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It had been like seeing a ghost.
No, not a ghost, because Shiro wasn't dead, he wasn't-
Either way, seeing that face that Keith knew so well, but with a different voice and a different name, had been like a knife twisting in his gut.
But Sh- Sven, was gone now, having left through the vents with other-Slav at the mention of the Alteans approaching.
Something hadn't felt right about this whole thing: the distress signal, the ship, the video message, and now the alternate reality doppelgangers. And Keith, he trusted his gut. And he trusted Shiro. This wasn't quite Shiro, but if his... counterpart was not trusting of the Alteans, then that only sent up more red flags.
And now, they had his team – and, him – in handcuffs.
“Empress, the Guns of Gamara have infiltrated this ship.” Hira’s lackey said. “These people were working with them.”
“Let our friends go!” Keith growled. Red flags, red flags.
“Hira,” Other-Slav said. “you and the rest of Altea have turned this universe into an army of slaves. Peace at the sake of freedom!”
“Slaves?” Allura was astonished. “Is this true?”
“Non-cogs are not slaves!” Hira’s lackey said. “You’re the ones who spread chaos and destruction. We’re going to scan that little brain of yours and get every last rebel location. Finally, our wars can end.”
Red flag red flag red flag-
Keith turned to Allura. “Allura, we cannot let this happen.”
“Hira, please.” Allura looked confused. Bargaining, hopeful, despite the evidence. “We both want the same thing. Peace.”
“Do we?” Hira cocked an eyebrow. “Your weakness has brought nothing but pain and suffering to your people at the hands of the Galra. We have brought peace and order to ours. And, with this comet, we will bring peace to every reality.” Hira turned away from Allura. “You’re no empress of mine.”
Allura wasn’t confused anymore. “And you’re no Altean.”
Suddenly, an alarm went off.
"What is it now?" Hira growled, keeping her eyes - and her weapon - pointed at Keith and Allura.
"It's the ships intruder alarm!" Her lackey said. "It says that there's a Galra on board, but that's impossible..."
Keith's blood ran cold. He could see Allura tense next to him.
"And where on the ship is this Galra, Prometheo?" Hira asked.
But somehow, Keith saw in her eyes, she already knew the answer to that.
The lackey – Prometheo - gasped, and Keith reached behind for his knife, flinging it-He was too slow, and the volt of electricity from Hira's blaster hit him square in the chest, sending him convulsing to the floor.
Keith heard a scream, and a shout, and the sound of Allura's bayard coming to life, and then he felt another scream from behind his eyes.
When he opened his eyes, he saw one of their slaves pressing down on his wrist with their foot. Keith hadn't even realized he'd been reaching for his bayard.
The non-cog grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and yanked him up onto his knees. The spots faded from his vision and he saw Allura had been subdued along with the others. The others looked as terrified as Keith felt.
He caught a brief glimpse of Shi- Sven, and his expression wasn't as scared as it was fiercely determined. That sounded about right.
"I knew there was something up with you," Hira said, drawing Keith's attention back to the woman in front of him. "Defending the Galra. Just trying to save your own skin."
Hira paced around him. "We Alteans have brought an era of peace to the Galaxy. And we will do the same to yours. We've fixed many species, but the Galra - the Galra were the worst of the worst. There was no saving them. The only cure for their plague was complete and utter annihilation."
Keith could taste copper in his mouth when he spoke. "What are you waiting for then?" The non-cog twisted his arms tighter, and Keith was sure now that his wrist was broken. "Just get it over with."
He couldn't look at his team, no. He couldn't see their disappointed faces as he egged death on. Because he couldn't see a way out of this: all their weapons, gone, themselves subdued. And if this genocidal maniac was going to kill him, he rather not listen to her go on about how genetically speaking he deserved it.
(He’d rather think about the desert. He’d rather think about looking up at that vast set of stars above him, their mystery still intact and untarnished. A warm, presence by his side, Shiro-)
"That is the difference between your kind and mine." Hira said. "We have no need anymore. Our technology is so far advanced; it can take whatever demon is inside you. We do not kill, we purify."
