Chapter thirty: Time To Recover

Two sticks and the prodding stopped; Shiro barely raised his hand to study the two needles in his left hand and forearm, both taped in place to ensure they'd stay secured where Sam had placed them. Pidge had just hung two bags attached to these IVs on the hook, they'd placed on the side of his chair above his head. So they were out of the way, but still within reach.

"These two elixirs should help him rest easy for a bit." Sam explained as the purple and green substances traveled down the IV tubes and entered the Black Paladin's body through the needles in his flesh. "They're a couple of mixtures I conjured up to hopefully suppress the effects of his injuries for the moment.. but there's no guarantee they'll work.. or,.. for how long."

"At least it's something.." Keith remarked, hoping to convince even himself of this, as they looked down on Shiro.

"So Dad.." Matt spoke up again. "'Mind telling us all you've been up to since... well.. you know." The young man hinted, cocking his glance up at his father from his lowered chin.

"Well, I can certainly tell you the jist of it." Sam shrugged. "After I was separated from you two, I was sent to a prison/base on a desolate planet; completely secluded from the rest of the world. No one lived there from what I could tell, and those of us that did were forced to work long hours on scientific testing and technological discrepancies. I was there for some time before I was brought before some human hybrid alien, who then turned me over to some other Galra overlords; that sent me to work in another facility of scientists, similar to one I was previously moved from. I must've worked well there.. because they kept me there for quite some time.. before you showed up to rescue me that is.." He straightened up as if to finish. "I suppose there were a few changes that occurred in between but.. otherwise.. my days have been relatively the same.. and apparently it was hardly as grueling as what you or Shiro had to deal with."

"Yeah well.. My leg healed up just fine, and at least I didn't have to die in embarrassment of being pummeled into dust.. so I'd say I've fared pretty well." Matt's smile soon faded though, as his eyes fell on Shiro. "Guess Shiro didn't get so lucky." He sighed deeply, while watching him rest.

"Yes.. an- wait.. your leg? What are you talking about?" Sam's delayed reaction would've been humourous.. but the heaviness of the answer weighed that humor flat.

"Oh,.. right.." Matt realized slowly, his gaze falling. "I.."

"He would've been killed by that monster.." Shiro's barely audible voice drew attention to him, but when they looked his eyes were still closed as though he were still sleeping.

"I couldn't let them send him in there.." The Black Paladin continued, no part of him moving other than his lips as he spoke. "'Least if I went- I might've-.. stood a chance against him.."

"Shiro please.. you must rest." Allura urged softly. "You can't help us do anything if you don't." Shiro's eyes slightly tightened as if they'd been open, and a deep breath sighed from him as his head relaxed further.

"He's right though,.." Matt said, lifting his gaze up to Sam again. "After they tore him off me from his faked hostile attack, I was sent to a healing bay only long enough to have my wound wrapped then I was shoved in a cell with some other useless prisoners.. You know,.. The small weak ones they were "raising" for some master plan use once we'd be old and strong enough, I guess. I was there for.. seemed like weeks when I was ripped out of there and bounced around several prisons.. I guess they were trying to figure out what to do with me, since I was essentially taken down by Shiro in the Galra arenas. Eventually I was rescued by Te-Osh and her rebel freedom fighters that gave me a mission to help stop the Galra, or at least come up with ways to stay on top of their efforts, and stop them if we could. Eventually I was stationed on that finger-forked planet where I guess Shiro found me.. I was on recon one night and just happened to get caught. I heard Shiro's ship crash, but at the time.. I obviously didn't know that. So I went to check it out.. I snuck up to the area,.. The markings of the ship were strange, but I.. didn't think much of it at the time. Instead I took that as an opportunity to sneak into the base to gather intel.. Only thing is,.. even though the Galra were pretty occupied with the crashed ship, not enough of them were engaged enough to be totally unaware of me,.. And I guess I'm not as 'silent ninja', as Shiro.. Cause apparently he broke into and out of that place like three times or something."

