Chapter 3 - Day 0 – Keith
An: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender.
Keith's eyes opened and he looked around his dark room. Cosmo was asleep at the foot of the bed snoring slightly and drooling all over the carpet. Pidge was asleep curled up next to him. She had promised him that she would finish her work early and come to bed by eight but she hadn't. A part of him wanted to be angry but he knew better. He knew his girlfriend and when she was working on a project she often let her work consume her. It was a part of who she was and to pretend like it would not happen would be hypocritical of him. She put up with his flaws, he should put up with hers.
It was time for his mission and he carefully moved away from Pidge and off the bed. He headed for a quick shower and then dressed in his Blade of Marmora outfit. His gear was already prepped and waiting in the bag by the door. He had one last thing to do before he left. He gently sat on Pidge's side of the bed and looked at her sleeping face. She was so beautiful and intelligent he did not understand why she wasted her time with him. He placed a kiss on her forehead and whispered, "I love you," to her. He had only been able to whisper the words over the last month. He had been building up to saying it to her while she was awake. After one last glance he got up to leave but a soft growl from the floor reminded him that Pidge wasn't the only one that needed a goodbye.
He bent down to talk to Cosmo. "Hey buddy, I thought you were asleep. You know I have a six day mission. Look after our Pidge while I'm gone."
Cosmo growled in agreement. Keith rubbed him behind the ears just the way he liked and then stood to leave. As he stepped out of his room, he found Hunk and Lance already waiting for him.
"Why did it have to be four o'clock in the morning," Lance complained.
"You volunteered to take me. If it's going to be a problem I can take Black," Keith growled. It was too early in the morning to be putting up with Lance's whining.
"Ah but you can't because there is no where to park Black. This is a stealth mission so unless you take Green and we both know even though you are her boyfriend she is not letting you take Green so far away, you need a lift and we are it," Lance said pointing at himself and Hunk.
"You do remember you're dropping me at the main Blade base and not the planet we're infiltrating?" Keith reminded him with a frown.
It was Lance's turn to frown, "I know where we're going or are you trying to tell me that I don't know how to navigate?"
Sensing a fight about to begin Hunk decided to change the subject quickly. "Is Pidge actually sleeping or still in her lab working on the new GCS relay?"
"Sound asleep," Keith answered with a small smile before he sobered. He had a mission to get to. "Let's go. Kolivan doesn't like it when I'm late."
"Kolivan doesn't like it when I'm late," Lance mocked in his fake Keith voice.
"Lance," Hunk said warningly.
"What?" Lance asked innocently.
Hunk shook his head. "Let's just get to the hanger and on our way. I'm sure Allura is more than ready to open a wormhole for us."
"Ah, my lovely wife," Lance declared with a fond smile. "Care to guess how she wished me goodbye before this mission?"
Keith turned his back away from Lance and started walking towards the hanger. "Hunk, I'll ride with you."
"Uh actually Keith, I kind of have no room. I can barely get to the controls in my Lion. Romelle made sure to squeeze as many relief items as possible into Yellow. I'm not even sure if I can get off the ground," Hunk said starting to contemplate if Yellow could produce enough thrust to make it into space.
"Don't worry Keith there is enough room for you in Red," Lance reassured him.
Suddenly, what was supposed to be an easy thirty minute trip to his destination seemed like the ride from hell. The mission had better be damn worth it because he'd much rather be in bed with Katie than listening to Lance talk.
After they left Earth's orbit, Lance set the coordinates to the wormhole portal and decelerated his lion. Keith could see the Yellow Lion race on ahead of them before Hunk realised that they had slowed down and adjusted his speed to match theirs. Lance then muted outgoing communication and side-eyed Keith. That was never a good sign. The last time Lance did this was to voice his discontent with the fact that they were looking for a temporary pilot for Blue while Allura was pregnant. That conversation had been an absolute disaster that affected the entire team with Pidge and Lance siding together and Hunk trying to be the neutral party between them and him and Shiro.
Lance turned to face Keith, "We need to talk," he declared leaving no room for any other options.
"Don't you do enough of that already?" Keith commented sarcastically. Some of Pidge's sass was rubbing off on him.
"As the intelligence gatherer for the Paladins, I've been keeping track of the gossip on base and its getting bad. It's only a matter of time before it starts affecting Pidge," Lance said seriously.
