[ ah. of course. seems like the logical place to start. he suspected as much and yet, even with the heads up from keith, shiro isn’t fully prepared with a rehearsed answer waiting in the wings. he’s been through this once before though and arguably, keith is the tougher, more daunting one out of the two, so…

he closes his eyes, steeling himself and then huffs out a breath, leaning into a slump against the couch. ]

I never left the Black Lion. [ simple. it’s a slight easing into the inevitable, because while allura may not want to say it, shiro has no such qualm in stating facts. ]

I died. [ a beat. and then right back to softening the blow. ] But... Black saved me. I don’t know why but he kept my soul in his consciousness. [ he’s had nothing but time to debate an answer to that. obviously, his connection to black is -- was -- strong enough to have black wanting to shelter him. but there has to be a reason beyond that. is there an end goal? does black know something shiro doesn’t? what’s the point of keeping his spirit alive if there’s no further purpose on the horizon for him?

because so far? he’s been altogether useless to black, to the team and to the universe. ]

I’ve been trying to keep tabs on the team but… my ability to help is pretty limited.