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It had been a complete coincidence. One of those bizarre turn of events that only happen when the stars line up in the shape of your uncle's left eyebrow on the twelfth sun of the year of the rat. Just pure dumb luck. Maybe if they got out of the ship they were currently battling in Pidge would run some numbers of probability just so she could wrap her head around the utter microscopic chances of accidentally attacking the same Galran warship as her brother's rebel group.
At the same fucking time.
Really, just what are the fucking chances?
“And you're absolutely sure it's them? The same group?” Pidge asked breathlessly as she sprinted down the hallway towards the master control room where she was best at causing chaos and mayhem. From there she would be able to release prisoners into the awaiting escape pods, track the mission's movements, have a bird's eye view to assist her friends, and most importantly, check and confirm that Shiro's information was correct.
Team Voltron had long ago learned that Pidge's most effective point of attack was from within the beast.
“Yeah, it's the same group alright. Same colors and species and everything- hang on, we're coming up on their location. I'm going to try to get some information. Are you in the Control Room yet?” Shrio's voice is nearly drowned out by the sound of Lance's blaster laying down some cover fire, and Pidge had to strain to hear everything he said over the comms.
“Almost. Had a brief encounter with some sentries. No damage. Give me like 30 ticks. And tell me what they say!” She finishes as she takes a sharp corner left and continued running down the path she had laid for herself in advance so she wouldn't get mixed up on her way through the ship.
“Will do Pidge.” A sudden blast filters through her comm, followed by sounds of utter destruction, but she could still hear traces of Lance's whooping battle cry, so she trusted that everything was properly handled.
She doesn't think she'll ever get over the fucking chances.
Rounding another corner too quickly found her slamming into a unsuspecting body, and the force of their collision sent them both tumbling to the ground, each with the sense to fall in opposite directions out of self preservation. Pidge made it to her feet before the being that she'd knocked over did, and she felt her heart rocket into her throat once she realized that the person she'd crashed into was dressed in the rebel garb and colors. Even caught off guard, she was sure she would be able to recognize those colors for the rest of her life. The colors that had represented the hope that her brother was alive and not suffering at the hands of the Galra. Once her vision settled, she realized just who she had run into.
“No fucking way.” Not the best way to start a reunion that was seventeen months overdue. Matt had quickly regained his footing and stood back up to his full height, his rebel blaster immediately pointed directly at her shielded face. He didn't recognize her, and she couldn't blame him. She'd grown three inches, cut off all her hair, and had donned completely foreign alien armor.
He also was probably not expecting his baby sister to be billions of light-years away from home and sprinting through a Galran warship.
He did however notice that she was certainly not Galran, what with her size and dress, though he did not lower his weapon.
She'd taken a blast or two to the helmet before, so she pushed the fact that he had her at gun point to the back of her mind and focused on soaking in the image of the brother she had tried so hard to hold out hope for, even when everyone else had given up. He had already finished growing when he launched for Kerberos, but he had still changed significantly in the physical realm. The roots of his thick hair had a dusting of white where they were growing in, and the auburn curls twisted under his chin, much longer than he preferred his hair to be. He had an unruly stubble trying vigilantly to make an appearance on his face due to a lack of shaving. A dark scar laced around his jaw before shooting up to disappear under his bangs, and he was sporting a nasty black eye that looked a few days old.
He was not pleased with her wide eyed staring.
“Who are you?” His voice had a firm demand in it that she might have believed if she hadn't seen the way his hands were shaking, or how long it took his scrambled brain to get him back to his feet a second ago. Neither of them were the most athletic people in the universe, but they were agile and fast, and the Matt from before Kerberos would have gotten up much quicker. He was on edge and uncertain,
She muted her comms momentarily, still listening for her teammates, but disabling their ability to hear her.
If she was losing her mind, she wanted to lose it in peace.
She opens her mouth to say his name, but the word comes out surprisingly thick and gets stuck. She succeeds on her second attempt. “Matt.” She most certainly had his full attention now. His thick eyebrows furrowed, but before she could let him ask any more questions or pull the trigger, she swiftly yanked off her helmet, her arms falling limp to her side. “It's me.”
Hopefully he would catch on, because that wasn't the most descriptive introduction.
