The battle seemed almost to stop around Keith as he looked up, tracking a single movement that had caught his eye and realising what-

"Shiro!" Keith lunged and stumbled over the slashed and broken Galra drone at his feet, paying no attention to the obstacle.

"Keith? Keith, Shiro isn't- You have to focus!" Pidge yelled at him over the comms, her voice strident with panic and concern.

"No, I mean-" Keith shook his head, ignoring her and vaulting the bodies scattered in the hangar - it had been a hard battle, though they were winning. "Shiro!" he yelled, hitting a dead run even as Shiro turned a corner and slipped out of sight.

"Keith, no, come back!" Lance called, worry thick in his voice. The sound of his bayard firing echoed through the hangar, though, and he was too pinned down to follow. Everyone else was, and Keith couldn't stop. Shiro.

"Shiro!" Keith slashed through another squad of Galra drones, gathering himself and throwing his body and legs up, rebounding off the wall to get past the ones he hadn't cut down.

Keith followed his lover deeper into the ship at a dead run, throwing off his helmet and leaving it behind when his teammates wouldn't stop yelling in his ear, distracting him. Shiro stopped, just through an open doorway, and Keith caught his arm, pulling him around.

"Shiro, why did you-" he broke off.

Shiro grinned at him, sharp and crooked and vicious, his eyes a bright amber-gold, nearly glowing.

"Shiro?" Keith said brokenly, as Shiro stepped towards him.

"You found me." Shiro said, in anything but Shiro's voice, dark and sultry and rumbling with something that was half-growl, half-purr. "Who are you?"

"Keith, what the quiznak- Oh madre de dios, Shiro you found Shiro." Lance's yell died to barely a whisper. Shiro's grin widened, showing gleaming fangs. ". . .what's wrong with him?" Lance asked, approaching at Keith's back.

"Keith. . ." Shiro purred, pressing close. "Oh, yesss. . . I know you."

Keith's heart leapt, but his stomach felt cold and cramped.

"The other me cries for you." Shiro confided, eyes heavy-lidded. "You're too late, though. . . The magic-mistress, she took him away. It's just me here now." He blinked, slow and deliberate, leaning down into Keith's space.

"You're . . . not Shiro." Keith said, though it tore him up to say it looking into that face.

"I could be." The dark, sharp version of his lover said, a rich, shadowy promise in his tone. "I was meant to be. I'm not him - but I'm better." he grinned. "Don't you want me?"

Kuro is clearly the best at first impressions.

Keith's holding it together as best he can, but his teammates have been watching how broken he is as well, and taking up his slack/keeping him focused when they have to.