Matt sighed as he was sitting next to his sister inside the green lion, looking at his wristwatch and tapping into it.
"Captain Olia, are you there? Come in!...It's Matthew...Matthew Holt reporting in, hello?" Matt groaned once more as he leaned against the side of his sister's pilot chair and listened to her trying to call their dad once more.
"Captain Olia? Do you copy?"
Matt frowned deeply in worry, as he tapped into another frequency and whispered softly.
"...Shiva, are you there?" Sighing tiredly, he was met with silence.
That have been at this for a few vargas now.
"This is Katie Holt, Paladin of the Green Voltron Lion, broadcasting to Earth," Pidge spoke clear, calm and confident on a repeat; having rehearsed this and everything, "Does anyone copy? Over."
It was silent static once more, and Matt's eyes lowered for a moment with worry.
Pidge sighed and tried again, pressing a few buttons in the hologram screen to adjust the frequencies, "I repeat, this is the Paladin of the Green Lion and part of the Voltron Coalition. If you hear me, please respond. Over."
More static.
"Katie..." Matt whispered quietly.
"...Dad, are you there?" Pidge's voice was soft now, her voice wavering for a moment and Matt sat up straight.
He watched as she waited for a dobash and then sighed, moving the holo-screen away from her and bringing her legs up and hugging them close to her chest.
"Oh Katie..." He was then moving to his sister and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close and nuzzled his nose into her hair, "We'll get through to them. I know we will,"
Katie sniffled and leaned closer to her older brother, both of them worried of the 'what-ifs' about Earth and hoping their parents and the rest of the world was alright.
"Had a good rest, have you?"
Lance looked up from feeding Kaltanecker to see Allura approaching him with Romelle, and then smiled.
"Morning ladies, you're looking radiant this fine day," Lance winked at them with a charming smile, as Allura rolled her eyes in good nature and Romelle looked amused.
"Do you always give flattery to everyone?" The blonde Altean asked and the Blue to Red Paladin chuckled.
"Well, only to the pretty ones~"
"Oh? Then why haven't you said things like that to Keith?" Romelle asked innocently, causing Allura to giggle and Lance to blush.
"K-Keith? Nuh-uh, dudes don't call other dudes pretty!" The Cuban protested and Romelle raised a brow.
"So Keith's not pretty?" She fired back and Lance looked puzzled.
"Er...w-well I mean, I can admit that he's not ugly..."
"Wow, that's a compliment?" A deadpanned voice spoke up and Lance jumped, seeing it was a smirking Keith and a blank faced Shiro.
"A-ah! Well I mean, I, er, um, at least I can admit that you could be good looking, if it wasn't for the damn mullet. I just told you before that you're bigger and grizzler now and well..." Lance spluttered out left and right, face red almost to his ears and looking embarrassed.
Romelle and Allura were smiling knowingly for a moment as Keith just looked confused for a second and not understanding what the other was saying. Shiro, on the other hand, was feeling something odd stirring in his chest, like his heart was being constricted tightly. It wasn't painful but...he didn't like it. A feeling that was familiar but at the same time...he couldn't place his finger on it.
"I should check on what Hunk's doing~" Romelle chirped happily as she skipped over to Hunk, who was staring up at his lion quietly, and was asking him what he was doing and almost scaring the bejeezus outta him.
"Shiro?" Lance managed to turn to the other and saw that Shiro looked spaced out, and softened, wanting to say something but closed his mouth in the last second.
Keith saw this, and had that feeling again. He observed that Lance seemed to retreat himself with the way he was almost carrying his body as if he was scared while Shiro looked like he was conflicted into reaching out to Lance or running away right here right now. It was all confusing.
Keith didn't like it.
Allura, on the other hand, didn't notice.
"Well then, I suppose since we're all up and had breakfast, we should be planning to go, yes?" The princess clapped her hands together with a look of optimism, as the three young men looked at her.
Shiro sighed as he was sitting on one of the random metal boxes that had their things and supplies, tilting his head, "I'm ready to leave this planet anyways,"
"Well, we could rest another day if anything," Keith suggested but shut up as Shiro was glaring at him with a 'really? are we doing this right now?' look, "I-It's not just for your sake, I mean we've been here a few days since the Mall Incident, it doesn't hurt to just keep our energy up for a long journey,"
Lance was standing far off from Shiro as Allura and Keith were standing in front of him when the Holt siblings were coming out their lions, Pidge telling Hunk of the results of the Lion's power levels and was soon walking over to the rest of them.
