Blackout (A Keith Fanfiction)

Chapter 13

Lance, Pidge, and Hunk essentially smother me as soon as I step foot back in the castle. It takes me by surprise. I chuckle, "Did you really miss me that much?" It sounded like a joke, but it was a legitimate question in my head.

"What happened back in that room?"

"Why did you leave?"

"Can you really spew lightning?"

Questions started shooting at me as soon as they let go. It quickly got overwhelming. Shiro thankfully steps in, "Alright, guys, give her room to breathe." Shiro came forward, "Nice to have you back, Valerie," he gives a soft smile.

I extend a hand, almost awkwardly formally, "It's nice to be back." Everything that comes from my mouth sounds incredibly unsure.

He grabs my hand as if going through with my awkwardly formal greeting, but quickly pulls me into a tight hug. This definitely takes me by surprise, but I (hesitantly) return the hug.

"Allura," you nod a greeting. She also rushes forward to hug me, but at this point, I start to get used to it.

"We were worried sick about you!" she exclaims, pulling back to look at me, as if checking for any sign that I'm hurt.

"Yeah! You should've seen Keith!" Hunk chimes in. "He was extra grumpy and like freaked out when we stopped to free a planet!"

"Did not!" Keith very quickly objects.

"Did too," everyone else says in perfect sync.

"We all told him to chill and that we'd figure it out as a team and plan a rescue mission, but then he just found you and left like the reckless hot-head he is," Lance scoffs.

Keith crosses his arms, "We had no idea if she was ok or not! It was pretty important to get to her before something happened to her!" He defends, turning a shade of red that nearly matched his lion.

Shiro laughed along with the group but intervened, "Ok, enough making fun of Keith for now. We have a lot to talk about," the end of that sentence is directed towards me and it almost made me feel like I'm in trouble.

Any hint of a smile I had disappears and I look down at everyone's shoes. The room only stays silent until Coran enters, "The red lion has returned to the hanger on its own. I suggest we take off before-" that's when Coran notices me. "You found her! Well done, Number Four!" he commends Keith, then nods at me, "Number Five, it's great to have you back on board!"

Normally Coran's height ranking system would make you giggle a bit, but right now wasn't really a giggling time.

"Coran's right, we should leave. This place is crawling with bandits and tribes that would love to get their hands on a nice ship," I start towards the bridge, expecting that everyone else will head that way, too, and quickly dismissing any conversation that might have been had about our situation... my situation.

* * *

I discovered the punching bag feature in the training room very quickly. Training with Keith was rather scarce now. Training with anyone was rather scarce now. It seems like the whole situation with my freak abilities has changed everything. So now I train alone, using the weird Altean punching bags to clear my head.

It was going to be brought up eventually. I know that. It has to be addressed at some point. That still doesn't change the fact that I don't want to address it. I'd rather carry on pretending it doesn't exist. Punch. Wearing the stupid gloves. Punch. And going about missions and training like normal. Punch punch punch. If none of this happened. Punch punch. Everything might be fine. Punch. If I wasn't suddenly a freak. Punch punch punch punch. Then-

"End training sequence," the words echoed through the training room and the punching bag evaporated into blue pixels of light.

"I wasn't done with that," I object.

"You are now," Keith appears in front of me. I look away, still feeling that fluttering in my stomach. "You've been in here for hours."

"You're point...?"

"My point is that you're done training for today."

Keith only allows another moment of silence, "You know you're gonna have to talk about it eventually. We have to.

"I know," my voice is barely audible. In another few seconds, I sigh and find my forehead to be resting on his shoulder, "I don't wanna..."

Keith's arms snake around your waist, one hand moving to your back comfortingly, "I know..."

The small moment of a little peace I was granted only lasted a few more seconds before footsteps approached the door to the training room and Keith and I separated. Pidge appears in the doorway for a short moment to say, "Everyone to the dining room."

Keith and I were the last to get to the dining room, everyone's heads turning to us waiting for us to sit down, which we did. After only a moment's pause, Shiro cut right to the chase, "Valerie, what happened back at that Galra base?"

Th question was like a punch in the gut. The memory itself is more like a spear to the chest.

"Pidge analyzed the energy in that room and got nothing but dead ends," Shiro further explains when he notices my hesitation.

"I-I saw things... it was so real, but it... it couldn't have been..." I start, locking my gaze on a spot in the center of the table.

"What did you see?" Hunk asks carefully.

The memory flashes in my mind again. The striking resemblance, the warm feeling of home, her soft, loving smile that didn't nearly last long enough. "My mom."

Shiro's head suddenly jerks back and his posture stiffens. His voice is halting when he utters, "H-how did you know?"

"I-I just... knew..." I mutter, still in a state of shock from remembering the event so vividly.

"What happened then?" Coran urges me to move onto the next detail. The more painful one.

My already lacking posture drooped more. My chest felt tight and heavier as my heart dropped into my stomach. My lips seemed to go numb as the words slipped past, "They killed her."

The rest of the story slid from my novocained lips as I was enveloped in the worst, somber feeling of... nothing. It was dark, bleak, and empty. Like I was staring into nothing as nothing was happening inside my head but replaying that one moment over and over again.

I hardly knew what was happening until the numbness was pushed away by a pair of arms tightly holding me, and I was brought back into reality. The room was empty and I was now standing as I hug Shiro back as if he's my last grip on reality. It takes me a few more moments after that to feel again. A rushing wave of grief sets in my stomach as a new storm and next thing I know I'm racking with sobs into Shiro's chest with no intent on leaving until I'm done.

Word count: 1137

Whoo! I'm back! 
As a Keith stan, season 6 has watered my crops, cleared my skin, and cleared my conscience
I am ALIVE and READY for season 7