Disclaimer - I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender. Note - I wrote this for the Open Novella 2019. The prompt is General Fiction 7: Public Disappearance. The prompt is, "Long in the public spotlight for their talent, it has been three years since they went into hiding, disappearing from the media, from the press, and from the internet. When they re-emerged, everything changed. The wold held their breath as it waited for an explanation." I'm working with my head canon that Shiro and Keith are siblings, but that Ryo is his twin. Also, Ryo is paired with Rachel. This story made it through the third round.

Gemini, Touch the Sky
Numbness

The morning started off uneventful, or at least as uneventful as the life of a pop idol from Japan could be. Ryo's routine started with a protein drink before physical training. From there he ate a light breakfast while his manager went over his schedule for the day. The time before lunch was spent recording and greeting fans. At lunchtime, Ryo ate in his dressing room while final touches for today's photo shoot were made.

The pop idol found himself looking into the mirror at the facial features which girls fawned over. Of late the sight of his own face reminded him of a matter left unresolved. Ryo's eyes narrowed as his fingers unscrewed the cap of his plastic water bottle before taking a drink in hopes he might brush the thoughts regarding the unresolved business away.

"Ryo!"

The door of the changing room opened in a flourish as his manager stepped in. The young idol looked up wondering why the man came in in such a state.

"Turn on your television."

"You know I won't have any kind of distraction during work hours, particularly right now when my mind is elsewhere."

"I'm currently working on clearing your schedule. Turn on the news."

A frown twisted onto Ryo's face. He set down his water bottle and reached for the remote and turned on the rarely used television. His mind at first didn't register what his mind was seeing and hearing. Eventually, his eyes widened and his mouth opened while his hand holding the remote lowered to his knee. "Takashi..."

Ryo let the news regarding the failed Kerberos mission play out. Takashi Shirogane along with the two other crew members were declared dead, but the reason came down to pilot error. Ryo's eyes opened and closed a few times as his mind contemplated the idea of his older brother, Takashi Shirogane, failing as a pilot. Nothing felt real.

Eventually, he set the remote down with a lack of gusto and reached for his cellphone. "I've got to call Keith."

The cell phone sat in the palm of his hand unused. Ryo swallowed upon remembering the painful memory of his last conversation with his older brother. "I don't care that he's our brother!"

"Ryo, if something happens to me you're all he has. He doesn't have anybody else, but nobody's willing to give him a chance."

"Why should I care? He and I have nothing in common, but you haven't even told him! You haven't told him that we're family, so he wouldn't even know the difference!"

"I told you. Keith found out about my illness. It didn't feel right springing something else on him."

"Screw you Takashi! Screw your illness! Don't pretend to actually care!"

Without realizing it Ryo flipped open his phone. His finger flipped through the pictures until he came to a picture Takashi sent him. The picture was a selfie Takashi took of himself and Keith. Takashi smiled at the camera, but Keith looked at the phone warily. Ryo knew Keith struggled with trusting people; Shiro was one of the few people Keith let into his life, but Shiro was now gone.

A sigh escaped Ryo's mouth. "Could you book a flight while you're clearing up my schedule?"

"Where to?"

"I need to make a trip to Takashi's garrison to see someone." A few hours later Ryo found himself at the garrison greeted by Commander Iverson and given condolences regarding the death of his older brother. The man avoided the subject of the army blaming Takashi for the mission failure almost as if there was something he was hiding, but Ryo found himself not wanting to bring it up. Instead, he focused on Keith.

"You want to see the kid your brother was mentoring?"

Ryo felt himself freeze yet feel a little guilty. While Takashi was a very sociable person, he kept certain things such as family matters private. Secrets such as Ryo's status as a pop idol under a different name were things Takashi always kept well yet keeping the fact Keith was their brother secret felt emotionally like a bucket of icy water was dumped on him. "Why not?"

"That kid has major emotional issues. I'm not sure what Shirogane was thinking when he recommended that young man to the garrison. He's far from garrison material and probably more trouble than he's worth."

"He's..." Ryo found himself biting his tongue. Under all appearances, Takashi had not revealed the fact he was Keith's older brother to the Garrison, but with different last names, there was no way anyone would suspect. In fact, Takashi mentioned something about only finding out because he did some digging after he'd decided to intervene in Keith's life. "Never mind. I just want to see him."

"Don't blame me if it goes south."

Iverson took Ryo and his manager to a conference room where he found himself waiting until he heard some rather irate yelling. The door opened. "Why the hell am I being called in? What did I do wrong..." The person in question turned and looked right at Ryo, but Ryo recognized the face looking at himself as a mirror image of his own. "This time? Who are you?"

"Ryo Shirogane."

"Shiro's younger brother?"

