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Chapter Text

"San Lang!" He bursts into a fit of giggles as his husband spins him around by the hold of his waist while he himself holds his husbands neck peppering kisses in between giggles. He loves the freedom of everything, the love he shares with his husband as despite being over two thousand years old they still love each other like the very first moment they reunited.

His husband shares the same feelings as he begins to slow down to a halt beaming with happiness as he hugs his beloved. They still are practically attached by the hip with everything they do even when they are apart often times they will talk in their communication array at any moment, they can despite the busy lives they still live.

It had been years since Xie Lian had been appointed an emperor of sorts, though no longer holding the title as the years move forward, he was still seen as a great figure and most likely god to respond to those in need. Hua Cheng on the other hand still ruled ghost city with the larger number of ghosts joined from when He Xuan's island closed after his dispersion, a lot had to be built bigger, and more ghosts were given guard roles to try take of the strain of him ruling such a large number of ghosts and the gamblers den growing with the city often left him swamped. 

"Ah San Lang I might have to go out for a few prayers tomorrow shall we spend the day together?"

“My beloved, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

“San Lang look! Our flowers are in full bloom!”
Smiling towards the modernised Puqi Shrine, his husbands butterflies brought him a basket before he began to pick a few for inside decorations leaving one behind his husbands ear as they continued onwards.

“Ah my Gege, how would you feel if I had painted you again?” His husband had moved towards the small room they had kept to the side for his paints and as he continued to paint the one he loved the couple talked about everything and nothing, it was as if they were in their own world carved by their love for each other one that he hoped would never break and only expand.

“Ah San Lang I love you so much…” pressing a kiss to his husbands cheek as he was handed his new portrait.

“Beloved… I love you more than I could in any number of lifetimes brought together.”

Going back and forth the two moved around their routine nostalgic in a way that others would have been brought to tears by, a love story that never ends.

Butterflies danced in the garden out the front, bees buzzing through each flower, a stray cat chasing one of the butterflies as its own partner sunbathes in the summer warmth.

He kissed his husband as he began unwinding his body from the octopus like man next to him, yawning lightly as he moves to go grab his robes before starting on a small amount of congee for a breakfast to share between them. Like always it doesn’t turn out perfect the rice to soggy and burnt at the same time but it was made with love either way before a man almost bolted out of the bedroom towards him giving him a hast goodbye,

“Gege, I apologise beloved, Yin Yu said his spiritual energies were depleting again I must go I shall be home before you know it but let me know should you need a hand with anything? This should only take an hour at maximum should everything else be running smoothly.”

“See you soon San Lang, wish Yin Yu strength from myself I’ll leave some congee simmering for once you’re done.” Pressing a firm kiss to his husbands cheek bone he moved back to the pot as his husband rolled a dice away from their small shrine.

The sun was bright in his eyes almost illuminating his white robes as he crossed over a bridge towards a small abandoned town, it’s always sad when what once was an imperial city becomes nothing more than a small town after so many years.

There are no sounds from any wildlife near by.

A door blows in the wind as the dust picks up. And not long after humming fills the eerie silence a sort of mechanical hum coming from above him that makes his eyes catch on the object not too far from himself.

He doesn’t even know how to describe the shape of it. Let alone the fact it can make light despite there being no lanterns insight. Some thing jumps out and stands across from him.

It’s not very tall but it’s arms are long, its not very colourful yet it’s eyes hold more than what the earth he stands on can hold but its also not very human.

He rolls the dice in his pocket before he can think of what else to do.

He lives with ghosts yet that is no ghoul, no demon nor spirit.

He almost misses the slight jingling of familiar boots. He has been hit?

His arm glows ominously not a colour far off than what is in that beings eyes.

“Gege!” A swarm of butterflies is passing him attacking the thing that shot him but the glowing spreads.

He grabs E-Ming and cuts off his arm yet the glowing continues to spread, his arm slowly fading.

“San Lang… San Lang… SAN LANG! I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY!!” He can tell he’s being hysterical. Arms wrap around him chanting Gege as he turns and uses his single arm to clutch his husbands ashes close to his heart and faces his beloved,
“San Lang I don’t know what’s happening but I will find you even if it takes a millennia please wait for me!”

“I’ll wait, I won’t stop looking beloved I will find you!”

He can feel himself fading as he gets his last words out.

“I love you, San Lang.”

Is this what his husband felt?

To feel like you’re floating with no purpose?

He doesn’t know what's happening.

Why.

Why.

Why.

Why.

Why.

Why.

Why.

Why.

Why?

Why did someone decide to break part his life with his San Lang, his Hong-Honger, his Wu Ming, his Hua Cheng, his husband, his beloved, his own reason to still live every day with a smile.

All he can see when he wakes up again is someone’s face, he doesn’t recognise them. He thinks he sees another person, but they are standing too far away from him, their hair is purple? They walk away and he thinks he can hear the other person cry a bit before they pick him up chanting through the tears

“It’ll be okay Keith, your mother will return, I’ll look after you pa is here.”

He misses his San Lang.

But part of him also misses the person who just left. He doesn’t know why, he doesn’t know who either of the people are.

Chapter Text

His fathers eyes are grey, his hair is black, and he has slight stubble. He does remember the woman who gave birth to him but he hopes she was kind.

He no longer remembers his old parents, he can still remember his friends from before though Feng Xin had tanned skin used an arrow and had his brown hair up in a bun while Mu Qing had long hair he had worn half up and halve down that shone with silver streaks in the sun but was overall a midnight black Mu Qing had used a scimitar while he dressed elegantly. He misses his San Lang though.

He ran up to the man who just hopped off his hoverbike, tugging his pants slightly before asking,

“Pa, do ya know anyone called Hua Cheng?”

“Unfortunately, not my boy, say kiddo who is he? One of your teachers mentioned that you had written about it in your homework.”

“My husband!”

His pa picked him up and held in by his arm to his waist before throwing him up a bit to get the child in his arms to laugh a bit as he let out a warm laugh himself.

“Pa! Don’t laugh, gotta find him! He gonna miss me!!”

“Ah my boy, I will help ya find this husband of yours… Say though I think its time for supper though ey?”

Nodding along the boy gripped his father tight as the pair went to the kitchen, Keith instructing his father what ingredients too add with confidence that shone through even when the dish itself came out purple and bubbling like a failed science experiment.

“Yahhh! We did it! How about we name it, ‘Summer nights blast!”

“Alright kiddo” The laugh of the man holding him warmed up his chest with love, he had the best pa! He hopes that his past life’s Ba was just as kind as he laughs with his pa.

He doesn’t like the kids at school, none of them are like his old friends. Even though they were loud they never laughed at him menacingly, even though they could be rough it was always fun. These people are loud in an overwhelming way, they push and shove. He learns that if they won’t get along with him, he won’t with them either. That ends him up in the office next to his pa. Apparently, he can hit someone hard enough to break their nose should they annoy him enough to do so.

His pa says his strength is what he got from his mother, he doesn’t know her, but he doesn’t believe him. He knows he got his strength from his past life. Maybe if he trains hard enough, he can be as strong as he was before someone deserving of his San Lang. He doesn’t think the hole in his heart will ever be filled of love that his San Lang gave him, his pa doesn’t even come close, but it makes him happy to know even if its not his husband looking out for him, he’s still got someone on his side.

He trains with his pa on the weekends on how to throw a punch and not break his hand, pa ain’t always there but he can’t be to upset about it cause his pa is always saving people. He wants to help saving people but pa says he’s to young to do so for now. His father gives him a blade as he says,

“Your ma is a hero kiddo, if you want to save people train strong like her and you can reach the stars.”

His pa was a hero.

A hero.

Could someone who sacrifices themselves be a hero? He supposes so as long as more people are benefited from the out come than not.

He wasn’t benefited from his father’s sacrifice but he’s just one person. The family he saved is more people than him, they thank him but all he can really do is cry.

Why does everyone leave?

Why did his pa leave?

Why did that being take him away from his San Lang?

It takes him a week to learn to be angry.

He wanted to grow out his hair like what it use to be, but the kids in the group home pulled at it tearing away small chunks of it from his skull while taunting at him for having a girls length of hair.

He used his mothers blade to cut it short enough to not get pulled. Something feels like its breaking inside himself as he does it but he knows the risks of not doing so would cost him more than just cutting his hair.

We wanted to paint the butterflies dancing in the gardens but then a group of kids threw mud at him for ruining the view.

Everyone normally left him alone, he was to different from them to be considered someone to befriend. He knew that everything he had learned in his old life would have been outdated by now, he still struggles to use devices with the staff at the home comparing him to their grandparents. But he learns, he doesn’t need to relearn a lot of things mainly just the newer stuff like technology and the bits he forgets like when someone tried speaking to him in mandarin and his response was in a much to outdated version for them to comprehend all together.

Everything he learnt does come in handy though, he was a martial god he thinks, still remembering the base of his cultivation he knows is best to continue practicing helping him stay grounded when he runs to hot headed. He still is quick to anger but he restrains himself from violence most of the time.

He doesn’t like school to much, the kids are still mean they pick him apart like crows feasting on a dead animal.

They locked him in a closet once.

It was dark and cramped. The air in their felt hard to breathe, a liquid had spilt on a shelf just above his shoulders drenching him in it and as he moved forward a bit in shock something poked his chest right in the centre.

He screamed.

“LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT!

IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS.

LET ME OUT LET ME OUT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.”

Even as he was forcefully pulled out of the closet his cries never ended, teachers frantically ran around the halls pushing students out to give him privacy as one desperately tried to calm him down but the chant of ‘It hurts’ never slowed never stopped even as teachers restraint him from clawing at his chest, his shirt torn by his own nails, his chest bloomed with red scratch marks.

It took him twenty minutes to pass out.

The teachers moved him to the nurses unit in the school.

His tears never ended despite his unconscious state.

“San Lang…” He muttered softly when he awoke, voice raw and eyes red rimmed with tears that still flowed down his cheeks. He looked a mess.

Around him were adults of all different ages, an older woman had passed him a tissue seeing his eyes open, his caretakers had been in the corner talking to various teachers and sitting on the edge of the window frame sat an innocent appearing butterfly the colours of a warm summer sky, but he wished it were silver.

He let out a sad, “San Lang…” before his eyes shut and he tuned out the adults around him.

Chapter Text

He had begun to be moved around homes, the group home being too ‘overwhelming’ should he have had a panic attack like that again.

The just didn’t want to deal with him.

“Problem child” quickly joined his list of what he’s been called His highness who pleased the gods, flower crown martial god, god of misfortune, trash god and now also problem child, a discipline case.

He wondered how long it would take him to disappear. He knew his husband would probably be in China but would he, a 2000+year old god in the body of a twelve year old, really be able to get a plane to China? He has better luck just getting lost and hoping he ends up in ghost city.

That was stupid though he’d be more likely to end up dead with his luck.

He fought. When the other kids were getting rough, he’d show them rougher when he need to. He never personally sought out fights, he refused to be that sort of person, but to stay safe he knew he needed to show them who was stronger. With that strength though he did start taking care of those who were in the same position he was in before he fought, he taught a small group to know when they needed to fight and how to do it causing the least damage but most effect. He bandaged up their wounds, helped them with homework and generic life skills for when life hands you a bad deck of cards. They helped him too, teaching him where to go in modern days of life, how to use devices and they had played video games with him which he still didn’t really understand but it was fun to see them so happy either way.

He was still quick to anger though, never to the kids that he helped but, to the ones that targeted them? He was fierce knowing he couldn’t fight their every battle but knew when they needed more help than what they could achieve themselves.

He watched a young adult walk into the school grounds one recess, he was helping a younger kid with their homework in the small area by the bins that he knew people would avoid and that they’d be left alone. He saw that mans eyes lock onto his before he turned away, focusing his full attention on the smaller girl in front of him who had an assessment due next period.

Surprise to him, that same man is doing an incursion for his class after recess.

He doesn’t want to get involved, although space is awesome, he’d prefer to go there with his husband by his side, and he doesn’t do well with video games to often preferring to let the younger ones beat him.

“What about you kid? Want to see what you got?”

Damn it. One day he hopes that his luck won’t curse him.

This was the easiest video game he’d every played. He doesn’t know why, he saw the others fail at it but this one just made sense to him.

That fucking teacher had to go and throw the bucket on him though. I’ll show her discipline case. Guess it’s time to find ghost city.

He knew he was lost now. He’d been driving away from the police chasing him for an hour now that he’d lost them.

Before his luck threw a boulder at him.

It was his pa’s house.

Everything was still in place, even his mothers blade. He knew he couldn’t take it with him but the thought of having a blade to practice was like a drop of water in this desert. He still didn’t bring it though. The police would still be after him. Pity to he wanted to ask how the test went.

Sitting on that plastic chair, the start white walls with no window in sight was a boring scene to be in but one he was familiar with being the second time he got in enough shit to almost end up in juvie. He would be more surprised if he wouldn’t end up there this time. His foster parents wouldn’t defend him.

He wishes he arrived in ghost city the pleasing reds more appealing than the stark white of the room.

He finds his mind drifting to his husband, a man who he hasn’t met yet but desires more than anything to meet. He wants to not have to worry about everything in this damn life and just go and continue spending eternity with his husband. He hopes he hasn’t taken too long.

That train of thought was thrown out the non-existent window when the man, Shiro, walked into the room with the police officer.

“Here he is, say what you want, we’ll sign you both out while you’re at it, just meet at the front desk before you leave.”

The man in question nodded before turning to him,

“Keith, I think that you have talent.”

Well this isn’t what he expected. Shiro continued,

“I had seen you before class tutoring the girl, I had asked the teacher about you and her but she said to just ignore it. That and with your skills displayed today I think you have a good chance to end up somewhere good in a proud profession.”

Following the man out of the room he responded bluntly.

“I stole your car, and you get me out of this place? I don’t think me having talent is what’s keeping you here and not sending me to juvie.”

“You’re right, I want to offer you a chance into the Galaxy Garrison, meet me here at 9am sharp tomorrow we can discuss it more later.”

Shiro spoke while before driving off leaving him behind with a card.

He knocked before entering the home. “Keith pack your things you’re going back to the group home.” Fucking hell what did he expect. Running his thumb over the card in his pocket while walking up the stairs to the joint room he shared with his foster siblings. He grabbed his bag before saying goodbye to the two younger ones he had been watching after,

“Make sure you take care of each other, ‘kay? I taught you for you to protect the innocent not harming them.” They nodded a final goodbye as he left.

The group home was hell. When he first lived there he was eight and stayed there till he was nine when he moved to the homes, he’d only been there for a day or so in between house moves so he didn’t have to worry about his stuff getting stolen should he have slept with it in the same bed not needing to unpack anything. Now though? He’d have to keep an eye on it like a hawk lest his stuff gets stolen.

He did end up going to see Shiro the next day, he had asked why he had a bag with him that looked quite full but all he got for a response was a guarded stare. He had to see the man again the weekend after, his bag still present but he had refused to say why again.

It took Shiro almost a year to find out why when he had begun getting ready for the garrison with Shiro offering to buy him one of the school uniform bags.

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind a second bag for school stuff, help keep this one clear for when I help the young ones with their homework.”

“How many kids do you help?”

“Any kid that asks that looks like they need it. The group home ain’t nice to anyone but having someone watch your back for school helps so that meetings aren’t required from teachers. That shits to stressful for kids along with the ever changing homes.”

“Language. But don’t you live with a foster family? They had signed the sheet to get you signed out.”

Staring at Shiro for a minute while seeing the concern on his face he answered,

“They had been fostering young kids, best they don’t have bad influences else they turn to discipline cases. I was out that arvo.”

Seeing a clear end to the conversation Shiro just nodded before changing subjects to help him with how to work the technology for the Garrison. Shiro clearly was also concerned how he struggled with the device but not much he could really do about it. He was over 2000 he can’t be bothered to keep up with the newest trends.

Chapter Text

“What do you mean I can live in your apartment?” Shiro was nuts that’s it! Who would consider even letting someone with his record live with him? He had seen Keith start fights, even if the other person verbally started it. He had seen Keith get mad and angry what others would consider dangerous and he was thinking about letting him of people share an apartment with?

“Ah you know how, Adam and I have a spare room we thought it’d be better to let you live with us rather than just let Matt crash there every few weeks, he can have the couch when he does so, plus isn’t the group home to far from here? It’s an onsite apartment so you can think of it as a gift for passing the exams into the garrison.”

So Shiro and Adam are nuts that’s it, never in his 2000 years of life has he ever seen someone so nuts. And he’s seen a lot. He is a magnet for misfortune who would bring down their apartment out of stroke of bad luck, hell Shiro has passed out from eating his cooking before!

“Look you don’t have to accept right now, that’s why I’m saying this now so you have the weekend to think about it then should you accept, we can get you in here by next weekend. Adam and I have both good standing being garrison employees with a high pay rate so it’ll be easy to get you accepted to host you.”

“Yeah, okay I’ll think about it.”

He was sitting with a small group of kids about three as he tutored them in math's before one piped up, “Hey Keith, there’s rumors that you’re getting a foster home again! Is it true?”

“Uh yeah, I was offered a place to stay by a friend of mine who works at the garrison.”

“Woah!! Epic make sure that you keep us updated!” The other two agreed before they spread into their own conversation about space and future schools.

“Okay guys, that’s enough, I don’t even know if I’ll agree now come on you don’t want to waste anyone’s time, right? Let’s continue.” After their small tutoring session, the same kid as before tugged on his worn red jacket,

“Keith, don’t let us hold you back ‘kay? We all will miss ya but you can’t miss the opportunity!” The small kid ran back off to the group to return to their room as Keith watched them go.

He really is going to accept, isn’t he? At least the risk of stolen things will be lowered and hopefully some privacy.

Shiro was right, by the Friday all of his stuff was packed up and Shiro’s car was waiting outside he was greeted by Shiro as he was saying his goodbyes to the few kids he talked to.

“Come on Keith, I’ll drive this time.”

A round of giggles later they had left.

He had to admit it felt like a small weight of his shoulders, he doubts Shiro will throw him back there, but you can never be too sure.

“Hey Keith, welcome, your room is down the hall over here.” Nodding hello to Adam he followed him through till he reached his room, “You’ll probably just be staying here for weekends or if you want after schools but you can choose to get a dorm should you want to.”

Nodding again, he set down his bag followed by the garrison one which he moved to the desk in the corner a few minutes later.

“I’ll let you get settled in and once Shiro returns you guys can head to the shops to get what you need like bedding and everything while he can get something for dinner, no neither of you will be cooking you are both banned from the kitchen without supervision from myself. Don’t try to supervise each other that’s a fire waiting to happen.” Sighing Adam left for his next class.

Pity, he liked cooking.

The room was plain overall clearly a guest room cleared out leaving the furniture and plain white bedding. His bag fit snuggly underneath the bed far from the door, the garrison was located in the desert chances are he’d be able to disappear for a few hours and collect his knife from the shack.

