Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Welcome back, team.” Allura smiled brightly as Lance and Hunk returned with the Blade of Marmora agents they were working with. “How did it go?”

“Pretty good.” Hunk informed. “Not only did we liberate Puig, but the Puigians agreed to join the coalition, too. Their leader came back with us to talk about all this.”

“Oh how wonderful!” Allura cheered. “And Krik and Aki’s teams are back, too, with more planetary leaders that have been aided.”

“We do kinda have one problem.” Lance spoke up. “Everyone wants to see Voltron but...”

Allura sighed. They didn’t have Voltron. Shiro was still missing. “We’re still looking. Pidge and Keith are away with Cliff’s team, following a lead and also liberating another planet. Hopefully it shows to be good and Shiro’s found.” She nodded. “Anyway, you two clean up and take a break.”

“Copy that.” Lance nodded.

“And maybe get some food fixed; we’ll need it for our guests.” Hunk chimed.

Allura watched the blue and yellow paladins leave before looking to Kolivan, seeing the other Blades go elsewhere, most likely to prepare for the next mission. “How did things go for you?” she asked. “The others haven’t said much, but rebels on the Arcadia have pointed out that the Blade of Marmora isn’t getting a warm welcome by those we help.”

“It is something we must live with; others will not just change in a quintant with how they view the Galra.” Kolivan admitted.

“But not all Galra are the same.”

“Indeed, but not everyone sees the same way. Even members of your team and the vehicle team were cautious and unsure at first.”

“I suppose...”

“Anyway, that’s not what’s important.” Kolivan sighed. “DairRgger is able to form, yes, but they are still not as powerful as Voltron. And as thankful as we are to have the others helping, the universe still needs Voltron.”

“But how? We haven’t found Shiro yet.” Allura reminded.

“I do not make this suggestion lightly but… you may need a new black paladin.”

“Give up on Shiro? And replace him?”

“A substitute. The universe is vast and it could take deca-phoebs to find Shiro. Until his return and also to help should someone be hurt, a substitute is a good option.” Kolivan stated. “I know this is not what is wanted to be heard, but it is needed.”

“Finding a new paladin is easier said than done.” Allura admitted. “Aside from Zarkon, who was the first black paladin, the only other one to pilot the lion was Keith. But if Keith… then the red lion...”

“When Keith and Pidge return, you can talk with the paladins about this; it is best discussed among the team.”

“You’re right.” Allura nodded. “Thank you, Kolivan.”

“While I do know a new paladin is needed… a part of me does hope that Pidge and Keith’s lead will take them to Shiro.”

“I wholeheartedly agree.”

The green lion sped past above a Galran base and prison, shooting at battlements. She worked alongside the land team and the red lion, aiming to take down the Galran control over the planet.

“Pidge, we’re nearing the drop zone.” a blade in the back of the lion reported over the comm. “We’re ready.”

“Copy that. Good luck out there.” Pidge responded. She activated the hatch on the lion’s underside, letting the Blades jump out. She resumed her work, taking down fighters and battlements.

“That battlement isn’t giving us an edge.” Marvin pointed out.

“Unless we take it down, the Blades will be in trouble.” Cliff reminded. “If it can be stopped long enough, we should be able to destroy it as the land rugger.”

“I may be able to do something.” Pidge informed. “But you’ll wanna act quick.” She activated the vine cannon on Green’s back and quickly sped past the cannon that was firing at anyone who moved and wasn’t in a registered Galran ship. Managing to dodge the projectile, she fired upon it, getting vines to grow all over it. “Okay! You’ve got your opening!”

“Copy that; thanks, Pidge.” Cliff responded. “Land rugger on!”

The vehicle ships of DaiRugger were unique. Not only could they form their own peace bringing robot similar to Voltron, DaiRugger, the three separate teams could form their own, powered up vehicles, too. The land rugger was especially strong and great with defense; it was perfect when fighting planetary bases and ground-based weapons.

The land rugger was efficient, especially with Pidge’s vines giving them an opening on the battlement. They were able to take it down with ease, destroying it and giving them a better stand in taking the planet out of the hands of the Galran Empire.

Before long, they were able to liberate the planet, soldiers evacuating and sentries destroyed. Once done, it was time to go over the prisoners, make sure they were okay, all there and accounted for, and hopefully find Shiro.

“We’re still taking in account for everyone.” Cliff stated, looking to the prisoners they managed to get out so far and start checking on them, seeing who needed what in terms of care and recovery. “We’ve already contacted some of the rebels to assist.”

“Good.” Keith nodded. “And Allura got in touch; she wants us to return as soon as we’re finished here.”

“Sounds good.” Cliff confirmed. He looked to Keith, noticing him looking around. “We haven’t found all the humans yet; the one we found said there were others but she couldn’t confirm or deny if Shiro’s here.”

“Huh?” Keith looked over quickly, his ears twitching.

“You’re worried about Shiro; your face and ears both say it.”

Keith sighed. “We need to find him...”

“We will. Just gotta stick to it and keep looking.” Cliff assured.

“I sure hope so.” Keith nodded. “I don’t know what we’d do without him… he was… he is the leader of Voltron.”

“If it’s any consolation, I think you’re doing a good job leading the team in his absence.”

Further from Keith and Cliff, Pidge was in one of the mining caves, deploying an Altean drone with the capabilities of reading biorhythms, allowing them to scan the caves as much as possible and helping to find other prisoners and even remaining soldiers who could be inside.

“This should give us a good start along with the schematics that the Blades are getting.” Pidge informed. “But it may not be perfect. It looks like these mines go for miles.”

“Well, we could always get Cliff to help out; his ship is designed as a mobile radar station. And us being the land team...” Cinda trailed off with a smile.

“Huh. I see.” Pidge nodded. “I wonder if I can tweak with his ship and apply BLIP tech to it.”

“Um… what tech?” Hutch asked, looking genuinely confused.

“Biorhythm Life Indicator Point Technology. Or BLIP tech!” Pidge grinned brightly. “I think it’s possible to do.” She looked over to a Blade named Regris, the Galran easy to point out because of his tail. “What do you think, Regris?”

“If we don’t get everyone accounted for by the time we’re done securing, it wouldn’t hurt to try out.” Regris informed. “For now, though, once the others have records, it should be easy to account for everyone and make sure we’re not missing someone.”

“Anyway,” Pidge transferred the data to the others so that they have a basic idea of the area, “looks like we’ve got further in to help out.”

“We should probably be careful, too.” Cinda reminded. “This place has seen a lot of mining; it could be unstable.”

“Noted.” Pidge nodded in response. She started ahead, looking around. She noticed that some of the stones protruding from the wall were glowing. “It’s pretty neat, though, these luminescent rocks.”

“What makes them glow so much?” Hutch looked over some rocks.

“Probably their elemental structure.” Cinda responded. “But with how unique so many different planets are, it’s hard to tell right off without fully studying these.”

“At least they light the path okay.” Modoch informed.

“That’s right.” Cinda nodded in agreement. “And they’re really pretty.”

“I wonder if it’d be wrong for me to collect some and take back to the castle.” Pidge mused.

“Is she a kleptomaniac or something?” Marvin inquired.

“Given all the stuff Chip says she keeps? Probably.” Hutch couldn’t help but chuckle. He stopped when he felt a tremor through the cave, the ground beneath them vibrating with vigor and the ceiling above them dropping pebbles and dirt. “Whoa. An earthquake?” It didn’t last long.

Cinda checked the data. “Hmm, it doesn’t seem like normal seismic activity… it could be these mines are getting to be unstable.”

“All the tunneling and the resources being taken,” Regris spoke up, “that is definitely likely. We’ll want to tread lightly.”

“Maybe we should turn back...” Pidge mumbled. That got the others, save for Regris who recently met her, to look at her in shock. They were aware that Pidge was fiery and adventurous, even ready to jump in and help others. Hell, she got shot before jumping in to save Chip! But this time, her comment caught the others off guard. “I rolled a seventeen today… and that never bodes well...”

“A… what?” Hutch was confused.

“I have a D20 and sometimes I role it to see, kinda like Tarot cards but without cards… and today it landed on seventeen. And whenever it does that, nothing good happens.” Pidge admitted. “We shouldn’t tempt this...”

“I thought thirteen was a bad number for you Earthlings...” Cinda was confused.

“It depends on the culture. In some cultures, it’s four. In Italy? It’s seventeen.” Pidge sighed. “I don’t even know if I am Italian. But Mom is and she raised me on that.”

“It’ll be fine.” Marvin assured. “We’ll just stay on guard. Besides, can’t you set that drone of yours up with a sensor or something to detect earthquakes?”

“Hmm… maybe? But that’d take time...” Pidge looked to Rover who beeped at her.

Cinda at first wondered if Pidge was overreacting, but she ended up getting a feeling. “Hmm, maybe we should leave and figure things out outside.” she stated.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting superstitious, too.” Hutch sighed. “It’s just a number...”

“True, but I trust my feelings… and right now, staying longer in the caves is not doing these feelings good… and if Krik was here, he would agree.” Cinda responded.

“Oh right, that Miran intuition thing, right?” Marvin asked. “Okay, I guess we should then.”

With the others in agreement, even if they seemed reluctant, they started to head back out. Of course, with their track record, especially Pidge’s, it wasn’t that easy. Murphy’s Law pointed out that if something could go wrong, it would, and Pidge truly did live by that, of course it wasn’t by her choice that that law applied to her so well. There was another tremor coursing through the caves and worse yet, part of the ground opened up.

Modoch was in a horrible position and lost balance, falling back into the crevice that formed. Pidge was quick to protect him, thankful to have been at the back of the group. She jumped over the opening and pushed Modoch to the edge more; it was just enough that Regris was able to lash out his tail and snatch the larger Earthling by the arm, pulling him the rest of the way.

Before anyone could get themselves to try and grab Pidge, she fell too far. And to make things worse, the tremor got worse and broke more rocks loose, these ones being larger and falling into the opening and closing it up.

Pidge was separated from the group and no one knew if she was okay.

Chapter Text

“It shouldn’t be much longer before things are finished up here; a couple of hours, give or take.” Keith said as he checked some of the data. “After that, the rebels will get others transferred, priority medical care can be transferred to the castle with us, and we can get back and find out Allura wanted.”

“Sounds like a good… whoa.” Cliff stopped and looked around. He glanced to see the others, the newly arrived rebels, Blades, and prisoners, brace themselves a bit. “Seismic activity?”

“It’s probably from the excessive mining.” a Blade informed. “Those we’ve aided so far have said that the activity has been increasing in recent pheobs.”

“That’s… months, right?” Cliff looked to Keith for clarification.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Keith nodded. “Hmm, we’ll want to be careful. And mainly focus on biorhythm scanning in the mines instead of getting lost and risk being caved in.”

“CLIFF! KEITH!” Keith jumped out of the way as Hutch came barreling through tripping over himself and stumbling, landing on the ground.

“Hutch, what’s going on?” Cliff asked.

“It’s… it’s Pidge...” Hutch huffed, trying to catch his breath.

“What?” Cliff looked worried.

“There was a tremor in the cave.” Regris reported as he and the others reached Keith and Cliff. “Pidge ended up falling through an opening that formed; but before we could do anything about it, it was caved in.”

“It’s my fault...” Modoch looked worried. “I nearly fell and she pushed me to keep me safe...”

“It’s no one’s fault, Modoch.” Cinda patted her teammate’s arm. “With those tremors, anything was possible.” She then looked to Rover who beeped sadly beside her. “It’s okay, little guy, we’ll get her back.”

“Damn straight we will!” Keith was worried. They were already missing Shiro, he didn’t want to lose Pidge, too. He started to run off, but Cliff grabbed him by the collar of his armor. “Hey!” he called as he was yanked back. “Let go! Pidge could be hurt! I’m not about to lose another teammate!”

“I get that, she’s our friend and teammate, too.” Cliff reminded the Galran. “But you can’t just go charging headfirst into a series of mines like that, especially while there are quakes going on. You’ll get yourself hurt for certain and then we won’t have just one person to focus on and rescue.” He finally let go when he saw Keith’s ears and tail droop. “We need to figure things out, search for her biorhythms. And hope that the base has a map of the mines to so we don’t get lost.”

“We’ll find her, Keith.” Cinda assured. “Besides, this is Pidge we’re talking about. As worried as I am for her, as we all are for her, she has a way of pulling through and getting back into things.”

“Until the day comes that she won’t...” Keith mumbled darkly; he knew it was only a matter of time before Pidge’s undesired balance of bad and good luck would run out and she was only met with the bad. “But… you’re right.” He honestly wished Shiro was there to keep him calm, but he was thankful that the others could help in his place. “I just hope we can locate her biorhythm. Or get a general idea on where she could have fallen into…”

“I should have stayed in my room today...” Pidge let out a sigh as she hung upside down in a large and open cave. She didn’t know how far she fell, but it was far enough. Had it not been for the luminescent rocks lining the walls, ceiling, and floor of the cave, it would have been pitch dark in there. But more than that, the pool of water beneath her was shining, something in it causing it to glow.

Looking around the cave, Pidge noticed that she had to be pretty deep in the planet. The cave looked natural, not mined out by tools. It hadn’t seen any sign of tampering from the Galra or prisoners forced to work. It was untouched, pure, and actually beautiful.

“Okay, so… where’s my helmet?” Pidge looked around. She knew she was wearing it prior, but it had come off when she fell; she assumed it got caught on something and was pried off, not that she noticed when or where exactly due to the adrenaline rush brought on by the surprise. She looked down, or was that up due to being upside down, and saw a bit of green in the glowing water. “Oh man… is that it? Damn...”

She tried to shift, hoping to get loose. Doing so sent pain through her leg, causing her to look at it. Her armor was practically crushed around her ankle, caught between some rocks. She tried to push herself in that direction to alleviate the tension, but she was stuck. She couldn’t see, unable to get the right angle, but she was certain her jetpack on her armor was caught as well.

“Well, this is quite the situation to be stuck in. I mean, I’ve faced worse, yes, but this sucks and it hurts...” She let out a sigh. “Okay. I’m still coherent but staying like this for too long isn’t really isn’t good for my health. I can wiggle my toes without pain, so that’s a good sign. Alright… let’s see… I’m pinned in at least two places. I wonder if I can discard my armor… hmm...” Pidge brought her arm into position to check the data and her armor. She scanned it for information, hoping for something. “Right. Looks like I can actually deactivate the armor with this and it comes apart for emergencies! That’s good, but the bad part is that it all goes in one click, not piece by piece. Really? Whoever designed the armor should’ve considered differently...” She sighed. “Okay, but that’s fine. I can work with that. Gather my armor after. But… how? Is the water safe?”

Pidge decided to scan it. When the data came back, she examined it. “Hmm, bacteria in the water is what causes the glowing… same for creatures but… nothing in there really harmful it looks like. Wow, it’s purer and cleaner than most natural water sources on Earth. Even compared to Arus. Impressive. And my helmet is definitely down there.” She nodded. “Now then… getting myself into position so I don’t just drop...”

Pidge looked around, trying to figure out what she could use to her advantage. She then saw the stalactites that had long since formed. She was certain she could use the hookshot part of her bayard to catch hold of it and swing herself away from her position when she would drop her armor. She wondered if instead, she could pry herself loose.

“One way to find out.” Pidge called forth her bayard from her armor, thankful that she didn’t leave it in the green lion. Before she could even activate it, though, there was a screech in the caves, startling her. Startled, she ended up dropping the bayard, her face contorting into one of horror when she heard it splash into the water beneath her. “What the f-” Another screech called out and this time she saw what caused it. A bat-like creature. “Yeah! Screw you, too!”

Pidge crossed her arms. That was not fair. She was sure she had it, but then that bat just had to cry out and startle her. And she was still stuck upside down. “You couldn’t have waited until I was free and right side up? Man… I really should have just stayed in bed today...” She then shifted and checked the data again. “Okay… so I can’t stay here too long, not like this… I guess I gotta take my chances.” She let out a sigh. “Okay… now or never. And hopefully it frees my foot, too. Or at least lets me get enough leeway so I can pull myself up and dislodge it.”

Pidge took in a deep breath. She then messed with the interface on the armor’s gauntlet and got her armor to fully deactivate and come apart. While it was negligent on the creator’s part to not have a feature that would allow her do different sections individually, she was at least happy that it was a feature nonetheless. The armor came apart and she was free.

Mostly.

As she feared, her foot was still caught. But the rest of her wasn’t so she was able to get herself maneuvered and pulled up, thankful for her time as a gymnast back in middle school. “Okay, c’mon, I know it hurts, but we gotta get loose.” she mumbled to herself. She finally got herself up enough, struggling to get a grip on the rocks due to the dampness of the cave.

She managed to get enough leverage to pull her foot loose. Though it hurt like hell, she was sure it was just the deep cut that was caused when her foot originally got caught and not that it was broken or even dislocated. She didn’t have time to find out, though, since she couldn’t keep her hold, especially with her foot free.

Pidge was caught by surprise when she fell down the cave wall and into the water. As surprised as she was, though, she was thankful that she didn’t seem to hit anything on the way down, so that made for less injuries. And better than that, she was relieved that the water was there, ready to make her landing easier.

What she wasn’t sure about was something quickly attaching itself to her, though it didn’t hurt. Then another. And another. She didn’t know what it was. She swam to the surface and took in a deep breath. She opened her eyes, but couldn’t tell what was stuck to her face. She tried to pull it off, but while it didn’t hurt, it wasn’t letting go. She then checked her arm, feeling movement. There, she saw a five legged, purple octopus-like creature.

“A purple pentapus?” she asked in confusion, thinking of a cartoon she watched with her mother before. “I wonder if cartoon logic would apply.” She rubbed the one in the middle of her face, wanting it off the most; the others would wait for a minute or so. She rubbed its side until the suckers came loose, letting her pry it off. “Hey! You really are a purple pentapus!” She smiled. “Aw, you’re kinda cute, huh?” She held it in the palm of her hand before rubbing it again. She then let it go, returning it to the water. “Hmm, this place isn’t too bad… I can get my armor after I check on my ankle.”

Pidge swam over to the edge of the pool, pulling herself up to sit on the ledge. She got off a few more of the pentapuses, though she didn’t bother too much, she just wanted to move better; she knew she would be back in the water to get her gear and those buggers would stick right back to her. A part of her wondered if it would have been wrong to take a few back with her, hoping she could possibly get an aquarium to put them in.

Once a few more were off, Pidge checked her ankle. It was still bleeding, but she was thankful that the initial wound was the only thing that actually hurt. “Good news is that I don’t think I broke anything. At least anything biologically a part of me.” she said to herself. “Man. That’s gonna hurt trying to get out of here… I don’t think I sprained it, but getting caught...” She let out a sigh. But the sigh was quickly drowned out by snarling.

Pidge turned quickly to see a large, blue furred wolf with yellow eyes. Her eyes widened with shock as it bared its fangs at her, its gaze narrowing. “Oh quiznak...” she squeaked out. She didn’t think she could really go anywhere, certain that the water wouldn’t stop what was undoubtedly a predator. And she knew she couldn’t run away, not with her ankle as sore as it was.

“It’s okay. It’s okay...” she whimpered, trying to convince the creature. “I won’t hurt you. I just dropped in, you know?” The wolf snarled more. “Okay… not up for conversation… Or puns.”

Indeed it wasn’t. The wolf braced itself before lunging at her, maw wide open. Pidge did the only thing she knew she could at that moment. She put her arms up, thankful that the pentapus that was sticking to one previously had been removed so it wouldn’t get hurt in the end, and protected her face. She cried out when she felt the teeth break through the under armor she wore and pierced her skin.

Chapter Text

Pidge let out a cry of pain when she felt the wolf bite down on her arm. She didn’t back down, though, and kept her face protected. More than that, though, the wolf just stood there, snarling with her arm in its jaws. Pidge opened an eye and looked past her soaked bangs to see it. She noticed that it looked injured, too. It didn’t seem too bad, but the poor wolf didn’t have life easy.

Were there other predators lurking in the cave that attacked it? Or had the wolf been located by the Galra and hurt?

Pidge didn’t know for sure, just as she didn’t know if her next plan would work. “It’s okay, buddy,” she managed to say, “I won’t hurt you.” She put up her other hand, gently reaching for the wolf’s head. It growled more and threatened to bite harder, but she didn’t pull away. “See? I won’t hurt you. I know you’re just scared.”

Pidge decided to pull her hand back for a moment, biting onto the fabric and pulling off the glove part. She then returned it to the task of trying to pet the wolf. “It’s going to be fine. I won’t do anything to you.” she promised. She finally got her hand to touch the wolf’s head, feeling his fur. Though the cave was damp, the fur was soft and warm.

“It’ll be just fine.” she whispered.

The wolf kept growling for a moment before slowly opening his jaws, releasing her arm. He whimpered and lowered his head, letting Pidge continue to pet him. He moved in closer, even pushing his head against the paladin’s chest and nearly shoving her into the water. He licked her arm, as though he were apologizing for what he had done.

“It’s fine. It just stings a bit, but nothing some ointment and a bandage can’t fix.” Pidge assured him, lowering her head to press against his. “You’re such a good boy, aren’t you?” She lifted her head and continued to pet the wolf. “So, do you live around here? Is this your home?” The wolf simply whined and laid down, resting his head on Pidge’s leg. “Hmm… that feels like a no. And so do those injuries.” She pet the thicker, light blue part of the wolf’s pelt. “Hmm, how about you come with me? In the castle, no one will hurt you. And if they do, I’ll just shock them with my bayard.”

She looked back at the water. “Oh, right, it’s down there. So is everything else.” As much as it emotionally pained her, she slid out from under the wolf. “Okay, I’m gonna go and get my stuff. But I’ll be back.” She smiled and buried her face into the wolf’s fur. “So don’t worry. I shouldn’t be long.” She then scooted away and got back on the edge.

Pidge pushed herself off the ledge and into the water, daring to open her eyes. It wasn’t the most pleasant, but it didn’t hurt trying to see underwater. Thankfully she was able to find her gear and gather it up, scooping everything up, including the bag she liked to wear at her hip, and brought it up. She got it to the ledge again and pulled herself out.

“Phew. That was easy.” She looked around. “Huh? Wolfy?” The wolf wasn’t there. This caused her to pout. “I guess he’s okay now?” she asked softly, put out that the wolf didn’t seem to want to go with her.

Then there was a flash and the wolf suddenly appeared on the other side of the cave. Pidge’s eyes went wide in shock. Another flash he was gone. Another he was right in front of her. And tackled her.

And pushed her into the pool of water.

Pidge popped back up and looked to the wolf, his paws over the edge a bit. He then stretched his neck some and licked her face. Pidge shook her head before spitting a stream of water at him. She couldn’t help but smile when he shook the water off his face before licking her again.

“A bit of a playful pup, huh?” Pidge asked. “And you teleport? That’s super awesome.” Before she pulled herself up again, she noticed something shiny and blue in the water, standing out differently from the glowing stones in the cave. Curious, she went down and picked it up, noticing that it was a sort of shell. “Ooh, pretty.” She smiled. “I bet Lance would like this. It’s pretty and kinda like a sea shell from the beaches back home. But… it glows.”

Content with her finding, Pidge finally pulled herself up next to the wolf. She looked over her armor, thankful to have dropped it when she was pushed back. She chuckled when she saw a few of the pentapuses stuck to the pieces. “Okay, time to pack up, get ready and...” She looked to her arm. “Cover the injuries first, I guess.” She thought it over. “I actually didn’t pack a first aid kit but...” She looked to the under armor. “You know, it’s a good thing I’m prepared in other ways.”

