Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

(“Do you have a name?” the Champion asks.

There is no answer to that. Abomination, Disappointment, these are all things the part-Galra has answered to, but he’s never had a true name of his own. Knowing the Champion’s bloodlust in the arena, he’d expected not to answer to anything at all after today.

“How about… Keith,” the Champion says. “How does that name sound?”

“Keith,” the part-Galra repeats obediently.

“Okay, Keith,” the Champion says again with a smile. “You can call me Shiro.”)

“No!” Shiro struggles against the other humans holding him back, forcing him onto the table with the straps, but Keith has seen him fight for his life before. He’s holding back; he doesn’t want to hurt them. “You don’t understand, he’s not a danger! He can help!”

Keith allows the humans to hold onto him without a fight. They drag him to another table and strap him in, the bindings tight and uncomfortable but not worse than Keith has endured before. He could resist, but regardless of what Shiro says, his actions say he doesn’t want to hurt them, so Keith won’t.

“Listen to me!” Shiro shouts. “There’s other aliens coming, bad ones! They’re looking for a weapon, they’re going to destroy us all!” One of the humans closes one of the straps in place over Shiro’s upper body.

“Sir, it looks like his arm’s been replaced by a cyborg prosthetic,” one of the humans says.

“Put them both under.”

Keith sees a needle headed for Shiro, and his compliance snaps. Their restraints aren’t enough to hold him; the other humans converge on him, but he’s not holding back, not when they’re trying to poison Shiro. One after another, they fall.

The restraint holding Shiro down is easy to pull apart; once he’s free, Shiro grasps hold of Keith’s shoulders. “Keith, listen, you have to get out of here before they take you!”

Another set of humans run in, this time without the protective environmental gear the others were wearing. Keith tenses, getting ready to take them out, too, if they try to restrain Shiro again.

“It’s okay!” the smallest one says quickly. He looks familiar, like one of the Galra’s other human prisoners, but Keith’s not sure if there’s a reason for that or if some humans just share certain physical traits. “We saw the security feeds, we’re here to help!”

“Who are you?” Shiro asks. “How did you get in here?”

“Doesn’t matter,” the tallest one answers. “Lot of people on their way that are gonna be really angry we blew up one of their ships, gotta go.”

The largest one gets a look on his face like he’s in pain. “We are so getting kicked out!”

“Come with us now, ask questions later!” the smallest one says.

Shiro grabs hold of Keith’s hand and squeezes lightly before pulling him forward, towards the humans. “Okay.”

(“I don’t understand,” the smallest human says. He’s pressed up against the wall furthest away from Keith, staring at him with wide eyes. “They gave you one of their own?”

“He’s some kind of hybrid,” the Champion – Shiro – replies. He rests a hand on the back of Keith’s neck, solid but gentle, which Keith understands to mean he should remain still. “I think they expected me to kill him. They were definitely surprised when they came for me, and he was still alive.”

“Are you sure he won’t hurt anyone?” the little one asks.

“I don’t think so. He hasn’t been violent.” Shiro turns to him. “Keith?”

“I won’t hurt anyone,” Keith says automatically. He has no desire to attack anyone unprovoked, and anyway, it was made very clear to him that he would be made to suffer if he disobeyed the Champion. The collar they put on him is linked to the Champion through his Galra arm; any defiance will result in constriction of his airways until he’s unconscious. It was supposed to cripple him, make him an easier target for the Champion’s anger.

“See?” Shiro’s hand squeezes his neck lightly in what Keith is starting to learn is an approving gesture. “He’s one of us now.”)

Shiro leads them to a little building, away from the ship they stole and away from the other humans. He doesn’t wait long to remove the clothing the Galra had placed him in and replace it with human clothing from a container in one of the rooms. Keith is tossed a shirt, too. “It’s going to be too big on you,” Shiro tells him. “But it’s all I have.”

