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He sat in Shiro's chair, looking out through the windows at the sunset. He knew that Shiro loved sunsets almost as much as the night sky. He would watch the colors change, reflecting in the clouds and shading from light to dark.

He had seen a number of sunsets since the Voltron team found him, establishing the coalition base on Olkarion, and traveling to dozens of planets to rally support.

Could Shiro see sunsets from wherever he was?

He lowered his head, intending to put his face in his hands and let the guilt wash over him. Keith's voice echoed in his thoughts.

Not your fault. It's not your fault.

But he jerked as he had to catch himself, because one of his hands wasn't there to take the weight.

He made a fist with his remaining hand and braced his forehead against it.

"Not bad. I think Rodin would be pleased."

His head snapped up, seeing Matt as he entered the command deck. "What?"

"You know, the statue? The Thinker? Of course the statue's chin is resting on his hand instead, and there's the obvious…" Matt gestured at him.

He smiled a little. Matt was the only one of them not tiptoeing around his current state.

Well, there was also Pidge, who was buried in schematics as she tried to design a fast basic replacement for the arm with Altean tech.

He still couldn't understand how quickly the Holts had accepted him. They should be wary like Hunk and Lance, angry at the Galra's deception like Allura and Coran.

Or visibly torn in two like Keith, who was blaming himself for not being confident enough to say something sooner, restart the search for Shiro sooner. And feeling guilty over how he was retreating from Shiro's double, who had not consciously known he wasn't the real thing.

Pidge emerged from her pod, frantic to share what she had seen, Matt calmed her down and explained. She turned to Coran and Allura and asked one question.

"Are you one hundred percent sure that all the Galra alterations are disabled?"

"Yes," Allura answered. "Everything has been deactivated and the Olkari are working on how to safely draw the last bits of it out of him."

Pidge nodded and then threw herself onto him. "I am so sorry all this happened to you! We're going to help, I promise!"

Matt plopped down on the floor beside the chair. "Need to talk?"

"I'm still feeling sort of numb. It's hard to believe I'm alive. I keep seeing the numbers going down on the bomb or Black's paw coming at me. It's kind of terrifying. I need… I need to figure out who I am. And where to go from here. I should probably talk to Captain Olia and see if I can be of any help in the rebel forces."

Matt nodded. "If that's what you really want. It would be hard to leave all your friends here behind."

"They're not my friends! They're Shiro's friends!"

"No reason they can't be yours, too."

"Don't you get it? I took his place! I stole his life! They stopped looking for him because of me! I spent months doing who only knows what kind of damage to them! I passed on information and nearly got us killed! I drove Keith away!"

"And yet the Voltron Coalition exists and is growing. We've cut off a third of the Galra Empire. We're about to negotiate with their crown prince. We're closer than ever to our goals and part of that is because of you and who you are. Not Shiro. You."

He looked away. "I don't even know who I am now."

Matt shrugged. "Are you Takashi?"

He shook his head immediately. "I am not taking anything else from him. I won't do that. No Takashi, Taka, Kashi, or any other derivations thereof."

"Okay. You could give him something instead."

"What?"

"Think back. You've got all the memories, right? Think back. Shiro told Dad and me the story while we were on our way to Kerberos. His mom was expecting twins and—"

His mind seized on the memory, how his mother would tell the story on occasion. "One was born with lung defects and died during the operation to try and save him…"

"They named him Ryou." Matt's eyes shifted to look at something behind him. "Whaddya think, Keith?"

He turned and saw Keith, dressed in his Marmora uniform. Keith bit his lip, considering, and then nodded. "Yeah, that can work." He moved over to the Red Paladin's chair and activated its control panels. "I need to update Kolivan."

Matt got to his feet, patting him on his shoulder as he did so, and went over to Keith.

Ryou… I'm not Shiro. I never was Shiro. But maybe I can be Ryou.

A short while later, everyone was gathered on the command deck. Keith was in the center, surrounded by the other paladins and Coran. Ryou stood with Matt, Captain Olia, and several other rebel commanders. Ryner and a group of Olkari were next to them. Kolivan and another Blade observed from a comms screen as Keith began the briefing.

"The Blade have been picking up more communications from the areas behind the Naxzela line. Most of them are pretty clear, statuses on star systems and such. Which ones have been able to kick the Galra out and which ones are still held by the fleets in their zones. A few seem to be in languages that are just too out there for the translators to understand them. And then there's this one that the Blade just sent to us."

Keith activated a control in his hand and they all listened intently.

Most of them frowned in confusion at the odd rhythm. But six heads snapped up in recognition upon hearing three dots, three dashes, and three dots again.

"That's an SOS!" Lance shrieked.

"A what?" Coran voiced the collective bafflement of the non-humans.

