Hi, Everyone!

Ok, so I know that I still have my other stories to work on and that it's probably a not the wisest idea to start another one. But I just found Voltron: LD and loved it so much that I couldn't help writing this story idea that's been rocking around in my brain since I finished season 2.

A few notes...

-I haven't fully decided on pairings for this story, so even though it's a bit early since you haven't met everyone in-story yet, let me know what you think.

-It starts out perhaps a bit slow seeming, but I really wanted to take time in-story to show Shiro and how he's living/dealing with his life. It really interested me to think about what would have happened to him if Keith, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge hadn't freed him or if the Galra hadn't found Earth so quickly, so this is a stab at how I thought it might have gone.

-Yes, the other paladins will be in it, but all good things to those who wait till the next chapter.

-I answer reviews and questions posed in them, so please feel free to ask questions about just about anything. I normally leave my answers to reviews at the end of the next chapter.

And that's about it, I think. So here's the first chapter and I hope you guys like it!

Enjoy!

I do not own Voltron: LD or the pic...nor do I have the money to buy the rights to them so I'll leave this disclaimer instead.

Constructive Criticism and Questions are always appreciated!

{ * } = time lapse

'reading'

One year.

One year and 7 days.

He'd only been away for barely over a year.

A muddle of terror, pain, silence. Blinding lights and binding darkness.

Screams that were never just his own.

372 days.

Dreaded anticipation of the next time he would be dragged forth to satisfy whatever they wanted with him. He always asked what they were doing or going to do to him and he was always met with silence or laughter at his weak wavering voice.

Horrid faces and metal masks.

His first night back he nearly killed a doctor because she was dressed in a hazmat suit.

A metal filtering mask was leaning over him, a strange thing held up near his face and the loud sound of heavy Galra breathing. His muscles reacted and his metal arm broke the restraint made to hold flesh, appendage wrapping around that covered throat before the Galra could call out. He had been about to break its neck, eyes already scanning the room for others, noting the single thick door and lack of windows when she choked out, "Takashi."

It had been like being struck by lightning and he dropped what he realized was a human woman faster than he had grabbed her a second ago. Her mask had messed with the sound of her breathing and the suit had made her body look bulkier than it really was, but he had nearly killed her.

That had been one of his more serious mistakes in the time spent in the Garrison's quarantined section of a hidden base, out in a rocky desert somewhere, trying to get himself together again and wondering why he was still alive.

He still asked what they were doing to him the few times they operated on him now that he was back, but now that he was on Earth he was told a watered down version of what was going happen.

He could tell that they didn't say everything. They said just enough to give the illusion that he was being informed or that what they did was slightly in his control, but he could feel the mind games being played around him. Many times he asked where he was and they always answered with something along the lines of, "We can't tell you where, but don't worry, you're perfectly safe here."

Safe. They threw that word around a lot without seeming to realise how empty it was. Safe was something he never felt. Safe was something that they clearly thought could be given to him through their promises alone. Safe is a combination of body and mind being free from fear. Safe was never a state he dwelt in. They always assured him that he was safe, but they didn't know what they were keeping him safe from, so what were their words really worth?

"Shiro? Hello, Shiro?"

He snapped back to the presence with a slight start, eyes flicking back up from the floor to the pink-haired Lieutenant Lara's face and he relaxed his tense shoulders a bit. He knew that his face had been blank and that she couldn't read what had been going through his mind, but he forced a small twitch of a smile on his face to throw her off anyway.

"Sorry, Lieutenant. Just not used to the new name yet, I guess." She settled back a bit in her chair now that she had his attention again, ready to continue with his psychiatric evaluation, a patient smile appearing on her face.

"Lara please, and I can imagine that it will take some time to get used to it. After all, you were just discharged a few weeks ago. What were you thinking about?" He couldn't hold the smile and let it gradually melt from his face so she wouldn't think anything was wrong.

"Just remembering some of the things they told me while I was held at the Garrison base."

"Like what?"

Tell the truth, Takashi, but tread carefully.

"That I was safe while I was there."

"And did you think that they were right?"

"I think that according to what they knew, they felt justified in saying it."

"Did you feel safe while you were there?" She was still smiling in a slightly reassuring manner, but it didn't help.