"Gee I thought your job was to scout for possible threats not gossip," Keith commented. He knew what Lance was talking about and it annoyed him that the people on base had nothing better to do than talk about the Paladins.
Lance pointed a finger at him, "Don't accuse me of not doing my job. We both know something big is coming. Most of the missions you go on for Blade of Marmora are based on intel I've gathered. Something is coming and we need to be prepared which is why I'm concerned for Pidge. She needs to be on her A game and not distracted by those petty people on base or romance drama."
"Lance, what goes on between Pidge and I is our business no one else's not even the Paladins," Keith warned him.
"I'll remind you of what I told you when you started dating Pidge, if you hurt her, fellow Paladin or not, I will hurt you," Lance threatened.
Keith ignored him. He usually ignored anyone that tried to discuss his love life with him, even Shiro.
"Did you hear me?" Lance asked. "Don't stand there so smugly. I know what you're thinking. Poor Lance can't even land a hit on me much less hurt me but I will. I swear I will."
Keith continued ignoring Lance in the hope that Lance would run out of things to say but considering it was the Red Paladin that was flapping his gums, that was a very high hope.
"Hey guys," Hunk's voice came over the radio, "Everything ok. You've been silent for a while."
"Even Hunk knows you have a big mouth," Keith couldn't resist commenting.
Lance threw him a glare and then switched on the outgoing communications. "We were just discussing Pidge," Lance explained honestly.
"Oh," Hunk said in an awkward tone. "I'm staying out of that."
"Smart man," Keith commented to antagonise Lance further.
"Are you trying to say I'm still the dumb dumb of the team," Lance challenged standing to this full height and clenching his fists by his side.
Allura's voice came over the comms, "I told you not to say anything! Do you ever listen!"
Lance deflated so fast, sinking back into the chair and looking lovingly at the communication screen. Keith had to blink to make sure he was seeing properly.
"Honey you know me," Lance said a bit sheepishly. "I'm only concerned."
"I do know you," her voice soothingly reassured him, "But you have a mission to get to. The wormhole is open and I rather not stand here forever while you crawl towards it. Our son will need feeing soon so get moving." Her tone at the end promised a world of pain if Lance didn't follow her orders.
"Yes boss," Lance saluted. He reached for the thrusters and engaged them fully causing Keith, who was standing to the side of the chair, to have to hold on to Lance's chair for dear life.
"You did that purposely," Keith grumbled while he braced himself.
"I did? I was just following my wife's orders. One day you'll understand," Lance said to him.
As they were about to breach the event horizon, Allura's voice came over the comms, "Be careful and come back to me in one piece," she commanded.
"Will do!" Lance promised her. He manoeuvred his lion into the wormhole and then decelerated. He kicked back propping his feet up on the panel in front of him.
Keith let go of the chair and decided it might be safer to lean against the back wall.
"I have some good news," Hunk said after a minute or two. They had about twenty in the wormhole before they would arrive at the destination to drop Keith off.
"Go ahead," Keith said quickly so that Lance wouldn't start talking to him again.
"I also have something serious we need to discuss now that we're away from prying ears but I'll let you go ahead Hunk," Lance generously offered.
"Romelle and I..."
"Are taking a vacation," Lance finished. "I saw the request form in Shiro's office."
"That wasn't what I was going to say," Hunk replied quickly.
"Oh, you're throwing a party then," Lance guessed next. "I saw you putting together a few menus the other day with Pidge."
"No," Hunk replied, a little bit of annoyance leaking into his voice.
"Romelle's pregnant?" Lance tried again. "She's been a bit moody lately. At the beginning of Altean pregnancy they get really snippy."
"No!" Hunk said definitely annoyed this time.
Keith thought it was time to intervene before things got out of hand, "Lance would you shut up and let Hunk speak," he said irritated.
Lance sulked, "You sound like Allura."
"Is it clear for me now?" Hunk asked uncertainly.
"Go ahead," Keith confirmed.
"Romelle and I are getting married!" There was an excitement in Hunk's voice that warmed Keith's heart. It also scared him a bit because he and Pidge would soon become the only two in their makeshift family that weren't married and he knew what people were going to start saying.
"Congratulations," Keith said sincerely.
"That's fantastic news!" Lance exclaimed loudly. "When we get to our destination we have to have a celebratory drink."