The front door was unlocked and opened followed by a call from Shiro, “Hey Keith! Let me know once you’re ready we can go head to the shops!”

Finding the man in the kitchen with a glass of water before they went off to the shops came with a sort of strange realisation, despite Shiro having taken him in his car before this was going to be happening more often than not, he was going to see Shiro in that kitchen almost daily, taste Adams cooking most days.

This was going to take some time to get use to. He wasn’t a stranger to sharing a house with someone he cared about, he cared about the children he tutored, but the last time he felt he had done so with it not being him forced to stay there was when he was with his husband in Paradise manor hell even Puqi shrine despite him being in ownership of it.

He missed his San Lang.

The shops were overwhelming he officially decided. Its not that he’d never been but even now he always preferred farmers markets and would try to find them instead of going to the larger shops. He also never had to actually go to a shopping center. The individual shops were fine but walking through the masses just to get to a shop? He’d rather go scrap collecting for his clothes and bedding.

After an hour of all of that? He was exhausted, only ending up with two pairs of black pants and the same colour shirts except for the single red jacket he had been able to find a newer version of, it was red and white, his and his husbands colours. At least he was able to find another set of bedding and didn’t have to go through looking at each and every piece. He was walking back to Shiro when he saw them though, a fox plush it sat innocently to the side of a shelf shoved behind some bedding. He couldn’t even stop himself if he had wanted to, he would have done anything in the world to obtain that plush, it was small hardly bigger than his palm but he knew it was his. Shiro’s eyes had almost softened seeing it mentioning  how cute it was in a voice verging on what one would use for babies before moving to head to the check out, Shiro had gotten Adam and himself a new quilt cover and matching pillowcases that fit the overall vibe of the apartment.

There was a strange man on the couch when he got to the apartment, round glasses and short hair that sprouted outwards just below his ears. He had called out to the man behind him as they entered,

“Shirooooooo, did you get anything for lil’ ol’ me??” The person in question hung his head over the couch to be met with the sight of Keith.

“OH MY GOSH, Shiro! I think someone broken in!” The overdramatic shout was accompanied by the man falling off the back of the couch before righting himself and making his way over to Keith,

“Hey stranger, I’m Matt. Nice to meet you?”

He just glared at the hand as if it offended him before nodding and moving to help Shiro unload groceries into the kitchen.

“Ah sorry Matt, this is Keith. Keith as he introduced this is Matt.” The man in question waved and stole something out of one of the bags.

Matt jumped onto the couch grabbing a controller to play before calling out to the two in the kitchen, “Keith! Come to me young one. Let us play while Shiro goes and continues being an old man!” The old man in question and nodded to Keith letting him get to know the unwanted guest.

It took him an hour to learn the controls, he swore he could see Matts hair falling out as he proceeded to finally be getting the hang of the controller.

“Keith I mean this with all due respect. You are an older man than Shiro.”

He just laughed, ha! If only they knew he was 2000 years older than both of them!

The two stopped and stared before Keith quieted down, suddenly embarrassed by his outburst before Shiro spoke up. “Don’t worry about us Keith, its good you’re having fun now you must become better than your master and beat Matt in any game you play!”

“HAH HE SHALL NEVER OVERRULE HIS MASTER!”

The three of them played till Adam came home so tired he brought pizza.

“Keith, have you watched Star wars?”

The boy in question shook his head before the three ‘older’ men gasped and the rest of the night was spent binging the movies.

Chapter Text

Sand blew around them similar to the storm in Ban Yue all of those millennium ago, ah part of him was waiting for his San Lang to show up to show them shelter from the harsh sun or that he’d get lost and end up in ghost city. But how can he get lost if he has no destination?

Kerberos was in a month now, but he had a plan on how he wanted to spend the time away from Shiro, he was going to submit the paperwork to be an exchange student in China and use his free time there to go and find his husband. He had already been out of America before, so he knew how the new way to transport by plane worked, Shiro had taken him to meet his family in Japan a year ago now over Christmas break. He was grateful for Shiro though, part of him wondered if this is how San Lang felt as Hong-er to get noticed by a brother figure of sorts who protected him, hell if it wasn’t for Shiro he doesn’t think he would have even been able to get a flight to China.

He wants his husband to meet the man who helped him get home. He wants to go home. Shiro’s apartment feels like an odd sort of home like ones childhood home in a way… Would Shiro try to test his husband like what happened on one of the random dramas Adam likes to watch?

He still sees the tutoring kids every second week at the library in the city closest to the Garrison but every month the number goes down, with kids getting moved or just not needing his help anymore. It’s why he’s racing with Shiro right now, everyone’s leaving him behind to do something great. He knows he’s so happy for Shiro but he’s also nervous, this is the longest trip Shiro has taken since he stole the man’s car, that far away anything could happen, and it would be too late to help.

The sand hitting his face is like a wake-up call. He should take Shiro to his childhood home, give the man who has done so much for him a deeper look into who he is even if he doesn’t think he’ll ever admit that he is actually a two-thousand-year-old Chinese god and not a sixteen-year-old boy.

He races ahead of Shiro putting on his turn signal to let him know that he wants to be followed as they head deeper into the dessert. The old shack is clearly worn with age, he hadn’t yet brought his knife back with him yet, but he thinks having it on him would be a good idea if he wants to find out more about it.

They come to a stop a few meters away from the building and as they walk up to it Shiro does speak up,

“Hey Keith, what is this place? It looks so old and decrepit.”

“Hah, it was my pa’s before he passed, mine now, I guess. It’s just a bit of a fixer upper if it’s still standing, I think that’s good enough for me, must be luck.”

Shiro just stares for a minute before following him inside.

“Feel free to look around I just wanna grab a few things.” He grabs his knife in it’s sheath, a photo of him and his pa and a set of keys.

Jingling the keys he mentions to Shiro, “Pa’s hoverbike should still be around here, I wanna see if I can fix any of it. Could come in handy ya know?”

The hoverbike is surprisingly not as fucked as he thought it would have been, his pa covered it in a tarp that took the brunt of the sand, a few bits need replacement due to age and rust but a full tank with a coat of paint should bring it up fine. He’ll have to take it into a servo some time so that he can learn how to get it fixed. Pity he wasn’t actually born in this time period, he might’ve had an idea how.

They head back just before sunset watching the sun as it passes while they pack away the hoverbikes. Adam leaves that night, he doesn’t know why he expected him to hopefully not leave him behind. He’s never that lucky.

He wishes that he could’ve had someone to talk to while in China who could keep him updated about Kerberos after he would leave.

He was tired, he was revising his Chinese all night in preparation for when he returns. He can’t wait to get updated on Kerberos next week though, it would be his last till he returned that he could have gotten in the Garrison.

He was packing away the apartment, the tv on just the news as a source of background noise for the apartment that was too quiet with just him, his suitcase left lying on the couch as he folded some basic clothes into it with the fox plush left on the armrest of the couch.

He was hardly even paying attention to the tv but he heard it.

Kerberos mission failed: Samuel Holt, Matt Holt and Captain Takashi Shirogane assumed dead. Pilot error.

Pilot error.

Pilot error.

Pilot error.

Pilot error.

Pilot error.

Pilot error.

Pilot error.

Pilot error.

Shiro wouldn’t have crashed. He was the best damn pilot there! He would have kept both Holts safe even if it killed him! Even his disease wouldn’t have stopped him.

How dare they not let him know. They just shared it on the news as if the crew didn’t have families. IT WOULD NOT EVEN HAVE BEEN TRUE. THEY LIE THEY LIE THEY FUCKING LIED.

He doesn’t even notice when his shirt was exchanged for the fox plush as he fell off the couch crying in a desperate way that left his throat raw with stuck emotions. He was silent through it all, the news still playing like a broken record in his head. He didn’t even have Feng Xin or Mu Qing this time. He was alone again. He wanted his brother, the man who made him feel not as lonely even if he didn’t have his husband with him. The man who helped him, the man who saved him from a life in the system, who bailed him out even if he stole his car or got into fights. A man who saw him not as a troublemaker but as someone to help. He wanted to help the common people he would help his brother.

He still went to class even if he hated the garrisons guts. He would need to if he wanted to get up there to space to rescue his brother, he only had a week left of seeing these people till China. His husband would help him he knew it.

He felt so lost, would he be able to find his husband? He has a destination now.

He felt his eyes turn to pin pricks at the sight in front of him, it was a Kerberos rescue mission. He didn’t move, even as his team kept yelling as the commanders voice joined in.

He made sure that Iverson couldn’t see out of his eye. He practically sacrificed it to him by showing him that bullshit of a simulator. He was still a god despite everything. It was considered an offering making him stronger.

The arms around him gripped him tight as they guided him through the halls he recognised through years of training, a woman and her daughter looked at him with worry that was clouded through their own despair.

He collected his stuff from the apartment quickly, the fox plush squished in between the roof of the suitcase and clothes but he could not care right now as he used his pa’s hoverbike to get to the shack, he was thankful Shiro took it to get it fixed as a goodbye gift. He knew the garrison wouldn’t do anything about him, they were neck deep with the Kerberos and should it get out that they hadn’t even told the families before the news? They would lose a lot of money, students and teachers for the offense.

He sends a prayer to his husband, he’ll have to wait a bit longer.

Chapter Text

The desert was quiet in a way that the year he spent waiting for his husband never was.

He had no one to wait for.

He had to find his brother and return to his husband.

Starting his search for Shiro in his shack was probably one of the worst places to start but it was a beginning and that’s all he needed.

The warm winds felt like they only blew in one direction as he was practicing with his knife, he knew he needed routine else he would go off the rails and fail those who needed him. So he began the day with a warm cup of tea and trained through the sun rising till its peak when he would go inside and begin his search, marking down what he knew and the odd things that happened in the dessert like the wind. The next week he set out to the caves nearby in order to find a potential source of water, once again the wind had followed him through till he reached a shallow stream of water no thicker than twenty centimeters but ran into the cave system. He collected the water and followed a lizard back to the shack. He returned to the caves at least once a week for water though.

He was lucky some might say, he was told that he was naturally well balanced and strong but he knew that those skills came from centuries of refinement that passed along to him through the lifetimes. He wondered how he came to exist, gods aren’t given a chance at being reborn yet here he walks as a seventeen-year-old boy practicing cultivation methods from millennia’s ago.

It took him five months to feel the effects off all the training, his built up spiritual energies still to weak to be used but more so than a novice cultivator. He explored deeper into the caves, documenting everything from the lion art to the tracks the water flows to and where the wind reaches.

There was a sandstorm during his sixth month, he was trapped in the caves for at least two weeks where he worked on cultivating inedia to be able to survive with the stark lack of life in the caves. He couldn’t hunt the coyotes which had made themselves home in the far end of the cave, it would be stupid to sustain injuries and be unable to get medical treatment due to the storm outside.

He returned to a small city once the storm blew over to restock on supplies, seeing a missing poster of matts younger sister was worrying and soon a note with the information on the poster ended up on the board as well.

He bumped into one of the children he looked after while in the city, the same girl who he helped with her test. She was now about up to his shoulders and yelled his name while running at him when she had spotted him.

“Ah Darla, how can I help you?”

The girl panted a bit from the run before responding,

“Where have you been?! None of us have even seen you! One of the younger ones last saw you when you were at the garrison and mentioned going to China but there was no sign of you at their last session with you!”

The girl dragged him by the ear, she was surprisingly strong and had grown a lot since he last saw her.

“But anyway, Keith you are much too skinny! Here I have a small part time at a café nearby, I’ll get you something to eat so I know you won’t starve on me while we are talking.”

It took her a few minutes to get him some food, a warmed-up scone and a lukewarm cup of green tea.

They had talked for till sunset, he mentioned getting stuck in the sandstorm a few days ago and being unable to get food till it passed and that he had left the Garrison after they sprouted bullshit of Kerberos then refused to tell the families first. He learned that she had been adopted by a uncle she had no clue about due to her father losing contact with most of his family after the death of his wife, that she’d offer food to the kids in the system while also keeping part of her earning for them now that she’s certain her home won’t be ripped out from under her. They both know that she has a spare backpack in case it does, it was one of the first things he taught the kids. Once the sun had set and her uncle came to pick her up, he offered a space for him to stay the night before returning to the desert tomorrow. It was nice staying in a home again after so long, even if it wasn’t his own. He left just after eight, promising to keep in touch with her but warning her that he was on the trail of something so if he did disappear out of the blue don’t bother reporting it focus on herself and the other kids.

He hopes she would do that very thing. He was sure she would fight for him but did not want her to be dragged into his bad luck that is his life at this point.

It’s at eight months he feels a pull stronger than before. He had been successfully using his spiritual energy with his blade, reinforcing every swing. The pull made it feel like his core was being ripped from him. Not draining his energy but using it as a tether to what he needs to find.

A month later and he can predict something is going to crash into the dessert in three months.

The anniversary of the Kerberos mission.

He went out to the city to meet with Darla the next day, meeting her at the café before open, warning her of that day. He didn’t stay till open, moving forward to avoid being stuck in the city for too long. The Garrison had a few weeks off before their classes started again and he didn’t want to be meeting any more old faces.

He could feel his spiritual energy coursing through him. He sat by a small shrine towards the man he longs for, the incense sticks long burnt out, but he remains in that place, he has no more tears. He knows that it could be years before he can see the face of the man he misses again, and he has come to terms with that despite the hollow pain in his chest that echoes through every swing of his mother’s sword.

He wonders who she was, why she left.

He wonders if she was like his birth mother. He hopes she was, he knows the woman who birth his original body was kind. He feels that in his soul.

The emblem at the hilt of the blade reminds him of e-ming in a way, but it never moves never flickers it only glows brighter when he uses his spiritual energy.

It’s a day before he moves from the spot of the floor feeling restless for spending all that time doing nothing. He spends the day training till the sun rises again and he goes back to the board. He continues to go between training and the board till he passes out a week later and returns to his original schedule.

He never does see a butterfly in the desert.

The anniversary of Kerberos greets him faster than expected. But he’s prepared for all situations.

Except for the one which leads him to finding Shiro and being stuck on a blue lion shot into space with his brother and three cadets.

He’s too old for this. At least he has his brother with him now.

Chapter Text

Honestly the fact that these three children are having to fight in a war is something he hoped he wouldn’t have had to see in this lifetime. Children having to come together to fight for a greater cause like soldiers in the frontlines of Xianle. He knows his husband, his Hong Hong-er, fought and died there but so would have other children who lied about their age to fight.

At least everyone of us should be more protected fighting in the lions, but not all battles can be won by weaponry they still have to board the ships and fight to gain intelligence and rescue those imprisoned.

Its sad that in the month away from Earth has already changed these students to child soldiers.

He’s wondering the halls mapping out what he should know in case of emergencies when he runs into Shiro. The man has a far away look in his eyes, so he walks a bit louder to announce his approach before calling out to him,

“Shiro!”

The man in question takes a bit to respond but it’s not long before he does.

“Keith, sorry I zoned out there for a bit, I have been checking on everyone are you okay? Did you need me for something?”

Shaking his head he responds with, “No need Shiro, just mapping out the ship. Would you like to head to the kitchens with me?”

He recognises his brother figure, strong but warped with malnutrition. He had it too when he ascended the third time in his past life, his husbands body never grew out of it having died in that state.

They walk in a comfortable silence while on there way to the kitchen, the room is empty but clean with the stored items being in a sort of cluttered, clean way that clearly been moved by Hunk. He makes a mental note to return everything to how Hunk had it when they were packing away.

He knows he can’t cook, he doesn’t want to torment Shiro with that. So, he’s so glad when Coran walks in claiming to be hungry as well and serving Shiro as he grabs his own food. He sits and listens to Coran talk about his own adventures on Altea, he knows what its like to miss home so he doesn’t stop the man. He just listens and asks questions on bits even when the man sheds a tear, Shiro pats Coran shoulder to comfort him, he to knows the longing of home.

They finish up right as Allura walks in recommending that they all should start training again before they land onto a new planet for supplies.

Lance is late once again to training but he himself is too focused to really mind, him and Shiro agreed to doing some closer up combat using his bayard and a sword offered to Shiro by Allura. Pidge is working with a bot to the side of them to train with her own bayard while Hunk is taking tips from Allura on how to use his strength to aid him.

The repetitive motions of his fight lull him into the methods of his own cultivation training, he uses this time to practice infusing his own spiritual powers into the sword he uses. He doesn’t notice Lance coming in and watching Shiro and himself, nor does he notice how it creates a ripple effect with the paladins. He’s focusing on using his sword like an extension of himself directing his strikes to be powerful and accurate, his misses deadly but controlled in a way usually impossible when putting that much strength in a weapon to miss a blow.

He's so focused he doesn’t notice Shiro’s own sword growing weaker the more hits it takes till it breaks, a clean cut that pulls him out of his practiced motions to stumble a bit unprepared for the weapon to have broken. He is caught off guard again by the clapping of the other paladins while Allura speaks up once he rights himself to standing tall again.

“Well done, Keith! I don’t think I have ever seen someone infusing their own quintessence into the blade they use without it risking themselves!”

Shiro pats his shoulder approvingly before swapping the blade to his other hand and commenting,

“I feel like if I had my hand, it would have been jelly after all of that!” The metal arm in question shakes slightly from the pressure put onto it by the blows of his own sword.

“Hey, Keith, where did you even learn that?” Surprisingly it was Lance who asked that, he hadn’t expected him to have been the one to have asked that.

He doesn’t really know how to respond, he can’t really say that he’s a centuries old god who is somehow in the body of an eighteen-year-old.

Luckily Shiro is the one who speaks up for him, “Keith has been practicing since he was young, well since I met him, I’ve seen him fight and I am guessing he has been practicing we use to do small spars back in the garrison. Adam and I had started trying to get him to stop fighting random students and it was the best way, other than taking him riding in the dessert. I’m not surprised he knew where the blue lion was, he probably knows the area like the back of his hand.”

He just nodded once before moving to the side to grab some water. Coran had come down from the observatory part of the training room to announce that they had a new bonding task, to go into pairs and teach each other a skill.

It went fairly easily for himself, teaching Pidge how to control her movement to be faster without falling on her face, to showing Hunk how to make a distraction like what he did to guide the Garrison workers away from Shiro without getting caught, showing Lance some defensive movements without weapons and showing Shiro the repetitive movements he used himself to practice. He had practice teaching with the foster kids and how he guided each of the paladins through him teaching them skills.