Pidge removed the under armor, thankful that she was wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt underneath; she never knew when she would need to ditch her entire armor, so she was often prepared with that. She then examined the fabric, nodding. “Good thing it can easily be replaced.” she stated as she grabbed her bayard and activated it, removing the sleeve that the wolf bit through and the leg that was torn when her ankle was caught. She then tied off the remains. She looked to the wolf. “I can use the scraps like bandages and the rest like a bag to fit my armor into, making it easier to carry.” she informed him. She then cut at the scraps, making strips that she tied into place. “Phew, that’s good.” She then set up the rest of the bodysuit like a bag, putting the armor into it. She then put on the hip bag, fastening the belt.

Once Pidge had that done, she looked to see the little pentapuses. She still wanted to keep a few. Smiling, she took her helmet and filled it with water. She got some to go inside before temporarily closing them in. “Okay, hopefully the trip won’t be too much for you guys; I’ll get you a proper tank when we get back to the castle.” She nestled the helmet into her hip bag before pulling out another device, this one small and like a hearing aid. “Thank goodness for waterproof technology.” she mumbled, setting it up to listen to the comms. “Keith? Cinda? Regris? Cliff? Anyone?” She listened but got nothing. “I may be down too far for a signal.” Shrugging, she finished getting ready. “Okay, time to get up… and try walking.”

The wolf whimpered, though it didn’t sound pained or sad. He then looked to his back, nosing towards it.

“I don’t speak blue space alien wolf but… it sounds like you want me to get on your back? I mean, I know you’re big enough and I’m small but… you sure?” The wolf huffed and motioned to his back again. “Okay then.” First she made sure her bags were secured and then she moved over and got onto the wolf’s back, straddling him. He got up and carried her with ease. “I’m not too heavy? You’re not too hurt?”

The wolf huffed and looked back, a glint in his eye showing he was fine. Pidge smiled and hugged him around the neck. “Okay then, as long as you’re okay.” She gently held onto the light blue part of the wolf’s fur so she didn’t fall off as he sprinted through the cave. “Hmm, you need a name. How about… Gunther.”

The wolf stopped for a moment, looking back as though to ask are you serious? “Okay, not that. Bae Bae then?” The wolf snorted. “Okay, okay...” She observed him more as he moved again. Something about him reminded her of the cosmos. “You’re like this cosmic wolf, huh? Hmm… how about Kosmo?”

The wolf stopped again, head tipped to the side as though to think it over. He then looked back and licked Pidge’s leg. “Kosmo? Okay! Kosmo it is! I’m Pidge, by the way.” She hugged the wolf once more. “We’re going to get along great!” She smiled and patted Kosmo’s fur. “Let’s go! Yip yip!”

The wolf looked back at Pidge, seeming to make an expression to question what she just said. “Yeah, whenever we get back to Earth and can watch cartoons, there are some things I need to introduce you to.”

Kosmo huffed and bounded off, Pidge holding on to keep in place so she didn’t get knocked off. When some tunnels seemed too narrow or there were large gaps or water, the wolf would teleport, getting from one side to the other with ease. At first Pidge felt a strange sensation, but she soon enough brushed it off.

Kosmo kept moving through the caves, seeming to know where he was going. After a while, perhaps nearly an hour of maneuvering through the caves, Pidge got the wolf to stop. She was hearing something on the small comm device.

“Keith? Keith, is that you?” she asked.

“Pidge? Pidge! Do you copy?” Keith sounded rather relieved that he heard her voice.

“Yup, I’m here.” Pidge smiled brightly.

“Wait? Pidge?” That was Cliff’s voice. “Pidge, are you okay?”

“Eh, a little banged up, but nothing a little ointment, bandages, and a good snack and rest can’t fix up.” Pidge smiled at Kosmo and patted his head gently. “For both of us.”

“Both?” The two sounded confused as they spoke in unison.

“Yeah, I kinda made a friend down here. He’s not exactly talkative, not in a way we are or that I can understand, he’s not even a prisoner in a sense.” Pidge responded. “Anyway, can you guys find out how far we are from the surface? I fell kinda far, I’m sure, since I couldn’t get in touch with you earlier.”

“Okay, running a scan for your biorhythm… and there! You’re about twenty meters down.” Cliff explained.

“Okay. So, Kosmo and I don’t have much further to go. Got it. We’ll find our way out, don’t worry. And how’s the rest of the team? And the prisoners?”

“Everyone’s accounted for.”

“And Shiro?”

No response.

“Shiro… he’s not here… is he...”

“Sorry Pidge...” Keith sighed. “But we’re not giving up. We’ll find him.”

“Yeah. We just gotta work hard and keep trying.” Pidge nodded. “Anyway, I’ll see you guys soon.” She looked down at Kosmo. “Okay, buddy, we’re not too far out now. We’ll be back up top soon.” Kosmo let out a whine as his ears drooped. “What’s wrong? Hmm?” She gently pet her newfound friend. “You were hurt before. Did soldiers or sentries get you? Well, it’s okay now. We dealt with them. And my friends won’t hurt you; if they try, I’ll protect you.”

That seemed to do the trick. Kosmo’s ears went back up and his tail wagged a bit. He then took off, going through the caves, the glowing stones being less in number than they were in the cavern where the two met. One final jaunt and a teleportation move, then they were outside.

“Sunlight!” Pidge cheered. “Damn. I need sunscreen.”

“Pidge!” Pidge perked up when she heard Keith’s voice. She looked to see him running towards her, the Land Rugger team right with him. Seeing Kosmo, though, they ended up skidding to a stop. “Okay… this is what you mean by both. Pidge...”

“I found and adopted a wolf.” Pidge said, making it seem like an absolutely normal thing.

“That’s a wolf! Pidge! You can’t just adopt a wolf!” Keith exclaimed.

“You can’t tell me what to do.” Pidge scowled. “Besides! Look at this cute face.” She put her hands around Kosmo’s head and smooshed his face some, not that he seemed to mind. “He’s adorable! And he likes me.”

“He’s a wolf.”

“If history on Earth has proven anything, it’s that wolves are the ultimate four legged dork species that loved the ultimate two legged idiot species and became friends and eventually domesticated. I see no reason to believe the same doesn’t apply to space wolves.” Pidge explained.

“I hate to admit it,” Cliff snorted a bit, “but she does make a valid point.”

“Yeah, I hate that about her.” Keith sighed, scowling when Pidge stuck her tongue out at him. He knew this was not something he could really argue with Pidge on, so it was best to let it drop. It was easy for him to drop since he noticed Pidge’s make-shift bandages. They were hard to miss since he could see she wasn’t even in her armor; he could only assume it was in the makeshift pack she was wearing.

“Pidge… you got hurt...” He pointed out.

“It’s nothing too serious; I don’t think anything is broken.” Pidge commented. She moved to get off of Kosmo’s back, hugging him. “Thanks for helping out, Kosmo.” She smiled when he licked her cheek.

“We’ll be heading back to the castle soon, so you can go into a pod then.” Keith reminded.

Pidge scowled. The pod? Again? “I’d rather not.”

“Pidge...”

“Keith.”

The two stared at each other, their gazes slowly becoming glares. Before they could argue, Cliff stepped in.

“When we get back, we can see how bad her injuries are.” Cliff pointed out. “If anything’s broken, we can use a healing pod. If not… then Pidge should have a say in medical treatments to some extent; Ulaz will know the best way to treat her.”

“That’s fair...” Keith mumbled.

“Sounds fine to me.” Pidge nodded. “I’m sure all I’ll need is some ointment and a band-aid.” She stopped and looked. “A few band-aids.” She then yelped when Modoch picked her up and hugged her. She relaxed when she realized what happened. While he hugged her, Rover was beeping loudly and rubbing against her face. “Okay, I get it, you guys were worried about me.”

“I was scared when you fell… I was afraid we lost you.” Modoch told her. “After you helped to make sure I didn’t fall...”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Pidge chuckled a bit, getting one arm free enough to pat Modoch on the head. “Besides, it’s not so bad. Just a scrape on my ankle and a little sore since I was kinda hanging from it and a bite mark on my arm.”

“A bite mark?!” Modoch looked worried, certain it was Kosmo’s doing.

“Yeah, but in Kosmo’s defense, he was just worried and probably thought I was his enemy.” Pidge responded. “But we’re doing well now.”

“Clearly since he was carrying you on his back.” Hutch pointed out as he watched the wolf. He then gently pet him, hesitant at first. Once he was sure it was fine, he continued. “He’s such a good boy. And soft, too.”

“Leave it to Hutch to love a wolf; he always liked animals.” Marvin chuckled, joining in the petting. Kosmo relaxed with the group, pleased to have the kind interactions.

Keith sighed. Pidge handled getting hurt so well. But he supposed that was to be expected; Pidge handled things in a strange way. “We can do a preliminary check on you before we head back, make sure proper bandages are applied.” he stated. “Then we can head back to the castle.”

Pidge nodded in agreement. “Sounds good. And get a snack. I’m hungry and I’m sure Kosmo is, too.”

“Well, let’s get back to our ships and get you looked at first.” Keith stated. He was at least putting his foot down with that.

Chapter Text

“Holy shit! Pidge!” Chip shouted, stunned to see his sister’s condition. Scraped up, bruised, lacking her armor, and covered in reddish spots. “What happened!?”

“You know, given the situation, I’m not even going to get on his case.” Cliff sighed, finding Chip’s swearing to be justified.

“Turns out, I had more purple pentapuses than I thought and these buggers really love sticking to me.” Pidge responded as she reached to her side and rubbed one, plucking it off. “And I adopted a wolf.”

Chip just stared wide eyed. “You just live to give me a heart attack, don’t you?” he asked.

“Hmm, maybe.” Pidge had that mischievous grin. “But there’s no need to worry. Nothing’s broken, just need to keep an eye on the injuries and make sure they don’t get infected. “And replace parts of my armor, some of it kinda got damaged in all of this. Oh! And Coran!” She looked to the ginger haired Altean. “Do we have any tanks for fish? I need a place for these guys to live. They’re aquatic, though being out of the water is fine. I’d like to put one in my room.”

“Okay, Pidge,” Allura stepped up, “let’s take a moment, breathe, and… get you into a pod.”

“I’d rather not. Nothing’s broken.” Pidge responded. “I’m fine. I don’t need a pod.”

“But Pidge...” Allura sighed. She knew there would be no use in arguing; Pidge was definitely a stubborn kid. “Well… then let’s at least get you cleaned up. It’s been a long quintant… and I want Coran or Ulaz to do a thorough check to make sure you’re okay.” She looked to the others. “After that, we need to hold a meeting.”

“Well, if Ulaz is fine handling the medical aspect of this situation, I can get to looking for a tank for um...” Coran looked to the pentapus that Pidge had. “This thing? Hmm.” He held his hand out, the creature crawling over onto it. “Kind of cute.”

“Yup. I’m calling them purple pentapuses because of their resemblance to such creatures in a cartoon I like.” Pidge informed. “And if they get stuck to you and don’t want to pop off, just rub their heads a bit.” She then fished out her helmet with more in there. “And these guys. There’s more in the bag.”

“And one right here.” Cinda chuckled as she rubbed a pentapus sticking to the green paladin’s back. She got it to pop off before handing it to Coran.

“Anyway, Pidge, I’ll get these little guys in a tank. May need to move some things around in your room to make space for them.” Coran confirmed. “Now then, you go off, let Ulaz check you over. Or I’ll confiscate those peanut butter cookies and even force you into a pod.”

“Fine, fine.” Pidge sighed. Coran knew how to work around her get her to do something; she was sure it was a mix of his own intuition and ways as well as having spoken with her mother. With that, Pidge went to the infirmary with Ulaz, her brothers having joined her since even Matt was around. He had transferred over to the Arcadia to work closer with his siblings as well as continue his work as a rebel, so it was no surprise that he was at the castle with the DaiRugger team. While Ulaz checked on Pidge, Thace tended to Kosmo’s health.

“Looks like he’s fine. Some minor abrasions and bruising, but with some proper love and care, he’ll bounce back and be in prime health.” Thace informed. He smiled when Kosmo jumped up onto the cot next to Pidge and nuzzled her.

“That’s good to hear.” Pidge chuckled as she hugged the wolf.

“Sit still, Pidge.” Ulaz reminded. He couldn’t help but be amused, though. It was nice to see Pidge happy to have a sort of pet, especially one that became fond of her, too.

“So...” Chip was petting Kosmo. “You think when Mom finds out, she’ll let you keep him?”

“Whether she lets me or not, I don’t know. Whether I care or not? Nope. I’m keeping Kosmo. He’s family now.” Pidge grinned brightly. “Besides, how can she possibly say no to such a cute face?”

“He is pretty cute.” Matt chimed. “You’re going to have to figure out sleeping arrangements, though. When you and Chip have your sleepovers, there may not be room for Kosmo.”

“We’ll figure something out.” Pidge assured. When Ulaz finished with her ankle, she offered him her arm.

“Well, it’ll take some recovery, but you won’t even need something as crude as stitches.” Ulaz informed. “But you will want to keep these cleaned and change the bandages later to prevent infection. And the bruises will go away in time.”

“That’s a relief.” Pidge stated.

“Though your arm and the injury...”

“In Kosmo’s defense, he didn’t know if I was a friend or foe.” Pidge pointed out. “And if he really wanted to hurt me, he could have caused a lot more damage.” She looked proud of her newfound friend. “So the fact that he held back on purpose is a good thing. He’s a good boy.” She chuckled when the wolf licked her cheek. She looked up when there was a beep and the door opened, Lance there with new armor for her. “Oh, hey, Lance.”

Lance started for a bit, taking in the sight of Pidge’s covered injuries and still-visible bruises. She was always getting hurt, far more than anyone else on the team it seemed. But nothing deterred her; she was still going strong and ready to go back into battle. It was one of the things he admired about her. But it was also what made him worry so much.

“Um, hi. Allura got new armor ready for you and I thought I should go ahead and bring it to you.” Lance said, hoping he didn’t stare for too long. “So, we’ve got a new friend to the team, huh?” What he didn’t expect was for Kosmo to suddenly vanish. More than that, he never anticipated for him to suddenly appear in front and even above him and tackle him to the floor, giving his face a few good licks. “Hey! Okay! Okay! Down boy! Down! Pidge!”

Pidge snorted with laughter. “I think he likes you, Lance.” she managed to say. “He’s a good judge of character, I think.”

Lance was thankful for the massive wolf on top of him, it was easier to hide his blushing face that way. Once he was sure he was composed, he managed to push on Kosmo, prompting the wolf to back off and return to the green paladin. “Teleporting… that is not what I expected.”

“Caught me by surprise the first time, too.” Pidge said as she slid off the examination table. She accepted the armor and slipped into it. “But I think it’s a cool technique. Maybe when he’s well enough, if he wants to join us on missions, he can really help me out with that.” Understanding his human, Kosmo’s ears perked up and his tail wagged. He nuzzled in close to Pidge and whimpered. “Hmm? What’s up, buddy? Do you wanna help? Is that is?” Kosmo got excited and got up on his hind paws, putting his front ones on Pidge and licking her. Though small, she was sturdy and actually able to stand her ground until he got down. “Looks like we’ve got another teammate.”

“Anyway, since things check out, I guess it’s time we go and see what Allura wants to talk about.” Matt pointed out. “You good to walk, Pidge? That ankle looked bad enough.”

“If not, Kosmo may give me another lift.” Pidge chuckled. “After all, he carried me out of the cave, too.”

“I get that he’s big compared to you but...” Matt wasn’t sure. To prove it, Kosmo got Pidge to climb onto his back before taking off, the paladin directing the wolf in where to go. “Holy crow, she actually can ride him...”

“You think we can call her an imp instead of a gremlin at this point?” Chip asked.

“Only if Kosmo suddenly turns into a humanoid being, preferably with pointed ears.” Lance commented.

Ulaz and Thace exchanged looks with one another, confused by what the Earthlings were talking about, but they shrugged it off. Earthlings were strange and there was almost no understanding them. Especially when they would make references to shows and video games from their planet.

Allura sighed. She knew they needed a new black paladin, that they needed to form Voltron again, but she didn’t know how to bring it up fully. She didn’t want to sound insensitive; hell, a part of her even hoped that Shiro would just walk back in and announce himself.

But Shiro was still missing and the mission was still going. And the mission was bigger than any one person.

She looked to see just the vehicle and lion teams there, plus Hawkins, Matt, Coran, Kolivan, Thace, and Ulaz. There were others involved in the teams, more Blades and rebels working in the Arcadia, but she was relieved they weren’t all there; they were back on the other ship, keeping an eye on things. Most importantly, the remaining paladins were together. This was most important to them due to their direct involvement with Voltron.

“I know we’re all hurting and miss Shiro, but we must accept the fact, we need to form Voltron once again; Zarkon may have been defeated, but the war is far from over. We need all the strength we can get… and we need Voltron.” Allura pointed out. She could see the others looked hurt, not wanting to replace Shiro, especially the paladins. “But this doesn’t mean we’re giving up on him. We’ll continue searching for Shiro. But for now… we need a successor to lead Voltron.”

“Princess, are you sure?” Keith looked worried. “To just find a replacement for Shiro...”

“Not a replacement.” Allura assured. “A substitute.” She had hoped that that would sit better with the team. “This would also prove useful in the future. This is a war… and if any one of us are hurt badly again,” her eyes drifted to Pidge who held the record of getting hurt, “then we need to have someone be able to step up when needed. Especially for the black lion.”

Keith’s ears went down for a moment. “I suppose...” he said. He didn’t like the idea, but he knew it was a reality to their situation. “But how do we go about finding the next black paladin?”

“I...” Allura stopped. “I honestly don’t know...”

“Well, how’d you find out last time?” Hawkins was asking the important question, thinking it could help push them in the right direction. “Surely it couldn’t have been by chance.” He looked to see the paladins and two Alteans look away nervously. “Wait… seriously?”

“It was rather lucky that that these four and Shiro showed up and I could feel they were meant to pilot the lions.” Allura admitted with a sheepish chuckle. “But we’ll figure it out.” She let out a soft sigh. “We must figure it out.”

Chapter Text

Figure it out. That was really their only option to finding a substitute for the black lion’s paladin. Allura, though, had a slight feeling that she already knew who would be the next black paladin. But she didn’t get the chance to speak up.

“The black paladin is a leader, right?” Aki inquired. “So maybe another leader?”

“Don’t go getting ideas, Aki.” Cliff sighed. “You’ve got your team to work with; you can’t go abandoning that for an overgrown cat.”

“I wasn’t planning anything.” Aki got on the defensive. “I was just… musing.”

Pidge snorted. “Well, careful with those musings.” she said. “Besides, it’d be a horrible idea for you to be the black paladin.”

“Okay, I feel insulted.” Aki looked a little appalled. “But also curious. Why? I think I’m a good leader in general.”

“Yeah, but we already have Keith.” Pidge motioned to the Galran, getting his attention and making a barely audible mrrup noise as his ears twitched upright. “Having two of the same guy? That’s just asking for a disaster.”

“Hey, we’re not the same.” Aki scowled.

“Face it, Aki, Keith’s pretty much you but cuter.” Pidge sighed. It was perhaps the worst way to phrase it. Keith’s hair fluffed out more as he felt himself flush. Lance, though he did his best to keep it hidden, looked devastated. Cinda, Ginger, and Hunk exchanged looks with one another. Most of the others seemed amused and even like they could be plotting something. In the end, they all had a similar thought. Pidge possibly liked Keith.

“I’m not cute!” Keith hissed a bit as he looked away.

“You’re practically a cat!” Pidge pointed out.

“I’m not a cat!”

“You purr!”

“I do not!”

“You do.” Thace betrayed his nephew.

“Uncle!” Keith yelped.

“And how, my dear little sister, would you know Keith purrs?” Matt got a mischievous smirk on his face.

While Matt was mischievous, sure his little sister had a crush on Keith, Lance was having a crisis. Pidge possibly liked Keith? And how did she know he purred? Did she rest her head on his chest to listen?! He did his best to physically hide his mental crisis, but he was still feeling it.

“Are you kidding? He’s practically a motorboat once he gets to purring when he’s content and happy. And if you scratch him around the ears.” Pidge informed. Lance had an internal mental crisis, Keith was having an external crisis as he literally went over to Kosmo and screamed into the confused wolf’s fur, letting the sound be muffled. Pidge really wasn’t making things better with each comment.

“And you know this personally?” Matt grinned.

“Yes and no.” Pidge stated. “Hunk was the one who scratched him around the ears and got the purr.”

“Oh yeah, he was just too adorable, I couldn’t resist.” Hunk chuckled a bit. “He is like a cat. Glowing eyes, loud purrs, even the occasional kitty noises he makes when confused. He even bleps.”

“Someone… kill me now...” Keith mumbled into Kosmo’s fur.

“Oh goodness...” Allura sighed. “Paladins, please.” She clapped her hands to get their attention. “We do have another important matter at hand.” She then looked to Keith as he lifted his head, though he didn’t leave Kosmo yet. She was almost amused when she saw him pet the blue furred space wolf, feeling that it was cute that even a tough warrior like Keith could enjoy the comforts of petting something or someone soft. As cute as it was, she had to push that aside and move the group along to the matter at hand. “We still need a black paladin. And… I do have some thoughts.”

Keith knew where Allura was going with this. His ears drooped as he tried not to look at the princess; he really dreaded what she would say next.

“Keith,” Allura continued, “you’ve piloted the black lion before. It is possible that you could be the next paladin for it.”

“Princess, if I may,” Krik spoke up, “but if Keith does take up position as the black paladin, won’t you still be back at square one? You would need a red paladin then… unless it’s possible to pilot two at once, but even then… it’d be too strenuous, would it not?” His comment had nothing to do with thinking Keith would or wouldn’t make a good black paladin, but rather on having someone for all of the lions; he had a good point.

“You’re correct with that.” Allura nodded. “But… if it is true, then I will try to pilot the red lion. Before Keith, my father was the red paladin; it’s possible I’d be able to follow in his footsteps.” Not only could it have been possible, but a part of her wished it would be true. She wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps, take up his legacy and fight alongside the others.

“It was probably just a fluke so it probably won’t work.” Keith mumbled. “Besides, we were desperate, Shiro was in danger, the lion probably only let me so we could save his paladin.”

“Keith...” Allura sighed.

“No. I’m… I’m not meant to be a leader. I don’t care what Shiro wanted, I...” Kieth’s ears went up in alarm when he pretty much spilled what Shiro expected. They then went down again.

“Wait a minute… Shiro wanted you to be his successor?” Pidge asked.

“I’m not meant to lead...” Keith reminded, his voice soft.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself like that, Keith.” Ginger spoke up. “Sure, you have your Aki-like moments-”

“Why call me out like that?” Aki inquired.

“-but you also have the makings of a great leader. You look after your team. Sure, you’re brash and fly off the handle, too-”

“I can’t tell if you’re trying to make me feel better or not...” Keith muttered.

“-but you do have what it takes.” Ginger smiled brightly. “I think you should give it a try, just to see. And if Shiro wanted you to be his successor, I’m sure he wouldn’t have made such a decision lightly.”

“Ginger’s right.” Allura nodded. “You need to give it a try.”

“Oh man...” Keith sighed.

It was a sort of battle in its own special way. Keith was reluctant; to ease his thoughts, Allura tried first, but the black lion did not accept her. When Keith tried, he was accepted, just as Shiro figured before. That then left the red lion without a paladin.

But Allura soon found that she wasn’t meant to be the red paladin. It broke her heart, but it didn’t deter her from trying to find the right replacement.

It was then that the teams were called to battle. A nearby planet was in trouble and needed help. So, the others went off. Except for Lance. He had found that the blue lion was not permitting him to enter for some reason.

But the red lion did.

And the blue lion accepted Allura.

It was not expected, but it was welcomed. With all five lions being piloted, the others were able to form Voltron once again, able to bond despite the struggle they had at first. To aid them, the vehicle team formed DaiRugger, joining them and double-teaming against the enemy and liberating the planet of the Galra.

