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CAPITOLO DUE
The plan hadn’t go how Sven’d predicted. Apparently, One-armed and Scarred were stubborn, or probably just more convinced of their means. The so-called heroes.
It didn’t matter. Sven could adapt at any situation and he was going to use them for his personal plan. It wasn’t a petty revenge, not entirely at least.
He expected them to live in the center of the city, maybe at the last floor of a skyscraper, or in a big villa in the suburbs, not in the middle of a desert in a small cottage. Still, not a problem: One-armed’s car had the gps, which was enough. Sven couldn’t find the cash. He supposed they had a safe somewhere, but he didn’t have enough time to search for it. Lucky for him, at the orphanage they had never noticed his hidden cash, which he’d managed to collect from pickpocketing around.
It was ready. And with no intention of staying in that house for too much time. They were buying Siv, and he didn’t like it. He should protect her from adults.
Once One-armed and Scarred were asleep, he woke up Siv. She blinked, confused, but he gestured at her to dress up and remain silent. Siv didn’t ask but did as she was told. Sven stuffed mostly of their belongings in one of the two backpacks, so it would be easy to transport. They went downstairs: the house was dark and silent.
Sven opened a window and helped Siv to pass over. In the garage, there were One-armed’s car and a hoverbike. Sven’d stolen the keys of the car, but he needed to be sure they wouldn’t be able to follow them, so he opened the motor of the hoverbike and cut off some cables.
The car was huge, but in some way Sven managed to take the controls. Siv curled in the passenger seat. He selected the destination to the navigator and started moved.
“Where are we going?” Siv asked.
“In a better place.”
Siv looked at the window. “It looks nice here.”
He sighed. “Everyone is nice at first. They aren’t different.” He looked at her. “You don’t trust me?”
“Sure I do.”
The rest of the travel was silent, even Sven moved from time to time to assure Siv wouldn’t fall asleep. He parked the car on the empty street, without care. He didn’t mind if they found it or not; once they did, they would be very far. The bus station was near, so they reached it by walk. Sven knew all the destinations and the timetable. He studied them.
He’d decided the place to go, where he could hope to find a job even if he was a minor. A place where he could take care of Siv and where nobody would give a shit about him. He’d planned to escape from the orphanage once he became sixteen; things forced his hand, but he could pull it off. After all, both him and Siv looked older. Especially Siv.
He stood before the ticket office, where an annoyed man was smoking. He reserved them a bored look.
“Four tickets from bus D13,” Sven said. He wasn’t going to take that bus, but another one. At this late hours, driver didn’t check carefully the ticked. It was a decoy if they would come to search for them.
“Are you all alone, kids?”
“Duh. Of course not. Our parents stop at the market to buy some food. Four tickets, remember?”
The man blinked. Twice. He tilted his head and looked far. He placed the cigarette down. “It’s 240,00 bucks.”
Sven threw him the cash and took the tickets. They’re almost there. Now he just had to take bus D11. He turned to search for it… and froze. One-armed and Scarred were there, standing between them and the bus. How the hell did they find them and how the hell did they reach the place so fast? It took two hours for Sven from the house!
They looked smug. Bastards.
Sven tightened the grip on Siv’s hand. In a second, they were running on the opposite side of the bus station. He made less than a hundred meters before feeling something grabbing the collar of his jacket and lifting him. He lost the grip on Siv’s hand, who covered her mouth in surprise.
It was the prosthetic hand. That damn floating hand could get very far from his owner, and an incredible speed. It was also very strong, because he brought back Sven still keeping him lifted. Siv walked next to him. The hand placed him on the ground once he was back in front of them.
Sven refused to look at them, but he didn’t protest when One-armed grabbed both his and Siv’s hand.
“Let’s go back.” It was an order.
Sven and Siv followed quiet as they returned to the car. Sven was angry, and he also lost a lot of money for tickets he couldn’t use, but he understood when a battle was lost. As bad as it was, he underestimated them.
Scarred drove, Sven sat next to him. He didn’t protest when One-armed sat on the backwards seat with Siv, but during all the journey he didn’t take his eyes off the two of them. There was a sweet smile on One-armed’s face as Siv felt asleep with her head against him. Sven snorted. Scarred’s face was unreadable.
He talked once he parked the car in the garage. “Bring Siv to bed. I need to speak with Sven first.”
Scarred’s hand were still on the wheel, and he didn’t turn his head. One-armed waited a second, before nodding. “Okay.” Siv was still sleeping and he lifted her gently in his arms.
No, no, no, no. Sven wouldn’t have let Siv alone. He opened the car door and was about to get out when Scarred grabbed his arm. His grip was strong, hard as iron.
“Let me go!”
“Oh, so you can talk.”
Sven gritted his teeth. He kicked and struggled, but he didn’t manage to break free. Scarred left him only when he was sure One-armed was far enough, but that didn’t stop Sven to run to reach them. He made two steps outside the garage before Scarred tripped him and he fell in the desert dust.
It was almost dawn.
Scarred stood now before him and the house, arm crossed. “If you really want to protect your sister, you need to reflex first to the consequences,” he said. “Do you realize how foolish and dangerous was your stunt tonight?”
“I can protect my sister just fine, I don’t need your advices. Or you!”
“What if you meet a bad person that want to hurt Siv? It’s pretty likely in the night, with two children all alone. You won’t able to save her. You can’t even surpass me.”
