Disclaimer: If you recognize the characters, they aren't mine. Just playing in the sandbox provided by Dreamworks and the "Voltron" production team.
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Keith was in the middle of writing his study guide for the upcoming Interstellar Navigations exam when it hit him. The sudden clash of excitement-nerves-joy-fear-hesitation-disbelief made him drop his tablet.
Shiro. It had to be the Kerberos mission. Shiro must have gotten the pilot's position.
He took a deep breath. He could handle this. They had talked about this.
"And you're sure you don't have a problem with it? Being alone for fourteen months or more if I'm chosen?"
"The only problem I'll have is if some nutjob researcher finds out we're soulmates and tries to keep me in a lab and monitor our bond while you're gone."
That made Shiro pause. Previous research showed that soulmates still felt the bond between Terra and Mars, but the chance to test it as far as the edge of the solar system would be very tempting to some scientist somewhere.
"I'll bring it up with Commander Holt. I don't think there's a chance in hell of you coming with us, but he might have some ideas on how to protect you."
"I was mostly joking, Shiro. I'm not sure anyone around here remembers that we're soulmates other than Matt."
"True. And I'm going to wake up Matt every morning on this mission and thank him for bringing us together."
"Sap."
"Of course." Shiro pulled Keith into his arms. "Seriously, this is going to be hard."
"I know. But this is the chance of a lifetime for you and I don't want to stop you. And I'll put my time to good use. I'm already almost halfway through the second-year requirements. What do you think about coming back from Kerberos to find that your soulmate is a junior officer at seventeen?"
"I think that's one of the best ideas ever. But don't kill yourself trying to get it."
They had a plan.
Keith accompanied Shiro's parents to the reception before Shiro and the Holts would move to quarantine prior to leaving. Shiro's mother doted on Keith, promising to stay in touch and send care packages. His father was a little standoffish and Keith began to worry that he had done something wrong.
Shiro sensed his anxiety and pulled him aside. "What's the matter?"
"Your dad…I don't think he likes me."
"He does, I promise."
"No, Shiro, he really seems uncomfortable with me. Maybe he's just been saying he was fine with you having another guy for a soulmate and now he can't deal with it face to face."
Shiro put a hand to either side of Keith's face, tilting it up. "It isn't that, I promise you. He's worried because of his own experience. He found his soulmate when he was twelve and she was ten."
Keith frowned in confusion. "But, your mom said—"
"She was killed in a car accident when she was fourteen. Dad needed a lot of time and support to get through it. He met Mom at college and they hit it off. Her family never bought much into the entire soulmates concept in the first place—they were very 'whatever will be will be'. She decided falling in love was just as good. Anyway, after I told him about us, Dad gave me a long lecture about what it felt like to lose your soulmate, getting used to that hole in your mind and heart that never really goes away. I bet he wanted to give you the same warning, but Mom put her foot down."
Keith chuckled a little at that, having seen Shiro's mother in action. "Thanks for telling me. I was getting worried."
Shiro planted a quick kiss on his forehead. "You're welcome. Come on, let's get back to the party."
Keith was grateful that he could isolate himself in his room as the launch happened. He sat on his bed, his tablet streaming the live audio broadcast, and focused on Shiro's presence, savoring every shift in emotion as they lifted off.
Once the ship was safely out of the atmosphere and Shiro's triumph poured into him, Keith concentrated on sending back his pride and love.
I'll see you in fourteen months.
Shiro did indeed thank Matt daily for being the reason he and Keith came together. He tried to find a different phrase each day, resorting to multiple languages or bursting into song when he was feeling a lack of inspiration. Commander Holt found it hilarious, but would often share stories of his own soul-bonded grandparents, giving Shiro a good picture of the ups and downs of being permanently linked, mentally and emotionally, with another person for the rest of your life.
During the voyage out, Keith was a steady presence in Shiro's mind. His soulmate was indeed driving himself hard, working to achieve his early graduation goals. There were occasions that Shiro knew Keith had been injured, likely in physical training, and twice something happened to trigger Keith's temper in spectacular fashion. But generally they shifted back and forth in an easy, contented existence, patiently waiting to be reunited.
Commander Holt had devised an excellent compromise for Keith's worries about being turned into someone's lab rat. He found a scientist that was eager for the chance to expand the study of distance effects on the bond. Holt then negotiated fiercely and arranged a contract dictating that in return for exclusive access to Keith during the mission she would limit her examinations to three times a week and give Keith a generous stipend out of the resulting grant money.
Keith stashed away half of the first installment in a bank account but did allow himself one large indulgence and bought himself a late-model used hoverbike. He spent many Sundays taking it out into the desert around the Garrison, learning its every quirk and coming the closest he could get to actual unsupervised flight until he finished his training.