The team had been changed around, but Voltron was complete. And they thankfully didn’t have to look far. Allura walked into the lounge, donning the paladin armor, but in pink.

“You have got to be kidding me...” Pidge grumbled.

“What’s the matter, Pidge?” Allura inquired, surprised by Pidge’s comment.

“It’s… pink… you’re the blue paladin and you’re wearing pink!” Pidge looked a little frustrated. “On top of that, Lance is now red and Keith is the black paladin… but their armors don’t match! You’re not colour coded; I work with a bunch of animals!” Kosmo scoffed a bit. “I meant uncultured ones of humanoid races. Literal animals like you and the mice don’t count; you guys are awesome and perfect.” The wolf nodded, accepting that.

“Yes! Someone gets me!” Matt cheered, happy that Pidge was all for being colour coded. “But it is true. You guys aren’t aligned to your lions.”

“I don’t think the colour of our armor really matters.” Lance admitted, not fully understanding why Matt and Pidge were so fussy. He didn’t see anything wrong with it; besides, he liked wearing blue, it was one of his favourite colours. He then smiled. “But it looks like we’ve got Voltron once again.”

“Yeah...” Keith nodded slowly.

“Keith, it doesn’t mean we’re giving up on Shiro.” Lance reminded. “We’ll keep looking for him. And honestly? Knowing him? I think he’d be proud that we were able to come together as a team.”

Keith smiled, thankful for Lance’s encouragement. If anyone could encourage someone, it was him. “Thanks.” he said. “I’m still worried, though. What if I can’t be the leader Shiro thought I’d be?”

“No one’s perfect, Keith.” Hunk pointed out. “There will be mistakes, but we’re a team. We’ll figure it out together.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. You’re right.” he said. “Now then, we’ve still got work to do, planets to liberate, and an empire to push back.”

Chapter Text

“No! No no no! Bad wolf! Stop chewing that!” Allura shouted as she looked at the visual she had on the cargo hold, Kosmo in the back chewing on something. “Pidge!”

“He’s lonely back there!” Pidge threw her arms up as she stood behind Allura’s seat in the blue lion. “And he’s trying to respect you by not just teleporting in here!”

“Well tell him stop, he listens to you.”

“He’s a wolf with separation anxiety, he’s not going to stop just because I tell him to.” Pidge sighed. “When we get back, I’ll ask Lance to see if he’ll make him some chew toys.” She crossed her arms. “Anyway, it would be easier if you’d let him stay up here with us.”

“No. Absolutely not!” Allura looked shocked that Pidge would even suggest that. “I will not allow that beast in the cockpit!”

“Beast?!” Pidge looked offended on Kosmo’s behalf. “Says the woman who sleeps with mice in her bed! On her pillow even!”

“The mice are very clean and civil, mind you.”

“Kosmo’s clean. We took a bath together two days ago.”

“Only because I threw you in the bath after you two got coated in mud on Olkarion!”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that mud.” Shannon commented over the comms. “I don’t think it’s all mud.”

“I don’t want to think of that.” Allura shuddered.

“I fear the answer but… are all Earthlings like this about their pets? Arguing for them and keeping them close?” Krik inquired from his ship.

“Never underestimate the love we humans have for our pets.” Zandee chuckled, amused. “But Pidge is right; she’s not saying it just to have Kosmo near. Though a wolf, he’s like a dog and doesn’t want to be separated now that he’s found someone he loves and trusts.”

“There’s really no winning, is there… fine!” Allura let out an exaggerated sigh. “He can come up fro-whoa!” She made the blue lion jerk when Kosmo suddenly appeared next to her. “Don’t do that!”

“He’s just excited.” Pidge went around and hugged the wolf. “I’m sorry you were lonely, Kosmo. We wouldn’t have had this problem if we brought my lion, too. But hopefully we won’t have a repeat again.”

“So… all Earthlings are like this?” Tangor questioned.

“Well, most. At least those of us who love animals and our pets.” Lisa responded, amusement showing her tone.

“As intriguing as it is to learn about Earthlings, perhaps we should focus more on our mission.” Krik stated, getting the team back on track. “Pidge, are we coming close?”

“Yeah, in the next ten minutes, we should be entering their range for sensors. But with the blue lion’s sonar and some programming added to adjust it, it should keep us fairly hidden until Kosmo and I can drop the BLIP tech.” Pidge informed. “Once we have a reading on the inside, then we can infiltrate fully.”

Then it was on to the full part of the mission. Before departing, Kolivan had spoken with Allura, requesting her help. While they typically did not do extraction missions, there were some cases where Kolivan had such missions arranged. He personally requested Allura for the mission though, stating that the base that they needed to extract the team from was underwater. With that, Allura got the vehicle team’s Sea team to help, too.

There was a group of Blades who were on a mission, following a trail to some strange quintessence. They were keeping up to date with their reports, but things were cut short. Something went wrong and Kolivan felt it was imperative that the base be investigated and, hopefully, the team helped. So there they were, Allura piloting Blue and the Sea team following suit, ready to help their allies.

It was decided that Green wouldn’t be needed, but Pidge’s skills with technology would be. So Pidge rode with Allura, ready to help and infiltrate the base. Chip was worried about this, rightfully so according to the others, but Pidge assured him she would be fine. Her past experiences, though, told everyone she would probably get hurt one way or another; great way to have faith in a teammate.

“Okay, this is our first point. Ready, Allura?” Pidge asked.

“Ready.” Allura activated the blue lion’s sonar, sending out a frequency that Pidge was certain would shut the Galra’s sensors down and make it easier for the others to get closer. Once close enough, Pidge fixed her bag, the small devices to scan for biorhythms nestled inside. “You sure you’ve got this, Pidge?”

“Yup. I’ve got Kosmo for teleporting and Rover for extra tech if needed. We’ve got this.” Pidge assured. She pulled herself up onto the wolf’s back, Rover getting down between her and the back of Kosmo’s head. “Okay buddy, let’s do this.” Kosmo gave a growl, confirming her words, before disappearing.

Pidge looked around where Kosmo brought them. A hanger of sorts for ships; if she had to compare it to a game, she’d say they were in a sort of moonpool judging by the water beneath but not flooding in. She dropped off one of the BLIP tech devices before Kosmo took off running, skirting around the edge. After he teleported past the first door, Pidge looked around.

“Pidge, what do you see?” Allura inquired.

“Well… nothing.” Pidge admitted. “It’s empty. And in a very eerie way.” She noticed that the place looked suddenly abandoned, as though everyone just dropped everything and fled. But the ships were still docked. “I’ll keep up with the BLIP tech, though; we’ll find out what’s up.”

“Okay, be on guard.”

“Will do.” Pidge confirmed. She tapped Kosmo with her feet, getting him to move forward. They went around different parts of the base, getting more and more scans and getting an idea on its schematics. She stopped in one hall, though, when she saw something eerie. “Oh quiznak.”

“Pidge? Pidge! What’s wrong!?” Allura sounded panicked.

“Nothing yet.” Pidge assured. “But… um...” She activated some tech, scanning the wall she stared at and the claw marks slicing through it. “Do you guys see this?”

“What could have made something like that?” Krik asked.

“I don’t know, but it had to be big. And dangerous.” Pidge admitted.

“You think the Galra keep pets, too?” Zandee sounded nervous.

“I have a bad feeling this isn’t some pet they lost control of...” Shannon mumbled.

Pidge felt that Shannon wasn’t wrong. A part of her hoped it was gone along with the others, but her gut said otherwise. “Anyway… this place is showing to be empty… and I dropped the last device… I’m going to head back to the bay; you should be able to leave the ships there.”

“Copy that.” the others confirmed.

By the time Pidge reached the bay, the five members of the sea team and Allura had all docked their vehicles and were out. They were going over the data, checking for biorhythms.

“It looks like five are grouped together. Six?” Allura wasn’t sure if the sixth one was a glitch or something. Perhaps an animal? She didn’t know. “Since the Blade of Marmora are all Galra and Galrans have been identified, we don’t know if these guys are enemy or not.”

“They’re not showing as sentries, though, so that’s a good start.” Pidge confirmed. “And it looked like they’re on the third level… I probably missed them when I was up there. I mean, that is bound to happen, I missed some halls but the tech was able to cover those and we were teleporting a lot.”

“We best work our way up there.” Krik stated. “And be on guard. We don’t know if that creature is still here or not.”

“I’m not picking up on it on the scans, though.” Allura pointed out. “But… you’re right. There are many strange things in the universe… it could be invisible to the scans.” It wasn’t an easy thought to sit with for the others, but it was probable.

With their plan in mind, the team started moving, keeping together and their senses alert. As they moved, they saw areas Pidge missed due to teleporting, seeing more clawed surfaces as well as destroyed sentries.

“Whatever did this was definitely violent.” Pidge jumped down from Kosmo’s back. She went over and checked some discarded parts. “It really wanted the sentries destroyed.” She picked up one of the arms and investigated it. “And tore them apart. This doesn’t look like damage from blasters or blades.”

“I wonder what sent it on a rampage.” Lisa mused. She was terrified by the sight, but she was also curious.

“Hmm.” Pidge grunted and put the arm down. When she pulled her hand back, a bluish colour caught her attention. She looked to her palm, eyes widening. She knew that shade of blue anywhere, the colour instilled in her memory since her fight against Haxus. “Oh boy.”

“Pidge? What’s the matter?” Allura asked.

“The sentries probably aren’t the only casualties.” Pidge didn’t know the best way to say it. They didn’t see any, but she was sure of it with the blood around.

“You mean...” Lisa covered her mouth in shock. “Oh goodness...”

“So this thing could have attacked the Galra, too?” Shannon asked.

“Seems so… because I’m certain this isn’t the Blades’ doing.” Pidge stood up. “We should get moving. If the Blades are still alive, then the sooner we find them, the sooner we can get the hell out of here.” No one was in disagreement.

They continued around, keeping an eye on the sensors to see how close they were to finding the others. Thankfully, though, they seemed to stay together, not moving much. Except for the smaller, questionable reading. It moved along the halls and towards their direction.

“One of them is moving towards us.” Zandee pointed out as he checked the data.

Pidge brought out her bayard and activated it. “What do you think, buddy?” she asked Kosmo. Kosmo huffed, but wasn’t growling. He could smell something was coming, but he didn’t think it was a threat. The figure then stepped out. Small. Mainly black with accents of blue and orange. And to the Earthlings, it looked every bit like a cat save for the blue colouring.

“It’s a cat.” Lisa pointed out. “Aww! And it’s cute!”

“Don’t let your guard down, we don’t know if it’s dangerous or not.” Shannon reminded. “For all we know, it could be that monster.”

“But look at it, it’s so tiny.”

“Shannon could be right; there are many strange creatures in the universe.” Tangor spoke up.

The cat then sprung up, landing on Pidge’s shoulders. He purred and rubbed against her head. “I don’t know, I think he’s fairly decent.” Pidge commented, reaching up and petting the cat.

“The mice, a wolf, now this cat thing. She’s just good with animals, isn’t she?” Krik questioned.

“It would appear so.” Allura chuckled. “She also has this thing she and Lance call a cow and it likes her, too.”

“Hey buddy. How are you? Did you come to check on things for your friends?” Pidge inquired. She picked the cat off from her shoulders and held him in her arms, smiling when he purred louder. “You’re such a good kitty. Right Kosmo?” Kosmo whined a bit before nosing the cat, sneezing a bit when the cat bopped him gently on the nose. “You two get along, okay?”

“Pidge, I get you’re enjoying the company of it, but… you’re not adopting another animal.” Allura stated, hoping the green paladin won’t argue about that. “You already have Rover, Kaltenecker, those pentapusses, and now Kosmo, we don’t need this one added to the mayhem.” She then observed the cat closely. “Hmm… the cat, though… it does seem familiar.”

“Familiar?” Krik inquired. “What do you mean, Princess?”

“Like I’ve seen it before… but that’s impossible. That was a thousand years ago; the cat would have passed away long ago due to age.” Allura explained.

“Unless, like us, the cat was also in stasis.” came a new voice. Figures rounded the corner. At first the others were on guard, but they relaxed when they saw the Blade uniforms. Masks were down and faces were seen, one of which was a purple coloured face with white, flowing hair on the head, bound in the back so it wouldn’t get in the way. He was the one who spoke. “And treatment with quintessence made his life longer. Which is nice, I’d be heartbroken if Kova died.”

Allura stared in shock at the man. He was obviously Galra, even with blue irises showing against his golden sclera, but more than that, the princess recognized him. “Lotor...”

“Allura, it’s good to see you again.” Lotor stated, stepping over to the princess. “It’s been so long.”

“Old friends?” Pidge inquired.

“Yes. Lotor and I were childhood friends.” Allura closed the distance, reaching up and gently touching his cheek. “It really is you.”

“It is me.”

Allura’s eyes were soft. Then they hardened. She pulled her hand back and pushed it forward, punching him with enough force to make him actually spin around on his foot. “That is for reading my diary!” Lotor collapsed to the ground.

“Ooh, I like her.” the larger of the Blades chuckled, amused by Allura’s action.

“Reading a woman’s diary, no matter what planet anyone is from, it still seems to be taboo.” Lisa sighed.

Chapter Text

Lotor. Acxa. Narti. Ezor. Zethrid. They were a group of five Blades who worked well together. They were thankfully found and relatively unharmed.

“Now that we’ve found you,” Allura stated after Lotor regained his senses, “we should get going.”

“We can’t leave yet.” Lotor insisted. “There’s a creature at this base.”

“Isn’t that all the more reason to leave?” Lisa inquired.

“I wish that was the case, but if this monster gets loose, there’s no telling what will happen; it’s a dangerous creature with a thirst for Galran blood.” Lotor stated. Had the others been told that at the beginning of Voltron’s revival or even before the paladins got together, some of the others wouldn’t think that was a bad idea. But they had warmed up to there being good Galra, some even told off by Pidge and set straight.

“What even caused this thing? And why isn’t our tech picking up on it.” Allura asked.

“It’s why we initially came here.” Acxa brought up some data. “We’ve been trailing this strange and potentially dangerous shipment of quintessence that was found at another base. We trailed part of it to here and it turns out someone was using it to experiment on some creature, making it even more dangerous. But it backfired and… well...”

“Wait a tick...” Pidge looked at the data. “Can you send that to me?” Acxa nodded and did so. Pidge compared the data with another set of information she had from when the others infiltrated a sort of universal hub; it was before Pidge crashed and met the vehicle team. There, Keith found quintessence and scanned it, getting an idea of what it was. “Whoa. Though quintessence like what Keith found at that hub, it’s practically something new all together. It’s energy points are strange and off the charts.”

“Which is why we’ve been trailing it.” Lotor informed. “We’re hoping to find out where it’s coming from and how to stop it.” He sighed. “But we ran into a problem here. That creature they were experimenting with… it got loose.”

“Well, the BLIP tech isn’t picking up on it here.” Zandee commented. “I hope that doesn’t mean it already escaped.”

“We’re still here,” Ezor sounded nervous, “so I’m certain that it’s still here.”

“But we don’t know where; we can’t trace the biorhythm.” Acxa added. “It’s probably something to do with what was experimented on...”

“Okay, so the next question is… how do we find it? And what do we do when we do?” Shannon questioned.

Krik looked back, a sinking feeling filling him. “For the moment? I suggest running.” This prompted the others to look, seeing a large creature with massive front arms, a smaller set of secondary arms, and a tail. There were no visible eyes on it, but it seemed trained on them. Scent perhaps? No one really knew.

It was silent for a moment, but when the creature snarled at them and started to charge for them down the hall, they chose then to run off.

“This is bad! This is bad!” Lisa called. “Pidge! Is there any reason to think this thing won’t like you, too?”

“I’m not some animal magnet!” Pidge yelped.

“Kova still clinging to you begs to differ.” Lotor pointed out.

“Pidge, if you can find a control room, can you try and close the doors on it? Get it trapped?” Krik suggested.

“Good idea!” Pidge tossed Kova over to Acxa, the cat yowling in surprise. She then pulled herself up onto Kosmo’s back. “Wish me luck!” Kosmo charged ahead of them before disappearing.

“I don’t know if I’m more shocked that you’d send a baby off on his own or that that animal just vanished.” Lotor commented.

“Pidge isn’t a baby, she’s actually a lot more capable than she looks-” Allura started to say.

“Despite her reputation of getting injured.” Shannon added.

“-and Kosmo’s a… well, we’ve been calling him a cosmic wolf. Teleporting seems to be his thing.” She looked ahead. “Traveling as one group will be ill advised. We may need to split off and get its attention drawn.”

“The path ahead splits. Three halls.” Zandee reported as he checked the scan.

“Right.” Lotor nodded. “Zethrid, Ezor, go right. Acxa, you take Narti down the left. I’ll go straight.” He glanced at Krik who he figured was a leader to the group.

“Zandee, Tangor, go with Acxa; Lisa, Shannon, with Ezor. Allura, we’re with Lotor.” Krik ordered. He saw the halls ahead. “Keep together and keep on guard.”

“Copy that!”

“Control room? Nope. Nope. Yes? Nope. Not even close.” Pidge and Kosmo kept teleporting, going around and checking various rooms. They finally found what they were looking for. “Yes!” She jumped off the wolf’s back. “Okay, Rover, time to get the systems online.” Beeping, Rover got situated, booting up the computers. “Okay guys, I’m in and I’ve got visuals. Good job splitting up.”

“Compliment less, help more, Pidge!” Shannon responded.

“Yes, yes. Looks like the beast is chasing Allura’s team.” Pidge reported.

“Sounds like it, too!” Allura called. She let out a yelp after Pidge saw on camera it fire off a sort of beam from its mouth.

“Whoa, talk about hyperbeam!” Pidge yelped. “Okay, okay, I’m figuring this out.” She brought up the schematic of the base. “Okay, Allura, three halls down, take a right and keep going straight.”

“Wait… that path? It’s a weapons hold.” Lotor spoke up.

“Yup!”

Silence.

Then it was followed by Tangor saying, “Um, did that sound a bit too chipper for anyone’s comfort?”

“Pidge, what are you planning?” Krik asked.

“Blowing that creature up.”

“But we’re here, too!” Ezor yelped.

“That’s right.” Pidge nodded. “The rest of you, hurry back to the hanger and get ready to depart.” She looked to Kosmo. “I need you to collect the others. Can you teleport the three of them together?” Kosmo grumbled but nodded. He then whimpered, nosing Pidge. “It’s okay, buddy, it’ll be fine. After we get that thing to the weapons hold, I need to destroy it ASAP. So, get going.” She nudged her companion. “Go on, I’ll be fine.”

Kosmo wasn’t sure, but he listened. He teleported a few times before catching up with Allura’s group. Once he got to them, he ran alongside them.

“Kosmo?! Where’s Pidge?!” Allura yelped.

“Still at the control room; he’s gonna help you get out.” Pidge responded over the comms.

“And what about you, Pidge? You need to get out, too!” Allura reminded.

“Don’t do anything stupid or reckless, Pidge!” Krik ordered.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry!”

Nope. They would always worry. Pidge had been hurt too often. But they couldn’t complain at the moment; they still needed to survive the creature chasing them and occasionally firing a sort of attack at them. They reached the weapon’s hold soon enough and ran right through it, the doors shutting behind them and trapping the creature within.

“Kosmo, get them back to the hanger.” Pidge ordered.

Kosmo growled before getting into physical contact with the three others. He then teleported around, getting them to the vehicle hanger after a few rounds.

“Whoa… that was… ugh...” Lotor grumbled, leaning forward, hands braced on his knees.

“That was something...” Krik commented. He then looked alarmed when he heard the explosions and felt the base shake. “Pidge? Pidge, do you copy?” he inquired. There was nothing.

“Pidge! Report!” Allura ordered, though she sounded more worried than aggressive. Kosmo whined, worried about his human, then teleported, leaving to find her. “Kosmo!”

“Lotor!” Acxa called, entering the bay with the others. Ezor yelped and jumped when the doors shut behind them, sealing everyone into the bay; the moonpool entrance remained open so that they could escape. “The base is flooding.”

“We can’t just leave Pidge, though!” Lisa pointed out.

“Sea team, to your ships.” Krik ordered. “Search around for her biorhythm.” He was worried, too, but he figured from their ships, they could do more. “Allura...”

“I’ll use the blue lion’s sonar; I may be able to find her better that way.” Allura assured, running to the blue lion with the Blade of Marmora members. She got in and set out, starting the scan to locate Pidge. “C’mon, Pidge… where are you… where...” She checked the radar. “Found her; she’s on the other side of the base.”

The princess piloted Blue to where she found Pidge’s biorhythm. She didn’t have a visual, though.

“She might still be inside the base.” Ezor stated. “Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“I don-whoa!” Allura yelped and recoiled when Kosmo suddenly appeared next to her, Pidge holding onto him and Rover tucked between them.

“Allura? What’s going on?” Krik asked.

“It’s Pidge… she… she and Kosmo are back.” Allura sighed as she caught her breath. “And Pidge is… grinning.” She couldn’t help but smile a bit; Pidge’s grin was reassuring that the green paladin was fine.

“I got through this mission and I didn’t even get a paper cut. I’m awesome.” Pidge smirked. “Yell yeah! And that monster is absolutely destroyed! Yeah! Get wrecked, bitch!”

“Pidge...” Lisa sighed. “The swearing?”

“Eh, leave her be; she’s happy and not hurt.” Shannon chuckled a bit.

“I’m glad you’re fine.” Allura smiled brightly. “You, too, Kosmo.” She pet the wolf, not even caring that both he and Pidge were soaked. “You’re such a good boy.” Kosmo shook out his fur, splattering everyone with water. “No! NO! Bad wolf! You’re getting water everywhere! Pidge!”

“I’m beginning to wish I was hurt, then I wouldn’t be getting yelled at...” Pidge mumbled.

“Pidge!” Chip cheered as he hugged his sister. “You’re not hurt, are you? No concussion? No hidden injuries? Nothing broken? Nothing bleeding?” He stopped hugging her in order to look her over, hoping she was indeed doing okay.

“I’m fine, not even a bruise.” Pidge assured.

“You’re not lying to me?”

“Not lying.”

“You’re truly okay?”

“I’ve got water stuck in my armor and it’s uncomfortable, but I’m perfectly fine.”

“I’m glad...” Chip hugged Pidge once more, relieved to know his sister was doing well.

“Hey, just because I’ve been hurt a few times-”

“Sendak crushing you.” Keith reminded.

“Shot by a fighter ship.” Krik added.

“All those injuries when you fell through the cave where you met Kosmo.” Cinda chimed.

“Injured your face a bit when you had to save Aki in a fight.” Coran pointed out.

“We also started the semester at the Garrison with her having a broken wrist.” Lance commented. “I… actually didn’t figure that one out...”

“Considering she’s a genius, she probably had bullies and finally lost her temper and punched one.” Hunk pointed out. “Or more.”

“Yes, I did have bullies, the jerks always stole my dessert, too.” Pidge pouted. “But no, I didn’t punch them hard enough to break my wrist and only punched one once; after that, I rigged up their lockers at school to explode with glitter and confetti the moment they opened them.” She crossed her arms. “If you must know, it was a gymnastics accident. I miscalculated my movements and landed wrong and ended up on my arms, breaking my right wrist.” She held up her hand. “Thankfully I recovered well and it only took me about seven weeks to heal and I didn’t need surgery; so my first two weeks at the Garrison was with a broken wrist.”

“Pidge, admit it,” Keith smirked, “you are a magnet for getting hurt.”

“I hate you all...” Pidge scowled at the group, getting them, even her brothers, to start laughing.

