Chapter 4

At once, Pidge was aware of a sharp cold pinching and burning her skin. She tensed, arresting her weak muscles from suspension and sending herself toppling forward. She didn't particularly care about her inevitable acquaintance with the floor, nor was she particularly surprised when she instead fell into something firm but bony. At least it was warm. She curled into it, until she felt the light laugh that shook it. "Wow, I think this is the first time I've ever seen you cuddly. I'm honored!"

Pidge jerked away from Lance's chest, earning a whine from him and a shiver from herself, and squinted through the fog. "What happened to your face?"

Lance gawked. "What is with you women getting out of cryopods? Nothing happened to my face!"

Dark bags hung below sunken red eyes, the beginnings of a few pimples threatened his normally flawless complexion, and his lips were pale and chapped, all under suspiciously uncombed hair. Pidge hugged herself through a shiver and pulled her mouth into a tight line. "You look like a vampire."

Lance was unfazed as he swung his jacket off and onto her shoulders. "The hot kind I hope."

Normally, she would consider the jacket patronizing, but the cryo lingered on her skin even through her armor's undersuit and the jacket was pleasantly warm. She stuck her arms through the appropriate holes, though they were too short to actually make it out the sleeves, and hugged it tighter to herself. "Well you're not sparkling." Which was part of the problem. He normally had more life in those blue eyes. Her own eyes widened with realization, and she whipped her head around to take in the infirmary.

Lance rested a hand on her shoulder, squeezed it. "He's okay, relax."

She did, when she saw the other active cryopod, but her chest still squeezed and her fists tightened within the jacket sleeves. "How did we get out?"

"Keith carried you and Allura carried Hunk while I gave cover fire from above."

"Did we get the prisoners out?"

Lance's silence and the quick aversion of his eyes when she looked up to him answered her. Lips tugging down, she looked back to the cryopod, and amidst its fog saw her friend's silhouette. It didn't betray the three smoking holes that she recalled in his armor. Her throat dried, forcing her voice hoarse as she whispered, "Quiznak…"

"It wasn't your fault."

"Really? Cause how I remember it, Hunk went down saving my sorry ass and even then I couldn't defend myself!"

"That wasn't your fault either!" he said with enough force to make her jump. He took her shoulders, spinning her to face him, though she recoiled at the desperation written on his face. "I was above you guys and could see everything! The sentries were definitely targeting you. Hunk noticed it too. That's why he got between you. It wasn't your fault."

The sentries targeting her made some sense: she was their breach into the Galra computer systems, and, as Shiro had taken great care to point out before the mission, the weakest in combat. "What does Keith say?"

Lance withdrew his hands from her shoulders at the mention of their supposed leader, what little energy he had fading from his tired eyes as he looked to Hunk. "He agrees with Shiro. But he's just being a suck up again. He's wrong. Shiro made it sound like you were worthless without your lion, but, but you're not!" His hand fisted. "You're incredible! You're the brains of the team. You've saved our butts countless times. Without you, we wouldn't have known where the prisoners were in the first place or gotten so far into the cruiser. If anyone else had been Green's pilot, we would have been defeated ages ago – hell, defeated at the start, when we were still on Arus and they bombed the castle. I'd have died if you hadn't taken on Sendak."

Humility had never been a Holt trait: his words should have just been confirming everything she already knew. Yet hearing him made her feel lighter. Shiro's chastisement really must have gotten to her. Damn him. But the forlornity remained in Lance's empty gaze. When he noticed her scrutiny, he shriveled. "What?"

"Do you have to look so depressed when you say it?"

Lance held up his hands as if to surrender. "Depressed, me? No way! I'm thrilled for you, you do great, and I. . ." he trailed off, writhing under her accusing stare, before ultimately sighing and dropping his hands, digging them into his jeans' pockets. "You're great. You're all great. And I just. . . the sentries couldn't even see me from where I was, I didn't have to worry about defending myself, and yet I didn't take down enough of them to protect you and Hunk."

