Well that was a somewhat longer hiatus than originally planned, but the good news is that my shoulder is feeling much better now! It was pretty painful before, so that's a huge relief. Anyways, onto the chapter! It's a long awaited one, I am sure. We finally get to see a certain someone again, but of course, it's not all just flowers and roses.

As always, thanks for reading! I'll see you next update! Unless I strain my shoulder again and end up taking forever to update again- but let's hope not.

ignis

chapter three

the return of the dead

Groaning, Shiro's eyelids fluttered. There was a dull pain in the back of his head, different from his usual migraines, but for a few seconds, he couldn't figure out why. What-?

It all came back in a rush, his eyes snapping wide open. That's right- they'd been on a diplomatic mission for Lotor when Gnov's forces had attacked, and then-

...and then the black lion had stopped responding.

He sat up with a violent jerk, only to fall right back over, unbalanced. He groaned, trying to push himself up more slowly this time, only to realize two things at once. The first was that he was being restrained, and the second, more concerning thing, was that his prosthetic was missing.

Trying to steady himself, he successfully forced himself up into a sitting position. His left arm was hooked to the back of his paladin armor, allowing him extremely limited use of it. Glancing down at his right arm, he winced, finding that it ended in a stump where his prosthetic would have normally began. He'd been largely stripped of his armor- the only thing that remained was the belt his wrist was hooked to. There was no sign of his helmet, nor anything he could use to contact the other paladins- or his missing prosthetic, for that matter. In fact, there wasn't much of anything- just a dank, empty room, kept lit by only a single light.

Even worse- he still couldn't sense the black lion.

Narrowing his eyes, Shiro stumbled to his feet, using the wall to help balance himself. He had to figure out where he was, and what had happened to the black lion. He could only hope that the rest of the paladins were safe, and were already looking for him. He was pretty sure they would notice the black lion going missing sooner, rather than later.

If they were all safe, that was.

Taking a deep breath, Shiro tried to steady his thoughts. It was easier than it usually was, he found to his surprise. Typically, his constant migraines got in the way- but other than a dull pain in the back of his head from where he'd hit it, his head barely even hurt.

Well, at least one thing was going right for him today.

Searching the room for anything that might help him, he only reconfirmed what he had concluded earlier- that it was completely empty. But at the very least, his only restraint was the one on his arm, leaving him otherwise free to move around. Someone would have to come check on him eventually, and when they did, maybe he could take them by surprise and overpower them. He didn't know how far he could get with just one arm, but he was willing to press his luck if it gave him even the slightest of chances.

With that in mind, Shiro made his way towards the door. Pressing his ear against it, he listened for any indication that anyone was outside, but either the door was too thick to hear anything through, or there was no one there, because he heard nothing. Sighing, he took a step back, prepared to wait it out, however long it took. He'd already been captured by the Galra twice now- three times, if you counted the brief stint in which he'd been held captive by Sendak- and he wasn't looking to add another occasion to that list.

At least, he was assuming that he was being held captive to the Galra. The only other option was the Viridi, and somehow he didn't think that kidnapping a paladin of Voltron would exactly work in their favor when it came to negotiations. Allura wasn't exactly known for bargaining with kidnappers.

He didn't have to wait long, thankfully. As soon as the door began to open, Shiro braced himself, ready to lunge at whoever was there- but instead ended up stopping dead in his tracks, his eyes blown wide at the sight before them.

They were Galra, alright- but they were also a Blade.

"So you're awake."

The sound of their voice, filtered through their mask, startled him back into awareness. He tensed, realizing that he had lost his chance to escape. The Blade wasn't bulky like some other Galra, but they were tall, easily towering over him. Without the element of surprise, he wouldn't be able to take them down, not with one hand tied behind his back and the other missing. He would just have to bide his time and wait for another chance.

And maybe while he was at it, he could get some answers.

