Chapter Text
Core Reality
“Do you, Takashi Shirogane, take—“
Keith’s vision blurs, eyes slipping out of focus for just a breath. He sees himself standing across from Shiro, a confident grin on his expectant face. That Keith over there has his shoulders back, his hair is uncharacteristically neat, and he radiates power.
“—Curtis Blake to be your lawfully wedded husband? Will you honor and cherish…”
Keith blinks and his vision clears. Standing opposite of Shiro is Curtis. Obviously. The officiant prattles on and Keith keeps his eyes trained on the horizon over Curtis’s shoulder. He rolls his shoulders back and resists the urge to push his hair away from his face.
There’s a blackhole in Keith’s chest…
“I do,” Shiro says, soft but strong.
… And if he isn’t careful, it’ll swallow him whole.
“I do,” Curtis says, voice choked with tears and a handsome smile stretching his face.
When the two of them kiss, Keith feels a part of him splinter.
After all the pictures and the speeches and the dinner, the party rages on and on and on... He thinks again about how he’d never even spoken to Curtis before the end of the war. Shiro had been falling in love with him and Keith couldn’t have picked him out in a lineup. And that’s the guy who is now grabbing his best friend and kissing him in front of everyone hours into dancing at this wedding— at their wedding, Keith reiterates to himself — while everyone cheers and wolf whistles and eggs them on. Everyone but Keith.
Keith downs another glass of champagne and sneaks out when he thinks no one is watching. At first he just wants the fresh air and quiet, but the longer he chews on his thoughts the more he wants to go home. Wherever that is.
It’s not that he is in love with Shiro. It’s not that he’s heartbroken.
Not really.
Not entirely.
Truth be told, Keith doesn’t understand what he feels about this. He’s never really thought of anyone in that way. The romance and sex and marriage way.
But there had been something about watching Shiro and Curtis grow together. Seeing their milestones and hearing how amazing Curtis was and how much Shiro loved Curtis and Curtis this, Curtis that…
Whatever.
Keith can hear the music and chatter from the reception through the open window of his Garrison dorm. He should probably go back. He just doesn’t think he can stand it anymore.
Keith hadn’t even seen the Shiro and Curtis thing start. The others had, though. That’s how clueless Keith is. They said they saw Shiro talking to some guy in the mess hall. They saw Shiro working out with some guy in the gym. Then the guy became “the comms guy on the bridge” and then he became Curtis and then he became Shiro’s boyfriend who was around all the damn time.
But fuck it. He’s not in love with Shiro. There’s nothing unrequited going on here. Maybe it’s just that he feels left behind.
Shiro had always been leaving. Always in danger of disappearing like sand between his fingers. But this was never a way of leaving that Keith thought he had to worry about.
He had been so naïve.
Keith presses his forehead against the window pane and lets his eyes slide out of focus. His own reflection bleeds into the dark desert. The effect is not entirely unlike the image of himself standing opposite of Shiro, in Curtis’s place, earlier that day. How pathetic. He could still see the impression so clearly. It had been a fantasy version of himself. Put together and strong. Keith couldn’t feel further from that if he tried.
A soft knock at the door snaps his attention back to reality. He peels his forehead off the glass and turns.
“There you are,” Krolia says when the door slides open.
“Hey.”
“How’re you feeling?” she asks, voice dipping low. She touches his elbow and guides him to sit on his impeccably neat twin-sized bed.
“I’m fine, really, I just needed some air you know, all those people and sound and… you know, and champagne really just…” He makes the gesture of an explosion with one hand and trails off.
“Hm.” She rubs his back. “It must have been hard watching him get married, but you gave a beautiful speech and you did a great job being there for him today. I’m proud of you.”
Keith’s eyes burn, he rolls them dramatically to prevent them from watering. “It’s not like that, mom.”
She raises a skeptical eyebrow. “I guess I’ve never known exactly how you felt about him.”
“What do you mean?” he asks, overly defensive. “He’s my best friend, we’ve been through a lot together. Want to know how I feel about Pidge and Hunk and Lance too?”
“Easy,” she murmurs.
“They can also all go off and get married whenever they want and I’ll have no feelings other than… the normal good ones. Obviously.”
She continues to rub his back and doesn’t say anything.
