A/N: Hello, and welcome to Rifts and Realizations! To all new and old readers, this is the 7th story within my series featuring Mariko Shirogane and Scarlett. If you'd like to catch up or recap what's happened so far, please check out the first 6 stories: Rise of Voltron; Turmoil Begins; Fights and Flights; Scarlett and the Blades; What's Been Lost, What's Been Found; and Beneath the Sand and Stars (in that order). I'll be posting chapters for this twice a week. I hope you enjoy!

Full Summary: After Shiro's return, a noticeable rift begins to form between the members of Team Voltron as they work to expand the coalition. And when a new opportunity presents itself to Mari, she must choose between her distant teammates and a chance to join the freedom fighters. With the shifts in power within the Galra Empire bringing about major battles and the return of family and old foes, both familiar and unfamiliar feelings are stirred up and brought to light.

**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender (duh)


Days had passed since the Black Lion rescued Shiro from the Galran fighter ship. Weak and looking scruffier than anyone had ever seen him before, he'd been dragged onto the Castle of Lions on the cusp of collapse. After enduring seven days without food and water and thriving off of severely low oxygen levels, it was only natural that he'd been staying holed up in his room to rest.

He didn't remember how he'd gotten on the Galra ship he'd woken up in. Mari didn't even bother to ask him if her dreams of him had been real. They were just dreams, after all, nothing more than her unconscious worries manifesting as she slept. She didn't want to bother him with such nonsense, especially when his head was already so muddled.

Still, with his return, her heart felt lighter than it had in months. Her brother was back, safe and sound and relatively unharmed. The paladins were slowly but surely clearing Galra bases and taking back enemy territory. The Voltron coalition was growing, and they were almost ready to set up on Olkarion. For once, things were finally starting to go their way.

.

.

.

Mari frowned at the pair of scissors in her hand before glancing unsurely at Shiro's long and freshly washed locks. "Are you sure you want me to do this?" she asked, staring at him through the bathroom mirror.

Shiro nodded. "Yeah. I feel better knowing it's you doing the cutting," he said, his eyes tired but certain. "Besides, you can catch me up on everything I've missed."

She raised a doubtful eyebrow. "Really? Because I've recently learned Lance is an excellent barber," she said, snipping the scissors in the air. "And you know how much he loves to talk."

The smallest of smiles pulled at the corners of his lips. "Oh, so that's who did that, huh?" His gaze flicked to Mari's recently shortened hair. "It's cute." When she didn't say anything and continued to scowl, he assured her, "It'll be fine. Just cut it as short as you can."

"Okay…" she drawled, hesitantly running her fingers through his hair to straighten it the best she could. "Don't get mad and blame me if you don't like it."

"I promise I won't."

As she began to chop away, she briefly caught him up to speed on the team's adventures: her flying lessons, their search for him, Voltron's trip into an alternate reality, their escapade on Vurelle, and, of course, their ongoing problems with Prince Lotor.

"Sounds like you've all been through a lot," Shiro surmised, sounding proud if not slightly disturbed by their dangerous antics.

"Well, so have you," Mari replied. "You came back to us on the verge of death looking like ojiisan in his younger days."

Shiro chuckled at that, his shoulders shaking and nearly causing her to cut his ear lobe. "Hey! No moving," she snapped, and he quickly went still.

"Sorry."

Mari sighed. "Your hair seems a lot floofier than I remember," she murmured as she grasped the next chunk to cut.

"Floofier?" he mused, his smile brightening.

"Yeah," she nodded. There was a loud and crisp SNIP and another lock fell dully to the floor. "How did your hair even get so long? Has it always grown this fast?"

Mari struggled to recall. She never paid much attention to when he'd gotten his hair cuts. She'd always been too worried about herself for when it was her turn to sit in the chair and get her ends trimmed by their father.

Shiro shrugged slightly. "Pretty sure it has?"

She hummed in thought for a moment. Nah, he was probably right. If neither of them could remember for sure, it probably wasn't important. After a few more minutes of cutting his hair up to the top of his neck, she stepped back and inspected her work. As expected, it was horribly choppy. She grimaced.