This was the first Blade he'd seen in nearly a year- and they were holding him captive. He hated to admit it, but maybe Lotor had been right. Maybe the Blade had ceased to be their allies. Maybe this whole situation on Ignis had been nothing more than one big trap, meant to ensnare him and the other paladins.

He couldn't let that happen.

"Who are you?" Shiro demanded. "What have you done with the black lion?"

"The black lion is safe." The Blade said simply. "You are to come with me."

"And if I refuse?" Shiro asked, not missing the way they refused to give their name. He couldn't tell if they'd met before or not- with their masks on, all the Blades kind of looked the same.

"Then I take you by force." The Blade said simply. "But that is for you to decide."

Shiro narrowed his eyes. "Fine."

Better he go under his own power, rather than be knocked unconscious and dragged there. At least this way he'd have a chance to get a lay of the land. Maybe he could even figure out where here was. The last thing he remembered was the black lion plummeting towards the desert, but there was a lot of desert on Ignis, so that didn't exactly narrow things down.

If they were even still on Ignis.

He couldn't tell under their mask, but he could have sworn the Blade smiled. With a gesture of their hand, they motioned for him to take the lead- which he did, after some hesitation. He didn't like showing his back to someone who was probably an enemy, even if they had once been allies not so long ago.

But if they wanted him dead, they would have killed him already.

The hallways he was lead through were just as dark and dank as the cell he'd been in- a total contrast from how bright and open Ignis' capital city had been. He thought about the other paladins once again, a knot of uncertainty forming in the pit of his stomach. Were they safe? Were they in danger? Had this all just been one big trap, or was the situation with the Viridi real, and the Blade had merely used it as an opportunity to accomplish their own ends.

Kolivan was a shrewd man, so he couldn't put anything past him. But why betray them? He thought they'd had the same goal- to put an end to Zarkon's reign, and they'd done just that. Sure, they were working with the Galra Empire now, but that was for the sake of bringing peace- something the Blade of Marmora wanted too.

Then again, maybe he was jumping to conclusions too quickly. Maybe there was still an explanation for all of this that didn't involve the Blade turning against them. Sure, this all looked bad- but maybe they had good reason for their actions.

Or maybe not. He had to admit, given his current circumstances, he was a little skeptical. However they had done it, it seemed clear that the Blade had abducted him and were currently holding him prisoner, even going so far as to strip him of his prosthetic and shield his mind from the black lion somehow. That... wasn't exactly encouraging, to say the least.

"Where are you taking me?" Shiro asked- to no avail. The Blade didn't respond, or even look back in his direction. It was almost like they were acting as if he didn't exist.

It was unnerving.

Finally, they came to a halt just outside a door. Turning back to face him, they stepped aside, motioning towards it. "In there."

Shiro frowned, but complied, taking a few steps forward. The door automatically slid open, flooding the narrow hallway with light. He had to shut his eyes against the sudden assault of brightness, his eyes having since adjusted to the darkness of where he'd been before. Blinking a few times, his vision quickly refocused, leaving him to realize that he'd been led to some kind of hangar.

Unlike the cell he'd been kept in, it wasn't empty. The black lion loomed overhead, but even this close to his lion, he still couldn't feel it. It reminded him of when Keith had been serving as the black lion's paladin, right after he'd been rescued from the Galra for the second time. He hadn't been able to hear it then either. It wasn't until the paladins had been forced into a corner that he'd managed to reestablish his bond with the black lion. There hadn't been any problems connecting since then.

No, that wasn't true. There was the time on Olkarion, during the virus attack. But he must have connected with his lion, because they'd still won. He just didn't remember it, that was all.

(Was it?)

The Blade who had been escorting him shoved him roughly inside. He stumbled, off balance without his prosthetic, just barley managing to stay on his feet. Whirling around to face them, he watched instead as the door closed behind him, leaving him alone in the hangar with the eerily silent black lion.

Or maybe not.

A dark figure stirred by one of the lion's paws, another masked Blade stepping out from the lion's shadow. This one was smaller than the one who had led him here. In fact, they might even be shorter than he was- a thought that brought with it a pang of familiarity. He quickly suppressed it, however- whoever this Blade was, it wasn't Keith.

