VOLTRON ONE-SHOTS

Shiro - If Only It Were pt. 2

Word Count: 4.070

Shiro got the call at about three in the morning.

At first, he was annoyed, being woken up from his first fitless sleep in what felt like forever, fingers groping for the small ringing device he had placed on the nightstand a few hours prior, his eyes still squeezed shut as he tried to cling to the last remaining wisps of sleep.

Cosmo, thank God, didn't stir from his spot on the bed, nose still tucked under his tail in blissful unawareness. And annoyance to the early morning caller was quickly replaced by surprise to find Kolivan on the other end, his face scrunched up in mild concern, eyes slightly squinted, but Shiro wasn't sure if it was directed at him or someone off-screen.

"Kolivan," Shiro stated, finally bringing himself to actually sit up, sheets tangled around his legs at the action.

"I apologize for the early communication, Shiro, but this cannot wait."

Now that caught his attention.

He sat up a little straighter, rubbing his eyes and trying to get himself to focus before replying, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's Keith."

"Keith?" He echoed, the fogginess in his mind almost immediately dispersing at the mention of the teen. He'd been gone with the blades for so long now and- thinking about it- Shiro couldn't remember the last time he had seen him in a briefing transmission. Guilt bubbled up at the realization of the teen no longer communicating with them, and Shiro made a mental note to try and ping Keith's communicator as soon as he could.

"I'm sure you know these last few weeks have been hard for him, however, under the current circumstances I feel that it would be best if-"

"Wait, wait, what are you talking about?" Shiro quickly intervened, waving his free hand in some attempt to get the Galran to stop for a second, already getting stumped on the first phrase. "What do you mean these 'last few weeks'? What are you talking about?"

The Marmoran leader frowned, "I was under the impression you knew."

Shiro shook his head, well aware his hair was currently taking up nearly half his view of Kolivan's face and he quickly brushed it out of the way to better fix him with a more-than-confused stare at the situation. "No, I guess I don't know."

"Keith's mother passed."

Shiro's breath froze in his chest at the sentence, eyes widening at the news before squeezing them back together, rubbing a hand through his hair as his thoughts jumbled into an unrecognizable mess in a split second. Oh, God, Keith, His fingers came to rest over his lips as he stared down at his lap in numb confusion. She- she was dead?

Shiro could remember when Keith finally returned to the castle with Krolia and his space wolf in tow, making introductions to the rest of the team, and though the teen was still guarding his emotions in front of the rest of them, Shiro couldn't miss the new glimmer in his eyes that hadn't been there before. Granted he'd been gone for two years (at least according to him) but it only felt like a couple of months to the rest of them.

He couldn't forget the day the two set off for the Blade of Marmora, leaving Cosmo with Shiro to keep him out of trouble, mother and son going out together to help finish what this war started.

And now she was gone.

Kolivan went on to say something about the accident happening nearly a month ago and Keith was currently holed up in his room and he could hear muffled crying coming from inside every night and dear God why didn't Keith say something?