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The galra ship in front of them exploded as Voltron’s sword sliced through the hull to the engine core, and Keith braced himself against the back of his seat as the blast rattled Red. The two on their left exploded just as spectacularly, and Lance cheered as the castle finally joined them above the atmosphere, guns blazing. The remaining two battleships began to recall their fighters, readying for a hyperspace jump, but Hunk’s bayard produced a shoulder canon and they crippled those bastards with one shot each. The purple hulks began to fall towards the planet, where the locals would be waiting armed and ready, and Keith groaned as Voltron disintegrated into five individual robots.
“How long have we been up?” Lance yawned, and Keith resisted the urge to follow suit even as Pidge and Hunk’s yawns echoed over the comms.
“We’ve been in our Lions for about thirty hours.” Pidge sounded, somehow, none the worse for wear. Keith was chalking that up to their experience with pulling all-nighters.
“Well, I’m wiped.” Hunk groaned.
“Can’t wait to get home and crash.” Keith agreed.
“We all need to sleep.” Shiro said as the rest of the team fell quiet. “Pidge, you’re the most alert, so you’ll check in with Allura and Coran.”
“Sure thing. But after that, I need a nap.”
There was silence as they glided towards the hangar bay doors, and Keith was mostly letting Red drive because it had been almost two days since he slept and he didn’t want to do anything stupid like crash into a wall. The landing went without incident, and Keith pulled his helmet off as soon as Red’s paws were on the floor. The way to the Paladins’ Quarters was familiar by now, but as he approached his door he frowned.
“Lance, your room is down there.” he pointed towards Lance’s door, further down the hall, but the Blue Paladin just looked at him. “Look, I’m too tired for any of your rivalry bullshit right now.” Keith shouldered Lance aside, and unlocked his door with a tap of his bayard against the panel.
“You said home.” Lance said quietly, so subdued that Keith couldn’t help but take note.
He paused with one foot in his room, and turned to squint at Lance. “Yes?” where was the Blue Paladin going with this?
“Did you really not care about Earth?” Lance sounded almost hurt, and Keith sighed.
“Let’s talk tomorrow, when we’re not both dead on our feet.” he stepped fully into his room, and shut the door in Lance’s face. It locked with a gentle hiss and click, and Keith tossed his helmet aside before peeling off his flight suit. The bed was neatly made, as he’d left it, and he flopped down on top of the sheets with a groan. Fuck Zarkon, and the Empire, and all their goddamn robots. If those little ships had been piloted by living, breathing galra then the dogfight wouldn’t have lasted half as long and they could’ve gotten right to busting up the battleships.
Tomorrow Lance would ask him again why the castle of lions was more his home than Earth, and he’d have to answer. Earth had never felt like home. Not when he was a little kid being bounced from foster family to foster family, not when he was a cadet at the Galaxy Garrison, not when he was out in the desert chasing a pull on his soul that he’d only ever felt before from the stars. Earth may have their homes, street addresses and families and a lifetime of memories, but it had never had his.