Keith was dead.

(Even if they folded their arms in exactly the same way Keith did.)

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you now."

Though distorted by the mask, he could still tell how cold and unfeeling the Blade's tone was. He considered himself a brave man, but it still sent a small shiver down his spine. It wasn't an empty threat- if he didn't give this Blade the response they wanted, they probably would kill him.

So much for good reasons, he couldn't help but think.

"I don't understand." Shiro said. "I thought we were allies."

The Blade tilted their head, watching them from behind their mask. "The Blade of Marmora still considers itself allies of the Voltron Coalition."

Shiro narrowed his eyes, finding that hard to believe. "Stealing the black lion and kidnapping its paladin doesn't exactly seem like the act of an ally."

"You," the Blade hissed, "-are not the black lion's paladin."

Shiro flinched, momentarily taken back by the sheer amount of anger rolling off the Blade. Even without being able to see their expression, he could read it on their body- it was just as transparent as their statement was nonsensical.

He was the black lion's paladin. There was no one else.

Not anymore, at least.

"Alright," Shiro said, deciding to rethink his approach, since that clearly hadn't been the right one, "-then if I'm not the black lion's paladin, who am I?"

"You know what you are." The Blade said. "We may have cut your connection to the witch, but-"

"Wait." Shiro said, hastily cutting them off, his brows furrowing together. "What do you mean? What connection?"

He didn't have to ask who the witch was. There was only ever one person referred to as that- Zarkon's witch, the high priestess of the Galra Empire. Haggar. She had been eerily silent ever since her attempts to seize the throne for Sendak- and consequently, herself- had failed. They hadn't seen even a single druid since Lotor had taken the throne. They all agreed that she had to be planning something, they just couldn't figure out what.

Thinking about the witch still made his stomach turn. She'd done awful things to him, sure- but as far as he knew, he didn't have any connection to her, other than the arm that she had crafted for him. But in spite of its absence, he didn't think that was what this Blade meant. Besides, Pidge had checked that arm, and then Coran had checked it again- there was nothing wrong with it, nothing that could have left them vulnerable to the Galra Empire in any way. It was just a prosthetic.

The Blade took a few steps forward, almost as if they were going to charge him- before they stopped just as abruptly, staring at him instead. "How can you not know what connection? If you're playing dumb-"

"I swear to you, I'm not." Shiro said firmly- but didn't fail to note how strange a turn of phrase playing dumb was for a Blade. He hadn't heard it from a Galra before.

The Blade simply continued to stare at him, almost like they'd been frozen in place. Then finally, they sucked in a long breath, and muttered something to themselves. Unfortunately for them, they weren't being quite as quiet as they thought they were.

"Shit," the Blade mumbled, that single word alone causing Shiro's brows to shoot up past his hairline, "-Shiro was right. He doesn't know."

Shiro stared at the Blade, dumbfounded. What did he mean, Shiro was right? Last he checked, he was Shiro. What was it that he didn't know? And why was this Blade talking about him like he was a separate person from well... himself?

And the way he was talking, the phrases he used... he felt something in his heart stir, more like a longing wish for it to be true than actual hope. He didn't dare to go that far.

It wasn't possible. Keith was dead. They hadn't seen the body, but no one could have survived that.

He was dead. He had to be.

And yet he still took a step forward, a hesitant look in his eyes. He didn't know if he wanted to be wrong or right about this, the situation too bizarre for him to come up with a clear answer.

"...Keith?"

The Blade stilled, and for a moment there was nothing but silence in the hangar, the air heavy and oppressive with it, almost as if it were a living thing.

Then they reached up, touching the side of their mask. It melted away, but instead of revealing familiar features, it revealed a deeply scarred face, skin a discolored mixture of peach and purple, eyes a sickly shade of pale yellow, only a single discolored pupil staring back at him from the left, and a shock of white hair offset by even more purple curling around his shoulders.

