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They're cutting it close. Too close. Shiro knows that they should have left as soon as the generators started springing up, but they couldn't leave yet. There were too many land mines for them to safely evacuate and they weren't done there yet. Now it's too late. Shiro thinks that they might have been set up and now they had sixteen minutes to get as far as possible away from the planet.
Through the comms he hears Matt shout, "We'll never penetrate those shields!"
There's a pause, then, from Keith, "maybe not with our weapons."
Shiro doesn't understand what's happening, he can't see what Keith is doing either, but he knows that keith has a plan. He can hear it in his voice. Shiro shutters out a shaky breath, hoping that whatever is going through his head is going to work. It has to. They don't have a failsafe- and they can't just stand by as 20 solar systems get blown up.
He hears Matt protesting. Of course he would. Keith can have some outrageous plans, but in the end he trusts Keith. As they're speeding away from the planet he thinks about how this could be it for him. He thinks about how good Keith was to him and how that if he makes it out of here how he wants to sweep him off his feet and ask him to marry him. A swell of love followed by pride bubbles up in his chest. He knows that life hasn't been to kind to Keith, but he's made it so far. He keeps pushing and pushing forwards- something that Shiro admires about him. He thinks about his smile. How he reserves the softest of looks for private shared moments in the dead of night. If he makes it out, he knows exactly where he's going.
Shiro doesn't regret letting Keith go train with the Blades, he just wishes that he kept him back for a little while longer. He would have loved to privately tell him goodbye. To kiss him and tell him that even though he'll miss him, Shiro will call him as soon as he can.
Shiro breaks his train of thought when he hears Matt yell, "Keith, No!" That's not good. Keith's plan must be really out there, but he knows what he's doing, it'll be fine. Shiro hears the sound of an explosion just as Naxzela stops glowing. He feels a smile stretch across his face.
"Good work, Keith."
His complement is only met with silence.
"Keith?"
A shudder of a breath comes from the other side of the comms. Hesitantly, Matt says his name, "Shiro..."
"Matt? What happened? Why isn't Keith responding?"
"Are his comms just down?" Hunk interjects.
Again, hesitance, "...no."
"What happened, is he okay?" There's an edge of urgency starting to drip into his voice.
"Shiro, I'm sorry. The shields- nothing was working so he-"
"Oh god," Pidge’s sobs are loud in his headset.
A lump is forming in his throat and he can barely make out, "We're on our way."
They sit in silence as they make their way to the wreckage. He's glad none of them can see him, he's on the verge of breaking down right there. He can't believe this. This unstoppable force sacrificed himself. Shiro can feel his heart shattering. He bites his lip to hold back any noises from coming out of him.
As they arrive his stomach drops. It's just shrap metal and bits and pieces of whatever is left of the battle cruiser. There's no way he could have survived. A yell escapes him before he can stop it.
“No, he can’t- this isn’t- Matt,” he tries desperately, “Was there any way he could have escaped?”
Matt doesn’t answer him. This can’t be it. They had so many plans. Shiro is panicking and he knows it, so he takes a deep breath and tries something else.
“Team,” he says trying his best to ignore the sobs of his teammates, “disband. We aren’t leaving empty handed. If there is some way, anyway, that Keith could have survived I want to know for sure,” he knows this isn’t going to end well, but he has to try. He has to. Keith didn’t give up on him and he’s not about to start giving up on him either- even if this is an empty manhunt.
He hears an affirmative from them and they break up. Just as they start their individual search he spots Lotor’s ship nestled between two large scraps of metal. Feeling completely drained he drifts closer. That’s when he notices that Lotor isn’t in his ship, but instead he’s standing over something. His eyes tear up as he realizes what it is. Immediately he ejects himself from his lion.
“Guys, I found him,” he says igniting his jet pack to get to where they are.
Lotor himself isn’t doing anything, but standing astonished over Keith’s body. Once Shiro makes contact with the sheet of metal he’s running. Skidding to a stop he drops to his knees in front of Keith.
“Oh, Keith baby, oh no.”
He’s crying now. He doesn’t care that Lotor is there. He doesn’t register the others landing besides him as he carefully scoops the former paladin into his arms. Keith is a mess. He’s barely recognisable at this point, almost every part of his body was burnt. There’s metal from the ship he was in lodged into his torso. It’s horrific. In his time in the arena he’s been exposed to some pretty grotesque things, but nothing could ever prepare him for this. His boyfriend, his best friend, the red paladin, a good man, dead. This was too much for him. Too much too soon. He shouldn’t have let Keith out of his sights. This could have been avoided.
Shiro hears Lotor leaving. “Good,” he thinks, “he doesn’t deserve to even look at him.”
Much to his dismay Lotor comes back with a thick cloth and drapes it over Keith. That’s when he decides to look up at him.
“I,” he pauses, there’s been too much pausing, “wanted to help. But I came too late and he was too fast.”
Shiro doesn’t want to think about what this means. He just wants Keith back.
“We’ll talk later. For now we need some time,” he croaks out. His voice is hoarse from all the crying. He’s sure everyone’s is.
A small part of him is glad that Lotor covered Keith up. It’s easier to pretend that Keith isn’t dead, but that thought brings up another rush of despair. At this moment he just desperately wants to go back to the castle. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do anymore. He gained back a friend only to lose his closest one.
Picking up the small body he heads back to his lion, “Allura, call coran to pick us up.”
Sniffling, she makes an affirmative noise.
He doesn’t know what he’s going to do now, but he heard a rumor, back at his time in the arena, that enough quintessence can do wonders.