Chapter Text
Keith wakes in a bed that feels both familiar and not. At least he has a physical presence, now. His whole body feels heavy and achy and staticky.
The wolf thing, Kosmo, is already awake. It was awake each time Keith woke up during the night, reaching for someone who wasn't there. Does it even sleep?
Lance had said to come find him, but Lance is clearly dealing with his own demons, his own loss, and Keith doesn't need to bother him. He can find his way around the ship. it's the Atlas, after all. It's his home.
But when he goes out in search of Pidge, Hunk, or Matt, hoping one of them at least has an idea about how to send him back to the correct universe, he gets hopelessly lost. The ship is full of people and places he doesn't recognize, people that salute him in the hallways as he attempts to find his way back to the lab he appeared in last night.
It's almost as if the ship itself is rearranging rooms and corridors on him, but the Atlas has always loved Keith. Why would she mess with him now?
Or at least, the Atlas in his universe. Was this another difference? Did the ship hate Keith for some reason, the same inexplicable reason that Shiro married someone else?
What if this universe's Keith didn't even love Shiro? What if they were just... coworkers?
He can't stay here. He cannot.
"Kosmo," he tries, "take me to Pidge's lab."
The wolf gives a little arf and suddenly Keith is in a completely different room on the ship, still dizzy with the aftermath of the teleportation. Not quite what he'd meant, but that's on him for not wording the command better.
But he's in Pidge's lab, at least. Mission accomplished.
Pidge herself is seated in the same place she was yesterday, sans Matt, and Keith clears his throat again to get her to notice him.
"Oh, hey Other Reality Keith," she says, not turning around. "Is there something you need?"
Is there something he needs, she asks, as if Keith hasn't been dumped into the worst of all possible worlds. But this is normal to Pidge. Reign it in.
"I need to get back home. I need to get home to my universe, right now," Keith says instead.
"Great. What do you want me to do about it?"
"Send me back?" Keith asks.
"I have no idea how to do that. Didn't you just appear here? You'll probably just need to wait. I'm sure it will all work itself out."
Keith can't wait. Not when each moment of waiting brings him closer to a possible universe in which Shiro gave up on him and married someone else. It's what Keith would have wanted, in all honesty--for Shiro to move on and find love again. But not yet.
"Waiting isn't an option."
Pidge sighs, as long-suffering as she can be, and finally turns around.
"Okay, fine, I'll get on it. I still have no idea how to do it. Reality-bending was Allura's thing, and well... And, sorry to say, it's not a huge priority for me. My to-do list is massive."
"Pidge, help a guy out," Lance says from behind him, and Keith jolts. He hadn't even heard Lance come into the room.
He hadn't expected Lance to be his greatest asset here, but Lance could be very perceptive when he wanted to be. Could Lance tell how much he missed his own version of Shiro?
"You know I'll need to contact Slav to figure this out, right? Slav. Forgive me for not wanting to open that can of worms."
Keith has never cared less about the need to involve Slav in a plan. If that's what it takes to get him home to the proper universe, Keith will search Slav out himself and listen to every single unhinged rambling.
"Pidge," Lance says again, and some kind of unspoken dialogue passes between them.
Pidge slams her head against the console, and then tells the computer to start writing a message to Slav. She glares at Keith while the computer dictates the message, but all Keith can do is smile at her in return.
Once done, Pidge pointedly returns to her previous task, and Keith can understand a dismissal when he sees one.
"I thought I told you to come find me," Lance says, walking with Keith in the direction Keith hopes will lead them to the dining hall.
"I didn't want to bother you. I know you're going through your own loss."
"What, you mean Allura? Buddy I've been mourning Allura for literally years. I can help you out and mourn at the same time. I've gotten good at multitasking like that."
"What... happened? I mean, if that's...."
"It's old news," Lance says. "It's weird to meet someone who doesn't know how Allura died. But yeah, she sacrificed herself to save all realities everywhere and time and space and all that jazz."
If the timeline is what Keith thinks it is, that means they choce to sacrifice Allura instead of the Lions, and yet Keith hasn't seen any evidence that the Lions still exist in this plane of reality. He wants to ask, but doesn't want to offend Lance.
He wants to go home, where everything makes sense and he doesn't need to keep two timelines in his head.
But if this universe's Keith was apparently okay with sacrificing Allura, maybe he's alright with other things? Maybe this universe's Keith doesn't even love Shiro.
"Oh no, he's a wreck," Lance says when Keith clumsily asks about the feelings between him and Shiro. "We should.... here, let's head to one of the observatories. People have given it a lot of space since I had a major breakdown in there a few phoebs ago, so we should have some privacy."
"Keith loves him?" he asks.
"Oh, yeah," Lance says, "but it's a one-way street. I thought in the early days, the early Voltron days I mean, there was something there. But then Shiro disappeared, and he came back wrong, and Keith ran off with the Blade of Marmora, and everything fell apart."
None of that makes sense to Keith, but his head is already too full of questions to even voice them, so he just nods and Lance takes it as permission to continue.
"Shiro and Curtis got married pretty soon after the war ended. Shiro asked Keith to be the Best Man and it was rough. And because Keith is a masochist, he said yes. I don't think anyone else could see it, but I don't know. Maybe losing Allura made me recognize Keith's loss, too. Keith was... man, it was hard to watch. He made sure everything was absolutely perfect for the wedding and then each night he'd come to my room and just break down, and then do it all over again the next day. I'm pretty sure he asked Kolivan for the longest, most dangerous mission possible the day after Shiro's wedding just so he could get away from it all."
"And Shiro....?"
"Doesn't seem to notice a thing," Lance finishes for him.
That settles it. Worst reality ever.