Sven yelled. He was so angry. So angry. At that man and at himself. He rushed forwards and threw himself at Scarred. He clung on him. He knew he couldn’t beat him in a normal fight, but he’d noticed the knife Scarred kept at his belt. Sven took it.
A second later, Scarred grabbed his wrist and turned him. The knife turned into a full blade pointed at Sven’s neck. Sven swallowed and let the grip on the handle.
“If I was a bad person, you would be dead and Siv would be all alone, with me.” Scarred left his grasp and took the blade from the ground. It returned a knife as he put it back in its place. “I understand the desire to protect the person you care about. I did it all my life. But I also learned you had to be strong to do that. And you don’t have to do it alone.”
He turned: One-armed was standing in front of the house, a worried look on his face.
“Go to bed,” Scarred ordered.
Sven didn’t reply. He tried not to admit it, but he was scared. Things looked dark. Really dark and dangerous. He walked with his head low, he surpassed One-armed, climbed the stairs and reached his new bedroom.
Siv was there, and she hadn’t put her pajamas on. She was still asleep, a small smile on her lips.
***
Shiro and Keith let the kids sleep more in the morning giving the night adventures. They didn’t change their plan to go to IKEA, so they made a brief brunch and then left for the nearest store. Sven and Siv still refuse to talk, but at least they obeyed without complain either.
Keith noticed how Sven casted look at him from time to time and felt a little bad. Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder to relax him. They’d talked about it and Shiro’s agreed it was a necessary lesson.
They both were not angry but worried about Sven’s escape, because he could have put himself and Siv in danger and they could only thanks Pidge’s surveillance system and Kosmo’s intelligence and transportation power that they reached them in time.
Still, Keith wasn’t satisfied with his behavior. He’d been patient with Sven. He’d been understanding. For once, he thought to be a little bit harsh and now he regretted it.
The tour at IKEA calmed him down. Sven let Shiro took Siv’s hand without any fuss. He still kept a close look, but didn’t complain. And Siv was happy to look at the furniture, even if she tried to hide it. At the end, they chose the one she looked happier about, even if she didn’t say anything. They loaded the car and moved in the nearest shopping mall.
There, Sven talked for the first time. “We don’t need new clothes.”
Shiro smiled gently. “It’s okay. New life, new clothes. See them as present from us.”
“We don’t want your presents. We don’t want your money.”
“You still need new clothes,” Keith intervened. “Yours came from the orphanage and they’re too old. So choose something you like to replace them.”
Shiro’d meant well into offering a present, but it was clear that Sven didn’t appreciate kindness, or saw it in a bad light. So, for the important things, they would order him around. And apparently it worked, or the small fight they had had in the morning did make some changes, because Sven obeyed. He grabbed a couple of shirts and pants for him and Siv.
“Do you think I was too much harsh?” Keith whispered at Shiro as he paid for the clothes.
“Maybe,” Shiro admitted. “But it worked, and right now we don’t know the best way to deal with them. But I might have an idea.”
Keith expected an explanation, but Shiro reserved a smirk to him, so Keith waited until they returned home to find out Shiro’s plan. Shiro let Keith bringing the furniture in the bedroom all alone as he placed himself at the kitchen’s table. Keith reached him later, alongside with Sven and Siv.
“What are you planning?” Keith asked, eyebrow raised.
“Since Sven here wants to be independent, I think it’s just fair if he pays for his and her sister’s expenses,” Shiro said.
He leaned forward a paper. After a second of hesitation, Sven grabbed him. And paled. Keith looked at the paper: Shiro’d written a list of the purchases and it was a consistent amount of money for a kid with no incomes. It also wrote down the expense for the gas they used to bring them back from the bus station.
“I left off the expense for meal and bills because that would be refunded by the orphanage.”
It was a lie, but Sven didn’t catch it. He placed the paper down on the table. “Fine. I’ll refund you.”
“And how do you plan to do it?” Shiro asked gently.
Sven looked annoyed. “In some way.”
Shiro took off another paper. “You can start from it.”
Keith was pretty curious, but he waited for Sven to take the paper before looking at it. It was another list, of things Sven could do, from taking good grades to help with the chores. Next to each thing, there was the money he could gain. For example, an A is worth 15,00, a B is worth 10,00, and so on.
Sven grasped the paper until it crumbled in his hand. He didn’t look at Shiro and Keith was sure Shiro was holding his breath. “Fine,” Sven said at least.
Shiro visibly relaxed. He exchanged a look with Keith, who smiled. It was actually a good idea. He wasn’t surprised it came from Shiro.
“We can start now,” Keith said. “It’s time to wash my dog and I can use some extra hands.”
“Can I help too?” Siv said it not looking at his brother, but with a small smile. Keith suspected she liked dogs.
“Two people, twice the earnings.”
“Yeah, sure,” Sven agreed. Keith guessed he preferred having Siv with him.
“It’s decided, then.” Shiro hung both papers at the fridge.
Keith moved outside the house. “Kosmo!” he called.
The wolf popped in front of them and both Sven and Siv gasped. Siv was the first one to recover and made another excited yelp. “Can I touch it?”
“Of course you can,” Keith said gently. She didn’t wait for his brother’s approval and moved near to Kosmo, who lowered his head and let her scratching it.
“This is not a dog,” Sven protested. “And he can teleporter too?”
“Well, it is my dog,” Keith answered with a smile. “But it’s a cosmic wolf.”
“That’s how you caught up so fast yesterday, you cheater.” Sven looked at Kosmo as he let Siv riding him. “It’s even possible to wash it?”
