Empath [ON HOLD]

Chapter 2

A/N: This chapter will shine a light on a small bit Shiro's and Keith past dealing with Keith's abilities.
*Contains mentions of suicidal thoughts, depression, self harm and suicide attempts.
*Contains hints of Shiro/Allura

Shiro remained seated on the cool floor of The Red Lion's cock pit. Just inches before him, laid Keith curled up on the cot in the back of Red. Every once in awhile, Keith would whimper in his sleep. Shiro knew that The Red Lion was shielding his younger brother from all the emotions, all of the pain from everything outside of her, but sadly his nightmares continued to haunt him, still bringing him pain. Shiro's eyes would drift down to his hands that laid numb in his lap then drift back up to Keith's sleeping form.

"Shiro" called Allura over the coms and Red let out a low growl, warning the princess to not disturb her cub. Shiro smiled at that, he was glad that The Red Lion had Keith's back and his best interest at heart.

"May I have a word with you, it's regarding Keith'' came Allura's voice over the coms. Shiro glanced over at Keith and waited a moment before gently reaching out to brush some of his bangs out of his face.

"I'll be right back'' whispered Shiro as he then stood up and began to exit The Red Lion.

"Keep him safe" Shiro then whispered to Red as he went to meet with Allura.

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Allura and Shiro sat in the lounge, sitting in silence for a few seconds before she began to speak to him about Keith.

"How is he?" asked Allura as she turned to face him.

Shiro sighed before he gave her an answer. "He's asleep right now thanks to The Red Lion, she is helping block out everything around him from hurting him." Allura nodded her head in understanding.

"I asked Coran to look into this, and we have discovered something. It is a rare condition that some Galra have, the sense to feel others emotions, they can even use this ability to do a number of other things. From what we have discovered is that those who have this rare ability can become druids such as the ones we have seen.
Since Keith is a hybrid, his abilities are maxed it would seem. The others plus Coran are trying to find something to assist him with this. I do apologize for not taking notice of this before, he must have felt so much pain and felt so alone as well" said Allura who then reached out and took Shiro's hand into hers.

He sent her a smile but he couldn't find his normal joy out of their hand holding. Shiro just felt so hollowed out at the time. The only feels that he could bring up to the surface was sadness and guilt, overwhelming amounts of guilt. He was blaming himself for not taking notice of this, of his little brother.

Shiro slowly made his exit of the lounge and headed right back towards the hanger to the red lion, to his brother.
When he got there he wasn't surprised to see the particular barrier up, shielding everyone out. As he approach the red lion, she allowed the barrier to come down and let him enter her.

Keith was exactly where he had left him just moments ago and he resumed his spot on the cool floor, sitting before his sleeping brother.

His mind wasn't silent as memories and thoughts of the past came back to him like a punch to the stomach, knocking out all the air inside him.

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Shiro slowly entered the torn down home that his friend Keith was living in with his yet again new foster family.

Keith had sent him a text message saying he was feeling terrible.
That wasn't unusual for Keith to feel bad though and Shiro knew this, for he had discovered that Keith had empathetic powers and it killed him to see the young boy in some much pain. Keith was always in a lot of pain because of others, from the pain of being unwanted and abandon by his parents. To the harsh words and hits tossed his way from adults who were supposed to look after him, to kids around his own age picking on him. When Shiro first met Keith, he had a black eye, a broke wrist and multiple cuts and bruises from his latest foster home. It took awhile for Keith to fully open up to him but Shiro guessed by Keith having this ability, that he could feel that he could trust Shiro even when so many others have crushed it. It didn't take long before these two were really close. Shiro from time one was always there for Keith, no matter what.