"What is this?" Coran asked. He had a little bag, held between his thumb and forefinger, filled with white powder.

"Cocaine!" Pidge said, cheerfully.

"Cocaine? Hm, write that down, Kassy, that could be a nice baby name." Coran replied. "What is it, anyway?"

"It's a drug. You sniff it, and it's great." Pidge nodded.

"Where did we get cocaine?" Shiro asked.

"There it is!" Rora grabbed it from Coran's hand. "Guys. Let's have a party."

"I can't party." Kassy frowned.

"Oh, well, sucks to suck, I wanna sniff some coke." Pidge said.

"Pidge, you are 15 years old. As the most responsible person here, you are not sniffing cocaine." Shiro said. Pidge whined.

"But Shiro! I really, really want to!"

"No, Pidge."

"Oh, well. Looks like I'm joining the boring club, Kassy."

"I'd really prefer if nobody sniffed coke." Shiro said. "Especially the Paladins."

"Okay, okay, space dad." Rora got the music on. "Hunk, you're doing drinks. Lance, you're doing music. Rora, you're doing coke."

After a few drinks, Rora set out the coke, grabbing a straw, and snorting it.

"This is absolutely disgusting." Coran muttered. "When I was a lad, I tried weed! And it was fantastic."

"They have weed on Altea?" Lance asked. Coran nodded.

Rora raised her head, titling it back, and sniffing delicately. "Woah."

"Okay, that's enough." Shiro said. "No more coke."

"But Shiro!"

A few hours passed, and after Shiro left, Rora of course went back to sniffing the cocaine. That was, until she was panicky, and, in other words, fucked up.

Keith rubbed her back. "Okay, you done?"

She nodded. "I'm done."

"You gonna do this again?"

"Probably."

***

Weeks passed. And everything came to a head with the Galra.

(I remember nothing about the season 2 fight when Shiro went missing so.)

A few hours after the last fight, and everyone had rested, there was a horrid realisation skink in.

"Shiro's disappeared."

Kassy turned to the group. She counted over them, and it was true. It seemed he wasn't there.

"Oh. Are you sure? Did you check the black lion?" She asked.

"I'll go look." Pidge said.

"Everyone else split up, search the castle. Maybe he's still resting. That was pretty intense." Hunk said. The group nodded, and split up, leaving Coran, Allura, and Kassy alone.

"Are you feeling okay, Kassy?" Coran asked. "I was so caught up with the princess I barely thought about how it might have been affecting you."

"Oh, I think I feel fine." She said, placing a hand on her stomach. "I'm just kind of concerned about Shiro right now."

Pidge returned. "He's not in the black lion."

"Not in his room, either." Keith said.

"Checked the kitchen, he's not there." Hunk joined.

Lance returned. "I checked all the hallways. I couldn't find him."

"Oh." Kassy said. The realisation that Shiro was missing sank in. "Oh, fuck."

Nobody said anything for a moment. Shaking, Kassy took a seat.

"He can't be... just gone." Allura mumbled. "Shiro? Shiro, can you hear me?" There was a silence for a moment. She shook her head. "If he's there, he's not responding."

"We can't stay here." Coran said after a moment. "We must go."

"But... what if he's around?" Kassy asked.

"I can assure you, Kassy, if he was, he'd have joined us again." Coran told her gently. "It's not safe here."

Pidge took a seat next to Kassy. "Do you think he's... he's dead?"

Nobody responded. A tear spilled down Kassy's face.

"Well, Kassy. This is why you should have been more careful. Now you have a baby whose father is nowhere to be seen. This would have been much less complicated if you two had controlled yourself." Allura turned to her.

Kassy stood up slowly. "Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying."

"Guys, let's not do this right now." Hunk said, going to place a hand on Kassy's arm.

"You're just saying? Shiro's missing and the first thing you say is 'I told you so'?" She took a step towards her. "Cant you have an ounce of fucking empathy for once?! We've just lost our leader! I've just lost my best friend! The father of my child! What is the matter with you?!"

Allura glanced towards Coran, as if for backup, but he didn't look at her.

"Dont you care about him at all? You know what, don't answer that. I know what the answer is." she turned away from her, tears running down her cheeks. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

She turned, walking out of the room. Hunk glared at Allura, before following Kassy out of the room. The remaining group were silent for a moment.

"Okay, team. We've had a long, difficult day. Let's all take some time to cool down and not go at each other's throats." Coran said.

"How are we supposed to relax when Shiro isn't here? Don't you realise how vulnerable we are?" Pidge said quietly.

"I hear you, Pidge. But it'll be fine. We'll make a plan of action in the morning. Right now, I think we should get some sleep. Things always look better in the morning."

"Alright. Goodnight, Coran." Rora said, and the group slowly left.

"Alright. Well, goodnight, team. Princess, I think we should talk."

Allura paused. "Okay, Coran." she took a seat.

"I understand you're stressed, but I don't find it fair how you spoke to Kassy."

Allura shook her head, a sad expression on her face. "I know. I just got stressed out. And lashed out."

"I won't lie to you, Princess. It seemed more like an unnecessary dig at her. I think you owe Kassy an apology."

Allura nodded. "Alright. I'll go speak to her."

She wandered through the hallways, and was headed to Kassy's room, however she heard her voice from Shiro's instead.

"And-and, it's like there's nothing I can do. Everything is going to end badly, no matter what I do. I didn't want to get involved in a fucking space war! But I took the cards I was dealt and tried to make the best of it." Kassy sniffled. "Even if it meant panic attacks. Even if it meant crying every day. It was fine. Because I had Shiro. Because I had cocktails and gossip and sex and music, and you guys. Even the baby. Even that was fine because I had him there, a-and I knew he wouldn't leave. And now he's gone."

Allura glanced in the room. Hunk pulled Kassy closer to him, rubbing her back. "Hey, I know it's awful. But you still have us. And that will never, ever change. And we can always hope that, if Shiro is alive and well, he'll make his way back to us."

"And what if he's not? Allura was right. We should have been more careful." she sniffled. "You should have left me on that Galra ship. I've caused nothing but problems."

"You've caused anything but problems." Allura walked into the room. "And I'm so sorry I made you feel that way, Kassy." she hovered by the bed. "Am I okay to sit?"

Kassy sniffed, pulling away from Hunk, and nodded. "Yeah. You can."

"Kassy, I promise you there's not a single thing you've done wrong. And no matter what, we're going to help you through this. Whether Shiro comes back or not. That's a promise."

"Allura, you've been... you've been nothing but awful to me."

She took a breath. "I know. And if you want to know why, I'm afraid I don't have an answer. But I'm coming to realise I'm being incredibly unfair, and selfish. So, I'm sorry Kassy. I'll try and be better from now on."

"I'll believe it when I see it. But I appreciate it."

She nodded, before hesitantly opening her arms. Kassy hugged her.

"And I promise, that no matter what, we'll get through it."