He gets his feelings back under control. He hates talking to her like that. The motherless child he had been would have kicked him in the shins for being a brat to her.
“I don’t know how I feel about it, actually. I’m happy for him but I’m… sad. For myself, maybe. But I don’t know why. And please don’t say it’s because I’m in love with him, I’m not and it wouldn’t matter anyway.”
She nods in thought, gaze focused on the carpet between their feet. Her eyes slide to his and he can feel her analyzing him.
“You two are on different paths again,” she says. “I think that’s a good enough reason to be sad.”
She’s right. He nods, a small wave of relief lapping at him. Someone gets it.
“Do you want to be married?” she asks.
The tone of her voice can only be described as “trying not to sound skeptical” so he laughs. Surprise raises her eyebrows.
“No,” he says. “I’ve never really seen that for myself. Maybe another reason why I’m sad, I sorta thought Shiro would be the same way.”
“Some people find great joy in marriage,” she says very matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“And some people don’t. Some people prefer their work and their friends and their independence.”
Keith thinks he’s one of them. He takes a breath deep enough to stretch his ribcage, the deepest breath he’s taken in ages, and lets it out slowly.
“Which one are you?” Keith asks.
“I found joy in both work and being with your father,” she answers. “But sometimes the balance isn’t in your favor.”
He doesn’t miss the sorrowful note in her voice.
“But,” she says, her hand falling from his back to rest on her own knee. “You and your friends made this universe a safer place, people like Shiro will be able to balance both. You’re not losing your friend to his husband.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I’ve got a good record,” she says with a warm smile.
They sit in silence for awhile, Keith mentally willing himself to come to terms with all of this before he heads back. He doesn’t want to miss sending them off. He wants to catch sight of Shiro’s gleaming smile, his glowing joy.
Keith knows with certainty that he will need to be busy to cope with this. So busy. When Shiro’s off-planet, on his honeymoon… Keith will need to be gone, doing something important and distracting.
As if she reads his mind, Krolia nudges him with her shoulder and says, “You should come back out with us.”
He’d been with the Blades in the immediate aftermath. He hadn’t been able to sit still, he couldn’t let himself lose any more days to mourning. Every time he’d closed his eyes, he saw Allura walking away into a light she never returned from and it never felt right. So he’d left as soon as he could to go with Krolia and Kolivan. They’d reached out to all the known surviving Blades, searched for every remote Galra base, partnered with former pirate militias, and sought out Galra refugees to reunite them on the new Daibazaal.
Within the year, Keith could speak another language and he’d met distant cousins and he’d come into his own. He felt more sure of himself than he ever had. As a Paladin. As a Blade. As himself. He had stood on the blood soaked stairs of the Kral Zera and invoked Allura’s name when imploring the Galra to accept a new way of life and to join the Galactic Coalition. His voice hadn’t even wavered.
But mourning dogged him at every turn.
When he had returned to Earth, he’d meant to do it for good. Lance had settled into a quiet life, Pidge was working closely with her family, Hunk was a chef and a diplomat aboard the Atlas. And Shiro told him he was proposing to Curtis, the comms guy from the bridge.
He’d meant to stay but his skin felt too tight here. Had Earth ever felt like home anyway? Could he really manage a life here?
Krolia takes Keith’s silence as trepidation.
“Kolivan and I have been thinking about what you said about transitioning the Blade of Marmora to a humanitarian organization. Daibazaal’s provisional government is thriving, they’re making moves to establish permanency. I think you have a future in all this. If you want it.” The look she gives him is hopeful and proud. “Kolivan and I need a capable hand. One connected to a good heart.” She reaches out and gently touches Keith’s cheek.
The contact warms him. He feels his blood singing and surging like a tide, reaching up for the stars. He misses being out there. His knife, always nestled into a holster at his thigh even now that the war is over, seems to grow hot.
“Think about it, at least?”
Keith can’t think of a single reason not to.
“I’ll do it.”
**
Another Reality
Shiro has never been to a Galra wedding before. Though, from what he understands as the best man to one of the grooms, this isn’t necessarily a good example of a Galra wedding. For one thing, Galra weddings don’t tend to have best men.
And this one is shockingly romantic, but he’s not sure if that’s the Earth influence or not. He suspects not because Kolivan’s speech as the officiant is incredibly sentimental and lovely, which doesn’t seem like something he could ever fake. Shiro would appreciate it a lot more if it wasn’t this wedding.
