On Darkling Wings - III
Title: On Darkling Wings
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defenders
Pairing: Keith/Shiro, Shiro/OMC
Warnings: This is a reincarnation AU. They don't stay dead permanently, but they ARE reincarnated, therefore, must die. A lot. To get reincarnated a lot. Also mentions of non-con (not Shiro/Keith).
Summary: Eons ago, a legend was born about the Darkling; a Demi-God who stole the God Caltek's most prized possession. The reality was far more tragic, for eons ago, the Gods created a perfect creature. Shiro was beautiful and they fought amongst themselves to keep him. Caltek, God of War, won the right and he pampered and cared for this perfect being. His creature was human though, and humans, no matter how perfectly they had been formed, were fiercely independent. When the Darkling fell to Shiro's world, he taught Shiro the nature of love, and of the prison his life was.
Caught in a tryst and on the eve of their escape, the God Caltek cursed the two lovers. Their souls would be forever bound, life after life, death after death, but only one would remember.
Keith was just a child, but he knew the face when he saw it. Shiro wasn't much more than a boy himself, but he was stumbling and Keith could see the red flush of fever on his face and the exhaustion of his body. No doctor would help him now. No one that would touch him, anyway. He'd fall in the gutter at some point and they'd scoop him up and put him in the cart, collect him with the others, and not even bother to see if he was still breathing or not.
Keith let out a deep breath and pushed back the sting behind his eyes. He forced himself up and walked over to the other boy even though his own body ached. "Hey, can you hear me?" The boy looked up at him, eyes clouded with the fever. It was by sheer will that he stood at all. "Come on. I'm Keith. I'm going to take you home with me. I'll look after you."
The boy didn't say anything, but when Keith took his arm and pulled it over his shoulder, Shiro leaned against him. When Keith put his arm around his waist and began to walk, Shiro walked with him. It was a long walk, but it wasn't like they had any other place to be. Keith had never seen Shiro in town so he didn't know if he had family looking for him or not, but if he did ... well ... that was too bad because he had Keith now.
Forever.
When he got to the building, Keith pulled Shiro to the back and ducked down to pull aside the planks that were covering the hole in the side of the building. He shoved Shiro down first and heard him fall hard on the floor as if his legs had given out, but there was nothing to it. He'd been afraid if he left him outside on his own he wouldn't follow.
Keith snuck down and pulled the wood planks back to hide his entrance. Only a few people knew where Keith was holed up these days and none of them would come looking for some time. He would have time with Shiro. A little, anyway.
He found Shiro sitting up, which was a good sign. He looked around the room and Keith gave him a small smile when their eyes met. "Do you want some water?" Keith asked. "Something to eat?"
"Water?" Shiro asked. "I'm not hungry, but I'm really thirsty."
Fever did that. Keith thought about arguing with Shiro, but he didn't think a few bites of old apple and stale bread would matter one way or another. Instead, he got a cup and dunked it in his fresh water barrel. He handed it to Shiro who took it with a smile. "What is this place?' he asked.
"Used to be an Inn. Whole bunch of people got sick and they closed the place up. Burnt it to the ground mostly, but the rains came and it didn't burn down to the basement. It makes a good enough hiding place."
Shiro nodded as Keith found his bag of food. He managed to get Shiro to eat a few bites without having to fight and Keith finished the rest off himself. He needed his strength to see Shiro through this.
"How old are you?" Shiro asked.
Keith led Shiro over to his bed and when Shiro laid down, Keith curled up next to him. "Five. 'Bout you?"
"Eleven," Shiro said as he ran a hand down Keith's back. "I'm sorry," he didn't stop touching Keith's back as he spoke and Keith just hummed. "I'm sick. I don't have anywhere else to go."
"I know," Keith said softly. "I am too. We can be sick together." Shiro chuckled at that and it made something in Keith feel lighter. He closed his eyes and wrapped his fingers in Shiro's free hand. "This is better than the other times," Keith said. He was suddenly so tired and Shiro was right there.
Shiro yawned and Keith looked up with sleepy eyes. He leaned up and pressed a kiss to Shiro's lips.
"Hey, I'm a boy. You're not supposed to kiss me."
"I wanted to though," Keith defended. "When someone is sick you kiss them to make them better."
"That's for scraped knees, silly," Shiro informed him.
"So? I wanted to."
Shiro sighed. "Okay. I guess it's okay since it's just the two of us. But don't go kissing other boys."
"Just you," Keith agreed.
Shiro pulled him closer and Keith swore he could feel the press of lips against his hair. "Thank you, Keith. I didn't want to d... be alone."
Tears prickled in his eyes and this time he didn't try to stop them. "Me either. We found each other again though, so that's okay. I love you, Shiro."
"I think ... Keith, I think tomorrow I'll love you too."
Keith looked up at Shiro and they were both smiling. Shiro was the one who pressed his lips to Keith's and then he pulled him back into his arms. As Keith began to fall asleep, his last thought was that this was his favorite way to go so far.
Three days later, Keith's gang came looking for him. They found Keith and Shiro still wrapped together as if in slumber, taken by the plague that had ravaged the country.
***
Keith couldn't remember a time when Shiro hadn't been his everything. As a child, he remembered looking up to the young Lord and how great his pleasure was when Shiro would take his hand and walk with him through the fields. Shiro would patiently explain the movements as the warriors trained with sword and bow and body. Keith couldn't imagine a life grander than being a samurai under Lord Shiro's noble watch.
As he grew, he sometimes remembered things that weren't right. He woke screaming from horrible nightmares and his mother was never able to still them. Some said it was the death of his father that had so disturbed him, but after a bad night, it was only the presence of Lord Shiro that calmed him. Keith never spoke of what he saw, on his mother's advice. He had spoken to her of it, but the outlandish worlds he spoke of were child's play and nothing more than a figment of his imagination. She feared what others would say of him if they heard.
"Another bad night?" Shiro asked as Keith looked across the open field, waiting for dawn.
Keith let out a deep breath and the still of the sleeping world filled him with the ease that his own sleep never did. He was not a child any longer, no longer a student of war either, but a warrior in his own right. Many things changed over the years, but this hadn't. Shiro still calmed him. Which was fitting when Keith's nightmares, for years, had been of Shiro's dying.
Keith nodded. Shiro took his silence in good nature as he always did. "One of these days I will get you to share with me what fills your nights with such horrors. No child of our village ever cried out so brokenly, and no man has been so vigilant to guard his own mind as you have."
"My thoughts are yours," Keith said with a small grin. "My life and blood are yours. Am I not allowed to keep something for myself?"
Shiro's eyes tightened and his brow furrowed. "I'm not some old fool. I know what bothers you, Keith. I just wish I understood better. No one in this village has not heard the way you break every night, crying out my name. I don't know what you see happening to me, but if these visions are to come to pass, won't telling me stop them?"
Keith's eyes widened. No one had ever mentioned it in that manner before. He didn't know he called his Lord's name each night, nor that he was so loud they all knew. Keith let out a deep breath. "They are not visions. They are simply nightmares of things that couldn't possibly be. My mother believed they were simply the overactive imagination of a boy without a father."
"I am not your mother."
Keith took a few steps towards the field but stopped. "Give me my horrors," Keith said softly. "There is no rest in the night for me. The least I can do is keep guard of my nightmares so they don't assail others in my stead." Keith turned to the archery fields then and began his morning rituals a bit early.
The feel of the bow in hand.
The pull of the string.
The sound of an arrow released.
These things gave him relief. They eased the dread of night from his eyes and they gave him the peace he needed to embrace this day, and not wonder at the curious worlds and terrifying deaths he witnessed. He didn't believe they were simple nightmares no matter what others had said. Keith wasn't a scholar by any means, but he was as well-read as anyone but the Lord Shiro and his fantastical worlds had a history to them that Keith could feel. His imagination was not so great as to dream up the grit of gladiator arenas or the stench of plagues. He was certainly no hero as some would claim him to be. That was the truth of it all. Beyond the worlds he saw, and the death that lingered behind his eyes, one fact was true in every single one of them. Keith loved Shiro in all of them, and he failed him each time. In this life, he refused to be that man.
He let out a deep breath and pulled back the string again.
Shiro's hand on his shoulder in recognition of a job well done.
Shiro's hand hold his as a young boy, leading him along the path.
Shiro's eyes on him as he watched Keith train in sword and bow.
Shiro's hand on his hip, the other on his wrist, as he had taught Keith the art of the draw.
Shiro's lips, against his temple, in the dark of the night when only Shiro could keep the wolves at bay.
Shiro, his Lord, his secret lover. The man he would protect at all cost.
