Chapter summary: Katie looks back on the months since Keith started living in the Holt house. Keith does some reflecting of his own. Shiro gets a shocking change. A new player is added to the already complicated mix that is these three's soul-bond.

Thanks to Sussietheweeb for leaving a review on the last chapter!

Katie rolled over in her bed trying to ignore the feeling of flickering embers under her skin. Null out the ghostly feeling of heat waving through her legs and arm, and focus on sleep, blissful wonderful sleep… Another wave of heat went through her feet and slide its way up her spine.

Nope, clearly, no sleeping-in was going to be done today. Not that Katie was surprised, all her attempts to tune out the early morning burn hadn't worked the last dozen or so times she tried.

With an aggressive groan, the brunette very reluctantly kicked off her sheets and raised out of her bed at the ungodly hour of... 6:30 AM.

Katie flopped face-first into her pillow letting out an agonizing whine. Why did her soulmate not only have to be a morning person but a morning person that trains as soon as he gets up?

It had been a couple of months since Keith officially moved into the Holt house. Outside of the unholy, early mornings, things were going surprisingly well. Keith wasn't very fazed by the Holt girl's oddities, confused yes, but not scared or appalled like she was sure other 'normal' people would be.

Keith was slowly adjusting to their home life, once he even called her mom, MOM, though it seemed like he didn't notice the slip.

Both Holt girls sharing a look that agreed to not poke fun at the slip. The more time they spent with Keith the clearer it became that he wasn't used to family life.

It had taken both the Holt girls quite a bit of time to get Keith in the habit of saying goodnight and good morning. Seeing how touched or confused by basic interactions Keith would get, made Katie start to realize how many small things she had taken for granted.

Though one unforeseen plus for Katie, which may or may not be so great for Keith, was that he kind of became a 'project' for her Mom. The head Holt had signed up Keith for online classes to make sure he would get a full high school education before he turned 18, and a certificate to prove it.

Her Mom assigning him several household chores, including being an assistant chief when the women cooked. Katie was only allowed to watch them prepare meals and clean when they were done, still being banished from cooking thanks to the mashed potato incident.

Keith surprisingly took it all in strides, doing everything her Mom requested.

Asking for help here and there with his school work but otherwise was doing great with that too. Then on top of that, he insisted on doing daily physical training much to morning Katie's aggravation.

Not that she could tell Keith to stop. The hacker couldn't exactly tell her partner in crime that because of their soul-bond his workouts woke her up from the deepest of sleep. That and she could feel Keith enjoying his workouts, and Katie couldn't be... refused to be a person that took away anything Keith enjoyed.

The hacker sighed then happily hummed, breathing in the smell of fresh coffee as she made her way down the stairs. Keith had grown into the habit of setting up the coffee maker before going out to train. The hacker betting her Mom was the one that planted the idea into Keith's head.

Admittedly Katie was quite stunned the first time he made her coffee, and Keith seemed just as bewildered when she thanked him. He played it off as no big deal but she could feel happy little sparks inside of him after hearing her thanks.

So now every morning Keith made her coffee, Katie made sure to thank him. Partly in gratitude, partly to feel the sparks of joy in him and see that ghost of a smile on Keith's lips as he gave a quiet and bashful welcome in return.

Damn it, Keith needed to stop being so cute and sweet!

Katie inwardly grumbles to herself, pouring herself a cup of coffee and filling up a glass full of water leaving the water on the end of the counter before sitting down at the kitchen table with a long sigh. It was getting harder by the day to remind herself not to get too close to Keith.

Once they got Shiro back, she would have to let go of Keith. Keep him at a distance just as she had with Takashi, and the longer she kept Keith close the more it was going to hurt… The truth of the matter was Keith needed Shiro more than she did and Shiro deserved someone as loyal and sweet as Keith. Katie… she had her family, that was enough for her.

On a brighter note, Keith and Shiro could do morning training together and Katie would get her sleep-in days back. All these early mornings were killing her inner night owl.

Even Bae Bae was snoring at this hour! Katie glaring jealously at the napping puppy, before taking a long sip of the hot coffee, wishing the caffeine would burn into he soul.

The only mornings Keith didn't train were the morning after the... nightmarish nights they could feel Shiro.

They sadly happened every few nights...

Emotional storms, inflicting them with intense feelings of fear, horror, and the desperate need to survive from Shiro. Keith and her holding tightly onto each other as they fought to stay calm for Takashi's sake.

It was mournfully the only thing either of them could give to their lost soulmate.