Keith takes Tabor’s hands. Kolivan recites a Galra equivalent of the whole “do you take this purple alien to be your lawfully wedded husband” spiel, but with way more intensity (it includes lofty phrases such as Eternal Oath and Undying Fealty). Shiro’s eyes are burning. His vision wavers and he imagines himself standing in Tabor’s place. That Shiro’s eyes are wet with happiness and his grin is genuine. He squeezes his eyes shut for just a second to refocus.
When he opens his eyes, Tabor and Keith have their foreheads pressed together as they say their vows. Shiro can see Keith’s hand laying softly on Tabor’s chest and it breaks his heart.
Everything about this breaks his heart.
He watches the exchange of rings. He watches the kiss. He claps along as everyone cheers. Keith is married.
Keith holds Tabor’s hand back down the aisle, Shiro and the other Paladins and a few Blades—the wedding party—follow.
Shiro’s painted on smile falters and he can’t even help it.
“You don’t approve?” Krolia asks him ages later when she joins him at his otherwise unoccupied table to take a break from dancing.
“It’s not that,” Shiro says. He knows there’s no point in pretending he doesn’t know what she’s getting at. “Tabor is a great guy. Keith’s happy.”
She tilts her head a little and waits for Shiro to continue on his own. Her presence is light as a feather. Every interaction with her reminds Shiro why she excelled at undercover work for as long as she did. But he’s known her long enough to know that she’s just like that too. Kind and patient.
“Besides, it’s a great step forward isn’t it? A peacetime marriage. Tabor’s a big deal and Keith’s the New Galra Hope, right?” Shiro adds when her silence carries on too long.
Shiro knows there’s something to that. Both of them represent legacies in the Blade of Marmora. Tabor is a distant relative of the former royal family. Keith is a half-human Paladin of Voltron. Old guard meets diverse, open-minded new guard.
She huffs a laugh and shrugs a shoulder. “That’s not why they’re getting married,” she reminds him.
“I know.”
And he does. He saw the change in Keith when they began. When Keith came back from his first real mission with the Blades and looked moony and distracted in moments of rest. Shiro saw Tabor’s name on a chat window always open on Keith’s tablet. Shiro saw Keith’s utter panic when they thought the entire organization had been wiped out by the druids and his utter relief when he finally connected with his signal again.
He hates to admit it, but their story is pretty epic.
One of Krolia’s hands rests on Shiro’s wrist. “You’ll be okay, Shiro.”
Shiro smiles, a small closed lip thing that feels like it shifts his sore heart with the motion. “Thank you.”
And then Keith appears, arms falling around Shiro’s shoulders from behind. His sharp chin rests on the top of Shiro’s head. “Come dance, Shirogane. The grooms insist.”
“Both of them, huh?” Shiro asks.
And of course Tabor is right behind Keith. One of his hands settles on Shiro’s shoulder and the other on Keith. “Both of us,” he confirms with a smile in his voice.
“Go on,” Krolia says, waving the three of them on.
“You too, darlin’,” a deep voice with a Texan accent says. Keith’s father, Tex, edges past them around the table and offers his hand to his wife. “Come dance.”
Shiro lets himself be dragged to the dance floor. Thankfully Allura spots him immediately and tugs him into a confusing almost-waltz. “Are you okay?” she asks, voice pitched low.
“I’m fine, just not a big dancer,” he answers.
She frowns but she lets him get away with it.
Shiro’s thing for Keith can’t possibly be that transparent, right?
When the next song is a slow song, Shiro expects Lance to swoop in and steal his girlfriend back. He looks over her head and scans the crowd. Lance, Hunk and Pidge are raiding the dessert table. Allura drops his hands and steps closer, her arms coming up around his neck.
“Shiro,” she says, drawing his attention back. Her brow is furrowed and she’s frowning at him. He loosely rests his arms around her waist. “He’s busy,” she says, waving her hand in Lance’s vague direction.
“His loss,” Shiro faux-flirts. A smile splits her face, bright white.
He still remembers sometimes… he still thinks about watching her walk into the quintessence-white field ahead of them, the place no one else could follow. He remembers the hollow ache of loss.
