Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Keith! Remember to put on your shoes!"

"Yes, Dad!"

 A little boy, just recently became seven, struggled to put on his shoes as he responded to his father. He was determined to tie his shoes himself as he glanced out the high window on the door.

 He hummed to himself a tune from his dad's favorite radio station, even though they were pretty old now. He was thrilled to go outside and play with his dad for the first time in a while, since he finally had a day off on a weekend.

 Keith jolted upright when he heard a low whizzing noise outside the door.

Is someone there?

 He thought to himself as the sound got annoyingly louder.

"Dad! It's loud outside!"

 Keith complained as he covered his ears.

 It was a whirring at first, then it quickly became noisy and made the inside of his ears hurt.

I'm gonna tell 'em to stop!

 He was determined to make the screeching in his ears stop. He was starting to feel pain in his head too.

 Even at seven, he was on the shorter side of the spectrum, so he struggled to open the door. He grunted as he went on his tiptoes to twist the doorknob easier.

"Ah! 'Scuse me! Could the sound go away?"

 He slipped as he struggled to keep the doorknob twisted enough to keep the door open.

 Keith yelped as he stumbled, making the door swing wide as he fell, scratching his arm. As he fell though, he saw no one outside except a glimmering dark pit that he was rapidly falling towards.

What do I do?

 He didn't have time to think or react before he plummeted into the unknown hole, not knowing that it wasn't the least bit natural as he vanished from 'Earth'.

------

 He fell asleep.

 When did he fall asleep?

 He only knew he had fallen asleep when he woke up to someone poking him incessantly.

"Hnng...stop...'m sleepy..."

 He mumbled as his mind gradually cleared, like a fog had been lifted.

"Shh! Hong. Wake up."

 An unfamiliar voice was caught by his ears, but somehow his mind registered the voice as his sister's. Keith didn't have a sister.

Who's Hong?

"Hn...Noona? Wha's...wha's wrong?"

 He paused to yawn before jumping awake?

Noona?

 His mind recognized 'her' as his sister, and he was saying words he didn't really understand.

"Hong. Stay quiet. We need to leave."

 He blinked awake forcefully, looking at the girl who woke him up. Presumably his sister. Ohn.

"...Ohn?"

 He tested the name, speaking carefully. It felt familiar, like he had used that name a lot.

I feel really super weird...

"Shh...c'mon."

 The girl had grey hair and golden eyes, but she wasn't an old lady. She looked around Keith's, Hong's age.

"Wha's wrong?"

 Even if his brain was moving much faster from panic, his body was still numb from waking up. He was also very confused.

"Hong. I overheard the elders. I don't want to say more."

"M'kay, Noona..."

 He yawned tiredly, but his body gradually adjusted to the night air.

Her eyes look like the neighbor's cat...except not blue. A pretty shiny yellow.

 Keith followed Ohn, gradually becoming accustomed to the new, strange name.

I kinda like it, too! But I like Keith too. Dad said that Mom called me Keith. Even though I never met Mom.

 Ohn led Keith, Hong away from what looked like a smaller, more compact version of a town. They slowed only to regain energy, then ran faster.

 Keith froze when he heard the bushes next to them rustle. Ohn heard it too, and motioned for him to stay quiet.

 He didn't know why, but he trusted Hong's sister immensely, and did as she commanded.

 They hid deep in the brush of the forest, and Keith noticed that the ones searching for them has an aura of hostility. Even if he didn't know what it was, it felt malicious and made him scared.

They feel...mean...and angry...

 He didn't like those people. Not at all. Ohn didn't like them either.

"Hong. Going into beast form will make escaping easier and faster. Come on."

Beast...form? What's that?

 His body responded instead of his mind as he found himself shrinking. Ohn turned into a silver cat, still with her golden eyes. Keith glanced at his new paws curiously, as children wouldn't panic at sudden transformations, unlike adults.

Why am I a red cat? I have black hair like Dad.

 Hong followed Ohn mutely, remembering to avoid the ones radiating violent auras.

Stay away from danger...but Dad goes to danger to save others...hm? Didn't Ohn wake up me, Hong, to save me? She could have left and saved herself, but she saved me from danger, just like Dad saves others...I wanna save others too!

 Keith nodded quietly to himself. He had a goal for himself. To somehow find a way back to rescue people like Ohn saved him. He just had no idea how to do that...

How do I open a magical portal thing to poof me from here to home? It was sparkly when I fell...do I need tons of glitter? Yes...I'll get tons of glitter!!!!! Muahahaha! What was the glitter for again?

 Keith contemplated a way back while following Ohn to a safe place.

"We can rest here for now, I think."

 Ohn spoke at last when they found a small shack, somehow still talking even as a cat.

"Why was I gonna be hurt?"

 He found an opportunity to ask Ohn after evading the sentries and the 'Cats' on watch. He sat comfortably on some dry wheat clumps and crossed his front legs to lay his head on a comfy surface.

I'm so soft!

 Ohn sighed, debating whether to tell a seven-year-old or not.

"Well..."

 She hesitated before glancing back at her little brother's confident face.

Chapter Text

"The...the elders are afraid of mutants. As part of the Fog Cat Tribe, we are supposed to be the sneakiest of all the beastmen. However, our powers mutated, and the elders were scared of us while pretending they weren't."

 Ohn paused to let Hong digest the information in his developing brain. She was worried that her little brother would end up becoming untrusting or have some other trauma-induced reaction.

 He just rested his head on his paws, listening quietly to Ohn's story. His curiosity made sleep a fruitless endeavor as he was wide awake.

 She sighed and continued on with her story. She didn't want to remind Hong of all they suffered at their tribe's hands.

"The elders gathered a few hours ago, while we were going to bed. I was scared of what they might be up to, and snuck in to listen. Don't do it, since eavesdropping is bad!"

 She warned her brother against it, since normal humans didn't like it when others eavesdropped on their conversations and wouldn't look upon them favorably, as they were escaping to a human settlement.

 Hong nodded quickly. Agreeing to obey his sister.

"Yes! No listening over someone else! Eves-nes-drops!"

 He got tongue twisted trying to say the complicated word too quickly. He stuck out his tongue and tried to glare at the traitor. Ohn watched him in amusement.

He's so silly. I'm glad we can be safe now.

"Well, the elders were gonna take us at midnight and do something really very bad to us."

"Wha?! No no no! They can never do bad! Doing bad is really bad!"

 Hong jumped up on his paws, baring his teeth with a growl, his gold eyes dilating dangerously.

Dad said that those who choose to do bad things are super bad people! There are supposed to be cops and stuff to stop them doing bad! Why was no one getting them to the cops?! People will be hurt if bad men go around doing bad!

 Keith was enraged, since his Dad was usually in danger whenever bad people got others hurt.

"Hong."

 Keith stilled at his sister's voice. Quietly, he settled back in his seat to continue listening as he mutely seethed.

"Yes, Noona. I know..."

 He mumbled as he buried his snout under his paws, looking up at Ohn with his brilliant gold eyes.

 Ohn sighed again, she did that often for some reason, before continuing with the story.

"I heard them and their plans, and came back to wake you up and leave. Since our powers mutated and we scared them, we had to leave to stay safe."

"Powers? Wha's ah muta't power?"

 Hong's voice was muffled by his paws being on top of his snout, but Ohn understood what he was asking.

"Our powers as members of the Fog Cat Tribe. I developed fog while you developed poison."

Noona has fog? Isn't she less different than Hong? Than me? I have poison. What's a poison? Fog is the fog in Cat Tribe. What's poison? Sticky? Gooey? Oh! Marshmallows! I'm hungry. When's breakfast? What's the time? Why haven't we eaten yet?

"Why didn't we use the powers to run? Fog is hard to see through, isn't it?"

 Keith tilted his head after turning his body to the side to rest in a different position, his head facing Ohn to watch her.

"Well, yeah...but they could track us through the fog anyway, and it isn't that strong..."

"Hm?"

 Keith looked at Ohn with confusion lingering in his eyes. He saw that Ohn was feeling really worried and nervous, and his body moved instinctively to comfort her, affectionately nuzzling her fur with his head.

Noona shouldn't be sad. She saved me! I'll save Ohn from sadness!

...Still hungry though...

 Ohn smiled at Hong's antics.

"How about we take a quick nap before getting food from a village nearby? I don't know how far we managed to go, but it should still have edible food."

 She pat Hong's head gently with her paw, pushing him back to his temporary bed.

"Get some rest. Our ears will tell us if danger's nearby."

"M'kay, Noona! Remember to sleep too!"

 Hong snuggled his head next to her shoulder and rapidly drifted to sleep, causing Ohn to soften and smile at her little brother warmly.

"Sleep tight, Hong."

------

 Keith stood still, very confused about what they were doing. They had safely arrived at the village around a week ago, even with a few close calls. With everything going on, as well as the cat transformation and his poison power, he could say with certainty that he wasn't in his world.

 His Dad read to him often when he could come home on time, and when he did, it was about fantastical adventures in other worlds.

 He was ninety-nine percent certain that he wasn't on Earth. That's what the books usually said. His world was called Earth.

 At the moment, he and Ohn were at a market where everyone's clothes looked really funny, but also strangely elegant. In a way, even the slums looked pretty compared to Earth's hot-tempered society of rich people.

 Ohn was following a man with red hair, like really red hair. His cat fur wasn't as red as the man's hair.

 He looked a lot cleaner and neat compared to the normal village folk around them, and for some reason he was buying lots of bread.

 They had approached him a few times the past few days, either as cats or humans, and he always gave them bread, making them think he was a very good person.

Ohn says that good people share food with others. Good people also save others, so Ohn and Mister Red Man are good people. Is Hong a good people too? Wait, it's person, isn't it? Is Keith a good person? Is Hong? Who's Keith? Is Keith, Hong? Is Hong, Keith? Why do people exist again? Wait, I'm hungry now. Where's Noona going? Ah! Mister Red Man is giving bread to the tree again. Why? Are trees hungry for bread too?

 Keith, Hong, continued to follow his Noona and the kind Red Man. He didn't use Keith as his name anymore, so he would refer to himself as Hong in this world!

 When he one day goes back to his Dad, he would call himself Keith again. That sounded doable in his head.

 Mister Red Man, who's real name was Cale Henituse, the trash of the Henituse County, was trying to follow the novel as best as possible. He just didn't want to get beat up by Choi Han, the main character.

 He hadn't been planning on picking up the two kittens, but they kept sticking to him, so he gave them to Hans to take care of.

 Hong thought that Cale was a funny good person. He fed them and gave them shelter, and treated them really well too, but he persistently called himself a bad person.

Why does a good person call himself bad? Doesn't he want to be a good person? He's nice, so I'll let him think whatever he wants to think he is. Ah. Can I get extra chicken?

 Hong liked Cale. Cale was a very good person. He trusted Cale to take care of him.

 Cale really was a good person. He made sure he always had time to play with Ohn and Hong when they asked him, and continued bringing them on adventures.

 Time continued to pass as they lived with Cale Henituse, while young Hong turned eight, then nine. Some memories slipped away as he enjoyed most of his time by Cale's side with his sister.

 He vaguely remembered the name Keith from somewhere.

Chapter Text

 Hong was napping in the sunlight with Ohn when the black dragon, Hong’s dongsaeng Raon Miru, came barreling into the room with Cale.

 Hong and Ohn lifted their heads, paying attention to the youngest and their father-figure guardian.

“What’s the matter youngest-nya?”

 Hong prodded, with Ohn backing him up.

“Yeah youngest and Cale-nya. What happened?”

 Hong’s mind spiraled, unnoticeable as he faced his family attentively while thinking rapidly.

‘Did something happen? Is there another battle? More enemies to face? This is happening way too often! I’ve never had battle experience before I met Cale-nya. Cale-nya is awesome! He’ll save me if I need help! Is something wrong with other members of the family? Strong Choi Han-nya? Lemon Gramps, as Raon calls him? Beacrox? What about Rosalyn? Eruhaben-nya? Too many family members. Dad needs to stop collecting them.’

 Hong’s thoughts skid to a stop as he realized he had referred to Cale as his dad.

 He used to call someone else that, a long long time ago. Back when he was called…

‘Nevermind…’

 Hong shut his thoughts down and listened intently.

 Cale laughed off the cat siblings’ concerns.

 Raon huffed in indignation.

