Update 7/25/18: This fic is now considered an alternate season 7 or, in other words, a season 7 in which Voltron beats Sendak to earth by quite a lot of time due to the recent revelations of San Diego Comic-Con! Nothing plot wise is changing at all, just the classification of this particular fic.

Enjoy the story!

It had been a week since team Voltron had arrived back to earth, and Pidge had never been so ridiculously bored in her entire life.

Well, that wasn't completely true. There was that week in second grade where her parents had taken her and Matt to visit Great-Grandma Shirley in Missouri and the two of them had been forced to leave behind all electronics and instead enjoy nature. Except it had rained all week, so they ended up just making mud pies for hours under the tiny covered backyard patio. But for the most part, this was the most bored she had ever been.

The trip home had been long and tedious without the castle and its wormhole ability. They had to make frequent stops to sleep since they couldn't just fly straight through, and the first few days Shiro hadn't even been awake, which had them all on edge. As a result, when they finally reached Earth, the lions had all been on reserve power and un-pilotable.

Pidge never thought she'd miss space so much.

She had thought about going home for so long, seeing the earth's green grass and blue skies and feeling rain on her face, that she never really put thought into the fact that the vast, open universe had become a sort of second home to her. As much as she had missed the grass and the sky and the rain when she was out defending the universe, she missed the stars and the galaxies and the nebulas now.

Pidge glanced around the room. The team had taken up residence at the Holt's estate about an hour out from the Garrison. After her dad had come home her parents used the monetary compensation the Garrison had provided to her mom for the disappearance of Matt and her dad to purchase a home on a large plot of land. They were about half an hour away from their old home and Pidge and Matt's old school district, pre-Garrison times, which meant the city was too far to walk. Perfect, Pidge had thought after a few days of not doing much at the house, I can't go anywhere. After months of going everywhere, this was torture.

Currently, she was lounged on the couch in the upstairs living room, flipping through the TV channels. Her parents had paid for the most basic cable TV, so there wasn't much to watch. A news channel was reporting that flashes of something had been spotted in the night sky just a week ago and conspiracy theorists were already using it as evidence for an alien attack.

The flashes, of course, had been team Voltron limping into the atmosphere. They had managed to sneak into Earth relatively undetected. With what was left of the lions' power they had activated the cloaking mechanism and the entrance into the atmosphere had made it flicker just a bit. Other than that, they had been fine.

"Hey, Pidge?"

Pidge turned her head to find Hunk peeking around the corner. He was wearing a t-shirt her father had given him to borrow, and it was a little tight, showing off how built he had really become. "Yeah?"

Hunk grinned sheepishly. "Well, we're not really doing much since Allura and Coran are still working on how exactly they're gonna build the new castle and we can't do much to help, so we were wondering if you could ask your dad if we can borrow a car?" He seemed sort of embarrassed to ask. It was so easy now that they were back on earth to fall into old habits and dynamics. 'Can you ask your dad this?' and 'can you ask your mom that?' It was like all of them had sort of forgotten that they were the literal defenders of the universe. "So we can go into town."

Pidge clicked the power button and sat up. "Yeah, sure."

Hunk breathed out in relief and gave her a thumbs-up, smiling. "You're the best."

She slid off the couch and made her way down the hall to the office. Her dad was at his desk, like usual, pouring over different blueprints and spreadsheets for the castle. "Hey dad?"

He looked up and smiled at her. "Yes, Katie?"

It was still weird being called her birth name. Strange how something she had gone by her whole life was now foreign to her. "Can we borrow a car? We want to go into town."

Her dad smiled. "Of course, just don't wreck it please."

Pidge smiled back. "No promises."

Her dad chuckled lightly and turned back to his work. Pidge shut the door to the office quietly and walked back to the living room. Hunk was still standing there, shuffling his hands. She gave him a thumbs-up, and his face lit up. He bounded down the stairs to where the rest of the team was most likely doing exactly what she had been doing for the past half hour.

