Chapter ten: Sparks Of Interest
Kimberly sat in her chair squarely, leaning to the right on the arm of it. Her head resting on her fisted hand, and her elbow held up by the arm of the chair. She looked up at Keith, who hadn't moved an inch since he'd sat down.
"So-.. I'm guessing you're pretty close with Shiro." She spoke up slowly, taking a guess. Keith met her gaze hollowly.
"Yeah." He answered simply.
"You seem pretty close." She went on; Keith's eyes widening at this. "I can tell by how you act around him." She told him reading his mind. "And how you haven't left this room since you got here." Keith looked away sadly.
"Then.. you'd be right." He admitted in defeat.
"I know." She said, her tone calm, gentle and sympathetic. The two looked at Shiro; who also had not changed even a little bit.
Shiro was standing in the same room, it was dark, yet he could still see the Paladins, Honerva and Allura standing around him still. Their eyes were closed, and they seemed unaware of his presence at this point in time. All around him, covering the whole room, were little memory bubbles, the only empty space was a cylindrical shape of empty space around Shiro. A light much like a spotlight shown down on him; acting as the only light besides the gentle glow of the memory bubbles. Each and every one of these memory bubbles had a still image of something associated with himself or the Black Lion, or even both. Each one he saw was a reminder of the bond he'd forged with the it, and reminded him of what he'd accomplished because of it. A whispering noise began to rise up, instilling a small sense of fear within him; as he searched for the origin of the sound. Looking down, the light that caught his eye was found to be a ring that traveled all around him, and burst forth from it. That light surged as a blast up at Shiro, an electrical energy zapping through him and he let out a painful cry!...
"Listen to me, we don't have much time!" Shiro's eyes shot open at the sound of this voice. The woman from before, stood before him in a white void much like a white hole. She looked slightly worried. "The time has come, you have your mission." She held her hand out in front of her and a small, basketball-sized window appeared in front of her palm. The image that showed through it was completely unfamiliar, yet it's coordinates somehow became clear to him immediately. The image bore many colors; taking a shape he couldn't fully identify. "Go to this place, time is short!" He suddenly felt himself get pulled into the image; flashing white before his eyes...
Shiro sat upright, suddenly grimacing coming out of it; everyone in the room startled by this unforeseen act. The Black Paladin coughed, his upper body slightly hung over, his hands braced at his sides. Kimberly jumped from her seat when this swift change occurred. Sam quickly set the bed up behind him, and Shiro coughed once more and relaxed back onto it.
"Shiro! What happened?! We were so worried!!" Sam explained quickly, alarm ringing in his tone.
"I-.. I know- where we have to go." Shiro revealed, a hint of hollowness poking through his tone.
"What do you mean?" Keith asked, as he stepped forward to place a hand on his knee.
"Help me to the bridge." Shiro instructed simply. "I'll show you."
Everyone entered the bridge; Keith supporting Shiro's right side, and Kimberly his left with his arm over her shoulder. Shiro shifted his weight off of them and headed to his control panel.
"Coran is there any chance we can wormhole?" Shiro asked, as Coran took his place.
"I think we can for one jump." The Altean responded.
"My wormhole technology should allow us to wormhole with no trouble." Sam told him.
"Ok, then head for these coordinates..." He tapped at the screen and slid it away; only for it to appear on Coran's screen.
"These coordinates? But- where did you get them?" Coran asked, turning stare him right in the eyes.
"I don't know, but something important is there. We need to check it out." Shiro told him.
"Well unfortunately the Atlas doesn't have that kind of range yet." Coran sighed. "It'll be another few vargas before we reach a manageable distance."
"That's alright. Team, let's continue our break. Eat, sleep, whatever you need to do to prepare yourselves for what we're about to face." Shiro's instructions put the Paladins at ease, Shiro was acting like himself, and that was a good sign.
"You know, you had us a little worried there earlier." Kimberly stated, peering at Shiro from the corner of her eye.
"I know." Shiro admitted, closing his eyes, then looking ahead of them as they walked. "Hopefully once this is over we won't have deal with this anymore." Kimberly held his left arm a little tighter with both hands, pressing her cheek to his shoulder.