"It looks terrible," she stated flatly.

Shiro stood from his seat, brushing a hand against the back of his head. "It's perfect," he said, reaching for a counter drawer and pulling out an electric trimmer. "Now I can even it out with this."

Mari stared at it incredulously as it buzzed to life. "You were gonna use that this whole time? Did you even need my help?"

Shiro granted her a teasing grin. "Just wanted to spend some one-on-one time with you."

Under any other circumstances, Mari would've shoved him in playful irritation with a roll of her eyes. Instead, she found herself closing the distance between them as she embraced him in a tight hug. She buried her face in his shoulder, taking in his warmth and familiar presence.

"I'm glad you're back, Takashi," she whispered, her eyes pricking with unshed tears.

Taken by surprise, Shiro hesitated before gently wrapping his arms around her in return. "I'm glad to be back, Mariko."


Everyone was gathered and waiting for them when they arrived on the bridge. Dressed, clean shaven, and his hair trimmed to perfection, Shiro looked healthy and alive and ready for action as he faced his team.

"Great job out there, everyone," he said, placing his hands on his hips as he greeted them. "You've really turned the tide in this war. I'm glad you never lost sight of the mission while I was gone."

Lance's face lit up upon seeing him. "You're looking better," he complimented, relief quick to replace the concern that had been lingering in his gaze for days. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," Shiro noted, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. "Just trying to get rid of this weird headache."

"Did Mari screw up with the hair cut?" Scarlett asked. From her spot on the floor next to Pidge's chair, she'd paused in her fervent typing to look up at him. "Did she accidentally hit your head or something?"

"No, I did not," Mari glowered at her and Shiro cracked a smile. The Utearen shrugged before she went back to working on her laptop.

"Guys!" Pidge suddenly exclaimed, making them startle. "I think I have something here!"

She excitedly gestured for everyone to come hither, waiting until all eight of her teammates had gathered around her seat. She had scrolling data and maps pulled up on her station screens and a particular area had been circled on the display.

"So, I downloaded intel from the Galra base we just defeated," she explained. "I untied the quantum-folded encryption, and I found something on Lotor."

"Do you know where he is?" Keith asked.

"Well, not exactly, no," Pidge admitted, involuntarily wincing. "But the last three sightings of his command ship have been in the Va'Kar quadrant."

"Nice work, Pidge," Shiro said. "Although, those quadrants are massive. How will we pinpoint his location?"

Hunk inched closer to her screens, trying to get a better look. "Hey, that comet is made from the same material as Voltron." He paused, squinting in thought. "Maybe I can scan the emission spectrum for Fraunhofer lines, like when I found the Blue Lion!"

"But you know those emissions are subject to free induction decay," Pidge reminded him. "Those are exponential drop-offs."

"Yeah, but if you could find a way to amplify the sensors – No, there'd be way too much interference," he muttered with a shake of his head. "What if, instead, we increase the SA magnitude?"

Pidge gasped as an idea hit. "The spires of the castle!" she exclaimed, already shutting down her screens.

"Genius!" Hunk grinned, and the two rushed out of the bridge without another word.

There was a beat of confused silence before Lance frowned and vocalized what they were all thinking: "I have no idea what either of them just said."

"They're gonna get the Castle to send out a bigger signal to pinpoint the comet, Lance," Scarlett sighed, her attention already drifting back to her device.

"Thank you! Finally a nerd who's willing to speak in English," he huffed, exasperated.

"Let's set a course for the Va'Kar quadrant while they get started on that detector," Shiro decided. "We need to work fast. Who knows what Lotor has planned for that comet."

And work fast they did. With the space mice's help, it took Pidge and Hunk a little under an hour to adjust the Castle's systems for their comet-detecting purposes. As soon as they had found it, Allura was speeding their ship towards it, careful to stay out of the range of enemy sensors.

"Looks like the signal stopped in the Ulippa System," Pidge observed once the blip on her screens had come to a halt. "Activating long-range scanners."