What-
"No!" Pidge yelled, and both he and Hira turned towards her as she struggled against the guard that was holding her down. "No, you can't turn him into one of your slaves!"
"By becoming a non-cog, he will no longer be a slave to his nature."
Keith looked up as much as he could manage at who was holding him down, and he saw the piece of metal sticking out of the back of his head.
"You'll have to kill me." Keith said.
"Dude! Shut up!" Lance hissed.
"General Hira." Allura said, no longer with the company of a diplomat but with the voice of a ruler. "Stand down. The Red- Black Paladin-"
"Prometheo, escort the prisoners to the Brig. Put Emp- I mean, the traitor in her own special cell." Hira turned back to Keith. She grabbed a hold of his hair, and twisted him up so he'd look at her. She was looking at him as if he were the scum of the Earth. "And prepare this one for the hoktril."
She smacked him on the head with her rifle then, and before he blacked out, he heard screaming, farther and farther away.
"Oh my god they took Keith they're going to torture him they're going make him into a zombie they're-"
"HUNK." Lance grabbed onto both of Hunk's shoulders. "You need to calm down so we can find a way out of this."
"A way out? What way out?" Hunk said through staggered breaths. "They got our bayards. They've separated us. They lions are still out from the jump. Coran is on the other side. We're all trapped-"
Hunk started coughing from the stress. Lance rubbed some gentle circles onto his back. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Keith would want us to remain calm, Hunk."
"And so would Pidge, thank you." Pidge said. "It's hard to focus with all that noise."
"Oh, focus on what?" Lance snapped at her.
"Hey, you were the one saying we had to-"
"Will all of you shut up!" Allura yelled.
Even from her cell next to them, she was terrifying. And even though Hunk couldn't see her face, he could imagine her expression.
"Oh Princess," Hunk said, pressing himself against the bars. "It's not your fault right-"
"But it is, Hunk." Allura's voice was sad, but firm. "Keith tried to warn me. But I didn't listen, and I powered on their ship, and then they discovered that he was part Galra."
"That was pretty stupid." A familiar voice said. "Never trust an Altean."
Hunk looked over at the voice. He had almost forgotten about the Guns of Gamara. Almost forgotten about this strange, calm Slav and the Swedish-Shiro Sven.
(Hunk's mind briefly flashed back to when they first met them, the look on Keith's face, his voice as he whispered Shiro).
(And then came the sound of Keith's scream as he was electrocuted).
"How can you be so relaxed?" Allura demanded. "You are trapped just like the rest of us."
"Because," Slav said. "This is the reality where everything is going to turn out fine!"
Slav looked relaxed, but... Sven, he looked confused, thinking hard about something.
It reminded Hunk of Shiro, for obvious reasons. Shiro though, specifically, when he was worried about Keith.
"If everything's fine, then why are we in cells?" Lance demanded.
"Listen, blue one." Slav said, looking bored. "I said turn out not currently is."
"But what does that mean for Keith?" Hunk asked. "They got him right now."
Slav shrugged two sets of their arms. "You are all anomalies in the universe-"
Sven jumped then, pressing a hand to Slav's mouth. "Do you hear that?"
If what Sven meant was the sound of Shiro doing a weird Swedish impression, then yeah, Hunk heard it.
Slav and Sven's eye widened at the same time.
"Get down! Helmets up!" Sven yelled.
Instinctually they all obeyed, and good thing, because an explosion rocked the hull, ripping a piece off and sucking all the air out.
Alarms were blaring. Hunk had one arm around the bars of the sell, and the other on Pidge while Lance clung to his leg.
The noise of the alarm subsided, and so did the sucking out into space as something large blocked the hole.
Hunk caught his breath, but he wasn't about to remove his helmet. No, not yet.
In the hallway was a large pod, and out stepped someone - a singular someone - wearing the same uniform as Sven and Slav.
"You're both idiots, you know that?" The person said, and Hunk saw the others tense up.