Keith pulls it on immediately. It is too large, but it’s Shiro’s. That’s good enough.

After a moment, Shiro hands him another piece of cloth, something long and red. “I still don’t know how to remove your collar,” he says apologetically. “We’ll have to figure that out later. But in the meantime, you can wrap this around your neck if you don’t want it to be so visible.”

Keith loops the cloth around his neck a couple times. It’s comfortable and warm, and while a part of him doesn’t mind that the collar is staying on – he trusts Shiro and likes being his more than anything else Keith’s ever been in his life – it’s also nice to not have such a visible reminder of his status.

Shiro gives him an approving smile before leading him back out among the others.

The humans confer while Keith settles himself patiently at Shiro’s feet. The other humans keep glancing at him, eyes filled with the same fear and wariness he got used to seeing from the other prisoners, until one of them finally says something. “So if the Galra are so dangerous, then why did you bring one with you?” asks the one that looks like Matt.

“Keith is… different,” Shiro says. “The other Galra gave him to me, like a… like a prize. He won’t hurt anyone.”

“Uh, I think the people he knocked unconscious beg to differ?” the biggest one – Hunk – points out.

Shiro sighs. “That’s different. He was protecting me. He’s never attacked anyone without good reason, and he’s never disobeyed me.”

“So basically you have a pet alien,” the tall one – Lance – says. “Weird. Kinda cool, but weird.”

“Shiro,” Keith says quietly.

Shiro’s attention snaps to him. “What is it?”

“There’s something important here.” He pauses. “Not – here. Nearby.”

“Something like what?” Pidge asks.

Keith shrugs, an easy gesture that he’s picked up from Shiro. “Something blue?”

(“You don’t have to come with me,” Shiro reminds him, eyes serious. “I know it’s not really safe here, but it might still be safer for you with your own kind than going to Earth with me.”

Keith shrugs. If he stays behind, he’ll probably be punished, likely terminated. Only the Champion’s protection and the Galra’s continuing curiosity about why he left Keith alive have prevented that from happening already. Besides, the idea of Shiro leaving on his own worries Keith. He’s been forgetting things from day to day; he needs Keith to remind him when he forgets something important.

“If you’re sure,” Shiro says, like there’s even still a question. Keith stares at him steadily, and Shiro darts forward, pressing his mouth up against Keith’s. Afterwards, he rests his forehead against Keith’s. “I’m glad you’re coming with me.”)

“I hate to be the one to say it,” Hunk says, “but are we sure he’s not leading us to some kind of alien trap?”

“I trust Keith,” Shiro says firmly. “He wouldn’t bring us somewhere dangerous.”

“Man, someone really likes their cave drawings.” Lance brushes some dirt away from the image he’s looking at, and suddenly, all the carvings are glowing blue around them.

“Are they supposed to do that?” Hunk asks.

The floor underneath them turns blue and gives way, sending the five of them sliding down underneath the cave. Shiro, who was standing right next to him, grabs Keith and curls himself around him as much as he can, protecting him from the inevitable landing.

Shiro takes the brunt of the impact, but luckily, the pool of water they land in softens it. He’s still moving stiffly, a little painfully, when he removes himself from Keith, but he doesn’t seem badly hurt. “Are you okay?” he asks softly.

Keith gives a short nod, irritated with himself for not having reacted quicker than Shiro. He’s supposed to be protecting the human, not the other way around.

“Everyone else?” Shiro says, louder.

Lance stands up. “Uh, I’m good, but what is that?”

A few feet away from the pool stands a large blue mechanical lion, surrounded by a force field.

“Is this it?” Pidge asks. “Is this Voltron?”

“Yes,” Keith says. Then, shaking his head, corrects himself: “No. It is Voltron. But it’s not yet.”

“Well, that clears up everything,” Lance says. He steps forward and raises a fist to the force field, tapping it a couple times. “Knock-knock! Anyone home?”

