Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Blue Lion shook violently as another laser hit her flank, a nearby Galra cruiser’s barrage.

“SHIT!” Lance shoved his left controller forward, pulling the Blue Lion down into a barrel roll. She dodge the rest of the barrage, weaving between Galra fighters as he pulled away from the main fleet.

“I’m getting some serious heavy fire over here, when the fuck is the wormhole opening?!” Lance shouted. 

He focused on dodging laserfire while taking out unlucky fighters. Blue’s bright light blue lasers exploded on impact as she soared between the debris.

“We can’t open up the portal until that shield goes down! Is there any chance one of you Paladins can take it down?” Coran’s somehow always chipper voice responded, relaying the message to the rest of the team.

Shiro responded, “That’ll be a negative Coran, we can’t get access to the Shield Generator because of the uh- the shield.” His voice did not reflect the survival induced panic coursing through the rest of the team.

Lance saw the imposing Black Lion zip past the front of Blue, taking out a series of fighters using her jaw blade. Small explosions ripped through each fighter in succession. He left a trail of sliced ships in the Black Lion’s wake.

He opened fire on a group of ships ascending towards Black’s flank, destroying them within milliseconds. Lance caught a glimpse of fighters aiming towards Blue’s underbelly, Cheeky Motherfuckers. He pulled the lion backwards into a backflip, taking out the fighters once Blue was upside down, before returning back to his mad-dash out of this fray.

“Well what are we supposed to do then?! Just keep shooting down fighters until they eventually run out?! We have to make a move to take down that shield!” Keith’s yell pierced through the Red Lion’s channel, ringing in Lance’s ears, he was so loud when he’s frustrated.

“Got any ideas then?!” Lance responded with his own yell, no point trying to keep his voice level when Keith was already riled up. “Because that shield is pretty impenetrable!”

A laser hit Blue’s hind leg, causing her to spin out of control. Lance let out an embarrassingly girly shriek, “PUTA MADRE!”

Lance yanked his right controller back, leading Blue to turn back and face the offending fighter. Once he saw the small squadron of fighters in his sights, he let out a precisely aimed series of shots from her tailgun. The fighters exploded instantaneously.

“Okay but seriously, do any of you guys have any plans?! I don’t want to point out the obvious but this  is looking pretty bad!” Hunk, anxious as ever, shared his own concerns.

“Just keep firing! Coran, Allura, can you guys scan the base for any weak points in the shield?” Shiro asked, but it felt like a command.

Coran responded, “We can try! But if there’s a weak point, it’s likely going to shift around as the base refocuses the shield’s energy to certain areas. They might see you advancing and fortify the weak point!” Lance could hear Coran’s rapid typing on a control station through the comm. channel.

Lance mentally groaned, briefly pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, before a series of shots fired towards him. Pushing both controls forward, he aimed into a nosedive, and dodged the laserfire.

The fight continued like this for several minutes- dobashes. The lions of Voltron dodged attacks and returned fire while the Castle of Lions frantically tried to find a weak point in the Galra base’s shield. Until, the shield suddenly dematerialized. The illuminated magenta sphere covering the base retracted in itself as it shut down.

“Nice work, Coran!” He could hear Shiro’s smile through his voice.

A confused but relieved shout responded, “That wasn’t us!”

Lance sharply turned his lion towards the Castle of Lions and pushed Blue’s damaged thrusters to their limit. “Does it matter?! Open up that damn portal so we can get out of here!”

The wormhole signaling Voltron’s escape from battle finally appeared. The framed swirling white and black portal manifested towards the back of the fight, several miles in front of the Castle of Lions. The Castle was already positioned to fly into the wormhole within a few ticks- or seconds.

The rest of the lions quickly accompanied Lance, not caring how or why the shield went down, just that they needed to get out of here before the fight went to shit again.

A bright flash of bright purple shot out from the bottom of the Galra base. Arcing lightning raced towards the wormhole. Before they could even register what was happening before entering the portal, the lightning struck it, causing the bright white to become corrupted with a poisoned magenta, the color of Galra druid magic. 

“The wormhole has been corrupted, we’re going to be dropped off far sooner than expected!” Coran called out to the paladins from inside the Castle.

Before they could safely land in their hangers, the lions began to be pulled towards the walls of the wormhole.

“Guys, I’m being sucked out-!” Hunk was quickly cut off as his lion slammed into the wall, sinking through it in milliseconds.

Pidge’s own shriek responded, “Me too!”, before crashing through the opposite side of the wormhole.

Lance didn’t pay attention to whatever the rest of the team said, panic setting in as he was pulled towards the terrifying purple wall. He shot his controls forward, putting Blue’s thrusters to max speed as he resisted against the pull. But it was in vain as he rapidly hurled towards the wall, him and Blue flipping through space. He didn’t even get a chance to call out for help before he crashed through the wall.

Several alarms started blaring the moment he hit that wall. Red lights pierced his eyes as Altean text quickly translated into English. This wasn’t looking good. Thrusters are toast, communications are cut, and he’s losing power rapidly.

“FUCK! FUCKING SHIT!”

Lance was jostled around in his seat, his crossed seatbelt being the only reason he was still alive right now, as Blue plummeted backwards towards some unknown source. He pushed the controls as far forward as he could, but it didn’t change the fact that her thrusters were fried and quickly losing power. 

Now reaching over to one of Blue’s many control panels, Lance quickly redirected all power to the rear thrusters, before pushing them to max speed. It did little to stop Blue’s rapid descent to, what he now saw, was an almost purely white arctic planet. 

Shouting more streams of curses, the Blue lion and her pilot broke through the unknown planet’s atmosphere. Large, pearly white clouds that fully covered the sky rushed past the cockpit windows as she fell closer to the surface.

“This is really going to suck.” Lance huffed out a nervous breath, pulling his arms up to his chest, as he braced for impact. Within seconds, Blue crashed into the planet’s snowy surface. His body was harshly thrown around in his seat, held in place by his seatbelt. Him and his lion repeatedly hit the ground as the lion skidded across the surface. Trees snapped like twigs underneath the massive robotic lion as she pummeled across a tundra forest. Lance’s head snapped back violently into his cockpit seat, causing his vision to go hazy.

As the lion slowed to a halt, pushing back into a mound of upturned dirt and snow. The alarms subdued as power was quickly lost. Blue’s bright blue lights dimmed before flickering completely off, leaving sparks of broken technology as the only remaining lightsource. It was nighttime on this planet, apparent by the pitch black darkness soaking in through the windows.

Lance’s vision began to fade as he passed out alongside his lion.

Lance groaned, piercing pain seeping into his skull from all sides of his head. His eyes fluttered open, barely taking in his surroundings. The cockpit was unusually dark, power was definitely out, and he could make out sparks coming from broken sections of the control panels. From what he could make out through the cockpit window, he crash landed in the middle of a dense tundra forest- except that Blue flattered a large path of it crashing into the planet’s surface. It was snowing harshly, the sounds of rushing wind were the only thing Lance could hear.

“Blue?” He called out to his lion, his voice barely a hoarse whisper, and only received silence in return.

Shit, that’s not good.

He groaned as he lifted his head up to look around, his neck aching in protest. He definitely got whiplash from the crash. The entire cockpit, Blue’s head, was angled lifelessly to the left, causing his body to sway in that direction.

Lance fumbled with the clasp of his seatbelt so he could escape his pilot’s seat. It unbuckled and he had to quickly grab onto the chair’s arm before he fell into the side of the cockpit. Which was now the floor.

“Puta madre…” He breathed out, struggling to lower himself to the ground. It felt like a stake was being driven into the back of his skull.

