if you have seen S1E9 - Rebirth and remember that one scene when Keith is standing with Pidge slightly poking out from behind him holding his arm...

that was pretty much my undoing and i thought "Space big brother! sibling fluff!"

also i barely watched the S4E4 because omg it was torture! so let pretend even the mice were clueless, what little I know is that the Voltron show was Coran's idea.

~Chapter 11 - Promises~

Keith had been on a Blades mission again and arrived at the Castle of Lions to copy the information and thus save misunderstandings and time. He passed the lounge and found Pidge asleep on the couch with her laptop still on and casting a blue light on her sleeping form. Keith shook his head and went to save everything she had been working on and after making sure she had a sleepy death grip of it he lifted her up and carried the Green paladin to her room and got the laptop from her.

"'m not a 'aby Matt." She mumbled as he drew the blanket up to her chin and she turned her head away. "'o away Shiro..."

Keith smiled before making his way out and waved at the caterpillars that had joined Pidge after her landing on their home when the wormhole had sent them all away. He made his way to the bridge and found the chairs were still up and sat down in the Red one getting the screens up to start copying everything he got. He had been there for about 40 minutes when the doors opened and the Mice climbed his leg to greet him. "Hey guys, keeping an eye on Allura like promised?"

They all saluted but Chulatt, whom Keith like the most, looked at them all before just stretching it's arms straight up. Keith positioned the arm in a salute pose and the mouse got a more determined expression. "Good, and the others?"

Next was a charade of Team Voltron and Keith chuckled when Shiro had once again failed to cook something. "He was never good at it back at the Garrison either. What else have I missed?"

Platt pointed at the screen and held up two paws. "You want a second screen? You have something to show?" -nod nod- "Okay then- There." Platt brought something up and Keith's brain short circuited.

"Voltron on Ice? Who's quiznaking idea was that?!"

Plachu, the mouse with red eyes, made a mustache and Keith sighed. "And just what possessed him to do that?" They all shrugged and he nodded before going back to his screen and finally all the info was copied and he closed his screen when the mice held something to him, it was a tablet and the Voltron show was on it. "You want me to follow them?"

-nod nod-

"Sorry, the thought is comforting but it will just make me miss them even more." Keith grunted when something small smacked into his back and arms came around him, he looked under his arm and found light brown hair and green pajamas.

Pidge.

"Didn't I put you to bed nearly an hour ago?" He asked slightly amused and loosen her arms enough to turn and wrap his own arms around her. "You did but then I woke up and the caterpillars pointed at the photo of you on my wall and I looked at the camera where you were. Stop making nightly visits when we miss you like fuck and want to see you!"

"Language Midget." He had let her finish her sentence before pointing out the slip and his smile fell. "I- It felt better that way... Not seeing everyone aaand I'm being an idiot aren't I?" He asked when the mice ran up to Pidge's head and they all five glared at him intensely. Pidge snuggled closer to him and Keith knew that there was a slim chance she would let him go and picked up the tablet the mice had tried to give him.

"Voltron show?"

"...Oh. my. god who told you about it?!"

"Theeey are on your head."

"...Traitors." She looked up and they looked down at her with smiles and two ran up to Keith's shoulder and pointed at the tablet. "Okay okay I'll take it with me. Thanks for making it a collapsible one I can have in my pouches." He put it in the left one and checked the time. "I have to go before Kolivan orders a search party or comes for me himself."

"No, you are staying till dinner at least!" She hugged him again and no matter how much he tried to make her let go she refused until he admitted defeat and got a communicator out of his right pouch.

"Keith, what's the delay?" Kolivan appeared on the screen and Kieth merely turned it so it showed Pidge holding him and the mice giving sour looks. "Ambushed?"

"Something like that and she refuses to let go unless I agree to spend a day or two at the Castle. I got the info copied at least and it looks like I have to send the rest to you."

"We have some Blades near Olkarion. I could have one of them pick it up."

"I'll be back when this Midget finally let's go. Small yes. Strong, also yes."

Kolivan had a rare smile on his face as Keith made the communicator hover back a bit to show them both and Pidge nuzzled closer. "Okay are you literally trying to merge into me? I am staying for two days!" He poke her sides and while she squawked and almost let him go she hung on for dear life.

"Two days. Then I would like Keith back here Little one."

"No promises."