These gave him strength. Even when the darkness of the world pulled him under, the light that Shiro brought grounded him. He was the truth Keith would always seek. The song he longed to hear. The words that needed to be written and read and preserved.
A hand fell on his shoulder and Keith looked to see Hunk standing beside him. "It's time."
Keith nodded as he went out into the field to pull the arrows from the target and replaced them. They would want for more, before noon. The other clan had arrived the night before and though Lord Shiro was brave and noble, their clan was smaller and alone. Foreign money and promises of titles were more important to the other clans than the old ways and the doing of right. They had become vipers for hire, striking where paid, and denying the old alliances. If he looked, Keith knew that even the sword and bow would be replaced in some places with guns and their powder.
There was no winning. Keith could only hope to defend Shiro with his last breath, to die one more time in his service, and hope that he was faithful to his oath. He could not save Shiro today, but he could die before him, putting his own blood to the blade before him.
***
The operating theatre was full of students and spectators of local renown, and Dr. Kogane finished the procedure to the claps and cheers of the audience. He gave a slight bow as he dipped his hands in the bowl of water and began to clean the blood from them. A towel was handed to him and he dried them. They shouted his name but he ignored them all. He gave lecture like this, performed for them so they could be bettered in their attempts, but he had no desire for their accolades.
He was a man of medicine but he had other memories, of a time when these things were healed by other means. He had been a soldier though, not a man of medicine. The understanding of how they healed was lost to him. Now, he did his best to help with what modern science could give him.
He left the theatre and headed into the back room as he unrolled his shirt sleeves. He buttoned them up, then pulled his jacket on over his vest and straightened his clothes. He looked a proper gentleman as he stepped away from the hospital, but he always felt it was a false disguise. Some days he woke from dreams so real he felt for wings in his back and fangs in his teeth. He was hardly a gentleman, but it was a necessary front.
He'd scraped his way up from the gutter, an orphan who found a patron who saw his intelligence and had taken him in. Dr. Holt had given him the same education as his children, both talented scientists. His son, Matthew was a fine physician and a dear friend. His daughter, Katie was on the fringe of science; as a Galvanist and a female, she faced skepticism from all sides. Keith loved her dearly as a sister, and she was of immeasurable help to his own personal pursuits.
He walked through the busy streets of the city, ignoring the passing of horses and carriages, ignoring the calls of whores. When he arrived home the maid took his jacket and long coat, though her look reminded him that she thought less of him because he refused to wear a hat and gloves, like a true-born gentleman might.
"Keith! You're home," Katie came into the foyer and he smiled at her. He placed a soft kiss on the side of her head and she smacked him in the chest. "I thought you were going to be at the hospital all day."
"I am a poor teacher. If I had stayed, I wouldn't have been able to stomach the questions."
"You mean the accolades," she countered. It was known that Keith hated the way people tried to hang on him. Rounds in the hospital after one of his lectures were usually punctuated with idiots who wanted to praise his brilliance rather than honest students who wanted to inquire about his methods.
"We should go out to dinner tonight," Katie said.
"Why do you keep such a talented staff of cooks if you refuse to eat at home?" Keith asked.
She rolled her eyes at him. "The others are out for the night as well. We could go out, do some research, and have a late dinner before we head back home."
He sighed but she leaned up and kissed his cheek before she spun off, presumably to get her cloak and hat. The maid hadn't yet left the foyer so she handed his jacket and long coat back. "Would you like a coat and hat for the evening?"
He would deny it, but if Katie were insisting on dinner, he had best dress the part completely. "Yes, thank you." She didn't smile at him, but he could see the desire clearly. There was a fond relationship between the staff of the house and their masters, more so than was proper, but it was a good home. "And have the carriage sent out. We'll be going to the manor."
A few moments later Katie joined him and they spent the rest of the afternoon at the manor laboratory. When they were done, they headed to dinner at the finest restaurant in the city. They should need a reservation but when Katie asked to see the chef and gave her name, they were immediately seated at the finest table.
"Ms. Holt," a booming voice called to them. He smiled as he watched the chef coming closer, arms thrown open wide and Katie stood to return the embrace. "You are as beautiful as you are smart," the chef said with a grin.
Keith stood as well because it would only be a moment before he was held in the same embrace. Katie laughed at the compliment as she took a step back and Keith was enfolded. "And look at the esteemed Dr. Kogane in my humble restaurant."
"Hunk, you seem well," he said to the chef. In another day, another age, they had barely known one another but they had been bound by love of another. Keith knew little of him then, but this man was a close friend in this life.
"What brings you here so late?"
"Just work," Keith said with a smile. "Katie wanted to go out and we thought you might have something special for us."
Hunk pulled him tight one more time, then patted him on the back. "You'll get the best I can make, as always," Hunk said. "Something on the menu?"
"Something special," Katie said. "We trust the chef to bring us something worthwhile."
"Chef's choice it is then," Hunk answered, as if they would ever order from the menu while Hunk was cooking.
They settled into their seats then and left the cooking to their friend. Katie continued to speak quietly about her experiments and Keith listened, as enrapt as always at the excitement of her voice and the sheer scope of her brilliance. She was mocked by modern science because what woman could understand their world? The joke was on them because she was so far beyond their understanding of science.
She loved her work and was often immersed in it, at the detriment of her health if she were left to her own devices. Keith was frequently sent to fetch her from the manor. And any other of the family who forgot to return for mealtimes. Matthew and their father were just as bad.
Keith spent his weeks at the hospital. He spent his weekends at the manor with Katie, his own personal experiments turning in a laboratory beside hers. He had lost too much over the years, been helpless too many times. He meant to change it. He meant to take what he knew and change the world.
"I need to compliment the chef!" Keith heard from a table on the other side of the room.
There were few people left. Hunk had brought out a delicious meal and he and Katie had eaten slowly, continuing their debate. They knew that when the kitchen was done and the cleanup was through, Hunk would join them for dessert and a drink to toast their friendship.
He looked over because he knew the voice. He had never met the man nor heard him in the here and now, but it wasn't the first life they'd shared. He watched as Hunk came into the room and smiled wide at the other man. "Lance!"
Keith watched as Hunk and Lance shared small talk and he took the chance to look at the other man. Lance was dressed well, like a nobleman in silk finery and bright colors that seemed to suit his personality so well. He smiled as he spoke, hands animated as he shared some adventure with Hunk.
"Did something catch your eye?" Katie teased as she laid a hand on his, bringing his attention back to her.
He realized what she meant and he let out a sharp huff of laughter. "I was just interested in seeing who else knew Hunk," he said. He wasn't sure how else to hide his interest in Lance. Lance was the last of the three servants. He didn't meet them every life. Some lives he didn't remember them at all until his deathbed.
He could never decide which was better, but in this lifetime, he had been blessed with both Katie and Hunk, and the memories of other lives. With the appearance of Lance, he had hopes that the real reason for his reincarnation would arrive soon.
"Keith, Katie, you have got to meet someone!"
Hunk called out and left Lance as he came to them. "Will you join my friend and I for an after-dinner treat?" Hunk asked.
Katie nodded. "Of course. Any friend of yours is a friend of ours."
"I was hoping you'd agree. Give me a few minutes and come to the back booth and I'll have something for you."
He left to go prepare whatever he still needed to and Keith and Katie finished the final bits of their meal. He saw Hunk come out again with a tray and when he caught Keith's eye he gestured them over. Keith pulled Katie away from their table and towards the back of the restaurant.
"Eager?" Katie asked with a grin.
"For Hunk's cooking? Yes," he said as they came up to the table. Fresh fruit was set in a platter in the middle of the table. Five plates were set around the table with an amazing looking dish of cake, fruit, and crème that Keith would have been slobbering over at any other time.
Except as they arrive at the table Lance stood to greet them, his friend with him.
"Keith, Katie, this is my friend Lance. He's a journalist with the Times and tells a great yarn. I used to work for Katie's family. In fact, the Holts were my patrons when I was building this place. They helped me move out of their kitchen and into this one."
"The Holt's? Samuel Holt the mathematician? Matthew Holt the physician?" Lance asked.
"Katie Holt, the scientist," Katie said as she held her hand out. Lance smiled as he took it and kissed the back of it lightly. She looked at Keith and introduced him as well. "Dr. Keith Kogane, surgeon."
"Dr. Kogane, I've heard a lot about your work," Lance said.
"I wouldn't think a newspaper would be the place for a lot of talk about the surgical world," Katie said.
Keith was barely able to keep his concentration on the conversation, but Lance laughed and Keith couldn't help but smile at that. He'd heard Lance in too many perilous circumstances and not enough happy ones.
"It isn't, not often anyway. However, my friend here is a follower of your work. Dr. Kogane, I'd like to introduce you, and Ms. Holt, to Takashi Shirogane."