Pidge tried to show him how to use the technology near him to his advantage – that failed tremendously when his bad luck blew up in his face and so did the training bot, Pidge standing to the side with their jaw dropped in surprise, - Hunk had showed him how to lift stuff correctly which did help but he also was still regaining a lot of his strength back again and could lift most objects the man tried to show him with, Lance had showed him how to aim with a gun which was surprisingly different with a riffle compared to a bow and arrow but aim had always been Feng Xins skill rather than his own, Shiro however showed him ways to spare his own energy while fighting rather than himself running on instinct and the will to survive a skill he was glad to have learnt, the man himself was good at guiding him and the other paladins though even without proper practice beyond himself in terms of teaching.

Allura practised with each of them to show teach them not to look down on there opponent a skill that Shiro, Keith and Hunk had excelled in. While Coran taught each of them how to draw weaponry and reload guns.

They were all exhausted and had gone to clean up before meeting in the kitchen. Once in the kitchen Hunk had spoken up,

“Would anyone like to help cook?”

Lance had unfortunately decided that this would be the time to speak up and announce their rivalry with Keith,

“Hey, Mullet, I bet I can help Hunk better than you can.”

Honestly, he didn’t even want to help least he ends up giving everyone food poisoning, but he wanted to cook again, he hadn’t cooked since coming to space and Hunk could probably help the food not turn into a purple sludge.

Shiro looked a bit nauseous when he agreed to the challenge and downright green when he proceeded to add,

“But Lance, we each have to try each other’s food, okay?”

“You bet! I’m sure its going to be your first time trying professionally cooked food cause hunk and I are about to wipe you out!”

Wasn’t Hunk helping both of them?

It took an hour each for both dishes to come out, one looked nicely put together as Lance shed a dramatic tear announcing, “I’m happy to say I got my skills from my mother and being blessed by Hunk.”

The next was purple and somehow moving.

“Keith… What happened?! I was with you the whole time?” Hunk threated off the dish somehow smelling like fish despite their being no seafood even aboard the castle ship.

Lance almost died on the spot seeing it laughing. Before a plate of the purple food was placed in front of him.

“No no no no! I am not eating that!”

Pidge chose that moment to speak up, their own nose plugged from the foul-smelling food, “But Lance, didn’t Hunk help? And you made a bet with Keith that you’d eat it.”

“NO! He must have done this on purpose to poison me!”

Shiro was still looking green as he responded, “No Lance… Keith just always cooks like that, Adam tried teaching him as well but no matter what happened it turned out a disaster.”

The boy in question sat silently eating the purple food with no issues, Lance seeing that it truly wasn’t poisoned took the tiniest bite known to man and promptly passed out into a green heap on the floor.

It took him an hour to wake of which he drank more water than ever recommended cursing Keith while doing so.

Keith was once again banned from a kitchen, unless he promised that only himself was to eat the food.

A plate of it had disappeared to a random office on the ship where Pidge ran test on the food, surprised to see that nothing out of the ordinary was added to it, the food was just purple even when they got hunk to recreate it with all the ingredients used.

Strange.

Chapter Text

The Castle ship was overall quiet despite the odd rumble the ship had, Coran had convinced them all that everything was fine, even bringing Pidge and Hunk with him to do a few repairs on the second day they were in space to prove them that all was running smoothly.

Most paladins were asleep or in their respective room. Keith included having just left from the showers after spending the past few hours training. However still feeling restless he sat on the ground to begin meditating, feeling his ever-growing spiritual reserves flow through his limbs. His husband must still be praying to him a feeling that brings him immense relief that his husband hasn’t moved on into the reincarnation cycle, despite the nagging feeling that still lingers that his husband will never get to rest in piece because of his selfish request.

He feels so lonely without his husband. He knows his husband is probably more so, it is unlikely that any of the gods from their time are still in existence.

Is it even right to still consider it his time? Was his time now instead of back all those years ago? Or was his time forever stuck when he had still been human before godhood?

He felt so alone, onboard with people who were technically as old as he was but weren’t due to them not having to live all those years. Even if he missed so many in the time it took him to take this body, he was still thousands of years old. His husband really was ‘gege’ now. He would probably laugh so happily and press so many kisses onto his face should he have said that to his face. His face that was so different that what it once was. Much more masculine than before, his eyes a deep purple rather than a golden brown. His height however… his husband will still stand taller than himself. At least he’s not stuck in the body of a seventeen-year-old, despite not being sure how he will age or if he will reascend maybe? He might as well try, it’s unlikely that the people he’s with won’t ascend, considering the fact that defeating an evil intergalactic empire should be considered a heavenly calamity at least.

He might as well teach them the basics of cultivation as well to try and help everyone here have the skill sets to be able to survive a war they shouldn’t have to face.

When he opens his eyes not only is he surprised how much calmer he is but he was also thinking so deeply one of the mice had joined him, attempting to copy his pose but with one eye open watching him.

Noticing they were being watched, they had fallen out of the position making himself laugh and pet the small creatures head before it waved bye and scurried out, probably to Allura.

Would godhood interfere though? He’s not sure, it’s not really like he cares about the rules of heaven too much.

The fluorescent blue lighting indicated that it was probably time he should get up. At least the halls were quiet.

“NUH UH!” Was screamed across the halls a voice echoing through from the kitchen. How he wished he wasn’t surrounded by children.

“What do you mean nuh uh?!”

“Lance, Pidge calm down please…!”

Hunk was in fact ignored. Shiro was no where to be seen, Allura shaking her head and Coran just watching along with an amused look on his face.

“I am not risking any of my tech near him! I don’t care about your silly rivalry but leave tech out of it, he has already broken many of the training bots.”

“But Pidge this could be beneficial! How else would we know who is better with tech?”

“I am better than the both of you and we don’t need a test to figure that out.”

It was to early for this. Unfortunately, this was a situation common in the homes.

“Okay! You two separate now should one of you continue, you will be running laps of the castle ship.” Honestly, he wonders why his San Lang never could write properly, he is a great teacher. At least until his luck catches up.

“But-”

“No.”

“He started-”

“One ‘it’ and you both have two laps.”

Finally silence in the kitchen.

“Now I think Hunk was saying something.” Directing his attention over to the taller boy who, unprepared for the confrontation, stuttered a tad before speaking up,

“Calm down please you two or at least keep it out of the kitchen, till I’m done making breakfast.”

The two nodded glaring at each other but appropriately scolded with the fear of doing two laps around the castle ship moved on and away from each other.

This was then when Shiro had decided to join pulled over by the noise than lack of noise.

“What happened here?”

Both Lance and pidge glanced at each other before soundly looking a way, neither wanting to answer still fearing to have to do laps.

Luckily for them Allura spoke up, “Those two had been arguing about some nonsense and then I think Keith scolded them?” Sounding unsure seeing the person in question silently helping Hunk clean, staying far away from any of his food but moving as if he didn’t just threaten the blue and green paladins.

Shiro had been at a loss to at the turn of events, Keith would have laughed at his brothers face as he stared at him as if asking how did he do it had he have not been trying hard enough to stay away from any food and still help Hunk.

He really did hope his bad luck wouldn’t come crashing down onto him.

Unfortunately for the somewhat peaceful environment his luck was not kind to him, the alarm going seconds after he though about his luck.

It wasn’t even one battleship it was two. With at least fifty fighters joining the two into battle, the castle happened to have crossed onto a prisoner’s cargo route. At least Pidge has the opportunity to find their father and brother.

The mission was to go as planned, the red and yellow lions as back up focusing on fighting the fighter jets and distracting the main ships from attacking the green lion as Pidge and Lance boarded the ships bringing along with them prisoners into the blue lion and then the green lion. Shiro’s mission had been to damage the engines of the ship, anywhere that wouldn’t lead to an explosion should it be hit and provide back up for the green and blue lions should need be.

The ships let out a few more fighters, probably about thirty someway between Lance and Pidge moving to the next ship, they were headed directly towards the two aiming for the lions heads and legs as they moved towards the ship. Unfortunately for them Shiro had been coming that way creating a close call between the lions taking more damage than already sustained by the time Shiro had taken to join the small fight.

Despite the seemingly good luck this also gave both Red and Yellow Lions less cover without Shiro actively attacking the main ships.

Again, it was just his luck he thought as he used the red lion to push the yellow lion, saving Hunk from the impending hit from the battleship.

The lights turned off one by one in a matter of seconds, he could hear a sizzling sound coming from somewhere around the red lions neck and as he looked over towards the sound he could see the molten gold with splotches of purple moving like water to a drain through the lion, never enough to create a gaping hole like he feared but enough to make any attempts to leave the lion ones that would end terribly. He was lucky enough to not be injured, just slight bruising from impact. Upon looking outside of the Lion he could see an array of explosions, his coms having been cut off left him in silence though, the lack of the warm feeling that Red brough was slightly alarming, he hoped she wasn’t too bad damaged.

He can’t even help her.

The battle wasn’t even looking good especially being a Lion down and with many prisoners among each of the two lions they would need to get hunk to rescue the last ship of prisoners while both the blue and green lions focusing on attacking the main ships and fighting off the fighter jets with Shiro back on his original course. At least the castle of lions might be able to help him but that was a risk he would rather not have to hope on considering he was going down fast, being caught in the gravitational pull of a nearby planet. By the looks of it not a gas planet but one with a lot of water.

Red water too. Just his luck, should he hit the planet before he can be picked up by the castle of lions he is going to be lost in the sea of red waves.

The sheet of ice surprised him, as he hit the surface of it. Quickly though it had melted, Red still hot from descent, breaking away and consuming his lion before he could process anything. Any light in the cockpit was gradually fading due to the blast being cooled by the cold water.

Red wasn't moving no matter what he tried. He was out of time. He had to do something.

The only thing he knew he could do was pray, to his friends, to gods so far that any chances of hope would be slim to none even if his husband was prayed to he didn’t hold onto a godhood anymore, as much as he would like to rely on him it would have been as hopeless as praying to Feng Xin and Mu Qing.

Hopefully, even if he lacked incense or merits, they would answer his prayer.

Even if they may not be on the Earth anymore.

Lost with the fading of devotion.

Chapter Text

It was so cold.

At least he was surrounded by his favourite colour but that didn't change the fact that it was so cold.

A sheen of ice had frosted over the glass of the Red Lion’s eyes, cracking bits and pieces from the extreme change in temperatures. The glass held though. He couldn’t see even the explosions, but he felt the impact as the Red Lion sunk to the bottom of the red ocean. His knees hit the metal floor with a thud as his hands clasped against each other, he never took of his helmet or closed his eyes. He didn’t know how much oxygen he’d have left but if the last thing he could potentially see in this life time be his friends he would not care if he died eyes open.

The foster kids he grew up with always told him horror stories they’d heard with an eyes open death and he’d thought he’d honour their superstitions till he was finally in the position where it could be his last.

He doesn’t rise even as the lion creaks with pressure of the ocean. His eyes don’t close in the dark of the room.

He doesn’t stop hoping that maybe his friends will come, he doesn’t want to die alone again. Not in the cold, not in the dark at least he doesn't want to be alone should his oxygen run out.

The water would freeze him alive to the point it killed him.
If he tried anything to strenuous, he would run out of oxygen.
If he did anything the weakened metal could break, and water would flood the cockpit.

‘Feng Xin, please I am in a tough situation, one I am not sure this mortal body could survive with. I am on a planet further than you can imagine surrounded by waves of red water to cold to swim in. I am running out of time and it would be impossible for those I am with to rescue me. Please if you hear this even if you can not help I want you to know I miss you and I am sorry for leaving you all for so long.’

‘Mu Qing, I fear I might not have much longer in this body. I am surrounded by an ocean of red on a planet further than what anyone on earth could have ever hoped of achieving to but the water is too cold to swim and any move I make could be my last. Even if it is impossible for you, I hope you know I miss you and I am sorry I couldn’t make it to any of you in this lifetime.’

The air in red was so cold without the lions warmth.

There was no light, even the one from his suit not strong enough to light the isolated cockpit.

He could only hear his own voice among the creaks of pressure.

It started off like the light of a wrath butterfly, then a second light joining the first but unlike the wrath butterflies he loves so much the glow had a similar warmth he felt when he found Shiro again.
The glowing kept growing like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly.
Growing and growing and growing, until before him stood two figures, wearing impeccable robes with more of a modern cut than what they would have had back when he first died.
They seemed older and wiser, while he looked a tad shorter and younger despite his body being one older than when he first ascended.
Their bodies were transparent like his had been when he visited Hong Hong-er that one fateful night. Both nights ended up in a survival, Feng Xin and Mu Qing pressed their palms onto the metal of the red lion and as their golden light entered the space craft each red light begun to glow softly, the warmth of Red returned to him and as the two turned to look at him Mu Qing spoke,
“Do not forget to come back to us Dianxia. Your Crismon Rain still awaits your way home.”
“I’ve got something important to do out here first. Tell San Lang I am sorry for making him wait longer.”
That made both gods laugh before Feng Xin replied, “He has been waiting a millennia, a few more years is hardly much for him but now he knows that you are still alive, it’s a comfort I am sure he’ll be happy with. Take care your highness.”
“You both too and thank you.” Bowing to them as they had once again disappeared, he felt a tear escape. He’s so happy he asked for help.

For the first time since he was born in this body, he feels part of his heart heal with the opportunity to return home.

He could have sworn he heard Mu Qing mumble “Always the hero” as he left, at least this time it is more of a reminiscing tone.

The red lions engines hummed a metallic rhythm to life, part of the machinery still frozen but able to take off slowly through the water.
As he got closer to the surface of the ice he was glad to hear coms come back to life.

“Guys theres still a few fighters left- no lance I don’t need help. The blue lion should be able to make it through the water….” “Guys the ice is has frozen over we can’t even tell where-…” “FIGHTER BREAKIN-!” “Its been too long since we lost contact to him, “The prisoners have been moved- no reports were able to be kept.” “we can’t even find reds signature.” “keep calm guys!”
“THERES A LIGHT COMING FROM THE ICE”
Hm coms might need a tad more fixing.
Red melted her way though, most of the ice defrosted by the time she had surfaced.
Knowing his coms were about to erupt again he took the few moments of piece before a storm to say on coms,
“Sorry guys took me a tad to get red up and running. A few more fighters though?” before turning coms off.
It took them less than two minutes to rise from the atmosphere to where Hunk had still been in battle, less than ten minutes later all the fighters had been defeated and he reluctantly turned coms back on to ask, “Is everyone alright?”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ARE WE ALRIGHT?!”
“Do you have oxygen deprivation or something?!”
“Keith are you okay you were under for a long time?”
“Number four what’s your status? I’ll get the med bay up meet me there as soon as you land.”
“Keith please don’t scare us like that.”
“The Lion and its paladin are essential in the fight against the empire, please if you have just come out of a life-threatening situation don’t bring yourself into another one!”

He wished he had kept coms off.

It took them five minutes to board the castle of lions, partially because Keith had wanted to test out the movement of red after everything and mainly as a chance to avoid the others.

He sent a quick prayer to Feng Xin and Mu Qing, a simple ‘thank you’ before he moved out of the lion.
He was quickly greeted by a worried Shiro who dragged him into the med bay to be met by Coran.

“Number four, please step into a pod once your ready, but while you are getting changed into the suit could you please inform me of everything that occurred from the time you were hit till the time you resurfaced? Not to worry but this is just a simple test to make sure that we aren’t dealing with any brain damages, you humans are quite fragile.”

“Sure… I had moved Hunks lion by smashing into it away from the line of fire by the battle cruiser to then be hit myself and shot down. Red was hit on the neck, so I couldn't get out or I would've gotten burned. She was badly damaged and started to shut down. I couldn't pilot her; we crashed through the ice and sank to the sea floor. I had no choice but to wait for her systems to come back online or risk asphyxiating. The metal was too weak, and the water was too cold for me to survive swimming to the surface. Red came back online after a while, and we flew up. She melted the ice with her heat ray and we resurfaced.
Coran just nodded, frowning a tad when he mentioned the fact she had just come back online but he was not going to tell him about his old friends coming to help repower her, that’d probably have him classed with schizophrenia and taken from missions for a while.

At least he wouldn’t have to answer any questions for the hours he spent in the pods.

When he awoke however his luck had caught up on him, he landed nose first despite Shiro’s efforts to catch him. And then to Lance laughing at his failure. Apparently, it was ‘epic’? He still doesn’t understand modern slang despite the best of efforts.

“Damn, mullet, I’d say your as old as your hairstyle but even someone born then would have gotten it.”

“Lance if you continue this Keith will be on your meal duty for the next few weeks.”
Well at least he would get to cook but seriously Shiro? He could almost hear Mu Qing gag at the thought of eating his food.

“Keith how on earth did you get Red up and running? Pidge and I have been looking at the levels Red recorded and she was so low at one point its surprising she could even record these levels then boom next she’s brough back to half way to power within a dobash!”
Ah he wishes is glare was as good as his San Lang's maybe then he wouldn’t have to answer, but he only shrugs in response murmuring something to Hunk about oxygen deprivation messing with him and that he doesn’t remember.
He notices Pidge shoot him a questioning glance where she stands by the door but pointedly ignores it. Its none of any of their business his past. Not like knowing would help though.

He does end up cooking himself a meal watching as Lance walks in and gets a sniff of it and promptly passes out. At least this time no ones going to laugh when Lance himself falls face first out of the pods.

Chapter Text

Well to say he didn’t expect a training session to end up like this would be a lie. Despite how mature children can act in the end they are still children.

And there are three of them in a circle,

Worshiping a god?

Honestly he’s close to given up.

Shiro, Allura and Coran had gone to go plan out their mission to find Shiro’s saviour while they were instructed to train and overall just occupy themselves. He however had been left out of that memo, due to already being in the training room practicing against the bots.

He may have frightened the other three.

May have would be an understatement if you asked them though, apparently he had been moving too fast for them to see, jumping too high for what should be achievable.

Wait till they find out he use to be able to go faster, but he was out of practice compared to a him that begun training at seven and did so for ten years till he had ascended.

Out of the ‘kindness’ of his heart he did offer to train them, really though he was just missing the nostalgia of everything. Warily the three exited their summoning circle upon hearing his offer.

The four of them where in the training room, modernized sticks in the hands of the garrison trio and his own bayard for himself, he was guiding the movements of each of the paladins, movements that would harness their on qi into their actions.

 Till Lance made a joke sending the other two into a small laughing fit and they were all sent to do six laps of the training deck.

He did decide to join them to help get his own blood pumping. Hunk had lasted three laps timing out when he decided he should begin dinner, obviously Keith let him, Pidge tripped over her own legs by the fourth deciding to sit out due to a slight sprain while Keith had completed eight laps by the time Lance had finally finished his sixth. Not that he hadn’t tried getting out of it. Keith was not having it, he interrupted so he had to know the consequences. Shiro and Allura joined the three of them when they finally got back to practicing harnessing their qi.

“Keith where have you learnt such a skill set? Back on Altea we did similar using quintessence but we couldn’t harness it for no reason we always had to put a reason behind our goals?”

“Oh, just some scrolls you know.”

Fuck.

No they didn’t know.

