Here it is, chapter seven! This one was a fun one to write, especially in certain places. I'm definitely excited to write all that comes after this point, which, ideally, will be just as good as I hope it'll be. So hold on to your horses, folks!

Also prayer circle that season six will reveal the name of Keith's father... please dreamworks, if you give us those Keith flashbacks but somehow don't mention the dude's name I will personally come into your studio and challenge you to a fist fight.


anomalous point

chapter seven

the missing


"Any sign of her?"

"No!" Matt's tone was more than a little frantic, not that he couldn't understand it. "I can't find her anywhere!"

Matt's call to his burner cell had come no sooner than he'd left work, and he'd only waited long enough to be sure he wasn't being followed to head over to the Holt household. He'd made good time, but not nearly good enough to keep Matt from nearly tearing the house apart looking for his sister.

In any other situation, he would have cracked a joke about him looking for her in the cabinets (though she could, admittedly, fit in there), but this was not the time for jokes. Not when it was very clear that Katie was missing.

And not when he had a sinking feeling that he knew who was behind it.

This was exactly what he had been afraid of when Katie suggested building drones. He shouldn't have let her, he knew that now. Why hadn't he stopped her?

It was easy to say that now. Hindsight was 20/20, easy to determine the cause when the remains of drones were scattered on the floor of the main entrance.

Sensing that Matt was on the cusp of a full blown panic attack, Shiro placed his hand on his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. "We'll find her, Matt. I promise."

"But what if-?" Matt began, before letting out a long breath, his shoulders slumping. "We shouldn't have let her make the drones. We should have-"

"I know." Shiro told him. "This was our mistake. But we'll fix it."

"How?" Matt asked. "We don't even know where to start looking."

They both knew that wasn't true. If Katie had been taken, then there was only one place that she could be right now- the valley.

"Keith is with her." Shiro told him.

"Keith probably took her." Matt pointed out.

He couldn't help but wince at the statement, knowing it was likely true. He hadn't thought it would come to this, that Keith wouldn't do something like this- but clearly he'd been naive. He'd thought... he didn't know, that if he'd gone out of his way to warn him, that he'd overlook something like failed drones.

How did he know they were Katie's anyways?

"I know." Shiro said finally, letting his hand slip from Matt's shoulder. "But Keith wouldn't hurt her. We both know that."

"Yeah." Matt said, taking in and letting out a long, if not shaky, breath. "Yeah, I know that, it's just- I don't get it, Shiro. I thought we were friends. I mean, I don't know how close I was with Keith, but you and him..."

"And now he- he took Katie, Shiro. She- she's gone. Just-" Matt told him, looking at up at him, something despairing in his gaze. "First dad, and now..."

"We'll get her back." Shiro promised him. "I'll get her back."

Even if it meant that he had to go into the valley himself.

He didn't say that part out loud, but Matt seemed to realize it for himself anyways. Narrowing his eyes, his lips set themselves in a tight frown. "Shiro, you can't. If you go-"

"I know." Shiro said, letting out a long sigh. "I know, Matt. I don't know if I'll be able to get back. But at least I'll be able to figure out what's going on here, and keep an eye on Katie. I can't just leave her there."

"You're the one who said that going into the valley was a terrible idea." Matt pointed out.

"I know what I said, but that was before." Shiro frowned. "I wouldn't be doing this if there was any other option."

Holding his gaze, Matt finally let out a sigh of his own. "You're right, I know you're right but... what if we're wrong about this? I hate to say it, but what if Keith's not who we think he is?"

It wasn't as if he hadn't considered it. There was so much that Keith kept to himself, that it wasn't impossible that he might have been fooling them all along. Still, no matter much he turned that question over, he couldn't figure out why he would do such a thing- nor why he would have even bothered warning him about the valley if that were true.

Maybe there were things he didn't know about Keith, but Keith knew him well enough to know that he would heed any warnings given.

"Do you really think that?" Shiro asked.

Frowning, Matt shook his head. "No. Keith's a lot of things, but you're right- he's not a bad guy."

"...even if he did kidnap my sister." Matt added, frown turning into a glower.

Unable to help himself, Shiro let out a snort. "I'll need your help with this, Matt. I can't get to the valley on my own."

"Oh, I'm not letting you go alone." Matt told him, arching a brow. "I'm going with you."