Pidge toed at his shins, but was unsuccessful in making him look at her. "Did you forget that time on Arus you were just talking about when you came out of a coma to save me from Sendak? Or on this last mission when you covered all of our asses while we escaped, two of us unconscious? You're our sharpshooter, remember?"

"I thought I was just a goofball and dumb," he said dryly.

She stopped her attack on his legs. "Oh my god." He flinched. "We were joking, Lance! We only said it because we didn't mean it!"

He finally looked to her, face contorted and flustered. "How does that make any sense?!"

"You just open yourself up because you talk yourself up too much. That's why we poke at you! It's called teasing. For a guy with so many siblings I had thought you'd be familiar with the concept." She paused. Lance didn't say anything, though he might have been blushing. "You do plenty for the team too, and not just as a sharpshooter. With Shiro all weird, you're Keith's only impulse control, which at this point has saved our lives multiple times. Not to mention you're the dork that relieves all of the tension that this goddamn war likes to put on all of us. I swear somedays I'd go insane if I didn't get to laugh with you."

He was definitely blushing, and looking at his feet in an attempt to hide it. His hands went to his hips, then one to his neck, then he rubbed his arms and still couldn't find a comfortable place for them. "Thanks. . . Why are you being so nice?"

"You cheered me up. Returning the favor."

Lance finally looked up, blush and all with a teeth-shining grin. "Well thanks for that."

Pidge nodded once, then looked to Hunk's cryopod. The time spent on ice had already healed the visible parts of his wounds, but his face still contorted in pain. "How long until he's out?"

Lance's footsteps followed her to the cryopod, stopping over her shoulder. "Another few vargas. I'm going to stay here until he is."

Pidge nodded again, a silent agreement to stay. "Think Keith's going to stop me from going next mission?"

"Only if you let him stop you."

Pidge "hmph"ed. "I dunno, if Shiro says it's not safe for me to go again, you can bet he's going to agree. He used to not have a problem disagreeing with anyone."

"It's Shiro!" Lance declared, so suddenly and angrily in her ear that Pidge jumped. His face reddened when she looked over her shoulder to him with an eyebrow raised. "Sorry, it's just… something's up with him. Shiro made Keith the leader, but he constantly contradicts him, and tells us to go against what Keith says, and–and Keith's confidence has obviously been completely shot and he just keeps doing it."

She chewed her lip, contemplating keeping her own mutinous thoughts to herself, until she felt Lance stirring anxiously at her silence. "He also used to be supportive of me looking for my family, but when I told him a couple days ago about my lead on Matt, he told me that I wasn't allowed to go out and search for him. Too dangerous. He refused to even go with me to find him, and this is Matt. His best friend outside of Keith, his—we called them the Pining Prodigies when they were in the Garrison. They went to quiznakking space together the first chance they got. And then he took Matt's place in the arena. Shiro wouldn't just give up on him."

A tension melted from the room, leaving behind just her and Lance and the beginnings of his smile. "A'ight, so I'm not the only one who thinks this guy's off. That's nice to know."

"What does Hunk think?"

"He. . ." Lance trailed off, holding the vowel, then glanced quickly between Hunk's pod and the door. "Not supposed to be telling you this, since Hunk wasn't supposed to tell me, but apparently Shiro told Hunk the other day that he hasn't felt welcome since he got back."

She flapped the end of the long sleeve at Hunk's pod in lieu of waving a fist against him. "Curse you and your big heart! Guess we lost him then."

"He just doesn't want to stir up trouble." She heard the proud smile in his next words. "But you have no problem with that."

"I like to fly under the radar when I can. Have any kind of plan?"

"No plan yet. If we just confront Keith you know he'll defend Shiro. We need to reignite that rebellious spark until standing up becomes his own idea."

Pidge extended a hand, sleeve dangling limply off her arm. "I'll support you on that."

