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Once the realization set in that this wasn’t a dream, and he had in fact been captured by aliens, Matt’s first thought was Katie would love this.
Maybe he should have been more distressed. Most people would be in a complete state of panic when big purple aliens threw them into a cell. Matt Holt wasn’t most people. He was Very Good at suppressing panic.
A scientist’s mind was wired for logic. In honing his observational skills, he’d learned to compile the facts and extrapolate meaning from them. So he did that.
He was in a cell, one of many inside a huge structure. Shiro and Dad were in cells on either side of him. There didn’t seem to be any other humans, although he could only see a small percentage of the prisoners. There was no telling how long the rest of them had been here, but judging by the number of them, they couldn’t all be recent captures.
Conclusion: For now, at least, these beings seemed intent on keeping them alive.
Why? Matt didn’t know, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t like the answer.
Matt let his head fall back against the metal wall. What would Pidge say if she were here? For a fleeting second, he wished she were sitting beside him, just so he could see her reaction. Obviously, he didn’t actually want that. She was safe on earth, none the wiser to the fate that had befallen her dad and brother. Hopefully, Kerberos would be written off as a mysterious tragedy and she could go on living without ever knowing her brother was tortured or eaten or whatever these monsters planned to do with him.
But if she were sitting beside him…
“Figures.” Imaginary Katie rolled her eyes. “You and Dad just had to be the first people who discovered aliens.”
Matt snorted. His thoughts traveled to the other person he shared the important parts of his life with.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Imaginary Keith said. “How the hell did this happen?”
“Well, if you were actually here, you’d know because you’d be in this situation too,” Matt thought. Imaginary Keith told him to shut up.
Matt sighed, mirth falling away as the reality of his situation sank in a little more. It was unlikely that he’d ever see his sister or his best friend again. Who knew how far away he was from earth at this point? Even if he could find a way to break out… Free Shiro and Dad…Find a ship…
It wasn’t completely pointless to think about escaping, but he was one to ponder facts, not entertain fantasies. At this point there were too many unknown variables. He needed a way to navigate this facility they were in, knowledge of the exits, some way to pilot a ship. He didn’t even know if they had ships smaller than the thing that had sucked them into its tractor beam. Any route to freedom required more information, and unfortunately, that meant sitting and waiting.
But his brain never liked to remain inactive, so his thoughts turned back to Pidge and Keith. He didn’t want to picture their reactions to the news that he was gone. Instead, he imagined them going about their lives as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Pidge would be finishing up her last year in middle school and submitting her application to the Galaxy Garrison. The application was just a formality, really. One glance at the Holt name and they’d be putting her at the top of the list. And Keith…
Matt exhaled heavily. To say that he missed one person more than the other would be incorrigibly wrong. He missed his sister and his best friend with every atom in his being. But… he’d shared a lifetime with Katie. They’d always been close; he’d stood resolutely at her side from the time he’d been allowed into the hospital room to see her scrunchy little face in a bundle of blankets. Impossibly, they’d gotten closer over the last few months before his departure. They’d crammed in enough sibling bonding time to last the journey to Kerberos and back twice over. Their goodbye, while not meant to be final, was at least complete.
On the other hand, Keith was still a mystery to him in many ways. Matt knew bits and pieces about his childhood. He knew that Keith was a foster kid who never felt like he’d belonged anywhere. He didn’t make friends easily. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about Matt carrying on the Holt family legacy, which Matt was endlessly grateful for. In fact, it was the reason he’d sought Keith out in the first place; Keith was an island in a sea of people gawking at him or waiting for him to fail.
Keith was also incredibly lonely, and no matter how many times he told Matt to “fuck off” and “go find someone else to bother,” Matt knew that he was grateful to have someone his own age looking out for him. That alone almost gave Matt the strength to turn down the mission. Almost.
“You should have,” Imaginary Keith said. “Then you wouldn’t have been captured by aliens, idiot.” Matt couldn’t find any reason to argue with him.
That feeling he’d been suppressing ever since he woke up was clawing its way up his throat. Ice cold fear. Not for his situation—maybe it still hadn’t really set in yet—but for Keith’s. In their very last conversation, Matt had finally garnered the courage to ask if Keith would be okay.
“I could fake a stomach bug,” he said, three hours before the Kerberos launched. They’d somehow found a place away from all of the cameras and news reporters. Matt estimated they had about four minutes before someone came looking for him.
Keith looked at him like he was stupid. “A stomach bug?”
“If I’m sick, they can’t launch me into space.”
“You’d never pull it off.”
“Hey! In third grade my ‘I’ve got a migraine’ act was so convincing that they sent me to an actual doctor!”
“No third grader knows what the word ‘migraine’ means. They just wanted to do tests on you to see if you were a biomechanically engineered super-genius.”
Matt let out a laugh that was only half real. Honestly… he wouldn’t be surprised if his parents told him that he and Katie were grown in tubes.
“Seriously, though,” he said as two people with official-looking lanyards rounded the corner clearly looking for something. “You’re going to be alone. I’m worried about you.”
“I’m used to being alone,” Keith said with an edge to his voice.
“Keith…”
“I’ll be fine, okay? As long as I know you’re coming back, I’ll be okay.”
Before Matt could reply, they were spotted.
“Mr. Holt? We need you back with the rest of the crew for a few questions.”
“Yeah, okay.” He sighed, getting to his feet. His uniform pants were probably dusty from sitting on the ground, but he didn’t care. And he didn’t like how one of the event staff was eyeing Keith.
“Do you have a badge, kid?” The guy said, indicating the lanyard.
“No.”
“This is a private event. Only essential personnel are allowed—”
“He has clearance to be here,” Matt said hurriedly. “He’s family.”
The men looked at each other, clearly not believing him. Matt swore mentally. Why did his family have to be so damn recognizable?
“Mr. Holt, if this guy’s bothering you, we’ll call security.”
“I said he has clearance to be here. He’s not—”
“It’s okay, Matt.” Keith glared at the men. “I’m leaving anyway.”
Matt wanted to argue. These guys weren’t Garrison personnel, and probably weren’t even reporters. Just interns who wanted to throw their weight around a little bit. Sure, they were right that Keith didn’t technically have permission to be here (and Matt wasn’t going to ask how he got in), but he should have been invited. He could be family, or as close as.
But Keith was already moving away. It was all Matt could do to catch him before someone else came looking to see why the grunts were taking so long.
“Keith!” Keith stood rigid as Matt wrapped him in a hug. “I’ll see you in space one day, okay? Earth first because I’m coming back, but… just be okay until then, alright? When I come back, I want to see you graduating. You’re the best damn pilot they’ve ever had, so I better see you flying missions. Got it?”
“I…yeah.” Keith sort of awkwardly returned the hug. “Yeah… okay.”
There was so much more Matt wanted to say. He wanted to say it until Keith believed it—that he would come back. But his throat closed up and his eyes burned, so he let go and watched Keith leave for as long as he could before turning to his own mission.
Now, seven months later aboard an alien ship with no prospect of freedom or way to get home, Matt tossed his head back against the wall just hard enough that it hurt a little bit. He was so stupid. He never should have left. He’d agreed to take the mission because that was what everyone expected of the kid genius who specialized in the very subject they were going into space to study. He hadn’t wanted to come. He hadn’t wanted to leave Keith behind.
As long as I know you’re coming back… That was what Keith said to him. And now that he didn’t know…
Don’t think like that. Matt didn’t know if he was thinking it to himself or trying to beam it out into the universe in hopes that it would reach the real Keith. I will get home. This is just a detour. I’m coming back.
If he could convince himself of that, there was a chance he could convince himself that Keith would be okay until then.