Ten minutes later, they were all loaded into the old van that her parents were saving for when she turned 16. Or, well, what they were saving before she flounced off into space to become a giant lion pilot. Keith jumped into the front seat and Lance stole shotgun, so Pidge and Hunk shared the back. Shiro opted to stay behind, especially since he would be pretty recognizable even with his new white hair and Matt was passed out in his bedroom. The rest of them hoped that they had been gone just long enough for people to not identify them with the images of the kids who had gone missing a year earlier.

It took Keith a few minutes to get used to the feeling of being behind a normal steering wheel again, but after that it was a smooth ride. Surprisingly, Lance didn't mock his driving, and Pidge had a feeling that it was because he feared Keith making him drive instead.

They ended up at the local mall because, according to Lance, "it has something for everyone." Hunk dragged Lance into the pet store to pet the puppies and Keith walked into a clothes store muttering something about outgrowing all of his outfits, leaving just Pidge to walk around on her own. As much as she liked puppies and kittens, the pet stores were always so loud and crowded, and being around crowds made her even more uncomfortable now than when she was a kid. Something about all the noise and the constricting feeling gave her the creeps, and with crowds came more of a chance of being recognized, so she opted to stay in the more open stores.

She ended up at the food court and found a new coffee shop that hadn't been there the last time she visited the mall almost two years earlier. It smelled amazing, and she hadn't slept well the past few nights, so she couldn't stop herself from going in. Nightmares and paranoia had given her countless sleepless nights over the past year, and in space there wasn't coffee, so this was like a dream come true to her. She ordered a double shot macchiato and sat at a table in the corner.

After making sure that no one would be able to read over her shoulder, Pidge pulled her laptop out of her bag and opened up her newest project. For the past few days she had been designing a robot companion for herself to pass the time. It was just for fun, but she couldn't help imagining that maybe, once they built the castle, she could have it. She stared at the plans for a few moments, imagining what it would be like to have something like that at her side.

"Katie?!"

A sharp voice cut through her reverie, and Pidge jumped. She looked up from the screen to find herself facing- "Angela?"

The girl had grown quite a bit since science class at her school before the Garrison, but she was still instantly recognizable. Bright red hair and flashy green eyes made her stand out among everyone else, and she was still gorgeous. She was with three others, two boys that Pidge recognized from that same science class and a girl that she had never seen before.

"Oh my God," Angela breathed out. She set her coffee down and seemed to brace herself on the table.

Pidge nervously pushed her glasses up. "Uh, do you need something?"

Angela sat down in the chair across from Pidge and motioned for the others to join her. Pidge's gaze jumped to each of them nervously, and her hand hovered next to the rim of the laptop, ready to close it at any moment. "I can't believe it's actually you! What happened to you?"

Pidge did a once over for any excuse to leave and found none. She said a silent prayer that one of the team would show up soon. "I went to the Galaxy Garrison."

The boy on Angela's left- Chris, if Pidge remembered correctly- looked shocked. "You got into the Garrison? I thought they only accepted high schoolers! You were going into what, eighth grade?"

Pidge nodded slowly. She knew they were probing her for information to use against her, it was how they operated. Find something a bit strange and exploit it for all it's worth. They had done it to her all through elementary school and middle school, but now she was older, braver, and hopefully a bit better at handling social confrontation.

She opened her mouth to say something snarky, but before she could speak, Chris snatched her laptop and slid it over to the rest of the group. "Hey!" Pidge protested, reaching for it.

"What's this you're working on?" The other guy asked. She believed his name started with a G, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what it was. He raised an eyebrow. "Is this something Garrison related?"

"No, look," said Chris, pointing to the top. "'Dream robot friend.'" He stared at her. "You're designing a robot… friend?" The two boys looked at each other for a split second, and burst into laughter. Despite herself and her annoyance with them, Pidge's face turned bright red and she slid down further in her seat. What she would give to disappear right now.

The boys continued to snicker to themselves, reading over the plans. "You cut your hair too, I see," Angela remarked. "And glasses now?"

