[ the retort wipes the shock clean from shiro's face as it hardens into bitter resignation. keith isn't listening, and shiro thinks ... yeah, should've seen that coming. his best friend's already made an allusion to it before, he's gotten older, some space-time anomaly putting more than just years between them, but distance too.

it shouldn't matter. shiro was a dead man before he started making fanciful wishes and hallucinating in the galra fighter. the erosion of close ties and the absence of comforting familiarity shouldn't bother him.

and yet it does. a renewed sense of loss weighs heavy on his back as he holds keith's anger. just -- how the fuck did they get to this point of glaring daggers at each other when it can't have been more than ten minutes ago that shiro thought his heart would burst from the joy of getting to see his best friend again? ]

I thought my life was over.

[ quiet. resolute. and then his hands come off keith's shoulders and shiro takes a step back. ]

I don't even know why I'm alive right now.

[ taking another step back, shiro turns facing away from keith. ]

Don't follow me if you're just going to make it worse.