Allura, who stood with Lotor to the side, giggled a bit. She was glad to see the different teams interact, happy to be around one another and even worry for each other, especially the injury prone Pidge. She then looked to where Kolivan was, deciding to go over to him.

“Kolivan,” she spoke with him as Lotor joined them, “did you know… about Lotor being one of the agents? And… sent me personally or...”

Kolivan was silent at first, observing the paladins and pilots. He then sighed. “We’re keeping Lotor’s familial ties secret for now.” he stated. “But yes… I knew.”

“I see.” Allura nodded. “And you wanted me specifically so I could find him?”

“I thought it would be good for two old friends to meet again.” Kolivan admitted. “And his team needed help. It worked well in the end.”

“It did.” Allura nodded. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Lotor rubbed his face, his tone sarcastic. “She punched me, you know.”

Kolivan smirked for a second, but neither Allura nor Lotor actually noticed it. “Perhaps you did something wrong and deserved it.”

“He read my diary.”

“It was important for me to find out.”

“It’s why I punched you.”

“Knowledge my dear Allura.”

“A diary?” Kolivan inquired. “Bold. Looks like you were teetering between knowledge and death.” Allura couldn’t help but giggle at that and Lotor scowled. He watched them a moment longer before letting them be. Though he didn’t show it, he was glad he could unite those two, aware that they were childhood friends.

Chapter Text

“The mall?” Pidge asked, looking up with a dumbfounded expression from her computer, running diagnostics on the ships. They were on a planet that was recently liberated. From there, they were working on the next plan and where to strike. Apparently they were also near the space mall, a location the girls wanted to go to and felt the need to drag Pidge with them. “No thanks. Been there, done that.”

“Pidge, please?” Allura begged her fellow paladin. “I didn’t get to go last time. I really want to go!”

“Then go, it’s not like you need me.” Pidge stated. “And it seems like Lisa, Cinda, and Ginger are going, too, so it’s even better. Have fun.”

“But Pidge!” Allura practically whined; it wasn’t quite what people expected of a princess, but she seemed desperate. “This is the perfect time for us girls to bond. Get to know each other.”

“Oh no...” Pidge looked horrified. “Nope. I do not need that. No thanks.” She stepped away. “I do not need bonding time. Especially at a mall.”

“I thought girls like shopping.” Hutch asked. “My cousins definitely did.”

“Same for my sisters.” Lance admitted. “And Pidge, you were eager when we found that Earth shop.”

“Terra. It was amazing because it has all this vintage Earth stuff at amazing prices! Do you know how hard it is to find a mint condition first edition Mercury Game Flux with controllers, working cables, and even the power glove?” Pidge got excited at that. “I mean, it’s one thing to get a refurbished one back home or emulate it, but the MGF is so amazing and perfect and the best find ever!”

“Sounds like video games are what she prefers shopping for.” Marvin mused.

“I think it would be good for you to go with them and enjoy some time at the mall.” Ulaz spoke up from his work. “Bond with the girls, get out, and it’s the mall; Chip shouldn’t worry too much about your safety.”

“I don’t worry too much.” Chip pouted. “I worry the right amount!”

“Dude, you panic so much more over Pidge’s safety, your hair will be white before you’re twenty.” Lance deadpanned. Chip stuck his tongue out at him.

“Look, it’s not necessary for me to go and I’ve got plenty of work to do here.” Pidge sighed. “End of discussion.”

“Pidge. Allow me to rephrase.” Ulaz went over. “You are going. End of discussion.”

“No. I’m not.”

“I don’t know how you Earthlings do things, but you don’t cooperate, I will ground you.”

“What, confine me to my room? Hah! Remember, I’m a paladin, I’m needed out here.”

“No, but I can take that game system back for a few movements.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I bought it, I can take it.”

Pidge scowled and Ulaz met that with a steady gaze. The two just glared at each other, neither one of them budging.

“Fine. I’ll go. But I’m not dressing up or wearing make up. And I refuse to go to any perfume store.” Pidge relented.

“Yay!” Allura cheered.

“Wow, the only person I’ve seen match Pidge like that is Professor Gunderson.” Lance gaped a bit. “She is going to adore Ulaz.”

“And I’m taking Rover and Kosmo with me.” Pidge added.

“Rover, no, you may get in trouble since he’s a Galra drone, but Kosmo may go.” Ulaz nodded.

“Is it just me or is Ulaz like a sort of parent?” Aki inquired.

“Or at least an uncle.” Keith chimed. “But yeah, he’s taken on a sort of parental role over Pidge.”

Pidge found herself standing in the mall, grouped up with Allura, Ginger, Cinda, and Lisa, Kosmo standing behind her, head resting on her shoulder. She wasn’t the happiest, but at least the others were, especially Allura.

“Well, Allura, welcome to a mall.” Ginger smiled brightly. “Goodness, I didn’t think I’d get to go shopping at a mall again after Earth was attacked. But here we are!”

“And it doesn’t seem any different from malls on Earth.” Lisa pointed out.

“If no one minds, I’m gonna see what other vintage games Terra has.” Pidge started to walk off, but Cinda snagged her by the straps on her suspender-skirt. “Hey!”

“Nope, it’s good to stick together. How do you humans say it? The buddy system?” Cinda let go.

“I have my buddy.” Pidge motioned to Kosmo, the wolf’s tail wagging.

“And you have the rest of us as your buddies, too.” Lisa reminded. “Don’t worry, we can check out this Earth store, too.”

“It’d be nice to see what it has.” Allura chimed. “Don’t worry, Pidge. And we’ll avoid perfume stores.”

Pidge sighed. “Fine.” she mumbled. “But it’s not like we have any money. I don’t have Ulaz with me to buy stuff and I didn’t think to ask for an allowance from him.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Allura smirked. “Lotor owed me. Big time.”

Pidge was stunned but she soon grinned. “Oh, this could be fun.”

Shopping wasn’t really the goal. Going out to a semi-familiar, at least in feeling, setting to hang out, walk around, that was that the ladies wanted for the most part. And honestly, Pidge found herself warming up to it. They were stopped a few times by children with their parents, the kids in awe of Kosmo. Who wouldn’t be? He was a giant, blue, fluffy wolf. And for the most part, he didn’t seem to mind being pet.

“Okay,” Pidge said as she sat in the food court, sipping on some sort of alien soda, “this isn’t so bad.”

“See? And you were so resistant at first.” Ginger teased.

“It’s not so bad hanging out and bonding, huh?” Allura asked.

“I’m… not really used to this hanging out and bonding thing.” Pidge admitted.

“It’s not that hard, though.” Lisa stated.

“It is when you’re a genius and spent school since the fourth grade being bullied for your intellect.” Pidge deadpanned. “Would’ve been sooner, but… I skipped grades.” The others were stunned, the green paladin could tell that much. “I didn’t have many friends… not until the Garrison. Lance and Hunk didn’t care that I was a genius, in fact they appreciated it. No one cared, actually. They worked with me. So… it’s fine.”

“Oh! Pidge!” Lisa hugged Pidge. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“It’s life. It happens.” Pidge shrugged. “And I knew how to safely get revenge without being put into detention or suspended. If they tried, I would be able to counter them. If they continued, Mom spoke up.”

“But still, to grow up like that...” Lisa sighed. “It must have been lonely.”

“Not really. I spent time with my neighour’s dogs, sitting in the yard and reading my study materials to them.” Pidge grinned. “Animals don’t care if you’re a genius. They just care if you’re a decent person and nice to them.” She chuckled when Kosmo headbutted her. “Yup. You’re amazing company, Kosmo.” She smiled softly. “The whole team is, all factions.” She was happy to have the teams. To have her friends.

Of course, happiness was pushed aside when alarms went off and the lights went out; there were other outside sources of light, so they weren’t left completely in the dark.

“Pidge, did you roll a seventeen by chance?” Cinda asked.

“No, a thirteen.” Pidge responded.

“What?” Ginger was perplexed. “But thirteen is...”

“Italian, here.” Pidge got up and ran off, wanting to investigate further. The others went after her, ducking around a bench to see a group of scoundrels.

“Vex. Pirates.” Cinda grumbled.

“Pirates?” Lisa asked. “Do you know of this group?”

“This one? No.” Cinda shook her head. “But pirates are fairly identifiable. Before we found our way to Earth, our ships had been attacked by pirates; we were able to defend ourselves, though.”

“Doesn’t this place have security or something?” Lisa asked.

“Hmm...” Pidge looked around before spotting the mall cop, a hefty looking Galra. “Found him. And I think he’s scared.” The others looked to where the cop was cowering, another Galra patting his shoulder. Pidge then looked around more from her position, hoping to formulate a plan.

“A mall cop… okay...” Ginger sighed. “Dare I say it, ladies, but I get the feeling this is up to us to handle.”

“Well, hopefully we can come up with something; none of us are armed.” Allura reminded.

“Hmm, I may have an idea. But I should warn the cop first because I’m about to do something illegal.” Pidge commented.

“What sort of illegal?” Lisa asked. “I know the situation is dire, but...”

“Stealing stuff from stores to build my own sort of weapon to take down the pirates with minimal damage.” Pidge commented. She then held onto Kosmo. “Okay, buddy, let’s go.”

Kosmo teleported to where the two Galrans were that worked at the mall. Their sudden appearance startled the two and Pidge shifted her position to sit in front of them.

“Hi there, green paladin of Voltron here, we have problem.” Pidge stated. “Pirates. And… no one is doing anything.”

“How can I? I’m just a mall cop!” the cop whined.

“Get it together, Varkon.” the other Galran sighed. “I’m trying to think of something, but I’m limited…”

“I may be ahead of you on that.” Pidge assured. “But I need permission.”

“What sort?” the Galran asked.

“To break into some stores with my friends so we can get needed supplies and build a weapon to stop the pirates?”

“That’s a criminal act.” Varkon pointed out. “To allow such a thing to occur in my jurisdiction would be an-ack! Sal!” He whined and squirmed then the other one, Sal, pushed his head down to the floor.

“Get over it, Varkon, pirates don’t care about jurisdiction.” Sal reminded. “If it can help in the long run, go for it.”

“Thanks!” Pidge grinned. “By the way, do you have a pad of paper or PDA I can use? Something to write notes in?”

“I have this?” Varkon held up a little notebook and pen, probably to write citations. “Why?”

“Divide and conquer, send lists with the girls so we can split up and get what we need. Thanks.” Pidge nodded. “We’ll do our best to get this handled. Ciao.” She then disappeared with Kosmo, the wolf taking her back to the others. “Okay, we have the say so, now then...” She started writing her notes down. “We’ll want to stay low and be quiet, lest we get caught. But, these are what I need.” She finished writing. “Lisa, go with Cinda; Ginger, with Allura.”

“Won’t we cut down time if we all went separate ways?” Cinda inquired.

“Yes but I don’t know if you can read English and I’m certain Allura can’t.” Pidge admitted.

Cinda looked at the list that Pidge handed to Lisa, looking at the symbols on it. “I’ll go with Lisa then.”

“Good. Once you get what I need, meet me at Terra; that’s where I’ll be working.” Pidge pulled herself up onto Kosmo’s back. “We’ll distract them so you guys can get moving.”

Kosmo took off, Pidge calling to get the pirates’ attention. When they realized she wasn’t cowering in fear, they shot at them with blasters, the wolf quick to run and teleport, moving around to evade them. They were only slowed down a bit when one shot managed to graze Pidge, though she still fell off of Kosmo’s back in surprise. The wolf ran back and teleported with her to safety.

Kosmo whined and sniffed at Pidge’s left shoulder where she was grazed, the sleeve singed from the energy projectile. “It’s okay, buddy, more damage done to my shirt than me.” Pidge responded, though it was still sore. “But we got their attention, hopefully the others would be able to act quick.” She got up. “Now then, let’s head to Terra; we’re going to need lots of silly string and I know for a fact that the shopkeeper there has it.” Kosmo huffed with a nod before teleporting again, taking his human round until they reached the store.

There was a pirate inside, but Kosmo was able to attack, biting into him until Pidge could bash something against his head, knocking him out. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. If we ignore the fact that he’ll have a concussion.” Pidge commented as she went around.

“Er… m-may I help you with s-something?” the alien running the store asked.

“I’m kinda gonna have to use items from your store to help take down the pirates. Sorry for not paying.” Pidge apologized.

“Well, not like anyone shops here anyway except you and your boyfriend from last time.”

Pidge blushed. “He’s a boy and he’s a friend… but he’s not my boyfriend...” she mumbled. She shrugged it off before going through the store’s inventory, able to find plenty of what she needed. Within moments, her friends arrived, all with supplies from different stores.

“Pidge, you’re injured.” Ginger pointed out. She looked for a first-Aid kit, thankful that Terra had some basic medical supplies. She tended to Pidge’s arm as the paladin worked. “It doesn’t look like you’ll need a pod, but make sure Ulaz looks at it and treats it when we get back.”

“Sure.” Pidge nodded. “Okay, so we got two things made. A canon to wipe out their tech, blasters included, and guns to shoot expanding foam and silly-string at them, tweaked to solidify faster and harder to keep them immobile.”

“Just what kind of mad scientist are you?” Lisa inquired.

“The kind that blew out the neighbourhood’s power for several hours one night. It’s also what happened to my first Mercury Game Flux that I was working on...” Pidge admitted. “So. Who wants electromagnetic energy, there’s one for that, and who wants expanding foam? That’d be the rest of us.”

“Either way, this looks like it’s going to be fun.” Allura smirked, picking up a toy foam ball launcher, rigged to launch little grenades filled with foam material. “Now then, let’s defend the mall.”

“Goodness, you girls look exhausted.” Cliff observed, stunned when the ladies returned.

“Heh, leave it to them to get worn out while shopping.” Hutch teased.

“Oh, the shopping was relaxing.” Ginger responded with a smirk. “Now the defending of the mall from hostile pirates? Now that was tiring. Fun, but tiring.”

“Say what?” Cliff blinked, stunned to hear that.

“And we had to do this without our weapons.” Lisa added. “Of course, that didn’t mean we were unarmed. Pidge was able to figure something out.”

“Over all, it went well.” Cinda chimed. “We even got some wonderful snacks for our hard work!”

“By the way,” Pidge looked to Hunk, “Sal says hi, he hopes you visit soon so he can show you some new recipes he figured out applying what you taught him.”

“Aww, I may have to go on the next trip then.” Hunk smiled brightly. He then looked over. “Wait a sec… Pidge! You got hurt!”

“What?!” Chip ran over, but Cliff grabbed hold of him, keeping him back. “Cliff! Let me go!”

“Nope, you need to settle down.” Cliff sighed. “Though Pidge...”

“Don’t worry, she won’t need a pod.” Allura assured. “Though Pidge, go along. Find Ulaz and have him check on your arm.”

“Yup!” Pidge nodded and walked off with Kosmo. She stopped and looked back. “By the way… thanks for today. It was fun.” she said, earning smiles from not only the girls, but also the boys in the area. “I think we should spend more time together.” She then started walking again. “And Cliff, let Chip go, he can come to the infirmary with me.”

Cliff released Chip, the smaller vehicle team member running after Pidge. “She’s really okay?” he asked the girls once the twins were gone.

“Very much so; more damage to her shirt in the end.” Lisa assured. “We even had the bandage changed after we dealt with the pirates and things calmed down more.”

“She keeps getting hurt.” Hunk looked downcast. “But… she keeps bouncing back.”

“She’s definitely unstoppable.” Allura stated. “Of course, as her team, we’ll always help her out.”

Chapter Text

The groups were hard at work in clearing planets of Galran control. They were currently resting on one of their stops, helping out, making more allies, getting their ships checked on to ensure they were in working order, and working on the next plan, where they would hit next. It was a lot of work, but the groups were doing their best.

Krik was sitting in the common room, much like the lounge in the castle but with plenty of booths and tables instead of a sunken pit and couch, on the Arcadia, looking at old photos he and Cinda had, the two reminiscing about their home planet, Mira.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Cinda said, “I love being out here; there’s so much to see and so many amazing planets to visit, but I honestly hope we can go back to Mira for a bit. I wouldn’t mind a visit.”

“It would be nice, huh?” Krik inquired. “It feels like it’s been a lifetime since we last saw it. We spent so long on the ship, traveling to look for a-” He trailed off and looked alert.

“Krik?” Cinda noticed Krik’s change in posture and his breathing. “Do you sense something?”

“Something feels wrong...” Krik admitted. He got up and ran off, going to the other end of the room, just near one of the doors leading out to a corridor; Cinda followed right after him. He used a panel to contact the bridge. “Commander Hawkins, Captain Olia… has something come up on the sensors?” he asked.

“The sensors?” Olia asked. She seemed to speak with someone, getting them to check. “No, nothing abnormal. Not even weather patterns.”

“Krik, what’s the matter?” Hawkins inquired.

“I don’t know. Something felt off… like a sort of danger looming over us...” Krik admitted. As much as it helped, it was annoying that he didn’t always get clear feelings or messages. It was often vague. At times, the dreams, though haunting, seemed a bit better.

“We’ll contact the others, get them on alert.” Hawkins assured.

“Okay…”

“Try to settle and relax, focus. If you learn anything more...”

“I know, I’ll contact you again. Thanks, Commander.” Krik backed off and held his head. He couldn’t shake that looming sense of dread. Something was wrong and it didn’t sit well with him. Sure, they were in a war and danger was around every corner, but what he felt seemed more impending than the usual dangers.

“Maybe if you rest.” Cinda said, putting a hand on her fellow Miran’s shoulder. “You may have a dream that would tell you more...”

“Hmm… no...” Krik contacted the bridge again. “Commander, Captain, I’m going out with my ship and do some patrolling.”

“Going off alone...”

“He won’t be alone, I’ll go with him.” Cinda assured.

Hawkins was silent at first. “Okay, look out for each other. If anything comes up, contact us or at least send a distress beacon.”

“Copy that.” the two Mirans responded. With that, they were off, going to their ships to start their patrols.

Pidge stared at the cyber unit, skepticism and even rage in her honey brown eyes. The robot, though, made a low, somber sound, the ear-like points on top of it going down and the light on its screen showing to look like a sad, closed eye. Then she caved. “Oh Beezer! I could never stay angry with you!” she cried out, hugging the robot, earning a chipper beeping noise.

“Yup, I figured she’d give in.” Hunk hummed, amused by Pidge’s reaction.

“I take it you guys had a bad meeting?” Ginger inquired, giggling some at Pidge’s reaction. She smiled when she saw the girl settle down enough to introduce Beezer, the robot, to Chip, Kosmo, and Rover, though she still showed to be excited.

“We kinda stole the blue lion from them after tricking them.” a predominately yellow alien named Nyma chuckled a bit, embarrassed.

“I had a bad feeling about them. My gut told me they were suspicious. But did anyone listen to me? No!” Hunk sighed. “Pidge was the only one who listened a bit, though she was super focused on Beezer. But Shiro and Allura were so caught up in their must save everyone thing without questioning who could be an enemy or not, Keith just followed Shiro without question, and Lance. Of course Lance was flirting with Nyma here.”

“Oh dear.” Ginger sighed. “So what changed?”

“After they spared us once they got the blue lion back, we were kind of left questioning our actions.” Rolo, a purple alien with an aviator hat stated. “When we were found by some rebels, well, we decided we actually could do more to help, so we joined up. Then we met Matt.” He motioned to the elder sibling of the trio. “And he just looked too much like Pidge, couldn’t help but ask.”

“Yeah, who’d’ve thought my siblings I wanted to go home and look for would both find each other out here and then find me?” Matt chuckled, a bright grin on his face.

“So you guys originally met first?” Ginger asked, looking from Hunk to Nyma.

“Yeah, that wasn’t our finest moment.” Rolo chuckled a bit. “No hard feelings, right?”

“It’s in the past and we did get the lion back.” Hunk stated. “Though looking back now? It was kind of amusing; Lance got himself handcuffed to a tree.”

“That’s because he made it too easy.” Pidge said, sitting up on top of Beezer; the robot didn’t seem to mind.

“What do you mean?” Chip asked, sitting in front of Beezer, Rover down on his lap and Kosmo curled around him.

“Lance was quick to flirt with Nyma.”

“You actually noticed? You were so focused on Beezer.” Hunk teased.

“Of course I noticed. Some may call me paranoid, but I try to keep my eye on everything as much as possible. Though admittedly I wasn’t paranoid enough since I wasn’t as in touch with what was going on but… Lance always flirts. That’s how he is. He flirted with most of the girls in our classes at the Garrison, too.”

“Yeah, I’m surprised he didn’t bound back and try to flirt with Nyma again.” Rolo mused. That got most of the others to laugh, but Pidge simply shrugged it off.

Along with Pidge, Ginger actually wasn’t laughing. She was trying to hold back, but she couldn’t keep it in. “He won’t flirt with her because he has a crush on Pidge.” She stopped and covered her mouth. “I’m sorry. I was keeping quiet but… I couldn’t keep it in...”

Hunk sighed as he patted Ginger’s back. “It’s fine… but… yeah. It’s true. Oh boy...”

“I know.”

Eyes were on Pidge. She knew? She already knew he had a crush on her?! “Wait… what?” Hunk asked. “You know?”

“Of course I know.”

“How?!”

“I pay attention.” Pidge shrugged her shoulders. “Hard not to notice what my crush does, doesn’t do, how he acts, all that jazz.”

“Wait… your crush?” Matt was stunned. “You have a crush on Lance? Since when?!”

“Hmm… a month or two into training, I guess.” Pidge sounded way too nonchalant about that. “Training at the Garrison, not with Voltron. So before Voltron.”

“You have a crush! That’s so cute! Mutual crushing!” Ginger bounced up and down with joy.

“Now I feel even worse about tricking him.” Nyma chuckled nervously.

“He had it coming.” Pidge shrugged.

“That’s a little cold.” Rolo sighed.

“But this is great! You both have crushes on each other.” Hunk stated. “I think it’d be nice for you to tell him. Might even settle his nerves because he gets nervous about you and has been holding back from talking about it. Though the Rizavi incident probably didn’t help much…”

“Why?” Pidge asked. “Only for him to just go on to his next fixation and start flirting with the next pretty girl he meets?” No one knew how to respond to that. “Besides, we’re busy defending the universe. It’s best to just sweep this under the metaphorical rug and move on with our lives.”

“But...” Hunk sighed. “Pidge, I’m not saying this because I’m such shipping trash, but I know Lance. We’ve known each other for years, actually. And… the way this is towards you, it’s not like how he flirts with others. His crush on you makes him nervous around you, he doesn’t know how to act. I’m certain that this is legit. And he won’t flirt with others.”

Pidge sighed. “For now, it’s best to not act upon it.” she mumbled.

Hunk watched Pidge, his heart aching. There Pidge was with a crush on Lance for quite a while, but she never said anything. She watched him flirt with a number a girls, one time even backfiring on him. Then he has a crush on her? He understood why she was reserved, not even knowing when Lance will move on. But he was sure his friend wouldn’t; this was different compared to his little flirts.

“Pidge...” Hunk whispered, his tone sad. He didn’t continue, though, when he heard Kosmo snarl at something as the wolf got up. This caught everyone’s attention as they looked over to see what the wolf detected. They saw sentries and even a few Galran soldiers from the empire, one specific commander standing at the lead. “Oh crap...”

“Sendak...” Rolo hissed. He and the others were quickly on guard.

“Great, Commander Bad Attitude.” Pidge grumbled. “Jeez, didn’t Shiro yeet you into space? Can’t you just die?”

“Oh, like my last lieutenant?” Sendak asked. “Lieutenant Haxus?” Pidge gritted her teeth. Though she came to terms with that, it still stung. He motioned to someone, possibly his new lieutenant, and they pressed a sort of button. There was a sort of blast and Beezer and Rover were both down.

“What was that?” Ginger asked.