A dark and jagged planet popped up on the main displays. When she zoomed in on the image, a Galran warship could be seen docking at the base there.

"That's not Lotor's ship," Keith frowned, standing up in alarm.

"But the comet is in there," Hunk assured him.

"Okay, team, we need to get that—" Shiro prepared to give orders just as Keith turned to address the crew, saying, "Here's the plan, everyone."

The two looked at each other for a tense moment, leader versus leader. Finally Keith relented, obviously uncomfortable as he said, "Oh. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Shiro."

"Awkward…" Scarlett murmured, and Pidge and Mari nodded silently in agreement.

"We need to get that comet," Shiro continued as if nothing had happened. "They must be transporting it into that base. It'll be vulnerable during the transfer. That's the best time to strike."

Decisive and firm, he made it sound like the best course of action. But before any of the paladins could even think about heading to their hangars to begin executing his plan, the landing warship began to fire at the Galran base, taking their team by surprise.

"Who the heck are these guys?" Lance blurted out, incredulous.

Shiro's brow furrowed in confusion as he watched the attack. "I don't think they're moving the comet to that base. We need more information."

"You're right," Keith agreed, placing a supportive hand on his shoulder. "You take the Black Lion. I'll stay here in the Castle and provide support."

Shiro twisted in his seat, his expression conflicted as he looked back at him. "Keith…are you sure?" he asked.

"I'm sure," Keith nodded, but he sounded more dejected than anything.

Shiro hesitated for a tick longer, but he didn't argue as he rose to his feet. "All right then. Everyone, let's suit up."

The moment he and the others departed from the bridge, Scarlett scrambled to take Pidge's vacated spot. Mari and Keith watched as she stretched out in the throne-like chair, making herself comfortable after having had to sit on the floor for so long.

"And then there were four. Welcome to the 'Stay Behind Squad,' Keith!" she announced loudly, leaning against the armrest. She waved a hand at him, eyeing him with a tiny smirk. "Wow, it's weird having you here while everyone else is out."

"It hasn't even been five minutes yet," Keith said, turning to her. "How is it weird?"

"I mean, I guess I'm just used to you always being out there. Working. In a lion," she said with a shrug. "But now you're here. Just standing there and looking mad cuz you can't do much to help. Just like Mari always does!"

"Thank you for once again reminding me of my useless position here on this team," Mari drawled dryly. She felt Keith stiffen beside her, and she mentally smacked herself before trying to backtrack. "Wait — I didn't mean it like that. I'm not saying you're useless too, Keith. It's just that in situations like these, there really isn't anything I can do. It's just…a little frustrating."

"I know. It's okay. I get it," he said, giving her an understanding nod. His tone was even enough, but his eyes had darkened with an uncertainty that made Mari uneasy. She didn't have time to dwell on it though as Shiro's voice piped up over the comms.

"Keith…" he said, hurt and disappointment creeping at the edge of his voice. "I'm gonna need you to lead this mission."

"What? What is it?" Keith replied so quickly, he nearly stumbled over his words. "What's wrong?"

"The Black Lion isn't responding to me," Shiro elaborated. "It looks like you're its true paladin now."

Keith's eyes widened and he exchanged a look with Mari. They'd never anticipated Shiro being rejected as a paladin upon his return. They'd been so focused on getting him back, they'd never even considered the potential strife a sixth paladin could cause. Still, there was no use worrying about it now as the rest of the team waited for a leader to join them. She flicked her eyes to the Black Paladin's platform, wordlessly urging him to hurry up and go.

His jaw set and the fire returned to his eyes. "I'm coming down."

Taking the elevator down to the Black Lion's hangar, he disappeared from the bridge. Several minutes later, the main doors swished open as Shiro returned, looking a little wilted in his paladin armor. His expression was strained as he came to a stop next to his sister, and she took his flesh and blood hand in hers, giving it a comforting squeeze.

"And then there were four again," Scarlett said. She threw a finger gun at him as she added, "Welcome to the 'Stay Behind Squad,' Shiro!"


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