No, it couldn't be.
"If we were idiots, why keep coming to rescue us?" Sven asked, a wicked grin.
No, no it couldn't-
The figure removed their helmet. And holy shit.
"You know why." Keith said, with a large playful smile.
Keith, but not Keith. The voice was the same - thank god no Swedish accent. The hair was longer, cascading down his back, kind of like Allura's, but it fell in his eyes the same way. Into Keith's violet eyes, and below that, red markings-
Altean markings.
Alternate reality Keith was part Altean. Alternate reality Keith was part-
"Holy quiznak!" Lance yelled.
Not-Keith turned around, eyes blazing at them. "Who? More Alteans?"
Slav crawled up around onto Sven's shoulder. "They are from an alternate reality!" Slav said. "Try to keep up. Now get us out of here."
Not-Keith huffed, but did. His sword blazed to life - a white a red blade of pure energy - and he cut a hole right through Slav and Sven's cell bars.
"Hey, what about us?" Lance said, pressed against the bars.
It was definitely Keith. Because even in this reality, he had that same look he gave Lance.
"Akira." Sven said. "They are on our side."
"You're too trusting. You just met them." Not-Keith said.
"Akira, trust me." Sven said. Akira. Ah-keer-ah. It wasn't a pet name; it was this Keith's name. Wait, why did he assume it was a pet-name? Sven turned to them. "Take off your helmets."
Hunk looked at his team. They were just as wary but it was their only option right now.
They took off their helmets.
Keith and Shiro were always the most closed off on the team. But Keith, for all he tried not to be, was very expressive in his body language. Not like Hunk could decipher it most of the time, but his expression now was obvious.
Akira - and therefore Sven and Slav - recognized them. They knew them in this reality.
Akira's eyes landed on Allura, and his hand clenched around his sword. "Sven." Akira hissed.
Oh, yeah. Legendary Genocidal Empress Allura. That's where they'd recognize her from.
Slav scurried forward. "I'll free them, you fill him in. This is taking way too long."
Slav went to Allura's cell first, but Hunk was more interested in Akira and Sven.
They were huddled close together near the pod, nearly touching. Talking in hushed tones, lips close to ears. Kei- Akira's hand came up and cradled the side of Sven's head to look at the bruise that was no doubt forming there. Sven placed his hand over Akira's, a smirk on his face-
Hunk felt his cheeks burn and he looked away. He didn't just feel like he was intruding on their privacy, but Keith's privacy.
Some things were universal.
Slav freed them and Akira and Sven rejoined the group.
"So, what's the plan?" Lance asked. Hunk caught his eye, and Lance just shrugged and mouthed: "leaders."
"Blow up the ship and all the Alteans inside." Akira said. "That was the original plan."
Slav threw up all his hands in exasperation."And I told you can't just blow up a trans-reality meteorite!"
"And woah-hey you can't blow this place up." Hunk said. "We still have to save you- I mean other you. I mean Keith."
Akira's eyes widened. "You've left some parts out, Sven."
Sven just shrugged.
"Keith, from what we can tell, is our version of you from our reality." Allura said, and everything in Akira's being tensed up, but Allura pressed on. "In our reality, you are the Red- I mean Black Paladin of Voltron. You are half-Galra, not half-Altean. We are your team. The Alteans are the fringe rebels and the Galra Empire are the plague on the Galaxy."
"Wow, so in every reality, I'm half-monster then." Akira said, voice devoid of emotion.
Slav rolled his eyes. "No, there are infinite realities and therefore there are somewhere you are not-"
"Okay, can we focus here!" Pidge yelled, and all stopped at her small fury. "The other you - our friend - could already be a non-cog at this point. We need to hurry if we're going to save him and stop Hira."
Akira's ears - Altean ears holy quiznak - twitched. "Hira's here?"
Pidge nodded.
Akira's eyes narrowed in resolute determination - he was all Keith at this point.
"Here's the plan."
Running, running, running. The druid. The beam of light. Thace. Running, running, running. Haggar, the explosion. Zarkon, Lotor. Shiro-
Keith woke up a gasp.
