Vrepit Sa

Chapter One

It had been days since Shiro's disappearance, days since anyone had gotten any proper sleep. Allura had them go back to every previously visited planet trying to find him, but they had no luck. Currently, Allura had all the Paladins gathered in the main control room, while she paced back and forth, rambling about where they could possibly search next. Keith looked around at the others.

  Coran was leaned up against a wall, dozing off. Hunk yawned and sank down further in his seat, eyes drooping shut. Pidge had her head  propped on her hand, eyes shut- maybe she fell asleep already? And Lance was leaned forward, head in his hands, and yawning every few ticks, dark circles becoming noticeable under his tired eyes.

Allura was oblivious to all of this, despite looking absolutely exhausted herself. It was then Keith spoke up, stirring everyone from their half asleep states. "Princess, don't you think it would be better to do this once everyone has gotten some sleep?" Allura stopped her pacing and turned to look at Keith. "What? What do you mean? Shiro is missing, Keith! We have no time for rest when-"

  Keith stood, shoulders back, and approached the Princess. He could feel everyone's eyes on them, looking back and forth between them like a tennis ball match. "Princess, I understand you're worried, and scared, and want to find Shiro as soon as possible, I get it. We all are. We all want to find him just as much as you do, but we need sleep. We're no good to Shiro, wherever he is, if we're falling over ourselves, barely awake or coherent."

  Allura held his eye contact, looking as if she wanted to argue, but let her gaze fall to her feet. "Yes, I-I suppose you're right," She sighed and ran her hands over her face, brushing her hair back. "I'm sorry to have kept you all deprived of sleep like this. It's actually quite ridiculous, thinking that by keeping you all up, it would help at all." She laughed, and Keith could see the tears coming. He lay a gentle hand on her shoulder.

  "Get some sleep, Princess. We'll all do better in the morning, once we've rested." Allura nodded and smiled up at him, the look in her eyes thankful. "You'll think it's just the sleep deprivation talking, but even though Shiro isn't here, it still feels like he is, with you here. I can see so much of him in you." With that, she walked past Keith and to the opening doors. "I expect you all to be in here bright and early tomorrow," the Princess announced as she exited the main control room. Coran followed behind, first patting Keith on the shoulder and giving him a small smile and a, "Thank you," before walking through the doors and letting them close behind him.

  Keith just stood there, letting Allura's words sink in. "...even though Shiro isn't here, it still feels like he is, with you here. I can see so much of him in you." He thought back to when Shiro had told him, if he didn't make it, he wanted Keith to lead Voltron. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. He looked around, not having realized that the others had gotten up, and were looking at him with concern deeply etched into their expressions. "Keith, man, are you okay?" Hunk asked.

  He stood straight and rubbed the back of his neck, "Uh, yeah, just- I'm just tired, ya know. Um, I'm gonna go, to bed.. You guys should, too. Like Allura said. Bright and early she wants us back here." As Keith turned to walk away, he heard Lance yawn loudly and stretch. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Mullet Man. I'm gonna hit the sack, too. I've totally been missing out on my beauty sleep."

  "You totally need it, too," Pidge snorted. "Hey!" Lance shouted, and Pidge laughed, which made Hunk laugh as well. Keith smiled to himself, hearing them act more like themselves, despite the given circumstances.

  "Hunk! Not cool! You're supposed to back me up, not laugh with her!" Keith could almost hear Lance's pout as he walked away, letting the doors shut behind him.

  The castle's lights emitted a dim, cool blue glow down the hallways, casting Keith's shadow far in front of him. He had never been one who was necessarily scared of the dark, but his nerves were on edge, ears searching to pick up any sounds besides his own shallow breathing, or his own footsteps. He had the worst feeling that he was being followed to his room. Trying to shake the feeling, he picked up his pace and took a detour. When the feeling didn't let up, Keith's nerves got the better of him. He unsheathed his knife and ran the rest of the way to his room, almost running smack into his door, but narrowly missing collision as it quickly slid open. He slammed his back against the door once it slid shut, breathing heavy.

  After a moment of standing and catching his breath, Keith slid to the floor and let out a laugh, laughing at himself for being so paranoid.

  Nothing had been following him except his own imagination. Keith stood and walked into his bathroom, wanting to take a quick shower before going to bed.

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  Back in the main control room, Hunk, Pidge, and Lance were just leaving, still bickering and laughing. Out of the corner of his eye, deep in the dark space, Lance could have sworn he saw... "Hey, guys, was that a Galra ship that just went by?"

  Hunk looked over at him, panicked. "A-A Galra ship? Where??" Pidge looked out the windows and shook her head. "There's no Galra ship, Hunk. Just Lance's imagination.”
 
  Lance gasped and glared at Pidge. "It wasn't my imagination! I really saw something out there!"

  "Exactly. Something. It could have been literally anything. We're out in deep space, surrounded by planets and stars, but the last possible thing that could pass by us is a Galra ship, Lance." Pidge looked up at him. "It's probably just nerves that have you seeing things. We're all on edge, we just need sleep.

  Lance huffed. "Yeah, I guess so. I was so sure though, but you're probably right."

  "Of course I am." Pidge grinned up at Lance. "Anyways, I'll see you in the morning, or, whatever the equivalent is when you're in space." Lance nodded and threw a small wave her and Hunk's way as they parted ways to go to their respective rooms.

  Not that he would admit it out loud, but as he walked down the dimly lit corridor, Lance was starting to wish he had left with Keith, to avoid having to walk alone, in a mostly empty castle, when he and Keith were the only two to have rooms on the one side of the ship.

He shivered as he remembered the time that the ship had been 'haunted', and he had almost been sucked out into space. Keith had luckily come to his rescue, though. Would he do it a second time?

He shook his head. It was nothing to worry about now. As he approached his room, passing by Keith's, he could hear the shower running. Keith, shower. Lance felt himself blush at the thoughts, but why? He sighed and pushed the thoughts far away, to the back of his mind, and entered his room. He considered for a moment to take a shower himself, but opted to just applying a face mask and calling it a night.

  As he lay in bed, waiting for sleep to come, he listened to the spray of the shower head in the room adjacent to him, and imagined it was the sound of rain. Earth rain, cool against his face, the sweet smell of the soil rising up from the ground, and he fell asleep with these thoughts.