"Doctor, it is an honor," Shiro said. Keith couldn't help but stare. Shiro stood before him in a dark suit with a purple vest and silver tie. He was beautiful. A quick glance showed two perfectly human arms and there was no scar over his nose.
"Please, call me Keith," he said without thought of how inappropriate it was.
Shiro smiled though and he ignored the small snicker from Katie. She must have thought he'd been watching Shiro the whole time, even if he'd only actually just seen him.
"My friends call me Shiro," Shiro said as he offered Keith his hand. Keith shook it quickly, afraid if he held on too long he'd do something truly unacceptable.
"Shiro is a policeman," Lance said as they all took a seat around the table.
"It's a noble profession," Keith said.
"And a dangerous one," Katie followed with.
Shiro ducked his head and his cheeks colored slightly. "It can be but upholding the law and bringing the guilty to justice is a worthwhile cause."
"I agree," Keith said.
"It's not life-saving like surgery," Shiro said.
Keith smiled. "It has its moments."
"This looks delicious, Hunk," Katie said as she began to reach for her dessert. They all complimented the chef and began to eat. It was as good as it looked, but not near so good as the company.
Lance entertained with anecdotes from the newspaper and Hunk countered with stories of his customers and suppliers. Katie and Keith talked a little about their own work but Keith's wasn't the sort of thing you discussed over a meal. Shiro even told stories of incompetent criminals and cases that had been hilariously solved.
Keith couldn't remember a better evening spent in the company of friends. It had been easy, even though he and Katie had never met Lance or Shiro before. The chemistry between the five of them had been instant and laughter flowed as freely as ideas between them.
Eventually though, the hours grew late and it was time to find sleep for the last few hours before sunrise. They agreed to meet up at the opera house the next night. Hunk had box seats that he usually shared with the Holts. Shiro and Lance accepted the invitation quickly and Keith was looking forward to the opera in ways he hadn't in quite some time.
When they said goodbye in front of the restaurant, Keith was surprised to be pulled into Shiro's embrace. He returned it as strongly as it was given and when he pulled back, he smiled at the slight blush on Shiro's cheeks.
"I'm sorry. That was, perhaps, too informal. But I feel as if I have known you for quite some time and not just this one night."
Keith smiled. "Maybe in some past life, if you believe in such things."
Shiro laughed. "I thought you were a man of science?"
"Science answers the questions we have about the universe, but there is still so much we don't know. I like to keep an open mind until science has it's say in such things."
"So a man of both science and the fancy of fairytales then."
Keith nodded. "There are times in life when I have found it is better to believe in mystery than to claim it false, simply because I can't prove it yet."
"Keith, our carriage is here," Katie called to him.
Keith nodded to Shiro, but it took everything in him to walk away. He gave Hunk a hug and shook hands with Lance before he helped Katie into the carriage.
"Until tomorrow night," Shiro called to him.
Keith smiled as he waved back at Shiro one more time before he stepped into the carriage and sat across from Katie.
"That was ... something," Katie said with a grin. Keith shook his head but he couldn't help but smile softly at the thought of Shiro. "It seemed ... reciprocated."
He looked up at her sharply and his smile dropped. "Katie."
"It was only the five of us. Lance seemed indulgent of Shiro's favor of you. I didn't see a reason to tell you how obvious you were being."
It was ridiculous that he had to hide his attraction to men in this life, but people were superstitious and their beliefs often led to closed minds and hardened hearts to those who thought differently. Keith had a hard enough time some days being a man of science.
"He was interesting," Keith said instead of arguing with her. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes. And quite handsome."
"Are you looking for a husband?"
Her laughter was delightful and he let it fill the carriage, his mind turning with the pleasure of what would come the next evening, and in the times yet to come.
The morning, however, brought a different tale entirely as a tragic mishap had Keith at the hospital all day working to heal the injuries of a massive accident in a factory. As he trudged through the halls of the hospital, still wearing his surgeon's apron and looking for any last patients he might help, he walked by an open door and found them.
Lance sat by a bed, his head down and his hands gripped tightly between his knees.
"Lance?" Keith called his name softly.
"Keith?" he looked up at Keith and before he could answer, Lance had him in a crushing embrace. "Thank God you're here."
"Lance, what happened?"
"Shiro."
Keith gripped Lance's arms and pushed him back to get past him to the bed he'd been sitting beside. "Shiro?" He moved to the bedside but he was afraid to do anything else as he looked down on Shiro's lifeless form.
"The accident. Shiro was called upon to help retrieve the injured from the factory. The factory collapsed further. Shiro was pinned. When they brought him here... his arm..."
Keith was already reaching for his right shoulder before Lance could finish. When he pulled the sheet of his shoulder, Keith saw that his arm had been amputated.
He closed his eyes and dropped his head against the pain in his chest. "Not again," he whispered.
"When they took him in, they said they didn't know if he'd survive the surgery. When they brought him out, they said he was already in God's hands."
"No," Keith said with a deep breath. "Shiro will never be left to a god's hands."
Lance looked at him, eyes wild. "They said-"
"I don't care what they said," he said vehemently. "I'll return. If anyone tries to move him to the morgue, tell them I have forbidden it."
He left the room before his grief could usurp his purpose. He turned it from weakness to strength. His knees that had wanted to buckle under the strain, he willed to steel as he strode from the hospital. His bent head he forced high with his back stiffened so that he could not bend and break.
He found the ambulance carriage and had the driver bring it to the back of the hospital. Then he quickly returned to the room where Shiro waited. He picked him up from the bed and began to carry him down the hallway.
He didn't know what Lance was saying, nor what anyone else spoke as he walked down the hall, still wearing his bloody apron, with Shiro in his arms, nor did he care. He crawled into the back of the vehicle with Shiro and laid him out on the bed. "Take us to the manor house," he instructed the driver.
Lance jumped into the front of the carriage as it was about to speed away. "Keith, what are you doing?"
He ignored him. Katie would already be at the lab. Her work, his theories, it would all come together tonight. He thought he would have more time but fate had come too soon. He was supposed to have years to perfect it, years to make sure nothing went wrong. Even as the carriage sped them on their way though, he buried his head in his hands and made it work in his mind's eye.
He would save Shiro. He had to.
"Katie!" The carriage hadn't come to a complete halt when he jumped out the door and ran for the manor. "Katie!" he screamed again as he pushed open the door. He ran towards the back where the laboratory was and met her partway there.
"Keith, what's wrong?"
"Shiro!"
"What happened?"
He grabbed her arms and pulled her close. "We have to save him. There was an accident and they amputated his arm. He didn't survive the trauma." She realized what he wanted then and her eyes widened. "Katie. I need you now. All of this, it was all for him."
"You just met him last night."
"It's hard to explain. I just ... Katie ... please."
"Okay, Keith. You know we're just as likely to kill him as save him."
"He's already gone, Katie," he sobbed the words as if saying them had made the situation real. As if saying it stole his strength and weakened his backbone.
"Go bring him in," Katie pushed him back towards the door and it got this feet moving. Lance was at the back of the ambulance. He and the driver had moved Shiro out of the carriage and Lance waited with him in his arms.
"This way," Keith said as he opened the French doors wide. Lance followed without question. Keith's laboratory was the smallest of the four in the Holt Manor, but he required little space for his work. His only major requirement was access to Katie and her work. As they entered the lab, Katie was throwing open the great doors between their two rooms. She began to move long tubes and wiring through them to reach the table that sat at the center of the room.
"Set Shiro on the operating table," Keith said as he began turning on his equipment.
There was a commotion behind him but Keith ignored it as he moved over to Shiro's body and ripped open his shirt.
"What the hell are you doing?" Lance grabbed Keith's arm but Keith pushed him away.
"I have no time for your questions," Keith said as he reached for scissors and cut off his pants. Lance was yelling and for a moment Keith thought her heard Hunk, but it was Katie's reassuring voice beyond it that filtered in. She was handling Lance and whatever else was coming their way. Shiro was left in his underclothes, a better specimen than Keith could ever have wished for and the one he could never have wanted to see on his table.
"Katie, I need to attach these."
"Keith, what are you doing?"
He looked up at Matthew as he walked into the room and he grit his teeth at the other scientists' interruption. He was as close to family as Keith had and he just hoped that what he was about to do didn't cause trouble for them all. "Using Katie's experiments with galvanic forces I believe it is possible to reanimate a lifeless corpse. Shiro died a heroic death in the line of duty and I don't intend to let that remain true."
Matthew's eyes were wide as he looked at Keith. They had discussed the uses of Katie's science, but Keith had never explained the full intent behind his own work. Re-energizing lifeless limbs and reversing paralysis were a long walk from bringing back the dead. Matthew took a deep breath though, straightened his back and nodded. "How can I help?"