No matter what time of night it happened one of them would always go to the other. Katie; as the night owl, would often be up when it started and get to Keith's room before it got too bad. Keith reached out to her as soon as she opened the door, pulling her close and embracing her tightly. Katie whispering soft assurance, as Keith buried his face against her shoulder.

A few times they happen so late at night they shocked Katie awake, then before her groggy mind could function enough to get out of bed. Keith would find his way to her room, Katie opening her arms to him as he practically dove into the embrace. Unlike the full-size guest bed, Katie's bed was only a single. The two of them often sitting or lying on top of one another when they spent the night in her room.

During the mornings after those nights, Katie would get to sleep till later, but she wouldn't really call it 'sleeping in.' The two of them would be up till who knows before things would calm down and she would drift to sleep from exhaustion. Pushing calming feelings towards both Keith and Shiro, while also making sure her inner walls were up so they didn't feel her emotions was incredibly draining.

Keith would still wake up first during those mornings as well, but he would always hover near her till she woke up. Katie usually would view someone watching her sleep and waiting for her to wake up as creepy. But every morning she woke up from those horrible nights, she could see and feel the relief waving off of Keith as if he had been fearful she wouldn't open her eyes.

Katie really hated those nights, but her analytical mind couldn't help noticing there seemed to be two different types of bad nights.

Half the time Shiro's desperate need to survive was the strongest emotion of all, and other times Shiro's feelings of disgust and horror were the strongest. The suppression of Shiro's fear is a constant presence, no matter the night.

Speaking of something always being present, there was something else there in Shiro's storm of emotion. A dark unnatural almost metallic feeling along the outer edge of Shiro's storm, or at least she thought it was just a feeling... at first.

Then slowly but surely with each passing Shiro night, Katie started noticing that dark metal feeling at the edge of Shiro's storm grew bigger. It was to the point Katie began to wonder if it was another person in Shiro's storm, as she swore she could almost feel emotions coming off the dark presence in the distance.

The more Katie could feel of this presence, the more like a person or some kind of individual it felt. Just as Shio felt like different kinds of storms, Keith felt like different kinds of fire, this possible person felt like metal, cool, deadly, piercing metal.

Katie desperately wanted to talk to Keith about the strange extra presence in Shiro's emotional storm, but once again couldn't talk about it without revealing herself as a third. Katie wasn't even sure if it wasn't her own bond playing tricks with her or if her overactive mind was making up the metal being like some kind of cooping method to hand Shiro's terror and Keith's desperation.

Her one and only saving grace through all this was that Keith was too obvious to realize they had a soul-bond.

For the first few weeks, Katie was extra paranoid over her's and Keith's soul-bond. If she could feel Keith's emotions so easily, how easily could he feel her? At one point she even grew suspicious that maybe Keith knew but wasn't saying anything. But after spending so much time with Keith she gradually learned; after the first month, Keith was a very obvious person.

Keith one day naively commented that Katie was really easy for him to read. Suggesting that it must be because they were becoming good teammates and; like a coward, she full heartily agreed with him, saying he was easy for her to read too.

The way Keith's chest filled with such a tender warmth made Katie once again prey he would never find out she was a cursed third. The hacker was not sure she could handle being the one responsible for turning that fire in him cold with pain.

Katie let out a long sigh putting her head against the cool kitchen table.

"Rough night?" Keith asked walking into the room, Katie opening one eye to look up at him as he whipped some sweat from his brow with one arm, then with his other hand picked up the glass of water she left for him on the counter.

"A little, also only on the first cup of coffee" She replied slowly lifting her head off the table flipping her long hair out of her face. "Thanks again for making the coffee"

"You're welcome" Keith quietly replied, pleasant sparks flickering through his body, taking a long drink of his water.

Katie hiding her smile by drinking the last of her coffee. It was probably wrong of her to enjoy Keith's feelings of joy as much as she did, but she couldn't find the will to stop their little morning routine or completely shut out Keith's emotions.

"Want more coffee?" Keith asks, putting down the now empty glass of water.

"Always" Katie replied pushing her cup towards Keith as he grabbed the coffee pot, going over to the table and refilling her cup. "Thanks" she nodded before putting her head back on the table.

"Tired?" Keith frowned pushing the hot cup of caffeine towards her.

"Yeah, just couldn't sleep last night" she yawned.

"Why didn't you just sleep in? It's the weekend so your Mom wouldn't bother you about it" Keith suggested.

Katie would if only she could!

