Notes: Time for some comfort and fluff, right guys? Time for Shiro to finally get a well-deserved break(ish).

Warning that this fic uses female pronouns for Pidge, contains mentions of PTSD, past torture, past violence, surrealism and a sickening amount of fluff.


Darkness.

Shiro thought he was done waking up in darkness and yet here he is, laying on his back on a hard, slick surface he couldn't see. Peering into the darkness above, he couldn't distinguish any lines or colours except what his mind made him see with coloured shapes and flashes of light that followed his eyes wherever they looked.

At least it didn't hurt anymore; for that, he was grateful. There was no more migraine, no more scratchy eyes from sleep deprivation, no more constant ache in his muscles from the physical stress of constantly fighting for his life, constantly being alert, and finally, no more burning pain in his right shoulder from the badly healed scars of his grafted metal limb. That's what he was most grateful for: no longer having that constant, throbbing reminder of what had been done to him and what he'd become.

Blissful silence, he thought to him. It hadn't even occurred to him that he might be dead and that this would be his afterlife.

Finally… It was all over. He could finally get some rest.

Just as the thought formed, he heard a purring behind his head and startled, tilting his head back to see what made the familiar sound, only to find himself somersaulting in mid-air, getting dizzy with its suddenness and his vision clouding with stars before he recollected himself and straightened in the zero-gravity atmosphere. He could have sworn he had been laying on a hard surface…

Looking again for the source of the sound, he was speechless to see a cluster of stars in the shape of a large feline, her eyes shimmering with bright yellow galaxies. A part of him knew this was the Black Lion in her truest form. She purred again, sitting patiently on a surface that didn't exist with her tail curled around her in a perfect image of serenity.

Shiro looked around to see where she might have come from but there was only blackness in every direction. The constellations outlining her body filled the endless space with her grandeur, blindingly bright in contrast to the surrounding blackness and drawing all his attention.

"Where are we?" he asked her.

She tilted her head to the side and her tailed twitched up the way cats do when they're relaxed and listening.

Shiro sighed. "No more talkative here than out there, huh," he murmured.

She made a guttural whine. Getting up, she walked towards where Shiro floated and pulled her ears back as she started nuzzling her large head against his neck and chest. It took Shiro a moment to process what she was doing before feeling what seemed like soft fur against his skin.

"Good girl," he chuckled, rubbing his fingers into the scruff of her neck and causing her purrs to rumble all the way into his bones. He never imagined the Black Lion had this sort of affection in her.

She slowly pushed herself on top of Shiro, forcing him on his back and play-wrestling with him as though he were her cub, only instead of nipping at him, she covered him in licks with her broad tongue, causing bursts of laughter from him.

"Okay, okay!" he laughed, trying to hold her down, but she was so much stronger than him, he gave up and let himself lay lax under her.

She groaned at his easy surrender, giving his left palm a gentle nibble to chastise him for it. She then rested her heavy head on Shiro's chest, the two of them resting like this as she continued to purr softly. Shiro couldn't get over it. Although she looked like a cluster of white stars, she felt every bit like a real lion, with thick fur and bones and teeth. Against all odds, it truly felt as though Shiro had a full-grown lion sprawled on top of him and seemingly as docile as a domesticated house cat.

He was speechless.

One of her ears twitched, following the course of his thoughts.

It occurred to him that although she was just an ethereal being in his reality, she was very much real in her own. A fuzzy feeling bloomed in his core, touched that she chose to share her reality with him.

She leaned up to press their noses together in a brief inuit kiss before lifting her large mass off him, giving him a nudge of her paw to do the same.

"You have something to show me?" he asked, getting up. He was hardly surprised to find solid ground under him again.

She growled in reply, starting to walk out into the void. He caught up with her, burying his natural hand in her warm fur and wondering what was out there.

He imagined endless possibilities.

She gave a slight tilt of her ear, confirming his thoughts. He smiled softly at how effortless their communication had become.

As it was, he couldn't be bothered to question the physics of this realm. Earlier, they were tumbling through space and now they were walking on solid ground. He couldn't be bothered to look around, knowing he would only find darkness, but he took comfort in the Black Lion's coat, glistening with stars. It was as though everything in the universe was gathered inside her very being.

If his lion really is the embodiment of the entire universe, then he considered himself a very lucky man to be chosen by her.

The Black Lion purred at his praise and Shiro couldn't help chuckling.

"You're going to help me find a way back home," he said, more as a statement than a question.

She purred, confirming for him once again.

Shiro smiled. He would trust his lion to the ends of every galaxy. He felt a surge of pride emanating from her and he couldn't help but feel flattered by it. He noticed her tilting her head towards the horizon, drawing his attention away from her and to look ahead, and contrary to his expectations, a thin white line coloured and curved on the horizon, separating above from below. Shiro's gaze fixed on this line before him.

He wasn't understanding any of this.

And the closer they got, he realized the line on the horizon was actually a light that brightened with every step they took towards it. Now he could see that they were walking on a mirrored surface, nearly invisible with the exception of his and his lion's reflections below them. It still didn't explain the free-falling feeling from earlier, but he gave up trying to explain things that were clearly meant to remain unexplainable.

And yet the closer he got, the less the light looked like a line and more like a solid wall of white light. Flecks of radiant dust floated off of it. They almost looked like stars dancing in the brightness.

A feeling of general unease settled in Shiro's gut. He stopped a few feet away from the wall, not because he didn't want to move forward but because something was holding him back. He wasn't sure if he should.

The Black Lion took a few more steps before realizing Shiro stopped following her and looked back curiously. She gave a low growl, encouraging him to continue and trying to assure him.

This is not the end, said a voice in Shiro's head and he winced at the presence, all at once remembering how he once lost control in a fit of rage that was not his. But this voice sounded like his mother and he realized it was the Black Lion speaking to him because she could see that her presence of mind was not enough in this moment.

Shiro was afraid to let go, and she knew why, but he needed to know that moving forward was necessary.

With a quiet, defeated sigh, Shiro followed the Black Lion into the light.