Keith caught the now dormant communicator and poke her again. "Alright smurf back to bed so I can crash in my room, which I assume is still mine."

"Of course it is dummy! Just because your scrawny ass is out playing demolition spy doesn't mean you're still family! Oh wait you don't even know about Clone Shiro." She looked up at him and as she had guessed there was a thunder struck expression on his face, opened and closed his mouth before sinking back in the chair and she let go of him and stood back to let him process the news.

"Explain. Slowly and as short as possible... One words if you have to."

So he moved over and they shared the chair as Pidge, as requested, told him how Matt had mixed with his old glasses and made one of the lenses like a scanner able to detect things just as the visor in her helmet and she had found that she could see Shiro's arm under the Paladin armor but that wasn't the only metal she had discovered. She withheld it all and after asking Matt for some stories from the Garrison Pidge had made sure Lance and Hunk had their bayards near before questioning Shiro.

Keith wrapped an arm around her as she took more shallow breaths and stumbled over her words as she explained her little quiz with Shiro and Matt found he had to correct them more and more often.

"-And then there was the was the thing about Shiro letting you join the Blades and Matt sprang up shouting that Shiro would never have let you go and Coran confirmed that there had been no PTSD episodes from Shiro since you found him. But then Lance and Hunk stood blaster ready and all hell broke loose. We made him follow us to the pool and after Allura made the water fall down we used our jetpacks and I shot my bayard to really shock him and our dear shooters demolished the drone made to look like Shiro and have his memories. Thanks to Matt and Coran we knew it wasn't him and our Voltron shows allowed us to visit planets and of course our usual 'free the planets from the Galra'."

She took a breath and Platt came with a water pack for her and after a few sips she looked at Keith. "Then what happened?" He asked.

"Well, there was a little girl... I forget the planet and race but she said that there was a man in an armor like mine who was in a sleep they couldn't wake him from. I asked to be shown there and we flipped because they had Shiro and they said they had kept him here until we happen to arrive. Shiro woke up after a few days when Lance suggested we bring him to Black and she managed to wake him and he counted up everything from our Zarkon fight, Matt quizzed him for two hours and when he heard you were gone he freaked out... And he had a PTSD episode just yesterday that Matt managed to bring him out off."

"Okay. So back to bed with you, I'll go to bed and we'll deal with the hug feast in the morning."

They stood up and as Pidge entered her room but stopped, ran back and hugged him again. "You're my older brother too and I'm glad you're back, even if it's just a little while."

Morning came and Pidge ran to Keith's room just as he came out putting on his red jacket and smiled at her. "Hey I said two days. Have I gone back on my word?"

"You might one day."

"And here I thought you trusted me." He pouted and she laughed and pulled him to the dining room, the doors slipped open and she waited till Hunk was sitting down before rushing in. "Special delivery for the Black Paladin!" Shiro was in the high seat and turned the chair slightly, dark circles under his eyes that widen when he took in Keith and was across the room in a heartbeat almost snapping Keith in half hugging him.

"Twig...Here..." He gasped and almost lost his balance being dropped and panted. "And I thought Pidge was a hug monster." Pidge just grinned widely at him as the others joined and they ended up in another group hug that lasted longer, Hunk scrambled off to make a plate for Keith and Lance was about to update him when Keith held up a hand.

"Pidge and the mice updated me last night when I got here. I was copying some data over to you and planned on sneak away again but the mice caught me and then Pidge, I literally had to show Kolivan why I won't be back for two days." Matt expressed his pride to his sister while Shiro's smile fell a bit.

Keith would have to talk to him later.

After when they split Pidge dragged him to the observation deck they usually found Shiro in and nearly flung Keith inside. "Here you go Shiro! I'll go wait for the Blade that's coming to pick up this!" She held up the encryption item and scrambled off. Keith turned to find Shiro had finally turned himself and tears were falling from his red rimmed eyes and he looked absolutely wreaked.

Keith remembered the mentioned PTSD episode Shiro had had the day before. "Sorry isn't enough right now I admit." Keith started but his voice died when he was pulled into a more gentle but firm hug and Shiro buried his face in his neck and Keith wrapped his arms around the taller man.

"...Come back..."

The words were quiet and Keith had to strain to hear them as he turned his head slightly.

"Please come back... Don't leave again..."

