When they had gone to rescue Shiro, Pidge had never thought that things would turn out so wonderfully. One moment everyone was reuniting with Shiro, and then the next she was back at home, walking down the stairs from her room and to the dinner table to see her dad and brother sitting at the table eating peacefully.

"Matt! Dad!" she cried at them, causing them both to look up from their food startled by her call. They both looked up in time for her father to catch her as she hugged him, a few tears making their way to the corners of her eyes. "I'm so glad you're back! I thought I'd never see you two again!"

There was silence after her statement, so she looked up to he met with concerned looks on their faces, her brother standing up from the dinner table looking hurt.

"What? What's wrong guys?" Pidge asked, releasing her father from her hug and stepping back. "What happened?"

"You're… you're not supposed to he here yet Katie." Matt said, glancing at their father before looking back at her. "Do you know where you are?"

Pidge looked back and forth between Matt and her father, trying to figure out what was going on.

"I'm at home, with you two, right?" Pidge asked, looking around, making sure that she was actually in her house. Everything seemed the same except for-

"Katie, you have to have noticed by now…" her father said, getting up and taking a step towards her, a sad look on his face as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Your mother isn't here."

Pidge felt her eyes widen but couldn't do anything to express her worry. Why wasn't Mom there? Why was everything suddenly so cold? Why did her father not radiate warmth like he used to? She felt tears trickling down the sides of her face, becoming all too aware of the Voltron armor she was still wearing, and a new pain springing up from her back.

"Dad…" she started, but she stopped abruptly as the pain in her back increased ten fold, a new feeling of something wet and sticky dripping down her spine as she clutched to the front of her father's shirt. The scene before her started to waver, and she was momentarily thrown back to the halls of the enemy ship, where she saw Lance and Keith fighting guards in front of her and Hunk half carrying a hobbling Shiro. She was on the floor, her back facing a cold wall and her glasses cracked.

"Pidge, stay with me okay?"

Pidge looked over to see Allura hovering over her, shooting a gun every now and then to assist the others in the front.

"Allura?"

"Pidge!" this time the voice was Shiro's and though his figure was momentarily blurry, it cleared up when he got closer to her. "Pidge, stay awake okay? We can't lose you again!"

"But my family…" she began, but went into a coughing fit, the world before her darkening as she caught a glimpse of her father and brother staring at her worriedly. "My family, they're here…"

"Pidge no…" Allura whispered softly, looking at her with concern. "They're not-"

"I'm sorry Pidge, but Matt and your father are dead." Shiro said stiffly, looking close to tears himself. "I couldn't… we couldn't do anything about it…" He looked down at the ground, eyes closing in annoyance at himself as Hunk came next to him and helped him up.

Pidge could only stare blankly at where he had been kneeling on the ground. Her family? Dead? But she had just seen them? They were eating dinner, talking to each other…

She tried to push herself up with her arms, Allura trying to stop her but she persisted despite the pain in her back. The ground below her was covered in, no doubt, her own blood. For once she didn't feel the need to actually check if it was, but instead wobbled to her legs, using the wall as a support. She could feel the energy draining from her quickly, as if being sapped by just being in an enemy ship.

"Pidge, please you need to let us take care of you!" it was Allura's voice, and no matter how desperate it sounded and how inclined Pidge actually felt to follow her advice, there was no way she'd make them all get captured just for her sake. She was dragging them down, but she wouldn't let that happen, not now, and not ever again.

"Allura, Coran, tell everyone I'm sorry. And to get out of here as quick as possible."

Pidge summoned her gauntlet, running forward and pushing past Lance and Keith, hitting two guards as she did, and ran right past them into a wave of reinforcements. She took a few hits but nothing was as bad as the pain she felt in her back and the fact that everything she had worked towards was gone, allowing her to fight her way through the platoon, knocking them all down in what she would say was a record time.

"Pidge this is crazy, come back now!" Shiro's voice came in through her mic, but she elected to ignore it, finding it as a source of comfort even when she knew it would only increase in her temptation to turn back around and cry to everyone. "Everyone's worried about you, please!"

Pidge grimaced, slowing down her sprint as she neared a large door that oddly had no guards around it. Probably all targeting her team, the thing her father said would make the whole universe notice her. But thinking on it, she didn't care if the universe noticed her, she just wanted to finish this once and for all, no more suffering, no more anguish, just peace.

Her vision wavered again, her sight going back to her father shaking her by the shoulders, telling her to go back in a muffled voice.

"But Dad-"

"Katie you can't! You can't come here yet! It's too soon!" her father said, but her brother pushed into the view grabbing her by the face.

"Katie! You can't just leave Mom like that! She's already lost two of us, the last thing she needs is to lose you too!" he exclaimed, tears streaming down his face. "Now please… go back…"

The scene didn't waver but Pidge activated her mic, knowing that she could still connect to the other team members this way.

"Shiro, is everyone out?"

"Not yet, we're still waiting for you! Come on, we can't hold them off forever!"

"Alright, I'll be there in a few ticks." Pidge said, looking at her father and brother one last time. "I guess this is goodbye for now, eh?"

Her father smiled happily at her, nodding.

"For now."

"Bye Katie. You wouldn't believe it, but I actually miss you. Don't come back too early next time though, or else I won't forgive you." Matt said, wiping tears from his face.

"Make us proud Katie. We believe in you."

"Alright, you got it." Pidge smiled back, closing her eyes as she did.

When she opened her eyes again, she was back in the enemy ship, facing the door to where she could end this whole ordeal… if it was the right time. She turned around and ran back to where she had come from, getting a few guards in the back as she did, meeting up with everyone in a rush as they closed the doors hurriedly behind her. Her back was still in a lot of pain, but she didn't mind.

She'd make her father and brother proud.