As it turned out, Shiro was also back. From the Galra, of course, but also back in time from the wormhole. As much as Keith wanted to explain the details of the situation to Shiro right then - since he guessed waking up to invasive Med Techs while strapped to a table wasn't the best feeling - he knew they had to go back inside the shack to explain everything to everyone and actually plan for what they knew would come.

However, right as they neared the door, there was audible noise of an argument inside, although Keith couldn't quite make out any specific words.

"Guess that means everyone's awake now?" Shiro opened the door, fully prepared to see the familiar faces of Lance, Hunk, and- "MATT?" Keith tried not to wince in regret of not prepping Shiro at all before he opened the door. "What's going on? Where's Pidge?" Shiro looked around the shack, the question directed at nobody in particular.

"Actually, we were hoping YOU would know where my sister is. And my father, too, Commander Holt," Matt piped up, at this point resigned to people seeing through the "Pidge" disguise. Fair enough, since most of them had already met his sister when she already used the alias herself.

"So like, apparently you guys, including this "Pidge" - who's actually not really named "Pidge" but anyway... You all came back to the past from the future through this screwed up WORMHOLE. So Pidge apparently was really hung up about losing her family after the Kerberos mission and like, pretended to be her brother while her brother pretended to be her so once these weird purple aliens showed up Matt here would be safe on Earth," Hunk continued, now the last of Team Voltron to not have yet come back from the wormhole. "Oh, and, uh, speaking of... That's kinda what we were...arguing about before you two came in. You see..." Hunk trailed off, then shot a desperate look at Lance. Keith figured that meant Lance had something to say in the argument, and if not with Hunk, that left Matt.

"Listen, last time when we went to that cave in the desert and found Blue, we didn't know what would happen. After going through that wormhole to the Castle, we never really figured out if we'd ever get back to Earth, especially with the whole Galra and Zarkon problem out there. So this time we shouldn't leave as many loose ends behind. I don't know what Pidge said to her mom about leaving for the Garrison, but either way, she disappeared completely. That means your mom lost HER WHOLE FAMILY with no proper explanation whatsoever," Lance pointedly said that last part to Matt.

Lance especially probably understood that the best, didn't he? He had a whole big extended family he was leaving behind all the way across the universe. Which would be more painful, Keith wondered, leaving without a word for the family to wonder and grieve, or to give a cryptic incomplete message as goodbye for things they would never understand?

"I already TOLD YOU, I'm the one everyone thinks is missing, not Katie! Besides, I already explained most of this to my mom and that I'm going to get my dad and my sister back." Guess more people knew about the wormhole thing than Keith thought.

"Matt, what did you tell your mom? If you come with us, she'll be..." Shiro stepped in, trying to quell the argument without taking a clear side. Keith wondered what Shiro personally thought about it, especially since Keith himself didn't know where he stood. Matt wanted to come along while Lance didn't want him to - out of what reason, to protect Matt? Did that mean Hunk thought the same, especially since he was always so easily concerned over other people's wellbeing?

"She won't be alone," Matt refuted with a resolute voice, "I...kinda gave her Lance's mom's number," he coughed and looked away from everyone's gaze, "but I told her it's only for after we leave! So if the Garrison declares us three dead like they did to you, Dad, and Katie, then...they'll kinda have each other? Ah, this sounded like a better idea in my head."

That slack jaw expression of shock was like deja vu...the Holt siblings were sure full of surprises.

"IS THAT WHAT YOU WERE ALWAYS DOING ON MY PHONE?!" Lance bounced back from speechless to motor mouth quickly. "How'd you even...?!"

"It took me a while," Matt admitted, although he didn't look like he regretted anything, "and for that matter, why is her contact named so weirdly? What's "chancla" mean anyway?" Keith and Shiro glanced at each other and shrugged. Internally, Keith was wondering how long it took for Hunk in the previous timeline to build the Voltron geiger counter, because they - Lance, really - still had to take down the Galra ship headed for Earth. Assuming it still was, though he didn't doubt it, since they were probably after Shiro.

"Dude, you really did it?" Hunk seemed to also know what "chancla" meant, staring at Lance in a mix of fear and awe.

"Does that mean you're coming with us, then?" This time, the interruption question was asked with a hint of some other emotion Keith couldn't quite place, but not with the apprehension the previous question had.

