Chapter Text
Pidge had an uneasy feeling in her stomach that sat there since they escaped from being stranded in space. She wasn’t sure that they were going home , they were truly going home. She felt nauseous at the fact that she led her and her friends straight into that hologram space monster that mimicked Earth. She wanted to be home, so badly and here she was. As Keith said before, everything in their lives was just one crazy twist of fate. She was going to crawl in her nice warm bed and type on her familiar laptop and code that video game that had been sitting on her desktop for so long. When she was bored in space she coded it in her mind. Pidge had tried before to recode it on the Altean computers, but they were never the same.
Lance felt his stomach turn like a knife twist in his gut. There was something unspeakable, something unforsaken about going back to Earth. Going back home . He maneuvered the Red Lion around the moons of Jupiter, as if he was just turning the corner walking home from his neighbourhood convenience store. When they got back to Earth, they weren’t sure what would happen next. There was a vacancy in the Galra empire, but there were no more planets that were being occupied or met with hostility. It was a treacherous ceasefire, but it gave them breathing room. He dreamt of Marco and Luis and his sister Veronica. He dreamt of their sleepy town in Cuba. Lance missed it all so much.
Keith knew exactly what he would do when he got back to the Garrison. He would go to his shack in the middle of the desert and would ride his dirt bike up and down the desert mountains. When he closed his eyes in space, exploring the unknown, he dreamed of the familiar. He dreamed of the prickly desert heat. He dreamt of the Garrison, no matter how bitter his memories were. He was half Galra, but Earth would always be his home. He dreamt of flying those rudimentary space crafts and flying circles around his class. Most of all, he dreamt of flying. Keith always dreamt of flying away from Earth, but now he dreamt of flying on Earth. He made a silent promise to himself that if he was ever given a second chance at life he would have liked to be a commercial airline pilot.
Hunk was waiting for home. He was waiting for his mother to cook him the same familiar foods he had always known and loved. He wanted to go back to his big family and spend the rest of his days while the Castle got repaired lying down under a palm tree. He was exhausted from all the work, but it also invigorated him. It inspired Hunk to do better in everything he did and it pushed him to new heights. He was worn out from all those months away from home, but after a brief break that Hunk sorely needed he would be back to making improvements to the Castle in no time. While they were marooned in space with just each other Hunk figured out how to reverse the Altean pool so they could go swimming.
Adam. Adam. Adam. Adam. Adam. Shiro was thinking of Adam. He tried not to let Keith or the other passengers in on his weaknesses. Keith may be the official leader of Voltron now, but Shiro still had to stay strong for the team. He fantasized about going back to their lofty apartment and sharing coffee in the morning. It was all so normal and all so mundane, but Shiro craved it. He wanted a life of relaxation. He wanted a life with Adam. Words couldn’t even explain how desperate Shiro was for Adam to forgive him. He wanted redemption, and he knew there were worse serpents in the garden than his own self.
They were nearing Earth. It was so blue, and so green . It was teeming with life and it felt beautiful and jubilant and vibrant. Their planet looked so young and healthy and alive that even the Alteans pressed their faces against the glass of the lions and tried to take in every single inch of their beautiful planet. After everything the team had been through even in the last week alone, from the battle with the druid to the fight with Lotor’s former Galra generals, they wanted a breather.
They wanted to go home.
Pidge was low on sleep, as was everybody. She had set team Voltron’s trajectories to land on the Garrison landing strip, but Pidge must have miscalculated and forgot to carry a number over and they found themselves wandering aimlessly over California. From even up high in the sky as they were, the Paladins made use of their advanced technology to zoom in on the crowd and saw all of them holding up their phone cameras. Over the intercom, Allura heard Keith groan.
“Something wrong, Keith?” Allura asked.
“I just wanted to fly in unnoticed. I didn’t want to attract any attention in case the public didn’t know what happened in Kerberos or something.” Keith muttered softly.
Lance winked and struck a pose. Everyone groaned over the communicators, but all in good taste as they laughed along with Lance and not at him. “Ignore Keith, Princess. He’s just not used to being in the limelight like I am.” He teased.