But it was also unmistakably Keith.

Shiro took a step forward, momentarily forgetting everything else, too wrapped up in the euphoria of seeing his brother alive, if not necessarily whole. All he wanted to do was take him into his arms, embrace him, to make sure he was really real, and not just an illusion created by head trauma.

"Keith-"

"Don't." Keith narrowed his mismatched eyes, glowering at him with a ferocity he'd seen before, but had never had turned on him. "Don't you dare."

He stopped in his tracks, more confused than anything else. He thought Keith would have been happy to be reunited after so long.

It was only then that he remembered exactly how it was that he had gotten here, and what position he was in. He remembered how Keith had spoken to him when he'd entered the hangar, coldly asking if he had a reason as to why he shouldn't kill him on the spot. And he realized that the reason the black lion had ceased responding to him was because it had started responding to another- that Keith had called it here, forced it to crash.

And had then promptly taken him prisoner.

"I don't understand." Shiro said, more hurt than before. It was one thing if it was the Blade. It was another if it was Keith. "Keith, I-"

"Don't say another word." Keith snarled. "Just don't. I don't want to talk to you."

Shiro opened his mouth to say something nevertheless, only to quickly shut it after Keith's expression hardened. It wasn't the scars that rendered his brother nearly unrecognizable- it was the way he looked at him. There was no fondness in that gaze, no affection- just revulsion. Hatred, almost.

Almost.

He didn't understand what he'd done wrong, but he must have done something. Otherwise Keith wouldn't be looking at him this way.

"Cinque!" Keith barked. "Take him back to the cell."

Shiro didn't even protest as the other Blade lead him away from Keith and back towards the cell, too shell-shocked to even try. His head was still trying to catch up, and his heart couldn't settle on how it wanted to feel- Keith was alive, but he was treating him like he was a stranger.

No, it wasn't that he was treating him like a stranger. That would be an improvement. He was treating him like he was the enemy.

He just didn't understand why.

By the time the other Blade- Cinque, based on what Keith had called her- returned him to his cell, Shiro's brain had mostly caught up with him.

Mostly.

While he was still reeling over the possibility of him and Keith being enemies, he'd at least had the time to settle on a few concrete facts. The first of which was the fact that Keith was alive- and that this was unquestionably a good thing, no matter how at odds their current situation was. He was still his brother, and he was confident that whatever it was that was going on with him and the Blades, he could work something out.

He just had to figure out what it was first.

"You can uncuff me." Shiro told Cinque, as they watched him from the door. "I won't try to escape."

Cinque huffed, the sound odd and distorted under their Blade mask. "Just because he let you live doesn't mean we trust you."

"Then what do I have to do to earn that trust?" Shiro asked. "We had it once before. There must be a way to gain it again."

"You never had our trust." Cinque said. "And there's no way for you to gain it."

Shiro narrowed his eyes. Once again, the statement made no sense. The Blade of Marmora had trusted the paladins once- which was to say nothing of Keith, whose trust was apparently included in this. Even if he allowed himself to entertain the idea that Kolivan had held them at an arm's length even while they had been working together- not too far fetched, really, given the man's deep sense of caution- it was impossible for him to even consider the idea that Keith had never trusted him. Someone as private as Keith wouldn't have opened up to him to the degree he had if he didn't trust him.

But Cinque was making it sound like that had never been the case.

"What is it that you think I'm guilty of?" Shiro asked. "If we could just talk this out-"

"No." Cinque said, cutting him short. "No talking."

Shiro snapped his mouth shut, his lips screwing in a tight frown. He couldn't deny that he was starting to feel a bit frustrated- how was he supposed to figure out just what it was that was going on around here if nobody even allowed him to speak? That thought just made him angry, and he had to bite down on his tongue to keep himself from saying anything, reminding himself that this wasn't the way to behave. He couldn't lose his temper.

He didn't even remember having a temper before the Galra. They'd really done a number on him.

