The Silver Paladin

The Road Home

~~~~Keith~~~~

I sat in the Black Lion with Saoirse and Shiro, Shiro watching over his sister alongside me.

Hours ago, Shiro was on death's door and after he finally regained consciousness, Saoirse collpased due to exhaustion and a high fever. As we tried to get her fever down, we saw that Saoirse's stitches were stretched and showing beginning signs of infection.

We took the first aid kit from the Black Lion and tended to the stitches, restitching the cuts and disinfecting them again. Thankfully, Alteans have better medicine that Earth, so the disinfectant helped clear the wounds well.

The girls changed Saoirse into pajamas she packed away in the Silver Lion and got out some pillows and blankets to make her comfortable while she recovered.

I placed my hand on her forehead, feeling that she had cooled down a lot since she first went to sleep. My fingers gently touched her hair as I took my head away. It was strange, but her hair seemed longer than before. Before our battle with Lotor, her hair went down to her waist, just above the top of her butt. But now, it was longer, reaching almost the middle of her upper thighs. I wonder why?

"She's cooled down a lot. She should get better here soon." I said. Shiro sighed in relief.

"That's good." Shiro said, "She's been through a lot throughout this journey. I wish she could get a single moment of rest."

I chuckled, "You know she won't take a break, not if it means that we're in danger." I gently took her hand and rubbed my thumb against her warm skin.

Shiro noticed this and smiled at me.

"Did you tell her about how you felt yet?" He asked. I didn't stop the heat from rushing to my cheeks and nodded.

"Yeah, back when we were on Teshiria. I told her everything about how I felt, and she feels the same way." I answered.

Shiro rested his hand on my shoulder, making me look up at his accepting expression.

"I know you'll take care of her, Keith. Maybe I can be your best man when the time comes?"

I gasped and didn't say anything. I knew the answer, but that would be years after all this was over. We've only just started and I didn't want to rush our relationship, especially since we weren't home and we didn't know the state of the universe at the moment.

Just then, we heard something whine behind us. We turned around and saw my wolf walking into the cockpit. He walked over to Saoirse and laid down next to her, resting his head on her stomach.

"Okay, bud, you stay here and keep an eye on Saoirse, got it?" I said. The wolf whined again and snuggled closer to Saoirse.

Shiro and I got up and exited the Black Lion, waiting with the others for Pidge to come back with news. Since we settled down on this deserted asteroid, she was trying to contact Earth.

Another hour passed and Pidge came back out of the Green Lion with a sad look on her face.

"Were you able to contact Earth?" Shiro asked Pidge.

"No luck." Pidge answered sadly, "The low power levels are probably affecting our broadcast distance. I'll keep trying as we head for Earth."

"I can't believe we're finally going home." Lance said almost in disbelief.

"I'm gonna hug my parents and never let go." Hunk said hugging himself to further prove his point.

"I can't wait to see how Dad integrated Altean and Earth technologies together." Pidge said excitedly with stars in her eyes, "I bet he came up with something amazing. And my mom..." her happy face turned unsure and a little but scared, "oh, she's gonna be so mad at me for running away. I hope I'm not grounded."