“That’s why I need extra hands,” Keith said.
“And that’s why I put a high price for this chore,” Shiro adds. “Since you’re fine, I’ll take care of the bedroom.”
“Do you think you can assemble it by yourself?”
Shiro looked offended. “I know how to repair an airship, I’ll be fine with an IKEA’s bed.”
It turns out that assembling a IKEA’s bed was harder than repaired a pod. When Keith went to check for Shiro after they managed to wash Kosmo, he found him surrounded by furniture’s pieces, completely lost.
“I fear we should call the engineers,” he commented.
“So they can mock us to no end?”
“Let me know if you had a better idea.”
Keith hadn’t, so he took his datapad, resigned. Pidge and Matt arrived in few minutes, as they hadn’t something better to do on Saturday than waiting for a help call from them. Siv was happy enough to play with Kosmo that forgot she wasn’t supposed to talk with adults and she greeted the two genius brothers with a smile. Sven offered his help to assemble the furniture so he could gain more money.
It turns out that not even the engineers could help. Much with Pidge and Matt’s annoyance, because they were forced to take back all the mocking, Shiro called the operators from IKEA and paid them to fix the bedroom. While the operators worked, Pidge ordered pizza and they ate all together on the porch, sitting down on the ground, especially because Siv and Sven are still covered in mud after their adventures with Kosmo’s bath. They didn’t talk during the entire dinner, but Keith had the impression they listened to their conversation as if they’re somewhat more interested than usual.
Pidge and Matt left ten minutes after the operators. While Shiro helped Siv and Sven to arrange their belongings in their new bedroom, Keith took a brief shower – he had some mud on himself too. He heard his datapad ringing, so he went downstairs with only his bathrobe and a towel that rubbed in his hair.
It was Lance.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about the adoption,” he greeted Keith.
“How… how do you find out?”
“I was in a videocall with Pidge when you called her today.”
Keith rolled his eyes: both him and Shiro’d told their friend to avoid speaking with Lance about it for now (Allura knew though), but of course it was something so huge it could slip at any time.
“I can’t believe it,” Lance repeated. “I’m a father too, I can help.”
At that was exactly the reason Keith and Shiro wanted to wait before informing him about the situation. “Sorry, Lance, but my kids are a little bit older for me to need advices about diapers and pacifiers.”
“Aww, and you’re already call them your kids. Aaaand now you’re embarrassed. Way to go, team leader.”
Keith was about to answer he had intention to use his authority to stop the call, but he was interrupted from a scream coming from upstairs. Without warning Lance, Keith rushed following the rumors.
He found the other three in the bathroom: Shiro was trying to stop a very angry Sven that was kicking and punching him. Siv, naked, stood in a corner, worried. Keith reacted without thinking: he grabbed Sven by the collar and pushed him in the ground.
“Please don’t hurt my brother!” Siv looked terrified, almost in tears.
“Of course not,” Keith murmured, as he released Sven.
In a second, he stood up and placed himself between them and Siv, covering her completely. Shiro moved next to Keith and spoke, “you both need a shower. Let the dirty clothes in a corner, we’ll wash them later.”
Without a look at Keith, he left. Keith followed as they went downstairs.
Lance was still on videocall. “Is everything okay, you guys?”
“No, not really,” Keith replied. “Sorry, Lance, we’ll keep in touch.”
“Sure. Call me if you need it.”
Keith nodded at the screen, before turning his entire attention to Shiro. He could tell Shiro was shocked by the entire accident. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” Shiro sighed. “Siv wanted to wash herself, so I prepared the bath for her… I asked her if she needed some help… Then Sven entered and just… attacked me?”
“We should call the psychologist,” Keith said. “They may have some triggers we aren’t informed about.”
He had no idea what could have caused it, but he already saw some children becoming scared of something that happened to them in the past. The best solution in those cases would be avoiding the triggers until they found out the best way to face it.
“Okay.” Shiro nodded, but he didn’t look reassured. “Things… are getting better, a little… What if I ruined everything…?”
“No, no.” Keith cupped Shiro’s face in his hands. “If anything, I made a big mistake with Sven. I should have… I don’t know, but not that.”
They hugged. For a long minute, they just stood there, using the other presence to calm down. When they moved aside, they still looked worried, and they exchanged a little smile. There was a thing they should do. Without speaking, they moved upstairs.
Sven and Siv were in their room. He was drying her hair, but as soon as he spotted them, his face became harder. He turned down the phone and gripped his sister’s hand.
“What do you want?” he growled.
“Apologize,” Keith murmured. “I guess my… past as a soldier made me reacted in an inappropriate way. I didn’t want to hurt you, and I shouldn’t have.”
Shiro was at his back and he placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I’m not sure what I did to scare you like that, but I’m sorry too,” he said. “If there’s something you don’t like, or don’t want us to do, please tell us. We’ll do everything to avoid it.”
For an instant, Keith thought Sven would have answered that they wanted to leave, that they didn’t want to stay there with them. Instead, Sven didn’t say anything. He turned on the hair dryer and lowered his head on Siv’s head.
Keith and Shiro left the room: they were still in the dark, and things didn’t look good.
***
Shiro parked the car a street far from the school. With a brief “goodbye”, Siv and Sven get out, with their backpacks, and walked away. Shiro waited for them to disappeared over the corner before leaving. He was a little sad the two children preferred walking towards school alone, so their classmate didn’t find out about their new fostering parents.