“An electromagnetic pulse.” Pidge responded. She checked the comms. “Oh no, the comms are out.” She then jumped out of the way before getting shot. “Whoa!” She activated her bayard. “We’re doing this? Fine!” She ran at Sendak, ready to take him head on, making sure to avoid the new mechanical arm he had.

His first one was removed when he tried to take over the castle. He had grabbed hold of Keith and Pidge had sliced through the energy arc leading from his shoulder to it; they actually let Lance believe that he shot it off instead. But Pidge had once been grabbed by it, so she made sure to be careful.

Hunk activated his bayard, able to shoot from a distance at the sentries. With handgun-like blasters, even Ginger and Chip were prepared, able to fire upon the sentries, too. Being close-combat with a staff, Matt went to assist Pidge, but he was occupied by another soldier with an energy blade. They were caught in a battle with no way of contacting the others.

Rolo, who, along with Nyma, had used his own blaster to assist the others, noticed how Sendak moved around Pidge, not even actually attacking her. He knew that the commander had the skill to crush her, but he didn’t. “He’s just toyin’ with her.”

“He must be planning something.” Nyma grumbled. “We can’t just sit around, though; doing this on our own...”

“Comms are down, though, so we can’t exactly call for help.” Ginger reminded. She then looked in horror when Hunk went down, the yellow paladin dropping his bayard and holding his side. “Hunk!”

“Shit...” he grumbled. Normally he didn’t swear, but getting shot in the side definitely called for it.

Ginger did her best to dodge more shots, but one grazed her shoulder and another her side. “Kosmo! We need to get Hunk to cover!” she told the wolf. Kosmo was quick to teleport to them, Ginger taking hold of the wolf for him to take them to cover.

“No, I need to...” Hunk tried to get up.

“You need to stay down!” Ginger reminded. “Kosmo, can you get Hunk back to the ships?” Kosmo whined and looked to where Pidge was. “We’re going to help her, but you need to get Hunk to safety and get backup for us.” Kosmo growled, though it seemed to be more in confirmation than in aggression; he then disappeared with Hunk, taking him back to where the others would be.

With the others, though, the fight continued. But it didn’t go on for too long. Injuries were accumulated and the others were down, bleeding. The lieutenant pointed a blaster at Matt’s head, ready to fire.

“No. Stand down.” Sendak ordered.

“What? But sir...”

“We only need this one and certainly alive.” Sendak looked down at Pidge, his foot carefully pressed to her back so as to not break her; she was already bleeding from various gashes and a gunshot wound to her left shoulder and right thigh, and, for the time being, he felt that would be fine.

“The others would only get in the way.”

“No, they’ll send word to the others about their little paladin being captured.” He removed his foot, ordering a sentry to keep the paladin in place. He went over and picked up Matt by the front of his uniform. “Hmm, this Earthling in particular looks like the green paladin.” He smirked. “They’ll definitely come to his rescue.” He dropped Matt and turned away.

“Don’t… touch her...” Matt grabbed hold of Sendak’s leg. “Leave my sister… be...” He couldn’t even cry out in pain when he was kicked away.

“Sister...” Sendak did not look friendly with his grin. “Then you best recover and run to her rescue. Or make it easier on everyone… and trade the lions for her return.” He pulled his leg free with ease and returned to where Pidge was on the ground. “Bring her with us; leave the others.” He walked off, returning to wherever they had the ships were. Two sentries grabbed Pidge, one holding either arm, and dragged her off, leaving her bayard behind. Matt tried to reach out for her, but there was nothing he could do. It didn’t take long for him to lose consciousness.

“Huh? Cinda, do you see that?”

“Yeah! It’s a Galra ship; it’s leaving the planet!”

“Krik to Arcadia, do you copy?”

“We hear you, Krik.” Olia responded.

“We spotted a Galran battle cruiser leaving the planet.” Krik reported. “Should we pursue?”

“Negative; we can’t offer the backup.” Olia reported. “We just had an attack here; members of the rebels, vehicle team, and Voltron were injured.”

Krik’s eyes widened. “Oh no...”

“We don’t know the details and we can’t risk you getting hurt, too.” Olia informed. “You and Cinda are to return to the Arcadia and await further orders.”

“Copy that.” Cinda responded.

Krik sighed. “Copy that.” He had that bad feeling and while he was out going on patrol, he missed the danger. He wasn’t there to help. It didn’t sit well with him.

“Krik? We need to head back...” Cinda spoke softly to him, knowing he was worried. Perhaps even angry with himself for not properly seeing this coming.

“Again… there was nothing I could do in the end...”

“We’ll head back to the others; then we’ll find out what to do next.” Cinda reminded. “Let’s go.” She waited, but Krik wasn’t changing course. She knew this. “Krik, don’t. If you go after them, you could get hurt and there won’t be back up; the team could lose you. Don’t risk it… please...”

Krik’s hands were tightened over the controls. He then released his grip. “Okay…” He then changed direction, going to return to the Arcadia and Castle of Lions, completely unaware that Pidge was on board of that ship leaving the planet.

Chapter Text

Pidge was brought to the flagship of the main fleet; if she didn’t know any better, she’d say she was in the command center. Despite their efforts to take it down, the Galra had gotten to work in repairing it. Oh well, nothing she could do about it at that moment, especially in her condition. She was only given enough treatment to keep her from bleeding out, but she was still badly injured. What she wouldn’t give to be put in a healing pod.

The green paladin was forced to her knees, yanked up a bit by her hair and held in place. She was so sore and tired, she could hardly even find it in herself to cry out; the only sound to escape her was a pathetic squeak. She watched through half-lidded eyes, looking to see an impressive chair. If she didn’t know any better, then she’d assume that Zarkon once sat in it.

Heavy steps filled the room. She did her best to look around, able to tell they were coming from behind, but with Sendak’s lieutenant holding her by her hair as tightly as he was, she could barely turn her head an inch. Then whoever came in walked past her, the steps heavy and loud. They went over to the chair and sat down in it.

“Emperor Zarkon.” Sendak said, bowing his head in respect. Pidge’s eyes widened. He may have been masked, but she had no reason to believe that Sendak was mistaken.

“Zarkon!?” Pidge yelped in surprise. “You’ve got to be kidding me! I thought we wrecked you! Dammit! Can’t you just di-” Pidge squealed as the grip on her hair was tightened and she was thrown to the floor painfully. “Screw… you...” she grumbled.

“The green paladin, sire.” Sendak informed. “She’s an energetic one. She may even give the High Priestess trouble.”

“Even Trigel had her energetic streak. But that didn’t save her from her end in battle.” Zarkon mused. “You can make this easier on yourself, little paladin; you can convince the others to surrender Voltron back to me. And even surrender the other Voltron, too. Not doing so will only result in their deaths.”

Other Voltron? Ah, she realized he meant the vehicle team’s DaiRugger. He must have been in for a surprise when they activated that in the last battle. “Screw you.” she said as she managed to sit back up. She wanted to stand up, she wanted to show how strong she was, but she didn’t think she could with her leg. “Even if I would do that, which I won’t, the teams wouldn’t go for it. They’ve kicked your ass before, they’ll do it again!”

Pidge expected to face repercussions for speaking up against the tyrant. She expected Sendak to even smack her to the side, certain that the commander would take a little too much pleasure in hurting her. Hell, she even had the probability of Zarkon stepping over to her to handle the situation himself. What she didn’t expect, though, was for Haggar, the witch at his side, to be the one to strike, especially with purple electricity.

As weak as she was, she found in herself something, most likely not strength, to actually scream, the electricity being more painful than the other injuries she sustained. The witch didn’t stop her attack until Zarkon stood up, that seeming to be a silent order. The emperor then stepped over to Pidge, closing the distance in a few easy steps with his long stride. He leaned down and picked up the paladin, gripping the front of her armor with enough force that he punctured a few holes in it, thankfully not cutting into her with his claws, or rather the clawed parts of the armor he donned.

“You’re plucky, but that attitude will be your downfall.” Zarkon informed. “Were you not important, I would have you killed her and now, your corpse strung up for your friends to find when they attempt to rescue you.” Pidge wanted to struggle against his grasp, but she had no strength. What little she had left from her injuries was sapped by Haggar’s attack. He dropped the paladin, Pidge landing on her injured leg wrong and pain shooting through it.

“Before we send her away,” Zarkon looked to Haggar, “have her interrogated. Find out what she knows. She’s bound to know their weaknesses. Aside from their compassion for others.”

“Of course, sire.” Haggar nodded in confirmation. She then had sentries grab up Pidge and drag her off, taking her to another room. In the next room, she was slammed down onto a table, her limbs restrained; it then tilted up so she was suspended upright. “Now then,” the witch said, watching Pidge closely, “let’s see what your mind hides.”

“I won’t give you anything...” Pidge grumbled. “This is my mind, no amount torture will compel me to spill anything.”

“Oh, I don’t need you to say anything.” Haggar reached up, running one of her fingernails down the side of the young girl’s face, threatening to cut into the skin. “I will find what you have in your mind.”

“My brain can’t be hacked like some computer.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised.”

Pidge felt a weight in her gut. She had a bad feeling that that surprise was definitely not going to be a good thing.

Chip was understandably out of it when he came to after being brought out of the pod. He sat on his knees, Matt checking on him.

“Chip? Hey, buddy, you doing okay?” Matt inquired.

“Ugh… no wonder Pidge hates those things...” Chip grumbled. “It’s cold and I feel funny. Is my tongue supposed to be tingly?”

“That’s sometimes a side effect.” Coran informed. “It’s nothing bad and should fade in the next half varga.”

Chip nodded. “How… who is everyone?” he asked, slowly looking up towards his older brother. “The Galra… they attacked, right? I think that’s right. Wow. How we’re not actually dead...”

Matt bit his lip. The others were injured, yes, but they weren’t dead. There was one problem, though; Pidge had been taken away. “Sendak took Pidge...”

“What!?” That was enough to pull Chip out of his dazed state. He tried to get up, but he felt dizzy and Matt got him back on the floor to try and relax. “Haven’t the others gone after her? Didn’t they try and stop Sendak? Why would he take her?! Is it because she’s a paladin? What is Allura planning?”

“Whoa, take a breath, Chip.” Coran instructed, kneeling beside the brothers.

“Pidge is hurt, too. And now a hostage...” Chip whimpered. “What do we do?”

“We’ll figure it out.” Coran informed. “She’ll do her best to hold out until we find her, though. As for going after her… we didn’t know she was missing until your group was located and she wasn’t there. When Matt came out of the pod first, he informed us what happened… On top of that, we couldn’t trail Sendak’s ship; there was no extra backup to help Cinda and Krik and we had no idea if there were more nearby ready to attack, too.”

Chip sighed. He wanted to, but there was no arguing with that. They were all good points to be made. “Why does this keep happening? Pidge keeps getting hurt.” Yes, he knew others got hurt, too, even he got injured this last time. But from his perspective, Pidge was always in trouble. He knew that they were in a war, injuries and even death were bound to happen, but it still hit hard.

“We’ll get her back, Chip.” Matt assured as he hugged his younger brother. “We’ll figure out what to do...”

Figuring out what to do wasn’t always easy, though. The empire was vast and there was no telling where Pidge could have been taken. The others were in the castle’s dining hall, the room being used as a sort of conference room. They had to try and come up with a plan to find Pidge. If the green lion had been taken, too, then Allura could have located it through the castle and her connection, but it was still safe in the castle.

“What are the odds that she’d be taken to the main fleet then?” Cliff inquired.

“Very likely.” Matt admitted. He thought to when he was first captured. He had been taken there along with his father and Shiro. It was not a pleasant experience. “When Dad, Shiro, and I were first captured, we were taken there… and interrogated by the Druids. They were trying to figure out what we knew, especially if we knew anything about the lions.”

“Okay, but they already know about the lions.” Aki stated. “So there would be no reason to believe they’d interrogate her. Right?”

“Wrong.” Matt shook his head. “Because Pidge knows about our teams. Voltron, Vehicle, rebels, and Blades alike.”

“Oh no...” Keith smacked his hand to his forehead. “Pidge keeps tabs on everyone. Not like physical notes, but in her brain. She knows the entire team and our weaknesses, which is why when we were on a quest some time back to find the Yalexian pearl, she was able to wreck Shiro, Lance, Hunk, and me when we were all controlled by these mushroom things.”

“Did that make sense to anyone else?” Hutch inquired.

“Ask questions later.” Lisa reminded.

“Yeah, I remember that.” Lance nodded. “It was kind of messed up that she did that, but I thought she kept the data on a computer. We found out that it’s all in her brain, though. That thing is practically a computer!”

“Shiro was worried about that data falling into the wrong hands, but...” Keith shook his head. “Pidge is strong. She’d do her best to withstand interrogation and find every way to escape.”

“Interrogation by the Druids, though, isn’t like being tied up and questioned, deprived of sleep, water, and food.” Matt reminded. “It’s like they get into your brain… especially when Haggar is called in. I… I was able to hold out as much as possible, but eventually she came in and… I always believed that the brain was the greatest computer, that it couldn’t be hacked. But that bitch proved me wrong...”

“So information may still be found out?” Aki asked. “Damn...” It wasn’t so much the data they were worried about, but rather what Pidge would end up enduring. He, as well as everyone else, was worried about her. “So what do we do?”

“For now, we don’t know where she’s been taken to, and going to the main fleet could be dangerous.” Kolivan spoke up. No one liked hearing those words.

“What? But we have to try!” Lance snapped. “We can’t abandon her!”

“I mean, we went in without a full team before to help Allura.” Hunk pointed out. “And this time we have DaiRugger.”

“Which they’ve seen.” Kolivan interjected. “And they would be prepared for DaiRugger. And without a proper plan, we would be taken down, even going right into a trap.”

“And without me on the inside,” Thace put his hand up, “they can utilize the shield generator again to trap you. And escape would be improbable...”

“So we’re just abandoning her?” Lance inquired.

“No, but we shouldn’t rush in either.” Kolivan pointed out.

“I agree with Kolivan.” Hawkins stated. “I know we want to find and rescue Pidge, but we also have to consider the rest of the team.” He looked worried for the green paladin, feeling bad about not going right in to find and rescue her; he had a team to think about, though. He didn’t want to loose anyone else. “We’ll have to trust Pidge to hold out until we have a plan.”

Hold out? Pidge was injured and being taken to be interrogated by Druids and possibly even an evil space witch. Chip was worried if they would make it in time or not. He looked to see Kosmo at his side, the wolf whimpering a bit. Even Rover, who Ulaz got powered back on, was beeping sadly, resting on the wolf’s head.

“It’s okay guys.” Chip assured, petting Kosmo. As worried as he was for his twin, he felt he needed to comfort her wolf and drone. “We’ll get Pidge back before either of you know it.”

Chapter Text

Her body may have been broken, but her mind certainly wasn’t. Pidge put up a mental fight, doing her best to keep Haggar out of it. It frustrated the witch to not be able to fully succeed, but she didn’t give up so easily.

Of all the information Pidge had compiled in her mind, one small bit that was seemingly harmless got out.

“Lotor...” Haggar simply said. “So he’s still alive...”

Pidge blinked. Lotor? Yes, she remembered him. He had been a friend of Allura’s, the two spending their childhood together. Pidge didn’t know the importance of him to Haggar, though, and she didn’t think anything about the Blade of Marmora slipped, either.

The paladin was removed from the table and dragged through the hall, Haggar leading the way back to the command center where Zarkon, still masked and in his armor, was sitting. “Sire.” Haggar dipped her head.

“You have been at this for a while.” Zarkon reminded. “Was the green paladin that hard to break.”

“Her minds works unlike any other I’ve looked into.” Haggar admitted, perhaps even a little ashamed that she couldn’t even fully break a child. Trained soldiers were one thing, even the Olkari could be problematic. But Pidge? An Earthling child? “But I did learn something. Unfortunately it is not how to defeat the paladins.”

“What is it?”

“Lotor still lives.”

“He what?” Zarkon stood up; his expression was hidden, but his tone showed he was not pleased to hear that.

“I can only assume he is not on your side.”

“Of course. My son would never stand at my side and cherish my work.” Zarkon stated. Though tired, Pidge looked up in alarm. Lotor? He was Zarkon’s son? Did Allura know? Did Kolivan? “He even stood against me when the war began, deciding to side with the Alteans, his mother’s people.” Lotor was half Altean!?

“What the quiznak?!” Pidge asked, stunned. “You procreated!?” Zarkon’s attention turned to Pidge. “I don’t know if I’m going to be sick or just be plain grateful that he’s not like you.” She then cried out when Haggar used her magic, electricity coursing through her. When the electricity ceased, Pidge fell to the floor. “Quiznak...” she mumbled.

“Even when defeated, broken, she still has energy enough to express herself.” Haggar sighed. She was definitely getting annoyed with the paladin. “If you would like, I could continue interrogating her. Hopefully I can find out more.”

Zarkon eyed Pidge. Weak. Tiny. Broken. He could crush her then and there in his grasp. But he needed her to lure in the others. “No, it is best to go ahead and send her to a prison to be locked up.”

“She’ll only escape.” Haggar informed. “I don’t see her as the type to idly wait around.”

“Send her to Kadomia. She won’t escape there, she will have too much compassion for others to do so.” Zarkon responded. “And no means to help them.” The words sent chills down the green paladin’s spine, though she did her best to not show she was bothered.

“My team will… find me and… then we’re coming… and kicking your ass again...” Pidge grumbled.

“I wouldn’t be so certain of that.” Zarkon stated.

“Don’t underestimate them...”

Pidge couldn’t fight when the sentries took hold of her and pulled her away. All she knew she could do was just be taken away. She was brought to a hanger where she was forced into prisoner clothing and heavily shackled, the metal bindings rather primitive but effective. They were heavy on her weary body, especially with her shoulder and leg still injured and hardly treated; she was worried about infections possibly settling in the wounds or even the damage they’ve done to her muscles and joints.

“To Kadomia?” a guard inquired. “What’d the pipsqueak do to earn that?”

“That is none of your concern.” Haggar hissed.

“Right! Sorry, High Priestess.” The guard went tense. “I was just musing out loud.”

“Some words are best kept in your mind.” Haggar sighed. “To keep the paladin from escaping, a druid will accompany you.”

“Of course. We’ll depart as soon as they’re ready.” the guard nodded.

It didn’t take long for the other Druids, two in fact, to show up and for them to depart. Pidge was left sitting on the floor in a small cell, the Druids keeping watch over her, ready to strike if she tried anything. She didn’t want to waste what little strength she had coming back, so she focused on the mental part of things, working on coming up with an idea to escape.

While the Empire had no use of a teludav to get around with ease, they did have quick ships equipped with hyperdrives, able to speed off and cover vast amounts of space with ease. It didn’t take long for her to be taken to the location that they called Kadomia. As they arrived, she was grabbed up by soldiers that entered her cell, dragged off once again.

“I’m really hating this prisoner crap you guys are putting me through.” Pidge grumbled. “Though it beats dealing with that hag and that overgrown angry tribble.”

“Be silent.” a soldier ordered.

Pidge wanted to make a smartass remark, but she didn’t want to risk getting injured further. She then glanced around as she was brought into the main prison portion of the base. Soldiers. No one she saw was a sentry; that really stood out to her. Sentries were ideal to use; they were soldiers who didn’t tire, didn’t complain, and could be made in bulk and prepared for battle. But she didn’t see one. She didn’t even see any drones.

“I would like to ask a question.” Pidge stated. She didn’t wait for any response; she didn’t care, she was curious. “Why aren’t there any sentries or drones?”

“Because,” Pidge looked ahead to see a new Galran approach, her armor indicating that she was higher ranking like Sendak, “the electromagnetic energy of this planet keeps shutting them down; to make them effective here would be tricky and a waste of materials since it would also decrease their own strength.” She eyed Pidge, or at least the paladin thought she did. Like many other Galran she had seen, this one had no visible pupils. She would find it creepy, but she got used to it since meeting and befriending Ulaz. “However, don’t think that any technology doesn’t work. We’ve adapted.”

Pidge scowled. “By that, you mean you’ve utilized brilliant minds of others to do the work for you?” she inquired. She grunted as she was let go and a Druid shocked her. “I’m really hating that the most...”

“Then keep your wit to yourself.” the Druid reminded. “This one is a handful, so be on guard around her.”

“Don’t worry, we know how to deal with unruly prisoners.” the commander assured. She watched as Pidge managed to sit back up. She then drew her weapon, a physical one unlike the energy blade Pidge recalled Haxus having, and pointed at her, even putting it to her throat some. She lifted Pidge’s chin, tilting her head back so that the human was looking up at her. “You’re in my territory now. Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re this small child. I’ve already received the data on you, Paladin.” she stated. “Behave and don’t try anything stupid, and you may survive here.” She lowered her blade and turned to some soldiers on standby. “Have her taken in.”

“Good luck with her.” the Druid informed, not even paying mind to the other soldiers taking Pidge away. The commander simply grunted as she turned on her heel, following after the soldiers.

“Have her taken to the courtyard.” one soldier, perhaps a lieutenant judging by his armor, ordered.

“No. Not yet.” the commander stated. “A paladin of Voltron. Well, Paladin, I think it’s time to remind you of your situation.” Pidge didn’t know what the commander was planning, but she was sure she wouldn’t like it.

Pidge was taken to another room and forced against a sort of bench, her hands shackled and pulled forward. She pulled and tried to struggle, but nothing; she wasn’t able to pull free from it. She then felt her prisoner uniform be pulled and ripped a bit in the back, exposing her shoulders, including the exit wound on her shoulder.

“What the hell are you planning?” Pidge hissed.

“This.” the commander informed.

Pidge heard the sound of something powering on. She was then met with searing pain on her shoulder, right next to the wound. She couldn’t help but scream as an electrified version of what could only be considered a branding iron was put to her flesh, the heat and power burning her.

The iron was finally pulled away, but Pidge still cried. Of all the injuries she sustained, she felt that had to be the worst. And more than anything? She knew it was going to leave a lasting mark.

“Consider yourself special.” the commander informed. “Very few get that brand. The last one I heard did was actually the same as your species I think. The Champion, I think was who that was.”

The Champion? Pidge managed to look up, glaring at the commander. Shiro had been branded, too? She hadn’t seen him shirtless, so she didn’t see that, though she knew he was badly scarred up. It didn’t surprise her, though.

“Keep glaring all you want.” the commander stated. “But let that mark remind you that you will never rise past the empire.” She looked to the soldiers. “Take her to the courtyard, let her meet her new friends. Who knows, maybe some she’ll even recognize.” Recognize? Pidge wondered if there was a chance any were humans, too. Perhaps Shiro? Perhaps her mother…

Pidge was forced to her feet once again after the shackles were removed. She didn’t like the Galra handling her, especially with the newfound injury on her shoulder. She was taken through the prison, glancing around in different locations. Guards were standing around, most with blasters at the ready. Either cleaning or sitting around, she spotted some prisoners. No humans yet.

She was then brought outside and thrown to the ground; she couldn’t help but cry out in pain as she tumbled and landed on her brand, her back still exposed since she wasn’t given a new uniform; a part of her was grateful for her back being exposed, though, since she didn’t like the idea of fabric rubbing against the injury.

“Try to behave yourself; you’ll be taken to your cell in the next varga.” a soldier stated before walking off.

“Jerks!” Pidge hissed at the soldiers. She then sat up fully. She felt like utter crap. She was definitely yearning to return to the castle and be put into a pod; she wouldn’t complain and would even thank Ulaz and Allura for putting her in. Hell, they wouldn’t even need to force her, let alone ask! She would gladly fall into a pod and let the cold embrace heal her.

Pidge glanced around. Some prisoners, varying races from across the universe that she didn’t recognize, looked at her, but they then turned away, returning to whatever business they were tending to, appearing to just be chatting with each other. Sighing, she did her best to get to her feet. She hadn’t stood on her own for a while and her attempt showed her just how much pain her leg was in; she could only imagine the nerve damage she probably sustained.

