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“We’re going home.”
That was easy enough to say, but doing it required some planning. Without the Castle to create a wormhole, they were weeks of travel away from Earth. Hunk pointed out, sensibly, that they should go to Olkarion first to rest and resupply, since it wasn’t that far. Pidge agreed, since Matt was there and she was hardly going to go back to Earth without her brother. Allura, with a worried expression, said that they would need to inform the Coalition of what had happened over the past few hours.
Only a few hours. To Keith, it felt like a lifetime. It had been barely three days since he and his mother had found Romelle, and everything since had been so fast and chaotic. It had been pure momentum keeping him going, and now that things had slowed down, he was beginning to realize how tired he was.
Krolia knelt down in front of him, and reached for Shiro’s sleeping form, but Keith pulled him closer protectively. After everything, he didn’t want to let Shiro go. He knew it was irrational, but he couldn’t help but be a little afraid that if he let go of Shiro now, he’d vanish again somehow.
“I’ve got him, mom,” he said. He got to his feet, lifting Shiro without any trouble. He’d gotten stronger in the last two years.
Shiro’s eyes opened a little as Keith carried him toward the Black Lion, and Keith looked down and smiled at him.
“I’ve got you, Shiro, just rest. We’re going home.” Shiro nodded, closing his eyes again.
Inside, he held on to Shiro as Krolia arranged a few blankets taken from the castle into something approximating a bed on the floor of the cockpit. She didn’t even suggest that he put Shiro back into the healing pod.
“The pod won’t fit in the cockpit, and I’m assuming that there’s no chance you’ll let him out of your sight,” she said with a smile, answering his unspoken question, “I wouldn’t, if I were the one in your position.”
Keith smiled at her. Over the last two years, they had learned a lot about each other. She understood him so well now.
“Thanks, mom,” he said, and knelt to place Shiro gently on the blankets. He remained there for a few moments, kneeling at Shiro’s side. He stroked Shiro’s newly-white hair away from his forehead, and traced the lines of his face – so peaceful now, when just a few hours ago, that face had been twisted in rage and hatred. Not Shiro’s rage, he knew – and he suspected not the clone’s, either. There had been a moment in the fight when he had almost gotten through, almost brought him back to himself.
He sighed, and leaned over to touch his forehead against Shiro’s. Shiro was fast asleep, but it gave Keith comfort to feel the warmth of his skin, Shiro’s breath on his face...
“We should get moving,” came Coran’s voice over the communicators, “The sooner we get to Earth, the sooner we can start building the new Castle of Lions!” He sounded excited about it.
With great reluctance, Keith left Shiro’s side and sat in the pilot’s chair. He put his hands on the controls and felt the Black Lion’s approval like a purr in his mind.
“Thank you,” he said, “Thank you for saving him. For giving him back to me.”
You’re welcome. It was rare that he heard the Lion’s thoughts so distinctly, in words like that, but he couldn’t have mistaken it for anything else.
He took off as gently as possible, his eyes on Shiro’s sleeping form instead of the controls. He only looked up at the screens for long enough to get Black pointed toward Olkarion and moving at a pace the lions could all sustain. He didn’t need to look at what he was doing; Black didn’t want to jostle Shiro any more than Keith did.
He jumped in shock when a hand rested on his shoulder – for a split second, he thought it was Shiro, that was how Shiro had always got his attention – and turned to look at Krolia. Her expression was gentle, soft around the edges the way it went when she thought she had a way to take care of him a little bit.
“Keith, you should rest,” she said, “You’re exhausted.”
“I have to pilot us to Olkarion,” Keith replied, although she was right. He was very, very tired. The adrenaline was leaving his system, and his eyes almost itched with the need to close them.
“I may not be a Paladin, but I think I can manage keeping the Black Lion moving in a straight line while you rest.” She placed her hand over his on the control and asked, “Is that acceptable?”
For a moment, Keith thought she was asking him, then he felt the Black Lion’s thoughts again. Not words this time, just amusement and acceptance. Oh. She was asking Black.