"Definitely, it turned out Pidge and Keith were right, I had nothing to worry about," Hunk gushed.
"Wait! Stop the lions... You told Keith you were going to propose and not me?" Lance asked offended.
"You mean in your role as intelligence gather for the team, you didn't know about this," Keith happily teased Lance.
"I wasn't going to. I swear. He walked into Pidge's room when we were in the middle of discussing the menu. It was much easier to tell him the truth than to let him think Pidge and I were having some sort of torrid affair behind his back," Hunk explained hoping Lance would understand the position he was in.
Keith remembered the moment well. He walked into her room and found another man leaning over her looking at something on her computer. The man's hand was resting on her shoulder and Keith's hand twitched as he had to stop himself from going for his bayard. When Hunk turned to look at him, his eyes widened in shock and everything just came tumbling out of his mouth.
"I still don't understand why you couldn't tell me," Lance sulked.
"I couldn't tell you because you would tell Allura and she would tell Romelle," Hunk explained to him.
"Ye have little faith in me," Lance protested.
"Name one secret you've kept from Allura?" Hunk challenged him.
"I actually have one! It's what I wanted to talk to you guys about first. I was innocently walking passed Shiro's office when I heard him talking to Iverson," Lance started to explain.
"You were eavesdropping," both Keith and Hunk muttered simultaneously.
"I do not like that term," Lance said primly folding his arms over his chest.
"Get to the point," Keith encouraged. He didn't have all day to hear exactly how he came across this information.
"Shiro is going to build an alliance military base off world and is moving Voltron there. If Voltron is there, it is expected the Paladins would also be based there. As a military base, that means no civilians allowed. I don't know if I can give up my family again," Lance admitted sadly.
"So you're saying you want to stay on Earth and you want the team to tell Shiro we are not leaving Earth?" Hunk asked.
"We may be the Paladins of Voltron but Voltron is a weapon and it is Admiral Shirogane's decision where to deploy Voltron. There are hundreds of candidates that want a chance to fly the Lions and if we don't do it, we can be replaced," Keith reminded them.
"It's up to the Lions to determine who flies them. Blue refused a temporary pilot while Allura was pregnant," Lance pointed out. "Maybe they only want us."
"That was because Allura was determined to come back to Blue. It is an entirely different matter if you don't want to fly Red," Keith reminded him.
"I never said I didn't want to fly Red," Lance snapped immediately. "I said I had reservations about moving to the location they want to base Red. I would never just give up Red."
"We cannot flagrantly disobey Shiro. If we have to move then we have to move," Keith said seriously. "We've unlocked a lot of Voltron's weapons. Throwing a new person in could send the entire team back to the beginning process," Keith stressed.
"I know that Keith but Hunk and I have family on Earth. I also have Alejandro to consider. Who will watch him while Allura and I are on missions? I know Allura loves the Lions. It's her legacy and it is Alejandro's legacy too. I'm willing to leave the team for my son so that at least one of us is there with him," Lance explained dejectedly.
"We can petition Shiro to make allowances for our family," Hunk suggested hopefully.
"What happens if Allura gets pregnant again or Pidge? Allura's pregnancy is only five months long but Pidge could be nine months unless she decides to drop this schmuck," Lance chucked his thumb in Keith's direction, "And move on with an Olkari. I hear they have babies in three months."
Keith's nostrils flared at the jab, "We'll cross that bridge when we reach it," he managed to ground out.
"What about you Keith?" Lance asked directly, "Will our great leader take this opportunity to leave the team and permanently work with the Blades?"
"I have no plans to give up Black and leave the team," Keith reassured. "You guys do as you must. The Lions, Pidge and I will survive."
"Guys, I think this is something we need to discuss as a team. If each of us brings our position to the table I'm sure there is something we can work out. We don't fail when we work as a team," Hunk said in a positive tone.
Lance finally fell silent thinking about what Hunk said and Keith relished in the solitude.
Despite Lance's dawdling, Keith arrived at the Blade base on time. This was the main one of eight bases and it was located on the planet where Kolivan was born. Kolivan and his mother had worked hard over the last decade to rebuild the Blades, recruiting members from across the universe, not just Galra. Krolia convinced Kolivan that if the purpose of the Blades was to live on they had to move beyond their own species. She believed that there were many other species that were worthy of being Blade members and she pointed to Keith's human heritage as proof. It was a very hard sell and the first non-Galra members had a lot to prove but it worked out.