Shiro softened as he saw the disappointed look from Pidge and the resigned face from Matt, "W-were you able to contact Earth and the Coalition?"
"No luck," The Green Paladin breathed out as she was soon sitting down on the box next to Shiro, "The low power levels are probably affecting our broadcast distance. I'll keep trying as we head for Earth,"
"Same here," Matt smiled softly, "I can also find some pitstops on the way as well. Maybe even some Coalition bases that we could rest up the Lions and get their levels back up,"
Lance folded his arms, and had a hopeful look on his face, laughing quietly, "I-I can't believe we're finally going home,"
Hunk and Romelle were walking over to them, along with Krolia and Coran.
"I'm gonna hug my parents and never let go!" Hunk spoke up and hugging himself with a happy sigh.
Pidge grinned, closing her eyes, "I can't wait to see how Dad integrated Altean and Earth technologies together. I bet he came up with something amazing! And my mom..." She then froze, making Matt look concern for a second as Pidge then gulped, sweatdropping, "Oh, she's gonna be so mad at me for running away,"
"That...sounds about right," Matt winced, "She's a fierce Mama Bear when her kids are in danger and away from her,"
"I hope I'm not grounded," Pidge murmured, looking worried not.
Matt hummed,"Same here. And I'm the eldest and an adult,"
Matt and Pidge looked at each other and shuddered at the thought of their mother punishing them.
Keith tilted his head and looked over to Coran, who was standing next to Allura, "How long do you think it'll take us to get home?" He asked.
"I was just calculating that now," The orange moustached man replied, using his fingers to count, "Without the luxury of a wormhole and with diminished power cores...let me see...carry the one...oh!" He then chirped happily and looked up happily, "It's gonna take us approximately one hundred and fifty thousand Earth years~!"
Everyone gasped out loud, eyes widened in surprise. Allura just looked over at her advisor with her jaws dropped while Romelle actually fell on her knees from the weight of the shock Hunk jumped away for a moment and almost looked frozen from the announcement. Lance looked like his spirit left his body, Shiro looking like this was all ridiculous but amusing while the Holt siblings held each other.
"A-a hundred and fifty thousand years?!" Keith exclaimed out loud as his mother leaned back while making a face of disbelief and Yorak looking at everyone in confusion.
"I don't wanna stay in space for that long, even if it's the coolest thing in my life right now," Matt yelped out, squeezing his sister tighter.
Pidge snapped out of it then scoffed, "Coran, I think your finger counting is a little off. It's gonna be one point five years," She corrected and almost everyone, asides from Coran and the Cosmic Wolf, fell to the ground comically, groaning.
The orange haired man blinked but then chuckled sheepishly, "O-Oh right. I didn't carry the three!"
Everyone sweatdropped but soon turned seriously as Allura spoke up sternly.
"It's going to be a very long and difficult voyage, but it's our only chance to replace the Castle of Lions," She told them, glancing up and staring at each and every one of them.
Shiro was looking down to the ground, a hard look in his eyes that held mixed emotions but a lot of pain, "T-there were times when I thought I'd never see Earth again. To be able to go back..."
Lance felt his heart clench at this, knowing exactly how Shiro felt.
Feeling eyes on him, Shiro looked up to see the Blue now Red paladin staring at him, but Lance felt his face flush in shame and looked away. Shiro's eyes saddened again, and glanced down to the ground again, looking like a kicked puppy.
Deciding that enough was enough, Lance pushed his feelings of homesickness and something else away and spoke out loud, trying to be happy and peppy, "Well what are we waiting for guys?! LET'S HIT THE SPACE ROAD~!"
Krolia hummed and leaned back from her seating, "I suppose we need to figure out who's flying with whom?"
"Obviously I'm flying with Katie~ I'm her big brother after all~" Matt piped up happily as he hugged Pidge into his arms.
"And what about the animals?" Coran added cheerfully.
"What about them?" Pidge looked puzzled at this.
"WELL, the Wolf can't go with Kaltenecker, wolves eat cows!" The old Altean explained as he pouted a bit, "And the cow can't be in the same area as the mice because...aren't cows afraid of mice?"
This caused Lance to laugh for a moment, "No, elephants are afraid of mice,"
"Elephants?" Coran asked with a question mark over his head, as both Allura and Romelle also wanted to know what an elephant was.