By sheer coincidence he was in Dr. Hooper's lab, electrodes already on his forehead, temples, and chest, when everything spiked. Hooper ran around, shutting off all the alarms, and looked at Keith frantically. "What's going on?"
Keith's smile threatened to split his face. "They made it! They're on Kerberos!"
The doctor squealed and clapped her hands. "That's wonderful! When do you think they'll announce it?"
"Probably in a few days. I expect Commander Holt will confirm landing, then confirm when they've started collecting the ice samples they're after. The Garrison will probably announce both at once, make a bigger media splash that way."
His grin never left his face as Hooper recorded the readings in excitement.
Two nights later, Keith woke up screaming from a nightmare of a ship looming over him and his crew, of being hauled in by some irresistible force. Large figures with glowing eyes and purple skin towered over him and dragged him through a long hallway, throwing him into a small cell.
Shiro! Something's happened to Shiro!
He rose and threw on clothes, shoving his bare feet into sneakers and grabbing his jacket, and took off for the monitoring center. His security clearance as a cadet would get him into the front lobby. Then he needed to find someone who was stationed with the Kerberos mission and warn them.
Entering the building, he saw Commander Iverson, deep in conversation with Lieutenant General Franke. They both looked up, startled, as Keith burst through the door.
The eyebrow above Iverson's bad eye quirked up, throwing his face off balance. "Kogane? What the hell are you doing here?"
Franke focused sharply on Keith and muttered, "The soulmate?" He put the tablet in his hand to sleep and stepped forward. "What can you tell us, Kogane? All we know is we lost radio contact a few hours ago."
"I think…I think they've been taken by a hostile force! Shiro's trapped, scared…I think the Holts are alive, but I can't be sure!"
Iverson reached out and took Keith by the shoulders. "Deep breaths, Keith. Hold your focus. It's a good thing you can confirm that he's still alive. Now, I need you to keep this information completely to yourself."
"Y-yes. Yes, sir?" Keith found the request odd. He struggled to concentrate through Shiro's and his own fear coursing through him.
"We need to sort out what to tell the press. It is vital that you do not tell anyone else what you know. Can you do that?"
Keith swallowed hard, trying to clear the lump in his throat. "Yes, sir."
"I'll arrange with your instructors to give you the next few days off. We'll say it's flu. Stick to your room as much as possible."
"Could I…stay at Shiro's apartment?" The possibility of being among Shiro's belongings, in his bed, immediately made Keith feel calmer.
The two men looked at one another for a moment, then Iverson nodded. "Get your things. I'll let the building supervisor know to expect you."
The guards never acknowledged his words. Every time someone would bring the tray of slop that served as food, every time one of those weird hooded figures stopped to look in, Shiro would plead for himself and his crew. But the helms and hoods hid their eyes and he had no sense at all whether they even heard him, much less understood him.
That changed after one of the hooded things reached through the bars in the door with an odd device. The alien activated it and a bright purple light swept over him from head to toe. Pain spiked in his head and receded.
The thing withdrew and Shiro heard it speak words he could understand, in an odd hissing voice. "That should take care of it. Their brains are primitive, but similar enough for the translators." And just like that, Shiro could understand everything being said around him. It brought no comfort.
Keith's fear for him was constant in the back of his mind. Shiro tried to keep his own emotions steady for Keith's sake, but the best he could manage was perpetual dread over the situation and worry over the Holts.
And then, three or four days later, they came and pulled him out of his cell.
The guards ruthlessly stripped him of his spacesuit and threw a set of dark clothing at him. The bodysuit material seemed made to stretch out and fit its wearer perfectly, with the gray tunic added for warmth. The boots were made of an odd fabric that was flexible but strong, with rubber-like soles for traction.
Once he was dressed, the guards grabbed him and practically dragged him down a long corridor. Others dressed similarly were being brought as well. Shiro's heart leaped when he recognized a shock of brown hair sticking up in all directions.
"Matt!"
The head turned to reveal Matt's face with an ugly bruise spreading from one temple. He peered around a tall gray alien and called back, "Shiro?"
"Yes! I'm here!" One of Shiro's guards drove a fist into his ribs.
One by one, all the prisoners were thrown into a holding area in a shuttle. The door closed, shrouding them all in a faint purple light. Shiro immediately moved to Matt's side as they felt the shuttle leave the ship.
"Do you know where your father is?"
Matt shook his head. "No. They kept us together for a day or so, then pulled us out and did some kind of physical exam."
Shiro nodded, remembering the point where he had been dragged from his cell to a room and one of those purple aliens, with a white face and white stripes on its head, drew blood and poked and prodded at him for a short time.
"The day after that they came and took Dad away. One of them said Dad was too old and only fit for a camp."
Matt's comment made Shiro's heart rate spike. "Too old? Too old for what?"
Another of the aliens, with majestic red horns curving from his head, spoke up. "Too old for the arena."
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