Gemini, Touch the Sky (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic/ONC Entry)

Decision

"Empty..."

Ryo found himself looking at the single word he'd written in his small handheld notebook. There was no shaking the numbness he felt. The bus heading from the garrison to the nearby city hit a bump and Ryo let his head jolt up quickly. "Only a day..."

A deep breath of air escaped from Ryo's lips as he looked at the city slowly growing indicating the lessening of distance. Ryo's eyes blinked and he found himself scribbling down a note underneath the word empty. "Growing in size indicates the lessening of distance."

His eyes darted up towards the ceiling. "I shouldn't expect to find the answers I'm looking for only a day after the news briefing." Ryo's fingers reached in and touched the paper on which Holt scribbled the phone numbers. "Is there less distance between us if the defenses against the Galra grow? Will it mean less time until they are home?"

The notebook page gained a few more notes scribbled down and Ryo found himself continuing to look at the page. The bus lurched to a stop and the notebook slipped from his hand. Ryo took a deep breath and reached down for the lost item while his fellow passengers glanced around. He lifted his head up and glanced forward. His eyes blinked upon seeing the lack of movement going forward. "What's going on?"

The small handful of passengers glanced around wondering the same thing. One person pulled out their phone and started looking up information while some glanced out the windows. One of the people looking out the window said, "there is a major traffic jam".

"Apparently..." The person using their phone didn't look up. "There is a major protest going on in the city regarding the garrison."

Ryo's mouth twisted into a frown. "Why aren't they protesting outside of the garrison?"

The person using their phone looked up at him. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"There is only so close a protest can get to the garrison legally, but a protest inside the city would be far more visible to the news outlets for that very reason. Whoever arranged the protest didn't have much time to do so, but the transportation options for civilians wanting to go out to the garrison are limited for obvious reasons." The person paused. "You look familiar."

"I doubt it." Ryo turned back to his notebook, yet no more words came to mind making the journey back to their hotel rather grueling. His manager waited for him at the bus terminal utilized for the buses which headed out to the garrison, yet the taxi ride proved just as grueling as the bus ride. Ryo let out a groan and finally conceded to walking the rest of the way. He walked at a brisk pace behind his manager.

On the way to the hotel, they passed close by the protest. Ryo caught a glimpse of some of the signs and found himself taking a deep breath. "Don't pay attention to them."

His manager's voice drew his attention away and he continued. Even when they arrived at the hotel Ryo didn't relax until he found himself in their hotel room. A deep sigh escaped his lips. After a few minutes taking in the quiet atmosphere, he headed towards the table and dropped his notebook onto the surface. He plopped down into the chair. "Nothing."

"What?"

"I don't have any information about them."

"Do you mean the Garrison is still not being upfront with you regarding what is going on."

"No. Commander Holt was more then willing to tell me details, but I asked if they were alright and then decided I didn't want to know. I'm scared I'll find out something which will only make me worry even more. No video message from them." Ryo remembered something Holt said and sat up. His throat tightened while the knuckle of one finger tapped the surface of the table. "I did learn something. Keith was off doing his own thing."

Ryo's manager pulled out a chair and sat down. "Is that really surprising? I mean, we're talking about the brother who became a hermit in the desert for an entire year."

"And I worried about him the entire time he did that." Ryo glanced down at the table. His frustration built up slightly and he stood up and walked over to the television and reached for a remote.

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"I feel useless doing nothing. They're miles, no, eons away, and I can't do anything to help them." Ryo pushed the rubbery buttons of the remote so he might watch the news.

"So..." the news anchor on the television screen said. "People around the world are discussing whether aliens are real, or if Doctor Samuel Holt went crazy when the Kerberos mission failed. This, of course, means Takashi Shirogane's actions as pilot are still under scrutiny, but some in the world are wondering if this is some scheme to further monopolize the world's resources under one umbrella organization."

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryo saw his manager reach for the remote. "Ryo..."

"It's not as if I haven't heard this before."

"You don't need more stress." The man let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his head. "Ryo..." Ryo shook his head and headed over towards the table. He set the controller down.

"We should never have traveled into outer space in the first place," one of the people on the television said. "This is what we got for trying to use any resource we can get our hands on."

"Why can't we just make peace with the Galra. Why do we have to go to war?"

"Earth is for Earthlings."

"This is the biggest hoax ever."

"They're not letting anyone in on the alien technology unless they agree to their secrecy plan. Sounds like what really happened is UCIST stole the technology from a country or group not under their precious Universal Coalition for Intergalactic Space Travel."

"Are those cadets alive, or is that another cover-up? Who are these cadets even?"

"Sure, aliens aren't real. This is just going to make the UCIST fall apart just like any other major whatever you call it has. I mean, historically that's what happened."

"Aliens are scary." The comment made Ryo sit up straight as his mind processed what he heard. The latest person interviewed for their opinion was a little girl, but he listened to the adults around the little girl tell her there was nothing to worry about because the aliens weren't real.

His finger reached for the remote and turned off the television. A sigh drew his attention to his manager whose facial features twisted in relief. "I was wondering when you would stop torturing yourself."

"I'm fine." Ryo watched his manager begin to protest and held up a finger while he flipped to a blank piece of paper. His writing utensil spun between his fingers and then touched down on the sheet of paper. The blank sheet soon filled with line after line of possible lyrics and every so often Ryo swallowed. The tension certainly wasn't going away, yet Ryo knew in part this came from the excitement he suddenly felt.

After a few minutes, he blinked his eyes and rubbed them. His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a card while his other hand reached for his cell phone while his manager watched with a rather amused look on his face.