"Yeah," Lance nodded as he stretched his arms out and then held his nose, waving the stretched arm out, "They're giant, gray animals with long noses and grab things,"
Allura and Romelle leaned against each other and tried to imagine it, only to imagine at the same time some gigantic alien gray monster that had a long hair for noses.
"Giants? With long, grabbing noses?" Allura's brows furrowed, folding her arms over her chest and then leaned towards Keith and murmured, "Earth seems so strange,"
Keith rolled his eyes and turned to the rest of the team, "The wolf is riding with me. But that means Hunk will have to take the cow,"
"Me? With the Cow?" The Yellow Paladin pointed to himself and shook his head, "Not a good idea,"
"Hunk's right. Keith, you're keeping the cow," Lance said, hands on his hips, "Someone else is gonna have to take the wolf,"
Everyone soon was looking over at Matt and Pidge, as the two blinked and then looked surprised.
"Not me. I am allergic," Pidge lied.
Matt shrugged, "I don't think the thing likes me,"
Allura folded her hands behind her back innocently with a sweet smile, "I'll take the mice~"
"How come you get the smallest passengers?" Keith protested, arms folded.
The princess pouted, and sighed in defeat at Keith's point. Shiro glanced over at Lance for a moment and then couldn't help but smile. He had always been riding with Keith this whole time, why not ride in someone else's lion.
'Plus, I feel like I haven't had one on one time with Lance for a while...I mean I haven't had one on one with anyone else yet but still...' Shiro thought hopefully. He didn't know why Lance in particular, but somehow he just had a feeling that he should have a talk with him one time or another.
"I say we go old school and draw straws," Hunk suggested in good spirits.
"But I'm terrible at drawing!" Allura whined, blushing a little.
"She really is," And soon Coran was going on with a story of Allura's childhood of how she was drawing her grandma and everything.
As that was going on, Matt hummed as he was tapping his chin, thinking for a moment. Well, he has wanted to see what riding with the other lions were like. Maybe he should try it out with Allura in Blue.
"Guys, you're all overthinking this," Lance interrupted and then smirked confidently, "I know exactly where everyone should go~"
"Hunk and mice, ready to go~"
The Yellow lion's eyes glowed brightly, letting out a roar to signal that they were ready, as the mice were resting happily on Hunk's shoulders in the cockpit.
"I'm ready too. But the wolf looks restless. How did I get stuck with it again?"
Allura sighed from her Blue Lion as she looked to the holo-screen where she had stashed the wolf inside the cargo bay, and the creature was staring at her through the camera, sniffing at it innocently with big golden eyes.
"I'd gladly trade you the wolf for—"
"I have a question!"
Keith sighed as he was wanting to bang his head on Black's control panel, as his mother was on one side of him, and Shiro was nervously on the other. And of course, Coran was behind him loudly.
"Why did we let Lance decide all this?" The gorgeous man asked.
"Enough whining!" Lance called from the Red Lion, as Romelle was at his side looking excited, "Romelle and I are going to Earth, who's coming with us~?"
Soon Lance was pressing buttons onto the see-through screen and the Red Lion was coming to life, Romelle excitingly watching with bright violet eyes. Soon all the lions were readying themselves to go, starting their engines and soon were taking off to the skies and hitting into the starry space.
A few vargas passed, and Hunk was enjoying himself as he was letting the mice feed him some space chips he got from the Mall and sipping his water pack.
"Aw, this is so great!" The jolly male chirped through the comms then looked at the mice, "You guys are like the ultimate road trip companions,"
Meanwhile, in the Black Lion, Coran was soon leaning over Keith's head, as Krolia and Shiro looked at each other in confusion.
"Oh! And I get to finally play some of your Earth road games!" The orange man said positively and coughed, "I'll go first. I spy with my little eye...something that start with plexis!"
Shiro chuckled, shaking his head, "Coran, we don't know the Altean alphabet,"
"Well then, this is perfect! I can teach you," The Altean chirped, as he was grinning from ear to ear.
"...?" Krolia just rolled her eyes and looked away as Keith's eyes widened.
"...Oh no..."
"Exus, plexis, ceedus, flee~! Jaydus, nacto, pledum, ree~!"
All three occupants in the Black Lion silently groaned, wishing they were anywhere else but here.
"What does this do? Is this the lasers? Where's the mouth-blade button?"
Lance wanted to scream but held it in as he watched the beautiful Altean woman bouncing up and down in the cockpit and pressing every button she could find, squishing him at the same time as she reached over to the holo screens and controls. He was immediately reminded of his niece and nephew back home, Maya and Miguel.
