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[Shiro lets out a long, steady exhalation, like the sort you might risk if you're behind enemy lines but still need to breathe. He knows he needs to be careful. But everything is so twisted up in his head and in his heart he's not sure where he can step without falling.

He shouldn't have opened his damn mouth. Hurting Keith is the last thing he would have ever wanted.]

It's not your fault.

[That much he knows. He's not sure if Keith does, or would agree. He has to tell him that, make him understand it. Shiro pulls away from him - not far, but enough that there's some distance. Mentally and physically both. Maybe he should have done it from the start, but he didn't think for a moment it would lead to this. Five minutes ago he was just lost and touch-starved, quietly appreciative of the support and friendship of his oldest ally, and now--]

I'm sorry, I wasn't-- trying to lead you on.

[Saying that is hideous, the words taste like ash on his tongue.]

Keith, not only was I your superior, operating in a position of power over you, but I'm also six years older. I never meant to make you feel like this.

Shiro. [His eyes stare ahead away from him, steel and forced cold. But his voice quivers on the end of his friend's name.]

It's fine. I understand.

[He'd called Shiro his brother before. He meant that, to an extent. But he also didn't have the experience or the knowledge to sort that feeling out until he had his mother. To talk about things at length because that was all they had to do. He trained with her, trained his dog, and shared his life with his mother. So much of what he'd felt finally made sense.

It's only natural he ruins it the second he gets the chance.]

I'm sorry, Shiro.

No, it--

[Black's cockpit, that usually feels like home around him, is suddenly claustrophobic, the air seems stale and warm. His breathing is too fast. His chest too tight. The arm he'd lost aches all the way down to its invisible fingertips, and he can feel Black's concern like a lifeline tossed from a ship. Whether it's because she senses his upset or Keith's, he's not sure. He doesn't know why he can't seem to breathe.]

You don't have anything to apologize for. It's normal to-- develop feelings for the people you're closest to. We spent a lot of time together in your formative years, it's only natural.

I'm sorry I made an assumption for you.

[He sputters it out quick, just on the verge of losing it. His chest is heaving fast and shallow. He has to move, he has to get up to his feet and move because suddenly sitting there is too hot to bear.

He circles the space, then holds his hand out to Shadow. Stay. He mentally begs Black to look after Shiro.]

Let me know if you need anything?

[It's so quiet, and so so unsure. Is he allowed to offer that, after what he just did? He heads to the cockpit, giving Shiro space, a dog, and Black's attention.]

[Stop saying you're sorry. He doesn't say it. It would only make this whole situation worse.]

All right.

[Don't think he doesn't notice what you did just there, Keith. He has the immediate, automatic reaction to say that they should maybe swap lions. Shiro can ride with one of the others for a while, but-- he knows from prior experience that Keith would take that as a punishment.

There are so many other things he wants to say. Reassurances he wants to offer. That this doesn't change anything about how Shiro feels about him, that it's not weird or unnatural or abnormal, that it's all right, but when he opens his mouth, Keith has already slumped back into the pilot's chair, and it's like a wall's gone up between them.

So Shiro just. He draws a leg up against his chest and wraps his arm around it. Shadow sits up and puts a paw against his arm, and then simply leans against him, and the cockpit is silent.]

[He's quiet for a while. Focusing on where they are currently, their power cells. But eventually he's done all he can without opening a channel to the others. He could. He should so they can regroup, figure out where to stop for a while. But it'd be at the risk of them hearing him like this, and he doesn't want to answer questions.

He clears his throat, a nasty wet 'didn't-just-cry-my-eyes-out' sort of sound before opening the audio channel.]

Next planet that comes up, let's make a stop. Need to stretch out.

[There are agreements all around, others wanting to stretch, some wanting to sit and eat. Keith closes the channel before he lets anything come through and settles into the pilot chair. He doesn't have to control Black right now, but it's all he knows to do when he's upset. Fight or fly.]

...We're going to stop at the next planet.

[He makes an agreeable noise, and then, soft--]

Do you want me to swap out with one of the others?

Only if you want.