The force field drops with another flash of blue light. At the same time, in Keith’s mind, he sees the five lions flying through the sky and coming together to form Voltron, the Great Weapon.

“Oh. Oh!” Lance turns to Keith and hits him on the back with the palm of his hand, light enough that there’s no chance of doing any damage. “It is Voltron but not. I get it now!”

“Voltron is a robot!” Hunk shouts suddenly. “Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!”

“But where’s the rest of it?” Pidge asks.

The lion’s head leans down and opens its mouth for Lance, lowering a ramp for him to enter through. Lance stares at it for a moment before grinning and following the clear invitation inside.

Hunk raises his hand. “Uh, should we follow him?”

“I think we should stay together,” Shiro says. “Keith?”

“Yes,” Keith answers, his eyes fixed on the lion. Up until now, he thought that the best thing that would ever happen to him in his life was when he was given to Shiro; with that glimpse of the lions and the aftershock of red in his mind, he’s starting to suspect that maybe there’s something else, something great, that they’re both intended for.

It’s a nice feeling. “We have to go inside.”

“Good enough for me.” Shiro presses a hand against Keith’s back and, after waiting for Hunk and Pidge to start walking, gently pushes him forward so that Shiro can follow last, watching their backs.

Chapter Text

The blue lion brings them through a wormhole, across the galaxy, and to a white castle-ship that stands proudly on a beautiful, seemingly peaceful planet. It gives a loud roar that signals the door to open before standing back, clearly wanting them to enter.

“So… do we just go in?” Pidge asks.

“I don’t think we have another option,” Shiro says. He starts walking, putting himself at the front of the group so that he’ll be the first to know if they encounter danger. Keith places himself at Shiro’s left side so that he’ll be in place if he’s needed.

They haven’t been walking very long when a piece of the castle powers up with the same blue glow that the lion had.

“Hold for identity scan,” a voice, calm and inflectionless, says.

“Why are we here?” Shiro calls out, but Keith touches his arm and shakes his head. It’s not a person; there’s no point talking to it.

The scan is quick and painless, but it pauses over Keith, illuminating him in an extra-bright light. “Confirmation required,” the voice announces. “Remain still and await further instructions.”

“What instructions?” Shiro asks.

Keith tries to take a step away from the light, but a quick shock of electricity coming from somewhere underneath him effectively paralyzes the muscles in his legs.

“Keith!” Shiro tries to take a step towards him, but the ship must do the same thing to him, too, because he freezes in place.

“Remain still,” the voice repeats, “and await further instructions. Compliance will be required.”

“Uh, what is that?” Lance asks. There’s a bipedal automated bot heading directly for Keith, skirting the humans.

“I don’t know what this is, but I don’t think it’s friendly,” Shiro says, and Keith recognizes the look he gets in his eye. It’s the one he had with the other prisoners of the Galra were in danger, one that says he’s about to do stupid for someone else’s sake without thinking about the consequences.

“Wait,” Keith says softly.

“Keith – “

“It hasn’t done anything yet.” The bot stops in front of him and performs a second scan, slower than the first and more invasive. This one he can feel, almost like a laser on his skin inching its way up his body. Keith grits his teeth and waits it out.

Pain is fine. He can handle pain.

“What is it doing?” Hunk asks.

“Scanning him again, I think,” Pidge says.

“Confirmation accepted.”

The bot and the light retreat. Keith and Shiro’s legs both unlock at the same time, and Keith stumbles into Hunk while Lance grabs Shiro. “You okay?” Hunk asks.

“Fine.” Keith’s balance returns to him quickly, and he pushes himself away from the human. Shiro takes a little longer to extract himself from Lance.

“I think it wants us to go that way,” Pidge says, pointing towards the lights of the castle, which are turning on selectively and illuminating a path further inwards.

“Do we even want to follow this thing?” Hunk asks. “Seeing as how it did just zap us?”