Too late did she notice the spark in his grin. After shaking the sleeve, he yanked her toward him, her back to his chest, and ignored her defiant squawk as he pulled the sleeves to wrap her arms around her like a straight-jacket. His own arms wound tightly around her, smothering her squirms. "Gak! Lance, let me go!"

He placed his chin on her head so that she could feel the laughter in his chest and throat. "Nope! I've been worrying about you for days and I need hugs to make up for it."

With a huff, she slacked. At least he was warm. "You have a really bony chin."

The planet the solo lion was hidden on, while under Galra control, was only occupied by Galra or civilian in the tropical regions. The frozen ocean they tracked the lion to was desolate.

"It's not the weirdest hiding place," Shiro reasoned over the comm as he dragged his glowing bionic arm through the ice. "Especially if it's the Blue Lion."

Even before she had been taken from Voltron, they had been theorizing that cryo for organisms and hibernation for the lions blocked Druid magic, which was why Allura and the lions, particularly Black, had been untraceable for ten thousand years. But even if Druid tracking was a possibility for how they had been found a year before, "Allura wouldn't just stop piloting and ditch."

Though she watched him from the safety of the pod with her cloak wrapped warm around her, Katie still shivered when Shiro pushed away the block he had cut in the ice and dove into the water. His paladin armor was meant to protect him even in the vacuum of space, but for the moment, the water looked more threatening. A film of ice immediately set over the hole Shiro had made, sealing him under. "Maybe she took up Green?"

Katie bristled. "No way. They wouldn't work well together at all." Allura was all business and no adventure. Though she had no idea of who else could have taken the green paladin mantle. Even Coran would be a stretch.

Shiro did not respond, long enough that Matt asked, "See anything down there?" He leaned over the console to better see where Shiro had disappeared. Though wrapped similarly to Katie in Shiro's chair, a thin sheet of frost had speckled his hair white in the few moments Shiro had opened the hatch to exit.

"Nothing yet. Not even any fish or anything. I'm not sure if that's because nothing lives here or if a kraken got to them first."

"How well would you be able to fight a kraken?"

"I wouldn't."

Katie thrummed her fingers against her crossed arms. "Are you intending to die?"

He laughed, but it was too dry, too forced. "Have a few more things to do before I can do that."

No one said anything for several minutes as Shiro continued to descend, propelled into the ocean by the jets on his armor. The only sound was the pod creaking under the harsh wind. Matt occasionally would tap at the console to assure no Galra had neared them. Katie reckoned she spaced out for much of the time until Shiro said, "I see it! The particle barrier!"

Matt leaned forward to see outside again, as if he could somehow look down through the ice. Shiro's breaths came audibly through the comm. "Okay, I'm at the barrier and I can see the Blue Lion inside of it."

"How do you get past the barrier?" Matt asked.

"I don't know. I mean. . . I guess I could just tou—whoa!"

Staticky, whirling noises. Shiro yelled again. Something growled. Katie pulled her good foot under her to crouch in the chair as she too leaned over the console to peer at the ice. "Shiro!" Matt yelled at the comm. "What's wrong? What's happening?"

The surface a hundred feet away erupted, shaking the ice, the pod, knocking Matt into the wall and Katie into Matt's seat. Hail tormented the window above them. Matt pushed Katie upright to rise himself, frantically searching through the sheet of white. "Shiro?!"

The hail stopped. As one, Matt and Katie pushed open the hatch, but he pushed her shoulder back as he leapt into the biting cold. "Stay!"

"Fat chance!" she yelled at the wind, snatching up her staff and jumping out after him. Upon landing, hot pain jolted her right leg, which gave under her. She writhed on the ice, instinctively grabbing at her leg. Shit, shit, maybe Matt hadn't just been being overprotective. She fought to keep her breathing controlled, lungs aching with the frozen air. Numb fingers rolled up her pants leg to see the bandages underneath. Still white. The stitches had not ripped this time.

