I was thinking of a Once Upon a Time Voltron AU where Emma was sent away in the Blue lion to keep her safe and then later re-found Blue, returned to find her parents (who had placed themselves in the cryopods for a lot shorter a time than 10k years) and became a Paladin of Voltron.
Then I started thinking "what about the reverse? A Voltron Once Upon a Time AU" and this idea was born. When you think about it, The Champion to The Saviour was a pretty easy transition.
This is a giant one-shot because I don't have time for another WIP (I'm participating in the Captain Swan Big Bang) and it's easier to skip a bunch of stuff this way XD
Some things:
- Biological broganes both for plot purposes and because I live for this AU
- Shallura is basically Snowing
- Time passed during this curse so the age gaps wouldn't be that odd
- I've never written a fanfic in this format before, but this was the way the story wanted to be told
- Cursed names are kind of a thing but not really, to make it easier to identify characters. They were necessary for the villains, since Zarkon, Haggar and Lotor aren't exactly common names
- I couldn't fit Hunk in here, which is a real shame. I'm sorry, Hunk, you deserve better
- Title from Avicii's Hey Brother
If The Sky Comes Falling Down
one.
Shiro could not remember what his life was before sixteen years of age. He had been found, wandering with no memory. He had retained a name – Shiro – whether it was his first or last he did not know, but he knew it was his. His age had been the only other nugget of information he had remembered; his birthday had become the day he was found.
He had ended up in the foster system – his parents nowhere to be found. He had emerged fairly well-rounded, found a job and an apartment, continued his life.
A life that was normal, despite the void where the memories of the first fifteen years of his life should have been.
two.
Keith's life was anything but normal. Cursed to be separated from his family, to live his days not quite knowing if his memories were real or dreams of an existence better than the one he currently lead.
He needed to know – he needed to find his brother. The Saviour who could break the curse that enveloped the town. The one who could prove that Keith's memories of him were real.
three.
The town was odd – that was all Shiro could say about it. Keith was silent, as he had been for most of the journey, hunched against the window. He offered no commentary on his hometown, merely staring at the familiar (to him, not to Shiro) buildings as they passed by.
"Okay," said Shiro, breaking the silence. "Where do your parents live?"
"Our parents," Keith began, still gazing out the window, "aren't together. They haven't even met here, and they don't know who I am. It's a part of the curse."
Shiro frowned, trying to meet his apparent brother's eye. "So where do you live?"
He shrugged. "Wherever I can."
"You're homeless?"
Keith sighed, finally twisting around in his seat to face him. "The curse, it's supposed to make us miserable. Taking us away from our families, check one. Making us forget our past lives, check two."
"You remember."
His mouth curled into a thoughtful expression. "It doesn't work on me the same was as everyone else. My theory is that some of your Saviour magic worked on me too."
"How long have you been cursed?" asked Shiro next.
"Nine years, I think. I'm seventeen now. You're … twenty-five."
He blinked. "How do you know that?"
"I'm your brother."
"I suppose you are. Okay, where can we stay the night?"
Keith brightened at the use of 'we'. "Take a left at the top of the street …"
.
Across town, in a hospital bed, a woman who had spent the last nine years in a coma opened her eyes.
four.
When Shiro awoke the next morning, the bed and breakfast room he had rented to share with Keith showed no sign of his roommate. Resolved to the worst case scenario, he dressed quickly, wondering just how difficult it would be to find Keith in a town this small, even if it was unfamiliar to him.
He was collecting the keys to the room and his car when the door opened.
"You're awake," said Keith, shutting the door before he continued. "I thought you'd still be asleep when I got back. I go to the hospital every morning to check on a friend of mine, Allura."
The way he paused made Shiro uneasy, as though he were supposed to remember who Allura was.
"She's awake," he finished eventually. "She's been in a coma for as long as the curse, I think it's a good sign."
"The curse can be broken that easily?" asked Shiro, frowning.
Keith shook his head empathically. "No, it's gonna take more than you being here. But this is a start. Do you want to go for breakfast? There's a diner downstairs."
five.
She could not remember her name, nor anything else about herself. Allura, the boy who had visited her that morning had called her. It settled somewhere under her skin. Perhaps it was her name.
But how could the boy know?
She asked the nurses. "The boy who visited me this morning, Keith, did I know him?"
"He never talked to us. Comes to visit you every day, though."
If that was the case, she could ask him tomorrow.