Pidge nodded again, pushing her glasses up out of habit. A question about herself, but one she could give a good answer to. That was nice. "Short hair for practicality," she told her curtly. "When piloting, you can't have anything in your way."

Angela looked her hair up and down, and Pidge knew it had seen better days. She hadn't worried about cutting or styling it while she was in space, so it had grown out a bit odd and it had only just reached long enough for her to put it up. "It's a bit… boyish. It was cuter when it was long."

Pidge grit her teeth. All the little criticisms from them, it was how it had always been back in middle school. The hope that they had matured with entering high school was gone. She remembered now that the district had gotten too big, and they had split the high school up and put the freshmen in a totally different building, so maybe that's why. All their little cliques and hierarchies hadn't been humbled by cocky upperclassmen, leaving them to continue to act greater-than-thou.

And no matter what she still couldn't stand up to them.

Chris pointed at the screen again. "Look! Rover 2, Rover the second, Bee-bo… are these names?" He laughed loudly. "Pam-pam!"

Pidge's face turned redder, and she bit her lip to keep from yelling at them. "Can I have my computer back now?"

Chris handed her back the laptop, still laughing, and Pidge wanted nothing more than to disappear into nothing. She quickly closed it and stuffed it into her bag. "Look, it was nice seeing you guys again, but I really should be go-"

"Nonsense!" Angela cut her off. "Come hang out with us. Where else do you have to go? It's a Saturday and you're here alone!"

No, she thought, tell them no! You can say no! "Sure." Dammit! Pidge grimaced as she said it, but they either didn't notice or didn't care. She had never been good at confrontation or saying no, and that hadn't changed with being in space. Stupid social issues.

As they moved out of the food court, Pidge felt the caffeine buzz setting in and as it did she became more aware of all the movement around her, which was the last thing she needed right now. Crowds were definitely still freaking her out.

They stopped off at a few random stores for maybe a minute or two each since none of them caught anybody's interest. As they passed the video game store, the-boy-whose-name-starts-with-a-G asked if they could stop in so he could check on the price of some game that Lance would probably play.

Pidge broke off to look around, and as she passed one shelf, she gasped. "They came out with new Magic the Gathering cards? It's been years!" She excitedly picked up the game and flipped it over to the back, her eyes scanning for everything it had to offer, forgetting who she was around.

A snort behind her broke her out of her fascination. "You like Magic? Like... trading cards?" It was the other girl, the one Pidge didn't know.

Pidge turned red, and she silently cursed her mom for giving easy-to-blush to her. "Yeah, what's the big deal?"

Angela came up behind the other girl. "Well, it's just not really… cool." She walked up to Pidge and gingerly picked the game out of her hand. She held it like it was a dead rat as she set it back on the self. "People who like those games are the weird ones."

As angry as she was, she had to stop herself. Control your anger, she reminded herself, watch yourself. She needed to lay low, not make a scene or draw any attention to herself or show these people any inkling that she had changed much. Right now she wasn't Pidge, paladin of the green lion and defender of the universe, she was Katie, an easy target who was a bit shy. But no matter what, even when she reminded herself who she was, something caught in her throat whenever they mocked her. Some part of her felt like she was still standing in those massive hallways, pinned down by the laughter of Angela and her stupid group.

She stalked out of the store and the others followed close behind, the boys still chuckling to themselves about Pidge liking "kid games." Pidge entertained herself by imagining pulling her bayard out and giving them all a little shock, figuratively and literally. The thought made her smile.

Eventually, Angela led them all into a clothing shop. The place felt oddly… sterile to Pidge. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all a shiny white, and a red stripe ran horizontally across the top of the wall. Mannequin displays and posters advertising sales were few and far between, making the walls look empty.

"Katie, we need to get you some better clothes." Angela announced, and the other girl nodded.

Pidge glanced down at her t-shirt. It was old, yeah, but it was functional. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

Angela looked her up and down and gave her a look that said 'I know better than you.' "Well, frankly, they're ugly and they make you look pretty terrible. Not to be rude or anything," she added as an afterthought.