Keith couldn’t help but laugh as he asked, “What do you think, Black?”
Yes. Rest, my Paladins.
Keith got out of the pilot’s seat and let his mother take his place. He yawned widely enough he heard his jaw pop, and sank to the floor to lay next to Shiro. A day earlier and he might have hesitated about doing something like that, but he had just gotten Shiro back from the dead, and he wasn’t going to waste that miracle by being embarrassed about wanting to be close to him.
Shiro stirred as Keith pressed against him, and Keith moved Shiro’s head to rest on his shoulder. It was a comforting weight, and he could hear Shiro breathing, smell his hair, feel the warmth of his body – all the reassurances he needed to know that Shiro was alive, and with him.
With Shiro against him and Krolia at the controls and the Black Lion’s comforting presence in the back of his mind, Keith could finally close his eyes and rest.
When he woke up a few hours later, it felt like barely any time had passed. He was still so very, very tired, and even though the floor was hard and his armor was hardly comfortable sleepwear, he could have easily gone back to sleep.
Except that Shiro was moving, pulling away from him. With a sudden feeling of panic, Keith’s eyes snapped open. Shiro was trying to sit up, and apparently having some difficulty doing so with only one arm.
“Sorry,” Shiro said softly, “I was trying not to wake you up.”
“It’s okay. Here,” he put his hand behind Shiro’s shoulders and lifted him into a sitting position, “How are you feeling?”
Shiro paused, apparently considering his answer. “Weird,” he said, “But… all things considered, not that bad?”
Keith hugged him. Shiro stiffened in surprise, but then relaxed into the hug, his arm coming up to wrap around Keith’s shoulders.
“I love you,” Keith whispered. He’d said it before, to the clone, but he needed to know that Shiro had heard him say it.
Shiro lowered his head, buried his face in the crook of Keith’s neck, and his shoulders shook. It was only when he felt hot dampness on his neck that Keith realized Shiro was crying.
“Shiro?”
“I’m sorry,” Shiro gasped, his voice thick with tears, “Keith, I’m so sorry. I hurt you. I – I almost killed you!”
“That wasn’t you,” Keith reassured him, “I know you would never -”
Shiro pulled away from the hug. Keith didn’t let him go all the way, keeping his hands on Shiro’s shoulders.
“It was me,” Shiro said, “The – the clone. I have all of those memories, and they don’t feel like someone else’s memories, they feel like mine. I remember being in the Black Lion, too, and neither is – it feels like both sets of memories are me.”
“Shiro...” Keith trailed off, not knowing how to respond to that.
Shiro lifted his hand and touched Keith’s cheek. As his thumb brushed the burn, Keith flinched involuntarily, and Shiro pulled back as quickly as if he was the one who’d been burned.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Keith grabbed Shiro’s hand and held it tightly against his chest, “It’s okay, Shiro. I got you back. And even if… if you and the clone are the same person now, it still wasn’t your fault.”
He raised Shiro’s hand to his face and kissed his palm. “I got you back,” he repeated firmly, “That’s all that matters to me right now. I don’t want you to start beating yourself up over anything you said or did while that witch was controlling you, because I’ve got you back, and everything I went through to find you again was worth it, Shiro.”
Shiro closed his eyes, looking like he was trying to hold back more tears, “I love you, too, Keith.”
Keith took a deep breath. He had sort of known that already – maybe he’d always known it – but hearing him say it out loud felt profound. For so long, he’d felt like a planet in orbit around Shiro’s blazing sun, but Shiro had always looked at him as if he thought Keith was the sun, and now Keith felt they’d become more like binary stars, in orbit around each other, and saying those words aloud was going to bring them crashing together.
Keith took Shiro’s face in his hands and kissed him, embracing the collision. It was gentle, not the kind of passionate kiss that would have seemed to fit how dramatic the past few days had been, but it was… exactly how Keith would have imagined his first kiss with Shiro would be, if he’d ever let himself imagine it before.