“The GREAT and MIGHTY dragon Raon Miru wishes to play hide and seek with Noona and Hyung! Weak human found the most moderately acceptable place for hide and seek in the world, and the great and mighty me thought that it would be a shame not to play there!”

 Raon posed dramatically in Cale’s arms, while Cale smiled fondly at the little dragon.

 Hong and Ohn were excited by the idea of a game, while Ohn was more composed and calm about it.

 Hong loved hide and seek the most. He hadn’t been very good before, since everyone always found him eventually, but as a cat, he was best at hiding.

“I’m not the seeker!”

 Hong called immediately once Cale showed them the picturesque landscape for their boundary area.

 Cale huffed, admittedly expecting Hong’s unusual reactions.

 Cale cleared his throat before explaining the rules for this particular game.

“For hiders, hide as best as you possibly can, to your fullest ability. As if you are hiding from the enemy and they are too strong to smack behind the back. Seekers have to pretend to be someone, to get better at fooling the enemy, and seek using only those skills. Sound fun?”

 The siblings nodded together excitedly.

 Cale smiled at their joy, deciding to ask them another question.

“Who wants to be the seeker? We will switch roles every time the round ends, so everyone has a chance to seek.”

 Ohn volunteered herself, already thinking of someone to pretend to be.

“I’m going to be Cale-nya!”

 Raon and Hong gasped, with Raon immediately asking Cale if that was allowed.

“HUMAN!!!! Are we allowed to pretend to be family members too or only villains?!”

 Cale hummed to himself as he gently cradled Raon and Hong in his arms, although both together were heavy for the weak human.

“You never know when an ally will turn into an enemy, so it is best to be safe.”

 Ohn frowned at Cale.

“Cale-nya wouldn’t turn into an enemy. So I can’t be Cale-nya. I’ll be… White Star!”

 Ohn smirked and positioned herself to pounce.

“White Star doesn’t give enemies time! Except during deals! How much time will you exchange me?”

 Cale hesitated at his daughter pretending to be his enemy, so Hong jumped down and decided to try negotiating.

“Two gold coins for two minutes!”

 Ohn narrowed her eyes as she stared at Cale.

“Coins from who?”

 Cale smirked back, already deciding.

“Coins from me, obviously.”

 Ohn stared at Cale blankly.

“You or His Highness?”

 Cale laughed.

“Is there really a distinction?”

 Ohn shrugged, putting her paw out for the coins.

“I’ll take the deal. Move fast and silently.”

 Cale nodded and proudly passed his shrewd daughter the owed coins.

 Hide and seek was definitely fun, and Cale’s rules made it much easier to know how to hide.

 Those fun days became few and far between as battles became much more frequent.

 Days turned to weeks, and Raon became six. A lot of time passed, and Cale now had the World Tree’s Branch Dagger.

 They had been fighting the White Radish in multiple consecutive battles, and Cale was quickly wearing the villain down.

 Hong wanted to help, and so did Ohn and Raon. Hong had been stockpiling poisons for a long time now, and he was ready to help Cale. Even if he couldn’t help much.

 Cale was at the temple now, fighting the White Star.

 Hong was having a really hard time with his memories.

 It was hard to remember what exactly he was doing.

 He never found out why he was brought here, to meet Cale and Ohn and Raon.

 He loved his family.

 Hong frowned in his cat form, feeling stuffy for some reason.

‘Why am I having such mushy sentimental thoughts now? This is serious.’

 Hong shifted into his human form, not really knowing why he didn’t feel comfortable.

 His skin felt itchy and there was a prickling feeling bothering him.

 It wasn’t as noticeable in his human form, so he stuck with it as he drew closer to the castle-like temple with his siblings.

 Hong wanted to get to Cale. To his guardian.

 He didn’t know why he felt like this, and he didn’t know a lot of things, but he knew that if he didn’t go to Cale now, he might never have another chance.

 They bumped into Choi Han, who hurriedly covered their faces with his cape as they came across Cale.

“Nya?! What is Choi Han doing?”

 Hong clawed at the cape, the feeling in his bones gnawing at him that something was going to go wrong and he had to be with Cale.

 It wasn’t Cale that was going to experience the ‘wrong’.

 That was Hong’s mistake.

 As Hong stepped away from Choi Han, he noticed blood on Cale as the White Star became surrounded in a cloud of dead mana.

 The mana began to condense, but not around the White Star or Cale.

 The mana began to approach and swirl around Hong.

 Cale noticed and immediately turned to Hong, panic in his eyes as his face remained stoic and calm.

“Hong!”

 Hong could feel that the mana wasn’t going to hurt him. It was taking him away from his family.

 A portal began to open beneath Hong’s feet, eerily similar to the one he vaguely remembered from years ago.

“C-Cale—”

 Hong wanted the courage to at least call him by what he thought before he would never see Cale again.

“Cale— Dad!”

 Hong reached his hand out toward Cale, a desperate attempt to reunite with the man he thought of as a father, the man who spent more time with Hong than Hong’s own family. In both worlds.

 That desperate attempt failed to bear fruit as Hong tumbled through the darkness.

 Tears stung his face, his golden eyes beginning to dim as his consciousness slipped.

 Wherever the portal would land him, it would never be home.

 That home had been stripped away from the red cat.

 As the tears fell and the black in his vision began to swirl, Hong collapsed in the void, being cradled by the darkness before being placed in a familiar, yet now so foreign, world.

 The red cat cried in his sleep as the sadness overtook his dreams.

Chapter Text

“Keith, are you okay?”

 A man spoke to an unresponsive child.

 The boy stared up at the unfamiliar man with dead eyes.

 Eyes that should be gold, but were instead a purplish-brown that used to be familiar.

 His hair was longer than it was in his former human form, and instead of red like his cat fur and Cale’s hair, it was jet black like the stranger before him.

 The boy supposed that the portal spat him back to maybe a minute before he left? He didn’t remember much of his original world. He didn’t have his Dad’s wonderful memory.

 Dad. Cale. He missed his Dad. Hong missed Dad. He missed being Hong.

 Why did he end up back on Earth? He wants to go home!

‘Maybe I lived here once, but this isn’t home! Take me home! Whatever bastard brought me here, just take me home! I want to go home!’

 Hong—Keith stared blankly at the now worried man.

 He hadn’t touched breakfast. It wasn’t poison.

‘No. Poison should be fatal now. I can’t eat yummy poison like before. Damn the bastard that brought me here!’

 Keith escaped deeper into his thoughts, not noticing himself being picked up by the man.

 He didn’t know his name, actually. Maybe Keith never did.

 Being picked up was familiar for Keith—for Hong, not Keith, but it was familiar nonetheless.

 Keith relaxed slightly, alerting the man who had been about to put him in the carriage… car. It’s a car.

‘It is a car. Not a carriage. Different world.’

 Keith curled up like Hong usually would as a cat.

 It was more uncomfortable as a human, but it was a position that was thankfully familiar.

 His birth world was now one he didn’t recognize.

 He may have lived longer on Earth than back home, but back home, he lived.

 Hong probably had more battle experience and kills than most seasoned knights—soldiers on Earth.

 After all, his poison had wiped out an entire fleet.

 Keith shook the man’s grip off, walking back inside the most familiar place to him.

 The shed. It was where his journey had started, and Keith wanted to somehow go back the same way he arrived.

 However, the man had other ideas than allowing a child into a place filled with many sharp objects.

‘I’ve seen daggers sharper than those tools.’

 Keith hesitantly headed inside the house, not quite registering the language the man used to speak to him as a familiar one.

‘I wonder if Dad misses me. I mean, I vanished right in front of him.’

 The thought made his slightly lifted mood sour once again as Keith locked himself in his room.

‘Dad said that living is the best. But what’s there to live for if I can never see my family?’

 Keith stared out the window, just wondering.

‘Living is the best. I need to survive to have any chance to see my family again.’

 Keith still had memories of his life in the Roan Kingdom. He had memories of Cale’s behavior at banquets and dinners.

 If he wanted to remember Cale, to never forget his Dad like he did with people on Earth, then he had to adapt his behavior to remind him of Dad.

 The etiquette, and the manner of speech. And Dad’s scammer smile. His signature look.

 He could also act similar to Raon, so he never forgets his dongsaeng either.

 Ohn would be harder to mimic, since she was awesome with every action she made.

 Hong loves his family. Very very much. Always and forever would Hong love his family.

 Choi Han was a master with the sword, but it would be hard to find a decent weapon in this world…

 Keith sighed as he sagged against the door, before immediately correcting his posture.

 Keith had to act as normal as possible to not be sent to a mental hospital. It wasn’t a thing in Roan, but on Earth, it was very much heard about.

 He didn’t want to look crazy, so he would have to pretend everything was normal.

 He glanced at his hair in his reflection, a mirror placed on his nightstand.

 The black hair reminded Hong of Choi Han and Raon’s black scales.

 Hong would copy Cale and grow his hair out too.

 The memories would forever keep Hong close to his family.

 He should really be calling himself Keith now.

 Maybe his memories were bad because he was a child. It wasn’t harder to remember a lot of past things when he was eight, and it was worse when he was nine, but it was easier to remember home after he turned nine.

 Keith was mentally nine, but now he was back at seven, as if no time at all had passed.

 He needed to act his age for now, but Ohn was mature, so he could try to seem mature.

 Keith was a lot of things, but he could never be Ohn.

 Ohn was the best older sister in the world, and Keith was her little brother.

 Oh, he dearly missed his family, but he would have to be Keith for a while.

‘Don't forget me, please. I’ll be back one day. Soon, hopefully.’

 Keith curled into a little ball.

 Now that he thought of things he missed, he missed his cat form.

 It was way easier to hide as a cat, but Dad was also weirdly good at hiding. If it wasn’t for Raon’s tracking magic, they would never find him.

 He always tried to take naps in his hiding spot, but sometimes he would be serious enough to stay awake.

 Keith liked games, but no one was ever as fun as his family.

 Keith stood up, staring at his unfamiliar room.

 His foreign reflection stared back, looking wrong no matter which angle Keith looked at it.

 He looked away from his reflection, knowing full well that his family wouldn’t be able to find him like this.

 However, if he acted like his family, they might be able to tell it’s him. Hopefully.

 Keith nodded to himself, already brightening after putting some thought into it.

 He stormed towards his closet to change into something much more comfortable for Hong.

 Keith grimaced at his wardrobe and the mismatched colors.

 Most of the outfits were much too plain.

 Good thing it was the weekend today, probably, and he learned from the best.

 Keith took the clothes out of the closet and searched around for anything that could help his plan.

 Eruhaben, Ron and Cale had shown the siblings the basics of sewing, while Eruhaben and Ron went into a bit more depth.

 Cale wasn’t bad at sewing, but he also wasn’t the best. There were others better than Dad at sewing. It was normal.

 Keith found some thread after a while of searching, having found a sewing kit stashed deep in his closet by Keith’s parent on Earth.

 Keith first decided what he wanted the clothes to look like, a roughly drawn sketch being a visual aid.

 The needle was somewhat harder to find, even with the kit, since the parent didn’t want Keith to end up stabbing himself.

‘How dull. Dad was way more fun. He never let us get hurt, and if we became too much, he would always let us know.’

 Keith drooped, feeling dejected as he once again fell into a deep sorrow as he missed his family.

 He shook himself, firmly planting himself.

 Keith would not do anything drastic, so Dad wouldn’t have to worry.

 He wanted his clothes to look like the clothes of a nobleman’s child, like Dad always did.

 It would keep him close to their presence.

 Keith would continue to search for the needle for a little bit longer.

 He really missed his family.

 Keith weeped silently as he curled into himself.

 He just wanted his family.

Chapter Text

 It had been a week since Keith arrived on Earth, and he was already at a funeral. Mister Adult’s funeral.

 Keith had taken to calling the man, Mister Adult, after he arrived on Earth.

 Keith was alone at the gravesite, and in absolute shock.

 He hadn’t expected Mister Adult to just… pop like that.

 He had died saving people in a fire.

 Mister Adult wasn’t like Keith’s Dad at all.

 Other adults came and left Keith at the gravesite, though none approached the ‘mourning’ child.

 Keith didn’t even know the man. If it was Cale instead, Cale could’ve rescued everyone without being touched by the flames.

 If it was Cale in the grave instead…

 Keith, and Hong, would be dead with him.

 Time flew by, unbeknownst to Keith.

 He felt uncomfortable in his skin, with dark hair and dark eyes.