He couldn't say the he hadn't entirely been expecting that, but that didn't mean he liked the idea. "If you go, you might not be able to come back. Your mother-"

"I know, I know!" Matt told him, stepping back, letting out an exasperated sigh. "I don't like the idea of leaving mom all alone either. But Katie's my sister, Shiro. I'm supposed to be her older brother, I'm supposed to protect her. I can't just- I can't just leave her there, wherever she's been taken to."

Opening and closing his mouth, he knew he had no right to try and convince him otherwise. After losing his father, he could understand where Matt was coming from. But still...

"You have to talk to your mother about it." He told him. "She deserves to know."

"I know." Matt said. "I mean, we gotta tell her why Katie's not coming to dinner anyways, don't we?"

"Fair point." Shiro admitted. "I know you're worried about her, but let's not race into this. Keith's with her, and we don't know for sure if she's actually in danger."

"Yeah, it's the for sure part I'm not so hot about." Matt admitted. "But you're right, I can't really picture Keith letting her get hurt."

Nodding his head, Shiro gave Matt's shoulder a firm squeeze. "We'll pack tonight. I'd stick to clothes and basic essentials, seeing as we don't know who it is we're dealing with here. We don't want to bring anything that might arouse suspicion."

"Or what." Matt observed.

"Or what." Shiro admitted.

Leaving his apartment with a bag would definitely arouse suspicion from the Garrison, but if he was just going to disappear into the valley anyways, he supposed it didn't really matter. He'd have to turn in a letter of resignation at the bakery- his boss had enough on her plate, he didn't want to leave her at a loss when he didn't show up for work the next day.

If all went well, maybe he'd even get her son back.

"Okay, I'll pack some things." Matt told him. "For Katie, too. I mean, she'll hate me going through her stuff, but she'd probably also care for like, clean underwear."

"There is," he added, "-one thing I'd like to do before we go, though."

Arching a brow, Shiro got a feeling he knew what it was. "You want to hack the Garrison."

"I'm going to hack the Garrison." Matt said. "Keith seemed pretty interested as to whether or not you read those personnel files, so I'm betting there's something pretty interesting in there."

"Can you get them without getting caught?" Shiro asked. "I thought you said they were rigged."

"Oh, they are." Matt told him, giving him a faint smirk. "But do you honestly think I haven't been thinking of a way around that?"

Letting out another snort, Shiro merely shook his head. "I know you better than that."

"Good." Matt said, nodding his head. "Then you know that I have a plan."

"The question is," Shiro began, "-is it a good plan?"

Because he knew about Matt's plans, and they all tended to fall under two categories- very bad and marginally better. Which, considering that he planned at all, still put him one step above Keith, who had a plan maybe only ten percent of the time.

Squinting, Matt merely frowned. "It's decent."

"It better be." Shiro told him. "Because I don't know if you've noticed but," reaching out, he patted his stump, "-I'm only half the man I used to be."

"Don't sell yourself so short, Shiro." Matt said. "I'd say you're more like three fourths the man you used to be, if anything."

Maybe the bark of laughter that escaped him wasn't quite situation appropriate but that- that was a damn fair assessment.


He'd be lying if he said there was part of him that almost expected to see Keith waiting for him in his apartment that evening, fresh pick marks on the lock.

But he wasn't there, leaving him alone with the Garrison's bugs, and not much else.

Slumping back in his only chair, Shiro let out a long sigh, burying his face in his hand. The action was far more effective with two hands, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Closing his eyes, he tried to sort out his thoughts, which had been running in circles since Matt called him.

No, if he was going to be honest, they had been running in circles for a long time now. Even before he learned about Keith, the valley, and the vast conspiracy that involved both.

They'd been running in circles ever since he had woken from his coma, only to learn that he had lost his right arm, with the blood of a man he deeply respected on his hands. Maybe it was true that the accident never would have happened if the Garrison had not resorted to using substandard parts to build the Kerberos shuttle- but the fact remained that he hadn't been able to perform his duties as pilot without fail.

Without fail meant getting everyone back safely, after all.

And now he'd let his daughter be taken.

Realistically he knew he hadn't let it happen- but he should have nixed the drone idea. Should have realized it was dangerous.

But then Katie might have just made them on her own anyways- in fact, he knew that she would. Rather than Matt coming home to find her missing and knowing why, he would have simply come home to find her missing and having not a clue as to how it could have happened.

It still didn't change the fact that someone should have been with her. If she hadn't been alone...

Shaking his head, he leaned back in his chair, blowing out a long breath. Would it have done any good? The one thing he knew for sure about Keith was that he was talented- flying, fighting... the kid was skilled, like he had been training all his life.