With a grunt, Lance dropped to the ground, the left wall of the cockpit. Screens and broken metal panels crunched under his feet as he regained balance. 

He stumbled towards the back of the cockpit, barely avoiding tripping on debris. His hands stuck out in front of him like a zombie as he felt his surroundings in the dark. Lance shuffled into the lion’s personal quarters slash paladin facilities, in far more disarray than the cockpit. Lance’s belongings were littered across the floor and rations were rumbling out of their containers. It looked like a tornado blew through the hold.

Lance groaned, still stumbling around in the dark, heading towards the hold. He was trying to find the exit so he could at least try to gauge where he crash landed. The hold opened up at the end of fhe lion’s quarters and Lance shuffled towards the marked exit.

He pressed the palm of his hand on the scanner multiple times before realizing that emergency power was gone too. This door wasn’t going to open on its own. He grabbed his bayard, morphing it into the weapon he desired- a broadsword- and stabbed it into the crack separating the door panels. He pushed the remainders of his strength into wedging the door open.

He gritted his teeth, holding back a pained whine, as he pushed the sword further into the divided door. With a loud groan of metal, the door popped open. The panels retracted into the sides of the wall in one swift motion. Fast enough that Lance couldn’t stop himself from tumbling forward.

Lance fell through the exit the moment the door disappeared, momentum carrying him towards the ground. He yelped, landing face-first into a pile of upturned dirt and fresh snow, his sword clanging to the ground beside him.

He tried to push himself up from the ground but his arms gave out under him, crashing him back into the snow. He used the last of his energy to open the exit.

Lance was pulled back into unconsciousness as exhaustion took over his body. Fresh snow from the storm began settling over his body as his breath slowed.

The Green Lion floated dead in space. Her power began to flicker out the moment the Wormhole spit them out in this Nebula. Slowly spinning in the iridescent colors of gas, it would have felt peaceful, if it weren’t for the panicked Paladin desperately tugging at the lion’s controls.

“OH- SHIT BALLS! Can anybody hear me?!” Pidge screamed down his communicator, and like he reluctantly expected, he got no response from Voltron or the Castle of Lions.

With a loud groan, Pidge slapped the front of his helmet into his hands. “Can you hear me, Green?”

His muttered plea was responded with a weak roar from the Green Lion. She still had some power left.

Pidge sighed, sliding his head up to peek over his hands, looking out the cockpit window. Space debris and multicolored gas surrounded them. It looked like they were in a space landfill.

“Hey Green, are you able to give me a reading on where we are?”

The lion rumbled in response, her version of a hum, before drenching them back into silence. A few moments later, a green hologram screen popped up in front of the cockpit window.

“Ulion Nebula… Sector Eighty-Four…” Pidge skimmed the text displayed for them, reading quietly aloud. “Okay so, not super far away from where we were- just a few sectors!” They were ten sectors away from where the battle was, several lightyears away; which really isn’t that far considering just how large the Empire is.

He groaned, slumping back into the pilot seat. “Got enough power in you to land us somewhere? Seems like there’s a couple large chunks of debris we can land on.”

The Green Lion gave a quiet roar, a ‘Yes’. Pidge reached forward and typed on one of Green’s control panels, transferring the rest of her power to her thrusters.

He maneuvered them to a large chunk of rock, or some sort of stoney metal, and landed on a flat outcropping. Green shutdown, her way of falling asleep, shortly after using the remainder of her power.

Pidge pulled his legs up into a crossed sitting position, “Dad always said if we ever get lost, stay in place- well, that was back on Earth- but I guess it applies to space too.” He sighed, “At least I get some me-time.”

Pidge was bored within seconds.

Well, this is just fantastic.

Out of all the planets to crash land on, the universe just had to toss the Yellow Lion, the heaviest lion, on a completely oceanic planet. The lion sank like a boulder the moment they struck the water’s surface.

Hunk sighed and slumped back into his pilot’s seat. Yellow still had emergency power leftover, using it to fill the cockpit with dull golden light. They both knew there was no point trying to use the lion’s thrusters, the entire planet was water, they could not land anywhere even if they wanted to.

The deep blue ocean surrounding them was eerie to say the least. Hunk couldn’t make out any features outside of some tall outcroppings, likely a kind of gigantic coral, but the darkness made it hard to decipher.

“You still with me, man?” His voice wavered, Hunk was far from the calmest paladin. His anxiety- no, cautious behavior- marked him as the Nervous One. Or at least that’s what people called him. He was cautious, not a coward.

A shadowy figure swam by the front of the Yellow Lion, darting past the cockpit window.

Definitely not a coward.

Hunk gulped, pulling his arms to his chest in a sort of self-hug. “Yellow?”

His lion grumbled, a short acknowledgement of Hunk’s pleas. ‘Still here.’

“Good…good-good. Can you tell me if this planet is inhabited or not because I think I just saw some sea monster swim outside?” Hunk stuttered, eyes blown wide as he scanned the environment outside of the cockpit.

After a few seconds, a holographic image popped up on a screen in front of his cockpit window. It showed the planet they crash landed on alongside their location. To no surprise, it was entirely covered in deep blue water. It also includes that this planet is inhabited.

“Great, I’m about to be eaten by a sea monster.” He grumbled, shrinking into himself in his chair. Yellow grumbled too but at his self-pity.

“Sorry-sorry, I meant we are about to be eaten by a sea monster.”

The lion laughed in response. Hunk misinterpreted what Yellow meant, but at least he still had his sense of humor.

Hunk chuckled, relaxing in his seat. At least he wasn’t alone.

“I wonder how everybody else is doing.”

“Shiro, can you hear me?!” Keith yelled into the communicator built into his helmet.

The Red Lion alongside the Black Lion crashed into some rocky planet. It was covered in obscenely large boulders that looked more like asteroids and mountains. The impact from Red created a small crater but deep crater, which Keith was now stuck in.

He stood at the top of his lion’s head, desperately trying to get a signal to Shiro, but only got static in response.

Fucking interference.

Keith scrambled down the side of Red, using his jetpack to slow his fall, until he inevitably hit the ground. He stumbled for his footing on a mound of rock. Red’s impact onto the surface caused everything inside the crater to crumble into pebbles.

“Shiro?!” He called out one more time, but just got even more static. It got worse with his descent farther into the crater.

Alright, just gotta get to high-ground.

Keith tilted his head up at the hundred-foot high cliff that made up the ring of the crater and groaned.

Fuck my life.

He jumped from the mound he was standing on onto a large boulder, using his jetpack to boost and stabilize himself. He launched himself again, landing on another boulder, as he made his way towards the cliff-face.

Keith barely broke a sweat from the exertion, this was child’s play to him- but he didn’t like climbing. Good thing he had a jetpack built into his paladin’s armor so he could just be lazy and fly up the cliff.

He used his jetpack to scale the cliff face, not even bothering to try to climb it. He’d rather save his energy for whatever inevitable conflict that was bound to happen. It was just his luck.

Keith landed softly on a dusty surface. The planet they crash landed on was mostly desert, made up of a dull gray rock, with large mountains covering the horizon. Piercing light bore into his eyes from the white sun in this solar system, the crater blocked out most of the light.

“Shiro, can you hear me?” He called for the Black Paladin again, not really hoping that his message would be received.

But Keith was always wrong. Shiro responded, his voice weak with exhaustion, “Keith?”

“Shiro! Where are you? Are you okay?” Keith’s relieved grin was heard through his voice.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I don’t know where I am though.” Shiro gave a weak chuckle, which broke out into a cough.