"No, but I don't think I would have felt safe anywhere at the time."

"How about now? Do you feel safe at your new home or your job?"

He wasn't in a five-by-ten cell anymore if that was what she meant by feeling safe, but he held back the remark. He couldn't say that, she wouldn't understand what he meant even if he had said it, their ideas of safe being quite different.

"...It all still feels very...new as you said, I guess. I still haven't quite taken it all in yet, but I'm settling and it can only get better from there."

She thought about pursuing what he meant, he could see it in her eyes, but she elected to move on.

"How has your transition gone? Leaving base and going back to your old job, but in a different city?"

"It's gone rather smoothly all things considered. No technical problems and my co-workers are friendly, even if it's still a bit strange to be living in a place of my own again."

She nodded her head sympathetically while checking something off on her paper, attention never wandering from his face.

"It has been awhile, hasn't it? How have you been sleeping?"

"A few hours a night and sometimes a nap. I'm trying to get back into an daylight/nighttime pattern. My sleeping pills have been really helpful with that, so thank you for recommending them."

He could see that she was eyeing him carefully before smiling again as she looked down to write something on the clipboard paper in her hand.

"I'm glad to hear it. Any recurring nightmares or flashbacks?"

"Not recently."

She studied his face again for a few seconds before moving on to her next question, writing down another note after he answered that one. He glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall to his left as she looked down, thankful there was only another minute or so before their meeting time was over and he could leave.

"Have you been taking your medications on time?"

"Right on the hour, just as prescribed."

"And you've been getting plenty of fluids?"

"Yes, 5.56 liters of water a day."

"That's a bit more than before, why the change?"

"I've been working out more, it helps me clear my mind. Gives me something to do with myself in the down time, I guess." She nodded, making another note on another sheet of paper.

"Alright, I know that we already covered this, but is there anything you want to talk about or perhaps something that's been bothering you?"

She knew that their time was almost up, but she always asked this at the ending of their meetings, like she thought he'd change an answer or suddenly have a major breakthrough.

"Not really. I'm doing what I can to move forward, but I understand that it will take some time for things to get back to normal for me."

She smiled at him and stood from her seat.

"Don't worry, things will become normalized again soon enough and someday you'll hardly think about all the hell you went through. You're doing a good job, Shiro." He stood and shook her proffered hand with a faint smile.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." She made a lighthearted frowny face at him calling her by her rank and turned to pick up her coffee cup before heading to the door.

"See you in a week, Shiro." He nodded to her back even though he knew she wouldn't see it as she left the room.

He turned and picked up his jacket off the back of his chair, folding it over his right appendage as he glanced around the empty room. Calming color walls, two mildly interesting abstract pictures, one window, one door, and a cream and brown rug covering the gray slate floor between the two chairs at the center of the room.

This was their idea of "safe", this room. Their idea of being safe, of feeling safe, which is why they always had his appointments in here. They wanted him to feel comfortable and safe, so that he'd share anything new he might remember. He wrapped the jacket a little tighter around that metal limb as he looked around again, then left the room with a familiar skin-crawling chill.

{ * }

It was dark by the time he got back to his apartment, the walk and quick stop at the store having used up what was left of the light.

He unlocked the front door and stepped in, clicking on a light to looking around and be sure it was empty before relocking the door behind himself. He hung his jacket next to the door, removed his shoes, and walked over to the small TV against a living room wall. He turned it on and turned the volume up to let the sounds of the nighttime News fill the silent rooms as he walked through the living and dining rooms to the kitchen.

He didn't even bother turning on the light before opening the fridge to put away the alcohol he'd bought, the pack's bottles clinking together as he slide it in next to the one already in there. He selected a beer and closed the fridge, opening the freezer to pull some takeout leftovers he had from a few days ago out. Dumping the leftovers onto a plate, he put them in the microwave to heat up and walked back out into the living room.

Bending to collect his breakfast dishes from the low table he let the TV's noise wash over him. "...at around 4:25 pm, a 6.0 earthquake struck the Chiba Prefecture in Japan. Causing some ..." At the name his head snapped up to look at the report being displayed on the screen, but after a second he lowered his gaze back down to the dishes in hand.