"Eleanor, thank god! I thought I'd never see you again." A man burst into the room, immediately restrained by hospital orderlies. The nurse addressed him.
"Sir, this patient is an amnesiac, if you would please—"
"Eleanor," he said again, "you don't remember me?"
Eleanor, was that her name? Or was Allura? She could not remember.
"I don't know who you are," she said. I don't know who I am.
six.
Keith provided a running commentary over breakfast, telling Shiro about the people who came into the diner – who they were, what the curse had done to them.
"That's Pidge – Katie under the curse. We were friends before the curse was cast."
Shiro listened without complaint, though Keith was sure that the info-dump was likely grating on his brother's nerves.
"Are you okay?"
"It's just—" he gestured in an encompassing circle with a fork. "This is a lot to take in. A few hours ago I didn't have a family. Now I've got to break a curse? I don't even know how."
"I'm sorry," said Keith, voice soft as he tried to think of the best thing to say. "I'm going to help you as much as I can. It's okay that you don't know how to break the curse. We'll figure it out."
Shiro nodded. "Thanks, Keith."
seven.
Keith left for school after breakfast, giving Shiro his number and making it clear that he had no problems with ditching if he was needed. Shiro, who was surprised that Keith even attended school given that he had nowhere to call home, insisted that he go.
He decided that he would use the time alone to familiarise himself with the town. Breaking the curse was not going to be a quick task, if there was even a curse to break. He would likely have to stay in Storybrooke for a while.
It was a quaint town, much smaller than any Shiro had ever visited. People went about their business, some pausing to look at him when they realised he was not one of their own townspeople. On a street corner, he met the Sheriff.
"You're new," said the man, with an easy smile.
"Is it a crime to visit the town?" he replied, earning a laugh.
"No, no, not at all. Sam Holt, nice to meet you."
They shook hands. "Shiro, I'm Keith's brother. I'm going to be here for a while."
"Keith …" Sheriff Holt paused as he seemed to remember who Shiro was talking about. "It's good that he has family. He's a good kid."
Shiro nodded, bidding the sheriff goodbye and continuing on his way.
The layout of the town was fairly simple, and Shiro was confident that he could find his way around it. He sent a text to his brother, asking what time he would finish school at. They had things to discuss; if Shiro was going to stick around for a while, he'd need a job, and they'd need somewhere to live. Staying at Sal's B&B forever was not an option.
eight.
In her dreams, she knew who she was; a princess, a warrior.
Her father told her to run, to get to safety, and she had no choice but to obey him. She heard the sing of metal on metal as she made her escape, the grunts and cries of battle, and she forced herself not to turn her head.
The younger prince ran to her, trying to tell her everything that had happened, his words emerging a jumbled mess. His parents were trying to hold off the witch so that his brother could escape, the curse was approaching on the horizon, he was scared.
She tried to console the prince, but eventually left him to rush to where she heard commotion echoing down the halls.
The elder prince was still there, risking his life when he should have been long gone. She called to him.
"Takashi, go!"
After looking between her and his frantically nodding parents, he did.
"Where are you sending him?" asked the witch menacingly. She stretched out a hand and the princess found herself trapped by magic, unable to move.
"Somewhere you can't find him," said the queen, voice strong though she trembled. "It's over, Haggar. Your curse will be broken. We will defeat you and Zarkon."
A menacing smile. "We'll see about that."
She disappeared, reappearing before the princess. Still paralysed, she could do nothing as the witch plunged a blade into her stomach.
She fell, like a puppet with its strings cut, and …
Awoke in her hospital bed.
Once she had slowed her breathing, and the heart monitor at her bedside sounded less like it would explode, she felt her stomach. There was a scar there, consistent with the injury she had sustained in her dream. She knew it was a dream; there were no witches in the real world, and she was not a princess.
A knock on the door startled her. She looked up to see Keith, the boy who had visited her yesterday – everyday, according to the nurse she had talked to.
"Hey, Allura. Did I wake you?"
She shook her head. "No, come in."
He did, settling into the chair by her bed. "How are you feeling?"
"All right, I think," she replied truthfully. "I don't remember anything."
"I think that's normal."
"Keith? Why do you call me Allura? Did you know me before this happened?"
It took him a moment to reply. "No, I didn't. You never had any visitors here, so I started to come in to see you. No one knew your name, so I called you Allura. I can stop?"
"No … it feels right. Like it belongs to me."
Keith smiled.
nine.