She wrapped her exposed fingers in the cloak, then clung to the metal staff to hoist herself back to her feet, wary of her useless leg. "Matt! Shiro!" she called into the white limbo. The blizzard had thickened, blocking all from sight save the pod next to her. But then she found the beacon, the bright yellow glow of the lion's eyes. She followed the eyes, teetering under the wind that threatened to snatch her off her feet.

By the time she climbed the ramp up Blue's jaw, the cold had numbed the pain in her leg, as well as all other feeling save the sharp sting on her exposed skin. The inside of Blue was warmer only on account of the lack of wind. Katie hugged herself, clenched her jaw against teeth chattering a violent tune. The cockpit's antechamber was swamped in fog. Droplets plagued the wall from a sheet of ice melting by Blue's awakening. Katie shuffled across the frosted floor until she was in the door of the cockpit, watching a silhouette rise from the pilot's seat, a hand to its head. "Allura?"

The silhouette spun, then stiffened straight. "Pidge!" The princess darted around the chair, regality undermined by groggy movements until her arms had latched around Katie's shoulders. "You're okay!"

She let Allura hug her. "It's Katie now."

Allura pulled away, but kept her hands on Katie's shoulders. Her eyes shifted to the junction of Katie's neck and shoulder. Her muscles locked, leaving her unable to stop Allura from carding her fingers through the ends of Katie's stringy hair, once an ensemble of short fluffs, now thick waves to her shoulders. "How long have I been gone?"

"We're not sure yet," Shiro said behind Katie. She craned her neck to see him and Matt in the door to the cockpit, coated in frost but uninjured. "We were hoping you could tell us."

Allura's hand tensed on Katie's shoulder. She looked back to find the princess's lips pulled into a thin line. "It is not a difficult question, Shiro. How long ago did Lotor destroy the Castle of Lions?"

"Destroy it?"

At his alarm, Allura's gaze hardened, something dangerous curling on her tongue, until Katie said, "There's two Shiro's running around. This one—"

"The original one," Matt added.

"—teleported out of the Black Lion to Matt when we took on Zarkon—who is alive, if you didn't know—and then there's the other one that escaped from the Galra shortly after and is presumably still with Voltron. What happened to the castle?"

Her brow knitted at the information, suspicion threatening to turn somber. Then she straightened, shoulders back and arms firmly held at her side, as if tears were not in her eyes. "The Galra were too many and too sudden for everyone to get to their lions in time. We had only just made it by the time they had taken down the Green Lion, and without Voltron, we could not stop them." Katie suddenly felt lightheaded, but Allura pressed on, watching Matt and Shiro as she spoke. "Lance took Coran, Shiro, and the mice before the fire could reach the bridge. The engines were destroyed, but the teludav was still functioning, so I had the Blue Lion freeze the bridge and then opened a wormhole. The others managed to get through before any cruisers could follow them, just some pods and the comet ship, but the wormhole closed before I could make it through. The Galra chased me to this planet. The ice sealed immediately after I crashed, so I don't think the Galra knew I was below it. They continued to search the surface, though, and I could not get a message to the others without risk of interception. Since we did not know how they were tracking us, Blue offered to put me in cryo and to hibernate in case it was through us. So, I ask again, how long have I been gone?"

"It's been a little over a decaphoeb, princess," Shiro stated as he came to stand beside Katie, his hand resting on her tense shoulder.

Allura did not looked surprised, but loosened her own shoulders in resignation, eyes darting to the side. "Where are the others?"

"We're looking for them. Matt and I didn't know anything was wrong until our rebel group broke Katie out a few days ago."

That did earn a look of surprise, and then Allura swept to the front of the cockpit. "If there are no Galra around to intercept us, I can try to contact them."

"Talk to Lance," Katie said, "and make sure he's alone. He was the only other one suspicious of the other Shiro. I bet if I connect my Lion-tracker to Blue's navigation system we can also get an exact location for them."