Keith let out a deep breath. "Strap him to the table. Then I need to introduce the current at these points along the body," Keith said as he pointed to six points. "These need to be attached like this," he demonstrated as he adhered one to the left of the chest. He left Matthew to that as he looked over at Katie who had secured two of the tubes that would feed energy into his lab. He looked up to see her father, Dr. Samuel Holt, coming through the third set of lab doors with the last set of tubing. Keith had never discussed his work with Samuel, too fearful of his patron's disapproval.
"Perhaps you thought me too busy to keep track of my children's work," the doctor said as he began to hook the tubing, correctly and undirected, into the table where Shiro was lying, "but even if you wouldn't speak with me, Katie did and I'm quite capable of stealing into my own Manor House when my children are away and looking into their research. I had expected you to come to me soon, but it looks like I will have to forgo my surprise."
"Thank you, Sir," Keith felt his mouth too dry then, unable to say more through a thick tongue and a broken heart. Samuel finished and Keith turned back to the machine. Katie was inspecting Matthew's placement of the electrodes. Samuel was double checking the tubes, wires, and coils that connect his work with Katie's.
"I'm ready, Katie," he said as he looked over at her. Their eyes met and she nodded before she ran to the other room. Matthew followed her, more familiar with her work than with Keith's.
"If you do this, you will be a hunted man," Samuel said as he came to stand behind Keith. "The church will never let a man bring another to life."
"So long as Shiro lives, I don't care what they do to me," Keith said. He heard the choked off noise from the other room and realized that not only was Lance there but somehow Hunk had trailed them to the lab as well as half a dozen men of the hospital's medical staff. They must have followed in curiosity at his quick departure with Shiro's body, but as much as Keith wanted them out of the room he had no time to deal with them.
"If this goes wrong?" Samuel asked. "What then?"
Keith closed his eyes. He had one chance to save Shiro. If this didn't work, his body would be lost with no hope of reanimation. He refused to think of it though. If he didn't save Shiro, there was no hope for either of them in this lifetime. As much as he had loved them all, he would follow Shiro to his grave, as he had before, in defiance of a God.
"Keith, we're ready!" Katie called from the other room.
Keith took a deep breath and flipped the last of the switches to prepare it for the electrical current. "Go!"
The lights of the manor house began to dim and glow in pulses and Keith refused to allow the thought of failure to intrude into his head. He watched the gauge to see that the input was steady and that they had reached the stream necessary for the animation process. They had never tried anything like this. It had to work though. Keith couldn't watch him die again. The thought of life without Shiro, even a life that hadn't known him for more than a few hours, was unbearable.
Keith pressed open the electric gates and allowed the current to flow into the body on the table. The body jerked against the restraints that held him to the table but it was the current and not life. Not yet. Keith continued the flow of energy and ignored the sounds of distress among the medical professionals that had followed them there. In the back of his mind, he heard things like 'monster' and 'hubris' but he wasn't conscious of them now. They were simply the words of smaller men who didn't know that universes waited beyond their stars.
Katie was beside him now, running her fingers over the gages and reading them as easily as Keith could. "Keith, almost there," she spoke over the hum and buzz of the currents.
"Prepared to hit the switch," Keith said as he waited for her signal.
It was a few tense moments as he waited and he looked across the body to see Lance and Hunk, side by side, eyes wide in both horror and hope with what Keith was doing. He looked back at Katie then.
"Now!"
He flipped the switch and the entire room went dark. It only took a moment for the generators to flip back on but the voices of the small crowd rose quickly. Keith struggled in the dark to move to the table. He knew the lab well enough to make the journey without sight, but the connected wiring made the journey slower. When the lights came on he was almost there.
"Shiro?" he called the man's name, even though there had been no movement from the table. He looked down at the body and saw the red swelling around the restraints. Where the electrodes were attached Lichtenbergfigures appeared in tree-like formations across Shiro's skin. Keith wanted so much to touch, but he was afraid. He had never feared death, not for himself, but this was too much. He raised a hand, then drew back.
"Perhaps a physician should take a look," Matthew said beside him. Keith let out a shaky breath. He'd never been so grateful for the man he considered a brother. He had no memories of Matthew from the other life, but he hoped he knew him in future ones.
Matthew took his time, checking the body over and Keith bit his lip bloody as he waited. The room had the hush of expectation and Keith felt the others coming closer. Lance and Hunk had a place here, as well as Katie and Dr. Holt, but as much as he wanted to shoo the others away, he couldn't take his eyes from the questing fingers of Matthew Holt's medical examination.
"Keith," Matthew's voice was a bare whisper. He looked at Keith and there was horror in his eyes. "He has a pulse."
Keith stared at Matthew for a moment and then he looked at Shiro again. He brought his hands up to the electrodes and began to slowly pull them away from his skin. When that was done, he released the restraints.
"Will he wake?" Lance broke the silence. "Keith, you said you could save him. You said... you would not leave him in God's hands. Please..." Hunk took hold of Lance then, pulling his friend into a comforting embrace. Keith couldn't answer anything yet. He heard Dr. Holt pushing the medical members out of the laboratory with promises of further updates and Katie offered an explanation of her Galvanist science for any who wanted to hear while they waited.
Keith couldn't move from where he was. The body had a pulse. Breath pumped through his lungs and filled his chest. A soft whisper of air passed over his lips and Keith ran a hand over Shiro's brow.
"Any time now, Shiro," he said with a shaky voice. "We're all waiting for you. Hunk, Lance, Pidge, and I. We're all here."
Shiro's eyes held no show of motion behind them until they suddenly flew open and Shiro's hand clutched at his head. He screamed, in pain or madness Keith had no way of knowing.
"Shiro!" Keith called his name but the other man curled into himself and the guttural pain echoed off the walls of the room. "Shiro, please, talk to me."
Shiro opened his eyes then, red-rimmed and far more focused than Keith had expected. "What did you do?" Shiro demanded. "I wasn't ... I wasn't supposed to know."
He stumbled off the bed and Keith watched him trip on coltish legs. He slammed into the edge of the machine and Keith watched as a neat line of blood spilled from a thin cut across his nose. A cut deep enough to scar.
"Shiro, no, please." The scar. The arm. "Please, no," he begged.
"I'm not... I'm not supposed to remember."
He pushed off the ground but his screams had brought the others back and they stood staring at Shiro like he was some sort of monster. Shiro stumbled past but someone tried to stop him and Shiro reacted on the instinct of a man who had lived too many lives that led to death; one armed, but moving with a grace of fighter. Keith watched Shiro take each step with a new memory, not just of a cold God and the love he'd ruined, but of other lives as well. Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia. Babylon, Europe, France, Germany. How many lives had they lived together? How many times had Keith watched him die?
Now though, Keith could see every life, every bit of fighting instinct was primed in Shiro and the moment someone tried to stop him he reacted. Shiro screamed in rage, in confusion and panic, and lashed out at the man between him and the door. The hit was precise and the man was felled bloody and motionless on the floor. Someone screamed and Shiro continued his mad rant about not knowing and chaos filled the lab. Lance tried to protect his friend and Hunk went with him, but they were outnumbered by the others. Keith watched in desperation as they fell to the hands of his colleagues and neighbors.
"No!" Shiro shouted and he took the cane from a man's hands and beat him with it. Shiro didn't aim to maim though or to delay. He aimed with terrible accuracy for death, honed in lifetimes of combat and study.
Keith ran to protect Shiro, his own hands became bloodied then because no one could walk out to tell the tale. No one could know the truth. They had to kill every witness or Shiro would be executed before Keith got the chance to show him just how much he was loved.
The gunshot rang loud in the lab and Keith stared at Shiro, looking for the bullet wound, before he realized the shot hadn't been aimed at Shiro at all. He looked over at Samuel Holt, the man who had been like a father to him, his patron. A man who had given so much in so many different lives. There were tears in his eyes but Samuel held the gun resolutely. "Keith, what have you done?"
"KEITH!" Shiro screamed and ran to Keith's side.
Tears fell from Keith's eyes. He wanted to protect Shiro, with his very life, but not like this. Not knowing what was to come. "No, please," he begged Samuel.
Shiro fell to his knees beside Keith and pulled him into his arms. "Keith?"
A shot rang out a second time and Keith felt the weight of Shiro over him and knew it was over. He struggled under Shiro's weight and knew it was only a matter of time before he bled to death over Shiro's already dead body. He sobbed as he cupped Shiro's face and kissed his lips softly. "Next time," he cried. "Next time, I'll find you quicker."
He pressed a last kiss to Shiro's lips and didn't hear the third and final gunshot.