But her brother had always been exceptionally bright. “K... Katie?” His hesitant hands faltered before lowering his blaster towards the ground. His sharp eyes trained on her face with a startling intensity as he stumbled backwards a step, and then very quickly stumbled forward. “Katie?! What the fuck?!” She had already crashed into his arms by the time he had stopped talking, and she let her helmet clatter to the ground in favor of digging her fingers into her brother's skinny back and smothering her face in his chest. His grip on her was painfully tight, like he was trying to absorb her and make her disappear inside of him where he could protect her. She felt his chest heave violently before his long fingers cupped the back of her head fiercely and he tucked his cheek against the top of her sweaty hair. “What...” She could practically hear his brain spinning and slipping to gain traction; to process the fact that he was currently holding her in his arms.
His grip increased in pressure before he pulled back, his hands firmly gripping her armored shoulders as he gave her a once over, eyes scanning her up and down before settling on her face. “You-... Katie- what the hell are you- what're you doing here? My god.” He seemed breathless and deep in shock and she was struggling to pick up on any delighted tones in his voice.
She actually thought he sounded pissed, and frankly, she couldn't blame him. Despite all the tearful and joyful reunions she had dreamed about, the realistic and much more active part of her brain had already predicted that the sight of her in space (in a war) would be enough to set off her normally docile and easy going brother into a fit. He had always been very protective of her, and the idea of her in danger would probably override any delight at getting to see her again. After all, if their situations had been reversed, she would be very angry indeed.
“I'm here for the same reason you are. To fuck up Zarkon.” She tells her, a wild spark in her eyes. Matt took another step back to get a better look at the armor she was clad in. “I'm a paladin of Voltron.” She held her arms out to her sides briefly before letting them drop back to her sides with a slap.
It was almost like she had popped a balloon an inch from his nose. He didn't make any noise at the news, but his face twisted into such a state of confusion that it almost looked comical. She saw the connection click behind his eyes as he finally processed the armor and helmet. When he couldn't seem to come up with a response, she continued, “The Green one.” as if it was very helpful information.
“Katie- What the fuck.” It was always impressive when he made what grammatically should have been a question into a statement. “How- You're supposed to be on Earth!” He had officially crossed from astonished to furious, and she could read it on him like she could read pages on a book.
People were hard for her to understand, but Matt wasn't like most people. He was her brother.
She knew he wasn't finished by the way he turned away from her momentarily before snapping back like lightning, gracelessly dropping his blaster onto the ground so he could dig the heel of his rough hands into his eyes. “You're supposed to be on Earth!” Where it's safe!” Fury had made enough room for horror to sneak into his voice. Horror at the thought of his baby sister fighting in a war when for months he had imagined nothing but her living peacefully on Earth, comfortable at home.
“Well not that safe! You were captured off of Kerberos! Earth is only a hop and skip across the solar system!” She could understand what he was feeling, but that didn't mean she wasn't supposed to be out here simply because it upset her brother.
“Safer than on a Galran Warship, Katie! God- a paladin of Voltron?” Once more he wasn't really looking for an answer, just trying to wrap his head around the situation playing out before him. “Why would you ever leave Earth! You were just supposed to stay safe!”
“Oh right, I'll just chill at home while the Garrison ruins everything!” He could be as mad as he wanted, but he did not get to just assume about the things she had been through or the decisions she had made. “They wouldn't tell us what happened to you! Everyone was content with just believing you were dead, is that what you fucking wanted?! Of course I kicked up dirt! And it lead me out here!”
“You're not even supposed to be out here!” He retaliated furiously, eyes flashing.
“I'm not supposed to be out here?! Are you fucking kidding me?!” She was too riled up and she knew it. They were on enemy ground for fucks sake. They really needed to have this fight somewhere else.
But she knew they weren't going to. They were going to fight exactly where they stood and then deal with whatever came their way because of it. Besides, she was fucking pissed, and didn't see any guards in their immediate vicinity.
“If anyone is not supposed to be out here, it is you, Matt! You were kidnapped. I was chosen! I made the choice to come out here! We could have backed down at any point, but we chose to continue! The Green lion chose me as her Paladin! She doesn't let anyone else so much as touch her! She had ten thousand years of people to pick from, and she chose me! Some goddamn prophecy was filled or some shit, and now things are different! You were taken out here against your will, I am out here because it's my fucking destiny!” She was red in the face, and her bayard glowed against her hip, activated by the energy she was putting off. She felt her lion prod at the edge of her mind, obviously concerned.