"They don't live there anymore, I don't have to worry or call, they don't live there." He muttered to himself as he walked back into the kitchen and opened his beer. He took a long swig and washed the dishes, setting them on the rack next to the sink to dry as the timer for his food beeped. He took the food and his beer out to an armchair in front of the TV, settling down and flipping through the channels while he ate.

He got up a few times to get more beers during commercial breaks, but didn't even glance to see what time it was until it was almost 1:30 in the morning.

He walked to his bedroom and turned on a floor lamp near the door with a click. Warm golden light flooded the bare room, showing the stack of boxes piled up against one of the pale walls, various workout equipment neatly sorted along the opposite, and an immaculately made full sized bed sticking out into the middle of the room. He grabbed nightclothes off the foot of the bed and crossed to the attached bathroom before clumsily opening its door.

He entered and clicked on the light, eyes automatically landing on the picture held by the mirror's frame. It seemed to hold him there, freezing and locking him on the spot and he couldn't look away. He gazed at it for who knows how long, throat tightening and threatening to choke him as every detail of it was seared onto his brain. Hot tears slowly slipping down his face, he yanked open the medicine cabinet behind the bathroom mirror to hide the picture and shakily got changed.

He dumped some white pills from a bottle behind the mirror onto the counter and counted them. Exiting the bathroom a moment later with the mirror still open, ready to escape with the pills in his hand.

He turned the last light off and downed the pills with the last of his beer, sitting heavily on the bed as they slid down his throat. Empty bottle thudding onto the nightstand, he turned on a small sound machine next to the display clock and the soft sounds of traditional Japanese music danced up to caress him. He wanted sleep, laying down under the blanket and closing his eyes, wanted the black reprieve of deep sleep from nightmares and living.

He focused on his breathing, slowing his inhales and exhales by matching them to the music, feeling his heartbeat slow along with the melody...

The pain was excruciating, his body a huge throbbing nerve cut raw from screams and flailing. He could barely move anything and his mind was ravaged by pupil-less golden eyes that groped into every part of him. What was left of his thoughts told him to run, escape before he was destroyed, making him fight harder to move.

The eyes were searching for something, thumbing through his guarded and treasured memories with the restrain of a predator stalking in for the kill. He knew his eyes were open, flashing purple and crackling shadows swaying before them, and yet he couldn't see beyond those golden eyes. Filling them and emptying him of all he was worth, draining him of everything but this never ending pain.

"Begin the ritual." Rasped a woman's voice from the purple light and shadows, hitting him with the force of falling ice water, terror breaking in to replace all that had been stripped of him as sharp nails and waxy skin touched his face.

Shiro's eyes snapped open and he gasped into the darkness above him, gentle music drifting to him from the sound machine.

He pushed away the blanket and remnants of the dream as he sat up, eyes quickly scanning the room to be sure he was alone. He slowly swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stared at the wall, running his human hand over his face to wipe away the feel of those death-like fingers. He used his shirt to blot dry his face and neck from the cold sweat that clung to him from the dream, then glanced at the clock face,

5:45am

He sighed and despite his exhaustion he forced himself over to his closet to pull out some workout clothes, grabbing the huge water bottle next to them before closing up the closet. He went to the bathroom and set the clothes down on the counter, bracing himself on the sink before looking up at the still open medicine cabinet.

He took out his toothbrush, paste tube, and replaced the lid on the sleeping pill bottle. Applying paste to brush before returning everything to their places, he began brushing as his hand closed the cabinet and quickly turned off the light almost on its own. Plunged into semi-darkness, he stared down at the black hole at the bottom of the sink. He didn't want to see the marred face that would look back from the mirror, or see the past of the picture stuck into its frame.

He changed clothes in the dark when he was done, closing his eyes to be in total blackness before emerging to start his day, ready or not.

He stretched for half an hour and spent till his clock read 7:15am doing everything he could to push himself to his physical limits. Ignoring that he'd had that same dream that he could do nothing about, angry that his metal appendage was still stronger than his real arm, and refusing to accept that he was exhausted, he only pushed himself harder because of it.

He stopped at 7:15am to take a quick shower, changing into his work clothes when he finished and remaking his bed. He cooked some eggs and canned vegetables to eat with his customary reheated bowl of rice, his full bottle of water accompanying it. He settled into the armchair with his meal to watch the morning News, then washed last night's dishes before leaving his now silent apartment.