“Scroll? Don’t you mean books?” Damnit Pidge noticing his small mistake.

“Ah my pa used to have some scrolls, only one or two survived the years though.”

He prayed they would leave it at that.

And for once his luck had been on his side.

Unfortunately, he was wrong. “Keith what scrolls did he have? My great grandfather had actually handed some of his own down to my own father when I was a boy, I wonder if any had been the same or written by the same author.” Damn Shiro and his kind-hearted intentions.

“Ah.. It probably wasn’t- They were Chinese back from about the Xianle era or probably younger I forget you know…”

He was digging himself deeper.

“Oh, did you end up going to study at the Garrison in China? I do think I signed the forms for that, I hope me getting lost in space didn’t interfere you were so happy and had wanted to find something right?”

“I uh didn’t sorry, I had been expelled.”
Please please please please leave it at that.

“Wait Keith when had been the Xianle era? I don’t think I have heard of any Chinese empire going that far back, other than a few ghost stories you know like Crimson rivers or Skeleton Ships…”

“Crimson rivers or Skeleton ships?” He laughed out, where had pidge even heard these names!

“I know those stories, yes, they are from different eras.”

“Could you tell us about them over dinner? It would be delightful to know more of your planet’s history!” The perfect timing to ask as Coran had announced it was time to eat right after Allura asked. The others were unfortunately nodding as they moved to get changed and shower. Even Lance.

Dinner was an alien type of noodles, the same colour as a lot of his cooking, but a scent so good even the most discerning of cats would be drawn over. And it was paired with his own stories of the past just to taunt him it felt like.

“Okay so to begin with the names you mentioned not only were wrong but only two of the Calamities, They are Crimson Rain Sought Flower, Black water Sinking Ship, White no Face and a fourth who never did conquer Mt Tonglu, Night Touring Green Lantern. Each were ghosts with their own reasons of remaining, Night Touring Green Lantern, Qi Rong, had copied a lot of the abilities of other Calamities he had tied corpses to trees to mimic blood rain and his lackies had candles stuck to their head. Unfortunately, he had cannibalistic tendencies towards despite that all he had adopted a child during one part of his life after taking over their fathers body but still. He was from the Xianle Era

Black Water Sinking Ships remained for revenge, his fate swapped for that of someone who shared his name due to their brother. He had taken a heavenly position as the Earth Master to get close to the one who shared his name in order to act out his revenge. He had succeeded after many centuries beheading the elder brother leaving the younger without his godhood and in the slum, but do not fret they lived the rest of their moral life happy despite the stark difference in what they use to live with. His story begun a few centuries after Xianle Era.

White no Face had jealousy related issues, targeting a prince due to the lines ‘body in the abyss, heart in paradise’ he was a main cause of the human face disease upon Xianle which that, along with war, had brough the end of the nation. He had lived at least 2000 years before Xianle era.

And Crimson Rain sought flower, he had a beloved whom he waited 800 years to reunite with after the beloved ascended the third time he began helping them, leading them through a corpse blood rain from a wedding sedan to catch a ghost groom. Then he found his beloved on a cart during the night of ghosts, his good luck leading them to safety as he scared off ghouls. He built a ghost city for his beloved to stay and would have rebuilt it all should the one his heart belonged so requested it. Later when they went to Mt Tonglu for a heavenly mission to prevent a new calamity the beloved found out that Crimson Rain was a person from his past before good hood and his first banishment, there in a cave of 10,000 statues the two confessed only to be separated due to White no Face for a year before they reunited again soon to be married not long after. Luckily they were also the end of White no Face’s reign. He too live Xianle era.”

All the people in the castle ship held onto his every word, seeing his finish Pidge asked,

“What happened to the Prince? You mentioned White no Face targeted him but also Crimson Rains beloved, wouldn’t that potentially make them the same person? You told us what happened to the victim of black water but not White no Face?”

Ah of course.

“The Prince had been banished from heaven after ascension you are correct, overall, it is irrelevant to know, though in the end he got his happy ending.”

If anyone noticed his tone compared to the longing in his voice for Crimson Rain, they ignored it. Along with the clenched fist that occurred when speaking of the one who shared the same name as black water and the shaking in that fist when he spoke of White no Face.

It felt strange for them to even know this much about his past. Even if he left most of himself out of it. Part of him wondered if he could still be considered Xie Lian or if he was going to be Keith for the rest of his life.

While the rest of the ship had one though on their own mind, if Keith said the scroll had been lost over time how does he know so much about something so far from modern time it lacks documentation?

Chapter Text

He wasn’t going to watch Sendak, as much as he would like to stay with the person, he considers a brother it’s just not who he is. Really it’s nothing to different from the memory monster but still, he’d prefer to spend his time training.

At least no one follows him there, he really does not want to talk about ancient China to people who had never even heard of the dynasty he was from. It felt like a waste of time really it, he’d prefer to tell stories about battles with ghosts or random adventures sure, that felt like it would fit in with their goals but stories about figures that hold no use for them? He’d rather not. Hell, it’d be a miracle if He Xuan, Jun Wu or Qi Rong were still around but the chances are unlikely, except for Qi Rong. His cousin is unfortunately like a cockroach in that aspect.

“Next level.” He calls out once the current bot is defeated.

Left,

right,

up,

left,

down,

dodge,

right,

dodge,

swing sword,

dodge,

dodge,

dodge,

get hit?

Any thoughts he had were all dispelled once the bot dropped, this seems like much too high of a level.

“Disengage!”

Nothing?

“Stop!”

Nothing.

Fuck. He could try to run? A kick to the chest sending him flying answers his question to run.

Slamming his hand towards the keypad he makes his way through the halls, the bot hot on his tail.

He hears screaming?

Moving towards the direction he’s certain its Lance. WHY IS HE IN AIRLOCK?

“WHAT WERE YOU DOING OUT THERE?!”

“Who was that guy?!”

“He was trying to kill me!”

“Well, is he the castle? Cause that’s who’s trying to kill me!”

Well at least now they know they have a common enemy in this situation and that Lance wasn’t just messing around and ending up in the airlock.

“I’m sorry paladins for bringing this upon you. The faulty AI of my father has been taken care of, but the legacy of my father rests not in this AI it stands proud with Voltron. Please go get some rest.”

How can anyone truly fault her for something she had no control over? Silly. Sometimes he forgets Allura isn’t much older than a child would be too. Anyone in her situation would be stressed and put blames bigger than themselves onto their own shoulders. He hopes she can get the rest she needs and that this war will no span too many more years than what it already has.

Shiro looks haunted in his own skin. He hopes his brother can get the rest he needs as well.

This is too dangerous for the group of them. He only hopes that they are good enough of a team to be able to be stronger than them.

He notices movement to the side, a druid dressed in the dull purples with a mask obscuring his face, with him? Many containers of a glowing yellow substance that even being this far from still hums in his soul like spiritual energy coursing through his blood.

This could be important.

He does wish he wasn’t caught so fast but when that substance touched his skin? It was a small ascension to godhood that painted his skin purple. This was raw power, a life force that could only be achieved by experience and cultivating should you try collect it.  The Galra have enough of it to fuel multiple different ascension just in the room.

What where they doing?

Who needs so much power?

You could kill gods with the amount of power they are harvesting.

Allura is captured by Zarkon.

The mission is a failure.

They have found enough power to kill anyone.

“This mission might end with us all dead is this truly worth it?”

He says aloud, no one else is present but his lion, looking up to Red he knows she has heard him. She knows the secrets he hides, that his instincts aren’t his own. That he is much older than probably even her but was denied the chance to live it.

He wonders if he will get to his husband. He hopes so. He prays to Feng Xin and Mu Qing anyway, not a plead for help but just a sign he is still here despite the fact he knows he might not be come tomorrow.

It’s time to fly.

He knew it was going to be a trap, but they are too far in to even consider backing down. He needs everyone here to survive; these are children who have had their lives stolen. The least he can do is get them back home.

Zarkon was the black paladin. He’s not even surprised they weren’t informed but weren’t they supposed to be formed on trust? Will he ever truly trust the paladins enough to let them know the secret he keeps locked away from even his own blood ties?

All he feels is rage. Anger for the people who have been hurt, abuse, manipulated, killed, left to rot by someone who should protect his people not destroy everything his light touched. The universe has been hollowed out by purple and all he can respond with is red. He and the red lion work as one, sharing their rage the feelings that because of this one man they cannot see that whom they love.

He just wants his husband, Red just wants her original paladin.

He does not care if he dies anymore, he’s died hundreds of times. All he can hope is for this body to survive so he can see his husband, he wants his husband, but he knows even if he returns as a ghost, he needs to keep the paladins safe.

Shiro rescues him. He is thankful but he wished that his brother didn’t need to take the risk for him.

All they can do now is run.

The worm hole is hit but still they persevere.

Everyone is separated but he is still with his brother.

A barren land as far as the eye can see despite the fact that his brother is not among the sights he knows that he’s close by, there coms still connected while any attempts to the others fail.

“Shiro are you okay?”

“Yeah, just a glowing purple wound that keeps getting bigger.”

Damn it Shiro, he hopes it wasn’t from rescuing him.

As Shiro tells him about the fact he wants Keith to become the new leader of Voltron should something happen to him, he almost tells his brother everything.

His kingdom destroyed by his actions.

The fact he couldn’t even save his family.

Keep his friends apart.

How he killed his husband three times.

How his husband still waits for his return. How he made the man he loves wait 800 years.

Why do people always want him to lead?

At least he’s been able to keep Shiro safe.

"If it wasn't for you, my life would've been a lot different."

Without Shiro, he does not think he that he would have ever gotten so close to seeing his husband, even if he ruined it in the last moments. He was so close, but he thinks he would be forever guilt if he had just abandoned the man who helped him so much. He does not think he’d be able to face his San Lang knowing how different he is, especially should he have stayed with the garrison and ignored their lies about his brother.

He has never been so glad to see the castle ship.

Chapter Text

Ulaz, the name of Shiro’s potential hero, the very person to help get him out of captivity. He can’t say he’s not curious to meet them, after all it was because of them he’s with his brother.

But he understands the mistrust, they are in war and although it’s the Altean way to greet everyone with kindness his own experiences hum through his blood. Kindness can get you killed, although he refuses to judge a character upon not meeting them, he knows that they aren’t to be underestimated and you should not lower your guard for everyone you come by.

He refused to judge Zarkon like that till he met the man, he was cold like one would expect a tyrannical leader would be.

“You fight like a Galran Soldier.”

So, he fights like someone who wants to win and to live, he won’t back down unless he has given it his all even if it means his own demise, but he does not fight for honour, he fights so he can see his husband again. And despite him knowing this doubt still seeps in.

He is still weary as they grow closer to the coordinates, always on guard. Always ready to fight.

He isn’t even surprised when the alarms starts and Coran announces an intruder.

He isn’t even mad he lost the fight, too distracted by the blade the person holds. Too similar to the one his Pa said his mother left him. He then gets distracted by Shiro announcing that the man is Ulaz, Shiro’s saviour. He will never be enough to be considered Shiro’s saviour, he will always be considered Hong Hong-ers saviour.

The Blade of Marmora.

A group of Galrans fighting against the empire.

"We learned too late, a tyrant doesn't seek stability, only power." Is what Ulaz had said.

Perhaps there is some hope for the Galrans. A leader doesn’t dictate the whole population. They only control them.

He’s at least thankful he can tell Ulaz thank you before the man sacrifices himself.

He hopes that it’s not because of who his mother may be that they are being tracked. He loves his Pa but to not give him the chance to know where his mother cam from feels harsh, like he’s not entirely the hero that he once thought he was.

Part of him feels like he’s felt this before, thousands of years ago, when he found out something about his original bodies father had done something.

Maybe its kind he does not remember the man.

Maybe his mother’s will be different.

He hates rulers who betray their own kingdom. He knows he once was a prince so many years ago, and he knows he would have done anything – even if it meant loosing his own godhood – to save them.

“I want to save the common people.” A line that still haunts his soul, an endless mission he still strives for. Whether it be the kids in foster care, Shiro or any of the millions of beings imprisoned by the empire or even the citizen who made up Xian Le he knows that this is where he should be.

"So, that means we're all related. This ship, those stars, the Olkari. Even the Galra."

He likes that line as well. He wants to protect more than his own people.

This is probably why Lubos gets to him so much. Why his blood rages with a million souls unanswered, deaths that this man has caused by his selfish actions. Lubos had no plans to save the common people of the planet he lived on, only his own behind with the hopes that if he is okay they should be too. He had been wrong. Lubos had failed those who he should have cared more about.

Maybe somewhere he thinks he could have done better for his own Kingdom rather than ascending. Maybe he thinks that being here is selfish, that he shouldn’t have to keep the man he loves waiting for him. He hopes his San Lang understands that this is something he has to do.

It’s not like he hasn’t faced this exhaustion before. The days in days out of missions with little break but it still withers him down. The pool does seem like a good chance to relax without having to completely lower his guard, if he does that he thinks he’ll be out cold.

He can’t even be to bothered when Lance joins him. When they get stuck in the elevator? It does get much more annoying, both of us too tired to function correctly.  

Altean pools are stupid though. At this point he would have had better luck finding a lake in space to bath in.

Another attack?!? Damn it! None of them have gotten enough rest. Its almost like the heavenly realm and their never ending meetings.

At least Lance and him can just use the drones to fight rather than having to actually go out, even Red has begun getting overwhelmed and she loves battles.

The castle teludav is broken. Someone should also give Coran a mop perhaps. At least the slipperies don’t smell too much, even he doesn’t think he could stand that. Part of him laughs at the idea of it being something that comes with age – most gods were hundreds of years old if they could get the slipperies he doesn’t think any of them would survive the embarrassment especially Mu Qing and maybe Shi QingXuan.

The fact that they had to be in the Teludav to get it to work was oddly concerning, then when Coran used his slipperies to clean the cookies hunk made was more so but either way their life was on the line and not every method of survival is clean and easy.

They had escaped for now at least.

Could it be because his quintessence would be stronger than the rest of the Paladins? The purple haired woman his only guess his mother is? His history that could potentially be older than a 10,000 year old war?               "I can find you anywhere..." Could Zarkon track blood perhaps?

He’s not even surprised when he finds Allura about to escape into a pod late at night. Not like he had any other ideas though its always best to isolate any possible contributors into their issue. Something is bringing the Empire closer to them, and he would rather face off the entire empire himself than let the rest of the ship go down because of something he can’t control.

At least he won’t be too lonely. Not like that has ever mattered much to him, a few hours is nothing compared to a year or 800 years or however long his husband has been waiting for.

At least Pidge gets it when the Castle of Lions reach out to them.

Zarkon gets to the Castle of Lions first. The booster jet doesn’t work. He and Allura are floating in space.

The Red Lion follows his call, the Lion will come for the Paladin, but whose to say the Paladin won’t come for the Lion.

The Black Lion has two Paladins to fight over it. He hopes he never does have to worry about the day that he might have to fly that Lion again. Shiro has to be wrong, he is the lea

Chapter Text

A space mall? That sounds as overwhelming as the malls in Earth, he doubts its outside like the market blocks he was used to or that it had a signature red colour he missed.

 Despite him being away from his husband for eighteen years now he does like to think he still has a good sense of style – his black clothing helped blend in and didn’t show injuries easily and the red of his jacket reminded him of the red of his San Langs robes – hell maybe even a style closer to Mu Qing. Saying that he was not going to dress up a space pirate like Coran, the clothes weren’t even matching the style of the whites of the mall a place clearly devoid of pirates.

He still brought his mother knife, a place could look as clean as a hospital and still have people lurking. It almost hummed upon where it rested.

The salesman reminded him of one from Ghost City, he had almost expected to be called GrandUncle again. Unfortunately for him luck would never be on his side and instead he got the mall security called on him and almost had his mother’s knife stolen from him. At least he could blend in well, the man in security was loud.

Hunk had met up with him right as a poster of a wanted person with a light on their head had caught his attention. Unfortunately Hunk hadn’t come alone.

Hunk also being chased by the same man had surprised him though, so did the cow. Not as much Lance and Pidge though. He almost prayed to Feng Xin and Mu Qing that Coran had managed to find the lenses they came here for.

Honestly, he doesn’t think the mall guard was actually paid enough to care about them. At least it’s good to know that the universe does expect good working people.

 The freedom of knowing that none of them have Zarkon on their backs is like a warm bath after a day in the fields.

The very next day/quintant was one that he wished wouldn’t have happened. Why couldn’t they just have a peaceful journey to the Blade of Marmora base?

“Keith, Pidge and Shiro. I need you all to be ready for a mission debrief – we have just gotten another destress call from a nearby planet - Hunk and Lance please be ready on standby.”

He at least hopes that if not a fast mission that it would distract him from his never ending thoughts as they begun to reach closer to the coordinated destination.

“Paladins, as you can see, we have received a distress call, we are unsure of its age and all the glitching resembles some maintenance issues they might have. You three will go in diplomatically, Shiro is to make connections and get them to join the Voltron coalition, Pidge you are to help with any technical issues present but Keith should either they or another party be showing signs of battle you are the shield in this situation with Lance and Hunk onboard here but ready to fly out at your call.”

The planet in question was called Appreh, and by the castles standards was unresearched due to the habitants being too young for any outer orbit entities to interact with. Whether or not this is still the case is undetermined with the fact either way a destress call was sent, and they had to go and help.

The planets gravity was weaker in comparison to a lot of other planets they had been too and was plunged in a green hue where the photos the castle had depicted more purple tones. It was almost cave like as they had made their way on the Red Lion to the planet’s surface. Part of this tugged at a memory but it would have been too long ago since then for him to remember anything clearly.

The feeling of something pressing through his chest returned but he continued to fly the three of them down to the surface with no indication thar anything was wrong.

It was a ten minute walk from where they landed the Red Lion to the location of where the distress call was sent, the area covered by rocky cave like terrain had lead them in blind, unable to see even a spec of light that bathed in where they were now walking, the lights weren’t unlike ghost fires as they haunted the stone walls. Upon arrival at the location of the destress call Shiro stopped them, the air unbreathable left them communicating by coms so they could interact with each other.

“There are voices, they seem distant, but I can’t tell from which direction.”

“Stay on look out Paladins, Coran and I are watching your location from the castle – remember Lance and Hunk are on call should you need.” And with the coms had once again returned to silence that felt deafening surrounded by stone.

None of them could even predict that the floor would have given out when it had.

Surrounding them were ghouls and demons – somehow with more variety than what would have ever been in Ghost City - they were deceased aliens. However, that only caught his eyes second what caught his eyes first? The candles. They had candles on their heads. He almost felt relived at the idea of a familiar face if not for the throbbing headache the idea of dealing with who he had an idea it was created.

“HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA! I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT! ACTUAL PEOPLE? HERE OF ALL PLACES?”