Knowing this time that Keith would pay a visit to the hospital before breakfast, Shiro was unworried when he woke to find the other bed empty.
He ordered breakfast for himself and Keith (hoping that his brother would be all right with the same thing he'd had the morning before) and asked the waitress, a girl called Shay, where he could buy a newspaper.
"Here, you can have this one," she smiled, passing him one from the edge of the counter. "We're finished with it."
"Thank you," he replied, unfurling the Storybrooke Daily Mirror as the waitress moved onto her next customer. He found the listings for work and apartments, scanning both.
"Looking for jobs?" asked Keith in greeting, sliding onto a stool beside Shiro. He looked cheerful.
"Can't use up all my savings. Got any recommendations?"
"You could try the Sheriff's Station," Keith suggested, "Samuel Holt was our—" he paused as Shay delivered their food, "our master-at-arms. He's Pidge's dad. Not here, I don't think they've ever even met."
"I met him yesterday," said Shiro, thoughtful as he took a sip of his coffee. Keith dumped an obscene amount of sugar into his before he did the same. "He seemed like a good person."
He nodded. "So, you could try that. Or – what did you do in New York?"
"Whatever work I could pick up."
"Or you could do whatever work you can pick up."
"I'll check out the Sheriff's Station," said Shiro, laying down the newspaper in favour of his breakfast.H
ten.
Sheriff Holt turned out to be more than happy to hire him at the station, so much so that Shiro was suspicious. He explained, however, that he was good at reading people and had known almost instantly that Shiro was trustworthy. Shiro wasn't exactly sure what to make of that.
He declined the offer of a Deputy uniform, knowing that it would make him stand out even more than he did as the stranger in town.
When he clipped the Deputy badge to his jacket, the ground shook with tremors. He looked worryingly at Sam, but the Sheriff grinned.
"Ready for your first day on the job?"
.
Arriving on the scene, they discovered that one of the mining tunnels that ran underneath the town had collapsed.
"Who is this?" asked the mayor, a woman by the name of Helena, who Shiro had not met. She was clearly suspicious of him.
"My name is Shiro," he replied, smiling as genuinely as he dared. "I'm Keith's brother, and the new Deputy."
"Deputy?" she repeated, turning to Sam.
"It's in my budget," he defended.
"Indeed. Well, Deputy, why don't you make yourself useful by helping calm down the crowds?"
She turned to face the townspeople, clearly intent on giving a speech, but was cut off by a woman rushing towards the collapsed mine entrance, yelling intelligibly.
"Katie! Please, my daughter is down there!"
Katie? Shiro was sure he had heard that name somewhere before … Pidge, Keith's friend.
If she was Pidge's real mother, and not a family connection made by the curse, she didn't recognise Sam. Shiro understood now, more than he had by merely listening to Keith's stories, what the curse had done.
"You have to help her!" she implored the Sheriff, who may have been her husband in another life.
So it was that Shiro ended up being hoisted down an air shaft, torch in hand, calling for Katie.
He found her stowing rock samples away in her backpack. She was a scientist, she explained, and had not expected the tunnel to collapse.
"All that matters is that you're safe," he told her, relieved to have found her unharmed. "Your mother is worried about you."
Katie sighed at this. "She always does. But I'm fine."
"Still, I'd be more careful in the future if I were you."
After checking the security of the harness, Shiro switched on his walkie talkie. "Sheriff? I've found her."
There was some static, and then a reply. "Are you ready to come back up?"
Katie took this as her cue to approach him. When she was in position, he gave an answer. "Ready now."
The ascent was a little bumpy, but otherwise uneventful. Katie took the opportunity to quiz him.
"Who are you, anyway?"
Shiro laughed. "You let a stranger rescue you?"
"You're trustworthy, I could tell," she replied matter-of-factly. A trait she shared with her father, apparently. "But that doesn't answer my question."
"Name's Shiro, I'm new in town. I just started at the Sheriff's Station; you're my first rescue."
She seemed unimpressed by his attempt at humour. "What brought you here? We don't see new people very often."
"My brother, Keith, he's from here. He came to find me."
Katie pursed her lips. "The homeless kid?"
"Not for much longer, if I have anything to do with it."
eleven.
The news that she would be released from the hospital was not a surprise, but yet Allura did not know what she would do outside of these walls. The town, it's people were strangers to her. Her only friend was a teenage boy.