 He used to have red hair like his dad.

 Even after the funeral, Keith still had to go to public school.

 He preferred his private lessons much more than the toxic public atmosphere.

 The lessons were dull and average. Cale had taught Hong far beyond this beginner level.

 A new topic came up which piqued Keith’s interest.

 The Galaxy Garrison. A group formed to explore the vast outer space.

 The teacher noticed Keith’s rare interest, since he usually never paid attention in class, and began to explain how ‘space’ theoretically existed.

 The teacher spoke of other planets, and distant galaxies containing other worlds.

 Keith felt hope ignite in his chest at the thought of finding those he had lost.

 There was a chance he could go home.

‘How does one get into the Galaxy Garrison?’

 Keith’s question wasn’t answered as the topic of the class shifted.

 He spent several school days trying to receive an answer.

 He was unsuccessful in his search.

 Keith sighed as he locked the front door of his house.

 Mister Adult owned the property, so Keith couldn’t be removed without authority.

 Keith held his head in his hands in defeat, not wanting to resign himself to dull human life.

 He missed his dad. The weak human would get into a lot of trouble without him, and Keith didn’t want to be left out.

 He wanted to be part of his family again.

 Keith stood, sticking firmly to his goal of someday returning, and walked towards the deceased adult’s room.

 Now that he thought about it, Keith thought the gravestone said Heath Kogane? Although he couldn’t be too sure since it had been two years since he had read any English. It was easy enough though.

 He scanned through Mister Heath’s room before Keith’s gaze landed on a wrapped object with a parchment attached.

 Keith sniffed it warily, forgetting somewhat that he no longer had Hong’s abilities.

 He grabbed the note first, curious as to its contents.

<Dear Keith, if you’re reading this, that means you came into my room without me there to forbid you.>

 Keith frowned at the clear provocation. It was meant to instill some reaction from him, but he wasn’t the same Keith that Mister Heath knew.

 Keith wanted tea now, actually. He was thirsty. Preferably a sweet tea with cookies from His Highness.

 Nevertheless, he continued to read the will.

<Since I’m not there to stop you from reading this, it means I died in the last rescue operation.>

<I wrote this will in the case I lost my life, since that is always a risk with officers.>

<This was supposed to be a gift for your birthday, far in the future, but since I’m gone, I’m giving it to you now.>

 Keith tilted his head in confusion as he glanced at the wrapped object beneath the note.

<You seem a bit different from the son I took care of, but that’s a part of growing up. The gift is yours.>

<I knew I wouldn’t be with you forever, and you will grow and adventure on your own, but know this, Keith.>

<Your father loves you.>

 Something wet trickled down Keith’s face.

 He might not have been affected much by the letter/will that Heath left for Keith, but the last sentence struck a chord within the former cat.

 Cale loved Hong. He always had, and Keith wanted to feel his dad’s love again.

 After letting himself return to a calm state, he unwrapped whatever gift Heath had left Keith.

 It was a gleaming dagger that seemed a bit too big for Keith’s small hands.

 He had a weapon now! He could begin training somewhat!

 Keith still didn’t know how to get home, but he would get there.

 One day.

‘Wait for me, Noona. Wait for me, Dongsaeng. Wait for me, Dad. Hong, and Keith by association, will come back to you. Just you wait.’

 Keith’s eyes glinted gold for a short moment as he reaffirmed the conviction he had set himself.

‘Wait for me. I want me to go home too.’

 The situation was much easier said than done.

 School with dimwitted children was a nightmare Keith never wanted Ohn or Raon to ever experience.

 It was bad enough that he had no familiar company at the crowded place, but there were emotionally-constipated children who consistently tried to give Keith a hard time.

 They were just children, and children can be easily forgiven if they didn’t know what they were doing.

 There was no such thing as a bad child. Just a child who hadn’t been disciplined correctly. Most likely either unloved or spoiled rotten.

 Hong may have been showered with affection by Cale, but Cale had always made sure that his children never stepped out of line. He would speak up when they did, and a disappointed Cale was a miserable, self-doubting life for whoever did that.

 Keith could only sigh internally as the children continued pestering him incessantly.

 Was that normal for Earth? He didn’t remember.

 Keith felt tired by their antics. Perhaps he was more like Dad than he had thought.

 He would‘ve preened at having the same patience his dad did, but the children crossed the wrong line.

“Didn’t your parents teach you manners?”

 One had begun.

“He doesn’t have parents! His mom abandoned him and his dad is dead!”

 Another continued mockingly.

‘Cale isn’t dead.’

 Keith’s blood boiled as they soiled his dad’s beloved name.

 They were speaking of a different dad, but they didn’t specify and Keith didn’t ask for clarification.

 He stood, glaring at the designated opponents.

 He would not consider them children, for them to spout such nonsense in front of him,

“Don’t say that. Don’t talk about my Dad like that.”

 His skin prickled with a familiar sensation, but it was most likely his imagination and wishful thinking.

 He wanted to give the children a chance to apologize before he considered them enemies.

“We can’t we say your dad is dead? He’s dead!”

 The trio of children laughed as two reached for Keith’s shoulders.

‘I warned them.’

 Keith doesn’t really remember what happened afterwards, only that the two were sent to the nurse’s office while one was ushered by his family to the hospital.

 Keith had been sent to the principal’s office.

 He had no guardian for the principal to contact as the principal sighed in annoyance.

 It wasn’t really normal for a child to not be in an orphanage or foster care, especially for his age, but the land ownership situation was a complicated one.

 The principal decided to just keep Keith after school for detention, but was also very confused as to how the boys had gotten such strange wounds.

 Keith picked at his shoes, sniffing each seed or other plant stuff curiously before tossing it aside.

 Some of the plants were probably poisonous, and while he really wanted to taste Earth poisons, it wasn’t good for him anymore.

 It would probably hurt really bad.

 Keith didn’t know how to behave on Earth.

 He did once. Definitely, but time changed even the most strong-willed of people.

 Who or what they change into, depends entirely on their mind.

‘I’ve been thinking this a lot, but I miss Dad and I want to go home.’

 Keith didn’t want to keep going to detention every time someone insulted his Dad and he couldn’t control himself.

 His impulsive reaction wasn’t as bad as Choi Han’s, but it could end up messy one day.

 Keith really just wanted his home.

 It was unbearably boring on Earth, actually.

 His purpose was to protect his dad. What was he without his family?

 Keith stared at the wall for the third detention of this week.

 The last two causes were still recovering, and the third was now sent to them.

 It had been… five years since Keith returned to Earth. Keith was twelve now, turning thirteen in a couple months.

 Every evening at home, he would train himself with the dagger and exercise like Choi Han.

 It was no wonder the nuisances were ending up with injuries more often.

 Keith still wanted to go home, having fond memories of the time spent with Dad, Noona, and Raon, but it felt more like a hyper-realistic dream than a reality he lived, and he would’ve considered it a dream had it not been for the strong emotional attachment he felt to Cale.

 Keith loved his family. He loved the adventures they went on together, and the family they had made along the way.

 Some nights, he thought he was going to sleep as a cat again. He missed his cat form, but he also missed the warmth that he used to cuddle beside.

 School was still depressing, and Keith wanted nothing more than to leave, but he had to go to school to learn more about the Garrison.

 He learned several clues, such as their training program, recruitments, and flight exams, by hadn’t learned how they recruit.

 Keith stared out the window at the sky, remembering the times he stayed up late with Ohn to stargaze.

 Cale would join them while complaining about how it was past bedtime, but would watch the stars with the cat siblings in his arms while they drifted to sleep in his warmth.

 Keith missed Dad as he gazed at the partly cloudy sky. The sun shone onto him, making him sleepy like it always did.

 Vaguely, he heard the teacher speak about some guest.

 Said guest introduced himself as Takashi Shirogane from the Galaxy Garrison, but Keith wasn’t paying attention.

 He had been lost in his memories again, removed from the reality around him.

 In his daze, he saw Ohn wave to him from outside.

–Hong! Come play! Raon came up with a new game!

 Raon flew up to the window, pressing his chubby face through the glass. They looked the same age as they had when he left.

–Hyung!!!!! We are going to play a game made by the great and might me!

 Keith’s eyes widened as he stared at Ohn and Raon through the window.

 He noticed his hair from his peripheral, red as it used to be.

 Hong smiled and reached toward the window to put his hand against the glass, right across from Raon’s paw, about to stand and respond to Ohn when a loud noise startled him from behind.

 He remembered his present, and with a downcast expression, he turned away from the memories of his beloved sister.

 He was hallucinating about his family. The last one had been Cale sitting in the dining room, waiting for Hong to arrive and sit on Dad’s lap to eat.

 They had been occurring much more frequently, but Keith didn’t really mind.

 He just wanted to see his family again. For real.

 Now awake from his thoughts, he realized that the guest was from the Galaxy Garrison and was asking students to take some sort of game-like test.

 Sir Takashi looked funny. Somewhat similar to Choi Han, except way older-looking.

 Keith wanted to learn how the Garrison explore space. Not how they took tests. He turned back toward the window, hoping somewhat to see the image of his siblings again.

 He didn’t want to be alone any longer. He wanted his family. Why wouldn’t they grant his wish?

 Tears pricked Keith’s eyes. He didn’t want to give up yet, but it was feeling somewhat hopeless.

‘Living is the best. Dad says living is the best. I don’t want to die. Living is the best. Living is the best.’

 Keith had never wanted to disappear from the world so much.

 For the first time in years, Keith would rather die than be separated from his family any longer.

 He could hardly convince himself otherwise.

 He curled into himself as the class started to stand. Keith wiped away the tears threatening to fall as he stared at his desk.

‘I really want to go home.’

Chapter Text

 Keith took the time to calm himself as the class slowly filed out of the room.

 He had to follow them, or risk another detention again.

 Keith crossed his arms as he followed the class of unnecessarily loud ducklings.

 Keith liked ducks and birds and baby animals and animals in general, but his class was much more annoying.

 It was probably an insult to cute ducklings when his class didn’t look even a quarter as good-looking as… who’s the least attractive person in Keith’s family? They are all fairly incredible and dazzling, so there probably isn’t?

 Cale was a million percent the most beautiful person in the family, but it was harder to say who the least was… even crazy Clopeh was fairly good-looking.

 Who was the least? Everyone in Keith’s family was pretty and sparkling!

 Keith blinked as he thought of a person who looked like family, but definitely wasn’t.

‘Yeah. They look less attractive than—no. He still looks fairly nice… if one ignores all his evil.’

 Keith would’ve clutched his head to wrack his brain for an answer had he not been in the line.

 They were led outside as Keith came to an ultimatum.

‘My entire family looks good, and the children here cannot even dream of comparing to their ethereal beauty. Except maybe mine. No one can compare to Dad’s otherworldly beauty.’

 The students were set into a line, all of them with firm faces as Keith glanced around in slight bewilderment.

‘What are we doing?’

 Keith stiffened when Sir Takashi glanced his way.

 The man from the Garrison pulled out a large container and opened it before the class.

‘Is that not an arcade machine?’

 Keith stared blankly between the foreign man and the machine.

“As I have informed you all, this is an elite flight simulation unit used for recruiting valuable talents. It mimics a real flight engine used by the Garrison.”

 Sir Takashi Shirogane explained in a quick summary.

‘Sounds normal enough?’

 Keith tilted his head before a sudden thought came to him.

‘If I learn this, I can fly myself home… probably! Worth a chance, at the very least!’

 One by one, the students played the game.

 Keith watched, curious about all the failing players.

 Few managed to barely reach Level 2 on the simulator, even after multiple attempts.

 Keith approached the simulator, wanting a turn for himself.

 A student just failed as he approached, and while Keith didn’t want to cut in line, it was disorganized enough for few to even notice.

“Hey! Rude!”

 One student exclaimed in a hushed tone, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

 Keith glared at them to move, and they weakly obliged.

 Keith sat down before smirking to himself. This setup felt… weirdly simple and easy to understand.

 Keith focused on the screen and began his turn of the game.

 The students began to gather as he rapidly progressed through Level 1 flying right into Level 2 with ease.

 The voices around Keith became louder, so he just tuned them out.

 A voice in the back, quieter than the rest, was picked up by his ears as he continued playing.

“Is this kid on the list? He looks about ready to fly the real deal.”

 Keith pinned the voice as Sir Takashi’s, who received a response from Keith’s teacher.

