whatsacactus | (no subject)

[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.]

[He finds what amounts to a small armful of twigs and broken branches and brings them over to the ring. Oh but. He laughs at that.]

Not on me, no. Probably something in those supplies. Looks like they were stocked just in case.

[He doesn't move the rocks at all, just starts setting up.]

Do you... remember a lot? From when you were there? with Black, I mean.

[He toes one of the rocks into the ring he'd set up, just to complete its symmetry, and then he goes to look through the emergency pack. He'd added a few things to its existing cache when he realized Black had one. It never hurts to be prepared, and old Earth habits die hard. Flashlight, matches, fishing line. Right. He'd forgotten.

That, at least. Not--]

Yeah. Everything. Most things. It's-- hard to explain.

[He falls silent, shakes the box of matches lightly in his hand. Then, once Keith has piled the wood up in something approximating an appropriate pile, he crouches down beside the stone ring ready to light it.

He really doesn't want to articulate it. He doesn't even want to think about it. He's been so close to dead so many times-- but. It isn't fair, that he's the one that gets to cheat death. That he gets to come back. What's dead should stay that way.

Soft,]

Sometimes I didn't exist. But when I did, I remember.

[Keith quietly hms at that. He doesn't want to poke at it too much. Whatever happened there is Shiro's business, as far as he's concerned. But he is curious about one thing.]

And you got to talk with her? Or.. I guess she doesn't really talk.

[He's only ever gotten growls or purrs or impressions of thoughts from Black and Red. Red he could read easily. Red would come across the universe and attack for him. Black... seemed a bit more subtle than that most of the time.

Instead of continuing with an actual question, he holds his hand out for the matches about the same time there's a poof sort of sound and Shadows is landing next to him.]

Good of you to join us. Finally.

No. She doesn't talk. She just--

[The noise he makes is a little frustrated. Not at her, but at his own inability to express exactly what it felt like.]

Feels.

[It's the best he's got. He puts the matches into Keith's hand and when Shadow appears into being, he has a momentary kneejerk fight or flight response. Pulse quickening, he shifts one foot into a defensive stance.

Calming himself down takes an ironclad effort, but he does it and echoes Keith's greeting to her with a little hey.]

[Shadow sort of gives Keith a look with her wolf face, but pads over to Shiro, butting her head against him.]

That's... Sort of how Red was. [Before he started piloting Black. Nowadays, he isn't sure how she feels about him. He misses piloting her a lot.

Matches in hand, he strikes one and brings it to the pile, covering his nose and mouth with his free arm. Just in case the fumes are toxic. He doesn't smell anything when it starts smoking and it seems like it's safe enough.]

If there're trees like this, there've got to be animals we can eat. [He's still ignoring his injuries. He still hasn't actually gotten himself looked over.]

Yeah. We can go hunting tomorrow if needs be.

[He doesn't like the idea of stepping on an alien planet and killing things to survive, but. He'll do it if he has to.

After a moment,]

Do you miss her?

[He's still not entirely clear on what happened there, besides the obvious changes to the Roster. He's... surprised that Red went to Lance. It doesn't seem like an especially suitable match-up.

He sits on the ground beside the fire as it starts to take off, one leg drawn up, his arm wrapped around it.]

[He sits, Shadow coming to lay against his leg and rest her head on his lap. Keith sighs and starts idly stroking her fur as he watches the flames - green at the center, glowing bright blue at the edges.]

I do. I don't know if I told you what happened when I got her off the Galra ship, but I-- Risked a lot to get her. And I know she's risked a lot to help me.

[How many times was he flung into space that she came? That she felt he was in danger and had no hesitation to protect him? He has no doubts Black would do the same (she did there, at the end, didn't she?) but it feels different.

There's a memory that comes to mind as they sit here. The two of them, stranded on an unknown planet, sharing a fire he built. Last time Keith told Shiro nothing would happen to him.

This time, Shiro had already died and Keith did everything he could. Odd, how that works out.]

They're incredible entities.

[He's never felt unworthy of Black's love and deep affection, but he's-- unsteady, now. Off balance in more ways than one. It's not only Keith's admission, but everything else. His place in the universe. He knows that he can still pilot her, but he's not her pilot anymore, which means he's no longer the leader of the Paladins. If he had to hand the mantle off to anyone, he's glad it went to Keith, but--

For maybe the first time in his life, Shiro doesn't have an answer when he asks himself, what now?]

Do you think it's fate? All of us meeting the way we did. Coming to Arus, Voltron. Everything.

No.

[He's firm on that answer. With everything in the universe, the idea of fate, some predetermined thing deciding his future isn't something he's willing to put stock in. His choices are his own.

He looks down at Shadow, licking his fingertips without even lifting her head from his lap and smiles a little.]

You're gonna get lazy, you keep this up.

[Maybe he'd have been able to say it as decisively as that when he was Keith's age, too. Now he's not so sure what he believes in.

He holds his hand out to the fire, warming it as the sun dips below the horizon. The air is cool but not cold, he doesn't think it'll get too much worse than it is now.]

Maybe that's the whole point.

[He glances back to where Black is sitting, his expression slightly askew.]

Maybe she's telling us we need a vacation.

You think?

[He looks down at Shadow, then at Black at the bottom of the canyon.]

Then why not bring everyone else? They could use one too.

[There's a suspicion nagging in the back of his mind, one he doesn't want to entertain. It'd be too selfish to think it consciously.]

Maybe there's something about this place she wanted us to see. Maybe the others were brought different places at the same time. Or maybe it's just Black. Always has had a mind of her own.

[It aligned with his, most of the time.]

Mm. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

[He brings his eyes away from Black to watch the sun finish setting and darkness surround them and their small fire. Keith makes sure the bedroll is on flat earth, offering it to Shiro and intending to keep watch. He finds a rock to put his back to and his knife in one hand. Ready. Just in case.

But the most he hears is some scurrying of small animals coming to investigate their fire, and some flying creatures in the distance that don't sound too predatory. Nothing that gets his danger sense piqued.]

[He knows why Keith's doing it, so he doesn't protest too mightily. Just nods, and heads to bed.]

Wake me in four hours. I'll take second watch.

[... Keith probably won't, but Shiro has a fairly good internal sense of time. He should be able to wake up regardless.]

[Shiro's right that he won't. He'd rather let him sleep as much as he can while they're able.

At some point in the night, he gets up to look around their area, finding some plants with large blossoms that look close enough to fruit that he's willing to try. They don't taste great, but they don't poison him either, so he grabs a few to bring back.

By the time Shiro wakes up, it's clear Keith is about at his limit. He's sat leaning against the rock, knife in his hand slipping as he fights to stay awake. He didn't dare risk undressing to check his wounds over from everything; he wanted to be ready for anything.]