Keith pulled his knees to his chest on Allura's bed against the headboard. She rolled over onto her stomach, ankles carelessly kicking the air behind her. They'd been talking for hours, distracting each other from the reality looming over them. Yet the time had come to bite the bullet.

"I think I found my replacement."

"Pardon?" Allura startled half upright.

Keith scooted closer and started pleating her long hair, a habit he'd developed to replace fiddling with his knife. Plus Allura seemed to enjoy the contact. "He's a galra soldier with an academic background. Intelligent and capable."

"That... could be problematic. Are you certain?"

"Quite. Red's actually had her eye on him since we were kids."

"Dancing around the topic is not really your style, Keefy," Allura murmured, barely parting her lips. "In the conference room I felt the anxiety your knowledge gives you. You handled my despair from the hospital. Allow me to help you with this."

"I know... it's just... he's Zarkon's son, Allura." He heard her gasp, but rushed on, "Lotor grew up beneath Red's shadow. She watched him learn and struggle within the empire."

"I... understand you, Keith." Allura turned where she sat, her hair slipping free of Keith's fingers. Meeting his eyes, she clasped his hands in hers and asked, "What do you need of me?"

Keith felt the weight he'd been holding since abandoning Lotor in the desert fade from his chest. He closed his eyes and bit his lip, taking a deep centering breath. "Thank you, Allura. We can leave in the morning."

He didn't know what he was looking at. First there was that encounter with the assassin, now this. News of the explosion from the mine had been echoed by the containment facility he'd been monitoring. Lotor searched through the debris trying to find a reason. What had happened here? How were the assassins always one step ahead of him? Where had the natives gone?

The resources that had been assigned to police the natives had already been reassigned elsewhere. Simply a loss of stock. Just like the lines of mine shafts that had been collapsing throughout this planet's continents. As such, Lotor had complete seclusion to evaluate the scene without fear of contamination from his father's more... negligent soldiers.

His scans showed nothing abnormal apart from a strange residue. Analysis revealed a fluid native to this planet, stable in liquid form yet highly volatile at moderately high temperatures. Searching through the records the initial colonization claimed showed the explosion to be relatively common.

The building had been leveled entirely on the front. An office to one side had been completely cleared out. In fact, he found absolutely no sign anyone had ever lived here. No bodies either. Now three quintants later, he stil couldn't find anything to tell him what had happened. Until he saw a single word scribed into the wall of a small out building.

Roanoke.

It seemed like nonsense. Only a few random letters marring a slab of stone. Lotor couldn't find any definition within the galra database. Exhausting every speck of information at his disposal, he rubbed his temples and prepared so restart in the morning. Then the console stopped flicking through information and the screen settled on a single article from the data siphoned during the planet's colonization.

"Croatoan?"

Lance hugged Keith from behind and whispered in his ear, "Do you think the message was clear enough?"

Keith leaned more of his weight into Lance and said nothing. He didn't really need to. He knew in his gut that Allura's plan was the most likely to work and if it didn't, Lotor wasn't the one Red needed. They stood in silence watching as earth's new militia worked to put the academy back in working order.

Returning to the Garrison had been a bittersweet experience. It seemed the empire had abandoned the location shortly after dispersing the soldiers and students to their various designated quadrants. The cafeteria still made Keith anxious and he refused to go to the sleeping quarters. Because as far as they had come, they still had almost no information on where Shiro and Adam had been taken.

Keith turned his head and placed a kiss alongside Lance's adam's apple and stepped out of the embrace. "I have to report to Coleen. Something about our current defenses. I'll see you at dinner." Lance stopped him with a soft hand in his. Keith looked back to see concern in Lance's furrowed brow. Before he could say anything, Keith sighed and said, "I'll explain later."

He could tell it didn't satisfy Lance, but he didn't press the issue and Keith lifted the hood on the faded gray hoodie he'd taken when they'd evacuated the school. He avoided traffic as refugees worked to repair wiring and restore electricity to this wing of the base before worrying about structural integrity. That wouldn't take long once the groundwork had been done.

No, his task was elsewhere. So deftly climbing through a hole in the wall, he shone a flashlight into the dark and pulled back his sleeve to allow his marmoran gauntlet to make a comprehensive scan of his surroundings. When they'd returned almost a month earlier, he had been quick to volunteer for scout. It gave him the privacy he needed. So many people and he felt more alone than ever.

At one time, he'd known this building front and back. He could have found his way blindfolded before the invasion. Now, everything was broken, destroyed. And yet, somehow, even though the hum of electricity that had always bothered him as a student was gone, he missed it. He missed knowing the only thing worth worrying about was whether his class would discover he'd already graduated or whether the canteen was serving chicken nuggets or sloppy joe.

Though he'd technically been a soldier, the invasion had stolen his childhood. Even the sense of wonder at what the universe held was sullied. After all, the universe was a cruel trickster. So he spent the better part of the afternoon scanning this area for damage and potential threats. The only silver lining he'd found in this situation was that the empire had removed the bodies in the aftermath of the invasion. No one had come across any skeletons yet.

His alarm began to go off at 1800 hours and he cursed under his breath that he'd gotten distracted for so long. He finally jogged into the research labs at quarter to seven to a raised eyebrow from Coleen. She waved a hand, gesturing for him to join her at the table and said, "I don't want your excuses. How was your excursion?"

Keith stepped up to the holotable as she walked up across from him, an altean tablet in hand. "Not bad. If construction goes well on the southern wing, the north wing should be fixed within a fortnight." He swiped along his gauntlet sending the data to the holotable where a three dimensional schematic displayed all his notes. "How goes your research?"

Coleen tapped rapidly, saving his data to be studied further, and pulled up her own. "I've been working on finding a way to recreate the particle barriers around the Garrison. However, I don't believe we have the manpower to actually launch a defensive attack should the need arise."