“Keith? He’s a bit of a… discipline case. There are other students that are a bit more qualified.”

 Keith didn’t want to listen to another word.

 The simulation crashed behind him as he left undetected.

 Of course they wouldn’t choose Keith. Of course going home wasn’t that easy.

 Keith wiped away the prickling tears with his sleeve, burying the memories that threatened to resurface.

–Hong?

 Keith heard a familiar voice. As though a ghost was calling to him, it felt like an echo.

 Keith glanced up towards the voice, the afternoon sun a signal of how late it had gotten after he left.

 The light of the sun shone behind an eerily real silhouette.

 Hong responded this time, somewhat in disbelief.

“Dad?”

 He stepped towards the man he missed the most, his head feeling fuzzy and alarmingly light as he missed his dad with his entire being.

“Dad…”

 Hong’s vision became blurry as tears really came forward.

–Hong. It’s okay. You’re okay. That’s enough.

–Hyung! Me and Goldie Gramps are gonna come get you, so let’s go play! Are you coming?

 Raon appeared behind Cale, calling for Hong as he picked up his pace and almost started running towards them.

 Hong couldn’t see them very well through the tears, couldn’t see the floor start receding the further he went.

“Dad… Dongsaeng… I miss you. I miss everyone.”

 Tears fell as Hong admitted it aloud.

 He felt like a crybaby, but Dad always comforted Hong and his siblings whenever they cried.

 He stretched out his hand towards his dad, wanting to feel Cale’s presence beside him.

 As his hand went through the hallucination, Keith fainted forward and started to fall towards the cliff edge.

“Keith!”

 He belatedly heard a voice behind him as his mind fell asleep.

‘I’m sorry Dad… I can’t find a way home…’

‘I want to go home.’

 Keith blinked at his strange surroundings, confused by where he was.

 The last thing he remembered, he had fallen for another hallucination. Again, like always.

 He always wanted them to be real.

 Keith found a window beside him and stared outside at the distant horizon. Unfocused.

 He didn’t notice the entrance of whoever caught him.

 He didn’t notice he had started to cry silently, tears falling endlessly as he weeped for his family with a blank expression.

 His eyes were again dull and lifeless.

 Takashi Shirogane sat beside Keith’s temporary bed, not knowing what to do with a child who cried without a sound immediately upon waking.

 In fact, the boy had been crying in his sleep nonstop too.

 The Garrison soldier had brought Keith a water bottle to hydrate the drained boy.

“Uh… Keith. Here’s some water.”

 He started talking to break some of the awkward tension in the air.

 Keith turned his despairing gaze towards the soldier, who had been unprepared for such a… depressed demeanor.

“…”

 Keith was silent as his gaze slowly regained life upon realizing who he was, beginning to study the man.

“…Thank you, Sir Takashi.”

 He spoke softly, apprehension in his eyes as he stared at the soldier with distrust.

“Ahem… call me Shiro. Nice to meet you, Keith.”

 Shiro felt ridiculously awkward. Battling theoretical aliens felt a lot more comfortable than talking longer with this kid.

‘Weird for our meeting to be because I saved him from falling… which I would like an explanation for.’

 Shiro laughed nervously as he handed Keith the bottle.

 The boy was a skilled pilot, and he wondered if he had any other interesting details in his life aside from a ‘discipline case’ like his teacher said.

“So… do you know what happened?”

 Shiro started the conversation as Keith’s eyes regained a bit of life.

 Keith shook his head before speaking.

“No. I just remember falling after…”

 Keith trailed off as his gaze turned toward the window, regaining the deep sorrow.

 Shiro was understandably bewildered by Keith’s reaction.

‘The hell happened?’

 Shiro studied the boy’s face as he pulled himself from wherever his thoughts had ended up.

“You saved me, correct? Thank you again.”

 Keith was still used to semi-formal speech with Cale and His Highness.

 Uncle Alberu was a very fun Cookie Prince, although Keith still wanted to try the White Radish’s cookies like Cale. Cale had described them wonderfully…

 Keith was hungry for cookies now. Keith really wanted tasty cookies.

 Before Shiro could respond to Keith’s last question, Keith asked another.

“This may sound a bit strange, but do you have cookies?”

 Keith stared seriously at Shiro with an expectant look in his eyes.

 Shiro was again confused, wondering how or when Keith’s thoughts turned to cookies.

“Huh?”

 He spoke, totally intelligible.

 Keith nodded.

“Cookies.”

 Shiro allowed himself a moment to comprehend the strange request before slowly standing to check.

“I probably do?”

 Keith’s expression brightened, though he did not smile. He would not allow a near stranger to have the satisfaction of seeing Cale’s child smile.

 It was an honor he would not give anyone lightly.

 Keith missed Ohn, and their easy exchange of smiles before he had vanished.

 Keith missed his fun times with Raon, every time getting the chance to blow something up.

 Keith missed giving Cale a smile, only to get a blindingly gorgeous and brilliantly beautiful smile in response.

 Keith’s Dad could never be called unsightly. Everyone would agree. Those who didn’t would become blind, one way or another, as if they hadn’t been completely blind previously.

 After Shiro left the room, Keith leaned forward on the bed, whining to himself in a meow-like whisper.

“I miss my Dad~!”

 Keith flipped onto his back after fixing his position, staring out the window at the darkening sky.

 He had left his dagger at home, buried underground in the place the portal had once opened.

 When he had buried his dagger, he had hallucinated that Ohn was helping him bury another body, giggling together as they imagined Cale’s horror upon finding it before sighing to himself in disbelief and warning them not to do it again.

 As Ohn reached over to ruffle Hong’s hair, she vanished as suddenly as she appeared, and making Keith feel cold. Both outwardly and inwardly.

 The door opened with a click, drawing Keith’s attention in an instant as the smell of cookies entered his nose.

 His eyes stared unflinchingly at the tray of cookies, the chocolate chip cookies stirring memories he had buried.

 He held his hands out for the tray, but Shiro only smiled in confusion before setting the tray on a counter beside the bed.

“No crumbs on the bed.”

 Shiro spoke firmly, making Keith wary once again.

 Keith stared at Shiro directly in the eyes as he put the tray on his lap. It was still slightly warm, but the warmth was comforting.

 Keith leisurely devoured a cookie as he waited for Shiro to ask whatever he wanted to know.

 Shiro nodded minutely as he pondered what to say. Keith devoured a second cookie during the wait.

 The question caught Keith slightly by surprise, but not enough to choke.

“Do you want to join the Garrison?”

 Keith glared directly at Shiro at his question.

 Shiro flinched, recoiling back subtly at the glare.

‘Did I say something wrong?’

 Keith sighed, breaking the sudden silence.

“I don’t mean to seem rude. I would like to join the Garrison, but I heard you talking with my teacher. I’m too much trouble for the Garrison.”

 Keith glanced back out the window, reminiscing with the stars in view now.

 Shiro nodded slowly.

“You have potential. It’s rare to find people with piloting potential nowadays.”

 Keith glanced back at Shiro. He was still planning to join the Garrison. Troublesome or not.

“Am I allowed to join the Garrison?”

 Keith decided to ask, not caring much for the answer since he was planning on joining anyway. He still had to reunite with his family.

 Shiro kept Keith’s gaze readily. Nodding in front of Keith with his silent answer.

 Keith sparkled at the more easily accessible plan.

 He ate another cookie as he granted Shiro a brilliant smile.

 Shiro visibly twitched, causing Keith to feel confused by his reaction.

 Little did Keith know, Shiro had been about to pat Keith’s head in reassurance before holding himself back.

 Shiro wanted to protect the child’s pure smile.

 Shiro smiled back at Keith, an offer smoothly rolling off his tongue.

“Why don’t I drive you home, Keith?”

 Shiro’s friendly smile put off Keith, his hesitance unnoticed by Shiro.

 Keith nodded, not trusting the area to leave him unharmed by the others who resided there.

“Alright… let me know if I’m recruited?”

 He wanted closure from Shiro, not wanting to be rejected from the Galaxy Garrison after devising a plan to get home.

 Shiro grinned.

“Yeah! I’ll let you know.”

 Keith didn’t fully trust the stranger, but he would pay him back for the cookies.

 Cale’s presence was a reminder of that mindset.

 Keith didn’t show Shiro his depression as he drooped. He wanted Cale now.

 He always wanted Cale.

 Keith wanted his Dad.

 Thoughts similar to these had plagued Keith consistently since he arrived on Earth.

 He was homesick, and he wanted to be held by his dad.

 Keith fell asleep in Shiro’s car with a hallucination of Cale stroking Hong’s hair as he took a nap on Dad’s lap, feeling the warmth of Cale’s fingers as he drifted asleep.

Chapter Text

 Keith blinked, seeing Shiro behind his door yet again.

 After Shiro dropped him off a few nights ago, he found out that Keith was an orphan.

 He also found out about the odd inheritance rules for property rights.

 Keith inherited the land, they couldn’t tax a child, and so he essentially owned his own country?

 Shiro had come over every day he could to help Keith after school, giving bits and pieces of information about the Garrison so he had an excuse for being there.

 Keith wasn't the same strategist his Dad was, but he could still see pieces of the puzzle, even when his Dad usually saw the boards of several players on different tables.

 Dad was just different. Dad was awe-inspiring!

 Keith would always go silent and sad whenever he thought of his family, and Shiro tried to somehow comfort him without knowing his story.

 Keith could tell that Shiro was attached to him—he wasn’t as oblivious as Cale was—but he wasn’t planning on staying on Earth.

 He had a home waiting for him elsewhere. People who needed Keith, and people who loved Keith unconditionally.

 Even when Hong wasn’t helpful to Cale, Dad still loved him and treated him like always.

 Keith really missed his Dad. He always did.

 Shiro seemed to be a good person, but Keith was scared of getting attached.

 What if one day, Dad somehow appeared and Keith had to choose between going home and staying with Shiro.

 Keith’s choice would be obvious. He would choose Dad. Every time.

 Shiro would end up feeling disappointed and hurt, and Keith didn’t want to be responsible for that.

 He would keep his distance from Shiro.

 Keith stared blankly at the wall as Shiro finished his visit announcement with a smile.

‘I am going to steal the man’s car. Do not test me.’

 Shiro’s grin was bright as Keith hung his head in his heads.

“You’ve been accepted into the Galaxy Garrison!”

 Keith glared at Shiro’s cheerful demeanor as he exaggeratedly glanced at the clock.

 4:17 A.M. and Shiro was in his house for another visit.

 Shiro laughed sheepishly as he took note of the time.

“I’ll be leaving… then.”

 Shiro tried to escape before Keith spoke.

“Not so fast. Shiro has to help me get ready for school.”

 Shiro flinched, his smile glued to his face.

“What… what exactly do I need to do?”

 Keith started counting with his fingers as he listed the morning chores.

“Prepare an edible breakfast… Prepare hot water for tea… Check on the land… Clean the mirrors… Check backpack… Stuff backpack… Threaten a bastard to bring me back to my family… Insult a radish for causing this mess… Repair whatever’s necessary… Clean up the dishes after breakfast… Enjoy tea in silence… Glance at the clock… Put on backpack and shoes… Leave for school…”

 Keith quickly realized he had included his regular morning routine into the 'standard' morning routine he had tried listing.

 Shiro stared at Keith as he registered one of the things Keith said.

‘Threaten a bastard…? Where did he learn that word? Insult a radish? What on Earth does this kid do?’

 Keith stared back at Shiro expectantly, gesturing to the kitchen.

“Well? Get started.”

‘Keith sure is one bossy teen.’

 Shiro begrudgingly stood and moved to the kitchen.

“What do you usually make for breakfast?”

 Keith stiffened, his blank face still as he thought about how to say it.

 It was a common breakfast dish in the Roan Kingdom, and one that Dad liked. Beacrox preferred making it, but he taught the simple recipe to the children under Cale’s care.

 Keith had tried searching for the recipe on Heath’s phone, but either the name was too different or the dish didn’t exist here, he couldn’t find it.

 Keith only knew the name in the Western Continent’s language, which he somehow remembered.

 He liked to practice the language of the Western and Eastern Continents, just so he could still talk to his family when he went back.

 Keith spoke the name of the dish, which sounded strange to Shiro’s ears.

“What did you say, Keith?”

 Shiro glanced at Keith over the kitchen counter.

“@&¥$*>#£%^•€<|”

 Keith leaned against the counter, hiding his nervousness as he said the name in not-English.