Sadly Pidge had not mentioned what Shiro's episode had been about as Matt had shooed everyone out of the room and had forgotten to ask him about what Shiro had seen. But luckily she just arrived and Keith nodded to the bean bags and led Shiro there, she stayed hidden until Shiro was asleep clinging to Keith and she sat in a bean bag.

"What was the episode about?" Keith asked after some time.

"Well after the Blade picked up the encryption I went to find Matt about that and he told me that- It was about you. That's all Matt could get out of Shiro but I agree. If Shiro is to recover from his PTSD you have to be around for that... You're the only one who can fully heal him."

"But the Blades-"

"Well they will have to let you go! Shiro can barely function without you around. We made the huge mistake of having a hologram of you around and Shiro tried to touch it once, boy did that backfire." Keith nodded and looked down at Shiro and ran his fingers through the white fringe, black hair and finger tips on the undercut.

"This is the first time he has actually rested." Pidge said after a moment and Keith sighed looking out the deck. "This is why I didn't want to get close to someone... Suddenly I had Shiro and your brother and a year later I have them, two Alteans and a younger Garrison trio needing me."

"Well get used to it because you are not leaving again!" Pidge puffed her cheeks and crawled so she was in his other side clinging to him. "Kolivan is letting go off you in two days!"

Later in his room Keith contacted Kolivan and told him about Post Traumatic Stress-Disorder and it's symptoms. Kolivan listened and even noted it all down. "So for Shiro to function well enough to lead Voltron you will have to be there with him? And leaving him for just one Blade mission seems out of the question according to Pidge?"

"She thinks so but I have no idea really." Keith rubbed his neck and sighed. "And we've tried part time too."

"So the two options is convincing them to continue as a Blade or me letting you go back to them. I will need some time to think about that."

"Not like I found out anything about my mother anyway."

Keith looked up when someone knocked on his door and then Matt appeared. "Keith, Shiro froze up again and nothing I do can snap him out of it. Lance found him on the training deck." Keith took the communicator with him to show Kolivan and Lance held it once they arrived and Keith knelt by Shiro who was stock still on his knees staring at nothing but after some coaxing and back rubbing from Keith he seemed to return to them and looked at Keith.

"Keith?"

"You back now? Lance found you frozen up and Matt couldn't bring you back."

Shiro swallowed and the sweat clung to him like a second skin as his two best friends led him to his room and Kolivan asked Pidge some more questions. She later went to find the three of them in Shiro's room, him asleep with Keith close to the wall in the bed with Shiro hugging him and Matt sitting on the edge of the bed.

"-can't leave him, not now at least. Or ever actually." Matt said and moved so that his back was on the short wall by the foot end of the bed and stretched his legs out, crossing them by the ankles. Keith nodded as he absentmindedly ran his hand through Shiro's undercut and his eyes shifted to Matt. "But why didn't he respond to you this time? Pidge said you managed before?"

"Yeah but she cheated and brought out a hologram of you and randomly picked the lines from your previous times getting Shiro out of his episodes."

"Well I had to!" Pidge said and let the door slid close and took the chair that Matt seemed to have used at first before taking the foot end. "Keith could be god knew where and contact was impossible."

"Yet it stopped working after he tried to touch that hologram."

Keith sighed and looked down at Shiro again.

The two days passed and in the middle of the night Keith stood in his blade uniform by the ship he had used preparing to leave when he was caught. "Keith, please don't leave." Shiro begged as Keith turned. "I'm just going to see what Kolivan decides and return the ship, hitch a ride with someone else on the return." Keith stepped forward running his hands over Shiro's slightly heaving chest and frowned. "Shiro you have to calm down... And when did you shave last?"

Shiro blinked and ran his left hand over his jaw and blinked again. "I have no idea."

"Well you suit with it and long hair." Keith smiled and Shiro quirked a brow.

"How long are we talking?"

"About here-" Keith pressed his hand to Shiro's shoulder blades and he groaned. "Forget it and I will shave before going to bed again. I don't need to look 10 years older and the mullet look suits you wonderfully."

"Lance thinks other wise."

"Lance can shove it."

Keith clung to him as he exploded in laughter and Shiro quickly blinked the tears away when they heard a squawk and Kieth grunted when he had a something pound green paladin attached to his waist again. "Here we go again." He sighed as Pidge scolded him in Italian which the translators couldn't pick up as they were in the hangers. " Pidge, English."