In some way, Shiro could understand that both him and Keith were a little bit too famous for their liking, and they wanted to avoid annoying questions. But Shiro guessed for Sven and Siv there was another reason, more tied to the idea to be considered still orphans. They didn’t need parents, not even when they have it.
Right now, he and Keith couldn’t help but respect their privacy.
He parked at the Garrison’s and headed to his office, mentally repeating his duty for the day. He opened the door only to find a man sitting down at his desk.
“Sam! You returned!”
“Nice to see you, Shiro.”
They hug.
“I thought your time with the Olkari won’t end for the next two weeks.”
“That’s correct, but I can’t wait to present the new technological discovery to the earthling scientific community,” Sam replied. “I have a couple of conference in the next days. Coleen is still there though.”
“Good for her. I’m pretty interesting about your discovery too. I can’t believe Pidge hid your return from me…”
“Well, she didn’t know until yesterday. I had to avoid her otherwise she would have spoilers of my conferences.”
Shiro laughed. “I see.”
“But tell me about you. Is it true you and Keith adopted children?”
It wasn’t exactly a secret, but at the same time Shiro wondered why it was a big deal. People had children all the times. “We’re fostering two children,” he answered. “It’s not an adoption yet.”
“Why not?”
“Oh, well, we aren’t sure we’re ready yet. But we hope to go there.”
“And how’s going until now?”
“It’s hard,” Shiro admitted. “I’m not sure I’m doing the right thing, you know? No handbook for this.”
“That’s true,” Sam agreed. “But you’re always good with our cadets. They loved you. You have a natural talent for this too.”
“I don’t know. I like helping the teachers here at the Garrison, but with our own children… They’re younger than our cadets, and they didn’t come to our house following a dream. With cadets, I can understand them. Sven and Siv… not so much.”
Sam patted Shiro’s back. “No parents even do. Don’t worry.”
Shiro was about to ask some advices about it, when his datapad rang. It was Keith.
“See you later,” Sam said, as he left the room before Shiro answered the call.
“Keith, hi. It’s something wrong?”
During the week Keith left the house very early, took Black at the Garrison’s and flying to New Daibazaal to work. It didn’t happen often he called, even if they didn’t have the chance to say bye in the morning, so it’s only normal to Shiro to worry.
“Actually, yes. Not to me,” Keith hurried to add. “We lost the signal of a cargo ship that was supposed to deliver goodies to a distress planet and I was asked to take part of the rescue team, since the area of the lost signal is full of asteroids.”
Shiro understood the situation immediately. “How long will it takes?”
“I hope I can be free in a couple of days. But unfortunately….”
It’d happened before. The first time of Keith’s project with the Blade of Marmora Keith had stayed away for weeks because of his work. Emergency happened all the time. But now…
“Don’t worry,” Shiro said. “I handle every day a group of cadets. I can handle Sven and Siv by myself for a couple of days.”
“I didn’t doubt that.” There was a little of regret in his voice. “I’ll let you know if I have more precise news. And call me for everything.”
“Sure. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
As he hung up, Shiro sighed. He would have half of the confidence he showed with Keith. But, after all, it could be for real only a couple of days. And Sven and Siv spend most of their time at school. Things were quieter recently, and Shiro hoped they would become better from now on.
Nothing bad should happened in two days or less.
***
“I called your parents.”
The principal’d said that, and Sven would like to reply he didn’t have any, but of course it wasn’t true anymore. Until the power couple of the universe was fostering him, for the rest of the adults they were Sven’s parents and nothing he could say would change it.
Sven shrugged. It was not he cared about what they thought of his behavior, and luckily for him Keith was still somewhere in the space, so he had only one to bear. When Shiro reached the principal’s office, Sven caught a glimpse of worry in the other’s eyes, before he lowered his head and refused to look at him.
“What happened? I mean, at the phone you talked about a fight.”
“Yes. I’m afraid Sven hit one of his classmate during the class. It started a small fight before the teacher managed to separate them. We didn’t tolerate this kind of behavior here and, unfortunately, I had to say this is not the first time Sven caused some rucks in the class.”
For a second, Shiro remained silent. “There will be consequences?”
“I understand you’re fostering him from only a couple of months until now, and we’re almost at the end of the school year. We’re trying to avoid a severe punishment,” the principal said. “But of course we can’t let it slide.”
“Of course…” Shiro repeated. “Would you mind if I speak a second with my son in private?”
I’m not your son, Sven thought. It was the first time Shiro said it out loud.
“Sure. We’re waiting for the other kid’s parents too.”
Shiro placed a hand on Sven’s shoulder, a silent demand to stand up and follow him outside the principal’s office. The last thing Sven wanted was a lecture from Shiro. Or Shiro trying to be his father, more than usual at least. Still, he had no choice. Shiro lent him to an empty hallway. He stood there, arm crossed. He looked at him, careful. Sven didn’t have the chance to get a mirror, but he could feel his broken lips and a sting of pain from his cheek.
“What did he say?”
“What?” Sven blinked. It wasn’t the question he expected.
Shiro smiled. “Keith punched another cadet at the Garrison once,” he said. “He wasn’t proud of it, and he didn’t try to defend his action, but… He was provoked.”
Oh, right. Sometimes Sven forgot Keith had been an orphan too. One of the main reasons that made him insufferable. With other adults, Sven could shrug them off because they hadn’t their same history. With Keith and Shiro it was definitely harder.
