And this is done! I may find an epilogue in me at some point, possibly, maybe. But thanks to everyone who has read it and left kudos and commented on it - I hope the ending satisfies.

Keith panicked for a moment before realizing he was still able to breathe. He looked around, seeing a vast, empty black landscape with a starry sky above.

The astral plane. This is how Shiro described it.

His consciousness was here, his body still in the pilot's seat of the Black Lion. In theory, anyway—he felt awfully solid and real as he took a few steps on the sandy black ground.

"Why here? Is Shiro here?" He spun around, looking in every direction for a sign of something other than the endless dark. "Black?"

But, like Red, Black was no longer present in his mind.

"No! Black, where are you?" Keith felt for the bond with every fiber of his being.

Nothing.

He fell to his knees, the isolation crashing down over him.

He was alone. He was trapped and utterly alone. Some leader he turned out to be.

"Shiro! Allura! Pidge! Anyone!"

There was no answer. He stood and tried to move a little farther, to see more, but the flat scenery showed no change at all.

He picked a direction and started running.

He slowed down when his heart was hammering in his chest, when pain shot through his side, and fell to his hands and knees.

Nothing around him had changed. The silver motes in the sky did not move. The ground beneath him suggested hills in the distance, ever out of his reach. Only the line of the horizon showed a faint purple.

Keith gulped in air, digging his fingers into the sand. He needed to feel something tactile, something solid. He looked around again, trying to estimate how far he might have run. It occurred to him that leaving the point of entry might have been a bad idea. He could follow his footprints back—

But there was no sign anywhere. He stood and turned, looking for any disturbance at all in the smooth, unbroken sand.

"Black…please…"

There was no response. The place where the bond had been was empty.

Keith collapsed onto the sand, his head in his hands. He was lost to the others.

Shiro was lost to him.

His tears fell and glowed on the sand, reflecting the faint starlight.

He had no sense of time at all. No clue how long he had been in this place, how long he had huddled here, weeping. The stars were frozen in their positions above. The horizon line remained a constant thread, neither brightening nor fading with the suggestion of a sun or moon to rise.

He was alone, again. As he had been for so much of his life. And this time it might be forever, until he died of starvation or thirst. If that could happen here. His thoughts turned toward his blade, resting in its sheath at his back. That was a possibility, a last resort…

Keith!

His head snapped up at the voice.

Hang on, buddy!

He looked around wildly. "Shiro! Where are you?"

Keith, you have to come to me. The mind-meld can only get me so far!

He remembered the mind-meld practice Coran had put them through. Keith had been willing to share. Pidge had not; she had not yet confirmed her identity to everyone then.

Pidge, who was in a cryo-pod right now, who had almost died because he hadn't stuck to his guns as leader. He had known it was a dangerous plan but let Lance's accusations goad him into risking it anyway.

He curled up on his side, forehead to knees, squeezing his eyes shut. He was coming apart, hearing Shiro in this empty place.

Keith, please! Come to me!

"You shouldn't have made me leader, Shiro. I'm no good at it. Lance hates me, I got Pidge hurt, Hunk doesn't trust me anymore."

I'll make it right. I swear I'll fix it all if you'll just come to me. I need you, Keith. I need you to come to me. Please!

Keith opened his eyes and spotted a flash of white in the distance against the endless black. He tried to keep it in his line of vision, even as it winked in and out.

That's it! Come on, I'm here, find me!

As Keith watched, the white shape approached and sharpened. It was Shiro. Shiro in his paladin armor, striding toward him.

"Shiro!" Keith shot to his feet and started running toward him. The white armor, Shiro's pale face, his shimmering eyes, everything stood out against the midnight-purple landscape.

"Shiro! I found you!"

We found you, Keith!

Keith reached Shiro and flung his arms around him. He felt Shiro return the hug and buried his face against Shiro's shoulder, against the smooth white armor…

…the soft black cloth?

"I've got him! Do it!"

Before Keith could ask what he meant, the black landscape shattered into brilliant blue-white.

Keith was nearly to the exit, his jetpack on full blast.

"The virus is up! All Galra systems are down!" Kolivan shouted in triumph.

"Keith! What's your status?" Shiro's voice echoed in his helmet.

"Almost there! I—"

Keith's voice choked off as a net of purple energy appeared between him and his goal, wrapping around him and dragging him down. He drew breath to shout a warning to the others, but the net contracted, sending searing pain throughout his body, and he couldn't even scream. Dimly he heard a woman's rasping voice issue orders.

