It had been two days since Allura transferred Shiro's soul-or was it consciousness? -back into his body from the Black Lion. With the team sitting on the nearly barren planet and getting some rest before starting their long trek back to Earth, Shiro sat up and stared at the fire keeping them warm, poking at the flames softly with what he assumed was a stick. Nearly a year outside of his own body, time was almost foreign to him again.
"I died, Keith."
Allura's hands on the Black Lion, absorbing his consciousness, placing him in the clone's body. Memories of the last months flooding his mind, from escaping the Galra—"Project Kuron stage three is in progress."—feeling helpless when the Black Lion didn't respond to him when Keith was on a Blades mission—"I need to help my friends. You have to let me help!"—the near endless battles, fighting Zarkon for Sam Holt, Coran's insane plays thanks to the brain bug. Then the darker memories flooded him, his heart thundering against his chest.
"Give up the fight, Keith! I've already taken care of the team. You're the only one left!" he said, pinning Keith to the ground in the cloning facility.
"Shiro, you're my brother! I love you!" Keith had yelled, breaking the clones concentration.
He remembered the pain of the severed robotic arm, falling unconscious until now.
Opening his eyes, getting blinded by the first real sunlight he'd seen in almost a year. The worried and smiling faces of the man he considered a brother and the woman he'd come to care for, even if he knew he'd never vocalize it.
"You found me…" he'd whispered.
"Rest," Allura said with a small smile, putting her hand on his.
"Rest," Shiro muttered. "Feels like all I've done is rest while they've been fighting. I've seen the fighting, I've seen everything, but it still feels so unreal." He got up and walked away from the fire, walking over to the Lions who were circling their camp, stepping between sleeping bags and makeshift mattresses that housed his friends and even some new faces in Romelle. He walked over to Black and climbed inside, sighing as he sat in the cockpit and put his hand on the console. "Thanks, Black. You saved my life, but…at what cost? Keith's your Paladin now, so what am I?"
He laid his head back and closed his eyes, sighing softly before his eyes snapped open with a new memory.
He was helping Pidge, his Galra arm being used to power the Omega Shield before another band of solar radiation could strike the planet. He gasped and saw himself facing the White Lion, the same that Allura had submitted to in Oriande. The White Lion lunged and snapped its jaws around his body, sending him flinching back and breaking the connection.
A new image popped up, the same White Lion but this time mechanized, looking regal and standing with the other Lions on a scorched battlefield, Galra fighters and cruisers lining the area for miles as they surveyed the end of the war with the Galra. The lions came together to form Voltron, the White Lion roaring as it leapt into the air, coming apart and attaching as new armor and a new mask for Voltron, armor coating its arms and torso with giant white wings.
Shiro's heart thundered as he sat up, putting his hand on his chest. "What in the world…?" he muttered. He got up and left the Black Lion, stumbling out and sinking to his knees beside its massive head, leaning back against it and panting softly.
"Shiro?" Allura's voice asked as she walked up, fear in her normally passive blue eyes. She knelt beside him and put her hand on his arm. "Are you alright? You look distressed."
Shiro sighed softly, looking at Allura. "Allura, if I'm being honest, I'm not alright," he said. "I died, got saved by the Black Lion, watched and wasn't able to tell anyone what was going on. I watched Lotor get distressingly close to you, the team fall apart and come back together, Keith go off and be a Blade, my clone take over, watch my friends nearly die a thousand times over, and now I'm sitting on a desert planet with a missing arm, getting flashes of a life that isn't mine, and flashes of something else that I don't know what it means. I can't sleep because when I close my eyes, I get bombarded with a life that I don't know. I keep seeing a freaking White Lion and Voltron, and right now I am the furthest thing from alright." He looked at Allura and then tore his eyes away, looking out at the distance. "And now we're going back to Earth and I'm…terrified of returning because of how I left things with someone I thought I could spend my life with. I'm a different person then when I left for the Kerberos mission and…I don't want him to see me like I am."
Allura listened to Shiro vent, and she reached over and put her hand on his. "I'm sure that you're still the same person you were before. There's just been some changes in the time you've been gone," she said. "I can't understand what it was like for you, Shiro. Being dead versus being in cryosleep for ten thousand years is vastly different, but I do feel some sorrow that we did not figure it out sooner. I'm sure that whoever you have back on Earth, he'll feel the same way I do."
"And what way is that, Allura?" Shiro asked as he turned his head away, not meeting her eyes.
Allura put her hand on Shiro's cheek softly, making him look at her. "I am just happy that you are alive and back with us," she said. "And yes, we have a surplus of Paladins and a shortage of Lions, but given time, perhaps you can pilot Black once again and lead us to the end of the war."
Shiro nodded softly. "Maybe," he said. "If she lets me."
"She will," Allura said. "The Lions Quintessence is reflected in their Paladins. Yes, we have had to shuffle around due to circumstance, but things as they were before might happen again." Something he said finally clicked in her mind, and she turned to face him. "You said something about a White Lion?"
"Yes," Shiro said. "When you were at the Omega Shield and Pidge used my arm to connect with the systems to get the shield up, there was a moment when…I was facing a white lion. It roared and bit down on me, but…other then that, I don't know what it was. And earlier when I was in Black after getting up from the fire, I saw another vision or a dream or whatever it was, and we were on Earth and there were six Lions, but when Voltron formed, the White Lion became armor and wings and a new face for Voltron. I don't…know what it means, but I remember you said something about a White Lion when you were in Oriande."
Allura nodded. "It's interesting," she said. "I remember the White Lion and felt like it was more then just an illusion to keep people out of Oriande. Sometimes, dreams can be a way to see into the future. Perhaps we'll be able to either find or make this White Lion in the future."
Nodding, Shiro sighed as he looked up at the stars. "I didn't say it before, Allura, but thank you," he said, turning his head and looking at Allura. "Thank you for finding me."
Allura looked at Shiro and smiled softly. "You have always come for me when I was in trouble. I'll always do the same for you, Shiro," she said. She put her hand on his and squeezed softly.
Shiro smiled softly and nodded, squeezing Allura's hand back. "I'll always come back for you," he said. He stood up and helped her up. "You should rest. We've got a long journey until we get back to Earth."
"You should rest too, Shiro," Allura said. "I'll tend the fire and you get some sleep. Pidge wanted a run on rotation, so when you're asleep, I'll wake her."
Shiro smiled softly and nodded. He didn't know why, but he leaned down and kissed Allura's cheek, giving her hand a squeeze. "Good night, Princess," he said. "And again, thank you for finding me."
Allura felt herself blush, leaning up and kissing Shiro's cheek in return. "I'll always find you," she said, watching him head back to the other sleeping Paladins, Romelle, and Coran. She followed behind him, her face red as she lightly touched her cheek, smiling as she knelt to start stoking the fire again. She watched Shiro lay on the ground, asleep nearly instantly as his head hit the ground. She giggled softly, walking over and draping a blanket over him, moving his hair out of his face. "Good night, Black Paladin."