She had been told her history by her so-called fiancé, Liam. After his initial outburst, he had returned and explained himself. Her name was Eleanor, she had been eighteen when they had gotten engaged, young but sure of their love. After argument, however, she had left for a walk in the woods to clear her head, and had somehow ended up in a coma. He had thought she'd moved, and never connected the Jane Doe in the hospital with her. She had never been identified.
Keith visited her that morning, as he did every morning. They walked around the outdoor gardens together, and Allura told him the news that she would be discharged later that day.
"Do you have a place to stay?" he asked.
She bit her lip. "Yes, I do actually. With my … fiancé. I don't remember him, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Maybe it'll jog my memory."
Liam still called her Eleanor, which she had decided against accepting as her name, but it was clear that he cared about her. She would make a go of things, for the sake of the Eleanor that was.
"I hope it works out for you," he smiled, but it was obviously forced.
"We can still have our meet ups," she said, in an effort to cheer him up. "How about at Sal's? I heard they do a mean breakfast."
"Sounds good," he smiled.
.
After the mine collapse and the subsequent casualties, Allura's bed was needed by the hospital more than ever. So, she packed up her meagre belongings and left the relative safety of the hospital.
twelve.
His conversation with Allura weighed on him over the following days. The curse was not above giving people different families and relationships, if that was what would make them miserable. When it came to Allura, however, Keith was sure that the plan had been for her to remain in a coma. She'd only woken up due to Shiro's arrival.
Keith needed to find out who Liam was. Allura had only had one fiancé – Shiro. This engagement was a fabrication of the curse, something that furthered Haggar or Zarkon's goals.
The mayor's office was easy to break into. Finding what he was looking for, not so much. Haggar – or Mayor Helena, as she was known in Storybrooke – did not keep a handy chart of real- to cursed-names.
He searched instead for records of meetings and dealings the mayor had had over the course of the curse. Lots with Mr. Z, of course – Haggar and Zarkon had always worked together. Finally, he came across the name he was looking for: Liam Zimbel. Reading about the meetings he'd had with Haggar, Keith realised who it was.
"Lotor," he said aloud.
Just as he had made his discovery, he was bathed in light.
thirteen.
It was a slow evening at the station. Shiro was on his fifth cup of coffee of the day, looking over case files when the phone rang, signalling the first interesting thing to have happened since lunch.
"Sheriff's Station," Sam answered. "Madam Mayor, what seems to be the problem? … I understand … I'll be there as soon as I can."
When he hung up the phone, he was grinning. Shiro raised an eyebrow.
"Your little brother finds himself on the wrong side of the law," the Sheriff explained. "Would you like to handle it or sit here and look disappointed?"
Shiro laughed. "I'll stay here."
He returned with Keith in tow (thankfully not cuffed) not long after. Keith sighed as Shiro, arms folded, nodded towards a chair.
"Why did you break into the mayor's office?" asked Sam.
"You broke into the mayor's office?"
"She's keeping things from us," said Keith. "Secret meetings, under the table deals."
"That's politics, kid. It's not nice, but it's nothing we can arrest the mayor for. Now, she's going to want some evidence of punishment. Shiro, I'll leave that up to you."
With a smile to the two of them, Sam retreated to his office.
Shiro raised an eyebrow at his brother. "What were you thinking?"
"Allura has a fiancé. She shouldn't, unless it serves some purpose to Haggar and Zarkon."
"It can't the just a part of the curse?"
"No." He shook his head. "They'd want her to be miserable."
"Right. So, for your sentence." His brother raised an eyebrow at the choice of word. "Community service? No, I have just the thing for you."
He retrieved the keys from his desk, unlocking one of the holding cells.
"Seriously?" asked Keith.
"Seriously. In you go."
Begrudgingly, Keith stood from the chair he had been sitting on and entered the cell. Shiro locked it behind him.
"Wait, you're leaving me in here?"
"Time to think about what you've done," said Shiro with a grin. "Plus, I'll get a much better night's sleep."
fourteen.
Shiro was gracious enough to release Keith before breakfast. He was met with a scowl, and ruffled his brother's hair in retaliation.
"Have you learned your lesson?" Shiro joked.
"Don't try to help you break the curse? Yeah."
After a shower, change of clothes and the promise of breakfast, Keith appeared to feel much better. His mood only improved when he and Shiro entered the diner.
"Allura!" he said, approaching a blonde woman at the counter.
"Keith!" she beamed, accepting his hug. She glanced over his shoulder. "And you must be Shiro?"
