and his eyes snapped up towards the officer’s. “It’s a lie,” he hissed. “Stop trying to pretend that it isn’t. This is a lie and we both know it.”

     “…This is the Garrison’s decision.”

     Keith grit his teeth, his hands curling into fists, biting back another snarl. “Then this clearly isn’t the organization I thought it was.”

.oOo.

     THUD!!! THUD!!! BANG!!!

     “Holy crow.”

     Keith spun towards the voice, fist raised and a furious scowl on his lips.

     “Whoa, Mullet, it’s just me!”

     Tanned skin and ocean blue eyes.

      Lance.

      “Cielos. Keith, ¿estás-? A-Are you okay?” the taller boy asked, stumbling slightly over his words, eyes darting between his face and hands.

     Another surge of anger welled up in Keith's chest because no, he was not okay; his family was missing and the Garrison was blaming Shiro-!!

      WHAM!!!

     “Holy-! Keith, stop!!”

     A hand grabbed his wrist, yanking him away from the punching bag. 

     Keith moved on instinct, twisting in his grip, grabbing a handful of fabric with his other hand, leg sweeping as he pulled, tumbling to the ground, twisting and locking his legs.

     “Ow! Keith, stop! I give! Uncle!”

     Reality flooded in like a tidal wave as Keith realized he’d trapped Lance in an arm bar, dragging the limb painfully backwards, just shy of breaking bone. With a sharp gasp, he released the other boy, rolling away from him. “Lance! I- I’m sorry, I didn’t- didn’t m-mean-”

     “Whoa, easy Keith; you’re gonna hurt yourself,” Lance broke in, his voice low and soothing and his touch significantly less constrictive as his hand fell once more on his wrist, carefully preventing Keith from grabbing the fringe of his hair. 

     “I- Wh-What?” the older boy blinked, still disoriented and panting for breath.

     “Your hands, man. Just how long have you been in here?”

     Confused, Keith followed Lance’s gaze down towards his trembling fingers. 

     The knuckles across both of his hands were ragged and torn, blood smeared in streaks of deep red and brown, peppered with flecks of sawdust that couldn’t quite hide the dark, purple-blue marks around the joints of his fingers. 

     He glanced up again, distantly searching for the source of the sawdust on his hands and promptly discovered a fist-sized hole in the bag he’d been abusing.

     Huh.

     He didn’t know he could do that.

     “Keith? You good?”

     Keith blinked.

      No.

     “…Keith?”

     No I’m not. 

     “Lance? What’s go-?”

     The Kerberos mission is missing-

      “-gracias a Dios-”

     -there’s no way they crashed- 

     “-no idea what I’m do-!”

     -they can’t possibly have crashed-

     “-lood; I hate blood-!”

     -I don’t believe it-

     “-the heck this is.”

     -I don’t want to believe it-

     “-hink Keith’s dissociating-”

      -I want Mom and Katie-

     “-shouldn’t try touching-”

     -and I wanna listen to Dad badmouthing the top brass-

     “-put me in an arm bar.”

     -and I want Matt to make me laugh-

     “-grab some ice?”

      -and Shiro to spar with me-

     “-never actually talked-”

      -I want my family-

     “-know if you can hear-”

     -they’re gone-

     “-deep breath for you-”

     -there’s nothing I can do-

     “-ree, four, five-”

     -I don’t know what to do-

     “-in, two three, fo-”

     -gotta be something-

     “-I’m back with-”

      -can’t lose them-

     “-better, but still-”

      -I can’t lose them-!

     Keith flinched sharply as a cold weight draped over his hands, trying to pull away. The cold only returned though, and honestly after that initial shock, there was something almost soothing about it.

     “Keith, if you can hear me, I need you to focus on the cold, okay? Concentrate on the points of contact a-and, and the texture of the paper or crinkle of the plastic or something, but just… just come back, okay? Because I’m really only guessing about what’ll help you because I’ve never been on this side of a panic attack and I really hope that what works for me works for you, because I really don’t want you to pass out hyperventilating ’cause it sucks when that happens-”

     “H-Hunk?” Keith gasped, his voice and his breathing a little more distant and considerably more ragged than he expected.

     “Keith! Oh thank goodness you’re back!”

     “Wh-When did y-you-?”

     The pilot tensed when heavy arms wrapped around his shoulders, tugging him into a hug. “Oh man, Keith, dude, buddy, please do not scare us like that again,” Hunk rambled, a weird mixture of frantic and relieved.

     “Hunk, hermano, párate, back off a bit and let him breathe,” Lance’s voice broke in, and the bigger boy immediately released him.

     “Oh geez! Oh gosh, you’re right; Keith I’m so sorry I didn’t hurt your hands again did I?!”

     Keith blinked uncertainly, struggling to focus on anxious brown and worried blue. “I’m… f-fine,” he choked out. 

     “Yeah, you’re not gonna convince anyone like that,” Lance said with a weak smile that did nothing to lighten the mood. “What hap-?”

     “Kogane.”

     Keith flinched, his gaze darting towards the door, where a familiar figure with dark skin and a severe expression stood at parade rest.

      Iverson.

     Keith should salute. Give some sort of reason for why he’d gone directly to the gym instead of back to class. At the very least he should stand up.

     But he could only stare, battling against the fury that immediately flared anew in his chest, the faint sting across his stiff knuckles as they curled into fists grounding him in place.

     After a moment, something around the Commander’s eyes softened, whispering of sorrow. Of regret. Maybe even a trace of solidarity. At any rate, rather than any sort of reprimand or order, he simply stated, “Your mother is out front.”

     Keith’s eyes widened and he staggered to his feet. Some part of his brain, vaguely aware of Lance and Hunk scrambling up beside him, tried to form some kind of explanation or apology or something, but his friends wouldn’t have any of it. 

     “Go. We’ll see you when you get back,” Lance murmured, gently nudging Keith towards the door. 

     The amethyst-eyed boy nodded distractedly and dashed past Iverson, making a beeline for the Garrison’s main entrance. 

     He needed to get to his family.

     Right now, that was all that mattered. 

Chapter Text

     The wind whipped Keith’s hair across his cheeks, loose grains of sand peppering his forehead. His fingers tightened around the handles of Pop’s old red and white hoverbike, and he stoically ignored the sharp throb across his hands. 

     He still remembered the grinding sensation when the doctor relocated his fingers. It was the first thing he’d really felt in… He didn’t even know how long. Hours, definitely. He was more prepared when they disinfected his torn knuckles and applied ointment to the sprained fingers, but he still had to apologize when he flinched so violently that his elbow drove directly into the assisting nurse’s ribcage. She’d just waved him off, smiling weakly even as she gasped for breath.

     The whir and click of shifting gears could only just be heard over the purr of the engine as Keith turned the bike off the highway, the headlight illuminating an old, dusty road that still held a hazy fondness in his memory. It had been years since he called this lonely desert home, though. 

     Now, home was a small white townhouse a few scant miles from the Galaxy Garrison. Home was BaeBae, not fully aware of what was going on, but still whining softly with her head in his lap, sensing that something was very wrong. Home was Katie, curled into his side for most of the afternoon, hands shaking as she repeatedly picked up and set aside her phone as though expecting a call or text message any minute. Home was Mom, wandering in and out of the kitchen, periodically trying and failing to start a pot of water for tea.

     Home was Dad, and Matt, and Shiro, over three point two billion miles away, at the farthest reaches of the solar system, maybe stranded, maybe hurt, maybe…

     Maybe worse. 

     Keith swallowed and struggled to banish that possibility behind a locked door in the back of his mind, but the thought continued to curdle his stomach and cause bile to crawl up the back of his throat no matter how many times he beat it back with a metaphorical stick. 

     Iverson had been lying. The Kerberos Mission didn’t crash due to pilot error. Not with Shiro at the helm. Not with Matt and Dad as members of the crew. But that didn’t mean the mission couldn’t have gone down due to a different type of error. That the Garrison wasn’t using Shiro as a scapegoat to cover up a mistake on their end. One that had cost his family their lives.

     Keith shook himself firmly.

     No. He didn’t believe it. Didn’t want to believe it. He can’t have lost this family, too. They were alive. Somehow.

     But, a darker, more insidious voice whispered in the back of his mind, is that really better? The Garrison claimed they crashed, claimed everyone was killed. They won’t send a rescue party, won’t dare confirm they were to blame in all this. It could take years to overturn their decision, and the Kerberos Mission wasn’t equipped with supplies for a scenario like that. Even if they survived the crash, they’re going to-

     No!!

     Keith swerved to a stop, sending up a spray of dust and small pebbles, pressing a gloved hand over his eyes and blinking back the tears biting at the corners. 

     No.

     No, there had to be another way, another explanation.

     They couldn’t be gone.

     They couldn’t.

     Keith sighed, taking a deep breath and shoving aside the cloud of melancholy as he swung off his bike. For a long moment, he simply gazed up at his destination, creating a looming silhouette in the larger darkness of the night.

     Pop’s house.

     Ownership of the building, along with any and all of Pop’s other remaining assets, had been transferred to Keith with the arrival of his eighteenth birthday only three weeks earlier, before everything had fallen to pieces. Matt, Dad, and Shiro had each sent him birthday messages by way of Katie’s receiver, Mom had made an incredible birthday dinner, and after re-discovering Pop’s hoverbike in the little shed next to the old house, Katie helped him fix it up. She even managed to redesign the engine, increasing the bike’s speed and efficiency by nearly twenty percent. 

     The house itself was a much bigger project.

     The building was definitely falling apart after around eight years without proper care. Even when the front door was unlocked, it struggled to swing open on rusting hinges. The sand-battered windows were grimy and a few seemed to be permanently sealed shut, and yet there was a fine layer of gritty dust over everything. The little kitchenette ran rusty water from the taps, and the attached half-bath was… better left unmentioned. That saggy little couch was still in the living room, well over twenty years old now and having well worn out its use. A creaky set of stairs led up to an equally creaking landing, with a full bath--also not in great shape--to the left and two small, dusty bedrooms ahead and to the right. To say the house was a fixer-upper was a drastic understatement. 

     But in spite of all that, Keith couldn’t help a small, wistful smile as he pulled his supplies out of the bike’s storage compartment and climbed onto the little old wraparound porch, careful where he put his weight on the rotting floorboards. He had a lot of fond memories of this place, of sitting out on this porch with a cold glass of lemonade, swinging his feet over the edge and leaning into Pop’s side as they watched the sunset. And anyway, right now, a project was exactly what he needed.

     I need to clean everything first, maybe move all the furniture out to the shed so I can rip out the water-damaged walls and start looking for the leaky pipes. Katie was gonna help with checking the electrical wiring, but I can prob-

     Keith froze halfway through the front door, his heart suddenly pounding, goosebumps rising along his arms, hyper-aware of the knife strapped to his belt as his every sense shifted to high alert. For a long moment he remained utterly still, hardly even daring to breathe as he tried to make sense of the sudden wash of… of something swirling around him. Slowly, Keith lowered his bag to the ground and stepped carefully back outside, letting instinct draw him towards the edge of the porch, where he could gaze out towards the desert.

     What… was this? It was a sensation unlike anything he had ever felt before, an almost physical pull somewhere between his stomach and his chest. But, it was outside, too. A sensation like distant thunder, and the weight of ozone before a storm. 

     No. No, that wasn’t it. It was like… a pulse? But, that didn’t quite feel right, either. It was more like… a heartbeat. Like it came from something alive. Something that was calling to him. 

     As though in a trance, he stepped down-

      “Database! Database! Just livin’-!”

     Keith yelped, missed his footing, and fell back against the porch when he twisted his ankle in the sand as anime metal music suddenly blared through the night, shattering whatever spell he’d been under. The young pilot silently cursed Matt’s sense of humor for changing his ringtone and locking him out of the settings so he couldn’t switch it back to normal. Katie could almost definitely help him hack his way in, but after the Kerberos launch, Keith had decided to leave it be. It was his way of keeping Matt close while he was gone, kind of like how Katie had started letting Keith call her Pidge. Right now though, he was more annoyed than fond as he yanked his phone out of his pocket--Who in their right mind called someone this late?!--and swiped up without looking at the caller ID.

     “What.”

      “Keith Holt Kogane!!”

     The young man flinched at the volume in his ear, then paled as he recognized the voice half a second later. “Mom!! I-I uh-”

     “Where on Earth are you?! Tom just brought Katie back from the Garrison and we have no idea where you are and I swear if you are somehow involved in this you are grounded until you’re thirty!!”

     “I’m at Pop’s house!” he said quickly. “Did I forget to leave a note? Mom, I’m so sorry, I just needed to get out of the house and I didn’t want to wake you up, but I- Wait. Wait, why was Katie at the Garrison? It’s the middle of the night!”

     Mom took a heavy breath on the other end of the line, sounding as though she were reorganizing her thoughts. “You’re really just at your Pop’s?” she asked finally. “You haven’t been to the Garrison at all?”

     “No. Why would I?”

     A long, shaky sigh.

     “Keith, Katie was arrested.”

     “She what?!”

.oOo.

     Keith had a distinct sense of deja vu as he swept into his sister’s room nearly an hour later, amethyst eyes meeting tear-reddened honey. “Pidge-”

     “If you’re here to give me another lecture, you can get out,” she cut him off, turning back to her laptop, fingers flying across the keyboard. 

     The older boy frowned, closing the door behind him and leaning against the wall beside it, arms folded across his chest. “Fine. No lecture.”

     “But?” his little sister prompted, just the slightest bite to her voice.

     “But what were you thinking?”

     Katie twisted towards him, anger clouding her eyes. “They’re lying to us, Keith! You know they are!”

     “Of course they’re lying; that was obvious from the start! I want to know why you broke into the Garrison and didn’t ask me for help!”

     Whatever Pidge had been about to say next froze on her lips as she stared at him, wide-eyed. “What?”

     “You heard me,” Keith growled back. 

     “I- You- If you’d been caught, you would’ve been thrown out of the Garrison-!”

     “Or neither of us would have gotten caught and you’d have gotten more information,” he countered, still glaring. “Admit it, Katie: you didn’t even consider asking for help. You just dove in the moment the thought popped into your head.”

     His little sister didn’t respond verbally, but the dark flush creeping up her neck as she twisted away from him said enough. 

     “And you say I’m reckless,” Keith sighed deeply before pushing himself off the wall and walking across the room, dark eyes flicking over his sister’s too-bright computer screen. She was seriously going to kill her eyes one of these days. “So? Did you find anything?”

     “…Yes and no. I wasn’t able to save any of the data I found, so everything here is just what I’ve written down from memory,” the younger Holt replied, gesturing to her open word processor, “but I did manage to access the video feeds transmitted to the Garrison from Matt and Dad’s ship.” 

     “And?” 

     “They didn’t crash.”

     Keith frowned slightly. “We’d already guessed that-”

     “No, Keith,” Katie shook her head insistently, “I mean they didn’t crash at all. I watched the feed all the way through their landing and then some; there was no explosion, no faulty equipment, no unexpected mishap. They made it safely to the surface just over an hour after Matt’s last message to us.”

     “But if they landed safely, what’s the Garrison trying to cover up?” Keith frowned, hope warring with fear in the pit of his stomach while his mind worked to put together the pieces. “Iverson said that they disappeared about thirty-six hours before he broke the news to me. That still leaves around two hours between when they landed and the Garrison lost contact. What happened during that period of time?”

     “I don’t know,” his little sister glowered at her screen. “Not enough, anyway; Iverson caught me before I could find the right footage. I know at least some of that time was spent setting up basecamp and getting ready to collect their samples, but when I jumped to the end…” She paused, clicking at her mouse pad to highlight a small section of text. Keith read the words “shorted out,” and “possible causes?” before Katie continued. “…the cameras had all cut to static. I don’t know why, though. I tried rewinding to right before the feed cut, but all I saw was a flicker of light before Iverson walked in. Maybe it was some sort of cosmic anomaly that messed with their tech, or maybe it was some sort of surge of heat or equipment failure of some kind or… or I don’t know! All I know for sure is that Matt, Dad and Shiro are still alive, and the Garrison’s chosen not to help!”

     Keith’s frown deepened as he read through the rest of PIdge’s observations: basics about the visible terrain, a brief mention of seeing their family pass through a corner of the camera’s visual field carrying a pile of equipment, and a comment that the light before the camera feed cut off had seemed vaguely purplish. There were still far too many unknowns for Keith’s tastes, but his sister was right about one thing: there was a good chance that their family was still alive, but for some reason the Garrison had abandoned them. 

     “If the loss of communication really was just due to an equipment failure caused by some sort of anomaly, that wouldn’t be enough justification for the Garrison to turn Shiro into a scapegoat,” he murmured, amethyst eyes narrowed. “We’re still missing something here. Something the Garrison is trying to hide.”

     Pidge nodded in agreement. “If I could just figure out where that light came from, maybe I could figure out what they’re really covering up. Next time, I’ll just jump straight to the end of the feeds.”

     Keith blinked. 

     “‘Next time’?” he frowned, looking down towards her.

     “Yeah?” his sister blinked back, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

     “Pidge, there won’t be a ‘next time’.”

     “Excuse me?” Katie growled, her amber gaze flattening.

     Keith glared right back, shifting so that she didn’t have to crick her neck to meet his eyes. “I promised I wouldn’t lecture, Katie, but you do realize how lucky you were tonight, don’t you?”

     “Oh please. Luck had nothing to do with it,” his sister scoffed.

     “I’m not talking about your hacking skills. I’m talking about the fact that it was Iverson who caught you. You could have been charged with a felony; if it had been anyone else-!”

     “But it wasn’t! I’m fine, Keith-!”

     “Next time you might not be! From now on, they’re going to be on high alert for you specifically; even with my help, you’re not going to make it past the front gate!”

     “So what are we supposed to do then?!” his little sister burst out. “Dad and the others could be in danger--could be dying right now--and you want us to just sit around and wait for Sanda to do something about it!? Don’t you care about them at all!?!”

     Keith flinched back a half-step, the words an icy punch to the gut.

     Katie’s glare slowly melted into an expression of horror as it seemed to dawn on her what she had just said. “K-Keith, I-”

     The older teen turned away from her, eyes tightly closed and swallowing hard past the tightness in his throat to hold back a traitorous prickle of tears. When he finally began to speak, his voice was far steadier than he expected. “Sit this one out, Pidge,” he said quietly, heading back towards her door. “I’ll handle things from here.”

     “But-”

     Keith didn’t let her finish, slipping out her bedroom door and closing it behind him before slumping back against the wall. 

     ‘Don’t you care about them at all?!’

     He knew she didn’t mean it, but it still hurt. It hurt worse knowing that, in a lot of ways, she was right. There was very little that he could do to force the Garrison to act, very little he could do to find out what had happened to their family. But even so, he couldn’t let his little sister get involved anymore. 

     “I’m sorry, Katie,” Keith whispered into the dark, “but I can’t lose you, too.”

Chapter Text

     “We need to talk.”

     Keith turned tired eyes towards the lanky young man leaning over his lunch table. “Shouldn’t you be in class?” he grumbled, returning to scanning over the document on his tablet.

     “We ditched. What’cha gonna do about it, Mullet?” Lance challenged. 

     Keith scoffed without bothering to look up. “You do realize I could actually write the both of you up for insubordination?” 

     “Yeah, uh, please don’t do that, seriously, I really don’t want to end up in the principal’s office again? Please?” Hunk squeaked, wringing his hands from where he stood half a step behind his best friend. “I-I mean I guess I understand if you have to, being a sergeant and all, and I guess we are breaking the rules, but we’re only breaking the rules because we’re worried about you and we wanted to make sure you’re okay because we’ve hardly been able to talk to you for months and-”

     “Hunk,” the older teen cut him off.

     “Y-Yes?”

     “Relax. I’m not going to report you,” Keith sighed, turning off his tablet and tucking it under his arm before rising to his feet. “But don’t go making a habit of it. Iverson’s bound to notice eventually.”

     “Whoa whoa whoa, just where do you think you’re going?” Lance glowered, shifting to block Keith’s path as the young pilot grabbed his tray.

     “Back to work.”

     “It’s the first day of the semester; how much work can you possibly have already?! Actually, don’t answer that. Sit back down,” the Latino boy ordered, hands planted on his hips. “I said we need to talk, so that means we’re gonna talk, whether you like it or not.”

     “You’re not allowed to give me orders, you know.”

     “Too bad; I just did. Now sit.”

     “Yeah, nice tr-” 

     “Keith, did you even eat?”

     Keith blinked, taken aback by the sudden solemnity in the younger boy’s voice. “Of course I-”

     “Two bites of potatoes don’t count. When was the last time you actually sat down and had a full meal?” Lance pressed. 

     Keith’s mind went blank. 

     When was the last time he had shoved more than a protein bar or a few bites of cafeteria food in his mouth before he ran off to the next meeting, the sim room, or out to Pop’s house? Before he could figure it out, a pair of large hands fell on his shoulders and gently guided him back into his chair. 

     “Keith, you have to eat,” Hunk chided softly. 

     “But-”

     “No buts,” Lance cut him off firmly. “Whatever work you need to get done can wait until after you’re finished.”

     “But-!”

      “Please, Keith?” Hunk interrupted this time. “I know you’ve lost weight. Keep this up and you’re gonna make yourself sick.”

     Oh no. Hunk had pulled out the puppy eyes. Did he even realize how hard it was to say ‘no’ to him when he did that?

     “Fine,” he groaned, setting down the tray and grabbing his fork. “You win.”

     “Glad to see you can still be reasonable,” Lance grinned, taking the seat next to him--but still watching like a hawk as Keith took his first bite of salad. “Congrats, by the way.”

     “Wha’ for?” the older pilot asked around another mouthful of food. 

     “Your promotion to sergeant, of course. ’Haven’t seen you since you graduated, so I haven’t had a chance to say anything. Broke the record for youngest ever, right?”

     Keith paused, lowering his fork even as his grip tightened on the handle, his stomach churning uncomfortably. “Yeah,” he bit out, glaring at his tray. “’Guess I did.” 

     He shouldn’t have gotten that promotion. He was too young, too inexperienced, without any noteworthy accomplishments on his resume. But with Shiro… gone… and framed for Dad’s and Matt’s… disappearances, the Galaxy Garrison was facing worldwide criticism. Promoting Keith straight from cadet to the illustrious title of “Youngest Sergeant in Garrison History” and bringing attention to his somehow-even-more-illustrious title of “Frequent Demolisher of Takashi Shirogane’s Sim Records” was Sanda’s attempt to stave off that criticism. It wasn’t something that Keith had earned on his own merit. It was a PR stunt. Nothing more and nothing less. 

     Not that Keith didn’t intend to take full advantage of it. He may not have Katie’s hacking skills, but if he could use Sanda’s selfishness to climb the ranks, maybe he could still find the truth of what had happened to their family. 

     It was painfully slow-going, though.

     “Keith, are you doing okay?”

     “Fine,” he replied automatically.

     “…No you’re not.”

     “Why did you bother asking if you were just gonna ignore my answer?”

     “Look, it’s been nine months since Kerberos. I’m not saying you should be over it by now--we both know how close you were to Matt and Shiro--but it’s obvious you’re not taking it well. Hunk already mentioned you’ve been losing weight and I know I’m not the only person who’s noticed the bags under your eyes and how pale you’ve gotten. I mean you were always pale, but now you’re really pale.”

     “And that’s your concern because…?”

     “Because you’re our friend!” 

     Keith turned, startled by Hunk’s sudden outburst. The young engineer blinked wide brown eyes back at him, hurt crossing his face as silence stretched. “Are- Aren’t… we?” he mumbled, fidgeting with the cuff of his jacket.

     A stone seemed to plummet into the pit of Keith’s stomach, churning the guilt swimming there at Hunk’s uncertain little whisper. Bad enough that he still hadn’t really worked things out with Katie; he’d even managed to alienate his only two friends?

     “I-”

     Keith broke off as his phone started blaring from inside his pocket. With a frustrated sigh, he pulled it out, glancing briefly at the caller ID. Wait, why was Mom calling him? She never called during work. “Mom? What’s-”

      “Keith! Keith, have you heard from Katie she’s not answering her phone and she’s not here-”

     “Whoa, whoa, Mom, calm down, take a breath,” Keith interrupted her, standing up and taking a step away to avoid Lance and Hunk’s curious looks. “What’s going on?”

     Mom sucked in a breath on the other end of the line and managed a little more slowly, though still very shakily, “I got a call from Katie’s school. Apparently she didn’t show up for class today and they wanted to know if she was sick. I tried calling her, but she didn’t answer so I ran home and she’s not here. She’s not here, Keith, I don’t know where she is!”

     Keith’s blood ran cold.

     He forced himself to breathe. 

     “I haven’t heard from her either. Have you checked with the neighbors?”

      “No, not yet.”

     “Okay, do that next,” he instructed, jogging towards the door of the cafeteria. “I’m on my way home; if nobody’s seen her by the time I get there, we’ll call the police.”

      “Okay. Okay, I- Please hurry, Keith.”

     “It’s gonna be okay, Mom. I’ll be there soon.”

.oOo.

     “You look terrible.”

     “Thank ye’, I worked ’ard on it,” Keith quipped on reflex, scrubbing at his eyes with a frustrated sigh. Was that the fourth or fifth time he’d reread the same paragraph without processing a word of it?

     “No, really, you look awful,” the tanned woman beside his desk frowned, light blue eyes narrowed. “And since when did you have a Southern accent?”

     He missed Matt. He’d have laughed. 

     He’d know where to find Katie. 

     Keith blinked and suddenly the back of the woman’s hand was pressed against his forehead. When did that happen? “You don’t have a fever at least,” she hummed, drawing away, “but seriously, when was the last time you slept?”

     “’Don’t ’member,” Keith shrugged, going back to his tablet.

     “Seriously?!”

     He blinked up at her. Wait, why was she looking at him like that? “…Huh?”

     Very eloquent, Kogane; ten out of ten.

     “You seriously can’t remember the last time you slept?”

     Crud. 

     He hadn’t meant to say that.

     “…Yeah, okay, I’m taking you to the infirmary.”

     Another blink and the woman had grabbed Keith’s arm and was pulling him to his feet. Any sound of protest he made was either ignored or acknowledged with only a vague, disbelieving hum as she marched him down the hall. 

     (It was maybe a testament to Keith’s exhaustion that he couldn’t come up with a good reason to ask her to stop.)

     “Lieutenant McClain? Oh my-! What happened?” a nurse rushed to her feet as they entered the way-too-bright office. Keith closed his eyes, fighting back a groan as he was assaulted by white on all sides and seriously, why were fluorescent lights a thing!? 

     Was the room spinning a little bit? It felt like the room might be spinning a bit. Was he even standing on his own anymore? His left arm felt like it was going kind of numb with the tightness of the lieutenant’s grip; was he leaning too much of his weight on her?

     Wait. What was her name again?

     “Sergeant Kogane appears to be suffering from acute exhaustion, but considering my lack of medical experience I thought it best to ensure he was checked out by an actual professional.”

     “Bring him into the recovery room.”

     Ugh, would everything stop moving, please? His stomach was churning enough as it was. At least the world beyond his eyelids didn’t seem quite so bright anymore. 

     Whoa, why was everything tilting?!

     “Come on, Kogane, work with me here,” the woman supporting him muttered as he flinched, eyes snapping open.

     Oh. That was a bed. One of those annoying hospital ones where you could never get the head and feet to the right elevation and it always felt like there was a crease right under your back.

     Right now, it was the most comfortable thing Keith had ever sat on. 

     It made keeping his eyes open really difficult. 

     “Sergeant Kogane? Can you focus on me, please?”

     Keith blinked leaden eyelids and struggled to focus on the concerned nurse crouched in front of him. “I’m going to ask you a few questions. Try to answer them as honestly as you can, please.”

     He stumbled through answers about his general health and symptoms, when he’d last eaten, drunk, and slept, what kind of stress he was under, and so on.

     (It was another testament to his exhaustion that he actually did try to be honest.)

     (It was yet another that, most of the time, he honestly couldn’t remember the answers.)

     “Sergeant Kogane,” the nurse began finally, “I must agree with Lieutenant McClain’s assessment of acute exhaustion, but it appears to be compounded by fatigue and anemia brought about by malnourishment and dehydration. I know this is your first day back from leave, but I must recommend-”

      “No.”

     The word was torn from him. Keith knew exactly what she was going to recommend, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t afford to take more time off, not when his little sister had been missing for two weeks without them finding a single lead and Mom was stressed out of her mind because the last member of their family was gone and if he was ever going to get the chance to find Matt, Dad, and Shiro he had to raise his rank and that wasn’t even mentioning the weird energy that kept calling him further and further out into the desert and he couldn’t find it anymore than he could find Katie-

     “I can hear you thinking,” the lieutenant from before grumbled, reaching out to poke a finger between his eyes. “Whatever you’re worried about can wait until you’re functional again.”

     Had she been there the whole time?

     “’Can’,” Keith insisted, ignoring the way shaking his head made him dizzy all over again. “I’ve alrea’y been gone too long.”

     “Sergeant Kogane,” the nurse interrupted firmly, “I’m afraid I must insist. If I were to release you in your current state, I would be guilty of medical malpractice on account of negligence. You need to rest.” 

     “I can’,” Keith insisted, hating that he had to blink back tears. “I need ta catch up in my classes an’ Montgomery wants me ta participate in that meetin’ about the new navigation system and Iverson wants me ta watch the freshman sims-”

     “And you won’t be any good for any of it if you’re ready to collapse at the slightest breath of wind,” the lieutenant snapped.

     “I-”

     “At the very least,” the nurse interrupted, “would you consent to receiving an IV? That may at least jumpstart your rehydration and provide some basic nutritional supplements. You can rest while it’s administered and as soon as the IV finishes, I can let you leave.”

     Keith paused, trying to process the suggestion. “How long would I…?”

     “The IV should finish in no more than an hour.”

     “…Fine.”

     The nurse left immediately, hurrying to get everything set up before he changed his mind. Keith just sighed, letting his whole body slump, even abandoning the effort to keep his head up now that there wasn’t anyone here to convince.

     “You’re an idiot. And a tool for making people worry about you.”

     Keith winced. 

     He’d forgotten the lieutenant was still here.

     Still didn’t seem worth the effort especially since she was right.

     Keith barely even raised his head as she stepped directly in front of him, briskly extending her hand. “Lieutenant Veronica McClain.”

     Lieutenant Veronica McClain.

     Veronica McClain.

     McClain.

     Oh.

      Oh.

     Okay, that actually explained a lot.

     Including how familiar she looked as her blue eyes narrowed and she raised an increasingly unimpressed eyebrow at him.

     Introductions. Right.

     “Keith Kogane,” he replied, finally gathering the presence of mind to clasp her hand.

     The handshake dropped almost immediately and Keith went back to staring at the ground, or more particularly the boots still planted in front of him. The lieutenant didn’t try to make any further conversation, though, and Keith would admit the faintest amount of relief at that. What could he even say? ‘Sorry I keep worrying everybody I’m just stressed out of my mind and my mom is just as stressed otherwise she probably would have dragged me to the infirmary herself a week ago and I know I should sleep but every time I close my eyes all I can think about is my missing family and the last time I tried to sleep anyway I woke up screaming from a nightmare about my Pop dying which hasn’t happened for almost nine years’?

     Yeah, that’d go over well. 

     Thankfully, the nurse came back pretty quickly (or maybe it was a while and time had just passed in a blink again), armed with everything she’d need for the IV and a packet of paperwork that made Keith’s head spin just looking at it. 

     “Not to worry Sergeant,” the woman smiled, noticing the direction of his gaze. “It’s just the consent forms. Before I can administer the IV, I’ll need to briefly go over the contents and have you sign to demonstrate informed consent.”

     Keith nodded wearily, listening with half an ear as the nurse set her supplies aside and began to rattle off a series of complex medical compounds and their uses--anemia, fatigue, dehydration, nutritional supplement, etc.--that he had no hope of processing in his current condition. At the end of the spiel, Keith signed at the bottom of the page, and the nurse had him lie back on the bed while she set up the IV stand somewhere behind his head, then found a vein in his arm, and eventually stuck in the needle. She fiddled with the IV bag for a little longer, then grabbed his paperwork and bustled back into the main office.

     And then Keith was alone, lying down in a quiet, comfortably dark room. It was going to take a lot of effort not to close his eyes for the next hour or so.

     He started to doze off anyway. 

     His heart lurched as he forced himself back awake.

     “Ugh, just quit fighting already, idiot.”

     Lieutenant McClain?

     Keith turned his head towards her, blinking lethargically. “Y’re still ’ere?” he mumbled. 

     The woman rolled blue eyes and marched to his bedside with long strides, raising her hand. Keith honestly half-expected her to smack him, but instead a surprisingly soft touch fell over his eyes, forcing them to close. Long fingers gently smoothed his hair back from his forehead, and a low sound, somewhere between a whimper and a hum, rumbled in the back of Keith’s throat. 

     “Sleep,” she ordered. 

     And, to Keith’s surprise, he did.

Chapter Text

     Keith lurched awake with a hoarse cry.

     He couldn’t remember the nightmare. Not clearly, anyway. Just his family disappearing in a surge of purple flames and Pop running in to save them and then all their voices screaming and screaming and screaming-!

     “Sergeant Kogane?”

     The young pilot flinched, twisting sharply towards the source of the unfamiliar voice, instinctively reaching for the dagger under his pillow but it wasn’t there; it should be there he’d kept it there ever since the Kerberos Mission vanished why wasn’t it there-!?

     “Sir, are you alright?”

     Keith’s breath caught, wild eyes finally fixing on the speaker: a tall, middle-aged woman with dark skin and darker hair standing a few feet back from the bed. He couldn’t really see her face--she was too backlit by the light streaming in from a doorway half-blocked by a curtain--but something in her posture actually did seem familiar, now that his mind was starting to calm down. One thing was obvious, though: this was definitely not his bedroom at the townhouse, or even at the Garrison officer’s quarters. Actually, judging by the sterile white walls, gray cabinetry and garish “Remember to Wash Your Hands!” posters, it was probably a doctor’s office.

     Oh, right. Lance’s sister dragged him to the infirmary. 

     Forcing himself to take measured breaths, Keith let his eyes drop to his arm. He didn’t have an IV anymore. Instead, there was a gauze patch held in place by a self-adhesive bandage where the needle would have been inserted. Strange. He was usually a pretty light sleeper, but he couldn’t remember it being removed at all. Well, at least that meant he hadn’t accidentally ripped it out when he jerked awake. Or punched the nurse when it was removed.

     “How long was I asleep?” he asked, dry throat turning his voice a little raspy. The nurse didn’t answer at first, stepping a little closer to his bedside, her lips pressed together. Keith leaned away from her hand as she reached to check him for a fever, vaguely annoyed at her silence. “How long?” he repeated.

     “…About twenty-three hours, give or take.” 

      “What?!” Keith yelped, shooting to his feet.

     “Calm down-”

     “You said it would only be an hour!”

     “Sergeant-!”

      “No! I have to go; I have to-!”

     “Kogane, that is enough!” a harsh, familiar voice barked. 

     Keith flinched even as he instinctively fell into a salute, heels snapping automatically together. “Commander Iverson,” he acknowledged tightly, still breathing somewhat heavily, his heart still racing with adrenaline. “I apologize for my absence yesterday.”

     “Don’t apologize for missing a simulation or two,” the senior officer huffed, gesturing for him to relax as he stepped fully into the recovery room, flicking on the light as he went. “Apologize for putting yourself and others at risk.”

     Keith blinked. “…Sir?”

     “Sergeant, what is your first responsibility as a pilot of the Galaxy Garrison?”

     “…To assist in the expansion of Earth’s knowledge of the universe by piloting missions under the direction of the Galaxy Garrison,” he replied slowly, quoting from the handbook he’d been forced to read before accepting his admittance to the Garrison’s advanced program.

     “No,” Iverson shook his head, his gaze grave, stern in a way that Keith had never quite seen from him before. “Your first responsibility as a pilot is to protect your crew. Now tell me, Sergeant, can a malnourished, dehydrated, exhausted pilot fulfill that duty?”

     Keith couldn’t help but wince, something suspiciously like guilt churning in the pit of his stomach before he was forced to admit, “No, sir.”

     “Then you will understand why I am hereby placing you on mandatory leave-”

     “Wha-!?”

     “-for one month minimum, and if I hear any further protest from you, I will extend that time indefinitely; do I make myself clear?”

     “…Yes, sir,” Keith bit out between gritted teeth, his hands curling into fists at his sides as he struggled to keep a bridle on his anger. 

     “Good. Use that time to rest and recover. If you have need of additional services, the Garrison will see to it that you receive them.”

     “Additional services, sir?” he frowned.

     “Counseling services,” Iverson clarified quietly, something around his eyes softening minimally when the young pilot bristled. “There’s no shame in needing extra help. With the state Lieutenant McClain found you in, if not for Corporal Bailey’s intervention, we may have lost you.”

      Corporal Bailey? Keith glanced towards the nurse that had been standing to one side through all of this, who inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement. So that was her name.

     Wait, what kind of ‘intervention’ was Iverson talking about? All the nurse had done was give him an IV. 

     An IV that he hadn’t noticed her remove.

     An IV that had been administered just before he’d fallen into a nearly-dreamless sleep for twenty-three hours.

     “You drugged me,” Keith hissed, fury boiling through his veins as he finally connected the dots. The slightest pink flush touched Corporal Bailey’s cheeks at his accusation, but she stood her ground, meeting his amethyst eyes with her own calm, measured gaze.

     Iverson’s presence was the only reason he didn’t sock her in the jaw right then and there. 

     “If there are consequences for my actions, then I will bear them,” she said simply, not denying it. “However, although my methods may have been ethically questionable, I did follow the necessary legal guidelines to obtain informed consent. You’re the one who insisted that you were well enough to sign it.”

     At that, it was Keith’s turn to flush, anger now warring with embarrassment and maybe even a little guilt. “That still didn’t give you the right!” he snarled anyway.

     “Perhaps not. But the moment you came under my care, I had the responsibility,” she replied, her voice still maddeningly calm and even.

     It made it really hard to yell at her.

     “Excuse me,” she saluted briefly, turning to the commander, “but I think it may be best for me to send one of the other nurses in to clear Sergeant Kogane to begin his leave.” Iverson nodded, and she slipped out of the room. 

     Silence fell as Keith sank back onto the hospital bed, glaring at the ground with his hands balled into fists, elbows pressed into his knees. After a long moment though, Iverson sighed, walked over, and sat, groaning, beside him. 

     “I’m sorry.”

     Keith twitched, eyes flicking towards the commander. He… hadn’t expected that. Iverson didn’t meet his eyes, didn’t even glance at him, given that his bad eye was closest to Keith at the moment. For half a second, he wondered if he’d just imagined the quiet words, but then the older man spoke again. “I’m sorry, Keith. I know you haven’t been taking the-” here he cringed “-announcement about the Kerberos Mission well, and that’s not even considering your sister’s recent disappearance. As a commanding officer, it is my responsibility to protect those under my command, and clearly I have failed to do so in your case.”

     Almost against his will, a little of the frustration and anger receded from Keith’s gut at Iverson’s quiet apology. It wasn’t enough, not really. It wouldn’t excuse the man from his role in the Garrison’s cover-up, wouldn’t excuse him for abandoning Keith’s family, but it did at least confirm his initial impression that the commander wasn’t happy with the way Sanda had chosen to handle things, either.

     He wondered, abruptly, if Iverson had deliberately chosen to be the one to break the news to Keith that day. It might explain why he’d never received disciplinary action for practically attacking the man. 

     “E-Excuse me?”

     Both men glanced up as a pale, thin-faced young man with curly red hair poked his head into the room. “Erm, Ms. Camille asked if I would check the sergeant over before we release him?”

     Keith sighed, resigned to his fate, frustrating though it was. “Where do you want me?”

     The young nurse had him straighten up and asked the commander to stand aside so that he could set about performing some standard tests, getting Keith’s height and weight (now that he could stand up on his own), his blood pressure, and checking his temperature. Ultimately, he declared Keith healthy enough to leave, but also (rather timidly) insisted that he would need to take a packet of information on recovering from malnutrition and resources for mental health challenges with him. It was annoying, but Iverson’s glare when he left the room warned against expressing the sentiment. With a tired sigh, Keith followed the red-haired nurse to the main office to collect the information, amethyst eyes taking in the details he’d been too tired to notice the day before.

     Dusty green walls, chairs scattered around the waiting room beside large potted plants, a little water dispenser with cups in the corner. They were currently behind the main desk, where the nurse shook the mouse to wake up one of the computers so he could pull up the files he needed to print. Someone had left a cadet’s medical file open on the computer next to that one. Keith was too far away to read any of the text beyond the student’s grade level--a senior, apparently--but the moment he caught sight of the photograph, all other thoughts fled his mind.

     Short brunette hair.

     Round glasses.

     Honey-gold eyes.

     “I- I have to go,” Keith managed breathlessly.

     “But, I haven’t finished- Sergeant! Sergeant, wait!”

     Keith barely even registered the man’s call as he bolted out of the infirmary and ran full tilt down the hallway, heart pounding from more than just exertion. 

      Please. Please-!

     Keith burst through the door leading to the simulator room viewing platform with a fair bit more force than he’d intended, drawing startled looks from several instructors, curious glances from multiple students on the main floor, and a glare from the commander leading the exercise for the day. The younger officer had enough presence of mind to wince, taking a step away from the edge of the catwalk and forcing himself to calm his breathing, dark amethyst eyes darting between the cadets.

     “Galaxy Garrison flight log twenty-nine, eight, fourteen,” a familiar voice sounded over the intercom. Keith distantly recognized it as belonging to Lance; he and his team must be starting a new simulation. “Preparing to approach Io to join the surface research base. Ready, team?”

     Keith largely tuned out the affirmative mumbles from the rest of his crew as he continued to search the class, frantically seeking for a familiar head of messy brunette hair.

      “Lance, incoming lava spout!!” Hunk’s voice shrieked at the edge of his awareness.

      “Yeah, I see it. Taking evasive maneuvers. Keep an eye on our hull, buddy!”

     The hope that had driven Keith’s mad dash to the simulator room began to crumble as his eyes flickered over the last cadet in the room. Had he just been jumping to conclusions? Was it just a coincidence, and Matt had a second doppelganger that had recently transferred into the Garrison? 

     Was Katie still out there alone somewhere?

     “What’s the volcanic activity doing to our comms, Pidge?”

     Keith froze.

     “There’s a fair bit of interference, but I can tune most of it out. There’s an incoming advisory of a large eruption expected at point delta radon five seven two any minute now.”

     That voice…

     “Copy that. Adjusting angle of descent.”

     “Oh gosh. Oh gosh; I think I’m gonna be sick!”

     “You’re always sick,” ‘Pidge’s’ voice grumbled in response to Hunk’s frantic mumbling. Keith wasn’t sure if he choked back a laugh or a sob, but he definitely choked.

     He knew that voice.

     “Be nice, Gunderson,” Lance scolded dryly. “Hunk, the left wing feels a little off; could you take a look?”

     “S-Sensors aren’t indicating anything on my end,” the engineer groaned.

     “Well, it’s cleared up now, so it’s probably fine.”

     “Could be updrafts from the heat released by the seismic activity,” Pidge--Katie, it has to be Katie please let it be Katie!!--suggested.

     “…Yeah, that would make sense.”

     “Updated info from the base; the projected interruption-”

     “Inter-ruption?”

     “Shut up, Lance; you know what I meant!”

     “Sorry, sorry. You were saying?”

     “The eruption has shifted by about two degrees south.”

     “Two degrees- Oh geez-!!”

     Lance yelped and Hunk gagged as the projection of the simulator screen spun and flared orange-white, indicating the spurt of lava that the ship had narrowly avoided. “Pidge, I needed to know about that about four seconds earlier!!”

     “You would have known about it four seconds earlier if you hadn’t interrupted me!”

     “Gloat later, help Hunk with damage assessment now!”

     The rest of the simulation continued much the same, with Lance and Hunk doing their best to work together and deal with the damage to the virtual ship despite the latter’s nausea, while Katie made occasional dry comments that Lance had a hard time not reacting to and generally was considerably less helpful than Keith knew her to be capable of. They did still manage to land safely, but it was a near thing. Admittedly, he wasn’t paying much attention by the end. He was far more concerned with controlling his breathing and not drawing attention from the other officers strung along the observation deck.

     As the exercise ended, the commander in charge ordered everyone out of the simulator, leaving Keith to watch with bated breath as the trio began to emerge.

     “You okay there, buddy?” Lance was asking as he led the way out, cringing a little bit as he rubbed his best friend’s back.

     “B-Been better,” Hunk groaned, one hand still covering his mouth. 

     And just behind them-

     It’s really her, it’s Katie she’s safe-

     She nearly swam in an orange and gray flight suit. Her hair had been chopped short, uneven, unstyled, and curling around her ears. A familiar pair of round, half-rimmed glasses sat on the bridge of her nose.

     She looked just like Matt.

     Keith wanted to laugh. And cry. 

     And strangle her, but that was beside the point.

     He slipped away as the watching cadets began providing ‘constructive criticism,’ struggling to settle his breathing while the blood pounded in his ears and his hands shook. Iverson would be expecting him to gather up his things and leave the Garrison to begin his month-long leave, but this was far more important. He had to be careful about it, though. If he accidentally blew the whistle on Pidge’s true identity, there was no telling what Sanda would do to her.

     Keith headed down to the main floor to wait, settling himself beside the door to the group simulator room. There, he folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the wall, affecting nonchalance and avoiding eye contact with any passers-by. Thankfully, it would seem that Katie’s team was the last in the simulator this class session, because only a few minutes later, the doors whooshed open and cadets began to file past him. It didn’t take long before Keith caught sight of a figure with wild brunette hair, hurrying out with downcast eyes, like she was trying not to draw attention to herself. 

     Too late for that, the young sergeant thought wryly.

     “Gunderson, was it?”

     Katie didn’t quite yelp, but she definitely squeaked before whirling towards him, familiar amber eyes almost doubling in size as they fell on him. “Ke-ogane! Uh, that is, Sergeant Kogane-!”

     “We need to talk,” Keith growled.

     “Ah- Well, I have class-”

     “Great, then we can talk on the way. I’m sure you wouldn’t have any issues with everyone overhearing us, right?”

     The young officer watched as a myriad of emotions flew through his sister’s eyes, turning her face a strange mix of pink and white that gave her complexion the appearance of spoiled milk. “Fine,” she finally bit out. 

     Keith turned on his heel, leading the way to a spare classroom while Katie sullenly followed. He took a second to check inside, making sure it was empty before stepping back and allowing her to enter in front of him. As the door closed behind them, his little sister took a deep breath.

     “Ke-”

     She cut herself off with a small squeak of surprise as Keith dragged her into a bone-crushing hug, arms wrapped around her shoulders, her glasses--Matt’s glasses--pressing uncomfortably into his ribcage, his face buried in her hair. Slowly, almost cautiously, Pidge extended her arms to wrap around his waist. “You’re not mad?” she mumbled, muffled by his uniform. 

     “Try pissed,” he growled, squeezing tighter.

     “Keith. Squishing me.”

      “Good. Because I’m gonna hug you to death for scaring me like that, then I’m gonna bring you back to life just so I can kill you again for what you did to Mom!”

     “Drama king,” Pidge grumbled.

      “Two weeks, Katie,” Keith snarled. “You’ve been gone for two. Weeks. Do you have any idea how frantic we’ve been, especially after losing Matt, Dad, and Shiro?! You didn’t leave a note, didn’t even give us a hint of where you were; we didn’t know if you were alive, dead, or even if we’d ever find your body!”

     “I- I didn’t think-”

      “That much is obvious!”

     “…’M sorry.”

     Keith hadn’t once, in nine years, thought of his sister as small. Petite, sure. Short, absolutely. But ‘small’ had never factored into it. But in that moment, as his younger sister flinched before the vitriol in his tone, her shoulders hunching as she deflated, her voice trembling on the brink of tears, she seemed downright tiny.  

     And he was the one who’d hurt her.