Lance is staring at the path before them, brows furrowed. “I still trust the lion.”

“It’ll probably lead us to somewhere we can find out what’s going on,” Pidge says.

“Or it will take us to, I don’t know, lion prison? Do we think lion prison’s a thing here?” Hunk asks.

Shiro’s been watching Keith while the other humans debate, eyeing him for signs of damage. Keith shakes his head – he’s not hurt, really – and tilts his head towards the humans pointedly. They’re waiting for orders on how to proceed, like Keith is, even if they’re doing it more loudly.

“We’ll follow the lights,” Shiro says eventually. “But stay on your guard.”

(“Why are you here?” the Champion asks him.

Keith gives him the simplest answer that’s true: “I’m yours.”

“But you’re one of them.” The Champion paces down the length of his cell, then stops in front of Keith again, staring him in the face. “You’re not one of the prisoners they’ve collected. Why would they put you here?”

“I’m yours,” Keith repeats.

“You’re not mine,” the Champion snaps. “I didn’t ask them to give me a slave.”

Keith flinches backwards. He hasn’t personally seen the Champion in action, but he’s overheard stories and doesn’t want to experience them firsthand.

“I’m not – “ The Champion sighs. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to understand.”

What is there to understand? He’s been discarded, and despite the Champion’s declaration, Keith still doesn’t expect to actually survive past this day.

“All right.” The Champion sighs again and sits down on the blanket that loosely serves as a bed. “We can just sit in silence if that’s what you want.”

What he wants has never mattered much in Keith’s life before. Of course it still doesn’t, but Keith doesn’t mind the thought of pretending for a little while, so he follows the Champion’s lead, sitting quietly while he waits for either the Champion to stop toying with him or the Galra guards to return and express their displeasure at finding him still alive, whichever comes first.)

The lights bring them to a room containing old, old cryopods. None of the humans quite know what they’re looking at; truthfully, Keith’s not sure, either. He’s never seen this design before. They don’t have time to discuss it, anyway, because one of the pods releases its still-living inhabitant, a woman, barely minutes after they arrive. She stumbles forward into Lance, who catches her instinctively.

“Who – who are you?” she asks faintly, dazed from her awakening. “Where – “ As she’s looking around the room, her gaze falls on Keith. “You – you!”  The woman rips herself away from Lance and lunges at Keith. “What are you doing here? What have you done with my father?!”

Keith tenses, ready for a fight, but Shiro steps in front of him and grabs the woman by the shoulders, halting her from getting any closer. “Calm down. He hasn’t done anything to anyone.”

“We just got here,” Hunk adds. “A giant blue lion brought us? We haven’t had time to do much of anything.”

“How do you have the blue lion?” The woman tries to jerk away from Shiro’s grasp, but he’s too strong for her. “What has the Galran Empire done to the Blue Paladin?”

“Listen!” Shiro snaps. “We don’t know what you’re talking about. We’d like to help if we can, but you have to explain. And stop trying to attack my friend!”

“That Galran is no friend,” the woman bites out. “Their Empire attacked my people, and my father – what have they done with my father, King Alfor?”

“Why don’t you tell us what you know?” Shiro counters. “Then we’ll tell you what we know.”

“Which is basically nothing,” Hunk adds.

“I’m Princess Allura, of the planet Altea.” The woman straightens up, holding herself stiffly. “If you’ll let go of me, then you have a deal.”

When Shiro releases her, she backs up several steps, putting the computer console between herself and Keith. Shiro moves to the side slightly so he’s not standing directly in front of Keith anymore, but he’s still acting as a second barrier between them, just in case.

“I have to find out how long we’ve been asleep and where we are now,” Allura says. The computer comes to life under her hands, and the other pod releases, a man coming out this time.

“Galran!” The man inside lurches in Keith’s direction, but he, like the Princess, can barely stand on his own. Lance intercepts him and steadies him up against the outside of the pod.