***
On to Chapter IV
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defenders
Pairing: Keith/Shiro, Shiro/OMC
Warnings: This is a reincarnation AU. They don't stay dead permanently, but they ARE reincarnated, therefore, must die. A lot. To get reincarnated a lot. Also mentions of non-con (not Shiro/Keith).
Summary: Eons ago, a legend was born about the Darkling; a Demi-God who stole the God Caltek's most prized possession. The reality was far more tragic, for eons ago, the Gods created a perfect creature. Shiro was beautiful and they fought amongst themselves to keep him. Caltek, God of War, won the right and he pampered and cared for this perfect being. His creature was human though, and humans, no matter how perfectly they had been formed, were fiercely independent. When the Darkling fell to Shiro's world, he taught Shiro the nature of love, and of the prison his life was.
Caught in a tryst and on the eve of their escape, the God Caltek cursed the two lovers. Their souls would be forever bound, life after life, death after death, but only one would remember.
Keith was just a child, but he knew the face when he saw it. Shiro wasn't much more than a boy himself, but he was stumbling and Keith could see the red flush of fever on his face and the exhaustion of his body. No doctor would help him now. No one that would touch him, anyway. He'd fall in the gutter at some point and they'd scoop him up and put him in the cart, collect him with the others, and not even bother to see if he was still breathing or not.
Keith let out a deep breath and pushed back the sting behind his eyes. He forced himself up and walked over to the other boy even though his own body ached. "Hey, can you hear me?" The boy looked up at him, eyes clouded with the fever. It was by sheer will that he stood at all. "Come on. I'm Keith. I'm going to take you home with me. I'll look after you."
The boy didn't say anything, but when Keith took his arm and pulled it over his shoulder, Shiro leaned against him. When Keith put his arm around his waist and began to walk, Shiro walked with him. It was a long walk, but it wasn't like they had any other place to be. Keith had never seen Shiro in town so he didn't know if he had family looking for him or not, but if he did ... well ... that was too bad because he had Keith now.
Forever.
When he got to the building, Keith pulled Shiro to the back and ducked down to pull aside the planks that were covering the hole in the side of the building. He shoved Shiro down first and heard him fall hard on the floor as if his legs had given out, but there was nothing to it. He'd been afraid if he left him outside on his own he wouldn't follow.
Keith snuck down and pulled the wood planks back to hide his entrance. Only a few people knew where Keith was holed up these days and none of them would come looking for some time. He would have time with Shiro. A little, anyway.
He found Shiro sitting up, which was a good sign. He looked around the room and Keith gave him a small smile when their eyes met. "Do you want some water?" Keith asked. "Something to eat?"
"Water?" Shiro asked. "I'm not hungry, but I'm really thirsty."
Fever did that. Keith thought about arguing with Shiro, but he didn't think a few bites of old apple and stale bread would matter one way or another. Instead, he got a cup and dunked it in his fresh water barrel. He handed it to Shiro who took it with a smile. "What is this place?' he asked.
"Used to be an Inn. Whole bunch of people got sick and they closed the place up. Burnt it to the ground mostly, but the rains came and it didn't burn down to the basement. It makes a good enough hiding place."
Shiro nodded as Keith found his bag of food. He managed to get Shiro to eat a few bites without having to fight and Keith finished the rest off himself. He needed his strength to see Shiro through this.
"How old are you?" Shiro asked.
Keith led Shiro over to his bed and when Shiro laid down, Keith curled up next to him. "Five. 'Bout you?"
"Eleven," Shiro said as he ran a hand down Keith's back. "I'm sorry," he didn't stop touching Keith's back as he spoke and Keith just hummed. "I'm sick. I don't have anywhere else to go."
"I know," Keith said softly. "I am too. We can be sick together." Shiro chuckled at that and it made something in Keith feel lighter. He closed his eyes and wrapped his fingers in Shiro's free hand. "This is better than the other times," Keith said. He was suddenly so tired and Shiro was right there.
Shiro yawned and Keith looked up with sleepy eyes. He leaned up and pressed a kiss to Shiro's lips.
"Hey, I'm a boy. You're not supposed to kiss me."
"I wanted to though," Keith defended. "When someone is sick you kiss them to make them better."
"That's for scraped knees, silly," Shiro informed him.
"So? I wanted to."
Shiro sighed. "Okay. I guess it's okay since it's just the two of us. But don't go kissing other boys."
"Just you," Keith agreed.
Shiro pulled him closer and Keith swore he could feel the press of lips against his hair. "Thank you, Keith. I didn't want to d... be alone."
Tears prickled in his eyes and this time he didn't try to stop them. "Me either. We found each other again though, so that's okay. I love you, Shiro."
"I think ... Keith, I think tomorrow I'll love you too."
Keith looked up at Shiro and they were both smiling. Shiro was the one who pressed his lips to Keith's and then he pulled him back into his arms. As Keith began to fall asleep, his last thought was that this was his favorite way to go so far.
Three days later, Keith's gang came looking for him. They found Keith and Shiro still wrapped together as if in slumber, taken by the plague that had ravaged the country.
***
Keith couldn't remember a time when Shiro hadn't been his everything. As a child, he remembered looking up to the young Lord and how great his pleasure was when Shiro would take his hand and walk with him through the fields. Shiro would patiently explain the movements as the warriors trained with sword and bow and body. Keith couldn't imagine a life grander than being a samurai under Lord Shiro's noble watch.
As he grew, he sometimes remembered things that weren't right. He woke screaming from horrible nightmares and his mother was never able to still them. Some said it was the death of his father that had so disturbed him, but after a bad night, it was only the presence of Lord Shiro that calmed him. Keith never spoke of what he saw, on his mother's advice. He had spoken to her of it, but the outlandish worlds he spoke of were child's play and nothing more than a figment of his imagination. She feared what others would say of him if they heard.
"Another bad night?" Shiro asked as Keith looked across the open field, waiting for dawn.
Keith let out a deep breath and the still of the sleeping world filled him with the ease that his own sleep never did. He was not a child any longer, no longer a student of war either, but a warrior in his own right. Many things changed over the years, but this hadn't. Shiro still calmed him. Which was fitting when Keith's nightmares, for years, had been of Shiro's dying.
Keith nodded. Shiro took his silence in good nature as he always did. "One of these days I will get you to share with me what fills your nights with such horrors. No child of our village ever cried out so brokenly, and no man has been so vigilant to guard his own mind as you have."
"My thoughts are yours," Keith said with a small grin. "My life and blood are yours. Am I not allowed to keep something for myself?"
Shiro's eyes tightened and his brow furrowed. "I'm not some old fool. I know what bothers you, Keith. I just wish I understood better. No one in this village has not heard the way you break every night, crying out my name. I don't know what you see happening to me, but if these visions are to come to pass, won't telling me stop them?"
Keith's eyes widened. No one had ever mentioned it in that manner before. He didn't know he called his Lord's name each night, nor that he was so loud they all knew. Keith let out a deep breath. "They are not visions. They are simply nightmares of things that couldn't possibly be. My mother believed they were simply the overactive imagination of a boy without a father."
"I am not your mother."
Keith took a few steps towards the field but stopped. "Give me my horrors," Keith said softly. "There is no rest in the night for me. The least I can do is keep guard of my nightmares so they don't assail others in my stead." Keith turned to the archery fields then and began his morning rituals a bit early.
The feel of the bow in hand.
The pull of the string.
The sound of an arrow released.
These things gave him relief. They eased the dread of night from his eyes and they gave him the peace he needed to embrace this day, and not wonder at the curious worlds and terrifying deaths he witnessed. He didn't believe they were simple nightmares no matter what others had said. Keith wasn't a scholar by any means, but he was as well-read as anyone but the Lord Shiro and his fantastical worlds had a history to them that Keith could feel. His imagination was not so great as to dream up the grit of gladiator arenas or the stench of plagues. He was certainly no hero as some would claim him to be. That was the truth of it all. Beyond the worlds he saw, and the death that lingered behind his eyes, one fact was true in every single one of them. Keith loved Shiro in all of them, and he failed him each time. In this life, he refused to be that man.
He let out a deep breath and pulled back the string again.
Shiro's hand on his shoulder in recognition of a job well done.
Shiro's hand hold his as a young boy, leading him along the path.
Shiro's eyes on him as he watched Keith train in sword and bow.
Shiro's hand on his hip, the other on his wrist, as he had taught Keith the art of the draw.
Shiro's lips, against his temple, in the dark of the night when only Shiro could keep the wolves at bay.
Shiro, his Lord, his secret lover. The man he would protect at all cost.
These gave him strength. Even when the darkness of the world pulled him under, the light that Shiro brought grounded him. He was the truth Keith would always seek. The song he longed to hear. The words that needed to be written and read and preserved.
