~~~~Keith~~~~
The last I remember, was Saoirse kissing me and saying goodbye. Then, there was nothing but light.
I opened my eyes, blinking away the blurriness of my vision, and when I could see clearer, I was confused yet stunned at the same time.
"Is this...." I said, "Are we...?
"Yeah." Pidge confirmed, "It's our reality."
"She did it." Lance said sadly, "She saved us all."
I couldn't move at all. The despair and sorrow I was feeling was too much. The woman I loved more than anything in the entire universe was gone... and she didn't even give us a warning. Just a few sad goodbyes.
I felt something hanging from my neck, when I looked down I saw Saoirse's Teshirian stone. I felt even worse, not feeling worthy of even holding this stone.
"I don't remember that planet being there before." Hunk said.
Confused, we all looked forward and saw a familiar planet that we had only seen in pictures.
"It's Altea." Lance gasped.
"Everyone, the Silver Lion. It's still here." Allura said.
Quickly, we looked around and saw the Silver Lion floating lifelessly in open space, the lights off and the color faded.
"Let's get it back to the Atlas. We'll need to explain everything to her family." I said sadly.
"Wait!" Pidge suddenly shouted, "I'm picking up biorhythms from the Silver Lion! Saoirse's alive!"
My breath hitched in my throat and I didn't hesitate to fly over to the Silver Lion and pull her back to the Atlas, the others following right behind me.
"Shiro, meet us at the Silver Lion hangar. Saoirse may be inside the Lion." I said.
"I heard. I'm just a tick away from the hangar. I'll see you there." He replied.
The hangar opened on the side of the Atlas and we flew inside, the others flying to their own hangars to settle their Lions inside the Atlas.
As soon as I landed inside my hangar, I ran out of the Black Lion and to the Silver hangar. I met the others on my way, running to the entrance to the hangar.
"Keith, everyone!" Shiro shouted. We saw him and Coran standing near the open door.
We didn't stop to talk and ran into the hangar, where the Silver Lion lay on the ground lifeless. We opened the emergency hatch on the top of the Lion's head and hopped inside.
"Saoirse!" I shouted running to the cockpit. We went inside and felt the air go completely still. All of us were too scared and stunned to go inside.
But I had to see if it was true.
I took small, slow steps to the pilot's seat. With a deep breath, I walked around to the front of the seat, where I felt my heart stop completely.
Saoirse was there, her eyes closed and her body limp, slumped over to the side. She looked as if she was sleeping peacefully. Her hair was almost completely blue, only a handful of black hair in streaks running through her hair. She was still dressed in her Teshirian clothes and her marks were still on her skin like tattoos.
I couldn't look away from her limp and still body, but I saw something that made my heart leap.
Her chest..... it was moving up and down with steady breath. I quickly moved closer to her and tore off my glove before pressing my fingers against her neck to feel for a pulse.
... it was there. She was alive.
"Guys... she's alive." I said, picking her up and running out of the Lion.
Everything else went as a blur. Bringing Saoirse to the medical bay, the doctors checking her over, and all of us not even changing out of our armor.
About an hour later, the doctors came out of her room and we all stood up in attention.
"Is Saoirse all right?" I asked.
"How is my sister?" Shiro asked.
The doctor sighed and motioned for us to go inside the room. We walked inside one by one and each of us were scared.
Saoirse was lying on the bed motionless, sleeping soundly as if nothing was wrong. Sleeping like she had just gone down for the night.
I walked up to the chair sitting next to her bed and took her hand. She was warm.
"Tell the truth doc, what's happened to her?" Lance asked.
The doctor sighed again and took the chart from the end of the bed.
"I don't really know much about Teshirians, but from what I can see, Admiral Shirogane is in a coma." He explained, "Although, her brainwaves are that of a normal REM pattern. Unlike coma patients, these patterns are active, just like when someone is dreaming."
"So, she's not going to wake up?" Allura asked, her tears falling down her cheeks. Lance had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, but that comfort wasn't doing much.
"I'm not sure about that. There seems to be something occurring not only in her mind but in her body as well." The doctor said, "I've done my tests and examined her blood just in case of any abnormalities, and what I've discovered was beyond anything I've ever seen."
