Normally, I write longer things, but at the moment I'm burned out from writing long Undertale things and want to write short things, hope you guys don't mind.

Family's super important to me, and until extremely recently (like a couple of years ago) I used to get extremely homesick when I was gone for more than a day. Now I'm a jaded college student who can't stand being home, but figured it'd be an interesting thing to brush upon nonetheless.

Anyway hope you enjoy this if you're here, please have fun while I consider whether I should eat dinner, and if so, what should I have that's lighter than a poptart.

Out of the corner of her eye, Pidge spotted an open door in the hallway. Curious, she peeked inside.

There wasn't much in this room. A chair, a small desk. Maybe this was an unused bedroom? The only thing really of interest in here was the window, leading to outside the castle. The window was huge, taking up the majority of the wall. It gave the observer a very clear view of what was out there, which in this case, was space. A lot of space, and not much else but space.

It was only after taking the room in that Pidge noticed Lance was here, standing in front of the window. Which was good, actually. He was exactly who she'd been looking for. No longer feeling any sort of need or whim to be sneaky, she walked inside.

"Hey, Lane, there you are," she called out, approaching him. "We've been looking for you, Shiro's been getting on our case about practicing as a team, and..."

She trailed off. He didn't even move. The guy looked lost in thought, way more solemn than usual. It was almost unsettling.

"Pidge." Lance's eyes were fixed on a far off planet. "Do you think they've noticed yet?"

"Who's noticed what?" Pidge asked carefully. She followed his gaze, examining the planet as closely as she could. It was orange and purple, with pink clouds swirling around it. Why was he looking at it? Was that planet what he was talking about? She had no idea.

"Everyone back on Earth. Back home." Lance rested one of his hands against the glass. "Do you think they've noticed we're missing yet?"

That wasn't what she'd been expecting.

Honestly, she hadn't even thought about it herself. Her mind was otherwise occupied, with Voltron and the Galra empire and her family. Everything she cared about was out here, so why would she think about it? It was low on her priority list.

Just because this was true for her, however didn't mean it was true for everyone else. Looking at it like that would be selfish. (Though, she reflected, it'd be far from the first time she'd thought like that.) So for the first time, she gave it a good consideration, and gave the most honest answer she could.

"I'd be surprised if they hadn't by now."

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too," he muttered.

This wasn't the first time anyone on the ship had seen Lance homesick. Pidge knew that. But it was understandable. Just because most of her family was being kept prisoner by the Galra empire didn't mean everyone else was in the same boat. Lance and Hunk likely had families on Earth they were worried about, and who were worried about them. Keith had been on his own when they met, but he probably had someone, right? And Shiro...

"At Garrison, it was different," Lance went on. "They knew where I was. I knew they were safe. But ever since all this Voltron stuff, we don't have that anymore." He turned away from the window, and away from Pidge. "They don't know where we are. And we don't know what's going on on Earth. For all we know, the Galra could have taken over by now!"

"From what data the castle's been able to collect, it doesn't look like they-"

"You know what I mean," came the indignant reply.

Yeah. That probably hadn't been the best response. Pidge sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "I do," she confirmed. "You miss your family, don't you?"

"Yeah. I mean, I knew they'd be okay while I was at Garrison." Lance sighed. "But this is different, you know? Sometimes, it's all I can think about. I wonder how many times my little sister's cried. I wonder how much effort my parents will put into a search that won't find anything. Family's the most important thing with us. It has to be hitting them hard."

"It's been hitting you hard, too," she observed.

He nodded.

"I get what you mean," she added. "I mean, it's different. I wasn't the one who disappeared without a trace, at least, not at first. But I never bought the story about the Kerberos mission failure. I never stopped looking for them, and I never stopped worrying about them. And they've probably been worried about me this whole time, too. Wondering how I'm doing."

"What about your mom?" Lance wondered aloud. "You do have a mom, right? Wouldn't she still be back on Earth?"

It was Pidge's turn to look away.

Her mom...first, losing a husband a son, and after that, a daughter. She didn't want to think about how badly everything she'd been doing must be hurting her mother. There was no one there for her now.

But...she couldn't look back now. She'd find her brother and her dad someday, and all three of them would go home to her together.

"We probably shouldn't keep Shiro waiting much longer. He'll think we're trying to skip out on training."