Allura, very much alive and in his arms, steps on his feet as they dance. Her body folds closer to his and he tightens his arms around her as they laugh together.
When that blinding light had faded to black, when all Shiro could hear were the breaths and sobs of the others, he’d seen her outline like an after-image. And then the outline stepped toward them.
Shiro never knew relief to feel so total.
Here and now, with all realities intact and with Allura still alive when they were sure she’d be gone forever… Shiro can reach through how he’s feeling and hope that another version of him somewhere else had been on the other end of Keith’s vows. There’s possibility at every turn in this universe.
“You’re okay,” Allura says softly. She presses her hand to his cheek and kisses the other. “You’re going to be okay.”
“Am I that obvious?” Shiro asks, voice barely a whisper.
“You’re bleeding all over everything, but it isn’t fatal.”
“Do you think he knows?”
She shakes her head minutely. “He’s so in love he can barely see straight, Shiro.” She says it apologetically at least. He knows she’s right.
So Shiro lets himself be held and coddled. Allura makes him laugh again and again. Lance finally tries to cut in and she turns him down. Hunk takes Lance into his arms and their dance is exaggerated and clownish. Pidge appears and catches him by surprise when she pops a small pastry into his mouth.
After laughing and choking a little, he catches Keith’s eye. Keith gives him a warm, beautiful smile from beyond Tabor’s shoulder as they dance. He’s incandescently happy… Shiro smiles back. This one he means even if it costs him something.
When the festivities are winding down, Keith finds him. His hand slides into Shiro’s and he tugs until Shiro follows.
“Thank you,” Keith says. “You’re the greatest best man a guy could ask for.”
“No sweat, you can pay me back at my own wedding someday,” Shiro says, trying for jovial and possibly actually hitting the mark.
Keith grins. “Absolutely.”
“You happy?” Shiro asks, even though he knows the answer.
“Yeah,” he answers with a breathless laugh. “I never imagined this for myself.”
“What? Marriage?”
“Yeah. It’s amazing I found someone, you know?” Keith smirks in a way to suggest something self-deprecating.
Shiro doesn’t have it in him to play along. “Nah, you were always going to find someone amazing,” he says, embarrassingly genuine.
Keith might blush a little, but it’s hard to tell in the dim lighting. “Thanks, Shiro.”
Shiro finds himself pulled into a hug that knocks the breath out of him. He hugs back.
Shiro clears his throat as they pull away. “Are you two sneaking out soon?” he asks. His heart twists.
“Yeah,” Keith says, fighting down a smile.
“Well, have a great honeymoon. See you on the other side.” Shiro salutes him in a way that he hopes is playful and not awkward.
“Atlas is coming to Daibazaal soon, right?” Keith asks after cheekily returning the salute.
Shiro nods. “We’ll be in that quadrant in the next couple of months.”
“You’ll have to stay with us a couple of days, okay? Promise?”
Shiro promises. Keith hugs him one last time, grinning, and makes a beeline for his husband.
**
Core Reality
The royal hall still sets Keith’s nerves on edge even after everything that’s happened. The Galra Empire just has that evil villain aesthetic. The severe, cold structures in gleaming black. The purple light. The sharp angles and jagged lines of Galra inscriptions written in red. Mostly, it’s Keith’s memories of how all their battleships and weapons looked like this. How they all set his blood roaring in his ears and his muscles tense as springs. He was always ready to fight for his life, for everyone’s lives.
But now, Krolia and Kolivan sit at the head of a long table. Current Blades and former warlords, pirates, generals, and rulers of defeated planets sit around them and fill the room.
They’re talking about a vote. They’re talking about helping former colonies become sovereign again. Keith sits to Krolia’s right, waiting to be called upon to suggest a new future for the Blade of Marmora.
“Keith,” Kolivan says, voice ringing out. Everyone looks at him. “Has an idea for the transition of the Blade of Marmora.”
With all the confidence of the leader of Voltron, Keith lays out his plan to get all the former bases online and operational again. Once functional, they can act as meeting places, hospitals, shelters for nearby refugees. They can tap into the Galactic Coalition for resources and manpower as needed. He has documents full of coordinates and contacts. Pidge and Lance helped him compile climates, atmospheres, technological infrastructures and viable crops. Hunk researched languages and political systems. Coran schooled him on cultural dynamics and diplomatic approaches. He spent time and care on this. He’s passionate about it.