But in the end, they’re adults too. Keith wasn’t an orphan anymore and thinking he could actually understand Sven was foolish. And Shiro wasn’t even Keith. He surely wouldn’t believe it, or wouldn’t care.
“Listen, Sven. I can’t help you if you don’t trust me.”
Fine, Sven thought. I can’t wait for you to show your true colors. “He told me my sister’s a whore.”
“Your sister is ten.”
Sven snorted. That was the point.
Shiro nodded. “That’s all?”
“He told me out parents left us because my sister’s a whore.”
“I see.” Shiro’s face was unreadable. Sven guessed he didn’t believe it after all. No surprise here. “Let’s go back.”
They returned to the principal’s office. The jerk was there, alongside with both of his parents. Of course the both came for him. Sven shot them a smirk: the jerk’s face was definitely worse than his own.
“Mister Shirogane, may I introduce to you…” the principal began, but Shiro cut her off.
“It’s Admiral Shirogane.” He turned to the other adults. “I guess you’re the parents of the other boy.” He didn’t lend the hand to greet them. His gesture was welcomed by an angry shot from the jerk’s father.
“We are,” he confirmed. “And since you’re in the military, we hope you understand your son’s behavior shouldn’t be tolerated.”
“Absolutely. I will make sure Sven wouldn’t act like this anymore.” Shiro nodded. Sven didn’t have the time to be disappointed, because Shiro added, “And for the same reason I think you should teach your son the same.”
“What?” The jerk’s mother exclaimed. “It was not OUR son to hit-”
“Sven, please.” Shiro interrupted her. “Repeat to them what you told me earlier. The reason you started the fight.”
Sven didn’t expect this outcome. He couldn’t hold back though. “He told me my parents left us because my sister’s a whore. So I hit him.”
“My son wouldn’t never…” the jerk’s father began.
“I didn’t, dad, I swear…”
“Of course you didn’t, sweetheart…”
“Oh.” Shiro smirked, and Sven caught the transformation. Until that moment, Sven had only seen the sweet side of Shiro. He and Keith were disgustingly soft with each other. Now Sven could see Admiral Shirogane, the captain of Atlas, in action. “I can’t tolerate anyone calling my daughter a whore, or mocking her because their parents’ death. And I understand very well my son wouldn’t tolerate it too. I don’t approve him hitting his classmate, but at the same I hope you don’t approve your own son calling a ten years old kid a whore.”
“Yeah, well, no…”
“Good.” Shiro turned to the principal. “I think we all agree we can talk to our children about a proper behavior regarding their classmate and there won’t be necessary further punishment.”
The principal appeared surprised. “Yeah, well, I can ask the teacher to assign some supplementary classwork about the entire episode… but that will be all.”
“Can Sven return to class?”
“Of course.”
Shiro didn’t wait another second. He left the room, and Sven followed, realizing the relief that flow inside him. He didn’t care so much about school, but he gained some money from it (thanks to Shiro’s idea). And being expelled would be a pain in the ass.
“Do not fight with anyone anymore,” were the last words Shiro reserved Sven before letting Sven in class.
Sven had no problem to nod. He had the feeling nobody else would disturb him, not after knowing who was fostering him and what happened in the principal’s office. And Sven hated himself for being a little happy about it.
***
For once, Shiro decided to ignore his children’s wish, and went to pick them up after school. What had happened in the morning with the fight had let him a little worried. He didn’t feel wrong for defending Sven, but he hoped it wouldn’t create some more tension between his classmate. So he decided he had to put his foot down and made sure they were his children.
And he had to make sure the situation would be clear for Keith’s return. Even if it wasn’t Shiro’s fault, he felt guilty it happened in the same week Keith had other problems to take care of. A part of him was worried he wasn’t a good father after all.
“Why are you here?” It was a question he expected from Sven, but there was more surprise than anger in his words. Shiro’s attention move to Siv, as Sven tried to cover her with his body.
“Siv! You… Don’t tell me you got in a fight too.” She had a visible bruise on her left check, and a swollen eye.
“No!” she denied. “I… fell from the stairs.”
“Yeah.” Sven snorted. “She fought with Paul’s sister.”
“Well, she said bad thing about you! And only because that idiot of his brother can’t hold two punches.”
Shiro was amused by Sven looking annoyed by his sister’s behavior, despite the fact she’d acted exactly like him. He looked around and individuated the parents he’d had a discussion in the morning. They were scolding both of their children, and Shiro noted with some proud that both of the children’s face was in a worse state than Sven and Siv’s one. He shouldn’t have been happy about his children to win a fight they weren’t supposed to have in the first place, but he couldn’t help it.
“Okay, kids, no more fights after today,” he commented. “Let’s go back home to patch your faces.”
Sven shot him a dark look, then took Siv’s hand and followed Shiro in the car.
“I could have lied, you know,” Sven said, once they left the school’s parking.
“Did you?” Shiro asked.
“No, but…”
“Then that’s okay,” Shiro cut him. “I want to help you both. Be honest with me and I’ll be on your side. But,” he added, before Siv could say something, “it doesn’t mean you can go around and hit people.”
Siv crossed her arm. “Can I bring Kosmo to school? I’m pretty sure he can scare people away.”
Shiro laughed. “Kosmo is pretty easy to buy. It wouldn’t work.”