This base alone housed over a 100 members and Keith knew every one of them. He had worked with many of them on missions over the last few years. He nodded at each member he passed on the way to his assigned quarters. There were a few extra things he wanted to pick up before he met with Kolivan and his mother in the hanger.
He entered his room and a flowery smell caught his attention. Acxa had been in his room. He did a quick survey of the items in his room and everything was where he left it. He noticed his mother hung a new picture on the wall. She had started hanging pictures in his room so it would feel more like a home and not a room. The first one she put up was the one she had kept since she left Earth. His father had his arm around her and she was holding him all swaddled in a blanket. You could barely see his face but you could see how happy they were. The next few she added were photos she found in their old house of him growing up. The more recent photos were from official Blade functions. She even had the official Paladin picture up.
He spotted what Acxa had changed. She removed the picture of them from a vacation they had taken together and replaced it with one of the pictures from their Kor'th ceremony. It was the third stage of their official Galra courtship. The idea was they both had to openly confess their feelings for one another and state their intentions for their future in front of all of their Galra family. Since Krolia was the only Galra family they both had, they held the ceremony in front of all of the members of the Blade of Marmora.
The picture she had chosen to hang was taken right as she finished her confession. He remembered it well.
Keith Kogane of Earth, Son of Krolia, Member of the Blade of Marmora, you are my future husband. You are the partner I wish to fight alongside in life. You are the partner that I will fight for. You are my future and I am your future. Our lives are forever intertwined. I intend for us to one-day command the Blade of Marmora together.
An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach as he remembered her smiling face that day. He pushed the feeling far away. He came for a mission, not for anything else.
He glanced at the picture by his bedside. It was the only picture he had added to the room. It was a photo of Pidge. She wasn't even looking at the camera in the picture. She was on his bed, sitting cross legged with her computer on her legs, typing away quickly. She was chewing on her bottom lip as she tried to solve some math algorithm. He couldn't quite remember what it had been about; all he knew was that there was something about the way she was posed that he needed to capture. He felt his focus return, he grabbed some grenades, one of his parachute packs and an extra knife, Pidge had given him to celebrate one year of dating. He exited his room quickly and headed to the hanger.
He was far from surprised to see Kolivan, his mother and Acxa already there pouring over the plans for the mission.
"Keith," his mother greeted him with a quick hug when she noticed him approaching them.
He nodded his head at Kolivan and Acxa. He could see the question in Acxa's eyes. The feeling in his stomach returned. He was not prepared to deal with that now. He had been avoiding it for the last three years since she called a halt to their courtship. He didn't want to remember everything that had happened. He didn't want to be reminded that he couldn't live up to her expectations. He couldn't be the husband that she wanted.
He turned his attention towards the plans, "Is everything ready?" he asked Kolivan.
"The teams will meet us here in twenty minutes. I want us to go through the plans again before we brief them. We will leave within the hour."
Keith nodded his head and focused on the plans as Kolivan talked through it with them again.
The first stage of the mission to free the planet was the infiltration of the eight Zaiforge cannons placed around the planet. Four were in space and four were on the ground. Clearly the warlord was determined to keep himself in power. There was one control room situated on the planet that controlled all of the cannons but it was heavily guarded. Pidge suggested that they hacked into each cannon on site and take control of them without the central control knowing. Kolivan accepted the plan and she created a programme for each team to use to take control of the cannons.
The ships the Blade used all had cloaking devices making it easy to access the cannons in space undetected. The ones on the ground were a bit more difficult and had extra security patrols around them. That was why he and Acxa had been assigned to infiltrate one of the ground cannons. His mother and Kolivan each had their own ground cannon to target.
Their cannon was at the top of a mountain ridge and the security had a clear 360 degree view around them. Keith landed their ship three miles away from the cannon in a heavily forested valley. He expected the forest canopy would provide them with enough cover. Acxa was not fond of the forest having grown up on space ships. He used to go camping with his father when he was younger and he tried to convert Acxa but she never warmed to nature. Even now as they made their way towards the ridge where the cannon was located she scowled at many of the plants and insects they came across.