When he’s done, everyone around the table seems to be on board. Kolivan even sorta smiles in his own way. He looks between the other Blades present. He and Krolia exchange nods.
“Shall we vote?” Krolia asks everyone gathered.
It passes unanimously.
Within days, Keith is putting everything into motion. Tabor, an incredibly skilled and good-hearted Blade, is assigned as his co-Captain in the efforts. Keith is relieved. They work well together and have saved each other’s skin more times than either can count.
Kolivan and Krolia help them rally the remaining Blades but step away fairly early in the process. The other members trust him implicitly, a fact that overwhelms him with gratitude and pride. They struggle with the idea of trusting outsiders, but Keith understands that. But the Blades trust him enough to follow his lead. Maybe that will be enough.
Alarmingly enough, things go fine. They locate all the remaining Blade of Marmora bases and strongholds using what intel they have and perform the necessary repairs. They expand medical bays and make the barracks more welcoming. They leave a small crew behind at each base to keep things operational and they head to the next. As they near the end of the first phase, it’s just Keith, Tabor, and Lotor’s former generals aboard the cruiser.
Acxa is focused and serious and compulsively good at any task assigned to her. Ezor and Zethrid are very capable but abrasive to be around. Zethrid’s booming voice is often paired with a mean joke. Ezor’s teasing is constant and sometimes lands directly atop Keith’s sensitivities.
And they’re a couple. Brazenly so.
Acxa looks up when he returns to the bridge looking and feeling flustered after walking in on the two of them up to activities that sounded very breathy and giggly. He hadn’t stuck around long enough to identify those activities, but he can guess.
“Everything alright, Captain?” she asks.
“Yeah, yes,” he says as he crosses to his usual seat.
“There’s not a lot to do on the ship, you know,” Tabor says. The man is eerily good at reading Keith after all these years working together.
“What do you mean?” Acxa asks.
Tabor and Keith exchange a glance.
“Oh, Ezor and Zethrid,” she figures. “You two are shockingly prude for Galra.”
Tabor frowns but refuses to comment.
“And you’re shockingly rude, even for a Galra,” Keith counters.
“Enough,” Tabor says.
“That is just to say,” Acxa carries on, serious and blunt as a cudgel. “That physical bonding is an important aspect of Galra adulthood.”
Tabor crosses his arms and leans back in his seat. Keith can’t tell if he’s amused or irritated by her pedantic tone. His solid gold eyes reveal nothing. Keith, however, is distinctly uncomfortable. If anyone here is the prude, he has to admit that it’s him.
“Okaaay,” he says.
She nods stiffly. “They have the partner bond, did you know?” she asks, directing the question more to Tabor than to Keith.
“That much is obvious,” Tabor says, tone leaning disinterested. He’s not one for gossip.
“Partner bond?” Keith asks.
Acxa gives him a look that says “oh, little Earthling, so ignorant.” But what she says is, “They are mated for life.”
“For life,” Keith repeats. “Galra thing?”
“Not exclusively, but yes it is a feature found in Galra,” Acxa explains. “It is a chemical response some believe to be triggered by an interaction of the quintessence of two individuals. It’s not fully understood but it is fascinating.”
As if on cue, the door slides open and in walks Ezor. “Oh are we explaining partner bonds to the Earthling?” she says. Keith frowns. “It’s like what Acxa wants to form with you, if only you’d lighten up a little.”
“Ezor, show some respect,” Tabor warns.
Acxa huffs and Keith feels an insult coming. “He is short,” she says simply. “And small.”
“Gee, thanks,” Keith answers sharply while Ezor cackles.
Acxa ahems and stands to address the room at large. “I look to Keith because he is proof that you can choose your own path and that your blood and your mistakes do not define you. And he is a strong soldier.”
Keith isn’t sure what to say. “Uh, thanks, Acxa.”
“I think that’s enough insubordination for one quintant,” Tabor says before ordering Ezor to go do something productive.
Later, when Keith’s almost asleep, Tabor’s voice comes over the intercom to tell him there’s something that looks like a rift on the radar. He sends a snapshot of it to Keith’s tablet and asks how to proceed.