“Take it easy.” a gruff voice caught her attention as someone helped her up, cautious of her back. Pidge looked to see a canine-like alien, something akin to Olia but larger, there, helping her to her feet. He had a few on his face, but his arms, which were easy to see since his uniform didn’t have sleeves for whatever reason, were covered in scars; something told Pidge that most were years old and not that recent. “Let’s get you over here to rest.”

“Thanks.” Pidge nodded, letting him support her; she was definitely grateful for his help. He brought her over to an area with a bench of sorts, getting her settled to sit down next to another alien with fins, seeming to be fish-like; they were probably both terrestrial and aquatic since they sat there with ease.

“Poor dear.” the fish sighed. “Sending a child here.” Pidge didn’t even have it in her to argue about being a child. At that point, she just wanted to be a child, allowed to snuggle up in bed and sleep the troubles away. “Dhorli, doesn’t this one look like...”

“Yeah, the others.” Dhorli, the canine-like alien, nodded.

“Look like? You mean other Earthlings?” Pidge asked. She shifted a bit, hissing in pain.

“Don’t move much, you’re injured. And by the looks of that shoulder, one’s recent, the other a few quintants at best.” the fish responded. They looked to some of the others around, giving orders, one to find the other Earthlings, the other to get whoever Lalnir was.

“Branding a pup… that’s just cruel.” Dhorli stated. “Normally this place isn’t that bad… believe it or not, prisoners here get it a bit easier than in other prisons. But...”

“Don’t worry, dear,” the fish stated, “Lalnir will get those injuries checked on. And treated. She may be Galran, but she’s a medical officer before she’s a soldier. Her words, not mine.” They smiled. “Anyway. This big ball of fur is Dhorli. I’m Zephoi.”

Pidge nodded. “I’m Pidge.”

“Pidge?” Zephoi asked. “As in Paladin Pidge? Gunderson’s daughter?”

“Huh?” Pidge looked even more alert. “Gunderson? You met Mom?” For what seemed to be the first time in so long, hope lit up in her eyes.

“Pidge?”

Pidge looked. A voice catching her attention. Her eyes widened when she saw none other than Colleen Gunderson, dressed as a prisoner like the others. With her were a few other humans, no sign of Shiro, but humans nonetheless. Especially her mother. “Mom...” Pidge smiled brightly, pleased to shed tears from happiness at finally seeing her mother.

The situation was far from ideal, but she found her. She finally found her mother.

Chapter Text

Mom. Pidge was so happy to see her mother. In that split moment, she completely forgot about her pain and was immediately up and going for her mother, quick to hug her. “Mom! I finally found you!”

“Oh Pidge. My precious baby.” Colleen returned the gesture. Since being captured, she longed to see her daughter again. She hoped she would. Her hug, though, ceased abruptly when Pidge let out a harsh hiss, her injuries on her back still tender. “Honey?” Colleen backed off a bit to give her daughter a concerned look.

“She’s been hurt; we’ve sent for Lalnir.” Zephoi informed, getting up. “Pidge, you should sit and rest.”

“Yeah...” Pidge nodded. “I guess I was just so happy...”

“Emotions can make one forget their physical trauma easily. Especially good emotions.” Dhorli reminded.

Pidge was back to sitting, thankful for the help. She then looked to her mom, thankful to see her again and that she looked rather well, all things considered. “I’m glad you’re okay, though. And there are others...” She was relieved. “The vehicle team will be happy to see you all.”

“You’ve met the vehicle team?” one of the Earthlings asked, settling on the ground with some of the others. Some sat on a nearby bench, a couple remained standing.

“Yeah. It seemed to be shortly after the Explorer was downed that I crashed on that planet.” Pidge chuckled a bit. “But we met up. And got them help. Now we’re fighting together, aiming to end this war.” She smiled softly, thinking about the team. Some things she didn’t bother to bring up, like Keith and Aki butting heads or her getting shot after meeting with the vehicle team. “It’s been rough the past… man, I lost track of time. A month? Two months since we met? But it’s been worth it.” She wanted to talk more about the team, the new ship, the fact that the fifteen pilots could form DaiRugger, a slightly smaller version of Voltron, thanks to the Olkari, but she didn’t know where to even begin.

She was pulled from her own mind when a Galran in a different uniform than what Pidge knew walked up to them. Looking at her, Pidge couldn’t help but think of Ulaz with how her face was two-toned purple, even to some degree in the same design as the Blade’s. Even her ears were like this; the difference was that her hair was a full head, much like her own, and purple, and her eyes had purple pupils.

“Lalnir.” Colleen greeted. Ah, so even the Earthlings knew of the medical officer. They didn’t seem tense, on guard, or bitter when she approached.

“I heard I had a patient.” Lalnir stated. She went over to Pidge, Dhorli getting up and letting her sit down beside her. She checked the paladin’s back first, scowling. “I know injuries happen during war, but some of this is just uncalled for.” She looked to Pidge’s face. “Where else?”

Pidge grumbled. She really didn’t want to say in front of her mother. “Pidge. Be honest.” Colleen reminded, using her mom tone to get the paladin to cooperate.

“My upper right leg was also shot. And I have flesh wounds on my sides and legs… and arms...” Pidge mumbled. “It was a bad fight… you’d think Sendak particularly hated me.”

“Maybe in another time, another reality, he’d like you.” Lalnir mused. She brought out a jar of sorts from the pack she had. “Okay, this is going to sting, but this salve will help with the healing process and infections. You’ll still scar...”

“That’d be some reality.” Pidge scoffed, finding the idea of Sendak liking her in some way, shape, or form being ridiculous. She then nodded, acknowledging the outcome with the ointment. She braced herself for any pain, but she couldn’t help the whine she mad when the salve was applied.

“It’ll be okay, Pidge. It’ll be over soon.” Colleen assured as she took her daughter’s hand. “Remember when you broke your wrist? You pulled through. You can handle this.”

“Yeah.” Pidge nodded. It still stung, but she was sure she’d be thankful for that salve.

“Now, how bad was the one on your leg? And where?” Lalnir questioned.

“Like my shoulder.” Pidge admitted. “Minus the brand. Here.” She pointed to her leg.

“Okay, I’m going to cut the fabric to treat it then.” Lalnir warned. “I’ll bring you a new uniform after you’re in a cell. And treat the other injuries.” Pidge nodded and let the medic make the incisions on her uniform, thankfully not removing the whole pant leg. “For now this is the best I can do.” she said once done. “I’ll finish my work with what I can later.”

“Thanks.” Pidge responded.

“For now, if possible, stay off your leg.” Lalnir informed. “I think a bone could be fractured; I don’t know how bad it is.” She didn’t miss the look of worry on anyone’s face, especially Colleen’s. “I may be able to set it and help keep it stable and from getting infected.”

“Thanks for your help.” Colleen spoke up, genuinely grateful. Once finished, Lalnir left the others. “She’s a good person.”

Pidge nodded. She wondered if by some chance Lalnir had any connections to the Blade of Marmora. Or perhaps she was fully an Empire Galran and just that kind. Either way, she was glad she worked there.

“So, it looks like we’re keeping you down for now.” Colleen admitted. “What did we miss? What have you been up to? Besides fighting in a war.” She smiled softly. “I want to know everything.”

“I adopted a giant blue space wolf.” Pidge blurted out. Of all the things to day, it was that. Well, she didn’t know if she should mention Chip and Matt; if possible, she wanted to tell her mom with her brothers.

One of the other Earthlings snorted, head going down with enough force to shake her own glasses off her face. “Professor, your daughter truly is one of a kind.”

“Thank goodness for that, I don’t know what I’d do if I had two of them.” Colleen chuckled. Pidge had a sheepish grin, doing her best to not spill about having brothers, or that one was even her twin. Her mother, though, knew Pidge’s expressions. “You’re hiding something. What are you hiding young lady?”

Pidge couldn’t hold it in. She was too happy about knowing such things. “I have brothers!”

“Huh?” Colleen stared. “What? Brothers? How’d you find this out? Wait… you actually have brothers?” Compared to news of a blue space wolf, the siblings seemed far more shocking.

“You’re her mother, ain’cha?” Dhorli inquired. “Shouldn’t you know?”

“No because I adopted Pidge and it was a closed adoption and therefore I got no information about where she came from or who her family. Not that it even matters really, Pidge needed a family to care for her and I was ready and excited to be a mother. So it all worked out.” Colleen stated. “But I knew nothing about her birth family.” She looked back to Pidge. “But brothers… how did you find out?”

“By chance really. With astronomical odds.” Pidge responded. “Found out I have a twin brother and an older brother. Both I work with.” She smiled softly. “Remember Chip?”

“Of course, such a sweet and bright boy.” Colleen stated. “He reminded me so much of you.” She saw her daughter’s grin. “Oooh. That makes sense now.” She smiled. “He reminded me so much of you, especially his eyes.”

“Yeah.” Pidge chuckled. “And we found out… Matt Holt is our older brother. We met him a while back; he’s been working with both of our teams.”

“Matt? As in Sam Holt’s son?”

“Also adopted.” Pidge stated. “It’s a bit of a story, but we can go over it another time.”

Colleen nodded. She then moved in and hugged her daughter again, careful of her injuries. “I’m glad to have you back. And first chance I get, I’m adopting Chip if he wants that.” She already knew he was orphaned; she knew about each member of the vehicle team. “And dammit, next time I see Sam, I’m dragging his scrawny rear to the nearest chapel and we’re getting married.”

“No wonder he got scared and kept going on missions twenty years ago.” one of the Explorer crew members mused, getting the others to laugh.

“Maybe you should try getting him to date you first.” Pidge snickered. “After we find him.”

Isolation. The commander was smart in not trusting Pidge, so she had her in an isolated cell, keeping her away from other prisoners. She would have loved to stay with her mother, but that wasn’t happening. At least she could sit in silence, contemplate how she was going to get out of there.

Zarkon was right.

She wouldn’t escape on her own. She wouldn’t abandon the others. It wasn’t just her fellow humans, either, it was the others, too. Zephoi. Dhorli. Everyone. She couldn’t just abandon them. She hoped she could figure something out, but she worried she would need outside help.

“I hope you guys don’t go for Zarkon first.” she muttered to herself. “I’m not there… you need to think things through… find out where I am.”

She snuggled down into the blanket she had been given. Lalnir treated her again earlier, even getting her a new uniform that wasn’t torn up; she also provided a blanket. She even got Pidge moved from her cell for a bit to get proper treatment on her leg and shoulder; they still hurt, especially her leg, but they would heal, especially after she got back to the castle. Whenever that would be. A soldier assisting Lalnir worried they would get into trouble, but the medic assured him that they would be fine.

Pidge had gotten to know some Blade of Marmora members, finding them to be good people and even great friends. But seeing empire affiliated Galra? She liked seeing the gentle side of them, too. From Lalnir’s motherly care to the other soldier’s worry about what they were doing; he even looked concerned when he saw how bad Pidge’s injuries were.

“Doing this to a child… that’s just harsh...” he had muttered earlier. “Some really do live up to the expectations of being bloodthirsty and violent...”

Pidge knew not all Galra were bad. She was learning that not all Empire soldiers were either. It was nice. To her, it meant that they had a grand chance for peace. If they could stop Zarkon again, this time for good, perhaps they could talk with the Galra, persuade them to help instead of harming others. Sure, she didn’t think some like Sendak or the commander of that prison would shift so easily, or at all, but she wondered if others would.

“I hope that could happen.” she mused. “A lot of them probably don’t even like this war, huh? Keeping them from their homes, their families. It’s just work.” She yawned and snuggled up into the blanket more. Normally she wouldn’t rest so easily, but she had been through enough since the fight against Sendak. She was worn out and sleep was very much so needed. And appreciated.

Chapter Text

Chip hated it. Pidge had been captured and the others were taking too long in finding her. Sure, it had only been a few days, but still, it was too long. When the group was attacked by Sendak, they were injured to where they all needed healing pods, except for Kosmo who was physically unharmed; thank goodness for that small blessing. But if they were that badly injured, what was Pidge’s condition? He didn’t think the empire would care for her. If anything, she was better off dead for them since she was a paladin.

Chip wanted to get his sister back. He needed to. Her life was in danger and they needed her back in Voltron.

He sat up on his bed, a laptop sitting on his lap, Kosmo curled around his back, and Rover at his side. He was going through Pidge’s compiled data, part of it what she got from hitting bases, part of it shared with her from the Blade of Marmora, especially Ulaz, Thace, and Regris; they were close with the paladin and worked with her when it came to data, especially on prisons and prisoners. He was trying to find if she had anything on base locations, hoping to find one that was promising for finding his sister. He was sure that he wouldn’t find her at one of the prisons listed in the system, that would be too easy, but he figured he could find out by finding prisoner data and see who had been sent where. With that, he felt he could figure out if she had been sent to a prison or if she was with the Druids.

“Got it.” Chip found what he was looking for. Kosmo lifted his head and whimpered. “Pidge won’t be there, but it may have information on her whereabouts. And we won’t even need a wormhole to get there.” He transferred the data to his tablet. “Okay, time for us to head out.”

Kosmo twitched his ear. He wanted to find Pidge, too, but something seemed wrong to the wolf. He let out another whimper.

Chip couldn’t understand the wolf, but he could guess what he could be saying. “If we ask for help, they’re going to waste more time coming up with a plan and even verifying this mission. It’s sometimes better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.” That seemed to be good enough because Kosmo stood up and jumped off the bed.

Rover activated again and levitated, flying around Chip’s head. “We’re going to want to avoid running into others.” Chip reminded them. “Kosmo? Think you can lend a paw in this?” Kosmo gave a simple single nod before brushing against the teen. Chip took hold of Rover, then the wolf teleported a few times, getting around with ease until he reached the hanger with the Air team ships. “C’mon, we need to hurry and get back ASAP.”

Chip ran for where his ship was, but he skidded to a stop when he realized Aki was there, the team leader leaning up against the helicopter-like ship. “Oh quiznak...”

“You plan on sneaking off.” Aki stated. It wasn’t even a question, he already knew.

Chip’s gaze was firm. “I am. And I’m not letting you stop me.” He went to storm past Aki, but he then noticed that Rocky, Ginger, and Wolo were near Aki’s ship; Regris stood with them. “I need to find out where Pidge is...”

“Chip, we’re a team.” Ginger reminded, going over. “And I get it, you’re worried about your sister. We all are.” She put a hand on Chip’s shoulder, hoping to comfort him some. “But we can’t let you go alone.”

“I won’t be stopped. I can do this!” Chip pulled away. “Go ahead and sound the alarms, but I’m out of here.”

“Whoa, settle down you little spitfire.” Aki chuckled. “Didn’t you hear her? We can’t let you go alone.” He flicked Chip’s nose, making the younger male swat at him.

“We’re a team, Chip.” Wolo reminded. “We’ve got your back.”

“Huh?” Chip blinked. “You’re… coming with me then?”

“Of course.” Aki nodded. “Regris, too.”

“You’ll need someone to access Galra-tech.” Regris pointed out. Chip pointed to Rover. “True, but Rover might not be able to find all the needed data or get into some systems. I can.”

“We’ll figure out where Pidge is.” Rocky went over and patted Chip’s back. “We’ll get the information then get the others and rescue her.”

Aki smiled and rested a hand on Chip’s shoulder, thankful the teen didn’t pull away like he did with Ginger. “We’ll do this together, Chip. We’ll find her.” he assured.

Chip smiled, doing his best to fight back the tears. He really did have a good team. “Thanks guys.”

“Now then, let’s get going before we’re caught.” Aki told the team as he gave Chip’s shoulder a pat. They then went off to their ships so they could set out, Regris joining Aki in his. They had the bay doors overridden and then took off, leaving the Arcadia behind.

“Okay, I’m sending you all the coordinates for the base.” Chip informed. “It seemed most probable that we’ll find something on Pidge there.”

“We kind of already knew that.” Ginger giggled.

“Wait… what?” Chip blinked.

“You accessed Pidge’s systems and data. There’s a program on there that alerted one of her computers that someone was hacking into it.” Regris informed. “Since I know how to access some of her stuff, I was able to see what you were getting and even give you remote clearance.”

“I thought I was able to work around her firewalls… okay, I need to practice more...” Chip grumbled. “Wait! How do you know how to get past her firewalls!?”

“I helped her upgrade them since she was dealing with other forces outside of her planet, so...”

“Well then.” Chip shrugged.

“Anyway, let’s get going.” Aki declared. He took the lead, following the coordinates and getting to the base. It would take a couple of hours, but that didn’t deter them. They had to reach their destination and work out sneaking around. While Kosmo could teleport, it would take too long since he couldn’t take many people at any given moment; he had his limits.

But they knew they could manage, especially since most on duty were sentries and they moved in a pattern. So long as they stayed quiet and out of sight, they were sure they could get around.

In a control room, a guard stood on duty, a few sentries at the computer systems and monitoring things. The soldier sighed as he stared blankly at the screens before him. He then yawned, tired of just standing around. Being a soldier wasn’t exactly a glorified job, especially for someone working on such a simple base. “Ugh. Boring.” the soldier grumbled. “What I wouldn’t to be stationed on a ship with more action.”

Earthlings had this saying. Be careful with what you wish for. And boy, was that wish going to bite him in the butt. Thankfully not literally. Catching him by surprise, Kosmo appeared right in front of the Galran.

“Whoa! What are-”

Kosmo snarled and jumped at the soldier, biting down on his armor covered arm. The wolf then teleported again, vanishing with the soldier. He appeared above one of the sentries, crushing it under both of them. Before the other sentries could shoot at him, Kosmo jumped away.

The others had entered the control room and shot at the sentries, quickly dispatching them. With the sentries destroyed, the soldier was alone. He scrambled to his feet and tried to go sound the alarms, but Kosmo teleported again, appearing in front of him once more. When the wolf teleported once more, he brought the soldier to where the others were, Regris and Rocky quickly taking him down and tying him up.

“You have got to be kidding!” the soldier snapped. “That’s hardly fair!”

“All is fair in love and war.” Ginger reminded.

“And we’re definitely in a war and trying to find a loved one.” Rocky chimed.

“Regris, get to finding the data.” Aki ordered.

“Copy that.” Regris nodded and ran for the computers, checking on them and trying to get into the systems.

“So what do we do about this one?” Wolo asked, patting the soldier’s head.

“I could always knock him out.” Rocky mused, cracking his knuckles.

“Rocky, try to behave. He may be a soldier but he’s still a person.” Ginger reminded. “Doing that will give him a concussion.”

“Rendering him unconscious may not be advised.” Regris spoke up.

“What’s up, Reg?” Aki looked over to him.

“The systems are locked.” the Marmora agent reported. “I can try overriding them, but that will take too much time, assuming it would work. If not, I could trip an alarm and we’d have unwanted company. And no data to retrieve.”

“Well?” Aki looked to the soldier. “Why not make it easier on yourself and help get us into the systems.”

“I’d never betray the empire like that!”

Ginger grabbed him by the ear and pulled; his helmet had been knocked off during his scuffle with Kosmo. “Hey now, we’re trying to be nice. We only want a bit of information, then we’ll leave.”

“Leave me alone, you primitive creature.” the Galran snarled. “I stand by my statement.”

Ginger scowled. They were getting nowhere and time was limited. She then looked to see another door. “What’s in there?” she asked.

Chip went over with Rover, getting the drone to open the door. “A supply closet.” he informed. “Cleaning supplies mainly. And some...” He yelped when Aki ran over and covered his eyes.

“Well, so even Galra have some reading materials. Got it.” Aki pulled the youngest member away. “What are you planning, Ginger?”

Ginger just smiled. “Kosmo? If you would?” That was all the wolf needed to be told. He went to her and the soldier and teleported them both to the closet. The door then shut with a beep.

Silence.

“What is she doing?” Wolo inquired.

“I really don’t know.” Rocky admitted. “But I’ve seen enough shows to know that it’s best not knowing.” He then jumped up into Wolo’s arms in surprise when there was a panicked shout. Chip took to hiding behind Aki. The only one not fully startled was Regris, but the three sensory fins on his tail stood upright, showing his surprise.

Kosmo appeared in the middle of the room again, Ginger with him and the soldier still tied up, eyes wide in what could only be described as terror. “Okay, Regris, I think he’ll be compliant now.”

“What did… she do?” Wolo asked.

“I really don’t want to know...” Rocky whimpered.

Chapter Text

Regris was hard at work, the soldier having given him the codes to get into the system. The others were lingering around the room, keeping guard to make sure no one would enter and find them.

“Got it!” Regris’ words got everyone’s attention. He started downloading the data. He then removed the data-chip. “It’ll need translat-” He stopped and looked around when the alarms went off.

“Unauthorized use of computers. Remain where you are. Security Alerted.” a computerized voice announced.

“You set us up!?” Aki glared at the soldier.

“No, that may be my fault; I think the system detected that I’m not fully Galra and definitely not part of the base.” Regris admitted. “I should have seen that one coming. My mistake...”

“Either way, I think it’s our time to get out of here!” Ginger pointed out.

“Agreed! Let’s go!” Aki ran for the door, the others following after him.

Aki led the way back to where their ships were, but there was a problem. Sentries were in the way and attacking. This led the group to duck around the corner.

“These guys aren’t going to make it easy to get out of here.” Rocky pointed out. “We could just charge through but… We’re more likely to get shot.”

“Anyone have an ideas on how to disable them all at once? Or many of them?” Ginger questioned. She, like the others, drew out her weapon, utilizing a small handgun-like weapon with concentrated power. She leaned around the corner a bit to shoot some sentries, but she had to duck back around. The others were at it, too, but it wasn’t enough. There were too many sentries.

To make matters worse, they had sentries coming in from the other end of the hall, too. If they weren’t careful, then they definitely would be caught and their mission would fail.

“It’s not looking good.” Wolo admitted as he shot down a few more sentries with Chip before pulling him back. “We’re just about surrounded.”

Kosmo nosed Chip and whimpered a bit, getting the younger member’s attention. “Huh? What is it, buddy?” He watched as the wolf pointed his nose toward the hanger doors. Their means of escape. It then hit him. “Guys, Kosmo may be able to get us out of here and to our ships.” Chip reminded. “It may take a moment since he can’t do too many at once...”

“It’s worth trying.” Aki nodded. “You up for that, boy?”

Kosmo gave a huff before nosing Wolo, pushing him over to Rocky. He then vanished with both of them, dropping Rocky off at his ship before going to Wolo’s. When he returned, he took Ginger and Regris, leaving them both in Ginger’s fighter ship, not really caring about prior seating. Finally that left Aki and Chip, Rover being held onto by the latter so as to not be left behind.

When everyone was in their ships, they took off. The Galra noticed that they somehow escaped and ended up pursuing them.

“These guys aren’t going to make escape easy on us.” Rocky pointed out.

“Okay team, time to hit them with the Air rugger and then get the hell out of here.” Aki declared. “Air rugger on!” The five ships went together, forming the air rugger, ready for battle. With the combined power, they were able to move faster and get around, attacking fighter ships with ease to get them off their backs.

“They’ve thinned out a bit; we’ve got time to get out of here before the next wave.” Ginger reported.

“Ten-four! Let’s get out of here!” Aki ordered. Able to go faster, perfect for escape, the others continued in the combined rugger, getting away from the base before more ships could follow after them. “We’ll keep to this until we’re sure we’re not being followed anymore.”

They did it. Chip was excited and even amazed. They managed to not only infiltrate the base, but they got the information they needed and they escaped. To top it all off, no one got hurt, not even a scrape!

“You did good, Kosmo.” Chip said, smiling back at the wolf when he nosed his way closer. He reached and pet him. “Good boy.”

