Disclaimer: Voltron: Legendary Defender belongs to Dreamworks and Netflix.
I jumped on the Sickfic bandwagon! I don't think anyone's done something like this before, so I hope it's well received!
Headcanons ahead! Be warned! Reading my 10 Truths About Shiro one-shot before this may help! (Also, tell me if I should leave in the dividers. I'm not sure about them.)
"Shiro? Shiro!"
Shiro...
... Shiro...
... Takashi...
... Takashi...
...Takashi feels hot.
He knows this can't be right. It's the middle of winter, so if anything he should feel cold, right? Isn't that how it works?
He then realizes he's cold too- his skin is boiling, but his insides feel frozen. He's hot and cold at the exact same time, and it's so unpleasant he wants to squirm.
Despite his discomfort, he knows he can't remain in bed. Today his science class is starting a unit on the solar system. He's been waiting for this all year and he doesn't want to miss it. He knows it'll help him travel in outer space when he's grown up.
He can't miss this.
"Gotta get up," he murmurs to himself. "Gonna be late."
"No- no, stay put."
"Work with us here, buddy. You can't get up right now."
He tries to get up but finds himself unable to. He surrenders after a few doboshes and instead curls up in his quilt as a bout of shivering overtakes him.
"Takashi?"
Takashi blinks blearily and slowly faces his head towards his bedroom door. His mother is standing there, her eyes filled with concern.
She enters the room and sits at the foot of the bed, leaning over him. Her long black hair is loose over her shoulders, and she's wearing the blue kimono Chichi-ue bought for her during one of their family trips to Japan. She smells spicy and warm, and immediately he feels a little better.
"Ryou told me you weren't up yet," she tells him. "What's wrong, baby?"
"'s hot," he mutters. "'n cold. 'dn like it."
"We know, Shiro. Just hang in there."
"Are we sure the cryo-pods won't work?"
"They're meant for physical injuries only, I'm afraid. They can prevent an illness from getting worse, but not cure it."
Mother frowns, then reaches down and places her soft hand against his forehead. It's positively icy against his burning skin, and this time he does squirm.
"You have a fever," she observes. "It figures- with this weather and the amount of time you spend outside, you were bound to catch something."
He likes going outside- there's always something new to discover or to play with. Just yesterday he spent the entire day with Ryou, playing "Ice Monsters From Pluto." Takashi made it up himself.
"I'll get the thermometer, but I think you're staying home today, baby," Mother says.
"Noooo," Takashi groans. "'nna go to school. C'mon, haha-ue..."
"... Did he just say he wants to go to school?"
"Great, delirium's setting in."
"What's he laughing about? Was that a laugh? I mean, 'haha,' that's laughing, right?"
His mother laughs and runs her fingers through his hair. "I think you are the only kid I know who'd be upset about not going to school. And I told you, you can just call me Mommy. Haha-ue is so formal. I wish your grandma hadn't taught you that."
"Haha-ue," he says insistently. "Haha-ue."
"I'm right here, my noble boy," she assures him. She bends down and kisses his forehead. "I'll check on your brother then go get the thermometer. In the meantime, get some rest. Okay, Takashi?"
Takashi still doesn't want to miss school, but he nods as best he can. "'kay. Love you, haha-ue."
"..."
His mother smiles and cradles his cheek. "I love you too."
She decides to stay for a bit, stroking his hair and humming an old lullaby to him. She giggles fondly when Takashi leans into her touch.
Once she deems him properly soothed, she gets up from the bed, closes the curtains, and walks over the bedside table- on it is Takashi's Galaxy Garrison Star Projector. Chichi-ue bought it for him during a trip to the planetarium. His mother flips it on and his ceiling is covered in a myriad of stars and nebula.
Takashi usually loves watching the projection, but something about it today seems... lackluster. He gets the feeling he's seen better and he has no idea why.
Meanwhile, Haha-ue gives him one last smile from the doorway.
"Here are your stars. You might have to skip class today, but I have no doubt you'll still get to see the real thing up close someday. Rest up, baby."
With that, she shuts off the overhead light, leaves the room, and closes the door. Takashi is alone. He keeps expecting her to return as promised, but she doesn't. His bedroom begins to fade away into purple-tinted darkness and if that isn't bad enough, the heat he's feeling is increasing to unbearable levels.
He's scared- what's happening? Why isn't he in bed anymore? He's supposed to stay in bed, his mother wanted him to! His mother...
His mother...
His mother...
His mother died when he was sixteen.