“Let me ping for your location.” Keith tapped a few icons in his wrist-control, a small panel that projected a holoscreen that allowed him to perform some basic tasks. Shiro’s location, which was only a few miles west from the Red Lion’s crashlight, marked itself on a map of the planet. A dark indigo dot marks where the Black Lion and Shiro are.

“Alright, I see where you are, I’m heading over there now.” Keith broke into a quick jog as he moved towards Shiro’s location, using his jetpack to jump over rocks that got in his way.

“Great… because some weird alien-hyena things just showed up.” Shiro grunted as he moved, which picked up through his communicator

Keith sighed, picking up his pace. “I’ll be there soon.”

Fuck my life.

The Castle of Lions was stuck in this endless wormhole. The corrupted purple and black walls of the tunnel felt like they were closing in on the large Castleship. Blame that on Allura’s panic and mild claustrophobia, but it really felt like the wormhole was collapsing in on them. Bright magenta lightning shot out from the tunnel walls, threatening to strike the ship.

“I can’t get a reading on any of the Lions’ locations!” Coran called out, his voice coated in their mutual panic. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the Castle’s warning alarms. “Allura, can you grab any coordinates for us to lock on to?”

Her hands tightly gripped the spires connected to her podium, they’re how she pilots the Castle. Her sharp blue eyes scanned over the text on the holographic screen in front of her. “No, I can’t lock onto any coordinates! Our systems are malfunctioning because of the corrupted energy from the wormhole!”

The Alteans returned back to their focused silence. Coran quickly typed away on a series of keyboards, boring his gaze into the screens, waiting for any changes to occur. Allura returned to inputting any series of coordinates to see if by the graces of the Gods, they would be able to wormhole to safety.

Pidge dropped his voice multiple decibels, mocking the voice of a certain paladin, “My name’s Keith and I’m so emo.”

He giggled, pushing himself from his crude model of Keith made with salvage. His impression of each of his teammates were, in his opinion, extremely accurate; so were their replicas.

Pidge got bored and left the Green Lion, electing to explore this section of the nebula to kill time until the Castle of Lions found them. Along the way, he found a colony of floating puffball aliens. Really, there was no better explanation for them. They were floating balls of fluff with glowing markings and the cutest faces ever. They’ve been following Pidge, quietly observing his hijinks, as he jumped using his jetpack between space debris.

When he found a giant cluster of old machine parts, Pidge just had to recreate team Voltron. He needed to introduce his new friends, the puffballs, to Team Voltron. Because there was no way in hell at least one of them wasn’t going home with him. Which led to him making scarily accurate impressions of each of his teammates. 

Pidge sighed, floating in the zero-gravity as the puffballs floated around him too. “Ugh, this is taking forever!”

He huffed and put his hands behind his head, reclining back into a make-believe chair. “I wonder if there’s a way to find them first…”

Within the fraction of a second, Pidge realized he could find them first. “Wait, I’m surrounded in a graveyard of old space debris! Of course I can- fucking idiot!” He scolded himself.

Activating his jetpack, Pidge pushed himself in the direction of a large cluster of what he could decipher as old satellite parts.

Perfect!

The puffballs- that’s just what Pidge was going to call them now- followed close behind. All twenty of them were curious on what this little human was about to get up to.

Pidge scavenged this section of the nebula, attaching whatever parts he needed to his suit. Once he ran out of space, he used a makeshift bag he made using some tarp to hold the rest of his salvage. The larger pieces trailed behind him, attached to his grappling hook. The lack of gravity made moving debris extremely easy for Pidge; who is unusually scrawny considering his job is being a defender of the universe.

He made his way back to Green, “Hi, girl! Feeling any better?”

The Green Lion purred, ‘I’m better’. Her previously darkened eyes now back to its bright teal, but uncharacteristically dim; likely due to low power levels. 

Pidge pushed forward with his jetpack before inelegantly crashing into the side of the lion. He’d need to recalibrate the brakes later.

“Do you think you’ll have enough energy to power a satellite?” He started to unravel the makeshift bag he made and unclip the large pieces of space debris, formulating a design for his satellite. “It’d be long ranged, probably a couple hundred sectors.”

Green answered, supplying a small rumble, ‘Yes.’

“Great! Because It’s gonna be a lot of energy to power this satellite.”

Pidge spent the next few hours welding salvage together into a rudimentary satellite. He got lucky and found parts of a broken satellite disk, which he sautered together using his armor’s built in soldering tool on his wrist. Using his jetpack he floated around the lion, gradually building the satellite from the base up. Pidge attached the main wire to the Green Lion and waited for his lion to power it up.

He pushed away from the lion, drifting back to fully examine the satellite. “We’re ready to power it up!”

The lion produced a quiet hum as it whirled back to life, sending all its power to the satellite. Her eyes glowed a familiar teal before shutting down completely, going dark.

“No, wait! What happened?!” Pidge raced towards the lion, going face-to-face with her.

“I know you can do this Green, our friends are counting on us!” He pleaded before soaring down the side of his lion, checking his wiring to see if it was possibly a mechanical failure.

Suddenly, the lion went rigid and sat up straight, its eyes glowing unnaturally bright as power surged through the wiring. A pale blue beam, almost white, shot out from the satellite’s antenna as it turned on.

“Yes! Oh my god, yes! You did it!” He beamed, soaring back towards his lion’s face. “You’re incredible!”

If the Green Lion could smile, she would be smiling at her paladin right now. Instead she hummed her praise.

“Let's find our friends.” Pidge darted into the lion’s mouth and sprinted towards the cockpit, drifting past corners. He launched himself over the back of his pilot’s seat, landing with a loud thump, and pulled his legs up into a criss-crossed pose. He quickly typed away on his various keyboards and broadcasted his location to the Castle of Lion’s private frequency. His glasses reflected the bright green holographic screens, he was in his element.

Now to wait for the Mothership to arrive.

“Allura, we’re getting a broadcast from the Green Lion!” Coran called out to the pilot, already beginning to forward the broadcasted coordinates to her station.

“I’ve got it! Pidge is in the Ulion Nebula, Sector Eighty-Four; inputting the coordinates now.”

Her thin fingers glided over the Altean keyboard with practiced ease, locking the Castle of Lions onto the Green Lion’s location. With a quick press of a button, the wormhole transformed. The horrific Galra purple was replaced with the normal bright white and the voided end of the tunnel was replaced with the familiar black and white spiral. 

The Alteans sighed with relief, Coran slumped against his station and Allura loosened her grip on her controls. They were saved from the infinite wormhole.

The Castle of Lions passed through the exit with ease, depositing them in the outskirts of an iridescent multicolored nebula.

Pidge watched the Castle of Lions warp into the outskirts of the nebula from the cockpit. The enormous white and teal ship slowly moved towards their location.

Allura’s relieved voice called through the communication channel, “Pidge, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Princess!” Pidge’s face broke into a grin as he quickly grabbed the lion’s controls, momentarily forgetting that Green used the last of her power to use the satellite. “I’m going to need to be beamed up though, Green is completely out of power.”

“No problem, just give me and Coran a few ticks to power up the tractorbeam.” Allura responded.

The channel went quiet while the Alteans prepared the tractor beam. Pidge impatiently tapped his fingers against his controls. “Sooo… where did you guys get shot off to?”

Coran responded, cheery as usual, “Oh we actually didn’t get launched anywhere! We were stuck inside of the wormhole. If you hadn’t reached out to the Castle, we’d still be in there.”

He muttered, “Oh, that’s grim.”

The channel momentarily returned back to silence before being broken by the princess, “Tractorbeam is activated, hold on Pidge.”

The familiar bright teal color of Altean technology flooded Pidge’s vision as the tractorbeam descended on the Green Lion. After a few seconds, the lion was slowly pulled from the ground, ascending up the beam towards the hanger of the Caste of Lions.