“That’s right! Kosmo did a wonderful job!” Ginger praised. “You definitely deserve pets and treats for your hard work! And I know a good recipe for cookies! Delicious for humans, healthy for dogs! It’s perfect!”

“I bet he’d like that.” Rocky laughed.

“Yeah, I think so, too.” Chip watched as Kosmo’s tail wagged.

“Just what the hell were you six thinking?” Smack. Smack. Smack. Smack. Smack. Smack. Each sound caused the others to wince as Hawkins didn’t hesitate to smack each member of the air team and Regris upside the head. Sure, Regris was Kolivan’s responsibility, but he had worked with the team of five on that unauthorized mission and he was ready to scold all of them. “You deliberately went out there to strike a base and get information without letting anyone know! What do you think would have happened had you not managed to escape? We wouldn’t have known where to find you because we had no idea in where you were!”

Hawkins was understandably angry when he looked to the others, the group lined up in front of him, Rover even going around Chip’s head to check on him, his beeping sounding like he was worried. Kosmo whimpered as he nosed Chip. The members of the land and sea teams as well as the remaining paladins were there; some rebels, especially Matt, were around, seeing how things were going. Everyone was worried when they found the air team missing, not even a note left behind to inform them of the mission.

“You could have been captured or worse. Then what? We’d be down more members!” Hawkins reminded. “What you did was reckless! It was dangerous. I know we’re in a war, but that doesn’t mean you can just go flying off the handles and do whatever you want!”

“Commander Hawkins, sir!” Chip got the commander’s attention.

“What?”

“If you’re going to blame anyone, then just blame me.” Eyes were on Chip. “It was my idea to go off; I didn’t think we were acting fast enough while Pidge is out there and in danger. I was ready to go off on my own, but the team stopped me from being reckless.”

“They are still just as much to blame as you are; they should have reported you.” Hawkins reminded. He looked to Aki. “You are the leader of the Air team; you should have reported the situation.”

“On one hand, yeah, I should have. But on the other, I felt I was doing what was best. We decided together that we were a team and we would help Chip.” Aki countered. “Not one of us was forced into this; we knew what we were getting ourselves into and if given the chance to do it again?” He looked down the line to see the others nod, even Regris. “If given the opportunity, we’d to it all over again.”

Hawkins sighed as he rubbed his eyes. Impulsive kids. That’s what they were for the most part. Even Regris, who wasn’t much older than Keith and actually one of the younger Blades, was pretty much a child like the others, especially in the eyes of the commander.

“If it’s any consolation,” Aki spoke up, “Regris was able to get the data so we could find Pidge.”

Hawkins looked to the group. They succeeded in what they set out to do. He was relieved to know that. He didn’t say it, but he was most relieved by them all being safely back and without a scratch on any of them. “You’ve still gone against orders. A proper punishment will be figured out at a later date. Until then, the data will be gone over so we can try and find Pidge.”

“It may need some decoding, but that should be easy.” Regris pointed out.

They had gone back to the Castle of Lions, the data-chip being given to Thace who went over it, getting the information up and decoded. On the screen, Pidge’s image was brought up, showing her in the prisoner uniform; no one dared to mention the condition she looked to be in, what with the bruising she had sustained or how exhausted she looked. Though exhausted, she looked rather pissed off. With the image, there was data on her written in Galran.

“What’s all that say?” Chip inquired.

“It’s basic information on her, mainly physical attributions and what she’s done; she’s labeled as a paladin of Voltron.” Keith stated. “They also have her labeled as extremely dangerous and for no one to let their guard down around her. Or allow her around technology.”

“Looks like the baddies actually do learn.” Lance grumbled. “So, does it say where she’s being held at? Or maybe she’s not been transferred yet?”

“No, she’s already been transferred.” Thace informed. “Data shows that she’s been taken Kadomia. Seems like she’s still there.”

“Kadomia? Damn...” Kolivan grumbled.

“Kolivan, do you know of that place?” Coran inquired.

“Yes; I’ve done undercover work there many deca-phoebes ago.” Kolivan informed. “It’s not an easy planet to work on, infiltrate, or escape from; it’s electromagnetic field causes surges in many electronics, including particle barriers and ships; ships need to be specially built to withstand it. They rarely use sentries and drones because of it, too.” He stared at the data on screen for a moment. “DaiRugger may not be able to make it or hold out for too long, especially as the full robot; the individual ships would do better on their own. But you’ll need strength to initially take it down and control the prison and planet to help the others.” He let out a sigh. “You’d probably manage with Voltron, though.”

And that was where the next problem came in.

They couldn’t form Voltron because the paladin they were missing was at that prison.

Chapter Text

Going after and saving Pidge was a tricky matter. DaiRugger wouldn’t have held it together at the prison on Kadomia and the vehicles weren’t powerful enough on their own to take down such base. Even with the aid of the four lions, Kolivan had reservations on whether or not it would work well.

“Well we can’t just sit around and do nothing! We at least have to try with what we have!” Allura snapped. “We now know where she is. It may be tricky without Voltron, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”

“Princess, with all due respect, going head first into that base will be a death sentence.” Kolivan reminded. “They are more prepared than we are for a fight in an area of high electromagnetic energy.”

“When I was captured, the team hardly wasted a moment to rescue me.”

“And nearly lost Voltron and their lives in the process.” Kolivan sighed and rubbed his eyes. “We need to figure out a way...”

“And the longer we wait, the longer Pidge is detained. And who knows how long she’ll even be there.” Aki pointed out.

“I hate to say it, but Aki’s right.” Keith stated.

“Wait, I am?”

“Don’t let it get to your head.” Keith twitched his ears in agitation. “Kolivan, you know very well that with Pidge being such a high risk prisoner, they’ll want to change her location when possible, make it harder for us to find her.”

“But they didn’t do that with Slav.” Lance spoke up. “I’m not saying we should abandon Pidge, but… well, Slav was kept in one prison.”

“Because he didn’t keep trying to escape.” Ulaz mused. “He remained in place. In my short amount of time here, I’ve learned that Pidge is stubborn and wouldn’t just sit still.”

“Indeed. She certainly wasn’t idle when Allura was captured or when we nearly lost the castle, she won’t be idle at Kadomia either.” Keith nodded in agreement.

Chip slowly stopped listening and stepped away. He couldn’t bear to listen any longer, the others hardly making progress. He sighed and walked out of the room, Kosmo and Rover accompanying him.

“We did what we could to find where she is… but we still might not be able to help her...” he muttered as he pet Kosmo. “Dammit!” Kosmo whimpered and nudged Chip, getting the teen to look over at him again. “I just want to help her, get her out of there. I know she’s tough but… she’s still human. She could get hurt. Or worse...”

“We’ll get her back, I’m sure of it.” Chip looked back to see that Lisa had followed him. “I noticed you walk out. I understand, you’re worried about your sister.”

“Pidge keeps getting hurt. It’s not her fault, it’s a part of fighting in a war but...” Chip shook his head. “It keeps breaking my heart when I see this…”

“We just need to work on a plan.” Lisa reminded. “Then we can help her.”

“Yeah, but everyone seems more set on arguing and saying what we can’t do!” Chip was frustrated, but he tried to keep his tone under control when speaking with Lisa. “They aren’t working on finding an alternative except for probably ones that would take too much time. And what if she is taken to a different prison? And it’s much harder to strike than this one? It’s not right!”

Chip didn’t mean to lose his temper and Lisa didn’t blame him. He was still a child and afraid to lose his sister. He had been born an orphan and was adopted, but that never bothered him. Then he lost his parents in an accident. He found out he had a sister and a brother, but then his sister was taken away. What if he lost her, too?

Lisa hugged Chip, trying to comfort him. He hugged onto her, sobbing against her uniform.

“I can’t lost her… I can’t...”

Before Lisa could try to speak, she looked up when she heard an audible roar. She wasn’t the only one as Chip lifted his head and looked down the hall.

“Huh? Was that one of the lions?” Lisa asked.

“That was the green lion!” Chip exclaimed, having memorized each of them when they would make a sound. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt something. Originally he had a tightness in his chest from his emotions, but this time he felt something new. He then took off running, wondering what the lion was up to.

“Chip! Wait up!” Lisa took off after him. “If that was Green, what’s got her fired up?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she senses Pidge and wants to go after her?” Chip suggested. “Back on that other planet where we first met Pidge, she did come and protect us when we were in danger. Maybe she’s getting ready to go after Pidge herself.”

“Those lions are truly remarkable!” Lisa hoped that was the case. It didn’t take long for them to reach the hanger, especially when Kosmo got them together and teleported, skipping some halls to reach the hanger sooner. When they reached the lion, they saw she was standing on all fours instead of sitting. “I can’t tell if she looks ready to depart.”

“Maybe she’s waiting for the other lions to fly out of their hangers?” Chip asked. He stepped forward a bit before seeing the lion shift her position. What he didn’t expect was for her to lower her head, opening her mouth and offering the ramp to enter her. “Wait… what?!”

“Chip I...” Lisa was astonished. She then went to him and patted his shoulder. “I think she wants you to help her get Pidge back.”

“But I’m not a paladin!” Chip yelped, jumping away. He heard something in the back of his mind, much like a deep purr. Was that the lion? “Pidge is her paladin, not me!”

“We’ve seen the lions adjust, take on new paladins.” Lisa reminded. “I don’t understand them the way the paladins do, especially the princess, but I think I understand enough to know that this will be fine. I don’t think she’s replacing Pidge, no one can do that. And she probably understands that you’re willing to fight for her paladin. For your sister.”

Chip was at a loss for works. He then looked back to the lion. “Is that it? You just need help?” he asked her. He didn’t expect a spoken response, but he did hear her purr in his mind and see her eyes flash. He had a look of conviction in his eyes as he nodded, stepping over to the ramp.

“Chip? Lisa! What’s going on?” Aki ran into the hanger with the others.

“The lion!” Allura exclaimed. “It’s… this doesn’t mean...” She looked to Chip before stepping up beside Lisa. “Looks like we’ll get Voltron after all to save Pidge.”

“I don’t know how well I will do but… I’ll do my best.” Chip responded.

“Paladins, to your lions!” Keith ordered.

“Copy that!” Allura, Hunk, and Lance confirmed before taking off. Keith looked to Chip and nodded with a smile, showing his approval, before running off as well.

“We’ve got your back, Chip.” Aki declared. “You’ve got this.”

“Yeah.” Chip nodded and ran off, heading up to the lion’s cockpit with Rover. Kosmo vanished for a bit before arriving in the cockpit, holding Chip’s helmet in his jaws with the bayard settled into it. “Okay,” Chip put the helmet on and set the bayard in his side pouch, “time to see how she flies.” He took off out of the hanger, Kosmo yelping at the sudden jerk of the lion.

“Chip,” Keith called over the comms, “before we go and get Pidge, we need to do some test flights and form Voltron, otherwise we’ll be even more unprepared.”

“Got it.” Chip confirmed. “Man, this really does fly differently than my ship.”

“Just gotta remember not to get mad at Green if she doesn’t do as you expect. Yelling won’t help.” Hunk informed the younger male. “Just gotta ease into it and work with her.”

“I’ll do my best.” Chip confirmed. He tried to get a feel for the controls, thinking of the few times he rode with Pidge. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing, everything going according to her will. But it wasn’t just that, it was a bond between her and Green, able to work together.

He knew he wasn’t his sister. He didn’t want to be his twin. But he did want to do his best to fly Green so he could protect her. It was plenty of trial and error, a few crashes, and more than enough apologies, but he managed to get the hang of it. After getting used to flying, he had to work with the others to form Voltron.

“How do you guys even form Voltron? And control them?” Chip had asked one day. “For DaiRugger, we set it so our ships are ready to connect, same for the Air, Sea, and Land ruggers. Then we just… come together. It’s more technological, really.”

“There is a sort of technology base to Voltron, the lions shifting and connecting, but there’s no switch, as Hunk once pointed out.” Pidge explained. “We just… connect. Spiritually. We feel our lions and even our fellow paladins. We’re individuals, but we allow our minds and spirits to connect as though we were one being.” She scrunched up her face as she thought it over. “It’s hard to explain. Science is one thing, but magic… that’s what it’s like.”

“Must have been hard to connect the first time.”

“Kind of. But we managed because we all synchronized finally. We had one goal and that was to take down Sendak’s ship before he could capture the lions.” She smiled brightly as she looked to her lion. “We were truly thinking as one.”

“We’ve got one goal.” Chip whispered.

“Okay, team, on me! Let’s form Voltron!” Keith called, leading the formation.

Chip fell into place, keeping pace with the others. He did his best to connect with the lion, feeling her energy and hearing her growling and purring. He stretched out to feel for the others, picking up on the other lions. And their paladins. They had one goal in mind.

Form Voltron so they could save Pidge.

“You did it!” Coran praised when he saw the giant, mechanized warrior come together. “Great work, team!”

“We did it? We really did?” Chip brought up the screens, seeing data on Voltron pop up. “Holy shit.”

“You know what? He deserves it; I’m not even going to reprimand him for that.” Cliff chuckled.

“Coran, there should be enough of my energy in the castle to create a wormhole to get us to Kadomia.” Allura informed. “And we may need the castle, too.”

“Copy that, Princess!” Coran confirmed as he got a wormhole opened up. “Next stop, Kadomia base!”

“Next stop? Pidge.” Chip whispered as he went through the wormhole, the castle and Arcadia right behind them.

Chapter Text

“Okay, Air Team, I need you guys to drop the drones so they can start scanning for biorhythms to make ground work easier on the rebels and Blades.” Keith instructed.

“Copy that!” Aki responded along with the remaining three air team members.

Chip did his best to work with Voltron, getting a feel for things. Once connected, he felt that it was easy to work with them. While they did give verbals commands and suggestions, everything moved as though there was no hesitation, no time between everything. Some stuff they just clicked in and did, spoken words not even necessary. While he didn’t think his bond would be as strong, he wondered if Pidge felt that same closeness and connection.

It was remarkable.

With Voltron, they went for the visible weapons of the prison, wanting to take those out as quickly as possible. As they did so, Chip checked on Voltron’s vitals.

“Keith, we may need to act fast.” Chip reported. “Though holding up, the electromagnetic energy of this planet is really messing with Voltron. One wrong hit, and we may end up being separated.”

“Okay, let’s focus on those battlements. Land Team, Sea Team, keep providing cover.” Keith ordered.

“Copy that!”

Due to having the element of surprise, those at Kadomia were not expecting Voltron to actually show up. Though caught by surprise, they still had the upper hand; they were able to strike quickly with weapons tailored to such planet. The Galrans running the prison were far from amateurs as they were able to bounce back and stage a counter attack. That included a cannon, but instead of it firing the standard energy projectile, it used the magnetic energy from the planet, focusing it and hitting Voltron directly. The force didn’t fully shut them down, but it definitely caused them to separate.

“And we lost Voltron. Dammit!” Lance grumbled.

“Dude! What was that?” Hunk inquired. “Kolivan, you’ve been here before, right? What...”

“It’s been a long time; they seemed to have gotten new weapons mounted.” Kolivan admitted. “These aren’t weapons I recognize.”

“It looks like they tried to short out our power.” Chip stated as he checked the data. “The lions were able to hold out, though.”

“Well, the lions are typically powered differently.” Allura pointed out.

“That means the rest of you need to be diligent; we can’t risk you getting shut down and hurt.” Keith reminded.

“The biorhythm drones are in place, too!” Aki reported.

“Good, Ulaz, can you get to locating Pidge?” Keith requested. “I know we plan on taking the prison and saving everyone, but Pidge is our priority. Meanwhile, pilots, paladins, try to take down those weapons. Rebels, time for you to go in.” Everyone confirmed their tasks, getting ready to act.

Chip’s gaze was steady. They were closer to getting Pidge back. He was not going to let anything or anyone stop him.

“But she’s in her cell, she won’t-”

“Don’t underestimate the brat; I want you in the cell and keeping a close eye on her.” the warden shouted. “If she tries anything, shoot her in the leg.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Something was going on and it had the soldiers on guard. Isolated in her cell, Pidge could tell that much. She looked up when a soldier entered, mentally swearing that he wasn’t the same one who helped Lalnir out.

“Behave yourself, kid, and you won’t get hurt.” the soldier stated.

“Not like I can do much; I’ve got a bummed leg.” Pidge grumbled. She was sure she could muster enough strength to run if given the opportunity, but it was going to hurt. Her injuries had been helped, but her leg was still iffy; she had a sort of brace on it to help keep her femur set. She listened around, picking up on the sounds of explosions of sorts; they sounded a bit further away, so she figured they weren’t happening directly in the prisons where prisoners could get hurt. “So, what’s happening?”

“Be silent.” the soldier ordered.

“Or what? You’ll shoot me?” Pidge was testing fate with that one. “I’m just curious.” The soldier didn’t speak so she decided to tempt the situation more. “I wanna know. Please? Please? Please? Please? C’mon! You can tell me! I wanna know! C’mon! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! I’m really curious. I mean I can hear things going off. I could always formulate my own theories but I’m sure those will be wrong. Though perhaps they’d be more entertaining. For starters a pack of rabid Yuppers could be out there and attacking the weapons systems. Or maybe a prison riot. Oh, that’d be funny. I bet it wasn’t even started by anything bad, just someone shouting riot and then all of a-”

“If I tell you, will you shut up!?” the soldier snapped, getting tired of Pidge constantly talking.

“Until I have to find a bathroom, yes.”

“Voltron is out there fighting and we don’t know how because you’re the green paladin and here.” the soldier informed. “But don’t let that get your hopes up; you’re not escaping here and they’re well on their way to taking down Voltron.” Though his eyes were hidden by his helmet, Pidge could only imagine he was glaring at her. “Now shut up!”

Pidge made the motion for her lips being sealed. So. Even without her, Voltron was still able to form. She had a feeling that either Chip or Matt were piloting Green in her place and every bit of her mind was cheering them on. Sure, she didn’t think that because they were her brothers, one even being her twin, Allura was proof enough that family doesn’t automatically make you eligible for a lion; had that been the case, the princess would have been the red paladin. No, she was sure it was either of her brothers because in the long run, they were all so alike. Daring. Inquisitive. They could think on the run and come up with ideas and jump right into things; as daring as they were, she was sure that her brothers would identify her more as reckless.

She knew she had to get out of the cell, help out however she could. She may have been injured, but the team needed help, especially from the inside. She was sure if she got out, she could find the command center and shut down the weapons. But first? She had to get past the guard.

Pidge had an idea. She saw that he had a sort of stun rod on his person as well; she hadn’t been there long enough to witness it, but she thought it would be used to keep rowdy prisoners in line. If she could catch him by surprise, she figured she could take it and stun him. She listened, hearing shouting and footsteps in the hall, though it sounded fairly far. She didn’t think her allies were near, but he didn’t know that for certain.

“Guys! I’m in here!” Pidge shouted loudly. “There’s only one guard!”

“What? Already?” The guard looked to the door and even opened it, ready to shoot anyone who didn’t work at the prison.

That was what Pidge wanted. She managed to get up and sprang at the guard, catching him off guard. She took the shock rod and zapped him several times, making him writhe on the floor; he wasn’t unconscious, but she figured she could have a few moments to run off and get away. Before taking off, she snagged his blaster, too.

Pidge managed to take off, the adrenaline helping her to ignore the pain in her leg. She didn’t fully know where the command center was, but she hoped her experience with other bases and ships and basing on what she saw the day prior, she could find it. She had to duck down in some places to avoid getting found out too soon. She had also hoped for the possibility of other allies coming across her, but her best guess was that they hadn’t fully infiltrated the structure, especially due to the weapons.

Pidge finally got to where she wanted to be, stopping when she saw a few soldiers there to maintain the area. She was quick to dodge, getting hidden when they took notice and started shooting at her. She managed to shoot back and take them down, though she didn’t think they were dead; their armor did too much to protect them, not that she actually wanted to kill anyone, not even soldiers in close combat. Once they were down, Pidge ignored the injuries she sustained from being grazed and hobbled over to the controls, hoping to figure out how best to stop them. What she wouldn’t give to have Rover there to assist.

“This looks like it could be the weapons systems but… I can’t access anything on my own.” she admitted. She looked to the nearest soldier; even in peak health, she didn’t think she could drag any of them over to use their hands to activate the system. “Looks like we’re having a castle moment.” she commented as she charged up the stun rod. Once she was sure it had enough power, she slammed it into the console, causing the power in the room to surge and electricity to fill her. She was then blasted back and into a wall before falling face first onto the floor.

“Oh. Shit. That hurt...” she grumbled. She didn’t think she had the strength to get up at that moment; it was best to just lay there; if she was lucky, any soldier looking in, or if the others woke up, would think she was dead and leave her be. She didn’t even shift to look to see who was running down the hall.

“Well, looks like even in your condition you still managed to stand and fight.” came the commander’s voice as she entered the room. She motioned for two soldiers to go to Pidge, make sure she was unarmed and to grab her by her arms. Once they had her, they picked her up, suspending her off the ground between them.

“What now?” Pidge grumbled as she glared up at the warden. “You gonna kill me?”

“That would be too easy.” She offered a malicious smirk as she put her face in close to Pidge’s. “You’ll wish for death in the end.” She scowled and pulled back when Pidge spat a glob of blood and saliva at her, hitting her right under her right eye. “I look forward to when you’re out of my hair and those damned rebels are dealt with.” She looked to another soldier on standby as she wiped away the spit. “Try to get the systems back online; we need those weapons!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The commander nodded and walked off, the other two carrying the paladin along with them. As she was taken away, Pidge gave a satisfied smile. It sounded like she did take out the weapons. Good. At least, even in her situation, she was able to provide some help.

Chapter Text

“Huh? What’s this?” Coran looked in amazement. He had been trying to locate Pidge’s biorhythm, but unexpectedly the weapons at the prison went offline before he located her. “Teams! Do you see this? Those cannons are down!”

“We see that!” Keith confirmed. “Paladins! Vehicle teams! Let’s take out those weapons fully before they can get them back online.”

“The rebels and Blades will work on taking the base from the ground now that we have an opening.” Kolivan added.

“Coran, have you located Pidge yet?” Matt asked.

“Just a tick; there are other Earthlings here, too!” Coran responded. While they did plan on helping everyone, Pidge was their priority. She was injured and they needed to help her. “Found her! She’s on the move!”

“She escaped?” Matt asked, hope in his voice.

“Oh no… she’s surrounded by Galrans!” Coran’s eyes widened when he saw the other biorhythms surrounding Pidge’s. “She’s in danger. And it looks like they’re heading toward the outer area of the prison and near the river.” He had a very bad feeling. “Team, you need to get to her first; if they end up throwing her in instead, that water could potentially kill her. It’s electrically charged!”

“Send us the data, we’ll get her!”

Matt hoped they could get to Pidge on time as he and a few others parted ways from the rest of the rebels, quickly slipping through to try and reach where his sister was. If they were heading towards the river, then he was sure that they would push her in, just like what Coran said. He didn’t want to lose her.

He looked to the data upon the interface of his tech, keeping an eye on where they were in the base and how to reach his sister as quickly as possible.

“We should be able to cut through another hall up here!” Toval pointed out.

“Right.” Matt nodded.

They kept up the pace until they were outside again, finding themselves on natural ground instead of the synthetic, non-conductive flooring in the base. They checked to see where Pidge’s biorhythm was pinging, finding that they were close. Looking around, they saw that there was a cliff of sorts near.

When Matt ran ahead and got up there, he had to duck down behind a raised ledge to avoid getting shot. The other rebels ducked down, waiting for an opening to go in and get Pidge back.

“I suggest you rebels surrender lest you lose the little one.” The warden had taken Pidge and held her by her throat, making it hard for her to breathe. She held her out over the river below, ready to drop her. Though her words made it seem like she was reconsidering, she still planned on dropping Pidge in the end.

