The Silver Paladin

To Wait

~~~~Keith~~~~

The last I remember, was Saoirse kissing me and saying goodbye. Then, there was nothing but light.

I opened my eyes, blinking away the blurriness of my vision, and when I could see clearer, I was confused yet stunned at the same time.

"Is this...." I said, "Are we...?

"Yeah." Pidge confirmed, "It's our reality."

"She did it." Lance said sadly, "She saved us all."

I couldn't move at all. The despair and sorrow I was feeling was too much. The woman I loved more than anything in the entire universe was gone... and she didn't even give us a warning. Just a few sad goodbyes.

I felt something hanging from my neck, when I looked down I saw Saoirse's Teshirian stone. I felt even worse, not feeling worthy of even holding this stone.

"I don't remember that planet being there before." Hunk said.

Confused, we all looked forward and saw a familiar planet that we had only seen in pictures.

"It's Altea." Lance gasped.

"Everyone, the Silver Lion. It's still here." Allura said.

Quickly, we looked around and saw the Silver Lion floating lifelessly in open space, the lights off and the color faded.

"Let's get it back to the Atlas. We'll need to explain everything to her family." I said sadly.

"Wait!" Pidge suddenly shouted, "I'm picking up biorhythms from the Silver Lion! Saoirse's alive!"

My breath hitched in my throat and I didn't hesitate to fly over to the Silver Lion and pull her back to the Atlas, the others following right behind me.

"Shiro, meet us at the Silver Lion hangar. Saoirse may be inside the Lion." I said.

"I heard. I'm just a tick away from the hangar. I'll see you there." He replied.

The hangar opened on the side of the Atlas and we flew inside, the others flying to their own hangars to settle their Lions inside the Atlas.

As soon as I landed inside my hangar, I ran out of the Black Lion and to the Silver hangar. I met the others on my way, running to the entrance to the hangar.

"Keith, everyone!" Shiro shouted. We saw him and Coran standing near the open door.

We didn't stop to talk and ran into the hangar, where the Silver Lion lay on the ground lifeless. We opened the emergency hatch on the top of the Lion's head and hopped inside.

"Saoirse!" I shouted running to the cockpit. We went inside and felt the air go completely still. All of us were too scared and stunned to go inside.

But I had to see if it was true.

I took small, slow steps to the pilot's seat. With a deep breath, I walked around to the front of the seat, where I felt my heart stop completely.

Saoirse was there, her eyes closed and her body limp, slumped over to the side. She looked as if she was sleeping peacefully. Her hair was almost completely blue, only a handful of black hair in streaks running through her hair. She was still dressed in her Teshirian clothes and her marks were still on her skin like tattoos.

I couldn't look away from her limp and still body, but I saw something that made my heart leap.

Her chest..... it was moving up and down with steady breath. I quickly moved closer to her and tore off my glove before pressing my fingers against her neck to feel for a pulse.