     Something twisted in the pit of his stomach. In spite of everything--the anxiety and the helplessness and the sheer terror of the past two weeks--Keith didn’t want to be mad at her. Not when he’d been so, so scared that she might never come back. He couldn’t risk pushing her away. Not again.

     With a weary sigh, Keith shifted his grip from a near-stranglehold into a real hug. “I’m gonna be gray by twenty with the rate you keep giving me heart attacks, Pidge,” he grumbled.

     “Sorry,” she whispered again, shoulders still tense. “I didn’t want to scare you.”

     “I know,” Keith sighed, gently rocking her from side to side. “I know you didn’t. I just… Sometimes I wonder if you even realize how dangerous this is-”

     “Of course I know that,” Katie snapped, brittle and angry under the tears. “Of course I know the risks. I know what I could be charged with, Keith; what consequences I might face if I’m caught. But I couldn’t stop thinking about what Dad and Matt and Shiro might be facing out there.” His little sister raised her eyes, fierce determination burning in their depths. “Your plan is safer, Keith, I’m not denying that. But it will also take time, time that Matt and the others may not have. But if I can expose the Garrison’s cover-up, then I may be able to force them to take action sooner, maybe soon enough to save them. If there’s even the slightest chance of that possibility… then I have to take it.”

     For a moment, Keith held his sister’s liquid-amber gaze. Then, with a long, weary groan, he pulled her close again. “Geez, how am I supposed to argue with that?” he grumbled, squeezing a little tighter. 

     The hacker let out a wet little laugh as she sniffled, turning her head so that she could breathe properly. “Yeah, you were never much good in a fight where you couldn’t just hit the opposition.” 

     Keith chuckled too, taking a calming breath to the best of his ability. Patience yields focus, he thought with a wry smile. “Okay, I’m in. But if we’re gonna do this, we need some ground rules.”

     “Like what?”

     “Rule number one, we keep each other updated. No more secrets. Got it?”

     “Yeah. Okay,” Pidge agreed readily, hugging him a little tighter, too, like she was also remembering their nine months of near-estrangement and regretting every minute of it. 

     “Rule number two, no trying to hack into the Garrison without me as backup.”

     “…Okay,” she agreed again, somewhat less readily, but it was still agreement. Hopefully she wouldn’t change her mind when she heard exactly what that meant.

     “That means there won’t be any hacking for the next month at least.”

     “What? Why?” his little sister demanded, drawing back enough to look at his face.

     “I’ve been put on mandatory leave. Iverson’s orders,” Keith sighed, running a frustrated hand through his long hair.

     Pidge stared at him for a long moment. Then she snorted. Keith was pretty sure it wasn’t just the unexpectedness of the sound that made her sound a little hysterical. “O-Oh my gosh, Keith,” she gasped between giggles. “You’re even getting suspended after graduation!”

     Keith flushed, eyes wide in surprise. “That’s not the same thing!”

     “It’s close enough. You’re still getting kicked out,” she grinned, entirely too smug about the whole thing. 

     “Is it that hard to promise me you’re not gonna try anything stupid without me?” Keith groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

     “Fine, I promise,” Katie giggled, wiping a few tears from the corners of her eyes. “Was there anything else?”

     “Just one,” Keith nodded. “Rule number three, we tell Mom.”

     Katie paled, instantly sobering. “Uh, maybe we can negotiate-?”

      “No, Katie,” he cut her off, folding his arms across his chest. “Mom’s been just as terrified as I have since you went missing, if not more so, and I refuse to lie to her after everything she’s already been through. We tell her everything, or this ends right now. I will drag you to Iverson myself if I have to.”

     His little sister flushed, a burst of anger flashing through her eyes before it drained into resignation and, nearly buried underneath that, guilt. “She is so gonna kill me,” Pidge mumbled, scrubbing at her eyes. 

     “Probably,” Keith agreed, allowing himself a slight smile. “But I don’t think she’ll stop us.”

     “Probably,” she echoed, fidgeting with a lock of her shorn hair. Keith watched her for a long moment before he stepped forward, drawing her into another hug. 

     “I’ve missed you,” he muttered.

     “…I’ve missed you too,” Katie admitted. Eventually though, she pulled away again, grabbing her abandoned bag and slinging it over her shoulder. “I should really get to class.”

     Keith nodded, moving out of her way. “You don’t have any classes tomorrow, right? I’ll come pick you up later this afternoon so you can stay the weekend. I will march into the dorms and drag you out if you’re not waiting for me. Got it?”

     “Yeah yeah, you’re in full-on overprotective-big-brother mode, I got it,” she rolled her eyes at him, but she was smiling. “See you soon, Keith.”

     “See you soon, Pidge.”

Chapter Text

     “Katherine Eileen Holt, you are in so much trouble!!” Mom snapped through a sob, holding her daughter just as tightly as Keith had just a few hours before while BaeBae went nuts around their legs. Keith smirked from his spot by the stove as Katie shot him a slightly panicked “Help me!!” look from within Mom’s embrace. He just rolled his eyes and left her to the intermittent threatening, barking, and general fussing, idly stirring the abandoned marinara sauce and grabbing the spaghetti noodles as the pot started to boil. 

     To be fair, some of Mom’s reaction was his fault. He’d given her a heads-up that he would be coming home with a guest today, but had opted not to tell her who that guest was until about five minutes before they got home, just in case she got impatient and marched into the Garrison to drag Katie home herself. Keith would probably get his own lecture for that later, but he’d rather be lectured than get his sister arrested by accident. 

     “Where in the world h-have you even been all this time?” Mom sniffled, finally taking her seat at the dinner table. “A-And what did you do to your hair?”

     “That’s what you’re worried about?” Katie grumbled, scratching BaeBae behind the ears as the terrier propped her paws on her lap, demanding to be pet.

     “Don’t you even try to be smart with me, young lady,” Mom growled, squeezing her other hand. “I’ve been worried sick.”

     “I know,” the youngest Holt muttered, deflating slightly, “and… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. I’ve been at the Galaxy Garrison. Keith found me during a training sim today.”

     “The Galaxy-?” Mom cut herself off with a low groan, pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand. “Okay, that does sound like something you’d be reckless enough to do. How did you manage to pull it off?”

     “Well, I couldn’t get into the Garrison again as Katie Holt, and I didn’t know what kind of security upgrades Sanda might have ordered after my first attempt, so instead I hacked into the East Coast base’s student files and created a new profile for myself under the name Pidge Gunderson. Then I ‘transferred’ into the Southwest base at the beginning of the school year. Made it easier to fake my medical records too, since I could claim my physical was already completed at the other base.” 

     “Might want to double-check that you sent them everything they needed,” Keith cut in, setting the marinara sauce on the table and going to the fridge for the parmesan cheese. “Someone was looking over your records in the infirmary office today. That’s actually how I figured out you’d snuck in.”

     “Noted.”

     “What was so important that you had to take that risk now though?” Mom pulled the conversation back on track. “And why…? Why couldn’t you just talk to us about it?”

     Keith paused, turning amethyst eyes on his sister as well. He hadn’t had a chance to ask Pidge that question back at the Garrison, but it was something that had been bothering him, too. He’d wondered if maybe it was just their argument all those months ago, but that didn’t explain why she’d left Mom in the dark, too. And as much as Katie could hold a grudge, she wasn’t that petty. So why-?

     “I didn’t want to get your hopes up,” Katie whispered, her head bowed too low to see her eyes.

     “…What do you mean?” Mom breathed as something flared in Keith’s chest. He wasn’t sure if it was hope or fear, but either way, it kept his eyes fixed on his sister as she took a deep breath.

     “It took me a while, but I was able to modify my receiver to scan for long distance radio waves,” Pidge began quietly, still stroking BaeBae’s head. “About a month ago, I managed to pick up a signal originating near Kerberos.”

     Keith’s sharp inhale was mirrored by their mom’s. “You mean-!”

     “I don’t know,” the young hacker shook her head, her golden eyes pained. “Maybe it’s them, or maybe it’s just the equipment they managed to set up before they disappeared, or maybe it’s something else entirely. At this point, all I know is that there is a signal being sent, and it might be from them. So I entered the Garrison to learn more. I know it was stupid, I just- I couldn’t just-” She broke off, breathing tightly, hugging BaeBae to hide her face, but not before the dog managed to lick away a tear. 

     “Oh, Katie,” Mom murmured, shifting close enough to wrap her in her arms. Keith stepped around the table to join them, but it still felt like something was missing. Or rather, three someones. Still, it was better than nothing. 

     “I’m sorry you didn’t feel like you could tell us,” Mom eventually whispered.

     Pidge shook her head, scrubbing at her eyes. “It wasn’t like that. I just… I didn’t want to tell you and then find out that it was nothing. And I didn’t… I didn’t want to risk getting you in trouble over nothing, either.”

     “No more secrets, sweetheart. Alright? We’re a family. Whatever happens going forward, we’ll face it together.”

     “…Okay.”

     “Now,” Mom smiled gently, drawing back, “how about we eat and then continue this afterwards? We’ll be able to plan better on full stomachs.”

     “Okay.”

     Their conversation took on a lighter tone as they ate, discussing the more mundane aspects of their lives for the last few weeks. Mom talked about the progress she had made in her latest bioengineering project. Keith talked a bit about the work he’d done on his Pop’s house. And Katie complained about how nosy her new flight team was.

     “I still can’t believe that of all the teams I could’ve been assigned to, it was theirs,” she grumbled at one point, shoving food into her mouth. 

     “I honestly wondered if you’d hacked into the system to put yourself on their team when I found out,” Keith admitted.

     “Are you crazy? Why would I purposefully put myself on the one team with people that actually knew Matt?”

     “It just seemed a little too convenient to be a coincidence, is all,” her brother shrugged.

     “It’s not convenient at all! Hunk keeps asking me all these personal questions that I have to improvise answers to and Lance keeps trying to drag me out of my room for ‘team bonding time’ and he won’t leave me alone no matter how often I blow him off and-!”

     “Maybe you should try joining them,” Keith commented as he took another bite of food, unable to hold back a smirk.

     “Say what now?” Pidge grumped in such a flat tone that Keith snorted.

     “I think you’d get along pretty well if you actually made an effort.”

     “Sure.”

     “Don’t believe me?”

     “Lance is an idiot and Hunk is a snoop.”

     “Hunk is also the only person I’ve met besides you who can actually keep up with Matt and Dad when they start talking about their projects. And even if Lance isn’t book-smart he is people-smart. Besides, avoiding Lance is only going to make him more determined. Take it from someone who knows.”

     Katie raised an eyebrow at him, something calculating flashing through her eyes. “So is that how you finally managed to make friends? He nagged you into it?”

     “…Yeah. Pretty much.”

     The youngest Holt snickered. “And here I’d just thought that you’d finally matured past your brooding anime phase.”

     “I don’t brood! And don’t talk like you didn’t love Fullmetal Alchemist, too!”

     Any comeback Katie might have come up with was cut off by their mom’s quiet laughter. “Sorry, sorry, don’t mind me,” she waved off their curious looks. “It’s just nice to see you getting along again, is all.”

     Keith blinked, but found himself exchanging a smile with his little sister all the same. It did feel good to be getting along again.

     “So what are your plans going forward, Katie?” Mom asked later, as dinner finally drew to a close. 

     “Well, Keith made me promise not to do anything too crazy while he’s on leave,” the hacker sighed. Keith didn’t miss the way Mom’s eyes darkened upon mention of his forced vacation, but she remained silent on the matter for the moment. “For now, I’ll continue fine-tuning my equipment, see if I can eliminate the cosmic noise from the signal I picked up so I can actually identify its source. Once I do… well, we’ll see.”

     “No making decisions without talking to us first,” Keith reminded her warningly.

     “I know, I know,” Pidge grumbled without any heat. “Anyway, what’ll you be doing while you’re banned from the Garrison?”

     Keith paused, considering. As his sister had noted, he wouldn’t be allowed back in the Garrison for the next month, so he couldn’t do anything on that front. And he wasn’t nearly as tech-savvy as Pidge was, so he wouldn’t be much help with her efforts, either. He could focus his attention on fixing up Pop’s house, but that wouldn’t really be helping, it would just be a way to keep himself busy. What else could he-?

     Keith gasped, overwhelmed by a sudden wave of dizziness. He felt himself slump forward with the intensity of it, pressing a hand to his chest to try to keep his heart from beating out of it. Somewhere at the edge of his awareness, he could hear Mom’s and Katie’s voices, but the blood rushing in his ears nearly drowned them out. 

     Impatience-hurry-longing-freedom.

     The thoughts didn’t belong to him; Keith was certain of that much. Still, they felt familiar. Born of a heartbeat that pulsed nearly in time with his own.

     Fear-danger-determination-fight.

     It was the energy; it had to be. Even if he’d never felt it from this distance before. Never felt it laced with this much urgency. This much desperation.

     Distress-search-need-come.

     “-th!”

     Find me.

     “Keith!!”

     Keith choked on air as the tidal wave crashing through his soul abruptly receded to a gentle ripple, barely lapping at the edge of his consciousness. Still present, but no longer gripping his soul in a stranglehold. 

     “Katie, grab my phone; we need to call 911-”

     “No,” Keith gasped harshly, vaguely aware of his dog whining at his side and his mom crouched in front of him, gripping his shoulders. “Don’t. Please.”

     “Keith, given your condition yesterday-”

     “This is different,” the pilot insisted as his breath slowly evened out. Keith may have been raised in a family of scientists, but he’d long learned to trust his instincts. Unexpected and intense though it had been, this energy didn’t intend to hurt him. “I’m okay, Mom.”

     “Hold on, back up,” Pidge cut in before Mom could protest, her face pale and eyes wide. “What are you talking about? What happened yesterday?”

     “Nothing happened-”

     “Don’t. Don’t you dare try to pretend again,” Mom snapped, eyes swimming in tears, anger, and guilt as her hands shifted to cup his face. “I did my best not to push you after Sam and the others disappeared, and it could have gotten you killed; I’m not making that mistake again.”

     “Wait, what?” Pidge squawked. “What do you mean, Keith could’ve gotten killed?! Just who did you pick a fight with; the mob!?!”

     “Wh-? You thought I got put on leave for fighting?” Keith protested, jerking away from his mom to glare at his little sister. “I’m not that bad!” 

     “It was a reasonable assumption all things considered! Whatever; enlighten me! Why did you get put on leave, and what the heck just happened?”

     “I-” Keith faltered. Dropping his gaze, he gently stroked BaeBae’s head, trying to give his hands something to do. “It’s… It’s hard to explain…”

     “It’s not as hard as you’re making it out to be.”

     “Mom-”

     “When Keith was taken to the Garrison infirmary, he was going on at least three days without sleep and several months of malnourishment, not to mention serious dehydration,” Mom explained, her voice peculiarly flat.

     Keith winced as Pidge inhaled sharply. “I knew you were pushing yourself, but you- You weren’t that bad when… Keith, did- Did I-?”

     “Stop. Please, Katie,” her brother cut her off. “I didn’t handle you leaving well, I admit it. But the decisions I made were mine, not yours. It wasn’t your fault. Or yours, Mom.”

     Neither she nor Katie looked like they believed him, but they didn’t argue with him either. Instead, Mom stood up to pull him into a hug, tears dripping onto the top of his head. Katie swallowed hard and reached out to grip his hand, like she was trying to stop her own from shaking. Keith wrapped an arm around Mom’s waist and squeezed his sister’s hand in turn, hoping to reassure them. 

     “I’m still waiting for you to explain why I shouldn’t call an ambulance,” Mom whispered after a strained silence.

     “It’s gonna sound crazy,” Keith muttered.

     “Explain anyway.”

     “…Ever since Dad and the others vanished, I’ve felt something… calling to me. Some sort of energy out in the desert,” the young pilot began slowly. “I’m not sure what it is, but it wants me to find it.”

     “It wants you to find it?” Pidge repeated, frowning, but the look in her eyes was more curious than like she was questioning his sanity. “How can energy want anything?”

     “I can’t explain it, really. It’s not just energy, though. There are… thoughts. Not words, but… emotions. Ideas.” 

     “You’re right. That does sound crazy,” his sister agreed, raising an eyebrow at him. Then her expression softened. “But then, people would call me crazy for believing that Dad and Matt are still alive, too.”

     Keith managed a smile at that. Mom still seemed tense though, her arms tightening around his shoulders. “When you collapsed earlier. Does that happen every time you feel this… ‘energy’?” she whispered.

     “No. I’ve actually never felt it that intensely before.”

     “And you’re certain-? You’re absolutely certain that you’re alright?”

     Keith nodded decisively, a wry smile tugging at his mouth. “Honestly, I’m kind of surprised you’re even asking, and not just checking me into a psych ward. I mean, I basically just admitted to hearing a voice in my head for the last few months.”

     She managed a small, garbled laugh, pressing a kiss to the top of his head and making him feel like he was ten years old again. “You’ve always had a different way of experiencing the world, Keith. This is just an extension of that. Although, I’d be much more concerned if you weren’t worried how I’d take it.” Mom took a deep breath, then pulled back far enough to give him a very stern look. “But I will be keeping a very close eye on you from now on. And if I think for even a moment that you’re not taking care of yourself…”

     “I know, Mom,” he chuckled quietly as she let the threat hang. “I’m grounded ’til I’m thirty.”

     “Good,” she nodded, before turning on her daughter. “And Katie, I will not hesitate to drag you home if I get even the slightest hint that you’re in danger.”

     “Right,” Pidge smiled.

     Mom sighed, but she smiled, too, wrapping her arms around them both. “I want our family to be whole again too, but your dad and the others would never forgive themselves if searching for them got you hurt, too. Just… promise me that you’ll stay safe.”

     Keith pressed his face into his mom’s shoulder and felt his sister do the same. “We’ll be okay, Mom,” he murmured. “Promise.”

Chapter Text

     It didn’t take long to establish their new routine. At Mom’s insistence, Pidge texted them every day and called them nearly as often, even just to say, “I’m alive,” or complain about Lance’s latest attempt to befriend her. She couldn’t come home every weekend at the risk of arousing suspicion, but she still took the bus into Plaht City to join Keith and Mom for dinner at least once a week. 

     “Are you sure you want to ride the bus?” Keith asked the first time his sister suggested it. “Seems like a lot of hassle when I could just come and pick you up.”

     “Trust me, this will be a lot less hassle in the long run,” she sighed over the phone. “There are already rumors flying around campus about me getting on ‘some weirdo’s hoverbike’ last week. Hunk and Lance almost had a conniption when they heard. I’d rather as few people at the Garrison see us together as possible. Anyway, enough about me. Any luck hunting down your ‘energy’?”

     “Well, I can’t say that I’ve found it yet, but I do think I’ve made progress,” he replied. “I’ll tell you about it at dinner.”

     “’Kay.”

     Once Keith wasn’t splitting his attention between the search and the Garrison and he was no longer ready to collapse at the slightest breath of wind , the pull in his chest had become a lot easier to follow. Within a matter of days, he’d stumbled across an area near the mesas, strewn with giant boulders and riddled with caves. The energy had surged again when he first arrived, projecting relief-soon-hope-find. This place was definitely connected somehow. He’d spent nearly every day exploring the area after that, and soon found dozens of strange carvings scattered through the caves, nearly all of them containing the motif of a blue lion. 

     “How can you tell the lions are blue?” Pidge asked over ramen one night.

     “There’s blue dye rubbed into several of the carvings,” Keith explained, tapping his phone to zoom in on one of the pictures he’d taken. “See? Why whoever carved them chose to make them blue, I have no idea.”

     “Maybe the color’s symbolic?”

     “Most likely,” Mom agreed, peering at the image. “Are you sure they’re not supposed to be mountain lions? These carvings are clearly very old, and lions aren’t exactly native to the region.”

     “…I mean, I guess? Honestly, that hadn’t even occurred to me.”

     “Hey, what are these symbols about?” Pidge asked, adjusting the view to look above the featured lion.

     “Stars, I think,” Keith replied, slurping up a mouthful of noodles. “Most of the carvings have them, all different constellations, too. Here’s Pegasus, this one has Lacerta-”

     “Wait, but that doesn’t make sense either,” Pidge frowned. “If these carvings are really that old, why would they be covered in Greek and Latin constellations?” 

     Keith blinked at her. “Well crap,” he muttered, turning back to the photo he’d taken. “The conspiracy deepens.”

     “Setting that matter aside for now, have you made any progress on your end, Katie?” Mom asked after a minute.

     “I think I’ve almost got the signal isolated. Give me another day, maybe two, and I should have news.”

     “Alright. Keep us updated.”

     “I will.”

     Katie’s prediction proved correct. Late the next night, Keith got a call from her. “Hey, Pidge. What’s up?” he answered, turning her on speaker so he could keep working on repairing the wiring at Pop’s house. He’d managed to restore the running water last week, but-

     “K-Keith…”

     “Katie? Katie what’s wrong?” Keith asked, instantly alert at the sound of his sister’s choked whisper, dropping his tools and snatching the phone. “Where are you?”

     “I’m… I’m on the rooftop. A-At the Garrison.”

     “Are you alright? Are you safe?” he demanded. So help him if she was in trouble he’d grab his keys and head to the Garrison right now, Iverson be-

     “Yeah. Yeah, I… I’m okay, I just…” His little sister paused, her swallow audible even through the phone. “Keith, I think I know what happened to Dad and the others.”

     The pilot’s breath hitched sharply. “What did you find?”

     “That signal I was tracking, the one originating near Kerberos. It’s alien radio chatter.”

     “…Well, Dad and Matt always wanted to be the first people to meet aliens,” Keith managed faintly.

     Katie’s choked laugh sounded much more like a sob. “Really? That’s the first thing you think to say?”

     “I might be panicking a little. Also Matt’s a bad influence.” His sister let out another strangled sound of agreement as Keith slumped against the wall. 

     Aliens.

     Of all the possibilities he had considered, aliens wasn’t one of them. On one hand, at least Dad, Matt, and Shiro probably weren’t slowly starving to death on a barren ice moon. On the other, the chances that they were safe… Well, Keith would leave the numbers to Pidge, but the odds weren’t good. There was even a possibility that-

     No. 

     No, that was a something Keith still refused to consider. His family was alive, somewhere out in the universe. It would just take a bit longer to find them. 

     “This is gonna make exposing the Garrison a lot harder, isn’t it?” he murmured. 

     “Yeah. The moment we say aliens are involved, people are going to treat it like crackpot nonsense.”

     “Right,” Keith hummed. All things considered, he felt oddly calm about the whole situation, but that was probably the shock talking.

     “…There were a couple of repeating patterns that I managed to transcribe. One isn’t chatter, but it’s embedded within the signal. I’m not certain, but I think it’s a string of numbers. The other is a word: ‘voltron’.”

     “Voltron?” Keith repeated.

     Longing-home-hope-victory.

     “…Was that the energy again?”

     “How could you tell?”

     “You have this particular gasp whenever it hits you.”

     “I’m not sure if I should be impressed or concerned by your observational skills.”

     “I’m just good like that. Anyway, what did it tell you this time?”

     “…This is gonna sound crazy-”

     “Dude, I just told you aliens abducted our family and you didn’t even question it. I think I can give you the benefit of the doubt.”

     Keith managed a weak chuckle at that. “Whatever ‘voltron’ is, I think it’s connected to the energy.”

     “…I’m starting to think we need a conspiracy board to keep track of all this.”

     “Honestly, I’m starting to think so, too.”

     A pause. “Think that old cork board of Matt’s would be big enough?”

     “Probably. I’ll start printing photos.”

     “Just don’t start putting it together without me. You never color code things right; I swear, we’re not animals!”

     “Matt’s a bad influence on you, too, you know.”

     “Says you!” Pidge scoffed. When she spoke again, the sudden solemnity in her tone made the elder Holt straighten. “Hey. Keith?”

     “Yeah?”

     “Be careful. If this energy really is connected to whoever took Matt, Shiro, and Dad…”

     “I know,” he nodded quietly, even as his instincts and a rush of indignation-friend-insistence-trust told him otherwise. “You stay safe too, Katie.”

     “I will. See you Thursday.”

     “See you then.”

.oOo.

     “Okay, let’s review,” Pidge declared decisively as she stepped back from the completed conspiracy board a few days later, gesturing to a series of orange threads. “The Kerberos Mission disappeared on November 4th, 2113. Thirty-six hours later, Iverson informed us that they crashed due to ‘pilot error’. A day after the official announcement, I hacked into the Garrison’s records and found video feeds confirming that the Kerberos Mission landed safely. About two hours later, there was a flash of purplish light, and approximately three minutes later the feeds had all cut to static. I didn’t see the video detailing what occurred in the interim.”

     She switched to pointing at the purple threads. “On July 30th of 2114, I first picked up hints of a signal being sent out from the approximate coordinates of Kerberos. Four days ago, September 16th, I completed filtering out the signal and determined that it did not originate from a Galaxy Garrison-operated device nor from one of Matt or Dad’s devices. Furthermore, the language the signal is being sent in does not match any language spoken on Earth. From these facts, I have concluded that the signal is likely alien radio chatter. Taking this and the purplish light from the video feeds into account, I believe it to be most likely that Dad, Matt, and Shiro were abducted by aliens-” because they had mutually and silently agreed that the other possibility wasn’t an option “-and for some reason the aliens in question have remained within our solar system. This could explain why the Galaxy Garrison felt the need to turn Shiro into a scapegoat in the disappearance of the Kerberos Mission: they want to avoid causing a panic by announcing the existence of potentially-hostile aliens to the world. Other items of note include the string of numbers they seem to be broadcasting, which I have yet to fully translate, and the word ‘voltron’.”

     “On my end,” Keith took over from her, nodding at a series of blue threads while he continued to pet a demanding BaeBae, “The same night you hacked into the Garrison, I went out to Pop’s house to try to take my mind off of things. While I was there, I felt some kind of energy calling to me, trying to lead me further into the desert. It wasn’t until some months later that I began to pick up distinct impressions from it, primarily emotions. Among other things, the energy seemed to react strongly to the word ‘voltron’. As best as I can tell, no-one else can feel or hear this energy.” Keith paused at that thought, turning toward the kitchen. “Mom, how have you not committed me to a mental ward yet? I sound crazy even to myself.”

     “What sort of scientist would I be if I didn’t allow my own son to conduct an investigation to test his hypothesis?” Mom called back, sounding amused.

     Keith shook his head, but returned his attention to the board. “Impressions from that energy led me to an area covered in carvings of blue lions and stars, as well as one carving showing phases of the moon, although for some reason it emphasizes the waxing gibbous moon instead of the full moon. I’ve identified at least twenty individual constellations across the carvings, but I haven’t figured out the connection between them aside from the fact that they’re all Greek and Roman constellations and that, in this area, they all feature prominently during the fall. Another item of note is the fact that a few of the constellations appear to be missing stars.”

     “So to summarize. Sam, Matt, and Shiro were taken by aliens, there’s an energy out in the desert, and all of this seems to center around ‘voltron’,” Mom stated, wiping her hands on a towel as she approached. 

     “Right,” Katie nodded. “As of now, there are five questions that need answering. The most obvious question is, what is ‘voltron’? Second, why did the aliens take Dad and the others? Third, what are the numbers they’re broadcasting and what is their significance? Fourth, what is the energy that’s calling to Keith? And fifth, what’s the significance of these constellations?”

     “Well, I can’t offer any suggestions for the first four questions,” Mom hummed, “but as far as the constellations are concerned, have you tried organizing them into a star chart?”

     “I did,” Keith nodded, grabbing a page that he hadn’t had room to post on the board, “but like I said, all that stood out to me is that they’re all autumn constellations. Well, and that they are clustered around the same area. I wondered if maybe there’s something significant about that area of the sky, but I haven’t figured out what that might be yet.”

     “Well, this is just a thought, but what if the constellations with ‘missing’ stars are actually being cut off by the horizon?”

     Keith blinked. Then he snatched a pen and began marking off stars. 

     Before long, Keith had a working star chart with a fixed horizon. With the map completed, he pinned it to the cork board on top of the photos of the various constellations.

     “Oh wow,” Katie whispered, wide-eyed.

     “Yeah,” Keith agreed, a little dizzy.

     “What? What is it?” Mom asked, glancing between them and the star chart. Right. She was a botanical geneticist, not an astronomer.

     “This… This aligns almost perfectly with the current night sky,” Keith explained faintly.

     “Oh…”

     “Hold on. I'm looking up when the next waxing gibbous moon falls,” Pidge called, whipping out her data pad. Keith watched with bated breath as her eyes grew progressively rounder behind Matt’s glasses. Finally, silently, she flipped her data pad around for him to see an astronomical chart.

     October 10th, 2114. 

     And the rest of the stars were now a perfect match, too.

     “Holy crow,” Keith muttered, just before a surge of anticipation-arrival-joy-soon rushed through him.

     “You’ve spent too much time with Lance,” Pidge teased, but it was obvious her heart wasn’t in it. 

     Three weeks.

     That didn’t leave them much time.

.oOo.

     Keith intermittently fiddled with the strap of the bag over his shoulder and drummed his fingers against the seat of his hoverbike, sharp amethyst eyes maintaining a careful watch. Part of him kept expecting a half-dozen Garrison agents to round the rock outcropping he’d hidden behind and arrest him for trespassing. And possibly terrorism. Actually, the latter was a distinct possibility if anyone saw what was in his bag. 

     “Calm down,” he muttered under his breath, leaning back against the bike. “You’ve been waiting for almost an hour; if anyone saw you riding in, they’d be here by now. Quit freaking out.”

     Keith would admit that was easier said than done. Despite their best efforts, he and Pidge still didn’t know what to expect tonight. They were fairly sure there was some kind of arrival happening, but whether that meant a mass invasion or a friendly emissary from the stars or something else entirely, they had no idea. 

     Peace-assurance-courage-trust.

     The teen managed a small smile, pressing his hand over his chest. The energy was insistent that this ‘arrival’ was something positive, and Keith was inclined to trust it, but they couldn’t be sure. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst, right? Iverson had given him another couple of weeks off easily enough, and he’d used that time as best he could, searching for more clues within the caves and prepping a contingency plan with Katie’s help. Now all that was left… 

     Well, he didn’t actually know what was left. It was kind of hard to form a strategy without knowing all of the pieces in play. But the star chart suggested that the arrival should be happening sometime within the next hour, presumably in the area around the mesas where he’d found the carvings (although they weren’t really sure of that, either). That didn’t leave them a lot of time to rendezvous with Mom and reach the cliffs.

     “Come on, Pidge,” he muttered. “Lights-out was twenty minutes ago. Where are you?”

     Footsteps.

     Fast footsteps. Probably one set, but there was a muffled quality that made him uncertain.

     Keith silently lifted the bag off of his shoulder and set it carefully on the ground, one hand falling to the hilt of the dagger sheathed at the small of his back as he sidled around his hoverbike and pressed his back to the rock outcropping. The other hand lifted to his face, taking the bandana he’d brought and pulling it up over his mouth and nose. Approximately five seconds to contact. Three, two-

     “Keith!”

     The teen immediately relaxed, tugging the bandana back down. “Pidge!” he called back softly as his sister rounded the rock. He caught a glimpse of green and white before she threw her arms around his waist, burying her face against his chest. “Uh. Pidge?” he asked even as he automatically wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “You okay?”

     “Yeah,” she mumbled, muffled by his shirt. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

     “No, seriously. What’s wrong?” Keith asked, gently gripping her shoulders and pushing her back so he could see her face. There were tear stains on her cheeks, hastily rubbed away.

     “Nothing. Just… a long day,” Pidge swallowed, not meeting his eyes as she hefted her backpack a little higher on her shoulders. 

     “Are you sure?”

     “Yeah, I… It’s just… The Garrison made a rescue simulation based on the Kerberos Mission and we had to run it today and…”

     Keith’s eyes widened. “Crap. Pidge-”

     “Not now,” his sister pleaded. “Please, Keith. I just… I’ll be okay, really, I just… need time to process.”

     “…Okay. Let’s-” Keith cut himself off, his head snapping left. 

     “Keith?” Pidge whispered, instinctively pressing close. Her brother carefully maneuvered her behind him, already reaching for his knife as he shifted towards the edge of the rock outcropping.

     There had been more footsteps. And voices. Quiet, but still just audible to his oddly-sensitive hearing, although he couldn’t make out any words just yet. A moment later, the voices fell quiet, as though sensing they were getting close to their target. Still, he’d heard enough to guess there were no more than two. Probably a Garrison patrol. Maybe they’d noticed Katie sneaking out. 

     Keith carefully pulled his bandana back up, shifting his grip on his dagger so he could use the pommel like a striker. 

     Ready… Go-!

     “Whoa!”

     “Ahh! Please don’t kill us!”

     “Lance?! Hunk!?” Pidge squawked behind him, recognizing their two stalkers a second after Keith aborted his strike. 

     “Pidge, there you are! And hold up: Keith?! What are you doing here?!”

     “What am I doing here; what are you doing here!?”

     “Lance wanted to do a team bonding thing in the city so we were going to Pidge’s room to invite him to come but then we saw him sneaking out and got curious so we followed him!” Hunk yelped, still cowering behind his lankier friend. 

     “Yeah, what gives, Pidge? You won’t hang out with us, but you’re sneaking out with Keith? How do you even know Keith, anyway?” the Latino boy frowned at them as he regained some of his composure. Then his eyes suddenly widened. “No way. Are you Pidge’s secret biker boyfriend?!”

     “Boyfriend?!” Pidge screeched, turning bright red.

     “Hey, no judgment! It’s cool! Although dating between officers and students may be against regulations. Wait, is that why you’re keeping it a secret?”

     Keith groaned, relaxing. They so didn’t have time for this.

     “Get back to the Garrison,” he ordered, turning away and walking back towards his bike. Pidge hurried to catch up with him, casting a glance caught between anxious and mildly disgusted over her shoulder at his two friends.

     “Not a chance! We came out here for team-bonding time; that includes Pidge. If he’s going on an adventure with you, then I guess we’ll just have to be your third wheels,” Lance declared way-too-cheerfully.

     “We’re not dating!” Katie snapped back at him. “Why would you even think that?!”

     “And we’re not sneaking out for a good time!” Keith added. 

     “So then what are you doing?”

     Keith had just opened his mouth to snap out a reply along the lines of “None of your business!” when he felt something, almost like a static shock flashing up his hand, but… more. It was a feeling not unlike the first time he’d felt the energy, but it was like this pulse was speaking in a different voice, or maybe like it was tuned to a different frequency. Confused, he looked down at the knife in his grasp, only to see the purple stone set into the hilt glowing.

     What the-?

     He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard the blare of an alarm ringing out from the Garrison, and Iverson’s voice announcing that the building was going on lockdown.

     “What’s going on?! Wh-What is that!?” Hunk yelped, pointing skyward. Keith twisted to follow his gesture, to where the faintest of orange pinpricks had appeared in the sky. “Is that a meteor?!”

     “No,” Keith whispered as a burst of excitement-arrival-urgency-help yanked at his chest. “That’s a ship.”

Chapter Text

     “Keith, wait up!” Katie cried, racing after him as he bolted for his hoverbike.

     “We need to go! Now!” 

     “Whoa, wait for us!” Lance called belatedly, like he was yanking himself out of a daze.

     “You need to get back inside!” Keith snapped, glaring at the two tag-alongs as he snatched his discarded bag and swung onto his hoverbike, offering a hand to pull his sister up behind him.

     “No! Just no!” the younger pilot shouted back, planting himself in front of the bike, hands on his hips, hurt and anger and worry flashing through ocean-blue eyes. “You are not pushing us away again, Keith! I don’t care what’s going on; I don’t care if it’s dangerous or if you think you can do it alone. You’re our friend and gosh darn it, that means we’re gonna help-!”

     Warmth-approval-want-mine.

     Keith’s breath caught at the same time as Lance’s as the flicker--not a flash; it wasn’t as clear as usual, more like an echo than a heartbeat--hit him. Already seated behind him, Pidge stiffened. 

     “Lance, did… Did you just… feel something?” she asked hesitantly, eyes darting between him and her brother.

     “I… yeah?” the Latino boy nodded while Keith’s eyes widened because what? “Wh-? What was-?”

     He was interrupted this time by the rumble of an impact as a bright streak fell to Earth. Keith grimaced and hoped he wouldn’t regret this decision later. “No time now. Get on.”

     Lance cheered and Hunk breathed out a sigh--of relief or reluctance, Keith wasn’t sure--then both climbed aboard. They were barely settled before the older boy threw open the throttle. Katie had already gotten her arms around his waist, but Lance and Hunk were nearly thrown off by the sudden acceleration. 

     “Are you trying to kill us?!” Hunk yelped.

     “Shut up and hold on!” Keith yelled back. He could already see the sweep of headlights leaving the Garrison, making for the crash site. Getting there before them, without being seen, was going to be tight. “Hunk, lean left!” The resulting turn was sharp, and sent both Lance and even Katie shouting again, but it set them at the right angle to cut in front of the Garrison’s path. 

     They reached the crater ahead of the military vehicles, hopefully undetected, although they had no way of knowing how much of a lead they had. Keith maneuvered the bike skillfully, sliding to a stop just outside of some kind of bay entrance on the fallen craft. “Pidge, see if you can figure out how to get that thing open!” he called, swinging off. 

     “On it!”

     “It’s a lot bigger than I expected,” Lance mused, following suit. “But also smaller… if that makes any sense?”

     “Yeah, yeah, like, I dunno, I guess I was expecting something that would fit a few aliens three times our size, but instead it’s more like something that would fit maybe twenty-ish aliens exactly our size?” Hunk mused, curiosity outweighing his terror for the moment.

     “Shut up!” Keith hissed, his head cocked as he listened closely. Was that-?

     “Rude,” Lance huffed. “You could’ve at least said ple-”

     Keith slapped a hand over his mouth. And the other over Hunk’s for good measure. Yeah, that was definitely the soft crunch of tires over sand. “They’re here,” he whispered.

     “The aliens?!” Hunk let out a muffled squeak.

     “The Garrison,” Keith snapped. “Pidge-”

     “I don’t have enough time!” his sister hissed back, her voice slightly shrill. “I’m trying to hack an alien ship with alien ports in an alien language for crying out loud!!”

     Unsure what instinct drove him, Keith pushed past her and slammed his hand over a faintly glowing, purplish panel with an odd, almost teardrop shaped pattern on it. All four of them stared when there was a beeping noise and the two panels that made up the door immediately slid apart. 

     “…How did you do that?” Lance gaped.

     “I… just put my hand on the handprint.”

     Floodlights raking the dunes pulled them out of their shock. All four teens immediately rushed into the alien ship, Keith dragging his bike along with him; leaving that behind for the Garrison to find would essentially be announcing his involvement to them. 

     “Keith, it’s not closing!” Pidge cried as she pressed her hand to another purplish panel.

     “Move!” 

     “You seriously think that’s gonna-!”

     Keith was honestly just as surprised as his sister when there was another quiet beep at his touch and the doors slid closed just before the military-issue cars arrived. 

     “Dude, seriously. How?” Lance blinked, breaking through the terrifyingly intense silence as they were sealed off from the outside world. 

     “I… don’t-” 

     Hunk screamed. 

     Keith snatched his dagger from its sheath and yanked Katie behind him in zero seconds flat.

     “Holy heck there’s a dead guy!!” the Polynesian boy screeched two octaves too high. Lance joined in a moment later, pointing in horror towards the corner.

     Keith zeroed in on the sprawled figure some five yards away through the dim ambience created by the red-purple lights that had flickered to life all through the ship. He could make out a torso, a head, a pair of arms and--and nothing else. There were no legs; this person had somehow been dismembered but… but there was also no scent nor sight of blood. Steeling his nerves and carefully setting aside his satchel bag, Keith stepped forward to investigate, his knife still out and ready to defend himself, his sister, and his friends if necessary. 

      Whoa…

     “It’s a robot!” Keith called over his shoulder, peering at the circuitry still protruding from the shorn waist as he nudged it with his boot. “Half of one, anyway.”

     “Ooh, let me see!” 

     Katie was by his side in an instant, tugging the robot’s body around so that she could see its inner workings more clearly and almost squealing in delight as she began pulling wires loose. “Dude, what kind of alloy is this?! Hey, Hunk, look at this!”

     Keith left the two of them playing with their new toy while he took some time to actually take in his surroundings. The bay took up more of the ship than Keith had expected. There were benches lining both walls with straps and harnesses appearing at frequent, predictable intervals and no signs of any other rooms or offshoots. Probably a dropship, or maybe an escape pod, containing only the bare essentials to carry as many people as possible. It really was dark though. Combined with the silence, it sort of reminded Keith of the atmosphere of a haunted house. The only other entrance was a second set of sliding panels on the opposite side of the bay from where they’d come in. Presumably, they would lead to the cockpit. 

     Exchanging a quick glance with Lance, Keith advanced towards the doors, readying his knife for whatever they might encounter. Lance shifted to the far side of the doors so that they could have coverage from both angles, nodding to the older teen once he was in position. Keith nodded back, then placed his hand on yet another purple panel, and the doors immediately slid open. 

     The first thing Keith was confronted by was how dark it was inside.

     The second was the figure slumped in the pilot’s seat, dressed in a ragged purple shirt with some sort of black undersuit and… and a metal prosthetic instead of a right arm? There was a low groan and a rustle of fabric as the figure shifted just slightly, and Keith caught a glimpse of pale skin and a familiar undercut. 

      No way.

     “What the-?”

     “Shiro!” Keith cried, cutting Lance off as he rushed forward. 

     “Wait, Shiro?! Seriously!?”

     Keith didn’t bother to respond. Sheathing his knife at the small of his back, he dropped to one knee in front of his friend and reached out a hand to support his head. 

     Shiro looked different. His face was thinner, and not in a healthy way, and there was a broad scar across his nose, just missing his eyes. He sported a similar hairstyle to his old undercut, although his bangs were longer and had somehow turned white, and something told Keith it wasn’t from any sort of bleach. There were mottled bruises on his left cheek, distinct from the exhaustion marks just under his eyes, and a mixture of fresh and not-quite-dried blood had been smeared near his hairline.

     Still, it was definitely Shiro.

     “Shiro? Shiro, come on, wake up. It’s me. It’s Keith,” he murmured, pleaded really. Shiro’s eyes fluttered weakly, but that was the most consciousness he demonstrated. Keith bit his lip and began to feel around for the nature of his head injury, or maybe injuries. There was a gash at his hairline and a bloodied goose egg that no doubt hurt, but he didn’t think it was life-threatening, and thankfully a closer inspection didn’t reveal any signs of spinal damage. There was definitely the possibility of a concussion, though.

     “It… It’s really Shiro.” The dark-haired boy looked up to see his little sister gazing down with wide eyes. “But then… Where’s Matt? And Dad? Why aren’t they here too?”

     “I don’t know,” Keith murmured sadly. Then he took a deep breath, taking the pang of loss and closing it behind a locked door in his mind. “But, if Shiro’s okay, then they probably are, too. We’ll just have to wait until he wakes up and ask him more then.”

     “But-”

     A loud bang pulled them back to the present, and the unfortunate reality that they would soon have company. Hunk jumped, falling into a bout of anxious rambling about how they were going to be thrown in jail forever while Katie bit off a curse, Lance tried to calm his best friend, and Keith felt cold rage flare in his chest.

     Shiro was alive. He was hurt. And Keith refused to let aliens, the Garrison, or anyone else hurt him further.

     “Hunk, help me lay him out,” he called, pulling Shiro’s prosthetic arm over his shoulders and lifting him out of the pilot’s seat. Distracted from his babbling, the bigger boy blinked a couple of times, then quickly scrambled to support Shiro’s other side.

     “Aw geez! Aw geez, Keith, he’s bleeding!” Hunk choked, looking like he might throw up as he stared at the pilot’s back. 

     “We’ll have to lower him on his stomach then,” Keith grunted, maneuvering carefully around the chair. Between the two of them, he and Hunk managed to lower Shiro gently to the ground a couple yards away. Thankfully, the blood Hunk had noticed wasn’t terribly extensive. It appeared to be centered around a narrow gash across his middle back and a considerably more broad patch of injured skin on his left shoulder. A burn, he thought, though he couldn’t be certain in this low light without a closer inspection. “Lance, see if you can find any kind of first aid equipment and do what you can for Shiro.”

     “Yeah. Yeah, okay,” Lance agreed, looking abnormally pale but determined, regardless.

     “Pidge, Hunk, I need you to help me get this thing in the air.”

     “You got it,” Katie replied, already searching for a port that she could jury-rig her laptop to using a handful of wires that Keith suspected she had pulled out of the robot in the other room.

     “Wait, we’re doing what!?” Hunk squawked.

     “The Garrison claimed that the entire crew of the Kerberos Mission died and tried to make Shiro the scapegoat; do you really want to find out what they’ll do to him if they find him almost a year later in an alien spacecraft with an alien prosthetic?” Keith snapped, stepping up to the pilot’s seat. 

     “Yeah, that’s fair,” Lance muttered, moving to investigate a box of some sort that was attached to the wall. “I don’t know if you’re gonna be able to get it online though; I tried pushing a few buttons earlier, but nothing responded.”

     “Yeah, this is an alien ship!!” Hunk squawked. “Who knows anything about that except, you know, the aliens?! How am I supposed to fix it!?”

     “We’ll just have to improvise,” Keith replied, reaching out to grip the controls. Almost immediately, a purple-red glow lit up the room, holographic consoles appearing on either side of him and some sort of display appearing in the middle of the window. At the same moment, a low hum sounded through the entire ship as it activated.

     “Oh, come on!” Lance threw his hands into the air in exasperation.

     “Dude, how do you keep doing things like this?” Hunk gaped, taking an anxious step back and staring around the cockpit like it was haunted.

     “I don’t know, and right now I don’t care,” Keith replied, dropping fully into the seat, amethyst eyes scanning the console. There was something that looked like a model of the ship on one, with red light flashing around the bow in the picture. “Hunk, what do you make of that?” he asked, tapping it. The image automatically enlarged, moving to the main screen. 

     “W-Well, um, without knowing exactly how the ship is built and what kind of tech might be contained in the hull, I can’t really know for sure, but from the size of the ship and the likelihood of its function as a shuttle or escape pod, I’d guess that the damage would only be structurally dangerous if we tried to break atmosphere. Though it may have impacted some type of periphery sensors or flight stabilizers.”

     “I can work with that,” Keith grunted as he swept the images off the window, which promptly lit up with a view of the outside. “Preparing for launch on visual. Everyone hang on to something; I don’t know what kind of power these thrusters have.”

     “Be careful, Keith! The Garrison’s already surrounded the ship; you don’t want to hit anyone by accident!” Pidge warned, gripping the back of his chair.

     “Yeah, I know,” he replied distractedly, carefully pulling on the main control. The ship immediately shuddered, a familiar sensation of redistributing weight settling in Keith’s stomach as it rose from the ground. He watched the few Garrison personnel visible from the front window scatter, gesturing and yelling as they moved away from the ship, trying to gauge when he would be high enough not to hit anyone. 

     “Oof,” Hunk groaned, covering his mouth as the pod continued to shake. “Yeah, there’s definitely a stabilizer out somewhere.”

     “No time to worry about that. Hold on, I’m engaging thrusters.”

     Their entire impromptu little crew yelped at the kickback as the ship launched forward at significantly greater speeds than any of them were expecting. Hunk shrieked and Keith swore when Katie lost her grip on the pilot’s seat and was thrown back against the doors of the cockpit. He could hear Lance shouting, too, something about how Shiro doesn’t have anything to hold onto, “so be careful, dagnabit!” He eased off on the thrusters almost as soon as they had taken flight, rapidly gaining a feel for the power they could supply and moderating it until he had regained control. In a matter of seconds, they had cleared Garrison property and were zipping over the cliff that led towards the desert, Hunk screaming all the way.

     “Would you calm down already?!” Pidge yelled at him.

     “Well excuse me for being the only sane person here!!” Hunk screeched back. “We’re in an alien spaceship with a pilot who’s supposed to be dead in space and half an alien robot and the Garrison’s gonna come after us and we’re gonna be thrown in jail forever and this is not how I wanted to die!!”

     “Hunk, buddy, calm down,” Lance soothed. “Keith’s the best pilot in the Garrison; we’re not gonna die.”

     “Yeah, and that’s another thing, how the heck is Keith flying an alien spaceship?!”