“Okay, seriously, man, I know he looks freaky, but he’s not that dangerous. Maybe.”

“He’s a friend,” Shiro repeats.

“Is he?” the man starts to straighten up, still casting glares in Keith’s direction. “What does he have to say about that?”

It’s the first time they’ve asked him a question that Keith can actually answer. “I’m Shiro’s.”

“Are you now?” The man squints at him. “Well, that’s – “

“No, it can’t be,” the Princess says suddenly. “Coran, we’ve – we’ve been asleep for ten thousand years.”

The man – Coran – spins around to look at her, abandoning his focus on Keith for the moment.

“Altea and all the planets in our solar system are gone,” she continues. “Our entire civilization is just – “ Her head bows, shoulders slumping. Then she raises herself up again, her gaze sharpened on Keith again. “It was destroyed by Zarkon. By your people.”

Shiro sucks in a breath suddenly, like he’s done a couple times when recovering a memory he’d lost. “Zarkon. That name… I was his prisoner.” Keith comes closer, and Shiro reaches backwards to grasp his hand. “We were both his prisoners.”

“I don’t understand,” the Princess says with a slow shake of her head. “It’s been thousands of years. How could he possibly still be alive?”

“I don’t know,” Shiro answers. “All I know is it’s true. He’s alive, and he’s searching for a weapon, something called Voltron.”

“And you’ve brought one of his agents here to find it for him?” she asks, her voice icy and hard.

“Keith isn’t one of his agents,” Shiro says. “He was a prisoner of the Galra, just like I was. He’s no more an agent of them than anyone.”

Coran sniffs. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“Uh.” Lance raises a hand. “Not to interrupt the whole Keith-hate thing you’ve got going on, but he did bring us to the blue lion. Speaking of, Voltron? Lions? Ringing any bells?”

Allura is quiet for a long moment. “All right. Perhaps we should talk.”

Chapter Text

After the Princess’s announcement, the two Alteans choose to retreat to another side of the room to confer in relative privacy while the humans gather around Shiro.

Hunk raises his hand. “So… does anyone really regret like every decision they made here? Cause I, for one, am starting to have some second thoughts about,” he starts counting off his fingers, “getting in the Lion with Lance, going through a wormhole to an unknown area of space, being caught up in some weird alien war that’s ten thousand years old – ”

“Keith and I escaped because it’s only a matter of time before the Galra set their sights on Earth,” Shiro says. “We don’t have the luxury of questioning it now.”

“We may be out of our depth,” Pidge adds, “but – “

An alarm blaring out interrupts both conversations. Coran rushes back to the computer console and pulls up a red warning image. “A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us.” He gives Keith a hard stare. “He must have sent off a signal.”

“Okay, c’mon, I know you hate the guy, but he’s been with us the whole time,” Lance points out. “When was he supposed to do that?”

“How did they find us, then?” the Princess counters.

“Does it matter right now?” Shiro asks. “How long before they arrive?”

“Oh, about…” Coran does some counting on his fingers, muttering the whole time. “A few days. Give or take.”

The Princess straightens up. “Then we’ll have to be ready before they come here. We’ll have to recover the five lions and reform Voltron.”

“If there’s five of them,” Shiro says, “and we only have the one, how do we find the rest?”

The Princess and Coran share a long look before she seems to come to some decision. “I’ll tell you, but he – ” She points at Keith. “ – stays here. Coran will remain with him.”

Keith can tell by the way Shiro clenches his jaw that he’s about to object, so he speaks up first. “That’s fine. I’ll stay.”

“Keith – “

“Shiro, go.” There’s more important things at stake here. Shiro can’t waste the time being worried about Keith getting hurt feelings about being left out, and they both know it.

Shiro holds his gaze for a few ticks before he sighs, grabs hold of Keith and pulls him in close enough to rest his forehead against Keith’s. “I don’t like this,” he says softly. “Just be safe.”