“I brought a few friends with me, by the way!” He giggled as one of the puffballs, with pale pink fur and blue markings, nuzzled its face against Pidge’s cheek. 

It's official, Keith hates this planet.

First, he has to sprint over a petrified lake as boiling geysers randomly shoot up from the ground; like some sick joke of an obstacle course. Next, Shiro gets attacked by the weird alien hyena-things and gets trapped in a small cave. Then, Keith has to launch himself across a canyon using said boiling geysers to save Shiro from being mauled alive. Oh, and Shiro lied about having a glowing wound from his fight with Haggar. A glowing purple wound.

Keith huffed out a breath, slumping back into the hard surface of a boulder. He’s always had trouble controlling his temper. Typically, he would go train in the training deck when he gets pissed off like this, but they are still on this god-forsaken planet. He clenched and unclenched his fists in rhythm with his breathing. In for four, out for four.

Shiro groaned beside him. His hand covered the wound on his hip so Keith never saw a good look at it. But with Shiro’s labored breathing and occasional winces, he can assume it hurts like a bitch.

The two Paladins have sat here, leaning against a small boulder, waiting for the Castle of Lions to arrive. Shiro needed a healing pod if that wound were to heal. They both watched the clear, pale blue sky but there were no signs of the castleship.

“Hey, Keith?” Shiro cocked his head to face Keith. “If I don’t make it out of this, I want you to pilot the Black Lion.”

Keith sharply turned his head to face Shiro, shocked, “Why would you even say that?! You’re making it out of this!” He snapped at him.

“Anything can happen out here.” Shiro chuckled in response, like he didn’t just drop that bombshell on Keith. “I trust you to pilot Black if anything happens to me.”

Keith blinked, staring at Shiro dumbfounded. He was glad that Shiro would trust him to lead Voltron but was mortified with the idea of replacing him if he, god forbid, died.

“Nothing’s going to happen to you.” Keith forced himself to relax, returning to leaning against the boulder. He crossed his arms against his chest, huffing out a breath. He glared idly up at the sky.

Shiro hummed, returning back to observing the sky. They sat shoulder-to-shoulder, waiting to be found by the Castle of Lions.

They didn’t have to wait long. A quick flash of light, like a twinkling star, appeared in the distance and suddenly the Castle of Lions was descending towards the planet’s surface.

Allura’s voice broke the silence, her voice flowing through their comm. channel, “Shiro, Keith, do you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Allura.” Shiro responded for them, wincing slightly as he moved to sit up straight. 

Keith added, “Our lions are down though. They’re going to need to be beamed up.”

“Yup, we know that!” Coran replied, “We had to retrieve the Green Lion using the tractorbeam! Breaking through the wormhole seemed to have diminished the majority of the lions’ energy.”

Keith sighed in relief, climbing up from the ground. He held his hand out to Shiro to help him stand up, “Come on, let's get off this shitty rock.”

Shrio gripped Keith’s hand, hoisting himself up from the ground with a loud groan. The wound hurt like a bitch. Keith draped Shiro’s arm over his shoulders and grabbed his waist, stabilizing him so he could walk with less pain. They slowly walked towards the castleship until they were beamed up in the teal tractorbeam.

Hunk has been sitting in the Yellow Lion, floating in an ocean, for the past several hours. It was beyond boring but it beats having to deal with the sea creatures prodding at his lion. The creatures looked like mermaids, humanoids with multicolor skin and an aquatic tail. They kept calling for him to leave the Yellow Lion, something about their planet being “Safe and Warm.” but Hunk wasn’t buying it. He’s read plenty of fairy tales, and these aliens look and act exactly like sirens. He wasn’t about to be eaten alive or drowned by fish ladies.

So, Hunk has been sitting still in his pilot’s seat ever since he crash landed on this planet. His eyes scanned the dark water, occasionally catching a mermaid looking back at him, before they eventually swam away.

Just, go to sleep Hunk, sleep until the others find you.

He kept his eyes tightly closed, leaning back into his seat uncomfortably. Hunk was desperately trying to take a nap, hoping to kill some time and so he wouldn’t have to see the sirens. He just had to wait a little bit longer, his friends would be here soon, and he would be saved from being drowned by alien mermaids. He was totally not freaked out.

Which means he totally did not jump out of his seat and crash onto the floor when his communicator chirped with Allura's voice.

“Hunk, can you hear me? The castle is right above the surface by your location.”

He winced, rubbing a tender spot on the small of his back where he hit the floor. “Yup, I hear ‘ya! Slight problem though, Yellow’s out of power. I’m kinda stuck down here.”

She responded, “We assumed so, all of the other lions were out of power when he rescued them. We’ll just pull you up with the tractorbeam and deal with the water.”

Within moments, Hunk was saved from his inevitable demise at the hands of alien mermaids. The Yellow Lion and his Paladin were pulled from the ocean by a bright teal beam of light and was deposited in the Castle’s hanger.

Allura sighed a breath of relief when Hunk walked into the bridge of the Castle. The other rescued Paladins sat in their respective seats, minus Shiro, who was unwillingly escorted to a healing pod, where he will be for the next few hours. 

“Alright, now to find Lance.” Coran spoke up, beginning to sift through the Castle’s seemingly endless amounts of data. “Allura, can you get a signature on the Blue Lion’s whereabouts?”

“Mhm! Just give me a few ticks…” She trailed off as she began skimming her large holographic map displayed in front of her. She searched for the familiar cobalt blue dot that represented the lion’s location. But, after a few moments, she realized he wasn’t in their portion of the map. 

“Hold on, he seems to have gone further than the rest of the Paladins. Let me expand the map.” 

The Paladins observed her actions, also looking for the blue dot from their side of the screen. Allura’s fingers grazed the map, sliding it around to search multiple sectors for Lance’s location. There was no blue dot on any of her maps.

“I believe there is something wrong with my map. Likely leftover interference from the wormhole.” Allura bit down panic, he had to be somewhere. “Pidge, can you find the Blue Lion’s location on any of your maps?”

“Yeah sure, give me a few seconds.” Pidge pulled up a neon green holographic map at his control station. Rather than manually searching for Lance’s coordinates, he inputted the Blue Lion’s signature code, which would logically guide Pidge directly to where they are. 

Except, the map led them nowhere.

Pidge’s eyes went wide before frantically typing on his keyboard. 

“That’s impossible…” He muttered, repeating the same actions hoping for a different outcome.

“What’s impossible? Is something wrong Pidge?” Allura turned her head to look down at Pidge and her heart dropped when she saw the panicked look on his face.

“Pidge? What’s wrong?”

“I can’t get a hold on Lance’s location. My map is saying he isn’t located anywhere in the known universe- which is like- impossible because he has to be somewhere!” Pidge nervously chuckled before returning back to his map. Still, receiving no location of the Blue Lion.

Hunk joined the search, pulling up his own map of the known universe on his control station, but was unable to find their location either.

Keith could only sit and watch as his teammates dived deeper into panic. They couldn’t find Lance.

Lance wasn’t anywhere in the known universe.

Chapter Text

Lance groaned and slowly cracked open his eyes. Sunlight instantly hit his retinas, causing him to pinch them closed with a wince. From what he briefly saw, he was no longer outside or in the Blue Lion. He was inside someone’s cabin laying in a bed of assorted furs. There was a tarp of sorts covering the ceiling and he was laid below a partially curtained window, that’s where the sunlight was seeping in from. He strictly remembers passing out in the snow, so how the fuck did he manage to get here?

