Gemini, Touch the Sky (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic/ONC Entry)

Dark Beauty

Everything felt like a distant dream.

Sometimes it felt like a nightmare.

Ryo attempted bringing some kind of normality by unpacking Takashi's things. In the back of his mind, he kept telling himself this act would make Takashi and Keith feel at home once they got back, yet Ryo felt this was a lie. The argument with his older brother remained a major sting as did his inability to connect with his twin.

One of his songs played on the radio as Ryo poured himself a cup of tea. His eyes drifted to the picture of Keith standing next to Shiro. His twin – in the earlier pictures – was uncomfortable with receiving attention, and yet Keith's eyes asked if he actually deserved their brother's affection.

Songs now came to Ryo with ease, but an ease far greater than he'd ever experienced before. His feelings – the feeling he wanted to communicate to Keith – flowed onto the paper, but sometimes the words were gleaned and past feelings which further fueled his writing.

"That was "Gemini, Touch the Skey", the English version of the Japanese pop idol Doragonhanta's song "Gemini ga Sora ni Fureru". His fans certainly are ecstatic at his return, but they're also wondering where he was this whole time and why he disappeared. Whatever the reason, his music has drastically improved."

Ryo reached out and turned the radio off with a resounding click. "Seriously, it's not about me."

"Yes, it is. In a way."

His agent's words made Ryo feel irritated at the man. He turned around while holding his cup of tea. "Really? You had to go there?"

"I'm talking about how the songs are your feelings."

"Is it that obvious?" Ryo watched his agent smile at him and glanced down at his cup of tea." Do you think it will reach them?"

"If you mean whether or not they're able to hear the songs, I don't know. I don't know if anything from Earth is getting back to them." What his agent put forth was honestly depressing, but then the man added, "That said, if they were to hear those songs, I'm sure they would understand."

"Even Keith."

"Well, I guess it depends on whether he knows the truth or not, but yes."

Ryo took a deep breath and dumped the tea down the drain rather than drinking it. He headed past the table where all of his notes were located and reached for a hoody. The fact James Griffin recognized him made Ryo realize he needed to be more careful. He tugged it over his head while saying, "I'm heading out for a walk."

"You don't want me to go with you?"

"That kind of draws attention, plus I've never really needed a bodyguard. The family made sure of that." Ryo headed for the door.

"They certainly did that."

The door closed behind him and Ryo started walking towards the memorial garden. On his way, he passed by the lounge for the senior cadets and noticed James Griffin and his friends watching the news again. Ryo found himself freezing out of curiosity.

"... feel that we should fight against this attempt by the Galaxy Garrison to further monopolize space travel under one entity, but they're willing to go to war over this. The AGC is known for having taken past terrorist action against the UCIST in the past, but it has been more than ten years since they last took action."

The screen showed footage from more than ten years ago. Ryo felt himself cringe at the memory of learning their father was KIA after one of these attacks, but now his brothers were out there. The screen switched to a picture of him at one of his concerts which in turn made Ryo tug the hood of his jacket down further in hopes nobody would recognize him. "What's wrong with you. You've never been camera shy before."

"In the meantime, we've gotten a few more new releases from Doragonhanta including "Dark Beauty"."

"Man. Does anyone else think this Doragonhanta looks like Kagone?" Ryo recognized the voice as that of the one identified as Kinkade a couple of weeks ago but remembered he'd thought he'd seen Keith when he caught a brief glance of him. Kinkade was tall with broad shoulders, but his skin was dark.

Another Cadet with dark skin let out a laugh. "Oh man. You also thought you saw him the other day." Ryo recognized her as the second voice he heard that day, but he'd not learned her name. She leaned over the couch in amusement. "Wouldn't that mean he's sending his songs all the way from outer space?"

A girl with pale skin, short pale hair and blue eyes piped up from where she sat. "Rizavi's correct. There is no way it could be Kagone."

Ryo started turning to leave when the new cut to an interview with a Japanese girl dressed in the manba style. He cringed at the very dark tan and white makeup surrounding the eye along with the multi-colored bright clothing. She waved her hands around briskly and the reporter translated what the girl said. "All the girls think the song "Black Beauty" refers to them, but I'm sure it refers to me."

"Ugh..." Ryo didn't realize he said anything out loud until Kinkade looked up from where he sat. James noticed and looked up as well. Ryo turned and started walking away while jamming his hands into his pocket.

While walking away he heard Rizavi say, "Really? Is that girl wearing blackface? And what's this "Dark Beauty" about?"

Dark Beauty was the result of going back and looking through his journals and reading through some of the dreams he jotted down. One of the dreams involved a trial of some kind where he felt a slash across his shoulder, and a few involved almost blowing up. There was a girl with dark skin in the dreams along with dreams of weird creatures and the stars, but in stark contrast were the dreams before Keith left Earth where everything was the vast desert where Keith headed out to hide.

He wanted to think he was experiencing Keith's mind.

"Hey!" A hand clapped down onto Ryo's shoulder. He found himself turning into the shoulder and grabbing the arm. This resulted in him maneuvering behind the person and pulling their arm behind their back. Ryo heard a yelp from the person but noticed the orange uniform of a cadet as he pushed the person up against the wall.

More importantly, he recognized the person as Kinkade. Ryo heard James speak from behind him. "Ryo."

"Sorry," Kinkade muttered.

"I told you..." James didn't finish whatever he wanted to say.

"You!"

Ryo turned his head and saw that girl again, but saw her pointing a finger at him. A deep sigh escaped his lips, as he really wasn't in the mood for dealing with her today.