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.

here it mostly became a jumbled drabble coz i wrote this at 3:30AM

1/27: minor edits.

~Chapter 10 - Shared Pain III~

Shiro was pacing his room hours after they had returned to the Castle of Lions where Matt and Pidge had run all over the place showing her brother every nook and cranny of it. Thou they noticed she skipped the Red Lion's hanger and Shiro stopped when he remembered Matt's unhealthy curiosity and went to the room assigned to Matt and found it-

"Empty. Of course he put it together." Shiro jogged to the red hanger to find Matt outside and about to lift his hand to the panel when he locked over his shoulder. "Oh hey Shiro. Pidge must have missed to show me this hanger."

"Matt let me first-"

swish.

"-Save you the heart wreaking truth..." Shiro groaned as the gray lion was revealed and then he blinked. "Wait Black? What are you doing in here?" Matt nearly fell backwards trying to look at the lion and gaped. "Okay it never crossed my mind how huge she is... What is she?! 60 stories high?!"

"More like a courter of Mount Everest."

Very amusing.

"Thank you. She said we were just hilarious."

"Really? She knows sarcasm?"

"Sadly."

Black turned back to her offline sister and then to Matt. He was also your friend. Keith.

Matt nodded before his eyes shifted to the lion and then at Shiro who was looking away. "Keith is the red paladin? He never said that." Shiro spun around and Matt blinked at him waving his hand behind Shiro. "He's standing behind yo- What do you mean they can't see you?"

Shiro looked over his shoulder around the hanger and then back at Matt who rolled his eyes, took Shiro's bio-hand and placed it midair bending his fingers. "There, now your hand is on Keith's shoulder!"

"Matt... He's not there..."

I can not sense him or Red.

Matt looked at them both and then past Shiro. "You've been here the whole time haven't you?"

...

"Red split herself? Then where-"

...

"You- Shiro's arm and your knife?! How the hell did you manage that?!" Matt's eyes widen and Shiro admitted defeat.

"What are you rambling about now?"

"Oh nothing. He's gone now anyway. He always did that at the Garrison remember?" Matt shook his head.

Matt joined them on a infiltration mission to get more data and the speed he and Pidge had were astounding, Shiro stood with his right hand on the panel and the Holts tapping up a storm. "Shiro your arm is amazing! Horrible to think you have it but still-"

"Matt, rambling."

"He's my brother of course we ramble!" Pidge grinned at him and shut her laptop. "And done! Let's go and-" They all lost their balance when the station rocked from the explosion and Hunk cried out in the radio.

'Sorry! Galra cruisers arrived so expect wayward shots!'

"We're done anyway. Lance get ready."

'Roger. Blades are clearing the hanger but I think the hall way you took has collapsed. Try find another way and I'll join.'

The inside team ran to a new pick up point and Blue crashed her head through and opened her jaw. "Actually how about I make a new exit?" Lance flew them to where Black and Green were helping dwindling the fliers and their paladins boarded. "Let's go! To many cruisers and we can't form Voltron!" Shiro yelled as they tried to retreat but it was like a swam of wasps were on them.

'I really hate that Red is offline! She was one heck of a flame thrower!' Pidge screamed over the blasting from the Lions and nearly got hit when Yellow zoomed in and took it. 'Thanks Hunk!'

Shiro found his team and cleared a path that Pidge got through and repeated it until they had a head start but the fliers were right on them. Hunk appeared on Shiro's screen.

'I really hate that Red is down! We could really use my cannon!' He was panicking and Shiro could only agree. "I would clear out all the fliers and your bayards would cut through those cruisers!" Shiro looked at the screen with Matt even thou the other man was in the seat behind him. "Matt you've been able to see Keith..."

"Well, yeah he's right beside you and fades to the others."

'Wait what?! Mullet is in here?!'

"No he's beside Pidge nooope now he's with Hunk."

They grunted as Black took a heavy hit and Matt saw Keith appear again, still in his paladin armor but a red aura around him. Keith looked at him over his shoulder and then formed his hands in a V formation and mouthed 'Voltron'.

-So that's where Red Lion went- He thought and then his eyes widen. "Guys go in formation! I think I know what Keith's been trying to tell me!"

'But we don't have Red!'

"Yes you do! Red's separation backfired because of Black! Red is in the other Lions and Keith is within you!"

For Shiro everything became muffled like he was underwater and stared ahead trying to take in what Matt was saying.

Keith hadn't been gone...

He had been with them the whole time.