Sometimes he wishes that his luck would not decide to punch him in the face. “Fucking damnit” he murmurs to himself but realises it was in fact caught on coms when Pidge and Shiro turn slightly to look at him before their attention is drawn back to the screeching voice of the ghost in green.

“WELL, LETS SEE WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN, No I do not mean there is a cat here. It is a figure of speech, yes, I understand speech is not a figure. Please let’s just move on.”

It’s almost funny seeing him have to tell one of his aliens what he’s saying means but he had to do it often with all of the paladins due to some of his speech being too old for them to recognise and they all had to do it with the Alteans even if after they still did not really understand.

His cousin did look quite different though he had to give him that. His clothes still had their signature green but took on a more Earth punk style with lots of layering over a suit of armour that was plain black. Though none of them wore helmets probably due to the lack of need to breathe.

Pidge was the first to speak unfortunately for her.

“You… you look almost human? Your skins an odd colour of grey sure- and your ears are more like an Alteans but, without a translator you speak an old Mandarin?”

That got Qi Rongs attention.

“HAH the little dog is talking I didn’t know any of you fuckers had it in ya. At least you in green spoke first I have never been to fond of the colour red. Or black for that matter but still.”

Pidge was right, his cousin spoke a Mandarin not off from what he last spoke with his husband. It was almost too hard not to give away his identity to his cousin. He doesn’t think he could though, he doesn’t particularly want the fact he is an ancient god to come to the light. He was not Lance, he could keep his mouth shut as much as he wanted to taunt Qi Rong with the reason why he doesn’t like those particular colours.

“Look we come in peace, to offer support for a distress call made. We are Paladins of Voltron.”

Well at least Shiro tried to stay professional. He should at least try to warn them that they are dealing with cannibalistic ghosts.

He turned his coms up so they detected everything even the small shallow breaths he was taking, he noticed that pidge’s eyes turn to him as he carefully murmured.

“Cannibals.”

One word, six ears.

Eight including Qi Rong who had turned out to be close enough to hear him.

“Na, a, ahh!” Qi Rong now stood in his space, sharp teeth gleaming a smile that he had recognised before. If he remembered correctly the man had reformed about 30 years after his own marriage, by that point Guzi had been married and a successful business owner but still had taken care of his ‘father’ while in a weaker form. He never did bother to look into if his cousin still did eat the living, but he had a feeling his original self was still pissed at the man in green.

They glared at each other for what felt like an eternity, Qi Rong scrutinising his appearance, while he held the same glare one that he had taught himself to look like his husbands.

“Take those to into the cells, this one reminds me a bit too much of my Cousin Crown Princes whore the Crimson Bastard.”

Welp, fuck his luck. At least he can hopefully protect his identity till Hunk and Lance arrived.

He could tell that Pidge and Shiro had tried to fight so they would not be separated but he couldn’t even bring him to let go the staring contest with his cousin.

“So, what’s got you with a stick up your ass to the point you bring up centuries old trash? I am a clean man dog fucker in red.” Taking a minute of walking away before his cousin meets his eyes again,

 “Say how do you even know about that? Hardly any ghosts know about the calamities of old anymore. Everyone is always like “ohhhh that scary fuck Zarkon, his little bitch of a son what ever his name is, and the whore witch. Hell, last I check fucking Sendak or some general had taken my spot. Not to mention, human, that we don’t exactly exist anymore since two of them dispersed and the only remaining one is too busy crying about my cousin to do anything to get his position back.”

He didn’t respond just kept glaring, his cousin being a clean man kind of did surprise him, but he wasn’t about to let that show.

His cousin met his gaze again before mumbling, “don’t worry about your friends either, ‘PAlaDIN Of vOlTron’ I don’t care, we can’t exit this planet no matter how hard you try, Zarkon banishes dead pirates here. It was a distress signal. I brought them back to the fucking oversized you dick.”

He did let his surprise show, before letting out a startled laugh that made Qi Rong jump slightly.

“You changed Qi Rong, I hope it was Guzi that helped bring that.”

Qi Rong stared at him a bit more not responding before signalling him to follow.

It took him a minute to speak again on their way presumably to the lion, “I don’t know who you are red fucker but I can only hope the fact you have more of a ‘godly aura’ than the rest of your fucking team means that maybe I am doing the right thing but be careful out there Pirates like myself  ain’t always the kindest but we ain’t for being captive on some planet. Don’t think I am showing you weakness fuckwit.”

The rest of the journey was met with silence till they arrived at the lion and he spoke to Qi Rong, his friends were safe but guarded clearly.

“Get you and your groups ships ready for take of the Blue and Yellow Lion should be here soon, we can create a barrier protecting you from whatever is forcing you to stay put on this planet.”

“Thank you, dipshit, YOU HEARD HIM YOU LOT GET YOUR FUCKING SHIT WE ARE OUT OF THIS HELL HOLE!”

It took two minutes for the Blue and Yellow paladins to join them out front of red.

“Keith?”

“Sorry about that guys, I knew him, you were right Pidge he is human.”

“Then how is he out here? Why doesn’t he look human, why did he keep you? Why are we back at red. Aren’t they cannibals?”

“What matters is you, and not the state of you. Even if a human has faced death, they are still human are they not?”

“OKAY EVERYONE, I am the red paladin of Voltron I shall be the one to lead you all through, do not go behind the yellow or blue lions else you will be out of our range to protect you. I hope that went clear to everyone but please repeat the message if not between you all. The Black or Green Paladins may speak while I am flying but until we land safely in the castle of lions.”

He pauses for a moment to take a breath before speaking once more,

“And Qi Rong I do hope we get a chance to catch up without both of us holding a knife to each other’s throats like we did years ago.”

He knows he may regret this, the man who had always brought out the worst in him, but even if he no longer lives in that body the man is still his cousin, and he does admit he believes that the man has changed.

Everything had been going smoothly till they reached an altitude just before being released from the atmosphere, the shaking of aircrafts creating a heating affect, Pidge goes straight to her devices in attempts to isolate anything with the possibility to do such a thing, Shiro to coms to warn other piolets. Its five minutes into this madness that he yells “ABORT, NO SHIPS WILL PASS.”

It feels humiliating to fly back down but he would rather a wounded ego than loosing more these souls into the reincarnation cycle when they have spent so long cultivating their own survival.

Each paladin is busy working, Lance and Hunk offer supplies, Shiro communicates with the castle of lions while Pidge works out different objects that could be causing the issue with none standing out. He is drafting flight routes with other ship captains to see if there is an area where that shaking would have been lessened, testing out areas where they are unsure.

Coms however is slow something blocking clear frequencies with Shiro only getting responses while he is closer to the castle than on the rocky floor.

There is no life on Appreh. No food for the paladins, he gives most of his to his team anyway, his body still cultivating inedia from his time in the dessert. On the fourth day Coran sends down a drone they probably cannot afford to lose in this war stocked with supplies, he keeps the remains of the drone in the yellow lion. It is on the sixth day that Qi Rong decides to talk to him.

“I haven’t seen that cultivation style since an era where a calamity ruled the skies.”

He said it in front of Shiro of all people.

“Scrolls still exist you know.” Is all he mumbles, he doesn’t want to have to deal with the aftermath of this all.

“No, they don’t. Blackwater saw the destruction of Ling Wens Library before dispersing himself.”

Qi Rong stroll around before continuing,

“Saying something like, history beyond the time of the heavenly emperor should no longer exist, to much has changed for scholars to use it. Crimson destroyed his ashes for it. Mentioned a debt that could only be paid with death.”

“Qi Rong it doesn’t matter.”

“It does if your cultivation is not strong enough to stand inedia.”

“It has before, and it will do it again.”

“My my… what could have possibly happened? I had asked around the newer ghosts trapped, Voltron has not had its red paladin separated since them coming together again after 10,000 years, your cultivation is older than even Zarkon. It’s why he made sure to imprison ghosts, keep the past out that has changed too much for the present to use.”

A debt paid in death. His first mothers body sings in revenge but that’s not what she would have wanted, she loved Qi Rong He doesn’t even remember what happened.

“I need to go and fly the Red lion up again.” He’s gone before either Shiro or Qi Rong can say another word.

It takes ten days for them to realise it’s the planet itself. The plan is simple; destroy the planet when they all enter the shaking the yellow and blue lions first via his own route and he follows last; his lion is the fastest so he can escape any explosion. Shiro rides in the blue lion and Pidge the yellow lion.

The planet explodes purple, a colour so foreign on what became the lair of a green ghost. He refuses to speak more with Qi Rong choosing to spend the days training that the ghost pirates stay for. Before they leave the last time Qi Rong announces from the other end of the training room,

“Dog fucker Xie Lian, your secret is safe with me. Don’t forget to return to the one eyed red ass whore.” This time it’s his cousin who leaves before he can say anything.

At least the Coalition has a few more members.

Chapter Text

The way to the blades base had been filled with anticipation both good and bad, a few missions in between were a good distraction for most of the paladins.

He was glad that no one had yet to speak to him about their time on the planet with the ghosts as not only did he know one of them, but to the paladins it was probably like he didn’t eat. Shiro was who he thought would have spoken to him first as he had heard what his loud mouth cousin had said. Coran had given him a disapproving look during their check up but overall had said nothing – if he had noticed the red headed man had dished out extra onto his plate he too had said nothing.

In the end everyone had remained silent, each sticking to their own beliefs.

They were about an earth day away now, stopping on a planet nearby to obtain supplies. He doesn’t remember the name of the planet, but he also found it irrelevant to know so, the place was isolated.

 Any signs of settlements had been taken with vines that bloomed peony shaped bright blue flowers. Yet there were no forms of life taking residence in the area, like when his husband walked through the corpse filled forest and even the cicadas had stopped making noise.

Coran’s voice had been announcing directions to the two of them was the only noise he was paying attention to, he had zoned out Pidges complaints of not liking anything to do with nature when they had landed.

He had noticed that the floor he was stepping on changed as Pidges steps began to echo that bit more despite the vines they were walking on.

“Hey Pidge, be careful we are walking on something else now.”

The girl in question had turned back to him with a slight frown, before focusing her attention on the ground below her feet. She too noticed the added echo after a few thumps and had kneeled to investigate.

Purple toned metal with slight hints of red from rust.

The vines break surprisingly easily from the metal walls of the base that lays abandoned. My ears strain as if the next second I will here one of the Galran bots. Pidge is notifying Coran of this revelation as I bring out my bayard.

“We should enter, they might have left some stuff we can use, if not at least their tech might still be operational.”

Pidge just nods in response as they begin to make their way through.

His hand glides against the metal panel walls in search for the entrance. After a few meters in one direction the hand pad he had accidentally pressed begun to glow and the screeching of the rusted door is so loud it hurts his ears. The doors are jammed part way through with a gap Pidge might be able to fit through if they are lucky.

“HEY PIDGE! I found an entrance, the doors stuck though.”

He is answered by Pidge’s footsteps coming towards him. Her smaller body, unfortunately, doesn’t fit through the gap. The rusty metal is the main reason they decide against removing their armour to enter, both ignore the fact that should someone be inside the chosen paladin would have less protection against any unknow attackers.

His bayard creates indentation in the metal but still the gap is not large enough. In all honesty he has had enough and knows he is strong enough to move the doors should he attempt that way. His body doesn’t fit between the two panels but his hands grip both and begin pushing outwards which in response creates an awful croaking noise of the bending metal.

In the end the metal creaks and breaks before it bends more, the fabric of his under armour suit is stained a rusty orange. He can feel blood seeping to the surface of his skin from his previous attempts of opening the door - he ignores the concerned look Pidge throws his way as he moves inside the base.

It’s surprising the lack of cobwebs inside the base but that could be contributed towards the lack of arachnid to make them. Overall, the base is bathed in a purple light that’s not as bright compared towards the operational Galran bases.

 So far there has been no life as Pidge and himself make their way through the base. The ground creaks beneath their feet, every so often they find one of the vines has made its way inside through metal lost to rust - those peony looking flowers have a bioluminescence effect.

When they finally enter the control room the temperature inside the base is freezing but they still have yet to find any life.

“Pidge, would it be possible to find out the reason why this base has been abandoned?”

“Maybe, I will download the data stored. I don’t want to be here much longer, its so cold.”  Her hands were shaking as she begun to find the data, he decided to look around the room while Pidge did her thing.

There were random bits and bobs in the room items that wouldn’t normally be found in a Galran base; left behind photo devices, a random blanket, a brush and a few books. Most bases had almost no personal items left out in rooms like this.

Everything was covered in layers of dust.

“Hey Keith, lets go, I have all the data it took a bit longer than usually. I think this place might be older than the rest, as even the writing seems older than what the Galra usually use.”

He just nodded and followed her out of the base.

The air outside was warm, the flowers blew softly in a wind. No life was on the planet.

Coran had still been communication what materials we had needed, even Lance had joined in the coms complaining that;

“Keith’s so emo he must be turning our poor beloved Pidge emo as well! Pidge don’t listen to the mullet, you wouldn’t suit a mullet! We can’t have a second mullet in the castle, I fear I may die should you come back with a mullet!”

Lance was proceeded to be dragged out by Hunk who apologised while hoping their mission had been running smoothly.

Even as they were returning to the castle of Lions, they had found no life on the planet, just that one lone Galran base left to be overrun by the vines that thrived. He personally thinks that his husband’s butterflies would have loved the flowers that grew on the vines, but he knew they would still prefer the white flower associated with himself or his godhood.

He misses that flower.

They are almost at the Blade of Marmora base.

Space is a void, there is no sound but when Shiro and him are making their way over to the base it’s almost like there’s yelling in his ears, it almost hurts its so loud. Flying through everything comes to him like instinct. The two black holes and a blue supergiant star loom over his every move.

The base is hauntingly deep purple. The Blades themselves are like cryptids with their mysteries. Walking through the halls no one walks past them, a hauntedly empty base, just the few in front of them.

His blade feels warm against his side, he does not reach for it even once.

They still are aware of its existence.

But he won’t give it up, his past has already had so much taken from him; two generations of parents, friends and his husband.

“Surender the blade. You cannot win.”

He fights even when he falls, he gets back up and continues. If it’s the Galran way to fight, he will fight.

“Surrender the blade and the pain will cease.”

“I won’t quit.”

“Then the pain continues.”

Each door another potential brush with death, but he holds no fear. He has lived with a fate worse than death.

"You are not meant to go through that door."

It takes him a while to go through the right door, he’s getting sloppy he needs to go beyond the instincts that have been with him for a millennium.

The first face he sees is Shiro, as much as his brother leaving hurts him, he knows who Shiro is. He has suffered at the hands of the Galra before and if this knife is to believe. He wouldn’t even fault him. Everyone leaves in the end.

The next is his Pa. It feels like his heart is once again breaking when he exits that door. Everyone leaves in the end.

“Everyone leaves in the end huh? How has his highness been these past few years?” His San Lang's eyes hold an age that he doesn’t even think his old bodies eyes would have.

“San Lang- “

“It’s been a while. I hope your highness is happy.”

“San Lang please- I’ll be back!”

“But how would I ever know that? You gave away your chance to find me again?”

“Because- Because I would never leave my beloved!”

“Your highness…”

“Keith.”

“XianLe~”

His body freezes as if stabbed, behind his beloved is a ghost he had locked in his past.

“Oh, pity my dear XianLe… I hadn’t expected you to still be trying to be a hero.” The man draped in white reaches and removes his mask as he continues, “Ah but fret not, you always were a misfortune to those who love you. Take your ghost for instance left to be forgotten.”

“NO! I WOULD NOT FORGET HIM!”

Shaking fills the room, but he pays it no mind.

“Keith…!”

“Oh? But can you even remember his face? What did it look like again? Was the eye patch on the right or the left?” The mask was placed in his hands, but its appearance altered slightly, “Or did he happen to wear a mask with a smile, perhaps a crying one.”

“KEITH!”

The illusion fades out as Jun Wu’s laugh begins to fill the room.

A voice calls out to him, “Stop what you’re doing!”

“CALL OFF YOUR BEAST!”

 He feels Shiro helping him up. Fighting for him. For his blade. For his life.

The blade still does not belong to him.

Shiro is still fighting for him, no matter how long its been since Shiro had left for Kerberos he is still fighting for him.

“JUST TAKE THE BLADE.”

Those words hurt him. He could lose every connection to a biological family.

 "It doesn't matter where I come from. I know who I am. We all need to work together to defeat Zarkon. And if that means I give up this knife, fine. Take it."

The blade glows; he’s awoken it.

All he can see is the souls. The black blade. A smiley face mask. How he misses the colour purple in this instance.

Galran blood runs through his veins but all he can think of is the ever present loneliness.

Shiro is staring into the back of his head, like trying to solve a puzzle without all the pieces. He ignores this.

 Kolivan doesn’t speak. But he can feel the eyes of the older Galran on his blade before they go to his face.

The glowing lights in Reds hangar remind him of the bioluminescent flowers from the mission a few days ago.

Chapter Text

Allura regards Kolivan with suspicion that soon spread to him as well once she finds out. Coran has a look of pity on his face before he goes to comfort Allura. Pidge had stared at him like a scientist does a subject. Hunk had been worried; he wasn’t showing it too outwardly but the small movements and shaking of his hands as they were clasped together spoke the words he didn’t say. Lance was harder to read, as if he was wary and angry on Allura’s behalf but not enough to put himself on guard on him like he had been doing with Kolivan.

Shiro’s hand was on his shoulder, like a weight of responsibility holding him down from bolting.

Part of him wishes that Qi Rong had still been present. He might have called them all ‘dogfuckers’ but at least he would have told everyone to get over it. Or his cousin might have used it against him, you never know when it comes to him.

It’s a pity, this probably somewhat ruined any friendships he had made with the paladins. Trust had to be earned and right now? He doesn’t think he deserves it. He had theories he could have shared, a past they did not know.

What makes him worth the trust that paladins should hold with each other?

The briefing went on for ages. The back and forth of ideas like a sword fight between a god and a devastation, every idea seemed lost in a storm, but every storm had the light of a new day arising. For them the light was an approved of plan, everyone had a station he and Hunk were to go into the belly of a beast for scaultrite to be able to make a teludav. As Coran said should any of them fail the whole plan goes down with them.

At least Shiro hasn’t lost hope in him.

But not even hope can save him from the depths of Allura’s hatred of the Galra. He won’t try force her, he knows what it’s like to be despised. It hurts. He will still smile and he will still fight.

He can only hope the next mission with Hunk can help him rebuild that trust.

His mission with Pidge had been almost a week ago now but something about it lingers in his mind still. He knows its not something he should be thinking about right this second, he’s got a mission soon that will take all his focus.

The yellow lion is warm even through his suit – not in the scorching way that red could be – the yellow lion’s warmth felt like a hug or Shiro’s hand on his shoulder, maybe even the feeling of returning home to his San Lang.

