Avatar Voltron AU book one: the revolution

Chapter eight: Ammending fences

Shiro got up early the next morning. He planned to make a detour on the way to the station today. He though he should try and talk to Pidge again.

Keith sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?" He asked and got off of the couch. He walked into the kitchen to check the time and to grab some food, seeing that it was fairly early that morning.
Lance stirred on the floor. "Ugh... don't ever let me sleep down here again..." he groaned.
"I told you not to." Hunk said.
"Keith," Shiro said coming into the kitchen. "Good morning."
"Huh?" Keith turned around, looking more exhausted than he did the previous night blinked. "Oh, good morning Shiro."
"Can you handle breakfast this morning?" Shiro asked, "I need to take care of something before I head to the station today. It's a little time sensitive."
"Yeah, will you be back late tonight?" Keith asked and got some eggs out to make omelettes for everybody.
"It's possible. We think we have an equilest supporter pegged but we need to investigate further." Shiro said.
"I hope they're paying you over time for all the hours you're putting in." Krolia said coming into the kitchen.
Keith jumped from hearing Krolia's voice and dropped one of the eggs on the floor. "Dang it.." He murmured and started cleaning up the egg.
"I got it. Its my fault for being so jumpy." Keith said and finished wiping the egg up. "Hunk, Lance, you two want an omelette or no?" He called to his friends.
"Heck yes!" Lance called, this was followed by the cracking of joints. "Gah! My back is killing me!"
"I told you not to sleep on the floor." Hunk said loudly. "I'll have one too. Thank you Keith."
"We have another couch Lance. You should have taken that one." Keith said and got to making the food. He looked back at Krolia. "What do you like in your eggs?"
"Don't trouble yourself." Krolia said. "I need to head back to my own apartment and radio the sages. It's protocol I wish I could get around it." She looked apologetically at Keith.
"So I won't be able to talk to you again?" Keith asked in a sad tone, not looking at Krolia. He didn't want to end up crying because he found his mom and the said mom had to leave again.
"We can still each other." Krolia assures Keith. "But we have to be careful. I don't want them to separate you and shiro."
"Keith... it's complicated." Krolia sighed. "They'd take you away to the fire nation. They'd try to make you into one of them. And shiro... even though he doesn't have my blood... they'd take him to the earth kingdom."
"No offence, but I would rather be a wolf bats dinner before I left Shiro or went to the fire nation." Keith said and continued cooking the eggs, flipping them in the air before catching them back in the pan.
Shiro came back into the kitchen. He was wearing his uniform and his prosthetic was on bad he rubbed where it connected. He didn't often get phantom pains from the stump but when he did it usually meant there would be a storm.
"Keep an eye out for storm clouds today." He said with a dry smile. "Arm's acting up again." He added at krolia's confused look.
Keith nodded hearing the storm news and walked to the living room. "Think fast!" He said and threw an umbrella at Shiro. He knew Shiro probably wouldn't use it, but it was good to make sure he had it.
Shiro caught the umbrella. "Thanks Keith." He smiled. "Well I'd better head out."
"Be careful." Krolia said.
"I will." Shiro told her.
"You're welcome. Be safe and come home tonight." Keith said and went back to cooking breakfast.
"Don't worry I will." Shiro said. He made his way out of the apartment and onto the street. He took a different rout that brought him to where Pidge lived. He walked up to the door and hesitated. Shiro took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Pidge got up from her desk and opened the door, surprised and slightly angered to find Shiro at her door. "What do you want?"
"Do I need a reason to talk to a friend?" Shiro asked trying for a smile.
"Listen Shiro, I'm busy right now. I have to finish these blueprints for Asami before I go into work." Pidge explained.
"Pidge please... we need to talk..." shiro said, "I know what you think of me... I know you blame me for what happened." He pulled the medal out and pressed it into her hands. "If I could trade Matt's life for mine I would... because... I know it would make you happy."
Pidge growled and turned her back to Shiro. "Why? Why are you like him?" She asked, clearly trying to not cry. "If you were the one to die, Matt would say the same thing to Keith.."
"Matt was my best friend... he was practically my second brother." Shiro said, he was trying to keep his voice level. "I miss him so much..." he closed his eyes. "I don't deserve this medal... I want you to have it..."