“I’ll be fine.” He can take care of himself.

“If you’re sure.” Shiro pulls away enough to press a kiss to Keith’s forehead before letting him go. “All right, Princess, let’s go.”

The Princess sniffs pointedly before leading the humans away. Keith waits until they all disappear from view before migrating to one of the walls to lean against while he waits.

Coran isn’t interested in talking at first. For many ticks, he stands and glares at Keith, who’s happy to ignore it, until finally, the Altean breaks the silence: “You know, the Galra were once our allies.”

“I know.” It’s ancient history. Zarkon’s choice to break away and pursue his own empire is an established fact of the world Keith lives in. Lived in.

“Zarkon himself was once a personal friend to the royal family.”

That’s information Keith hadn’t known. It’s interesting, but he doesn’t know why Coran is telling him this now. “Was he.”

Coran steps forward, purposefully invading Keith’s space. “So if you have any ideas of betraying us to the Galran Empire like he did, then you can be sure I’ll stop you.”

“My allegiance is to Shiro.”

“Maybe it is now, but – “

“My allegiance is to Shiro.” Keith grabs the scarf Shiro had given him back on Earth and starts unwinding it from his neck. He doesn’t like the idea of making either Coran or the Princess aware of his status, but they are clearly in a position to help Shiro in his quest to protect Earth by halting the Empire’s spread. Convincing them that he’s not a threat outweighs Keith’s discomfort.

With the last fold of the scarf tugged away, there’s nothing hiding his collar from the Altean’s gaze anymore. Keith crosses his arms and waits.

Coran reaches out and thumbs the grey outer finish of his collar, and Keith has to clench his jaw against the urge to push the Altean away. “Oh. I see. Did the humans – no, that looks like Galran tech.” He leans forward for a closer look. “Oh, that’s a nasty little piece of work. Who has the detonator, the big, white-haired one?” He glances up at Keith, who stares back at him impassively. “Well – “ Coran straightens out. “That certainly does change things. Hmm. Did that human capture you or did the Galra collar you themselves?”

“Does it matter?” Keith asks, his voice carefully blank.

“Could matter, could matter.” Coran twirls his mustache thoughtfully. “I guess everyone’s entitled to a secret or two. Even you. Well, good to know you’ll have a lot of work ahead of you if turn out to be a saboteur.”

“Good to know,” Keith echoes flatly. Coran’s willing to go back to their previous silence, punctuated by long stares that are at least filled with more thoughtfulness than open hostility now, which is fine by Keith.

Eventually, the Princess, Shiro, and the other humans return. Shiro’s eyes immediately go to Keith, looking him over frankly like he half-expects to see evidence that Coran had physically attacked him while they were gone.

“It’s been decided,” Allura announces, “Lance and Hunk will retrieve the Yellow Lion while Shiro and Pidge bring back the Green Lion. Coran and I will stay here and try to locate the Red Lion.”

Coran’s eyebrows rise up to meet his hairline. “You haven’t found it yet?”

“No. There may be a glitch in the systems. I’ll need you to help me fix it.”

“Keith’s coming with us.” Shiro comes to a stop next to him and rests his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “He’ll be able to help if anything goes wrong with the retrieval.”

“Yes, fine,” the Princess says with a dismissive wave of her hand, “take him with you. Coran will ready a pod for your departure.”

(As a relatively high-status prisoner, Shiro’s allowed a cell of his own most of the time, and that’s where Keith is left when the Champion’s dragged off for fights or experimentation. But this time, some of the guards take Keith to one of the more crowded cells for general prisoner housing. He’s not sure why, but he suspects they might have just wanted to see what would happen.

Keith suspects that a lot of his life right now is dependent on the druids just wanting to see what will happen.

Most of the prisoners avoid him entirely. A few of the larger, bolder prisoners try to take out some aggression on him, but before Keith can decide if it’s worth the fight, the little human – Matt – that Shiro had introduced him to before grabs hold of his hand and pulls him off to a less-populated section of the cell.