A hand fell on his shoulder and Keith looked to see Hunk standing beside him. "It's time."
Keith nodded as he went out into the field to pull the arrows from the target and replaced them. They would want for more, before noon. The other clan had arrived the night before and though Lord Shiro was brave and noble, their clan was smaller and alone. Foreign money and promises of titles were more important to the other clans than the old ways and the doing of right. They had become vipers for hire, striking where paid, and denying the old alliances. If he looked, Keith knew that even the sword and bow would be replaced in some places with guns and their powder.
There was no winning. Keith could only hope to defend Shiro with his last breath, to die one more time in his service, and hope that he was faithful to his oath. He could not save Shiro today, but he could die before him, putting his own blood to the blade before him.
***
The operating theatre was full of students and spectators of local renown, and Dr. Kogane finished the procedure to the claps and cheers of the audience. He gave a slight bow as he dipped his hands in the bowl of water and began to clean the blood from them. A towel was handed to him and he dried them. They shouted his name but he ignored them all. He gave lecture like this, performed for them so they could be bettered in their attempts, but he had no desire for their accolades.
He was a man of medicine but he had other memories, of a time when these things were healed by other means. He had been a soldier though, not a man of medicine. The understanding of how they healed was lost to him. Now, he did his best to help with what modern science could give him.
He left the theatre and headed into the back room as he unrolled his shirt sleeves. He buttoned them up, then pulled his jacket on over his vest and straightened his clothes. He looked a proper gentleman as he stepped away from the hospital, but he always felt it was a false disguise. Some days he woke from dreams so real he felt for wings in his back and fangs in his teeth. He was hardly a gentleman, but it was a necessary front.
He'd scraped his way up from the gutter, an orphan who found a patron who saw his intelligence and had taken him in. Dr. Holt had given him the same education as his children, both talented scientists. His son, Matthew was a fine physician and a dear friend. His daughter, Katie was on the fringe of science; as a Galvanist and a female, she faced skepticism from all sides. Keith loved her dearly as a sister, and she was of immeasurable help to his own personal pursuits.
He walked through the busy streets of the city, ignoring the passing of horses and carriages, ignoring the calls of whores. When he arrived home the maid took his jacket and long coat, though her look reminded him that she thought less of him because he refused to wear a hat and gloves, like a true-born gentleman might.
"Keith! You're home," Katie came into the foyer and he smiled at her. He placed a soft kiss on the side of her head and she smacked him in the chest. "I thought you were going to be at the hospital all day."
"I am a poor teacher. If I had stayed, I wouldn't have been able to stomach the questions."
"You mean the accolades," she countered. It was known that Keith hated the way people tried to hang on him. Rounds in the hospital after one of his lectures were usually punctuated with idiots who wanted to praise his brilliance rather than honest students who wanted to inquire about his methods.
"We should go out to dinner tonight," Katie said.
"Why do you keep such a talented staff of cooks if you refuse to eat at home?" Keith asked.
She rolled her eyes at him. "The others are out for the night as well. We could go out, do some research, and have a late dinner before we head back home."
He sighed but she leaned up and kissed his cheek before she spun off, presumably to get her cloak and hat. The maid hadn't yet left the foyer so she handed his jacket and long coat back. "Would you like a coat and hat for the evening?"
He would deny it, but if Katie were insisting on dinner, he had best dress the part completely. "Yes, thank you." She didn't smile at him, but he could see the desire clearly. There was a fond relationship between the staff of the house and their masters, more so than was proper, but it was a good home. "And have the carriage sent out. We'll be going to the manor."
A few moments later Katie joined him and they spent the rest of the afternoon at the manor laboratory. When they were done, they headed to dinner at the finest restaurant in the city. They should need a reservation but when Katie asked to see the chef and gave her name, they were immediately seated at the finest table.
"Ms. Holt," a booming voice called to them. He smiled as he watched the chef coming closer, arms thrown open wide and Katie stood to return the embrace. "You are as beautiful as you are smart," the chef said with a grin.
Keith stood as well because it would only be a moment before he was held in the same embrace. Katie laughed at the compliment as she took a step back and Keith was enfolded. "And look at the esteemed Dr. Kogane in my humble restaurant."
"Hunk, you seem well," he said to the chef. In another day, another age, they had barely known one another but they had been bound by love of another. Keith knew little of him then, but this man was a close friend in this life.
"What brings you here so late?"
"Just work," Keith said with a smile. "Katie wanted to go out and we thought you might have something special for us."
Hunk pulled him tight one more time, then patted him on the back. "You'll get the best I can make, as always," Hunk said. "Something on the menu?"
"Something special," Katie said. "We trust the chef to bring us something worthwhile."
"Chef's choice it is then," Hunk answered, as if they would ever order from the menu while Hunk was cooking.
They settled into their seats then and left the cooking to their friend. Katie continued to speak quietly about her experiments and Keith listened, as enrapt as always at the excitement of her voice and the sheer scope of her brilliance. She was mocked by modern science because what woman could understand their world? The joke was on them because she was so far beyond their understanding of science.
She loved her work and was often immersed in it, at the detriment of her health if she were left to her own devices. Keith was frequently sent to fetch her from the manor. And any other of the family who forgot to return for mealtimes. Matthew and their father were just as bad.
Keith spent his weeks at the hospital. He spent his weekends at the manor with Katie, his own personal experiments turning in a laboratory beside hers. He had lost too much over the years, been helpless too many times. He meant to change it. He meant to take what he knew and change the world.
"I need to compliment the chef!" Keith heard from a table on the other side of the room.
There were few people left. Hunk had brought out a delicious meal and he and Katie had eaten slowly, continuing their debate. They knew that when the kitchen was done and the cleanup was through, Hunk would join them for dessert and a drink to toast their friendship.
He looked over because he knew the voice. He had never met the man nor heard him in the here and now, but it wasn't the first life they'd shared. He watched as Hunk came into the room and smiled wide at the other man. "Lance!"
Keith watched as Hunk and Lance shared small talk and he took the chance to look at the other man. Lance was dressed well, like a nobleman in silk finery and bright colors that seemed to suit his personality so well. He smiled as he spoke, hands animated as he shared some adventure with Hunk.
"Did something catch your eye?" Katie teased as she laid a hand on his, bringing his attention back to her.
He realized what she meant and he let out a sharp huff of laughter. "I was just interested in seeing who else knew Hunk," he said. He wasn't sure how else to hide his interest in Lance. Lance was the last of the three servants. He didn't meet them every life. Some lives he didn't remember them at all until his deathbed.
He could never decide which was better, but in this lifetime, he had been blessed with both Katie and Hunk, and the memories of other lives. With the appearance of Lance, he had hopes that the real reason for his reincarnation would arrive soon.
"Keith, Katie, you have got to meet someone!"
Hunk called out and left Lance as he came to them. "Will you join my friend and I for an after-dinner treat?" Hunk asked.
Katie nodded. "Of course. Any friend of yours is a friend of ours."
"I was hoping you'd agree. Give me a few minutes and come to the back booth and I'll have something for you."
He left to go prepare whatever he still needed to and Keith and Katie finished the final bits of their meal. He saw Hunk come out again with a tray and when he caught Keith's eye he gestured them over. Keith pulled Katie away from their table and towards the back of the restaurant.
"Eager?" Katie asked with a grin.
"For Hunk's cooking? Yes," he said as they came up to the table. Fresh fruit was set in a platter in the middle of the table. Five plates were set around the table with an amazing looking dish of cake, fruit, and crème that Keith would have been slobbering over at any other time.
Except as they arrive at the table Lance stood to greet them, his friend with him.
"Keith, Katie, this is my friend Lance. He's a journalist with the Times and tells a great yarn. I used to work for Katie's family. In fact, the Holts were my patrons when I was building this place. They helped me move out of their kitchen and into this one."
"The Holt's? Samuel Holt the mathematician? Matthew Holt the physician?" Lance asked.
"Katie Holt, the scientist," Katie said as she held her hand out. Lance smiled as he took it and kissed the back of it lightly. She looked at Keith and introduced him as well. "Dr. Keith Kogane, surgeon."
"Dr. Kogane, I've heard a lot about your work," Lance said.
"I wouldn't think a newspaper would be the place for a lot of talk about the surgical world," Katie said.
Keith was barely able to keep his concentration on the conversation, but Lance laughed and Keith couldn't help but smile at that. He'd heard Lance in too many perilous circumstances and not enough happy ones.
"It isn't, not often anyway. However, my friend here is a follower of your work. Dr. Kogane, I'd like to introduce you, and Ms. Holt, to Takashi Shirogane."
