Night Twelve

I believe we need to start looking for a new black paladin.

Those words had been in Hunk's head since this morning.

When Allura had decided that he was shocked. Yes, the coalition kept asking them to form Voltron and time and time again they had to make an excuse. It hurt Hunk's heart to lie to these races, but they had to. But the idea of replacing Shiro who was still lost in space hurt his heart even more.

Their friend was probably wondering where they were or if they had forgotten him. Hunk's shoulder fell at the thought of that. None of them had forgotten Shiro. They were searching for him during every break they had. But sadly, their search was just going nowhere.

The censor him and Pidge worked on was still in its beta phase. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Every time Keith came back and told them about the issues it was having made his heart sink. At one point they thought they had a signal, but it just led them to a dead solar system. That day had been particularly hard on Keith. Hunk will never forget when he exited the lion and threw his helmet down. The scream that escaped the Red Paladin's lungs sounded broken and scared.

Keith over these last two weeks had looked so defeated. He looked like at any moment he would break. Which Hunk couldn't blame him. Keith had lost his only family he had known for years again and his sister was barely hanging on in the pod.

So no one was surprised when he snapped at Allura's words.

They all knew it wasn't the Princess he was mad at. He was just dealing with a lot and that was his breaking point.

Hunk wanted to help his friend, but Keith never let anyone in. Anytime they got close to the Red Paladin he would shut them out, both mentally and physically. Keith had literally shut a door in Lance's face after one of the missions. It was funny at the time but after today Hunk wished he had reached out.

He thought that maybe Keith was getting out his frustration during training. All of them had noticed he would train when there was downtime. But training could only do so much. Maybe tomorrow he would reach out and ask Keith if he wanted to train together. He had noticed that Kaede got Keith to talk more during their training sessions.

The thought of Kaede made Hunk's shoulders drop. The galra teen had come out of nowhere and had changed their lives. Everyone loved Kaede and the things that she did.

Lance had someone that would tease him back without a second thought.

Pidge talk nerdy tech stuff to someone that wasn't Hunk.

Kaede would listen to Coran's stories like they were the best thing in the world.

Hunk was teaching Kaede these delicious recipes and she was also his professional taste tester.

Shiro had someone that he could train with that was as strong as him.

Allura finally had a friend that she could confide in. Her face would just light up when Kaede's attention was on her.

Keith had his sister back. The teen walls were less fortified around her. It was like she was his safety net that had been missing for too long.

Looking back on these last two weeks, it seems like no one did those things anymore with her in the pod. The castle was too quiet without her and Shiro. Everywhere you went someone was working hard to either find Shiro or stop Garla fleets. No one had time for long conversations. It was always short answers. Hunk couldn't remember the last time he heard one of the Paladins laugh.

A small sniffing sound filled the hallway, drawing Hunk out of his thoughts.

He looked around to see that he was in front of the medical bay door. Hunk didn't know how he got here. After Allura dismissed them, he was going to his room to lay down. He must have been so caught up in his thoughts that his body just wandered around the castle.

There was another sniffle behind the door. Whoever was behind there was crying and didn't want to be heard.

Hunk looked down the hall. Maybe he should just turn around and leave. This person was clearly trying to hide away, but a part of Hunk knew he couldn't leave a crying person behind. So with a shaky hand, he opened the medical bay door.

The sight before him was heartbreaking.

Keith was sitting in front of Kaede's pod. His knees were pulled up to his chest with one hand wrapped around them and the other covering his mouth. Keith's whole body was shaking while he tried to keep silent. His tear stained cheeks were illuminated by the light of Kaede's pod.

Without thinking Hunk's legs began to move.

Keith looked up just in time for Hunk to wrap his arms around him. He expected Keith to push him away, but instead, the teen leaned into Hunk. He knew Keith was shorter than him, but at that moment Keith felt so small. His whole body was shaking as he choked out a sob.

"I'm here," Hunk whispered as he rubbed Keith's back.

Hunk was mentally kicking himself as he held Keith. They should have seen the signs earlier. They were his friends. The team had let him come down here and cry for the universe knows how long. No wonder Keith didn't trust them.

He looked up at Kaede whose face was somber. In the light of the pod, the galra teen looked dead. That must of been Keith's final breaking point. Not replacing Shiro, but seeing his sister like this. He probably came down here to talk about what happened earlier just to see Kaede look like death was right there. There was no telling where Keith's mind went when he looked at his sister. Maybe he too thought she was dead, that she would never wake up again and laugh. Hunk closed his eyes and tried to get the thought out of his head.

Kaede was not dead.

Hunk directed his attention back to the crying teen in his arms and rocked slowly as he cried into his shirt. Right then Hunk vowed that he would do anything to make sure that none of his friends feel this way again.

They held on to each other tightly as Keith cries filled the dark room.