: :

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LANCE?! FLY STRAIGHT, YOU'RE MAKING ME SICK! I FEEL LIKE HUNK!" Matt's fascination of the Blue Lion was immediately diverted once the Lion itself took off into the sky.

On the other side of Lance, Hunk seemed like he had the same sentiments, "Hey, I AM Hunk, and you said I pilot a yellow one of these? Do I just get over motion sickness or something? Is there some alien space medicine that cures me of it? Look, you already know you have to get rid of that purple alien spaceship headed for Earth so why-"

"I told you, it's like last time: Blue's going on autopilot. Besides, we can't really find the Castle on our own, or open the Castle, even." Keith would have thought previous experience with the Red Lion from the previous timeline would have made first flight in the Blue Lion less uncomfortable...it really didn't.

"Just go destroy the Galra ship," Keith sighed. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get the rest of our Lions." Not to mention the fact that his own lion was on board a DIFFERENT Galra ship and unfortunately not the one Lance's lion was currently tearing apart.

"Don't forget, we also have to wake up Allura and Coran, because they have to open those wormholes for us... Hey do you think Allura or Coran are back yet? Or both of them? They also went through the wormhole with us...you think they're already awake back at the Castle?" Lance wondered out loud, both hands expressing his confusion, proving that yes, the Blue Lion really was on autopilot.

"Erm, speaking of the castle, is that the wormhole up ahead? I mean, I've never seen it before but you three have, and we all agreed back in the desert that there's no going back, so uhh," Hunk pointed ahead to the wormhole in the peripheral. He also looked a bit sick, even if he hadn't actually gotten quite sick yet. Hopefully he wouldn't.

"We're all in this together, now let's go to the Castle and see if Allura and Coran can help us figure out what to do about finding the Lions and the Holts." At Shiro's words, Keith wondered when someone would bring up the fact that Pidge wasn't there to pilot the Green Lion. Would Matt pilot in her stead? Would they just have to not form Voltron until they found her? In all honesty, they hardly knew the complete capabilities when fighting as Voltron...

: :

They were starting to near the rooms with the cyro pods, when Shiro spoke up, "Lance...if Allura and Coran aren't back yet... Just...behave yourself." There was an undignified squack as a response from Lance. Right, last time Allura and Coran attacked and attempted to attack Lance, respectively, if Keith remembered correctly. "We're here."

"So do we have to push any buttons to wake them up or is it automatic? I mean look at this technology!" Hunk looked around, constantly impressed no matter where he looked, even though the castle hadn't been touched in about ten thousand years.

As if in response to Hunk's question, Allura's - well, it was Allura's pod last time, so this was probably a safe assumption - cyro pod rose up from its spot in the floor; Coran's pod came up not too long after. Lance was indeed standing in front of Allura's pod, although it was definitely better to catch a freshly woken Allura than to let her fall.

A little more than a second - so just a tick, then? - later, the pod opened and out fell Allura, crying out, "Paladins!" ...what? Everyone else had some degree of shock on their face and looked around at each other.

Lance decided to break the silence, "So, Princess... You're back, too? How about the mice?" Keith peered into the pod where the mice were still a bit out of it; only Allura would be able to tell if they were also back from the wormhole, though.

"I'm back, too? From...what?" Allura looked at Lance suspiciously while extracting herself from his light hold. Looking around the room, it didn't take long for Allura to piece together why she was this situation again, although it would probably take longer for that information to sink in and for her to believe it, given she was still looking around. On the second scan, her eyes settled on a big difference. Unlike Lance's and Keith's approach, Allura tried the "diplomatic" way, "Since it seems some of us haven't met, I'm Princess Allura, and Coran is..." she glanced at his pod, "...still in there, as are the mice."

"You probably know me already, then, but I'm Hunk," he offered, since for him, this was his first time meeting Allura, and also so Matt wouldn't be the only one introducing himself.

"I'm Matt. I guess it'll be easier to go by that, since my sister's the one you all know as "Pidge." I'm here instead of her because she travelled back in time early enough to stop me from going on the Kerberos Mission that got me captured," Matt played the part of Mr. Exposition without much prompting to get most of that explanation out of the way from the beginning.

"Enemy combatants?!" Coran was awake, there he goes again... This would take a while.

Thanks to everyone for reading/favorites/follows/reviews! Hope you all enjoy ^^