"That's me," Shiro smiled, offering a hand to her. "Nice to meet you."
They shook hands, and Shiro felt a shock of electricity. Allura had probably picked up some static from Keith's jacket. She seemed not to notice, but something shifted in her eyes, a slight frown creasing her brow.
"How have you been?" asked Keith, and she turned back to him, shaking her head slightly.
fifteen.
Allura continued to meet with Keith (and occasionally Shiro) for breakfast at Sal's over the following weeks, dodging any and all questions about her fiancé. Keith was suspicious, she knew, but he never pushed the issue.
None of her memories had returned to her, and nothing about Liam made her feel as though she had fallen in love with him as a teenager. Perhaps it had been madness, and they'd been too young to know better.
She knew now; she had to leave. She could stay at Sal's B&B until she found somewhere to live.
Liam did not take well to the news. "Eleanor—"
"My name is Allura, now," she told him. "Maybe it wasn't always, and maybe I loved you, once, but I think I deserve the chance to start over. Maybe this happened to me for a reason. A clean slate."
.
The door to the pawn shop swung open with an almighty ring of the bell. Its proprietor, known only as Mr. Z to the townspeople, was unperturbed, and continued to polish the brass ornament formed a part of his display.
"Father," said Liam, knocking his first on the countertop to further illustrate his impatience.
"What is it, Lotor?"
"You promised that under the curse Princess Allura would be mine."
"I did," replied Mr. Z, laying down the rag he had been polishing with. "And then Haggar stabbed her so that she would sleep. Her little way of denying you what you want."
"She's awake now, and still she is not mine."
"There is nothing I can do to change that, my dear son. It is the Saviour's doing."
"We need to do something about him."
Mr. Z smiled. "I couldn't agree more."
sixteen.
"Looking for a place?"
Shiro looked up at the familiar voice to find Allura smiling at him. She sat across from him in the diner booth.
"Yeah," he answered. "Keith and I can't stay here forever."
She nodded. "A B&B isn't a great long-term arrangement."
He remembered Keith telling him that Allura had left her fiancé. "You're in the market for a place too, aren't you?"
"Yes," she sighed, though she smiled at Shay when the waitress arrived with the coffee she must have ordered, thanking her. "Not so much luck so far. Wait—" her eyes lit up. "Why don't we look for somewhere together, you me and Keith? It'd be a lot easier to find one apartment than two, and the rent would be less … towering."
Shiro considered her words. She and Keith were firm friends, and Shiro couldn't foresee any problems with living with her. It was a good idea.
"As long as Keith doesn't have any issues with it, sounds like a plan."
Allura beamed.
seventeen.
They found a two-bedroom loft apartment in the centre of town. Shiro and Keith were by then accustomed to sharing a room, so continuing to do so wasn't an issue. It was a step up from staying in the bed and breakfast, in any rate. Keith was delighted with the change, but Shiro had the distinct feeling that he was hiding something.
"There's something you should know," said Keith, finally, as he and Shiro unpacked the boxes that had arrived from Shiro's old apartment. "You and Allura knew each other, back home. You were … betrothed to each other."
Shiro gripped the mug he'd taken out of its box a little tighter than was strictly necessary. "We were engaged?"
"Betrothed," Keith corrected. "It's not like you proposed to her. It was set up between our parents and hers. It's the way things are back home."
"And we were okay with it?"
Keith shrugged. "I think so. You were friends, at least. If you did have feelings for her, you weren't going to tell your kid brother. I just thought you might want to know, now that we're living with her."
"Yeah, it's – good to know. Thanks."
eighteen.
There was something about having a place to live – a place that did not scream 'temporary' as the B&B and the places he had been able to find shelter had – that settled him. It made him more hopeful, even confident that Shiro could break the curse. He allowed himself to imagine seeing his parents again, his friends.
All he could see at that present moment was a boy blocking his way.
It was no one Keith had known at home, but he thought he had seen the boy somewhere in Storybrooke before. Around his own age, and arrogant, if Keith's instinct was anything to go by.
He grinned at Keith's scowl. "Lance McClain, a pleasure."
"Keith Kogane. Wish I could say the same. If you'd excuse me …"
"The Deputy's baby brother, right?" asked Lance, infuriating grin still in place. "I've heard a lot about you."
"That's nice," replied Keith, deadpan. "Now—"
"If I'd excuse you? No problem." He made an over exaggerated sweeping bow, stepping aside to let Keith pass.