Before she could move, Shiro declared he would retrieve it, and then disappeared, his hand on her shoulder replaced by Matt's. Allura was in the process of calling Lance, so Katie settled on the floor and began to feel along the wall with her fingertips. Matt sat beside her. "How's your leg holding up?"

At last, she found the point she wanted, and with a little push and tug, the panel popped out of place for her to set aside. Then with both hands she held up her right leg, warmth returning and with it the deep ache, and dropped it in Matt's lap. "It's holding."

He pushed up her pants' leg to investigate himself. As he did, she peered into the panel. The tech was only vaguely Altean, and not for the first time she wondered how much of the design for Voltron could be credited to King Alfor and how much to the ship itself. When she ran her fingers along the viscera, however, tiny blue symbols lit up across it. Matt leaned in next to her. "Is that Altean writing?"

"Yes. Give me."

He looked to her hand outstretched for the tool hanging at his belt, then unclipped it and dropped it in her hand. "Beautiful script. Do you need. . .?"

His eyes flit to Allura. Katie twirled the tool in her hands and shook her head. "I can read it."

"You can read Altean?" he asked. Turning back to the ship's guts to find the right wires to disconnect for her tracker, she nodded. "Did Allura teach you?"

"I taught myself. Nearly died but I did it."

"You, Miss I'll-Only-Learn-Latin-Insults-And-Nothing-Else-Unless-My-Brother-Ties-Me-To-A-Chair-And-Bribes-Me-With-Peanut-Butter, taught herself a language?"

She prodded him in the side with the tool, earning a squeak. "I learn the useful parts of languages. So how many space languages do you speak now?"

A gust of cold air shrouded them as Blue's entrance below them opened once more. "Fluently, just two, but I can read Galra and hold a conversation in at least six others."

"And you don't have better things to do with your time in a war?"

"I was Chief Officer of Communications for the Velurian Freedom Fighters, thank you very much. I needed to be able to dialogue with all of our agents."

"They all speak Basic," Shiro announced as he sat next to Katie, on the other side from Matt. "He just likes to look impressive."

Matt, maturely, stuck his tongue out at Shiro, who ignored him to place the scanner in Katie's lap. She began to hook it up, ignoring the twist in her gut. Chief Officer of Communications probably had plenty of duties when they brought a newly freed planet into their alliance, like they just had with Kaline. But he had to bail her out instead.

"Lance! Lance, can you hear me?"

"Allura?"

Katie bristled at his voice and hastened to connect tracker and lion before Shiro and Matt could notice. But still her chest tightened with an anxiety she had not felt in over a year, of having to talk to a best friend who had conspicuously developed feelings for her, of wondering if their entire friendship was pretense, of knowing that someday he would learn she did not reciprocate and never would, and that he might try to fix her or leave her (too late for that)—

"Lance, are you alone?" Allura asked. A pause as he silently answered. "Is everyone alright? Where are you?"

"We're all fine! I… I can't tell you where we are, because, reasons. But I'm really glad you're okay. What happened?"

"The Galra trapped me beneath ice. What do you mean you can't tell me where you are?"

"It's… been a weird few months."

A holoscreen came on just above Katie's head. She tilted her head back to read it. "They're on Olkarion."

"Pidge?!"

She leaned back into the screen's view as Allura stepped aside for the two to see each other. As she was practically back from the dead, she expected him to look as he had when she first told him she was actually a girl, with jaw-dropped and eyes huge. And he did look surprised, except it was more. . . sad. She did not know what to make of that. At least he didn't look love-struck. One crisis averted. "Katie now. And you're on Olkarion, or at least orbiting it." Then she hunched over the Lion-tracker to escape his view.

"We're coming to Olkarion," Allura declared. "And you won't tell the others that we are coming until we get there."

He hesitated to answer. "Okay. But before you see us, you need to see Ryner. You'll understand after you do."

A/N Thanks for reading! Come shitpost with me on Tumblr!