 Shiro tilted his head before asking another question.

“Are you bilingual?”

 Keith blinked in surprise, forgetting that it isn’t uncommon on Earth for someone to know a second language.

“What language was that?”

 Keith was now again doomed.

 The former cat decided to answer vaguely but somewhat honestly.

“I am not bilingual. And I know it’s a Western Continent language. I do not know its official name.”

 Shiro slowly nodded.

“How many languages do you know?”

 Keith paused for a moment, thinking.

 Raon had started teaching Hong and Ohn Korean, since the little dragon wanted them to have their own secret language, but he only knew bits and pieces since their lessons had been paused after Keith came to Earth.

 Keith knew the language of the East and West continents, since he had moved around a lot as Hong, and Keith knew English as his… original first language.

 Hong knew another language. One known only to the various Cat Tribes.

 Cat language, which was derived from meows.

 Keith could answer Shiro’s question, but he really didn’t want to.

“I’m multilingual. That’s enough.”

 Shiro nodded externally, understanding Keith didn’t want to elaborate, but inwardly, Shiro was an absolute mess.

‘A kid, who isn’t even a teen yet, knows more languages than me. English, and a bit of Japanese.’

 Keith hadn’t meant to sound boastful, but he was honestly just stating a fact.

 He knew multiple languages. There was nothing to cry about. Most of Keith’s family knew more than one language, so Keith wasn’t anything special.

 Shiro decided to just make a standard breakfast meal, consisting of an egg and bread.

 Keith made tea for them both, wanting Shiro to know the wonderful joy of tea.

‘And I can’t exercise right now since I have a guest. Eruhaben-nya said that was rude… oh. Why do I keep calling them 'nya' in my head? It only happens when I think too much of my memories as Hong…’

 A gold, shimmery silhouette knocked on the window, dragging Keith’s attention as he recognized the white-gold dragon.

 Hong ran excitedly to the window, forgetting Shiro as he went out of human earshot.

“Eruhaben-nya!”

 Hong balanced on the thin ledge of the window, staring as Eruhaben motioned him outside.

 Hong turned around, his surroundings once again that of the Super Rock Villa. His home.

 He rushed out without putting on his shoes, knowing full well that Cale would scold him for that later.

 He came outside, discovering that it was still the pre-dawn early morning.

“Eruhaben-nya?”

 Hong glanced around for the dragon, finding him at the entrance of the forest.

 Eruhaben was standing with Raon and Ohn, waiting for Hong’s arrival.

“Where are we going?!”

 His excitement boiled over, thrilled to see his family, but still looking around for Cale.

–The unlucky bastard fell asleep in the forest, and he wouldn’t wake up with my intervention.

–He would wake up if it is you three.

 The dragon smiled, gesturing for them to follow him through the forest.

 Hong began to talk with his siblings.

“Where do you think Cale-nya’s napping now?”

 Hong asked first.

 Raon hummed, flying around his Noona and Hyung’s heads.

–Probably in a pretty tree!

 Ohn laughed, tapping on the stone trees as they followed Raon’s Goldie Gramps.

–He would fall off if it’s one of these trees.

–Cale-nya would prefer napping with us, but he likes napping anywhere convenient.

 Hong laughed with his siblings, the tension of years without them fading away.

 Lost in hallucinations, he never thought about the years spent away, only of their reunion.

“Keith!”

 Hong turned around at the unfamiliar but oddly familiar voice.

 Ohn and Raon glanced at Hong.

–Who was that?

 The black dragon asked.

 Ohn thought to herself before speaking.

–Is he the person who is taking care of 'Keith'? Or is he a kidnapper like Cale-nya warns us about?

 Hong shrugged.

“I don’t know. I’m with my siblings! My Noona and Dongsaeng! So I don’t need to know!”

 Ohn and Raon hugged Hong, feeling more solid than other hallucinations, but maybe it was him willing himself to feel their hug.

“Keith!”

 Hong frowned at the voice’s intrusion.

“I want to stay with you two. How can I?”

 Hong spoke, sensing his time with them growing short.

 The two spoke together, Eruhaben chiming in as he turned around.

–Whenever you miss us.

“What?”

 Hong reached for his family as they once again began to fade.

“No… no. No. No! No! NO!”

 Keith came back to his senses, remembering that they were in another world.

 He collapsed onto his knees in the middle of a very-alive forest.

 Tears fell, coming on stronger as the hallucination had felt so much more real this time.

 He murmured quietly to the woods, praying desperately that his family could hear him.

“Noona? Dongsaeng? Eruhaben-nya? Dad? Come—come back. Stay with me. Please? Please. I want to go home.”

 Tears streamed down Keith’s face like waterfalls.

 He didn’t even dare to stop himself from crying, for fear that he really might never see them again.

 Tears may be useless, but they let Keith know that he was alive, and that he missed his family dearly.

“I want to go home. I want to go home.”

 Keith continued murmuring repeatedly as he rocked himself beside a large tree, feeling Cale’s presence stroke his hair affectionately.

 Keith cried harder, missing his dad and his siblings and every other member of their tightly woven family.

“Keith!”

 Shiro’s voice, as he had realized it was Shiro’s, called again, closer this time.

 Keith again didn’t respond, just muttering excessively about his desire to return home.

 The hallucination of Cale continued stroking Keith’s hair, slowly turning it red in the shadows of the early morning.

 Shiro came into the clearing, causing the hallucination of Cale to pat Keith’s head before slowly vanishing, taking the red with it.

“Keith. There you are…”

 Shiro noticed the tear streaks on Keith’s face, wisely deciding not to comment on it.

 Shiro didn’t see the moment Keith’s hair was red, as it had been black the entire time.

 Keith, however, even with Shiro’s presence now carrying him back to his house, had never felt more alone than when his family had vanished in front of him.

 Keith was despondent and unresponsive as Shiro went around Keith’s house.

 Keith had stopped muttering the moment Dad’s safe presence disappeared.

 Shiro did all the chores Keith had listed aside from a questionable few, and Keith had begun to move around to make proper tea after Shiro had ruined it the first time.

 After helping Keith, Shiro had to leave, else he be late to work.

 Keith relaxed as Shiro’s presence departed, finally able to vocalize his thoughts.

 He hadn’t been close enough to Shiro to notice before, but something seemed to be wrong with Shiro’s arm.

 Keith could smell an ill aura on Shiro, which concentrated on the soldier’s arm.

 It was faint enough for Keith to not notice until he was held.

 Keith had studied Shiro, acting unresponsive like he remembered Dad had been during his sleepy time.

 A phantom version of Cale appeared to pat Keith’s head gently.

 This Cale came whenever Keith thought of Dad. A hallucination that kept comforting Keith whenever he was discouraged.

 Keith liked this hallucination the most since it was a Cale he could make contact with, but Ghost Cale couldn’t appear with others around.

 Ghost Cale brushed Keith’s hair as Keith finished his breakfast.

 Apparently, he had been in the woods for an hour, and Shiro hadn’t noticed since Keith had left his shoes.

“Dad? Cale-nya?”

 The 'nya' slipped past easily through simple habit. Keith wanted to know if he could speak to Ghost Cale, at least.

–?

 Keith brightened at the questioning tilt of Ghost Cale’s head.

 It had sounded like Ghost Cale was asking what was up.

 Keith made eye contact with Ghost Cale through the mirror.

“I miss you.”

 The childlike tone made Keith feel somewhat embarrassed that he was acting so childish, but Cale never made Keith feel embarrassed or ashamed unless he did something wrong.

 Ghost Cale smiled softly, giving Keith a squeeze.

 Keith hadn’t had a hug from Cale in years, so it made tears well up in his eyes again.

“Thank you, Dad. I miss you.”

 Ghost Cale nodded, unable to speak. An echo of Cale’s voice formed sounds that sounded directly into Keith’s mind.

–We miss you too, Hong. Or rather, Keith.

 Keith smiled brightly, a joyful one that he hadn’t used in a long while.

“You can still call me Hong, Dad. I miss my name too.”

 Ghost Cale finished brushing Keith’s hair, which was long enough to be called a mullet.

–Would you like to brush my hair, Hong? Or is your school starting soon?

 Keith’s eyes sparkled, having wanted to brush his Dad’s hair himself for a long time.

“Yes!”

 Keith and Ghost Cale switched positions as Keith ranted about how the past five years had been. He didn’t consciously realize that he was acting like nine-year-old Hong to Cale.

“I think I’m an outcast in school, since everyone has parents or are in an orphanage, or are in foster care.”

–How did you eat without parents to provide for you?

“Donations and gifts from neighbors who felt sorry for me, I guess?”

 Ghost Cale laughed softly at Keith’s persevering bluntness.

–You are still the same, Hong.

“Huh? It’s been years.”

–Indeed, but you still lived as Hong. Even here, as Keith, you are still mostly Hong.

 Keith quieted as he finished brushing his Dad’s hair.

“Are you actually the real Cale? Not a hallucination?”

–Hallucination? You have been hallucinating?

 Keith frowned as tears pricked his eyes.

“I don’t even know if you’re real or not, or if my life as Hong was an illusion. I love spending time with you, Dad. Hallucination or not.”

 Ghost Cale turned around and took the brush from Keith’s hands to wipe away his tears.

–Even so. You are still my Hong. I’m sorry I never said it before, but I love you, Hong.

–You are my sweet child, my son who has gone through so much.

–I love you and your siblings. Never forget that.

 Keith cried, his sobs heavy and painful as he heard the words he had wanted to hear most.

“I miss you, Dad! I want to go home!”

 Ghost Cale hugged Keith firmly and gently, rocking the sweet kitten in his arms.

 Keith’s crying stilled as he felt Cale’s familiar and comfortable warmth.

–I missed you too, Keith. Accept that name until you become Hong again.

“Mn… ‘lright. Will I see you ‘gain.”

 Keith hiccuped from all the heavy crying.

–Yeah. Whenever you think of me.

“Isn’t tha’ how h’llucinations w’k.”

 Keith’s continuous hiccups made Cale laugh softly.

–Maybe, but I can at least comfort you like that. Right?

 Keith nodded, jumping a little from a suppressed hiccup.

“Hiccups are pai’ful.”

 Ghost Cale nodded sagely. Even with Record, hiccups were notoriously hard to prevent.

 Keith enjoyed the warmth of Cale’s hold as they continued in silence for another moment.

 Keith’s alarm rang unfortunately, causing him to hiss at the interruption.

 Cale noticed the moment Keith’s pupils slitted like Hong’s and then returned to normal.

 Was it Hong’s influence, or was it something about Keith?

 Cale couldn’t think more about it as Keith had to leave.

–Remember. Don’t change for others. I love you for you.

 Keith smiled as he made eye contact with Ghost Cale.

“Yeah. I love you too, Dad.”

 With another squeeze, Keith headed for school.

 He would think about the Garrison after school ended.

 Keith just knew that he wouldn’t fit in.

Chapter Text

 Keith stood in a row with a bunch of other new recruits for the Galaxy Garrison, his posture among the best as he had been the son of a Duke’s son.

 Deruth Henituse used to be a Count, but became a Duke from Cale Henituse’s achievements in two years.

 Keith’s Dad was awesome.

 A subtle glance around had Keith feeling down, until he felt a familiar hand stroking his head.

–Good morning, Hong.

 Keith wanted to greet Ghost Cale too, but he was in a public place.

–Hm. You seem busy. Ask for me a bit later when you aren’t so busy, Hong.

 Cale’s comforting touch disappeared with his words, making Keith feel ever so cold.

‘Alright. I will listen.’

 Keith focused on his surroundings, the instructor became distracted for a few minutes by checking the list of recruits.

 The recruit next to Keith, Griffin probably, whispered quietly to the former cat.

“You know. The only reason you’re here is ‘cause of Shiro, right?”

 His cocky face reminded Keith of the Fog Cat Tribe, and their sneers in Ohn and Hong’s direction whenever they fought in the war.

“I can fly better than everyone else in this building.”

 Keith spoke with confidence in both himself and in his skill.

 Griffin was getting on Keith’s nerves.

“Oh yeah? Is that what Mommy and Daddy said—”

 Keith lunged at Recruit Griffin. Claws sharp and punches firm.

 It took several soldiers to pry Keith off of Griffin.

 He was even willing to bite had he not remembered that Cale said to always keep calm.

 Right.