The nightmares hadn't been nightmares, but Keith's way of trying to tell them what happened. He closed his eyes and then reopened them to look on his right when Keith just crouched to smile at him and look out the window. "Do as Matt says! Form up!" Shiro pulled the sticks back to fly up and between him and Lance there was an empty space when a flash flared from them all and brightest was from Shiro's arm and the Marmora knife Matt had with him.

Shiro and Matt opened their eyes when a lion roared, everything exploded in fire and a streak of red shot past and a howl over the comms. Lance gaped in his cockpit as the wall of fliers before him melted and then a head appeared upside down. "Bo!"

Lance jerked back and Blue did a back roll and once she up-righted Red was before them and a screen popped up with Keith grinning in red cockpit. "What? Not going to insult my hair?" The feed closed and Red shot away to melt the fliers chasing Pidge and laughed. "Hey Midget!"

"...KEITH KOGANE YOU ARE SO DEAD WHEN WE ARE DONE HERE!"

Matt gulped and laughed nervously. "Oh he's dead alright."

Shiro laughed and the rest of them joined the fray with Keith and Red blazing around them. "Well there's our firebug!" Matt cackled and Keith appeared on his screen.

"It wasn't my fault the lab caught fire! You know they tampered with my chemical set!"

"Hey I fricking love you for that! You closed the Garrison two weeks early for the Holiday season!"

"Alright you two let's share old Garrison destruction stories later!" Shiro reminded them and Black stopped as fire erupted from above and Red followed and headed for the cruisers. "You are really letting lose aren't you?"

"I've been stuck in spirit form for months! Red is as itchy as I am!... And I'm not a firebug!"

Shiro snorted. "No you're not."

"Thank yo-"

"You're a spitfire."

"-uuI hate you Shiro"

Two cruisers remained and a lot of fliers and the were almost surrounded when Hunk appeared again, this time giddy with happiness. 'NOW can we use my cannon?!' Shiro nodded with a grin and looked around them. "Good to have you back Keith. Now how about we finally form Voltron again?"

'YEAH!'

The fliers had zero chances after that and after the cannon was replaced with the sword and then doubled Shiro called out his black one and Matt gulped. "Uh Shiro? What does all five bayards do?"

"Flare up the very long blade?" He guessed and shoved it into it's socket and it sure flared up.

"Still not a firebug!" Keith called out as he made Voltron hold the sword with both hands and cut through the cruisers like butter and they separated and fled to the Castle that had it's particle barrier up and blasted what it could. Allura appeared on their screen when they neared.

"Paladins I don't know how but the Red Lion's body is missing and-"

Keith appeared from behind Black and on her screen. "You called Princess?" He grinned and she gaped for a moment before utterly losing her shit and screamed that he was in so much trouble not even Shiro could save him.

"How were we to know Black would try teleport us and stuck us in between I don't know what! Red's been pissed about it ever since! Matt was the only one who could see me since the rest of you started screaming when ever I tried to show you in your dreams!"

"You traumatized us! You traumatized SHIRO!" Pidge screamed on top of her lungs through the comms and Keith winced and nodded his head a split second later. "My ass is going to get kicked. Got it."

Landing in their hangers they headed to the Red hanger where Keith stepped out of Red's mouth removing his helmet and ended up in a group hug. "I'm guessing this is what was suppose to happen after Zarkon?" He grunted as Pidge nearly snapped his middle and Lance slapped him on top of the head. "Well yeah Mullet! Instead we've had to deal with Lotor and what ever crazy shit he's cooking up!"

Keith just looked at him and Hunk tilted his head. "Wait you don't know?"

"I was mostly stuck in here unseen and unheard until Matt showed up and knew sign language."

"Thank you for listening to me and take the course!" The man threw his arms up and then froze before nearly knocking his two friends off their feet. "Original trio is back!"

After changing to sleeping clothes and bunking in the lounge Keith explained his end of the fight and after.

...

Keith groaned as he came too and looked around Red's dark cockpit and tested the sticks. "Red? You okay?"

Yes, but something is off...

"Off how" He asked and stood up holding the chair and rubbed his head after removing the helmet when the doors were bended up and Shiro nearly landed on his face. Keith snorted and rose his hand.

"Shir-"

The taller man went right through Keith who froze in place as the rest filed in and Lance also went through him.

Are you kidding me?!

Keith looked at his hands as they glowed and changed to paws and then Red was standing there, in lion form and looking at the Paladins.

By. The. Meteor I come from you have got to be joking! BLACK!

"Care to tell me?"