"Keep it at the maximum level! It will prevent his lion from finding him until we can get him into an isolation pod!"

Red! RED! Help me!

There was something in the way. He couldn't find Red anywhere in his mind. He tried to reach harder and the net around him flared again, sending him into oblivion.

They had done it. They had taken down Zarkon. But something was wrong: Shiro had not responded to them in any way since using his bayard to turn the sword into a tongue of flames.

Keith charged ahead of the others, desperate to get to Shiro, but they caught up as he climbed into the lion and opened the door to the cockpit.

The bayard rested in its slot.

The pilot's chair was empty.

There was no sign of Shiro.

Keith squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden onslaught of bright light, the sounds of many voices assaulting his ears.

"Quick, get him out of there!" Pidge's voice was shrill.

But Pidge was in a cryo-pod.

"We need him over here!" Allura whipcracked the command.

"Keith! You're back!" Lance hooted.

Why did Lance sound relieved?

Keith felt himself being lifted by two sets of arms out of some kind of enclosure, then someone took a firmer grip as the other person let go.

"You got him?" That was Hunk.

"Yeah, I got him," Shiro replied.

Shiro! What's going on? Keith tried to call out, but he seemed to have no control of his body. He hung limp in Shiro's arms. Shiro moved with him several steps and then laid him down on a padded surface.

Where are we?

As Shiro let him go, Keith tried to protest, tried to grab for Shiro and hold on, but his body would not respond. Someone pulled his helmet off. Hands were working on his armor, removing the hard shell pieces. He felt hands smooth his hair back before resting on his forehead and Allura's voice sounded from directly above him.

"You're safe now, Keith. We've got you. Let us sort it—we'll get rid of every last speck of that witch's contamination."

What? I wasn't in danger, Shiro was! What do you mean, contamination?

An image blasted in, a net of purple energy surrounding him, and now his body moved, jerking as agonizing pain raked through every muscle.

"Allura! What's happening?" Shiro's voice was alarmed.

"I'm not sure… Keith, it's over! Whatever you were seeing, it wasn't real! You're safe, we have you!"

"Sh-Sh-Shiro!"

A pair of hands seized one of his. "I'm here, Keith. We're all here!"

As suddenly as it started, the pain began to recede. Relief seemed to flow from Allura's hands through his head and shoulders and down, pushing the pain out.

"That's it. Just breathe, Keith. We're almost done."

With her words, another wave of energy passed through him, cool and soothing. And in its wake he felt the bond with Red fill him as she stirred, growling protectively as she wrapped her warm presence around his. He felt tears trickle from his eyes down his temples as he welcomed her back in.

Shiro's hands tightened around his and now Keith could squeeze back. He opened his eyes and found Allura leaning over him, surrounded by a glittery pink aura. He tried to look to the side and found Shiro standing next to him, one of the mind-meld bands on his head.

"Hey there." Shiro reached over and put one hand to Keith's face.

"Where…where were you?"

"I was right here."

No…you were…gone, missing. It's been weeks…"

Shiro traded glances with Allura, his eyes filled with worry. She carded her fingers through Keith's hair as she spoke.

"Keith, you were captured by Haggar in our last battle. She managed to block your bond with Red. We thought you'd been killed. If it hadn't been for the Blade of Marmora, we might never have realized you were still alive."

"But… Which battle? Shiro was missing… I had to try and lead the team…"

A new voice spoke up. "The witch imprisoned you in an isolation chamber. The device was invented to aid those suffering from insanity or psychotic episodes by projecting calming surroundings. But she used its function to trap you in an illusion, feeding off your own worst fears."

Keith looked for the source of the voice and recoiled slightly at the sight of an unfamiliar Galra. Shiro steadied him.

"It's all right! She's with the Blade! Her name is Davrith. She helped us get that chamber off the command center before we tried to break you out—Haggar had it set pretty deep into your mind, there was no way we could get you out safely there."

Keith swallowed and tried to look sorry for his reaction. Davrith smiled at him. "You're forgiven, Paladin. Now, we will need to get you into a proper healing pod to check your status. You've been sustained by an airborne substance being pumped into the pod and it wasn't a good fit for a human." She began pulling one of his boots off.

"Ah…not human…"

She looked up, amusement filling her yellow eyes. "Of course you are. I'd say you were one-eighth Galra at best, somewhere in the great-grandparent range, based on the readings I saw. I hid them; otherwise Haggar would have picked up on it and pursued it. It made dismantling the grapnels in the iso-pod very tricky because your physiology is more human than Galra. One of them was very close to severing a major artery in your throat and another was embedded in your spine."

