Chapter Text
"Hey." Keith touched my shoulder very gently. I was standing in exactly the same place as I had been, but by the looks of it, several days had passed. Keith was unshaven and looked exhausted. He had these massive dark circles under his eyes, and his lips were dry and cracked.
"Are you ok?" he asked me.
Was I ok? Had he seen himself?
"It looks like that nebula shot us out halfway across the universe," Allura told us.
"Then where are we?" I brushed Keith's arm off, and pulled up a map of the system on the monitor.
"It looks like..." Pidge mumbled, "I recognise these constellations! This is Earth's galaxy! It's The Milky way!"
I looked out at the glittering, spiralling formation of stars. I could see why it was called The Milky way, with the white glow that the stars collectively gave off. It was... gorgeous. Not to mention the way it dramatically improved everyone's mood.
"We're home."
The Paladins piloted Voltron towards Planet Earth, eager to see their home once again.
"Dad, it's Pidge, do you copy?" she said into her coms. "We're back in Earth's solar system l, and we're heading home now."
There was a crackle through the receiver, followed by Samuel Holt's voice, "To any beings who receive this message, Planet Earth has been overrun by the Galra. Most of the citizens have been captured. Those remaining of us are making our last stand. If you get this message, please get word to Voltron. We need help."
With Earth overrun by Galra, it was not the brightest idea to just fly straight in, guns freaking blazing, in the Lions. So, instead, we hid them on a nearby moon, and crammed the lot of us in a tiny Galra battle craft. That way, we could fly through and land without anyone thinking anything weird was happening.
I had seen the Paladin's memories of earth, but the place where we landed looked nothing like it. The city that we crash landed near was desolate. It had been pummeled by several ion blasts; whole buildings were demolished, dust rose in blankets through the air. And it was so so quiet.
We stayed as a group, moving as discreetly as possible. Lance lead the group, with his weapon pointed. I hung close by Keith, listening out for anything alive near us. But there was nothing.
Cars were destroyed. Families who had tried to leave and been stopped in their tracks, the door ripped off, their belongings left behind.
Then I heard a buzzing, and saw a drone hovering a few feet away. Before I could even open my mouth, it began firing. Then, came another one, also firing at us.
"Take cover," Lance yelled, and I ducked inside a building. Hunk started firing back, but they were too small to hit with any accuracy. Lance was the most accurate shot out of all of us.
"I'll distract it!" Keith shouted, looking at him, "You take the shot."
He voiced what everyone was thinking. Don't miss.
I watched through a broken window, as Keith hopped over the car, and into the view of the drones. Immediately, they locked on to him, and gave Lance the chance to fire. And he hit them with stellar accuracy.
"Pudge, any way we can see those before they get to us?" I asked. I looked at her, to see her already typing in code in her display.
"We've got four more coming our way."
With perfect timing, they arrived like that, but this time it was soldiers, walking towards us. I raised my gun to fire, when a vehicle sped towards us, driving a Galran into a wall.
"What?"
Another vehicle arrived, and a human male stepped out, roughly the same age as Lance and Hunk. He had a very different gun compared to us, and it seemed to pulverise the Galran armour. He was joined by four more Humans, all with similar weapons and matching orange and white uniforms.
Keith was not pleased about the assistance.
"The drones send out distress signals when attacked," the first male said, "Our weapons neutralise those signals. So unless you want a swarm of those things, you better let us help."
We climbed in the vehicles with them, and they took us to the Galaxy Garrison. From what I knew of the place, it was where the Paladins had trained on earth. It was a bit like a school. But not like the school I went to.
There was a crowd of humans waiting for us when we got there. Several of them were wearing different kind of uniforms, but most were just wearing clothes. Earth had weird fashion. Pidge let out a gasp of joy.
Mum and dad.
I smiled.
She practically flew herself out of the... truck when it parked. She might be actually flew out, she was so excited. Her mum wrapped her in the tightest hug I'd ever seen.
"Lance!" a voice yelled out, and I followed the voice. Two children came running to him, screaming his name. I saw tears in his eyes as he fell to his knees, wrapping them in a hug.
Hunk, however, seemed a little sad. He was thinking of his own family, who weren't here. Sam Holt, could tell, so he placed a hand on his shoulder.
Keith was the last to step out of the vehicle, he seemed extremely hesitant. I knew the Garrison didn't hold the best memories for him, but still. It was Earth. I stood stoically beside him, though I could feel some eyes focusing on me. I looked different.
Shiro introduced me, along with Allura, Romelle, and Coran to one of the commanders. I smiled and reached out to shake his hand. I could tell he hesitated, even though he showed no physical signs of it. He shook it anyway.
"Cadet!" He said, turning to Keith, who immediately stood at attention. "I owe you an apology. I was wrong about you. It's an honour and privilege to see you again."
They shared a tender moment, and a handshake.
Inside, I was treated by a physician, who was absolutely fascinated by my markings. And then even more fascinated by my tattoos. I was given the all clear, and an orange uniform. There was to be a debriefing in forty minutes. I didn't know how long that was, so I went to find Keith, to stick around him.
I found him sitting outside on a bench.
"Hello," I sighed, sitting down next to him.
Keith smiled at me, "hey."
"Earth is very pretty," I found myself saying. Keith didn't answer me. It used to be prettier.
I followed his eyes; he was staring out into the desert.
"It reminds me of home," I admitted. "I have seen that not all of Earth is like this, but this place looks so much of Kibi."
Keith nodded, "Do you miss Kibi?"
"Did you miss Earth?"
Yes, and no.
"I understand." I gingerly touched his hand. He smiled.