It took him a second, against the cuffs at his wrists, the pounding in his head, and the unfamiliarity of the ship to remember where he was.
And then the relief, because if he remembered that means they haven't succeeded in the process yet.
"Oh, good. You're awake." Prometheo said. “I do tend to prefer that. It’s so fascinating to see the will disappear in their eyes.”
“You’re the only monster here.” Keith growled, pulling at the cuffs on his wrists. He could see his bayard on the table, but not his blade. Had they really been so arrogant that they didn’t search him for more weapons? If only got one hand free…
Keith couldn't see Prometheo's eyes from behind the shine on his glasses, but he could imagine the hard expression, cold as ice. "Moxilous, restrain the subject for the procedure."
Restain? I'm already-
Keith felt a hand on the back of his neck, and something snapped. He thrashed and struggled, but the non-cog was too strong, too devoid of feeling to react to Keith. Moxilous pressed Keith's head forward, his fingers holding, twisting painfully into the hair on the top of his head. Prometheo now had unobstructed access to the back of Keith's head.
"You'd best hold still, or this will be a lot bloodier than it needs to be." Prometheo said, and then came a sound that Keith hadn't heard since Shiro disappeared.
The sound of hair clippers.
Oh, quiznak no.
Keith understood the gravity of the situation. Of this alien that told him his nature made him evil and that he must forfeit his will for the sake of peace. He understood that this man means to undo everything that makes Keith human, and that made him angry.
But sirens flashed behind Keith's eyes when the shaver made contact with the back of his neck.
Keith never cut his hair. He trimmed it with his knife when needed.
"Can you give me a trim?" Shiro asked one morning, looking particularly ragged. Keith knew he had had a rough night. Keith had walked by and heard the noises from Shiro's room.
"Are... are you sure?" Keith asked. Not about the haircut. This was more complicated than a simple trim.
"Yes." Shiro had said, resolutely. "I trust you, Keith."
And the sound brought Keith back to those mornings. He wondered if this was what Shiro felt - the tingling, the vibration, the tenseness in the shoulders and the air stifling in his nostrils.
Prometheo turned off the razor. "There. It's messy, but whoever gets you at auction can fix it if they want."
Moxilous released Keith's head, and it felt strange. He felt heavier and lighter all at once.
"You'll probably break the record." Prometheo said. "Highest priced non-cog ever. Unless Commander Hira decides to keep you for herself-"
An explosion rocked the ship then, sending Prometheo tumbling to the ground.
"What now?" He said as he got up again. He went over to some screens out of Keith's line of vision.
This was Keith's chance; his last chance.
His broken wrist throbbed, but that was a good thing, if he just-
"The Guns of Gamara!" Prometheo yelled. "They're heading for the comet! Moxilous, with me-"
And Keith was left forgotten in the room with alarm. A future slave was nothing compared to a trans-reality comet.
Now he had time to work.
He slammed his broken wrist into the cuffs. Pain simmered in the form of unshed tears behind his eyes. But he got it. Dislocated or crushed enough for him to slip it through.
His limbs were on fire, and he couldn't exactly use his hand, but-
He made it to his knife, and then he made it to the cuff, and then he was free.
And then he was falling face first onto the floor.
Keith's gotten himself out of worse situations, but never in such an undignified matter.
The lack of hair on the back of his neck was throwing him completely off balance.
Keith struggled up onto his knees, and then up onto his feet. He put his bayard back in the energy pocket on his hip.
Keith caught sight of himself in the monitor. He hadn't had his hair this short since... since before his dad disappeared, Keith was pretty sure.
The short hair, the black eye, the split lip - he was a mess. He looked terrifying, like a monster.
But he wasn't the monster here.
Keith's grip tightened on his blade. It was time to save his friends from the real monsters.
Akira was like Keith, but on crack. Everything Akira did screamed Keith, but bigger. His sword strokes were larger, more dramatic. Keith was scrappy, Akira was a soldier.
