I know Steven is canonically 14, but I honestly don't buy it, so for this story he's like 11.
"Paladins. Come up to the bridge."
That's all. There is no other information. But the Paladins are used to it, so they do as instructed. Lance removes his headphones. Keith tucks his knife away. Shiro stops the training simulation. Hunk puts down his spatula. Pidge crawls out of a maintenance hatch.
They congregate in the control room. Allura and Coran are standing by the window, watching something intently.
"What's that?" asks Lance.
No one answers, because no one really knows. It's just some sort of pink spot amongst the blackness of space, like a single firefly on a moonless night.
"I'm bringing us closer," says Allura as she places her hands on the control panel.
"It…it kinds looks like…a bubble?" says Pidge, and she's right. It looks like a bubble.
And inside the bubble…
"Is that a person?" asks Keith. They all lean forward, and Allura has the ship scan the object.
"Yes," she says when the scan is complete. "There's definitely some sort of life-form in there. It's biological signature is similar to a human's, but something's off about the readings. I'm not really sure what it is."
"It's just…drifting," says Hunk, sounding concerned. "Shouldn't we help them, whoever they are?"
They all look at Shiro. Shiro looks at Allura. She nods slightly, shrugging her shoulders.
"It can't hurt," says Shiro. "If it does prove to be a threat, we can handle it. If it's not a threat, it's our duty as Voltron to help whoever's in that bubble."
They all make sounds of agreement and then wait as Allura activates the tractor beam.
Once it's inside, the bubble collapses, peeling back like the petals of a rose and spilling it's occupant out onto the floor.
Said occupant looks human. In fact, they look like a human child. They're clenched in a ball, eyes squeezed shut and face frozen in an expression of such utter, desolate loneliness that even Keith finds it difficult to be wary of them. Each paladin feels the overwhelming urge to give the figure a hug.
Instead, they hang back, watching. The newcomer groans and slowly, blearily opens their eyes.
They look scared.
"Garnet?" they murmur, and the voice is that of a child. "Amethyst? Pearl?"
"Hello," says Allura, crouching down to be at eye level with the child. "Are you feeling alright? Are you hurt?"
The child gasps and seems to come to sudden, violent awareness. "Who are you?" they demand, sounding frightened. "Where am I?"
"My name is Allura," she says. "You are aboard my castle. These are the Paladins of Voltron. What's your name? Where did you come from?"
The child swallows. "I'm Steven," they say. "And I'm from Earth."
Hunk whips up a drink that tastes like hot chocolate but isn't, and someone wraps a blanket around Steven's shoulders. They sit him down in the lounge and wait for him to tell his story.
"We were on the moon," he says after a long time. He still sounds shaken, and so very young. "Amethyst was pretending to be Jasper, and the rubies fell for it. They were leaving, but they turned back to ask if we needed a ride and they saw Amethyst. They fused, so I opened the door and Sardonyx hit them so that they'd let go. They unfused and got sucked out, but one of them grabbed me and pulled me out too."
He pauses to take a long sip of his drink, looking close to tears.
"I woke up in a bubble. I was just…drifting. I hit Eyeball and brought her inside, but then—" he gulps. "—then she tried to stab me so I…I had to let her go. And I just kept spinning and spinning and I thought I was going to keep spinning forever and ever and ever and ever and I'd never see Dad or the Crystal Gems ever again and…" he stops, tears dripping down his round cheeks.
No one really knows what most of that meant, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is the rattled little boy wrapped in a blanket on their couch.
Shiro leans over and tentatively gives him a hug. The boy immediately reciprocates, hurling his arms around Shiro's torso and burying his face in his chest. The black paladin looks surprised, but doesn't move except to tighten the hug a bit.
"So what do we do?" someone asks after some time has passed and Steven has cried himself to sleep on Shiro's lap. Their leader looks up from where he's gently running the fingers of his flesh hand through Steven's dark curls.
"Steven seems to think his family will come for him," he says.
"So?" asks Keith.
"So we wait."
"We're getting a reading. There's a ship approaching."
The paladins look up.
"Someone get Steven."
"Hello. I am Princess Allura of Altea and you are approaching my castle. Please state your identities and intentions."
A holo-screen flickers to life across the window. The view of the stars is replaced by the image of a strange, bird-like woman, her skin so pale as to be white and an iridescent gemstone set in her forehead. As they watch, she moves aside to allow another woman to fill the screen. This woman has skin that is a dark magenta and wears reflective shades over her eyes.
In the background, a short, purple-skinned woman cranes her neck over the magenta woman's shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse.
"I am Garnet, leader of the Crystal Gems," says Garnet, her voice rich and melodious. "We are searching for one of our own."
"Have you seen a small, pink bubble by any chance?" asks the birdlike woman.
"As a matter of fact," Allura begins, but she is interrupted by the rapid pattering of feet. Steven skids into the control room, out of breath and eyes full of hopeful stars.
His eyes find the screen and a huge smile fills his face.
"Garnet!" he yells. "Pearl! Amethyst!"
All three women rush to crowd the screen. All of them are smiling in immense relief.
The Paladins of Voltron can recognize a family when they see one.
They are all well aware that not all stories have a happy ending. They know how easy it is to get lost out here, to stumble along your way and get swallowed up by the stars.
But for this family, for this special little boy that they barely know but already love, for today and for now, everything is going to be alright.
I apologize for the ending cheese.
Drop a comment and tell me what you thought!
EDIT 7/2/17: I've gotten several reviews asking me to continue this story. Just so we're clear, this is finished. I wrote it as a one-shot and it will remain a one-shot. So before you ask, the answer is no, there's not going to be any more of this story. I'm touched, but I have so many ongoing stories and this was just me getting an idea out of my head without having to write a full-length multi-chapter fic.