Court of Feathers

Eight

Word Count: 2,814

"Katie?" Shiro's voice was soft in disbelief looking at the person in front of him with a slack jaw. Of course, Shiro knew somewhere in an empty part in the back of him mind, that this couldn't possibly be Samuel Holt's girl, but if Katie had lived, she would be around her age. She'd be going through school, going out with friends, not just be there one day and gone the next. And just that fact that she looked so similar, too similar, it was strange.

"Huh?" The teen in question cocked her head to the side, looking at Shiro in confusion, "what's a Katie?"

Keith was standing next to Shiro, staring in confusion at Pidge and then back at Shiro, "Who's Katie?" He sounded just as confused as everyone else, the prince included, his head cocked in confusion as he watched the scene unfold.

It wasn't like Keith would remember the little girl that always clung around him anyway. Even in her three years of living, she always found a fascination in Keith's hair that just refused to settle. As soon as she learned to walk, Keith couldn't escape her, Shiro recalled repeatedly finding himself being the barricade between the five and three-year-olds as they recklessly chased themselves around the Holt house. Shiro just guessed that over time, the teen had just forgotten about her and moved on.

And it wasn't like Shiro could blame Keith for his forgetfulness either after she died that was when Shiro started to get crammed with more and more to do that he no longer had any time to set up play dates, and just have a good conversation with Sam anymore. He would have almost forgotten completely about the curious little girl if it hadn't been for Matt meeting him the other night.

Quickly recovering, Shiro scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "I-"come on, is it really that hard to come up with something believable?! "- I just mistook you for someone else." Nice save.

"Oh," Pidge reached up to scratch her forearm uncomfortably, shrugging her shoulders before turning around and planting herself back to her original position, back to playing with the dismantled pieces around her.

Shiro suddenly had a hard time containing his laughter when what sounded like the tiniest squeak escaped Keith's mouth as he finally caught sight of what Pidge and the prince had been messing with up until the point that the two of them walked in.

"Wha- Is that my phone?!" Shiro caught sights of the teen out of the corner of his eye before snapping his gaze away again, holding back a snort.

"Huh, is that what you call it?" Pidge asked, not raising her head from where she was messing with the dismantled phone pieces, her hazel eyes blown wide in fascination, but her tone of voice indicated that she was only partly listening to the world around her. "I wasn't sure what you called it; I was mostly going by just 'thing' up until now."

Keith could no longer speak in audible syllables anymore, the words now completely gone from his throat as he stared, wide-eyed at the wires and computer chips all thrown up in a small pile, the case put off to the side, most likely deemed useless for the time being. "But- What- That's-" His words sputtered off to silence as Shiro chuckled beside him.

"I always thought you spent too much time on that thing anyway," he joked, earning himself a shove on the shoulder and Shiro let out a laugh.

"This isn't funny Shiro, that was my phone!"

"Well, it isn't like it worked before anyway, you saw that much yourself," Shiro reasoned, facing the teen who now had his back to him, arms crossed, and a scowl on his face, his violet eyes occasionally switching to and from the doorframe and the phone now torn to pieces.

"I could've gotten it to work," Keith muttered under his breath and Shiro let out a breathy sigh, the teen couldn't put together a puzzle without getting angry at it, much less a phone. Shiro made a mental note to see if he could get him a new one once they got back.