"Good." Cinque said, turning on their heel. "Wait here while we decide what to do with you."

Shiro watched them go. It wasn't like he had much of a choice. He was telling the truth when he said he wouldn't try to escape. Not now, not that he knew that Keith was here. Whatever else was going on, he wanted to at least somehow mend things with him.

He closed his eyes, Keith's scarred visage returning to mind. His Blade armor covered almost everything, leaving just how far they extended to his imagination. But from what he could see, they looked painful- in addition to making him look a lot more like the half Galra he actually was. The left half of his face was almost entirely purple, though it seemed to be unable to settle on an exact shade. The deeper the damage, the darker the shade of purple, and vice versa- the parts of his skin that were still that familiar shade of sandy peach must have been what hadn't been damaged in his suicide run on Haggar's ship.

It... wasn't much.

Heaving a sigh, Shiro slumped against the wall, sitting crosslegged on the floor. Until someone came for him, there wasn't much else for him to do but wait- and think.

And he wasn't sure how much he wanted to do of the latter.

"You lost your temper."

He didn't tear his eyes away from the black lion to glance back at Cinque, the Blade thankfully lingering in the doorway. He wasn't sure what expression he was making, but he didn't want anyone else to see it.

"I thought I was ready." Keith said finally. "I wasn't."

He'd braced himself to face him, even before Qui had arrived with a message from the governor. He'd sensed the black and red lions entering the system long before then, so the message hadn't come as a surprise. They all knew that it was only a matter of time before Lotor sent the paladins to intercede on his behalf, so he'd had plenty of time to steel himself for facing the imposter that wore Shiro's face. He thought he'd done enough.

Clearly, he hadn't.

That voice, that face... they were so alike that he almost let himself be fooled by them- just for a moment. That what he'd seen had been nothing more than a bad dream.

But he knew it wasn't.

Rubbing his left shoulder, he winced a little as it prickled underneath his touch. There was barely any mobility in the joint today, but he knew it would be better tomorrow. Then some other part of his body would ache, refusing to let him forget the fact that he had almost died.

No- he had died. He just didn't stay dead.

Shiro hadn't let him.

Keith removed his hand from his shoulder, instead touching one of the black lion's forelegs. He closed his eyes, trying to feel Shiro's energy within the lion- but the black lion's quintessence was so vast, so powerful, that it drowned out anything else. It was no wonder he'd never noticed it during his brief stint as the black paladin- but that didn't stop him from wishing that he had.

Maybe then he wouldn't have invited an imposter into the Castle with open arms.

He tried to reason with himself, convince himself that he had no way of knowing it was a fake. He'd been so desperate to find Shiro, that of course he would have ignored anything that didn't seem right with the one he'd found- and besides, he'd been imprisoned by the Galra twice now. If he had come back with a harsher temper, that was only because of the trauma he'd suffered. No one could blame him for that.

But he wasn't the real Shiro. The real Shiro was dead. Had been dead, ever since their fight with Zarkon. He'd told him that much himself, before he'd prevented him from crossing over and joining him on the other side. Or the astral plane. Or wherever it was that Shiro's spirit was trapped in. All he knew was that his soul was in the black lion, somehow- and that he had to get it back.

And while he was at it, deal with the fake.

"What should we do with him?" Cinque asked. "It doesn't sound like he knows anything useful."

Keith grimaced, opening his eyes. Shiro had told him that the fake didn't know anything about his part in Haggar's plans, but he hadn't wanted to believe him. It was so much easier to hate him if he thought he was a willing participant in his own deception- but he wasn't. He didn't know that Haggar had been using him to spy on the paladins and the Coalition, didn't know that he was the reason she had been so ready for them at Naxzela.

He didn't even know he was a clone.

"I don't know." Keith admitted. "Maybe we should ask Kolivan."

Cinque just tilted her head. "Kolivan put you in charge of this."