{ * }

Nothing new, nothing good, that's what the News had told him was forecasted for the day and he honestly thought it was true.

The weather alternated between raining and drizzling all morning with no signs of stopping any time within the next twenty-four hours. He didn't mind the rain, in fact it was the kind of weather that always seemed to match him these days, but it also meant that if the long-sleeved shirt under his jacket got wet people would be able to see his metal appendage. So he ran, ducked, and hid under overhangs like everyone else who despised the rain.

When he finally got to the office building, water was trickling down his jacket much to the amusement of the receptionist at the front desk.

"Still pouring out there, Shiro?" The man asked with a smile as he watched Shiro try to wring the hems of his clothes out.

"You'd think so, but it's not really raining that hard right now. There just weren't that many overhangs on my route."

"You walked all the way here?! On a day like today!?" Shiro nodded as one of his gloved hands flicked some of the water out of his hair and the receptionist frowned worriedly at him. "The city has buses, you know. There's even one that comes right up to the building that you could take instead of walking through the bad weather like you always do. I could give you the app for it so that way you can-"

"Everyone takes the buses on days like today so it'd be too crowded for a big guy like me. Plus, I don't mind walking, don't worry." He gave a rueful grin down at himself for the receptionist sake, so the man could think that it bothered Shiro as much as it did him. "I just wish I could dry myself properly, I need to start keeping an extra set of clothes in my office for days like today."

"If you go to Magdalena on the Garrison training Sub-Level 4, she would probably let you borrow a towel if you can catch her before the cadets begin swim training."

"Thanks, I'll do that." Shiro said as he started towards the elevators, actually wanting to get a towel now when he thought about the air conditioning that'd be blowing on him all day.

"Have a good rest of your day and try to stay dry!" The receptionist called cheerfully after him before turning to the next person that just entered.

As soon as eyes were off him Shiro swerved away from the elevators and pushed open the door to the stairs, decending them until he reached Sub-Level 4. Magdalena was a broad shouldered, heavy set woman in what he guessed to be her mid-sixties with a face that scared first years with just one well-placed look.

"Commander Magdalena? I was told that you were the person to see if I were looking to quickly borrow a towel." She looked him up and down and he felt like her eyes could see down to his very bones, making him subconsciously twitch his metal appendage behind himself. She wasn't a tall woman by any means, but Shiro felt like he was standing before a giant with the way authority exuded off her.

She turned suddenly and walked to a closet a few steps away which she opened with a command key.

"Did you walk here in the rain?" She asked as she handed him a white towel.

"Yes, Ma'am. "

"Without an umbrella or hooded coat?" He felt he knew where this was going and mentally grimaced.

"That's correct."

"What is your name?"

"Lieutenant Shiro Shirogane, Commander." She gave him a piercing look, as if trying to discern if he was lying.

"Lieutenant, how long have you worked here?"

"Only a few weeks at this site, but I've been an instructor and an active pilot for a few years now." That was not quite what she wanted to hear as it would be more fun to grill a noobie, but evidently it could still be worked with because he heard her take a deep breath.

"Well then, Lieutenant, you should be well acquainted with the importance of maintaining appropriate appearances for the sake of discipline. Seeing an officer dripping wet and not being prepared or responsible enough to even think to bring an umbrella is a startling lack decorum, don't you think?" He opened his mouth to answer, but she continued, almost as if she had simply been waiting for him to try and speak.

"Also Lieutenant, you're not going to be young forever. You've already subjected yourself to an unhealthy amount of stress if your hair and general appearance are anything to go by, so you might want to take it easy on yourself in the future. Avoiding unnecessary strain and taking proper care of yourself, like getting a good night's sleep at proper hours and using an umbrella. How old are you, Lieutenant?"

He wished he didn't have to answer that, but she was clearly waiting for one this time and he knew that if he didn't tell her now she'd just go look it up to hunt him down with later. She was one of those kinds of people, and the thought of her appearing unannounced at his office door to have a conversation like this in front of his coworkers was unpleasant to say the least.

"Twenty-five, Ma'am."

"No, can't be. You certainly don't look twenty-five, you look like you should be in your thirties."

