Weeeeell this is definitely one of the shortest things I've ever written. I'm fairly certain that "angst without plot" should be a tag on AO3.
Thank you so much to everyone who read and loved Embers! I kind of had both stories planned as a single shot, but then splitting it up like this just made more sense, so...here's the sequel that I finally decided on writing out and posting. It took me all of half an hour- maybe I just get angstier the later it gets.
I promise I'll get around to finishing that badass Pidge oneshot I've been working on for forever. IT WILL BE PUBLISHED! One of these days :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron.
They couldn't even have a proper funeral. There wasn't a body for them to bury.
Pidge received a message from the Olkari, and of course the Olkari knew, inviting the Paladins to their planet.
"Green Paladin Pidge, we want to mourn with you. The Red Paladin has fallen. We mourn with you."
What she didn't know was just how many aliens from the coalition would show up, and it had taken every ounce of her strength to keep the tears from falling when she looked out and saw the masses that had gathered to remember him.
She had long since resigned herself to the onslaught of tears.
How many tears could a person cry in a day?
Being a scientist, she still had no answer.
The way to Olkarion was filled with silence, a void that no one wanted to fill. Not yet, anyway. It was still too raw, too soon, and if the Paladins were grateful for one thing, it was that the Olkari could sense that too. They were the ones to speak first in Keith's memory, and Allura, Coran, Lance, and Hunk could not stop crying as they listened. Shiro was restless; he would look up across the sea of aliens, then down at the ground as if composing himself. Next to Allura, Pidge was…numb. She felt Matt, standing on her other side, grasp her hand, and she gripped his tightly in return, using his hand as an anchor, grounding herself in the moment. She needed to stay focused, to stay alert; she needed to be strong, because that's what Keith was. He was their backbone, he was their fire and their drive and their motivation, and sure, he failed in so many, so many aspects, but he was the one who ran ahead to make sure the way was clear for them, the one who pursued each of them relentlessly in their weakest moments, pulling them back to themselves, to each other, to the team.
He was the lone wolf who found a family, he the ruthlessness that decimated their enemies, the impulsiveness that helped them free the Olkari and get Voltron out of tight spaces; he was the one who always found a way out even when backed up in a corner, and the one who never stopped fighting. He was the one who always made it through, even with broken fingers and a bleeding body. He was shoot first, ask questions later.
He was Keith. That never changed, not through the months, years that they've all fought alongside each other.
Shiro gave a short speech at one point after the Olkari were finished, when the aliens were raising lights high up in remembrance of him. From the Castle where the Lions were, the Paladins heard a loud rumble; it was Red, Red with a sort of brokenness in her proud roar, leading other Lions in the same tribute to her fallen Paladin.
"I guess it's like Ryner said. We're all made up of the same cosmic dust."
"So, that means we're all related. This ship, those stars, the Olkari. Even the Galra."
Pidge looked at Lance, who's tear tracks were evident on his darker skin. Keith was there, in his hurting. She could see it. She could see him in the way Hunk's shoulders were rigid, the way the corner of Allura's mouth was set in stone, trying her best to not shed another tear. She could see him in the way Coran's fists were balled in his gloved hands, in the way Shiro's eyes were sharp and piercing over the crowd. She could hear him in the Lions' roar, knew that he was there in Red's memory.
Later on that night after Matt had left her alone in her own room, she wandered onto the dark observation deck to curl up in a blanket and just look out at the vastness of space, the swirling galaxies.
There was a strange stillness left in Keith's absence, a large hole that could never be filled by anyone else.
In the silence of the stars, she saw him, raw and wild, and wondered with an aching heart and bittersweet smile if he would ever truly leave them.