Hey, Brother? {a Voltron fanfic}

Chapter 8

Kiera woke up screaming just like she usually did. That was part of why she didn't sleep much.

See, Kiera had severe nightmares. They were absolutely craptastic! She'd experienced a lot of terrifying things in her life and her mind liked to rehash those memories and mash them all together whenever she let herself have the luxury of sleep.

Kiera's eyes opened and she sat up, panting. Cold sweat drenched her body and fear had planted itself like a seed in her mind. She felt nauseous and out of control.

Ace walked over to her bed and knelt What happened this time, Kiera? He was always the one she told about her nightmares.

"I-I was back in the Galra prison." She started, her voice filled with fear and she stumbled over her words "And then I was fighting in the arena. I-I was injured. Then I went to the prison camp. T-torture... I've told you about the torture. I-it was all holograms of people being slaughtered. I couldn't save them. I couldn't save them, Ace!" She sobbed as she spoke.

Kiera, Kiera, look at me. He said. She obliged and he continued No one got hurt. It was just holograms. You're safer now.

"But people have gotten hurt, Ace." She was whispering now "We have to leave."

Ace grabbed her arm in his mechanical hand Kiera, no. We aren't leaving yet. We have a deal to fulfill. And, you need to tell your brother that he is your brother.

Kiera breathed out a shaky breath "Okay, I'm calmer now."

Good. Ace said Keep breathing.

"Thank you for always helping me calm down." Kiera said "It means more than you know. I would hug you but I don't hug people."

Ace laughed a little And she's back. The others probably heard you scream. They may come to ask you what's wro-

As if on cue, Kiera heard a knock at the door followed by a voice she recognized as Shiro's saying "Kiera, are you alright?"

"Yeah." She said, voice still shaky "I'm good."

"Can I come in?" He asked.

"Um, sure." She went to open the door. He walked in and they sat on her bed.

"I heard you scream." He said "Nightmares?"

Kiera nodded "Yeah. But they're nothing I can't handle." She tried to sound like she was perfectly fine and joking around but it came out as more of a wimpy attempt at being confident.

"What did you dream about?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing important." Kiera desperately tried to wave off the question.

Shiro repeated himself, speaking warmly this time "Kiera, what did you dream about?" He looked her in the eye.

Her confident shell cracked and a tear slipped down her cheek which she quickly wiped away "I-I dreamed about my time as a Galra prisoner. I was tortured a lot. They loved torturing me because I didn't react until they literally snapped one of my bones. I only got to leave the torture chambers when it reached curfew or I was physically broken. They always healed me after with some sort of magic or something. I fought in an arena and I got injured and they didn't want to waste any more magic on me. Then I was sent to a labour camp and tortured some more." Her voice broke "The torture was holograms. Mental torture and it was so so much worse than physical torture. I w-watched people g-get slaughtered a-and die in front of me."

More tears slipped down her cheek, remembering all the different ways they had killed people in front of her and she whispered "It was horrible." She buried her face in her hands. She'd never been this vulnerable and broken in front of a human before.

Kiera felt Shiro gently place a hand on her shoulder "Wow. I didn't know you'd been through so much."

"And I'm amazed I actually told you." She said, bringing her face up to look at him "The only thing I've ever confided in is Ace. He was the only one who knew I had been captured by the Galra."

"Why were you captured?" Shiro asked.

Kiera started counting on her fingers "Forging legal documents, possession of Galra property, killing a Galra officer, stealing a ship, resisting arrest and trying to escape the prison a few times. Oh and attacking and stealing from a metal shipment a few days ago." She snorted "I'm not exactly a good person."

"I've been to Galra prison too." Shiro said.

"I find it hard to believe that you of all people was arrested by the Galra." Kiera said.

Shiro shrugged "I was on an Earth mission to one of Pluto's moons called Kerberos. There were three people on board. We were all captured. Then, Earth told everyone that the Kerberos mission people were dead."

Kiera cocked her head to the side "Kerberos mission?"

"How long have you been out here?" He asked.

"Five years ish." Kiera said.

"Ah." He nodded "Then you weren't on Earth when the Kerberos mission was launched."

"That would explain why I know nothing about it." She sighed. Then, she turned to Shiro and said "Well, you should feel special. I don't usually share so much with anyone. Not even with Pigeon."

Shiro laughed "You two really hit it off."

"She's pretty cool." Kiera said.

Shiro stood and said "Well, I'll leave you be. I'm going to go get breakfast."

"Wait, breakfast?" Kiera demanded.

Sensing her question, Shiro said "You've been asleep for about fourteen hours."

"Ugh." Kiera groaned "No wonder I feel better rested than I have in literal weeks." She turned on Ace "I told you to wake me up."

And I said I wasn't going to unless something bad happened. He replied Get over yourself. You may have created me but you're not technically the boss of me.

"Keep making smart comments like that and I may just lock you in a shock proof chamber." Kiera smirked.

"Wait." Shiro said "You can talk to him?"

"It's a bit like morse code." Kiera nodded "But with more sass."

Shiro laughed and said "See you later." Then he walked out of her room.

"Later, Space Dad." She said.

He turned and looked at her weird "Space Dad?"

"Your knew nickname." She said "I'm already calling Pidge Pigeon."

He snorted and left.

Once he was gone, Kiera braided her hair. Not her usual stuck-to-her-head braids but one long French braid down her head and going over one shoulder. Her mismatched hair made it look twisted and spirally.

She splashed cold water on her face to wake up and strapped her sword to her back. Her wrist knives were still in place and she reattached her blaster to her left thigh. She didn't bother putting her mask back on, everyone already knew what she looked like.

"Okay." She said to her reflection "Bounty hunter and thief extraordinaire, time to face breakfast with people you don't really know."

Her reflection didn't reply.