Needless to say that by the time he escaped her and got back to his office, he felt like a deflated soccer ball. Paperwork blurred together in front of his eyes and checking the web class he taught didn't make him feel any better as he noted the amount of work absent. He forgot about lunch, not that he'd remembered to pack anything for it, and had to take frequent stretching breaks despised the fact that his metallic hand couldn't cramp like his real one.

The room temperature water in his large bottle did nothing to elevate his thirst or hunger and he struggled to stay awake without some kind of liquid kick in him. He tried to rouse himself an hour or so from when he'd get off work with some icy water from the fountain down the hall, but all that did was numb his teeth and give him a brain freeze.

{ * }

This day had not been his best he silently told himself as he left work, leaving out a side door so that he wouldn't have to talk to the receptionist and top off this day with being laughed at. Thankfully it wasn't really raining anymore which meant that he might be able to pick up his dinner and get home without getting soaked again. He crossed a parking lot and set off in the direction of his favorite takeout place a few blocks away.

The rain continued at a consistent drizzle as he walked through a city seemingly painted gray: sidewalks, streets, buildings, windows, people, all of them bathed in the color of the dark overcast sky with flashing lights the only things to retain their hues. He sighed, hands sliding into his pockets as he stood waiting for the traffic light to change so he could cross.

His feeling of lightheadedness increased and he closed his eyes, upturning his face a bit to catch the rain while tuning out the sounds of cars. Small plips of water fell against his face and hair with the start stop pressure of car winds whipping by, luling his vigilant mind in a void of swirling dizziness. Just the rain, wind, and himself in this monotonous mass of concrete shapes. He let his body relax, no longer caring what was up or down, feeling suspended in the spinning rain and empty space.

The blare of car horns near him violently assaulted his trance and his eyes snapped open to see what was going on even as he swayed away from the road he was dangerously close to. Coming towards him from the other side of the street, heedless of all the cars that had just barely avoided hitting it and were now honking horns, was a large fluffy white dog.

It padded towards him, black eyes, nose, and seemingly smiling mouth facing him pointedly as it crossed the road. As soon as it saw that he was staring at it, the dog have a happy bark and picked up speed, pink tongue now poking out of its open mouth. Shiro looked around, hoping to see the dog's owner or who the dog was looking at, but he stood alone on the street corner.

The white dog left him in no doubt that Shiro was the one it was looking at because as soon as it got to him it stood up on its hind legs and planted its front paws against his chest, giving him wet warm licks all across his face. He staggered back a step or so at the dog's weight and bumped his back into a street light which saved him from falling down some subway stairs.

"Hi, hi there, Dog." He turned his head to keep it from licking in his mouth as he spoke and looked around for someone that the dog might belong to or who could at least help were plenty of people in stopped cars that were "aww"ing at them, but they weren't going to help because that would mean leaving their dry cars.

He patted around the dog's neck to find a collar and eventually hooked his fingers around one. He gently pulled the dog off himself and crouched down to the dog's standing height to make the dog get on all fours again. He sighed as he looked at the happy face panting right in front of his, a wagging tail swinging in and out of view behind the large white head.

"What's your name I wonder." He started looking for identification tags of some kind on the collar, made a difficult task by the thick white fur and the dog constantly turning its head to keep watching his face. He found a tag that said something about a berry, but then he noticed that there was writing on the collar itself and starting brushing the dog's fur out of the way.

"Castle Shelter?' Is that where you're from?" He asked, looking up at the dog for confirmation until he realized that he was talking to a dog and sighed heavily.

"Ok, I will take you back to this shelter, I've just got to figure out where it is first." He said, again to the dog as he fished his phone out of a pocket and searched for a 'Castle Shelter' while still holding the dog's collar with his metal appendage. The dog panted next to his face, hot breath warming the side of his face and causing his white hair to move slightly with each exhale.

"Alright, it's only a few blocks from here it looks like." He stood and the dog started excitedly, but to keep ahold of its collar made him stand stooped over strangely. There was no way he could walk all the way to the shelter like this. The dog smile up at him as he stared down at it, thinking hard about what to do. He couldn't trust the dog to walk by his side and it clearly didn't mind walking out into the road, so there was no other alternative. Heaving another sigh he unclipped his belt and slid it off.