Matt had stumbled backwards in shock, his eyes widening at the feral tone in his sisters voice, and- fuck him- it reminded him of a fucking lion, just as she had said. There was a gravely undertone that had never been there before, and even though his sister would never hurt him, (too badly) she was emitting an energy that felt like it was stalking its way around him curiously.
Not to mention the confidence that was rolling off of her in waves. His baby sister had always been cocky, but now she had the strength of a person who knew just what they were capable of and wasn't the least bit hesitant about it. Back during her time in school, she had struggled to connect with other students and had drawn into herself. She was proud of her abilities, but she loathed the way they singled her out and burdened her with a heavy sense of loneliness. He had been her main connection to other people, and if it weren't for him, she probably would have convinced their parents to let her sail through her classes online instead of a classroom, while losing most all social interactions that he knew she needed to keep her head above water.
The loneliness had smothered her spirit, and urged her to forgo relationships completely in favor of throwing herself into her interests and curiosities.
The girl in front of him however, spoke with a spirit that thundered and growled, prowled and sparked. Ironically, she had found the greatest combatant against loneliness in space, a companion that had been waiting for her for ten thousand years and existed within her, providing her with that connection to her surroundings that kept her grounded. She was never alone, and therefor rarely lonely, whereas he had found out that while infinitely fascinating, he had never been lonelier than when he was in space.
He realized he didn't have anything to say to that. He was absolutely not okay with her being involved in the battle against Zarkon, but the lion... If she was destined...fuck, he didn't know what to think. He had come here to download information off of the control panel, and accidentally reunited with his sister instead.
Before he had to think of something to say to her, the arrival of several Garlan soldiers interrupted them. Before he could so much as blink, his sister had summoned some kind of blade from her hip and shot it out with pinpoint accuracy. The line hit an exposed pipe that exploded with boiling hot steam that shot down with a frightening amount of pressure. The water sent one soldier stumbling back screaming from pain as his face boiled, and another lunging forward to keep from suffering a similar fate. By the time Matt had retrieved his blaster, she had already taken down two more soldiers by striking fast and fierce and electrocuting them, leaving him with not targets to shoot.
Pidge straightened up a moment later before turning to him, and he was right. His brilliant baby sister had always been a wild child, but now she had a feral glint all about her. She held herself taller and wider. She had changed, and if you had asked him beforehand if he was okay with it, he would have told you “absolutely not.”
But now as he looks at her, he finds that he does like it. It scares him some, but he knows she's just as sweet as she is rough. She had changed, and he surprisingly did not mind.
“Look, we can't stay here. My team needs eyes. We got to go to the control room. I still have a job to do.” Her words were sharp, and he found himself nodding before he had realized what she had said.
“That's where I was headed too.”
Her smirk at him is infectious.
When they arrive at the control room several minutes later, they have lost the advantage of surprise and had ran into dozens of soldiers. Had he met them alone, he wasn't sure he would have been able to take them all, but with his sister by his side, they take them down without a sweat. He was seriously impressed by how talented she was with her small melee weapon, and also with how incredibly fast she was. They ducked into the control center and make quick work of the few sentries that had stayed to guard it. Pidge makes it to the main panel first.
“You've been training,” He mentioned as she began hacking away at the keys and he started to set up is remote downloader.
“Every day for ten months.” She's not bothering with stealth anymore. She's just trying to get her job done as quickly as possible. “Well, almost every day. Every free day.” She corrects. “Green helps.”
“Green helps?” He entered the go code for his virus to worm into the Garlan system, double checking that his driver was set before beginning his download.
“Yeah. We share consciousness. She's a lion. Natural Predator. I wouldn't be able to fight so well by a few months of training alone.” His sister says this casually, as though it is something that she never has to really consider anymore. As though its just another part of her daily life.
He supposed it was.
“Fuck, Katie. This is insane.” His work was almost halfway done. He glanced over to see what she was up to and gaped at the screen. “You're into twenty three networks already?!”
“We came here to wreck shit. They showed up on our radar so we figured one fewer battleship in the universe wasn't so bad- but we found prisoner transcripts. So instead of just blasting it into oblivion with Voltron like we usually do, we decided to go a search and rescue while I got some more data and set some bugs in their system. None of it's heavy work.” He noticed a small cube of metal that seemed to glow purple, but he had never seen it on any other Galran ship before.