He felt a profound relief that he hadn't known Lance before the curse.
nineteen.
"Sam?" asked Shiro, tossing his keys onto his desk. It was rare that he had to open the Sheriff's Station, and he hadn't heard from his boss since the previous day.
There was no sign of him at the station. Shiro frowned, trying his cell again. It went straight to voicemail, this time. It must have gone dead.
Shiro considered his options. If Sam was missing, he was now Acting Sheriff, and it was his responsibility to find him.
Checking the files found him a landline and home address. Sam Holt lived alone in Storybrooke, cut off from his previous family by the curse. He knew that Katie lived with her mother, and Matt lived alone, and none of them had any inkling of the connection they shared. That was par for the course, but it would be much easier if Shiro had someone to question.
The landline rang out, Shiro hanging up before he was asked to leave a message. His next move was visiting the house. He debated whether to lock up the station or not for a moment, before deciding that the townspeople might panic if they saw the station locked up and learned that the Sheriff was missing.
The front door of the house swung open when he touched it, and the place was empty. There were minor signs of a struggle. A kitchen chair was overturned, a glass smashed.
Sam was gone, that much was clear. And it seemed as though he had been abducted.
.
He called a meeting at the town hall, with some help from Keith as to what the protocol was.
"Sam Holt has disappeared," he announced to the gathered crowd, allowing time for the gasps and murmurs of disbelief. "As his Deputy, I accept the responsibility of Acting Sheriff and promise to do anything I can to bring him home safely. If anyone has any information, please contact the Sheriff's Station. Thank you."
Keith looked despondent when Shiro approached him. He looked up at him. "This isn't good."
"No," Shiro sighed. "It's not."
twenty.
It was at the edge of sleep that memories flooded his mind – a jumble, not many of them tangible, but all of them real. He knew which one to share.
"Keith?" he asked into the darkness of the room he shared with his brother.
"Yeah?" came the sleepy reply.
"I remember when you were born."
There was a sharp intake of breath, but no reply, leaving him room to continue.
"There were celebrations everywhere, the people were delighted to have another prince. Mom and Dad were so happy. They were always happy; I guess that's what true love is."
"If you're remembering stuff," said Keith, slowly, "it means that the curse is weakening. And I think I know how to break it."
"How?"
"True love's kiss," he answered, a smile in his voice, clearly thinking of their parents. "It can break any curse."
"So, we need to get Mom and Dad together? How are we going to do that?"
"Sleep now, plan later."
Shiro couldn't argue with that, and settled back into sleep. In his dreams, he remembered further. Keith's birth had been the first time he'd met Allura – she and her father had come to congratulate them. Perhaps that had been when their betrothal had been arranged. He could not know, unless he remembered more.
He hoped he did.
twenty-one.
Living with Keith and Shiro had calmed Allura, slightly. The overwhelming feeling of not knowing who she was had abated; she knew enough. She was Allura, she worked at the animal shelter (where she had taken a particular shine to a trio of mice and was considering adopting them). She was Shiro and Keith's housemate, their friend.
She was always the first to wake in their apartment. The first to shuffle into the kitchen and the one who prodded their coffee machine into submission. It was calming to sit at the kitchen island with her coffee, a slice of peace before the other two got up.
Keith was the first of the brothers to rise, usually. He poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot Allura had brewed, thanking her with a yawn. Three spoons of sugar later, it was drinkable to him. He joined her at the island, sipping at his sweetened drink.
By the time Allura had finished her coffee, Shiro had completed their trio. He brought with him conversation – Allura and Keith were happy to sit in silence, but Shiro liked to talk with them.
They decided, then, whether they would make breakfast or go to Sal's. It was a healthy mix of both, by Allura's estimation. Wherever they ate, once they had finished they trickled away in reverse the order they had arrived. Shiro first, to the Sheriff's Station; then Keith, to school; lastly Allura, to the shelter.
Her boss, Coran, was a little on the eccentric side, but she got along well with him. They both cared about the animals they were looking after, which was the most important thing.
Lunch was usually shared with someone; whether that was Keith, Shiro or Coran varied from day to day. Dinner was always with the brothers, and they spent the evening together watching television or talking.
She was content with her new life.
twenty-two.
There had been no break-throughs on the Sam Holt case. People had come forward to share the last time they had seen him, but none of the information had been useful to Shiro.