"Can't, too much to do today" she sleepily muttered, taking a deep breath of her coffee before lifting herself back up off the table. "With Mom having switched to the nightshift for her latest project-" Katie let out another long yawn "It gives us more time to review the footage we still need to go through"

"But what if Ms. Holt wakes up while we're looking over the footage?" Keith questioned.

"She's sleeping upstairs so we'll have time to cover our tracks if she really does decide to come down. Otherwise, she shouldn't be up till 4 pm to get ready for work." Katie explained. "So I was thinking we review footage till 2 pm then switch to studying till Mom leave's for work, and after she leaves we go back to looking through the video footage."

"What about meals?" Keith ask.

"Already got my breakfast right here" Katie smiled, lifting up her second cup of coffee, earning a flat look from Keith.

"Fine…" the hacker rolled her eyes "we'll eat breakfast first before starting to look through the files, lunch at noon and dinner around 7pm, fair?" She questioned.

"And when are you going to exercise?" Keith asked, earning an annoyed noise from Katie.

The hacker was not sure if her Mom gave Keith the chore of keeping Katie healthy, or if she somehow had become Keith's project.

"Fine we'll walk Bea Bea after breakfast and around 4:30 pm we'll need to kill time while my Mom gets ready for work anyway… Fair?" The hacker questioned.

"Sounds like a plan" Keith agreed with a slight nod "... have you've found out more about that light?"

The hacker sighed and shook her head "Sorry not yet…"

So far their only clue in the Kerberos footage was a strange light that filled the area and made some of the equipment floated into the air for a minute then flopped back down to the ground.

"You don't need to apologize, Katie. I know how hard you're working on this" Keith said, for a moment reaching his hand towards her hand before quickly pulling it back. Katie feels that self-hated burn inside his chest. "I wish I could do more to help you"

Katie reached her hand out to rest on his forearm. "That's just because we're still at the techy research stage, you're going to have plenty to do if or when we need to do another break-in, or you know anything that involves physical labour" She assured with a smile.

Keith lightly huffed at that, the corners of his lips twitching, a more pleasant heat blooming in his chest.

"Now go have a shower" Katie ordered pulling her hand away from his arm, and whipping it on her PJ pants "you're sweaty," she grumbled making a displeased face as Keith rolled his eyes.

"Alright, just stay out of the kitchen, I rather not have to help you clean up another food explosion," Keith replied, standing up.

"Give me a break, that happened like two weeks ago and didn't take THAT long to clean" Katie argued.

"It took 6 hours," Keith corrected leaving the room.

Katie wanted to point out she's made messes that took 12 hours to clean before but figured that really wouldn't help her argument. The hacker sipped on her second cup of coffee letting her thoughts wander again. If the strange light stayed as their only clue, they were going to have to try something else soon.

Katie had done everything she could to study the light. So far the only results the hacker had figured out was that One: The light was artificial with the way it moved it was being directed by some kind of controls.

Two: The source of the light was hundreds of feet above Kerberos's surface.

Three: it causes some kind of pull effect towards its source.

Related information she still had no idea about.

Estimated Country of origin that made this device: None.

Confirmation that Matt and her Dad were also alive: None.

Idea's where this light source could have possibly taken the three of them: None.

Katie was now hoping that the footage before and after her family's disappearance could shed more 'light' on what happened. Though she could see why the Garrison didn't broadcast about the three's disappearance with so little information to go by...

Still gave them no right to throw Shiro under the bus, and declare all three of them dead, but she could understand the need for time to investigate… if the garrison was putting resources into figuring out what happened instead of covering it up!

Katie downed the last of her second cup of coffee. She needed to focus on what she could do right here, right now. Though she was frustrated, she couldn't rush things and risk leaving even one stone unturn and possibly miss any bit of information.

Katie let out another long yawn... thinking she might need to take a small cat nap later.

Keith paused the footage he was reviewing; on the laptop Katie gave him.

The ex-Garrison cadet hearing a strange sound that wasn't part of the video. First glancing down at the puppy that was laying next to him on the couch, the pup wagging her tail as soon as Keith looked down at her. Before he heard the sound again and looked over at the couch across from him.

Katie apparently was fast asleep lightly snoring with her laptop still half laying on her lap. Keith recall that Katie said something about needing to up-res some footage thinking she may have seen something.

Keith was pretty sure she only said that maybe 10 minutes ago, his gaze drifting to the clock in the room showing it was only a little past five pm. A part of Keith wasn't too surprised the long hair brunette passed out. Katie had looked so drained all day he could practically feel how tired she was... It was more shocking she hadn't drifted to sleep sooner.

