i re-watched the episode and only picked some S4E2 - Reunion bits, rest was made on the fly. but i hope i did a good enough job :3

AU where Keith is the one who goes missing from Red's cockpit instead of Shiro going missing in S2E13 - Blackout.

No gibberish about clones.


~Chapter 9 - Shared Pain II~

"Pidge there's isn't much I can do here and I don't like the idea of you going alone- You sure you don't want help?"

"I'm sure Shiro. Plus it might be a good distraction." Pidge removed her glasses to put on her helmet as Green left Olkarion. Shiro sighed and leaned back in his seat on the bridge.

"Not so sure about that. Since the fight little has managed to distract me and Allura pointed out again today that I'm tuned out of every conversation."

"Unless Keith is mentioned."

"Ugh! See?!" Shiro ran mismatched hands over his face and through his hair and undercut. "All I have swirling around my head is Keith disappearing and something sucking Red's life force right out of her! And we have no idea where either are!"

"Wait what did you say?" Pidge looked away from her scanner and even Green sharpened her hearing.

"The lions are more then you think Pidge. There's an astral plane they go to when not needed and interact with each other there, Blue been searching it for Red but there's no trace of her so-"

"You think Red's life force might have stuck to Keith? Wait, how many times has she saved him?"

"Four is what Coran and I managed to count. When we retrieved Red, then when Keith and Allura left, and when he left yellow to jetpack to Red's hanger when that Balmera Robeast reactivated." Shiro counted on his human fingers then looked over the screen to where Coran presumably was standing. "The Blade of Marmora? Oh yeah Red lost it completely when Keith collapsed after the trials."

Pidge made a sound that had Green send a questioning nudge and Shiro blinked at her. "Did you just growl like the-"

"Make a cub joke and I'll hack your arm to punch yourself." She glared harder as he rose his hands in a 'don't shoot' pose but his grin just spread and Coran was cackling in the back (or front). "Okay okay no jokes. But let me know if you need help and I'll be there with Black."

"Shiro you're leaning towards the Space Dad crap Lance wouldn't stop talking about."

"I'm 10 years older then you and highest rank next to Allura. Excuse me for feeling responsible and twice the nerve wreak as I've already lost one team member. Actually make that another team member if we count the Kerberos crew."

Shiro looked over his shoulder at someone Pidge couldn't see and turned back. "I have to go Pidge. Keep me posted." The feed closed and Pidge curled into a ball taking out her photos of her and Matt and the one of Keith she had taken while he was sharpening his knife. "I'll find you both. The order doesn't really matter right now."


After a 3 second (on the dot) scuffle Pidge closed her screen after getting the Intel she wanted from the arms dealer who sold the nano-thermite titanium-boron that the rebels who rescued Matt used and left him with all four arms tied up on his desk and returned to Green.

As they left the planet Pidge got a positive match on Te-osh who's last whereabouts were on Kraydah's moon. Once arriving Pidge dove into the Galra attack and thinned them out for a short moment, enough to speak with Lieutenant Ozar about Te-osh.

"I'm Pidge. What's going on?"

"We defeated a wave of Galra forces. More are coming so we're evacuating." He gestured to the ships being loaded not to far from them. "Now that you are here we might stand a change. Will the other lions be here soon?"

"No, Voltron isn't coming. I'm looking for Te-osh. Is she here?"

Ozar turned to point at the base behind him with a rebel ship on top. "Te-osh is inside the base loading up the last of the medical supplies. We were just about to leave so your timing is most fortunate." Pidge smiled knowing she was one step closer to finding her brother...

Well one of her missing older brothers.

"Thank you. I'll give you a hand loading up I just need to speak with her first."

Ozar thanked her but merely seconds later the Galra were back and the ship Pidge had been running towards took off. The debris knocked Pidge backwards as more fliers fired at them. Pidge managed to get into Green's mouth whom head was jolted back when the mizzles hit her muzzle and Pidge felt a touch of Keith surge through her.