He slowly opened his eyes again, allowing them to adjust to the light. Properly taking in his surroundings, Lance tried to figure out where he was. He was laying in a bed of furs, mostly shades of white and browns, underneath a small window covered by raggedy white curtains. At the foot of the bed was a large desk covered in assorted bottles and large books. It was accompanied with a large dining chair made out of tree limbs. Now that Lance was thinking about it, everything in this cabin was double the regular size it would be for him.

Lance propped himself up on his elbows and tried to sit up in the bed but flopped back down with a wince as a sharp pain pierced his skull. He definitely had a concussion. A throbbing pain echoes throughout his head whenever he tries to move. It feels like his brain got run through a washing machine.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, preparing to sit back up again, before being interrupted as a large creature burst through a door he didn’t notice. 

It scared the living shit out of him. 

Lance squeaked and almost launched himself out of the bed, crashing back into the headboard. He sat up, rigid and tense to hell, in the corner of the bed. His version swam as the pain increased tenfold due to the sudden movement and his ears rang.

An unexpected soothing voice called out to him, its voice low and quiet. “Do not move, it will only agitate your wounds.”

As the gray splotches hindering his vision faded away, Lance started to see what alien just scared the shit out of him and was now consoling him.

A very tall humanoid owl stood near the foot of the fur-covered bed. It had to be at least eight feet tall. Lance had to crank his head up to look at its face. It had pale beige and white feathers with pure black eyes and a small beak, eerily similar to a white barn owl from Earth. 

The owl-alien thing tilted its head to the side before speaking in a motherly voice, “How are you feeling, small one?” 

Lance is assuming he is the “small one”.

Rude.

“Fine. Who are you? Where am I?” His voice was raspy from misuse and thirst.

The owl, that’s just what Lance is going to call this thing until he learns their name, tilts its head in the opposite direction. 

“First, you need a drink.” The owl turned and silently walked out of the room, its tail feathers barely brushing against the ground, which he now sees is covered entirely in some kind of hay or straw.

Huh, like a bird’s nest.

It only took a few moments for the owl to return. Cradled between the joints of their wings, acting as their hands, is a wooden bowl with steam rising from it. It didn’t smell like anything in particular, just something warm for him to drink.

The owl approached the side of the bed, hovering above Lance’s slumped body. It held out the wooden bowl to him. Now because he could see their wings up close, there were small clawed talons on the ends of their wing bone.

“Drink. It will help keep you warm.”

Lance glared at the bowl. He, frankly, did not trust this bird. Yeah, he was thirsty, and they saved his life from freezing in the cold, but they’re still suspicious. 

Whatever

Lance gingerly took the bowl, making sure to glare intimidatingly at the owl in case they wanted to try something. The bowl was surprisingly smooth and incredibly warm. He shifted his hands around, making sure to grasp the bowl with only his fingertips, to avoid burning his hands entirely. He just realized that he didn’t have his armor’s gloves on and were instead replaced with wrapped bandages. 

Looking down at the liquid, he could tell it was some sort of broth or thin soup. It was a pale beige with floating bits of herb. It reminded him of potato-leek soup, minus the thicker consistency. 

It didn’t look or smell poisoned, but he still hesitated to bring it to his lips. 

“You must drink, you have been exhausted.” The owl spoke to him. Its voice was surprisingly soothing. He would’ve been scared by it but they were being kind to him.

Lance softly sighed before bringing the rim of the bowl to his lips. Tipping the bowl slightly towards him, he began to drink the warm liquid. 

It didn’t taste like much of anything. Bland and earthy. He was right, it was a broth of sorts. The broth soothed his body, flooding him with warmth, it was really nice. 

Lance drank the whole bowl with ease. He placed the empty wooden bowl in his lap before returning back to his questioning.

“Where am I? How long have I been out for?”

“You are on Kranis-11, and you have been resting for almost two rotations. I estimate you crashed three rotations ago.” It responded, not withholding any information.

Lance frowned, brows furrowing. He’s been unconscious for three days. His team hasn’t found him yet and it’s been three days. It wasn’t looking good for him if the Castleship wasn’t able to locate him yet. 

He moved on to his next question, “Who are you?”

“I am Sága.” The owl responded. “Who are you, small one ? ”

He sighed. There was no point in withholding information. The owl, Sága, saved his life and cared for him.

“I’m Lance. A paladin of Voltron.”

Sága tilted her head to the side, “What is a Voltron?”

Out of everything that has happened, that shocked him the most. He hasn’t met a single being that doesn’t know of Voltron to some degree.

“Voltron? Legendary Defender of the Universe? You’ve never heard of it?” He questioned.

Sága shook her head. “No, but it sounds impressive. You are a warrior?”

“A paladin.” He corrected her. “I pilot the Blue Lion.”

Speaking of Blue, where the hell is my lion?

“I crashed in the Blue Lion, where is she?” He questioned, worry flooding his voice.

“She is okay, resting. She is still at the crash site, not too far. You can go there soon. After you rest.” Sága responded.

Lance nodded and slumped back against the wall. He fiddled with the wrapped bandages around his fingers.

Sága noticed this, “You have frostbite from being in the cold. It is not severe but you mustn’t agitate your skin.”

Lance stopped messing with the bandages immediately. Wondering what other injuries he has, he questioned Sága, “What other injuries do I have?”

“Other than the frostbite on hands, you have minor frostbite on parts of your face, two broken ribs, and you are rattled.” She responded. 

“What does uh… rattled mean?” He wasn’t sure what that meant.

“You hit your head a few times during your crash. Your head has been rattled.”

Ah, a concussion, that makes sense.

“Mmm.” He hummed in response.

Sága grabbed the wooden bowl from Lance’s lap, turning to leave the room. “I know you want to visit your lion, but you need to rest, try to get some sleep.”

She left the room, quietly closing the door behind her, leaving Lance to his thoughts. 

He deeply exhaled and slumped down into the bed. Sága didn’t have to tell him twice, the bed was so warm . Plus, he could feel the soup radiating warmth in his body. He tucked the furs up to his chin as he settled into the bed. It tickled his nose, but he honestly didn’t give a fuck, he was tired.

He fell asleep quickly to the faint sound of wind rushing outside of the cabin. 

Lance spent the next few days on bed rest. Sága refused to let him leave his bed for unnecessary reasons. He was allowed to walk around the cabin, which is unexpectedly large, but mostly stayed in bed. His ribs hurt like hell, digging into his lungs with every deep breath, so he didn’t exert himself.

He was weaned off the broth only diet. Thankfully, the taste of the food improved. Seriously, her cooking was starting to rival his mom’s. Him and Sága began eating meals together after his first day of recovery. It was pretty awkward at first, but him and Sága became friends pretty quickly. It was impossible to not become friends with Lance.

A few days after he woke up, his bandages were removed.

“I’m surprised you did not sustain worse injuries.” Sága spoke while unwrapping the bandages around his fingers.

“What do you mean?” Lance responded, glancing up at her towering down. She was still at least two feet taller than him while sitting down. 

“That day I found you was one of the coldest nights of the season. Your body anatomy is not made for those freezing temperatures. You should not have survived, yet alone not withstand serious frostbite.” 

Lance blinked, surprised by that response, but didn’t make a verbal reply. She was right, he wasn’t made for the cold. The reason why he survived had to be because of his armor and flight suit. That’s how he doesn’t freeze to death in the vacuum of space anyways.

She finished unwrapping his hands. His fingers were still faintly pink, covered in almost healed frostbite and scratches. The cold air stung his fingers the moment they were uncovered. He tucked his hands under the fur blanket to regain the lost warmth. 

Sága balled up the bandages and threw them away in a nearby bin. She stood up from where she was sitting on the ledge of the bed, heading towards the door. Before leaving, she turned to look at Lance.