[He won't even come close to deciding anything for him. If Shiro rides with someone else, Keith isn't sure he'd want anyone else here with him for a while. It hurts, having been that close for a second and then realize they weren't on that same page.

He's internally focused, doesn't feel the change in direction. The comm channel is off so he doesn't hear the others asking where he's going, he's breaking away from the group.

He does notice the bright light suddenly in front of them. They're on top of the wormhole before Keith even has time to turn them away.]

What are you doing?! [He's frantic; he's never had Black act like this with him before. She's acting on her own, not listening to him or the controls.]

Shiro-- Hold on! [And they're in, the wormhole closing behind them.]

Edited 2018-06-19 04:42 (UTC)

[He's instantly on his feet, lunging forwards towards the chair. He isn't sure to what end - if he were to think of his own safety, he'd be better off on the floor where at least he can't fall. His grasp of balance, off-kilter as he is from the lack of his real arm or the heavier prosthetic he'd learned to compensate for, is tenuous at best.

But he wasn't sure if Keith had bothered to strap in, and if there's a chance this is enemy action--

He hits the back of the chair shoulder first - his bad one, so it jars him, but then he just braces himself against it and wraps his other arm around Keith from behind.]

I got you.

[Wormholes never sit well with him, but this one is violently tumultuous. He can barely stand, and he can't get anything from Black at all. He can barely feel her presence on the furthest reaches of his mind. He reaches out, trying to re-establish the connection and then-- suddenly they're through to the other side.

Normally, his first reaction would be to establish threat assessment, or familiar star patterns, points of reference. Something, anything that would help them--

There's no time. They-- warped inside a planet's atmosphere, and the ground is coming up at them so fast--

All he can do is hold on.

Impacts always are mercifully brief.

He can't have been unconscious for more than a few seconds, though, and then he's blinking up at the interior of Black's cockpit. His vision is fuzzy, but his first thought is for--]

Keith. You okay?

[He feels the weight of Shiro's arm around him and that's the worst - the worst thing he needs to top all this off. This is the worst jump he's ever experienced, and he wonders if it's because the jump is from someone inexperienced on the other side, or something different altogether.

He grits his teeth, tries to make do with having not strapped in; this hadn't exactly been on his agenda.

Once they're through, he reaches for the controls, controlled panic to try and establish where they are. But Black didn't give him much time to take stock of the situation. They're landing fast. He sees trees of different colors, earth, and then the slam of the cockpit because he's an idiot who didn't fasten in--

He's still in rough shape from the fight with Kuron, exhausted from the fight with Lotor and this trip, and mentally drained from what happened with Shiro. He feels limp, something warm leaking down his face as he's able to make out the color of the dash against his face.

He's crashed a good number of ships since going into space, but that was likely the worst one he's had. Black is helping ease the rising panic, seeming to be fine.]

Y-yeah...

[He gets up. It's rough, slow going. He can't tell if Black is on her side, or if he's just too dazed to walk straight, but he gets to Keith and helps to pull him up too. He's looking around for Shadow as he asks--]

Is she responding?

[Meaning Black specifically, but he hopes the wolf's okay too.]

[He moves with Shiro's help, tugging on one control weakly.]

Sort of... [He's quiet a moment, like listening. He feels Black just on the edges of consciousness.]

It...feels like she wants to stay here a while.

[Anger spikes.]

Damnit, Black! This is not the time!

[But he sees Shadow in a corner, at least. Dainty and composed as ever, tugging at a tuft of fur on the pad of her upturned paw. One worry down. Relief floods through him, but not so much that he doesn't make a single frustrated growl.]

Any idea where we are?

[On cue, a small map pops up on the HUD, marking them on a small planet on the edge of this star system. No name registered, but no signs of life aside from small animals that Black picks up.]

It's not anywhere I recognize. [He combed so much of space looking for Shiro before. Covered a lot of other ground with the Blades. He doesn't know this place.]

I can go out and check. See if she's damaged. [And definitely ignore his sore muscles, the whiplash, the blood dripping down his face and probable concussion.]

[Shiro gives him a Look. You know the one.]

No. You stay here. Clean yourself up, then see if you can raise comms with the others.

