Chapter three: Restored
Shiro awoke a little groggy, and the world was one blurred display of color. A display that was slowly becoming more and more defined and recognizable. And he was relieved to feel that he had both his upper limbs again. He was whole again! As his vision normalized, he was greeted by the thrilled and relieved faces of his friends around him.
"I'm back." He said, trying to sound enthusiastic.
"Yes, you are." Keith answered, with a smile. Shiro took him by the hand, and attempted to sit up.
"Woah, woah, woah, a- are you sure you're ready for this?"
"Yeah." Keith stared suspiciously a him. "I'll take it slow." Shiro assured him, and Keith gave in. He pulled himself up with his left arm and slid to the side. He let his legs dangle from the table, and remained there. He knew he wasn't ready to stand quite yet. He looked back at his right arm. A white bandage covered the attachment point and his arm extended out from it, much to his relief. "I have my arm back." He gasped, the thought finally sinking in.
"Yep, and everything looks great!" Pidge reported proudly.
"That's great, Pidge." Shiro nodded. Her smile widened.
"It'll take some time, but you should regain full function of your arm in no time at all." Allura explained happily.
"That's good to hear." The Black Paladin responded, "guess I won't have to learn how to pilot the Black Lion with one arm after all." Keith half froze.
"You never did." He said, feeling a bit nervous.
"I know." Shiro's calm face made him softened his own. He realized that he was joking, and dropped his guard. Shiro finally worked up the courage to stand, half fearing his legs would not support him. He knew that he'd just undergone an extensive operation to reattach his arm. He didn't want to mess anything up,... even if it was unrelated to his arm. But to his relief, he held up just fine. "Have we been tracking the Galra's activity lately?"
"No, not really." Allura answered, unfortunately lowering her gaze. "We've mostly been focusing on you and your recovery, since we brought you back. And preparing to return to your planet Earth."
"Well then I think now's the time." Shiro was thinking like the leader he was already, and he'd barely been back for being in the Black Lion's mind. As they headed out of the medical bay, he was already devising a plan on how they were to start the search. And strategized according to all possible scenarios he could think of, as he often did. Shiro hadn't realized how much he enjoyed strategizing until now. He found it cleared his head, put him at ease,... relaxed. Scanning the map of the Galra locations, he began planning out his strategy.
"Ok, even though the galra are scattering themselves and falling out of line with the rest of the empire. We don't know what we're dealing with." Shiro remarked. "We may have more enemies, or, more allies. We will not engage any of these factions directly until we know more about their goals. We're sitting ducks without the Castle, so we need to head to Earth to begin the reconstruction. The sooner we finish it,... the better."
"Yes, but what about the Lions?" Allura remembered. "The galra know how to track them, and if they track them to your planet it could put it at risk. We must find away to ensure that they don't."
"Like cloaking the lions' signals?" Pidge thought out loud.
"Or hide them while we're on earth." Keith suggested.
"But then how would we get to earth without the lions?" Allura wondered.
"What about the other Altean transport ships?" Romelle suggested. "There are more of them at the colony, nobody uses them and they're in good condition considering their current situation."
"Then, I guess, we're headed to the Altean colony." Shiro decided.
"Which brings up another conundrum." Coran spoke up. "What are planning to do about the Alteans a in that colony?"
"And what about that other colony?" Romelle reminded them. "Some of those Alteans are still alive. How do we undo the damage that Lotor has done?"
"We head to that colony and see what can be done." Allura responded, her determination masking the pain still in her heart.
"Well we have our plan, let's move." Shiro finished. They headed to the lions and set off for the colony. "Keith, you've been to the colony before. So I want you to take the lead on this one." Keith stared for a moment before taking his place at the helm of the Black Lion.
"Ok the colony is located in a treacherous area known as the Quantum Abyss. There's only an area that is safe for us to travel through the abyss without being stretched to infinity." Keith explained. "The colony is located on a moon facility just on the other side."
"Alright this area sounds extremely dangerous, so stay close and follow in a tight single-file formation so we don't get separated." Shiro instructed.
"Shiro," Keith continued. "That last time I was here I was seeing memories of the past,.. and future. Are you sure you don't want to find another way to get to the colony?"
"This is the only way we know how to get there, and time is of the essence. We can't waste anymore time than we have to, in replacing the Castle of Lions. Without it we're extremely vulnerable, and we can't have that. We have to get to the Altean colony as soon as we cahhhh!!!" Shiro was zapped back into memories of his time with the Galra and the battle with Keith. They came as pictures one after the other flashed through his mind. He returned to reality with a flash that hit him like a wave, grimacing a little. He fell to one knee, holding his head in his hands.
