Thread by @akaiikowrites

defy the stars | #sheith | sfw | postkerb canon speculation i guess

They fully expect Keith to burn out. To go supernova. To collapse into a black hole without his center of gravity. A rapidly aged Iverson brings it up at a meeting, says: “The kid’s going to take this hard.”

Sanda grimaces. “We have larger issues at hand, Commander.” Yes, they certainly do.

But Iverson still thinks it a shame. They just lost their best pilot, and when the news of that loss breaks they’re going to lose their most promising pilot too. It’s a shame. A damned shame.

For that shame, he bends protocol.

Iverson keeps Keith after sim runs finish for the day. No one else lingers, all rushing for dinner in the cafeteria, where they will receive the news of the Kerberos mission en masse. “I have some news,” he says. “About Kerberos.”

By his estimation, blunt is the best way to handle this. Kid gloves are lost on someone like Keith. “The mission has been lost. All crew are dead. The cause was-“ he inhales, and forces the rest of the official story out on the exhale, “-pilot error.”

They expect - /Iverson/ expects - a meltdown. Ready fists, screamed denials, the usual explosion of fury that this cadet is infamous for. It’s expected, and therefore he’s prepared to deal with it.

What he’s not prepared for is for Keith to eye him before saying, “You’re lying.”

“Wha- How dare- I’m not /lying/, Cadet-“

The tilt to Keith’s chin could be defiant, but he looks too calm. “Shiro isn’t dead. I would know.”

“All crew were lost-“

“And I’ll find them.” Iverson swallows, unnerved by the sparking surety in the kid’s eyes. “I’ll find Shiro.”

Keith spends the next three months hurling himself through the fighter pilot program. He’s burning himself up from the inside, lit with a manic fervor that drives him to greater heights than anyone could’ve imagined, almost religious in his desperation to reach the stars.

“What is he hoping to accomplish?” Sanda murmurs as she reviews his latest sim scores.

Likely it’s only rhetorical, but Iverson feels obliged to answer. Maybe it will finally bring an end to this madness. “He believes we’ll be send out a recovery team, and he wants to pilot it.”

Scoffing, Sanda closes the report and moves on to the next one. “Kindly inform the Cadet that there will be /no/ recovery team.”

When it comes time to review Keith’s yearly progress, Iverson does just that. He doesn’t know what to expect anymore - perhaps more stony silence.

“No,” Keith says. He gestures toward his records. “I’ve done everything right. I’ve beaten every sim. Broke every record. I’m better than the officers. They have to let me fly the mission.”

“There won’t be a mission to fly.” And good riddance. They’ve lost too many to that rock.

“But they have to!”

“No, they don’t. It’s dangerous and a massive use of resources. I’ve seen the footage. There’s...” Iverson pauses. This boy, this wildfire boy he inherited from Shiro, is staring him down. Once again he chooses to bend protocol. “There’s nothing to recover.”

“You’re /lying/,” Keith roars. He lunges up from the chair and slams his fists against the wooden desk. “I know Shiro’s alive. I can feel him.”

“No, he’s not,” Iverson says. Despite everything, he’s a little relieved to be back to the familiar. “Lieutenant Shirogane is dead.”

“No, he’s not! I can find him. I can bring him back.” He’s been burning himself up from the inside, but now that seems less like a metaphor as his eyes catch the light oddly. “You can’t keep me away from him!”

They should have put him in grief counseling, Iverson realizes.

“He’s dead, Cadet, and you need to let him stay that way. You need to /let this go/.” Before it kills you too, he thinks but can’t quite bring himself to say. Keith watches him in wary stillness, listening. Iverson begs: “Let the stars have him. It’s what he would’ve wanted.”

The growl in his throat is distinctly inhuman. His eyes spark gold. When his upper lip curls back in a snarl his teeth are too sharp. “No,” he says. “The stars can’t have him. I’ll tear the stars down. I’ll rip galaxies into stardust if that’s what it takes to bring Shiro home.”

And Iverson believes him. Recognizes a greater and fiercer and more ancient predator in his atavistic hindbrain. Knows that this child could do terrible star defying things if they don’t stop him from clawing his way out of Earth’s gravity.

Two days later, Keith is expelled.