Yeah, like that fixed everything. Pidge hated those kinds of people, the ones who always said something like "no offense" after an offensive comment. It never fixed anything, but for some reason they thought it did. Before she could say anything in reply, Angela grabbed some outfits off the sales rack and shoved them into Pidge's arms. "Go try these on."

If she refused now, they would just pressure her relentlessly, and if she snapped at them they'd cause a scene and risk somebody recognizing her as that kid who went missing, which would be very bad. She sighed and reluctantly stepped into the dressing room. Some of the clothes were fine, she did have to admit. A tight-fitting maroon shirt, some shorts that showed off her legs nicely, a sun dress that wouldn't get in the way. She made a mental note to come back to this shop another time.

She continued to come out in clothes, and Angela vetoed almost all of it, even some of the things Pidge liked. She just went along with it, not really caring one way or another. Eventually, she stepped out in a very tight-fitted tank top and shorts that showed off all of her muscles and some of the more visible scars from fighting. Maybe this will shut them up, she thought.

When he spotted her, Chris's mouth fell open. His eyes zeroed in on a scar on her shoulder that was just white enough to be visible, and Pidge almost regretted showing off before remembering that any scar could be passed off as a Garrison-related injury. She waited eagerly for his comment and, after a few moments of floundering, he finally said, "wow, you look even worse in that."

Pidge grit her teeth, but her face turned red despite herself. Without another word, she strode back into the dressing room. As soon as the door clicked shut, she slammed her fist into the wall. A small crack spread out from her fist, carving a pattern in the faded green wall. This shouldn't be bothering her! She had stared death in the eyes and laughed at it multiple times in the past year. She had been shot and sliced and bruised and broken. She had broken her wrist mid-battle and just switched bayard arms and kept fighting. By all means she should be able to handle stupid taunts from freshmen, but she couldn't. Everything they said brought her back to when she was just a kid at the mercy of their words, and she hated it.

As kids their bullying had been relentless; all through elementary school and middle school they had gone after her for being "different." They made her into an outcast, pushed her off the playsets, stole her books, taunted her, and just generally made her miserable. And now, when she should be perfectly brave enough to shut them down, she couldn't, not just because she had to lay low but because she physical could not.

She threw back on her normal clothes and slid out of the dressing room. The boys were snickering over something on a phone screen, but they quickly hid it when they saw her. Pidge chose to ignore them. As she walked closer, she straightened and pushed her shoulders back, the same stance she took when she was trying to intimidate someone. The other girl eyed her warily, but the others didn't seem to notice.

On their way out of the store, Pidge spotted Keith walking into a candy shop and breathed a sigh of relief. She quietly suggested that they go to the candy store, so Angela led them inside.

The walls of the store were lined with hundreds of different types of candy that could be purchased by the pound. Obscure European and Asian candies lined a shelf labeled 'foreign tasties!' and the whole placed smelled of sugar and artificial fruit. Pidge eyed the counter of homemade chocolates; if she wasn't trying to make an escape she would've been buying everything she could get her hands on at that counter.

After a few moments, Keith caught sight of her and walked up to the group. All four of their eyes widened as he walked closer, and Pidge had to admit that if you didn't know him he would seem pretty intimidating. His long hair was tied back in a low ponytail, and his scar stood out in stark contrast to his pale skin. He was muscular, and his tight shirt did nothing to hide the fact. "Hey Pidge."

Pidge flinched. That wasn't going to slide over their heads easily, intimidating boy or not.

"Pidge? What kind of name is that?" The girl that Pidge didn't know asked, tearing her eyes away from Keith's chest. She wasn't supposed to be Pidge to them; Pidge was the kid who went missing. Nobody else was named Pidge, everybody was named Katie. She silently cursed Keith.

"It's a nickname, just something some friends call me," Pidge explained hastily and prayed that none of them recognized the name from the news reports. She wanted away from their stupid group and all their stupid comments. Every single scathing remark they made chipped away at both her courage and her temper.

"You have friends?" Chris sneered, and then laughed. The other boy and girl joined him, and Angela smiled lightly. They drove her crazy.