     “’Guess I’m just good like that,” Keith replied, his voice flat. “I’m gonna try to bring us in for a landing; hang tight.”

     The landing was considerably more clumsy than Keith would have liked, ending in them slamming nose-first into a sand dune, spinning almost one hundred eighty degrees and sliding into the trough--Hunk’s guess that periphery sensors might be out was definitely accurate. Still, they’d now gained at least an hour’s lead on the Garrison and were only about a twenty minute ride from Pop’s house by hoverbike, and none of them were the worse for wear aside from a few bruises and Hunk vomiting in the corner. Could be worse.

     “Well. That was… exciting,” Lance groaned, straightening up from where he’d been braced over Shiro’s still-unconscious body.

     “You’re the one who’s always saying we need to bond as a team,” Katie pointed out dryly, shakily climbing to her feet and checking over her laptop for any damage. Thankfully there was nothing beyond scratches, or Keith was fairly certain she would have killed him.

     “Yeah, but making ourselves wanted by the Garrison wasn’t what I had in mind!”

     “Come on, we need to get moving,” Keith called, heading into the bay area. “Hunk, you and Lance grab Shiro; we need to get him on my bike.”

     “Y-Yeah, sure,” the big guy groaned, wiping his mouth. 

     Once again, Keith used his hand to open the doors to the outside world, then swung his leg over his hoverbike. “Pidge, you’re behind me. Hunk, you hold Shiro, and Lance, you’re in the back.”

     “Sure thing, Sergeant,” Katie rolled her eyes at him, and he stuck his tongue out at her in response.

     “Definitely dating,” Lance stage-whispered to Hunk. 

     “We’re definitely not!”

     The lights at Pop’s house were already on as they pulled to a stop. Keith tried not to think about how much Mom was gonna flip when she found out what happened as he turned off his bike. “We’re here,” he announced. 

     “Uh, Keith?” Lance piped up, pointing at the Garrison-issue car parked next to them.

     “Oh gosh they’re already here they knew we’d be coming and we’re about to get arrested-”

     “Calm down,” Pidge rolled her eyes, wriggling out from between Keith and Shiro. “It’s just Mom; she’s not gonna get us in trouble.”

     “Wait, what? I thought you said your parents still lived on the east coast and that’s why you got permission to stay at the Garrison every weekend!” Lance frowned, following her example. 

     “Yeah, well, I lied.”

      “What?! So wait, your mom actually lives close by and apparently works for the Garrison, Keith’s your secret boyfriend-”

     “He is not my boyfriend.”

     “-other secrets you’re keeping from us?!”

     “Let’s get inside,” Keith interrupted before Katie could make a waspish reply, climbing off his bike and taking Shiro’s weight so that Hunk could do the same. The older pilot was starting to shift, his face scrunching as he began to return to consciousness. He’d be waking up soon.

     “Hunk, do you think you can carry Shiro?”

     “Yeah, let me just…” 

     Lance stepped forward to help Keith settle Shiro on Hunk’s back while the Polynesian boy crouched down, then Pidge led the way up the porch, opening the door with a call of, “Mom! We’re here!”

     “Oh thank goodness,” their mom’s voice sighed from within. “I was starting to worry- Oh. Who’s this?”

     “Oh. Uh. Hi. I’m-”

     Urgency-warning-protective-help.

     Lance’s voice cut out and Keith paused mid-step at the sudden surge. Confused, he turned, glancing towards Hunk and-

     Shiro’s eyes were open. 

     He looked terrified.

     And instinctively, Keith understood.

     “Hunk, let go!” he shouted, leaping forward.

     The stocky teen panicked, releasing Shiro just in time, as his prosthetic suddenly flared violet-white. Shiro staggered as his feet hit the ground, but he still retained enough balance to lash out with a strangled cry. Hunk screamed, bringing his arms up to defend himself, but something told Keith it was a hopeless attempt. He barely managed to get in between them before the blow landed, whipping his dagger free of its sheath to knock the strike off-course rather than using his hand. 

     He didn’t know what exactly that arm was capable of, but his instincts were screaming at him not to touch it.

     Shiro snarled--actually snarled what in the world!?--and struck again, eyes wide and unseeing as he drove forward, slashing under Keith’s guard as though to slice open his stomach. Keith immediately darted backwards, vaguely aware of Hunk scrambling away as he launched off the wall and somersaulted over the attack so that he was behind Shiro, rather than trapped between him and the house. “Shiro, wake up!” Keith cried, fear pulsing in his stomach even as he settled into a defensive stance. “Whatever you’re seeing isn’t real!” Shiro didn’t even seem to hear him, spinning around and rushing him again despite his obvious exhaustion, his gasps ragged with fear and adrenaline. 

     Then he stumbled, his foot sinking into one of the rotting floorboards of the porch. 

     Keith immediately pressed his advantage, passing his knife to his left hand and sprinting forward to catch the wrist of the prosthetic in the notch, between the guard and the leaf-shaped blade. Driving his shoulder straight into Shiro’s chest, Keith managed to pin both him and his arm against the wall, keeping his head tucked and hunching his shoulders to avoid any blows from his left hand. That didn’t stop him from hissing in pain from the sheer amount of heat radiating off of the prosthetic, nor his nose from wrinkling at the charred scent already rising from the wooden slats it was pressed against. Shiro growled, and Keith’s eyes widened as the metal arm began to push his dagger back, straining to reach his head. He couldn’t grab the arm or the blade of his knife directly, but if he could use something to protect his hand-

     Keith quickly unclipped the sheath at his back and slipped it partway over his knife, pressing with both hands now to trap the prosthetic in place. Shiro still bucked and fought, every breath harsh and choked as he tried to wrench the glowing arm free. He may be restrained for now, but Keith wasn’t certain that he could outlast his friend in a contest of stamina.

     “Shiro it’s me!” the younger boy shouted again, still trying to reach him. “It’s Keith!”

     Just for an instant, Shiro’s wild struggling seemed to falter, then picked up again just as strongly if not stronger. “Stop,” he gasped. “Get out of my head!”

     “Shiro, calm down! You’re going to hurt yourself; just take a breath!”

     “Stop it! Stop sounding like him-!!”

     “Shiro!”

     Shiro choked at the sound of Pidge’s voice, and all at once he went limp in Keith’s grip. “M… Matt?” he whispered, barely even audible. “H-How are you…? W-Wait…”

     “It’s not Matt, Shiro. It’s me. Katie.”

     “Wait, Katie?? But that’s a girl- mph!?”

     “Lance, maybe now’s not the time!”

     “Katie? But h-how?”

     “You made it out,” Mom’s voice spoke up now, sand rustling underfoot as she stepped into Shiro’s line of sight. “You’re home, Shiro.”

     “I’m…”

     Keith knew the moment when it finally clicked, as the heat faded from the prosthetic and a hesitant voice--smaller and more fragile than Shiro’s should ever be--whispered, “Keith?”

     The dagger slid fully back into its sheath as Keith relaxed. With a relieved sigh, he stepped back, lifted his head and offered a small, tired smile. “Hi, Shiro.”

      “Keith.”

     The younger pilot barely managed to brace himself before Shiro all but collapsed against him, his arms--one considerably heavier than the other--coming over his shoulders to drag him into a tight hug. Keith didn’t hesitate to return the embrace, wrapping his arms around Shiro’s waist and ignoring the light sting of the burns peppering his hands as he curled them into the rough, purple shirt. Shiro’s entire body was trembling, and even though Keith couldn’t feel a single tear falling where his oldest friend had hidden his face against his neck, he had the distinct impression that Shiro was crying. 

     “It’s good to have you back,” Keith whispered, his own voice thick.

     Shiro managed a weak little laugh, hugging him even tighter. “It’s good to be back.”

Chapter Text

     “Here.”

     Shiro accepted the towel and pile of clothes gingerly, pointedly not using his right hand. Prosthetic, rather. “Thanks,” he murmured quietly, not quite meeting Keith’s eyes.

     “Water’s not hot, but the pressure’s decent,” the younger pilot said, trying not to draw attention to that fact as he took a step away. “Take as long as you need.”

     “Keith?”

     “Yeah?”

     “I’m sorry.”

     “That wasn’t your fault,” Keith shook his head. “I don’t know what happened out there, but you’ve obviously been through a lot. It’s natural that you’d be spooked waking up somewhere unfamiliar.”

     “I still could have hurt you,” Shiro whispered, haunted charcoal eyes finally meeting his. “Keith, I… I could have killed you. I almost did kill Hunk; if you hadn’t stepped in-”

     “Stop. Breathe,” the younger man broke in before he could start hyperventilating, carefully resting a couple of fingers on his old friend’s natural wrist, trying to be grounding without being constricting. “It didn’t happen, Shiro. And it isn’t going to happen. You’re not gonna hurt us. I promise.”

     Shiro swallowed hard, eyes dropping again. “You can’t promise that.”

     “Yes I can.”

     “Keith, I didn’t even know what I was doing earlier.”

     “So?” the teen folded his arms over his chest. “I stopped you, didn’t I? If it happens again, then I’ll stop you again. Simple as that. Whatever happens, we’ll get through it.”

     For a long minute, charcoal eyes searched dark amethyst. Then, slowly, Shiro nodded. “Okay.”

     Keith nodded in turn, smiling. “We’ll be downstairs whenever you’re ready. Holler if you need anything.”

     “I will,” the older pilot promised, a ghost of a smile curling his own lips. “And… thank you.”

     “Anytime.”

     Keith slipped silently away, heading down the stairway into the main living space and taking in everyone’s positions at a glance. Hunk had joined Mom in the kitchen, making some sort of midnight snack. Lance was with them, leaning against the countertop and drumming his fingers while he watched them prep. Pidge sat on the sunken little couch, hunched over her laptop with her headphones on, the too-bright glare of the computer screen on her glasses hiding her eyes. Still, it was obvious when she had noticed him by the way she jumped, then pulled off her headphones, set her tech aside, and scrambled to her feet.

     “How is he?” she asked, golden eyes dark with worry as she hurried up to him.

     “He’ll be okay,” Keith replied, offering a reassuring smile. 

     “Did he like the clothes I picked out?” Lance piped up from the other side of the room, clued into his presence by their conversation. 

     “I didn’t think to ask.”

     The Latino teen’s expression twisted into a pout. “See, this is why I chose clothes for him. You woulda just grabbed the first thing you found in the closet.”

     “And here I thought it was because you have something against my jacket.”

     “Just because you somehow like the crop-top jacket look does not make it fashionable!”

     Keith snorted, turning back to his sister. “Any chance you were able to hack into the Garrison’s comms?”

     “Yeah,” she nodded. “They’re organizing search parties to send into the desert, but we stayed low enough to the ground that radar wasn’t able to track us, so they have a lot of ground to cover. We should have at least three hours before they’re onto us. If we’re lucky, we may even have a full day.”

     “Okay, great, awesome, so getting back to the whole alien ship thing,” Hunk broke in, his tone somewhere between focused interrogator and anxious mess, “are there really aliens out there? Are they coming here? Like where are they at this very moment? And are these friendly aliens or are they, like, coming for us?” 

     “Uh, yes, maybe, last we checked, somewhere near Saturn, and probably hostile,” Keith replied, ticking off on his fingers.

     “Whoa whoa whoa, hold up, rewind,” Lance interrupted as Hunk squeaked in fear. “‘Last you checked’? So, what, the Garrison knows about this and has been tracking the aliens or something?” 

     “Probably, but I don’t actually know,” the sergeant shrugged. “I don’t have high enough clearance. Pidge built a scanner to look for long distance radio waves and managed to pick up alien radio chatter a few months back. We’ve been keeping an eye on them ever since.”

     “Yeah, that reminds me-” Lance whirled on the hacker “-you’re a girl?!”

     “B-Biologically speaking, yeah,” Katie grumbled, blushing.

     “Ha! I knew you watched Ouran Host Club!” Keith crowed as his sister squawked in embarrassment. 

     “Like you’re one to talk!” she snapped, bright red. “You recognized it right away!”

     “Matt and Shiro literally pinned me to the couch to make me watch it with them. What’s your excuse?”

     “You guys made me curious! Anyway, it was only the first episode!”

     “And the last episode because you couldn’t stand not knowing how it ended,” Mom added mildly.

     “Mom!” 

     “I’m just telling it like it is, Katie,” she shrugged as Keith barked in laughter. He sometimes forgot that his sister got her petty streak from their mom. 

     “Okay, loved sharing this bonding moment with you, but seriously: you’re a girl??” Lance broke back in. “How?? I mean not how, but, like, why? Yeah, I think that’s right. Why were you pretending to be a boy? It’s not like this is Mulan or something!”

     “I mean, it kind of is,” Keith snorted.

     “Keith, don’t start!” Pidge growled over Lance’s confused protest.

     “No really! You even have the whole ‘here to rescue my father’ thing going for you!”

     “Yeah, I figured,” Hunk muttered as Keith dodged her attempt to punch him.

     “What do you mean?” Keith frowned at the taller teen, blocking another strike. He flushed, shoulders hunching like he hadn’t expected anyone to hear him, fidgeting anxiously with the spoon he’d been using to stir something buttery-smelling until Mom took it away. 

     “I mean… Y-You are Katie Holt, right?”

     “Uh. Yeah,” the hacker blinked, disengaging as Lance choked in the background. “How did you-?”

     “Well, I mean, you look just like Matt--I mean I literally almost screamed the first time I saw you--but you’re short, not tall, and Matt died in outer space, but I guess maybe he’s not dead after all? But anyway, you look just like him, so I figured you had to be related somehow, but Matt never mentioned a little brother other than, you know. B-But he did mention he had a sister named Katie and there were… things that I noticed and you never really seemed sure of yourself when I asked questions and I remember Iverson saying something about a security breach by a little girl on the first day of the semester, so I just figured that you were… yeah. But I thought you probably had a good reason to sneak in anyway and I didn’t want to get you in trouble so I just… kinda… played along?”

     “…I told you wearing Matt’s glasses was a bad idea.”

     “Shut up, Keith,” Katie grumbled, arms folded across her chest, her cheeks bright pink.

     “You’re Matt’s sister?!” Lance squawked, then spun towards Hunk before she had a chance to answer. “And you knew all along?!”

     “It… It was kind of obvious, Lance.”

     “Says you!! Next you’re gonna tell me Keith’s their brother too!!”

     Hunk and Katie exchanged incredulous looks while Mom snorted by the stove and Keith facepalmed. “Lance,” he sighed, “you’ve known me for three years and you haven’t figured that out yet?”

     The Latino boy stared at him for a moment, uncomprehending. 

      “WHAT!?” he screeched as it finally clicked. “But you-! No! No way, you guys look nothing alike!! And your last names are different a-and-!! I thought you were dating!! There is no way I am that oblivious!!”

     “First, I’m adopted. Second, my full name is Keith Holt Kogane. Third, we’ve been telling you all night that we’re not dating. And fourth, yes, you are.”

     “Mom, are you okay?” Katie asked hesitantly as Lance continued to splutter out protests.

     “I-I don’t know!” the older woman gasped, choking on hysterical giggles even as tears streamed down her cheeks. “It- It’s been a very emotional year a-and these last two months have been especially hard and then Shiro comes home and he’s obviously been hurt and we still don’t know where Sam and Matt are and they’ve probably been hurt too and somehow this is the last straw?!” she sobbed, her voice getting progressively higher until it was nearly in the supersonic range, even for Keith. “I-I just-! I d-don’t-!”

     The Holt siblings moved in unison to hug her, and she wrapped her arms around their shoulders in turn, clutching them with trembling hands as she cried her eyes out. Keith kind of lost track of time, but eventually he heard Hunk and Lance start sniffling, too. Mom must’ve noticed as well, because not five seconds later she made an impatient noise, and Keith found himself wedged in the middle of a hug sandwich, glomped by a weepy Hunk. It… It was actually kind of nice. Reminiscent of their family hugs when he was a kid. The thought made his eyes prickle as well.

     “Ah! The butter!” Mom exclaimed suddenly, breaking away in a slight panic as she spun towards the stove, where Keith could smell something just shy of starting to burn. “Shoot shoot shoot!” she hissed, pulling a pot off the burner and grabbing the spoon. “This was the last stick of butter in the fridge! I don’t think chex mix is going to work; I’ll have to figure something else out.”

     “No, wait, we can work with this!” Hunk sniffled, pulling away as well and scrubbing at his eyes. “Are there any marshmallows lying around? I know I saw vanilla in one of the cupboards…”

     “Fourth cabinet on your left, second shelf,” Keith called, clearing his throat. He avoided eye contact with anyone as he wiped his nose and blinked back tears, embarrassment beginning to set in. At least Pidge and Lance were in the same state.

     “So. Um,” Lance finally broke the awkward silence not filled by Hunk’s and Mom’s chattering. “You guys are siblings. Got that. Pidge- Wait, would you rather be called ‘Katie’?”

     “Pidge is fine,” she replied, her voice a little thick as she cleaned her glasses. “It… It’s what Matt always called me, and…”

     “Pidge it is, then,” Lance smiled kindly, drawing her into a more gentle side hug. “So, you really managed to build a scanner that can reach Kerberos?”

     “Yeah,” she smiled proudly, letting herself relax into his side. “’Took a few months to clean up the signal. ’Been working on translating it.”

     “Is that how you guys figured out Shiro was coming to Earth tonight? The alien chatter?”

     “Well, not exactly,” Pidge admitted, exchanging a quick glance with Keith.

     “Then what was it?”

     “That… is a really long, really weird story that I’d rather not have to tell more than once,” Keith sighed tiredly, running his fingers through his hair and wincing as his burns twinged in response.

     “Ditto to that,” Pidge muttered, retreating to her laptop and pulling on her headphones, leaving Keith on his own. 

     “Traitor,” he mouthed at her.

     She made a face back at him.

     “…Okay, yeah, I can see the siblings thing now,” Lance chuckled wearily, then sighed, slumping against the counter. “Y’know what? Keep your secrets; I’ve got enough to process at the moment.”

     Keith managed a smile for the younger pilot; it was moments like these when he remembered why they were friends. “Thanks,” he murmured quietly.

     Lance nodded, then paused, swallowing. “I, uh. I’m glad you seem to be doing better.”

     Keith managed not to flinch, but he couldn’t quite help the grimace that twisted his mouth. “Yeah,” he muttered. “I’m sorry for running out on you guys back then.”

     The younger teen shrugged awkwardly. “Sounded like an important conversation.”

     “Yeah.”

     “…But, um, you are doing better, right?”

     “Yeah,” Keith nodded. “It… It helped when I had something concrete to work on.”

     Lance nodded, and they fell into another uncomfortable silence. After a minute though, the suppressed guilt that had been quietly gnawing at Keith’s stomach for months demanded to make itself heard. “I’m sorry. For disappearing on you guys.”

     The Latino teen glanced up, ocean eyes wide and startled. “Wh-? You don’t need to keep apologizing, Keith; I’m not mad about you running out anymore-”

     “No, not that,” the young sergeant shook his head. “I mean before that. Y-You know, when… when Matt and Dad and Shiro vanished, and I… You wanted to help, and I just-”

     “Take it easy, Mullet,” Lance smiled, something almost mischievous dancing in his eyes. “We both know you’re not good at feelings.”

     Keith snorted, and the tension between them seemed to snap. “Just… thanks,” he murmured, leaning on the counter next to him. “For still being here.”

     “What are friends for?” Lance shrugged, his smile softening as he gently bumped their shoulders together.

     “Aww, you guys!”

     Keith and Lance yelped as Hunk appeared out of seemingly nowhere to yank them both into a bear hug, practically lifting them both off the floor in his exuberance. “I love you, guys!” the stocky boy beamed, tears glimmering at the corners of his eyes all over again.

     Keith chuckled breathlessly, patting Hunk’s waist with his hand--it was the best he could do with his arms pinned to his sides. “We love you too, Hunk,” Lance spoke for both of them, grinning, “but could you let us breathe now?”

     “Ah! Right! Sorry!”

     “Keith, do you have a nine by thirteen inch pan?” Mom asked as he was catching his breath, providing a welcome reprieve from the storm of emotions filling the tiny house.

     “If I do, it’ll be in the bottom cupboard just to the right of the sink.”

     “Found it. Thanks.”

     “Might need to wash it first.”

     “I can handle that,” Lance volunteered, glancing towards Keith. “You should get your hands taken care of.”

     “Oh. Right,” he blinked, glancing down at the angry red patches on his fingers.

     “What’s wrong with your hands?” Mom frowned suspiciously. 

     “There’s nothing-”

     “Keith.”

     “…It’s just a couple of first degree burns. I just need to wash them and apply some aloe. Maybe wrap them to be safe.”

     Mom’s eyes narrowed a little further. Then she set the pan in Lance’s waiting hands, marched to her son, grabbed his wrist, and dragged him towards the little half-bath. 

     “Mom,” Keith sighed in exasperation. “It’s really not that bad.”

     “You have a ridiculously high pain tolerance. I’ll decide how bad it is.”

     “Mom.”

     Nothing Keith said made any difference. Mom still insisted on fussing over him like he was twelve years old and he had his first black eye. (Dad had laughed, clapped him on the shoulder, and asked how badly he’d messed up the other guy. Mom had not been nearly so amused.) Before long, his hands had been treated and carefully wrapped in sterile gauze, his riding gloves shoved into his pocket so as not to disturb the bandages. When Mom finally let him go, Hunk and Lance were already cutting a finished pan of brown butter “chex krispies” into squares. 

     “Want one?” Hunk offered, grabbing the paper towels.

     “Heck yeah, I do.”

     Shiro slipped downstairs as Hunk was divvying out the pieces. He was remarkably light on his feet for someone of his size; Keith only noticed him when he reached the bottom of the stairs, dressed in a long-sleeved, dark red shirt, dark jeans, and a black vest. For just an instant, Keith saw a different man standing there, with a scar across his eyebrow and deep charcoal gray eyes, wearing a broad grin.

     “Shiro,” he smiled, blinking away the memory. “Feeling better?”

     “A bit, yeah,” the older pilot nodded, something around his eyes loosening at the sight of them. “What’s all this?”

     “Midnight snack,” Hunk explained, an anxious smile tugging at his lips. “D-Do you want one?”

     Shiro faltered halfway across the room, curling slightly into himself, eyes dropping to the floor. “You’re afraid of me,” he noted quietly, dully.

     “Wha-! Well, I mean, yeah, I guess, but not exactly?” the Polynesian teen stuttered, fidgeting with the paring knife he’d been using. “I mean, yeah, what happened earlier was scary, and I know we only met a couple of times before, you know, but I know you would never do something like that on purpose. And I’m not exactly unfamiliar with panic attacks so I’ve done a ton of research; I know some people react more with fight than flight and it would make sense that you’re one of those, so even if I’m scared--which isn’t exactly weird for me; I’m an anxious person in general--I’m really just scared of what happened, not scared of you, okay?”

     “Okay,” Shiro muttered, still not looking up.

     Hunk frowned, annoyance flashing through his brown eyes before he set his knife aside and snatched one of the chex krispie treats from the counter. Without a word, he marched across the room and--Keith’s eyes widened--snatched Shiro’s prosthetic hand to press the snack into it. “Shiro,” he said firmly, meeting the older man’s startled gaze, “I’m not scared of you. Okay?”

     Keith smiled as he watched Shiro slowly relax, his metallic fingers curling around the treat. “Thank you,” he whispered. 

     Hunk brightened, almost bouncing on his toes as he chirped a cheerful, “You’re welcome!” and slung his arms around Shiro’s shoulders to lead him back to the group.

     Shiro immediately flinched, curling away from Hunk, who recoiled in a sudden panic. “Oh gosh!! Oh gosh I’m so sorry did I just trigger you or hurt you I mean I know I’m kind of big- Oh wait I forgot your shoulder’s injured!!”

     “It- It’s okay, really,” Shiro tried to reassure him with a slightly strained smile. “It’s just a light burn; it’s not that big a deal.”

     “Where have I heard that before?” Mom muttered, shooting Keith a look. “I’ll grab the aloe and gauze. Shiro, take off your shirt, and-”

     “No!”

     Mom paused, blinking in surprise at the immediate and vehement protest. “Shiro?”

     “No,” he insisted, a little too raggedly. He swallowed, then forced himself to take a measured breath before repeating quietly, “No, Colleen. Please. I don’t want to- I don’t want it treated.”

     Keith frowned.

     Shiro lied.

     What had he been about to say instead?

     “Mom, what if I take Shiro up to my old room?” he offered on a hunch. 

     Mom paused, glancing between them. Maybe she noticed the hopeful look in the older man’s eyes, too, because after a moment she nodded. “Go ahead.”

     Keith took a brief moment to grab the first aid kit, then led Shiro back upstairs to the little bedroom that served as a centerpiece in so many of his earliest memories. “Door open or closed?” he asked as they stepped inside.

     Shiro faltered. “I… I don’t…”

     “You don’t want to feel trapped, but you also don’t want the others to see,” Keith finished quietly. “Right?”

     The older man tensed, and his face twisted in a forced smile that looked much more like a grimace. “You still have that uncanny ability to read my mind. ’Guess that means I can’t have changed too much.”

     Keith just smiled sadly. “Door closed, windows open?” he suggested.

     “…Yeah. Yeah, I think I can handle that.”

     Keith opened the windows first, carefully positioning himself so that Shiro always had an escape route if he felt like he needed one. Shiro took a steadying breath before closing the door himself, his natural hand already trembling where it was clenched by his side. Keith turned away as his old friend took off his vest and shirt, pulling the aloe and gauze out of the first aid kit. He steeled himself for what he might see when he turned back around, but he still wasn’t prepared when he did.

     Scars. Dozens and dozens of them, of all shapes and colors. Scars from blades, burns, ballistics, claws, teeth- And that wasn’t even touching on the mottled scars half-hidden by the port of his cybernetic arm or the dark bruises on his chest that hadn’t been visible through his ragged clothes.

     “Shiro, what happened out there?” Keith whispered, amethyst eyes wide in horror.

     “Not now,” Shiro whispered hoarsely, arms half-crossed over his chest. “Please. I don’t- I don’t want to have to explain it more than once.”

     Keith swallowed, biting back a protest. “…Would you rather lie down, sit, or stand?”

     “Stand.”

     “Okay. Tell me if I hurt you.”

     Keith made a point of staying within Shiro’s line of sight as he got to work, keeping his movements slow and deliberate so as not to startle him, but he was still incredibly tense.

     “What… What’ve you been up to while I’ve been gone?” Shiro asked after a moment, obviously trying to get his mind off of something.

     “…I graduated,” Keith replied after a moment of thought.

     “Yeah?”

     “Mmhm. Valedictorian.” 

     “No kidding?”

     “Yup. Somehow. I think my sim grades tipped the scales more than anything.”

     “Somehow that wouldn’t surprise me. Still breaking all my records?”

     “I haven’t beaten all of them yet. I did get promoted, though,” Keith replied, wiping his hands so that he could spread almost half a tube of triple antibiotic over the narrow gash on Shiro’s back.

     “Yeah? What rank?”

     “Sergeant.” 

     “Seriously? Isn’t that an age record? Wait, how old are you now? Are you still-? H-How long have I-?”

     “It’s been less than a year,” Keith cut off his impending panic attack. “I turn nineteen in two weeks.”

     “Oh,” Shiro muttered, swallowing. “’Felt longer than that.” 

     “I’ll bet,” Keith hummed, finishing tying off the gauze around his shoulder. “I’m gonna have to step behind you for this next part.”

     “Oh- Okay. You, um, you said this used to be your room?”

     “Yeah. I grew up out here, with Pop. The house transferred to me when I turned eighteen. ’Started fixing it up a little bit after that, but there’s still a lot left to do. You may have noticed I haven’t gotten the hot water heater working yet.” Shiro huffed out a small laugh even as he flinched when Keith placed a sterile pad across the gash. “Almost done, Shiro. Just stay with me a little longer.”

     “T-Trying to.”

     “I’m gonna start wrapping the gauze.”

     “’Kay.”

     They made it through the process without triggering a full panic attack, so Keith would count that as a win. Shiro relaxed significantly the moment he pulled his hands away and stepped back into view, though. “Not much I can do for the bruises on your chest and face at this point,” Keith commented as his old friend carefully pulled his clothes back over his head. “I can check your head wound, if you want?”

     Shiro shook his head, settling the red shirt over his bandages. “It’s already stopped bleeding. At this point, messing with it further would be counterproductive.”

     Keith nodded, holding out the black vest. “Think you’re ready to face the others, or do you need a minute?”

     Shiro shook his hand, taking the garment. “I can’t keep stalling,” he muttered. “You all need to know what’s coming. It’s our only chance at stopping them.”

     “Stopping who?”

     The haunted look that had been shrouding Shiro’s eyes all night seemed more pronounced than ever when he met Keith’s amethyst gaze. “The Galra.”

Chapter Text

     “How much do you already know?” Shiro asked quietly, sitting on the old couch in the living room. Mom was sitting next to him, and everyone else was arranged haphazardly around the coffee table.

     “Well, after you, Dad, and Matt disappeared, I hacked into the Garrison and figured out the cover story they gave everyone was a lie,” Pidge began. “Then, about three months ago, I picked up a radio signal originating near Kerberos and figured out there was an alien ship hanging around the solar system. I spent some time trying to translate the signal, but the only thing I’ve figured out is a series of numbers embedded in their broadcast. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to apply to just yet.”

     “Hold up, I thought you said the aliens were near Saturn?”

     “Last we checked, yeah. They seem to be making their way methodically through the system.”

     “So the aliens are headed towards us?!” Hunk squawked. Keith shot a worried glance towards Shiro as he tensed, paling considerably. 

     “Seems like it, although at the rate they've been moving they probably won’t arrive for another few months.”

     “That’s not comforting!!”

     “So, what’s the weird story of how you figured out Shiro was coming back?” Lance asked. 

     “Around the same time Katie hacked into the Garrison, I started feeling some sort of energy calling me out to the desert, telling me to search,” Keith picked up from there, shifting his position so that he was leaning a slight amount of pressure on Shiro’s leg in an effort to ground him.

     “For what?” the man frowned down at him, not disbelieving, but… hesitant. 

     “Honestly, I’m still not quite sure,” Keith admitted, pulling out his phone and placing it on the table. Hunk and Lance both shuffled closer, squinting down at it. He wished he had the conspiracy board on hand, but that was back at the townhouse, so the pictures in his gallery would have to do. “I haven’t found the source yet, but I did find this area. It’s an outcropping of giant boulders and caves, covered in ancient markings. Each of them tells a slightly different story about a blue lion-”

     “The Blue Lion of Voltron.”

     Joy-acknowledgement-want-home.

     “¡Ciel-! Okay, please tell me I’m not the only one that felt that!” Lance yelped as the flicker faded, ocean eyes wide, one hand pressed to his chest. 

     “Yeah, I felt it too,” Keith assured him, briefly glancing at the others. Mom looked surprised, hazel-honey eyes focused on Lance; right, they never got around to telling her that Lance could feel the energy, too. Katie just looked impatient, shifting in her seat as she waited for answers. Hunk was alarmed, and Shiro-

     Shiro’s hands were clenched together, the knuckles of his natural hand white with the force of his grip. He was coiled like a spring, tension apparent in every line of his body, his charcoal eyes confused, but also distant and dark.

     “Shiro, did you… Did you feel something just now?” Keith frowned.

     “I… No, I don’t think so. Just- What is going on?”

     “Shouldn’t you be telling us that?” Katie broke in. “We’ve been trying to figure out what ‘voltron’ is for months now; it’s the only distinct word we’ve been able to pick out from the alien transmissions.”

     “I… I don’t really know. Really!” Shiro added as the young hacker huffed in exasperation. “He didn’t exactly have time to explain before we separated.”

     “He?” Mom prompted. “Who is ‘he’?”

     “Ulaz. The Galra that helped me escape.”

     “Galra?” Lance frowned as Keith blinked in surprise. Wasn’t ‘Galra’ the name of the people Shiro had said they needed to stop?

     “I- Sorry, I’m just making everything more confusing,” Shiro groaned, dropping his face into his hands and gripping his bangs. 

     “No, it’s alright,” Mom reassured him, resting a gentle hand on his natural arm. “Just take a deep breath and start at the beginning.”

     “Right.” Shiro swallowed as he lowered his elbows to rest on his knees. “Shortly after we landed on Kerberos, Matt, Sam, and I were captured by a commander belonging to the Galra Empire. They… They interrogated us, after a fashion. They seemed to be looking for something, but when we didn’t know what they wanted, they took us elsewhere. Sam was sent to a work camp. Matt and I… We were sent to the Gladiator Arena.”

     Keith stiffened, the memory of those awful scars flashing across his mind. If that’s what Shiro looked like, then Matt- He wasn’t a fighter, not really. Could he even have survived a place like that? 

     The others’ thoughts were obviously along similar lines, Katie swearing under her breath and Mom making a strangled sound in her throat, one hand pressed over her mouth. Even Lance and Hunk understood at least some of the implications of Shiro’s words, the former hissing between his teeth while the latter whimpered, “Is Matt-?”

     “He’s alive. Or at least he was the last time I saw him. I- I managed to get him out, but-”

     “He escaped?” Mom whispered hopefully.

     “…No. Not that I’m aware of. I-” Shiro’s voice broke. He paused, taking a second to regain his composure. “When Matt and I were first brought to the Arena, we were sent to face a gladiator called Myzax. He was… He was a monster. Undefeated in the ring. Enjoyed every second of it. Matt… Matt was going to fight first, but he was scared. We all were, but him especially. He’d already given up.” He took another steadying breath, swallowing hard. “I… I knew that if he went out there like that, there was no way he’d survive. I had to do something, so I- I attacked him.”

     “You what?!” Pidge choked, and Shiro flinched.

     “Katie,” Mom called sharply. She swallowed too, blinking back tears. “What… What happened then, Shiro?”

     “I… I took the weapon from the guard. ’Used it to cut Matt’s leg,” he whispered. “I was trying to make myself a better target. A… A more interesting fight. It worked. I was sent into the ring instead. When it was over and I was taken back to the prison, I was told Matt was deemed unfit for battle and sent to the work camps instead.”

     Keith felt himself sag with relief, blood rushing in his ears as he let out the breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding. When he glanced up, Mom had already wrapped a bewildered Shiro into the tightest embrace she could. “C-Colleen, I-”

     “Thank you.”

     “B-But I- Colleen, I hurt him. I don’t- I don’t even know where he is; he might’ve been sent somewhere even worse-!”

     “You did everything you could to protect him. You saved my son’s life, at great risk to your own. Shiro, thank you.”

     Shiro choked on a sob, wrapping his arms around Mom’s shoulders and hiding his face against her neck. It didn’t take long for everyone else to scramble to their feet and join the group hug, with Katie jumping in first, closely followed by Hunk, then Keith and Lance. But after a minute or so, once Shiro had calmed down enough to take a full breath of air, they all pulled back apart. 

     “S-So,” Pidge managed, clearing her throat, “were you… Were you there the entire time you were held captive?”

     “Just about,” Shiro nodded. “Although sometimes… Sometimes I was being used for experiments.”

     “Experiments?” Hunk squeaked, paling.

     “Yeah,” he muttered, dark eyes darting towards his prosthetic. “There’s… There’s a woman. A witch, really. Her name- Her name is Haggar. She’s the leader of a group called the Druids, and she… She had a thing for experiments.”

     “You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to, Shiro,” Keith murmured, earning himself a weak, but grateful smile.

     “So, what’s the story behind this ‘Ulaz’ guy? The one that helped you escape?” Lance asked, almost uncharacteristically solemn.

     Shiro frowned as he gathered his thoughts, the fingers of his prosthetic curling and uncurling at his side. “I was being transported back to the Arena, after… after another experiment. Usually, I’d just be kept restrained in my cell, but instead I was str- I was taken to another exam room. But, just as they were sedating me, the technician knocked out the guards and released my restraints.”

     “So the technician was Ulaz? And… And he was Galra, too?”

     “Yeah. He told me that Zarkon--the leader of the Galra Empire--had discovered something called the Blue Lion of Voltron on Earth. He said… He said that I had to get to it first, or Earth would be in terrible danger.”

     “Helpful of him to give you so much detail,” Pidge grumbled.

     “We didn’t have a lot of time,” Shiro shrugged helplessly. His eyes darted back to Keith’s phone, currently resting in Hunk’s hands. “But, maybe this energy Keith has been feeling is connected.”

     “I think you’re right,” Keith nodded, taking the device back to scroll through the photos again. “The feeling I had just now was a lot like the first time the energy reacted to the word ‘voltron’, but even stronger. Maybe all of the carvings I found depict blue lions because the energy source is this Blue Lion thing?”

     Warmth-assurance-joy-acknowledgement. 

     “That’s a yes,” Keith muttered as Lance jumped again.

     “Okay seriously, what is that?”

     “The energy I’ve been feeling ever since the Kerberos Mission disappeared,” he explained. “The one that’s been leading me out into the desert.”

     “So basically the Blue Lion of Voltron that we have to find is the same thing as the energy. But you’ve been searching for it for months without any luck; how are we supposed to find it before Zarkon or whoever gets here?” Pidge broke in, frustration beginning to leak into her tone.

     “I… might actually have an idea about that.” 

     Everyone turned with no small amount of surprise towards Hunk, who sat blushing and nervously picking at his nails.

     “What kind of idea?”

     “Um, well, while I was looking at Keith’s pictures, I saw one of a notebook page with a repeating series of numbers that I think is supposed to be the translation Pidge mentioned earlier? Yeah? Okay. Well anyway, I was looking at the series and I noticed that it looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line, and-”

     “A frown-who line?”

     “Ah- It’s a number describing the emission spectrum of an element, only this number doesn’t align with any element that exists on Earth. I was wondering if maybe the aliens are broadcasting it to find this ‘voltron’, and if I’m right, I think I can build a machine to look for it, kinda like a Voltron Geiger counter.”

     “Hunk, you big gassy genius!” Lance grinned, lightly elbowing his best friend. 

     “How long would it take you to build something like that?” Keith asked.

     “Um, a few hours maybe? Depends on how quickly I can get my hands on the materials.”

     “I should have some tools, wires, and other supplies lying in the shed out back from working on the house. You’re welcome to anything you think’ll help.”

     “I can help, too,” Pidge immediately volunteered, practically leaping to her feet. “We can have the device finished in an hour or two and then we can go and-”

     “You are not going anywhere until morning, young lady,” Mom interrupted, glowering at her.

     “But Mom, we’re so close!” Katie pleaded. “And we don’t know how soon the Galra will be here or when the Garrison might come knocking; we’re kind of on a deadline here!”

     “She has a point, Colleen,” Shiro said quietly. “The sooner we find the Blue Lion, the better.”

     “I won’t let you all risk your personal safety out of impatience,” Mom glowered. “You can work on your Geiger counter in shifts, but you are all getting at least five hours of sleep before I let you go anywhere.”

     Amusement-assurance-peace-safe.

     “…What did the Blue Lion tell you this time?” Pidge sighed, rubbing her eyes.

     Keith and Lance exchanged a quick glance. “I, uh, I think she agrees with Mrs. Holt,” Lance admitted with an awkward shrug.

     Mom leaned back into the couch, looking more than a little smug. “There, see? You can afford to rest for a little while. Now, let’s work out sleeping arrangements.”

.oOo.

     “Shiro! Keith! Wake up!”

     “What? What is it?” Shiro gasped, flinching awake on the bed across the room while Keith struggled to open bleary eyes. 

     “Lance?” he mumbled as the voice registered in his mind, pushing himself upright. “Wha’s up?”

     “We have a problem,” the youngest of the three pilots told them, ocean eyes anxious. “You’d better come downstairs.”

     Suddenly much more awake, Keith threw off the sleeping bag he’d been using and pushed himself upright, grabbing his belt, knife, and jacket from the dresser. Shiro had also slept in his clothes, so all he needed to do was snatch his vest from the bedside table and tug on a pair of Pop’s old boots before he was following Keith out the door. 

     “What’s going on?” Keith asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

     “Is it the Galra?” Shiro demanded, half a second behind him.

     “No,” Pidge replied, looking up from her laptop with a solemn gaze. “It’s the Garrison. They found the shuttle Shiro arrived in; they’ll be here in less than an hour.”

     Keith bit back a curse; as appropriate as the sentiment may be, it wasn’t productive. “Then it’s time we left. Pidge, Hunk, did you guys manage to finish your project?”

     “Yep.”

     “Pack it up. Mom, would you get the first aid stuff? Hunk, you grab food, and Lance, there’re water bottles in the shed. Shiro, grab the sleeping bag I was using; I’ll get the ones down here. We need to be out of here in ten minutes.”

     “Right.”

     “On it.”

     “Why are we prepping like we’re going on a camping trip?” Pidge groaned even as she snapped her laptop closed and shoved it in her backpack. 

     “We can’t hide the fact that someone has been living out here in the last twenty-four hours,” Keith explained, zipping up the sleeping bag and rolling it as tightly as he could. “Once the Garrison arrives, they’re gonna swarm the place; it’s not likely we’ll be able to come back for several days at a minimum. Going back home is also a no-go; since the Garrison knows I own this house, it’s sure to get checked out, too. We need a safe place to hide Shiro and we need to find the Blue Lion, so we might as well do both at once.”

     “I hate it when you’re right,” his sister muttered, carefully tucking a radar-ish device in one of the outside pockets of her bag. “But just for the record, I hate the outdoors almost as much.”

     “Keith, we’ve got another problem,” Lance called as he stepped through the front door, carrying an eighteen pack of bottled water.

     “What is it?”

     “I can already see headlights coming this way.”

     Keith did curse this time, the sound covered by Hunk’s near-constant mantra of “Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh-!” as he shoved the second sleeping bag unceremoniously into its sleeve. “Then we’d better get moving. Shiro!” The tall young man quickly appeared at the top of the stairs, clutching the last sleeping bag to his chest. “Timeline’s been accelerated; we have to go now.” Shiro was beside him in an instant, grabbing the other two sleeping bags so that Keith could grab his satchel and shove his feet into his boots. 

     “Here,” Mom panted, tucking the first aid kit into Keith’s bag and then adding an armful of granola bars she must have taken from Hunk. “Take your hoverbike; it’ll leave less of a trail.”

     “But my hoverbike barely fit the five of us; with you and the supplies-”

     “I won’t be going with you,” Mom interrupted, with a small, sad smile.

     “W-Wait, what-?”

     “If the Garrison finds this place empty, there’s a risk that they’ll just continue their search pattern. But if I’m here, then I can stall them, give you enough of a lead to reach the cliffs before they do. It’s your best chance.”

     Keith swallowed, his throat suddenly thick, and pulled his mom into a hug, distantly aware of Katie stepping over to do the same. Mom wrapped her arms around them both in turn, squeezing them tightly.

     “I love you both so much,” she whispered.

     “We love you too, Mom. We’ll contact you as soon as we can.”

     “I’ll hold you to that,” Mom smiled, gently pushing them both away. “Now go, before they get close enough to see you.”

     The Holt siblings nodded, then led the way out of the house. Lance quickly shoved the waters into the storage space under the seat of the hoverbike, then all five of them clambered aboard. Keith could just make out the fast-approaching sweep of headlights across the dunes as he turned on the bike, lights off, and shot into the darkness. 

.oOo.

     “Okay, this is starting to freak me out,” Lance declared a few hours into their search.

     “What is?” Keith frowned, adjusting the strap of the satchel on his shoulder and glancing away from where Hunk and Pidge were deliberating over their ‘Voltron Geiger counter’. 

     “Look, Keith, you might be used to some psychic alien lion purring in your head, but I most certainly am not.”

     “Purring?” the dark-haired boy’s frown deepened. “I’ve never heard any purring.”

     “Wait, seriously?” the Latino teen blinked, ocean eyes wide.

     “Yeah.”

     “…Well great, now I’m hearing things.”

     “I’m getting a reading!” Hunk announced, setting off across the rocky terrain. 

     “About time,” Pidge muttered, chasing after him with the dish in her hand.

     “We’ll figure out the purring thing later,” Keith promised, following them.

     “Yeah, fine,” Lance grumbled. “I think it’s getting louder.”

     “Guys, check this out!”

     Keith slid carefully down the next incline, following his sister into a cave that he hadn’t explored yet. It was much like all of the other caves he’d discovered: long, dark, bigger than you’d expect for a random tunnel out in the middle of the Arizona desert, and covered in markings.

     “What are these?” Shiro wondered out loud.

     “These are the lion carvings I was telling you about,” Keith explained. “They’re everywhere out here. Actually, it was the carvings that told us when to be ready for you. A lot of them had clues leading to some sort of arrival happening last night, then-”

     “Whoa!”

     Keith spun towards Lance at the startled cry, his hand automatically falling to the dagger strapped at his back-

     The carvings were glowing.

     They’d never done that before.

     “I didn’t do it!” Lance yelped, back-pedaling towards the group as the blue light spread rapidly through the cave.

     “Uh, Keith?!”

     Keith barely had time to glance down at the brilliant blue light spreading rapidly beneath his feet before the floor suddenly gave out, dropping all five of them onto some sort of natural underground waterslide. Keith swore violently, trying and failing to slow his descent before shooting over the edge of a water spout. For one, heart-pounding second, he was convinced that he was going to die. Then he slammed side-first into a shallow pond, grunting in pain as he was jarred from knee to elbow. Judging by the screams and splashes all around him, everyone else had suffered more or less the same fate. 

     “Is everyone alright?” he called.

     “Fine.”

      “Yeah. But oww.”

     “I hate the outdoors.”

     “Uh, guys?”

     Keith pushed himself upright to follow Lance’s pointing finger, distantly aware of how weird it was that he could see anything this deep underground. After a moment though, the reason why became apparent. Not even a hundred feet away from them was a massive, glowing blue dome, patterned like a honeycomb. 

     And underneath it sat an equally massive, robotic blue lion.

     “They are everywhere.”

Chapter Text

     “Does anyone else feel like she’s staring at them?” Lance muttered as they cautiously approached the dome.

     “No,” Shiro muttered. Keith didn’t appreciate the fact that everyone then turned pointedly towards him. But there was a more important matter on his mind at the moment.

     “‘She’?” he frowned. “You said that earlier, too.”

     “Huh,” Lance blinked, his mouth twisting in thought. “I guess I did.”

     “Why ‘she’?” 

     “I dunno. It just seemed obvious.”

     “…Interesting. Anyway, I don’t feel like she’s staring at me.”

     “Weird. ’Cause the eyes are totally following me.”

     “Well, any chance she’s told you how to get through this forcefield thing?” Keith asked, resting a careful hand against the surface of the dome in question.

     “Well, uh, maybe you just have to knock?” Lance suggested, lightly rapping his knuckles against it. He yelped as there was a burst of bright blue light and the dome seemed to retract, allowing them all to see the Blue Lion’s eyes flash gold.

     Five lights--violet, red, green, blue, and yellow--flew together and suddenly a man stood before him, his eyes a brilliant gold. His right leg was armored in blue, left yellow, left hand in green, right red, and body in black, with a pale blue ‘V’ shape on his chest. He had red wings protruding from his back, and in his right hand he wielded a massive, flaming sword.

     Courage-protector-longing-home.

     Voltron.

     “Whoa,” Keith whispered, his voice echoed not just by Lance, but also by Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge.

     “Uh, did… everyone just see that?” Lance asked hopefully.

     “Voltron’s a robot! Voltron’s a huge, huge awesome robot!!” Hunk shouted. 

     “And this thing is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are?”

     “So it’s not just the Blue Lion,” Shiro breathed. “The Empire must be searching for the other ones, too.” 

     “Which means we need to find them first,” Keith frowned.

     “How? We don’t even know if they’re on Earth or- Whoa!” Katie yelped. 

     Keith watched in amazement as the Blue Lion began to move on its own, rising from a crouch to a stand, then bending her head towards them. Hunk screamed something incoherent as she opened her mouth, only to reveal a ramp. 

     “Oh. I guess it doesn’t want to eat us,” Hunk squeaked. 