Keith blinked as she continued to chat and help get the last of his armor off, occasionally giving advice to Allura, who was still leaning over him, sending the cool energy through every cell in his body.

Then he felt Shiro's lips against the back of his hand. They moved, his tongue darting out to touch Keith's skin for the briefest instant. Keith turned to look at him and found Shiro's eyes boring into him. He shifted, pressing Keith's hand to his cheek, and his lips moved again, silently. This time Keith could read them.

I love you.

Keith mouthed the words back. I love you.

Reentry was hard.

It was a major focus in training to pilot spacecraft: mastering deceleration, achieving a trajectory that was not too steep or too shallow, juggling gravity and drag and lift. Reentry, even more so than take-off, was a bitch.

He spent hours trying to sort through it all, listening as everyone else filled him in on what had really happened. He had to resist the constant urge to check on Shiro, make sure he was still there. He walked on eggshells around Lance, not wanting to say or do anything that might trigger an argument. He couldn't stop looking at Pidge, at the shoulder where he remembered her being injured. When he couldn't take it anymore, he retreated to the training deck, taking out his frustrations on droid after droid.

And after hours of driving himself to exhaustion, he dragged himself into a hot shower, his mind still churning with conflicting information.

Maybe if I talk to them. Explain what happened to them where I was. If I can apologize, maybe then I'll feel like I've put it behind me.

It took a while for Keith to find Pidge because, for once, she was in her room instead of some other part of the castle. He knocked at the door and was greeted by a tart, "I said no, Hunk!"

"It's Keith."

"Oh, that's all right, then." The door slid open for him, showing Pidge sitting cross-legged on her bed and typing at light speed on her laptop.

"What's the matter with Hunk?"

"Oh, he wants to borrow this for something but I told him I need it to finish the plans for the cloaking devices. I want to make the harmonics cycle through stages, so even if the Galra have a way to see through the original version, it'll only last a few seconds before the cloak shifts to something they can't see through. But it'll take dozens of variations to be effective—"

"Pidge!"

She broke off and looked up at him. "Oh. Sorry." She set the laptop aside. "What's up?"

Keith drew a deep breath, unsure where to start.

Pidge tilted her head at him and patted the bed beside her.

He sat, still not meeting her eyes. His gaze drifted to her shoulder again, where the armor had been torn apart by a Galra rifle.

"I just…I just wanted to make sure you were okay. When I was…imprisoned in that illusion, you and I snuck onto a Galra ship and tried to find more information about your dad's location. I was fighting off too many sentries and a Galra shot you. I know up here—" he tapped his temple "—that you didn't get hurt. But I'm having a hard time convincing my gut."

She reached up and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "It's okay. I'm here and I'm fine and, if you need to hear it from me to believe it, I'll shout it from the castle towers."

He nodded. "Thanks."

They both sat back and Pidge's fingers strayed toward her laptop again. "How did you do it?"

"Hm?"

"Getting more information? What was the plan?"

"Um, you came to me all excited because you thought you had enough records to predict the number I.D. system for the prisoners. We were trying to use numbers based off Shiro's to find specific ones to search—" Keith broke off, alarmed at the sudden look of wild joy on Pidge's face.

"Oh, my god, Keith! That's brilliant! You're brilliant!" She launched forward, grabbing his head and planting a kiss on one cheek, then the other. "We've got to go talk to Shiro, get his number, set up a sorting program…" She slapped her laptop shut and jumped to her feet. "Come on!" She seized his hand and dragged him from the room.

Keith finally found Lance alone in the room with the sunken couches, sprawled on his back and fiddling with Pidge's pocket tablet.

Keith sat across from him. "Does Pidge know you've got that?"

Lance shrugged. "She'll tell me if she wants it. She always does."

Keith felt Lance's attitude was rude, along with his habit of borrowing things without asking. He supposed it was the difference in their upbringing: foster kids learned fast to always, always ask permission before touching anything. In contrast, Lance had grown up with a large family and apparently it was standard practice to take what you wanted but be ready to give it up.

Lance glanced over at him. "Did you need something?"

"I…I wanted to apologize."

Lance frowned and sat up, putting the tablet aside. "Unless you're about to make amends for that offensive hairstyle and get some scissors, I can't think of anything you need to apologize for. It wasn't your fault you got captured."