It looks like a vein in the marble of the sky. Just a flash of white and void twisted like a chain and jagged against the opalescent nebulae beyond. The energy being put out reminds Keith of the rifts that usually coincide with destroyed planets and abandoned ships full of quintessence, places where other realities are right there within reach.
Keith meets Tabor on the bridge. “Pull closer, carefully.”
When Allura had made her sacrifice, the sky around them had burst forth with veins of light branching off into infinity. That was evidence enough that she had been successful. But Keith still had questions. Were these new realities? Were the realities Honerva had destroyed simply restored? Where is he in those realities? He wasn’t the scientist on the team, he only grasped so much, but those questions kept him up at night. At least those meandering thoughts were better than grief.
Tabor’s gold eyes bore into him. “I’m not sure how safe this is.”
“Just a little closer, please.”
He sighs and adjusts their trajectory. Keith presses his face and hands close to the window.
He remembers Allura’s last words to him clear as a bell, but otherwise the memories of that day are foggy. But now, for the first time in awhile, Keith feels certainty in what happened to them. What happened to Allura.
“Keith,” Tabor says softly. “We’re feeling the pull…”
“Return to original trajectory.”
He feels the engines whirring and the momentum shift just a little. The light of the rift grows more distant. Keith watches it disappear. Tabor stays silent and keeps his eyes on his displays.
Keith points his thoughts toward that reality, all the possibilities it contains. He sends his best wishes and fondest hopes to it. To Shiro and Hunk and Pidge and Lance and Coran and everyone they love if they exist there. He hopes Allura is there too.
Once the light is lost amongst the pinpricks of stars, he silently heads back to his room.
After a fitful night’s sleep and a morning spent desperately missing his friends, Keith drags himself to the mess hall only to find Tabor reading his tablet over a bowl of goop.
“You know,” Tabor says, hardly looking up. “There have been a few other rift sightings lately.”
“Is that a good or bad thing?”
Tabor shrugs.
Keith nods and considers his caffeine options. He makes a mental note to ask Pidge.
“Not to undermine,” Tabor says when Keith sits across from him. “But perhaps we should keep our focus on the mission.”
Keith raises an eyebrow. “I agree.”
“Perhaps wait until the first phase is complete before exploring this further.” With that, Tabor collects his things and stands. “That is, if you want.”
Which seems to say that Tabor wants to just as much.
**
Another Reality
There are parts of their known universe that should be unstable. The Atlas is maneuvering through one right now. The sky around them is splintered like a broken mirror, energy readings going crazy, but it’s safe. Somehow.
It’s not the source of all realities, that place isn’t reachable by normal means especially not after Allura sacrificed her alchemy. But the imagery of that place, a place that shows up in so many of Shiro’s dreams, looks so much like this. It’s uncanny. It’s impossible.
Shiro knows Pidge could explain it, but he prefers the magic of not knowing.
This is a place where realities are a breath away from each other. Allura leans over the rail in the observation deck, eyes trained on them. Shiro doesn’t entirely understand her relationship to this place, but he can guess. Allura lost a part of herself when she willingly laid down her life for the worlds beyond those fractured lights. Whatever it was before that let her manipulate energy and quintessence was gone.
She said it felt like a phantom limb sometimes. Like she could remember the thrill, the feeling. But flowers didn’t grow at her touch, she couldn’t see into other planes of existence. She said it was like losing a sense.
The Lions, though. The Lions always respond to her. And not just Blue. All of them. Glowing eyes as she passes, respectful roars, occasional bows.
“They’re just being nice,” she always says.
Shiro never points out that the lions never feel an impulse to “just be nice” to anyone else, even their own pilots.
But this expanse of universe must call to her like something primal, like a sunflower to the sun. She smiles, her face lit from within and without. The threads of silver reflect in her eyes. Her Altean marks glow faintly.
She gave up everything just so those realities could remain. Just so all those lives and stories could spin ever onward. They’re not hers, but she loves them.
“Allura,” Shiro says in greeting. “Curtis said you wanted to see me?”
She tears her eyes away, still caught in the distant web for a few seconds more. “Oh yes.”
She hops down from the rail and turns to face him, wringing her hands. “I think I’ve an idea about how to safely travel between the realities.”