"You are really, really going to regret that!" She hissed as she entered the fray to get rid of the fliers and one shot hit the ships leaving the rebels stranded. Pidge ordered them to board the Green Lion and set off to help Te-osh, destroying the two fliers that were attacking and entered the ship.

Te-osh was slumped in the pilot seat with a hand over her ribs as Pidge checked on her. "Oh, no. Are you okay?" She helped Te-osh out of the chair and scanned the area to find two cracked ribs that were limiting the time they had. Te-osh eyes opened just enough to see Pidge and confuse her with Matt. "He's my brother. I'm trying to find him."

"You look so much like him. It's the eyes." Te-osh coughed as she handed a transponder to Pidge, explaining that every rebel officer carried one of them to find each other but that Matt may not have his anymore but the code was still available.


Pidge toed the supply ship to it's rendezvous point and Ozar thanked her, sharing his transponder code with her for when Voltron would need their help. Green let go of the line and set off towards the location the transponder led them. Pidge sat in her seat looking at Matt's picture and got lost down memory lane about Matt teaching her about the two-step encryption.

She noticed how the signal got stronger and felt chills through her veins as she headed towards the destroyed planet yet the signal told her Matt was there somewhere. She looked at it in confusion as they neared a structure with a large tablet.

Letting the translation program scan the text Pidge felt a sledgehammer strike her in the gut.

In honor of the 127,098 brave warriors that stood against tyranny. The quest for freedom is won through sacrifice.

Eyes going wide is disbelief Pidge ran through the monument with statues of the races that flanked both sides of the tablet. "No! Please, no!" In her dormant state Green watched in sadness as her paladin ran, she too was hoping this wasn't real.

Sister.

B-Black?! How- Wait how are you near?

I am right behind you.

Zooming past Green was a white and black streak heading after her paladin and Green felt like this was the end.

Did you follow?!

He could not stay behind longer. The stress was tearing him. What have you discovered?

Shiro followed Pidge and froze seeing the mile long rows of grave poles and he could see Pidge running towards one and went after her. Pidge turned as he landed and held his hands up. "Just me. Sorry I didn't listen. Why are we here?" Holding out the transponder Pidge filled in on everything when realizing she had utterly forgotten to update him via video feed and when she was done Shiro looked around. "And he could be here somewhere?"

"That's what I hope he's not!" Pidge looked at the transponder and turned around. "The arrow points this way!"

Both started running through the path and they each had a dear memory of Matt flashing before them, for Shiro it was the moments he shared with Matt and Keith. How often he had to hold them in choke holds telling them to knock it off, how they would all three rough house until they just lay tangled limbs laughing, the times they studied and Keith would faceplant into the book, Matt saying that slamming the words into his head wouldn't work and how they would be on the Garrison roof at night watching the stars.

Pidge remembered her own dear times of Matt and before them both was a vision of Matt in the white-orange cadet uniform turning...

Breathing heavily they stopped before a stone and Pidge fell on her knees and Shiro seemed to have shut down completely. He could hear the translation through his own helmet as it appeared for him as well.

Matthew Holt. 0-0-1-0-0-5...

Pidge was on all four crying out that she was sorry and that she was to late, half conscious that Shiro wrapped his arms around her as the skies opened up and the rain poured. Clinging to Shiro Pidge howled her grief as he muttered his own mantra to both his friends as he held the young girl and started to rock them both.

"...His birthday is wrong..."

Shiro barely caught that and uncurled around her. "What about it?"

"His birthday is wrong." Pidge repeated looking at the grave and Shiro looked as well before something clicked, something he had heard long ago. "A quantum frequency? Matt told Keith about it but we didn't ask anymore what it meant. We thought it was something you Holt's wanted private."

Pidge stood up with a unshaken legs. "It's... It's a message! The code!" Shiro stood up as she grasped her head. "But what was the second encryption item again?"

