Find Him, Promise Me

Part 1

"Lance, you and Allura go left. Hunk, Pidge, take the right. And I'll head straight," Keith commanded. The team had just breached Zarkon's ship, on a rescue mission to find Shiro.

"Uh, what about me?" Matt said. "I'm coming too. Shiro was my boyfriend. I am going to find him!"

"And Keith, I am coming with you too! Can't let you do something stupid," says Lance, with a wink. Keith sighs. He wanted to bring Lance with him, but he knew he couldn't. He was sending the rest of them on a decoy mission. He already knew where Shiro was, he just didn't want to bring the others with him. They couldn't see him like that. Keith already knew he would have to bring Matt with him. Matt was dating Shiro after all, and he had the right to come with him.

"Fine. Matt, come with me. Lance, you stay with Allura. We all have a mission. Now, go!" Everyone took off in their designated direction, all looking for the same person: Shiro. Up until last week, when they found Matt, everyone thought they had Shiro back, that they could be a family again. It wasn't until Matt came back that he realized, that wasn't the guy he spent 7 months in a spaceship with. He was different. He didn't act the same. The others were devastated. How could they have not known that this wasn't him? That this wasn't their Shiro? The boy who was with them didn't know he was a clone. He broke down. Coran had been spending the week with him, trying to get him to eat, sleep, do anything. Nothing seemed to work.

Everyone knew now that their mission wasn't just to save Shiro, but to save Ryou, the clone, as well.

"Head left," Keith shouted over his shoulder at Matt, after they hit a wall. Matt hesitated.

"Why not right?" Matt questioned. Keith knew he would have to tell Matt that he found Shiro already.

"Just trust me. I'll explain along the way," Keith said. They ran down the corridor. "I already know where Shiro is. I just didn't want the rest of the team to know, otherwise they wouldn't let me extract him." Keith panted. They were almost at the end of this corridor.

"How did you find out?" Matt asked.

Keith hesitated. Could he trust Matt with this information? Yes, he thought. I have to tell someone. He took a deep breath. "I talked to Ryou earlier. He told me he knew subconsciously where he was. I don't know whether it is a trap or not, but it's the only lead on where Shiro could be."

"You got Ryou to talk? How?" Matt kept coming at Keith with questions, but he had to keep answering them. He deserves to know.

"I t- I told him about Shiro. About everything. I told him stories, about the Garrison, about our time in space...about you," Matt smiled. This was the first time he had smiled, since he was reunited with Pidge. Keith smiled back. "Head right," he said, his face hardening again, as they set down this corridor. "There is going to be a door here. Keep an eye out for it, it blends into the wall."

"On it," Matt said, and the two took separate sides of the corridor, touching the walls, seeing if they could feel any indents or any sign that a door was there.

"Here!" Matt exclaimed, as his hand passed over the faint outline of a door in the wall. Keith came over, and verified that it was the door they were looking for.

"Get ready," Keith said, as he drew a circle in the middle with his finger, then drew an "X" across the middle. He pushed in the symbol with his palm, just as Ryou instructed him to. The door opened to reveal...