"It's a jaw-blade. And please don't touch that," Lance whined softly as he felt Romelle's chest against his helmet and tried to focus driving Red but turned to look at her and chided softly, as if he was talking to Maya and Miguel, "Romelle, come on. This is a dangerous war machine,"
Romelle pouted but then gasped, "What if something happens to you? What if you have to go to the bathroom and you break your leg and then we're attacked, and I HAVE TO SAVE THE DAY~!" She squealed, flexing her arm up and looking all heroic.
'Geez, she's cute, but a bit too much,' Lance thought and raised a brow.
"Lance! Check it out!"
Lance looked to the side to see what Hunk was calling him for and blinked when he saw his best friend making a scared face as the mice were near the camera; giving an illusion they were giant and attacking him.
"AHHHHHHH! I'm being attacked by giant mice!" Hunk cried through the comms and Lance almost laughed a little as Romelle looked concern, "STOP! THEY'RE EATING MY FACE!"
"Oh my!" Romelle gasped as Lance now laughed even more, "W-why are you laughing!? Your friend is in danger,"
"Mel, he's not in danger," Lance assured her as he smiled.
A laugh sounded from the holo screen as Hunk was then moving the camera to reveal it was just a picture from his phone and the mice were happily resting on Hunk's shoulders.
"Haha, ahhh, just kidding~" Hunk waved to the screen, "I took these pictures myself. They're mice-selfies~! Aw man I gotta send this one to Allura,"
"No! Bad! Stop biting that!" Allura's voice sounded, frustrated and tired, "Put the Belexiam assembly down right now or so help me—!"
The princess growled from her pilot seat and soon was pressing a button to contact Keith from Black, and glared at the holo-screen.
"Keith! Your wolf is tearing up the cargo hold!"
Keith sighed through their communication hub and tilted his head, "Because he's lonely. Just let him into the cockpit,"
Blue eyes widened, Allura cried out in disgust, "I will absolutely not let that beast into the cockpit!"
"Guys, check out this picture!" Hunk sounded as the screen now changed into a photo of the mice laying on top of each other napping, "The mice look SOOOOO CUUUUUTE~!"
Back at the Red Lion, Lance was having his hands full as he was watching Romelle hyperactively moving around the cockpit like a real sugar high Altean child.
"Oh! this looks shiny!" The blonde cheered, as smoke filled the cockpit.
"W-what did you touch?" Lance called but was interrupted when Romelle slid to the other side of him.
"What if I touch this~?"
"Ugh, guys," Lance called to the comms unhappily, "I think I did a bad job choosing the passengers,"
"Exus, plexis, ceedus, flee~! Jaydus, nacto, pledum, ree~!"
Keith, Krolia and Shiro groaned unhappily, while Lance looked up at the comms in confusion but groaned as well when Romelle decided to join in the singing.
"Joodum, ruu, and leeum too~! That puts us just halfway through~!"
"Someone just kill me..." Lance murmured quietly as the song continued...and Hunk joined in surprisingly while Allura was banging her head on her pilot console.
"There's mai-ox, kay, and jibley-way~! Afus nofus, youkus-play~!"
"Shouldn't we check up on the others?" Matt asked as he was playing Killbot Phantasm I with his sister, tapping the buttons away.
Pidge hummed in concentration, then murmured, "No way, they'd separate us. Just let them be crazy for a while,"
"Beefur, leefur, agus-play~! At the end, flancko and blee~!"
"Who wants to see the mice stacked up on my head?" Hunk's voice cheered in the middle of Coran and Romelle's singing.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Lance shouted in the comms as he was covered in some sort of white foam.
"FROM THE TOP~" Coran cheered and started singing the song over again.
Allura sighed in exasperation, "Wonderful. Now everything is covered in wolf drool!" She complained to the others through the comms, and huffed, "Keith!"
"Oh, yeah," Keith chuckled sheepishly, "He's, ah, super drool-y,"
"Seriously, I'm hearing that they're in serious trouble," Matt murmured as he listened to the comms, while they themselves were on mute to the others.
"Just ignore them Matt. Besides, I'm winning this level," Pidge said distractingly.
"Say cheese~!"
"Romelle!"
"Just let him up front!"
"NO!"
"There's mai-ox, kay, and jibley-way~! Afus nofus, youkus-play~!"
The older Holt sibling winced, "Someone is gonna snap I just know it..."