He was just as reckless as Keith was too. He only had a sword but he led the charge, even though Hunk, Lance, and Sven all had long ranged weapons.
Keith’s… not obsession really, but focus on Lotor is even mirrored in Akira, Hunk thought. Akira had Commander Hira have a history.
What is most jarring though, is Akira and Sven. Watching them felt like imagining what Keith and Shiro were like in private. It was unsettling all the same.
“We need to get to the Lions.” Pidge said as she blocked a laser blast with her shield. “Then we can scan for Keith.”
Lance came up to next to her, his rifle ready. “Yeah, tell that to Mullet-head.”
And Akira turned the corner, wild, blade swinging-
And coming into direct contact with another blade, a purple one, in the hands of-
"Keith!?" Lance shouted. "Dude, stand down, that’s-"
Keith barely looked like himself. He had a black eye and a split lip. He was clutching one had to his chest, and it was twisted at an odd angle. But most strikingly, his hair was gone. Or rather, the mullet-esque part was gone.
"Akira - stand down, that's our friend!" Allura said. The two were still struggling, swords crossed. Keith looked distraught, far away - but if he was this way he wasn't a non-cog then. There was fire still in his eyes. "That's you!"
Keith's eyes widened and Hunk saw that fire flicker-
Hunk rushed forward and caught Keith before he hit the ground.
"Are you alright?" Hunk asked. "Stupid question. I know. What did they do to you-?"
"Broken wrist is the worst of it." Keith said, a dribble of blood leaking from his mouth. "Hair is more a pride thing."
"They didn't get to the procedure?" Pidge asked, hovering around the back of his head.
Keith shook his head, wincing. "Explosion distracted him. He left to secure the comet."
"Did he say anything else-?"
"Enough of this, we're wasting time." Hunk turned to see Akira glaring hard. "Every second we waste, Commander Hira is one step closer to escape."
Hunk turned back to Keith, who he was still supporting. He seemed to really process for the first time, that this was himself.
"Your name's Akira?" Keith asked, and Akira flinched. He seemed uncomfortable at meeting his other self. "Huh."
"Akira is right." Sven said, stepping forward. Hunk felt Keith tense in his arms. "You need to get to your beasts. Get the comet. We will handle the Alteans."
Keith shifted, and Hunk helped him straighten up so that he was standing.
"Let's-"
More laser fire rang out. Hunk rematerialized his bayard, and wrapped his other arm around Keith to pull him forward as he ran.
"Hunk, I'm fine-"
"Oh, just let me have this!" Hunk yelled back. Keith was dead on his feet as they ran there was no argument about that.
Lance led their charge, rifle up, Hunk close behind, trying his best to shoot and shield Keith at the same time.
And then several things happened at once.
"Look out!" Someone yelled.
A shot fired.
Lance froze.
A scream.
Another shot.
"Sven!" Akira yelled, and rushed forward, and Hunk finally put together what happened.
"No." Keith whispered, brokenly.
Sven had taken a shot for Lance. He was on the ground, his wound large and cauterized on his chest.
"Sven? Sven! Can you hear me?" Akira held onto Sven, propping his head up, other hand on his wound.
"I'll be fine." Sven said, smiling up at Akira. "Just get me to space hospital."
Akiras shoulders sagged in relief. "You absolute, complete moron."
And then Akira leaned down and kissed Sven.
Keith sucked in a breath next to him. Hunk felt his brain go white, and maybe through the link he'd felt all his friends’ brains go white.
Everything Hunk thought before about invading Shiro and Keith's privacy... nothing compared to this.
"Not again!" Slav scurried up beside him. "Save it for later! We have work to do!"
Akira pulled back, determined, and Sven looked on dreamily, probably a bit deliriously.
"Get to your ships, now!" Akira barked, and there was no arguing.
They ran, and Hunk held onto Keith a little tighter.
"Shiro? Shiro!"
"Sven? Sven!"