Keith huffed. He hadn't exactly forgotten that fact. He was the only one who could possibly control the black lion, though some part of him was amazed his connection was even still there. He'd died, after all- that kind of sounded like the sort of thing that would sever any connections he might have once had.

"Then Krolia." Keith said, the sound of his own mother's name still strange on his lips, even after nearly a year. "We can ask her."

He hadn't expected to be reunited with his mother after all this time, especially not while he had still been bound to a hospital bed, unable to so much as walk. That was where Kolivan had found him, in that pitiful state, though he didn't remember that part. He'd still been comatose when the Blade leader had retrieved him.

He did remember his mother being there when he woke up for the first time. He just didn't know she was his mother until awhile later.

"You know we can't risk contacting her openly." Cinque said.

Keith frowned, glaring down at the floor. He did know that. He just didn't want to have to make this decision himself, as pathetic as that sounded. It would be so much easier to dump it all on someone else. Part of him still wanted to kill the clone, like he'd originally planned- what right did he have to wear Shiro's face, to have his voice when the real Shiro was gone? Besides, it was his fault he'd nearly died. The universe would be better off without him.

But then... the clone hadn't been the one to tell him to ram his ship into that shield. He'd made that decision all on his own.

And he didn't know.

He didn't know, and that made him a victim- not a monster like he'd wanted him to be. He was just another pawn in Haggar's schemes. And somehow he didn't think the real Shiro would think much of him if he chose to kill someone who was, effectively, innocent. He hadn't even gotten a say in Haggar's awful plan.

Besides, killing someone after they had outlived their usefulness was something the Galra Empire would do, and he didn't want to be anything like them. But that didn't mean he'd let the clone go on believing he was anything other than a fake. No one could take Shiro's place, not even his clone.

He'd proven that much when he'd left him floundering, still uncertain about his new role as black paladin. He'd reached out a hand to him, and the clone hadn't even noticed. He'd just let him sink.

And he would never forgive him for that.

"We tell him." Keith said, resolutely. "And then he can decide."

Maybe he hadn't gotten a say in existing, but he could at least have a say in his ultimate fate. He wasn't sure if that was a mercy or not- and frankly, he didn't care. The fact that he wasn't aware of his own deception didn't mean Keith loathed him any less for it.

His brother was dead- and this fake would never replace him.

He wasn't sure how long it was before someone came for him again, but it didn't feel like it had been all that long. He'd been meditating- or trying to. It should have been easier without the constant headache, but the peace and serenity he sought had eluded him.

It wasn't like he didn't know why. It was hard to focus on anything when your own brother hated you- especially one that you had thought was dead until just now.

That said, he was surprised to see that it was Keith who came for him, and not just the other Blade from before. They were still with him, he noted. They had their mask down this time, revealing a Galra woman with lavender fur, with a darker violet crest of it extending from the center of her brow to the back of her head, before splitting off into two, hanging over her shoulders. She had the yellow eyes he'd come to expect from the Galra, and a stripe of darker red smeared across her brow, darker and thinner than the one Kolivan had.

But even with her added presence, it was clear that Keith was the one who had come to talk to him.

He had his hood down this time, making the stark white of his hair stand out all the more. Even his brows were white, though he wasn't sure if the lower, more purple part of his hair was real or just hair dye, if they even had that in space. It made him think of Krolia, and that made him think that maybe he should have listened to his instincts a lot sooner.

He stayed sitting. Keith didn't join him, not like he usually would.

"Keith, I-"

"Don't use my name." Keith harshly cut him off.

Shiro frowned, wondering what he was supposed to call him if not by his name, but decided not to argue. "Alright. I won't."

Keith narrowed his eyes, watching him with suspicion. "Good."

An awkward silence hung in the air, as if Keith wasn't quite sure what to say after that. Behind him, Cinque cleared her throat, but Keith's frown only deepened in response.

"So," Shiro began, sensing that he was having trouble finding the words he wanted, "-have you decided what to do with me yet?"

"Not yet." Keith said. "We thought we'd let you decide."