Oh. Shiro tilts his head. Shiro knows countless reasons why they shouldn’t, all originating from experience. Tearing holes in the fabric of space and time. Destabilizing matter. Quintessence corruption. He isn’t so sure about testing theories about this now. “Why would we want to do that?”
“Anthropology,” she says. “Not to interfere, not to meddle, not even to… take up the banner again, which is what Lance thinks I’m interested in. I’m not. We’ve fought our battle and we’ve won and we cannot save everyone in every reality more than we already have, but Shiro.” She says his name breathlessly. “Aren’t you curious?”
Of course he is.
“And besides, Pidge said it might be wise to keep an eye on the stability of the rifts and we could use some sort of satellites to monitor them.”
“Princess, if you want to fund and staff such a mission I cannot tell you otherwise.”
She bounces with excitement. “Shiro, you muuuust come. Aren’t you ready for more adventure?” She’s an adrenaline junky now. It must be the high of survival. “What’s that ancient show you humans like? Star Track? To infinity and beyond, remember?”
Shiro blinks. “I think you mean something more like ‘space, the final frontier,’ but sure.”
“Fine. Don’t you want to see what’s out there?”
He does. Shiro has been so cautious for so long. He doesn’t say so though, but she reads it on his face.
“We could do small, scouting missions. Take the lions,” she continues.
“We can’t form Voltron.”
She shrugs. “Pidge can outfit us all with stealth shields and we’ll just poke around, no need for Voltron.”
“But we’ll be without Black.”
“Excuses, Shiro. And maybe Keith would like to join, we haven’t asked him yet.”
He won’t. He and Tabor have a cozy life on Daibazaal. Tabor was voted Prime Minister, Keith is the Galra representative in the Coalition. Not a chance.
Allura closely watches Shiro mull everything over, looking hopeful. After a moment she pats both his cheeks and squeezes his face between her hands. “Shiro, you will never find your own path if you don’t look for it.”
“I’m on a path, Allura.”
“And you’re still heartsick, all these months later. And we keep pushing back that visit to Daibazaal.”
“We keep finding planets in need."
“Uh huh.”
“Are you suggesting I go into another reality and find a boyfriend?”
“Not at all, but if you’d like to find a boyfriend may I suggest Curtis? He’s had his eye on you for ages.” She looks too thrilled.
“Curtis?” he asks faintly. He can’t muster a feeling about Curtis other than: “He’s my subordinate.”
“So was Keith. And anyway, I’m suggesting you stop letting your broken heart be your guide. So what if Keith can’t join us? Why should we keep putting off the Daibazaal trip? Heal, explore, find yourself, find some joy in your work, and let’s go.”
When she puts it like that, a thrill of potential zings through him.
“Fine. When we touch down and the crew has their marching orders… let’s go check it out,” he says.
**
Core Reality
“Are you sure that’s safe?” Shiro asks, slowly spinning a beer bottle back and forth between his hands.
Keith’s eyes catch on his wedding ring, momentarily transfixed by the gold band and how it looks against Shiro’s skin.
“I’m not,” he answers after a while. He takes a long glug of his own beer. “Hunk and Pidge outfitted my cruiser with a Trans-Reality Shield made with some of the ore reclaimed from Honerva’s mech.”
The process was a bit more complicated than that, but Keith had zoned out for a good portion of their explanation. He figures Shiro wouldn’t want the nitty gritty either.
Shiro rubs his chin, looking at Keith thoughtfully. “I should go with you.”
Keith bristles involuntarily. “That’s the last thing I need.”
Shiro looks hurt but sets his jaw against responding. He holds both hands up in defense before folding them back on the table. He fiddles with his ring. Keith’s insides twist.
“Sorry, I just,” Keith says, wanting to smooth things over. “Curtis would kill me if something happened to you. I heard you two are grounded now, working at the Garrison.”
“Yeah.”
That’s it. Yeah.
“Pretty lame,” Keith goads.
He scoffs. “Yeah, well. I don’t think it is,” he says, softer. “We’re thinking of starting a family, it’s the right thing to do.”
Wow. Keith takes that like a heavy punch to the stomach. “Great. So, see? You’re not coming with me. Absolutely not.”
Shiro stays silent for awhile. Keith does too.