"It takes more than a glowing alien wound, a fall from the upper atmosphere and crashing into a hard pan surface, at what I’m guessing is about twenty-five meters per second squared, to get rid of me. How are you?”
"I'm fine. Just get me to space hospital."
Keith woke up in a healing pod with five faces staring back at him. Not the face he was hoping for though.
"How...” Keith blinked against the white light, slouching into Hunk. "How long was I out?"
"Two quintants." Coran said. "The rest of the paladin's we're in there for a few Vargas after you came through the rift, but you had some extra time what with your broken wrist and internal bleeding and all."
"Internal bleeding." Keith repeated. Probably from the rift. The rift. "The comet-"
"Lotor got it." Allura said, face bowed. "You were right. It appeared it was a trap all along."
Keith steeled himself. But behind his eyes wasn't the rage he felt, but the image of Akira and Sven-
"That's not the most urgent thing though!" Lance said, pushing forward. "It's your hair, dude. I'm glad the mullet is gone but it's so uneven. We gotta fix it."
Oh, right. He'd forgotten about his hair. He reached up and felt the back. It felt like an open wound.
"I know how to cut hair, Lance, I can handle it." Keith said. "I don't trust you with sharp objects. Especially near my hair."
"Hey!"
"Oh, we've also been in contact with The Blade of Marmora." Pidge said. "Nothing new on their front but we mistakenly told Slav about other Slav, and that set him off." Pidge winced at the thought.
"Okay, but are we not going to talk about how weird that all was?" Lance asked. And god, Keith thought why couldn't he just drop it. "Alternate universe Keith and Shiro! Akira and Sven! How crazy was that. They we're in lo-"
"Yeah, it was weird." Keith said voice hard. "Akira is my middle name."
Lance reared back, and from Keith's tone, he finally seemed to get the message. "Woah."
"Anyway..." Hunk said. "You're awake just in time for dinner."
"Yes, you would do good to get some food into you." Allura said. "You should get changed though. Do you need assistance no getting to your room?"
Keith shook his head. "I'll be fine."
It wasn't quite a lie.
But alone in his room he couldn't quite fake it anymore.
The electric razor - or Altean equivalent - had been left in Keith's room, since that's where he'd cut Shiro's hair last. Right after they had discovered Keith's heritage.
"I think I need a trim, don't you?"
Keith bit his lip. How could Shiro be so nonchalant about all this? "Shiro-"
"I trust you, Keith." Shiro said, determined. "Now come on, I can't be out of regulation."
Keith gripped the razor in his hand, and got to work. A steady hand, the space between breaths, the feel of his head.
He'd made it straight, dividing his head into an upper and lower section, with the undercut coming just above his ears. If he buzzed the rest, it would be exactly what he did for Shiro.
Keith had never seen Shiro with truly "out of regulation hair." Or, now he did sort of, because of Sven.
Sven, who despite the Swedish accent, sounded just like Shiro when he screamed.
They have no way of knowing if Sven survived, if Akira and Slav survived. Keith is just going to have to assume they did. For his own sake, he had to assume that.
Seeing Sven was one thing, but seeing himself? Seeing that their counterparts were...
Well, at least Keith had the comfort that in at least one reality, Shiro was his and he was Shiro's.
He had just wanted it to be this reality.
Keith doesn't go to dinner, but to the Black Lion. He takes her out and assures the team that he isn't going anywhere. Just wants to keep watch, follow behind a little bit.
The "leave me alone" and "I need some time" are left unspoken. Not something a leader should do, but Keith didn't want to be the leader.
Keith slumped into Black's seat.
It had been months since Shiro disappeared. And Keith, he meant it when he said he'd never give up on Shiro. Never.
But a part of him, a small, angry part of him, couldn't help but think: at least I got to see him one last time.
"It won't be the last," Keith said, tears pricking at his eyes. "It won't."
Black roared, and Keith yanked on the breaks.
“What’s wrong?” Something beeped and screens popped up.. Black picked up a distress signal. A path, a target, a beacon.
He felt it.
He felt her.
He felt him.
Shiro.
"We've found him."