"It's a distress call, based on old Morse code…" Keith said, astonished. "We don't use it much anymore, except for our comms specialists who learn it as backup if our usual frequencies get jammed. But the SOS is common knowledge."

"It's gotta be Shiro!" Hunk cried.

"Or maybe Dad?" Pidge added, her face lighting up in hope.

Matt was trying to listen to the rest over the conversation. "Keith, can you display it?"

Keith brought up a screen and played the message again. After the flickers representing the SOS, a series of numbers flashed across.

"Pause it!" Matt stepped forward, scanning the numbers intently.

Pidge joined him. "Is it Dad?"

"No. There's no quantum frequency indicator, nothing to match the book. I think… I think this is just numbers based off our shift pattern. This has to be Shiro. He never had the book, but we taught him our number code."

Pidge ran and vaulted into her chair, pulling up a duplicate of the message and a blank screen. "So the nonsense numbers are actually hidden coordinates!" She worked feverishly for a few minutes and sent a new series of numbers to the screen.

Rayner peered at them. "Those are coordinates, and they seem to be indicating the same area that the message originated from."

Keith made eye contact with Matt, who nodded. "All right. Matt and I will take a pod and investigate."

"A Marmora transport would be faster," Kolivan offered.

"Wait, why just you two?" Lance protested.

"Because the rest of you need a show of strength for meeting Lotor. All five paladins."

"Keith, you are the leader of Voltron!" Allura insisted. She started to move forward but Hunk laid a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"I get it. Lotor's latest intel on us is almost certainly based on what the public saw when we did the shows to build the coalition." He looked over at Ryou. "Think you can play Shiro for a few more days?"

Ryou lifted his gaze to Keith. "I can try."

Keith nodded and gave him a small smile of encouragement. "All right, we're set. Princess, can we get a wormhole to the general area?"

"Of course." Allura's tone was reluctant and Keith looked at her sharply.

Pidge jumped up and headed for the doors, grabbing both Hunk and Ryou as she passed by. "Come on, boys. We've got to get a working fake arm finished before meeting His Royal Purpleness. Rayner, can some of your people help?"

"Absolutely."

Matt took a quick detour to the quarters Allura had assigned him as part of a large reorganization within the castle, anticipating that there might be more people traveling with them in the future. The original paladins were now in larger rooms originally meant for high-level royal staff, on the other end of a hall from Coran. Matt and Ryou had rooms on the same hall, with Matt next to Pidge (as soon as she finished excavating her old room). Keith was on his other side and the room beyond Keith's was empty, reserved for Shiro.

After changing back into his rebel flightgear, Matt headed to the hangar where a pair of Blades had brought the promised transport. Keith was already there…

Arguing with Allura.

Matt approached, picking up Allura's shrill tones. "I'm saying that we need you, Keith! We need you here to lead us! We can send out a team to find Shiro now that we know where to look—"

"No, Allura. I told you once before, Shiro's the only person in my entire life who never gave up on me. But I gave up on him. I'm not doing that a second time."

Matt noticed the flicking of Allura's ears and interrupted before she could lose her temper and say something irreparable. "Be fair to yourself, Keith. You all thought you'd found him. You didn't give up on him. You got tricked."

Allura jumped in. "Exactly! And we have the resources, the people to work with us, to fix it."

"Not what I meant, Princess. I was only pointing out that Keith should stop beating himself up about the situation. But we're the ones who should go. We're his oldest friends out here. We know best how Shiro thinks, if we need to hunt for him once we find the source of the distress call. We're best equipped to convince him if he suspects any kind of trap. We're going. End of discussion."

Keith held onto a neutral expression until they were inside the flyer. His shoulders sank and he let his head fall forward. He looked up at Matt through his bangs.

"Thanks. I was coming close to losing it out there."

"I can understand. She's persistent."

"She just… It's like before, when everyone pushed me to take Shiro's place, and I didn't want it!"

"Nature abhors a vacuum."

"What?"

"There was a gap before, because of Shiro's absence. Everyone wanted it filled. You all just had different visions of what that meant. For you, it meant finding Shiro again. For Allura, it meant you taking Shiro's place. And now that we know about Ryou, you two are back where you started, seeking the same solutions to filling the Shiro gap." Matt put a hand on Keith's shoulder. "It's gonna work out. We're going to get Shiro, we're going to give him time to re-enter, and everyone will adjust."

Keith put his hand over Matt's and squeezed. "Thanks."

They were leaving in a few hours.

The Holt family had taken dozens of pictures. They had shaken hands with all the official people. His mother now had the leader of the ground control team cornered.

"I need you to promise that you'll go through every last check twice so they can take off safely. Promise that you will all be ready to guide them in upon return so they can land safely. Promise that your mechanics will do everything they can to keep that ship running safely."

"Yes, ma'am, although that last part will be more on Captain Shirogane and your son once they're in full flight."