Shiro doesn’t need Keith anymore, he hasn’t for awhile. And turns out, Keith doesn’t need him either. He can keep himself safe. Curtis has Shiro’s back now. And besides, they’re fine. They’re fine and Keith is a call away no matter where in the universe he is.
“It’s still weird to think of you going places I can’t follow,” Shiro says.
Keith reaches over and taps Shiro’s wedding ring. “I know the feeling.”
Shiro frowns. “You’ll have this someday if you want it.”
Before Keith can close his hand around Shiro’s, before he can try to impart more meaning than he has any business imparting to a married guy, he reaches for his tablet instead.
Tabor has been busy uploading coordinates and flight paths and contingency plans to their shared workspace. Which is exactly what Keith told him not to do on their night off. He’s supposed to be relaxing. Though, Keith certainly isn’t. And besides, he’s pretty sure Tabor doesn’t have an off-mode.
“Keith,” Shiro says, drawing his eyes back to him. “Are we okay?”
“We’re fine. Different paths and all.” Keith gathers his things and stands. He slides some money out of his pocket and onto the table. “I have to go look over some mission docs.”
Shiro frowns.
“Congratulations on the family thing, that’s really great. I can’t wait to see that, I’m happy for you.” Keith hugs him, a bit awkwardly. “I love you, I’ll see you when I’m back.”
“Be safe,” Shiro says, patting his back firmly. “I love you too.”
Keith meets Tabor at the ship, no point in delaying.
“I thought you were enjoying your night,” he says, toneless.
“I thought you were too,” Keith says in an accusing way.
“I was.”
“Well, so was I. I’m eager to get going.”
They request to move up their Teludav departure. They set course for a Marmora base closest to a field of anomalies Tabor had confirmed the existence of with some Olkari astronomers. They have systems to calibrate and tests to run with Pidge and Hunk’s remote guidance during the trip. And then they’ll be off.
They have two days to explore. Keith hopes the time dilation calculation program Pidge whipped up works right, otherwise they’ll be fucked. They’re set to start Phase 2 immediately upon their return. This is, technically speaking, the only break they’re going to get in a long time.
Keith hopes it’ll be worth it.
**
Another Reality
“That’s insane,” Keith yells, voice crackling with static. The connection is shoddy at this distance, this close to the field of rifts. “We still don’t know enough about it, what if you just go in and get nuked?”
“The lions—“
“You can’t even form Voltron. I’m…” Shiro sees him look over his shoulder. “I’ll talk to Tabor, I’ll come with you guys just wait and do some more thinking. This is suicidal. Allura shouldn’t even be—“ The feed freezes. Keith’s face stuck in a half-blink, mouth open mid-lecture.
“Keith? You’re frozen. Can you hear me? Listen, we’re going. We don’t need to form Voltron. We have every reason to believe the Lions can handle the trip and Pidge has upgraded all of our cloaking capabilities. Besides, we’re not going in guns blazing. It’s an exploratory mission. And—“ Keith’s feed crackles and comes back. Keith seems to have heard everything. He’s sitting back with his arms crossed and a worried crease in his brow. “And,” Shiro continues. “You have a husband and an important job and you are needed there.”
“You’re needed too. All of you are. If you all get hurt… if you all get hurt and it’s just me left…”
“We’ll be safe.”
“I’ll never forgive you if you disappear, Shiro.”
Shiro refuses to read into that. He can hear a voice in the background, he knows it belongs to Tabor.
“You’ll scour the universe to get us back anyway,” Shiro says, shooting him a confident smile.
Keith rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I will.”
“So we’re covered.”
“Shiro, be safe. Come back without a scratch. I mean it.”
Shiro holds his eye contact in a way that is … excruciatingly familiar. A long-held connection point between them. A check in. “I swear,” he says.
Keith heaves a sigh and rubs his forehead before straightening back up and nodding. With a wry twist of a smile, he says, “If you run into another me, tell him I say hi.”
Shiro grins. “I will.”
“Are the others around? I want to talk to them too.”
Shiro goes and grabs them, plops them in front of the screen, and stands back while they all chatter. He notices Keith doesn’t give any of them a hard time. Though, he does screw his mouth tightly shut when facing Allura.
When their call draws to a close, Keith looks openly pained. “Please be careful,” Keith implores them all.
“We’ll be back before you know it,” Shiro assures him.