“You’re a lot scarier than Kosmo,” Sven commented. “I guess it’s okay if you pick us up from now on…”
Shiro wasn’t sure he should be happy about being a scary man, but he was surely okay with the idea of waiting for them with the other parents instead staying in the car pretty far from the school. He definitely would need to talk with Keith about the entire accident, and he still wondered how someone (anyone) could call a ten years old a whore, but for now he could sink in the thought of having done something good as parents.
And he decided to continue the good moments. “Would you like to go eating outside tonight? Like pizza or…” He stopped as he noticed the house’s door wasn’t locked anymore.
Did that mean…
“Keith’s back… oh!” Siv stopped and Sven almost dumped into her as he entered in the house.
“What…” he tried to protest, then he shut his mouth and widened his eyes.
Keith was indeed back, and in the moment he was at the kitchen’s table. Pity he wasn’t alone: Axca, Zethrid and Ezor sat down next to him, datapad in front of them. Sven and Siv met aliens before, because Earth was an important outpost for the Voltron coalition, but Shiro suspected it was the first time they have the chance to see three of them so close.
“It was either this or not returning until Sunday,” Keith commented. “Don’t ask.”
“Okay,” Shiro replied. “I’m just happy you’re here.”
Zethrid, next to Keith, rolled her eyes. “So there’s your children, chief?” Ezor commented, with bright in her eyes.
Sven crossed his arm. “No.”
Keith moved his look to Sven and Siv and only in that moment, seeing the surprise in his face, Shiro remembered the conditions of Siv and Sven’s face. That wasn’t definitely the way he wanted to tell Keith.
Keith frowned. “What happened?”
“I fell from the stairs,” Siv and Sven replied at the same time, with Shiro that said, “they fell from the stairs.”
Everyone else looked at them, perplexed. Keith’s frown deepener. “It looks to me they got into a fight,” Axca commented.
“And they definitely had it worse,” Ezor commented.
“You hadn’t see the other one!” Sven replied.
Zethrid busted our laughing. “They are your children for real.” And then, gesturing at her scarred face, she added, “you know, your father is the one that did this to me.”
“Oooh,” Siv murmured. She was impressed.
“First of all, that’s not true,” Keith protested. He was flustered. “Second, you were trying to kill me.”
“Not to kill you,” Ezor replied. “Just torture you a little.”
“Okay, that’s enough. Sven, Siv, in you room. Don’t you have homework to do?”
“Yes, but…” Siv eyed at the three alien women. Even Sven didn’t look so eager to leave the kitchen.
“Go. Shiro, a word.”
Shiro just wanted to die.
Sven and Siv climbed the stairs before them and closed the door of their room. Keith waited for them to reach their bedroom before exploding, “are you teaching them to lie?”
“No, but… I didn’t expect to explain things in front of your coworkers. I mean, you heard them.”
Keith sighed. “Unfortunately.” He smiled. “I miss you.”
“Me too.”
They sat down on the bed. Shiro told him about the accident and, for all the time, Keith kept his hand on Shiro’s kneel.
“I’m sorry,” Keith said at last. “I should have been here.”
“It’s no big deal. Don’t worry.”
“I fear it was my fault. I reacted bad at Sven’s escape and maybe… this show him…”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Shiro assured him. “Sven… is very protective of his sister, you know that.”
“And his sister of him,” Keith added. “Is it wrong if I’m also a little bit proud of them?”
Shiro laughed. “No, but let’s try to not encourage it. And unfortunately I don’t think Zethrid and Ezor are a good example to follow.”
“Definitely not.”
“I bring the children outside while you finish your work and maybe we can eat pizza tonight?”
“Good idea.”
When they returned downstairs, they discovered Sven and Siv were back in the kitchen, listening to the other three’s stories. Shiro shivered a little. They meeting Pidge and Matt was bad enough, giving all the stories they had about him and Keith.
“Is it true you crash your spaceship into a starship to save Shiro?” Siv asked to Keith. Her eyes are brilliant. Sven faked indifference, but he was listening.
Keith turned to Zethrid. “You know, every day I regret a little more having saved you.”
“Ouch, it hurts,” she lied, a smart smile on her lips.
“Plus it isn’t true, you love us, chief,” Ezor added.
“How did you save her?” Siv intervened. “Did you slash some aliens?”
“No, he avoided her to fall into a volcano after she kept him hostage,” Axca commented, dully.
“You kept him hostage?!”
This was the last stray. “Out. All of you.”
“But we have work to finish…” Axca protested. He’d realized the mistake she’d made.
“You’re capable to finish it by yourself.” Keith’s reply didn’t deserve an answer, so Axca nodded. She closed her datapad and stood up.
“But we have a lot of stories to tell,” Ezor protested.
“And I want to know about the volcano thing,” Siv added.
This time, it was Axca to block the other two. “If you don’t stop, I’ll let you my work too.” After some more protested, they left the house.
Keith took a relief sigh. Shiro placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I’m offended,” he said. “You were never interested in our stories.”
“Because yours are boring,” Siv replied. “I want to know about the volcano. What did she do? She pointed a gun at you?”
“I’m still not interested, if it’s better for you,” Sven commented, but it was clearly a lie.
He exchanged a look with Keith. Things were getting better.
“Do your homework,” Shiro said. “We can talk later, at dinner. Pizza?” But he bought Siv when he added, “and maybe, maybe, I can tell you about that time Keith slashed Sendak to save Earth.”
***
The summer holidays were a problem, because Shiro and Keith didn’t know where to leave Siv and Sven when they’re at work. Sure, they could hire a baby-sitter, but they weren’t sure it was a good idea giving they’re still trying to get better with their relationship with the two children.