Keith's eyebrows drew together and he opened his mouth, but Pidge touched his arm. No, don't.

"This is Keith," Pidge told the group. "Keith these are some of my… friends… from middle school."

Keith looked them all up and down like he was assessing an enemy he had captured. The boy whose name starts with a G shrank back, but Chris tried to make himself look taller. "Well, it's good to meet some of Katie's friends."

The name sounded so foreign coming from him. None of the team, save Shiro, had ever called her anything but Pidge, and hearing him trip over the name for a split second before saying it made her feel strange. Was she even Katie anymore? She felt entirely detached from the name. "You ready to go?" He turned to her, and she nodded. "Okay, we'll just go get the other two."

"You have more people here with you?" Chris asked, and then snickered again. "Who would've thought that geeky over here would have more friends?"

"Chris, be nice," Angela chided lightly, but Pidge could tell she didn't mean it. The other girl covered her mouth to hide a smile, and Pidge tried to glare at anything but her.

Keith's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Pidge made a mental note to thank him for that later.

"We should be going," Keith said, and started making his way to the door and Pidge breathed a sigh of relief.

Before Pidge could follow him, Angela grabbed her arm. "You know computers, right?" The question was abrupt, and Pidge couldn't sense any malicious intent in it. Weird.

Pidge glanced around at the store, which was growing increasingly crowded. Keith had gone outside already, most likely just as uncomfortable in the crowd as she was. He was staring at her through the window, one eyebrow raised in suspicion. Pidge nodded, "yeah, why?"

"My computer has been acting weird lately; do you think we could meet here tomorrow again so you could take a look? I'll buy coffee."

Pidge knew that it was probably a trick and Angela was only feigning niceness to lure her in, she knew it, but looking at the group was like seeing double, them now and them in the halls of elementary school. And would she pass up a chance to do something? She had been so bored, maybe showing them up with computer knowledge would be more entertaining than watching the same three news channels all day. She nodded.

"Yay! Is two o'clock okay?" Angela asked excitedly. Chris snickered and tried to hide it. Pidge glared at a candy rack behind him; Lance remarked that her glare was enough to make even Keith wet his pants (it wasn't), but it was better to not turn it on Chris to be safe.

Pidge nodded again, said a hasty goodbye, and quickly left the store. The crowds were getting too much for her, and she felt like her wind pipe was slowly shrinking.

"Are you alright?" Keith asked after a few minutes of walking in silence.

Pidge just shrugged, "I guess."

He sighed. "Look, Pidge, you know you don't have to put up with that, right?" Of course she knew she didn't have to, but she knew her own temper well. Causing a scene would've been bad and she also didn't want to admit to Keith that even now it was hard to stand up to them. It sucked.

"Yeah," she replied with a sigh, "But it's like… I've faced down countless monsters, but something about them runs deeper than just momentary fear."

He nodded as if he understood. "I was picked on a lot as a kid," he admitted. "I was a bit of a loner."

Pidge feigned shock, and Keith glared at her. "Quit it, let me tell my story." She held her hands up in mock surrender. It felt good to be around someone familiar, a family member. "If I saw those kids now, I probably would be able to face them, but if I had seen them when I was… how old are you?"

Pidge shrugged. "I think I'm fifteen?"

"Whatever," Keith said. "If I had seen them when I was just a few years older than when they had bullied me? Yeah I'd be freaked out. Stuff like that doesn't just go away."

Pidge nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

Keith nodded too. "So, what did you talk to that girl about after I left the store?"

Pidge sighed. "I agreed to meet Angela here tomorrow to fix her computer."

"Dammit Pidge!"

Hello! It's been a long time since I've posted a fanfic on here that's longer than one chapter, but season 6 of Voltron inspired me :)

A lot of this is based on my own experience with bullies growing up and how it affected me even well into high school, but I'd love to hear how you guys think this represented the effect of bullying on someone, because that's something that's a big deal to me.

Thanks everyone who has stuck by me all these years of fanfic writing. Here's to many more! (And to the next chapter)

-Bip