‘Dad said to keep calm. Yes. Calm down.’

 Keith took shivering breaths, trying to slow his breathing to calm his boiling blood.

 The feeling was similar to when Hong was ingesting too much poison.

 Keith took another breath as Griffin clutched his cheek.

 The soldiers took both Keith and Griffin to the main office for disciplinary action.

 Keith hadn’t been the one to start it. He just fought first.

 That was how one won in war.

 Keith sat on the bench outside the office. Griffin had been sent inside first, and now Keith was waiting his turn.

 He sat there glumly with his legs crossed, mimicking when Raon came to sit on his lap in human form whenever he missed Cale, since Hong also had red hair.

 An illusion of Raon sat on his lap with a sad face, and Keith instinctively began to pat Raon’s scaly back to comfort him.

–When do you think the weak human will wake up?

“He will.”

 Keith murmured, knowing the outcome before the memory did.

–…Are you going to come home soon? We miss you.

 Keith smiled wryly at the phantom memories of Raon.

“Yeah. Someday soon. Hopefully.”

 Raon smiled up at him before disappearing with Shiro’s approach.

 Shiro seemed to somehow ward away the illusions of Keith’s family, and Keith really didn’t like that.

‘…Can he go away? No… that’s too ungrateful. He got me here, and here will be the easiest route home.’

 Keith would pay Shiro back somehow, someday.

 But nothing like Shiro asking him to stay. Keith would never stay. Not here.

“First day here and you’re already in trouble.”

 Keith scoffed before he responded coldly.

“I wasn’t the one who started it.”

‘There is a satisfaction in watching someone realize they lost the battle they started. Dad taught me that.’

 Keith fixed his posture in the chair at the thought of Cale. Not wanting him to be disappointed.

“I see.”

 Shiro crossed his arms humorously, watching Keith shift his position multiple times before sighing.

“What?”

“Just stay still. You’ll be called soon. I’ll vouch for you.”

 Keith narrowed his eyes, distrustful of the kindness Shiro showed him.

“Stop being so generous. I will end up owing you more than I can afford to pay.”

 Shiro tilted his head to the side slightly.

“You don’t have to pay me anything. I’m not after money.”

 Keith frowned.

“Not that kind of payment.”

 He muttered to himself too quietly for Shiro to hear properly.

 Griffin exited the office before glaring at Keith in obvious enmity.

“Well. It’s my turn now.”

‘I wish I was home instead. I miss home. Home is always and forever better than this.’

Chapter Text

 Keith sat alone in the cafeteria. The other cadets were sitting in a large radius away from him, but Keith really didn’t mind.

 He could talk to his Dad without interruptions this time!

 Some weirdo kept glaring at Keith, but Keith didn’t even know who the guy was.

–Ignore him. You don’t know who he is, so it doesn’t matter.

 Ghost Cale was sitting beside Keith, a napkin placed suspiciously on hand in case Keith got messy.

 Keith felt much more at ease with Dad’s presence, even as a hallucination.

 Dad was Keith’s favorite person.

“As long as they don’t insult you, I don’t care.”

 Keith smiled and took a bite of a tuna sandwich contentedly.

 Ghost Cale pat Keith’s head, a recurring thing that Cale always did.

 Cale smiled and gently stroked Keith’s head, softly combing his hair that had gotten tangled from the fight.

–That is very kind of you, but I am trash. Insults are normal.

 Keith frowned. Ghost Cale was extraordinarily faithful to Keith’s memories of Cale.

 Keith sighed, knowing that just like the original, the illusionary Cale was stubborn when it came to being called trash.

 Unsurprisingly, Keith smiled at the confirmation that Ghost Cale was exactly like his memories of how Dad would act.

“I’m glad you didn’t change.”

 Keith spoke softly, only for the ears of Cale and not for anyone who walked past.

–Yes. I am also glad you did not change.

 Cale moved the napkin to clean Keith’s face that was covered in the tuna sauce.

 Keith smothered the relieved giggle that threatened to sound, lost in memories at Cale’s familiar act.

‘I missed Dad… but it is weird that  Ghost Cale started appearing alone like this only a few months ago.’

 Keith didn’t know how mana worked in this world, so he couldn’t know whether teleporting Cale here was possible without the coordinates.

 Keith was about to ask Cale something when a recruit threw a sandwich at him, narrowly missing Cale.

 Keith stilled. It wasn’t a threat to Cale, but someone had still almost attacked Cale.

Cale.

 Keith’s face became shrouded in shadows, his expression unclear.

“You weirdo! My best friend’s in the hospital ward because of you! What’d Griffin ever do to you?!”

 Keith turned his head, his icy cold gaze on the recruit who had spoken. Cale’s presence somewhat cooled Keith’s hostility, but not all of it.

‘I don’t like it here…’

 The recruit froze, face flushed from shouting, at Keith’s icy gaze.

 The other recruit who had been glaring at Keith openly at the beginning was now quietly eating at his own table with a somewhat red face. It was hard to tell, really, since the difference wasn’t very noticeable.

 In fact, Keith found it weird that some of the recruits looked pale while others looked almost red.

 What was up with them?

‘It is a perfectly normal cold stare. I learned from the best after all, my Dad!’

 Cale’s gaze swept across the cafeteria, noting the ones who were pale in contrast to the ones who were red.

–…Ah.

 Keith turned his head back to his tray while glancing at Ghost Cale.

“What?”

 He murmured quietly so the sound wouldn’t echo or bounce.

 Cale smiled while gently ruffling Keith’s hair.

–…It’s nothing. There are just girls interested in romance, and weird humans here who are seemingly interested in the same…

 Cale couldn’t find a way to say it without alarming children.

–…Nevermind…

“Hm?”

 Keith tilted his head cutely, causing the red-faced recruits to fall onto their friends who weren’t red-faced.

 Keith glanced back in bewilderment, utterly confused by what in the world they were doing.

‘Are they playing a game? Doesn’t seem very interesting. Or fun.’

 Cale chuckled at Keith’s obvious cluelessness.

 In fact, Cale would also be clueless if it happened to himself, but details.

–Don’t pay attention to them, Hong. They are not even remotely good enough for you.

“Uh… okay?”

 Keith decided to ignore the cafeteria that was now speaking in hushed whispers.

 Keith ignored the whispers he managed to hear, not paying attention to the two groups that had formed within the Garrison.

 One group called Keith a terrifying monster, while the other compared him to a vampire from Twilight. The good-looking kind.

 Cale laughed whenever he heard a new rumor come up about Keith’s looks, amused that they would dream about his child.

 Keith just stared at Cale, dumbfounded.

‘I… think I’ll find another way home… this place is weird.’

“You’re leaving? I thought you wanted to join the Garrison?”

 Shiro had been the one to vouch for Keith, convincing him to stay for over a year before the other recruits’ strange behavior got worse as Keith matured slightly.

 Keith had joined the Garrison at fifteen, so all the other recruits were fifteen, but now that he was sixteen, they were all acting remarkably bizarre.

“It’s fine. People are just too weird. I’ll head home for a few days, don’t worry.”

 Keith was planning on baking with Cale, since Dad had offered to teach him a recipe that Keith remembered Cale making a long time ago.

 Shiro kept trying to convince Keith to stay at the Garrison, but Keith didn’t want to.

 If it meant staying around those strange people, no thank you.

 Keith left while Shiro tried to inform him of his departure again.

 They had grown closer over the past year, but Keith still kept his distance from Shiro.

 He had, at least, an illusion of his Dad, so he didn’t feel the need to get close to Shiro.

 Keith would just pay him back and then cut all ties.

–We’ll be making cookies. I snatched the White Radish’s recipe, so he will still be useful.

 Keith allowed himself to giggle at Cale’s bluntness, being in a private space at last.

 A few days later, news of Shiro’s disappearance reached Keith.

 Keith had been watching the Garrison’s movements for almost… Keith had lost track.

 All he knew was that he was eighteen now, and he’s been away from his family for eleven years.

 Ghost Cale had begun flickering after he turned eighteen, which Keith perceived as a signal that their time together was running short.

 Keith had no idea how an illusion could have a time limit, but Cale didn’t appear as often anymore, which Keith didn’t like.

 Keith hadn’t had a good rest in weeks since Cale started flickering.

 He didn’t want Ghost Cale to disappear too.

 Keith wanted his Dad.

 Keith wanted Dad, but right now, he had to pay Shiro back for helping him… maybe three or four times? Perhaps five.

 Keith spotted the Garrison soldiers beginning to move, and donning his jacket, he moved to tail them.

 Keith was of the Fog Cat Tribe. He knew how to be stealthy…

 Unlike some people.

 A trio. Short person, tall chubby person, and tall lanky person.

 They seemed to be Garrison recruits, but they were going against the Garrison’s curfew and following the group with Shiro.

 Keith didn’t recognize any of them, but it had been a while. It was understandable.

 His training wouldn’t be going to waste, now.

 Keith hopped down and started running.

 Like someone of the Cat Tribe.

 As Keith tapped into his memories of his home and Hong, he felt a familiar sensation running across his skin.

 It was the same feeling he had when he used his poison attribute.

 Keith could eat poison now? Yay!

 Keith tailed both groups now, piecing together what happened to Shiro once he added the mysterious runes.

 Those runes had alerted him to Shiro’s arrival.

 Keith entered the tent set up by the Garrison after the trio, beating up and defeating every guard in his way.

 After beating up the soldiers, Keith moved into the tent and confirmed that it was, indeed, Shiro.

 He helped the tall lanky guy lift Shiro, since Keith was obviously stronger, and the lanky guy began blabbering about nonsensical stuff.

“Who are you, again?”

 Keith cut off Lanky’s rants with a question, which he gasped at.

“Uh, Lance? Your rival?”

‘…I don’t know a Lance.’

“I have rivals?”

 Keith muttered in bewilderment as he carried Shiro onto a vehicle outside. The same one he raced Shiro with.

 Lance spluttered as Shortie and Big Guy laughed at his outrage.

 The two introduced themselves as they got onto the vehicle, weighing it down with five people.

“I’m Pidge, and he’s Hunk.”

 Shortie introduced them both, gesturing to her and the big guy.

 Pidge actually looked a lot like Shiro’s teammate, Matt, who had been introduced to Keith.

 Matt had shown Keith a picture of his sister, Katie, and went off about their adventures together.

‘Yeah. Pidge looks a lot like Katie.’

 Keith took charge and activated the vehicle he forgot the name of.

 Pidge made small talk as Keith tried his best to lose the Garrison soldiers in the dust.

“So you’re Keith. I honestly thought you were some fictional character in a fan-fiction with how people described you.”

 Keith glanced back for less than a moment with a confused gaze before asking.

“What is that supposed to mean? And what’s fan…fiction…? And why would you think I’m not real?”

 Lance scoffed.

“Why wouldn’t the object of rumors know about the rumors?!”

 Keith spoke bluntly.

“I left the Garrison two years ago. Whatever rumors there are, I don’t know them.”

“Oh.”

 Lance remarked shyly.

“A-anyways! We were rivals! Constantly challenging each other!”

 Lance smirked, confident in his claim.

 Keith didn’t remember Lance in the slightest.

 He could ask Dad, but only if Ghost Cale even showed up.

‘Dad?’

 Keith waited patiently for Ghost Cale as he maneuvered the vehicle toward a cliff.

“Wha-what are you doing?!”

 Hunk spoke up for once, fear in his voice as he tried not to throw up again.

“Is-is that a cliff?!”

 Lance screeched loudly, hurting Keith’s ears.

 Keith crouched lower against the metal.

“Yup.”

 He confirmed for the trio to hear.

“We’re not gonna make it!”

 Lance screamed.

“We’ll have a better chance if we throw off dead weight!”

 Keith joked, a jab at the unplanned baggage.

 Lance unwittingly trailed along.

“Yeah! We should—oh wait. You’re referring to me, aren’t you.”

 Lance’s disappointment made Keith want to laugh loudly.

‘No. I was referring to all three of you, but it’s a joke.’

“Hold on tight!”

 Keith warned before they plummeted off a cliff. He learned that trick from Shiro, and mastered it with Cale’s observations.

 The trio screamed as they held on for dear life.

‘So noisy.’

 Keith frowned, just wanting to eat some good poison since he still had his poison attribute.

Chapter Text

 Keith will not think about what happened after they landed.

 He doesn’t even remember most of it, since their shrieks hurt his ears and he couldn’t hear much for a few minutes.