She bent her head back to look at him. "You are not leaving or so fucking help me I'll-"

"Pidge!"

"Oh don't bother it's not the first time she's spewed that rainbow."

Shiro gave a look that just screamed 'she's a baby she shouldn't know words like that!'.

Keith repeated his plan and after a few tugs and tears she stepped back with Shiro's arms around her as Keith jumped into his ship.

"Swear you'll come back." Pidge insisted.

"Please." Shiro pleaded.

Left wing slightly damaged and headed straight for the barrier Keith could only imagine the sheer damage he would do to Team Voltron as Matt howled in his ear trying to stop him. Voltron had made it out of Naxzela before they got trapped and were trying to get away as Haggar charged it to explode and Keith was steering his ship into the barrier.

"Have I gone back on my word?"

"You might one day."

"If Shiro is to recover from his PTSD you have to be around for that... You're the only one who can fully heal him."

"Keith, please don't leave."

"Swear you'll come back."

"Please."

The barrier was coming closer and Keith closed his eyes and got his mask up. Four meters away he ejected and let the ship slam into the barrier which seemed to hold, crack and then fully shatter. Matt howled in his radio and Keith got the jet pack working as Voltron joined the screaming channel and he smiled.

"Have I ever gone back on my word?"

Silence.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU KEITH!" Pidge roared in such rage everyone swore right there never to piss off the Green Paladin and Keith winced. "Noted, I'm going to jet pack to the closet-" He didn't get further as Red swallowed him up and he looked up at Voltron from her mouth and huffed quietly. "I feel I'm in for quite the scolding."

He was.

Pidge, Allura, Kolivan and Matt nearly took his head off but what really made Keith feel bad was the way Shiro looked as it all finally sank in what Keith had nearly done. "I kept my word at least! I came back and I found Sam."

The Holt's had been about to yell again when all that came out were choking sounds and Shiro looked at him. "You found who?! How- what- " Keith merely looked over his shoulder with a grin. "You going to hide there long?" Out from behind him floated Rover beeping and blinking and Pidge lost it hugging Rover and they were both floating and while Matt and Shiro almost crushed Keith.

Allura turned to Kolivan as the hugging was going on. "Will you let Keith back to us?"

"I hate the thought but I'm guessing I have to. He's found this Samuel Holt and Keith wasn't all that happy with us. And if Shiro is to recover from his time with the Galra it won't do that Keith is with us either full or part time."

They were all looking at him now and Lance had the red bayard out and Allura had the blue, ready to be tossed to their original owners. Kolivan knew this and nodded. "I'm releasing Keith from the Blade of Marmora back to Voltron. He will keep the knife as a reminder that he is always welcome back."

Lance nearly threw the red bayard right in Keith's face and got the blue one smack in the helmet much to their amusement as it lit up for him that he was getting Blue back and bolted to his zipline and down to her, Keith did the same with Pidge clinging to him the whole way. Red lowered her head instantly has they came in.

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! She roared knocking him to his butt and Black landed not far from them growling at him.

Repeat that stunt and it will not be the Princess ending you. Understand?

"Not repeating my dumb ass move as long as I breath and have half a brain, got it." He nodded as he sat cross-legged and looked away with a pout and Red bumped him with her muzzle making him fall over with a laugh.

You better. If you haven't noticed, you have a slight connection to the other lions as well.

Keith looked at Pidge and then at the two lions. "I was never alone was I? Even when that supply ship exploded and I had a tear in my suit. I tried to call you..." Pidge's hand and throat ached the next two hours as she lost it for the 5th time in just a few weeks and Red was so close to torch Keith right there had Black not gulped him up and into her cockpit.

Shiro ran in soon after and called it off but had his own mind shared in the cockpit with Keith whom literally and for the next 70 years understood that he was not to sacrifice, get himself blown up, leave Voltron even if they returned to Earth and for as long as he lived Shiro would not leave his side ever.

It took a breath stealing kiss from the Black Paladin for Keith to really hold on to his new promises.

He wondered if it was New years Eve on Earth right now.

4:20AM

haven't checked misspellings.

mixed Keith/Pidge sibling feels, Lion mothers Black and Red and Sheith mushiness.

thank you for you time o/