They arrived safely at the bottom of the ridge line and had an almost near vertical climb up. Keith banked on the guards not looking over the edge to see if anyone was climbing up the mountain side. After all who would be crazy enough to do that with armed guards on top? When they started the sun was now rising over the horizon.
The climb was extremely taxing on both of them and Acxa started querying why they couldn't just blow the cannon up from the ship. He ignored her and focused his energy on the actual climbing instead of complaining. When they were a foot from the top they both stopped. Keith peered over the top to see where the guards were. They had to hang there for a few minutes until there was an opening for them to get to the cannon. Once the opening came they pulled themselves over the edge and then sprinted to the side door that led inside to the cannon's control systems.
Once inside Acxa looked over at Keith, "This would have been much easier if you brought Cosmo along."
"He was sick," Keith responded pulling up a map that showed the drone movements inside on his wrist computer. Cosmo may not have been sick when he left but with the amount of potato chips he ate last night, he'll be sick by now.
"Sick right before a big mission like this," Acxa questioned.
"Yes," Keith said focusing on avoiding the drones. They couldn't destroy any because that would draw attention to their intrusion.
"If Cosmo is getting sick so often maybe you should leave him with me," she said following behind him to the door that lead to the computer they needed to upload the programme to.
Keith didn't respond to her. She must have forgotten that Cosmo lost all fondness for her when she forgot to feed him. He got the door open and they moved to the consol quickly. Acxa plugged in the programme while Keith kept watch. In a matter of minutes the programme was finished and it was time to go.
"It's done," Acxa said. She used her computer to confirm that their central command had taken control of the cannon. She looked up at him, "Six cannons under control, two more to go. Looks like Kolivan's team and Wasper's team are still working on their cannons."
"They'll be fine. Let's get out of here," Keith said. He opened the door and signalled for her to follow him. The sun would have set by now and the darkness would be very beneficial in keeping them unnoticed.
"Are you sure about our escape plan?" she asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, Pidge and I do this all the time," he said with a small smile.
"You jump off of mountains all the time with nothing but string and canvas to support you?" Acxa said shocked.
"It's called a parachute and it's completely safe. Just hold on to me and I'll do everything," he instructed her.
Keith opened the door when it was clear, Acxa looked him straight in the eyes as she placed her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his torso.
"There was a time when I used to do this for pleasure," she mused.
"That is all in the past," Keith bit out as he harnessed her to him to ensure they remained together during the trip down. The feeling in his stomach returned along with memories of him an Acxa together. He forced it away and focused on the edge of the cliff.
He sprinted forward. Acxa was heavier than he remembered and it was harder to build up the speed he wanted. He took a giant leap off the edge and he felt Acxa's grip on him tighten.
"It's ok," he reassured her as he looked at the altimeter on his wrist.
The cold air surged passed them as they fell fast. When the altimeter beeped he pulled the chute. They jerked upwards immediately.
"It worked," Acxa said amazed.
Keith chuckled, "Of course it worked."
Keith looked down. The forest canopy was approaching a lot faster than he anticipated. The hardest part was going to be landing. Usually when he was with Pidge they could use their jet packs to slow down their descent but they couldn't do that here or they would draw attention to themselves.
Keith's feet started brushing the tops of the trees with a lot more force than he thought he would have. In a matter of seconds he, Acxa and his chute became tangled in a tree. His legs and arms were bruised and he had a tree limb poking into his back. Acxa was still attached to him and she was groaning in pain.
"You ok?" he asked softly.
"Yeah but you didn't say the landing would hurt so much," she teased.
"I can't reach my knife on my left thigh. Can you get it?" he asked her. The knife was stuck between the outside of his left thigh and the inside of her right thigh.
"Sure," she said with a mischievous grin. She slowly moved her hand from around his neck, down his left bicecp, passed his bent elbow to his left hip. She then trailed her hand slowly down his thigh to the knife. She pulled it out and brought it up to her eye level to look at it. She frowned.
"This isn't your usual one," she said.
"No," was all Keith deigned to tell her. He took the knife and cut them free. He just needed to report back to Kolivan and get this day over with.
The small cabin the team was sharing was in a wooded area on the outskirts of the capital city. The advanced team had set it up with provisions to last them the duration of the mission. There were three bunk beds in the bedroom and the beds were rotated between members. Keith decided to take the first shift to sleep while his mother and Acxa decided to stay awake.