"Well.. that's Shiro for you.." Sam lightly chuckled. "Though in his condition, I can't think in the slightest how he could've done it while like this."

"Well, actually we have an answer for that." Hunk interjected quite confidently. "See, he was doing ok by the time we got to him, but also, like Keith said, Shiro's resilient as heck, and Pidge said he's been sustained by some crazy substance that has somehow been helping him feel better and shrouding all evidence of his fever, which, -might I add- he still has, and Lance reasoned that.. Shiro's..- Just-.. Shiro. So.. yeah." And even amongst all of the Yellow Paladin's rambling the truth of all these words still rang completely clear and true.

"Makes sense." Sam shrugged for lack of much else to say."

"Te-Osh, gave me my start in all the Galra tracking and message deciphering I've been doing since escaping Galra prison." Matt went on. "She's an incredible.. person, you'd like her, Dad."

"She somewhat helped me to find you.." the soft voice came again, to their desperation by now. "She sacrificed her safety to help me free some innocent people from Sendak.. It's a miracle even one of us made it out alive."

At this, a shocked stare shot over to him from Matt at hearing this.

"Sendak?!" Allura breathed, somewhere between that or a gasp of the sort.

"What'do you mean,.." Matt wondered, his eyes lightening slightly. "She's.." Shiro's dead silence was the only indicator that confirmed is dread, and as he stood there his eyes began to glaze over. To the point that his knees could not support him and his hands had to compensate as he hit the floor on all fours.

"No.." he breathed, closing his eyes tightly. "It can't be!"

"She spoke good things of you, Matt.." Shiro barely mumbled. "But she knew who I was near immediately.. You must've been talking about us while on your mission."

Matt's blank gaze lifted to Shiro's in a bit of surprise.

"Of course I did." He answered easily, as if Shiro should've known this. "You're.. like family, and Dad is family,.. why would I not?"

"Heh,.. Point taken.." Shiro lightly smiled.. Then finally fell silent to find the true influence of sleep, to their relief; given as a sigh. And they couldn't help but smile at finally watching him find rest after all that had happened.

"So Katie.." Sam Holt spoke up again. "I'm guessing you've been seeing all sorts of amazing things while out here fighting the Galra as a Paladin of Voltron."

"Oh, you bet.." Pidge confirmed, gleefully. "And the technology we've gotten to work with is incredible.. I bet you know what I'm talking about, but it's so amazing.. I can't believe how far behind Earth is compared to all this stuff out here.. and this castle, and..the Lions? They were built over ten thousand years ago! It's like Shiro said.. I can hardly believe that the Alteans created such advanced technology like this ten thousand YEARS ago."

"I agree.." The commander nodded. "And speaking of amazing new technology.." he turned to Shiro in saying this.. "Shiro has one of the most incredible pieces of new technology, I have ever seen. You can tell the alien race is far more advanced and they create such an amazing piece of work. And given how advanced it is I wouldn't mind studying it for research.. maybe it can even help us understand new ways to create prosthetics for people back on earth.. I believe Shiro's arm alone could be the key to that."

"And you haven't seen nothing yet!" Pidge gushed. "Once he recovers, I'll have to have him show you! It's amazing!"

"It is." Matt agreed quickly.. "You wouldn't believe it! It's incredibly insane, Dad.. and I haven't even seen it all yet either."

"Heh,.. I'm sure it is.." Sam smiled, placing hands on both of his children around the shoulders. "And I don't doubt that Shiro's picked up a thing or two more from being out here.. I'd like to think he's always adapting in some way.."

"Mostly cause he's been forced to.." Keith put in. "Especially lately."

"Wouldn't have any doubts about that.. that's for sure." Sam asserted tenderly. "But then again he's always been pretty stable under pressure.. no matter how intense.. Though I suppose I can't definitively say that in this case when for most of it.. I wasn't around to see it."