I was trying to briefly move us to the others when Zarkon started zapping us but Black must have tried to teleport us and now... We're stuck! I can feel I'm not in the Astral plane like usual when we are not in battle.

Since then Keith noticed that he was limited to the Red hanger only and sometimes the other lions would come in and sometimes a paladin. One time Allura and Coran entered and spoke about how it was easy to find a paladin but to replace the lion was just out of the question. Red was fuming most of the time and Keith tried to have patience until he tried to enter their dreams and all hell broke lose.

Later Keith found he could be in the other lions as well and stood beside Shiro when they were out fighting and every time Shiro would look to his right ready to command when his voice just died and Keith wrote it off as the red nebula tricking them.

Weeks would pass with rotation and Pidge would manage to lean the pilot chair far enough back to resemble a bed and climbed into it with her pillow, a blanket and his red jacket. Even Red felt the ache in her chest watching the little girl lose another member of her family.

Since the lions couldn't feel him he would lounge on either of them as they huddled around Red and when he was on Black's front paw the doors opened and Keith shot up with a grin on his face.

"Matt!" He called out and jumped down as the rebel officer and Shiro entered. Shiro was talking about Keith and Matt's eyes eventually shifted to Keith.

"He's standing behind yo- What do you mean they can't see you?"

Keith had quickly signed that Team Voltron couldn't see his ghost form and if they could reverse it he would explain.

Shiro looked over his shoulder around the hanger with a haunted look in his eyes that made Keith pinch himself hard and then back at Matt who rolled his eyes, took Shiro's bio-hand and placed it midair bending his fingers. "There, now your hand is on Keith's shoulder!"

It was. Yet slightly through Keith who looked at Matt sadly before stepping back and signed something again

"Matt... He's not there..."

Matt looked at up at Black and then past Shiro. "You've been here the whole time haven't you?"

Keith singed -Yes, Red split her self to avoid Zarkon's attack but something went awry.-

"Red split herself? Then where-"

-Well I had my knife with me so I hid one part in it and the other in Shiro's Galra arm to- -

"You- Shiro's arm and your knife?! How the hell did you manage that?!" Matt's eyes widen and Shiro admitted defeat.

"What are you rambling about now?"

Keith laughed at the tired sigh. Rambling Matt so things were terrific. He faded from the floor and back up on a Lion.

"Oh nothing. He's gone now anyway. He always did that at the Garrison remember?"

During the escape battle Keith faded between the lions and growled.

"Figured out a way to reverse this yet?"

No. Argh! So many fliers and we're useless! I want to melt them!

"So far they are holding out." Keith faded back to Black's cockpit just as Shiro asked Matt about seeing Keith and the comms exploded as Matt revealed where Keith went next. The next time he joined them he signed to Matt to tell them to try form Voltron.

Keith felt a pull as Red roared and white light blinded them. He reopened his eyes to find himself in the cockpit and it was lit up and warm, the Bayard appeared in his hand from where ever Allura had placed it and grinned. "Time to set some Galra on fire!" Red stood up and blasted out of her hanger and once near Black she let lose the fire and Keith opened a link and howled in joy as they shot past and blew up any flier unfortunate enough to be in their path.

"...And I think that covers everything." Keith finished and slipped down from the couch back down to where Shiro and Matt sat and swung to that his legs were in Matt's lap and head on Shiro's thigh. "So how did Pidge find you and why do you look like Shaggy?"

Shiro lost it at the scandalized look Matt had and Lance howled that he had been thinking about that but couldn't name the character. "Go back to being a ghost you pest."

"Can't. You missed me to much." Keith grinned back and Matt sighed. "Yeah I did and about that holy fucking hell I am so sorry for being captured and left you with those jerks at the Garrison!" He placed his hands in a prayer pose and then opened an eye when Keith snorted.

"I got kicked out not long after. I packed a bag the night before with both your clothes as well and then when my patience were desert dry I punched Iverson, took the hover bike and left. Spent a year in the shack looking for some energy that turned out to be the Blue Lion but when I took the pictures of the markings they didn't lit up, which they did when Lance was there with us. Allura cleared up that for me."

"I did?"

"Lion sense their paladin."

"Oh."

"Then Blue blasted out of her hiding place and shot into space. This after Shiro crashed and got drugged by said Garrison bastards." Shiro muttered something in Japanese and Matt understood enough to almost fling his head off with a pillow screaming 'Children under 18 in the room!' and Keith nearly rolled out of the couch and their laps clinging his sides, since he was in that state the younger trio couldn't ask him what Shiro had said and Matt refused to translate.