Matt cringed a little at his mother's expression. She didn't want reminders of who was in charge of what. She wanted solemn vows that this mission was going to be a success.

And now she was headed for Shiro. Who was deep in conversation with a teary-eyed Keith.

Matt ran up behind her and caught her elbow. ""Not now, Mom."

"I'm just going to—"

"I know what you're just going to. I know you're worried, but it's a little embarrassing. We've been training with Shiro for over two years. Of course he's going to do everything he possibly can to complete the mission."

Colleen bit her lip. "I know that. I just need to say it to him. There's absolutely nothing else I can do to impact the outcome of this mission. I need to do this."

That made Matt pause, realizing for the first time just how hard this particular mission must be for his mother. Before, the destination hadn't been so far out. The missions lasted weeks instead of months. Before, it was just her husband. Now it was half her family.

"Okay, I'm sorry. But at least don't interrupt them."

Colleen took a closer look and blinked in realization. "Oh. Is that his brother?"

Matt snorted at that. "No, Mom. The only reason those two don't have promise rings on their fingers right now is because Shiro's an officer and Keith's a cadet."

She frowned a little at that. "How old is he?"

Matt pulled his non-prescription lenses down and looked over them at his mother. "Remind me how much older Dad is than you?"

"Seven years. But we met in college."

"And what would you have done if you'd met him sooner but still hit it off?"

She shrugged. "I don't know! Stayed friends with him until I was eighteen? Waited to see if I still felt the same way once I did?"

Matt made an exaggerated sweeping motion with his hand toward the couple. "By the time we get back, Keith will be eighteen. You think Kerberos is long enough apart for them to have a decent perspective on things?"

Colleen bit her lip, but nodded. "All right, I understand. I won't judge. But I'm still going to make Shiro promise to bring you two back."

As they watched, Shiro clasped Keith's hand and pulled him into an embrace, almost lifting the younger man off his feet as Keith wrapped his arms around Shiro's neck. They buried their faces into each other's shoulders. When they could see from his shaking frame that Keith had lost the battle with his tears, both Holts turned away in unspoken agreement and headed back to Sam and Katie.

Which reminded Matt, he still had to surprise Katie with the glasses...

Shiro tried again, as he did every morning a few hours after sunrise when the light was brightest in the pod. Again, there was no secret stash of fuel to be found. He was going over the floor inch by inch, looking for any kind of entrance to a hidden compartment. He'd stolen this pod from a known smugglers' port—it stood to reason that there might be a cache of valuables hidden somewhere.

He had already found the scaultrite in boxes labeled as computer parts. But he couldn't turn scaultrite into fuel and the pod wasn't going anywhere without fuel.

After an hour of painstaking searching, he came up empty and the sun's position began throwing shadows into the open cargo door. Shiro stood and stretched. Time to count the good things and keep the despair at bay. He was alive and uninjured. He had crossed over a third of the distance from his starting point to the areas where Voltron was active. His current situation was not great, but he would not starve or die of dehydration. There was no sign of civilization, which was both good and bad. Good that he wasn't at risk of being attacked, but bad that there was no one here that might be able to help him.

The worst part was simply not knowing how long he had been gone. He remembered Black telling him to use his bayard and Keith's sword bursting into flames before the Red Paladin drove it into Zarkon's robeast armor. He had lost consciousness with the energy backlash.

And woken up in the other realm.

Shiro had no idea how long he had remained in the endless twilight. He had walked forever, feeling heavier and more substantial than he remembered from his first experience. There had been no hunger, no thirst, no desire to sleep. He kept going, occasionally calling for Black and getting no response.

And without warning, he had fallen through the ground and into reality once more.

He had been incredibly lucky, emerging in space close enough to an active asteroid port that his jetpack would get him there. Able to offer his services as a pilot in exchange for transport to the next major star system. Able to rig the first coded message and transmit it in the hopes that Keith and the others would pick up the SOS and investigate.

He formed a routine, slowly working his way back toward Galra territory and transmitting a new message at every opportunity. It got harder as he got closer. He needed to hide his armor and his face from anyone who might be paying attention to the large rewards the Galra were offering for the capture of a paladin of Voltron or the former Champion. When exchanging work for passage got too risky, he stole his first transport pod and kept going. The current ship was the fourth he'd taken.

And having to veer off course to avoid a Galra fleet had gotten him stuck here, on an uninhabited planet in a star system with no spacefaring people and no resources to get moving again.

Feeling the despair creeping in despite his efforts, Shiro moved. He gathered the water pouches and a canvas-like bag. Time to hit the stream and gather the day's supply of fruit, something that was shaped like a pear but tasted like lime and mango. He had a stash of seeds set aside in the hopes of bringing them to Hunk if...when he found the team again.

It was late on the sixth day when Keith and Matt got a solid lead.