“And that's your interface?”
“Yep. Reversed engineered it with some Okkali. They're fantastic man- have you met any?” Her eyes never left the screen she was typing on, but somehow she was still managing to converse with him and get the job done, something that had nearly driven her insane back on Earth. She had absolutely loathed when someone tried to talk to her while she was working. It had been one of her pet peeves.
“Uh- A few, yeah. But I've never been to their planet. Just met some prisoners here and there.” His normally sharp mind was spinning as he tried to wrap his head around such mundane conversation with a sister he hadn't seen in months. He wondered vaguely how she was handling it so well, but when he looked at her and saw the slight shaking of her hands, he pondered on the idea that perhaps she was not.
He and his sister had been very close back on Earth, and he knew all her tells and also how her mind worked. He knew what made her anxious and how she would deal with stress. He knew that when she was exhausted she would sleepwalk around two AM and he knew that sometimes her mind would slip into overdrive and refuse to shut up. He knew damn well how impossible it made sleep for her, and he knew that it could only be solved by physically talking her down into less staggering places until she eventually drifted into sleep.
He knew everything an older brother should about taking care of a younger sister, but that was back on Earth, and now they were billions of miles away in a war that threatened to kill them both at only a moments notice. That kind of pressure and fear changed people; After all, he was well aware that he was not the same person he had been back at the Garrison. It was an uneasy and apprehensive thought to have swirling around in his head; that maybe he no longer knew his sister the way he thought he always would. It wasn't irrational- he has just always figured that he and Katie would be close no matter what directions their lives took them. He knew siblings grew apart, but even a phone call a week at the Garrison had kept them feeling like two peas in the pod. They had always ended up talking for hours at a time, until he had to stay in the hall so his roommate could sleep and she had to hide in her closet so their parents wouldn't know she was awake. He knew from the sound of her voice alone how she was feeling, and she knew how stressed he was based off of how excited he was about upcoming projects. They weren't necessarily the most functional of siblings- they took anger out on each other and occasionally reacted poorly, but they always were drawn back to each other.
Basing the rest of their relationship off of those close connections, the possibility that they would ever grow distant had never stuck in his mind, and it had made being away from her all the more painful, especially since he knew that she was most likely in the dark about what had happened to him.
Seeing her now, after months of uncertainty, was completely surreal, and he found himself watching and waiting for her tells- for the little signs of Katie.
He doesn't have to wait long.
“For fucks sake.” She hisses out next to him, pounding especially hard at the keys. “Fuckin, shit piece of translator-” She had inherited her potty mouth from him and a few of his buddies when she used to sit in on their League of Legends games. He would let her stay in the room so long as she didn't bother him too much and didn't mess with his friends. He had not predicted the possible outcomes until it was too late. Training a nine year old not to cuss in front of any respectable adult had been one of the hardest challenges he had ever overcome.
“Whose are you using? Not all English speaking species actually translate as well as I thought.” He leaned over to where he could better see her work. He did not recognize any of the systems she was digging through.
“My own. Its a combination of most of the translating programs I've come across, but its not done and sometimes it bugs out. I've been a little too busy to perfect it yet.” Annoyance had seeped into her voice and made her words sound rough. “I feel like I have a hundred projects in the work that would be extremely helpful to get done, but no time to finish them.”
“Maybe I can look over them later. Find your bugs.” He kept his voice indifferent. He had heard fantastic stories about Voltron and its paladins, but he didn't really know what they did on a day to day basis. If she was unable to let him review her work, then he didn't want her feeling guilty about it. However the prospect of being able to go over some classic American code was completely enchanting. He had been working with unfamiliar coding and processing for months, and while he would always be delighted to help aid his comrades in his rebel faction, he also longed for a project that didn't make his head spin with frustration as he had to teach himself the intricacies of a new and foreign system.
Besides, he was more or less the official beta of all Katie Holt computer programs(TM). He had been the better coder of the two of them simply because he had more practice due to his age and more opportunities to take more classes on it at the Garrison, where she still had three years to wait until enrolling when he had launched for Kerberos. He had taught her everything she knew on the subject, and he knew what parts she usually made mistakes in. Working on some of Katie's programs always promised an interesting few hours of working with elegantly designed code.