“That bitch...” Matt hissed.

“We can’t trust her; she’ll drop Pidge no matter what.” Eis’at reminded.

“We could take the risk.” Toval stated. “Go in and strike. Matt, you can get to Pidge, catch her when the commander drops her.”

“You’ve got my back?” Matt asked, meaning he would need help in dealing with the commander. Toval nodded, ready to help out.

With the rebels ready, they went out for their strike, Matt and Toval heading for Pidge and the commander. Seeing them, the commander didn’t just drop Pidge; she went all out, changing how she held the paladin, and literally threw her into the river, out of reach for anyone to catch her.

“Pidge! No!” Matt shouted. He wanted to run over and jump right in swim after and save his sister, even if it would hurt him in the end, but Toval actually held him back. “Teams! Do you copy? Pidge was thrown into the river!”

“And I lost all trace of her biorhythm; the electrified water is messing with any signal we can get!” Coran exclaimed.

“Looks like you lost.” The commander reminded. She then drew her weapon, ready to fight. Matt and Toval knew there was no backing away, so they went to fight her together, certain that the others could handle the remaining soldiers.

Up in their ships, everyone heard the statement. Pidge was in the river. Krik knew that they needed to find her and get her out if she was going to have a chance at survival. “Cinda and I can handle those waters; we’ll go and look for her!” he stated.

“Those waters are electrified!” Aki reminded. “I get you’re aquatic, but...”

“Don’t underestimate a Miran’s strength; we’ll handle them better than anyone else and our ships may not hold out too well or risk hitting her instead.” Cinda pointed out. “We’ve got this.”

“Okay, but be careful; we’ll keep you covered.”

“Copy that.” Krik stated. He watched as the green lion sped past and then glanced back when he noticed that Kosmo teleported to his ship.

“Kosmo can help you get along the river to find her.” Chip informed. “Please, try and save Pidge.”

“We won’t give up on her.” Krik assured as he quickly went to land his ship near the river, the wolf teleporting him out. Cinda wasted no time to reach him, joining him as they ran alongside the river, looking to see any form of Pidge.

“That river’s fast; she’d be further down.” Cinda rationalized. Kosmo was ahead of them on that matter. He got them both to hold onto him as he kept teleporting them further and further along, giving them time to look and see if they could spot her.

“Huh?” Krik looked further down, noticing a spot of purple, recognizing the tunic worn over most prison uniforms. “There! Kosmo! Get us ahead of her so we can intercept.”

Kosmo snorted and did as told, going a couple of times to ensure they were far enough ahead. Once there, they looked back up, seeing Pidge heading for their direction.

“This is going to hurt, but let’s do this!” Krik wasted no time in diving into the river, feeling the electricity cling to his skin. It definitely hurt, but he was able to push through. Cinda wasn’t far behind, joining him in the water and swimming out towards the middle. When they popped up, they looked for Pidge’s location.

“Pidge!” Cinda called, hoping the paladin would be conscious and able to respond. She then spotted her flowing past them. She swam after her, able to catch up and take hold of her. “I’ve got her!” she reported. “But Pidge isn’t respond...” Her eyes widened. “She’s not breathing!”

“Let’s get her to shore.” Krik helped to support them both, swimming to the bank of the river.

“Lance, what are you doing? We’ve nearly taken the prison!” Keith called over comms.

“Pidge needs help!”

“They’ll get her to the castle.”

“She’s not breathing; we need to get her breathing first.” Lance didn’t care what Keith had to say, he still flew the red lion down to where Krik and Cinda were. “There’s a chance CPR can help her, otherwise we won’t make it to the castle on time.”

“Okay. Do your best. Air Team, keep them covered!”

Lance got down to the ground and was quick to get out, running to where Krik and Cinda were; he threw his helmet off and to the side, knowing it would only get in the way. Cinda was laying Pidge out on her back. “Oh no...” He got to them and sat on his knees.

“You know what to do?” Cinda asked, worry in her eyes.

“It’s primitive to some, but effective.” Lance wasted no time to start chest compressions, thankful that Pidge was just in the prison garb and didn’t have to remove any armor. “Even with our medical advancements in the past decades, many still learn this.” He continued with the compressions, not stopping when he felt a give in her chest. He figured he cracked some of her ribs, but he remembered his lessons; it was better to try and crack some ribs than not try at all and completely lose the patient.

After the first round of compressions, he pinched Pidge’s nose and locked lips with her, breathing air into her. When she didn’t respond, he went for another round. “C’mon, Pidge, c’mon, you’ve always pulled through. We can’t lose you. Not now. Not ever.” He went to breathing for her, but she once again didn’t respond.

“Base is secure!” Keith reported.

“The location isn’t ideal to land; we’ll need to work on evacuating the prisoners and getting them to either the castle or Arcadia.” Kolivan reminded.

“Krik, Cinda, how is Pidge’s status?” Aki inquired.

“Lance is doing his best, but she’s still not breathing.” Krik informed, looking hurt when he heard Chip’s distressed squeak. “We need evacuation now; he can continue on a ship.”

“We’re on it.” Aki confirmed.

Lance didn’t stop. He kept going, ignoring all around him. “Please, Pidge, please. We still need you. Screw Voltron. Screw this war. We still need you, you’re our friend!” he cried out as he kept up with his work. “Please… I need you!” He leaned in and went one more time for breathing into her. When he pulled back, she didn’t respond. “Please… I didn’t… I didn’t even get to tell you that I love you...”

Pidge was unresponsive at first, but then she started coughing and sputtering as Ginger’s fighter jet landed near them, the pilot getting out. Lance and Cinda helped Pidge to sit up, letting her cough and spit up the water she had swallowed.

“We’ve got her, team; Pidge is breathing.” Krik reported, smiling at the sight as he heard cheering over the comms.

“Pidge...” Lance looked to his fellow paladin.

“What a cliché way to admit your love...” Pidge mumbled as she leaned against Cinda. “But… the feelings are mutual.” She snuggled in close, wanting to just sleep.

“I’ll get her to the castle.” Ginger stated, moving in and picking Pidge up.

Lance just stared, left in shock. Had Pidge just confessed to him after his unexpected but honest confession? He watched as Ginger went to her ship, Kosmo following after her. After the ship departed, Krik put a hand on his shoulder.

“She’s okay now, Lance.” Krik reminded, helping him to his feet. “C’mon, we’ve got work to do and she’ll be in a pod recovering.”

“Right.” Lance nodded. “I’ll get you guys to your ships.” He smiled as he returned to the lion. Pidge was alive. Injured and probably traumatized mentally, but she was alive. And she apparently liked him in return. “I was… afraid we would lose her...” He stopped walking. He felt the tears fall down his face. “But she’s okay...” He didn’t care what anyone else thought; he gave in and just sobbed, the relief of Pidge’s survival filling her.

Cinda picked up Lance’s discarded helmet and returned to him. “She’s alive because you knew what to do and didn’t give up.” she told him. “You did great, Lance.” She hugged him, letting him cry on her shoulder. “She’ll be fine thanks to you.”

Chapter Text

They had left Kadomia. It was too risky to stay, so after evacuating and saving all of the prisoners, getting them on either the castle or Arcadia, they left the remaining Galra, letting them be to tend to their own injuries and to see to their dead. It was a battle, deaths being inevitable, but the coalition was relieved to know that they didn’t lose anyone, not even Pidge.

Some rebels needed medical attention and a few prisoners had to be put in pods, but treatment was easy and within a quintant’s time, they were fine. It was Pidge who would take longer with her injuries.

Ulaz had checked on Pidge periodically, not bothering Chip or Matt when they would sit around. It wasn’t until the two had fallen asleep on the floor with Kosmo that he moved in and put blankets over them. They were worried for their sister; it was sad because they were heartbroken that their sister had endured so much, but it was also sweet because they cared for her.

When he heard the door open, he looked over to see someone new walk in. One of the prisoners; he recognized her as an Earthling. She wore her uniform from the Explorer, the supplies and belongings having been transferred to the castle and then the Arcadia; her stuff had been in Pidge’s room, actually.

“May I help you?” Ulaz inquired.

“Just coming in to see how my daughter is doing.” Colleen said as she went to the pod.

“You’re her…” Ulaz froze before nodding. “She’s recovering well, but it will take time. There was a lot of damage, especially to her right leg, left shoulder, and her side. A blood infection had started to set in, but the pod is doing well with treatment. As will the damage to her leg since it was fractured. Her ribs were recently fractured, too, but Lance said that was probably his doing during CPR.”

“That does happen about a third of the time when that’s done.” Colleen stated, not at all upset about that part. “But it’s better for that than to not help someone in need; Lance did a wonderful job.” She had heard from the others of what Lance had done and she was proud of him. And grateful.

“Would you like a moment alone?” Ulaz inquired. If Colleen needed time alone as she waited by her daughter, he was willing to offer it.

“No, it’s fine.” Colleen assured. “You know, when the castle landed on Earth, Pidge gave me the grand tour, even showing me this place. She complained about the pods, telling me how cold they were after having to use them once.”

“She really doesn’t like the pods.” Ulaz mused. “It’s sometimes hard getting her to cooperate; she’s perhaps one of the most stubborn people I’ve met. But it gets her by in this universe.”

“She probably learned that stubbornness from me.” Colleen chuckled a bit, rubbing the back of her head. “But. I’m glad she’s stubborn. It’s made her dedicated to what she does, keeping her from giving up too soon.”

“Huh? What?” Matt sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Is Pidge up?”

“No, not yet, kiddo.” Colleen stated.

Matt looked around before stopping, his gaze on none other than Professor Colleen Gunderson. He knew her appearance from Sam’s yearbooks and from the photo that Pidge had. He got up. “Um, hello, Professor.” he said. “I’m Matt Holt. I’m, uh… I’m...” He didn’t register Colleen walking over to him, so when she suddenly hugged him, he was caught by surprise.

“I know who you are.” Colleen said.

“Huh? Is Pidge awake?” Chip sat up and fixed his glasses. He then jumped up, alert. “Professor?! You were at that pris-” He yelped when he was pulled into the hug, too.

“Pidge told me you were her brothers.” she said. “Sorry I didn’t come by sooner; some of the others were so fussy in making sure I was okay.” Her hug tightened. “But I’m here now.”

Chip blinked. Colleen spoke as though she already accepted them as her children. He then snuggled in more. “Mom.” he said softly. It felt nice. Already he and Pidge spoke about how Colleen would be quick to accept him as her child, but having her there truly made it a reality.

“Another to call me mom. I like that.” Colleen responded.

“Um… can I...” Matt had a sheepish smile.

“Of course. You’re both now my baby boys.” Colleen kissed them on their heads. “And we’ll find Sam, too; he owes me several dates and a wedding.” Matt couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

Though Matt chuckled, he felt sad. He then hugged Colleen more. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t protect Pidge better… not when Sendak came… not when she was thrown into the river...”

“Hush, hush. It’s not your fault.” Colleen assured. “It’s the enemies that showed up and did that who are at fault. You did your best to keep her safe, I’m sure.” She hugged the boys more. “You both did wonderful jobs out there. And Pidge is still alive.”

“Alive, yeah, but emotionally...” Chip sighed. He thought to the stress his twin felt after killing Haxus. Facing what she had, and they could only assume she was tortured, she was bound to react worse.

“It’s going to take time for her to mentally recover.” Colleen reminded. “But we’ll be there to help. We’ll be her support team.”

It took a few days, but Pidge finally stepped out of the pod. The others there were watching, Matt even going to her to see if she needed help or if she was aware of her surroundings. She then made a beeline for Kosmo, snuggling into the fluffy blue mane that went down his back.

“So warm.” Pidge mumbled, snuggling into the soft fur, sinking into it a bit. “Kosmo, you’re a fuzzy space heater.”

“She really doesn’t like the cold.” Colleen chuckled.

Pidge looked up. There she was. Her mother.

Her mother!

“Holy shit! It wasn’t a fever dream!” Pidge jumped up and tackled her mother, the professor shouting a few Italian profanities as she fell to the floor. “You were found!”

“Pidge, I understand you’re happy,” Ulaz said as he plucked Pidge off of her mother, “but if you do that, we may need to put her in a pod next.” He then found Pidge somehow managing to turn herself around and wrapping her limbs around him.

“Oh. You’re warm.” Pidge stated.

Ulaz sighed as he let go, letting Pidge hang there like a pack strapped to his chest. “I’ve been demoted from Blade and medical officer to space heater.” Kosmo padded over to them and nosed Pidge’s leg. Without dropping to the floor, the green paladin managed to climb over and get onto the wolf’s back, letting him warm her again. “I want to do a few checks to make sure you’re doing well, then you can go off to let the others know you’re out.”

“Can I get dressed first?” Pidge inquired.

“After the checkup.” Ulaz confirmed. “I want to make sure there are no lingering effects from your injuries.” Pidge nodded and complied, allowing the medic to check her over while Matt got Chip to go with him and get her some clothes.

“I lost my armor.” Pidge muttered. “Hopefully Allura has another green set for me.” She then looked alarmed. “Wait! My bayard!”

“You had apparently dropped it during the fight, so it was brought back to the castle; Kosmo took it to Chip before departing for the prison, so it should still be in the lion.” Ulaz informed. He smiled when Pidge let out a sigh of relief. “Now then, there is no scarring in the lungs, that’s good, epidermal scarring from the electrified water is at a minimum, some of your injuries were bad, so you have scarring on your leg, shoulder, and side.”

“And the brand?” Pidge asked.

“It’s still there.” Ulaz sighed. “I can try to look into a procedure to remove it with minimal scarring but...”

“No, I’m fine.”

Ulaz didn’t know if she was being honest or not, but he let it slide. “And your leg. You’ve sustained some damage; due to the help of the medical officer who treated you and the pod, it is minimal. There will be some stiffness, if possible ground missions should be out for you for a few quintants, and stretch your leg now and then so it doesn’t act up.” Pidge nodded in response. “Other than that, I think you’re doing fine.”

“Sounds good to me.” the paladin stated.

“Mom? We brought Pidge some clothes.” Chip said, reaching his arm in with Pidge’s clothes in hand.

“Thanks.” Colleen took the clothes and brought them to Pidge. “Come on out when you’re ready.” She then left with Ulaz, letting Pidge be to get changed.

Pidge got down from the examination table to get dressed. She looked to the mirror in the room when she started removing the prisoner jumper, stopping to see the brand on her back. She finally got a look at it, recognizing the empire’s symbol. It was the way of that cruel commander to tell her that she would never escape them.

She didn’t want to think of it like that.

She tried to convince herself that it just meant that she was a pain in the empire’s backside and that she survived those days. And she was grateful that she didn’t have to see it often, that it was on the back of her shoulder. She figured, though, that she would have to figure out the next time she wore a swimsuit; it would definitely show then.

Nodding, got herself dressed before heading out to meet with the others. They had spent so long worrying about her, it was time to let them know she was okay. And that Zarkon was still alive.

Chapter Text

“What?” Allura gasped out, covering her mouth. “Are you certain?”

“Yeah.” Pidge nodded. “I mean, I didn’t see his face, he was wearing armor, but Zarkon’s definitely alive.” She wished it wasn’t the case, but things didn’t always go according to plan.

“Dammit! All that work and we didn’t defeat him...” Aki grumbled.

“Well, not fully.” Pidge waved it off. “But I definitely think we dealt a pretty bad blow.”

“What do you mean?” Kolivan inquired.

“Well, and I could be off, I was exhausted you know, even before I had an unwanted audience with him, but his armor was strange. He reminded me of the robeasts we’ve faced, especially the one that Shiro had thought was Myzax.”

“Myzax?” Hawkins questioned.

“Our first robeast; Shiro thought he was a gladiator in the arena that he had defeated, basing it off his attacks.” Pidge explained. “Anyway! While Zarkon isn’t as monstrous as Myzax or the other robeasts had been, he does still give the vibes, especially with the quintessence canisters he had on him. I mean, the Beta Traz warden had those, too, and he wasn’t a robeast, just a jerk souped up on space steroids, but still.” She shook her head, trying to get herself back on track. “My point is, we hit him hard to where he needs that armor and the quintessence more than before.”

Allura nodded. “We may not have defeated him, but we are heading in the right direction.” she told the others. “And it helped to give us a jump on the empire to bring an end to it. We’ll just need to tread lightly with knowing Zarkon is back.”

The meeting had been dismissed and the others were heading back out to rest and help refugees and former prisoners get taken care of and settled on Olkarion. Before Pidge could walk out, the paladin wanting to find and talk with Lotor since he had joined back up with the group to help, Thace called for her wait there. Once everyone was out, the Blade sat down at the table, motioning for Pidge to sit here.

“Kolivan wanted me to speak with you.” Thace stated. “You’ve been through a lot.”

“I’m doing fine, though.” Pidge stated. “Just tired.”

“Pidge, I’m not going to dance around the question. You had been taken to Zarkon and no doubt the druids, especially Haggar, had you interrogated.” Thace looked concerned. “I know how that is; when I was caught, they interrogated me, too, did their best to get into my mind to find out who I was working for.”

“That was… after that barrier was brought down so we could escape when Allura had been captured?” Pidge asked, trying to figure out the timeline.

“Yes. For a while I went undetected, but shortly before the attack on the main fleet, I had been found out.” Thace stated. “They have a way to get into someone’s mind. Don’t think I’m underestimating you, but a normal person would fail to keep them out. I managed because of my training but...”

“You want to know if I told them anything, especially if it can jeopardize the coalition?” Thace nodded. “I didn’t say anything.” Pidge couldn’t look him in the eyes.

“Are you certain?” Pidge nodded. Thace knew she wasn’t telling him everything. “I can tell you’re hiding something. But for now, I won’t pry too much.” he stated. “I just have another question. Is it something that could endanger any of us or our allies?”

Pidge thought over what she knew. She then shook her head. “It’s yet to be truly determined, but I don’t think so.” she informed.

She was being honest, Thace could see that much. He then nodded. “Very well. Then for now I will leave it be.” He watched Pidge a bit more. “It’s not easy, but it is possible to come back from this mentally.”

“I’m guessing it’s not a designated time thing?” Pidge asked.

“Not really.” Thace shook his head. “Even I’m not fully back from what happened to me. But I have Ulaz to lean on and help me when needed. And you have friend and family, too.”

“A lot of them.” Pidge nodded. She offered a smile. “Thanks, Thace.” She got up, sure she could leave. “Oh, Thace?”

“Hmm?”

“We can definitely agree that Haggar’s a bitch, right?”

“Most definitely.”

Pidge smiled before leaving, Thace leaving right after to report to Kolivan. Pidge went around to find Lotor, spotting him with Acxa and Allura.

“Hmm? Oh, Pidge, how are you feeling?” Allura inquired. “I’m surprised you aren’t with Matt and Chip. Or did you lose them?”

“No, I was hoping I could speak with Lotor about something.” Pidge stated.

“Hmm?” Allura was curious. “Well, try not to make Lance jealous.”

“Hey!”

“Just teasing.” Allura giggled. She then nodded. “Very well.” She walked off with Acxa, the two talking about something Pidge didn’t catch or really care about.

“Ugh, that really did happen, didn’t it?” Pidge mumbled. “Whatever.” She shook her head. “Um, Lotor? I was talking with Thace a moment ago, he was asking about the interrogation with Haggar...”

“Oh dear.” Lotor sighed. “I’ve never endured it, but she can definitely be quite cruel… and effective...”

“That’s the thing, she didn’t get much out of me, only one bit of information.” Pidge was nervous. “But I don’t know how much it impacts the team and I wanted to speak about it with you first.” She sighed. It was definitely not easy getting what needed to be said out. “Okay. Just treat it like the time a bully stuck duct tape in my hair and just rip it out. Okay. Okay. I’ve got this.” Lotor was perplexed by Pidge’s commentary as she tried to get her thoughts in order, but she didn’t elaborate. “Zarkon found out that you’re still alive. And he said something about you being his son and your mother being Altean.” Lotor’s eyes widened; he did not expect for Pidge to say that. “But… I couldn’t tell Thace. I didn’t know if anyone else knew and I didn’t want to just tell anyone. But I wanted you to know I found out. And I don’t think he would lie about that so-”

Lotor gently rested his hand on Pidge’s shoulder, getting her to silence herself. “I’m glad you told me.” he said. “And… it is true, there’s no denying it.”

“Does Allura know?” Pidge asked. She felt that since they were close friends, she should have known.

“Allura and Coran both do since Coran knew us both since we were babies.” Lotor informed. “Kolivan and Antok also know; they kept my family ties a secret. And my team.” That meant that Acxa, Narti, Zethrid, and Ezor all knew, too. “We always work together and I trust them. And now you.” He offered a soft smile that made Pidge think of Matt with that caring, brotherly gaze. “Pidge, I would appreciate it if you kept this to yourself for the time being.”

Pidge nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry about that.”

“For now, I should let Kolivan know that Zarkon’s aware I’m still alive.” Lotor mused. “Thank you for letting me know.” He patted Pidge on the head.

“I hope things go well.” Pidge told him.

After they parted ways, Pidge went to locate her family, wanting some quality time of just relaxing and hugging. Perhaps even video games, too. As she walked around, she didn’t expect for Kosmo to suddenly appear in front of her. Or slightly off the ground as he was mid-jump. Either way, she got tackled to the ground, pinned under the blue wolf.

“Oh no! Pidge!” Chip cried out, running over. “Are you okay? Pidge?” He nudged Kosmo. “C’mon, Kosmo, up. Up. We don’t need you breaking Pidge, she just recovered.”

Kosmo got up and let his human sit up. He then licked her face before laying beside her, resting his head on her lap.

“It’s okay, buddy, I’m fine; that more so caught me by surprise.” Pidge chuckled. “Especially since it seemed more likely for Lance to get tackled by a wolf than me.”

“Hey!” Lance yelped as he approached them. He looked a bit nervous. “Anyway, Pidge, I was looking for you. I kinda wanted to talk about… um… before. I don’t know if you remember or...”

“You telling me that you love me. And me confirming that that I have mutual feelings.” Pidge’s tone was fairly monotonous.

“Yeah. That.” Lance rubbed the back of his head. “I don’t know if it was...”

“It was accurate, not just the lack of oxygen to my brain.” Pidge managed to get up and dust herself off.

“Wait, so you do like me?” Lance got hopeful. “Then perhaps we-”

“Nope.” Pidge held her hand out, finger up as though to tell Lance one moment. “No dates. No dating. Not until I see that you’re serious.”

“Serious?”

“Yes, especially since you’re a serial flirt.”

“Oh quiznak… that.”

“Yeah, that. And besides, we’re busy being extremely active in this war; we can’t be distracting each other.” Pidge reminded. “We have our duties to work on.” She sighed. “But… during breaks, we can have fun together, play video games more. And if we stop at the mall again for fun, then we can do something together.” She looked down to her feet, her cheeks flushing a bit. “But… yes. I do like you.”

Lance smiled. Pidge actually liked him. He didn’t know how long she had, couldn’t have been too long since they met at the beginning of the term back at the Garrison. “I won’t disappoint you.” he stated.

Pidge offered a smile. “You never have before.” she said. “Well, except that one time that you absolutely failed the test we spent days studying for.”

“Hey! I was so stressed that I forgot there was a back page!” Lance whined. “And I got to take the make-up test, Professor Wagner was understanding when I told him what happened.”

“At least you passed the make-up test.” Pidge sighed. “Now then. We have a break from battles for now. Who wants to get snacks with me and play video games?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Chip nodded in agreement. That was definitely what Pidge needed to help her get through the trauma she faced. He went with the others to the kitchen, hoping to find something good. He looked to Lance and Pidge, the two talking as they walked and smiled. He definitely felt that when they had time and could rest more, they definitely could be a good couple. They worked so well together.