Perhaps he had been feeling a tad hollow without the warmth his husband brought, the strong deep smell not unlike a smithing workshop, the way his hair had brushed against the tip of his nose as he rested his head by his husband’s neck, whose hands almost instinctively rested on his hips as if wanting to never separate from him.

If Hunk had noticed anything off about his behaviour it was written off, perhaps for his newfound heritage or just being lost in thoughts.

At least he’s not left alone with his own thoughts during the flight to the Weblum.

“Why does Allura get to take a leisurely visit to the Balmera, while we have to fly into the belly of a giant space worm to get scaultrite?”

Ah young love, he’s not even surprised that Hunk is thinking of the Balmeran girl he met.

“You heard Coran. Building a huge teludav isn't easy. Everyone has a job to do and this is ours.”

‘Even if it means that they must not be with their love ones’ his brain traitorously supplies after he says that with his husband still feeling like a hole in his heart.

“But I always get the worst jobs. Go to a Galra occupied planet to get my lion. Go to a Galra occupied Balmera to get a crystal. Go into a belly of a beast with the only Galra alien team member.”

“I'm not an alien.”

He was born on Earth, not even just once but twice, how could he be an alien?

“Well, you're kind of an alien. You're way more alien than me. You're at least some alien. I'm-I'm none alien.”

Why does he even try sometimes? Couldn’t Hunk see it might be a touchy subject, hell the fact he didn’t know before they met the Blades should be indicator enough? He sighs mentally knowing that he couldn’t really be mad at Hunk, what do you even do in this situation?

“Let's just concentrate on the job here.”

“Yeah. Was your mom the alien? Your grandpa? How Galra are you?”

“I don't know.”

“Did the Blade of Marmora teach you the secret handshake or something?”

Part of him instinctively started repeating sultras in his mind, he did not want to go and ruin any attempts at trust he could make. Perhaps he could use this as a bonding moment.

“No, sorry Hunk, no one said anything. We went onto mission talk almost straight away, it’s more important.”

Hunk almost seems displeased by that, but he responds anyway.

“The Blade of Marmora... they're real tight-lipped, aren't they? I get that your society is secret, but is everything a secret?”

“Okay, look please, it's bad enough that Allura hates me now. Can you please just lay off?”

“Allura, doesn't hate you. You just need to give her time to accept the fact that you're Galra, the race that destroyed her entire planet and all her people.”

“…”

“Yeah, she might hate you a little bit.”

“Let's just watch the video Coran uploaded and stay on task. We need to find out how to collect this stuff.”

Maybe a distraction would have been better than to continue the conversation.

He swears it’s his luck that nothing seems to be going right.

The video is old and broken right as they are going to go up against an oversized planet eating worm.

Despite that they still need to move forwards, video or not they have a job to do.

The dead planets lurk around them food for their prey which might become their predator if they aren’t careful.

Of course the Weblum has a laser that comes from its mouth. When has he ever been lucky enough to not be put through situations like this. At least he’ll have a bunch of stories to tell his husband, maybe Feng Xin and Mu Qing as well.

Hunk shouting, “This is not good!” is what draws him out of his mind again, he really should be focusing more.

They both breath a sigh of relief when Hunk skids and lands, thankfully where the Weblum cannot attack them.

“We're attached to its back, in its blind spot.”

"Good. We're going in."

Hunk seems a bit paler by the mention of entering the beast that just shot at them.

"Wait, what do we do when we're inside the beast?" 

The video glitches every few moments but overall can be heard better than before.

“A quick recap of what to do when you're inside the beast. One, avoid things that want to kill you. Two, get to the third stomach and find the scaultrite gland. Three, activate the Weblum’s defence mechanisms and collect the excess material from the gland. That's the scaultrite!” Coran’s younger chirpier voice is almost sad to be heard like this, although the man in question does still seem happy, he is clearly still very effected by his once allies becoming enemies and the obvious effect losing all your loved ones but one has on a person. He makes a mental note to brew the man some tea with a small batch he had been keeping in his room made from random leaves and flowers found on planets that he had deemed edible, a bioluminescent flower among them.

“Seems simple enough.”

 “Seems under-explained.”

“Come on.”

He almost laughs as Hunk leaves with a dramatic sigh.

The inside of the weblum is a vomit yellow colour, he can feel heat from the mucus like substance that coats the walls of flesh, the ground is flooding with the same gunk.

“Uh, yuck! What am I standing on? A mucus pocket? I do not like mucus! And is that steaming stomach acid? Look it’s right over there. Oh, man, I really hope I don't see any blood.”

“Hunk! Knock it off. You're freaking yourself out.”

“No, standing inches away from a pus-bubble is freaking me out.”

Why Hunk would decide to step on one of the disgusting pus-bubbles is beyond him.

Patients yields focus.

They are in a giant worm, on an important mission but both of them are getting overwhelmed due to the situation they are in. Hunk should come first; they still have time and there must be a way to get the scaultrite but they need to work together.

“Look, we're inside a disgusting worm. There's no way to sugarcoat it. We're gonna need that big brain of yours if we want to make it through. Will you be all right?”

Shiro’s always going to be so much better at inspirational speeches, but he still must try.

“Hunk, I said, will you be all right?”

“Uh... Okay, okay. I'll be okay.”

“Good. I gotta be able to count on you.”

He needs to rebuild trust. It’s impossible to be able to defeat an empire without allies.

“Besides, no one knows an explosive digestive tract like you.”

He lightly snickers as Hunk trails behind him asking if he made a joke or not. Really if he was better at it, he might make jokes more often. Unfortunately, most of his jokes might give away his age or his past.

The stomach acid is still a major issue though. He’s looking around as he notices the jelly fish looking entities. Suspicious, as few begin to grip onto Hunk.

“Wait, wait, wait. They seem friendly. They seem friendly. Maybe they're good bacteria. They like me. They're-“

“They're tickling me. Wait, that's not tickling! That's hot acid!”

“They want to kill us! They want to kill us!”

His bayard hums as he draws it, beginning to slice through the creatures.

"I think they're part of the creature's digestive system! They're trying to break down the food and we're the food!" 

Those repetitive motions of fighting feel like harmony through his skin, the creatures are sticky but not to difficult to cut down. He’s lost in the motion only drawn out as Hunk gets his visor covered. While unable to see the yellow paladin accidentally trips into a wall and is brought through the muscles of the Weblum away from himself.

“Hunk!”

He’s outnumbered now with the lack of Hunk’s gun, but Hunk is still not in sight.

“I'm here, surrounded by blood. I hate blood!”

He would have tried to comfort the destressed paladin but the numbers of the jellyfish like creatures are gaining on him. His bayard hums through the space of the weblums stomach through the entities he is versing.

“You've gotta find a way out of the circulatory system.”

His own feet almost trip over an edge in the Weblums body, pools of stomach acid gurgle around him as they release bubbles of burning gunk. The creatures don’t stop. He is outnumbered. A blaring alarm starts beeping in his helmet and he risks himself to turn it off, the stomach acid has begun dissolving parts of his suit. He has to get out of it.

He can only hope as he jumps down beyond the stomach of the Weblum. His jetpack blaring to life during his descent helps him reach a ledge of muscle. As he moves to get up, he notices it, the dark blue hue of a spaceship lodged between rings of muscle, mucus coating a side of the ship but the shadow in the cockpit haunts him. Someone is inside of that ship. It should be impossible.

He has to help.

His bayard screeches through the ship, he draws back to strike again, but noticing movement he chooses to speak before the second hit.

“Don't move. I'm here to help.”

The crackling of glass follows his blade, a hole begins to form in the windshield, hardly big enough for a person to fit but it will do.

It takes a split second of the person getting out before they both have blasters directed at them.

“You’re Galra.”

His body almost comically deflated as he sighed tiredly, the creatures make strange sounds as they arrived from above. An issue he hoped he wouldn’t have to face again, but when is luck on his side?

“Not those things again…”

A light blares in his vision, the Galran is quickly typing something in the console of their ship. Their actions cause the ships panels to flash an alarming red as an ear piercing noise comes from the very same ship.

“You’re turning this ship into a bomb.”

Not the way he would deal with those things but, as the bacteria creatures are coming closer, he can understand why they are taking such measures. Welp, he should at least try to get out of the way, he doesn’t feel like testing out his potential immortality today.

Both him and the stranger jump of the bomb of a ship as the bacteria creatures surround it.

Debris goes flying when it explodes, but he was thankfully quick to summon his shield. The walls of the Weblum feel like sponge against his suit, almost crushing, as he is brought through the circulatory system.

His coms blare to life with Hunks frantic calls

“Keith! Keith, are you there? Keith, could you answer me, please!”

A groan slips past his own lips. Parts where his shield failed to protect spike with pain as he gets ready for an attack. The Galra is across from him, coming closer with their weapon drawn. His shield is once again activated as he uses it to cover his torso and head, but he is tackled by the incoming threat. The shots ring in his ears but he has yet to be hit, one shot went over his shoulder. Glancing back he sees a bacteria creature fall form the shot fired.

“I guess you can keep your weapon.”

He doesn’t have a gaping hole through him and isn’t actively bleeding out so he guesses he can consider that a win for his luck. The Galra has been surprisingly friendly. There’s no reason he should risk them getting hurt. He’s a paladin of Voltron but, even before then, someone can not be defined by status alone.

If I like you, you can be a beggar, and I will still like you. If I dislike you, you can be an emperor, and I will still dislike you.

They make their way through the Weblum. Thankfully only one more of the bacteria creatures show up before part of the muscle walls opened revealing a stressed looking Hunk.

“Keith! Keith you made it! We both made it!”

Hunk stared at the additional person in the Weblum for a moment before the yellow paladin asked,

“Who’s this?”

“Someone I found, they don’t talk much. But they are also Galra.”

“What, do you guys all know each other or something?”

Hunk laughs a tad before noticing his unimpressed look before the younger paladin continued speaking,

“Are you sure we should be rescuing a Galran soldier right now?”

“We're Paladins of Voltron, but even if we weren’t, we can't just leave people to die even if they are Galra. Now, come on. Let's get what we came for and get out.”

“Okay, well, that might be a problem, too. The scaultrite gland somehow secretes mucus, or saliva, or something gross, which becomes crystallized. The only problem is, I think that we must trigger the weblum's defence mechanism.”

The walls rumble once Hunk finishes talking, gaps in the muscle open up to more bacteria creatures. His own eyes roll, not unlike a certain friend of his.

“Not again.”

The walls shake with the force of the rumbles. The creatures don’t go for them at first but begin to team up together, before a few groups of them head straight for them.

They are outnumbered despite the fact that the creatures are much smaller than all three of them. Any damage that they do refill in an instant, as if they didn’t just loose one of their own.

“Keith! They are everywhere! Oh, uh, woah.”

He yells as the weblum begins opening areas, dragging out the bacteria creature with them along too. They both grasp onto the walls of flesh, holding on as to not be sent into space.

“I think this thing is getting rid of the excess gas produced from its multiple stomachs.”

He nods in understanding before Hunk begins laughing.

“It’s farting!”

“Hunk so what do we have to do to obtain the scaultrite gland goop?”

“Uh, oh. Uh... Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. ‘Stay away from its face.’ The blue laser. Ah! I know what to do!”

“What?”

“If we want that third stomach gland to secrete the ooze, I need to get farted out of the weblum's butt and attack the face, getting it to fire its laser puke.”

“For the sake of the universe, I'll provoke the beast! You two stay here and get that scaultrite.”

He responds with a plea, hoping Hunk moves fast through the weblum.

“Hurry! I don't know how long we can hold these things off.”

The creatures are still attacking the two of them as Hunk is farted out of the Weblum on his way to his lion.

He hopes that Hunk is going as fast as he can, the numbers of the bacteria creatures are getting larger, more coming to make up for the ones that the group of them had lost.

“Hunk whatever you’re going to do, PLEASE, do it now!”

His blade cuts down more of the entities surrounding them as Hunk responds on coms,

“Roger that. Provoking giant space worm now.”

The tense moment is silent but for the sounds of grunting and the movement coming from the two fighting.

“Come on!”

“Hunk!”

They can barely hear the attack sounds coming from outside of the weblum, but they can feel the vibrations caused by them. He almost falls due to them but the creatures begin to retreat, saving him from an almost certain doom.

“It's working! I think it's about to get hot in here.”

He and the stranger retreat to a side, using his shield to protect themselves from the laser firing. Hunk fleeing from the beast leaves them to collect the scaultrite which they begin to collect into bags. In the end there’s about nine bags of the stuff. As he’s about to leave with them he notices the Galra holding a bag of scaultrite he collected, their blaster pointed straight for his head.

“So, you're just like the rest of 'em.”

He was so disappointed, and he is sure it bled through his voice, but he made no move to take the bags back. They had plenty and it would be better if he made it out alive.

The stranger leaves using their jet pack and he almost wants to say goodbye, but he holds his tongue. He hopes they can leave with no ship to do so with.

“I'm coming out.”

“On my way. Where's your buddy?”

“They are long gone by now, and he got a bag of scaultrite.”

“What? Should we go after them?”

“No, we have plenty. And whatever the Empire is planning won’t matter after we defeat Zarkon.”

“Copy that.”

The yellow lion still holds a warm air to it, the lights paint an even warmer picture bathing the cockpit a nice orange tone like a sunset on Earth.

“By the way, Hunk, you really came in the clutch back there. Without you, the mission would have been a failure.”

“Aw, thanks, Galra Keith. You're alright. I think turning Galra has made you a better human.”

“I didn't just turn Galra!”

He’s happy that Hunk thinks he is a better human, despite all the Galra Keith jokes the younger paladin has made. He hopes he can make up for all of his secrets and uncontrollable luck. Maybe then he might even see them as much as a family as he sees his husband. Part of his mind circles back to telling them about his husband. He doesn’t think they’d understand yet the devotion of waiting thousands of years for the one you love.

Hunk had been offhandedly staring at him every so often for the past ten minutes.

“Are you trying to see if my skin is purple?”

“No.”

He found that he didn’t actually believe the yellow paladin. The control pad beeped however, which diverted both of their attention away from him. Upon opening the coms Allura’s voice rung out into the cockpit of the yellow lion,

“Hunk, Keith, are you there? Can you hear me?”

“Hunk and Keith here. What's going on, Princess?”

“You must return to the castle! I need you!”

“We're on our way.”

He prayed that the Galra hadn’t found out what they were doing already.

The wormhole took them straight to the Balmera, the monster from the last time they were there was active. They needed Voltron.

“Those crystals are blocking all of our attacks! Oh, no! The castle is doomed unless we distract that beast.”

“Good, it's chasing us.”

Hunk, however, did not seem too impressed with his response.

“Bank left! Barrel roll!  Nosedive!”  

“Quit back lion driving!”

Lance spoke over coms to the two in the yellow Lion.

“I'll distract it! Go get the Red Lion!”

“Oh ho ho, good timing, Lance!”

Both him and Hunk grunted as the Lion had been hit.

“Hunk do something!”

“I can't move! I'm hit. Nothing's working! Come on, boy. Come back to me.”

They need all the lions but they don’t have the red lion yet. Both Hunk and him are sitting ducks with the yellow lion not working. He wracks his brain for anything, the Galra used their jetpack to escape the weblum maybe he can use it to get to red. Right now, it’s worth a shot.

“Well, who's got me? Where are you going?”

Hunk asks while glancing at the red paladin.

“I'll jump out and jetpack over to the castle.”

“Good one. Wait, are you serious?”

He can vaguely hear Shiro on the coms saying to form the jaw blade.

“Got to hurry!”

Part of him felt bad for Red and the rest of the paladins having to deal with his reckless behaviours, but he can’t think about that too much while getting to red.

“Hey, my lion's working again! I'm back, baby! Okay. Let's go. Oh, whoa. Wait, what? Oh, man! Not again! Oh, no, no, no!”

“Sorry I'm late, guys.”

Red’s warmth burns under his skin, like adding gas to a fire that is his own instincts.

He feels ready to fight.

He feels like he’s burning next to the sun.

Like he’s in the clouds of heaven during his first ascension.

He just hopes that his wings won’t burn, and he falls from the heavens again.

Forming Voltron almost feels like any power he cultivates is multiplied, like when his husband gave him spiritual energy to defeat the emperor.

When the  battle is over, he almost dreads exiting red. The truth of his heritage still raw and Allura’s glare to close to what he was used to for eight hundred years of being a god of misfortune.

He hopes that their plan works.

That once Zarkons reign ends, he doesn’t have to see those glares again.

He knows that even then, to many people have been hurt by the Galra to be forgiven.

He hopes he can find his husband after the war.

Maybe his husband is here in space.

Maybe his husband is still waiting for him in Puqi Shrine.

The castle feels cold as he enters with Hunk to the control room.

Theres a short alien with a lot of arms chattering questions he also wants to know answers too. He might be a good person to have a conversation with some time.

“Allura, have you heard from Coran?”

He hopes the orange haired man has finished his own task and isn’t busy doing something like becoming a space pirate again.

“Yes.”

Lance is smiling as he talks, the boy probably is hopeful that this could be the end and he can head home to his family. He hopes for the blue paladins sake as well that it is.

“So, we ready to pop through the wormhole and get back to Olkarion?”

“Yes, I've checked in with Coran and the teludav is nearly complete. Hunk, thank you for getting the scaultrite.”

“No problem. You know, Keith was there too.”

Allura’s glare reminded him of the time on the hill. He hardly remembers anything of it due to it being so long ago – only really remembering a stick, Mu Qing and his ghost fire of a husband.

It hurts.

“What's everybody thinking about?”

“Zarkon.”

“Calzones. I mean, uh, heck, yeah, I'm thinking about calzones, okay? I mean, does it always have to be about Zarkon? He's a bad guy. We're trying to defeat him. I get it. I'm hungry.”

“We've come a long way.”

And they have. The paladins went from people who were going into the Garrison for space exploration and have ended up in the endless void for a 10,000 year old galactic war.

“Yeah, remember when Hunk used to throw up from riding in the elevator?”

“You guys remember that Arusian, Klaizap? I think his name was? Cool name.”

“He was their bravest warrior!”

“How about the time the food goo machines attacked us in the kitchen?”

“That was the scariest thing that's happened to me the entire time I've been here.”

“Oh, come on.”

“What? It's the truth!”

“We faced sentries, a haunted castle, giant Robeasts, a mall security guard.”

“And don't forget that cool cube thing.”

“You realize once we defeat Zarkon, the universe won't need Voltron anymore.”

“I can look for my family.”

“I guess I could look for mine, but I have someone to reunite with again on Earth first.”

“This is it. As long as everything goes according to plan, we can't fail.”

He hates how this conversation reminded him that they are all children. Hundreds of years younger than he is. Hundreds of years too young for this war. The universe needs Voltron but did they really need to take kids to be their soldiers? He exits the room quietly.