Keith laughed, and it felt like things could be totally normal if just there weren’t so many uncertainties laying ahead in their future.
The Garrison looked different from when Shiro saw it last. He remembers it having a more flat layout and it being way less fortified than it was now. He could hear Pidge’s radioes to her father, Sam Holt earlier today.
Pidge sounded like the fifteen year old girl she truly was. She sounded young and full of hope, and her voice didn’t crack out of desperation and her lips didn’t go pale from torture by asphyxiation. “Dad? Dad! It’s me, Katie!” She said, as the rest of the team looked on with joy.
“Katie?” Sam replied. The voice on the other end was muffled and slightly distorted, but there was no question that on the other end was Sam Holt, the man that Shiro fought valiantly beside for years. “Katie! The Garrison has prepared protocol for your arrival. Proceed to the main landing strip.”
Pidge gave a terse nod, despite her father not being able to see it. She went back to the girl hardened by war and faithfully following orders. “On it. I’ll see you in three hours.” She said, waving her hand and herding the lions towards her. “On my count, team! Follow me home. ”
Despite their detour earlier, the Paladins made it back just in time. They had scores of people crowded around the lions at their landing, and it felt slightly overwhelming. Hunk felt queasy as he looked at a small cluster of news reporters on touchdown. “You alright, Hunk?” Lance asked, as his face popped up on the screen.
Hunk gave a feeble nod. “Never better.” He said, feeling instant relief when he saw his bustling family practically clawing at the Yellow Lion’s feet.
Lance smiled at Hunk before cutting connections and opening the hatch to Red. “Alright. I know reporters and a bunch of government agents can be a little uncomfortable, so just let me know if you need anything.”
Hunk nodded. “Thanks Lance.” He replied, as he heard the sounds of the other lions and their door hatches opening.
He cut the connection and slammed the big red button to open the yawning mouth of the Yellow Lion. Hunk had been inside the belly of a goddamn Weblum before, so why did he feel so sick to his stomach right now?
On the other hand, Keith felt like bouncing up and down. Upon arrival he had seen so many new advancements and weaponry that he’d love to test. He knew already that Altean technology was so much more advanced, but he was excited to know that there were new advancements happening every day on Earth. If Iverson would accept the half-assed apology Keith was crafting in his mind, he would like to try out the new shiny orange blasters first.
He pressed the red button to open the mouth of the black lion, and the first thing he hears is laughter. Keith expects to hear a million camera shutters or maybe even a trillion people swarming him in hazmat suits like they did with Shiro, but instead Keith sees Lance sprint out of the Red lion and pick up three small children while enveloping three other people in a giant hug. Keith had been trapped in space with Lance for so long, and he had gotten to see the good and bad in Lance but he had never seen Lance smile this wide with anyone before. There was a soft pull in Keith’s soul, the very tingling notion of sadness and realisation that he would never have anything like what Lance had.
Keith turned around to see Colleen Holt and Sam Holt lifting up Pidge in the air and tossing her up and down, as her giggles floated in the air. He could feel Pidge’s laughter, as if they were bubbles created from a bubble wand. They bubbled and bubbled and just would not pop. He looked to the side and saw Hunk with a little kid that looked exactly like him riding his back. Hunk was talking in an engaging way, and he looked happy and alive.
Keith nearly jumped when he felt Shiro slap his hand on Keith’s back. “It’s okay to feel sad that you don’t have any family, you know. I felt that way too when I first started living in Garrison perimeters full time.” He said.
Keith frowned. “It’s different.” He said, but he looked up at Shiro and saw Shiro trying really hard to make Keith feel better. In an atmosphere such as this, it was hard to stay mad at someone. Instead, Keith tried to smile and looked at Shiro. “I have my mom. And I have you. You’re like a brother to me, Shiro. Adam is, too.”
The word Adam seemed to make Shiro recoil and smile fondly. Keith saw how Shiro was not so subtly staring at the Garrison officer at the back of the crowd. “Tell Adam I’ll talk to him later, okay?” Keith said, looking at Shiro and chuckling to himself.