So, in the end, they choose this course of action: two weeks on Daibazaal with Krolia, two weeks on Altea with Lance and Allura and, for the entire month of August, Shiro and Keith would take holidays (they have a lot to take since they’re both workaholic).
Sven and Siv didn’t show particular enthusiasm for the summer break’s program, but it soon changed once their eyes fell on the Black Lion. Each child on Earth heard of the Voltron Lion, and at least once they saw the Voltron Cartoon, but standing in front of the real thing was a different matter.
Shiro’d made sure no one from the Garrison would be in the hangar as Keith left for Daibazaal: the official excuse was that he didn’t want to embarrass his children, who for sure would be observe by the other for the only reason to be Shiro’s fostering. The real reason was to have a heavy make-up session with Keith before his departure.
It last until Sven got tired of observing the Black Lion and snored. With a sigh, Shiro let Keith go.
“We’ll see each other in the week end,” Keith reassure him. They decided to avoid for Shiro to come and go from Earth to Daibazaal, since there would be only two weeks.
“I know, but I will miss you. You all.”
“Whatever,” Sven commented.
Shiro waved his hand for a goodbye as the three of them get on the Black Lion, who was considerate enough to prepare three seats for them.
“No belt?” Siv commented. She was very attentive of those kind of rules. Black was kind enough to grant her wish, making the belts appearing.
Keith tool place in his seat and the purple screen appeared. The ceiling of the hangar was opened and he waited for Sven and Siv to sit down before departing. Usually, he used the portal right after his exit from the Earth atmosphere, but since it was Sven and Siv’s first space travel, he decided to wait until they reached the end of the solar system, giving them a brief tour around the other planets.
Siv’d stopped faking indifference for quite some time, and the journey was no different. She looked around with big eyes and once the Black Lion was stabilized enough, she left his seat to get near to the windows to look better. Keith pointed out for her the name of the planets they were passing.
“Stop it,” Sven called her from behind. He hadn’t move from his seat and he refused to look around.
“It’s amazing,” she replied, with a pout.
“It didn’t matter,” he said. “They’re buying you, don’t you understand? They show you all this cool stuff so you lower your guards.”
“Ah! So you admit these are cool stuff!”
Sven blushed. “Okay. I admit it. This is cool. They are cool. But, as I say, it didn’t matter.”
Keith blinked. Sven wasn’t usually so earnest. And even if Siv was more open recently, she still covered for his brother. Until Keith understood: they were speaking in Norwegian, as they sometime did, knowing people around wouldn’t know the language.
“If you let them get close, they’ll hurt you. Did you remember-”
As much as Keith wanted to know why Sven and Siv were so cautious into became friendly with him and Shiro, he believed listening to a conversation he shouldn’t would be a bigger betrayal of their trust. And Keith wanted more for them to understand they could trust him and Shiro. They wouldn’t hurt them.
“Uhm, guys… I guess I should inform you the Black Lion has a system of automatic translation from every languages Including Norwegian.”
And he shot them a meaningful look. Siv covered his surprise mouth with his hand. Sven blushed. Hard. His face was completely red that Keith didn’t have the heart to tell him something about the fact he’d just said he found him and Shiro cool.
Sven crossed his arm and refused to talk in any way. Siv sat back at her seat, once her embarrassment disappeared, but at least she still asked information about the surroundings and she showed enthusiasm once they passed through the portal.
And she commented, once Keith parked on Daibazaal aircraft spaceport and the got off the Black lion, “woah, there’s a lot of aliens here!”
“Yep, and one of them is my mother.”
Krolia was waiting for them and the spaceport exit. Both Sven and Siv knew his mother was Galra, but they still couldn’t hide their surprise once they met her for the first time. Siv had no problem to stare at her with wide eyes and she waited a lot before grabbing her hand. Sven rejected it and Krolia respected his wish.
“Mom, remember Sven wants to work. So give him everything you have.”
“You can count on me. And on Kolivan.”
“Please. I ask for some work, not to be scared for life,” Keith joked.
“Don’t be mean. He sweetened a lot aging up.”
“If you said so. I’ll see you for dinner.”
He greeted the three of them before leaving for the Blade of Marmora headquarters. He couldn’t hide the fact his children were on Daibazaal from his colleagues, especially from Axca, but he made clear (from great displeasure from Ezor and Zethrid) that any Blade that would try to get near them would get extra work and no holidays.
“I’m sorry for your future son or daughter-in-law,” Ezor commented.
“Don’t worry, you won’t survive long to see it,” Keith replied.
“I can’t really tell if you’re joking or not.”
“Good.”
The day was extremely long because Keith couldn’t wait to go back home and check how Sven and Siv were managing in an alien planet. Bickering with Ezor and Zehtrid made it tolerable, but he still escaped as soon as he finished his work and rushed to Krolia’s house.
Sven and Siv were at the table, doing their homework from the summer break. They waved briefly their hands at him. Krolia was arranging the table for dinner.
“How was the day?” he whispered to her.
“Good evening to you, too, Keith,” she replied, but she was mocking him. “Don’t worry, everything was fine. They’re good children, they’re just a little bit untrusting, but I don’t feel I can blame them.”
“Yeah.” Keith shot a look at them from the kitchen. “I was worried about the fact they’re Earthlings. Did they attract… some curiosity? I don’t want them to feel observed by strangers.”
