It would always haunt her in her sleep, the constant hum of the Galaxy Garrison's particle barrier. She'd spent years trying to drown out the sound, trying to cover her ears and draw upon some faint recollection of what it was like to lay in silence. It was only with a modicum of resentment that she'd eventually learned to embrace it, the incessant drone that crooned of protection from the Galra.
But to the light, she had never adjusted, and the fiery dome that enveloped the Garrison kept her awake most nights. The girl she once was would have complained, would have tacked up sheets to block the glow from her windows. Who she was now didn't care; hacking into the comms tower and scouring through transmissions was more important than shutting her eyes for a few hours.
To Aiko, at least.
Adam, her brother's boyfriend-fiancé-whatever they were now that Shiro had been missing for so long, hadn't been nearly as enthused when Commander Iverson had woken him in the middle of the night, beating on their stateroom door and demanding that Aiko return the classified jump-drive she'd swiped from Sam Holt's office.
She had thought that he'd finally had enough, that Adam would finally break his last promise to Shiro about looking after her and would boot her from the home they shared. It was empty in Shiro's absence, a void in which they lived and breathed and occasionally murmured a quiet greeting. Aiko was never meant to be Adam's responsibility, just a temporary guardian until Shiro had returned from the Kerberos mission.
But all he had done was shake his head and take away Aiko's laptop, stowing it beneath his own pillow so that Aiko had no chance of reclaiming it. He'd given it back yesterday morning, grumbling about a sore neck and that Aiko's true punishment was to run drills in the Garrison's flight simulators.
It was not a punishment, not really. Not when Aiko loved to fly, when she aspired to beat the records previously set by her older brother. Adam himself had come close, but he couldn't maneuver his fighters with quite the same ease that Shiro had always had while flying. But Aiko could, and she had stopped herself from shattering Shiro's records if only because he wasn't there to see it.
Aiko's bedroom light flicked on. She blanched, squinting against the harsh florescent glow as the metal door sealing her inside the room slid open on a motorized track. "What are you still doing up?" Adam asked, crossing his arms as he leaned against the threshold. He nodded to her laptop with a raised eyebrow. "I know you're not hacking back into the comms tower when Iverson threatened to sacrifice you to the Galra last night."
She closed her computer with a gentle click and set it aside. "No," Aiko said. "Of course not."
Adam lumbered into the room, dressed in cadet-orange pajamas that hung from his lithe frame. "Aiko," he sighed, sitting himself on the edge of her bed. He took her laptop and placed it on her nightstand. "I check the transmissions every night before I leave the comms tower. If we'd received any word on Voltron, I would tell you."
The cadet bowed her head, fiddling with a loose thread that dangled from the sleeve of her shirt. Aiko stuffed her thumb through the hole she'd torn there. "But what if we miss an incoming message in the middle of the night?" She asked. "What if Shiro reaches out to us, and—"
"Someone's always monitoring the comms," Adam told her, his voice a gentle rasp. "And every officer in this Garrison is under strict orders to wake me first should they receive any word from the Paladins."
"It's been six years, Adam. Four since we last heard from Voltron, and six since we last saw Shiro."
Adam swept a hand through his sleep-mused hair, the mousy brown strands in total disarray until he smoothed them back from his face. "I miss him too, Aiko. More than you realize. You aren't the only one who loves him."
She tilted her head at him. "You don't wear your ring anymore."
"It's against regulation," Adam murmured, thumbing the empty spot on his ring finger. His skin there was still faded, still pale from the silver band he used to wear before… everything.
"That never stopped you before."
Another sigh escaped him, his shoulders appearing to cave in around him. He looked smaller, more vulnerable than Aiko had ever seen him. "Please," Adam said quietly. "Don't start this again. You know I love Takashi. But that ring, Aiko… It's only a reminder that he left."
Left him, he did not say. Adam had sworn not to wait around for Shiro if he chose to go on the Kerberos mission, and he hadn't. But that was before Shiro had gone missing, before the Galra had taken him prisoner and before he'd suddenly become a Paladin of Voltron.
Aiko tugged her knees into her chest, her dark hair spilling like a vat of black ink over her shoulders. "He left me too, you know. I didn't want him going on that mission, either. Part of me thinks he only did it because Admiral Sanda told him it was too dangerous." Shadows dinned her eyes. "That disease he has, the one that effects his muscles…"
"It's likely progressed over the years," Adam said. He often did not sugarcoat things for her. "But Shiro is strong, and you seen that metal arm he has now. I don't think a human disease can damage Galran steel. Even our weapons can barely put a dent in it."
The metallic comms bracelet circling Adam's wrist beeped. His brow creased as he lifted his arm, tapping his fingers against a holographic screen that idled in the air above the bracelet. A channel into the comms tower opened up, and a young cadet's face appeared before Adam and Aiko.
"Commander Washington," the boy greeted, excitement snagging at his words and pulling them into a sharp staccato. "You're going to want to see this."
Aiko's breath caught in the back of her throat as Adam said, "Patch it through, Officer Griffin."
A video hovered above Adam's arm, and Aiko swung herself around until she was peering over the Commander's shoulder, her fingers gripping the orange fabric of his pajama shirt. "Where is that?" She murmured, eyes widening at the five lions barreling through the blackness of space. "Adam, where is that?"