Pidge sighed. "Come in." She said and walked over to a shelf with a picture of Matt and a metal urn. "My parents are gone, but I'll let them know you stopped by."
"Thank you." Shiro said following her inside. He looked at the shelf, tears welled up in his eyes just like every time he saw a picture of Matt.
Folded up neatly on the other side of the picture was a jacket. It was part of the police uniform that had made it through the accident. Pidge looked at Shiro and felt a wave of sympathy. Shiro must miss her brother too. She put a hand on his shoulder and sighed. "I'm sorry for acting the way I did. I thought I was the only one who missed him."
"I'm not mad... I understand..." shiro said wiping his eyes. "It's hard... even harder than... than living with this..." he pointed to his right arm. "This doesn't nearly hurt as much as not having Matt."
Pidge wrapped her arms around Shiro and started to cry. "I'm sorry I blamed you for it. I missed having you and Keith around after he was gone."
Shiro rubbed pidge's back. "It's okay. I never held it against you. I know you're grieving... we all are." He said softly trying to hold back his own tears.
Pidge wiped her eyes and backed up. "I need to get back to work, and I'm sure you need to get there." She said, seeing Shiro in his uniform.
Shiro nodded, "Yeah... Tarlok is going to give me an earful..." he rubbed the back of his neck.
"I have a bad feeling from that guy and the whole task force. I don't think you should be on it." Pidge admitted quietly.
"Now you're starting to sound like Keith." Shiro couldn't help but give an amused smile. "Sure he's a little extreme but we are making progress."
"Extreme is an understatement. That guy is plain insane. He's going to get everyone killed." Pidge told him.
Shiro sighed, "I'll keep an eye on him if that'll make you feel better." He stopped at the door. "I do have a bad feeling about this next assignment." He admitted.
Pidge sighed. "Don't go then. You saw what happened last time. Make up an excuse, fake being sick or something."
"Pidge I can't. Tarlok He... he wasn't happy about last time... he's threatening to..." Shiro couldn't finish he had already said too much.
"Threatening what? To fire you? You know if that were to happen that the chief would hire you right back." Pidge pointed out.
"It's not that." Shiro said, "I wouldn't be worried if it were just that."
"Then what is it?" Pidge asked. "You have me curious now Shiro."
Shiro sighed. "Tarlok... he threatened to arrest me if I tried to back out or if I lost someone else to the equilists. He said that would be enough to... to charge me with reckless endangerment of life."
"What?! He should be the one getting arrested, not you! It isn't your fault that you couldn't get them back. You have to talk to the chief about this."
"Pidge there's only so much Beifong can do right now." Shiro tried to explain. "A lot of people blame her for the attack on the bending arena." He paused, "and I'm not clueless. I know there are people who are suspicious of how I survived... they'd back Tarlok."
"Well there has to be something, I can't just let you go to jail just because he needs some one to blame." Pidge growled.
Shiro sighed. "I can handle this Pidge. I don't want you to get involved." He put his real hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay. I promise."
"I'm going to get involved if something bad does happen." Pidge said in a determined voice, leaving no room for argument.
"Just be careful." Shiro said, "I know from experience that if you dig too deep you won't like what you find."
Pidge made Shiro's metal arm wave goodbye. "You seem to forget I'm not small and weak Shiro. I'm a strong metal bender."
Shiro laughed. "Oh I won't forget that any time soon." He smiled, "I'm just trying to look out for you. I know you can take care of yourself but..."
Pidge rolled her eyes and smiled. "I'm not the same small kid Shiro, I'm leading the engineers in Future Industries. That counts for something."
"I know..." shiro said, "I'm just being a sentimental sap." He looked at the clock on the wall and felt his heart skip. "Crud... I gotta go."
"You're always a sentimental sap." Pidge teased. "And do you mind if I swing by your place later? I know Hunk and Lance have basically moved in."
"Of course I don't mind." Shiro smiled at her. "You're welcome any time. You don't have to ask."
"Okay, just figured I'd ask in case the rules changed." Pidge said and smiled back. "I'm guessing you'll be home late tonight?"
"Yeah... that's become normal." Shiro said, "I swear I'm getting less sleep than Keith, and that's hard to do." He smiled dryly. "Any ways I'll see you. I really do have to get to the station. I'm picking up a lot of slack lately and I can't be late."
"Okay, I'll see you around Shiro." Pidge called and walked back to her desk to finish the blue prints.
Shiro walked back down the street. He couldn't help but smile a little.