“Well, Galra know how Earthlings look like. And you being a Paladin of Voltron and the head of the Blade of Marmora help. We are used to Earthlings.”
“That’s good.” He hoped it would be the same on Altea too.
“Dinner’s ready!” Krolia announced. Sven and Siv appeared a second later and took their seat. Kroliva joined them soon after. After his retirement by the head of the Blade, Kolivan spent his time writing his memories and making a blog about advices for young cadets, so he wasn’t resting at all and he didn’t look relaxed either.
He sat next to Krolia, with Siv’s eyes that followed him. After she took the first bit of food and she decided it was edible, she asked, “are you Keith’s grandpa?”
Krolia tried to hide her laugh under a cough. She failed. Kolivan was serious when he answered, “I sure hope no.”
“Oh.” She sounded disappointed.
“My father and my mother both died when I was young,” Krolia said. “They were Blade and the fight against Zarkon too. But I grow up with Kolivan, so he was kind of a big brother to me. A grumpy big brother.”
“So you’re Keith’s uncle,” Siv decided.
“I’m not sure I like it,” Kolivan replied.
“So many family members for an orphan,” Sven commented.
He noticed too late he talked out loud and pretended to focus on his food. Keith would let it slide, but Krolia didn’t.
“I left Keith when he was still a baby, and we didn’t meet until he was a big guy,” she said. “So, yeah, after his father’s death, he believed he was all alone. I don’t think finding me again invalidated the years he was actually alone.”
Sven didn’t answer, but he pressed his lips together. “Why did you leave?” Siv asked. There was a slightly accused tone in her words, and a slightly frown on her face.
“To protect him,” Krolia answered, with a sweet smile. “The Blue Lion was hidden on Earth and I had to make sure Zarkon wouldn’t find it. And I couldn’t do it remaining on Earth, so I had to leave.”
“Mom…” Keith began.
“It’s okay.” She shook her head. “That’s what happened.”
Sven licked the food out his fork. “You don’t really know about her?”
“No. I guess dad couldn’t tell me she’s an alien. I wouldn’t have believed him.” His expression fell. “For a long time, I believed she left me because she didn’t care enough about me.”
Sven lifted his head and look at him straight in the eyes, even if his expression is unreadable. “And you forgave her?” he asked.
“Well, I understood her motives. The war couldn’t give me back all those years but… I was happy to have her for the rest of my life.” Keith felt Krolia’s hand on his knee, behind the table, and shot them a short smile. He wasn’t lying, and she should know it.
“You know, those two,” Kolivan intervened. “I left them alone in a mission and they… disappeared, without even warning me of their move. And I was their boss! Like mother, like son.”
“It was an important mission, and it helped us finding out about Lotor’s plan,” Krolia replied.
“You should have at least sent me a message.”
“Oooh, tell me about this mission!” Siv exclaimed.
Keith smiled as he understood Kolivan was trying his best to deviated the conversation from a private part of their life. Even if Keith had no problem to talk about it with Sven and Siv so they could know him better, he appreciated the fact Kolivan didn’t want to talk about things that could sadden them. Maybe it was true Kolivan was like an uncle to him.
“Can we talk about the fact that you disappeared for like more than two years and the came back and forgot to tell us you had a half-breed child? Can you understand the shock I had when I meet this small alien that looked like you and had your blade?”
“Well, since you decided for him to risk his life in the Trial of Marmora, maybe I did well to hide it from you.”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t have done it, so we wouldn’t never find out about Keith’s heritage.”
“And you wouldn’t have defeated Zarkon.”
“Maybe, or maybe not. At least I wouldn’t have dealt with Keith screwing up every mission.”
“I did only once,” Keith protested. “And it was for saving Shiro.”
At that point, Sven laughed. It was the first time Keith saw him doing a full heart laugh instead of his little smirk and his snort. Everybody turned at him, Siv included. “Why am I not surprised?” Sven commented, at last.
“Well, I love him,” Keith said, defensive.
“You two are embarrassing.” But it was told with some kind of affection than made Keith’s heart beat faster.
After dinner, he called Shiro immediately to tell him the news. Things with Sven and Siv were actually getting better. But when Shiro answered, he had an expression Keith recognized immediately. He skipped the greetings and asked, “What happened?”
Shiro sighed. “Today I received a call from the orphanage’s headmaster.”
Keith froze. For a long second, he feared they wanted to take Sven and Siv from them and he did not dare to speak.
“They made some work in the port at Sven and Siv’s hometown in Norway,” Shiro explained. “They retrieved a car from the water.” He sighed again. “We have the confirmation that the bodies inside are their parent’s. They’re dead.”
Keith hold his breath for a second. “It was the most probably hypothesis.”
“I know. Still, we had to tell them. They… could still have a hope of their parents’ return.”
“You’re right.”
Keith closed his eyes. Unwilling, his mind turned back at the day his father’s colleague came to his school, along with the psychologist from the orphanage, to inform him of his father’s dead. It was still one of Keith’s worst day. Keith had no idea how to speak how to tell Sven and Siv without hurting them. And he didn’t want to hurt them in any way.
“We can wait until I arrive,” Shiro added. “We can tell them together. A couple of days more won’t be a problem, I guess. But they had to know.”
“I agree.” Keith opened his eyes and nodded. He was glad Shiro understood his pain without even telling him. “We told him together.”
Things had looked quiet, but now they had to open wounds again and brought everything back in the dark time.
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