"Something about having the same book and math? That's about what I can recall right now. Jumbled memories and all." Shiro shrugged but Pidge's head snapped up to look at him. "Yes the book!" She brought out a small orange handheld and started tapping it. "Additions and subtractions-" Shiro merely watched her forefinger fly over the small screen until four sets of double digits with a dot separating them appeared and something like a super nova went off inside their chests.

"These are coordinates! He's alive"

"Well he has a grave stone ready so he won't be that much longer after I've dealt with him!" Shiro sighed in relief ignoring the elbow to his midsection before they bolted back to their lions and the coordinates were sent to Black. Both lions had felt the change of mood in their paladins and set off yet they all missed the cloaked figure walking away.

It wasn't long before they came across two Galra cruisers and Shiro slowed a bit. "Black and I won't get through them undetected. We'll have to go a longer route around them. You and Green go through."

"Shiro wait I might be able to give you a short time cloaking field. But I don't know how long it will hold."

"I'll set up a timer and try to be fast."

The field went up around Black and Shiro started the timer as they flew by the Galra cruisers and the fliers, Shiro felt Black take over so he could look at the timer. A full two minuets went by as they neared the destination and the field around Black went down after they landed in cave like openings. "There doesn't seem to be anything or anyone here."

"Maybe that's what we're suppose to think." After Shiro had left Black in a bigger alcove he joined Pidge entering the thin tunnel and reached a dead end with zero gravity rocks floating around them.

"It's a dead end." Pidge said as Shiro used his jet pack looking arou-

BONG!

Pidge wiped out her bayard only to find Shiro laying front down on the ground and lifting his head with a groan. "Found something." He lifted a small rock that fell straight down and looked at her. Pidge had the most goofy grin on her face.

"This your way of finding stuff?"

"Very funny Gremlin."

Getting the hatch open wasn't to hard and they floated down into the spy like facility, which Pidge pointed out looking around as Shiro stood up and turned when he heard something behind them, he hadn't much time to warn her as the figure attacked them with a staff and blocked their attacks before swinging Pidge down on the floor.

"What have you done to my brother?!"

The figure hesitated giving Shiro a second to tackle him away from Pidge and stayed between the two and Pidge got a solid hit knocking the helmet off their opponent and Shiro didn't have enough second to pull her back as she charged with her bayard.

They all froze however as the figure turned.

"Pidge?" He blinked.

"Matt?" Pidge asked stepping back and letting her bayard disappear and Shiro came closer staring at him.

"Shiro?!" Matt's jaw hung as he took in the sight of his friend who shrugged. "One: Your sister is stubborn. Two: You are sooo in for it pal."

Matt stood up to hug Pidge and grasped his friend's hand. "Heh, I'd say you're both stubborn."

"There's a gra-"

"Shiro. Please don't go there. Few years maybe?" Pidge bent her head back to look at him and he shrugged. "Fine. Don't maul the jerk who scared the both of us half to death with a fake grave."

Matt cringed. "Sorry, it's mostly to get bounty hunters off our tails. Trust me there's a lot of those guys creeping around like ants. But seriously how did the two of you get so far into space? Shiro I can understand because we got captured and-"

"Uh yeah- My right arm is a prosthetic." Shiro moved it and they could hear the wiring sound from it. "It's a long story on my end but is there any chance you've heard of Voltron?" Pidge asked with a sheepish grin. "Of course I've heard of Voltron." Looking between his sister and his long time friend he noticed they wore the same armor but colored differently.

"Well... We're two of the paladins."

Matt was quiet as the news sank in until a grin appeared. "No, no seriously? You're a Paladin of Voltron? That's so awesome!" He lifted Pidge into his arms and spun her around in a hug.

Shiro crossed his arms looking at Pidge. "And the gremlin here is a 24/7 tech monster. It's next to impossible to make her go to bed at times." Said gremlin gave him the most shit eating grin that proved she and Matt were related.


great fricking lord this got long! o.o

hang on while I post this and type out the rest xD