And here he was, one armed and disabled. Fat lot of good he would have done.

But he still wanted to believe in Keith- that he hadn't done this by choice. That he'd keep her safe. That there was a reason behind his actions, a good one.

He wanted to believe that the awkward teenager who had gradually warmed up to him back at the Garrison hadn't been a lie. Thoughts flickering back to the first time they had been introduced, he let out a silent laugh, recalling the way he had grasped his forearm when he'd offered it for a handshake, after puzzling over it for several moments.

He now questioned the memory- how was it that Keith hadn't known what a handshake was?

Out of the corner of his eye, his father had flinched, but he hadn't thought much of it at the time. It wasn't like he had never noticed that Keith was odd- but he'd assumed that most of it was just due to culture shock. He had been raised in his mother's home country- though thinking back on it, he'd never once been told what country that was.

Maybe he should have asked.

Aliens. The idea was... he still didn't know what to think about it. But Katie had been right- he really couldn't think of anything better.

Opening his eyes, he held out his arm in front of him, studying his own nails. The first thing he'd ever noticed about the kid was his nails. Hard not to, what with the way they had pricked his skin during their greeting, leaving behind tiny red marks. They weren't round, tapering off instead into points.

But bad nails were a thing, so he'd never given it any thought.

He hadn't noticed his teeth until the first time he'd sat with him in a flight simulator, Keith baring them in a savage grin as he pulled a hairpin turn that would have gotten anyone else killed. They'd caught his eye just as much as the move- like someone had molded them all wrong, forgotten that human teeth were supposed to be round.

But he'd chalked it up to bad teeth- Keith was usually so cautious about not showing them in mixed company, that it was easy to think so.

At times, it felt like the longer he looked at Keith, the more out of place aspects he noticed. The texture of his skin, rough and thick, the proportion of his arms just a bit off kilter with the rest of him, too long, his hands half a size too large- the violet glint of his gaze, eyes like he's never seen before.

He'd thought of it as odd, but he'd never once thought of it as alien. Why would he? Why would anyone?

He'd ignored it all before- who was he to comment on someone's appearance like that? Though he'd since grown past it, Keith had always seemed so self conscious of his own appearance when he first met him, constantly ducking his head and trying to obscure his face, folding his arms to obscure their proportions. He'd probably been hassled about his odd looks in the past, he determined, and vowed not to say anything.

Beyond all of that, Keith was perfectly normal. Awkward, constantly missing social cues and perpetually curious about near everything, but still a normal kid, especially once he warmed up to him. He cracked jokes, made conversation, even smiled- as far as he could tell, there was nothing about him that was fundamentally different from the other cadets.

But for the first time, he found himself questioning who, exactly, Keith Kogane was.

A talented pilot, once in a generation.

A good kid with a quick wit, but poor social skills.

A friend. Someone he thought of fondly, someone he trusted to have his back. One whom he grew to care for, sometimes affectionately thinking of him as a younger brother.

A cryptid, of all fucking things, living out in the middle of the desert, involved with a conspiracy that was vaster than perhaps any of them could have imagined.

Maybe he hadn't come here just to warn him to stay out of the valley.

Maybe he'd really come here to warn him to stay out of it- to stay out of everything.

"Well," keeping his voice low, not safe to speak freely even in his own apartment, "-no chance of that now."


Patience yields focus, Shiro reminded himself, but it's never been harder for him to abide by that than it was now.

Mostly because there was nothing he could do but wait, not at this moment. This part was all Matt. He'd just have to hope that his plan worked out.

Everything was set. He had packed a bag, submitted his resignation to the bakery, and shook his Garrison pursuers. He knew that Matt had spoken with his mother- it was something he had left him to do by himself, sensing that it was a private affair. He was close to the family, but he wasn't a part of the family.

The evening sun had not yet set, turning the sky a vivid pink. It was beautiful, and were the circumstances not what they were, he'd appreciate it a lot more.

Finally, Matt's car pulled up, and he felt himself exhale. At the mockery of a salute the now presumably former Garrison employee gave him, Shiro couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"Get the files?" He asked, sliding into the passenger seat.

"Sure did." Matt told him. "And now the Garrison has a lovely virus to sort out, so it'll be awhile before they notice anyone's been looking at things they shouldn't."

Arching a brow at that, he bit back a comment, wondering how his life had come to... well, he was exactly encouraging those younger than him to commit crimes, but he wasn't doing much to convince them to not commit crimes.

"Good." Nodding his head, Shiro took the data pad that Matt offered him. "Get a chance to look at any of it yet?"