"Ok, hold still while I put this on you." The dog just kept smiling up at his face and he slipped the belt on over the dog's head and neck to form a makeshift leash.

"Well that was easier than expected." The dog wagged its tail harder at his words and barked happily as he stood again, promptly trying to drag him off the curb into traffic. It was a very strong dog and he was a bit worried that the belt would break, but despite the initial bad start walking the dog was surprising easy once he started actually picking where they went.

Every time they had to stop for a light the dog would lean against his leg and as they walked it would look back at him with that doggy grin on its face every minute or so, like this walk was the best thing that had ever happened. Once Shiro got mostly over the stress of worrying the dog would suddenly try to dart out into the street or that the belt would snap, he found himself smiling back at the dog whenever it looked at him.

He hadn't ever walked around this part of the city before as it was not on the way to his apartment, work, or one of the few takeout places near this usual routes. And while it was the same gray was the rest of the city, having the white dog drew his eyes to hidden colors he'd never seen before. He saw the way puddles reflected colored hues even as they rippled with rain, the contrasts of the dog's white fur and his black clothes against the varying grays of the concrete around them, and the way that even waiting for a light to change was made shorter by a few head pats and tail wags.

After several streets and a few back tracks, a light blue sign that read 'Castle Shelter' appeared before them. As they stood waiting to cross the road to it, the sky decided it would open up in all of its watery glory. Two car drivers took compassion on Shiro and the dog standing in the pouring rain and let them run across to the shelter. The door was unlocked, so he pushed the door wide open and both he and the dog rushed in, a small bell overhead announcing their presence.

It was the smell that hit him first, kind of a musty cardboard rippings mixed with fresh bird seed and lemon wood polish. A cacophony of bird chirps flared up as they stopped just beyond the entryway, water dribbled down both human and dog onto the light hardwood floor. He looked behind the long counter for whoever was in charge of this place, but didn't see anyone. There was a door behind the counter, as well as two other doors at the other end of the room and a small hallway that cuvered out of sight.

"Uh, hello? I have a dog whose collar says that it came from here." A beat of silence and then he heard a faint, "I'll be right there!"

It was a well lit and welcoming kind of place, especially as the birds quieted as he spotted a large brownish red towel resting on the counter. He stood for a few seconds, unsure if he should try to dry the dog or just wait where they were. The dog halfheartedly shook itself, spraying him and around them with even more water and Shiro decided that they were too wet to just stand there waiting.

The towel smelled faintly like the dog, but as he picked it up and turned to dry the dog, it occurred to him that he wasn't quite sure how to go about actually doing it. He stared down at the animal before him and it stared back up at him.

"Sit." The dog continued to stare at him and then slowly, almost lazily, sat down in compliance with his command, surprising him as he hadn't expected that to work. "Good dog." He managed to say just before the door behind the counter opened and he heard someone walk in, steps surprisingly silent on the hard floor.

He spun about to face the counter and the woman now behind it, arms readying themselves automatically for a fight from underneath the towel. He felt a bit ashamed of his reaction the instant he saw the pretty young woman standing there, but she smiled at him somehow totally unfazed by his sudden movements and was already lifting part of the counter to come out from behind it. She was quite tall with rich dark skin, pinned up silver white hair, and startlingly blue eyes.

"Thank you so much for finding, Junaberry! She doesn't normally run away like that, but she was like a dog on a mission when she left over an hour ago."

"It was no problem, I was just going to dry the d- er, Junaberry."

"Oh, you are both soaking, here." She reached back over the counter and under it, clearly fishing around for something as he bent to dry the dog. "You don't have to do that, you know."

"I know, I just hope this is the right towel to use for it." He said, half watching her and half paying attention to what he was doing. After a minute the lady produced a large light blue towel and smiled at him again.

"Her, Junaberry is a female. And technically it's my job to be drying her, but don't worry about the towel as that one is meant to be for the dogs. This one is for you should you want it, sir...?" She gazed at him curiously, but there was a expectancy in the way she held herself and stood with a solid balanced stance.

She looked like a woman used to people answering her when she posed a question or listening when she spoke, but he could also see a kindness in her face that said that what she expected of others, she expected tenfold from herself. She would listen when others spoke and would give honest answers when asked a question, never giving less than was deserved.