     Keith and Lance exchanged a quick glance and smirked. “She seems to like you more,” Keith gestured forward. Lance took the invitation eagerly, striding inside and heading straight for the cockpit. Keith entered just in time to see the pilot’s chair pull up to the lit-up console with a startled Lance seated on it. Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro trooped in behind him, their expressions displaying various degrees of bewilderment, worry, and fascination. 

     “Okay, guys, I feel the need to point out, just so that we’re all, you know, aware: we’re in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now.”

     “The view outside is displayed pretty much the same way that it was in the escape pod,” Pidge noted curiously, “even though there was no sign of any kind of windows on the Blue Lion’s head. They must both use a similar kind of technology to get an approximate two hundred seventy degree view of the ship’s surroundings.”

     “Who cares how it works; the point is it’s awesome,” Lance grinned, reaching towards the console.

     “Uh, Lance, maybe you shouldn’t push buttons without knowing what they do first?” Shiro suggested as the Latino boy proceeded to do exactly that. To everyone’s surprise, the Blue Lion immediately rose to its feet, unleashing an exultant roar that rang through the cavern.

     Keith couldn’t help but stare, amethyst eyes wide. “How did you-?”

     “I don’t know man,” Lance laughed, equally delighted. “The moment I sat down, it’s like something clicked! Now hold on tight!”

     Pidge and Hunk both yelled and everyone scrambled to brace themselves as the Blue Lion suddenly leaped forward, smashing straight through the cave wall and into the open air beyond. Shiro actually gripped the pilot’s chair so tightly with his prosthetic that Keith could hear the metal creaking even over Hunk’s wail of, “We’re all gonna die!!!”

     “Isn’t this awesome!?” Lance cheered as they flipped, twisted and spun. Keith would gladly admit that the Blue Lion’s maneuverability was absolutely incredible, but as he felt the contents of his satchel bag rattle and shift against his hip, he was also rather concerned that his friend might be getting carried away. Hunk clearly shared at least one of those sentiments.

     “Make it stop! Make it stop!” he grunted, one hand clutching Shiro’s arm in a vice-like grip and the other clapping over his own mouth as the ship began to run along the ground like an actual four-legged beast.

     “Oh lay off, Hunk; she’s excited to finally be out of there!”

     “Where are you going?!” Pidge yelled as the Blue Lion gathered herself and launched skyward.

     “I’m not really going anywhere; it’s like she’s on autopilot! She says there’s an alien ship approaching Earth; I think we have to stop it!”

     “What did it say, exactly?”  

     “Well, it’s not like she’s saying words, more like feeding ideas into my brain, kind of.”

     “Well, if this is the thing they’re looking for, why don’t we just, I don’t know, give it to them?” Hunk suggested frantically. “Maybe they’ll leave us alone. Sorry Lion, nothing personal.”

     “You don’t understand: the Galra spread like a plague throughout the universe, destroying everything in their path,” Shiro snapped, echoing the vehement rejection that Keith could feel tickling the back of his mind. “There’s no bargaining with them. They won’t stop until everything is dead!”

     “Oh. Nevermind then.”

     There wasn’t any more time to discuss the matter, because a moment later, the Blue Lion broke through Earth’s atmosphere. Just for a second, Keith felt his breath stutter, momentarily overwhelmed by the sheer vastness beyond their own world. Then a sort of shiver went up his spine, dread dropped into the pit of stomach, and, trailing a stream of violet light, a massive ship appeared in front of them, dwarfing the Blue Lion by comparison. 

      “Holy crow is that really an alien ship!?”

     “It’s them,” Shiro whispered. “The Galra.”

     “We’ve gotta get outta here!” Katie shouted as beams of purple light shot towards them.

     “Hang on!”

     Keith braced himself as best he could, gritting his teeth as Lance threw the Blue Lion into one evasive maneuver after another. A pleased voice in the back of his mind noticed that the younger pilot had improved a lot since he’d worked with him in the simulator all those years ago, but it was majorly eclipsed by the panicked voice screaming, “Oh gosh aliens are trying to kill us!”

     “Okay, let’s try this,” Lance grinned fiercely as he spun smoothly through the bombardment and seriously, where was all this confidence coming from? Lance? The Lion? Both? A laser flew from Blue’s mouth, razing the side of the warship and causing explosions all down its length. Then they shot forward, scraping vicious claws along the cruiser and sending up another burst of flames directly in front of them.

     Keith felt his sister tense, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

     “Nice job, Lance!” 

     “Okay, I think it’s time we got these guys away from our planet.”

     “Katie? Are you okay?” Keith asked quietly as they disengaged from the fight. 

     “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

     “You’re sure?” 

     “I’m not a little kid anymore, Keith,” his sister grumbled, shooting him a sour look. “I’m fine, okay?”

     “…Okay.”

     “G-Guys! I think they’re gaining on us!!” Hunk squawked.

     “Why did they stop shooting?”

     “We already knew that they were looking for the Blue Lion. Maybe they’re not willing to risk damaging it.”

     “They didn’t seem to have any problems with that before. At least they’re not going after Earth anymore.”

     “So what, now we think having aliens follow us is good?! I am not on board with this new direction, guys!”

     “Wait, where are we?” Keith frowned, taking in a silver-white mass through the starboard display.

     “That’s Kerberos,” Shiro murmured, his voice filled with surprise and just the slightest hint of awe. “We’ve already reached the edge of the solar system.”

     “But that’s insane! It takes months for our ships to get out this far and we made it in, like, five seconds!”

     “I guess alien tech is more advanced than ours as a rule.”

     Any further discussion was cut off by the burst of light in front of them, growing and forming into a dark, swirling vortex surrounded by what looked to be a blue frame covered in strange markings.

     “What is that?” Hunk cried.

     “Uh, this may seem crazy, but I think Blue wants us to go through there!” Lance announced, ocean eyes wide and expression uncertain for the first time since he’d sat in the pilot’s chair.

     “Where does it go?” Pidge asked hesitantly.

     “I- I don’t know. Keith, is she telling you anything?”

     Keith paused, closing his eyes briefly. It seemed counterintuitive, but ever since they’d actually found the Blue Lion, the energy that had been guiding him for months had faded from a rolling wave to only the barest ripple. It almost felt muffled, like a door had been closed to him--and, apparently, opened to Lance. 

     “No,” he finally shook his head, “but I say we trust her.”

     “It seems obvious the Lion knows more about this than we do,” Shiro nodded immediately.

     “We’ve come this far,” Pidge agreed, her amber eyes hard, “and I don’t want to give up now.” 

     Hunk was biting his lip, but nodded too, determination flickering in his eyes. “I’m in too.”

     “Alright. ’Guess we’re all ditching class tomorrow,” Lance grinned in a show of bravado, and directed the Blue Lion straight into the heart of the vortex.

.oOo.

     Keith wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but the idyllic, lush green planet that the Lion headed for wasn’t it. Nor was the huge, sleek white castle that they landed in front of. 

     “So this is the Blue Lion’s home?” he mused aloud, tucking his satchel bag under one of the consoles. 

     “That’s how she seems to feel about it,” Lance nodded, dark eyes bright with curiosity as he rose to his feet. “Let’s go find out!”

     “Keep your guard up,” Shiro warned quietly, his charcoal eyes narrowed in suspicion. 

     In spite of the circumstances, Keith felt a smirk tug at his lips and he lightly tapped his old friend’s arm. “You’re going protective big brother mode,” he teased gently.

     “Like you have any room to talk, Keith,” Katie rolled her eyes, shoving her backpack next to his bag before slipping past him.

     “I’m just saying.”

     Shiro chuckled quietly, and Keith’s smile broadened as he felt the older man’s prosthetic fingers hesitantly ruffle his hair. “I’ll try to rein it in.”

     “Nah. I like not having to be the mature one all the time.”

     “Is that what they’re calling trauma these days?”

     “And there you go with the dark humor,” Keith snorted, following the others out of the ship. He let his expression soften before he spoke again. “You really haven’t changed much, you know.”

     Shiro’s eyes widened. Then, slowly, he managed a small, hesitant smile. “Thanks.”

     As they assembled before the main castle gate, the Blue Lion moved on its own again, sending Hunk into another round of hysterical screaming as it stood and roared. Lance managed to calm his best friend down as the doors rumbled open, revealing a dark, empty entryway. “Anybody else getting haunted house vibes from this place?” Pidge muttered, walking forward with absolutely zero sense of self-preservation. Keith and Shiro instinctively stepped up to match her; if there was going to be an ambush, they would face it toge-

     Joy-relief-family-confusion-attention-shock-guarded-protective-warning-anger-enemy-fear-concealment-anxiety-betrayal-distrust-rejection-anticipation-fight-stubborn-refusal-loss-hurt-sorrow-longing-weariness-acceptance-hesitance-curiosity-realization-guilt-apology-withdrawal-

     Keith only became aware that he was falling when his knees hit the ground, jolting him out of his sudden paralysis. He choked, gasping for air like a man drowning, spots dancing in front of his eyes. He felt dizzy, like he’d just run a marathon several thousand feet above sea level; he was pretty sure that the only reason he was still upright was the pair of hands on his shoulders. 

     “Wh-Wha’,” he panted. “What the act-tu-”

     Yeesh, he couldn’t even get enough breath to curse.

     “That’s my line,” Katie’s voice hissed directly in front of him, and he forced his head up enough to see amber eyes swimming in fear. “Keith, what just happened?! The Blue Lion’s energy never hit you that hard back on Earth. Besides, Lance said he didn’t feel anything.”

     “Well not nothing, just nothing that shoulda caused that!”

     “W-Wasn’-” Keith shook his head, still struggling to get enough breath to speak. “Wasn’t… Blue. Diff’rent.”

     “Okay, enough questions,” Shiro spoke, tense, his larger presence settling at Keith’s side, a careful hand falling on his back. “Just take a second to breathe, Keith. You can explain after.”

     Keith managed a dazed nod, closing his eyes and forcing himself to breathe slowly, in through his nose, and out through his mouth, like he was coming down from a panic attack. It took several minutes to stop feeling like his lungs were being squeezed, but even then, there was something… different. Something in his very being that had been fundamentally altered. 

     As powerful as it had been, Keith had only felt the Blue Lion’s energy when he searched for it or when she chose to make herself known. Now… Now there was a constant presence brushing against his mind, the pulse of its lifeforce somehow inherently, instinctively familiar, like it was a part of him. Yet, at the same time, it was undeniably alien, as vast and unknowable as the universe itself. He wondered, abruptly, if this was what meeting the Blue Lion had been like for Lance: like he was simultaneously greeting an old friend and being dropped in the middle of the ocean when he was still learning how to swim. Compared to this, Keith’s experience with Blue was like dipping his fingers into a tide pool.

     He wasn’t sure if he liked it.

     Agreement-hesitance-caution-curiosity-consideration-hope.

     You seem just as weirded out by all this as I am, Keith thought, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

     Hesitance-interest-approach-warmth-tentative-want. He didn’t even try to hold back a second smile at the mental image of a feral cat cautiously sniffing his hand. Judging by the brush of annoyance-resignation-pettiness and the mental equivalent of getting flicked in the face by a tail, the Lion was not as amused.

     “Keith?”

     He opened his eyes, smiling at Shiro as the older man’s hand tightened on his shoulder. “I’m okay,” he assured him, then looked to his little sister. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

     “Keith, I swear, if you’re pretending again-”

     “I’m not. We were both caught off guard, but I promise I’m okay.”

     “Uh, ‘we’?” Hunk asked, glancing around the still-darkened hall like he was expecting someone to jump out at them.

     “There’s another Lion here,” Keith explained, rising carefully to his feet, the last of his worries settling as there was no dizziness, no trouble breathing, no sudden weakness. Indignation-safe-protective-friend-trust. “For some reason, I can feel her more intensely than I could feel the Blue Lion. Took us a minute to work things out.”

     “Wait, hold on, there’s another Lion here? On this planet?” Lance piped up, eyes wide. “Is that who Blue was arguing with?”

     “Probably. Kinda felt like I was only hearing one side of an argument-” Sullen-cheated-guilt-apology. “-but I don’t think this other Lion is just on this planet. I think she’s here, in this building.” Truth.

     “If that’s true, then why aren’t these steps bigger?”

     Everyone jumped as a bright, blue-white light flashed above their heads. Keith in particular flinched, quickly shielding his eyes as an automated voice sounded somewhere above their heads. It sounded feminine, but Keith couldn’t understand what it was saying. It seemed that Shiro could though, as he demanded to know why they were here and what the voice wanted from them. The voice said something else. Then Keith winced as something seemed to sting the side of his head; at the same moment he heard Pidge hiss, Lance yelp, and Hunk squeak in surprise and pain. 

      “Complete,” the automated voice announced. Then the sudden light faded, replaced by blue, torch-like wall sconces flickering to life in the direction of the grand stairway.

     “Okay, what just happened?” Katie grimaced, one hand carefully brushing through her hair. “Why could I suddenly understand that thing?”

     “Are you all okay?” Shiro demanded, muscles taut, eyes wide, and breath heavy as he scanned the room, his prosthetic raised like he was preparing for an attack. Keith placed a careful hand against his flesh arm, meeting his eyes with a level gaze when he flinched and twisted towards him. Shiro swallowed, forcing his prosthetic fist to unclench and then slowly reaching for his shaking left hand, trying to steady it.

     “Y-Yeah, I think we’re good,” Hunk nodded, oblivious to Shiro’s barely-averted panic attack, “but I’m with Pidge. What did that thing say before I could understand it?”

     “It… It said something about a universal translator implantation,” Shiro explained, still a little shaky.

     “Oh,” Pidge frowned. “That would explain why I felt something on the left side of my head. That’s where the language centers of the human brain can be found.”

     “Okay, that’s cool and all, but I still feel violated,” Lance muttered, glaring at the ceiling. “Hey lady, ever heard of something called consent?!”

     “We can complain to the manager later,” Keith called. “Right now, let’s figure out where these lights are trying to lead us.”

     They advanced carefully through the castle, following the pale blue lights deeper and lower into the building. Hunk occasionally called out a cautious, “Hello?” into the darkness, but no-one ever responded. Eventually, they reached a relatively small, but high-ceilinged circular room, with a series of eight pillars set around an odd depression in the middle of the floor. In the center of the depression was some sort of podium, and around the top of the steps leading into it, there were eight circles set in the floor.

     “It looks like we’re in some sort of control room,” Pidge mused, moving to investigate the podium. Before she could, two of the circles around the depression hissed open, allowing a pair of sleek, glass-domed pods to rise out of the floor. More of interest than the pods themselves though were the dark silhouettes inside of them.

     “Are these guys… dead?”

     With a soft hiss, the glass of one of the pods retracted--vanished, really--in a wave of sparkling light, revealing a young-looking woman with dark skin, long white hair, sharply tapered ears, and pink marks on her cheeks. Before any of them could figure out what to do next, piercing blue eyes snapped open, and the woman fell forward with a frantic cry.

     “Father!”

     Keith stepped automatically forward as the woman collapsed, a protective instinct that he couldn’t be sure was his or the Lion’s flaring in his chest, but Lance was closer. He barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground, supporting her carefully as she got her feet back under her and lifted her head. Keith’s first clue that something was about to go wrong was the blush he could see blooming across Lance’s cheeks. 

     “Hello,” the younger teen grinned coquettishly. Keith groaned quietly, rolling his eyes.

     “Who are you? Where am I?” the woman asked in a cultured accent, still regaining her bearings. It took a second for Keith to connect that the only reason he could understand her was the universal translator that he’d apparently been implanted with upstairs.

     “I’m Lance. And you’re right here in my arms.”

     Exasperation-weariness-familiarity-Blue-partner-protector-belonging.

     So the Blue Lion likes the obnoxious ones? Figures.

     “Your ears…”

     “…Yeah?” Lance asked, understandably confused.

     “They’re hideous,” the woman frowned, pushing back from him. “What’s wrong with them?”

     Lance flushed, immediately flipping from flirty to indignant. “Nothing’s wrong with them! They heard exactly what you said about them! Bwah!!”

     “Who-?!”

     “Let go of him!”

     Keith swore as Shiro lunged for the woman currently holding Lance pinned to the floor, his expression twisted in a snarl, his prosthetic arm alight. “Shiro, stop!” he yelled, the dagger at his back flying from its sheath as he leaped between them, blocking the strike. “We don’t know that she’s our enemy! You’re not there. Remember?” 

     Shiro stared at him, charcoal gray eyes wide and frantic, but not quite as blank as they had been back on Earth, and as rigid as his body was, he didn’t attack again. Little by little, the distance left Shiro’s eyes as he got his breathing under control, and, slowly, he drew his arm back, the violet light fading. “Sorry,” he whispered, his voice ragged.

     “Don’t be.”

     “Who are you?”

     Keith turned at the quiet voice, seeing the white-haired woman standing several feet away, her sharp blue eyes wide--with fear, yes, but also with confusion, curiosity, and maybe just the slightest hint of hope. Lance was on his feet now too, straightening up from where he’d been positioned protectively in front of her. That seemed typical of him actually, defending someone that had just attacked him. Keith shot a quick glance at Shiro, but given how shaken he still was, he’d better take the lead.

     “My name is Keith,” he explained simply, sheathing his blade. “This is Shiro, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge. Who are you?”

     The woman’s expression hardened even as something in her posture relaxed. “I am Princess Allura of planet Altea, and this is my castle. How did you all come to be here, Keith?”

     “We were brought here by the Blue Lion.”

     Surprise, worry, maybe even a flicker of anger passed across the princess’s face. “How did you come into possession of the Blue Lion? What happened to its paladin?”

     “Hey, don’t go calling my girl an ‘it’,” Lance interrupted. “Blue is a she, thank you very much.”

     “Lance, not the time,” Keith warned. His friend’s expression twisted into a pout, but he fell silent regardless. He was obviously still salty about the ear comment. “The Blue Lion was hidden on our planet, Earth. She let Lance pilot her-” 

     “Ah! Enemy combatants!” 

     Keith spun towards the new voice, his hand falling instinctively back on the hilt of his dagger. There was a man jumping out of the second, forgotten pod, peach-skinned, hair and mustache vibrant orange, ears sharply tapered, and slate-colored eyes highlighted by pale blue markings on his cheeks.

     “Coran, stop!” Princess Allura ordered, and he stumbled to a halt, sending her a wide-eyed glance. “You,” the woman spun toward Lance, something in her voice suddenly urgent, “You were able to pilot the Blue Lion?”

     “Uh-”

     “But that’s impossible, unless- No… Blaytz can’t have- But then- How long has it been?”

     “How long since what?” Keith frowned. She didn’t seem to hear him, instead hurrying to the podium in the center of the room and placing her hands on either side of it.

     “Okay. That’s how that works,” Pidge blinked, watching in bewildered fascination as a holographic console appeared above it.

     “It can’t be,” Princess Allura whispered, horror coloring every syllable.

     “Princess?” the orange-haired man, Coran apparently, prompted, worry filling the lines of his face. “What is it?”

     “We’ve been asleep for ten thousand years!”

Chapter Text

     Keith knew what it was like to feel like your world was crashing down around you. To suddenly be left with no-one to rely on except strangers. To wake up and find out that your father was gone. He did not know what it was like to wake up and learn you were the last of your people. That your civilization, your entire planet, was destroyed. That the people you felt responsible for protecting had all been slaughtered. 

     The new Lion wasn’t taking the news well, either. She seemed to keen in the back of Keith’s mind, crying out in an anguish of grief-failure-sorrow-guilt-regret-partner-protector-mine-loss-betrayal-

     Keith pressed a hand over his chest as he sensed the Lion withdraw, kind of like she was trying to close a door between them, but the walls were too thin to completely muffle her tears. He didn’t know how to comfort her, didn’t know if trying to open that metaphorical door would be welcome, or if she would prefer this semblance of solitude. He’d understand if she did; he couldn’t even begin to count how many times he’d hidden in Mom’s little greenhouse when he missed Pop. For now, he’d give her time to mourn. Anything that he could think to say seemed woefully inadequate compared to the sheer weight of her emotions anyway, and besides, he’d never been much good at the whole words of comfort thing. He was much better at physical affection, but how did he hug a being that, at the moment, only existed in his head? Were hugs even a thing in Altean culture, assuming the Lions were actually Altean?

     That question at least was answered when Coran gently touched Allura’s shoulder and she fell into his arms, crying quietly while he held her, blinking back tears of his own. “They’re gone,” she wept against his chest. “Coran, they’re all gone! Our entire civilization, all of the planets in our solar system, Blaytz, Trigel, Gyrgan, Father- 

     “Zarkon… That monster-!”

     “Wait, Zarkon?” Pidge blinked. “Shiro, isn’t that the name of the Galran leader? The guy who’s searching for Voltron?”

     “Yeah,” the older man nodded, his hands curled into tight fists, anger and fear equally flickering through his eyes. “I’ve been his prisoner for most of the last year.”

     “You mean he’s still alive?” the princess whispered, pulling away from Coran. “Impossible!”

     “Unlikely maybe, but not impossible,” Pidge corrected. “I mean, you survived all that time.”

     Allura flushed, her eyes darting away before she took a deep breath. “I suppose you’re right. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how he survived. We must find Voltron before he does, no matter what. Father sent the Lions away for their own safety, but I should be able to use the Castle to track down their whereabouts.”

     Hunk and Pidge both watched in rapt fascination as the Altean began tapping symbols on the holographic console, but Keith was somewhat more interested in the faint squeaking noises that he’d been hearing for the past minute or so. Curious, he stepped towards the pod that the princess had fallen out of, only to see several tiny figures standing inside. “Uh, Princess?” he called, carefully scooping them into his hands and turning towards her. 

     The young woman’s eyes widened at the sight of the four colorful mice hopping on Keith’s palms, waving excitedly at her, then a warm smile curled her lips. “Perhaps we’re not the last Alteans after all.”

     An alarm cut through the heartfelt moment, sending all eyes snapping towards the image that had appeared on the console. Keith could even feel the Lion in the back of his mind perk up with interest, the connection between them opening once more.

     “A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!” Coran cried.

     “How did they find us?”

     “Maybe they tracked the signal of the wormhole thing that brought us here?” Katie suggested. “I’d imagine that the energy signature is pretty unique.”

     “We can figure out the ‘how’ later; right now, we need to decide what to do about it,” Keith interrupted. Courage-approval-want. “How long will it take for the Galra to get here?”

     “With their speed? Oh, I’d guess a couple of days?” Coran offered. 

     “Two days to gather three more Lions. That doesn’t give us much time,” Keith muttered as he set the quartet of mice on the floor. They immediately scampered to the princess, climbing her skirts to settle across her shoulders. Allura hardly even seemed to notice though, her gaze suddenly laser-focused on Keith. “What?” he frowned.

     “You said ‘three more Lions’,” she repeated slowly.

     “Yeah? There are five Lions total, right? And we have the Blue Lion and a second Lion that’s already here in the Castle. Right?”

     “Well, yes,” Coran spoke now, twirling the corner of his mustache as he peered a little closer at the young pilot. “But how did you know that?”

     “Because I can hear her,” Keith replied honestly. “I’ve been hearing her ever since we entered the building.”

     Princess Allura’s eyes widened. Almost as though in a trance, she strode towards him. Keith tensed, barely restraining his instinct to back away as the alien princess reached towards him with both hands. He glanced warily at the others, but they looked just as confused as he felt. Keith swallowed, finally meeting Allura’s bright blue eyes--Wait, are they glowing pink? Do Alteans have a tapetum?--as she rested delicate fingertips against his cheekbones. What happened next felt almost like a static shock, followed by the Lion’s low hum of warmth-familiar-protective-Red-partner-protector-cub-pride-trust. Allura withdrew with a soft gasp, her blue-pink eyes wide with utter amazement. Before Keith could ask what that had been about, she spun away from him, turning her gaze on his friends. Hunk promptly squeaked and stepped behind Shiro’s taller frame.

     “Incredible,” the princess breathed.

     “What is it?” Coran asked, and Keith took some comfort from his confusion.

     “It would appear that Lance is not the only one with potential to become a Paladin.”

.oOo.

     “So, how exactly does this whole ‘finding the Lions’ thing work again?” Hunk asked, watching curiously as the princess stepped onto some sort of dais directly underneath a massive, sky-blue crystal. 

     “King Alfor connected the Lions to Allura’s lifeforce,” Coran explained. “She alone is the key to the Lion’s whereabouts.”

     “But what about Keith? He’s able to sense them, too, right?”

     “There are some individuals that have an unusually high sensitivity to quintessence. Keith is likely one such individual. It gives him something of a seventh sense, if you will.” 

     “You mean a sixth sense?” Pidge frowned.

     “Oh no, most species already have one of those.”

     Any further inquiry was cut off as a holographic star map burst into existence, filling the entire room in an instant. Stars, planets, moons, even comets and asteroids were all marked, and scattered among the various celestial bodies were holograms of five lions. 

     “These are coordinates,” Pidge noted, golden eyes sparkling with curiosity. “The Blue Lion seems to be in the same location as the Black Lion, so is that the one Keith’s been hearing?”

     “Aw, look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage,” Coran cooed.

     “Excuse me, primitive?”

     “That is correct,” the Altean princess smiled before Keith’s little sister could start throwing hands. “My father sealed the Black Lion here in the Castle to keep it out of Zarkon’s hands. It can only be freed if the other four Lions are present, but clearly it was still aware of your arrival here. It must have reached out to Keith because his quintessence is attuned to a similar wavelength.”

     “Coran mentioned that earlier,” Shiro frowned, his prosthetic hand opening and closing once again, “and I know that Hag… that I’ve heard that word before. What exactly is quintessence?”

     “Quintessence is an energy source found in all living beings,” Allura explained. “The ore used to craft the Lions of Voltron was infused with quintessence as well; that is why the Lions have the ability to psychically bond with their pilots. It is a mystical connection that is not yet fully understood, but we do know that it cannot be forced. The quintessence of each pilot is mirrored in his Lion, but ultimately it is the Lion that chooses their pilot. The Blue Lion, for example, values courage and compassion. Their pilot must be someone who can become something more for a cause greater than themselves. And it would appear that the Blue Lion has chosen Lance.”

     Oh great, Keith could already feel Lance preening from that description alone. 

     “The Black Lion, on the other hand, is the decisive head of Voltron,” Allura continued, instantly reclaiming his attention. “It will take a pilot who is a born leader, and in control at all times. Someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why it has chosen Keith.”

     “I’m sorry, what?” Keith gaped at her. 

     Allura blinked back at him, already reaching for the holographic of the Green Lion. “You are the Black Lion’s chosen Paladin. Was I somehow unclear?”

     “Then the Black Lion chose wrong! There is no way in any universe that I could ever be considered a leader!”

     “Are you serious?”

     Keith twisted to stare incredulously at the Latino boy next to him. “Oh come on! Allura is one thing, but you know me, Lance! A born leader? In control? Me?! I have a temper and no-one here can deny it, least of all me; there’s no way that I can lead anything, much less a giant futuristic alien robot!”

     Lance stared back at him, expression slack in an “are you an idiot?” kind of way. “Tell me Mullet, who was it that roped me and Hunk into saving Shiro?”

     “Wh-? That doesn’t count; you were the one that insisted on coming along!”

     “Fine then: who was it that was dishing out orders like it was second nature inside an alien spaceship?”

     “Shiro was unconscious; I couldn’t just-!”

     “Was Shiro still unconscious when you were ordering us all around in the desert?” Katie interrupted with a smirk worthy of the chaos gremlin she was. “Ordering me to pack up the scanner, ordering Hunk and Lance to get food and water, ordering Shiro to grab the sleeping bags-”

     “It was my house; of course I-!”

     “You were also the first person to check that everyone was okay when we all fell down that waterfall thing,” Hunk piped up, not quite meeting his gaze. “And you were the one that suggested we go through the wormhole in the first place and the one that said we should follow the spooky lights and the one who introduced us all to Allura-”

     “Okay, I get it,” Keith groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose to avoid Lance’s smug look.

     “Face it, Mullet, you’ve been the leader all along. You just hadn’t realized it.” 

     “But… I don’t want to be the leader. And Shiro would do so much better-”

     “Keith,” Shiro interrupted him gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Look around you for a second. Who do you see?”

     Keith shot him a perplexed look, but did as requested. Shiro stood to his immediate right, his charcoal eyes warm and encouraging, if rather tired. Lance stood just beyond him, his grin broad and teasing, but his ocean eyes filled with nothing but confidence. On his left stood Pidge, hands on her hips and amber eyes burning with determination. Just past her, level with Lance, stood Hunk, shifting nervously from foot to foot, but his brown eyes were warm and sincere all the same.

     His mentor, his sister, and his two best friends.

     “I might have more experience,” Shiro said quietly, “but this is your team, Keith. Not mine.”

     “But-” Keith was cut off this time by a low rumbling sensation, more in his head than in his chest, projecting a steady stream of truth-courage-warmth-strength-protect-want-partner-protector-mine.  

     And really, how was Keith supposed to argue with that?

     He forced himself to take a steadying breath, then turned back towards the alien woman, who was watching the proceedings with an air of fascination. “What about the other Lions, Princess?”

     “Oh! Of course,” she said hastily, reaching once again for the image of the Green Lion and resuming her explanation. Apparently, the Green Lion was inquisitive, and required “a pilot of intellect and daring,” so Pidge was its destined pilot. Yeah, that fit; she was definitely reckless smart enough. The Yellow Lion’s defining trait was its kindness. Hunk looked startled when Allura named him as its pilot, but Keith could see it. 

     “The Red Lion is faster and more agile than the others, and the most difficult to master,” the princess explained, sending the final hologram towards Shiro. “It is extremely temperamental, but once you have earned its respect, its loyalty and determination know no equal. Shiro, to become the Red Lion’s Paladin, you will have to rely more upon instinct than skill alone. 

     “As of now, we have the coordinates for both the Yellow and Green Lions, but I have yet to locate the Red Lion,” Allura continued, tapping at her console and enlarging the two locations in question. At a glance, one appeared to be a moon, while the other was a jungle planet. “There may be something wrong with the Castle. After ten thousand years, it might need some work.”

     “Not to worry; I’ll soon have the Castle in tip-top shape!” Coran said cheerfully. “They don’t call me the Coran-ic for nothing!”

     “So what’s the plan for getting all the Lions?” Lance asked. Then, almost as one, everyone turned towards Keith.

     “What?” he blinked.

     “Well, you’re the leader, apparently,” his sister shrugged. “Lead.”

     “Already!?”

     “Take a deep breath,” Shiro said quietly, stepping up beside him, meeting amethyst eyes with charcoal gray. “Trust your instincts. We’re all here supporting you.”

     Keith swallowed hard, then forced himself to think. Technically, they were already in possession of the Blue and Black Lions, although the latter was currently inoperable. The Red Lion’s location was unknown. They had coordinates and pilots for Yellow and Green, but only one flyable ship to reach both of them, unless- “Coran, are there any spacecraft in the Castle?”

     “We have a number of supply pods, yes. I’d be happy to check one over and prep it for you if you would like?”

     “Yeah, we’re gonna need it. Lance, I think you should take Hunk and find the Yellow Lion in Blue. Shiro and I will take Pidge in the pod to get the Green Lion.”

     “Works for me,” Lance grinned.

     “Wouldn’t it be more efficient for Shiro to stay here, just in case the princess manages to find the Red Lion?” Katie suggested.

     Keith hesitated, glancing towards his old friend. Frankly, it would be more efficient, but he’d promised to be there if Shiro ever needed him. Besides, given Shiro’s recent experiences, Keith wasn’t certain it was a good idea to leave him alone on an alien ship with a couple of complete strangers--no matter how much Black insisted trust-Red-partner-protector-cub-safe. “’Up to you, Shiro,” he murmured quietly. 

     The older pilot frowned at the floor for a long moment, but when he looked up again, his charcoal eyes were set with determination. “Go. I’ll be okay on my own.”

     “Okay then,” Keith nodded, setting aside his own worry for now. “Let’s get moving. Coran, where’s that pod?”

.oOo.

     “I hate the outdoors!” Katie growled, spitting out leaf fronds from a plant that had just smacked her in the face. “Why did my Lion have to be in the middle of a jungle?!”

     Keith snorted, pushing a branch out of his sister’s way. “You know, it might be easier if you paid more attention to where you were going instead of staring at your tech all the time.”

     “The tracker is the only thing keeping me from getting lost, thank you! Or do you want to be wandering around in this jungle for the rest of eternity?”

     “That sounds fine to me. It’s nice here. Peaceful.”

     “Of course you’d think that, Mr. Mosquitoes-Hate-Me.”

     “’Not my fault they think you’re delicious.”

     “Oh hey, what’s that?”

     Keith followed his sister’s gaze to a carefully carved, wooden canoe resting on the bank of a river. It appeared to be decorated with a lion’s head, not unlike the way viking warships had figureheads carved with the faces of wolves and dragons. The slightest of rustles caused Keith’s head to snap in the opposite direction, quickly pulling his sister back at the sight of what appeared to be a giant anthropomorphic sloth, his hand hovering over the hilt of his dagger. Katie squeaked in surprise as she saw it too, but the sloth didn’t seem aggressive. It simply gazed at them, head tilted slightly to one side. 

     “It’s just a, uh… whatever that thing is,” Pidge frowned, relaxing minimally. The sloth’s eyes widened as they fixated on the tracking device in her hand, then it seemed to smile and began to walk towards the boat, gesturing for them to follow. “I, uh… think he wants us to get in his canoe.”

     “Seems like it,” Keith agreed. “Well? What do you think?”

     “Um-”

     Curiosity-want-approach.

     Katie jumped, her amber eyes wide as she spun on the spot. “W-Was that-?!”

     “Most likely,” Keith nodded as the whisper faded. He was starting to get used to all this energy mumbo-jumbo. It was odd, though; he’d felt Blue much more strongly than he was feeling what could only be the Green Lion now. 

     “I-I guess… we should go then?” his sister said tentatively.

     “Then let’s go.”

     The journey down the river was actually quite peaceful. Their alien guide propelled the canoe with smooth strokes of a long, flat-bladed pole, like they were riding a gondola in Venice. The water was largely shaded by the thick tree cover, and there was a gentle breeze rustling among the leaves overhead. Occasionally, a curious animal would pop out of the undergrowth, chitter at them, and slip away again, but otherwise it was silent. Calm. 

     “Hey. Keith?” Katie broke the silence after a few minutes. 

     “Yeah?” he hummed back.

     “Can I do this?”

     “What do you mean?”

     “I mean, okay, yeah, sure, the Green Lion is probably supposed to be mine; I mean I did just feel something that was--How did Lance put it? Like something was feeding ideas into my brain? It was a really weird experience; I don’t know how you dealt with it for months on your own--but I’m not a pilot. I mean, I read all the fighter manuals-” So that’s where all my old textbooks kept disappearing to. “-and I was always kinda interested in flying, but I kinda also assumed that I’d end up following in Dad’s or Matt’s footsteps, you know? I mean, I’m not you; I can’t sit down at the controls of not one but two alien shuttles and just figure them out; granted, I doubt anybody other than you could do that, but-”

     “Pidge?”

     “Uh, yeah?”

     “D’you remember what Dad always used to say?”

     “…‘What the Garrison doesn’t know won’t hurt them’?”

     “N- Well, yes,” Keith admitted, ignoring the way his sister snickered at him, “but I meant the other thing. ‘If you keep worrying about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great.’”

     Pidge didn’t immediately respond, but Keith watched the line of her shoulders relax and smiled to himself. Even now, Dad always had a way of-

     “Should we really be doing this?”

     “Hm? Doing what?”

     “This! I mean… We didn’t come out to space to find Voltron, Keith,” she muttered, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. “Or at least I didn’t. Heck, we didn’t mean to come out to space at all--and I for one am slightly terrified to find out how long Mom is gonna ground us for that--but now that we’re here, shouldn’t our first priority be finding Dad and Matt? Why are we letting ourselves get tangled up in some ten-thousand-year-old intergalactic war?!”

     Keith paused, frowning thoughtfully. “Honestly,” he began slowly, “I think the two goals are one and the same.”

     “Huh?”

     “The whole reason Dad and Matt disappeared is because of this war--because the Galra Empire was looking for the Lions and thought they might know something. And if they haven’t escaped like Shiro did, they’ll still be in the Empire’s hands.” 

     “So what’s your point?” Pidge asked, twisting in her seat and peering around the sloth-creature’s legs to frown at him.

     Keith sighed, leaning back against the edge of the canoe and gazing up at the sky: blue, scattered with the occasional white cloud, just like Earth. Like home. “Look, maybe I’m wrong, but even if we did leave to go find Dad and Matt, we just wouldn’t have enough resources; not in terms of information, nor in terms of manpower. Fighting in this war, there will be more than just battles. There will also be information-gathering missions, chances to steal intel from the Empire: troop locations, supply lines, maybe… maybe even prisoner records. I guess, I just feel like we stand a better chance of finding them as part of a group. Besides,” he added, straightening back up and meeting sharp, amber eyes with hard amethyst, “when we do find Matt and Dad, do you really think they won’t wanna help take down the Empire themselves?”

     Katie met his gaze for another long moment before her eyes flicked away, her chin dropping down to rest on her knee. “I hadn’t thought about all that,” she mumbled.

     Keith hummed. Then he frowned. “Wait, did I actually just win an argument with you?”

     His sister tensed, flushing. “I didn’t say I was convinced, just that you gave me more to think about!” she snapped.

     “I totally just won an argument with you.” 

     Pidge growled at him. Keith was lucky the sloth-person was there or she probably would’ve tried to punch him. Speaking of which, their alien guide was making an odd, almost clicky sort of growling sound to get their attention. (Apparently, the Altean translators didn’t have sloth-person language programmed into them. Come to think of it, how was English already programmed into them?) He pointed a huge, blunt claw up towards the stony bank, where Keith could see a familiar series of lion carvings leading to a small inlet, and beyond that-

     “Is that… some kind of temple?” Pidge murmured, her voice hushed in wonder. 

     “Seems like it.” It reminded Keith of the photos he’d seen of Chichen Itza, built in a stair-step sort of pattern, except that it had been built in a forest instead of a field and the top and much of the sides of the building were almost completely covered in massive vines. More importantly though, Keith could feel a sort of pressure coming from that direction. It wasn’t as strong as the Blue Lion had been, and it wasn’t nearly as strong as his first encounter with the Black Lion, but it was there. This had to be the Green Lion’s hiding place.

     Less than a minute later, they had run aground. The sloth-person held the boat steady with his paddle-pole, waiting patiently while his two passengers climbed on shore. He smiled when they thanked him, offering a wave-like gesture that could have been a farewell or something along the lines of “Now get out of my forest you crazy alien monsters!” for all Keith knew. He was going to hope it meant the former, considering that he and his sister opted to wave back. 

     “Wow,” Katie whispered as the lion carvings scattered near the structure began to glow green, then the light continued to flow further and further up the temple, along the seams between the massive stones until it disappeared among the vines. 

     “Well? Are you just going to stare at it?” Keith teased her gently.

     His little sister was too excited to snap back at him, breaking into a run up the stairs, almost as though pulled by an invisible string. Keith watched her until she disappeared among the vines, then leaned back against a partially-crumbled pillar and closed his eyes. 

     Are you there?  

     He felt kind of ridiculous, thinking to himself like this, but the response was almost immediate. It was faint though, like a cat brushing against his ankle through his clothes. At a guess, Keith would say that the distance had weakened their connection, but it was there. Black was listening. 

     Why me? Keith asked her. 

     Acceptance-assurance-partner-protector-mine.

     But why? Why did you want me? I’m not a leader, no matter what the others say. I don’t know what I’m doing, I just… did what I had to do.

     Protector-grow-leader-teach-learn-together-become-trust-want.

     You… You chose me… because I don’t know anything? Because… Because we can learn together?

     Truth-assurance-family-mine-protect-want-family-cub-protect-want-grow-fight-together-want-partner-protector-mine-want.

     …Thank you.

     Keith was abruptly pulled back to himself as a roar shattered the peace of the forest. He stumbled, catching himself against the pillar as the very ground shook, then looked up just in time to see the vines at the top of the temple exploding, allowing the Green Lion to fly free. Even with a faint connection, Keith could feel the surge of joy-excitement-curiosity.

     Pride-Green-partner-protector-perfect.

     Yeah, Keith huffed, grinning as his own pride coursed through his chest. You got that right.

Chapter Text

     Keith couldn’t help noticing the way that Shiro jumped the moment he and Katie walked onto the bridge. As soon as their eyes met though, the tension all seemed to bleed from Shiro’s shoulders at once, most of the wrinkles disappeared around his eyes, his arms dropped to his sides from where they had been crossed over his chest, and he managed to cast them a small smile. 

     “I am so glad to see you’ve returned safely,” Princess Allura smiled as well, withdrawing her hands from the controls underneath that giant blue crystal. 

     “Oh? Ah! Welcome back, Paladins!” Coran called cheerfully, sitting up from where he’d been digging into the hardware of the console, his sleeves rolled up to mid-forearm. “Beg pardon, we’re still figuring out what’s wrong with the Castle’s main computer system. Princess, did that change anything?”

     “Pleasant trip?” Shiro asked quietly as the two Alteans proceeded to discuss whatever they were working on in alien techno-babble that Keith wasn’t going to try following.

     “Fine,” Keith nodded. “How were things here?”

     “Uneventful,” Shiro shrugged. “’Just wish I could’ve done more to help.”

     “You can’t blame yourself for not knowing how to fix a ten thousand year old alien castle.”

     “I’m not blaming myself,” Shiro huffed. “I just… wish I could’ve stayed busier.” Keith grimaced, but nodded. That, he could understand.

     “Oh! Coran, hold it there!”

     Keith looked up with interest as Princess Allura tapped a few symbols on her holographic display, then rested her hands back on the little podiums and closed her eyes. All at once, a Red Lion hologram flashed into view, along with a string of Altean text that Keith couldn’t understand--it would seem the universal translators didn’t help with written language.

     The princess hummed, her sharp blue eyes narrowing. “Coran, have a look at this.”

     “Coming, Princess!”

     “Did you find it?” Pidge called, walking closer as they deliberated.

     “Yes,” the Altean woman nodded, pulling her lip between her teeth, “but the Red Lion’s current location is… not exactly ideal.”

     “Where is it?” Shiro asked.

     “Ugghh.”

     Keith, as well as the rest of the group, looked back at the exaggerated groan, to where Lance and Hunk were entering through another door. “You made it,” Princess Allura sighed in relief.

     “Yeah, just barely; that was a nightmare!” Lance complained, carefully rolling out his shoulders. “There were at least seven Galra ships shooting at me at once at one point; I almost puked! I felt like Hunk!”

     “Think of how I felt. I am Hunk.”

     “Are you guys okay?” Keith frowned, giving them a more thorough once-over. Hunk had a couple of scrapes on his face and forearms where his sleeves didn’t quite reach his wrists and he looked significantly more pale than normal--he probably did puke--but otherwise he seemed okay. Lance was also generally pale and his hands had a subtle tremor, like he was still coming down from a major adrenaline high, but he didn’t seem injured beyond some soreness and maybe a few bruises.

     “Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Lance sighed, groaning slightly as he stretched again. “But seriously, next time we go on a mission, can we please do a little more research first?”

     “You, wanting to study?” Pidge blinked, giving him a blank look. “Guess it really was bad.”

     “Shut it, Pidge. Anyway, do we know anything about Shiro’s Lion yet?”

     “The Princess just located it,” Coran nodded. “Now, there’s a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is that the Red Lion is nearby! The bad news is it’s currently on that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again! We’re Arus!”

     “They’re here already?!” Hunk squawked while Keith stiffened. “B-But I thought you said we’d have two days; I am so not mentally prepared for this or physically prepared or any kind of prepared!!”

     “Yes, my deepest apologies,” the orange-haired man cringed. “It seems my estimate was a bit off.”

     “Two hours instead of two days is a lot more than a bit!”

     A burst of static cut off any further argument, causing all seven of them to look up in surprise as the main display--currently showing a view of the sky outside--flickered, quickly resolving into an image of a hulking alien covered in thick, light purple fur, with huge, fuzzy ears that could be cute if the rest of him weren’t terrifying. Most striking of all though were his eyes: one a bright, pupiless yellow, and the other replaced by some sort of mechanical prosthetic. “Princess Allura,” the alien spoke in a low, dark tone that brooked no argument, “this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, lord of the known universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet. You have one varga to comply.”

     The image vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared, leaving a palpable cloud of anxiety hanging in the room. Keith forced himself to breathe, trying to settle his own heightened nerves before saying anything to the others. He may not have wanted to be the leader, but if that’s the role he had to play, then he’d better step up and act like it. 

     Pride-partner-protector-mine-courage-together. 

     Thank you.

     “Princess,” Keith called. The Altean woman’s face snapped towards him, bright blue eyes wide and startled. “How long is a varga?”

     “Erm-” Allura hesitated, tapping a few buttons on her holographic console. “Just a little bit longer than one of your Earth hours, by the look of it.”

     “That’s not much time. Shiro-” Keith broke off as he turned towards his oldest friend, cursing under his breath. Shiro was still staring up at the display screen, his eyes dangerously far away, his hands visibly trembling. “Shiro? Shiro, hey, can you hear me?” Keith called, his tone firm but soft as he stepped in front of him, filling up as much of his field of vision as he could when he was half a head shorter than him.

     The older pilot quite literally flinched, stepping back slightly from him. His arm didn’t light up though, so he still had at least a vague recollection of where he was. That could only be a good thing as far as Keith was concerned; he really didn’t want a repeat of what happened back on Earth. “S-Sendak,” Shiro choked, his voice ragged as he struggled to get a full breath of air.

     “Easy. Easy, Shiro,” Keith soothed as best he could, hands hovering over his friend’s arms without touching him. “He’s not here. You’re safe.”

     “Well, yeah, for now.”

     “Hunk-”

     “T-There’s no use sugar-coating it, is there?!” the teen protested. “The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship towards us, we only have four Lions-”

     “Technically we only have three working Lions.”

     “That’s right. Thank you, Pidge. We only have three working Lions, and a castle that’s, like, ten thousand years old!”

     “Actually, it’s ten thousand six hundred years old,” Coran corrected him. “See, it was built by my grandfather-”

     “Yeah, thanks, Coran, thank you for that; see this castle is ancient and Shiro’s having a panic attack which means I’m about to have a panic attack because this is the perfect time to panic-!”

     “Hunk, hermano, try to breathe,” Lance interrupted in the same, soothing tone that Keith was using with Shiro, gently gripping his best friend’s upper arm. “We’re gonna be okay. I mean really, what are the odds that the guy would actually destroy an entire planet?”

     “He’ll do it,” Shiro whispered, something horribly haunted shadowing his gaze, his entire body shaking. “Sendak never made a threat he wasn’t willing to keep.”

     “Shiro, that’s not helping.”

     “You know him?” Pidge frowned.

     Shiro managed a small, jerky nod, his hands curling into fists. “After… After we were captured, before we were separated, they brought us to his ship for… for interrogation. He- Sendak, he… He was awful. Cruel.”

     “So, panic now?” Hunk squeaked. 

     “Wait,” Allura cut in. “This castle has a particle barrier we can activate. Perhaps we can use it to form a defensive position.”

     “Particle barrier?” Pidge frowned. “Is that the forcefield thing that was around the Lions?”

     “Exactly.”

     “The particle barrier won’t hold forever,” Coran frowned, pulling up some sort of schematic or scan of the Galra battleship. “That ion cannon is significantly more powerful than the last time we fought them. Galra technology must have advanced in the last ten thousand years.”

     “Well, duh,” Pidge muttered.

     “Maybe we could pop through a wormhole and take the Galra on when we’re better prepared?” Lance offered.

     “I second that. Yes.” Hunk seized upon the suggestion. “We tried to get all the Lions, gave it the old college try-”

     “The what try?”

     “-couldn’t do it, only got three, so we can head out and try again later, right?”

     “No. We can’t leave now,” Keith countered, his voice hard.

     “Why not!?” Hunk wailed, only to peter out when Keith leveled steady, amethyst eyes towards him. 