Takashi remembers... she got sick and didn't get better- he almost left the Garrison but stayed when he remembered how much she supported his dream.
She's dead, but if that's the case, how had she been in his room? No, this can't be right. Where is his mother? Where is she?!
"Haha-ue! Haha-ue! It's hot! Haha-ue!"
"Quiznak!"
"Hold him still!"
"Someone get his arm!"
"Don't hurt him!"
"Tell him that in regards to us!"
"It's not his fault! Quick, does anyone know who or what a haha-ue is?!"
"We don't have time for that! Shiro's temperature is spiking! We need to cool him down, now!"
"Here, Number Five, use this! It should be compatible with your human biology!"
"We'll take what we can get! Pidge, do it!"
"On it! Hold on, Shiro!"
If his skin is the surface of the sun, then his insides are the center of a black hole- impossibly cold and heavily pressured. And it's dark, so dark that he can't tell if it's actually dark or he has gone blind.
It's too much, far too much. It's been too much for a very long time.
- searing pain as the brand his back-
-he's tired, so tired but Myzax's not done-
-his arm is fine, what are they-
No! No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no! He's not there, he not! He's not there, but he doesn't know what this darkness is either, and somehow that's even worse.
It's just...
...It's just TOO MUCH!
It's dark and he's hot and he's cold and he doesn't know where he is and he wants his mother!
-blood, it's everywhere, he can taste it-
-they're children, what was he-
-he's not a monster, he's not a-
"HAHA-UE!" Takashi screeches, running through the darkness as if it were that easy to escape- to escape his past, the truth, whatever. It wasn't happening.
"He's seizing!"
"Damn it, Coran, you said-!"
"It's needs a moment to work!"
"He doesn't have a moment!"
"Come on, Shiro, stay with us!"
The child trips and falls to the unseen ground, tears streaming down his cheeks.
He wants Mother to make it all go away, like she always does! When she's not there, that's when things fall apart. It's why Father threw himself into his work, its why he and Ryou had their dumb fight, it's all because she left!
He...
He's ...
He's so damn tired and he wants to rest. He's wants to not be alone anymore. It's been so long- he wants his mother to lay by his side and card her fingers through his hair and sing to him and make him leek soup and watch cartoons with him and play with him and Ryou...
... He wants to be on the Castleship and train with Keith and eat one of Hunk's meals and shares Holt stories with Pidge and groan when Lance makes a terrible joke and listen to Coran's energetic lectures and converse with Allura about how freaking hard it is to lead...
Little Takashi lays on his side and curls in on himself, hugging his legs to his chest and sobbing.
He just wants to go home.
He just wants Haha-ue.
He just wants to get out the darkness, heat, and cold.
He just wants to see his friends.
Paladin.
He... wait, what?
"Wait, hold on... he's stabilizing!"
"Is the medicine working?"
"I think his fever's starting to go down!"
At the sound of the deep, almost purring voice, Shiro's eyes shoot open.
It takes him a moment to recognize it, but when he does he jumps to his feet and looks around frantically.
"... Black?" he calls out with caution.
My Paladin.
The confirmation causes all the stress to bleed from Shiro's body. Black was here, he wasn't alone in the dark. He doesn't even feel hot or cold anymore.
"Black, I..." he trails off.
Rest, My Paladin. All will be well.
"But I-"
Rest. Even leaders miss their families. Yours is waiting for you.
Shiro's mind is filled with flashes of Keith, Pidge, Lance, Hunk, the space mice, Allura, Coran, and all five Lions.
Seeing Keith again after crashing on Earth. Finding the Green Lion with Pidge. Mealtimes with Hunk. Chatting with Lance about the Garrison. Infiltrating the Galra ship with Allura. Training with Coran. Forming Voltron for the first time. And so much more.
He's laughing with them, fighting with them, being with them. They break through the black void that threatens to consume him and leave only light. He can't remember the the last time he's felt like this, but it's here now.
It's freaking wonderful.
"Black," he says. "Thank you,"
Rest.
Shiro closes his eyes.
Rest.
He does.
"His temperature's back to human norms. He'll need to be kept on the medicine for a few quintants, but we're out of the danger zone."
"So he's gonna be okay?!
"Aw, thank goodness! I don't think my nerves can take that kind of stress again!"
"Shiro, you're gonna pay for worrying us like this, you jerk!"
"..."
"Enough of that, paladins! Come, let's let him rest."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Good night, Shiro."
Next time: Shiro awakens and much talking occurs.