“You are healed enough to leave my shelter. You still cannot exert yourself, your ribs are aggravated, so no rigorous activity.” She paused, seemingly reading Lance’s mind. “We can return to your lion this afternoon.”

Sága turned and left the room, quietly closing the door behind her. She didn’t see Lance beam a large smile from his pile of furs.

Lance shuffled out from the bundle of furs. He was still wearing his Paladin’s armor, just with his helmet discarded on the desk and his gloves removed. They got torn up during his crash, which was how the cold seeped in to give him frostbite. Lance slid on his gloves anyways. He could just ask Sága for clean bandages to wrap his hands to properly insulate them. 

He grabbed his helmet and tucked it under his arm before following Sága. It was about time for him to properly see this planet. 

Once he walked out the front door, he was hit with a wave of pure cold. Wind chill slapped him in the face, causing him to shrink into himself. He quickly put on his helmet and activated his full visor, blocking out the cold. He couldn’t do anything for his hands, so he shoved them under his armpits. It worked well enough.

“Sága?” He called out to the giant owl. He couldn’t see her nearby, probably because the entire shelter was draped in a thick layer of white fog. He could only see around ten feet in front of him. 

“I’m here!” He heard her chirp somewhere in front of him from the fog. 

It took a few seconds for him to see her towering figure emerge from the fog. She held a large basket between her wings, filled with some kind of straw and various kinds of herbs. She was smiling, or was showing her own kind of smile. The feathers around her small beak crinkled up like smile lines. 

“Come, I have something to show you.” She walked past him, towards the back of her home, expecting Lance to follow her.

He followed her after glancing at where she came from. His boots crunched in the snow as he followed Sága. It was thin, only an inch or two deep, and packed tight. Now he can take in the details of her home. It had a straw roof with a stone chimney in the back corner. The walls were made with a dark brown, almost black, wood, with stacked logs on top of each other like a log cabin. 

After a few minutes of silence, Sága spoke, “I am a farmer and healer- well, you already knew that I’m a healer.” She really sucked a small talk.

They stopped in front of what Lance would describe as a large chicken coop. It was made almost the same way Sága’s house was, just miniature. 

She turned to look down at Lance, that same smile on her face, “I raise Kirsi, a native animal to Kranis-11.” 

She propped the woven basket on her hip as she unlocked the door of the coop. As she did so, various loud chirps erupted from behind the door. They reminded him of songbirds. 

Sága shifted the basket back into her small hands as she nudged the door open. She ducked low to enter the coop while Lance followed her in with ease. The chirping increased ten-fold as the Kirsi saw the food in Sága’s basket. 

When Lance saw the creatures living in the coop, his heart literally melted. The Kirsi looked like a mix of a robin, or some other brown songbird, and a fox-like cat. They were around the size of a small dog, like a beagle, and were built similarly to them too. They had four limbs like a dog’s but they were bird legs with small talons. For ears, they were just two long feathers sticking up like rabbit ears. Their feathers, which looked more like fur, were mixed with browns, copper orange, and white. And, of course, they had wings too.

Kirsi are fucking adorable.

The interior of the coop looked almost identical to a chicken coop. It had three rows of nests on the left and right walls, concealed within boxes of stacked wood. On the wall at the far end of the coop, were various pegs and shelves, sort of like a cat-tree but for birds. The floor of the coop was covered in a thickly packed layer of straw.

Scattered among the coop, in nests, gathered on ledges, or resting on the floor were the Kirsi. They all watched Sága and Lance walk into the coop, with mixed expressions of joy for seeing their caretaker and curiosity of the newcomer. 

Sága propped her basket up on her hip as she walked farther into the coop, her tail feathers disturbing the straw behind her. She reached into her basket and grabbed a handful of herbs and grain, scattering it on the floor in front of her. The Kirsi quickly gathered in front of her, jumping down or rising from their seats. Their chirps died down as they began to eat their feed.

Sága continued to spread the feed across the floor of the coop as Lance watched. He was just awestruck with how freaking adorable they are. They reminded him of a songbird and a cat at the same time. 

“They’re quite cute, aren’t they?” She spoke up from where she was hunched over her basket. 

“Yeah! Can I pet them?” He really wanted to lay on the floor and let them swarm him. 

“Of course. Avoid the talons though, they’re quite sharp.” She responded, continuing to feed the Kirsi. 

Lance beamed and quickly knelt down to pet the closest Kirsi. He tried to pet the top of its head, but it scurried away before he made contact. He frowned, heartbroken. 

“Introduce yourself to them first, they’re not used to visitors.” Sága somehow knew that Lance got rejected by the Kirsi regardless of having her back turned to them.

He nodded before turning back to the Kirsi. He held his hand out to it, palm up, like he was introducing himself to a cat. 

The creature gingerly sniffed his hand. It’s beak poked his hand but not enough to hurt. This Kirsi was considerably smaller than the others, likely one of the youngest out of the flock. The majority of its feathers were white and pale beige with dark copper on the tips. It reminded Lance of a white barn owl, just like Sága. A much smaller and adorable Sága.

The small Kirsi nuzzled its head into Lance’s palm. Its feathers, well- it felt more like fur, was so fucking soft. He scratched its scruff, a grin forming on his face. 

I have been chosen!

He continued to pet the small Kirsi, shifting to sit on the coop’s floor. The Kirsi moved closer to Lance and nuzzled his knee. Its ears twitched whenever his fingers brushed past them.

At some point Sága finished feeding the Kirsi. She turned around and hovered over Lance and the small creature.

“That one likes you.” She commented.

“That’s no surprise, at home I’m known as “the cat whisperer”.” He replied, smirking.

Sága’s head tilted, it was just a thing she did whenever she was curious or confused. “What is a cat?”

He had to think for a few moments, “Uhmmm… a small feline that humans keep as pets.” 

Sága hummed in response. “Kirsi are kept as companions as well, but they are not friendly. It takes a deep level of trust between the caretaker and Kirsi. But… it seems this one instinctively trusts you.”

Lance beamed as the Kirsi moved fully into his lap and nuzzled into his thigh. His hand brushed its flank, making sure to avoid its wings.

“Like I said, cat whisperer, but I guess I’m a Kirsi whisperer too.” He smiled down at the little creature. It was roughly the size of a house cat and was acting like one too.

“That one is the youngest out of the flock. She was born a little over a moon ago. The only one out of her litter too.” Sága spoke down to Lance.

He hummed, “Does she have a name?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I name them once they’re older. When their personalities start to show.”

He nodded in response, silently petting the small Kirsi.

Sága sighed before standing up straight, heading towards the exit. “It’s almost sunhigh, I’m going to go prepare for our journey. I recommend you do the same and not sit in here all day.”

It's like she knew that Lance planned on sitting in the coop and letting the Kirsi swarm him. He deeply sighed and nudged the formerly asleep Kirsi off his lap. It grumbled and returned to whichever nest it lived in.

Lance stood up with a groan, dusting straw and grime off his armor, and followed Sága out of the coop.

Even when Kranis-11’a singular pale blue sun was at its highest, it was still unbelievably cold. 

Lance kept his visor fully closed and tightened the bandage wrappings on his hands, attempting to keep out the wind chill. His suit was meant to keep out the cold vacuum of space, but there were minor tears around his hands, which compromised his whole suit’s integrity. He’ll figure out how to fix it, hopefully. For now, the wrappings did enough.

Sometime when Lance was unconscious, a blizzard blew through this section of the planet. The snow outside of Sága’s homestead was piled high and packed thick in rolling shimmering white dunes. Some of the mounds were taller than Lance but most of them only reached his chest. 