"Shiro!" Keith cried peering back. "You ok?"
"I'm fine." Shiro groaned. "Keep going."
"We're not even at the Quantum Abyss and you're already seeing things. Maybe we should-"
"No." Shiro insisted, "we'll keep going. You were able to deal with the flashbacks when you were there. I can too." Keith stared down at him.
"Ok." He lied, he really wasn't sure if this was a good idea at all, but still he continued.
The Quantum Abyss stretched as far as the eye could see, and beyond. It was the picture of chaos itself. Dark stars and space rocks were scattered throughout, debris, rock and a radiation belt were stretched out across the Abyss. The unstable star emitted the radiation as a pulse, ready to erupt any minute.
"Solar flares from that central dark star happen anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes apart." Keith explained. "And you'll know when it's going to happen."
"And how exactly will we know?" Lance questioned dubiously. A light interrupted their conversation, followed by an explosion of yellowish-gold light that rushed to meet them.
"Here it comes!" Keith warned them. "Brace yourselves!!" And as the surging field of gold hit them...
Keith remembered hearing about Shiro's disappearance.
Pidge saw her father, brother, and Shiro being taken by the galra.
Lance remembered finding the blue lion, and rescuing Shiro.
Hunk saw the time they were fixing the shield station, when Shiro accidentally lost the power due to a strong migraine.
Allura recalled meeting the Paladins this morning.
Coran saw the Castle of Lions going into the rift sealing it, and saving Shiro.
Shiro was on a Galra ship watching, himself be experimented on...
"What just happened?!" Pidge didn't believe what she just saw.
"That's normal." Krolia assured them, from the Green Lion. "It's exactly what happened to us when we were here before." The scanner picked up the trail as she continued. "Now remember Keith there's only a small space in which space-time is not affected, so be careful where you lead us."
"I know." Keith breathed, he gripped the handles slightly.
"You can do this Keith," Shiro told him picking up on this. "No pressure." They continued on the invisible path through the abyss, thoughts and fears running across each of their minds. As another wave washed over them...
Allura was zapped back to when she and Shiro snuck aboard a galra ship, and the sacrifice she made for him.
Coran saw the courage Shiro had to make calls in battle, when Zarkon was tracking them.
Lance remembered the astral plain and Shiro calling for help.
Pidge could see the memory of Shiro's history of becoming the Champion.
Hunk watched the reruns of their arguments and how Shiro stayed calm through it all.
Krolia remembered Keith telling her about Shiro and what he'd done for him.
Keith saw the moment the clone Shiro attacked, remembering the pain he'd felt after their fight.
Shiro was being zapped through all memories at different times. They appeared randomly and with no apparent pattern. His head began to spin with all that had been going on...
Shiro grimaced a little, the return to reality was beginning to get painful.
"Shiro, you ok back there?!" Keith asked peeking back for a brief second.
"Yeah, I'm fine." The Black Paladin responded "Let's keep going." They came to a red planet that looked almost like a large hot coal. Keith pushed Black forward toward the red and black rock. Coming upon the surface they jetted on, Keith led the team into a large chasm. He landed the lions here to hide them from view.
"This should keep them hidden from view while we're gone." Keith remarked, gazing up and the Lions. "Now come on, this way." Keith and Krolia took the lead down a path that appeared to have been traveled many times. Footprints were stamped into the dirt, giving way to the history of life living on this planet. What made these footprints was unknown to the team, but they had their guesses. One cave led into another. And carvings began to show up on the walls, each telling the story of how Lotor saved the Alteans and brought them here.
"No one can even look at these carvings now, for they will remind us of the lies we've lived for so long." Romelle told them. Keith, Krolia, and Romelle came to a rock wall,... a dead end? But a hidden control panel on the right side of the wall opened it, to a door hiding on the other side of it. The door also slid open and the Paladins filed into it and the doors closed behind them. The door was a gateway into another world of trees and grass and blue sky, much like earth.
"Our village is hidden in a clearing amongst the trees, this way." Romelle said, leading the way. They walked until the forest fell away and gave way to a display that made everyone gasp. They were frozen in awe of the place that lay before them.
What's up Shiro lovers! This story was a very 'ooo this sounds fun' type idea and I had try it. I was soo excited by all that happened in season six that I just had to write about what happens next. ️ Anyway stay frosty for the next chapter.
