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In another universe, Zarkon never turns on his fellow Paladins. King Alfor does not die, sending his daughter and closest advisor into cryosleep to save them. He lives long, and when he does step down from the throne, Allura takes on the crown with a grace born in her and trained through years of watching her father.
The Queen of Altea rules well and long. Her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter never comes to the Sol system, letting its dominant species learn for itself what the universe holds.
In this universe, humans still go to Kerberos. Well – three humans do. But in this universe, they come back. Shiro’s hair will only turn white in his old age, and both his hands are still his own. The Holts are not lost to the stars. They go to Kerberos, and they return. The discoveries they make there will prompt more exploration, and someday lead to the humans’ official First Contact with beings not of Earth.
When they get back, Katie has been accepted into the Garrison. Her team is odd but they eventually get along. They all love their families, far away (whether Earth or sky, distance is distance), and although it takes a while, they become friends.
Katie and Keith had grown close waiting for their brothers to return to Earth. By osmosis, Keith has become inducted into the ragtag group. He and Lance argue – in what universe wouldn’t they argue? – but it isn’t as serious. There is less aggression. Lance is working hard to get into fighter pilot class, and with his team at his back he might make it. Even if he doesn’t – if being a cargo pilot means flying the skies to new places, seeing new things and new people, Hunk at his side… well, maybe cargo isn’t so bad after all. Fighters get the fame, but it’s the cargo pilots that get the real work done.
Hunk still worries over all of them, but they are safer in this universe. Their lives are still kind of wild, but at least they aren’t fighting an intergalactic empire and risking their lives daily. He soaks up everything he is taught like a sponge, and soon he’ll be able to dismantle and reassemble every class of ship in the Garrison with his eyes closed, and then make the world’s best dinner for his entire team after. He loves discovering new ingredients, even if in this universe they are restricted to Earth foods. He always was good at learning.
Keith is not as aggressive, not as much of a loner. Neither is Katie. Keith is not alone, in this universe. He has Shiro, and in this universe Shiro comes back. While Keith waits for him he sleeps in the Holt’s guest bedroom. When he does sleep. He and Katie watch the sky every night, making up stories about the stars and what’s inside them. They won’t go to them, not yet – maybe not ever, in this universe – but it’s okay. Keith isn’t alone as much, and he finds that he likes it. Of course, he never backs down and he’s too stubborn for his own good and is maybe just a little bit violent, but he’s got people now. That changes things a lot.
Katie gets to be at the Garrison as herself. She’s always looking for truth, always trying to find answers, but in this universe the stakes aren’t quite as high. She does get Iverson fired within the first two months she’s there, because Iverson is an ass in every universe, but mostly she gets to build robots and design code and form programs that hardly anyone can understand except maybe Hunk. She’s not desperately searching for her family in the depths of space, she’s making. She’s creating for the sake of creation, and it feels better than she could ever have expected. It may not be plants, but she guards forests of data trees and seedlings of ideas germinate and grow in her mind. She works with her hands, and lines of code like electrified bark stream past her eyes.
Even in this universe, they are all still a team. But this team is not fighting for their lives and those of every living thing in all the galaxies. Their bonds are not forged in laser fire and blood, but they are strong nonetheless. Their connections are study sessions and animated discussions and detailed explanations and occasional naps. They learn, but not of the worlds outside their own, not yet. The stars are still distant, but they are growing closer every day.
Still, they are bonded. Shiro went to the stars and came back for them. Keith, less sharp and less fearful, works as hard as ever but knows that if he falls they will be there to help him back up. Lance is working too, striving to achieve his dreams, but wherever he ends up he will be happy because he will have them, and that’s what matters. Hunk is still nervous about flying and everything else, but everything he’s learning is worth it. Pidge – Katie is still Pidge in this universe, sometimes (too much twitchy-shiny bird behavior and she’s their Pigeon forever) – doesn’t have to lie, doesn’t have to worry about missing family, because everyone she cares about is right here.
It’s not lions, but the team that in one universe is called Voltron still flies.