They had found the smuggler in a bar, drinking and cursing the scarred-up black-and-white jegerfor that had stolen his ship. He had taken the handful of GAC that Matt offered and described the guy who had first offered to pilot for him but had then jumped in and taken off in his ship when a patrol of Galra appeared. They got the ship specs from him and promised to try and return the vessel if they could.

Now Keith was flying the Marmora transport as they went in what seemed to be the most direct round back toward Naxzela. Matt was monitoring readouts, trying to find traces of the ship through a variety of factors. He was so intent on watching for any sign from his screens that when the device Coran had provided started beeping, Keith was the one to reach over and pick it up.

"We've got a positive ID from the Altean tracer!"

Matt started, pulled out of his fierce concentration, and grabbed it from him to connect it to Keith's monitor. "This is supposed to hone in on his armor, correct?"

Keith nodded, bringing the transport about to follow the signal. "Looks like it's a few vargas away."

"Do we contact the team?"

"Not yet. Let's not get their hopes up."

Matt caught the underlying message: I can't divide my focus now. He didn't argue.

As Shiro crested the last hill, he stopped short at seeing a strange ship in the valley, almost next to his pod. He immediately ducked behind the nearest cluster of trees and brought up magnification in his visor.

There were no easy identifiers on the unknown ship. Its three-pronged configuration was unfamiliar, but there was nothing pointing to it being of Galra origin. It was bigger than his pod, but much smaller than the Black Lion. Shiro kept looking for who had flown it here.

And then he spotted them. Two figures were searching the pod. He could see one inside the large cargo hold and the other on the ground, apparently monitoring something in their hand.

The one standing outside looked vaguely familiar, with the belted cloak and full helmet. But Shiro couldn't place it immediately. Then the second figure climbed out of the transport and Shiro sucked in a surprised breath.

That was a Blade!

The Blade approached the other and Shiro frowned. Either the figure in brown was gigantic or that was a very small Galra…

It can't be… Can it?

Shiro stepped out from the trees and started down the hill. He shifted the bag and water pouches to his left hand to free up his right hand, just in case. The brown figure was waving something around and suddenly turned in his direction.

Shiro froze, ready to drop his supplies and bring up his shield.

The Blade turned as well, following the one in brown, and broke into a run at him. He showed no weapon and as he moved Shiro was more and more sure. Then the mask dissolved, revealing the face beneath. The face that had caught his attention so long ago, emerging from the simulator with a dissatisfied glare even as the others threw congratulations at him. The face that he had fallen in love with under a star-filled sky. The face he had kissed countless times. And the face he had held in his heart as he fought his way back across galaxies.

"Keith?"

The response was joyful. "Shiro!"

Keith leaped at him and Shiro let his load fall in order to catch him.

Matt hung back, even though he wanted nothing more than to run at Shiro and tackle him to the ground. He watched, his cheeks almost hurting from grinning so wide as Keith tried to kiss Shiro around his helmet and visor, then pulled the helmet off and tossed it away before grabbing Shiro's face and kissing him soundly. Shiro shifted his weight forward, setting Keith back on his feet but not breaking the kiss. Finally they separated, resting their foreheads together and running their hands through the other's hair or down the other's back.

Matt walked toward them, making his approach clear and watching for any sign from Keith that he should wait. Instead, Keith waved at him to hurry up.

Shiro looked between the two of them. "Who's your friend?"

Keith's chin jutted out and he gave Matt a look. "Take off the helmet, you dork!"

"Oh, right!" Matt pulled the mask off. "Hi, there."

Shiro's mouth dropped open and he stared for a moment. "Matt?"

"The one and only."

Shiro reached out a hand and Matt took it. This time he was totally unsurprised to be pulled into a tight hug and got his own arm around Shiro. He gave it a moment, then reached over to haul Keith in as well.

"How did… How did you two find each other?"

"Aw, you don't want to hear about all of the adventures we had finding you?" Matt mock-pouted.

Keith elbowed him. "Because that's the easy part. We followed your SOS here. Pidge managed to track Matt down."

Shiro laughed at that. "Of course she did. What about your dad?"

"Nothing yet. But we'll keep trying."

"And what are you doing in that getup? Did you think your armor was too conspicuous?"

Keith bit his lip and looked away. "It's a long story. How about we contact the castle and see if they can wormhole in? I know everyone else is going to be thrilled that we found you."

"Plus there's been a few interesting...additions to the team," Matt added. "It's been a mess but I think it'll all work out in the end."

Shiro's expression shifted between anticipation and concern. "I can't wait." He draped an arm around each of them. "It'll be good to be back."

Keith gave an amused sniff and hugged Shiro once more. "It's good to have you back."

Matt smiled in satisfaction. This finally felt like a proper reunion of the Garrison three. This was the Keith and Shiro he remembered.

Thank you as always for reading!