"I'm sure it'll pass." She agreed, tenderly gazing at the floor. They stopped and Shiro reached his right arm over to place it on her left bicep. And they both turned in to each other; holding both hands in the other's
"Me too." He said, their eyes meeting. Kimberly smiled knowingly back at him.
"You know, though I gotta say.. after all this time I hadn't really realized what a great guy you truly are." She told him slowly. "Makes me wonder what I was thinking, dating Wayde for so long. Looking back, it seems like a really bad call, on my part. I'm glad you were there to open my eyes." Shiro's smile now became one of pride.
"No problem. But Wayde's not all bad. He just seemed to feel threatened whenever I was around, even though I never really did anything to provoke him."
"Wayde tends to be that way." Kimberly shrugged. "Overly suspicious; uptight about other people that could possibly pose a threat, even if they don't try. He was always like that as long as I'd known him. Though he was always good to me, and he listened to me."
"Good thing too." Shiro grinned, half chuckling at the memories. "Especially when you had to play referee between the two of us?" Kimberly dropped her gaze and scoffed bashfully at this, her eyes then meeting his once more. Her hands slid up his shoulders to his chest, then slowly proceeded to his neck; the two leaning in to one another ever so slightly more. Their heads aligned; their eyes tender, Shiro's hand coming to her cheek; nestling around her ear. Shiro could feel her fingers grip his collar; but didn't resist. This perfect moment, which was about to proceed was cut short by a throat being cleared. Shiro and Kimberly shot apart, and looked to see Lance standing there with his hand to his face from clearing his throat.
"Um... am I interrupting something?" He asked awkwardly, stiffly standing with one arm tucked behind his back. Shiro and Kimberly looked at each other.
"Um...nope." Kimberly returned quickly, smoothing out Shiro's uniform. "Just readjusting Shiro's collar, it was..doing some strange things." She straightened the collar up; despite it not technically needing it, and let her hands slide down off of him. "Was there something you needed, Lance?" Kimberly followed up sweetly, still trying to shake off the awkwardness.
"Uh.. yeah. Keith's looking for you." The Blue Paladin reported looking at Shiro. "He wants to know if we should fly our lions for a little while.. lead the way for the Altas again."
"Ok, tell him to come and find me on the bridge." Shiro responded. "We'll talk there."
"Sure." Lance said, with a single nod. And, with that, he turned on his heel and left the way he'd come. When he was gone, Kimberly and Shiro looked to each other and couldn't help but shared and embarrassed smile, and a light, awkward chuckle. Shiro put his hand to his neck rubbing it awkwardly, and Kimberly fiddled with her fingers just as uncomfortably.
"Well I guess duty calls; Admiral." Kimberly spoke up in a slightly, unconvincingly, professional tone. "Let's head to the bridge, I guess." She finished, as she slipped her hand into his, turning to walk in the direction that Lance had disappeared in.
Keith and the other Paladins turned toward him, as they entered; all of them awaiting Shiro's arrival.
"Coran, how close are we?" Shiro asked upon entering.
"Nearly there, just a few more doboshes." The Altean man reported.
"Good." He turned to Keith. "I think we should get to our lions. That way whatever we may face there will be our job to deal with until the Atlas is fully prepared and ready to give us some cover."
"Copy that, let's go guys." Keith decided. As the other Paladins raced out the door, Shiro gave Kimberly a quick kiss on the forehead, before jogging after them. Kimberly's heart fluttered at this act, smiling after him as she watched him go.
The lions launched and they jetted off, taking the lead, and surpassing the Atlas.
"Almost there." Coran called over the com. "Just a few more ticks!"
"Team, prepare for wormhole jump." Shiro called. "Stay diligent, we don't yet know what we're up against over there."
"We're in range!" Sam called, tapping at his control panel. "Opening up a wormhole now."
"Have the MFE's on stand by, in case they're needed." Shiro instructed.
"Copy that." Sam responded, as the wormhole appeared.
"There's the wormhole." Shiro said. "Let's go!" He thrust the Black lion forward into it; the other Lions and the Atlas following suit, diving right into it.
The exit wormhole opened, and beams of light gave birth to the travelers within it. And when they saw where they had ended up; all they could do was marvel in awe.
Hey everybody whasup?! Hope you're still enjoying this story. And can't wait to see what you think of what's to come. Enjoy!! Thx!!!