“Uh, hi. Keith, right?” Despite having approached him, Matt still watches him warily. “I’m Matt. Matt Holt. Remember me?”

“I remember.”

“Okay. Good.” The small human nods to himself. “Where’s Shiro? Is he with you?”

“Fighting, probably.” Keith hopes it’s not the druids again. Shiro could be hurt badly either way, but at least in the arena, he has a chance.

“Oh.” Matt fiddles with the glass device he wears on his face. For sight correction, Shiro told him. “What are you doing here? With us?”

Keith sits down in the little area Matt seems to have more or less marked off for himself, careful to leave some room for the human. It’s not a bad choice; he at least has the wall at his back, so anyone coming up on them couldn’t do it without being seen. Smart. “Waiting.”

“Well, my dad’s gone right now.” Matt takes Keith’s cue, sitting down next to him. “So I guess we’re waiting together.”)

The planet they touch down on is lush and friendly and filled with intelligent and animal life. They stumble on a native creature with a boat carved out of wood that prominently features a lion’s head, so when it gestures at them to get in, Shiro decides it’s worth the risk of going with it.

The boat ride is peaceful. It looks like the locals integrated the Green Lion into their culture because there’s images of lions everywhere, not just on the boat; it makes Keith wonder if they’re going to be as peaceful if they realize the Lion’s about to be removed from the planet. Then again, maybe they know all about it and would be happy to have a high-profile target removed before the Galra find it.

Since they finally have a quiet moment, Keith figures it’s as good a time as any to ask about something that’s been bothering him ever since he first saw Pidge. “Is there a reason you look like Matt Holt?”

The color drains out of Pidge’s face. “What?”

“Matt. From Shiro’s crew. You look like him.” He turns to Shiro, who keeps glancing between him and Pidge with that look on his face that he gets when he’s trying to remember something. “Is that normal for humans?”

“You do look like him,” Shiro says slowly.

Pidge’s shoulders hunch. “I, uh. Coincidence?”

“You’re – “ Shiro’s eyes clear, and he leans forward. “You’re Katie Holt, aren’t you?”

Pidge – Katie? – is quiet for a moment before admitting, “Yeah. I’m Katie.”

“So why are you calling yourself Pidge?” Keith asks.

“Because I didn’t believe the Galaxy Garrison. They said – they said everyone on the Kerboros Mission died, that it was pilot error.” She grimaces at Shiro. “I knew they were covering something up, but I didn’t know what. So I snuck in a few times to look at the information they had. And then when they caught me and banned me from coming back, I cut my hair and enlisted as Pidge Gunderson to get back in.”

“That’s why you knew to look for me when Keith and I crashed on Earth,” Shiro says.

“Yeah. Kinda. I’d heard transmissions, and then we saw the detail that detained you.” She bites her lip. “Can you – can you do me a favor? Don’t tell anyone? I haven’t known Lance and Hunk for that long, but this seems like a bad time to have to tell people I’ve been lying about who I am.”

Shiro looks to Keith, who stares back and shrugs. He doesn’t care much. “We’ll keep your secret,” Shiro says. “But you might want to think about telling them on your own time.”

“Thanks,” Pidge-Katie says with a sigh of relief. And then abruptly shifts her attention to Keith. “Wait. You know what Matt looks like. Does that mean you’ve met him? Do you have any idea where he and my father are?!”

“I didn’t know much,” Keith says, and genuinely feels bad when her face falls, the scant hope disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. “They were transferred to another ship, I think.”

“But maybe you could still help,” she continues desperately. “I mean, did you ever have access to prisoner information? Obviously not after you, you know, whatever happened that got the Galra so mad at you, but before that?”

“Pidge,” Shiro snaps. “Quit it.”

“I just want – “ Her eyes are welling up. “Anything. Please.”