He lay on the bed and willed his body to sleep. He was just on the cusp of entering his sleep state when a bad feeling moved across his body. His eyes opened and he quickly surveyed his room for intruders. Finding none, he reached for the communicator he had under his pillow to check on the other Paladins. Lance's and Hunk's last message was that they were heading off to bed and they wished the girls fun at the club. Allura was still listed at the club with Veronica and Romelle but Pidge was shown as working in her lab.
Keith relaxed a little but he couldn't shake the feeling. Perhaps there was something about the cabin and its surroundings that was unsettling him. He decided to perform his own perimeter check. He started in the woods and moved counter clockwise around the cabin. He nodded at the Blade members he saw on patrol. When he was satisfied that his surroundings were acceptable he returned to the cabin. He saw a light on in the kitchen and heard his mother's and Acxa's voices talking.
"He never returned the Knot," Acxa's hopeful voice floated out the door.
The Knot, that damned piece of cloth that he tossed in the back of his dresser. It was from the Kor'th. It was supposed to represent their lives tied together. They each had one. To break the Galra courtship you had to return the Knot to your former partner. That was the formal end to the courtship. If it was not returned, the courtship was still considered to be in progress. It was custom for many couples to take breaks during this phase and then come back to each other and form a stronger partnership than they had before.
In the beginning he had not returned the Knot because he hoped she would change her mind and come back to him. He most definitely didn't want to start from the beginning and repeat stages one and two if they did get back together. The longer he waited the more confused he became. He wasn't sure what to do. She hadn't moved on with anyone else and they had fallen into a strange sort of holding pattern. Several times he thought she was going to reconcile with him, that mainly happened after they tumbled into bed together after missions, but it never happened. She always left his room in the middle of the night and never spoke about what had happened the next day. Eventually, it was Shiro that encouraged him to try and move on. Maybe by seeing him with someone new, she might realise the mistake she had made.
That started off a string of failed dates that led him to conclude he was better off as a lone wolf. He was not a man meant to be in a relationship. He would never have what Lance and Allura had or Shiro and Dustin. That all changed at Matt's and Veronica's wedding. He had settled himself at the bar with a bottle of whiskey and Pidge took the seat next to him with her empty glass. He wordlessly poured her a drink. They polished off that bottle easily and moved on to another one. Eventually she asked him if it was going to be him or her that would be the single one forever.
Keith didn't know what came over him at that point in time but he started laughing like a maniac before pulling Pidge towards him and kissing her senseless. One thing led to another and they woke up in bed together the next day.
He remembered every minute of their time together. It was different to what he had grown accustomed to but still very pleasurable. He realised that he didn't feel awkward at all about being intimate with Pidge but he wasn't sure she felt the same way. Thus, he was very surprised to find her at his door again that night. She too remembered and wanted to see if they could repeat it. They most definitely could and it was even better when they weren't intoxicated.
They thought they were just having fun but after six months fun turned into something very real and they decided to tell the rest of their family that they were dating. Keith never expected to find himself in a serious relationship with Pidge but that was exactly where he found himself.
He remembered Lance's warning and the new picture Acxa had put in his room. It was crystal clear now that Acxa was ready to return to their courtship but was he? Before Matt's wedding he definitely would have returned to the courtship but now things were more complicated. Since he started dating Pidge, he avoided asking himself if he was still in love with Acxa. He knew he was afraid of the answer but it was time to man up and figure out his way forward. He needed to make a firm decision about the Knot and resolve the feelings that he had swept under the rug. For Pidge's and Acxa's sake he couldn't let this go on like it had any longer.
Keith returned to his room but the feeling wouldn't leave him. He couldn't understand why it was nagging him. They were safe where they were and his Paladins were all safe so why was his gut insisting something was wrong.
He got up again and went to his bag. He pulled out his sketch pad and went into the bathroom. He turned on the light and flipped to the last page he was working on. It was a drawing of Pidge with the Green Lion in the background. He was drawing her in the green halter dress she wore to the 25th birthday party Lance threw for her last month. Keith had never seen her happier.
A smile automatically pulled across his face and he started working on how he wanted her hair to fall around her shoulders. When his mission was over, he was going to demand Shiro give all of them a week off for rest and reflection. He could use the time to sort himself out.
An: Thanks for reading.