She turned to him with a curious smile. “Really?”
“Yeah of course. I mean- I’m committed to help my fraction, but I don’t know what the future holds. I’m sure we’ll have to work something out between our two teams so we can be in contact. Hell- if I know Mari, she’ll be eager to work with Voltron.” He quickly removed his downloader and got to work on erasing any evidence that he had ever been active in the Galran’s computer network.
She seemed to radiate glee at his words. Maybe she had thought that he wouldn’t want to work with Voltron, or that he would be too devoted to his group to coordinate attacks.
Which was, frankly, completely ridiculous. She was his fucking sister. He certainly hadn’t been expecting to find her anywhere but in their house on Earth, but if she was here, then they were supposed to be working together. It was just meant to be. Not to mention that he was absolutely not okay with letting her run around the universe attacking Galra while he sat back and didn’t assist her and insure her safety. She was family- something he hadn’t had since he had been separated from his father, and nothing in the world was going to make him that up. While he would prefer to have her back down and out of harm’s way, he wasn’t going to ignore her presence for what it really was; a gift. He had been blessed with her at a time in which he felt the loneliest he had ever experienced. He would do what he had to to keep her around.
“You’re right.” She grinned, and Matt couldn’t ignore how it was excited with a tint of that same feral aura that had been leaking off of her. “Uh- now’s not really the time, but I can guarantee that my leader won’t have any problem with it.” She hesitated, and it was obvious that she was keeping something from him, but if she said it wasn’t the time, then he trusted her.
“Do you need help?” He asked, eyes watching the symbols and letters that were flying across her screen. A moment later and she quickly pocketed her cube and pulled back from the panel.
“Nope. Just finished. Let’s get the hell outta here.”
And they do.
And nearly a day later; when he’s been reunited with Shiro and introduced to the other paladins; when Mari and Allura sit down to talk strategy about how and when he will be able to travel from one ship to another to work with both groups; when he and his sister talk about their father and how far she’s come in her search; he begins to see the very obvious signs that his baby sister is still his baby sister.
She’s dangling over the couch with the Yellow Paladin who had introduced himself as Hunk, a laptop balanced on her exposed stomach and glasses riding low on her nose. She’s dressed in pants that are way too long to belong to her and a t-shirt that would probably fall to her thighs if she was standing.
As it was however, she was obviously fighting sleep- a battle her companion had long lost. The drool creeping out of Hunk’s mouth disappears for a moment every time he inhales.
It had been decided that he would stay on the Castle Ship for a week while everything was worked out, and when he was needed by the fraction they would hail him. Apparently there wasn’t much on the upcoming docket until Pidge activated her newly implanted virus, and they were not going to do that until the castle and rebel fraction where in a strategic position. That meant everyone had a few days of downtime until everything was ready.
She’s tapping lazily at her screen, the other hand barely propping up her head. Her body was screaming exhaustion, and yet when all she would have to do would be to close her laptop and lay down, she remains awake.
He plopped down next to her, but she does not startle. There wasn't much chance that she had seen him though, and he wonders if her lion had informed her of his presence.
He still doesn't have their whole relationship worked out yet.
“Working yourself to sleep?” He asks offhandedly, eyes scanning over her screen. She barely nods at him.
“Yeah. My brain won't shut off.” She moved positions once he was settled, twisting until she thumped against his shoulder and she had her legs sprawled across his. It was a familiar contact despite the fact that they had been separated for months. He takes comfort in the fact that perhaps some things would not change between them.
He sees a few different flaws in her design, but instead of telling her, he simply takes note of them in his head. If they started discussing code now, he would only rile her brain up instead of coaxing her to sleep. So he snatches a blanket from nearby and asks soft questions about her new team instead. She speaks of them fondly, and he can see how she cares for them underneath her rough demeanor of annoyance. After all, she still hadn't woken up Hunk despite his obnoxious snoring.
There's something extremely reassuring about relaxing next to his sister. Having her so close is a reminder that she is safe, and that he is close enough to protect her. It gives him a feeling of a domestic life that he had not experienced since having been captured so long ago.
And when she eventually curls into his side and falls asleep, he is positive that no matter how much Katie has been forced to change in order to survive space, he knows that she will always be his baby sister.