     “If we leave Arus now, we’ll be abandoning the Castle of Lions and the Black Lion. If we do that, we’ll lose our ability to make wormholes, and with both the Black and Red Lions in their possession, the Galra could make it impossible for us to ever form Voltron. Our chance to defeat the Empire and save trillions of people will be lost. What’s more, as things now stand, this is our best chance of ever reclaiming the Red Lion. Yes, the Galra have a warship, but it’s only one warship. If we leave, we can be sure that the Galra will pursue us, and when that happens, they’ll come in greater numbers. Besides, if we lose heart now, do you really think that we’ll ever be able to face the Galra head-on?”

     Keith met the wide-eyed gazes around the room with a confidence that surprised even himself, but this… This felt right. Maybe that was arrogance talking, or maybe… Maybe it was the low, rumbling purr he could sense deep in his soul, humming a steady melody of courage-fight-protect-patner-protector-mine-together.

     Slowly, the expressions around the room settled from anxious and uncertain to calm and determined. Shiro actually laughed quietly, drawing several eyes. “And you were insisting you couldn’t be a leader,” he smiled, considerably less tense than before. “So? What’s the plan, Keith?”

     “Honestly?” Keith managed a weak smile, “I hadn’t gotten that far yet.”

     “Then first things first,” Princess Allura began briskly. “Let us go to the armory and ensure that you are all prepared for battle.”

.oOo.

     Neat bit of trivia: Altean armor could reform itself to perfectly fit the person wearing it. That was a good thing, given that the five, color-coded suits of armor the princess presented them with appeared to be exactly the same size in their display cases, and the five of them all had very different heights and body types--Hunk and Pidge in particular. Once everyone had suited up--including the princess, who had pulled on ‘regular’ armor with blue and pink highlights--Allura offered them a second gift. 

     “The bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron,” she explained, opening another display case to reveal four odd, almost circular objects patterned in blue, red, green, and yellow. “It takes a distinct shape for each Paladin.” 

     Bayards could apparently float, too, and seemed to be drawn towards their appropriate wielders, or at least their matching armor. The moment Hunk took the yellow bayard, it transformed into a massive energy cannon. Lance’s was some sort of blaster, and Pidge’s a short katar with some sort of built-in taser, judging by the way she electrocuted Lance for mocking it. When Shiro took the red bayard, it took the form of a relatively narrow, straight-lined sword with a long hilt, designed to be comfortably wielded with either one or two hands. 

     “An Altean broadsword,” the princess murmured, her eyes suddenly very wide. 

     “A what?” Shiro blinked.

     “My… My father used one just like it. On Altea, it was considered a symbol of royalty. Of greatness.”

     “O-Oh…”

     Coran smiled sadly, but there was still a genuine warmth to his tone as he rested a gentle hand against Shiro’s arm. “It suits you,” he encouraged.

     “But, I- I’m not- I do better with hand-to-hand combat,” Shiro mumbled, obviously flustered. “K-Keith, you don’t have a bayard, right? You can-”

     “Uh-uh, you’re not getting out of this that easily, Mr. Destined-for-Greatness,” Keith grinned. “Besides, I’d rather use a weapon I’m familiar with.”

     “Why isn’t there a black bayard?” Pidge frowned as her brother reached for the dagger resting on top of his discarded personal belongings.

     “There was one, once,” Allura replied after a split second too long, “but I’m afraid that it was lost with its former paladin.”

     Keith frowned, glancing back at her. The princess hadn’t lied, but he still had the distinct feeling that she was hiding something. What exactly did she mean when she said the previous Black Paladin was ‘lost’? 

     Partner-protector-mine-grief-loss-betrayal-

     Black? Keith prompted as the Lion abruptly pulled away again. He felt the faintest rumble in response, like a sort of assurance, but her thoughts were muffled again. It felt like… like she was trying to hide something from him, too. Something about her former paladin. Something that she was afraid to let him see.

     Keith swallowed, shaking himself out of those thoughts. He could try to talk to Black about it later. For now, he had to get ready for the battle to come. “Coran, any chance you can help me rig my sheath to my armor?”

     “Right away!” the orange-haired man beamed, moving to join him. “Mind if I have a look-see?”

     Keith found himself hesitating for a bare instant before letting Coran take the weapon, some old, half-forgotten instinct reluctant to let anyone see it. But the Altean man was respectful, almost reverent as he accepted the blade, turning it to view the clip on the sheath and running his fingers over the wrappings. “Hm, yes, I believe I should be able to secure this to the undersuit of your armor fairly easily. Would you mind holding the knife while I attach it?”

     “Sure,” the young pilot agreed, drawing the dagger from its sheath.

     Coran’s breath caught.

     “’Something wrong?” Keith asked.

     “What? Oh! No, no, not at all. I was merely noticing the craftsmanship of your knife. It’s a very fine weapon,” the older man smiled a little too brightly. “Now, I noticed that earlier you wore it at your back. Would you like to do the same now?”

     “Coran, what’s wrong?” Keith asked bluntly, carefully folding his arms across his chest with his dagger dangling from his fingers.

     “Hm? Nothing’s wrong-”

     “I wouldn’t try that with him,” Lance called from where he was getting a feel for his new weapon. “Keith has, like, a built-in lie detector or something.”

     “Seriously,” Hunk agreed. “It’s actually kind of creepy sometimes.”

     “Yes, thank you for that, guys,” Keith rolled his eyes. “So? What’s going on?”

     Coran hesitated a moment longer before he caved. “Well, there truly isn’t anything wrong. It’s just that I haven’t seen luxite in… well, I suppose in well over ten thousand years.”

     “Lux-what?” Keith blinked, Katie following on his heels with an excited, “You know what alloy that is?!”

     “Luxite,” Coran nodded, grabbing some piece of tech from the wall. “Or at least I believe that’s what it is. Luxite was a rare metal even back in my day. To my knowledge it could only be mined from a single planet, and even there it was hard to come by. But perhaps I was mistaken; Altea had no knowledge of Earth ten thousand years ago, after all. But assuming it is in fact luxite, your knife is made from one of the strongest metals in the universe. Much like the Lions of Voltron themselves, it is uniquely responsive to quintessence. I’ve even heard rumors that luxite has a sort of willpower all its own.”

     “That… would actually make a lot of sense,” Keith said slowly, looking at his birthmother’s heirloom with new eyes. 

     “It would?” Pidge frowned.

     “When Shiro broke atmosphere on Earth, I had this weird feeling, like it was trying to warn me. The gem even started glowing,” he explained while Coran crouched behind Keith and set the sheath against the exposed undersuit on his lower back, fiddling with the tech he was carrying.

     “So you’re telling me that you have a magic Lion-sense and a magic knife? Oh come on, that’s so unfair! Why do you get all the cool stuff?” Lance pouted. 

     “Hey, it’s not like I asked for-”

     “Paladins, please, I’m afraid this is hardly the time,” Princess Allura interrupted. “We have just over half of our allotted varga remaining. We need to determine our course of action.”

     “Right, sorry,” Keith shook himself, refocusing on the matter at hand. First things first: “Shiro, do you know the general layout of those battle cruisers?”

     “Most of it, yeah,” he nodded, grim but determined.

     “Assuming that the internal layout has not changed too drastically, we have some old schematics of the Galra battle cruisers in the Castle Archives as well,” the princess added.

     “Get those pulled up and check them against Shiro’s knowledge. We’ll join you shortly.”

     “Right away.” 

     “Coran, that ion cannon you were worried about. What would happen if we could overload it?”

     “Goodness, something like that would cause an explosion powerful enough to blow that whole battleship straight to Wozblay!”

     “…I’ll take your word for it. Pidge, Hunk, any chance you could whip up a program capable of doing something like that?”

     “We can try, but I’m not sure if it’ll work,” Hunk frowned. “We don’t know exactly how the tech works, or even if it’s digitally controlled. If the cannon runs on a crystal like the one upstairs, I don’t even know if that can be hacked.”

     “Not to mention what kind of firewalls or other defenses Galra tech has, much less if the programming languages are even compatible,” Pidge agreed.

     “Plan B, then. Lance, can you grab my bag from the Blue Lion’s cockpit and meet us at the bridge?”

     “Sure, but why is your bag Plan B?”

     “I’ll explain when we’re all back together.”

     “Fiiinnne,” Lance sighed melodramatically, heading for the door.

     “Could you grab my backpack, too?” Pidge requested.

     “Yeah, can do,” Lance called, offering a quick, two-fingered salute on his way out.

     “What do you have in mind, Pidge?” Keith asked. She wouldn’t have asked for her backpack--and more importantly her laptop--if she didn’t have some kind of idea.

     “Well, I was thinking, we really don’t know anything about the Galra. Nothing useful, anyway. Nothing that could help us, you know, win a war,” his sister shrugged. “So I thought, maybe I could throw together some kind of a catch-all program? Something to download as much information as possible from the Galra ship? There’s gotta be information there we can use, right? It might not even work, but we should at least try, right? And if… if Dad and Matt really were there at one point…”

     Keith was grateful for Hunk, who stepped forward and slipped a gentle arm around his sister’s shoulders while he was being kept in place by Coran’s work. She sniffled, went to scrub at her eyes, grumbled when her new helmet got in the way, and settled for leaning against Hunk instead.

     “Your father was on board Sendak’s ship at one point?” Coran asked, sounding surprised. 

     “Yeah,” Katie muttered. “He and Matt were part of Shiro’s crew when…”

     “Ah. Yes, I understand.”

     “It’s a good idea,” Keith approved, “although you may not have enough time to put it together.”

     “I know, that’s why I wanted my laptop. I figured maybe I could repurpose the program I was putting together for when I had a chance to hack the Garrison again.”

     “Of course you were,” Keith snorted while Hunk squawked, “Dude, don’t you know how illegal that is?!” 

     “Almost finished, Coran?” he asked over Katie’s exasperated response, trying not to twist his torso as he turned his head to look over his shoulder.

     “Almost… Got it! It’s a bit of a rush job, but it should last for this battle. Later on we can give it a more permanent home on your belt, if you wish.”

     “Sounds like a plan,” he nodded, carefully sheathing his blade at his back. It was definitely resting a bit higher than he was used to, but it would do for now. “Come on, let’s join the others.”

     Lance hadn’t reached the bridge by the time they walked into the room, but Allura had brought up a hologram of the Galra battleship, overlaid with a schematic of different pathways and rooms. There were a handful of red markings here and there, likely indicating changes based on Shiro’s more recent knowledge. “Almost done?” Keith asked, eyes flicking over the image.

     “Just finished,” Shiro nodded. 

     “To Shiro’s knowledge, our schematics are not terribly different from the current battleship design, aside from a few slight adjustments to sizing and cosmetics,” the princess agreed. 

     “Good. Can we identify any likely locations for the Red Lion?”

     “Cargo bays are located towards the rear of the ship,” Shiro replied, pointing to a region on the schematic with several large, empty spaces. “I couldn’t tell you which one the Lion’s in, though.”

     “That shouldn’t be a problem,” Pidge shrugged.

     “Yeah Shiro, once you’re on the ship, you’ll be able to sense the Lion and, you know, like, feel it out, or however that works,” Hunk agreed. “You know, like Keith and Lance did in the desert.”

     “What’d I do in the desert?”

     “Lance. Good timing,” Keith turned to the younger teen as he stepped into the room as well, two bags slung over his shoulders. “Pidge, see what you can put together. Hunk, see if you can help Shiro and the princess identify any structural weaknesses in the battleship while I start prepping Plan B.”

     “Plan B? What do you mean?” Allura frowned as Keith took his satchel and tossed his sister her backpack.

     “If we can’t overload that ion cannon to blow up the ship, I was thinking we could use these instead,” he explained, setting down his bag and pulling out a small, cylindrical item with dark gray casing and a simple dial.

     “Is that a bomb?!” Hunk choked.

     “Yup,” Keith smirked.

     “Why do you have a bomb?!”

     “Bombs, technically,” Pidge snickered, already opening her laptop. “We made about a dozen.”

     “But why do you have bombs!?”

     “It was our contingency plan,” Keith explained, removing the first aid kit and pile of granola bars from his bag, then checking the detonator tucked in the side pocket. “We told you: we didn’t really know what to expect before Shiro crashed to Earth. We decided we’d better be prepared for the worst-case scenario.”

     “And your mother was okay with that?” Shiro frowned. Then he sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Who am I kidding; she probably helped you make them.”

     “She gave us some pointers.”

     “And you brought the bombs into space with us because why?” Lance asked now, also looking a little spooked.

     “We were in a rush.”

     “I’m starting to think that Earthlings may be even scarier than the Galra,” Coran muttered. He sounded serious, but Keith snorted anyway.

     “So what’s the plan, Keith?” Shiro asked, pulling the conversation back on track.

     “The Galra are here for the Lions, but as far as they know, we only have two: Blue and Yellow,” Keith replied, letting himself fall into ‘officer mode’; this wasn’t the first time he’d attended a mission briefing, although admittedly he’d never been a part of a mission that was quite so high-stakes. “So, Lance, Hunk, you two are going to have to serve as the decoys. Keep Sendak’s attention by pretending to give yourselves up, but do not let him actually get you onto his ship.”

     Hunk groaned, but Lance nodded. “What about the rest of you?”

     “Coran and the princess will need to work on the Castle defenses; do everything you can to get that particle barrier up,” Keith continued, shifting towards the hologram of the Galra ship. “Meanwhile, Shiro, Pidge, and I will sneak aboard Sendak’s cruiser using the Green Lion. Once inside, we’ll have multiple mission objectives, so we’re going to have to split up. Shiro, your goal will be to find the Red Lion and get out.” Shiro nodded, a little pale, but determined all the same. “I’ll focus on setting the bombs, and while I’m at it, I’ll see about putting Pidge’s program to work.”

     “Then what about me?” his sister asked, glancing up from her laptop.

     “Shiro mentioned earlier that he and the others were held briefly on Sendak’s ship for questioning. That means there’s a chance that other prisoners are being held on the ship now. Get them out and get them to an escape pod.”

     “Got it,” she nodded grimly.

     “There’s one other thing we may need to consider before we head out,” Shiro said quietly.

     “What’s that?”

     “All Galra technology is locked with bio-locks. Only Galra and sentries--their robots--can access it.”

     “So any time we encounter a locked room, we’re in trouble?”

     “And any time you try to access one of their computers,” Shiro nodded. “I don’t know how that applies to hacking, but it may cause trouble.”

     “Your gauntlets should still be capable of interfacing with Galra tech for hacking purposes,” Coran mused, “but it wasn’t programmed with the ability to mimic a bio-signature.”

     “I might be able to figure out a workaround later, but we’ll just have to improvise for now,” Pidge frowned. “Think you can manage it, Keith?”

     “Give me some credit, Katie; I can hack a firewall or two,” Keith rolled his eyes.

     “Wait, you can?” Lance blinked.

     “You can’t grow up with her and Matt and not learn at least the basics of hacking, Lance.”

     “…Okay, that’s fair.”

     “Wait, hold on, time out,” Hunk called, waving his hands in a ‘T’ gesture. “If all of the Galra ships are locked by a biometric algorithm that only lets other Galra interact with their tech, then how did Shiro manage to fly that escape pod?”

     “Oh,” Shiro blinked, clenching his prosthetic, “I think it’s because my right arm is Galra-made; my left hand can’t interact with their tech at all. That’s part of why my landing on Earth was so rough.”

     “Well that’s stupid,” Pidge frowned. “If they’d built a feature like that into your prosthetic, wouldn’t that have just let you bypass all of the locks in the prison?”

     But Shiro shook his head. “My arm was tagged in their system as tech belonging to a prisoner. If I tried, it would send out an alert of an escape attempt.”

     “Okay, that’s all well and good,” Hunk interrupted before Pidge could really get on a roll, his expression furrowed in thought, “but then, how did Keith fly that Galra shuttle?”

     Blank stares were exchanged around the room. Then, almost as one, every eye swung towards Keith. “You were able to fly a Galra ship?” Princess Allura demanded, her voice dangerously low.

     “Uh, yeah,” Keith nodded hesitantly, a distant sort of dread beginning to curl in the pit of his stomach, like he was watching a movie and the soundtrack was hinting that something terrible was about to happen.

     “But, from what Shiro said, that shouldn’t be possible unless…” Hunk trailed off, paling as he seemed to come to the same conclusion that was flickering through everyone else’s eyes. The conclusion that Keith himself was reaching.

     But- 

     But that was impossible, wasn’t it? Wouldn’t he have known if he was-?

     Unbidden, Sanda’s conversation with his parents all those years ago returned to his mind. All of the weird things surrounding him, the mystery shrouding his birthmother, the disturbing details that had almost destroyed his chance of having a real family. Could… Could it be true? Could he really be-

     “M-Maybe there was some sort of override programmed in?” Hunk offered hesitantly, dragging Keith out of his thoughts. “You know, since it was an escape pod? Just in case the people on board were hurt- Which, I mean, Shiro actually was hurt, so that would make sense-”

     “But when I tried to touch the controls, nothing happened,” Lance frowned. “And when Pidge tried to open the bay doors it didn’t work either, but it responded to Keith right away. Uh-! Not that that means anything; I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation-!”

     “Is this why you can purr?!” Katie demanded.

     Keith choked.

     “I don’t purr!!” he squawked shouted.

     “Wait, you can purr?” Lance gawked at him.

     “I don’t! I just hum in my sleep sometimes; it’s not that weird!”

     “Oh you totally purr,” his little sister’s gremlin-smile broadened. “Remember when BaeBae-”

     “Okay that’s enough; thank you, Katie!” Keith cut her off, floundering to cover her mouth and resisting the instinct to hide his own face as his cheeks darkened.

     “Wait wait wait. Keith can purr?!” Hunk gaped, bewildered. “How does that work; like, do you have extra muscles in your throat or-?”

     “Who cares how it works?! Pidge, please tell me you have a video!” Lance interrupted with far more enthusiasm than Keith was comfortable with.

     “Just who do you think you’re talking to, Lance?” she grinned wickedly.

     “Katie don’t you dare-”

     “Enough!”

     Keith started at the sharp command, turning towards Princess Allura. He expected confusion. He expected suspicion. He wouldn’t even have been surprised by anger. 

     He didn’t expect such raw, unbridled hatred.

     “How dare you try to deceive us,” the Altean princess spat. “You Galra monster.”

Chapter Text

     Keith felt like he’d been suckerpunched. Like he was nine years old again, huddled on the staircase with Matt and Katie while Admiral Sanda told Mom and Dad all of the reasons why he was dangerous. Why he couldn’t be trusted. Why they should abandon him. For that instant, he was just as helpless as he’d been back then, the walls closing around him as he struggled to breathe, numb and cold and shaking and dizzy and scared and lost and-

     -and angry.

     Keith opened his mouth to protest-

     “What did you call him?”

     -and froze, an instinctive dread dropping into the pit of his stomach, because when on Earth had Katie mastered Mom’s danger voice?

     Princess Allura must not have gotten the memo, because she ignored Keith’s sister entirely. Instead, she stepped off the dais with narrowed eyes still fixated on him, fury screaming in every coiled muscle and stiff stride. Keith instinctively shifted into a defensive stance, his hand hovering over the hilt of his dagger while a low growl rumbled through his mind.

     “Princess-” Coran called, only for the woman to cut him off.

     “I asked you a question, Galra,” she snarled, still advancing. “How dare you try to gain my trust. How dare you claim to have bonded with the Black Lion! How dare you-!”

     “Stay away from him!!”

     The Altean woman staggered, surprise flashing through her eyes as Pidge practically rammed into her, shoving her back with her full strength and body weight. “What the quiznack are you doing!?”

     “Touch him and princess or not, I will pound you into the ground!” Pidge growled, her bayard appearing in her hand, raised and ready.

     “Okay, whoa now, hold on, maybe we should all, like, take a breath?” Hunk called, hands raised placatingly as he stepped forward, gaze darting between the two girls. “Look, Allura--er, Princess Allura--I know you don’t exactly have, um, a great view of the Galra and all, but we don’t actually know that Keith is Galra. I-I mean, this is all pure speculation at this point; there could still be any number of reasons why Keith can access their tech. Besides, Keith doesn’t look anything like them, a-and he was born and raised on Earth; I mean really, what are the odds that he’s actually Galran?”

     “Yeah, seriously, eat a Snickers, lady,” Lance snarked, but his ocean eyes were hard and he subtly shifted so that he was slightly in front of Keith. “Besides, you were the one who said the Lions choose their pilots and that Black chose Keith, so-”

     “That doesn’t prove anything!” Allura snarled viciously. “It wouldn’t be the first time-!”

     Keith hissed in pain as a sudden explosion of fury-partner-protector-mine-protective-mine-fight-defend-cub-mine! ripped through his veins, powerful enough to leave his heart pounding and his ears ringing. (Although the latter might have been due to the roar that he could hear echoing through the bridge.)

     It wasn’t just in his head, judging by the way several of the others jumped, Katie swore, and the color drained from the princess’s face. The silence that fell while everyone recovered rang almost as loudly as the Lion’s fury.

     “…I don’t think Black agrees with you, Princess,” Lance finally broke the silence in a tone that would have been dry if his voice weren’t shaking so much. 

     “I-I,” Allura managed weakly before shaking herself. “No, the Galra cannot be trusted-”

     “Well how do we know Alteans can be trusted?!” Pidge fired back. 

     “Now, that is no way to speak to the princess!” Coran scolded her, frowning.

     “The princess of what?” she scoffed. “She’s no princess of ours; I’d trust Keith over her any day!”

     “You don’t know how quickly they turn!” Allura spat, her temper clearly flaring once more. “For all you know, whatever friendship you shared was a ploy! He is probably the reason Sendak found us and he only helped gather the Lions to turn them over to Zarkon!”

     “Katie-” Keith tried to cut in, sensing a need to de-escalate.

     “You don’t even know him; stop talking like he’s one of them!” his sister shouted, bulldozing over him.

     “They betrayed us! They destroyed Altea and murdered the Paladins! They took my family away; how can you claim that he’s any different!?”

     “Because he’s my brother!!”

     Allura stumbled back like she’d been slapped, her blue-pink eyes wide. “He’s your- What?!”

     “Keith is my brother,” Katie repeated, her voice low and choked with fury, her clenched hands shaking.

     The shock on the princess’s face quickly morphed back to anger. “Then you are also-?”

     “She’s not,” Keith interrupted, and those sharp, multi-colored eyes snapped back to him. Good. If she had to direct her hatred at anyone, he wanted it squarely on him. “Pidge and I aren’t related by blood,” he said quietly. “Her family took me in when I was nine years old. Before that, I was raised by my father. I have no memory of my mother. If I’m Galra, I had no knowledge of it.”

     “You expect me to believe that?” Allura hissed, taking another menacing step forward.

     “I told you to stay away from him!” Pidge snapped, shoving back with one hand and raising her bayard in the other. The Altean woman’s nostrils flared, her eyes burning, her own hand rising. Keith felt himself lurch forward, blood rushing in his ears, every protective instinct roaring at him-

     A blur of red and white cut across Keith’s path. There was a startled grunt as Pidge was shoved into his arms, a crack! of armor on armor and a yelp of surprise and pain. And all at once Shiro stood defensively in front of them, his breaths heavy, his left hand clenched, his right held flat like a blade, while the princess was sprawled out on the floor of the bridge.

     “Allura!” Coran cried, rushing to her side. 

     Keith didn’t bother to pay attention to the princess’s response beyond distantly noting her breathless assurances, turning his attention to his sister instead. “Katie? You okay?” he murmured, holding her steady.

     “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied as she regained her balance, amber eyes a little dazed behind the visor of her helmet, angry tears still visible at the corners.

     “Quiznack, Shiro, what were you thinking?!” Coran demanded as he helped Allura to her feet. “You could have seriously injured the Princess!”

     “Or she could have seriously injured Pidge, all in a fit of temper!” Shiro snapped back, glaring at them. The Alteans at least had the presence of mind to wince, eyes dropping to the floor in shame. “I’ve been held captive by the Galra for the past year,” Shiro continued, his voice lowering. “I know how cruel they can be. But Galra are not inherently evil, any more than any other race is inherently good. A lot of them are misguided, sure, but anyone would be after being ruled by a tyrant for ten thousand years. Even then, some of them did their best to help us slaves anyway. One even helped me escape. And whether Keith is Galra or not, I trust him with my life.”

     “We all do,” Hunk nodded, stepping up to Keith’s side.

     “Yeah,” Lance agreed, joining him. “If there’s one thing you got right today lady, it’s that we’d all follow Keith without hesitation.”

     Anger-pride-partner-protector-trust-cub-mine.

     “You-! This-!”

     “Allura,” Coran interrupted her quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder, his expression solemn, and a little sad. “I know that Zarkon’s betrayal impacted you deeply, but I’m afraid we don’t have time for this. We only have fourteen doboshes remaining of our allotted varga. For now, we have little choice but to trust the Paladins’ and the Lions’ judgment.”

     For a moment, Keith thought that Allura was going to protest. But then she closed her eyes, nostrils flaring again as she breathed in. When she finally reopened her eyes, her expression was one of stony calm. “Fine,” she growled. “But know this, Galra: if this proves to be a trap, I will hunt you down and kill you myself.”

.oOo.

     “We’re almost in position. Getting ready to hail Sendak’s ship now,” Lance told them through the video communications link built into the Green Lion.

     “Copy that,” Pidge acknowledged.

     “Be careful,” Shiro added.

     “You worry too much,” Lance grinned cockily back, but there was an undercurrent of stress in his eyes that he couldn’t quite hide. “Cutting transmission. See you on the other side.” The link dropped and his friend’s image disappeared, leaving the cockpit almost eerily silent as they darted closer to the Galra battleship.

     “Keith,” Katie began suddenly, “are you okay?”

     “Fine.”

     “Really?” she pressed, twisting in the pilot’s seat to look at him. “What happened earlier was… a lot.”

     “…I’ll be fine long enough to get through the mission,” Keith sighed wearily, decidedly not thinking about ‘what happened earlier’. “Now pay attention. We’ll reach the docking site in less than a minute.”

     “She’s not the only one who’s worried, you know,” Shiro said quietly. 

     “I know. But Coran was right: now isn’t the time for this.”

     Shiro nodded, but his eyebrows were still furrowed in concern. After a moment, he hesitantly extended a hand, resting it lightly on Keith’s shoulder. “I meant what I said earlier, you know. I trust you, no matter what’s in your blood or what the- the Empire did to me.”

     “I know,” the younger pilot murmured, but a little tension slid from his shoulders regardless, and he found himself smiling faintly. “Thank you.”

     Prepare-arrival.

     “We’re coming in,” Pidge announced, echoing the Green Lion’s distant warning. Keith firmly gripped the back of the pilot’s seat as his sister began shifting the controls. It was honestly impressive how smoothly she managed to land the craft given her lack of experience. Although, Lance had mentioned that the Blue Lion was largely flying itself back on Earth, so maybe she had some help. 

     “Go time,” Keith muttered, sealing his helmet and hefting his bag over his shoulder.

     The hallways of the battleship were fairly spacious for a spacefaring vessel--Keith couldn’t touch the ceiling without leaping from some of the ribbing--but it still felt strangely enclosed, almost claustrophobic. That was probably in large part due to how dark it was, much as it had been in the escape pod back on Earth. The hallways were lit with only a dull, almost sickly purple glow and the main structure was crafted from an unreflective, dark gray material. Keith could still see pretty well, though; actually, it was much gentler on his eyes than the Altean castle’s bright whites and teals had been. Although, that would make perfect sense if he really was-

     Don’t think about that right now. 

     Sound didn’t exactly transmit through the vacuum of space, but Keith could feel the faint, shuddering vibration as something impacted the ship. That meant Lance and Hunk had engaged the fighters and the Galra should be well and truly distracted. It was time for them to make their move.

     “Everybody have their maps?”

     “For the tenth time, yes, Keith,” his sister rolled her eyes. 

     “Sorry,” he winced. “Shiro, you ready?”

     “What?” his mentor startled. “Oh. Yeah, I’m- I’m good to go.”

     Keith frowned, exchanging a worried glance with Pidge; this place couldn’t be bringing back good memories for Shiro. “’You gonna be okay?” 

     Shiro hesitated for just a moment, but when he met Keith’s eyes, his gaze was steady. “Yeah. I can do this.”

     “…Okay,” the black-armored teen nodded reluctantly. “Be aware of your comms guys. Shiro, if you find yourself slipping, don’t hesitate to reach out.”

     “Alright. Stay safe.”

     “You too.”

     A moment later, they scattered, Shiro heading towards the cargo bays, Pidge towards the holding cells, and Keith towards the particle barrier generator. 

     With all the fallout of ‘what happened earlier’--Don’t think about it--they hadn’t had enough time to identify structural weak points with the potential to take down the entire battleship as Keith had originally hoped, but Coran did suggest a few key targets. The particle barrier generator was the first of those; if Keith could destroy it, then the ship would lose its forcefield. The second was the information center, where he would put Katie’s program to work. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to do much more than translate her original catch-all program, so Keith would have to actually hack his way into the computer to insert it. Although if the only defense was the bio-lock mechanism-

     Stop thinking about it.

     Keith was only a couple of hallways from his first target when he heard the heavy, rhythmic clanking of metallic boots. 

     Sentries.

     His first inclination was to ambush them, strike hard and fast and then stow away the robots’ remains before the alarm could be raised. But he couldn’t take that risk. It was entirely possible that the ship would be immediately alerted if a patrol was taken out of play, in which case it wouldn’t just be Keith placed in danger, but Pidge and Shiro as well. Better to hide and wait for the sentries to pass him by, then continue on.

     Come to think of it, fighting had always been his first instinct, even as a child. More than one of his teachers had told Pop or Mom and Dad about his “discipline issues”, and how he “tended to resort to violence”. One teacher had tried to get Pop to test him for a behavioral disorder. She thought he was abnormal. Dangerous to the other students.

     Maybe she had been right. Maybe he was a-

     Stop. Thinking. About it.

     Another brisk clank dragged Keith forcefully back to the present. He bit back a curse, ducking between two of the ribs providing structural support just in time. The sentries marched past, their gait steady and unwavering. Keith resisted the urge to sigh in relief.

     This had to stop. He was too distracted; at this rate, he really would get Pidge and Shiro killed. Head in the game, Kogane. Listen for the sentries to round the next corner and do not wonder why your hearing has always been so good.

     Warmth-courage-assurance-mine.

     Keith’s heart stuttered. Then he swallowed, took a deep breath, and pushed himself off the wall. Thankfully, he didn’t run into any more trouble on his way to the generator room. When the display on his visor indicated that he had finally reached the right place, he discovered a surprisingly small doorway with a purple panel that had a familiar, almost teardrop-shaped handprint on it.

     Great. Here was one of those locked doors Shiro had mentioned. 

     Keith glowered at the panel. He could try to hack his way through, or find a sentry and cut off its arm, or even just stab it with his dagger, but could he really afford to take that risk? Maybe more importantly, could he afford to take the time? The longer he hesitated, the more dangerous this entire situation would become, not only for him, but for his family, too. He just had to reach out. If he really could just… just put his hand on a pad and bypass all security measures, wasn’t that to their advantage? But if he put his hand out and the door opened, it meant that everything that happened on Earth wasn’t just a fluke. That there really was something different about him. That he really was- 

     Clank-clank-clank-clank.

     Keith cursed. Should he fight? Run? Hide? What was best? What would protect the others?

     Clank-clank-clank-

     Fight?

     Clank-clank-

     Run?

     Clank-

     He slammed his hand on the pad.

     The light flashed a dusty green.

     And the door slid open.

     Keith darted inside, spinning around the corner and pressing against the wall, heart pounding, listening intently as the door hissed shut and the sentries clanked past. The teen let himself breathe a sigh of relief even as his stomach churned.

     Don’t think about it don’t think about it don’t think about it don’t think about it-

     Comfort-cub-mine-comfort-cub-mine-comfort-cub-mine…

     …Thank you.

     Black maintained a constant, thrumming purr in the back of Keith’s mind while he took in the room, letting himself (almost) fully relax when he didn’t see any guards. What he did see was a massive room, almost large enough for the Castle itself to fit inside, with at least a dozen huge purple lightning bolts crackling from floor to ceiling on either side. There was some sort of generator in the center of the room, between the two rows of space-lightning. The connection points alone were taller than Keith was, and he couldn’t see any obvious signs of a main console controlling it all. Well, no point in wasting time looking for one. Keith advanced quickly but carefully along the path, amethyst eyes sharp and searching for danger until he reached the closest connection point for that purple lightning, then pulled his knife from its sheath.

     “Pidge, any updates?” Keith muttered, looking for a panel or something else that he could remove. 

     “I’m almost to the prison cells,” his sister reported. “Managed to commandeer a drone on the way. He’s cute! ’Think I’m gonna call him Rover.”

     “You would,” Keith smirked. No sign of a panel, so he reversed his grip on his blade, ready to thrust it directly into the dark gray, not-quite metal. Hopefully Coran was right about his knife being made from one of the strongest materials in the universe. “Shiro, what’s your status?” 

     “Still searching,” Shiro replied, a little breathlessly. “I think I’m close, but… I-I don’t know, I-”

     “Easy, Shiro,” Keith soothed. It seemed Coran was right, after all. His blade sliced into the conduit with only minimal resistance, like a sharp knife through cold butter. “Take a deep breath. Patience yields focus, remember?” 

     Shiro managed a short, weak chuckle. “That really stayed with you, huh?”

     “It was the only thing that kept me from punching Sanda some days,” Keith admitted, punching in the small square he’d cut into the device to reveal a mass of wires and that ever-present, purple glow.

     “’Guess I oughta take my own advice then.” Shiro took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. When he spoke again, his voice was much steadier. “I’ll let you know when I find the Red Lion.”

     “It’s a plan,” Keith agreed, withdrawing a small, cylindrical explosive from his bag. “Stay in touch, everyone.” He quickly turned the dial to ‘armed’ and dropped it through the hole he’d made into a nest of wiring.

     On to the next target.

     Keith didn’t have enough explosives to place inside every power conduit, so he chose five on one side of the generator, then used the jetpack on his armor to launch to the other side and place five more explosives there, keeping a few in reserve just in case. He did his best to focus on Black’s steady stream of comfort-cub-mine as he went about his work, using it as a shield to keep the intrusive thoughts at bay, but he did catch himself wondering about his knife, wondering what planet it had supposedly come from, wondering if that’s why Coran hadn’t seemed surprised, if he had already known that Keith was a-

     …comfort-cub-mine-comfort-cub-mine… 

     Right.

     Not thinking about it.

     Once he’d finished setting the charges in the particle barrier generator, Keith pulled up his map and started heading for the information center, dodging patrols as he went. As he drew close to the information center, slowed his approach. The particle barrier generator may have been unguarded, but this room contained all of the ship’s most sensitive data and controlled its primary communications; there was no way that the station was unmanned. As he peeked around the corner, he saw that the doorway was open, without a bio-lock pad to seal it--comfort-cub-mine--but he could faintly make out the light click of fingers against a console. There was definitely someone inside. 

     Keith hid as another patrol clanked around the next bend, waiting impatiently for them to march past. Once he deemed them far enough away, he darted to the doorway of the control room, peering carefully inside. Two sentries stood at the console, metallic fingers tapping away as they worked on something-or-other; he couldn’t understand Galran text any more than he could understand Altean. 

     Keith pulled back, closing his eyes.

     He gripped his dagger.

     Deep breath in.

     And go.

     The robots didn’t even have time to realize he was there. By the time one fell, sparking, and the other was turning towards him, Keith’s knife was already piercing its head. They made a fair bit more noise than he would have liked as they crashed to the ground, but he didn’t have time to worry about that; the countdown until their discovery had now officially begun. Moving quickly, he reached into the satchel at his side and removed a small, blue-and-white device. 

     Katie may only have had time to translate her program, but Hunk, with a little help from Coran, managed to throw together something else: a transmitter, designed so that it would relay all downloaded information directly to the Castle. Allura had balked at the idea of giving Keith of all people direct access to the Castle’s systems--comfort-cub-mine-comfort-cub-mine--but they’d convinced her of the utility eventually, not the least of which being the fact that Keith wouldn’t have to stand around waiting while the download was in progress. Now, he just had to hack into the computer itself. (Allura had, however, insisted that the download be transmitted to a server separated from all other computer systems.)

      …comfort-cub-mine-comfort-cub-mine-comfort-cub-mine… 

     Keith swallowed, carefully placing his hand on the console. The teardrop-handprint glinted red and a new box popped up on the screen. Using the display in his visor to navigate the system, Keith set about generating an access code. He would never be as fast at it as Katie or Matt, but he still managed to hack into the system in a couple of minutes, after which he fit Hunk’s device into a port. A bright blue box appeared on screen, decorated with a goofy graphic of Pidge with short hair and spiral-eyed glasses. More text began to flicker through the box, almost too quickly for Keith to follow.

     “Coran,” he muttered into the comms, “download in progress. Are you receiving?” 

     “Copy that, Keith,” the Altean man replied. “Yes, I’m seeing the download to the Castle’s computer. You should be clear to proceed to rendezvous. I’ll continue to monitor from here.”

     “Copy. Shiro, have you-?” 

     A roar answered Keith’s unfinished question, closely followed by an explosion that shook the entire battleship.  

     “Red and I are joining the fight,” Shiro announced, rather unnecessarily. 

     “Oh thank goodness; a little help Shiro, please!?!” Hunk screeched in Keith’s ear.

     “On my way, buddy.”

     “Charges are set; I’m heading back to the Green Lion,” Keith informed them, pulling the detonator from its pocket. “Pidge, have all the prisoners been evacuated?”

     “…”

     “…Pidge?” Keith repeated, slowing to a stop even as he stamped down on his instinct to immediately jump to the worst-case scenario.

     “…”

     “Guys, can anyone hear Pidge? Or does anyone have eyes on the Green Lion?” Keith called.

     “What? No, I don’t- Gah! Guys-!?”  

     “I’ve got you covered, Hunk! Sorry Keith, but that’s a ditto for me.”

     “Lance, on your five! No, I can’t see her,” Shiro confirmed. “Pidge?”

     “…”

     “Pidge, are you there?” Keith called again, panic beginning to rise in his throat, his heart thudding in his chest. “Katie? Katie, please, answer me!”

     “…”

     “Guys, Pidge is MIA! Coran, Allura, is there any way to track her whereabouts on the ship?”

     “Unfortunately, no,” Coran replied, anxious. “I’m afraid our systems are still too damaged.”

     Keith swore, running in the general direction of her last known location. “Keep Sendak’s fleet busy as long as you can; I’m going to look for her!”

     “Be careful, Keith!”

     What do I do? Where could she be? Should I head towards the prison cells? The escape pods? Is there any chance she’s already waiting for me at the Green-

     Keith skid to a stop, his chest heaving, his eyes wide. The Green Lion! 

      He closed his eyes, forcing himself to breathe as he reached for that tenuous connection, the sensation of pressure he’d felt back on that jungle planet, the rush of joy and curiosity when Pidge and the Lion first took flight together. The faintest hum answered him, an anxious sort of brush at the very edge of his consciousness.

     Please, he begged. Please, I have to find her. I can’t lose her; please-!

     A tug, much like the pull that had first led him to Blue. 

     Keith bolted, trading subtlety for speed as he dashed down hallways and around corners at a breakneck pace. He was surprised by how few sentries he ran into, and tried not to wonder what that might mean. He continued his headlong rush until the invisible string that had been pulling him along suddenly went slack. He stumbled, struggling to regain his balance and gasping for breath, trying to orient himself. He couldn’t see Katie, but Green wouldn’t have steered him wrong, so-

     Voices. 

     Keith’s head snapped around, his hand flying to the hilt of his dagger, but a stern growl of caution-urgency-protect echoing from Green kept him from drawing it immediately.

     Right. Don’t rush in. You could make it worse if you sprint straight into a trap.

     He forced himself to breath, willing his heartrate to settle as he crept cautiously closer. There was another open doorway around the corner, only temporarily judging by the purple access pad, but that was definitely where the voices were coming from. He continued forward, back to the wall so that he could peer carefully around the doorframe.

     Keith had always heard that the world was supposed to go red when you were angry. For him, the world seemed to tint yellow.

     Katie-!

Chapter Text

     Red.

     There was red there shouldn’t be red that was Pidge that was Katie that was his little sister how dare they-!!

     Urgency-caution-cub-mine-calm-family-protect-together-calm-calm-calm-

     Keith wrenched himself back around the corner, his every breath tight and heavy, his unsheathed dagger clutched in a trembling fist, Black’s anxious growls pulsing in the back of his mind. 

     She was alive. 

     Pidge was alive, even if her helmet was gone, even if her hands were bound behind her back, even if she had red sliding down the side of her face, even if she was obviously favoring one leg, even if she had been forced onto her knees with two sentries on either side of her and a slender Galra shoving her head down, even if Sendak stood with a massive, robotic arm flexed threateningly over her and rage burning in his single, yellow eye, even if fear danced behind Katie’s determined glower, she was alive and that meant he could still save her, but he could only do that if he kept calm.

     Keith forced himself to breathe, willing the fury boiling through his veins to subside as he reached into his satchel.

     “I’ll ask you one more time,” a low growl sounded on the other side of the door, “how many more of you snuck aboard?” It wasn’t Sendak’s voice, so it had to be the other Galra, the one holding his sister captive.

     “I already told you,” Katie replied coldly, only the slightest waver in her voice betraying her terror, “Shiro and I were the only- Agh!”

     Keith’s stomach clenched at the sharp smack! and his sister’s subsequent cry of pain, every muscle instinctively bracing to attack. Cub-mine-calm-family-protect. 

     Almost ready, just hold on, Katie-!

     “We know there is at least one more of you on board. Several sentries quite some distance from both the cargo hold and the containment cells have ceased sending regular reports. Now, what is their target?”

     “E-Even if there… was someone else, do you really… think I’d tell you?” Pidge panted, sounding dizzy. “Hrk!” 

     Cub-mine-calm-calm-

     Just a few more seconds, please, hold on-!

     “You’re a spirited one, aren’t you,” Sendak’s voice spoke next, dark and cold. “The last Earthlings were defiant, too, but anyone can be broken. I hope you’ll make this as entertaining for me as the Champion did.”

     Keith’s breath stuttered.

     Champion.

     Winner.

     Gladiator.

     Shiro.

     Earthling.

     Defiant.

     Entertaining.

     Broken.

     He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t connected the dots before.

     Shiro knew Sendak. Shiro was terrified of Sendak. Shiro said they were brought to Sendak’s ship for interrogation. Shiro said that Sendak never made a threat he wasn’t willing to carry out. 

     Sendak had tortured Keith’s family.

     And he was about to do it again.

     All at once, it didn’t matter if he was human, Galra, or something in between.

     He was Keith Holt Kogane, and no-one hurt his family.

     Keith’s hand burned as he spun out into the open and flung his knife towards the slender Galra lifting Katie into the air. As though in slow motion, he saw the man begin to turn, yellow eyes widening in shock even as he released his hold on Katie’s neck and reached towards his belt. She crumpled to the floor, her leg giving out beneath her and her bound hands unable to break her fall. Keith threw himself forward, jetpack firing to lend him some extra speed, desperate to protect his sister. Already, the unnamed Galran had begun to withdraw an energy sword from its sheath, ready to knock his dagger harmlessly away and Sendak was stepping forward and Katie was lying helpless on the floor-

     A flare of silver-lilac. 

     A spray of red-violet.

     A garbled scream.

     Keith seized the hilt protruding from the Galra soldier’s chest and spun, ignoring the choked gasp as he used his resulting momentum to slam his heel into the head of one of the sentries then twist around to counter Sendak’s robotic arm with his knife.

     Only, it wasn’t a knife anymore.

     It was a sword.

     He had no time to question it as the sheer power behind the Commander’s blow knocked him off his feet, sending him crashing to the ground with enough force to knock the air from his lungs and break his grip on his weapon. He distantly heard Katie scream his name through the ringing in his ears, already rolling away on pure instinct and swinging his legs back underneath him to rise to a crouch. He felt as much as heard the tremor as Sendak’s robotic arm slammed into the ground where Keith had been a moment earlier, then the Galra himself followed, using some sort of energy tether connected to his shoulder port to increase his momentum. No time to retreat, so instead Keith surged forward, grabbed Sendak’s wrist with one hand, slammed the open palm of his other into his stomach, and let the Galra’s own weight and momentum do the rest. The Commander shouted in surprise as he was thrown over Keith’s shoulder, then went crashing into the far wall. 

     It was one of Shiro’s original moves, developed to counter Keith’s tendency to dive at him from a height advantage. It was kind of nice not to be on the receiving end of it for once.

     Katie.

     There’s still a sentry by her.

     I have to go, I have to protect her-!

     “Keith, look out!!”

     Keith grunted as the claw of Sendak’s robotic arm caught his side and he felt the groan in his armor as it was gouged and he was knocked off his feet once again. At least this time he was able to transform his momentum into a more controlled somersault instead of just being sent sprawling.

     Something green flew past him. There was a burst of electricity, an enraged roar, and then a startled cry and a flash of green and white. 

     “Pidge!!” Keith yelled as the Galra yanked the cord of his sister’s bayard with such strength that she was thrown into the main console. His heart leaped into his throat when heard a sickening thud! as her head cracked against a corner and she slumped to the floor, unmoving. 

     “No!”

     Keith honestly wasn’t quite sure what happened next, but suddenly his sword was back in his hand and biting into the palm of Sendak’s robotic arm and his entire body felt like it was burning as his heart pounded with rage and desperation and protect her protect her protect her-!

     “So, a halfbreed traitor believes that he can take Emperor Zarkon’s place?” Sendak sneered, his baleful gaze flicking over Keith’s armor. “You Earthlings are a weak, worthless species, wholly incapable of wielding a weapon of such power. I’m not sure who among our ranks sank so low as to breed with such inferior creatures, but I can assure you that once I’ve finished dealing with you, I will deal with them as well.”

     “If you really… believe we’re weak,” Keith grunted, carefully adjusting the angle of his blade, “then clearly… you don’t know humans… at all!”  

     The gemstone set just below the hilt of his sword flashed and Sendak roared as the material of his arm finally gave out and Keith slashed it lengthwise from palm to elbow, ignoring the way the vicious claws scraped his cheek and cut another groove into his armor because the energy tether was fizzling out and Keith had just managed to eliminate Sendak’s greatest weapon-

     The young paladin choked on pain and surprise as Sendak’s fist slammed into his side and he felt something pop beneath his damaged armor. It was difficult to turn the force of the blow into anything resembling a recovery roll, but somehow he was able to reach a crouch with his sword still in his grip. His sharp amethyst eyes darted around the room, taking in the hulking monster advancing towards him, down an arm but otherwise almost completely uninjured in spite of everything, taking in the open door, taking in Katie, still barely moving but at least her eyes were fluttering so she was alive-

     Katie was now between him and the open doorway. 

     Sendak was now several meters away in the opposite direction. 

     Protect her.

     Keith bolted, going from a crouch directly into a sprint, the blade in his hand shrinking back to the size of a knife as he moved to sheath it so that he could scoop his sister into his arms, firing his jetpack to maintain his initial burst of speed.

     “Coward!” Sendak howled behind him, his deliberate stride transforming into a thundering run, but with his jetpack Keith was faster, even with Pidge’s added weight. Still, he didn’t know how long his fuel would last, and with what was probably at least two broken ribs, he couldn’t maintain this breakneck pace if he was forced to run on his own. He had to stop Sendak here and now, but he couldn’t afford to face him head-on. 

     So then, it was time to take some drastic measures.

     As Keith cleared the entrance to the main bridge, he reached for the device that he’d tucked into the containment space on his belt for safekeeping. He only paused long enough to tuck his sister’s head against his chest and curl his body around hers before pressing the button on top.

     For a split second, the entire universe seemed to go still. 

     Then everything turned white. 

     -urgent-wake-cub-mine-!

     Keith coughed harshly as he came to, blinking rapidly as he struggled to make sense of purple, of orange, of heat, of burning burning burning-

     Katie. 

     Where is Katie-?!

     “H-Help m-me…”

     Keith’s head snapped around, sharp eyes immediately identifying the white and green in the sea of gray and flame. “Katie,” he gasped, shoving away from the wall and stumbling on his knees to her, flinching away from another, smaller explosion as he went. “Katie. Katie, hey, we have to go,” he called, shaking her shoulder. 