The fog thinned out as the day proceeded, allowing Lance to see around fifty feet ahead of him. There wasn’t much to see though, this planet felt like one giant liminal space. Nothing but almost pure white snow, spindly black trees that looked more like elongated twigs, and the occasional bushel of foliage. Sága was leading them through the dense forest surrounding her homestead, weaving between the trees with practiced ease. The Blue Lion was only a few miles into the forest

But with this insane amount of densely packed snow, maneuvering between the trees, and fighting off the wind chill, Lance was exhausted.

Sága moved with ease through the snow, carving a thin path that Lance was following her in. She cut through the snow like it was nothing to her. Which, it likely was, the snow only went up to her waist while Lance was practically drowning in it. He would have been freezing his ass off if he wasn’t wearing his Paladin’s armor, which Sága made sure to ask about.

“Your armor fascinates me, who manufactured it?” She spoke over her shoulder, not tearing her gaze away from their surroundings.

He shrugged before realizing she couldn’t see it, “I don’t know, it was just with my Lion.”

She quietly hummed, an acknowledgement. It was barely heard over the whispers of Kranis-11’s somehow constant breeze.

And, over the calls of the Kirsi.

To Lance, they sounded like a mixture of a bird’s chirp and a bark. Well, it sounded like a chirp, but the mannerism was like a bark. 

Sága brought four Kirsi with them on their short journey to the Blue Lion. Apparently, they’re one of the apex predators of this planet. Sága explained to Lance that while Kirsi are typically considered farm animals, and are kept to harvest their eggs and insulating feathers, they’re also talented hunters and amazing companions. They’re like space beagles!

Oh, and apparently, they don’t sink in the snow. Their bones are hollow like birds, which makes sense, because they are kinda part bird.

Man, Kirsi are so weird.

The small group of Kirsi pranced along the surface of the snow. One of the smaller ones, a tan and bright copper Kirsi, was flying several feet above Sága and Lance while the rest kept close to them. They observed their surroundings intently, twisting their ears and sniffing foliage, as the group maneuvered through the forests. The Kirsi chirp-barked to each other, communicating with each other.

It’s official, Lance’s favorite animal is now a Kirsi.

Tearing his gaze away from the Kirsi, Lance peered through the trees as a familiar saturated blue started to seep through the fog. They were still far away from the Blue Lion, she was a speck of blue in the dense fog, but the sight of her brought a smile to his face.

A familiar chill seeped into his bones but not from the piss-poor weather. Blue was finally able to reconnect to her paladin. Her exhaustion from the crash rendered her, in her own special way, unconscious just like her pilot was. Lance was a small speck in the distance but she was overjoyed regardless to see him once again.

It took several antagonizing long minutes for the party to reach the lion. The Kirsi bounced and flew ahead to snoop out Blue but quickly disregarded her once realizing she’s purely made out of metal and not some giant animal. They sauntered around her surroundings instead, ignoring the Blue Lion.

Lance quickly picked up his pace as he jogged towards his lion. It was more tumbling than a jog because he kept tripping through the snow but nothing was going to keep him away from his lion anymore. 

He rushed past Sága, who chuckled while watching Lance stumble around in the snow like a toddler learning how to walk. Lance tumbled into Blue’s snout, which nestled in the snow while she laid on her side. A sharp thud rang out in the clearing as Lance connected with her nose. 

Blue chuckled, which cascaded through his mind. He missed communicating with her so much. Lance extended his arms and tried hugging her snout, which ended in failure as he is minuscule compared to her. He patted his hand against her smooth metal, which was covered in a thin layer of frost and snow, and began to flake off with each pat.

I missed you, Blue.

Blue’s response echoed through his mind, I missed you too, Lance.

Lance sighed and stepped away from his lion, turning over his shoulder to speak to Sága, “So uhm… Sága, this is Blue.” He pointed with his thumb at Blue.

“Pleasure to uhm… meet you?” Sága stared up in awe at the Blue Lion, her almost purely black eyes were unnaturally wide. She had heard her rumbles and was totally not scared shitless of the sentient robot lion. 

Blue gave a short rumble as a response, causing loose snow on top of her to slide off in clumps. 

Lance turned back around and patted her snout once more, glancing up at her snow coating “I’ll get you all cleaned up in no-time.”

He took several steps back, still tripping over himself. He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Sága, or as close to shoulder-to-shoulder as possible, considering she is at least two feet taller than him. The two of them gazed up at the giant lion as the Kirsi continued snooping around the clearing.

Lance sighed, “I’ll check out whatever leftover damage has been left unhealed but she will be able to fly soon- likely tomorrow, honestly.”

Sága hummed, “So, you will be departing soon?”

“Yeah, I have to.” Lance exhaled sharply out his nose, fogging up his helmet. “I need to get back to my team…”

He cut himself off, “Not that you aren’t super nice though! Like seriously, I can’t thank you enough for helping me- but I really need to get back home.”

Lance ignored the tinge of pain he felt when he referred to the Castleship as home rather than Earth. He turned his head sharply to look up at Sága, “I’ll… really miss you.”

Sága tilted her head down to gaze at Lance, one of her signature smiles plastered on her face, “I’ll miss you too, Lance. I understand your need to return home. I know your team misses you.”

Lance didn’t respond to that final statement, instead forcing a grin of his own. He doubts that he is missed. The Blue Lion is necessary to Voltron, not him.

Blue growled at Lance’s self-deprecating thought, which is sadly becoming commonplace. No matter what she says, Lance is still insecure, and it pisses her off. The growl played through his mind, it wasn’t a literal growl, just through their bond. 

Lance frowned , Sorry, sorry. Didn’t mean to make you upset.

Lance sighed and turned to face Sága once again, “I need to run diagnostics on her systems to make sure she can fly. You guys can head back, I have the path charted.” He waved his wrist, gesturing to the map he created on a small holographic screen wrapped around it.

She nodded, “Be back before nightfall, then. Don’t be late, I’m cooking dinner.”

“Got it.” He responded with a nod of his own.

Without acknowledging, Sága turned and whistled to the Kirsi, summoning them to her side as she departed through their previous path. They trotted on the surface of the snow, staying close to her, seemingly acting as protectors.

Huh, so they can be trained like that too? They really are space beagles.

Lance hummed as he turned back to his lion and squeezed through the crack behind her jaws. He maneuvered up to her cockpit, having to dodge pieces of debris, but at least nothing was sparking anymore.

By quickly booting up her systems to run a few diagnostics, Lance was able to gauge his lion’s condition. Blue is rested and no longer in pain but low on power. She would not be able to reach full speed or travel for too long without recharging with a Balmera Crystal. Which wouldn't be that big of a problem if they were nearby the Castleship, but Lance still has no idea where they are or where Voltron is.

Lance would just need to ask Sága some questions over dinner.

The rust colored soup bubbled in the cauldron where it hung above the chimney fire. It cascaded an aroma of earthy herbs that Lance has learned to associate with Sága’s cooking. The steam from the pot joined the smoke from the fire as it swirled up the chimney. Bits of chopped vegetables and meat bobbed in the orange opaque liquid.

Lance rested his chin on his forearms where they were crossed over the dining table. He was staring intently at the soup boiling across the room, fighting the urge to drool all over himself. Sága is a close second to the best chef he has ever met. Number one is reserved for his Máma and Hunk, they have to share that title because otherwise he’ll feel bad. 

Sága drifted into his field of vision as she maneuvered around the table to the cauldron. She hunched her massive form over as she stirred the soup with an overused wooden spoon. It felt oddly familiar, like if his abuela was brewing a pot of chicken noodle soup for a sick little Lance, but his grandmother was instead a giant owl-harpy that dragged him unconscious out of a blizzard. 