"Apparently he wants to talk to you. I'll be outside." Iverson closed the door behind Keith while the young cadet stared at Ryo. Ryo found himself taking the initiative of moving towards Keith which in turn made Keith glance away nervously.

Eventually, he said, "What do you want?"

"I want..." In the back of his mind, Ryo wondered what he wanted. He found himself glancing away.

"To ogle at the kid, you mistakenly thought Shiro replaced you with?" The words stung, but not as much as the rather angry look on Keith's face when Ryo looked him in the eye. Ryo saw his manager step forward out of the corner of his eye. "I did overhear Shiro's side of the conversation."

Ryo let out a sound of irritation. "Look..."

"I'm leaving." Keith turned and headed towards the door.

"Wait." What Ryo did next was a mistake. In fact, Shiro warned him over the phone regarding Keith's temper, so he should have known to reach out and grab the sleeve of Keith's orange cadet uniform was, in fact, a bad idea. For a few seconds what he saw in front of his eye blurred as Keith moved quicker than Ryo expected. Ryo's mind then registered pain and his hand reached up for his eye. "What the hell do you think you're doing!"

"Don't use me as some tool to alleviate your guilt!"

"And what is that supposed to mean!"

The door snapped open and Iverson stormed in, but Keith apparently didn't notice. "I'm not some damn surrogate for Shiro to alleviate your guilt for having a messed-up relationship with him!"

"Kagone!"

Keith flinched as Iverson grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the conference room. Ryo found himself not reacting and instead stood there in shock as his manager followed after the commander. Ryo sat down and contemplated what Keith said. There definitely was some guilt regarding how he interacted with Takashi before he left.

"The garrison is kicking that kid out."

Ryo's head darted up upon hearing his manager speak. "What?"

"He certainly gave you quite the shiner."

"What do you mean he's been kicked out?"

"Apparently the only thing preventing them from kicking him out was your older brother. I honestly don't see what he saw in that kid or why he stuck his neck out for him, yet he couldn't be bothered the last year or so to be there for you."

Ryo's teeth ground together. "Takashi was there for Keith because Keith is our brother!"

"What?"

"You heard me! The reason Takashi and I had a falling out was because he'd not yet told Keith! So don't blame Keith for what happened just now! I knew from what Takashi told me not to touch him unexpectedly like that, but I can't blame him for thinking that!"

"Ryo, you need to calm down."

"How can I calm down?" Ryo felt everything falling apart yet knew no way of putting things together. Takashi, of course, would know how, but he was gone. Mentally he felt numb and didn't register his manager guiding him out of the conference room or getting him on the plane back to Japan. In the back of his head, the music which came naturally for so long when he wrote songs came in parts or not at all.

He attempted making contact with his remaining brother via text. "We need to talk."

"Who is this?"

"Ryo Shirogane."

"I don't know how you got this number but leave me alone."

He sent other messages yet received no answer in return. The spotlight suddenly felt hollow as he waited for Keith to wear down and reply, yet the day never came. Ryo heard a knock on the door of his apartment a year later. Despite never revealing his real name and staying out of the public eye he found himself looking through the peephole and saw someone in the grey uniform of a garrison soldier. Letting out a sigh he opened the door. "What is this about?"

"We have news regarding your brother," the soldier said.

Ryo's stomach lurched slightly, and his eyes widened. "Wait. Not Keith as well."

"Keith. As in Keith Kogane?"

Ryo's eyes closed while his hands clutched the door and doorframe tightly. "This is about Takashi? How. He was declared dead."

"Actually, this is about both Lieutenant Takashi Shirogane and Keith Kagone." The soldier seemed slightly confused. "May I come in? This is rather sensitive information."

Ryo shrugged his shoulders. "Lieutenant Takashi Shirogane appeared a few days ago in an alien craft."

"By alien craft, you don't mean..."

"We suspect the craft was of a nation opposed to the attempt at united space exploration among all countries which in turn sabotaged the Kerberos mission and captured the crew. We suspect the Lieutenant escaped from his captors and stole the craft, but before we could finish quarantine him and interrogate him regarding what happened a group of cadets and the Kagone youth broke in and took off with him. Yet another alien craft was seen a few days later, but we couldn't find them at the Kagone residence."

"You mean to say you had both of them right there, but then they both disappeared again?" Ryo felt his throat tighten and a slightly acidic feeling coming up.

"Well, yes."

"Get out."

"Yes, but..."

"Just get out of my home!" Ryo went to the front door and opened it. When the solider from the garrison left he slammed the door and turned the locks with a resounding click. He headed towards the table. Practically no words came to mind meaning the issue with songwriting persisted Ryo still managed a few.

I thought the numbness gone,
but now the feeling is back...