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Lance sighed as he sat down on the virtual grass. It tickled his fingers, and his brows twitched together. The stimulation felt so real. As if he really was there, on a little hill, near the ocean from his home.
He didn't catch the presence coming up behind him, merely because there actually was none.
Sitting next to him, he caught the wave of her white curls. With a heavy feeling settling on his chest he dared glance to his side.
Allura.
It couldn't have been anyone else anyway. He had gone to the room that had once held her Father's memories, and that one Galra's when they needed the intel he had. Now Allura's were stored inside. For Coran and for Lance to visit when they wished to.
Normally the scenery shifted towards green fields filled with the Altean's favorite flower. Today was different.
Lance figured this was because he felt so confused. Before, when the Blue Lion had launched the five humans into space he had constantly been worried about his family.
He had been homesick. Wondered if they thought he had died. Traced a family picture, that he had happened to carry with him that fateful day, biting his lip as he realized his younger siblings and cousins were growing up without him.
Aside the ocean he had missed so dearly, he could almost smell his mother's cooking. He had smelled it days before. They had returned to Earth after all. But now on New Altea, he had lingered behind before the ship would bring them back.
Something was nagging him, and thus he had found himself in here.
"Lance?" Allura's soft voice snapped him from his thoughts. She had that smile on her face, the one she had always carried from the very moment they met her. A smile she send their way even though she had just awoken from something that must have felt like mere ticks, knowing all she had knowed and loved was gone.
"You're awfully quiet, do you wish to talk?"
Leaning forward, he took a breath. Nothing followed but a sigh. He wasn't sure how to feel. He should have been happy to be back, that he once again could see his family. Be wrapped into their arms. But for some reason, he had been aching to fly again. To go bavk in space if he was allowed to. But he hadn't returned to the Garrison.
"I just don't know what to do. Being back with my family, back to Earth, should make me happy. But..."
Lance closed his eyes, a shaky chuckle leaving his breathe.
"It also feels like by staying I make a mistake..."
Allura just looked at him for awhile before turning her gaze towards the ocean.
"Well, I know a boy from an island," she sung. "He left his own crowd. He loves space and his people. He makes his whole family proud."
Lance huffed. He wasn't that sure about that. He hadn't spoken much to them, the team, ever since he had left to go work on that farm. Month had passed until they had gone to New Altea.
Obviously they had been happy to see him back, and they had all huddled together at one point, crying ugly crocodile tears.
"Sometimes everything seems against you.The journey may leave a scar."
She lightly tapped his back. Clearly referring to the scar he had gotten from jumping in front of Coran back when Fake Rover had exploded inside the castle.
"But scars can heal and reveal just where you are. The people you love will change you."
Lance huffed. They certainly had.
He had known Hunk, but the man had made him respect food so much more. You could have sticky green goo, after all. He certainly had appreciated the guy's presence in this unknown situation.
Pidge and he hadn't really been close. Yet they were a young genius, Lance could say as much. The gremlin was smart and rather fast on their feet. Not ro mention their ambition.
Shiro had always been his idol. Saving him, as far as they had done much in comparison to Keith, and having him lead them. The man had gained his respect a long time ago, but this experience gave a whole other sense to it.
As for Keith. The rivalry he had made up had dissolved, mostly that was. They still bantered, but on a more friendlier base. The bite their words thrown at each other once had, had faded over time. You couldn't exactly fight your teammate.
Lance figured he had changed his opinion of the other more so around the time Shiro was gone and Keith led the team.
Then Allura... Ever since his eyes had fallen on the girl he had been a goner. He would have said he hadn't ever seen any girl as pretty, but he knew therebhad been plenty others. He had just been so fond of her. Still was, only different now.
He wasn't sure when he had started pushing his feelings down and when Allura had started showing interest in him anymore. His sister had teased him about it before, and he had been embarrassed. But he had been confused as well.
Even when they had dated he had wondered if this was all real. She had rejected him before and had been all over Lotor. He had never dared ask and had gone along the relationship.
He had never seen it coming she would have had ro sacrifice herself to mend the realities.
"The things you have learned will guide you. And nothing on Earth can silence, that quiet voice still inside you," Allura still continued.
"And when that voice start to whisper; 'Lance, dear, you have come so far'. Lance, listen. Do you know who you are?"
Lance raised an eyebrow as he faced her. Did he know who he was? Ofcourse he knew. What for a question was that?
"Who am I?" he asked, a broken laugh forced past his lips.
"I'm a boy who loves his island," he silently sang. "And a boy who loves outerspace. It called me."
A weak smile graced his lips.
That day in the desert, all huddled in Keith's shed. Going down Keith's criptid search with Pidge and Hunk sorta excited. Shiro and himself more just tagging along.
He remembered being in awe with the blue metallic bot and Keith grumbling how he had tried to get the barrier to drop. How he had jokingly said maybe all they had to do was knock, the barrier actually falling away after he had done so.
Things had changed when they had to switch lions though. He had died while flying Red. If it hadn't been for Allura he-
He supressed a shiver as he wetted his lips.
"I am the Paladin of the Red Lion. We fought the Galra tiranny. Freed their conquered planets across it all. Still, it calls me."
Lance had stood up, Allura mirroring his action. He didn't meet her gaze, though.
"I've delivered us to where we are. I have journeyed farther. I am everything I've learned and more. Still, it calls me."
He shook his head.
"And the call isn't out there at all, it's inside me. It's like the tide," he started to mimic the lapping waved beneath, "Always falling and rising."
And wow. He had missed that. Missed? Right.
He had always been a boy of the ocean. Blue had been ice. And he had missed his past so dearly. He had always returned home over breaks, but outside in space it just hadn't exactly been the same.
Yet now. He understood.
As long as he knew there was a place he couls return to, had his Voltron family with him. Things wouldn't change. He didn't have to feel bad for leaving the farm behind. Going to space had been a life-long dream. He shouldn't let this stupid war stop him.
It didn't stop Hunk from touring through space with his own cooking squad, or Keith to still help the other planets throughout the universe. Mending the realities back to how they had been hadn't just erased the remaining Galra settlements after all.
Lance turned to look at Allura now, finding her gazing at him with that soft, fond smile.
"I will carry you in my heart, you'll remind me. That come what may, I know the way."
With a deep breath he turned back to the ocean, grin spreading wide as he basically yelled now.
"The name is Lance!"