"I pretty much made for the door as soon as it finished downloading, so no." Matt told him. "I'll leave that honor to you. We heading for the valley?"

"Unless you've changed your mind." Shiro told him.

"Not a chance." Matt said, shaking his head. "Password is Iverson's a dickbag, by the way."

"...charming." Shiro said, his tone dry.

He found himself wishing he hadn't lost his dominant hand, navigating through the touch screen not quite as intuitive as he felt it should be. Still, he managed to find the files without much of a fuss, bringing the pair of them up.

He hesitated for the span of a moment, fingers hovering over the pair. After some thought, he went for Commander Kogane's files first- there was still some part of him that felt like this was prying, and he didn't want to do that to Keith.

But on the other hand, Keith had basically kidnapped Katie, so fair's fair.

At first, there wasn't too much of interest. It wasn't until he recalled Katie's mention of a meteor strike, that it occurred to him what he should be looking for.

There it was, Commander Kogane's report on the matter. It was cut and dry, stating that although the meteor had left a crater upon impact, it had been destroyed by the force of it. What was more interesting was the report refuting that- and how recently the report had been put together.

Keith had vanished from the Garrison five months after the launch of the Kerberos mission. This report had been filed just one month after that.

He didn't think the timing was a coincidence.

The report itself was cut and dry, just as the first one had been- but it included witness testimony, namely testimony that something had fallen from the sky that evening- as well as reports that something had been moved from the site.

He couldn't believe he was saying this, but maybe Katie had been right about the aliens after all.

There was one other interesting piece of information that he gleaned from the initial report- Commander Kogane's supervising officer.

Samuel Holt.

Gaze flickering over towards Matt, he showed the data pad to him, tapping his father's name, the gesture awkward with just one hand. "You know about this?"

"I'm driving, Shiro." Matt lightly reminded him, but spared a look anyways. "I- huh, no. Dad never mentioned that. I didn't even know he knew Keith's father."

"Apparently he did." Shiro noted, browsing through the rest of the file. There wasn't too much to it after that- it wasn't even a year later that Commander Kogane left the Galaxy Garrison behind, vanishing into thin air.

Which left him with Keith's file.

Letting out a long breath, Shiro brought it up before he could change his mind.

Unlike with his father's, he could tell something was wrong with Keith's right away.

Kogane, Keith (presumed alias, real name unknown)

Real name unknown. Real name unknown.

Just three words, and he was already cycling them through his head, over and over. He barely registered the presumed before it, too focused on what came after.

But that? That was just the start.

Because according to this, all of Keith's records were fake. Everything from his birth certificate to his school records to his social security number- every bit of his paper trial was fake. If what this file said was true, then no person such as Keith Kogane had ever existed.

Which was... well, way more than he had been prepared for, to say the least.

It must have shown on his face, because Matt leaned over to peer at the data pad for himself, letting out a low whistle. "Guess we really didn't know Keith."

It was a haunting thought.

"If this is true." Shiro said. "Remember, it's coming from the Garrison."

"I mean, I get it, but this is coming from their internal server, Shiro." Matt pointed out. "I like Keith too, I'm not saying any of this makes him a bad dude, but why would the Garrison need to lie to itself?"

He frowned. He had a point.

"I don't know." Shiro said. "But whatever this is about, we can ask Keith about it when we see him."

"Provided he decides to tell us." Matt observed. "That might be the hard part."

That was true too. His frown deepening, Shiro scanned the rest of the file. This might be from the Garrison's internal server, but there were massive chunks of the file that were redacted, which was suspicious enough in and of itself.

"Whose computer did you access this from?" Shiro asked.

"Iverson's." Matt told him, sparing the data pad a glance, grimacing. "Guessing I should have gone for someone higher on the food chain, huh?"

"Looks like it." Shiro told him. "Near as I can tell, it looks like Keith has been interfering in official Garrison activities since we- since he- left. But aside from telling me that he's the one responsible for Iverson's missing eye, this isn't telling me much."

It did also inform him that Keith apparently had special forces training, which was yet another idea he was struggling to wrap his head around. Sure, he knew Keith was talented, but special forces? What special forces, and from where?

He was starting to get the impression that from where was the big question here.

"Oh man, Keith's the one who socked Iverson?" Matt asked. "I mean, I'd heard the rumor going around, but I didn't know it was Keith."

"So it would seem." Shiro observed. "That explains Iverson's vested interest in locating him, if nothing else."