She paused and chewed on the edge of her nail. Keith could see it was already raw and had bled at least once. He raised an eyebrow at the door and lowered his voice. "What do you want me to do?"

Coleen rolled her lower lip between her teeth, eyes betraying nothing. "There is a high security facility housing people who have caused the most insurrection for the empire. We're sending Brad and Chad for infiltration. I recommended you and Matt to be their security and intel. Keith, you're needed in Reno."

Keith stared at the schematics on the table. "How many people know about this?"

Coleen tapped, sending the information on the table to Keith's gauntlet. "Ellen and a few others. We don't know what we're going to find. It could be criminals or an execution ground. We just can't be sure of anything at the moment. But," she reached over and put a hand on Keith's forearm, "we can't lose anyone else. Keith, I trust you above all others for this. I know you have what it takes."

Keith felt his throat lock up and nodded. "Of course, Coleen. I understand and accept. When do we leave?"

"There's something else."

Images flashed into view and Keith's eyes went wide. His breathe caught in his chest. "Does the admiral know? She still wants me to go?"

Coleen admitted, "I insisted, Keefy. You're stagnating. I know you want to help and I know you operate best in the field." She clicked away on her keyboard sending the full mission briefing to Keith's gauntlet.

Keith asked again, "How long do I have?"

"They leave in under an hour."

Keith closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The tightness in his chest slowly settled lower into anticipation. Something he could use. With his decision made, he quickly exhaled and stood at attention. "Thank you, Coleen."

She smiled, eyes full of pride and love. Then Keith turned on his heel and sprinted to the hangar. When he slid to a stop, he saw Admiral Sanda in conversation with a stone faced Brad. Chad and Matt were loading gear into an altean transport pod. Choosing the difficult option, he paced to Sanda and saluted. When there was a pause in the conversation, he stated, "Officer Kogane reporting for duty."

Sanda pursed her lips a little harder than normal, but Brad shot him a quickly smothered smirk. Keith maintained his composure, waiting to be addressed. Sanda continued as though Keith hadn't interrupted, "You'll be going dark as soon as you're off base. If we don't hear back in sixty days, I'm going to assume the worst, Major. Don't let that happen."

Brad nodded curtly and answered, "Yes, ma'am."

"Good night and good luck. You're dismissed." Sanda watched Brad march to the pod before saying without turning to Keith, "Coleen briefed you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then you know why I'm hesitant to send you." Sanda sighed and looked down with her hands folded behind her back. After a moment, she started slowly, "I... owe you an apology, Kogane." In the following silence, she continued, "When the base fell, I failed to protect you and Lance. You were taken from us and I-" her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. "We never spoke of it, but I considered the two of you dead.

"But you weren't." She wiped her eyes with the back of a hand and turned to face him. "You returned to us. Practically resurrected," she said with a weak chuckle. "You came back changed, and I failed to notice. You've matured and have proven capable of more than I could imagine. And yet... all I could see was the boy I'd watched grow up. I'm sorry, Keith. I've been treating you as if I were still your caretaker and not as your admiral."

Keith's chest swelled with her heartfelt admission and he took a moment, but failed to contain his emotion. Lowering his salute, he asked, "Permission to embrace?"

Sanda chuckled again and relaxed completely. "Permission granted." She opened her arms and Keith hugged her. "Coleen is right, Keefy. You are the best person I could send with them. Good luck."

"Thank you, ma'am. I'll make you proud."

Sanda stepped back and folded her hands behind her back again. "You already have. You're dismissed."

Keith stood to his full height and saluted once more, clicking his heels, and turned to walk to the pod. Matt, Chad, and Brad didn't call attention to the drama that had happened twenty feet to the left. Keith returned the favor and lifted the other end of the crate Matt was lifting. Ten minutes later, the rest of the cargo was loaded and Keith turned to start his pre-flight checklist.

"And here I thought we were going to have a nice dinner."

Keith turned to see Lance standing with a cocked hip and crossed arms. The rest of the paladins stood at his shoulder gathering curious looks from everyone else meandering through the hangar. Keith gave a crooked half smile to Lance and started toward him.

Lance held up a hand when Keith got close enough to touch and said, "Don't give me that look. You know exactly what you're doing and I don't appreciate it."

Keith reached for Lance's hand and twined their fingers, but he searched his boyfriend's expression. Despite the light nature of the conversation, Lance's eyes shone with fear and barely held back tears. Keith closed the distance, wrapping his arm around Lance with their hands crushed between them, and buried his face in Lance's neck. "I have to go, Lance."

"I knew it," Lance choked out. "It's just like when you left us."

When Keith had gone on a suicide mission and survived. "I know. I'm sorry, but there was no warning."

Lance turned his head, eyes closed, and searched out Keith's lips. Keith eagerly met him with his own and a gentle sigh. He felt his eyes flutter shut. When they were both out of breath, Lance pulled back, but put his forehead to Keith's.

After a moment, Lance breathed, "Whatever happens, if you need us, we're only a heartbeat away."

Keith nodded, not trusting his voice. Finally, Lance stepped back and reached to the silver pendant around his neck. Taking it off, he slid it over Keith's head. Supersticious to a fault.

Allura then stepped forward and took Keith's hands in her's. "Do what you have to and return to us. We await the safe return of your team with bated breath. What is that phrase you told me about?"

Keith smiled and held out a hand. "Ohana."

The others grinned and put their hands over his. "Ohana."

After a few more quick farewells, Keith heard Brad call from the pod. With a last wave, he jogged back as the back of the pod closed. He climbed into the pilot seat as Chad started across the desert, the nose of their craft aimed into the shimmering sunset. TIme to get to work.