That was until he received a phone call telling him that Sam had been spotted in the woods on the night of his disappearance. He set off on a wilderness search, leaving a note on his desk for Keith or Allura came to invite him to lunch.
He found the Sheriff's badge along a path in the forest, and felt more confidence in his search. He came across a man standing on the crest of a hill. He smiled at Shiro.
"Lovely view, isn't it? I think some people forget the beauty of their own town, always wanting to travel. I don't think we've been introduced. My name is Mr. Z. You must be Shiro, of course. Our new Deputy."
"Acting Sheriff until we can find Sam Holt," he corrected, trying not to let his uneasiness show on his face. This was Zarkon; the mastermind of the curse, according to Keith.
"Of course. What a shame that he disappeared like that."
Shiro, whose uneasiness had morphed into fear, turned to leave, and was met by three men, blocking his way.
"What is going—?" he began to ask, but had fallen to the ground before he could finish the question.
twenty-three.
"Shiro?" asked Keith, as he entered the Sheriff's Station. His after-lunch class had been cancelled, leaving him the freedom to share a long lunch at Sal's with his brother … if he could find him.
"Shiro?" he tried again, looking around. He found a note on the desk; Gone to follow a tip in the woods, will probably miss lunch. He picked up his phone to call his brother, before realising that Shiro had left his cell on the desk along with the note.
He went to Allura for lunch instead, telling her about what he'd seen at the station.
"Maybe he found something about the Sheriff," she suggested. "We should go and see after we eat."
They did so, only to find the station just as deserted as it had been earlier.
Allura bit her lip. "I'll go and see if there's any sign of him in the forest. You should go back to school."
Ignoring the instinct that told him to protest; to insist Allura let him accompany him. "Okay, text me when you find him."
.
"I made some coffee," mumbled Allura, offering him a mug. He took it, whispering his gratitude. He didn't think she had heard it, but she nodded as though she had. She sat on the sofa beside him, tugging gently on the blanket – a request to share.
He granted it, pulling the blanket over so that Allura could cover her feet with it.
They did not speak, merely sitting there in silent solidarity. They were both worried about Shiro, and they knew there was no point in speaking reassurances. "I'm sure he'll turn up" and "he'll be fine" would fall flat.
They were just … there for each other.
twenty-four.
He and Lance had fallen into some form of a friendship, but the sight of him still made Keith sigh.
"Hey, Mullet," Lance grinned, using the infuriating nickname he had given him on their second meeting.
"I don't have time for this right now, I'm busy."
"Looking for your brother?" asked Lance, lips curling into a smile when he realised it was true. "Being Sheriff is a dangerous occupation, huh?"
"It's in the job description."
"Hmm," Lance looked thoughtful. "Do you want some help?"
"Help?" Keith frowned.
"Yeah, what sort of clues are you looking for?"
"I don't know," he admitted with a sigh. "I just want to do something, so I don't feel useless."
Lance nodded. "I get it. I'll help you, come on."
Still bewildered, Keith had no choice but to follow him.
twenty-five.
He was at school when he received the call. Knowing that it had to be about his brother, he ducked out of the class with a mumbled apology.
"Hello?"
"Keith Kogane?" asked the voice on the other end.
"Yes, speaking."
"Your brother has been found. He's in the hospital, in a stable condition."
"I'll be there as soon as I can," said Keith, hanging up. His heart hammered in his chest. Shiro's disappearance had been no accident, he knew, and he wondered what had facilitated his return. Had he been imbued with a cursed identity? Tortured?
School forgotten, he set off for the hospital, calling Allura on the way. He was Shiro's emergency contact, but they had no reason to get in touch with her.
"Keith," she answered, sounding confused. "Shouldn't you be at school?"
"They found Shiro, he's in the hospital. I'm on my way there now."
There was a clatter. "I'll be there as soon as I can."
.
There was a doctor present in Shiro's room when he burst into it.
"What happened?" Keith asked her.
"He was found in the woods by a jogger, unconscious. He's in a coma, but his condition is stable."
"Do you know what caused it?"
"We're still running tests," said the doctor, her voice soft and soothing. She had evidently had a lot of practice delivering bad news about her patients. "I'll let you know as soon as we know anything."
"Thank you," murmured Keith, trying to ignore the rising panic. He was sure he knew what had happened to Shiro. He had heard the tales as a child, after all; the poisoned apple his mother had bitten into to save his father from certain death, the sleeping curse, the true love's kiss that had awoken her from it.