A bit of confusion and hesitation slipped into her eyes and he blinked, what could have caused that if he hadn't- Warmth flooded his face when he realized that he hadn't answered her and had simply been staring.

"Shiro." He said, standing and extending his metal appendage to shake her hand to cover his mortification at his own lack of manners. She blinked at his damp and gloved hand, as if unsure as to what it meant for a split second. A strange shyness filled her eyes and she hastily slid her hand into his with a quick, but firm movement before pulling it away.

"Sorry, my hands are all wet." He said apologetically, deciding that was the reason behind her odd reaction. She just hadn't wanted to get wet.

"Oh no, it's fine. I just...blanked for a moment."

"It has been a long day for you, I'm sure." He felt Junaberry lean heavily on his leg and then thump her head against his thigh.

"She seems to like you quite a bit." The woman smiled fondly at the big white dog. "I'm Allura, as I don't think I've introduced myself to you yet."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Allura."

"The pleasure is mine, Sir Shiro." He laughed then, he couldn't help it. This had been the strangest evening he could remember, the dog, the shelter, her. They all seemed straight out of one of the exploration stories he'd loved as a child, just foreign and bizarre enough to look out of place in the world and yet appearing to belong there.

"Did I say something amusing?" She asked with a puzzled expression, though not without a hint of amusement in her eyes as well. He quelled the laugh to a smile as he replied.

"Just Shiro, there's no need for a 'Sir' before it."

"Well, Shiro, perhaps you should dry yourself off a bit so that you won't come to drown in that puddle you're creating." She teased lightly as he took the towel from her with a 'thanks' and started drying himself while trying not to feel self conscious about his metal limb. She looked away from him, as if giving him some privacy even though there was no need to, he was being careful. She reorganized the few things on the counter before deeming he'd had enough time and turning back around.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't out here when you first came in with Junaberry, I was talking to another shelter to see if she had been brought in to them. But of course they hadn't seen her because thankfully she was safe with you."

"Well, I've never had a dog before, so safe may be a bit of an exaggeration."

"I don't think so, I think that while that dog was in your care nothing bad would happen, you'd see to that." A pair of men, an older man and the other hardly more than a boy flashed through his mind, instantly sobering him even though he couldn't quite remember why.

"Not always, I've failed at protecting things before, so I wouldn't trust me with anything too important." Her face went from a kind of confused to a soft sort of understanding and she stayed silent, blue eyes already seeming to know what he meant. He cleared his throat, glancing down at the dog next to him.

"You know, she came over to me like she knew me, crossing the street in the middle of traffic because she saw I was there. Is she always that adventuresome and friendly?"

"She can be a very friendly dog once she gets to know people, but that is very odd behavior for her. Normally there's time in first meetings where she's a bit wary of strangers and she doesn't like crossing roads because she doesn't like confining spaces like cars."

"Perhaps she hadn't really run into anyone else while she was roaming around and was just happy to finally see someone."

"Perhaps..." Her light eyebrows furrowed as she stared down at the contented dog, finger tapping her curvy hip as she thought. A bit of movement at the corner of his eye caught his attention and he looked up at the top of the cabinets on the wall behind the counter. A large black and white cat stared down at him from where it sat, dim golden eyes watching his every move with mild interest. It didn't seem hostile, merely guarded and neutral as it viewed something new in its environment.

"Where did that cat come from?" He asked without breaking his gaze with it and out of the corner of his eye he saw Allura look as well.

"It probably just jumped up there when you weren't looking, it's like a cloud drifting with the moon. Silent, soft, gentle and strong, but powerful and lonely."

"All of that in one cat, huh?"

"In all of us, I think." She turned her head to look at him with a slightly saddened expression.

"You were a soldier, were you not?" His head whipped around, his eyes widening.

"How did you- ?"

"It takes one to know one outside of uniform and everything you've said and done has only made me think it more."

"Then you were a soldier?" He asked, trying to suspend his disbelief with the concern he suddenly felt for her. She looked sadly back at the cat high on the cabinets.

"You never really stop being one, truly." She blinked and turned to him with surprising speed.

"And why do you sound so surprised?"