"He always was one to hold a grudge." Matt said, drumming his fingers against the wheel. "So. Keith's a fake."

"Possibly." Shiro stressed, eyeing Matt. "And it doesn't mean he's half alien."

There were still other explanations for this than well... that.

"I'm just saying..." Matt trailed off. "It does probably mean that he's been involved with them for like, a lot longer than we first thought, though."

He was right about that. Letting out a sigh, Shiro closed out of the file, leaning back in his car seat, trying to sort his own thoughts. He didn't know what he'd expected to find, just... a little- a lot- less than this, at least.

Come to think of it, the general store owner had never once specified how long people had been vanishing into the valley. He'd just naturally assumed that it had started once Keith left the Garrison, but what if it was before that?

He had half a mind to tell Matt to turn the car around, to head to the west town so they could ask- but from the look of the sun, sinking low into the horizon, they'd probably missed their window of opportunity. He wanted to start their trek before the heat of the day vanished entirely.

When the car jerked violently to a stop, he took it as a sign that they'd made it.

"Welp," Matt said, "-that's as far as this old girl can take us. Hate to leave her behind."

"Don't have much of a choice." Shiro told him, already opening the car door. "Unless you want to push it through the desert."

"Don't love it that much." Matt said, getting out himself. "We sure about this?"

"I'm sure about this." Shiro told him. "You can still turn back."

"I just hacked into the Garrison." Matt pointed out. "Pretty sure I can't turn back."

"Good point." Shiro admitted, swinging his pack over his shoulder, gazing out beyond the horizon. "Let's get going."

Slamming the car door shut behind him, Matt shouldered his own pack- and Katie's, though he grunted a little under their combined weight. They'd take shifts with it.

"So," gaze flickering over towards him, Matt gave him an almost rueful smile, "-let's go get abducted by aliens."


By the time the moon was high overhead, they'd switched shifts. Matt had to help him sling Katie's pack over his right shoulder, but he was able to brace it there even without the use of his hand. Thankfully, it turned out that whatever was causing electronics to short out in the area didn't apply to something as low tech as a flashlight.

"Is it just me, or is the desert super creepy at night?" Matt asked, sticking close behind him.

"You're not wrong." Shiro said.

Especially not since he'd been feeling eyes on them for awhile now.

The further they got, the more intense the gazes became. He might not be able to pinpoint the direction they were coming from, but he could tell that much. If someone was going to come and greet them, he imagined it wouldn't be much longer now.

He'd always had good intuition.

Before they even realized it, they were surrounded. The three figures seemed to meld into the darkness, illuminated only by a faint purple glow, like burning eyes in the dark. He could feel Matt's hand dig into his shoulder, the older Holt having drawn closer the second he'd realized they were no longer alone out here.

Gaze flickering between the three figures, he tried to make out their shapes in the dark. He didn't dare shine his flashlight on them- and in fact lowered it, pointing it so that it faced the ground.

Clad in black, the three figures were all hooded- and in fact, all seemed to be wearing matching armor. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, but that wasn't the key point that he found himself focusing on.

Behind him and to the front- two of the figures were impossibly tall, towering well over him. Only the figure to his right was of a human height- and one he recognized, at that.

"...Keith?"

The figure to his right took a step forward, holding up a hand- out of the corner of his eye, he didn't miss the way the one who had flanked his left had advanced just the same. Fixing his gaze back towards the small one, he watched as they lifted a hand, pressing it against the side of their face.

There was a flicker, giving way to a face that was at once familiar, and yet in places, not.

Matt's whisper of holy shit was not lost on him.

The glowing purple orbs- eye holes of a mask of some kind, he now realized- might have vanished, but Keith's violet eyes nevertheless still glowed in the darkness, their color more intense than he had ever seen it. It was faint in comparison, but still unmistakable. Each cheek was marred by a notch of color, like some kind of marking, though in the dark of night, he couldn't tell what color.

Suddenly, Matt's theory of Keith being an alien didn't sound so crazy anymore.

"Shiro." Keith finally spoke, his glowing gaze briefly flickering towards Matt. "Matt."

"Hey Keith." Matt said meekly, lifting a hand. "Cool outfit."

Keith cracked a smile, the familiar expression at odds with the strange situation.

"Keith," Shiro pressed, "-you know why we're here."

The smile vanished, replaced by a tight frown. "I know. I didn't- I didn't want it to come to this. And just for the record," he began, pressing the side of his face, mask flickering back into place, "-I'm sorry about this."

He barely had time to question what he meant, before blackness claimed him.