"That's it! We're switching passengers!" Keith yelled finally, and Shiro looked a little hopeful.
'Anywhere's better than being stuck with Coran's ungodly singing,' Shiro thought, but soon winced at his own thoughts sounding...a little mean.
"I second that!" Allura spoke up through the comms, relived.
"Agreed!" Lance sounded, and Shiro's heart almost leapt out of his chest.
Why, he didn't know.
"Hey, why haven't we heard from Pidge and Matt yet?" Hunk asked curiously.
"..."
Matt sweatdropped as he heard this and soon was turning on the comms and then winced, once the video game noises sounded and Pidge screaming in triumph.
"Er, h-hey guys..." The rebel fighter chuckled.
"...Are you guys playing video games this whole time?!" Allura sounded and Pidge paused this game and raised a brow.
"Er..."
"Let's switch, it's about time we got some bonding moments with other people in other lions," Shiro sounded and Matt raised a brow for a moment then blinked, "Like, maybe I could swap with Romelle and be in Red—"
Oh, Matt wasn't gonna allow that to happen.
"OH COME ON GUYS THIS IS SO NOT FAIR!"
Pidge groaned as she was cramped with the space mice and wolf, and then squeaked when the wolf was licking her face.
Meanwhile, Shiro sighed as he was listening to Hunk talking about the many spices he had used for the space goo they had left and the many dishes he introduced to Sal and Romelle was poking at his hair and going 'ohh~! So soft and shiny~!'.
Keith was bonding with his mother, since it was just the two of them now, and Allura had Coran back in her blue lion, hearing him sing once more.
That left Lance...with Matt.
"Why did you call dibs on being in Red with me?" Lance asked curiously, almost suspiciously as Matt smiled innocently.
"I thought maybe we could get to know each other better~"
'And keeping an eye out for you at the same time,' Matt thought to himself and then tilted his head, and was reaching out to mute their comms so they couldn't hear them.
"Lance I feel like you and I should have a talk..."
Lance blinked at the fair haired male and turned to face the front once more, "Oh? What about exactly?"
"...You and Shiro have been pretty off lately,"
The ex-Blue Paladin almost froze at the bluntness that came from the other Holt, and gulped, "W-what? Me and Shiro? Wha-I mean I can understand Shiro, but me? I'm fine, cool as a cucumber,"
"Uh-huh," Matt sighed as he was rubbing his head for a moment, and then hummed, "Well, to be honest, I can sense that there's this tension between you two and I'm pretty worried ya know. Shiro is my best friend and everything and I just wanna know what's going on with him. Not to mention, I'm a little worried about you too,"
Lance was surprised. Maybe it was because he thought Matt wouldn't like him, let alone care enough to worry. Matt would more likely be like that with Pidge, or even Hunk since they've been close lately.
Well, perhaps it was all in his head. After all, Lance didn't like the guy as soon as the smooth mother quiznacker was flirting up a storm with Allura, who was blushing like a school girl and charmed easily by him.
At the time, Lance thought he was just jealous.
But he was more...overprotective.
"I..."
What to say to the best friend of the said person you were trying to avoid? Although, maybe telling half the truth wouldn't be bad, right? Lance had wanted to confide in someone for a while.
'You did have someone,' A thought crossed his mind as Lance shut his eyes, 'And he ran away from you to the Blade. Or Allura? She went to Lotor. Or what about Hunk and Pidge huh? They ran to each other to get away from you. They don't need you. No one does. Everytime you open your mouth, they leave,'
'Even the fake Shiro didn't stay...'
"Lance?"
"I...It's nothing," Lance murmured as he looked away, "I'm fine,"
Matt faltered for a second and was about to say something until he heard a beep from the comms.
"Team, we're going to make a quick stop. Everyone follow me,"
Matt looked surprised when he heard Keith's voice.
"You heard Team Leader," Lance chuckled softly as he was soon following the Black Lion, "Guess we gonna stretch our legs,"
Matt pouted a bit but sighed, deciding to let this go for now.
'Something's up with Lance. Guess I'm gonna find out soon enough,'
A/n: So this is gonna be in two parts. Actually, most episodes will be in two parts (there will be some episodes that would be filler types, but eh, we'll see). Anyways, thanks for reading this story once more. Makes me so happy that people love this :D Special thanks to Thederpypikachu98 and Shiranai Atsune for the lovely reviews :3 Until then, more reviews are appreciated and keeps me motivated. Thanks for reading~!
-RiriChanElric