They pulled apart and Keith actually laughed softly. Shiro opened his eyes, looking confused and just slightly offended.
“Sorry, sorry,” he said quickly, “It’s just… this has been a really long time coming, hasn’t it?”
Before Shiro could reply, Keith pulled him into another hug. He needed to have Shiro as close as possible right now. If he could have somehow pulled Shiro inside him, to keep him safe in his heart until they had fused into one person, he would have done it in a heartbeat.
“I never want to be without you again,” Keith said, “You’re… you’re everything to me, Shiro.”
And that was what it came down to. He’d called Shiro his brother before, but there was no single word that encompassed everything that Shiro was to him. Friend, brother-in-arms, partner, mentor… Shiro was all those things and more. The one who’d always had faith in him, the one he could always trust. He loved Shiro so much he had been ready to die with him rather than let him go again.
Shiro sighed, his breath tickling Keith’s neck, “I feel the same way about you.”
It didn’t feel like there was anything more they needed to say at that moment, so he sat there, holding onto Shiro until kneeling on the hard floor became uncomfortable enough that he finally had to move.
He kissed Shiro’s cheek before he let go and got to his feet. He turned toward the pilot’s seat to see Krolia giving him a knowing look, and he felt his face go hot. He’d managed to completely forget she was there while he’d been pouring his heart out to Shiro.
It wasn’t like he regretted saying any of it, but knowing his mother had heard all of that was more than a little awkward.
“Keith.”
Shiro reached up, and Keith grasped his arm and helped him to his feet. Shiro was a little unsteady, leaning against Keith, but he smiled at Keith and Keith couldn’t help but smile back.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I’m a little… off balance,” Shiro replied, looking down at his missing arm.
“Sor-”
“Don’t apologize,” Shiro interrupted, “If I’d known that Haggar could use it to control me like that, I’d have cut the damn thing off myself. With Hunk’s kitchen knife.”
Keith laughed at that, because it was ridiculous, but he could absolutely imagine Shiro doing that.
“We’ll get you a new prosthetic when we get home.”
Shiro’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Home? But… the castle was destroyed.”
For a second, Keith wondered how Shiro knew that, and then realized that Shiro must have been looking through Black’s eyes when it happened. He shook his head.
“Not the castle, Shiro. Earth. Well, we’re headed to Olkarion first, but after we’ve dealt with things there, we’re going back to Earth.”
Shiro was quiet, and Keith couldn’t quite read his expression, “Shiro, you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I just… if the Garrison tries to strap me to a table again...”
“If they try it, I promise I’ll break some heads for you,” Keith laughed. “Is it really petty of me to admit I can’t wait to see the look on Iverson’s face?”
From the pilot’s chair, Krolia let out a snort of laughter. Keith turned to look at her, smiling. He’d told her about Iverson and how punching him in the face had been the final straw that got him kicked out of the Garrison, and she’d been quick to tell him it was entirely justified. It was nice to have his mom on his side for that kind of thing.
She got out of the chair, “Here. I think the Black Lion isn’t going to put up with me piloting for much longer now that you’re awake.”
Keith hesitated, then looked at Shiro. Shiro’s expression was so loving and proud, exactly the way he’d looked when he’d said that Keith was the Black Paladin now.
“You should pilot, Shiro,” he said, “I think Black would like that.”
Shiro looked at his missing arm, then back at Keith, his eyebrow raised, “Keith, how do you expect me to do that right now?”
“Your quintessence was a part of the Black Lion for almost a year. You could probably pilot her with no arms.”
“But -”
Krolia stepped forward, and Shiro looked up at her.
“You’ve known my son long enough to know how stubborn he is,” she said, giving Keith a fond look, “This is important to Keith.”
Shiro nodded at her, and took his seat – his rightful seat – in the pilot’s chair. Keith thought he could feel Black purring in his mind as Shiro reached for the control with his remaining hand. The way Shiro relaxed and the smile that spread over his face as he grasped it made Keith’s heart soar. That was where Shiro was meant to be.
And Keith was meant to be beside him.