"Spit it out, doc!" Pidge shouted, "What's happened to Saoirse?"
"According to my tests, it seems that her body is functioning normally, not progressively shutting down like a normal coma patient. It's as if her body is remaining dormant."
"Does that mean she'll wake up?" Hunk asked.
"It's hard to say about how long she'll be asleep, but Saoirse shows no signs of her life being in danger. Her body will simply remain like this for an unpredictable amount of time. It doesn't even seem like she'll need life support." The doctor said, "Other than her current state and obvious physical changes, she should be fine until she wakes up."
The doctor nodded and left the room, allowing us to have some time alone with our unconscious friend.
We stayed there for hours, just staying by Saoirse's side, talking to her, and wishing that she would wake up. But all of us knew that she wouldn't wake up.
"Three years..." those words echoed in our minds. We would have to wait for three years to hear her voice. To listen to her laughter. To feel her arms wrapping around us in a hug.
Those three years would be long and painful. But we knew Saoirse, and she never broke a promise.
Just then, the door opened and in the doorway was Curtis, standing there with something clutched tightly in his hand.
"Captain Shirogane." He said, gathering his breath and walking into the room before showing us what was in his hand.
"I found this in Admiral Shirogane's room. I thought you should see it." Curtis said. We looked down at his hand and saw a device in his palm.
It was a recording device.
Shiro took it and Curtis excused himself from the room. We were hesitant to activate the device, but we had to listen to her voice, one more time.
"Keith, I think you should start it." Shiro said, turning towards me and presenting the device to me.
I stood up out of my chair and took the device from Shiro, pressing my finger on the screen and starting the recording.
From the device's screen, a hologram appeared. A hologram of Saoirse but she was crying and wiping away her tears. Her hair was down and a lot of her hair was blue, white and silver. When she finally wiped all of her tears away, she looked sadly at the camera.
"First off, I want to tell you guys, that I'm sorry for doing what I did." She said after gathering herself back together again, "If you're watching this recording, then it means that all of reality and existence has been saved. It means I've succeeded and you're all safe and sound. I know that what I've done will cause a lot of grief and sorrow, but I've somehow known that it would come down to this sacrifice. It just wasn't confirmed until I met the Guardian. I might not be able to tell you about the specifics about this before you see this video, so I'll explain it to you now. In order for all reality to be repaired, one would have to transform the destructive energy ripping reality apart into a life giving one. Allura could do this, but she wouldn't survive. I didn't want her to make that sacrifice, so the Guardian told me of another way to save reality while having no kind of permanent sacrifice. And the result is my death."
Our eyes widened and I fell back into my chair. She knew she was going to die? But then, why would she make that promise to come back after three years? Why make a promise you couldn't keep?
"I know you all must be thinking about what I mean about that, but my death is not a permanent one. It's more like a piece of myself will die. In other words, some of me will be taken from me. My lifespan will decrease, my appearance will change dramatically and the Light of Teshira inside of me will lose a significant amount of power. I'll still be able to use my powers, and I will live, just not the same as I was before my sacrifice. Another result of this sacrifice will be being asleep for a good while. For months, I've calculated how long I would be asleep and I came up with exactly three years. During that time, my body will adjust to the change in energy flowing throughout the universe. I will be back in exactly three years, and when I wake up, I'll be happy to see all of you grown up once again. Take care of yourselves. I love you all."
She smiled one last time, and the recording stopped in her smiling face. We couldn't say anything and stared at Saoirse's sleeping form.
"Captain!" A voice shouted from the door. We looked out towards the door and saw Commander Holt and Lance's sister, Veronica, standing in the doorway out of breath.
"You have to come and see this! It's incredible." Veronica said.
All of us took one last look at Saoirse before hesitantly following Veronica and Commander Holt.
They led us to the bridge, where, upon looking out of the window, we saw a brand new form in the stars.
All of us knew what this form looked like.
It was Saoirse, praying to the stars.
We were all speechless, too stunned to say anything after seeing this.
Allura suddenly burst out into tears and fell to her knees. Lance knelt down to comfort her and all of us finally let out our sorrow.
Everyone on the Bridge, everyone on the Atlas... we were all crying for our lost friend.
But what else could we do except believe that she would keep her promise?
What else could we do.... but wait....?