Keith carefully put down his laptop and snuck over to the resting hacker, glancing at her laptop screen spotting a progress bar that was only 30% full.

Keith quickly figuring with nothing to do, the short brunette had fallen asleep. Which was probably a good thing, as for the past several days Katie had looked exhausted. Refusing to sleep in or take naps, saying they had too much to do...

Of course, he had only added to Katie's sleeping issue.

There had been three nights the past week that he'd taken away from Katie, needing her as he felt Shiro's horrible emotional storms.

Keith hated how helpless he was, hated how selfish he was being. Wishing he could handle it on his own but he couldn't let go of Katie or her comfort during those nights. Her soft voice, gentle touch, her very presence kept him from completely losing himself to his soulmate's feelings.

Keith carefully took the hacker's laptop and put it on the coffee table, gently moving her into a laying position so she wouldn't be stiff, draping a throw blank from the back of the couch over her.

At least, when it came to Katie he had ways to help her. Even if it was only in little ways it still gave him something to do and focus on... Katie gave him purpose, gave him the hope of finding Shiro, gave him comfort, and a home... That one invite into her family home was simply the first step leading to taking him in and the two of them reminding him what it was like being a part of the family. Once again wonder if this feeling was why Shiro had asked him to visit the Holt household, he could see how Shiro could get addicted to this feeling of… belonging.

Keith gently brushed some hair out of Katie's face, the girl almost eating her own hair as it messily laid everywhere.

After everything Katie and Ms. Holt had done for him, finding the rest of their family was the least he could do. The two of them were going to find Shiro and the other Holts no matter what. Katie was the leader of their two-man team, so he would be her sword and strength to whatever plan she came up with. Keith protecting her from any physical threat and Katie was able to shield them from other kinds of threats he couldn't beat with his hands.

Keith smirking as he thought back to the stunned and slightly scared look on Adam's face after Katie used his social insurance number to threaten him.

Katie rolling onto her side with a groan kicking off half the blanket he just put on her.

His teammate looked so much more peaceful sleeping now than after Shiro's living nightmare evenings.

After the waves of intense emotions finally eased away, the two of them would try to get some sleep. Sometimes they would talk a little, but mostly Katie would pass out soon after his grip on her loosened.

Katie quickly falling asleep wouldn't be a bad thing if his teammate didn't look like she was in pain as she slept, or how shallow her breathing would get. There had been one night Keith thought she had stopped breathing, and his heart stopped. Nearly crying out for Ms. Holt till Katie made a small noise as he moved.

Some nights Keith worried he had held Katie too tightly, had hurt his teammate in some way; her face was so curled in pain. Those nights Keith wouldn't sleep, he would watch her, gently rub her back, till she either relaxed and he would let himself sleep then, or watch her the whole night.

He wouldn't let this damn curse of his take her too.

Without Katie… If he lost Katie too… NO… no, he wasn't going to think about it, he couldn't think about it. Keith's heart felt tight... like vines were squeezing his heart, feeling of thorns digging into his skin the thorns quickly turning cold.

Keith snapped out of his thoughts as Bea Bea whined, Katie whimpered and violently trembling in her sleep, with a pained look on her face.

"Katie?" Keith called out gently shaking his teammate's shoulder but she didn't wake up, curling more in on herself. "Katie… Katie wake up!" the ex-cadet called out, grabbing both her shoulders and turning the hacker on her back.

Keith's training was suddenly needed in a very unexpected way, as he had to block and deflect knees and feet kicking him along with hands rapidly trying to punch and slap him.

"KAITE!" Keith managed to yell after recovering from the shock of his teammate's sudden attack.

The hacker froze, "K-Keith?" Katie choked out, her limbs lowering, the ex-cadet seeing the tears streaming out of his teammate's honey brown eyes. The short girl scrabbled to sit up looking around as if needing to reassure herself where she was.

"...Nightmare?" Keith softly asked, the hacker shaking her head, as her body trembled.

"I-I don't k-know" she hiccuped rubbing her eyes "it-the s-shadow felt so real"

"Shadow?" Keith asked, slowly sitting down next to her.

"S-so cold the shadow" Katie chocked out, putting her hands over her cheeks, his teammate's freckled face looking paler than usual.

That cold thorn feeling on his skin growing colder and deeper. Keith slowly reaching out and pulling her onto his lap. Katie willingly sliding over burying her face in his shoulder, curling in his hold as he tightly embraced her. The cold slowly fading now that she was in his arms.

"Sorry…" Katie sniffled against his shoulder.