     She flinched harshly, her head snapping up before she groaned, hands reaching to clutch at her temples, eyes blinking rapidly as she struggled to focus on him. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but it looked like one of her pupils might be more dilated than the other. Most likely a concussion; that might explain why she was hiding by the bulkhead instead of trying to wake him up-

     “Wh-Who…are you?” Katie gasped, her golden eyes distant and hazy, like she wasn’t looking at him so much as she was looking through him.

     Keith froze, his stomach dropping, eyes darting back and forth as he rapidly took in more details: her trembling body, her shallow gasps, the way she rocked back and forth, the way her arms were wrapped protectively over her head, the way she was trying to make herself as small as physically possible-

     Burning.

     Fire.

     Oh.

     Oh no.

     A flashback. She hadn’t had one this bad in almost seven years-

     BOOM!!

     Keith swore, curling instinctively over his sister as the ship shook around them. They couldn’t stay here any longer; the explosions were getting closer and the gathering smoke was already making it hard to breathe. The only problem was that if he tried to pick up Katie and run now, she’d panic and try to fight back, because right now, she wasn’t his brave, hyper-competent fifteen-year old sister. 

     She was a hurt, terrified six-year old girl that didn’t even know his name.

     “Katie, I need you to listen to me,” he said quickly, pulling back enough to meet her hazy, barely-focused eyes. “My name is Keith. I’m here to help you, but I need you to trust me.”

     Another explosion. His little sister cried out in fear, gasping for breath as she struggled to curl into an even tighter ball. “’M scared,” she choked, tears spilling down her cheeks and leaving narrow trails in the soot staining her face.

     “I know,” Keith whispered, his heart clenched in his chest. “I know you’re scared, Katie. But you need to be brave, okay? I’m going to get you home, I promise, I just need you to stay strong for a little longer. Can you do that for me?”

     “O-Ok-” Katie flinched as another explosion sounded, even closer than before, another cry escaping her throat. 

     Cub-mine-urgent-danger-escape.

     They needed to leave now.

     “Katie, I’m going to pick you up,” Keith said, shifting closer so that he could slide one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders. “I need you to hold on and keep your eyes shut tight, okay?” Katie nodded against his chest, her arms reaching up to wrap around his neck, pressing as close as she physically could as he lifted her into his arms. 

     Keith ran, the mounting explosions pursuing them while his broken ribs screamed silently in protest. He ignored them; he could manage the pain long enough to get to the Green Lion, even if it was still getting harder to breathe. 

     He honestly wasn’t certain how far he’d managed to get before he was finally forced to pause at a crossroads, struggling to orient himself and panting for breath while he burned; while everything burned: the ship, the air, his legs, his chest-

     Cub-mine-urgency-concern.

     Where-? Where exactly was he? 

     Cub-mine-urgency-wake-

     Where was the Green Lion? 

     Cub-mine-urgency-plea-

     Where was everyone? 

     Cub-mine-plea-

     Were his comms broken or h-had he lost his helmet somewhere? 

     Cub-mine-

     Should he… search…? 

     Little one…!

     No, wait, they had to get out. 

     Little one-!  

     Before the ship was destroyed.

     Little one, please!

     Before Sendak came after them.

     Little one, awake!

     Before…

     Before-

     LITTLE ONE!!

     Keith jolted as his body was wracked by a series of coughs, violent enough to nearly make him drop Katie. 

     There was something slick and metallic on his tongue.

     “K-Keith?” his sister gasped, her arms tightening around his neck, her eyes still closed even as she tilted her head back to speak to him. “I-Is something-?”

     Bee-oop!

     They both flinched, Keith blinking rapidly as he tried to focus on the gray… something floating in front of him. It… It was some sort of robot: small, vaguely pyramidal in shape, made of that familiar, gray metal, and lined with a pale, green light. The little drone spun, floated away about a foot, then turned back towards him, beeping insistently.

     Green.

     Green Lion.

     Katie.

     ‘I’m gonna call him Rover.’

     Keith managed a shaky step forward, then another, and another, until it transformed into a shambling run. He followed the robot down the next hallway, then the next, staggering as more explosions rocked the ship, only pausing to heft Katie a little higher in his arms.

     He coughed again.

     That metallic something was still in his mouth. 

     Bweep boop! the little drone beeped again, leading the way through a tunnel he almost didn’t notice into a wash of gentle green instead of harsh red or sickly purple. Almost immediately, Keith was slammed with a wave of relief-mine-gratitude and all at once he was falling to his knees, suddenly aware of the throbbing throughout his body, the piercing agony in his left side-

     “K-Keith? Keith??”

     Coughing. 

     Why was he coughing; coughing hurt he didn’t want to cough anymore-

     “-still can’t see them-!”

     “Wait, I can!”

     Little one!

     “Keith, Pidge, can you hear us?!”

     “Matt? Matt! M-Matt, p-please-!” 

     He needed to stop; he was coughing so hard he couldn’t breathe-

     “Pidge!! Oh gracias a Dios; Keith went back to find you, but-”

     “M-Matt?”

     “What? No, Pidge, it’s-”

     “Someone, p-please, h-he needs help; I-I don’t know what to do-!”

     Little one, open your eyes!

     “Whoa, whoa Pidge, hey, it’s gonna be okay-”

     “He’s dying! H-He’s dying; please h-he needs help; someone p-please help him!!”

     -why couldn’t he breathe still; he’d stopped coughing finally and he couldn’t smell any more smoke-

     “Holy quiznack- Shiro!! Shiro what do we do!?”

     “Hunk, you’re closest, can you tow them back-?”

     “K-Keith. Keith please, just-! Just open your eyes-!”

     “I’ve got them; meet you back at the Castle!”

     “Copy!”

     Little one-!!

.oOo.

     Keith choked on nothing as his eyes snapped open, staring wildly around a strange, dark void. 

     No. 

     Not a void.

     It was dark, certainly, but not empty. In truth, it wasn’t especially dark, either, now that his eyes had adjusted. It was like… like he was surrounded by an endless night sky, scattered with occasional clouds and illuminated by billions of stars gleaming in various shades of white, yellow, red, green, blue, and purple.

     It was beautiful.

     “Where am I?” Keith wondered aloud, beginning to calm. “Is this a dream, or-?”

     “Little one.”

     It was a voice both unquestionably foreign and intimately familiar, filled with gentle pride and stern fondness. It came from everywhere and nowhere, and yet Keith still found himself turning unerringly towards the speaker, a small smile curling his lips. 

     “Black.”

     She was incredible, both strong and lithe, her body black and silver trimmed in teal and gold, with majestic red wings protruding from her back. She stood several stories high, towering over him even from a distance, and yet, when she stepped towards him, she stood at exactly his height, perfectly positioned so that she could lean forward and gently press her forehead against his. 

     “Foolish,” Black scolded quietly. 

     “I couldn’t leave Katie behind,” Keith protested, but he found himself leaning into her all the same, resting a hand on her cheek and taking comfort in the soft, lilac essence that she emanated. Actually, come to think of it, there was a matching glow around him, too. Was this what the princess had been talking about? When she said the Lions and their pilots mirrored each others’ quintessence?

     “Protector,” the Lion agreed, but drew back to fix him with a hard, golden-eyed stare. “Future battle, protect together. Team. Family.”

     “I don’t want them to get hurt,” Keith muttered, feeling rather like he was whining. 

     “Trust,” the Lion chided, head-butting him lightly. “Fight together, strong together.”

     “I know,” her pilot sighed, rubbing his face. “I know. You’re right.”

     “Always.”

     Keith could feel the smugness radiating off of Black as he shot her a half-hearted glare. She ignored it though, padding forward and lying down so that she was curled around him, a low, rumbling purr echoing from her chest. Keith rolled his eyes, but sat down, leaning comfortably against her side. A light breeze gently ruffled his dark hair, filled with warmth, sorrow, longing, and hope.

     “What is this place?” he asked quietly. 

     “Reflection. Heart, mind, thought.” 

     Keith hummed, processing her explanation. “So this is all… you? A… reflection of your consciousness?” Black rumbled softly in approval. “But then… what am I doing here?”

     The Lion shifted, twisting enough to tap her nose lightly against his left side. He felt a faint throb across his chest in response, like a half-forgotten memory. “Reckless,” she growled while clouds appeared to block out a swath of starlight. “Soul drift.”

     “Soul drift?” Keith repeated. “What’s that?”

     “Hurt,” she replied. “Lost. Drift. Find here.”

     The teen paled as he slowly made sense of Black’s explanation. “I- I’m not… dead… Am I?” 

     “No. Drift. Wake soon.”

     Keith sagged in relief, slumping back against the Lion’s side at the quiet reassurance, but his heart was still pounding, and he found his hand reaching automatically to clutch his left side. He swallowed, struggling to piece together his scattered memories. The fight with Sendak, the explosion, the difficulty breathing… It hadn’t just been his ribs that were injured in the middle of all that, had it. He’d done something to his lungs too. That metallic something he’d been coughing up… it was blood.  

     He didn’t die, but he did get dangerously close.

     “Reckless,” the Lion repeated as she settled back around him and resumed her low, steady purr, something even deeper than sorrow threading through her tone. 

     “Regretting choosing me already, huh?” Keith teased, mostly to try and settle his nerves.

     A man stood before her, clad in dark red armor, gazing up with wonder in his dark eyes. There was a spark. A connection. A bond.

     Her wings flared as they flew together, speed and power rushing through her as they fought, as they protected. 

     There was a woman. A woman he cared for. A woman sinking into darkness. And he sank with her. 

     Flames. Everything was in flames. Everything they had once protected destroyed, everything they had once cared for lost and torn apart by his own hands. Her family, her partner, her home, everything was gone and she was alone alone alone alone-

     Keith came out of the vision with a harsh gasp, flailing as he fell back against nothing, panic seizing hold of his chest as that awful sensation of loneliness spun around him like a maelstrom, nearly choking him. “Black?” he gasped, twisting desperately as he searched for her.

     There.

     Keith scrambled to his feet, chasing after the Lion as she walked away, her essence dulled in grief, wind twisting around her like a living creature. “Black! Black, stop! Stop,” he pleaded, catching her paw and stepping in front of her. She seemed too big again, too distant, too desperately trying to hide the pain, the regret. Still, she paused, even while her tail swished in agitation.

     “Black, what did I just see?” Keith asked quietly, gazing up at her.

     The renewed surge of grief and betrayal that flooded Keith’s lungs almost made him regret asking. The very atmosphere was saturated with it, like the weight of ozone before a cloudburst. He half-expected Black to retreat again, to push him out of this beautiful nightscape entirely so that she could hide her feelings from him as best she could. But after a moment, the Lion seemed to shrink, and she finally spoke once more.

     “Broke trust,” Black whispered, her head hanging low. “Dark stole. Became destroyer. No longer protector.” 

     “That man... Your Paladin... Who was he?”

     He stood before her, his armor black and white, skin a deep purple, a ridge at the top of his head, eyes a thoughtful indigo, his laughter deep and hearty until it turned dark and cruel, the joyful indigo drowned in a sea of putrid yellow.

     Sendak’s remaining eye had been the exact same color. Did that mean the previous Black Paladin had been Galran? Was that why Princess Allura had been so angry before?

     ‘You believe you can take Emperor Zarkon’s place?’

     Keith’s eyes widened. “Your Paladin… Was it Zarkon?” 

     “Black Paladin,” the Lion confirmed mournfully, her sorrow heavy in the air. 

     Keith felt dizzy.

     Zarkon had been a Paladin. Worse, he had been the leader of the Paladins. They had trusted him, and he betrayed them. His allies. His team. His family. 

     And all at once, Keith’s shock transformed into furious determination.

     He reached up, wrapping his arms around the Black Lion’s neck in the closest thing to a hug that he could manage. “I won’t end up like him,” Keith murmured, pressing his forehead against her jaw. “I swear it.”

     Slowly, Black relaxed, settling down and curling around him once more, her grateful purr vibrating in his very bones. “Thank you… My Paladin.”

Chapter Text

     “-few more ticks.”

     “And he’s okay? Really?”

     “As I’ve already assured you numerous times, Number Five, once he comes out of that pod, he’ll be as healthy as a newborn globinheffer!”

     “A… A globby- Coran, are you sure you aren’t just making these words up?”

     “The audacity, Number Two! I’ll have you know that the globinheffer is a proud symbol of-!”

     The muffled voices went abruptly silent as a low hiss filled Keith’s ears. His nose wrinkled at an odd scent, reminiscent of ozone, and he grimaced as he tried to swallow back a sort of dry, metallic taste on the back of his tongue. His eyelids fluttered weakly as a brush of fresh air flit across his cheeks, then snapped back shut against the glare of whites and blues assaulting him from all sides. Unfortunately, his instinctive flinch also rather rudely reminded him of the existence of gravity. 

     Someone yelped as Keith’s knees gave out, then warmth caught him around the middle and he heard a startled squawk before he collapsed to the floor. Keith found that he didn’t care much. It didn’t really hurt, not with the arms cushioning his fall, and there was a comfortingly familiar scent wrapped around him. 

     “Keith?!”

     “-just a case of the old Sleep Chamber Knees-”

     “Keith!?”

     “Pidge?” Keith mumbled sleepily, an old, protective instinct finally peeling his eyes back open as he registered his sister’s panicked tone. “Somethin’ wrong?”

      “Keith!!”

     Keith grunted as he was sent toppling backwards by the force of his sister’s lunge. He frowned, still shaking off his exhaustion as he struggled to process what was happening. “Pidge, wha’-?” 

     Her muffled sob cut him off.

     Suddenly much more awake, Keith pushed himself up on one arm, wrapping the other around his sister’s back and trying to adjust his position so that he could scan her for injuries. “Pidge, hey. Katie. Katie, what’s wrong?” he pleaded when he couldn’t find anything, brushing her hair back from where she’d hidden her face against his chest. She shook her head, rubbing tears and snot into his chest while she clung tighter to a white jumpsuit that he couldn’t remember putting on. Confused and more than a little worried, Keith looked to the other occupants in the room for answers, only to nearly get bowled over again by a wall of yellow.

     “Dude, Keith, man, do not scare us like that again!!” Hunk babbled, his tears dripping on Keith’s neck. “You have no idea how terrifying that was, running into the Green Lion and seeing you unconscious on the floor and there was blood by your mouth and Pidge was crying because she had no idea what to do and let me just say that that was terrifying on its own and-!”

     “Alright Hunk, take a breath, lad,” another voice chuckled quietly. 

     “Ah! Right, sorry! I’ll back off!” Hunk squawked, letting go and scooting back. 

     Keith looked past the young engineer’s shoulder towards a man with vibrant orange hair, a mustache, pointed ears, and blue marks under slate gray eyes. Coran, he identified after a moment. Hunk was climbing to his feet, rambling something about breakfast, but Keith didn’t process much of it as his memory of recent events returned in a rush.

     Shiro crashing back to Earth.

     Running from the Garrison.

     Blue and the wormhole. 

     Awakening the Alteans.

     Finding the Lions.

     Sendak’s attack. 

     Pidge’s capture.

     The explosion. 

     The escape.

     Collapse.

     Black.

     Oh.

     “Pidge,” Keith called, running his fingers soothingly through her hair. “Pidge, it’s okay. I’m okay.”

     “You alm-most weren’t!” she tried to snap back, but it came out as more of a hiccup.

     “I know,” he murmured, cuddling her closer. “I know. I’m sorry.”

     “Never again,” Katie whimpered. “Please, Keith.”

     “I’ll try-”

     “Promise me.”

     Keith winced. “I don’t know if I can keep a promise like that. Not when we’re fighting a war.” 

     His sister growled, blunt nails scraping his back as her fingers curled into fists. “Then I promise. I’m not ever gonna let you get hurt again. Got it?”

     “Pidge-”

     “Got. It?”

     “…Got it,” Keith sighed with a tired, fond smile. That was his sister for you. His obnoxiously stubborn, frustratingly reckless, absolutely brilliant little sister.

     A soft, rumbling growl, like a chuckle, echoed in the back of his head. Sympathy-amusement-fondness.

     Keith’s smile widened as he replied, Morning, Black.

     Cub-Paladin-mine.

     “Good,” Pidge sniffled, oblivious to their silent dialogue as she pulled back to glare at him with tear-reddened eyes. “And don’t you dare forget it.”

     “I won’t.”

     “I’m terribly sorry to interrupt,” Coran called, “but I do need to take a scan of your chest, Keith, just to make sure that everything healed correctly.”

     “Right,” Keith frowned, one hand drifting to brush against his left side while Hunk helped him and Pidge to their feet. “What exactly happened?”

     “You had a punctured lung,” the Altean man explained, his eyes darkening. “It’s a good thing Hunk got you back when he did; by the time you arrived, you were in grave danger of suffocating on your own blood.”

     “…Oh,” the young Black Paladin mumbled as his sister guided him towards a couch that definitely hadn’t been in the room previously. 

     “‘Oh’?!” Hunk repeated incredulously in his periphery. “You almost died, and all you can say is ‘Oh’!?”

     “Well, what am I supposed to say?” Keith protested, looking over his shoulder (and almost tripping over a mass of fabric lying on the floor). “‘How to React to Almost Dying’ isn’t exactly a standardized course at the Garrison.”

     “Well maybe it should be!”

     “I’ll be sure to bring up the idea at the next quarterly meeting,” the young sergeant promised dryly, taking a seat.

     Bweep beeoo!

     Keith blinked, looking up in some surprise at a small, gray shape marked with glowing, dusty green lines, floating gently in the air around his eye level. “I remember you,” he realized after a moment. “You led me to the Green Lion, at the end.”

     Katie smiled, plopping down next to him while the little drone offered a series of cheerful beeps, like a greeting. “This is Rover,” she introduced them, reaching for the robot. The little drone floated to her immediately, pressing into her hand like a pet. “I ordered him to hide when I got caught. Good thing too; Green was able to send him to help us.”

     “Nice to meet you, Rover. Thanks for saving us,” Keith grinned, offering his own hand for the robot to investigate. “Anyway, what’s with all the blankets and stuff?”

     “The other Paladins all chose to sleep here during the nights that you were unconscious,” Coran explained cheerfully, grabbing some sort of datapad from the central podium.

     Keith blinked, several thoughts jumping out at him at once. “Nights, as in multiple?” was the first question that came out of his mouth. 

     “Did you expect it to only be a few hours?” Pidge asked dryly.

     Her brother opened his mouth. Then he closed it again. “Yeah, fair,” he sighed, leaning back in his seat. “How long was I out?”

     “Two days,” Hunk replied, passing him a bowl of… something aggressively green and purple, but delicious-smelling. 

     “Just two?” Keith blinked, taking a bite of the food. It tasted as good as it smelled. “That’s amazing.”

     “Yes, Altean healing technology is perhaps the most advanced in the universe, even ten thousand years later,” Coran smiled proudly, bringing over the datapad and gesturing for Keith to raise his left arm, shooing Rover aside. “However, since we’ve never had a human-Galra hybrid in these pods before, I’d still like to check that your ribs set correctly and your lung has no lasting damage,” he continued, oblivious to the way Hunk stiffened and Katie hissed in a breath through her teeth.

     “Oh. So, that’s, uh… That’s been confirmed?” Keith grimaced, pushing his spoon around his breakfast bowl with his free hand, his appetite vanishing as his stomach clenched and his heart began to pound.

     Determination-comfort-assurance-cub-mine.

     I know, Black. Still…

     Understanding-gentle-proud-protective.

     Coran paused, slate eyes blinking at him. “Oh! Ah, yes,” he nodded apologetically. “I, ah, probably should have revealed that a little more delicately…”

     “Yeah, probably,” Katie growled, glaring at him. Seeing that Coran looked suitably chastised, she returned her attention to Keith, gently pressing into his right side. “We figured it out last night,” she explained quietly, searching his face for any signs of discomfort. “We weren’t really trying to, but as part of the healing process, the pods took full genetic scans of us-”

     “Us? You were in a pod, too?” Keith interrupted, giving her another worried once-over.

     “Oh- Yeah. Concussion, ballistics wound in my thigh, and a few other minor injuries. I was only in the pod for about a day though, and Coran already gave me the all-clear. You were the one we were worried about. But anyway, comparing our data, it was pretty obvious that we weren’t entirely the same species. Coran ran an analysis, and it looks like you’re almost exactly fifty percent human and fifty percent Galra,” she explained.

     “So either both Pop and my birthmom were somehow… like me,” Keith muttered.

     “…Or your pop was human, and your birthmom was Galra,” Pidge nodded. “Judging by your mitochondrial DNA, I’m inclined to think it’s the latter.”

     Keith released a shaky breath, slumping back into the couch. Honestly, he couldn’t even say that he was surprised at this point. After everything that had happened in the last few days, the matter of his apparently-alien heritage felt like an inevitable conclusion. But still, this raised dozens of questions, about Pop, his absentee mother, himself-

     How much of his life had been influenced by his Galra DNA without him even knowing it? How on Earth had Pop managed to meet a Galra woman, much less fall in love and have a kid with her!? What was his birthmom even doing on Earth? Why had she disappeared? Was she still alive? Was… Was she a soldier of the Empire?

     Was his birthmother his enemy?

     “Keith? Hey, you okay?”

     “What?” the young pilot blinked, taken off-guard by the proximity of the voice. His eyes quickly refocused on his sister, leaning into his space, her eyebrows furrowed. “Oh- Yeah, I’m okay.”

     Katie’s eyes softened a little bit as she gently took his hand, obviously not quite believing him. “Don’t worry,” she murmured, punctuated by a long, quiet bwooop from Rover. “It’s not like you’ve changed. None of us see you any differently just because you’re half-alien, not even Shiro. You’re still the same person you’ve always been: my kind, grumpy, overprotective big brother.”

     “Gee, thanks,” Keith rolled his eyes, but he was smiling all the same. “Where is Shiro anyway?”

     “Oh, shoot!” Hunk squawked, grabbing his phone from his pocket. “I was supposed to text him and Lance when you woke up!”

     “Phones still work out here?”

     “Pidge and I managed to set up a signal tower so they’ll work inside and within about a mile outside of the Castle,” the young engineer replied absently, already typing. “Not much practical help for missions and such, but it works for quick messages when we don’t have our suits on.”

     “Still doesn’t answer my question about where they are?”

     Pidge pressed his hand, regaining his attention. “They wanted to be here, too,” she explained quietly, “but maybe thirty minutes before you woke up, the Castle’s proximity alarms went off.”

     “Are we under attack??”

     “No, no, nothing like that. Or at least, we don’t think so,” Hunk denied, scratching his cheek. “But yeah, there was an alien approaching the Castle, a local Arusian. Allura wanted to meet him, and Shiro felt like he had to go too since he’s kind of been the de facto Voltron leader/representative while you’ve been out, and Lance decided to go with them just in case it was an attack and they needed back-up. And to, uh, make sure they don’t, you know, kill each other…”

     “Wait, who’s killing who in this scenario?” the older boy frowned.

     “Who’s the victim and who’s the murderer is up for debate, but he means Shiro and Allura,” Pidge replied. 

     “Why would they be killing each other?”

     “Shiro still hasn’t forgiven Allura for that whole ‘monster’ accusation. Seems like he learned how to hold a grudge in space. Not sure I’ve forgiven her either, actually,” his sister muttered darkly, leaning on her hand. Rover nudged her shoulder, and she absently brushed a knuckle along one of his green stripes

     Keith cringed, avoiding looking at Coran as the Altean man passed some sort of scanner over his chest. “Right. That. So, Allura still thinks I’m going to betray everyone?”

     “Maybe? If she does, she hasn’t said so out loud,” Hunk replied distractedly, tapping at his phone. “Talking to her dad seems to have helped. Honestly though, I think seeing you almost die after going back to rescue Pidge shook her up the most. Yesterday she actually asked me how you and I met and didn’t immediately accuse you of playing us when I said you protected me and Lance from a bunch of bullies. But still, it takes a while for those kinds of prejudices to go away.”

     “I’ll take any improvement over ‘openly hostile’,” Keith admitted. Then he paused, frowning. “Wait, her dad? I thought…?”

     “Oh yeah!” Pidge perked up, her eyes brightening. “There’s this really cool Altean tech that lets you download a person’s memories into an AI server, and then based on those memories it can mimic their consciousness! Apparently King Alfor managed to upload his memories into the Castle of Lions’s database before… well…”

     “King Alfor knew there was a chance he might not see Allura again,” Coran explained quietly. “When he sent her into hyper-sleep, he asked me to help him preserve his memories for her, at least.” He sighed. “Her father’s death has impacted the princess deeply, and she has not yet had the opportunity to properly mourn him. And that is not even considering…”

     “Considering what?” Keith prompted, as the Altean man trailed off, his eyes impossibly sad. 

     “Well-”

     BRAWP BRAWP BRAWP BRAWP-

     Keith leaped to his feet as the Castle’s alarm began to sound, bright red lights flashing all around them. “What’s going on?!”

     “I-It’s probably nothing, right? Just another Arusian-?”

     “Coran!”

     “Princess?” the Altean advisor called, his expression furrowed in worry as Allura’s voice sounded over the intercom. “What’s wrong?”

     “Something just broke the Arusian atmosphere! We’re not certain if it’s a ship or some manner of weapon, but it’s definitely Galran! Shiro and Lance are on their way back to the Castle now, but they won’t make it before the object hits the planet! You must send Pidge and Hunk to intercept it with their Lions!”

     “Understood, Princess!” Keith called back, already heading for the door. “We’re on our way!”

     “Keith?! Y-You’re awake? Are you…?”

     “Keith, wait! You’ve only just been healed!” Katie cried, chasing after him as he ran too far away to hear Allura’s question, Rover right behind her. “You can’t just charge straight back into battle-!”

     “Watch me!”

     “You’re not even wearing armor!”

     “Doesn’t matter!”

     “Doesn’t-!? Ugh! Do you even know where you’re going?!”

     “Black’s hangar!”

     “But you’ve never been there before!”

     “She’ll lead me to her!”

     “But the Black Lion’s hangar hasn’t even been unsealed yet!” Hunk yelled, also racing after them. “If you can’t even reach it-!”

     “Let me worry about that! Just get to Yellow and Green!”

     “Ugh, you’re impossible!” Pidge groaned. “Fine! But if you do something stupid and get hurt again, I swear I’ll kill you!”

     “Noted,” Keith replied with a grim smile. “Now go!”

     The three of them split off, each headed for their own Lions’ hangar--or in Keith’s case, headed for the steady stream of cub-Paladin-mine-fight-protect-together leading him in that direction. He had no way of knowing how long it took, not between the adrenaline pounding through his veins and the all consuming instinct to fight, to protect. Regardless, he was forced to stumble to a halt when he finally reached a flight of steps leading up to the massive, black door, his breath heaving in his restored lungs. It was still closed, still sealed. What had Princess Allura said? The Black Lion could only be freed if the other four Lions were present. Did that mean that the Lions had to be in the Castle, or that they had to be in front of the doors, or-?

     Life-power-family-together-seal-break.

     Keith frowned as he struggled to translate Black’s explanation. Life-power… Energy… An energy in all living beings… Quintessence?

     Life-power-seal-break.

     The hangar was sealed, and the seal could only be broken by the quintessence of all the Lions working together. But if all of the Lions were in the Castle, why wasn’t the door-?

     “Keith! There’s a problem, lad!” Coran’s voice sounded over the intercom.

     “What is it?” he called back, mounting the stairs.

     “The Red and Blue Lions have left their hangars! Without them-!”

     “-the Black Lion’s hangar won’t open,” Keith concluded, pounding a frustrated fist against one of the huge doors. “Tell Hunk and Pidge not to wait for me! Shiro and Lance need all the help they can get!” 

     “…Very well.” 

     Keith grit his teeth, glaring at the dull, black surface. He couldn’t leave his family out there to face an unknown enemy on their own! Black felt the same way, judging by the determined growl building in the back of his mind. There had to be a way to get them open. They needed all of the Lions’ quintessence to free her, but did they really need all of the Lions? Was there another way to unite it?

     Truth.

     There is?! Keith’s head snapped up. How??

     Life-power-family-vessel-unite-seal-break.

     A vessel to unite your quintessence? Like what?

     Paladin-cub-mine.

     Me? the young pilot blinked, surprised. But I thought-?

     Life-power-life-vessel-Paladin-cub-mine-life-power-flow-sense-unite-seal-break.

     …What do I have to do?

     Caution-life-power-flow-excess-danger.

     I don’t care! I can’t just sit here while my family is out there fighting!

     Family-cub-bond-family-mine-bond-life-power-bond-seal-break.

     Keith frowned, breathing deeply and closing his eyes as he tried to concentrate on his bond with his family. Pidge, Shiro, even Lance and Hunk; they were as much his family as the others, now. He would protect them, no matter what it took.

     Pidge came the easiest. All he needed to do was imagine her little gremlin smirk, the way the light glinted off of Matt’s glasses when she pushed them up her nose Meitantei Conan style. It wasn’t hard to think of his admiration for her genius intellect, for her courage and determination. To think of how proud, how grateful he was to be her brother. Almost immediately, he felt an explosion of the joy-excitement-curiosity that defined Pidge’s connection to Green. It grew rapidly, bursting forth like blossoms in springtime, filling him with a rush of energy that somehow reminded him of sunlight after a rainstorm.

     Lance soon followed, sometimes obnoxiously relentless, but also bright, cheerful, and welcoming. This was someone who always had Keith’s back, someone who would never give up on his friends--who would never give up on anybody--even when they had given up on themselves. And, in pulses like the breaking of ocean waves, Blue’s warmth-hope-determination flooded through him, settling in his veins. 

     Keith swallowed, consciously dragging in another breath as he corralled this new surge of power. The feeling of sunlight that Green had brought in her wake was quickly becoming less than comfortable, but he could still manage it. Another deep breath, and the Black Paladin returned his attention to the task at hand.

     Hunk came next, hesitant at first, but that was only what could be seen on the surface. Behind his shy smile and shaky voice was an unending kindness, and the ability to summon infinite strength for the sake of another. Hunk was someone who possessed a rare type of courage: the ability to persevere and move forward in spite of fear. Yellow’s rock-steady, rumbling growl of courage-protect-together swelled soon after, joining the growing pride of Voltron Lions brushing against Keith’s soul.

     Black growled anxiously as her paladin staggered beneath the onslaught of new voices invading his mind. He was starting to feel like his blood was on fire, there was so much power flowing through his veins. He was beginning to understand why Voltron had been formed as five separate ships joining together rather than existing as one single entity; no-one could truly handle this amount of quintessence, especially not in extended doses. He needed to hurry and finish this, before he was ripped apart from the inside out.

     When Keith tried to reach for Shiro though, he instead encountered a hot, angry barrier, flaring viciously at his mental touch. The Black Paladin winced and withdrew, bewildered by the reaction. That… That didn’t seem like Shiro. Shiro was as much Keith’s older brother as Matt was. He was his mentor, his role model, the image of everything the young pilot aspired to be. Shiro was wise and kind and brave and no matter how much the Arena had hurt him, no matter how many scars it had left, he would never shut Keith out. 

     So then, this wasn’t Shiro. It was the Red Lion. 

     A wordless snarl responded to Keith’s realization, and he found himself opening his eyes to see brilliant strands of light streaming around him, flowing like liquid starlight. No matter which direction he turned, it was as though he were constantly looking into a blue-white sunrise, with rivers of electricity cascading from the source to converge and then separate once more, twisting in a perfectly choreographed dance which only they understood. 

     At five points within the deluge were five circles, each a different color: green, yellow, red, blue, and purple. On the green, yellow, and blue circles, Keith could see faint outlines of Pidge, Hunk, and Lance, each alight with the aura of their own Lion. When he looked closely, he could even see the tendrils of energy extending out from them, tethering to his own chest before spreading through the rest of his body. Keith himself stood on the purple circle, and curled around him, easing the weight of the thundering waves of quintessence, he could sense the Black Lion. But when he looked to the red circle searching for Shiro, all that Keith could see was a wall of flames.

     On instinct, Keith reached towards it. It should have been too far away for him to touch, but the moment he extended his hand, the fire surged, and an excruciating heat drove him back again. The Red Lion didn’t want him to reach Shiro, but why?

     Protect, Black’s voice explained, echoing in his head.

     “But, what is she trying to protect Shiro from?” Keith panted, struggling to get enough air.

     A woman, her skin a dark indigo, her long white hair lank and ragged. Gleaming yellow eyes and red marks on her cheeks were all that could be seen of her face, hidden as it was by a purple cloak trimmed with gold. She extended her hands outward, and they crackled with a putrid, black energy. 

     ‘There’s a witch. Her name is Haggar. She had a thing for experiments.’

     “But I’m not-”

     ‘Get out of my head!’

     Despite the awful heat weighing on his chest, Keith felt as though his blood froze as the memory of Shiro’s ragged plea returned to him. The experiments… Just what had Haggar done to Shiro to make Red resort to such measures? If it was quintessence that granted the Lions their sentience, did that mean quintessence could also allow someone to invade another person’s mind?

     Gritting his teeth, Keith reached out his hand again, and when the heat struck this time, he didn’t pull away. “Red.”

     Another flare of heat; the young paladin fought back his reflex to retreat. Patience yields focus.

     “Red,” the Black Paladin choked out, “please. I need to reach him.”

     Red snarled again. Black growled warningly back and her sister subsided, although by how agitated the flames seemed, Keith was pretty sure she wasn’t happy about it. 

     “I know Shiro’s suffered,” he gasped, his hand trembling, beginning to feel a little light-headed with pain. “I know you have, too. But he and the others are out there fighting right now, and… I have to protect my family. I know… I know you can understand that.”

     There came a slightly less-aggressive rumble, and a little of the heat receded. The Black Lion purred, quietly insisting trust-cub-Paladin-mine. After a long, tense moment, the flames finally dissipated, and Keith could finally feel two distinct consciousnesses, the first fierce-mine-fight and the second surprise-fear-recognition-hope. 

     “Keith?” Shiro’s cautious inquiry echoed across the space between them.

     “Shiro,” Keith managed to choke through the searing pain in his blood and a strange rumbling sensation that finally knocked him to his knees.

     “Keith, is that you? Are you awake? Are you alright??”

     “Hold on,” Keith panted as the strange landscape began to fade from view. “I’m on my way!”

     “Kei…!”

     “…th, come on, lad, wake up. What the quiznack happened here?”

     “Coran?” Keith groaned, blinking dazedly up at the Altean’s orange mustache. Why exactly was he on the floor?

     “Keith!” Coran exclaimed, his eyes snapping down to him. “I received an alert that somehow the quintessence lock was beginning to break, so I came hurrying right down. I found you lying on the stairs as the door opened-”

     Keith shoved himself upright--nearly head-butting Coran in the process--as the Black Lion’s roar echoed through the Castle. His entire body ached and his heart was still pounding, but the moment he laid eyes on the huge, majestic Lion standing in the hangar, none of that mattered. Any doubt was swept away by the rush of pride-Paladin-mine-fight-family-protect-together consuming his every thought.

     “W-Wait Keith, you’re in no condition to-! Keith, come back here!”

     The young paladin ignored the Altean’s cry, racing up the ramp and making his way to the cockpit. His hands fell instinctually upon the controls, guiding Black to crouch and then leap from the ground, her jets firing to launch them into the air, soaring from the hangar and turning towards the flickering lights across the nearby hills. Keith and Black snarled in unison as they saw a massive purple orb slam into the Green Lion, sending her and Pidge spinning and crashing into the ground before it swung around and launched towards Blue and Lance, who only barely managed to dodge the strike. With a defiant roar, Keith and Black dove, red wings clapping to the Lion’s back, then flaring as they slammed claws-first into the massive robot controlling the weapon, knocking it to the ground.

     Rage-family-ours-protect-protect-protect-!!

     Keith and Black each growled in both surprise and fury as the orb crashed into their side, sending them flying. Instinctively, they tucked their wings and pulled their legs close, twisting with the strike to reorient themselves before extending all six limbs, slowing the momentum of their rotation and absorbing the force of the impact as they landed, skidding back several dozen meters but managing to halt in front of their pride, wings flared defensively to either side.

     “Keith!” Shiro’s voice gasped over the comm link.

     “Keith!? When did-?! How did-!?” Lance sputtered next, his utterly flabbergasted face appearing on one side of the monitor.

     “How did you open the hangar?!” Katie demanded, flashing into view beside him. “And why aren’t you wearing your armor!?”

     “Wait, he’s not wearing armor??” Hunk squawked, appearing on the other side. “Are you crazy, man?!”

     “Quite possibly,” Keith admitted, feeling as though his own voice were coming from somewhere far away as his blood buzzed with adrenaline and leftover quintessence. He watched the robotic monstrosity rise back to its feet, the purple orb reappearing over a torch-like weapon mounted on its right hand. It was high time they ended this fight. “Everyone, gather on me. Let’s take this thing down!”

Chapter Text

     “Okay, setting Keith’s poor life choices aside, how are we supposed to beat this thing?!” Lance cried as he and Blue fell into position at Keith’s right flank, his voice strangely distant. “Because every time we try to fight the monster the orb thing gets us and every time we try to fight the orb-!”

     “Incoming!!” Hunk yelped as the “orb thing” in question flew forward, forcing the five Lions to scatter again.

     “Shiro!” Keith shouted when his brother didn’t react in time and the Red Lion took the full force of the attack, knocking them both down. Rage-family-mine-protect-!!  

     It was a stupid reaction. The part of Keith’s brain that had been listening to Lance was still aware enough to know that. But he couldn’t seem to stop himself from charging the orb with a furious cry. It didn’t end well, naturally. The mass of quintessential energy rammed into their chest, sending them flying nose over tail and ramming painfully into the ground. 

     Keith’s ears were ringing and her head and neck ached as he struggled back to their feet. That increasingly distant, rational part of their brain could hear his family’s voices, but none of the words were making sense. Only the intent, the sense of urgency as Pidge shouted in fear-help-need-leader-Lance-friend-invitation and then his responding alarm-confusion-fear-refusal before Shiro called out with fierce-assurance-determination-protect-fight. Then suddenly all she could feel was pulsing alarm from all directions and a pounding fear and a wild protectiveness as warnings were shouted and Hunk screamed and the purple sphere struck him and everyone was shouting and every thought was consumed in fuRy-hAte-famiLy-minE-ProtEct-aTtacK-aTtACk-ATtaCK-ATTACK!!! 

     Keith matched Black’s roar in ferocity if not in volume, leaping at the robot-monster and seizing the collar protecting its neck with his teeth, tearing viciously with powerful jaws while their claws sought for purchase in every chink of its armor, ripping and shredding with all her strength, red wings spread wide to maintain his balance as her prey stumbled about, struggling in vain to shove them off. They could feel the tainted energy gathering again, preparing to strike at his exposed stomach, but she wouldn’t let go; that was his family that was his family they would destroy him she would protect them-!!

     A flash of red and silver flit through the corner of Keith’s vision and the attack she’d been expecting didn’t come. The monster staggered, collapsing to one knee, its head twisting around to seek the new threat. 

     Keith seized their chance. 

     Ripping off the remains of the collar with a powerful twist of their neck, Keith lashed forward once again to sink his fangs into the monster’s now-exposed throat. 

     There wasn’t a scream. There wasn’t anything beyond the creak and groan of metal piercing metal, muffled by that strange buzz in his ears and the pounding rush of RAGE- shock- RAGE-p̶̡̱̫͕͒a̷͚͂̃̈́̋̾i̵̢̙͎͙̿̀̈́n̴̠͕̆͐͌̀̚-RAGE- confusion- MINE-̸̙̳͋̆h̵̙̔ą̵͔͋t̵̮͔̄̀e̵̱͒ͅ-FAMILY- fear- MINE-̷̬̝͈͖͎̆̃̏̆f̷̘̓̈̒u̷̘̤̯̭̿̂ṟ̵̨̿̿̒̌̇y̷̤͇̞̌- - PROTECT- wait- PROTECT-̵͈͚̒̀̄̚͝p̶̹͙͐a̶̲͒̑͋i̶̗̞̓͒̕͜n̵̻͔̑̑ - PROTECT- stop- PROTECT-h̶̬̫̩̹̅ä̶̢͔̮́͝t̸̞̦͚͔̱̾e̵͔̙̅-PROTECT-!!!

     All at once the monster twisted, and Keith vaguely heard a voice cry out as the Red Lion was flung into him. He might’ve blacked out for a few seconds; their head was definitely spinning when he opened her eyes. Still, ignoring the dizziness, they staggered to his feet, wrenching her jaw open to drop a chunk of material that he’d ripped from the beast’s neck when she was knocked free. 

     Urgency-

     Protect-

     -determination-

     P̸̡̛̛͍̣͉̯̫̭̃͑̈́͌̄̑͊̒͗̋̽̎͘͘͜͠ȧ̵̡̪̰̮̦̘͚̣́́̄͌i̶̡͙̮̭̠͒͂̔̔̽̑̾͗̒̎͑̒̑̈́̀͐͒̐̅͋̒́̈̐̚̚͝͝ņ̵̣͚̳̬͓̦̺͕͖̗̙͙̲̥͚̑̉̅̊̔͑̈́̇͋̽̀̈́̆͗͛́̃̂̀́͂͊̀̚͠

     Fear-

     -fight-!

     Keith flinched away from a bright flash of blue light flying overhead, striking the exact point where he had torn out the monster’s throat. The blue was instantly replaced by white, orange, red, and then gray-black as smoke billowed outward and the metallic beast exploded. 

     Exultant-victory-rage-

     P̸̢̨̰̠͇̥̣͎̱͇̰̬̻͇̟̮̹̻͕̬̭͈̣͉̺̼̝̖͋͋̋̅̏̈́̀͋̎̃͂̊̃̆̐̀̊̀̉̓̈́̇͋̿́̋͠͝ͅͅą̸͕̱̙͔̫̝̘̬̝̳̪͎̰̲̯̺̮̼̺̑͒̔̒i̷̢̡̧̮͕̮̼͇̖͔̤͔͚̥̠̩̲͕̟͎̥̳̥̦͎̍̆̑̌̈́̍̋͛̈͋̔͊̉̕̕̕͜͝n̸̨̛̯̯̮̗͍̭̲̮̱͚̲̤̣̮̝̟̻̟̻̰͎̮͕̑̀́̈́̉͗̊̏́̇̓͂͛̂̈́͆̋̆̐̈́́͝

     Fear-excitement-relief-

     F̴̨̛͕̞̞̘̩̤̙̗͚̰͈̟͈̱̣̳̯̙̩͑̉̔͐͗̀̋͒͛́̔̿̌̓͐̌͊̍̆͝͝ȩ̸͕͍̣̥͇͙̹̲͖̘̅̅͑̒͗̾̄͌̃͗̌͐̒͌̇̂͂̈͝a̷̬̗̜̘͓̖̤̤͇̘̽̄͂r̸̨̦̝͙͍̲͖̝̖̟̝̤͚͑̎͑͜

      Something-

     -pride-family-mine-safe-

     ̶̡̳̳̣̥͆̈́̋̚F̵͈̻͔̥̜̱͙̮̜̰̈́̃̃̉͆̎͆̈͂̌̕ữ̴̡̻͕̝̗̭̏̀̅̿̃͌̌̑̒̍̋̊̾̌͐͛͘̕̚͝͝r̷̨͓̫̤͉̞͎͉͙̮̱̤͕̣̮̲̝̹̱̞̈́͆̃͋̋̌̈́̓͋̾͒̑́͋̐̐̚̚͝͠͠͝y̷̛̖̘̭̾̿̿̅̂̉̑͐̔͑̓̊̌̀̎͗̈́̓͛̂͌̒͗̒̎̕͝

     Excitement-pride-victory-

     ̶̥̬͊̎Ḩ̶̢͕̫̙̻̇̐̄́̇́̌̀̅͒̆̃̃͊͌̆͘͠͝a̷̢̨̧̱͈̼͔̱̮̬̲̙̠͙͓̯͎̩̗̘͇̗̣̠̠̓̒͆͆̊̈́̀͆̌̒͒̽̇̒̈́̋͐̌̿̀͘͜͝͠͠t̸̯̪̜̗̥̯̯̆̈́̀̂̄̀̌̊̋̿̄̐̔̿̔̎̿̀̉̓͒͐͘͝͝͠͝ŕ̷̨̛͖̜̻̭̙̤͌́͛e̷̡̧̨̬͇̟͙̫̗̫̖͇̞̻̺͕͓̦̝͙̽ͅd̶̥̤̙̤̤̤̈́͂̄̾̎̅͊̚͝

      Something is -

     Relief-fear-relief-fear-

     ̵̹͔̈́̀̌̿̚D̴̨̠̙̳̣̯̩̜̼̺̱̮̯̯̲̩̝͚̐̌̍͆̀̓̔̊̂͛͛͗͌̾͂̇̌͜͝͠͝e̸̡̢̼̫͎̣̠̖̤̳̠̠͍̭̍͑̐̔̇̔̓̋͛̒̿̃̏͒̕s̵͔͖͈͚͓̬͕̲̠̪̔̅̎̔͜p̸̡̢̧̛͈̼̝͓̺͑̈́͑̅̿̄̐̐̍͗͗̈́̾͑͂͊̏̀̾͂͑͋͝͝͠ą̸͙̦̟̻̱͉̭̜̭̼̫̝͐͋̋̋̿͋̽̍̔̽̂̈́̐͑͌̒́̚̕͜͠i̸̢̨̺͎̼̱̮̝̝̗͇͇̮̠̺̝̭̻̠̠͈̔́̿̑̾̃̅̋̐͂̐̄͑̈͘̚͠͝͠ͅṛ̵̨̧̛̼̜̬̼̙̹̫̘̝̐͋̀̐̆̀̑͒̆̃̏̐̅̎̈́̀̒͒̔̔̇̓

     -pride-protect-together-Paladin-cub-mine-

      This is-

     P̴̨͕̯̱̙̎̀͐͆͌̿̒̑́͐̕̕͠a̴̧̛͚͔͖̥͍̪̙̼̺̪̽͋̾̿́̚͜͝ͅi̸̘̭̠̜̱͖͈̫̞̦̬͋̈́̋͜ͅn̸̗̼̱̫̫̪̙͈̗̺͒

     -concern-Paladin-mine-realization-

     Fear-family-mine-

     ̷̖̗́̔F̸̡̪͎̘̮̍̈́͝e̶̢̠͙̠͈̪̬͕̹̪̦̟̟̗̰̿̍̓͒̑͌̀͂͑͝͠a̵̛͕̰̯̞͐͆̓̋̉r̸̡̬̱̼̘̠̆̅̒̓́̅̀́͂͘

      I-

     -cub-mine-fear-

     -realization-friend-worry-

     F̴̬͚͉͓̠̦̆͋́͆̌͒͘u̵̢̧̻̘̖̤͕͍͈̲̥̻̅̉́̊̑̌͑̌͐̅̂̎͋̌̊ṟ̴̈́̂̓̍́͛̉̉͛̚͝y̶̨̭͋̈

     -friend-worry-attention-

      We-?