“There was never a before.” Shiro reaches out for Keith’s hand and squeezes it gently. “I was never a full citizen of the Galra Empire.”

“Why?” Pidge asks. “Why weren’t you?”

“I, uh.” Keith ducks his head and stares intently at the bottom of the boat. It’s easier to look at than either Shiro’s or Pidge’s faces right now. “It’s just the way it always was.” He knows that’s not an answer, but it’s what he has. He thinks that maybe – no one ever explained things to him, what they were doing to him or why they did it to him, but if he could put together the pieces of everything that happened in captivity, maybe he could make out the shape of why. Understand it.

But Shiro’s not the only one who forgets.

Shiro takes Keith’s hand in his and squeezes before using the other one to point to something beyond the boat. “That temple up ahead – looks like that’s our destination.”

It’s confirmed when the boat bumps gently into dry land. Shiro helps Keith out, even though he doesn’t need it, and thanks the alien that brought them here, even though it can’t understand it. Pidge gives it a wave, and since everyone else is communicating something, Keith nods at it, and it nods back before pushing its boat back out into the river.

Pidge takes a few steps towards the temple before faltering. She turns back to look to Shiro. “What if – what if this doesn’t work? What if the Lion doesn’t want me? What if I can’t fly it?”

Shiro rests a hand on her shoulder. “Remember what your dad used to say? If you get too worried about what could go wrong – “

“ – you might miss a chance to do something great,” she finishes, sounding small. “He used to say that to Matt and me.” She rubs at her eyes. “I – I miss them so much, Shiro.”

“I know. But – ” He turns her around to face the temple. “Now you have a chance to do something great. Go be great, and make them proud.”

“I will. I will!” Pidge squares her shoulders and marches off towards the temple, leaving Keith and Shiro behind.

Once they’re alone, Shiro turns to him. “Keith – “

“I’m fine.” He is fine, and Shiro being worried about him right now would just be a distraction. Keith’s life was what it was; it’s not a surprise to him, and talking about it didn’t make it any worse.

He finds himself wrapped up in a hug regardless, and he’s selfish enough to just let it happen and enjoy feeling safe and valued in Shiro’s arms for as long as he can, which turns out to be right up until the Green Lion comes leaping out of the temple and comes bounding to a stop in front of them. It crouches and opens its mouth in invitation.

“C’mon, you guys, this thing is so cool!”

Shiro only half lets go of him, draping his arm over Keith to pull him in close and guide him along into the Lion. “How’s it feel, Pidge?”

“Uh, amazing? I haven’t done much yet obviously because I only just started, you were here with me, it’s only been a couple minutes, but it opened right up for me and the controls are so intuitive and – “

“Breathe, cadet.”

She sucks in a deep breath. “ – So I guess I’ll take you back to the pod so we can catch our wormhole?”

“Yeah.” Shiro finally lets go of Keith as he glances back towards the Lion’s closing mouth. “That was a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to be stuck there for the rest of our lives.”

The two of them take up positions in the cockpit, out of Pidge’s way, and the Lion covers the ground back to their pod in long, graceful leaps. It’s not a long trip going this way and Pidge is distracted piloting, so it’s quiet up until the end, when she turns to Shiro after parking the Lion and asks, her voice small again, “Do you really think they’d be proud?”

“Absolutely,” Shiro says with a smile. Keith would think that’d be the end of it, but Pidge’s gaze slides to him next like she’s expecting him to say something.

“Matt,” Keith blurts out. “He, uh, told me some things about you. It sounded like he already admired you a lot. So I don’t see why he wouldn’t – you know, be proud now.”

She gives him a small smile, like he’d actually said something comforting. “Thanks.“

“We’ve got a wormhole to catch,” Shiro announces, breaking the mood, before turning to Keith. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” Not that it matters much if he is or not, since they’re on a deadline. It’s kind of nice to be asked like it does, though. “Let’s go.”