"Don't be, everyone has nightmares" Keith assured, rubbing her back, "and if I couldn't handle a few surprised wailing limbs, I wouldn't be a very good fighter"

"...sorry" she repeated, curling a little closer to him.

"Don't worry about it" Keith assured hugging her a little tighter.

Keith barely noticing how his soulmark burned a little along his skin, cause the only thing that mattered right now was Katie.

In a vast foggy area, a tall shadowy figure slowly opened his golden eyes, glancing back at a glowing white figure it was connected to.

The White twin was asleep, so the shadow figure pulled away as hard as he could. His fingers turning into metal claws digging into the reflective ground as it dragged itself away from its white half. Slowly detaching most of its body from most of the white side, only a thin line along their feet still connecting them.

The shadow figure's golden eyes looked around curiously, trying to find the one that hid. Only he ever seems to notice the hiding one, and they in return the only one seeming to have noticed his presence. Carefully the Shadow figure looked along the ground looking for traces of the hidden one. There it was, the vines that camouflaged themselves against the ground, the plant shifting away as he took a step towards it. The vines were always around but unless one was looking closely they laid hidden, silently moving when approached never to be touched but always around.

The red figure that always seemed to cause fires, was out in the open as always. Its fire making it harder for the vines to keep hiding as if its flames burned away the plants camouflaged but red seemed just as obvious about the hidden one presence as his light twin.

The vines suddenly glowed a light green, the hidden one was awake.

The shadow made metal spikes slide out of the bottom of his feet digging into the ground, slowly pulling himself further away from his light twin. The shadowy figure heading deeper into the thicker parts of the fog as it was the perfect place for the hidden one to be.

Today he would find the one that hid like him.

His light twin always reached out towards the fire one and the red figure always reached back towards his twin. The hidden one never reached out to either, they were like him always there, always watching, only reaching out to help and guild light and fire when the two of them were overwhelmed.

Much like how he took over his white twin when he began to crack.

So he would reach out to them, find them, so they could be his, to have that connection his twin had to the fire one. The hidden one must be longing for someone to connect to just as much as he did. He couldn't really remember when he began to exist but knew the other three had existed much longer than he had, and he could only imagine how long the hidden one had been there with the other two... Always alone.

He would change that…

He felt the hidden one more than he could see them, forging through the fog he eventually found the place where their presence was strongest. The fog was so thick nothing but haze could be seen anymore. The shadow figure reaching out, they had to be hiding here. The shadow figure flinching away as something stung him.

He found something.

The shadow, slower this time reached out gently touched what had given him a little stab, finding a long needle, that was invisible to him. Slowly the shadow's figure trailed his hand down to the base of the needle finding an almost soft cool surface with a similar feeling to the vines but stronger.

The Shadow figure felt a thrill he was getting closer, this was the hidden one's wall. This kind of barrier may stop the other two but not him.

The shadow's arms transforming into long mental blades before he started slicing away; the needles or thorns, that thick surface, cutting away at every layer that blocked him from the hidden one. Careful not to stable in too deep, he did not want to the hidden one after all.

Finally, he slices through the 9th layer and a softly glowing green light leaks through the first cut. The Shadow felt joy for the first time in his existence, ferrous slicing at the final layer. That wall of branches and leaves falling away revealing a figure that glowed green, a mix of plant life twisted around HER, the vines that laid hidden everywhere flowed out of her head curling to the ground.

Eyes like honey looked at him with shock and fear, curling in on herself as she tried to create a new wall around her.

"NO!" the shadow figure cried out, turning his blade arms back to being metal claws as he pulled and ripped apart the new wall in the making. "Don't hide from ME!" he cried out in desperation, pinning the glowing green figure against the opposite wall as soon as he broke through her latest barrier.

She looked up at him trembling in fear.

"You can't hide from me…" the shadow figure said softly, gently cupping the green figure's face in both his hands. "You are mine~"

Shiro woke up with a gasp, waking from a strange dream.

The prisoner hissing in pain as it felt like needles stabbing into his soulmark. Worried the monsters that kept him had done something to him in his sleep he quickly pulled up the ripped-up sleeve that cover his soulmark.

"No… How…" Shiro gasp in horror, his Carnation-shaped soulmark that was purely Aqua in colour had begun to change. The edges of the leaves began to change white and the stem began turning black.

A/N: Kuro's in the house!

(Sorry it took me so long to update this fic, 2021 has hit me hard, like the trucks that always seem to kill people in isekai stories)

Come check out my Tumblr to see my art, and other AU's I don't post about (Same User name there as here.)