This could all be over so soon.

He prays it is,

to Feng Xin, to Mu Qing, to San Lang to every god that he remembers what their name was.

He prays that soon the paladins will be free to grow up. That Shiro will be free to be with his own loved ones. That Allura and Coran can properly mourn their planet and their families.

Chapter Text

Pidge had been keeping tabs on him.

It wasn’t difficult to find out, he was obviously a mysterious person whether it be his never ending bad luck, his inability to cook, his past and now even his heritage. He could feel her eyes on his back as he had exited the room the other day. He hoped it was just curiosity, that he wouldn’t be confronted by the green paladin.

He runs into her the next morning; he had been on the way to the training deck after another debriefing of their mission.

“Can I help you?”

The green paladin fixes her glasses and adjusts her hold on some tech. Clearly wanting to say something but lacking the words to do so.

“You can join me in the training room if you want. You don’t have to train but maybe then you will find your words.”

He moves to continue hearing small footsteps not unlike a duckling following after him. The walk there is in silence overall, blinding white lights accompanying their journey to the training deck. Every so often the ship rumbles and quakes as if giving away its age, potentially as old as he would be.

He fills the silence by humming after a while, the song one his husband had taught him. The training room doors whirring open don’t stop his soft melody. He doesn’t sing but the old language is at the tip of his tongue – one he didn’t even grow up using but was passed down to his husband by the man’s mother.

Pidge sits towards the wall of the room, her tech set up but every so often her gaze lands on him its not always a gaze of someone curious and calculating his every move, sometimes it’s a knowing gaze like she knows that even the melody he is humming is one that is of importance.

“Training level 7.”

His voice echoes in the room as the bots drop like ragdolls from the roof before fixing their posture as he gets into formation. He trains like usual while practicing harnessing his own spiritual energy. Not always going straight to offence he begins with defence, leaping backwards landing on the balls of his feet. The stance in itself is like a more elegant version of how the Galra walk, with similarities to cats with how he moves light and fast on his feet but manages to sneak upon the bots every so often. One might say the training is more so play to him than a spar would be, there’s a small smile on his face and his eyes are locked into each bot like a new challenge to face.

Theres power in each step he takes, he hits one of the bots with his bayard and they go flying with the strength underlying each movement. He runs on instincts that can seem like reckless abandonment should one be unexperienced in his fighting style. The room smells like molten metal that gets stronger each hit - the friction from his hits melting the metal armour of the training bots.

His focus is solely on the battle, but the green paladins eyes are on him a calculating look that morphs into a confusion. No human should be able to put that much power into their hits. His body almost glows in the golden hue of ascension and spiritual power. By the time all bots are down and the level is completed his eyes find the young paladins his pupils a haze of warm amber and cold purple swimming in harmony, like two souls in one body. They don’t speak for a few minutes before the red paladin shakes his head and askes,

“Have your words returned to you yet?”

His eyes are the cold purple that they normally are but the glow that’s almost under his skin still remains.

“That mission… the one from a few days ago? Something was off about it.”

His mouth opens and closes like a fish, he wasn’t expecting this to come out from Pidge but he is glad that he isn’t being questioned like he thought he would. He still knows that the topic is likely a distraction while Pidge continues to gather theories about him that will likely never end.

“Yeah, I noticed that too. The base felt too lived in for it to be abandoned.”

There is now an awkward silence, this clearly wasn’t what Pidge was planning to ask but she still did it anyway getting answers that probably confirmed her own idea of that old run down base.

“I have seen places like that before though.”

Pidge gave him a confused noise and indicated for him to continue with her taking her hands of her tech.

“Before the garrison I would often wonder, I rarely had a place in mind and would just go wherever my feet had taken me. That day had been a quiet one, with the weeks before it having been spent walking on muddy paths it had finally rained that day again, so I sought shelter in an old shack.

I should have realised something was off; there hadn’t even been bugs around the town. But the flooring of the shack although most had rotted with age and weather there had been a bunch of pots, toys and paper littering the shack. If there was a layer of dust, I imagine it had been blown away by the storms outside, getting in with a broken window. The shack itself felt like it had been lived in and loved yet no one had been around.

Around an hour of me taking shelter in there had ended when the roof came down on top of me. While pulling myself out of the soaked wreckage it was like I could hear the screaming cries of children exiting their home for the last time. After a moment of that all the noise that remained was the sound of rain coming down, no birds, no wind and no cries. The whole town felt like it had been lived in only by ghost for the past few years.

I never found out why having gotten lost while searching in the town and ending up in a river, but that doesn’t matter to much.”

Pidge nodded along for a while after, probably processing her own thoughts on the moment before she whispered,

“Yeah, the base felt like it was home to ghosts.”

After taking a gulp of water, he got up to begin some more training, after a moment he paused and turned to Pidge.

“You look like you have a lot on your mind, feel free to speak – I’ll still be training but know that I am also listening.”

“Thank you.”

He nodded as he brought out his blade, the purple gleaming in the cold lights of the training deck. He didn’t summon the bots this time, just made his way through stances.

His blade acted like it was infused with his skin, humming with same power he has. It elongated and retracted through his whims with experience more advanced than what it should have been considering how long he had access to the elongated form.

After a while he hears Pidge speak up,

“How do you do it?”

He cocks his head towards her, his own stance dropping a tad before he continues.

“Oh uh, when you move it’s as if there’s something moving with you. Almost as if the air in the room shifts at your will.”

“Cultivation training.”

Pidge nods to his answer, clearly still with questions unanswered but she leaves it be for now.

Hunk calls Pidge out to help with repairs of the lions a few minutes after he answered. He nodded to them both while continuing the motions and harnessing the power from his meridians into his blade.

He only stops for a strange noise, a creak and rumble coming from above him.

He walks around the training deck looking for the source of the noise – even the mice aren’t this loud.

He might just be tired. He should get some rest before the big mission. As he takes a step forward a big bang is heard just from above

His head pulses with pain, a fallen vent lays discarded next to him. Hardly a meter away is the alien he’s come to know a Slav, dizzily moving his arms after his fall.

“What…?”

“Ah not good luck! This might be one of a few realities- NO DON’T YOU DARE CLOSE YOUR EYES THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE THAT ONE!”

The small alien filled his vision slapping him with his arms till he punched the man away before sitting up and asking,

“What? What are you doing in the roof?”

“I needed to check realities to see how our luck would fair out. At the moment not good, not good. BUT it might just be your luck!”

Slav once again got all up in his face and asked with a tone one wouldn’t have expected considering the question,

“Do you happen to be married to a god of misfortune?”

What? He stared blankly for a moment before replying. His mind racing at the accusation? No he isn't his husband?

“No. I am not married to the god of misfortune.”

“AHA! You must be the god of misfortune then! Nice to meet you, I am in fact surprised this is one of those realities- really nothing had been indicating it till now. You do a good job hiding it very well I can make plans according to that…”

Shit.

What.

No.

That cannot happen.

He thought he had done better than a good job?! Sure the adventure with his cousin could have changed things but really he had hoped everyone was just looking past that.

As Slav begun walking away from him while mumbling. He grabbed the small alien by the shoulders, squeezing just right so the man in question knew he did have the strength to do something should this not go his way. As much as he wanted to have a civilised conversation should this be brought to light, he was going to end up out the air lock for betraying the paladins. For betraying everyone.

“No. Before you leave you will tell me if you are going to share that information.”

His eyes were a cool purple reflected by Slav’s own eyes but what caught his attention was the fact that they appeared similar to a cat’s eyes with the whites being a stark yellow. Like a Galra’s.

His grip loosened at the sight of them. Is he really so different now? Sure he has exploded like that during other situations, normally including Qi Rong, but never to the point he would hurt someone innocent.

“No, no! No one shall know unless it life or death related of course. I had just needed to see if I must make calculations regarding your luck. It’s very bad. Now I must be off!”

Slav used the loosened grip to almost scurry out the room.

The only noise after the door closed was the tired sigh that escaped from his lungs. More than eighteen years of lies were now on the line and will of that damn man. He prayed Slav knowing would not come to haunt him. He almost huffed out a laugh replaying what had just occurred, his luck really is still so bad after a millennia without the damned shackles.

Thank heavens that Pidge wasn’t still present. He really doesn’t think he is ready for that conversation.

Maybe when he was with his husband he would be ready. At least then he will have all of the information needed.

His blade retreated to its knife form as he went to grab a water sachet. He should really get some rest soon before the next mission.

Chapter Text

His body felt like lead as it hit his bed.

The conversation with Pidge

Then Slav finding out his big secret.

Neither was on his to do list but one he was relieved to have the other made fear run through his veins.

Everything could be on the line now.

They were so close to finishing but not yet there.

The end of the Galran empire was so close. So far nothing had gone wrong but when does his luck like him enough to let everything go to plan? Although the thing with Slav might help the plan by having preventions from his luck from ruining everything.

He is dreading the next day.

The deck was quiet with anticipation.

 Worries, fear and hope all buzzing around the room everyone in there had been working to achieve one goal. Giving their lives for the fate of the universe even if they had their own goals, they all had one hope to defeat an empire enslaving people for millennium.

Shiro spoke out to everyone. His voice strong like the leader he is.

“All right, guys, listen up. I'll use the Black Lion to lure Zarkon's fleet to our current location and make sure he's within the teludav's area of effect. Keeping the teludav hidden behind the space-fold until the last possible second is essential. We can count on you, right, Slav?”

The green alien was nodding his head as he flicks through screens while responding to the black paladin,

“Absolutely. I'll be fine. I'm not sure about the gravity generator, though.”

The last part increased the anxiety running through the room, Hunk asking Slav to repeat what he had said spoke with a slight amount of fear but mainly concern.

“What? What was that last thing?”

“Hiding a ship is one thing, but I've never had to build a gravity generator for something this large before. I know it'll work, but I'm not sure for how long.”

The younger paladins looked between each other before their eyes turned to Shiro. They knew that the chances were low but they needed this win and fretting about uncertainty won’t help their case.

“Well, that's a risk we'll have to take. Once Zarkon's ship is in position, Kolivan and Antok will coordinate with Thace. Together, they'll take down Zarkon's security system and upload the virus.”

There was still a slight tinge of anxiety in Hunks face, but Pidge was the one to announce the main issue in the plan.

“And then, he'll be a sitting du-flax.”

Noticing no one reacting verbally but expressions twisted in confusion, including Antok who none of them had talked much too yet.

“What?”

Pidges eyes widened in understanding before she had continued,

“A du-flax is an Altean creature with a beak and webbed feet.”

The paladins all let out sounds of understanding, Lance even laughed at the joke while Hunk had looked a little calmer. The joke had helped waver some anxiety which although still ran its course through the room was no longer like unbreathable fog.

Coran perked up and in a happy voice his own idea of how to deal with the issue of being stranded.

“We'll wormhole Zarkon 500 million light years away, and he'll be in the Yggiz Galaxy before he knows what's hit him!”

Shiro had been glancing nervously in the direction of Kolivan during the talk, after Coran had finished the oldest paladin turned to the Blade Leader and asked.

“What about Thace?”

Kolivan glanced at his own screen before moving to do something else on it after a minute he spoke out,

“He should be getting into position now. We received his last communication three quintants ago. We should hear from him soon.”

“Let's do it.”

The deck returns to silence only broken by Lance humming softly, likely a trait of being anxious but they all currently are so none of them can even try to be mad about it. Even if they were its unlikely any of them would mention it, they all have their habits as strange as they may be.

He found his own mind wandering for a few moments, an escape from the anxiety he was feeling.

He wore bandages under his suit, around his neck, ankles and arms. It was his own way of comfort, being no longer with his beloved bandage these ones had done a good job. Shiro had asked him to remove them at one point and upon seeing the unmarred skin asked why the boy wore them. His response was that it had felt comforting. Shiro never asked him to remove them again but now after each mission the oldest paladin would go and check on the red paladin and help him bandage any wounds he had gotten. He reminds Shiro he doesn’t have to most times, but he can never really tell him to outright stop, his brother only means well even if his own heart hurts at the act. Sometimes if he is tired enough, he can see his own San Lang in Shiro.

Everyone on the ship held their anxiety but next to the fear lied hope.

Shiro’s voice called out to the deck one varga and forty doboshes later.

“Zarkon took the bait. He's got my location. Is everybody in position?”

The paladins and Alteans nodded but Kolivan responded, his voice held no fear, but it also held no hope.

“We've not yet heard from Thace. He was supposed to contact us two vargas ago.”

Antoks voice did betray some emotion, an underlying fear but also held the strength of his position,

“He could've been captured.”

“Or killed. We need to abort the mission immediately.”

That turned heads in the oldest Galrans direction, they were so close. To end the mission now would take months just to plan a new one, they didn’t have months. People’s lives were being destroyed daily and had been for 10,000 years. All because one person has yet to call in.

“Abort? No! We cannot back away now.”

Allura’s eyes were wide as she spoke. She clearly did not agree on Galrans life was enough to abort a mission they had already put so much effort into. Antok’s voice was cold as he spoke, like this was a fight he has had before.

“The Blade of Marmora does not take chances. It's how we've survived for so long.”

“It's held you back. Your caution is the reason Zarkon is still in power.”

“We would rather wait than jeopardize everything. Besides, it's too late to get someone else on the inside.”

The three were going back and forth neither backing down from their own beliefs on the mission.

It was too late to send someone else inside.

Was it though?

He knew he would be able to move fast inside the ship, his own DNA allowing him entry through the doors the others could not go through. This Thace persons life was at stake as well, he would rather it be himself as a sacrifice. He was use it, time beyond his years being spent doing everything to keep people safe.

It feels like a sword stabbed through him as he speaks out, interrupting the three.

“I’ll do it.”

It hurts

But it gets the attention of everyone; Allura is staring at him with suspicion. Lance, Hunk and Pidge like he has grown a second head, Shiro like he too had been stabbed. Antok stares at him with understanding but Kolivan is almost looking through him, like he sees everything that the red paladin tries to hide.

“What?”

“I'll sneak onto Zarkon's ship. I'm Galra, so I'll be able to interact with their technology. Pidge, you can rig up one of those pods with a cloaking device, right?”

Pidge adjusts her glasses with a dawning look in her eyes,

“Well, yeah.”

Kolivan stares for a bit longer, his eyes still bore into the half breeds soul.

“Going onto Zarkon's ship is a suicide mission. I would never command someone so inexperienced to go on a mission so dangerous.”

The bandages are warm but rough against his skin, grounding in a way that he wishes it were Rouye.

He knows he may no longer be immortal but the urge to save people is as strong as when he use to be a prince.

“No one's commanding me. I'm doing it.”

Shiro seems to realise that there’s no changing his mind, the man probably had his own similar beliefs to help save people who cannot save themselves.

“Pidge, get that pod ready. Keith... Let me know when you're on your way. I'll give you cover.”

The walk to where the pods are kept is done in silence, but it is not awkward, he knows he won’t back down, so he walks with the stance of a king. No one tries to change his mind further even if they do not wish for him to take the mission upon himself.

Pidge does a quick run down on the pod, making sure this one won’t explode or worse. She looks at him with strength not pity or fear.

“Okay, the cloaking device is ready to go.”

“Pidge... May I have a moment with Keith, please?”

Allura stands in the entrance of the room before moving forwards, he stride is similar to his own. She does not faulter.

“Sure thing. Have all the moments you like. Keith, if you don’t come back, I will hunt you down myself.”

Pidge nods sternly before leaving him and the princess alone.

“Is there something I can help you with?”

He stares at her directly, never once looking away other than to give her a small bow to show respect as she enters.

“I... I just wanted to say... The Galra, they've done terrible things. Destroyed entire civilizations. They took my family. But, in time, I've grown to consider you and the paladins my family. So, when I learned you were Galra, I... I didn't know what to think. I wanted to hate you.”

His surprise shows on his face, before he schools it. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard her sound so unsure. It doesn’t fit someone of her role or her pride.

But he doesn’t know what to say. To deny her that she’s wrong wouldn’t be the right way to go but to agree with her would be disrespectful.

“Allura... It's... “

The princess stops him by raising her hand, the next words out of her mouth sound much more fitting to her rather than the uncertainty from before.

“But it's not you. It's me. My anger has blinded me for too long. I'm so sorry I misjudged you. You've proven, it's not what's in your blood. It's who you are that counts. Please come back to us.”

“I will.”

And he hopes he can mean it, but he knows that if he was given the chance to save someone rather than himself, he would take it. It hurts. Like his husband can feel the words that he does not say, he hopes the man will understand if he doesn’t come back.

They hear the black lion before Shiro speaks out over the coms,

“They are here.”

And they don’t have any more time. It is now or never.

“I've got Zarkon on the hook. Bringing him your way. Keith, you ready? We've only got one shot at this!”

“Engaging cloaking device. Moving toward the fleet now.”

There are ships everywhere as he leaves, he does not look back. There is no anxiety humming through the pod.

“Roger that. I don't see you, but I'm locked on your signal. I'll clear a path.”

He hopes he can see his brother again if he can’t see his husband.

His pod goes through the fleet of ships like a rabbit entering a foxes den. Unlike ghost city, he is not friendly with the ruler.

“Thanks, Shiro. I'm coming in hot”

He grunts as he makes it to the ship, the landing definitely could have been better, but he was short on time. At least it was quiet enough he had yet to be detected.

“I’m in.”

Back in the castle of lions Allura was reporting his own success to the team waiting,

“The plan is working. Keith is on board and Zarkon's fleet is on the way.”

“The Castle of Lion defences are up and ready to go.”

“Starting gravity generator now. Commencing cloak.”

He hoped he could find Thace fast. Kolivan and Antok had been tracking him, both older Galra not sparing too much attention to the residence of the Castle. Excluding the black paladin who kept checking to make sure the red paladin was okay.

“Okay, you've made it to the lower communication deck. Head left down that corridor.”

He could here faint screaming but he did not mention it to either of the older Galra hoping that they did not here it over coms, it could be their friend and comrade, Thace. He knows it likely is.

“Based on the schematics from Thace, there should be a large door up ahead. This is the central hub for the Galra fleet.”

The door was just ahead he could see it. He hoped he was fast enough.

“Kolivan, I am in. Now what?”

“Now, you need to reset the system, using the codes that Thace obtained. It'll be down for a dobosh. That's when we'll upload the virus.”

The as he was entering the codes the control panel made a soft beeping with each press of his fingers, followed by a harsh loud beep once he had completed the code. Flashing red lights accompanied the sound, so loud it made his ears ring.

“It doesn’t seem to be working.”

“Try it again.”

The beeping got louder the second time, the lights flashed faster.

The noise of the door opening follows it and he hides behind the control panel.

An injured Galra enters and heads to the other control panel. Rapidly typing things in.

A druid joins after a moment, blocking any chances of escaping.

The loud beeping and flashing lights continue.

