Chapter Text
"This is dumb," Lance whined, the audio and visual feed from his cockpit popping up in the corner of Keith's dashboard like a bad teaser. He yawned into the back of his hand and slumped down into his chair until he was halfway off the screen, "it's way too early for this."
Keith stopped tapping his finger against the joysticks for long enough to minimize Lance's window and slide it further off to the right, "Shiro wanted us out here at eight, so we're out here at eight."
"Ooh, look at you," Pidge had decided to join in, their screen popping up right in the middle of Keith's display and bringing back the twitch in his eye. Pidge hadn't gotten their morning cup of Altean coffee, nor had they had time to wrestle their bedhead into shape - the messy ends of which were poking out the bottom of their helmet, "still wearing the bossman pants."
Keith groaned, audibly enough that he could hear it echoing in the other Paladin's helmets through the comms, and they quieted. Loathe as he was to put these three words together: Lance was right. It was too early for this. He didn't even know why they were out here; there wasn't anything going on on this planet (there wasn't anything period on this planet, it was all just flat grass fields), but they were all out here sitting in their Lions instead of eating breakfast.
"Let's just wait. If he's not out here in a little bit, I'll call him. Happy?"
There were three unison yeses as Keith dismissed the other Paladin's screens from his own and leaned back in his chair restlessly. He wasn't patient to begin with and all the waiting was beginning to wear on him. He could only watch the wind ruffle the grass for so long before both he and Red started growing restless.
Though he hadn't been super pleased with getting up early for training (something that Keith did not maintain in his short time leading the team), he tried to keep an open mind when Shiro and Allura asked them to be in their Lions and outside early the next morning. However now it was the next morning, and they were missing a critical part of this exercise: Shiro.
Keith groaned again and tapped his heel on the floor repeatedly, hand itching to reach over to the comms and call their missing Paladin. He waited only a few more seconds before finally accepting that he probably had to call and wake up Shiro to get him out here, but the moment he moved his hand towards the communications controls, there was a ping on his screen as a blinking purple dot began moving onto the map.
Shiro sat staring at the doors of the hangar on his viewscreen, too nervous to even consider moving. It was something he'd done a thousand times before, but now he couldn't bring himself to do it again. He had been down this path before, the feeling that even if he tried his absolute hardest, he would fail miserably. Once again, he had the entire team's trust bearing down on his shoulders like Atlas.
It had been so long since he even though about attempting this, would it even still work? Did he even know how to do it anymore? If it failed, what then? Did he tell everyone "oh well, we'll try again later then" or did he confront Allura and tell her that it was fun while it lasted, but maybe she should find a new Black Paladin?
He heard the familiar purring in the back of his mind and tried to stop himself from fretting any further. It wasn't helping anyone, least of all himself. Shiro closed his eyes and pulled himself away from his worry and towards the warm feeling just on the edge of his thoughts.
Trust yourself. You are strong.
When Shiro opened his eyes again, he wasn't surprised that he was still in the hangar, even though a small part of him was hoping that he would open his eyes and already be flying through the air. Naivety had never been his strong suit.
Shiro sighed, tightening his grip on the controls, "you're right. Let's go."
The Black Lion responded with an enthusiasm of her own as the hangar doors (the primary ones now almost completely repaired, thanks to Hunk, Pidge, and Coran) opened and she darted for the open skies with unbridled speed. Shiro made no effort to stop her; he relaxed in the seat, loosened his grip around the joysticks, and let his mind run utterly blank.
In the distance, the other Lions came into view, turning around to face their leader. There was a myriad of cheers and welcomes through the comms, but after all the excitement died down, there was still that one, resolute, "it's good to have you back," that was unmistakably Keith.
Black flew over the top of the other four Lions, and the moment her shadow had passed over them, they leapt into the air after her. Two branched out on either side in a loose V, each in their respective places as the limbs of Voltron as the five of them rose into the sky. It had been so long since any of them had tried this, that there was a universal air of uncertainty, floating like a fog over another, thinner layer of excitement.
Again, Shiro closed his eyes and reached out to his Lion, feeling her surrounding him and cradling him, until he opened his eyes and saw the sky through hers. He could feel all five Lions' ambition radiating from every direction, and within that power, he could feel the other Paladins' own eagerness. He could feel Keith's fieriness and his daring, Pidge's cunning and sharpness, Lance's calm and cool, and Hunk's support and strength all flooding into his mind. He could feel the Black Lion embracing her bond with her sisters once more, and her vigor and willfulness resonated in Shiro.
"Alright team," the words rolled off Shiro's tongue from pure muscle memory, "form Voltron!"
From here, everything fell into place as easily as falling asleep. The Lions had the transformation sequence built into their very cores, and the Paladins were as skilled in forming Voltron now as the Paladins of old. The shifting of metal and machinery beneath Shiro was such a familiar sensation that he didn't know he missed until now. He followed his own advice for once (something he rarely did, even on a good day) and visualized five becoming one.
Voltron landed on the ground like a mighty warrior standing up after a battle, the only other thing besides the Castle for hundreds of mines around. On this planet of nothing but grass and sky, it was easy to imagine oneself as more than just a small being in the vast nothingness of space. In the end, all five Paladins were larger than themselves again.
United. As one, again.
"Whoa! Did you guys hear that?" Lance startled everyone out of their moment, was apparently startled himself, "you guys heard that right?"
Hunk seemed just as taken aback by Lance, "yeah, yep, I heard that. In the back of my head. That was not my Lion!"
Shiro reached over to his console, pulling up the audio and video feeds for the other four Lions' cockpits, plus his own, "relax. That was the Black Lion. She was trying to congratulate us, I think."
"Well what did she say? I just heard like...vague mumbling?"
United. As one, again.
The voice was clearer this time more than any other time Black had spoken in the back of Shiro's mind. It didn't feel like he was listening to a memory like it had, it was as clear as if there was a person standing behind him, physically speaking into his ear.
"She says we're a family again."