"I- I guess I just wasn't expecting it." He answered, raising his hands in a pacifying gesture which appeared to work after a few tense seconds.

"I suppose that I don't look like ones you've seen before, do I?" She said while looking down at her clothing of skirt and stylish mid-length sleeved tee.

"I'm not sure what you mean by ones I've seen, but I'm sorry if what I said offended you or-" She waved him off with a smile.

"I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it, so there's no reason to apologize, Shiro." She picked up the dog's towel and went in the back room to hang it up to dry, leaving him with his racing thoughts.

He felt something warm brush his metal limb and looked down to see Junaberry looking up at him, trying to read his mind or to convince him of her adorableness, he couldn't tell. He patted her head and started rubbing her neck and back, all while feeling those cat eyes watching him, analyzing, evaluating, weighing. He didn't even notice Allura come back out until she was crossing from behind the counter to smile at both of them.

"She's never been this clingy with anyone before, you must be very special for her to act like this."

"I doubt that's the reason, she's just being kind."

"Perhaps...Has the cat done anything while I was gone?"

"No, just sat there staring. But I am an intruder here, so-"

"No you're not, we're happy that you came, all of us." He stared at her and she stared back, willing him to believe what she'd just told him. He didn't know what to say, so he glance away out one of the front windows.

"It's not raining right now."

"So it's not." He could tell that she was still staring at him, waiting for him to comment on her previous words. He couldn't think of what to say without bring up what little he remembered and he wasn't sure he wanted to. It was dangerous, too new and foreign for there to be a person he actually considered talking to, telling what he remembered to. His tongue seemed to move on its own and he was speaking before he knew what he was saying.

"Are you almost finished here for the evening?" Her eyes betrayed a bit surprised, but she composed even that bit almost instantly.

"I still have about another half an hour's work left before I'm done for the night, why?" Yeah brain, why? Why did it matter? He cleared his throat and steeled his face into its unreadable mask, but a slight smile somehow cracked its way through.

"No reason. I've just never worked in a place like this, so I don't know what your hours are like."

"Well Junaberry and I shall be here at the same time tomorrow, if you want to come by again." She looked a bit hopeful as she spoke, a reserved hopeful with no expectations, but hopeful still.

"I bet she would like it if you did as she seems quite attached to you."

"I-" Junaberry whined softly and thumped her head against his thigh again, tail wagging as she stared up at him.

"I could probably do that." Allura beamed at him and clapped her hands together.

"Excellent! I look forward to seeing you then, Shiro."

"Ye-yeah, see you then."

"Junaberry, come. It's time for your dinner. Come on." With great reluctance Junaberry rose and slowly padded after Allura to one of the far doors, looking back at him every few steps with sad droopings of her ears till she vanished into the room beyond. He wasn't sure why he felt stirrings of slight sadness, he had only just met them for goodness sake. He turned to leave and paused to look back up at the cat who was still staring.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow night as well." The cat gave no visual response and after another few seconds of staring at each other, Shiro sighed. He set the blue towel down on the counter before walking to the door and opening it. He heard Allura come out of the far room, so he looked back.

"Have a good night, Allura." She smiled kindly at him as she walked to the counter.

"You as well, Shiro, have a good night!" He nodded to her and left, the bell ringing softly as the door closed behind him. The birds all began their twittering a beat after the bell sounded, but Allura ignored them and turned to the cat still perched on the high above cabinet top.

"What do you think? Was he the one you've been searching for?" The cat continued to stare out the window at the last place Shiro had been before vanishing from sight.

"I think he is. He bears himself with the presence of a leader and I believe his energy matches that of the one that woke you." The cat finally looked down at her without turning its head, tail flicking in what most would think to be annoyance, but the Princess knew better. "There are some...imperfections that must be worked on, some polishing to be done, but you could do it together." The cat lowered its head to rest on the edge of the cabinet, eyes shifting back to the window as it pretended to ignore her words.

"You think he could be what you're looking for too." The cat's tail flicked again and its dimmed golden eyes locked onto her, it wasn't being dishonest, merely cautious. Looks could be deceiving, to trust too soon and to open oneself up to the unknown before it's time would be disastrous, and it would never make that mistake again.

It stood and walked away along the flat top, with each step it became more transparent till with a shimmer of purple, it vanished.

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