IC INBOX (futurology)

[reverseengineer]

username: SOUTHPAW

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[reverseengineer]

I figured.

[Do they have to actually talk about this? She doesn't want to examine her feelings, either on her older self or on Keith or on how her older self reacted to Keith.

She doesn't want to wonder exactly how much truth there was to what they saw, or what she'd find if she had the proper equipment to run a DNA test on Keith.]

It was the only logical explanation. Some sort of... mass hallucination.

[secondnature]

[He would really like to say it was a hallucination. The thing is, Keith doesn't think that's right, and he knows Pidge probably doesn't think that, either. Still, they're both better off going to Shiro with this. That's something Keith is certain about.]

Maybe not a hallucination, but—definitely not a sure thing. [He pauses.]

Did you see that Shiro's back? [See: eager to not talk about it. At all.]

[reverseengineer]

Yeah. [He messaged her. She glances down.] He doesn't remember being here at all.

[secondnature]

I know. I think ALASTAIR did something to him when they claimed he was off with another team. I knew that whole thing was fishy.

[reverseengineer]

[Oh good, conspiracy theories, this is way better than talking about how Keith was a freaking alien for a little while.]

Yeah, we all know he wouldn't leave without saying something. [He wouldn't leave period, but if he had to, he would have told them. Or took them with him. Something.] Do you think he learned something?

[secondnature]

Maybe. [It hadn't occurred to him to carry the conspiracy theory that far, but the next step is obvious:] So the real question is, how do we jar those memories back into his head?

[reverseengineer]

We need to figure out how they took them. I don't think we can count on them to come back like his memories of the Galra have.

[Galra. She can't help but see Keith again, all purple and definitely Galra from a few days ago. Is there any truth to it? Is he really one of them?

It's not a question she can afford to answer right now. Whatever else is going on, right now the team needs each other.]

[secondnature]

Yeah, and what he lost with the Galra might be different. Soldiers going off to battle and ending up with PTSD. [The words come easily and knowledgeably, not because he's the sharpest tool in the shed (that's Pidge and Hunk, okay), but because he did train to be something akin to a soldier. These things are common knowledge.]