 They had lost their tail, but now they had to escape the Garrison’s radar.

 After bringing the trio to Keith’s house while carrying Shiro, they began asking questions.

 A lot of questions.

 Keith really wanted to know if his dad remembered Lance, so he pulled out a phone and headphones to talk to Cale without suspicion.

‘Cale. Dad. Question!’

–Hong?

 The flickering image of Cale appeared in his peripheral.

“Uh… hi!”

 The trio turned their gaze to Keith, their bickering interrupted by Keith’s impromptu phone call.

–Why did you call me? Hm? Who are they?

“Oh uh… I was wondering if you remembered someone named Lance from the Garrison. He said he’s my rival… or something. I don’t remember him at all.”

 Cale studied the trio and hummed.

–The short one and the one that reminds me of Billose are new.

–Lance was the guy who stared at you during cafeteria hours. You never interacted, but he was always competitive?

“Oh? You mean that guy? That reminds me. Do you know why so many people looked mad that day? Their faces were all red, but others were pale. Were they sick?”

 Cale laughed at Keith’s innocent assumptions.

 Lance looked absolutely shocked, while Pidge and Hunk glanced between themselves, confused as to what he was talking about.

“Fill us in? Was it… three years ago?”

 Pidge asked first.

 Keith glanced at Cale, who was flickering rapidly, and nodded subtly to his dad that he could go.

 Cale smiled, pat Keith’s head, and vanished.

“Uh… I don’t remember a lot from that day, since it was a while ago… but I think someone threw something at me, and I got mad and glared at them? I don’t remember the details, but there was a lot of people falling over for no reason.”

 Pidge blinked before sighing.

“So that’s where that rumor came from.”

“What rumor—you know what. Nevermind.”

 Keith was about to ask, but his familiar cat senses told him that Shiro was waking up.

“Ugh…”

 Shiro groaned as he slowly sat up, taking in the oddly familiar surroundings.

“You’re alright, Shiro?”

 Keith crossed his arms, watching Shiro carefully.

‘That’s one favor of several.’

 Shiro blinked at Keith, accepting the situation rather quickly for someone who was unconscious.

 Shiro had white hair now, too, which Keith found somewhat strange.

 Keith knew Shiro was older than Dad, but white hair already? Dad didn’t have white hair yet… if Keith didn’t count 'Priest Bob' having white hair.

 Shiro stared at his arm, which Keith had noticed was definitely new.

“Keith?”

 Shiro stared at Keith, not yet registering the Garrison trio.

“Yeah?”

 Keith tilted his head, wanting to be at home instead of near Lance. Lance was weird and kept insisting they were rivals.

‘He says Dad has a bad memory. Lance doesn’t know Dad.’

“How’d you know I was arriving?”

 The Garrison recruits stilled, realizing it only then.

“How did you know? Keith?”

 Hunk spoke up from his corner behind Lance and Pidge.

“Well—”

 Lance looked even more grumpy, while Pidge studied Keith’s house.

 Keith was about to speak, when he was cut off by Pidge’s question.

“Actually, is this your house, Keith?”

 Pidge looked directly at Keith, who nodded at her question.

 She really did remind Keith of Matt’s sister. Those glasses were the same Matt used.

 Keith glanced at Shiro to see if he noticed the same, but Shiro didn’t know that Keith had already figure it out.

‘I’m not dumb. I lived with a master strategist. You learn a thing or two by association, even if I don’t get the whole thing.’

 Keith began to explain the strange readings that had predicted Shiro’s landing, and was about to introduce them to the energy signal when Shiro stood up.

“Easy there, Shiro. It’s still in your system.”

 Keith helped the older man stand, thinking briefly that he didn’t actually know how old Shiro was, but he was definitely older than how Keith remembered Cale.

“It’ll take them a while to find this place, so we have about a day. Everyone should get some sleep.”

 Keith headed towards a closet, about to grab something when Lance asked a question in a sort of cynical disbelief.

“Why would you have extra beds when you don’t even have friends?”

 Keith frowned as Lance asked it in such a condescending way.

‘Friends count as family. Should I start counting my friends?’

 Keith was also curious how many people technically counted as his friends.

 He took out all the mattresses in the closet, a larger number than their small group actually consisted of.

“Give me a moment. I need to count.”

 Keith tried counting on his fingers to keep track, the others watching as they tried to comprehend how many friends the emo kid could possibly have.

‘There's Dad, Ohn and Raon, Ron, Deputy Hans, Hilsman, Beacrox, Dad's parents, Lily and Basen… Choi Han, His Highness is technically my uncle… Lock, Mary, Rosalyn, Taylor and Cage, Paseton and Whitira are part of the family? Uh… hm… Mila, Dodori, Rasheel, Raon’s Mom, Dragon Half-Blood counts now, right? Haaah… oh! Cale’s dads! Eruhaben and Vanpire Duke Fredo, and the lousy god of Death! Um… who else? Lock’s siblings? Rex! Hannah and Saint Jack! Mn… I can’t remember if I’m missing anyone… too many names… I’m probably missing a lot…’

 Keith sighed, giving up trying to keep track and getting lost in old memories with his family.

‘I am not counting the crazy Clopeh. He's weird.’

 Keith shook his head, deciding not to get distracted and to just focus on checking on Shiro.

“That reminds me! Do any of you have any poison?”

 Keith asked, his smile slipping off his face as he stared at the unpleasant people.

“WHAT?! Are you trying to get rid of me because you think I’m annoying?!”

 Lance asked, taken aback by Keith’s outrageous question.

 Keith didn’t flinch.

“No. But if you’re suggesting it… I’m just kidding. I want poison for another reason.”

 Keith shrugged, already figuring out a way to head back to his room.

“What other reason could there be to want poison?!”

 Hunk spoke this time, having also assumed Keith wanted to get rid of Lance.

“I’m considering it now, but no. I don’t even know you. Why should I tell you why I want poison?”

 Keith scoffed, feeling offended by their assumptions. He supposed it wasn’t technically wrong either, since he was planning on eating it.

“Just go to sleep. We’re moving out after breakfast.”

 Keith escaped to his room before anyone could raise any complaints or cause a ruckus.

 The morning was uneventful as Shiro adjusted to his robotic arm.

 He told the teens about aliens and whatever memories he could salvage of space and the Galra, apparently Shiro could only remember 'Voltron' and assumed it was a weapon, which was when Pidge cut in about transmissions calling for a 'voltron' from far away after Hunk revealed he had gone through Pidge’s stuff.

 Keith found it weird that Lance and Hunk didn’t realize Pidge was a girl. The guy in the picture was Matt. In fact, it was the same picture Matt had shown Keith.

 That reminded Keith of the strange readings in the desert. He had been examining them when he felt Shiro approaching needing help.

 The cat sighed, wondering when he might be able to check if his cat form still existed, when his hair stiffened, a prickling feeling on his spine.

 Keith flinched, his senses picking up on strange movements as he tuned into his cat instincts.

 He stared beyond the door, focusing.

“They’re coming. We need to go.”

 Keith turned his cold stare to the others, dead serious. He had already finished his breakfast, used to having less time to eat meals.

“What? They’re not here yet, are they?”

 Hunk asked timidly, fear evident in his expression.

 Keith helped Shiro up to his feet, leading them towards the desert outside.

 They walked for a while as Keith searched for the entrance.

“There’s a passageway here, but I wasn’t able to explore it all yet. Something about a blue lion…”

 Keith didn’t like lions too much, even if they were cats too, since they had attacked Cale.

 Lance did something, and the floor opened beneath them.

 The five of them fell down a deep tunnel.

 The landing wasn’t as harsh as Keith had expected, and when he turned to look, Cale had managed to catch him with very strained arms before putting Keith down quickly and making it look like Keith had landed on his feet.

 There was going to be a rough landing after being spat out by the water, but not that hard.

“Thank you, Dad.”

 Keith whispered quietly to Cale.

 Everyone gasped at the giant blue metal feline in front of them, protected by a barrier reminiscent of Cale’s.

“How do we get past this…”

 Keith crossed his arms thinking to himself as the group approached the big blue feline.

 Keith put his hand on the barrier, not feeling a recoil.

 Instead he felt a strange sensation, almost as if the cat was sentient and asking who he was.

“Maybe we knock?”

 Lance rapped against the barrier with his knuckles, and surprisingly, the barrier parted for them to enter.

 The cat lowered itself and opened its mouth for them to enter its robotic body.

‘That… is a lot weirder when phrased like that.’

 Keith put his hand against the metal lining of the curious feline, walking with his hand on the wall.

‘I wonder if the robot cats can understand the common cat language.’

 Keith lagged behind to test it, speaking slowly in one of his common tongues.

<Excuse me. Are you really a Lion?>

 Pulsating waves of something Keith didn’t know what of washed over him, answering.

–Curious. You smell like a cat.

 That was what the blue feline’s sounded like. Not in his head but… he could sort of tell that was what it said.

<My name is Hong. I got separated from my family, and I go by Keith until I find them.>

 Keith meowed quietly, the fellow feline entertaining his questions and responses.

 He smiled softly, liking this lion better than the enemies Cale had to face.

 He wanted to tell the lion about his dad, who he was trying to get back to, but Shiro called his attention after noticing he was lagging behind.

<…I’ll tell you about my dad later. He’s really great!>

–I will wait to hear it until you are free, then.

 Keith grinned from ear to ear, thrilled to have found a feline companion. Blue wasn’t Ohn, but another cat being around was good enough.

“We’ll talk later, Blue!”

 Keith ran off to catch up with the others, who had reached Blue’s cockpit and were now taking off through the sky toward space.

 Keith really didn’t like Lance. The guy was so bad at flying that it made him want to vomit like Hunk just did.

 Poor Blue had to deal with it, eliciting a disgusted response that only Keith seemed to feel.

–Kitten, would you give that human a warning?

 Keith nodded, briefly wondering if he should ask for the pilot seat instead, but deciding not to.

“Hey, Hunk.”

 Keith looked at Hunk, who was in pretty bad shape with his motion sickness.

“Hn?”

 Hunk looked up briefly, still rather disoriented.

“You might not want to puke into Blue—the Blue Lion.”

 Keith didn’t register the odd looks he was getting, focusing on Hunk’s response.

 Blue bristled slightly, annoyed with the human.

–I prefer feline species to these humans.

‘I get it, but Cale's the best!’

 Blue hummed as a glowing vortex, similar to the portal that kidnapped Keith, opened in front of them.

 Blue flew in, to everyone except Keith’s alarm, and they got spat out in a foreign land.

‘…Still not home.’

 Keith sighed as Blue informed him that she was returning to her home.

‘Correction. Still not my home.’

Chapter Text

 Keith stared out of the Blue Lion’s viewing window at the space outside.

 It was somewhat disorienting to see beyond Earth in this way, but oddly enough…

 This 'world' still seemed different from Keith’s home.

 All this vast space, all these planets, this was all the unique diversity of this world compared to some that Cale already visited.

‘Dad probably visited more worlds while I was gone. Fun.’

 Keith completely disregarded the fact that they had just narrowly escaped alien conquerors and were now approaching a planet that looked different from Earth.

‘I wonder what the name of this particular world is… oh. The planet too. What’s the name of the planet Blue’s bringing us to?’

 Blue was still murmuring to Keith here and there as they approached what the lion referred to as Arus.

 As they entered the atmosphere of planet Arus, questions started to rise and bother Keith.

“Should we really trust an alien robot?”

 Hunk gagged as he swallowed down another episode of puke, leaning so he didn’t get it on Blue again.

‘So he listened to my warning, huh? Right. I probably have a reputation for fighting.’

 Keith didn’t know that Hunk listened to the warning because of his other reputation at the Garrison. One the cat didn’t know about.

 It was the same reputation that made the others look at him weirdly, not that Keith ever realized.

“Well, we couldn’t exactly stay back there. What, would you have preferred being captured and tortured or whatever it is those aliens do?”

 Pidge defended the robot, since she was interested in poking through it to see how it was able to move and function.

 Keith thought for a moment, and decided to speak up about a particular point.

“You know, technically, we’re aliens too? We just entered another planet.”

 Keith found it funny and oddly entertaining when the group’s expressions changed at the thought.

“Huh. Guess the emo kid’s right.”

 Lance piped up, irritating Keith with the comment.

 Keith never actually learned what exactly 'emo' meant, but he didn’t like the way Lance just said that.