Coran checked the translator on board and blinked. "Odd, it didn't translate that but it translates Lance who's been speaking Spanish this whole time."

"He has?" They all looked at the Blue paladin who stretchered in his seat. "Well yeah but I switch in between. But what did Shiro say?!"

"You don't want to know!" Keith was wheezing like an old man drying his tears and panted. "Oh if you ever say that to Iverson holy quiznak I'm going to drop." "You're not going anywhere after this stunt. No matter which Lion was behind it." Shiro tugged a tuff of Keith's hair and Matt slapped Keith's leg. "I thought I was going crazy seeing you but Shiro couldn't- Why could I see you anyway?"

Keith looked at him and shrugged. "I keep wondering why Coran and Allura didn't see me."

Allura blinked before something dawned. "The mice! They said you were in the hanger and we went down to investigate and it was one of those times the lions would all be in the Red hanger. I thought I imagined it but the mice said you were on the Black lion's paw-"

"And then I moved over to Blue's back yeah I remember that time." Keith made grabby hands towards Pidge and caught the pillow being throw and shoved it between his head and Shiro's thigh. "You're a brick." He grumbled and looked at Allura. "But you never told Coran you had seen me?"

"No and it never crossed my mind again even if the mice would tell me over and over."

Said little furballs ran in and climbed Matt's leg to sit on Keith's chest and he pet each of them. "Thanks for keeping me company while I was ghosty." The mice all squeaked and Chulatt made extra angry noises waving their little arm at him. "I can only guess that was a scolding?" Allura nodded and then her smile fell. "Speaking of scoldinget back here!"

Keith had shot from his spot and out the door before Matt or Shiro could grab him and bolted after him, Coran got the camera feeds and guided them all to where ever Keith ran but he was to quick and got away. The next 3 hours was a hide and chase with them shouting when they spotted him or Coran guiding them.

Shiro and Matt.

Hunk and Lance.

Allura and Pidge.

Eventually Coran took pity on Keith and brought up a hologram that ran around and the real Keith slipped into the lounge again grabbing a water pack. "Okay lesson learned. Do not disappear with out a word and scare everyone. Anything you'd like to add?"

"Talk to Shiro when you can."

Pidge's words rang in his head and Keith winced. "Traumatized him... Shit." Coran nodded and kept guiding them around the castle until he called them back and Keith was back in his spot, bending his head back to grin at them and let the pillow Shiro threw hit him. Coran closed the cameras and clapped his hands. "Well time for some rest. Chop chop to your rooms or pick a spot."

In the morning Keith woke up first and found that Pidge was smooched between him and Matt, Shiro on his right and all had their arms around him somehow. Lance was asleep on Shiro's other side and Hunk was by their feet. Allura was asleep on the couches and Coran was in his rooms because Keith couldn't see him in here.

Slipping out of his prison was difficult but neither Shiro nor the Holts woke up and he escaped to the training deck to let loose on some bots. He had probably been there for an hour before Shiro and Matt came barreling in in panic and slumped in relief.

"Seriously Keith?! What did we talk about yesterday?!"

"Payback."

Both looked at each other and then shrugged, accepting the reply and understood better before walking forward as Keith ended the training sequence and his bayard went to sleep mode and then took out his knife which Matt realized had been unwrapped and a glowing symbol was near the hilt. "Not wrapped."

"Found out I was part Galra."

Shiro slapped a hand over his mouth bending away as Matt looked like Keith had told him Pidge had a boyfriend and Keith shrugged and tacked down on his fingers anything Galran trait they had discovered he had. The eyes, the way he fought, he could wake his knife into a blade which he demonstrated, he could interact with Galra tech and his short fuse. "So you saying I was alien wasn't to far off."

"THAT WAS A JOKE! HOW WAS I TO KNOW YOU WERE PART ALIEN?!"

"Hey I'm also part Galra." Shiro held up his arm and Matt blinked before sucking his lips and lifted his left pant leg...

Galra prosthetic.

"Waaay after you got me from the arena. Got a heavy metal box that crushed the knee and down so about here-" He placed his hand mid thigh and down. "-Is my leg. Rest is metal." They all had matching grins now and Shiro uncrossed an arm to cover his eyes and Keith threw his head back in a laugh. "Well since the 'Garrison Trio' title has gone to the youngsters I guess we're the Galra Trio?"

"Yep."

"I swear we're like Huey, Dewey and Louie." Shiro snorted and after that they were a laughing mess on the floor.

Matt's leg prosthetic was just something i threw in.

other wise i hope i covered everything, that nothing is misspelled or confusing.

thank you for reading o/