"Even despite everything,.. up until we were ripped away from each other in the gladiator arenas, Shiro seemed to be holding together just fine, last I remember seeing him. If ever he lost that cool head of his,.. it had to have been after I was separated from him."

"Whenever it was, it doesn't matter.." Keith decided, opening his eyes to gaze around at the team. "Either way it had to have happened somehow.. I guess you could say he's been broken ever since we sprung him from that Garrison quarantine unit back on earth."

"You did what?!" Sam gasped. "What did Commander Iverson say?"

"We didn't exactly stick around to find out." Pidge told him, when sheepishly lifting an elbow to the air to scratch the back of her head. "After we rescued Shiro, we were on the trail to finding the Blue Lion,.. not even really trying too hard at doing it, some things just fell into place with the different pieces we had at the time."

"Which is how we found the Blue Lion of Voltron, busted it out of its secret hiding place, stopped a Galra ship from landing on earth and luring it away from earth so it couldn't invade it." Lance explained.

"Then we were presented with a wormhole and we dove right in to get away from that Galra cruiser." Hunk added. "And that brought us to planet Arus where we met Allura and Coran. And first learned about the Alteans, the Galra and the lions of Voltron.. and I guess the rest is history."

"A history I wouldn't mind hearing." Sam requested. "Seems like we have lots of time on our hands here, what with Shiro finally resting like he should be and all."

"Ok, so it started out when Shiro crash landed on earth.." Hunk began as the team began to explain their entire dealings up until this point,.. delving into every person's views and sticking some missing pieces where they seemed to fit.

XXXX

"..and then we found you and got you out of that base in time to help Shiro." Hunk finished, as the story winded down again.

"Well, that's quite a tale.." Sam commented thoughtfully. And Matt's head shot over to his father with an amazed smile.

"Yeah, talk about an adventure." He breathed marveling at the vastness of it all.

"Yeah?.. try living it all." Hunk returned bluntly.

"Wish I could've." Matt agreed, bringing both fists up in front of him hopefully. "Would've been neat just to see you guys in action."

"Oh trust me, this war is far from over.." Hunk reminded him. "I'm sure you'll get to."

"You guys should've seen Shiro in action though.." Pidge gushed, raising her hands up by her face in a sneak kind of fashion.

"He's like a ninja,.. but even cooler.." She said. "And that Galra hand really adds something to the team, even though Shiro went through so much suffering to get it." Her smile soon faded when they heard a gentle moan. Shiro heavily shifted sides and seemed to struggle at settling into his new position, before finally finding comfort enough to settle once again.

"I'd like to move him to a more comfortable place,.. but I'd hate to disturb him." Allura mentioned, staring over at him longingly.

"I know.. me too.." Keith almost mumbled. "But maybe some time alone to rest will be better for him,.. with as little intervention from us as possible."

"Wait I thought you said you weren't gonna let him out of our sight, from now on?" Lance questioned.

"I didn't say we had to leave him entirely alone." Keith corrected himself in a bit of annoyance. "I'm just saying.. we try to disturb him as little as we can and let him be, unless absolutely necessary." He finished looking over to Shiro.

"Keith's right,.. maybe reducing our intervention might help him rest more easily.." Sam concurred. "We don't necessarily have to all leave the room, but at least as long as someone keeps an eye on him at all times, no matter who at any point, he may have a better chance at recovering well."

"Ok.. then that's the plan.." Keith decided. "We can all take shifts.. each one of us will take time to stay here with Shiro,. and keep an eye on him.. And at the end of our shift, the next person can come and start theirs.. if anything happens, whoever's there can let the rest of us know.. but otherwise we should limit as much activity around him as we can. So he can rest and get better."

"Agreed."

Hi guys! Chapter thirty, baby! Now this was fun! The chapter is kind of long,.. ok longer than most of the chapters of this story so far,.. but I think it was well worth it.. And made sense with all that happened here. XD

Anyway, next chapter might be a little more fun.. but we'll see how it pans out. Until next time, folks! Thx!