[And then he turns for the ejection hatch, which Black obediently opens. He doesn't quite glower, but he does flick his hand upwards in a sort of really? shrug. Now she listens.

(They spent so long tangled up in each other's consciousness, he thinks he might know her better than he knows himself, now. It also means that when they bicker, it's like siblings rather than a pilot and his sentient leonine ship.)

One last look at Keith, then--]

If you get any hostiles on the long-range scanners, let me know.

[He's not going to say leave without me. Keith would argue that, and it would be a waste of both their times. But he doesn't wait for an answer, either, as he jumps down out of the lion.

The landing is a little off. It's not just the balance - his right knee isn't quite cooperating with him either. The impact jars every one of his healing ribs. Shiro grits his teeth and curls his arm around himself, but it's the only outward indication of his pain.

Black doesn't appear to be damaged despite the fact she landed a little rough, and their surroundings are--

Well, they're perfect for an ambush. They're in a canyon surrounded by rock, smattered with sparse vegetation that clings to the canyon walls. The plants are a vivid violet, which tells him something about the colour spectrum of the nearby sun.

There's a little chittering creature perched on a rock. Watching him. It makes him think of a squirrel, if squirrels were three feet tall and had long, glistening fangs. Even so, it doesn't appear to be hostile, simply curious. It makes a noise that sounds like a question, lilting upwards at one end. Shiro doesn't think it's a language, but you never know. He gives it a little wave just in case, and it turns and disappears.]

Wait--!

[He chases after it, amidst the rock. Fully sentient or not, maybe they can find some way to communicate and he can learn what this place is. What Black could possibly want here.

It's when he rounds a big pile of rubble that he sees it -- not the creature, which seems to have vanished, but her footprints. Pressed down into the Earth, filled with water and overrun with plants, but they're unmistakable. He'd know them anywhere. So old they're almost--

-- Fossilized.

If blood could turn to ice in his veins, he'd have had the distinct unpleasantness of that experience on the spot. Instead, he turns around immediately and heads back. Once he's back in the Lion--]

I think we should ask her again.

[To leave. His tone is terse. Normally, anything to do with Zarkon and he'd want to investigate it. But neither of them are in the shape for it, they'd more likely be captured or killed if there's some sort of-- rogue Galra base nearby. Whatever this planet is, it's existed out here undisturbed for long enough that they can afford to get back to the others before they return here.]

[Shiro leaves before Keith can say anything to stop him. He should. He should go after him, Shiro's still injured, still needing help. But he can't bring himself to. The hatch closes after him and he's left alone with Shadow, padding up and nosing at his hand.

Right. Comms.

He moves to sit upright, all his aches and injuries from the last few days ringing strongly again. He opens a channel and there's... Nothing. Static. He goes to try another channel - white noise static. The Blades' channel is a no go as well. They're out of range of anything.]

This is bad...

[He keeps the scanners and general channel open while he gets up. He's a little wobbly on his feet, a lot of sore muscles and bones, but there isn't much he can do about that. he focuses on moving, of going to just behind the pilot seat and opening the small hatch. Something he'd found in Red and it looked to be true of Black - a small first aid kit there. Likely for field missions. He sets it by the ejection hatch and goes to see what else he can find but the hatch opens and he looks to Shiro again.]

What? Ask her what?

To leave.

[Shiro's jaw is tense, but he's not doing an especially good job of staying upright. He leans against the chair as Keith works.]

I think-- this planet has something to do with Zarkon. A long time ago.

[Keith watches him carefully, then sits back in the seat to focus. Zarkon is dead, and while they should exercise caution, he doesn't fully believe something this far out and forgotten is something to worry about. But then again, he trusts Shiro's judgement more.

He closes his eyes, asking Black to leave. Listen to them and let them leave this planet. Why won't she.

After a few minutes, he shakes his head.]

It... feels like she just wants time.

[Time for her to recover? Time for them to recover? Then why bring them alone out here...]

[He is dead, but Shiro is still unspeakably wary of anything that bears the stamp of his involvement. This planet feels-- peaceful, and it's that peace that has him on edge. It never sits right with him. He frowns at Keith's words, shakes his head. At length,]

We can't spare more than a few days. And I'm not sure it's safe here to begin with.