 His curiosity won over though, as he leaned towards Shiro to whisper his question in a low voice, though everyone could still hear it somewhat.

“Hey, Shiro. What’s emo?”

 Keith glanced at Shiro with a genuinely confused expression, though his face was still mostly blank.

 Shiro covered his mouth, trying to hide his muffled laughter.

 Pidge and Hunk just stared at Keith, utterly bewildered after finding out that the 'emo kid' of the Garrison, didn’t even know what being emo was.

 Lance was shut up by Keith’s strangely innocent question, not expecting his 'rival' to be so ignorant about normal terms teenagers tended to use.

 The whole day seemed unreal, anyway.

 Shiro cleared his throat from the lingering laughs as he decided to take charge of all the questions and arguments.

“Ahem. Lance. Can you focus on figuring out where we’re going?”

 Lance nodded silently, still trying to come up with an explanation for why his rival acted more innocent than arrogant.

 Keith glanced at the people around him. He hadn’t known that Lance was the 'only person' able to hear Blue 'talk' to them, but apparently Lance could no longer hear her.

‘Blue said the planet was called Arus. It doesn't feel old enough for it to be Blue's home, so there was probably something here that Blue knows.’

“Keith?”

“Hm?”

 Keith blinked, the weird stares returning and confusing him further.

“What do you mean 'Blue said the planet was called Arus'? You can hear the Blue Lion?”

–Since he figured it out, will you speak to me calmly?

 Keith clamped down the urge to start giggling at the strange turn of events, even struggling to hide his smile.

“Yeah. Blue told me.”

 Keith crossed his arms, tilting his head to the side slightly to stealthily adjust his hair.

“Wait—doesn’t that mean you can pilot Blue?!”

 Lance panicked at the thought that he wasn’t special. Could they all pilot the Blue Lion?

“Uh… I don’t believe so. Blue just likes me?”

 Keith glanced away from the others to focus on Blue’s voice.

–Welcome to my home. It is a wonder that it is still intact, but it was always sturdy.

 Keith could sense a smile in Blue’s voice.

“Ah… we’re approaching where Blue lived, I think.”

 Keith spoke blandly, feeling very tired, and wanting a whole barrel of poison.

 He wanted to ask if Blue had any poison, or knew where to find some, but he was still conscious of the lingering stares around him.

 Keith shifted, narrowing his eyes at the three actively staring. At least Lance was piloting so he couldn’t stare at Keith with them.

 Keith tipped his head, leaning against the wall of the cockpit and posing like how some family members of his did whenever they were bored.

“Whoa! Guys, look at this!”

 Lance’s voice cut through the stare-down as they all turned to see an enormous pristine White Castle on a cliff side.

‘Woah.’

 Keith thought, unimpressed by the somewhat surreal view.

 Raon’s black castle and the Super Rock Villa looked way fancier and more impressive than this place.

 A pang of sadness pierced Keith’s heart. He missed his family. Cale had kept the Super Rock Villa for them.

 Blue landed at the entrance of the castle, and the castle started to glow a light blue in some areas as the group began to exit the Lion.

 Keith watched the Lion as everyone got out, Lance being the last to exit as the pilot.

 Blue waited until everyone was firmly on the ground before rearing back roaring loudly at the castle, causing it to burst with light and open for them.

 Keith blinked, the roar having disoriented him briefly as everyone started inside the castle.

 Blue waited at the entrance, leaning back down and prodding Keith with some form of concern.

–Was it too loud, Kitten?

 Blue didn’t mind the people who kept glancing back at both the Lion and Keith.

 Keith missed the entire interaction with the robot voice of the castle and Shiro’s questions and the blue light leading the group inside.

“A bit…”

 Keith admitted as he firmly shook his head.

“I feel better now, though.”

 Keith grinned at the Lion. Unlike the enemies who dared oppose Cale, this type of Lion was indeed impressive and cool.

–Would you continue our conversation as you venture inside?

 Keith blinked.

“Can you hear me from in there?”

 He glanced beyond the depths of the—in his opinion—humble castle.

–I will be moving to my old room, which the residents referred to as the hangar bay.

–My 'ears' can hear through the walls while inside the bay. So, yes.

“Is that so?”

‘I have to tell Dad when I see him again! That'll be so fun!’

 Keith drooped as he remembered that that sort of situation wouldn’t happen for a while.

–Yes. Lying would not be beneficial. Besides that, you are the only one who can understand what I say almost completely.

“Really? How are you so sure?”

 The Blue Lion nudged Keith forward towards the castle entrance.

–That is beside the point. Continue your story, Kitten.

“Are you going to keep calling me 'Kitten' the whole time?”

 Keith finally voiced, not really annoyed but more curious.

–If you prefer another, that is fine. You are a kitten.

“No, I get it. It’s fine.”

 Keith smiled bittersweetly. It was one of his first nicknames, since that was what Cale called him and Ohn until he learned their names.

 He decided to transition to cat language when talking to the Lion, and finally started following the others who had been waiting for him.

 Blue moved elsewhere, probably to wherever the hangar bay was, and left Keith to himself and the others.

‘Let's explore this castle then. And it isn't like it's haunted by ghosts like Raon's.’

“What are you muttering about, Keith?”

 Shiro’s voice cut through Keith’s thoughts, startling him.

 He had spoken out loud again. Keith had thought he had finally gotten past that habit.

“Uh… hello~? Anyone home~? We come in peace!”

 Hunk called out loudly to the residents of the castle… or whoever else lived here.

 Keith hid a soft chuckle as he remembered how everyone reacted back home to seeing a dragon ghost. Technically.

–Where were we?

 Blue called Keith’s attention from wherever the Lion was, causing Keith to freeze for a moment.

‘Right.’

<Um… yes. I think… right! So, my dad is the coolest person in every world, and I have an older sister and a little brother. We’ve been with Dad since the very beginning of the wars!>

 Keith spoke animatedly, his face blank but his eyes lively as he relived his life as Hong in his head.

 He walked with his hand on the wall so he wouldn’t crash, but his focus on his memories caused him to not notice the others’ odd looks as he meowed.

“What is he doing?”

 Lance whispered to the others, mostly Shiro, for some kind of answer.

“No clue.”

 Hunk responded first, pausing momentarily from his Alien-Calling to comment.

“I spent time with him for a while, and I still don’t know Keith that well.”

 Shiro shrugged, his expression complicated.

“How long have you known Keith?”

 Pidge started her new round of interrogation.

“Well…”

 Shiro spoke, and in some distant part of Keith’s mind, he heard the man, but Keith was busy talking about his adventures with his Dad, Noona, and Dongsaeng.

<There was this bastard called White Star—really bad name, I know—who was a reincarnator and thought that Dad was only able to thwart his plans ‘cause he was his destined enemy. He was an idiot, obviously, because Dad didn’t know who the hell the White Radish Bastard even was! And—I think I got off topic, hold on…>

 Keith stopped meowing and began humming as he tried to remember where he had trailed off, only then noticing the looks the others were giving him.

“What’s up with you guys?”

 All of Keith’s excitement from chatting about Cale had been doused in an instant once he had caught back up with reality, becoming even colder than he had been before they left Earth.

 His gaze was disinterested as he glanced them over and disregarded their painfully obvious attempt to interact with him.

“Keith.”

 Shiro began, trying to make conversation as Keith felt his skin crawl.

 He didn’t know why, but he just felt a foreboding sensation. Weird.

“Woah.”

 Hunk and Lance voiced together, interrupting whatever Shiro had been about to say further.

 The five of them came to a strange chamber with two cocoon-like pods that weren’t submerged like the others around.

 Lance approached one of the strange cocoons, and just as he was about to knock, it opened and a girl fell out.

 She groaned as Lance held her steady.

“Woah… hey there, miss.”

 With a smirk, Lance was about to introduce himself after reorienting the poor alien girl.

“You… your ears are the ugliest things I have ever seen.”

 The stranger spoke bluntly with a grimace, leaving Lance somewhat dazed and offended as Keith tried not to laugh at the guy who had been an annoyance from the start.

“Ugh!”

 The alien girl seemed to have regained her strength as she maneuvered Lance into a much more painful position as she locked his arms behind his back.

“Who are you? How did you get here? And where is King Alfor?”

 The girl tightened her grip as Shiro attempted to get closer, making Lance flail at the sharpened pain.

“Listen, Ma’am. Do you know why we were brought here? What exactly do you know? Who is King Alfor?”

 Shiro attempted to get answers from the alien as she frowned at the pathetic attempt of an interrogation.

“I am Princess Allura of Altea. What time is it? How long have I been asleep?”

 Princess Allura shoved Lance away, who pinwheeled and tried to regain his footing haphazardly, and brought up some sort of console screen thing that Keith couldn’t exactly name, but it reminded him of a Magic Communication Crystal.

 Keith missed Raon. Raon would’ve figured out how the magic-machine-thing worked already.

 He missed his hallucinations too. At least then he could see his family sometimes, even if they were just illusions.

 The second pod opened, revealing a ginger-haired alien man. He instantly mistook Lance for an enemy, and they both started fighting like a bad action movie.

 Pidge burst into laughter, falling onto the floor as she tried to breathe. Hunk crouched down to try and help her, but he really didn’t know what he was doing.

 Keith watched everything unfold as he spiraled deeper into the pit of despair…

‘No! Dad sealed that despair bastard! Don’t give in! This was his doing, wasn’t it! I'll smack that bastard on the back, god or not! Damn bastard! He was the one who separated me from my family! I'll kill him!’

 Keith’s blood boiled and he seethed as he figured out, not for the first time, that it was the god of Despair’s doing.

 Another thought crossed his mind immediately after he resurfaced from drowning in despair.

‘How can one kill a god? Would Death know? How can I ask Death… this might get confusing. I'll give them all nicknames again! Death will be Daniel! Despair will be Fred! I would not like Fred as my name, so Fred will be Despair’s name! Muahahahaha!!!’

 Keith smoothed the smirk on his face back into his blank and expressionless poker face.

 He learned from the best. No one could ever tell what Cale was thinking except Ohn! Even that could sometimes be tricky if he does something unexpected…

<Dad told all his allies and enemies that all he wanted was his slacker life, but he does so much weird stuff that no one believes him. It’s very funny. Dad became a commander and retired and still didn’t become a slacker because he had to somehow kill the White Radish.>

 Keith didn’t realize that he was telling more of the story to Blue as he rambled on through his memories.

 Allura was focused on the screen, but still looked at Keith curiously when he meowed randomly.

 The ginger, who had introduced himself as Coran after finishing his awkward battle with Lance, also looked at Keith with an unreadable gaze.

–A slacker?

 Blue responded with a smile in her voice.

 Keith released a somewhat disbelieving sigh as a small smile crept onto his face.

<Yeah. Dad’s dream.>

–He sounds like a very kind human.

<Yep! But he always claims to be absolutely despicable trash. Would you believe that on multiple occasions he has been mistaken for a dragon?>

–Odd. What is a dragon?

 Keith flinched, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the others around him.

<Well… I don’t really know how to explain it, but a single dragon could probably wipe out all the Galra if their attribute is combat oriented. Like Goldie Gramps! He has a dust attribute!>

–What is an attribute? Your home sounds very interesting. A single dragon getting rid of every Galra at once. How strong.

<Yeah! Goldie Gramps is strong, but Dad could be so much stronger if he went full power! Except… no one wants Dad to get hurt. Dad getting hurt feels really bad inside.>

–Hm.

 The Lion did not tell Keith about a small observation she had made.

 The kitten seemed to act more like a child when it came to his dad than any other time.

 Keith’s Dad must be a wonderful parent then.

 Keith quieted, waiting for another response from the Lion. It was rude to rush such things.

 Allura gasped as some numbers came up on the big screen she had been staring at.

 She collapsed to the ground as she murmured to herself.

“Ten thousand…?”

“What is it Princess?”

 Coran stood next to Allura, gaping at the numbers.

“We have been asleep for ten thousand years!”

 Keith flinched.

‘That… is the same amount of time that passed since the Ancient Times. Most of Dad's Ancient Powers are from then. The Altean Princess has been asleep that long?’

 Keith could understand some of what the Princess felt.

 He didn’t know when he would ever see his family again, if ever.

 The difference between them was that Keith had the possibility to find them again.

 A small difference on paper was a stark contrast in reality.

 After all, one was more than zero.