"Doctor, it is an honor," Shiro said. Keith couldn't help but stare. Shiro stood before him in a dark suit with a purple vest and silver tie. He was beautiful. A quick glance showed two perfectly human arms and there was no scar over his nose.
"Please, call me Keith," he said without thought of how inappropriate it was.
Shiro smiled though and he ignored the small snicker from Katie. She must have thought he'd been watching Shiro the whole time, even if he'd only actually just seen him.
"My friends call me Shiro," Shiro said as he offered Keith his hand. Keith shook it quickly, afraid if he held on too long he'd do something truly unacceptable.
"Shiro is a policeman," Lance said as they all took a seat around the table.
"It's a noble profession," Keith said.
"And a dangerous one," Katie followed with.
Shiro ducked his head and his cheeks colored slightly. "It can be but upholding the law and bringing the guilty to justice is a worthwhile cause."
"I agree," Keith said.
"It's not life-saving like surgery," Shiro said.
Keith smiled. "It has its moments."
"This looks delicious, Hunk," Katie said as she began to reach for her dessert. They all complimented the chef and began to eat. It was as good as it looked, but not near so good as the company.
Lance entertained with anecdotes from the newspaper and Hunk countered with stories of his customers and suppliers. Katie and Keith talked a little about their own work but Keith's wasn't the sort of thing you discussed over a meal. Shiro even told stories of incompetent criminals and cases that had been hilariously solved.
Keith couldn't remember a better evening spent in the company of friends. It had been easy, even though he and Katie had never met Lance or Shiro before. The chemistry between the five of them had been instant and laughter flowed as freely as ideas between them.
Eventually though, the hours grew late and it was time to find sleep for the last few hours before sunrise. They agreed to meet up at the opera house the next night. Hunk had box seats that he usually shared with the Holts. Shiro and Lance accepted the invitation quickly and Keith was looking forward to the opera in ways he hadn't in quite some time.
When they said goodbye in front of the restaurant, Keith was surprised to be pulled into Shiro's embrace. He returned it as strongly as it was given and when he pulled back, he smiled at the slight blush on Shiro's cheeks.
"I'm sorry. That was, perhaps, too informal. But I feel as if I have known you for quite some time and not just this one night."
Keith smiled. "Maybe in some past life, if you believe in such things."
Shiro laughed. "I thought you were a man of science?"
"Science answers the questions we have about the universe, but there is still so much we don't know. I like to keep an open mind until science has it's say in such things."
"So a man of both science and the fancy of fairytales then."
Keith nodded. "There are times in life when I have found it is better to believe in mystery than to claim it false, simply because I can't prove it yet."
"Keith, our carriage is here," Katie called to him.
Keith nodded to Shiro, but it took everything in him to walk away. He gave Hunk a hug and shook hands with Lance before he helped Katie into the carriage.
"Until tomorrow night," Shiro called to him.
Keith smiled as he waved back at Shiro one more time before he stepped into the carriage and sat across from Katie.
"That was ... something," Katie said with a grin. Keith shook his head but he couldn't help but smile softly at the thought of Shiro. "It seemed ... reciprocated."
He looked up at her sharply and his smile dropped. "Katie."
"It was only the five of us. Lance seemed indulgent of Shiro's favor of you. I didn't see a reason to tell you how obvious you were being."
It was ridiculous that he had to hide his attraction to men in this life, but people were superstitious and their beliefs often led to closed minds and hardened hearts to those who thought differently. Keith had a hard enough time some days being a man of science.
"He was interesting," Keith said instead of arguing with her. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes. And quite handsome."
"Are you looking for a husband?"
Her laughter was delightful and he let it fill the carriage, his mind turning with the pleasure of what would come the next evening, and in the times yet to come.
The morning, however, brought a different tale entirely as a tragic mishap had Keith at the hospital all day working to heal the injuries of a massive accident in a factory. As he trudged through the halls of the hospital, still wearing his surgeon's apron and looking for any last patients he might help, he walked by an open door and found them.
Lance sat by a bed, his head down and his hands gripped tightly between his knees.
"Lance?" Keith called his name softly.
"Keith?" he looked up at Keith and before he could answer, Lance had him in a crushing embrace. "Thank God you're here."
"Lance, what happened?"
"Shiro."
Keith gripped Lance's arms and pushed him back to get past him to the bed he'd been sitting beside. "Shiro?" He moved to the bedside but he was afraid to do anything else as he looked down on Shiro's lifeless form.
"The accident. Shiro was called upon to help retrieve the injured from the factory. The factory collapsed further. Shiro was pinned. When they brought him here... his arm..."
Keith was already reaching for his right shoulder before Lance could finish. When he pulled the sheet of his shoulder, Keith saw that his arm had been amputated.
He closed his eyes and dropped his head against the pain in his chest. "Not again," he whispered.
"When they took him in, they said they didn't know if he'd survive the surgery. When they brought him out, they said he was already in God's hands."
"No," Keith said with a deep breath. "Shiro will never be left to a god's hands."
Lance looked at him, eyes wild. "They said-"
"I don't care what they said," he said vehemently. "I'll return. If anyone tries to move him to the morgue, tell them I have forbidden it."
He left the room before his grief could usurp his purpose. He turned it from weakness to strength. His knees that had wanted to buckle under the strain, he willed to steel as he strode from the hospital. His bent head he forced high with his back stiffened so that he could not bend and break.
He found the ambulance carriage and had the driver bring it to the back of the hospital. Then he quickly returned to the room where Shiro waited. He picked him up from the bed and began to carry him down the hallway.
He didn't know what Lance was saying, nor what anyone else spoke as he walked down the hall, still wearing his bloody apron, with Shiro in his arms, nor did he care. He crawled into the back of the vehicle with Shiro and laid him out on the bed. "Take us to the manor house," he instructed the driver.
Lance jumped into the front of the carriage as it was about to speed away. "Keith, what are you doing?"
He ignored him. Katie would already be at the lab. Her work, his theories, it would all come together tonight. He thought he would have more time but fate had come too soon. He was supposed to have years to perfect it, years to make sure nothing went wrong. Even as the carriage sped them on their way though, he buried his head in his hands and made it work in his mind's eye.
He would save Shiro. He had to.
"Katie!" The carriage hadn't come to a complete halt when he jumped out the door and ran for the manor. "Katie!" he screamed again as he pushed open the door. He ran towards the back where the laboratory was and met her partway there.
"Keith, what's wrong?"
"Shiro!"
"What happened?"
He grabbed her arms and pulled her close. "We have to save him. There was an accident and they amputated his arm. He didn't survive the trauma." She realized what he wanted then and her eyes widened. "Katie. I need you now. All of this, it was all for him."
"You just met him last night."
"It's hard to explain. I just ... Katie ... please."
"Okay, Keith. You know we're just as likely to kill him as save him."
"He's already gone, Katie," he sobbed the words as if saying them had made the situation real. As if saying it stole his strength and weakened his backbone.
"Go bring him in," Katie pushed him back towards the door and it got this feet moving. Lance was at the back of the ambulance. He and the driver had moved Shiro out of the carriage and Lance waited with him in his arms.
"This way," Keith said as he opened the French doors wide. Lance followed without question. Keith's laboratory was the smallest of the four in the Holt Manor, but he required little space for his work. His only major requirement was access to Katie and her work. As they entered the lab, Katie was throwing open the great doors between their two rooms. She began to move long tubes and wiring through them to reach the table that sat at the center of the room.
"Set Shiro on the operating table," Keith said as he began turning on his equipment.
There was a commotion behind him but Keith ignored it as he moved over to Shiro's body and ripped open his shirt.
"What the hell are you doing?" Lance grabbed Keith's arm but Keith pushed him away.
"I have no time for your questions," Keith said as he reached for scissors and cut off his pants. Lance was yelling and for a moment Keith thought her heard Hunk, but it was Katie's reassuring voice beyond it that filtered in. She was handling Lance and whatever else was coming their way. Shiro was left in his underclothes, a better specimen than Keith could ever have wished for and the one he could never have wanted to see on his table.
"Katie, I need to attach these."
"Keith, what are you doing?"
He looked up at Matthew as he walked into the room and he grit his teeth at the other scientists' interruption. He was as close to family as Keith had and he just hoped that what he was about to do didn't cause trouble for them all. "Using Katie's experiments with galvanic forces I believe it is possible to reanimate a lifeless corpse. Shiro died a heroic death in the line of duty and I don't intend to let that remain true."
Matthew's eyes were wide as he looked at Keith. They had discussed the uses of Katie's science, but Keith had never explained the full intent behind his own work. Re-energizing lifeless limbs and reversing paralysis were a long walk from bringing back the dead. Matthew took a deep breath though, straightened his back and nodded. "How can I help?"