Shiro arched a brow, surprised at that. "Me?"

"Haggar was ready for us on Naxzela." Keith said, abruptly changing the subject. "Don't you understand what that means?"

Shiro's brow furrowed in thought. He hadn't thought about it before- he typically tried to avoid thinking about Naxzela if he could- but Keith was right. Haggar had been ready for them. A weapon that complex didn't seem like the kind of thing that could have been thrown together on the fly. He'd just assumed she had it prepared in the event something like that happened, but it sounded like...

"Are you suggesting she knew ahead of time?" Shiro asked. "Wait, Keith, are you-?"

"I said," Keith cut him off, "-don't use my name."

Shiro flinched in spite of himself. He wasn't used to having Keith's anger turn towards him, and the fact that he looked so much more Galra now definitely didn't help. How did that even happen? The scarring was one thing, but...

He pushed the question aside, trying to focus on what they were discussing now. Keith deserved his undivided attention, especially if what he was suggesting was actually true.

"Sorry." He said. "It just sounded a lot like you were suggesting that we have a spy in our camp."

Keith exhaled, but didn't look any less tense. "Yeah."

Shiro's frown deepened, hastily putting two and two together. He swallowed, a bead of sweat trickling down his neck, not liking what he came up with.

"You think it's me." Shiro stated.

"I don't just think it's you." Keith said. "I know it's you."

He said it with such resolve that Shiro found it hard to argue- especially when he kept thinking about it. Those headaches of his... what if they weren't just headaches, but were actually a sign of something else? Haggar and the druids had probed his memory when they had first captured him. Who was to say that she couldn't turn him into an unwitting mole?

The more he turned it over in his head, the more right it seemed. Keith had said that they'd cut his connection with Haggar, and sure enough, his headaches had stopped.

But if that was true, then...

...then he'd been putting everyone in danger, without even knowing it. And he was supposed to be their leader.

"I didn't," Shiro began, "-I didn't know. I swear, I didn't know."

Was that why Keith was treating him like this now? Because he'd been spying on them for Haggar? His stomach clenched at the thought. If Haggar knew about their designs on Naxzela because of him, then wasn't he the one responsible for the fact that Keith had nearly gotten himself killed? If it weren't for him, he would have never...

...but there still seemed to be something missing from that explanation. Something else he wasn't getting.

"I know." Keith said. "You didn't have a choice."

"No," Shiro's shoulders slumped, "-I didn't. And I can see why you wouldn't want to trust me after what happened. But we can fix this. There must be a way to fix this."

He couldn't stand the thought of being at odds with Keith for the rest of his life, almost as much as he couldn't stand the thought of having been unwittingly used by Haggar.

"You don't get it, do you?" Keith asked. "There's nothing between us to fix. There was never anything."

Shiro stared up at him, confusion in his features. "Keith?"

"I said-" Keith cut himself short, making a noise of frustration. "Stop talking to me like him."

"Like who?" Shiro asked, not understanding.

"Like Shiro!" Keith yelled.

He opened his mouth to protest, to point out that he was Shiro, but strangely, he couldn't bring himself to say it. Keith's eyes were barely recognizable now, but there was still something in them that stopped him short. It dawned on him that this was the first time the former red paladin had looked him in the eyes since he'd woken up here.

He didn't like what he saw there.

"You're not him." Keith said, drawing in a long breath as if to calm himself. "Shiro is dead. He died in the battle against Zarkon. He told me himself."

"That's not possible." He said. "I'm right here. I can't be dead."

"I know. You're not." Keith said. "Because you're not Shiro."

"Okay," he frowned, trying desperately to ignore the cold feeling sitting in his gut, the crawling dread that was threatening to consume him, "-then if I'm not Shiro, who am I?"

"Haggar needed a spy." Keith said. "Someone we would trust. So she made you."

He stared up at him, his eyes wide, not wanting to believe what he was hearing. "What are you say-?"

Keith's gaze didn't falter. He wished it would.

"You're his clone."