A Matter of Family

Chapter Fourteen: You Never See it Coming

*note to readers* It just occurred to me that tomorrow is actually Labor Day, so no school on my side! XD Anyways though welcome to the final chapter of A Matter of Family! Thank you so much for reading this far! I hope its been a good story that'll be memorable despite the fact that it's totally not what happened in the show! Once again, I know I'm late, and I'm sorry (I'm not doing this on purpose). YouTube sucks ya in! Goofiness aside though, this is a really short chapter (only four pages long) and so it shouldn't take you too long to blast through it. I'll talk to ya a bit at the end of it ;D Now without further ado, let's roll right into it!

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Keith stood alone, looking out one of the Castle of Lions' many windows. Voltron and the castle had all survived the sudden blast that had come from the lead vessel's core: nothing else had been so lucky. What was left of the Galra fleet, was scattered in pieces and floating about in space now, nothing but remnants of that terrible memory. There was no reason to search for survivors. Only Voltron and the castle could have survived.

The death of both his parents in that explosion had made Keith silent for many hours. There had seemed to be nothing to say when he and Shiro saw the damage around them and connected the dots to realize what had happened. Shiro had spoken little, and Keith not at all, and the team had felt the strange weight that had suddenly been thrown upon the two and spared them of any questions. Shiro had needed some time alone, and Keith had been the same, thus why Keith stood alone as he gazed out the castle window. All he could do was stare out at the graveyard of ships and stars: feeling a kind of numbness only pain could inflict. He soon heard footsteps down the hall, but he didn't need to look to see who it was. He could see part of the most noticeable features reflected in the glass of the window in the corner of his eye. Shiro came to stand by his brother's side, looking out into the black void of space with him.

"How are you?" Shiro asked him, forcing himself to speak.

"I'm..." Keith started, thinking of something to say, "fine."

Shiro knew that wasn't true.

"How are you really?" he asked again, turning his head slightly to look at Keith, a heavy weight lying behind his eyes.

Keith's gaze lowered a bit.

"I...." He began, hesitating on letting what he felt be known, until the words spilled with an anger behind his teeth. "I can't stop thinking why. Why they couldn't escape. Why they had to die. Why we couldn't just stay together. Why we always have to be broken. Why it all had to end. Why we didn't even get the chance to say goodbye...."

Keith compressed a sob, trying to use the grieving anger he felt to dry up the tears: to choke out the sorrow in his throat. Shiro's own tears had been resurfacing as he looked and listened to Keith's lament. He fought to keep his demeanor the same. To not break despite the fact that he was already broken. He looked away from Keith, seeing their mother's features in his expression. Shiro had seen their mother cry, and the way Keith cried (or was nearing it) and the sorrow behind those eyes reflected her in a painful way.

"I don't know...." Shiro admitted, his voice quiet. "I don't know why we came so far to just lose it all. I don't know if what happened was by accident, or if they were trying to save us. I wish I could tell you. I wish I had the answers, but I don't...." He paused, shutting his eyes tight and bowing his head. "I'm just as lost as you are, Keith.... That's what's so hard about loss, you never see it coming...."

The brief anger Keith had felt deep within was extinguished by sorrow, and he bowed his head. Another sob escaped him, louder this time as it was uncontrollable, and as if it had sucked all of the strength in him, he turned around so his back was to the window and leaning against it, he let himself fall down to sit with his back against the wall on the ground. He kept his head bowed to hide his crying. Shiro was soon doing the same, and the brothers sat that way, heads bowed, side by side, defeated by their grief, and all alone.