Keith let out a deep breath. "Strap him to the table. Then I need to introduce the current at these points along the body," Keith said as he pointed to six points. "These need to be attached like this," he demonstrated as he adhered one to the left of the chest. He left Matthew to that as he looked over at Katie who had secured two of the tubes that would feed energy into his lab. He looked up to see her father, Dr. Samuel Holt, coming through the third set of lab doors with the last set of tubing. Keith had never discussed his work with Samuel, too fearful of his patron's disapproval.
"Perhaps you thought me too busy to keep track of my children's work," the doctor said as he began to hook the tubing, correctly and undirected, into the table where Shiro was lying, "but even if you wouldn't speak with me, Katie did and I'm quite capable of stealing into my own Manor House when my children are away and looking into their research. I had expected you to come to me soon, but it looks like I will have to forgo my surprise."
"Thank you, Sir," Keith felt his mouth too dry then, unable to say more through a thick tongue and a broken heart. Samuel finished and Keith turned back to the machine. Katie was inspecting Matthew's placement of the electrodes. Samuel was double checking the tubes, wires, and coils that connect his work with Katie's.
"I'm ready, Katie," he said as he looked over at her. Their eyes met and she nodded before she ran to the other room. Matthew followed her, more familiar with her work than with Keith's.
"If you do this, you will be a hunted man," Samuel said as he came to stand behind Keith. "The church will never let a man bring another to life."
"So long as Shiro lives, I don't care what they do to me," Keith said. He heard the choked off noise from the other room and realized that not only was Lance there but somehow Hunk had trailed them to the lab as well as half a dozen men of the hospital's medical staff. They must have followed in curiosity at his quick departure with Shiro's body, but as much as Keith wanted them out of the room he had no time to deal with them.
"If this goes wrong?" Samuel asked. "What then?"
Keith closed his eyes. He had one chance to save Shiro. If this didn't work, his body would be lost with no hope of reanimation. He refused to think of it though. If he didn't save Shiro, there was no hope for either of them in this lifetime. As much as he had loved them all, he would follow Shiro to his grave, as he had before, in defiance of a God.
"Keith, we're ready!" Katie called from the other room.
Keith took a deep breath and flipped the last of the switches to prepare it for the electrical current. "Go!"
The lights of the manor house began to dim and glow in pulses and Keith refused to allow the thought of failure to intrude into his head. He watched the gauge to see that the input was steady and that they had reached the stream necessary for the animation process. They had never tried anything like this. It had to work though. Keith couldn't watch him die again. The thought of life without Shiro, even a life that hadn't known him for more than a few hours, was unbearable.
Keith pressed open the electric gates and allowed the current to flow into the body on the table. The body jerked against the restraints that held him to the table but it was the current and not life. Not yet. Keith continued the flow of energy and ignored the sounds of distress among the medical professionals that had followed them there. In the back of his mind, he heard things like 'monster' and 'hubris' but he wasn't conscious of them now. They were simply the words of smaller men who didn't know that universes waited beyond their stars.
Katie was beside him now, running her fingers over the gages and reading them as easily as Keith could. "Keith, almost there," she spoke over the hum and buzz of the currents.
"Prepared to hit the switch," Keith said as he waited for her signal.
It was a few tense moments as he waited and he looked across the body to see Lance and Hunk, side by side, eyes wide in both horror and hope with what Keith was doing. He looked back at Katie then.
"Now!"
He flipped the switch and the entire room went dark. It only took a moment for the generators to flip back on but the voices of the small crowd rose quickly. Keith struggled in the dark to move to the table. He knew the lab well enough to make the journey without sight, but the connected wiring made the journey slower. When the lights came on he was almost there.
"Shiro?" he called the man's name, even though there had been no movement from the table. He looked down at the body and saw the red swelling around the restraints. Where the electrodes were attached Lichtenbergfigures appeared in tree-like formations across Shiro's skin. Keith wanted so much to touch, but he was afraid. He had never feared death, not for himself, but this was too much. He raised a hand, then drew back.
"Perhaps a physician should take a look," Matthew said beside him. Keith let out a shaky breath. He'd never been so grateful for the man he considered a brother. He had no memories of Matthew from the other life, but he hoped he knew him in future ones.
Matthew took his time, checking the body over and Keith bit his lip bloody as he waited. The room had the hush of expectation and Keith felt the others coming closer. Lance and Hunk had a place here, as well as Katie and Dr. Holt, but as much as he wanted to shoo the others away, he couldn't take his eyes from the questing fingers of Matthew Holt's medical examination.
"Keith," Matthew's voice was a bare whisper. He looked at Keith and there was horror in his eyes. "He has a pulse."
Keith stared at Matthew for a moment and then he looked at Shiro again. He brought his hands up to the electrodes and began to slowly pull them away from his skin. When that was done, he released the restraints.
"Will he wake?" Lance broke the silence. "Keith, you said you could save him. You said... you would not leave him in God's hands. Please..." Hunk took hold of Lance then, pulling his friend into a comforting embrace. Keith couldn't answer anything yet. He heard Dr. Holt pushing the medical members out of the laboratory with promises of further updates and Katie offered an explanation of her Galvanist science for any who wanted to hear while they waited.
Keith couldn't move from where he was. The body had a pulse. Breath pumped through his lungs and filled his chest. A soft whisper of air passed over his lips and Keith ran a hand over Shiro's brow.
"Any time now, Shiro," he said with a shaky voice. "We're all waiting for you. Hunk, Lance, Pidge, and I. We're all here."
Shiro's eyes held no show of motion behind them until they suddenly flew open and Shiro's hand clutched at his head. He screamed, in pain or madness Keith had no way of knowing.
"Shiro!" Keith called his name but the other man curled into himself and the guttural pain echoed off the walls of the room. "Shiro, please, talk to me."
Shiro opened his eyes then, red-rimmed and far more focused than Keith had expected. "What did you do?" Shiro demanded. "I wasn't ... I wasn't supposed to know."
He stumbled off the bed and Keith watched him trip on coltish legs. He slammed into the edge of the machine and Keith watched as a neat line of blood spilled from a thin cut across his nose. A cut deep enough to scar.
"Shiro, no, please." The scar. The arm. "Please, no," he begged.
"I'm not... I'm not supposed to remember."
He pushed off the ground but his screams had brought the others back and they stood staring at Shiro like he was some sort of monster. Shiro stumbled past but someone tried to stop him and Shiro reacted on the instinct of a man who had lived too many lives that led to death; one armed, but moving with a grace of fighter. Keith watched Shiro take each step with a new memory, not just of a cold God and the love he'd ruined, but of other lives as well. Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia. Babylon, Europe, France, Germany. How many lives had they lived together? How many times had Keith watched him die?
Now though, Keith could see every life, every bit of fighting instinct was primed in Shiro and the moment someone tried to stop him he reacted. Shiro screamed in rage, in confusion and panic, and lashed out at the man between him and the door. The hit was precise and the man was felled bloody and motionless on the floor. Someone screamed and Shiro continued his mad rant about not knowing and chaos filled the lab. Lance tried to protect his friend and Hunk went with him, but they were outnumbered by the others. Keith watched in desperation as they fell to the hands of his colleagues and neighbors.
"No!" Shiro shouted and he took the cane from a man's hands and beat him with it. Shiro didn't aim to maim though or to delay. He aimed with terrible accuracy for death, honed in lifetimes of combat and study.
Keith ran to protect Shiro, his own hands became bloodied then because no one could walk out to tell the tale. No one could know the truth. They had to kill every witness or Shiro would be executed before Keith got the chance to show him just how much he was loved.
The gunshot rang loud in the lab and Keith stared at Shiro, looking for the bullet wound, before he realized the shot hadn't been aimed at Shiro at all. He looked over at Samuel Holt, the man who had been like a father to him, his patron. A man who had given so much in so many different lives. There were tears in his eyes but Samuel held the gun resolutely. "Keith, what have you done?"
"KEITH!" Shiro screamed and ran to Keith's side.
Tears fell from Keith's eyes. He wanted to protect Shiro, with his very life, but not like this. Not knowing what was to come. "No, please," he begged Samuel.
Shiro fell to his knees beside Keith and pulled him into his arms. "Keith?"
A shot rang out a second time and Keith felt the weight of Shiro over him and knew it was over. He struggled under Shiro's weight and knew it was only a matter of time before he bled to death over Shiro's already dead body. He sobbed as he cupped Shiro's face and kissed his lips softly. "Next time," he cried. "Next time, I'll find you quicker."
He pressed a last kiss to Shiro's lips and didn't hear the third and final gunshot.
***
On to Chapter IV