It seemed that Shiro had been cursed in the same way as his mother once had.
twenty-six.
Allura rested a hand on Keith's shoulder when she arrived at the hospital. He looked back at her, and she smiled reassuringly.
"He'll be all right, Keith."
He frowned, focusing on his brother's form. He was more and more convinced that Shiro could not be helped by medicine.
"Can we talk?"
He led her to a supply closet where they could talk without anyone overhearing.
"I know this might sound crazy, but I need you to kiss Shiro."
Allura was silent for several seconds. "What? He's in a coma. You can't just kiss someone without their consent like that."
"It doesn't have to be on the lips," Keith pleaded. "Allura, do you trust me?"
"I—" she looked conflicted.
"Please, just try it."
"Keith." She spoke his name softly, as though trying to calm a wounded animal. "You're worried about your brother; you're not thinking straight. I think you should go home and get some sleep. Shiro's in good hands here, I promise. The doctors will do everything they can for him."
He sighed in defeat. This was not the way the curse would be broken. "You're – you're right, Allura. I'll see you at home."
zero.
He knew what he had to do, even as the fear that it would not work threatened to crush him.
Zarkon had tried to eliminate the Saviour, but Keith would not let that happen.
He bent down, pressing a light kiss to his brother's head, praying that it would work.
Noise returned to the heart monitor – the most wonderful sound he had ever heard, and Keith's entire body collapsed with relief, falling into the chair by Shiro's bedside. He opened his eyes.
"Keith," he murmured, voice scratchy. "I – I remember."
"The curse," the doctor said, her voice carrying from the doorway. "It's broken."
+ one.
Pidge (as everyone had thankfully returned to calling them, once the memories had returned), found their brother quite easily. He was among the group that had spilled onto main street, searching for families, friends, loved ones.
Takashi – Shiro, he hadn't been Takashi in a long time – was at the centre of attention, begrudgingly accepting the thanks from the townspeople, saying, "it wasn't me, it was—", turning to look for his own brother, and finding that he had disappeared.
Pidge could talk to Shiro later; they had plenty of time. For now, they wanted the comfort of their brother's arms, the delusion that everything was all right, for a moment.
"We need to find dad."
+ two.
Keith had never respected peace so much as the moments of quiet he was able to find at Granny's. Everyone who had been in the diner had left, joining the throngs of people gathering in the streets, reuniting with each other. It was easy to pour himself a cup of coffee and to sit in one of the hastily vacated booths.
The bell jingled to signal that someone else had entered the diner. Keith did not turn around, hoping that it was a stranger, or if it was someone that he knew, that they would respect his evident desire to be alone.
"Shiro says it was you who broke the curse."
Keith repressed a sigh – it was Lance, who fit neither of the criteria. "It depends on how you look at it."
The other boy approached the booth, standing by the table rather than sitting down. He looked more uneasy than Keith had ever seen him.
"Thank you," he said, blue eyes earnest. "I have a family – if I can find them, and I thought I didn't. And that's because of you – or Shiro, whatever."
"Why aren't you looking for your family?" asked Keith, curious. As someone who had lost them during the curse, it stood to reason that Lance would be searching for them. Instead, he was here with Keith.
"I wanted to apologise, too. For how I acted during the curse. I was a jerk. Maybe we can start over?"
Keith looked at him, taking him in, and becoming more and more sure about the thought that had burst into his head weeks ago. "Yeah, we can start over. Would you like to go on a date with me?"
Lance blinked, struck dumb for a moment. Keith bit back a laugh as he waited for a reply. "Um, sure. I mean, yes, I'd love to go on a date with you. Are you sure you want to go on a date with me?"
Keith reached out, tugging the other boy down to his level. "Lance, I'm sure."
And he kissed him. Lance flailed for a second before relaxing against Keith's lips, kissing him back.
They smiled at each other for a moment after they broke apart, faces still close to each other.
The bell rang again, and the peace was disturbed, but, somehow, Keith couldn't find it in himself to mind.
fin.
More things:
- I'm a sucker for the familial true love's kiss, I'm sure it works with siblings as it does with parent/child relationships
- Shay/Hunk becomes a thing after he rediscovers his love of food (it was cursed out of him, poor soul) and becomes a chef at Sal's
- Apparently Lotor was obsessed with Allura in the 80's Voltron show, so him demanding to be her cursed fiancé is a nod to that
- The curse turned the persona Lance uses to try and hide his self-doubt/insecurity into his entire personality