     ̸̢͉̒Ḩ̵͉̜͎̜̙̹̮̺̱̪̻̹̈̋̍̈ͅa̸̜̬̼͎̎͌̀͂̅͂͗͂̓̀́́̀͠t̸̢̧̡̼̥̫̘̲̤͕͚̩͋̓̎̏̈́̈́̎͛̒͘̚̕͠ͅr̴̲͍͍̩͔͔̣̙̗̈̍͂͑̏̌̇͂͘͘ȩ̴̛̞̲̱̗̤̪̼̖̓͗̓̐̅̏d̷̢̧̜̝͇̅̾̌̾̑̈̓͋͑̀̔̚͝͝ͅ

     -Paladin-family-come-

     ̸̟̈́D̵̛͙̪̗̖̻̝̘̦̬̺̓̆͗̓̃̇͂̿̾̅͝͠͝ͅe̸͉̗̪͉̘͕̺̳͓͈͖̐̊̆̈̀̍͊̄̕̚͝s̸̨̡̢̛͈͉̫͓͎̰̟̏͑̎̈́̈́͒͆̽͊̊͝p̴̢̜͓̦̘͙̉̔̐̐̿̈́̔͛̿̋͛a̸̙͎͕͎̩̯̓̏̉͘i̵̡̢̛̻̙̝̾͐͑̓̓͂̚r̵̛̹̮͇̭̟̯̃́̇̔

     -surprise-confusion-

      No…

     P̶͕̬̫̎̂̈́͑́̓̓̕å̸̢̹̥̣͙̪̞͕̔͛̉̽̾͊͜į̸̢̗̰͙̯͚̝̏̈̈́͊̂n̵͔͊̎́͒̓̄̕ͅ

     -realization-fear-urgency-

     ̴̨̩̔F̷̡̘̯͎͚̯͔̱̼̣̄̓̊͌̏̉e̸̹͕͚̫̹̬̋̀̇̓̎̒a̵̛̬͕̣̪̙͗̓͌͌̕̚͜͜͝r̶͓̳̦̱̣̒

      Me…

     -help-plea-cub-mine-

     ̷̜͐͋F̴̻͎̪̪̝͙͎̱̻̭̎͊̊̀̋͠͝ṵ̷̹̲̭̋͗͛r̴̛̫̿̂y̸̩̗̺͇̪̻̰̮̎͆̑̚ͅ

      I’m…

     -urgency-family-mine-fear-!

     H̵̹͇̳̋͛á̴̡̛̬̖̥͕̬͔͗͒́͂̀̒͛t̵̟̝̣̅̍̆r̴͓̦͇͉̠̘̙̈́͑̓e̶̳͓̺͕̭̭͒̓̑̀͂̚͠͠d̵̤̖̮̂

     -urgency-plea-!

     D̶̡̆̒ę̸̤̮̯̬̪͓͇̏͘s̸͚̾̎̂̅̌̓̅p̵̧̫̳̤̞͍̗̹̭̀a̴̗̞͉̝͙̼̪̣͊̄̃ḭ̵̧̭̳͆ŗ̵͈͉͖̜̳͖̺̋̅

      …afraid…

.oOo.

      …ub-mine-comfort-cub-mine…

     H̸̡͈̗͈̝̲̺̲̮̻̳͕͍̙̽͗͛̈́̍͋̈̑̈́̀̒̓ͅů̴̻̻͍̺̙̭̬̽̇r̶͖̗̤͛̇̎̎͗̊͜͠t̷̛̠͎̬̮̤͖͈͙͈̬͙̅͝ś̵̥̣̘͛̈̐͑͐͘…̴̡͖̯̮͖͚̾́̌͗̏͛͂̀̓͌ ̸͙͚͛̀͐́̈́͂̕͘͘͝͠͝͝Ḧ̷̢̨̼̙͔̩́̏͛̆̓̃̈͝ṳ̸̢̹͕̰̤̮̘̦̘̔̉̔̈̆̈́̊̑̾̃̓͝r̵̦̥̜̘̬̙͎̥̳̈́̇̓t̷̢͉̭͙̣̜̃̌͌͌̊́̚s̶̢̢̮̼͇̬͚̥̾-̶̢̨̥̘͍̺͈̜͈͑͑̋̑͌̃̀̋̏͘̚̕͝ͅ!̶̥̥̜̘̣̪͙͇͍̣̙͒̈́̏͑̕͠͠͝ ̸̪̻̝̣̈́̽ ̸̘͈̈̎p̶̡̡̦̱͓̱̼̘̿̋̇̒̊͐̌ļ̵͎̖̲̻̪̱̻̘͚̗͗͂̔̔̈́ę̴̧̘̠͚͊̎́̈́̉̍̐̂͜͝a̶͇̲̦̤̞͌s̷̢̹̯͓̻̜͕̝̩͍͍̪̍͗e̸̹̪̙̝͔̺̫̔̐̒̑́ ̸̨͙̖̦̬̺̪͇̮̹͒͛̎s̴̪̲̖̟͈̲̜̝͇͘͜͝t̵͖̦̤͋͆́͆̍̋̄̈́̏̽̎̅͝͝͝ṍ̵̖̪̯̤̐̇̍́̈́̐̚͠p̵̛͔̦͍̮̞̏́̅̚̕͝-̶̙̤̅̾͐͐͋̏̀͌̓͂̔͝!̴̳͙͔͈̟̞̬̗̠͓̱̜͐̑

     …fort-cub-mine-comfort-cub-mi…

     …ency-prote…

     -̶̘͙̭̗̐̽͐̉͆͗s̷͈̝̔̽̕t̷̰̟͋̇͒̽̑͊͐̇͜͠ǫ̸̛̱̹̙̳̠̣͖̈́p̶͓̭͚̿̽̿͑͝͝ ̷̛͍̙̱̥̬̞̍͋̈́̂͠͝s̶̢̧̧̟̬̫͎̗͓̭̈́̿́̎t̴̡͈̗͔̣̻̙͓̋͗͊͌͊̂o̵̱͙̬͚͈̅̀̆̈́̑̾͘p̸̢̱̠̟̖͇̩͔͉̳̀͗͠ ̶͓̪̙̦̠̰͓͍̮̣͗͛͋͝p̶̨̧̡̘̙̠̫̬͕͒͋̕͜l̴̡̩͙̞̙̦̠͇͆̀̍̔̔̀͛̚̚ͅę̸̨̻̹̠̖͌̿̑̏̽̀̾̉̐͘a̸̘̜̱͈͘s̴̨̼͈̞̯̩͈̝̳̅͆̄́̃̀͝e̵̡̪͑̍̐̑͝ ̵̹͉̘̙̱̲̊ͅs̵̤̻̳̎̔̄͒͛̊̍̃͛t̵̨̧̛̹̱͉̻̼̭̝̖͒͑́̈́͛̓̿̔͊͂̂̊͝ǫ̵̻̠̤͍̤̖̤̤̼̞̩̫̬̈́͋͐̊̍ͅp̵̦̈́͐̍͌̉ ̶̸̘̬̫̥̝̥̜͚̳͎̮̲̣̪̳̳͆͛̾̏̉̈́̍̀́̂̀͊̎̄͒͐͂̓̄̿̚͝͝c̵̟̪̺̰͐͑̓̎͗̏̾̉̑̀̅͜͝ͅa̴̢͍͙͇͉̞͓̗̻̱̅̑̅͂͋͆͐̽̆́̌͘̕͘͜͝n̴̨̮̦̩̲̲̟̟̞͚̽̊̎̈́̓͆̽̑̐̀͋̆͘’̶͍͍̘̈́́́̔͛͠t̷̫͓̫̹̹̙̯̠̝̪̄̊͐͝͝-̵̼̃̓̿͂͌̅͘͝

     -cub-mine-calm-plea-

     “Kei…!” -family-mine-fear-protect-  

     H̴̢̧̧̯̬̪̞͈̱͇͔̤̹͇̳͎̠͍̺̼̺̝̺͈͍͓̞̫͙͇̏̏̾̈́́ų̶̯̳̫̹͈̭͈͉̹̝̘̲͉͖͎̲͕͓̦̝͈̲̞̩͉̤̆̒̀̎̈́̕͜r̴̡̛̫͎̬̦̹̝̲̜̹͍̭̹̳̥̖͕̹̼̻̝̺̓̌͑̓̈́͗̍̒̾͆͆͐̌̀̆̑̂̂̒͒̕͜t̵̢̨̨̫͖̲̯͈̩͖̖̖̖̩̲̹͇͎̬͈̲̮̫̊̔͆̏͊̆̐͒͌̃̽͜͝͝ͅͅs̴͈͙̦̠̪̥̬͔͚̰̦̪̼͈͍̖͍͛̓́̓̈̈́̔̂͗͒̓́̏͒̽͑̓̚̕͝!̸̢̝̺͕̥̰̺̮̯̦͓̤̂͑̂͒͒́̌̄̈́̀̆͐͊͆̇̾͑͠͝͝ ̴̳͓̩̱̰̪̜̞̲̗͉̤̦̖͎̰̮̟̭͕̰̦̰̤̞͑́́̂̽̈́̐̾̈̎̆͝H̶̰̪̲̱͔̟̓̏̑̈́̾͒̈́̆͘͜͠ͅù̵̺̩̈́́̃̈́͛͑̂̓͂̆͒͘͝ͅŗ̶̢̡̧͇̣͚͚̬͙͗̔̒̈͌̒͆t̶̨̧̗̥͗̿̃̂s̵̡͔̣̹̰̙͎̙̥͚͎͛̌̀͑͘͘̚͝ ̶̧̪̺͙͕̭̻́̀̏͊̋̾͌̏̊͛̔͌̒͠h̷̙̞̯̘̳͈̦͓̗̀̄͊̏̃̀͘̚͝ͅǘ̵͖̩̩̾̎̿͌̅̾̕ͅr̸̡̠̙̹͉̲̃͛̀̌̕͜ẗ̴̡̧̛͖̟̩̘͈́͑́̈̌͘s̸̨͖̱͖̙͈͉͔̍̇̋͑̊̃̌̀ ̴̡̘̖̗̦̱͚̹͙͎̱̠͔̀̑̇̑̎̂̑̿̂̃̄̀͆͒̚ḩ̷̨̢͇̪̱̰̦̻̙͉̱͚͚̗̹͍̯̪̑́́̆͒̇̓͝u̷͖̒̔̉́͗r̶̢͉̫̘͓̜͖̺͉̣̯̠͑̐̈́̎̒̄͒́̽́̽̓̍͐̚͘͘̕͜͝t̷̢̢͕͕̪̟̹̻͎͇̲͓̫̲͕̭̫̱̫̲̟̮̙̹͙̱̫̟̃̔̂͒̈́͐̊̇̓̈̆͘̚s̷̢̛̼̘̭̹͇̦̖̞̺͚̜̯͓͙̞̙̬̥͓̣̙͓̺̼̣͊̑̿̋̆̀̔̇̿̋̃̌͛̾͛̀̐̂̌͜͝͝͠ ̷̢̧̡͈͚͍̺̳͍̝̘̜̻͚͉̗̖̤̙͓̬̱̳̗̖̤͖̝͐̅̚͜s̷̛͔͚̦̍͌͐̑͊̽̏̽̈́̆͑̈́̈́̏͗͋̑͊̊̕̕̚͘͝͠ͅț̶̢̢̢̢̛̛̛̼̳͆̏̑̍́̊͑̋͗̊̌̿̈̕͘͜͜ͅͅơ̵̡̧̨͇͈͕̩̦̻̙̖͉͖̩̺͂͂̍̀́̆͋͐͗͛͌̓̊́́͊̎̈́̽͑͑̾͋̈́̊̚̚͝͠p̵̛̙͚̙͙̝̦̦̜̟̤̻̊̓͊͐̑̏̂̈́̄̔̓̑́͜͜͜͜-̵̡̝̻͇̪͉̩̗͔̗̥̬͉͖̹͔̘̞̏́̈́͌̃̃́̈́̅̋̑̎́̌̾̏̃͑̕͘͠ͅ!̸̧͈̗̙̞̳̮͍̭͎̲̹̟̇̉̊̌̆̆ͅ

     -fear-family-mine- “…ke up, please-”

     -cub-mine-

     S̵̢̡̛̮̼̤̟̯͓̺̙̼͈̯͎̣̭̜̠̙̤̱͇͎̠͚̅̈́͆͋͌͆̒̈́̃̒̍̎̄̿̍̓̄͊͌̐̿̂̃͌̒̚͜t̴̨͖̺̣̘̹̳͔̘̬̠̪̻͚̩͚̝͔͎̗̰̙͎̤͚̪̼͚̑̏̈́ò̵͚̜̥̠̖͇͍͎̤̟̬̩̜͔̜͕̩͐́̊̓̉̿͘͝ͅp̴̧̧̻͕̲̰̙͇̙̺̤̙̻̻̮̘͙̙̖͔̗̮͓̿̾̃̅͊̈́̏̊̽̓̉̎̋͂́̀̈̆́̉͛̔̐͜͜͜͝͝ͅ ̷̛̭̋͒̐͌̊͒̐͂̿́͒̈͑̑̌̀̍́̅̊̅̓̕̚͝͠͝s̶̨̨͉̝̝̖͉̣͇̘̲̠͙̠̜̮̞̼͇̱̹̽̊̌̉̈́̓̃͐͊͆̋̒͑̑̈́̾̓̓̾͒̑̌͂̽͜͠͠͝ͅt̷̢̢͕͙̲̳̩͙̦͚̞̩͔̦̩͙͚̠͇͚̼͒́̓̓͌̃̾͒̂̋͂̃̅̐̔͒̉́̃̽͆̕̚̕͝͝͝͠ͅơ̷̡̧̢̥͉̳̘͙͕̪̠͎̭͚̯͈̺̈̋̂́̌̍̐p̷̢̢̨̺̙͉̣̼̤̠̄̓̊̂͌̅͋́͛̒̓̒̄͆͌̀͆̎̈̈́̂̓̇̀̈́̕̚̚ ̶̢̨̛͚͍̱̲͈̩͇̱͙̝͚̱̗͓̽̈́́̔͒͌͐̓̓͒̔̇͐̔̄́̂̄̚͘͜͝s̸̢̛̲͓̺̙̻̜͇͈̮̰̭͉̗̭̖̟̱̭̰̤̯̣̮̾͛̂̈́́̅̏̉̓̒̈́̓̍̚͘͜ͅͅţ̷̧̛̛̹̱̙̹̝̗̝̝̼͈̲̰͂͊̀̃͛̏̐̀͋̒͛͜ͅớ̶̛̠̫͖̏͊̔͐͊̕p̴̡̧̥̦͇̲̘̲̥̜͚̩̟̮͙̟̅̈́͑̓͌̏̍-̴̨̗͉̺̝̝̜̣̩͈̲̗͚̭̩̹̭̬͓̖͈̳͒̏̇̂̋͋̂̉̌̐̇̄̐̐́̈́́͂̉̚̕̚͠͝͠ͅͅͅ!!̵̨͓̦͕̝̼̙́̀̿͗̕͝

     -fear- “Keith! Keith, cal…” -plea-

     …b-mine-plea-com…

     …ear-urge…

     …rt-cub-mine-plea-plea…

     -̶̧̳͈̹̟̙̫̍͂̀̾̒͐͝͝h̸̢͈͆͊̅͑̏͘ù̴̝̜̆r̶̡̮̳̭͍̝̬̰̽͒̈́̊t̶̨͚̲̣̜̙̬̲͓̒ͅs̴̛̱̬̝̠̺͍̤̩̖͛̈́̆̓̚͝͝͝ ̴͔̱̼̯̙̆͛̌ḩ̷̟͕̝̘̄͆̍̓̒̽̽̈̒͝ù̴̲̯̻̙̩͉̝̬̽͌̇̀̈̂̿ͅr̸͍̣̳͔̙̞̉t̸͖͙̣̹̟̋͛̄̇͘ṣ̵̦͓̜̥͚̼̞̉̾ ̷̩̥̭̱̺̺̽̈́-̸̨̞̜͖͕̑̐̅̊ḫ̸̺̝͎̰̰̼̘͎̮̏̑̇͗̒͘u̴̼͚̜̗̺͈̪̥̮̭̎͋͑̅̓́r̴̪͓̈́̍͊t̸̮̰̪̹̦̩̫͇̝̭̓̋s̶̡͇͚̣̮̙͍̰͉̤̣͔̆̈͂̔̾͘ ̴̰̹̹̦͎͒̑̆̆̓́͛̅͜͝h̸̦͈̮̰̙̩̓͒̌̎̄̋͗̈́̀̐̐̕͝͝ͅữ̸̤̮̭̤̜̩̫͙́̍̐̏̉̐̓̂̇̿́͠r̴͈̾̄͊̈̊̀͠ẗ̸̰̺̇͗̇̀s̸͍̥̦̯̦͍̾͗̾̆͂̽̈́̏͌͑ ̵̧͇̬̲̬̩̗͎̤̺̈́̓̀̇̍͊̎́͛͝ẖ̶̨̘̭̦̣͇̹̗̝̰̾͐̓̆̀̈́̈́ȗ̵̙͔̝̾̄̀͛̄̀͂͠r̵̨̭̰̞̫̪̃̄̍̈́̇̄̍̕̕ţ̸͈̺͕̟͚̳̗̞̲̾͛͒̇͜s̸̖̣͙̱̗̍͗̃ͅ ̶̬̥͑̈́́̇͐͌h̷̜̏͊͌̒û̶̙̤̝̘͙͓̳̟̬̜̗͈̰͕͊́̍́̏͆̕͝r̶̳͙̺͖̻̖̈͗̀̓̿̆̎͌̊̈͊t̸̡̞̠̝̮̥̥̗͈̟̩̘͖̓͜s̴͔̠̪̳̘͙̖͕͈̞̅̀͆́̾̅̎̈́̚͜͜͝-̵̛̛̮͕̹͇̖͔̲̱̺͔̯͉͉̲̏͋̔̆̃̇̚͠͠h̵̨̛̛̜͎̻̯̦̠̙̼̘͉̪̭̣̮͓͉̰͕̻̬̮̓͋͋̂̌̅͆͐͗̈̊̾̓͛̑͊̑̐̓̑̅̾̃̎͘͠ͅư̴̡̮̲͍̳̟͕̠̠̲͓̼̮͓̺͎̳̫̪̮̩̤͇͈̯̝̭̭̣͛̈́̇̄̈́̾̔͆̈́̅̐͠͠ͅŗ̴̠͓͎̖̭͈͎͓̜̃̏̋̑́͌̀̓̾̿̔̽̂͝ͅt̸̢̳̱͇̣̦͉̣͍͕̔͆s̶̡̨̡̡̼̩̩͇͖͎̜͈͉̟̼̣̞͖͔̓͠ ̷̞̱̞̙̱̳͙̯̬͎̂̄ͅḧ̶̛̲̺́̇̒̾́̈̂́͗͋͊̈͛͊̔́̓̈́̿͋́̑͐̄͐̕͝͠ù̴̠͇͚̭͕͕̘̦̺̫̽͑͋̐̽͘r̵̘̲̭̳͙̭̗͚̣̼̗̓̈͑ẗ̵̟̩̫̥̠̰̖͖͔͚̪̙͍̝̼̤͉̦̹̘͉͉̰̼̝̝̬̝̝́̍͋̃͑̾͋͐̇͒̿̔̂̓̔͛̽́̚̕͝͝͠͝s̷͈̙͙̮͍̣͎͓̹͙͚̝̖̍͑͒̍͊̑̅́̀̆́͗̆̆̓̔-̵̡̧̡̢̨͎͙̼͚͇̭̪̗̓̀͂̂̎̓́̀͐̒̊͊̆͑̌̃̚̚̕͜͝

     -determination-assurance- “…eathe, Keith. Just Brea…”

     …ar-urgency-fami…

     …sion-concern-plea…

     -̵̠̺̤̖̈n̶͔̫̄̀̔o̴̧̨͆͘ ̷̰͈̙͓̦͐̽̓͌̐̊͂̃̓̿͜n̵̮͗̈̈̎̃̀̋͛̊͜ơ̶̼͖̞̙̥̿͂̽͌̾̀̚̚ ̶͉̖̭͇̬̕n̸̪͑̈́̅̉̚ợ̸̧̨̉n̷̨̨̧̦͖͍̺̻̙̯͍̼̰̯̺̗̩̗͖̣͉̖͉͂͊̓̍͆̈́̈́̍͌̒̄̈́̓͜͝o̶̧̢̨̢̙̘̫͖͇͖͖̳̝̩̺̩͎̫̞̘̯͎͙͇̭̹̥͍͕͒̔̄̇̎̈̽̀́̈̆̔̑̓͊̀̆̐͛́͛͠ͅ-

     …ear- “…it up…!”

     …cub-mine-calm-

     n̷̖̞͈̤̘̳̣͔̋͂̾̐̈́̓͐̽̎̀̑̚͜ơ̴̡̰̪̜̺̜͖̺̪͇̥̞͇̹̝̯͌̎̒̿̑̋́̔́͑̈́̂̄͒̎̈́̒̚͜͜͜͝͝n̶̢̢̳̣̫͙͕̖̮̪͎̺̻̣̹̥̘͙̩̺̤͉̆̓̑̽̔͗̋̋͘͝͝͝o̵̡̢̧̨̥̦͓̮̬̹̭̼͈̩͉͖̥̖͔̟͔͖͙͈̰͇̖̹͑̅̂̿͐́̓̎̐̎̀̌̕͜͠ṋ̴̔̇̾̿͌͐̂͆̉͗̎̋̕̕͝ơ̸̢̧̧̛̼̲͙̲̱̘̲͇̖͔͕̦̜̹̪̈́̑̄̉̋̏̌́̎̏͐͆͌̉́͂͋̈́̽͝͠͝ṇ̸̡̧̪̝͇̥͉͕̻̪͈̼͖̗̣̳̲͚͎̬̮̬͎͖̤̥̝̝͊͌̏̌̆́̌̈́̾̂̈́͒̎̇̈́̌͌̅̿̓̀͂̉͛̕̚͘͘͝ơ̷͇͙̣͇̳͕͕̭̱̝̟͎̬͂͑͑̄̈́͆͌̉͑̏̓̎̄̑͂̚̚̕͠͠͝ņ̶̬̱͇̪͚̦̫̃̌̅̓̉̏̔͛̍͛͆́̆͂̈́̓͆͂̐̓͘ơ̴̢̢͈̘̣͔̺͓̦͓̱̝̫̭̥̘͔̙̙͈͖͓̭͈̘͙͌͂̆̀̕̚ͅn̶̢͇̦̻͔͑̍̓͐̈̽̌̒̽̍̑̔̈́͑̃̊ǫ̸̧̢̻̭̻͍́̓͌̃̑̏̄̌̓͋̏-̶̞̱͔̥͕͂!̴̧̛̩̠̰̗̭̫̦͂̔̃̑͑̈́̓͒̔̑̿̃̇͘̕͠͝͠͝͠!̵̛͖̠̪̖̱̬͈͎͔̠̼͎̻̥̹̥̝͉̐͑̅̿̄̉̾͊͋͂̋̄̂͂̎̋̑͋̅̊̽̅͋̇͂̕̕̕͝ͅ

     “Keith!” -fear-family-mine-plea-

     “Pidg…! -concern-urgent-

     -̴̡̨̨̛͉̰̼̮̺̠̗͚̳̟̼̝͈̲̤̠̦͇͕̩͂̊̅̾́͂͊̈̕͜͝t̶̨̡͙̹̞̳̟̖̥͎͍̣̥̘̘͙̭̘͖̰̱͈͖̳͓̏͒̋̉̑̅̀̿̅̋̈͋͒̑͊̽̽̏̃̑̌̽̉̇̇͛͜͠͝͝ơ̸̢̡͔̬͍̯̳̖̺͇͓̙͈̤̩͖̲̻͚͔̩̯̮͙͓̼͛̾̌́͒̈́̍́͗̿̑͌̅̂̅͂͂̍͝ơ̷̧̪͕͇̠̠̈̔͒͠ ̸̡̲͚̦͚͓̤̞̀̇̏͛̒̎́͐̆̄̋̑̈́͑͛̅̈́̐̇̑́͌̓̇̐͊̋͘͠͝m̴̨̢̺͖͈̰̰̱̺̦̺̘̣͈̱͎̘̰̥̤̮̰̄͌͆͑̾̀̎̆̋͑́̓̊̿̍̒̌̚ͅư̸̡̦͎͕̣̣̤̭̫͎̩̳̪̂̍̈́̏́́́͛̐͂̆̿̌̄̏̊̃͆̓̏̕͘͝͝͠c̸̨̨̨̛̯̤̬͇̥̓̈́̆̒̈̃̐͋̏̎̀̕̕h̶̢̧̡̲͇̮̥̯̼͔̤̤̝̹͓̦̼̥̤̜̟͈͈͈̟̭͉̻̋̉̍̐̍̈́̒̓̓͐̎̕͜͜ ̷̧̧̣̩̥̹̤͈̫̩͇̫̯͍͓͚̰̄̃͘͜T̸̢͙͕̰̎̀͗̃̇͊́̅̓̏͑̇̕̚O̴̡̝̞̥͇̖̭̜̖͓͖̻͚̾̂́̅̅̆́̆̚ơ̴͍̰̫̖̺̞͕͖̰̮̣̖͉̤̰̠͕͆̓́̍̾̈́͑̀̔̊̉̈̅̌̅̾̈́͐̒̈́̕ ̶̬͎̬̭͉̥͕͂͂̉̐͋̆̅̆̆̀̿͗͌̾̓͑̇̂͒͑̒̍͜͝͠͝m̵̺͎͈̯̆u̷̧̧̦͕̺̜̼͕͚̮̪̬̞̬̳͍̯̬̯̪͔̼̜̹͉̩̜̯̒̓͒̎̽͝C̵̛̛͚̬͉͐̓̏̉̽̓͗̄͛͗͜͝h̴̢̧̡̡̳̖̳̠̦̯̞̜̰̣̬̬̲̘̜̮́̈̈́̎̽̅͐̑͒̐̽͌̀̈́͛͛̍̒͗̍̊̀̚̕̕ ̷̧̛̠͉͖̙̜̱͎̬̩̭̰͕͙͍̪̤̪͍̭͗͊̎́̈́̀́̃̀̕͜T̷̬̠̞͈̼̖͔̖̯̹̥̐̀̆͗̀̈́̄͜o̴̢̨̡̙͓͎͔͔̩͉̝̠̱̥̞̳͖͉͍̫̬̞͒̐̿͒̊̔͝Ǫ̶̛̛̘͎̜̽͐̔̒͛͐̋̑͋̒̽̒͌̈́͊̑̔͑̀̉̓̀̄͐͘̕ ̷̢̨̢͓̰͈̫̯͈̝̰̱̤̰͍̣̥͈̤̮̯̥̭̰̟̂͊͊͗́͜ͅM̸̡̱̩͓̰͈̲̱̦̭͓̰̳̹̯͚̳͚͉̝̩̌̏̊u̶̢͈̲͓͙̺̜̞̙̙̥̇̑̉̒͗̀̓̀̀͌̑C̵̼̳̭̔́H̶̨̭̺̝̠̲̮̘̻̙̠̙͙͓̠̓̇̈́́͋͗̆̎̿͠ͅ ̴̟͖̺̗͉̦̙̰͆̉́̔͗͐́̈́̉͌͆̐̈́́̈́͌͜͝͠͝T̶̹͎̼͇͈̠̖̠̜͖̜͔̣͎̙͍́̾͆̍̑͒̂̀̔̇̊̈́̿̋̎͐͂͜͜͝͝͝ͅǑ̶̢̼̺͖̳̥̣̞̳͓̮͖̎͋͂̊́̈́̐͛͒͑́́̆̄̈̕͜͝͠ͅO̶̢̻̩͑̈̈͛̏̉͋̎̋̇͐̋͗̓̓͑̅̏̇̕͠͠ͅ ̷̧̻͓̣͚̝̣̮̯̯̥̳̣̞̪̙͇̻̓̀̂̔̈̌̎͛̏̈́͐̊̔͊͊̏̈́̏̃̋̉͒̔̋̊̚͘͘͠ͅM̴̢̨̫͉͍̞̗̣̖͉͙̱͍̙̦͍̞̮̼̜̲̥̞̱͍͒̒̓̋͊̔͐̐̚̕ͅÙ̴̡̦͇͈͇̜̳̦̫̝̈́̽̆͒͆̊͗͘̕C̵̢̖̠̙̹͎̗̮̫̮̳̙̗̭͓͚̓̅̏̎͌̈̿͜Ḧ̶̢̢̢̪͙̣̮̺̯̤̤͎͎̮̝̺̳̳͖̻̘͓̘̲̩̆͋̉̉ͅ-̷̧̧̨̫̗̟̟͔̮̼̻̯̼͍͓͓̘͍̗̳̭̭̥̠̱̹́̆̉̀̿́̓̓̀̃̆́͛͠!̵̧̛̙͓͓̫̝̻̗͉̤̺̘̣̤̩̗͙͈͋̎̆̋̂̿̀̾̍̀̇̂̐̒̌̉͒͆̑̚͘͜͠!̴̢̢̡͉̞̮̬͔̣̮͔͖͓̘͔͖͇̼̦̙̟̱̝̝̎͊̑̇̓̓̈́̿́̈́́̔̕͝͝

     …cub-mine-urgent-plea-calm-calm-calm-calm-plea-

     -anger-urgent-fierce-determination-order- “-ack! Get back, guys!”

     Ḩ̷̟͔̯̰̺̦̣̰̯̱̪͈̥̌͗̋̿̋͊́̑̂͘̕Ų̷̡̨̢̡̧̮̗̠̱͚̠̼̥̙͓̹̱̲̱̺̣̭̳̤̺͉̿̉́̐͐͒̇͊̆͌͂̒̈̅́̾̍̏͋͂̈́̓̈́͘̕͘͝͝Ŗ̵̱̳̼̺̙̹͎̻̫̣̙̬͖̝̦̦̟͖͛̒̈͐͂̇̑̏̃́̋̈́̓̆̒̓̾͜͠Ţ̵͙͍͔̣͎͈̟̟̅ͅS̶̪̳̦͕̟̻͙̮̱̜͓̖͓͖͓̪̲̤̖͕̟̟̩̺̫͙̰̏͠͠ ̵̨̛͙͓̟͕̭̪̟̭̺̯͈͈̟̗͗́̀̄̾̌̔̾̍̓̓͊̆̉̏̈̂̆̊͆̅͑̃̈́̓͘̕͜͜͝ͅḦ̶̢̛̪̻͙̬͙̥̖̲̝̗͕̙͙̩̻̪̜̮̘̝͚̪́̉̃̉̄́̅͛̽̋͘͜͜͜͝U̴̢͙̳͍̘̜̓͒͊̇̃̈́͋̅̌̓̈͐͆͐̌̈̔̈́͌̉̆̓̍̕̕͜R̴̢̛̯͖̫̪͙̳̮̥͇̫̥͍̪̿͂͛́̅̓̒́̎̎̉͌̐̔͘͜͜͜ͅT̴͇̮̥̭̪̮̦̰͍̲͕̓͛̈́́͐̇̒̉̂͛̏͛̍̏͒̉̀͜͠Ş̵̛̥̪̤̭͓̘̺̗͍͎̙̙̭̳͇̙̥͓̳̆̍̊͒́̎́̑͆́ͅ ̸̧͙̥͈̻͉̻͍̮̰̪̆͒͊̈́͐̂̋̎̕H̷̛̩̄̓̑͗̎̓͌̽̇̎̃̏̎̾̇̑͂̈̚U̸̡̢̡͙̜̙̻̘̞͍̫̳͍̘̯̩͕̘͔̤̟̪͑̈́̿͠R̵̨̖̻̝̳̠̖̩̀̊̆͛̉͌̌́̈́́̽͆̇̈́̓̌̂́̎̐̉̓̉͋͋͋̐T̴̩̪͕͙̭̳̮̰̱̘̭͖̦̹̤̲͚̹͈͈͇̃͐͌̀S̷̨̭͎͙͔̥̠̞͖̪͇̝͉͔̝̪̝͓̺͊̅̌̑̈́͛͒͌̆́̀̓̆̑͂̿̊̾̑͜ ̶̱̹̫̙̝̥͗̈͆̽̌̿͒͆͌̐̉̓̈́̔̓̐̓̓͂̎͐̀H̴̭̟͇̟̭͚͍͍͇͈̰̬̼̙͔̒́̏̽͑̈́̿̉͒̓̾̆͆̌̅͗̔̀̆̚͝ͅU̴̡̥̟̗̗̳̝͍̦̬͍̝̪̯̞͙̺͌̅̇͋́̀́͋̀̓̾͊̓̾͛͆̚͠ͅR̸̡̿̒́̄T̵͍͈͂̃͐͋̌͋̒̌͒̀̌͌̅̑͋́S̴̡̧̡̫̤̖̻̯̻̭̟͔͕̺̦̫͚̘̦̱̰̮͙̝͍͂̓̌̓͊́͒͐͑̓̃̽̍̔̔͗̑̉͐̌͐͋͜͠͠ ̴̧̛͔̮̭̜̪̈̌̋͋̎̔͋̌̽̄͊͘͝H̶̦̽̋͠͠Ṷ̸̡̡̡̯̝͈̳͉̠͖̹̍͌̕ͅR̷̟̟͉̩͇͉͔̣̱͙͕̿͌͑͆͗́͐̓̀͐͆͛̑̂̕͘͠͝ͅT̶̨̫̋̇͒͛͗̇̃̈̈̇̏̀͗̇̊̇̚͝͝S̴̡̢̖͖̝̩̺̮̟̞̳͕̪̃͂̔̑̔̊̈́̑̍͒̍̕͜͜͠͝-̷̡̨̧̪̹̪͔͈͈̣̦̥̣̖͋̈̍̈̓͒̉̽͂͌̓̌̂̄̿̃͐̈̊̐̃̃̌̊͌͠͠ͅ!̵̛̗̠̞̔̂͌̈̂͛̌̅̉́̃̔̆̇̈͑͆͊̌̕͝!̸̛̩̬̪̜̺̟̈͌̏̾̅̎̃̉̒̈́͑̀͆͛͛̋̀͆̾̌̓͛̐̚͠͝͠!̶̢̡̛͇̫̗̩͔̬̼͚̳͕̖͍͇̺̥͉̭̮̟̳̘̻͈͖̤̍̈́̈̿̌̔́̋̀̾̉͂̔͑͗͌̄̽̕̕ͅ

     -fear-urgency-fear-urgency-fear-

     -fear-confusion-hurt-anger-

     -fear-hesitance-confusion-determination-

     -̷̡̡̲̟̻̰͙͖̫͍͔̝̮̳̬̥̟̬̱̭̭̪̏͗Ţ̵̧͈̯̞͔͍̦͇̬̪̖̳̬̗̬̳̼̻̠͛̾̓̂͛͂͋̈̽͑͐̉͐͋̋͐̌͌̋̏͂͆̋͒͘̚͜͝ͅǪ̴̧̰̠̥̠̳͍͉̥̭̗͈̮̩̗̹̙͓͓̊̔͛̈́̎͘͜͝ͅƠ̴̛̹̼̬̮̫̔͛͆̽̈̎͐͑̀̊͂̊̏̑̽̈́̇̇͋͂̈̕̚͜͠ ̸̢̘̜̱̹̤͎̖͎̐̌̽̒̇̍̎̎̌̓̿͂̅̿̈͛̓̀̔̄͗̈́͋͘̚͘͠ͅM̶̻̩̄͘͝Ų̵̞̯̜͉̦͇̥̳͚̪͖͎̲̘̦͓͑̔͊́͋̀͐̌͆̓͜C̵̡̫̤̗̱̩͕͍̅̈̈́̄̅̏̍̓̌̎̌̀̓̾̓̾̂̚͠H̷̡͎̩̥̗̻̱͚̺͚͕̱͎̜̩̠̪̳̭̗̻̥̓̓͌̀̈͊͂͠ ̴̨̡̡̥̥̼̼̪̻̣̯̥͇̺͚̦̹̰̑̈̾̏̅͑̌̒̌̊̈́̔̊́̊͊̓̎̽̃̅̓̂̕͘͜͠ͅT̵̡̘̫̼̤̭͎͕̻̺̩͓͈͙̯̣̟̻̥̖̩͎̺̜̮̓̒̍̅̂̈́̈́̈́̾̅̃̀̓͗͐̔͛̕͜͝O̸̢̢̢̨̢͖̖̹̮͍̗͉̞̥͓̘̮̬͉͎̞̗͍̩̹͓͑̆̇̆̌̾̔̑̕͜͝Ơ̵͔̮̠͚̹͈̭̞̹̯̅̍̈́̃̌̌̿̐̊͗̔̀͑́̇̿̕͜͝ ̸͙̻̬̬̬͎̝̫͇̘͉̠̥̮̹̫̞̝́̒̽́̾̋͂̾̈́͆̅͆͊͑͑̾̿͒͑̃̃̏̌̾̆̈́̈́̕̚͝M̶̧͓̌̏͊̐̈́̀̊͌̓̅̈́̓̂̈̌͝͠͠U̴̥͎̱̟̝̒͐̈́̈́̂͐͘Ç̶̡̛͖̜͉͇̠̞͓͓̖̹͖͔̗͎̻͙̤̳̪͙͉̘̤̱̎̿͊̎̈̈̀̋̈́̀̉̒̅̾̏̚͘͘Ḧ̴̡̧̧̨̞̰̜̻͚̼̘̤̤̦͇̘̝̠̲͉̝̈́͗̒͗̌̃͒̇͌̓̊̚͜͝͝ ̵̧̢̤͙̥̭̻̹̱͖̠̟̭̃̔̊̃̐͛́͊̾̎̊̅̔̆̓̈̋̈̏͠͝͝S̷̥̮̰̳̘͓̥̟̜̱͍̞̣̜͍̟̪͈̳̼͓̱̗̻̣͕̩̀̇̓̔̓̓̃̕͝͝ͅT̶̝̩̪͎̠́́͛̐͋̂̈́̌͒͒Ǫ̴̛̭̣̜͕͍͓͚͓̮̖̙̙̠͚̰̞̞̮͕̈̑̈͗̐̽̐̀͊́̅̏̈́̀́̔̔̓̉̓̓̆̀̇̾͆̕͜͝͠ͅP̴̢̢̙̤̼͕̺̟̪̲͉͍͎̱͉̖̰͕̩͕̥͉̖̔͛̇́͊͒̋̿̾̇̈́͊̂͆̐̌̾͐̌́͝͠͝͝ ̷̧̨̨͙͔̩̮͇̳͓̯̦͙̊̍̍̃́͌̅͐́̀͌̈́̋̈́̈́͌̅̋̉̋̓̾̏͋̈́͘̕͠͠Ḥ̷̡̡̥̘̞͎̠̹̗͉̣̲̺̣͍̞̠͎̣̳͊͒̇̉̓͌̏͐̈́̓̆̏̑̚͜͝͠͝Ử̶̧̢̤͖͙͈͔͕̲̹̠̻̖̙͇̬̯̬̙̬̭͖͉̟̯̳͇̲̋́́̓̈́͑̄͊̊͂́̓̈R̶͖̜̦͇̝͙̘̤̯̿̊͛͂̌̉͋͆̓̓̐̓̐̆͗̓͆̔̾́͛͊̎͑̕̕͘̚̚͜Ţ̸͍̹̞̹̥̹̲̺̜͖͖̹̣̿̓̒̏̏͛̈͘̕̕͜Ś̴̨̨̨̡͉̖̻̝̦̬̞̳̪̞̼̹̺͇͙͚̗̠̫̱̫̃̔̑̂̈́͆̉͒̒̌̏̈́̋͋͌̚̚ͅ ̵̛͚̲̞̟̟̗̯̙̒̓̓̅͌̎̑̋͗̚P̴̯̦̝̯̘͓̭̰̅͑̉́̆͜L̵̨̼͒̓̋̉̓̄͆̊́̓͐̅́͒̐͛̏̈́̐̑̂̐̒͋́̓̍̔̐͝Ȩ̵̛͖̟̠̩͇̘̙̠͉̝͓̹̺͔̺̅̊̐̏͆͂̽Ą̵̠͙͍͉͕͙̞̩̩̮̯̺̲̮̠̠̪̙̹͎͔̖͋̌͌̍͊̎́̅́͐̓͐͌̐̂̒̏̈̎̄͘̚͝S̶̺̮̩̼̹̗̗̿̔͆̓̏̎̀̍̾̎͒̈͋̑͘͝͠E̷̠̳̝͓͕̬̗̭̝͍̗̘̻̻͚̬͚̝͇̩̟̥̦̣̗̼̠͗͊̈̓͐̔̄͆́̈́̈́̾́̏̆̍̃̿̕͜͝͝͝-̷̡̯̠̹̗͍̺̮͔̟̳̮̤̊̄͆̃̒̈̎̈̉̈́́͗̽̓̀̓̏ͅͅ!̸̡̮̩̤̬͈̼̳̟͎̩̙̰͓̰̻̤̯̩̭͖͇͈̭̋̒̅͋̓̌͌̎̽̾͋̽͜!̵̡̧̧̛̛̫̺͔͎̼͎͙̬͍̫͙̩̖̳̩̰̝̫̌̀̽̄̓̏̃͌̎̈́̃̌̉́̏̓̓̋̂͗̃͐̈́̀̕͜͠ͅ!̵̨͙͔̄̾͒́

     “Coran, we nee…” -desperate-plea-

     -cub-mine-plea-comfort-calm-plea-

     -determination-assurance-fierce-

     S̵̨̡̛̻͚̣̲̿̏̀́́̔́͒T̸̢̢̨͍͍̱͔̜͖͚͕̫̼̩̝̥̖̟͍̖̤̣̼̜̤̣̝͒͂Ơ̵̡̡̢̡̡̞̖̬̫̯̱̥͖̼̤̤̖̮̘̻͓͇̬͈̫̝̔̎̈́̒̈́̑͆̊̆̃͒̚͜͠P̴̡͇̗̯̬̈ͅ ̶̡̫͓͋̒͗͐́̓͛̎́́̑͋̄͂̍̂̈́͠P̵̧͙̭̩̘̼̝͖͚̽͐̍̀L̶̲̥̜͙̖̬̞̙̟̝͈̰̼̫̳̰͖͔̓̍̔͝E̷̛̗͎̹̮͇̖͚̅̌͗̇̊̂̈́̽̒͌͆͒̿̂͗͑̆̂͆̌̅̊̕̕A̶̧̢̫̞͉̹̦̲̲̖̅̆́́̓̿͌̌̍͒͗̇̑̏̆̌̅̀̅̆͜͠͠ͅͅŞ̷̱̮̯̗̭̖͇̪̆̇͂̅͑͛͌̽̕ͅȨ̵̡͕̰̲̣͍̤̜̖̻͕̮͕͎̼̍́̊̔͌̑̏̆͋̈̇̍͛̌̋̐̆͋̐̿͌͋̑̕͝͝͝ͅ ̴̢̺̙̲̖̥̖͕̤͚͔̞̭̎̀̔̈́͒́̓̄͑͛̿̈́̓̍̂̂͐͜͜͠ͅS̷̡̡̰̤̮̥͍̦̃̏̍͋̏͠T̴̨̝̳̗̳͈͈̘̗͍̤͉̠͓̬̹͚̘̦͇͚̖̺͋̀̾́̀͂̆̒̒̽̍̂́̇̽͊͑͛͆͊̀̓̕̚͘͝ͅͅÔ̶̢̨̨̧̨̻̖̫̪̮̺̞̠̻͕͓̮̻̼̯̻̦̩̘͉̓̀̃͌̿͛͐́͌͐͐̀͛̕͝͝ͅͅͅP̷̧̢̡̙̘̰̫̝̣̤̰̺̤͓̭̞̥̜̪͇͇̭͇̭͓͒̅̍͌͘͜-̴̡̨̢̧̛͓̩̤͕͍̱̥̪̳̻̬̖̭̤̙̲̩͔̞̺̖͎̳͖́́̀͋̈́͌̋͌̍͌͆̀̔̕̚͜͝͝ͅ!̵̧̡̧̡͙͙̥̪̗̠̯̻̻͓̮̣͍̗͙͖͓̲͚̪̟̞̍̎͂͋̌̾̍̀͜͠!̵͚̝̠̟̻̰̹̟͙͉̖̼̩̠̮̞̮͈͚̠̲̞̖͚͕̗̬̯̉̀̏̒͌͐̽́̿̈́̀̄̍͘̚͜͜͝͠͝͝

     -concern- …eeps getting more agitat…”

     “Keith-!” -fear-pain-

     -hope-concern- “…lura’s coming?”