He hears Kolivan ask if he is still present through his coms, but he doesn’t answer. The druid walks around the central hub towards the Galran. Their steps echo in the almost empty room.

No personal items were left out, no dust coating every surface and no glowing flowers on vines.

“And now, we know you were attempting to shut down the system.”

The lights continue to flash from the different panels, all matching none stopping till a second druid comes and presses a hand on the panel leading to everything goes dark, just the purple light lights returning after a second.

“You're too late.”

“No, Thace. You're too late. We already changed the code.”

It’s him.

He summons his bayard, willing it into a bow and arrow and releases two shots directly into the druid’s torsos. He may not be the best with archery, it having always been his friends preferred skill, but he still knows how to shoot a shot. The druids scream in pain as he speaks to the injured Galra who’s eyes are now on him, wide with a surprised shock before they see the blade at his hip, not yet activated but waiting.

“Thace, I'm Keith, a Paladin of Voltron.”

“And a fellow Blade, I see. I guess we haven't failed.”

“Not yet, we haven’t.”

His coms were still blaring in his ears, discussions from the outside of this ship accompanying the clicking of Thace still trying to enter codes. He was standing guard when Lance had asked him how things were going.

“This is getting hairy. How you doing, Keith?”

“The Galra switched the codes. We're trying a work-around.”

“We? Who's ‘we’?”

“Thace. I found him. I'll explain later.”

Shiro was the one who responded with copy that as the conversation began to die out, everyone busy with their respective tasks.

He turns to Thace, who is still distracted by the control panel, to ask;

“What exactly are you doing?”

“You're turning the room into a bomb?”

“It's the only way.”

Well that’s one way to complete the task. He can only hope it will work but now they face an issue just as bad. Escaping.

“That solves one problem, but now we're trapped in here.”

“No, we're not. There's an exit through the main power conduit. It leads to the second deck. Go, now.”

“What? No, I'm not gonna leave you. I refuse, we leave together or not at all.”

“You must. I will shut down the system. Paladin, this is where my journey ends, but, as a member of Voltron, you have a bigger mission. You must understand that.”

He really does, he already knows the blades way of working. The mission before the agent. He turns of his coms before he speaks again.

“Well then, I guess it’s a good time to test out my immortality. I refuse to leave you; I became a paladin to save the common people.”

Thace looks like he is going into shock, he thinks he here a mumble about eyes and what not, but he doesn’t pay attention, his focus stolen by the flashing red of the screen, the ship will be a bomb soon.

“You need to leave, NOW.”

A small army of bots enter the room shooting, the screen has been flashing for a while now. He shoots arrows towards the oncoming enemies, Thace joining not long after with his blaster. They need to leave now if they want to survive. He has pulled down the neck of his suit grabbing the bandages there and tying them to an arrow before breaking open part of the control panel. Inside there are various items used to supply power so he chooses a sturdy looking one to tie the other end of the bandage to. The arrow gets shot into the metal wall, giving it a test tug he calls out to Thace. The snaps the string of the bow and gets ready to jump.

“HOLD ON TO ME.”

The older Galra does just that, freeing one of his arms to keep shooting at the bots. They use the bow like a zipline to make it down to the floor below before they run to a cargo deck.

A roar shakes the ship and the Red Lions head tears through the metal of the ship. They jump into it, the explosion sending them flying further into the waiting mouth of the Lion.

His lungs and ears feel weird. Like his every breath sends ripples of pain through him, he doesn’t react to any of it.

His own coms turn back on like thunder in a storm.

“Oh, I hate it when I'm right. The gravity generator just lost power! Now, there's no reality where we all get out alive!”

“Princess, the teludav is completely exposed!”

“Come on, Keith.”

“What do we do?”

“We can't do anything. If Keith doesn't get Zarkon's ship shut down, we're done for. It's over.”

“We cannot wait any longer. I'm powering the teludav now!”

“The system is down. Uploading virus now.”

He grunts making his way to the cockpit of the red lion, his back burns. He thinks Thace is following him, his knees thud as they hit the floor he doesn’t notice the pain just continues rumadging through the lion to get a medkit which he throws to the older blade. When he reaches the front seat he releases a hiss of pain, parts of burning metal sizzle against the chair. His flesh is raw from where his suit had burnt away, parts of rubble and other debris is imbedded into places of his back. His suit had cracks running through the metal.

“Thace did it.”

His voice is pained when he speaks over the coms, the red lion purrs, Allura’s grunt can be heard over coms. Coran’s voice is panicked following the grunt.

“Everyone, hang on! Here we go! Hurry, Paladins! We must make it in before the wormhole closes!”

His mind is blank when they form Voltron and fight.

It feels like there is pressure surrounding his every move. None of it slows him down.

Thace is quiet as he watches the red paladin fight, the lion shakes with the battle almost increasing any adrenaline rushing through his veins. The paladin looks young, he acts old.

The young halfbreed reminds him of his sister, the blade eerily familiar.

The amber of the paladins eyes are the cool purple they were when he first met the paladin.

He wonders why that is.

He ignores it while bandaging and disinfecting his own torso.

Chapter Text

Explosions from their actions line the emperor’s ship.

More were being created as the red lion’s swords tore through the metal ship as if it were just paper beneath its sharp edge. The engines of the ship went alight as the blade went through the ship. Voltron was soon surrounded by fire caused by its own hand.

He saw Thace brace himself through the corner of his eye. While in front of them had been painted blue then orange by the light of the explosions.

They did not hold back; each cut of their blade surrounded the ship below them in the haze of heat. If space was not a void, it would be certain that they could have heard the blaring of alarms coming from under them. All that he could hear in place of it was his brother’s instructions to the team, without him they would be lost.

They were flying towards the bridge when they felt the pull. Turning around took effort but, the thing in front of them? He didn’t even know how to describe it.

“What is that!?”

His own voice could be heard over coms but none of the other paladins heard what followed it.

The deep concerned breath taken by Thace, the following murmur of the word’s; quintessence, Zarkon and witch.

The only thing they heard after that was each other’s screams.

The ball of energy? Quintessence? Had struck out like lightning, absorbing everything out of them a feeling so similar to the curse shackles. The scream that clawed out of his throat almost formed the words “It hurts” but nothing could be heard other than the anguish.

Voltron floated amongst the stars, purple lightning like spiderwebs as it flowed over the ancient weapon.

The red lion was shut off, the only movement inside was Thace as he pulled his body up and over to the red paladin. Despite the shock in his own body the older Galra began to check the younger, who was floating above the seat unconscious but mouth open in a silent scream.

“Paladins! Shiro! Can you hear me?”

The older blade could only assume the person on the coms was the princess. But his own focus was distracted by slight movements of the boy in next to him. The coms screeched to life as the paladins awoke.

“Yes, princess… We are alive.”

His own body felt like lead, the blade agent next to him looked relieved to see him awake. His arms locked onto the controls for the lion, attempting to tug the lion to life. Upon his failure to do so he responded on the coms,

“I can’t move my lion.”

He grunted as he felt Thace move his torso as the man checked for injuries. The older galra only stopped when the empire ship opened a hatch, purple light leaking past like a poisonous gas. He was dimly aware that Lance spoke over coms but everyones attention was on the man, the galra exiting.

The armour.

The stance.

The ominous purple eyes.

Zarkon.

Allura broke through the fearful air in Voltron as the castle ship roared over towards Zarkon and the paladins.

“Listen to me. You are true paladins now. Connect with your lions, reach out to each other! Fight! This cannot end now!”

“FIRE!”

The castle ship shoots towards the purple light that is Zarkon, knocking the Galran Emperor back a few paces directly into his own ship.

He wished it was that simple, that maybe the members in the castle had more luck then him. The beam coming from the castle began reflecting, hitting surfaces of both the empire ship and then the castle of lions.

Voltron all held a respective breath as Allura’s scream radiated through the coms.

Followed by part of the castle of lions exploding, so similar to the ship they had just been destroying. His own lion was still humming with the faint heat from the previously exploding empire ship.

“ALLURA!”

Shiro’s scream is deafening. It’s one he’s familiar with, the wretched sound of loosing a friend. His own heart feels hollow as it beats while he can only sit and wait for his lion to respond.

Maybe in a different lifetime he wouldn’t be so use to the feeling of losing his loved ones.

Red.

Red was the colour of Hong-er’s eye, the same one he lived his childhood alone because of.

Red was the blood his people bled during the war.

Red was the colour that the mutated faces leaked when they were cut off.

Red was what stained his alter all so long ago.

Red had been dripping off Rouye onto the floor of the old shack he shared with those who were his family.

Red followed him through the years; from stab wounds, to a flooded coffin, to a sandy battlefield, to cuts left by clouds.

Red was what bled from the sky after his husband past an area.

Red bathed his husband’s city in colour.

Red was embedded in his husband’s scimitar.

Red was the colour of his husband’s robes.

Red is what his own wedding robes were.

Was red the colour his arm was when he was shot?

Red glowed over the dessert as his Pa and he went up to the roof of their shack to look at the stars.

Red was his Pa’s hoverbike.

Red was the colour of the fire that took his Pa.

Red was the colour of his jacket.

Red was his armour.

Red was his lion.

Red.

The tinge of the explosion that engulfed the castle of lions was red.

He can’t even hear them over the coms. Not Coran, not Allura, not Kolivan, not Antok or even one of the mice.

He wishes even Slav would respond at this point.

It’s Shiro who once again brings them all together.

“Everybody, listen. We have to fight. We have to channel all our energy. Visualize five becoming one. We have to focus everything we have into moving Voltron.”

His hands grip the control sticks and he takes a breath. Thace behind him has a hand on his shoulder grounding him, it’s as if Shiro isn’t in the Black Lion but is here in Red with him.

“We are the last thing standing in the way of Zarkon's total universal domination. I'm not giving up that fight! Are you, Hunk?”

The yellow lions raw is deep and earthy, it slots in as Hunk responds to their leader. The green lion has a more robotic roar but still with a similar earthy tone. The blue lions is like waves crashing on sand as it roars in harmony with Lance. Red’s is the loudest, as if a fire cracker was set off.

“I’m all in.”

Voltron powering up feels like ascension. There’s still a lot of power missing, they all know that but, together they are strong. They are a team.

“Then let's get Voltron back in this battle.”

Reds blade burns against his lion, defending against the enemy of the universe.

He was born for the heat of battle.

It has lived through his soul for twelve thousand years.

Even when he had no body, he fought.

And he will continue to fight for a place in the universe.

For a place where he and those he loves will be safe.

Debree surrounds them, Zarkon is in front of them. The witch watches from her post, he can feel her quintessence, her Qi, which she wields to protect her emperor.

He fails to notice when the emperor comes barrelling at them instead of the power the witch wields.

The metal of the lions groan as they move. No one even considers stopping.

They must win. For everyone.

Each impact between the two sides cause a ripple effect. A force acting upon the floating ships that surround the fight.

Thace is behind him, eyes locked upon something beyond his own field of vision. Even as the impacts cause the lion to quake the older Galra stays rooted to the floor.

He knew before Shiro said anything, he knows his brother.

He can feel it in the bond of Voltron, like a virus overtaking the host. Zarkon is trying to take control of the black lion.

“Fight it, Shiro!”

Voltrons back thrusters don’t take them as far anymore. The coms aren’t as loud in his ears as they usually are, the lights of the red lion are dimmed in a way that he knows doom is coming.

He has never been lucky.

He hates the twinge of uncertainty as his own lion’s sword pierce through the shell of Zarkons armour, he can hear what the other paladins can’t the sizzle of blood. Thaces hand tightens around his shoulder. The mans eyes locked onto the person who he swore to take down, who they swore to take down.

It takes a split second for them to be caught, for the purple lightning to flood over Voltron.

All he thinks in that moment is, “Ah, there it is.” He is thousands of years old but the day his luck changes without his husband, he will weep tears of gold.

They all groan or scream as the energy tears at them from inside the lions.

At least when they get split apart it’s purple and not red. He doesn’t know how he would react should it have been red.

Zarkons voice can somehow be heard. He wishes that the man would learn when his input is not wanted.

“You should have fled like your predecessors. Now, the time of the Voltron Paladins is finished.”

He would later beg that he spent more time contemplating how much he hates Zarkon and how unnecessary everything that man does is. He would beg that his mind didn’t go almost instantly to Shiro and the lack of him that he can feel. It’s like the man’s quintessence has drained. The black lion feels hollow inside.

He is a god; a god can not interfere with human affairs. It is the same reason why he could never beat Lang Ying on the battlefield during the XianLe war. The same reason why Shiro won all their spars even if a draw was announced. Now there is only a faint trace of Shiro as if he is far away.

He hates how his voice sounds as he yells. How his anguish can be portrayed before anything can be confirmed.

“Shiro! Shiro! Something's wrong with Shiro.”

He prays to everyone he knows. God, ghost and even the lions themselves. Let. Shiro. Be. Okay.

Please.

They cannot stop.

It would lead to Shiro’s death if they do not protect the man while he is down.

“Guys, we can't let Zarkon get the Black Lion.”

Zarkon’s comes at them. They can only be ready.

Either way they are leaving this battle today. He prays that he is not selfish to want to survive, to live another day. To be with his brother and with his husband. To be with the paladins he considers family. To see his friends. To see Rouye and Qi Rong.

Will he ever be that lucky?

Each lion hit with everything they had, if Zarkon got to close to Shiro? They all attacked at once, you cannot face one without the wraith of the others. And with Shiro in danger any responsibility for their safety was thrown out the window. Even Thace who has not yet met the Black Paladin had been informing them of weak spots, or their own blind spots.

He was thankful when he felt his brother’s quintessence strengthen.

No matter how many hits he would take, it was worth it.

But that doesn't mean he hadn’t been taking shots meant for the others. He wouldn’t let these kids get injured any more than they had to. They were still getting thrown like children’s toys.

All he felt was a wave of power. Pure quintessence.

His eyes locked onto where the black lion now flew. The wings on the lions shone a light blue the brightness was like the glow of ascension.

They were all astonished.

Lance was the first to break the stunned silence.

“Woah… What did you do?”

“I've got Zarkon's bayard.”

“You mean you've got your bayard. We've only got a few minutes left before power returns to Zarkon's ship.”

He was so proud of his brother. He wished he has time to tell him that. But they have bigger problems, and they all know it as his brother yells.

“Form Voltron!”

It had been just after they attacked that the castle came back online. They had backup again, they had a chance to win. He couldn’t even bring himself to feel annoyed when Slav responded that he of all people was still fine.

Each attack continued to cause explosions between the two of them. It was then that he noticed the blade operator floating in space. They were too close to the battle. All of them were close to winning to lose any more people. He made his decision even before Red knew what he was doing.

“Guys bring me over to the left a bit! I must grab something.”

“Alright Keith! Pidge, bring out your shield we can defend the red Lion. But Kieth be ready to form sword at any given moment.”

Voltron lurched to the left with the red lion leading the motion, Zarkon coming close had been knocked back by the shield.

The red lions jaw closed with enough force to break pieces of debris surrounding the unconscious blade.

“Thace! Go to the mouth of the Lion, you have a few seconds before Zarkon can make a move.”

The lights upon Zarkons ship slowly began illuminating the hunk of metal floating in space. Coran’s voice could be heard over coms, he just hoped that Thace was fast enough as the blade hit each other with force capable of melting even the strongest armour.

The doors into the cockpit whirring open had greeted him as Voltron went headfirst to Zarkon. The sword stuck in the armour of the Galra emperor hummed with power and sizzled against the body of the man in front of them. He had no doubt that the other paladins could not hear it.

The electrifying sizzle erupted through all their bodies; they were all too exhausted to let out anything other than a groan from the pain.

He couldn’t even describe what the sword that now pierced the suit of armour looked like. All he saw was the faint haze of red that came from it. It was instinctual as he rammed the sword through the emperor.

One last battle cry roared through each paladin’s throats as they cut through the enemy.

The heat from the sword locked in Red’s jaw made the cockpit so much warmer but he ignored it, not even staying in his seat to watch the fall of Zarkon. Or even noticing as the lions separated.

Antok lay flat an unmoving even as Thace rushed about his injured colleague. The man in questions suit had been removed from above his hips revealing a burnt smoky wound that had been filling the lion with the stench of death.

He couldn’t feel his legs as he walked over, any talk over the coms from the lions was ignored. He placed his hands directly on the centre of the tailed Galras chest. Closing his eyes after a deep breath, he began pouring Qi into the unconscious blade agent. He didn’t even hear the intake of breath from Thace, too much attention being on the man underneath his hands. A golden colour leaked through where his armour had been worn down from the heat of battle. If his eyes were open, he would have noticed the change in hue that was Antok’s veins as golden bloomed under the skin. He only stopped once he felt Antok’s heartbeat run steady. The man in question did not wake.

He heard Coran over coms once he was finished.

“I have Allura and Kolivan, let’s go!”

He was thankful when he saw Lance, Hunk and Pidge all flying steadily towards the Castle of Lions.

He couldn’t feel Shiro again.

“SHIRO!”

The man was still floating in space, similar to how Antok was not long prior.

“We need to tow him back onto the ship.”

Pidge and himself grasped onto the arms of the black lion, pushing their leader towards the Castle.

He didn’t waste time once he was onboard, running from his own lion still warm from battle to the one across from Red. The black lion was limp and cold as he reached her.

“SHIRO!”

Any exhaustion was forgotten; the rest of the team was behind him by the time the door to the cockpit where Shiro should have been opened. The black bayard left forgotten in the lion.

“Shiro?”

He doesn’t even know which Paladin said the words out aloud.

“He’s gone.”

He doesn’t know when he falls to the ground, grasping the still warm piolets chair like a lifeline.

He doesn’t even know how to respond. Greif? Anger? All he feels is hollow.

Can he not even keep one person he loves close to him?

Its hours before he leaves the cockpit of the black lion.

It’s Antok and Thace who come to him to get him to leave. The former still has a slight golden hue to his skin and a wobble when he walks. Only Hunk and Kolivan are present when they guide him to the table where food has been set out for him. When they get him to eat his actions are almost robotic.

 Once he’s done, Kolivan hugs him. The action is stiff but tight and the leader only says thank you, before Hunk is off dragging him to his room. The yellow paladin helps the red paladin out of his armour and flight suit, bandaging the wounds from the explosion that occurred hours prior. No one speaks but actions have always spoken to him louder than words ever have.

He’s thankful that he at least saved two lives. Maybe one day he will be able to save them all and not be left with guilt pulling him down.

His fox plush was sitting alone in the corner of his bed.

He is thankful that he had it on him in his bag when they had left to the caves, the only stark reminder of his husband in this room. He hopes he doesn’t have to find such a memento for Shiro too, he refuses to believe it won’t take him another thousands of years to be reunited with a loved one. One year was too much for both Shiro and his husband.

Please return to me Shiro.

He already misses his brother.