VOLTRON ONE-SHOTS

Keith - Ghost pt. 2

Word Count: 6,038

If Shiro had to say anything about his current predicament, it was that being dead sucked.

Within the first week he had exhausted every ounce of Hollywood-movie/paranormal book knowledge he had on ghosts that involved attempting to contact the paladins, none of which even scratched the surface of working and only went to frustrate him further.

Week two didn't give him much more.

Neither did week three.

Or week four.

By the time week five rolled around Shiro was starting to realize this might just be his own little version of hell he'd have to suffer through for the rest of eternity.

And, yes, things were beginning to look that bleak.

But not just for him either.

Even from day one of roaming the castle halls, it was painfully clear just how badly his passing had affected everyone. And though he admitted none of them appeared to be near as violent as Keith's it was undeniable this was taking a major toll on Voltron as well.

Or- what was left of it.

Because now, with him out of the picture, they couldn't even form Voltron.

Their black paladin was gone.

The remaining team was a mess.

They couldn't do anything.

Shiro knew in the back of his mind this war was far from over, yes, they'd put down a major threat to the universe (and that was a huge plus in his book-), but that didn't mean there wouldn't be other factions rising up over the Galra Empire over time, and Voltron needed to be ready to break up the fight.

Just- not right now.

That'd have to wait.

For a little while longer at least.

It was still so painfully clear everyone's wounds needed time to heal before they moved to gather up where they'd left off.

His heart painfully clenched at the reminder of what everyone must be going through. And it wasn't exactly helpful that this wasn't the first time he'd been presumed dead either. The Kerberos mission had also gone up in smoke, and, in an attempt to keep some level of normalcy when he and the crew had mysteriously vanished, the Garrison had covered up the abduction as a crash due to "pilot error," and though some had doubted his death the first time around, there was still that moment of uncertainty.

Of loss.

Of death.

And to every human on board, it was like he was gone all over again.

Out of all the paladins, Katie had hit the ground for only a moment before picking herself back up and running. It seemed Shiro's (yet to be decided) death had done nothing but fuel her search for her family, pushing her further into the night, searching for one stretch of evidence to support either her brother or father being alive out there. Unfortunately, that also meant Shiro would come across her late into the night, day after day, asleep in front of her computer, glasses askew, looking as if she hadn't slept properly in weeks.

And- she really hadn't.

None of them had.

Hunk was a further example of that. Instead of taking the time of day off to sort through the thoughts that must be flying through his head, the teen had taken to the kitchen merely hours after Shiro's disappearance, stress-baking everything he could think of, experimenting with new recipes, there didn't seem to be a second that passed that he wasn't immersed into some project or another, and after several weeks of the same repeated routine, the strain was beginning to show in dark bags under the teen's eyes that refused to fade.