"No. I mean…you're right, about the getting captured part."

Lance snorted at Keith jumping ahead of his next quip and let him continue instead.

"It's just…I didn't do a very good job of leading, when I thought I had to take over for Shiro. You were always arguing with me and I couldn't find a way to make you understand."

"Whoa, wait. You're trying to apologize for something that never happened? Keith, you do fine when you need to lead! Who took charge when we had to save Shiro and Pidge from that first ro-beast? Who was the only one brave enough to state the obvious about going after Allura? Who was able to get Hunk through the guts of a giant alien without him throwing up once?"

Keith cracked a smile at that.

"So no, no apology. I absolutely refuse to accept it because it's not necessary. We may not always get along, but we've always gotten ourselves together for the team. Comprendes?"

"Um…yes?"

Lance rolled his eyes. "Now, about those scissors…"

"Hell, no!" Keith jumped to his feet and vaulted over the couch, avoiding Lance's grab for him. They both laughed as Lance chased him down the hall.

"Eight days."

Shiro nodded as Keith repeated that bit of information in a flat voice.

"Eight days."

Shiro reached over and took Keith's hand. They were alone in Red's hangar, facing one another as they each sat on a claw on one enormous front paw.

"How long did it feel?"

"Weeks…maybe months. We ran all kinds of strike-and-run attacks on Galra ships. And then Lance did something colossally stupid and when I called him on it the whole leadership thing blew up in everyone's face. It was terrible: Hunk stuck by Lance because they've been best friends forever and for whatever reason Coran sided with them. Pidge and Allura were on my side. It was a wonder that we could keep it together long enough to fight the Galra."

"You do realize it would be different if it were real? Haggar set up that chamber to reflect your worst fears. It wasn't really them, just figments of your imagination acting on the most negative possibilities. You do have it in you to be a strong leader."

"Really, Shiro? Because those fights with Lance felt real. They felt like things he'd say if he got angry enough and he wouldn't listen to me. Just like he didn't listen when I tried to apologize—"

"Because you had nothing to apologize for."

"And I got Pidge hurt! I knew her plan was risky and let Lance push me into going for it just to prove I wasn't a hypocrite. She almost died, Shiro. She almost died because of me."

"You came close to dying because of my plan."

"What?"

Shiro took Keith's other hand. "Kolivan called it a suicide mission, remember? For whatever reason, Haggar chose to keep you alive. She could have easily killed you instead. Was that my fault?"

"No! Shiro, anything can go wrong—"

"Exactly. Anything can go wrong at any time. Lance doesn't blame me or anyone else on the team for getting caught in a bomb blast. I don't blame Allura or the team for the time I ran into Haggar again and she wounded me." He squeezed Keith's hands. "Part of leadership is accepting that not everything is going to work out and finding ways around it when things go pear-shaped. And again, it wasn't real. It was her illusion."

Keith swallowed hard. "It all felt real. And it worked the way Haggar wanted it to. I'm afraid of not being able to get them to function as a team. I'm afraid of screwing up and getting someone hurt. I'm afraid of losing you—" he paused and looked away "—and I'm afraid of being left alone."

"But you're not alone. We're all here."

"It's like…it's like here and now feels less real than the other. It was so easy to believe the other."

Red growled a little, making them look up at her glowing golden eyes. The growl echoed in Keith's chest as she gently scolded him. Shiro chuckled.

"She's right, you know. You need to believe in the positive things about yourself. You are a brilliant pilot. You are a stellar fighter. You are better at helping others and leading others than you think. You are smart and resourceful and quick. You have a big, red, mechanical mother hen who will always come after you as long as she can sense you." The amused purr made the paw they were sitting on vibrate and Keith felt Red's support reverberate through the bond.

Shiro slid off his perch and moved to stand in front of Keith, leaning into him between his legs. "But I understand being afraid. I've been afraid plenty of times in my life, and not just because of the Galra." He ran his hands up Keith's thighs to settle on his hips. "I let fear get the better of me at times. And one time, it was a huge mistake." He leaned forward and Keith felt his heart jump to his throat, realizing what Shiro was referring to. "I wanted to ask you to wait for me, even though we'd only been dating a few months. And I didn't."

"I would've said yes," Keith whispered.

"What do you say now?" Shiro brought his face closer, hovering just out of reach.

"What do you think?" Keith slid his hands around Shiro's neck, pulling him in.

Thank you as always for reading! I'd love to know what you think in a review!