     Ḧ̶̨̡̛͕͍̪̜͕͙̮̭̹̞̌̆̿̐̍̊̊̀͋Ų̵̢̨̱̹̫͖̪̱͕̩̙̳̮͖̬̯̲͊̾̑̅͊̽͑̿̈͆̆̆̌͊̂͌͂̔͛͊̈́̊̽̊͋͘̕͝͝͝R̷̨̡̧̨̛̛̠̰͉͕̱͚͎͖͉̣̻̱͔̟̦̮͛̀̆̿̉̎͗͒̊̅͒̇̓̈͂̕͠͝͠T̸̨̨̺͉̫̣̤͔̣̪̠͍̹͆̇̈̈́͒̃͛̋̑̈́̌̀̈́̀̇͘̕͘̕͠͝S̶̙̻̪̘̲̬̤̠͉̞͚̔̍̓̿͛͊̄͒̒̒̅̕̚͝-̴̢̙̖͇̠͚͝

     -anger-fear-refusal-

     -cub-mine-plea-

     Ņ̴̛̲̭̖͖̰̙̒̌̐̑͗̿̈̒́̕Ơ̸͎̈́̎̇͐͛͂̑̅̌ͅ ̷̨̧̡̨̺̞̩̞͎̞̠̯̺̲̦̖͈̞̩̣̠̫̬͂̓̂̍̌̆̆͐̓̑͆̉̉͋̓̂͒̄̐Ḧ̶̨̡̛͕͍̪̜͕͙̮̭̹̞̌̆̿̐̍̊̊̀͋Ų̵̢̨̱̹̫͖̪̱͕̩̙̳̮͖̬̯̲͊̾̑̅͊̽͑̿̈͆̆̆̌͊̂͌͂̔͛͊̈́̊̽̊͋͘̕͝͝͝R̷̨̡̧̨̛̛̠̰͉͕̱͚͎͖͉̣̻̱͔̟̦̮͛̀̆̿̉̎͗͒̊̅͒̇̓̈͂̕͠͝͠T̸̨̨̺͉̫̣̤͔̣̪̠͍̹͆̇̈̈́͒̃͛̋̑̈́̌̀̈́̀̇͘̕͘̕͠͝S̶̙̻̪̘̲̬̤̠͉̞͚̔̍̓̿͛͊̄͒̒̒̅̕̚͝ Ś̸̡̧̧̞̱̖̯̗̳̞͇̯̹̜͇̫̫͕͇͇͍̩̟̩̀͋͛̈͋̄̎̿̔͐͐͊͊̉͋́́͂̋̊͜͜͠T̸̨̨̨̛͔̥̗͉̱̝̪̻̪͈̥͈̀͛̾̏̽́̅͐́̒̌̀̔̎̊͆͘̕͜͜͝͠O̶̡̮̥̣͇͕̤͕̯͎̖̺̲͇̠̠̗̭͇̥͈̜̣̥̞̹͎͋͑̔͆̌͘͘ͅͅP̷̧̧̨̛̘̣̫͙̪̮̥͈͎̭̘͐̅̀̇̃͛̓̈́̆̎͘-̶̧̧̛̣̪͙͎͚͙̭͇̪͕̯̫̼̣͚̊͊̈́͛̃͆̈́̊̇͂́͌̓͠͝-

     -hesitance-desperate-hope-plea

     -anger-hurt-concern-fear-desperate

     Ṡ̷̢̙̗̀̽͌̑̏̔̿̉̂͊̇̚̕̕͝͝T̴̛̪͖̤̬̺͕͓͇̭̞̮̦̭̻̀͐̋̒̓̄̄̾́̈́̄͆̃̈̋͒̐̊̔́̾́͊̚͘̕͝͝ͅ-̵̡̢̪̥̮̳͓̦̰̮̮̫̱͂̔̄̓̉̌̏͘͠ͅs̶̰̻̜̳̰̱̭̘̟̙̲̱̟̟̗͔̘̦̖̹̥͇̆̀̿̎͌̄̓̚͘͝͝T̶̪̪̩̬̬̠̜͍̓͋̋͗̿̇̌́́̀̇͑͐̇͒͝Ǒ̴̡̨͇̱̤͎͓͍͍͇̰̱̇̏̌̆͌͐̀͊̌̍̆̓͊̐̾̍͂̌̅̚͘̕͘͜ͅṖ̸̧̤̣̦͇̘͉̦̗͈̲̘̒͛̆̅̑͋͑̋̏͋͌̽̈́͛̀̑̆̍͐̑͠͝͝͝͝ͅ ̵̧̧̛̫̪̳͉̘̩̻̺̟̪͚̜͚̓̑͆̂̔̀̈́̇̑̒͊͌͊̅̋̾̕͝͠P̷̢̢̞̱̪̭͎̮͈̘̩̗̫̭̭̱̼͇͖̣͎͚̦͋͊̀͐̄̔̅̈́͊̄͋̅̀̉̍̔͌́͆̋̾̔͝͠L̸̨̢̧̨̛̥͎̤̭͕̥̼̤̥̩͇͓̦̥͚̃̓̀̏̀͆́́̐̎̎̊̕͘̚͝͝ḛ̸̡̟̞̪͙͈͓̹͎͔̰͌̎̽̀͒̄̑̽̍̈́͊͗͗̈̔̀̋͘͠à̴̡̜̫̱͎̪͇̫͈̹̗̠̗͕̗̞̥͕̳̜͚͍̬̠̣̤́̐͂̐̐̿́̒̾̑́̎̋̓͊͜͝͝͝S̷̢̨̛̛̱̮̪̤̞͎̙̺͙͚̺̖̣͇̲̘̘̞̗̙̳̬͚̓͗͐̈̇͒̓̌͛̄̐͒̏͆͛͠͝͝ͅĘ̶̢̛̞̼̳̪̼̮̺̺̦̭͓̠͖̜̥̪̗̲̹̜͕̱̀̈́̐̏̂̍͌̎̅̀̓̽͠ͅ ̷͉̜̲͖̣͓̪̦̼̲͓̼̥̥̪͕̺̳͍̙̪̓̅̅̒̂͐́͂͘͜ͅS̴̨̫̖̳̭̗̗͉̳͚̪͊̈́͒͒̇̀͛̅̉͐̽͝͝͠t̸̨̛͇͔̯̰͓͓͓̞͔͕̥͖̤̔̐̉̊́̒̈͐̽̈́̓͂͗̑͛͂̕̚ͅƠ̵̻̱̤̗̹̞̣̪̿̓̊̐́͗̅͗̈́̃͋̀̅̐͋̕P̴̭͈͙͔͍͖͙̪̰͓̦̟̅̐͗̽̔̽̔̉̍̐̔̌̔̄̀̏̄̒̚̚͠͠-̵̨͎̮̜̭̖̩̖̤̥̤̱͍͉͍̰̹̖͎͎̝͇̤̫̬̅̾͋̽̒̈́͗͋̋̑̾͗̒̆͑́̃̍̕͜͠!̴̘͉͉͖̜̜̝̲͖̜̟̾͊!̸̡̥͚̮̺͎̗̯̥̻̭̠̝̻̫̦̬͖̰̖͎̲͚́̀̔̇̍̄̑̇͐̾̔͆͂͝

     “…hiro, none of us know how…” -plea, concern-

     …gency-determin…

     -cub-mine-calm-plea-

     -fierce-anger-refusal-concern-     

     -̸̢̜̙̓́̋̐̈̀̔̽̇͋̎̽̄́̅̄͊͑̄̍͑̔͌͆̑́̌͘͠n̴̡̳̪̻͍͓̙͔͖̼͖̳͔̥̱̙͔̦̠͈̯̝̤̯̱̐̋͐́̽̐̈́̎͜ǫ̶̨̩͕̭̖̜̲̦̖̻͔͚̻̹̬͉̿͌̈́ͅņ̵̘̯̯͙̥̭̳͉̣͈̭̺̹͖͙͇̜̤̱̙̔̉͗̒̄̈́̌͋͂̂̀͋͒͗̂̔́̊͑̏̑̉̀͂͜͜͜͝͝ó̵̢̟̝̯̘̄̒͋̌͑ ̷̨̡̡̨̪̦̤̜̘̜̦̯̪̥͈̝̺͇̗̦̰̦̯̞̦̫̼̤̇̈̔̾̑̅̄̈́̽͐̓͑̑͌̿̐̒̃̽̍́̿̑͒̚͘͜͝͝͝͠P̸̢̹̮̼̙̬̯̭̮̲̟̩͇̼̟͈̲̬͎͉͖̜̓̍̽͌̀͗͗̀̃́͗L̷̙̣̠͕̇̃̾̀̂̿̾͗͌͗̓́̄͂̉̈́̏͑̎̉̎̒̑͘͘͝͠͝e̸̡̨̡̡̛̛̲̗̻̳̼͔͓̞̖͖̖̟̮̯͚̝̺͚͉̘̓̓̀̀̒̔̅̿̂͐͊ą̴̛̥̪̪̞̭̤̠̩̯̟̖̅͋̓̇͋͆̽̿ͅŞ̴̛̖̹͇̫̗̱̱̹̹̞͙͎̟̣̪͙͕̙͙̭̪̦̠̩̘̈̌̊͐̍̎̊̿̕ͅͅĘ̸̛̭̥͚͈͇̪͈͔̞͊̈́̍̈́̅́͆̍̍̅͋̌̿̿́͛̓̔̽̂͛͛̌̌̒̾ͅ ̷̗̩̱͓͇̣̤͗̌̈́̂́͛́͂͋̿̈́́̀̈́̓̈́̅̆̿͑̿͌̚̕s̵̗̬̹̟̗͍̲̗̺̙̑́̆́͑̊͐̓͆̃̓T̸̨̢̧̨͙̫̪͉̞̝̼̖̮̜̞͍̤͉̰͉̣̰̺̗́̋̓̓̆̆̍̂̒͐͋̔̽̄̚ͅǫ̵̦̮͎͎͚̮̗͎̖̻̯̼̬̤̞͊̀̈̀̇̕̚͝p̴̨̺̹͙̭̦̹͌́̓̎́͑̄̇́͑̋̽̕͘̕͘̕͘͝ ̶̢̛̗̻̖͇͕̖͙̻̲̦̠̜̤͖̘̟̥̬̗̭͐̄́͗̀̉͐̏͌́̅̌̔̏͆͆̔͊̉͑́̅͘̕̕͘̚͘͝S̴̠͕̰̥̒͆̎̓̑̊͒̆̃̎́̑͆̒̽̔̈̓́͐̚͝T̴͔̥̠̪̦̞͖͇̥̿̏̃̈́̄̈̋͝Ô̴͔͓̘̺͓̺̻͉͎̄͗̊́̀̎̋̅̏́̈́P̸̨̢̡̛̟͉̰̜̪͍͔̥̫̻̩̺͎̰͈͕̬̟̘͙̱̘͓̱̼̠͓͆̈́̈́̈́͆̔̂͂͛̏̍̿̕ ̵̢̛̙̩͈͇̥͔͙̟̙͖̙̭͙͉̇̆̉͂̉̐̀̓͛̈͐̐̓͑̓̓̈́̿̒̐̑̃̕̕͜͝I̷̡̨̢̫͈̺͎͈̦͙̳̪̱̞̹͍̼̖̟̤͉̪͖̜̺̓̌̇͆̽̾̓̄̉͆̏̓͆͝͝ͅ ̵̧̥̩͔̩̫̟̜̤͖̫̰͔͉̘̣͎̪̳̪͎̲̐̂̽̑͑̀̊̀̊́́͜͠ͅC̵̗̠͍̼̾͋͗̑͒̋̀̀̚͝͝Ą̶͖͚̞̲̹͓͎͎̠͙̖̘̗͈̠͇̞͙̫̠̞̭̥̜̗̽͋̏̾̔͊͜n̶̨̢̛̜̤̗͔̲̝̜̯̣͎̜̯̜̘͇͇̖͔̭̦̯̭̥͕̋̋̎̂̆́̀͂̎̅̄̔͒̃̆͒̕͝’̸̛͚͎̮̤͓͉̖̱͍̼͇̙̞̒̑̓͗̑̉̕t̵̨̟̥̮͙̪̫̮̰͈̬̰̳̄̈́̿̍̔̓͜͝-̵̧̧̡̨̜͙̣͓̫̰̦͇̝̖̹̙̪̖͓̣͎̼͓̭́͌̈́̿̄̑͐̔́̉͗͌͒̈́̑̃̿͗̂̈́͊̿̀̀̚͝!̴̡̡̛̝̟̰͈̜̫̪̗͓̺͈̙̭̬͍̤̠̪̜̘̲͉̩̰͐̂̈̀̑͛̋̕͜ͅ

     -desperate-fear-urgency-grief-exhaustion-plea-

     -comfort-cub-mine-calm-calm-calm-

     -plea-

     -̴̨̣̻̟̤̼̟̞̥̤̗̱̈̈́͊̽̂͒̓̒͗̇̈́̎̕p̴̧̼͇̞̱̖͙̺͍̩̺͖̞͙̮̘͕̙̾-̵̪̜̯̟̩̼̗̳̻͕̳͙̭͖̼͎̱̗̠͛̏͗̾̽̅̀̓̋͒̑͂̌̀͊̓͌́̀̽̒͒̐̄͘͜͝͝͝͠p̵̧̛̖̬̞̞̘̮̰̥̦̼͓̳̞͖͖̦̖̍̋̉̑̽͛̓͂̓̏̑͋́̊̓̎̒̈́̆͌͒̕͘͠͝͠l̴̡̤͙̳͓̳̱̟̪̮̫͎̙͎͔̜̱͕̮̙̜̣̥̼͒̈̂̂͋̐͆͜͜͝ͅe̸̡̨͙̙͍͔̻̗͙̻͍̹̭̬̲̪͉͉̦̞̰̭̝͎̝̭̐͌͆͋̆̉̆͊͌̊͂̀̇̚͜ͅa̴̛̭͓̬̭̜̤͔̤͖͂̐̆͗̔̏̑̋̎͒̌̽̂̅̽̑̔͒͌̾̌͝ŝ̷̢̡̜̬̲̜̼͚͈̞̞̖͉̮͓̹͙̺͙̰͕̗̖̉̂̽̓̋̑̒͋͛̇̓̉͋̊̐̿̔̈́́̑́͗̎̊́͛͐͜͝ͅe̷̡̨̧̫̹̲̯̠̩͖͖̭͓̜̭̔̑͐̑͊͑̌͌͌̄̌̎̚͜͝…̵̡̡̨̯͙̣͇̞̯͇̖̘͚̦̜̣̜̹͙̑̏̊̏̀́̔͘̕͜͠͝͝

     -urgency-want-hesitance-

     surprise-recognition-hope-

     recognition-fierce-anger- “…er out…!”

     n̷͇̘̟͉̗͍̦̝̙̆̇̄̈́̔̽̀o̵̺̎́̔̓͗̕n̴̨̼͕̩̹͙̺̱̘͎̈̆́̀̀̆̈̑̽̀̄̊̕͝͠ͅƠ̶̛̛͔͓̝͎̱̳̦͈͈̫̰̈́͛̊͗̔̌̎̃͋̎̂͗͒̎̉͆͋̏̎͑̐͐̅̔͋̉͠Ṅ̸͓̥̜̬̭͌̍́̾́͗̐̎͊̌̋̂͊́̕͜͝͝͠O̴̧͚̯̗̝̦̤͍̭͉̱̖͍̖͖̠͎̪͐̄́̋̈͛̓͜ͅ N̸̢͖̠͕̫̳̳͖̱̙̈́̍͒͆͋͛̈́́͆̒̀͊̈͗̑͂͆̉̃̍̀̿̏͗̓̾͐͐͝͝Ớ̷̧̛̹̗͍̬̜̱̩̬̻̲͕̟͚͉̲̈́̋̈́̔̊́̈́̑́͝ ̷̡̢͇̯͙̣̱̿͆̾͑͛́͗̏̎̄̈́͌͊̌̄̔̌̆̊̈̽̓̈́̈́͊̚͝͝͝M̶̢͖̩̫̯̙̻̟̹̫̟͕̫̫̟̍͌̽̓̚Ȯ̶͙̳̰̦́͌́̎͘̕͝͝R̷͚̱̤̟͙̙̺͎̾͊̈́͆͋̉̈̅͊̕ͅE̸̘͎̩͉̞͈̒̓̄͋͒̈̎͛̕-̷̧̦̯̦̟͎̃̂̈́̓̀̂̆̈́̈͐̂̀͊͘!̸̨̡̡̨̢̛̺̮̭͙̗̟̜͕̘̬̹͚̤̤͓̤͎͇̙̞͖̥̓̅̓̈̍̂̓̀̿̿̍̈́̾̈̔̀̅̀͌͋͛̕̚͝ͅͅ!̶̛̛͇̻̟̟́̈́͐̋̀̾̀̃̑͒̈́͑̈́́̃͜͝͠͝͠

     “P-Please, I only-” -grief-

     -refusal anger-

     -plea-terror-desperation-

     S̶̛͓̥̱̄̿͗͒̀̐̇̂̆̀͐͆̈́́̈́̈́̈́̓̕͝͠T̶̨̧̨̨̨̢̗͕͖̱̞͕̪͕̠̮̣͕̝͍͙͔̙̘̭̟̤̃͊͜ơ̷̱̳̞̜͔̫̼͙̣̤̬̲̘̱̤̳̫̤̗̯̩̠̙̦̻̓͑̈́̅̔́͛̈́͐̌̐͜P̴̡̨̨̢͖̰̮̺͙̫̦͙͚̲̼̟͓̖̖͈͖̺̻̀̿̈́̋̓̐̇̎̑̓̽͂̊͜͜ͅ ̶̢͉̙̥̖͇̝̼̘̞̩͍̟̼̭͈͋͝ͅŞ̴̪͌͛͐̋͌͑͛̓͂̀̂T̸̡̡͔̠̹̱̳͖̮̹̦̬͖̮̗̤̳̜̤̠̯̳̼̞̎̅͂͒̅̈̇͌͂́̏̎́̃̈̽͂̕͜͠͠͝O̵̡̨͙̥͛̄̀͋̀̀̃̇͘̕̚͠P̸̡̡̱̝̱͓͓̺̳͎͎̫̯̲͕̥̜̘̥̣͈͙̽͋͊̈́̌̎͗́̿̓̈͗͌̽̀̕͝ ̶̢̢̨̡̨͍̘̼̟̞̫̠̺͎͇̼̯͎̠͙̪̩͙̪̩̯̘̊̈́̇́͗̒͛̅̔́̀̅̂̇̀͗̆̊͠͝ͅI̵̧̧̨̛̮̰̞̜͖̹̳̜̰̦̺̘̯̬̙̹̋̾̊͆̀́̂́͆̈́̊͒͛̕͝ ̶̼̼̝̫̙̃ć̴̡̡̧̠̫̹̙̲̯̜̺͓͎͙̗̹̩̗̣̥̺̥̺̲̲̫̠̘̐̈́͒̊͘͜͝A̸̛̛̛̠̺̣̬̯͔̅̓̽͊̓̑͛̿͋̓͌̾̈́̈́͑̽́̀͊̑͗͝͠͝͝N̷̢͍̯̦̯̗̫̰̻̩̬̜̣̠̳̰͎͎͈̱̹̮̜̥̗̏̇̏͋̄̿̋͝͝͠͝’̸̨̨̧̛̙͎͚̖̦͉̣̰̗̹̰̩̗̋̂̈́̎̀͗̂͊͊͝͠t̴̨͉͕͙̰̭̭̝̙̫͍̼̻͓̩̞̦̰̞̠̠̬̗̿̆͂̂͒͒̅̈́̎̈́̒̋̑͋͑̄͜-̷̧̡̧͇͔̼̣̯̞̖̳̫̗̠̝̻͚̙̙̝͙̭̺̩͙͖̥̟̾́́́̚͜!̷̢̣̝̬̋̂͆̋͘͠!̸̧͙̠̻̱͔̗͈́̋́̕

     -cub-mine-!

     -anger-grief-hesitance-fear-

     -assurance-fear-plea-

     …̵̲̲͘S̵̗͈̘̳̩͓̼̪̦̖̍̕t̸͚̞̳̰̮̩͚͉̩̦̤̻̠̿̃͐̈́͊̋̉̈́̿̿̑̋̈͘͝ͅÓ̵̢̨̡̙̰̹̖̞̝̾́̊͂́͗͝͝P̸̡͔͍͉̩̙̮̯̖͔̀̈̂̈͊͋̎͘ͅ…̷̡̛̪̯̒͊͛̉̍̔̈́̐̈́͐̕̕̚͝

     -grief-surrender-fierce-warning-

     -assurance-gentle- “…n’t harm…”

     -̶̨̡̻͎̦̤̺͕̤̙̺̞͎̹͎̤͍̺̮̰̩̺͚͓̰̲̫̒͌̾̽̾͋̄͌͜͝͝͠ͅͅp̴̡̡̰̜͍͔̦̦͓͔̼̭̘̫̅́̃̐̾͒́̏̉̅̈́̑͌̾́͜͠͠-̶̧͓̪͔̫̬̼̼̣̟̼̩͍̬̮̀̽͑̃̈͒́́͊́̐̋̃͗̾͑̑̓̍͂͊̓̽̅̎̽͊͘͜͜͜͜͝͝ͅP̷̧̡̡̖̱̰̫͙̥̯͓͐̆̾̈̆̎́͒̽̅͆͛̆͐̆͊͑̕͠l̴͕̬͉̣͖̃̐̓͐̓́̇͑̄̍͗̓̅̍́͒̇͑̄͌̑̊̔̏͊̒̊͘E̶̡̛̞͖͉̪̝͙̳̪̞̜̥͔̎͆́́̊̔͗̇̿̈́̒̎̿a̴̡̛̱͕̘͚̞̙̥̖̺̣̹͓̥̰̥̫̪̭̭͖͚̬̘͍̼̺͖̦͂͆̍̑̾̿̄͊͛͐́͒̀̽̓̒͛̋̀̿̕S̷̨̧͓̜͚̖̼̙̘̺̞̿̅̂̓̎͒̀͘ͅȨ̵̧̛̛̱͎̰̯̞͉͖̥̝͙͎͈͈͎̖̩̝͈͑͗́̍̌́̑̈̈́̔͋̚͝͠…̷̡̡̦͈̫̼͇̦̯͍̬̬̝͖͓̗͔̘̋͊͌̈́͑͌̇͌̌͒͊̃̔̈̀̊̅̽̂̏̒͘͜͝͝͠͝

     -cub-mine-

     “…ymptoms…?” -concern-

     “…anics whenever we get close…” -fear-

     -̵̨̨̧̧̨̲̝̜̞͙̰̹̥̦̱̳̦͉̯̫̣͈͚̱͓͇̈́̋̎̆͒̅̌͂̄̏̔̂̔̈́̈́ͅḧ̵̨̬̖͓͈͓͖̯̗̣͈̺̹͕̥̦̫́̾̊̉͌͝-̶̹̖̦̣̲̘̩̞͈̮̱͆̄̏̇̌̏̆̇ͅͅH̶̢̹͕̩̥͎̲͉̺̘̯͔̰̜̖͕̝̩̊̋̅͛͊̆̿̉̃̅̋́͐͊͗͐̑͌͌̎̃̚͘̕͜͝Ų̵̙̺̪̲̭̲͕̻̤̬̻̦͚̞̻͈̝̱̲͇̤̖̗̖̘̦͑͆r̷͖͖̹͖̪̠̮̖̱͌̕T̶̢̨͈̘̻͓̠͙̖̩͖̜͙̼̰̣̖̝̎̾̊͛̿̅̈̉̏̔̏̇͐̈́̎̈́̊̏̐͐̾̚͘͜͠ͅS̶̨͓̗̬̪̫͊̂̅͛̅̿͆̀̐̈́̕͠ ̵̛̰͈͇̞̹͓̭̻̝͈̮͎̮̣̤͒̋̓͗̇́̂̾̄̏̐̑͌͜͜P̵̧͙̠̣̙̣͈̥͛̿̓̉͌̒͋͗̑̌̿͒͊̒̓̓̒̃̾̉́̓̕̚͝l̴̮͕̪̫̉̀͂̄̍̈́̌͐́̚͘e̷̹͓̞͓̼̺̦̭̦̗̮̝̹̲̱̤͎͙̠͋̇͑̊͒̒̄̂̌̈́͒͆̆́̔͐́̅̇̊̇̚͠͠a̵̧̨̨̢̞̼̪͇͎̫͚̭̫̙̪͉̼̫̪̙̥̗͚̾̆̓͒͊̎̾͆̅͂͠ͅS̸̨̧̢̧̛͔̪͕̗̪̩̳͈̼͇̱̮̤̙̟̹̗̙̠̣̟̼̪̱̺͌̀̊̀̆̿͛͌͜Ȩ̶̠̻̬͉̟̗̦̰͚̤̹͎͎̖͖̼̣͔̞̰͕͇͌̂͑͆̊̿́͑̿͛͂́̎͐̒̕͘͘͠͠ ̷̨̢̧̛̖͈̗͚͓̣̼̝̯͇̦͔̙͔͉̳̲̥͖̫̰͒̋͊̈́̔̂͒̇̌̅͛͗͌̋̋̊͐̀͂̽̑̓̚̕̕͜ͅṂ̵̧̱̪̻̟̩̲̩̣͚̼̟̘̰̲̮͈͈̳̲̻̊̀̐̒̈́́̔̔͂̀͆̿̃̀̂̾̽͗A̵̢̧̢̧̛̻͎̖̰̭͈͉̼̬͔̬̹͓̖̼͇̩̯͈͎͕̞̩͚͑͌̍͐͛͊͒̽̍̽͆̕̚K̴͕͔̙͓̺̣̟̫̲̘͓̹̰͔̙̉̎̉͜ͅe̴̛̤͇̦͔͗́̽͒͌̉̈́̒͆̎̌̒̾̉̈́̊̒͑̑̽̊̇̀́̒̕͘ ̸̢̡͍̣͈̘̘͙̈́̑̐͊̇͆̎̏̎̀̀̓̓͒̎̆̾͊͑̒͋̂̑̊͜͝͠͝͠͝Ḭ̸͕͉͖̹̼͔̣͍̞͖̔͑̊̄̅̒̈͑́̃̍͂͂̎̽̚͘̚̕͝͠ͅţ̶̣̻̖̖͍͔̤̗̰̓̾͜ ̸̧̢̨̖̘̱̥̩͕̞̖̯͓̻̻̬̲͍̲̻̰̣̉̈́̽̏̍̊͋̅̽̆̀̏͐̓̎̏͑͋̃̅͌̇̆̃͘͝͠͝ͅS̸̛̯̃͊́́̌̀̽́̑̔͐̅́̔̒͊̄̒͐̾̇̈͘̚͝͝T̷̡̛̬͓̼͖͓̹̞̫̬́̾̓͐̒̃ͅǪ̵̛̮̟̝̗̤͎̜̰͉́̀̽̌̍̎͗̋̏̅̓̉̉͛͂͒͂̌̌̍̒̿͐̾̾̋̕̕͝P̶̛̣̻͇̺̬̪̭͍̹̭̦͓̥̥̤͚͑̃̌̈́͂͛͒̇̉́̄̀̾̾̂̆̃͜͠͠…̴̨̡̧̧̝͙̝̭̱̻̦̯̬̯̻̭̼̩̫̟̳͚̣̎̌̓̌!̶͕̮̳̠̖̲̻̟̝̞͛͐͆͋̆́̇͐̓̉͂̔̒̀̌̋̀͆́͛̀̅̌̔̃̕

     -fear-desperation-hope-want-

     -concern-hesitance-realization-understanding- “…uiznack…”

     -agreement-hesitance-determination- “…dative. In the meanti…” -compassion-confidence-assurance-

     -̴̛͔͍̝͔̞̤͖͕̙̱̗̀̈́͌͌̓̎̓̎̍̈́̅̄̈́́́͒̀̚͜͠͝p̶̡̨̟̥͕̮͉̱̜̺̠̋͌̏̃͊̈̄̈́̾̏̆̎̃̏̎͘ͅL̷̗̱̝̜̥̯̼̹̩̑̀̈́̓̑̇̂̅̂̆̉̀͜ͅͅ-̴̡̡̼͙̗͉̦͚̫͓̰͙̱̦͉͍͖̜͈̹͇̪͇͙̳̆́̒̐̓̆͐̆̎̀́̌̌͌̓̊̓̾̇́͘͘l̵̛̫̤̠̘̼͓̰͎̘̳̪̱̳̬̣̭̬̃̈́̂͊̑̆̈̄̉͆̔̅̉̑̕ȩ̵͚̫͖̲̦̮̺̩̦́͗̾̓̎̄̈́͒̓̆̑̀̒͛̇̒̽̾̌̐̔̃͘̚͜͠A̴̹̮͎̟̩̗̓͂̉͑͛̂̉́͗̎̿́̋̍͋͆̈́͐͒̃̓̑̚͘͠S̷̡̫̠̱̣̗͚̹̦͓̞̹̫̯͚̺̜͓͕̝̲̣̞̖͎̹͛̋̓̀̌̂̍̈̎͆̑̈̌̒̐̒́͘͜͜͜͝ȩ̷̛̖̮̩̗̞̰͎̥̙̰̠̲̺̙͍̩͖̞͍͎͍̯̓̄̋͊͂͜͜ͅ ̶̡͔͓͖̩͖̩̱̗̖̮̯̪̙͎̰͈͗͗̑̎͐̓̂͜Į̵̡̬͔͓͍͕̤͎̻͖͙̠̺̗̺̯̺͕̲͈͎̖͓͈̲͍͙͑̅̃̇͐̾̅̅̾̓̇̐͛͘̚̚͜͝ ̵̫̹͍̯̹̻͍̱̗̘̜̳͕͖́̒͌̍̒͌̈́̀̇͛̾̉͋̎̓́̋͗̃̔́͘͘c̷̜̠̫̞͕̖͎͋̏͜͝͠A̸̬̭̳̼̬̤͙̠̖̹͉̹͓͚̍̈̅͆̌̉̾͊̎̈̐̈͗̃̂͆͆̊͑̂̾̐͗̀̈͐͘̕ͅN̵̡͍̹͈̭̬̝͉̼͕̲̘̣̝͔͚̘͍͉̦͚̯̔̅͒̀̈́̅̂’̸̡͎̯̪̝̲̯̏t̶̢̢̡̛̬̦̖̩̹̬͉͙̳͙͙̗̦̗̗̥̠̭͚̞̥̤͐̆̓͌̀̏̄́̇̾̏͌̆̏̓̔̂̑̚͝ ̵̨̡̢̧̛͉̭̠͍̼̬̙̗͔̹̖͖̲̫̯̲̳̬͔̤̹͕̱̦͑̈́͂̽̍͌͑̔̿̚̕͝ͅǩ̸̨̢̰͕͖̩̳͇͔̠̠̺̥̠̳̦̣̲̹̻͇̊͜͜ẽ̷̬̩̲̹́̋́̍́̀̆̔͂̾̍̈́̃͆͆̈́̈́̈́̋̀̉̕̚͘͝͝͝Ȩ̸̧̢̦͇͙͖̼̟̜̥̟̝̬̗̱̈̐͌͐͒͂̈́͝͠P̴̧̛̯̝̬̹͓̙̥̩̝̻̝̘̤͔̼͋̋͐̎̊͂̌͗͑̂̆͌͋͂̂͌̔͆́̽̿͆̿̕͘̕̕̚…̴̢̡̨̛̰͓͔̻͙̫̤̦͇̝̖͍̞͎͖̦̙̻̲͓̋̎͐̒͊̂͑̏͊̀͐̐̃́̓̎̒̑̾̌͛̿͗̚͠͝ ̵͇̮͖̱̥̱̘͎̪̯̮̙̤̗̞͚̜̣̟͎͓̦͕̤̻̦̭̞͓̌̑̍́̾͋̈́̑͗̽̐͜͝Ḫ̵̨̢̙͈̳̱͔͖̹̼̞͎̲͍̤͈̙̜̏̎̑̕͘͜Ų̴̢̡̹̹̹̦̞̙͉̝̫̫͎̗͉̭̝̦̯̳͎͙̠͈͇̭̊̑̀́̓̎̈͒͒̌̊̿̾̉̄̈́͆͒̔̃͛̾̾̇̀͑̚͘͝͝ŗ̵͚̙͔̜̟̜͖͔̖͙̻̽̊̓́̉̌̎̑̓͐̑͛̒̿̀̃̀͌̈́̿̕̚̕̕͝͝͝t̷̡͓̟̬̪̲̐s̷̬̈́̊͛̏̅̐́̆͛̒͋̋͛͑̓͗͐̇̿̓̉͋͝…̶̭̣̙̹̬̭̭̞̹̜͓̘̺͕̗͇̌́̎̄̇̇̓͛̇͋͑͠ͅ

     -grief-cub-mine-assurance-help-calm-plea-

     -hesitance-acceptance-determination-

     -fear-grief-hesitance-frustration-acceptance-

     Ḩ̷̡̨̖̻̼̻̗̦̖͎͖̖͙̫͎̟͙̯̠̘̰̘̦̺̱͛͗ͅŪ̷̡̯̠͔̺̬̰͑̄̽̓̓̆̾̓͘͝Ŗ̶̧̛̰̖̥̠͇͔̫͑͑̽̌̋͒͐͂͋́̈́̈́̉̃̆͘ͅͅͅt̷͓̗̟̘̯̲̓̾̉͌́͗s̸̨̧̢̛̯͈͍̞̪̠̗͈̳͖̲̖̲̞̯͕̗̝̪̯͙̟̘̠̳̩̓͊̀̂͌̋̓̾́̃͐̎̑͗̈́͠.̷̡͖̻̮̩͇̙͈̗͊͊̏͂͊́͌̎̕͜.̴̫̖̣͇͛̈́̊̇͗̂́̀̃͝.̸̨̨͙͓͙̙̪̼͒͊̉̋̾̃ͅH̶̨̯̩͇͔̰͓͍̗̠̰͙͎̉̉̅̅͛-̸͓͎̮̘͍̪̦̦̺̈́̅́͋͐̃̅̀̄̿̕͝ͅh̴̼͋̌͂͗̌U̷̢̡̥̼̻̦͔͉̞̟̺̺͔̎͛̅̈̐̿̑̾̌̕͠͠͝r̴̢̠̯̮̦̻̪̂͋̀͑̀t̵̡̲̪͇̤͚̼̀̋́̇́̚͠ͅS̴̢̨̢͕̹̦͕̐͋͆̇̓͜…̵̺͔̟̬͎̖͊̏̿̌͜͜͝

     -assurance-encouragement-

     -concern-assurance-

     -comfort-cub-mine-comfort-cub-mine…

     …h̴̨̧̨̛̛̼̩͓̱̹̰͎̻͚͇͉̝̆̉̆̈́̉͆̈́̋̿́̑͑̍̈́̈͛̈́̇̈̕ư̶̭͚͖̘͎̳͓͎̤̼͔̪͈̓̇̂͑̈́̋͗̍́̓̐̓͂̾̌͗͋̈́̈́͘͜͠͠͝ͅͅR̵̛̫͓͙͈̞͂̓̇͂̈́̓̿̈́̈́̌̀̐̃̿̔̚̕t̵̢̛̺͍͚̞͓̫̩̻̯͖̩̗̳̯͔̘͈͖͇̱͖̬̘̬͇̘͛̃̾̏̓̂̽͗͋̿̍͂̈́̓̈́́͒͐͐̐̌̓̔̔̑͐͐̄͘s̵̛̻͓͇̩̲͕̩̘͔̤̟̼̪̤͍͕̬̜͚͗͌̎́͘͝͝ͅ… p̸͖̬͌̔̽̍͜͝Ḻ̵̢̝̻̜͆e̶͕̤̦̪̳̬͚̿̑͝A̸̛̳S̷̢̡̰̜̬͖͓͕̠̞̓̊̇̏̓͝e̶̼̱̥̬͖̤̼̣̞̩͓̮͍͐͜…̴̢̰̫̹̲̳͇̓̀͆̐̒

     -protect-determination-assurance-

     …comfort-cub-mine-comfort-cub…

     Ḧ̶͖̣͉̟́̅͐̾̆̅̂̀̿̈́̈́͠͝ͅu̴̩̝̖̒͌́̈́̂͗̍͘͘ͅŕ̷̢̡̛͈̦̥̖T̸̻̬̺̃̉̈͆̄͛̿̄̃͒̈́͘͠ş̵̧̛̜͇̘͚̩͙̰͉̿̓̀̌̐̌̕͠ͅ…̶̲͈̩̦̎̒̆

     …ine-cub-plea…

     …concern-urgen…

     -̶̮͕͈͊̒̌̽̒͋̒͌̚̚͜p̸̢̜̺̯͉̅̇̈͂̽̃̍̍͒̈́̆͛̾̇͘L̸̙̱̖̦͒ě̸̡̞͈̪̩̹͛́͂̈́A̴̢̠̞̱͈̪͙̣͔̱͉̒͆̂͛̽̃̈̈̃̊̇̕̚͝͠s̴̢̨̧̲̫̻͉͈͙̟̻̒̇̐̒̿͐̚͝e̸̢̡̹̦͈̐͋͂͑̈́̑̐̊͐̇̄͠-̶͍̏

     -hope-plea-

     -fierce-assurance-calm-

     …̸̡̫̃̊ḧ̵̗͎̃e̷̛̺̰͘l̴͓̓̃p̶͓͋̈́̚…̵̫̺̓̆̑…̵̜̮͉̯̓

     …comfort-cub-mine-plea…

     -p̷̛̹̫̥̞̤̻̼̫͉͐̀̋͆̌͘l̴̢̛̤͓̞͇͛͐̐̀͗̆̕̚ͅe̶͎̩͈͛̀̈́̐̾̆a̵̻̹̰̰̭͆́̅̈́̓͘s̵̯̰̪̮̲̼̩̘͉͛ȩ̴̨̤̤̯̠̘̹̇̎̉̽͊̒…̴̡̢̢̢̼̟̠̯̝̄̏

     …comfort-cub-mine…

     -compassion-urgency- 

     …̷̛̙̝̘̠̮̄̆̐̅̕ͅḩ̵̢̘̻́̓͘̕͘-̸̫̦̒̀ḫ̷̈̀̅͐̇̈́͂͘e̷̠͊l̷̠͉͖͋̇͠p̴͈͇̤̎̉̊͗̑̈́̿…̸̥̯̭͓̗̳͎̳̺̒͊̾͆͜

.oOo.

     It was quiet.

     Quiet, but not… not right.

     He almost felt… cold? 

     No, that… That wasn’t quite right either. 

     There was something soft tucked around him, and a warm weight pressed into his side, but…

     But there was just… 

     Something was missing-

     Com…rt-c…ine…

     Something in his chest both tightened and released at the whisper of warmth that curled around him. It was far too dim, far too fleeting, and it was leaving, drifting away until all that remained was that awful cold that he could now identify as loss. 

     No! he felt himself cry out, a sense of frantic desperation pounding through his veins. No, don’t go! Please!

     …rmth…cu…olog…rro…lea…lm

     Please…

     …b…ne…pol…sor…esi…e-wa…th…nt…

     He whined, frustrated and scared as he tried to reach out, the warmth around him no longer soft but constrictive a-and- Why couldn’t he feel her-?!

     Keith startled as he felt the warm weight beside him shift, amethyst eyes cracking open and snapping back shut at the teal light piercing them. He tried again after a moment, more carefully this time, letting his eyes adjust little by little to the strange lighting. The room was relatively small, and actually rather dark, only lit here and there by a few strips of light scattered across the walls and door. He was lying on a bed, with a plush blanket tucked around his shoulders so that his own weight was pinning him to the mattress. Confused and still more than a little bit anxious, Keith shoved the blanket away, frantically struggling to free his arms. 

     He froze when the warmth shifted again, this time accompanied by a low, annoyed groan. Before he could panic, the mystery weight rolled close and Keith caught a hint of a familiar scent. Carefully rolling onto his side and propping himself up on an elbow, he peered down at the wildly tousled hair of his younger sister. Relaxing minimally, Keith pulled one arm free the rest of the way and then poked the girl’s arm. “Pidge,” he hissed. “Pidge, hey, wake up.”

     “Mmfff…”

     “Pidge, I’m gonna hack into your laptop if you don’t get up.”

     “Mff, don’ t’ch m’ la’t’p,” she grumbled, snuggling closer, her eyes still stubbornly closed.

     Keith rolled his eyes, shaking her more roughly. “Wake up, Pidge!!” 

     She whined unhappily, her eyelids flickering slowly as she processed his voice. Then, all at once, she shot upright. “Keith!”

     “Hey, Pidg- Ow!”

     “You stupid, reckless, idiot!!” his sister shrieked, pummeling his ribs (much more softly than she’d just slugged his arm). 

     “Pidge! Pi- Katie! Quit it!” Keith snapped, catching her wrists. “What is your deal?!”

     “My deal is that you are a moron and a jerk and you made a liar out of me and-! A-and-!” All at once Katie wrenched her hands free, threw her arms around his neck, and burst into tears. 

     Keith blinked. “Um…?”

     “Idiot,” his sister hissed between choked sobs, squeezing him tighter.

     He blinked again, wrapping his arms around her in turn. Maybe now wasn’t the best time to ask if she knew why his connection to Black felt so horribly muffled. “That bad, huh?” he joked uncertainly.

     “Bad?” she spat. “I was terrified! I thought-! I th-thought…”

     Keith shifted his grip, gathering his sister more comfortably in a hug as she sobbed. “I’m sorry,” he murmured, gently running his fingers through her hair. “I swear I don’t mean to keep worrying you.”

     Pidge growled, pinching his side and making him wince. “Then maybe you should stop taking matters into your own hands and doing stupid stuff without telling anyone!”

     “I’m almost scared to ask, but, what did I do exactly?”

     Katie stiffened, pulling back just enough to look up at him with wide, worried eyes. “You… don’t remember?”

     “Not really?” Keith cringed. “I remember waking up from the cryopod, and I remember going to get the Lions so we could fight that… thing, but everything else is just bits and pieces.”

     “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” his sister sighed, tucking her legs tighter and burying her face back against his chest. “Allura and Coran called it ‘quintessence overload’,” she explained quietly, her voice clinically dull. “Essentially, you had more energy shoved inside your body than you could handle. It… It was literally burning you up from the inside out.” Pidge swallowed, pressing a little closer before she forced herself to go on. “Allura managed to stabilize your quintessence levels by siphoning off the excess energy, but Coran said you would need rest before you were fully back to normal.”

     Keith blinked again.  “Wait. Are you saying that Allura… saved me?”

     Katie stiffened briefly, then relaxed again. “Yeah. She did. Didn’t even hesitate.”

     “Huh.” Maybe Keith should be more fixated on the fact that he apparently almost died again, but right now all he could think about was the fact that the Altean princess had, supposedly, saved his life. “I’m… not quite sure how to react to that.”

     “Yep.”

     They were silent for a few more minutes before the younger Holt wasn’t quite able to hide a yawn. Keith snorted, running his fingers through her hair again. “Go to sleep, Katie. You must be exhausted after everything I’ve put you through.”

     “’M not sleepy.”

     “And you say I’m a bad liar,” her brother muttered, settling back against the pillow and employing the surefire method to put her to sleep: he started humming, a low, deep tone that vibrated as much in his chest as his throat.

     “Th-Tha’s… no’… fair,” Pidge failed to stifle a wide yawn as she started to go boneless in his arms. “No… purring ’llowed.”

     Keith rolled his eyes, cutting off the soft rumbling noise as he muttered, “It’s not purring. It’s humming.”

     “S’me thing.”

     “No it’s not. Now hush and go to sleep.”

     “You jus’... don’ wanna admi’ ’m righ’.” his sister groused.

     “Go to sleep, Pidge. You can yell at me more in the morning.”

     “’ll hold you t’that.”

     “Goodnight, Katie,” the elder Holt smirked, resuming his quiet hum.

     “G’night, Keith.”

.oOo.

     “…n’t hear anything.”

     “It’s ’cause I got up. Here, watch this.”

     Keith grumbled, huddling deeper under his blanket at the quiet voices. A light touch fell on the top of his head, gently scratching his scalp. He relaxed instantly, a drowsy, satisfied hum rumbling somewhere deep in his chest. 

     “Holy crow that’s amazing!”

     “Shhh!”

     “Careful, we don’t want to wake him up!”

     “Sorry…”

     He wasn’t sure where he was, what time it was, or really anything else of significance, but he felt safer than he had in what seemed like years and he definitely wasn’t ready to wake up, no matter how insistently consciousness beckoned or how disappointed he was that the touch had receded. 

     “Um, hey guys. I made breakfast. Is Keith… up?”

     “Hunk! Hunk, come here, you’ve gotta hear this. Pidge, do the thing.”

     The light touch returned, and with it, so did his pleased hum.

     “Awww!”

     Keith flinched, his eyes squinting open as he was startled by the quiet squeal. 

     “Hunk!” 

     “I’m sorry! It’s just- He purrs! It’s adorable!”

     Adorable? Who’s adorable?

     Wait, purrs!?

     Keith lurched fully awake, his cheeks already burning. 

     “Aw, Hunk, you ruined it!” a voice that could only belong to Lance groaned. 

     “Sorry…”

     Keith shifted to examine his surroundings, first spotting Katie sitting next to him, retracting her hand with a smirk, then the rest of his family: Shiro, Lance, and Hunk, all gathered around the bed. It was hard to glower at them properly when he was blushing and he had major bedhead, but the Black Paladin managed. 

     “Can I help you?” he growled, amethyst eyes narrowed.

     “And he’s back!” Lance whooped, pumping both fists in the air, an anxiety that Keith hadn’t even noticed until it was gone transformed into unconcealed relief. 

     “Oh thank goodness for that,” Hunk sighed, tension falling from his shoulders as well as he dropped to the floor, cross-legged. Shiro’s relief was less overt, but the lines smoothing across his forehead betrayed it all the same. 

     Their worry didn’t keep Keith from glaring daggers at him, though.

     “What are you three doing here?” he demanded.

     “We came to check on you and Pidge invited us in to show us you really can purr,” Lance grinned, unfazed.

     “Katie!!” the elder Holt hissed.

     “Yes, dear brother?” the gremlin replied with an attempt at an innocent flutter of her eyelashes.

     “Why would you show them that??”

     Any attempt Pide might make to deny her role in destroying Keith’s dignity was lost to her wicked grin. “Consider it payback for scaring me.”

     “You are so gonna get it,” Keith threatened darkly.

     His sister snorted in an “I’d like to see you try” kind of way before she stood up and ceded her spot on the bed to Shiro. Keith shot him a glare, too, but his older brother’s small, exhausted smile took most of the wind out of his sails. “How’re you feeling, buddy?”

     Keith sighed as he considered the question. He was still embarrassed beyond belief, a little bit sore, and just generally… wrung out, but the soreness was manageable, his family was safely gathered around him, and- Warmth-fondness-relief. -his connection with Black seemed to be restored. “I feel pretty good, actually,” he admitted as he mentally greeted the Lion and she purred softly in his chest.

     Comfort-cub-mine.

     “Are you sure?” Hunk asked as he leaned over to the bedside table and grabbed a tray of porridge-looking stuff with a lilac sauce and apple-like pieces placed around the edges. “Like, really, completely, totally sure? No dizziness, no sensitivity to light, or emotions, or like, feral urges to bite someone’s head off?”

     “No, Hunk, I don’t have any ‘feral urges’,” Keith snorted, accepting the food. 

     “Okay good,” the Yellow Paladin relaxed, shooting him a bright smile, “because I wasn’t sure what we’d do if we had to deal with that again.

     Keith paused with the spoon halfway to his mouth. “Again?” he frowned. “What do you mean?”

     Three sets of eyes blinked around him. 

     “You… don’t remember?” Lance asked carefully.

     “Remember what?” the Black Paladin prompted, shooting his suddenly-nervous sister a glance. 

     “Well, um, it’s like… You just, uh… Well, it’s kind of hard to explain,” Hunk tried (and failed) to begin, rubbing the back of his neck.

     Shiro lightly placed a hand on the Polynesian boy’s arm, cutting off any further attempts. “Why don’t we start with what you do remember?” he suggested sensibly. 

     “Well, like I told Pidge last night, I remember waking up and grabbing Black, and I vaguely remember the monster we fought, but not much else.”

     Shiro nodded. “Well, to start with, in order to force open the Black Lion’s hangar, you had to connect with the quintessence of each of the five Voltron Lions. That caused you to be exposed to far more energy than your body was capable of handling.”

     “I do remember that, somewhat,” Keith said slowly. “Come to think of it, Black warned me that it could be dangerous.”

     Sorrow-apology-

     It wasn’t your fault. I was the one who insisted on trying it, remember?

     “So wait, you knew it was dangerous and you still did it??” Katie growled. She probably would have given his arm another bruise if Shiro hadn’t been sitting in the way.

     Keith winced. “I couldn’t just leave you all to fight on your own.”

     “Ugh, that is so like you!!” the Green Paladin threw her hands in the air in frustration. “Maybe check in with us before you try to pull a stupid stunt like that?? For all you knew, we’d already beaten the monster and you were risking your life for absolutely nothing!! ”

     “I didn’t exactly have a comm link-”

     “OH and that makes it all better?! And that reminds me: why the quiznack didn’t you take the time to get your armor on before charging to the rescue, huh?? You almost gave yourself whiplash, you stupid, overprotective, self-sacrificing dope!!”

     “Hey Hunk, any chance you could whip up some kind of space popcorn?”

     “I’m staying out of this, Lance.”

     “Okay, I get it, I acted like an idiot, and I’m sorry,” Keith sighed, raising his hands in surrender. “I really am sorry. To all of you.”

     “Yeah, well, try taking care of yourself and maybe we’ll actually believe you,” Lance muttered, folding his arms across his chest as he shifted to lean against the wall.

     Truth-family-cub-worry-warning-gentle-protective-cub-Paladin-mine.

     “Don’t worry,” the older teen sighed, “I don’t think Black will let me try anything too crazy even if I wanted to right now.”

     “Forgive us if we find that to be an underwhelmingly reassuring statement,” Shiro commented wryly.

     “Here here,” Pidge huffed.

     Indignation-protective-cub-Paladin-mine-protect.

     Keith snorted. “So what happened after I joined you guys outside the castle?

     “Well, you seemed fine at first,” Lance picked up the tale, adjusting his stance. “A little overprotective maybe, but that’s kinda your default mode.”

     “Hey.”

     “But then,” the Blue Paladin frowned, his expression darkening, “you just kept getting more aggressive, and nothing we said or did could snap you out of it. All we could do was cover your back as much as possible whenever you pulled a crazy stunt. Then I sniped the monster--which was awesome by the way--and the battle was over, but we still couldn’t get you to answer us, and that was almost more terrifying than you going crazy-wild-animal mode in the first place.”

     “Crazy what mode?”

     “That was when Black reached out to us,” Shiro took over once more, glossing over his bewildered question. “Not in the way that you can connect with all of the Lions, but she did send us a distress signal. When we reached you-” The Red Paladin swallowed as something dark rose in his eyes. “-it was like you couldn’t even see us. Like…”

     “…Like you were experiencing extreme sensory overload,” Hunk finished for him after a moment, shuddering. “Except usually overstimulation only affects one or maybe two senses at a time. In this case, everything was hurting you: touch, sight, sound, and to make matters worse, somehow you seemed to be reacting to our emotions, too. So the more freaked out we got, the more freaked out you got and the worse you reacted to everything so the worse we were reacting to everything and- And yeah. It… It was scary. Coran ended up having to sedate you until Allura and her holo-dad could figure out the best way to help you.”

     Keith tensed. 

     So did Shiro, his prosthetic hand curling in the blanket. 

     He wondered if they were reacting to the same thing. 

     Cub-Paladin-mine-comfort-Red-Paladin-cub-trust-promise.

     I’ll try, Black, but it’s not always that simple.

     Comfort-gentle-warmth-understanding.

     “Keith?” his sister asked carefully as he remained silent. “You okay?”

     “It’s a lot to take in,” he replied absently, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, ignoring the way his family exchanged worried glances over his head.

     “Well,” Hunk called with slightly-forced cheer, “it will seem a bit easier after you’ve eaten something. Come on, you haven’t had an actual meal in, like, almost a week.”

     “Yeah,” Lance agreed, “and after you’re done eating we can get you some real clothes and a shower.”

     Keith snorted. “Are you saying I stink?”

     “Keith, you’ve been wearing the same jumpsuit for three days,” Pidge rolled her eyes. “Of course you stink.”

     “Hey!”