"They've just entered our solar system," Griffin informed them. "Our scanners picked up an energy surge just past Kerberos. We thought it was Sendak at first, but the lions appeared on our radar just a few minutes ago. They're headed home, sir."
Adam leapt from the bed. "What's their ETA?"
"Tomorrow morning, sir. Their speed—it's like nothing I've ever seen before."
"Contact Commanders Iverson and Holt," Adam demanded. "Make it known that the Paladins of Voltron are finally returning to Earth."
Adam swiped away the holograph, the bracelet's internal LED system flickering out and casting Aiko's bedroom into its usual, ominous orange glow. He turned to face her, and that was tears in his eyes, threatening to spill down his darkly-tanned cheeks. "Aiko…"
She scrambled from the bed, her heart a thundering force inside her chest. "You're going to the comms tower," she stated, hands trembling as she fumbled for the uniform slung over her desk chair. Two golden stripes embroidered the padded grey shoulders, marking her as a junior officer of the Garrison. The last time that Aiko had seen her brother, she'd donned cadet-orange. "Take me with you."
Adam dipped his chin. "Hurry up and get dressed," he said. "Meet me in the living room in ten minutes, or I'll go without you." Adam moved towards her, placing his hands on Aiko's shoulders and squeezing. "He's home, Aiko. And he'll be so, so proud of everything you've done while he was away."
She tasted salt on her tongue. Aiko forced herself into Adam's arms, burying her face into the Commander's shoulder. Her tears soaked through his shirt. "Put your ring back on," she told him. "Don't break his heart the second he gets home from space."
Laughter rumbled through his chest. "I could say the same to you," he said. "Don't rip Keith's head off without hugging him first."
An anxious silence had settled over the Garrison that morning, even the constant thrum from the particle barrier falling away into nothing. Beads of sweat lined Aiko's brow as she waited beneath the sweltering sunlight, Adam poised at attention beside her. The ATV's had entered the academy's property only moments ago, and Aiko could see the dust they kicked up in the distance.
She wrung her hands together, shifting from foot to foot even though she knew she should be standing still. Adam had stopped trying to reprimand her, he himself beginning to tap his booted foot with anticipation. They'd heard Shiro's voice not too long ago, her brother having briefly spoken with Commander Holt to ensure him that Pidge was safe, that she was in the second ATV with Hunk and Lance.
"There they are!" Someone shouted, the vehicles rolling through the academy gates only to circle the empty lot in front of the Garrison.
Aiko gripped Adam's hand, her fingers wrinkling the pristinely pressed sleeve of his uniform. She was surprised that he squeezed her back, that his fingers trembled against her palm. He glanced at her from the corners of his eyes, and the way his mouth quirked at the corner… it was silent permission to break protocol. To Hell with Garrison regulations, she and Adam were owed this reunion with Shiro, and they would not squander it with rules.
The ATV's rolled to a slow a stop, the gears grinding with a mechanical groan. Aiko waited, bouncing on the heels of her feet as the doors swung open, as the Paladins of Voltron stumbled from the vehicles they were crammed inside. She was vaguely aware that Sam and Colleen Holt were bounding forward to embrace Pidge, that Veronica and a dozen other people were bolting for Lance McClain and tackling him to the ground with affection.
Her brother stepped down from the ATV, his shockingly white hair flashing in the midmorning sun. Shiro turned to help a woman from the vehicle, her slender hand pressing into his palm as she hopped from the oversized truck. She smiled at Shiro and thanked him, and it was as she was turning to face the growing crowd of Garrison officers that Aiko noted her pointed ears, the triangular markings that glowed beneath her eyes.
She could inquire about the strange woman later.
Shiro turned, his dark eyes scanning the crowd until he sought out Aiko and Adam, a breath of relief seeming to escape him as he pressed a hand to his chest. He took a step forward, but Aiko closed the distance between them, spearing across the old parking lot until she was barreling into Shiro's chest, her brother rocking back onto his heels.
His arm came around her, and Aiko didn't care if the mechanical one she'd last seem him with had been severed from his shoulder. She flung her own around his neck, burying her face into the broad swell of his chest. "Shiro," she said, her fingers curling into the collar of his black and white armor. "You're home."
A sob tore from his chest, from them both, and Shiro sank to his knees, pulling Aiko down with him. Adam joined them a moment later, his arms encircling them both, and Aiko made room for the Commander to press his forehead to Shiro's temple. "Welcome back," he murmured tearfully. "There's so much that Aiko and I have to tell you."
Shiro's laugh was watery. "Me, too," he said. "But let me have this moment. I never thought I'd see either of you ever again."
Aiko curled into Shiro's chest, did not care if she'd dirtied her uniform, and reveled in the comfort of their bickering, Adam's chuckle a quiet rasp as he eventually pressed a kiss to Shiro's brow. His engagement ring glinted on his finger.
Home, Aiko thought. The Garrison was finally home again.
Author's Note: I've been telling myself, "No, you're not going to write a Voltron fanfic!" for the last three months. Clearly, my fingers slipped over the keyboard. Let's see where this goes. Lol.