You hear that?

[He looks up at the ceiling of the cockpit.] A few days. [He doesn't really know if she'll listen to that either, but he's trying.]

What do we do until then?

[He looks at Shadow, sitting expectantly by the first aid kit and the ejection hatch door.]

I think there may be some emergency rations in there... But that's all I've found.

We'll be fine.

[He says it automatically. All this time and he's still trying to be Keith's leader.]

The atmosphere is comparable to Earth's. There's bound to be things we can eat. As long as we're careful.

[This, at least, is better than the horrific sense of worry that's building up in the back of his mind. Decisive action.]

We need to set up a perimeter before nightfall.

[He nods and begins searching for whatever they can use. Seeing as it's only been Zarkon, Shiro, and now himself in this Lion, there isn't much to really give clues what he can find. It looks like the previous Paladins prepared for being stranded at least: Keith finds a small tent-like structure, a bedroll, and more sealed rations. He isn't sure how much he trusts them being ten thousand years old.

He starts to offer Shiro some of the tools he finds, but remembers the arm and instead does it himself, setting loops in a length of rope and starting them climbing up the side of the canyon. It's exhausting, and takes the better half of the day, but there's a small clearing around the top that he sets up for.

For the moment, he tosses Shiro the small pouch of water from the kit.]

Think we can rest here for a little bit.

[A climb like this, when they're both injured and exhausted - mentally and physically both - is made harder by the lack of his prosthesis. Like it or not, Keith bears the brunt of it. Carries most of the gear. Shiro grits his teeth and tries not to feel like a burden. He just does the best he can without complaint, even though halfway up his shirt is soaked through with sweat and he can feel the burn of his muscles across his shoulders and down his sides.

He takes the canteen, shakes it back and forth gently to assess its contents. There's enough greenery around that he knows there's a water source somewhere nearby, and he spent enough time doing survivalist drills with the Garrison that he knows how to purify it with nothing more than rocks and charcoal, but he doesn't want to be excessive and wasteful. He takes a mouthful, nothing more, and then caps it and hands it back.

Black, below them, has sat on her rear haunches. He's pretty sure she's watching them.]

Might not be a bad place to set up for the night. It's defensible enough.

[The sun's going down fast, he thinks it must be about an eighteen hour day. Their back to solid rock, a hard descent or climb for anyone coming after them, Black down below. He knows she'd provide cover if it came to that. Whatever her whimsy was in bringing them here, he doesn't think she's been hijacked or taken over somehow. For themselves, they have one bayard, Keith's blade. It isn't much, and his skin is still crawling knowing Zarkon has been here. Maybe he's just being paranoid.

(Maybe he's not being paranoid enough.)]

Agreed.

[A few things he learned from the Garrison, a lot of other things he learned from Krolia during that time alone. She helped him learn how to read areas, how to pick the best places for shelter, the best structures to build with what pieces he can find.

He takes the canteen back and swallows a little, looking over the side at Black.]

...She seems proud.

[Then sighs. The canteen gets put back with their gear and he sets to work on gathering small debris for a fire.]

Could you set out some rocks for this?

She seems like she's going to get a stern lecture later.

[He's still annoyed at you, Lion. That pride might be a touch tinged with smugness when he speaks, but her presence stays a warm comfort. She sheltered him for so long. He closes his eyes and lets the sensation wash over him, its familiarity bracing.

He does smile a little, though, at Keith giving him direction. He's really come into his own as a leader, owning up to all the potential Shiro saw in him so many years ago. He does as he's been asked wordlessly, gathering up enough to make a ring. It's hard going with only one hand, but he manages it. Nearby, some of the plants are dry and cracked, long-dead. He pulls them out of the rock face and breaks one open. Seems okay. If it releases any sort of noxious fume when burnt, the area's open enough it shouldn't do more than give them a headache. Still, better not build too large a fire right away.]

I don't suppose you brought any matches?

[He sounds faintly amused. Here they are, brought to this place by one of the most advanced weapons in the known universe, at a loss for a firestarter. Of course.

Oh, he's well aware they both know how to start one in the absence of a fire source, but it's slow going.]