Despite the very obvious aura of not feeling like he belonged, Keith felt unbearably insensitive as the three Alteans stepped out of the Blue Lion tentatively. Keith had never seen Allura like this, afraid and not so cocksure of herself as she usually did. Allura looked like a wounded animal, surrounded by things so familiar to others but foreign to her.
“It’s okay. They’re not all staring at you.” Keith joked, sidling up to Allura.
Allura huffed. “Yes, they are.” She said, her pupils following the throng of news reporters and family members trying to discreetly snap pictures of the aliens. Keith just laughed, lightening the mood. Allura felt better, but still on edge.
Romelle looked at everything with wide eyes. “Is he all related to those people?” Romelle asked, pointing a thin finger at Lance who was swarmed with extended family.
Keith shrugged. “I guess so.”
Romelle furrowed her eyebrows. “Strange. Back in Lotor’s encampment we only had two parents and a sibling. There were no cousins or grandparents .” She said, tasting the words cousin and grandparent on her tongue gingerly.
“What an awful place you lived in!” Coran exclaimed, butting into their conversation abruptly. “Me and my whole family used to go on these long vacations to an exclusive place called…”
“Don’t be rude, Coran!” Allura said, smacking Coran playfully on the shoulder. “I grew up with my parents as my only family, too.” She said, whilst Coran opened his mouth for a counterattack.
Keith looked around frantically and spotted one of the only officials from his Garrison days, Admiral Sanda. He didn’t want his Altean friends to start fighting and create a scene, especially after just landing on Earth. Keith needed a diversion.“Admiral!” Keith exclaimed, hailing over the admiral.
Admiral Sanda turned at the mention of her name. “Cadet Kogane.” She said, and then pursed her lips as she chose her words carefully. Coran, Romelle, and Allura stopped their fighting when the admiral walked closer to them. “Well, I guess you’re no longer a cadet.”
Keith smiled and nodded his head. “I would like for you to be the first to meet our Altean colleagues, allies, and friends . This is Romelle, Allura, and Coran.” He said, as the gave the admiral a timid smile or a wave.
The admiral nodded in acceptance. “Are you sure they’re not hostiles?” She said, making no effort to be discreet or to lower her voice.
Allura took a defiant step forward. “We are the core of team Voltron as much as the humans. If you don’t support us, you don’t support Voltron. And anyone who doesn’t support Voltron is an enemy of Voltron.”
The admiral stammered in shock, as she looked to Keith for a response. Keith nodded his head. “I agree. If it wasn’t for these three we wouldn’t be here now. Support all of us or support none of us.”
Sighing exasperatedly, Admiral Sanda looked to the Alteans. “I suppose you’ll be sitting in on our debriefing, then?”
Allura looked at Keith and laughed. “Sitting in? With all due respect, I’ll be leading the debriefing.” She said, walking into the Galaxy Garrison with so much confidence and the admiral at her heels, walking into a facility she’s never been in before. Keith smiled. That was the Allura they all knew and loved.
Keith looked at Pidge and Hunk who had begun to walk into the facility. The crowd had thinned out by now, and he saw Lance standing off to the edge of the landing strip. Keith frowned, and made his way to Lance.
“Sanda and Iverson want us to go to debriefing before we do medical to check if we contracted any diseases. After that they’ll give us compensation or something and we’re clear to do whatever we want.” Keith said, standing beside Lance.
If Lance got surprised by Keith’s abrupt entrance, he didn’t show it. “How many months do you think it’ll take for the castle to be repaired?” He asked.
Keith blinked. “I dunno. Six months? Maybe seven? Why?”
Lance looked at Keith and chuckled. “Oh, nothing. I just wanted to know how to maximize my time before we head off again.” He said, and the two boys headed back inside to the Garrison. “Did you know that this is the ledge me, Hunk, and Pidge were sitting on when Shiro crash landed?” Lance asked.
“No.” Keith replied, swivelling his head back to look out onto the desert. Now that he sees it, the place does look oddly familiar. It’s where all his dreams are set.
“Well, this is how it all began. And I guess this is how it ends. For now, at least.” Lance said, and Keith nodded in agreement.
“How it starts, how it ends.” Keith replied.
Lance smiled. His voice is barely over a whisper. “How it starts, how it ends.”