Sága hummed an unknown tune as she observed her soup. The slow, rhythmic stirring of the brew followed the tempo of her hum. It was captivating and Lance’s mind was now not just focused on the soup but now the quiet song. He bobbed his head to the tune while watching Sága cook.

At some point his eyes closed because his eyelids shot open when a wooden bowl was placed in front of his face. It was followed closely by a chipped ladle pouring a hefty serving of soup. Lance smiled and quickly picked his head up, moving his hands to grip the bowl eagerly. He waited for Sága to pour her own serving before even considering beginning to eat. His mom ingrained basic manners into his head since he was a little kid, claiming “You never know when you’ll be invited to the White House!” every time he questioned it.

Sága poured her own serving before depositing the ladle back in the cauldron. She cradled the steaming bowl between her talons as she nestled back onto her seat, the rickety old chair creaked under the new weight. 

She sighed as she placed the bowl on the table, turning her attention to Lance. Her eyebrows, or eye-feather-brows, pinched as a worried look plastered her face. “Before you start your journey home, there are some matters we need to discuss.”

Lance had shoveled a spoonful of soup into his mouth and quickly chomped on the diced vegetables. He made eye contact as he gulped down his mouthful, sensing that this was not going to be a pleasant conversation. 

“Uhhh sure, what’s up?” He spoke, his voice slightly wavering.

“As you know, Kranis-11 has a hostile environment. But this is a universal trait for the majority of systems in the Null Sector.”

Lance hummed and nodded, making sure to retain any information Sága presents him.

“In addition to that, time here works differently.”

Now that, piqued Lance’s interest.

“Compared to the rest of the universe, time in Null Sector runs significantly faster. Roughly seven quintents for us is only a singular quintent for them.”

Seven days here is one day for them. Shit.

Lance’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline as he abandoned his spoon to his neglected bowl of soup. “Is that why my team hasn’t come for me yet? Should I stay?”

Sága sighed as her shoulders dropped, “Sadly, not…” her voice trailed off for a few moments before continuing, which only made Lance more concerned, “Null Sector is physically separated from the rest of the universe.”

Brief silence descended between the duo before Sága continued, “Null Sector is surrounded by a barrier of radiation which physically separates us from the universe. Very few kinds of aircraft are able to pass through and neither can most signals. Which means, no contact to the outside. It is also the reason for the time dilation.”

Lance’s heart plummeted to his stomach as he stared intently into the swirling contents of his soup. He lost his appetite.

Sága broke his trance, “All is not lost, though.”

His eyes darted up to face her, waiting for her to speak.

“ You were able to pass through the barrier when you crashed into Kranis-11.”

“I came through a wormhole though? I was thrown into the middle of Null Sector instead of flying through the barrier?” He asked while straightening his posture, at some point of their conversation he started hunching over his bowl.

“Does not matter.” She replied, “The passage of the wormhole passed through the barrier and then you traveled through it. You did pass through the barrier, which means you can do it again.”

Lance almost cut her off, “How?”

She answered his question, ignoring his impatience, “There are a few pulsars, or weak points in the barrier, where ships can travel through. You traveled through one when you crash landed. Track your trajectory and you’ll find what pulsar you came through.”

Lance nodded, giving a silent acknowledgement.

“I will warn you though, your journey will take a long time. The pulsars are located on the far side of the sector. It is extremely unfortunate that you landed here and not a closer planet.” Her voice was laced in concern.

Lance groaned and dropped his head onto the table. His forehead rested against the edge as he mumbled, “How long will it take me to get there?”

“Deca-phoebs…” Sága trailed off in thought, “Unless you have help.”

Lance tilted his head up to look at Sága, his chin digging into the rough wood of the table. He raised a brow, waiting for her to continue.

Sága reached around and slid open a drawer from a desk behind her. She reached in and hesitated, her talons wrapped around some object. A moment passed and Sága pulled the object from the drawer and passed it to Lance.

It was a badge. A tall four-pointed star overlapping another four-pointed star. It was elongated, taller than it was wide, with the star beneath rising between the divets of the top star. It reminded Lance of cheap fake-gold jewelry. It was chipped with age, the gold coating flaking up in some parts to reveal a rough gray metal.

“What is this?” Lance asked, turning the star in his hand. It was oddly light regardless of its composition.

Sága sighed, her voice wistful, “My old insignia. Or well, my old badge.”

She hummed as she looked down at the star, “It’s the symbol of The Rebellion of the Golden Star.” Her talon grazed the edge of one point.

Sága began to explain, “The Rebellion of the Golden Star- or really just the Rebellion for short- was formed many deca-phoebs ago. There’s been many resistances since the Galra Empire started to invade Null Sector but it took the birth of the Golden Star to unify us.” 

Lance nodded, showing her that he was still listening.

She continued, “There are not many stars in Null Sector, which is why our interstellar temperatures are so low. When a new star is born, it’s a monumental event, almost fantastical. The Golden Star was born in the darkest days of the war. The Galra were invading, planets were falling to colonization… It was a terrible time.” 

She hummed, a smile growing on her previously solemn face, “But when the star was born, it proved that light still shines in the darkest of places. It sparked revolution across the whole sector. The resistances united under the rebellion and we named ourselves after the star that inspired it.”

Lance had sat up straight during her explanation and raised an eyebrow, practically begging for her to continue.

Sága smiled wistfully, “I used to be a rebel, but I've long since retired. It’s been many deca-phoebs.” She sighed, “I was a combat-medic.”

She pointed to the star, tapping it with her talon, “This is my badge, and I want you to have it.”

Lance placed the badge hastily on the table, “I can’t, it’s yours!”

Sága shook her head, “I don’t know if retirement means something different to you, but I’m not a rebel anymore. You need help to get to the pulsars and the rebellion will help you.”

She grabbed the badge and placed it in Lance’s hands, wrapping his fingers around it. Her talons grasped his hands gently. “If you want to go home, you will need the rebels' help.”

She slowly pulled her hands away from Lance’s, revealing the badge to him. He stared down and studied every chip and notch on it. His hands tightly grasped it, the sharp points of the star digging into his palms. 

Lance nodded, looking back up at Sága. She smiled proudly down at him, like she just passed on a precious family heirloom down to her son. 

“So uh, how do I put it on?” Lance chuckled as he questioned.

She answered, “It’s magnetic to almost every kind of metal, just hold it to your shoulder-guard and it’ll attach automatically.” 

Lance did as she instructed. He lifted the badge and hovered it to his shoulder-guard, off to the side like an armband’s symbol. It was quickly pulled to the metal plate and attached with a quiet thunk.

Lance gently smiled as he felt the badge connect to his armor. He barely felt the added weight, it wouldn’t affect him at all in combat, thankfully. “Thank you, Sága. Seriously, I cannot thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me.”

She shook her head, “There is no need to thank me, you needed help. To refuse to help a defender of the universe would be asking for the Gods to strike me down.” She chuckled.

“Of course I would have helped you anyways, regardless of your profession or my faith.”

Lance smiled as he finally returned to his neglected soup. It significantly cooled down during their conversation, steam no longer rising from the bowl. That wouldn’t hinder Lance though as he tore back into his dinner, shoveling the delicious soup into his mouth. 

Sága began eating her own meal as well, but with much less vigor. The duo ate in comfortable silence, the only sounds present being the scrapping of their spoons against the wooden bowls and the rush of wind outside of Sága’s home.

The peaceful silence remained throughout the rest of the evening and into the night, the only words shared being a quick, “Goodnight.”, as they both retired to bed. Neither one of them wanted to acknowledge that Lance was leaving tomorrow.