(I don't own Voltron or Supernatural.)

We looked into the mirror, staring at ourselves, the steam still rising off our body from the shower we'd been taking for at least the last few hours. We had scrubbed and scrubbed the entire time, especially at our wings. The entire time, the water had been dark. We didn't get out until it was clear.

But now we were looking at our reflection, seeing the reminders the Galra had left us.

Where the mask had been, it had left a jagged mask imprint, lighter than the skin around it, that made us look as if we were still wearing a mask of some sort. Our fingers trailed across it before falling down to brush against our lips, staring at the lines that crossed our mouth. They weren't as bad as they could have been, we supposed, for the alien doctors had done good on fixing us to the best of their ability. They had healed better than if they had been treated at an Earth hospital.

We did not lower our eyes below our neck. The sight of what we had done to this vessel in that second fight was not something we wanted to remember. We swallowed nervously at the memory, wincing as we felt a bit of pain from our throat as we did so.

Our hair was a bit scruffier than we remembered it being. We fumbled around until finding some equivalent to a dwarer, surprised to actually find scissors within like we had hoped we would. We snipped away at our wild mane until it resembled how we remembered it being. An Archangel on a beach within a human's mind, seeking permission to stay. A mortal in a mirror, staring into those eyes wondering if home and family would ever be seen again. We had seen it. Both.

We were satisfied when that was done; we would even go as far as to say we even felt a bit more comfortable in the vessel once our hair was back to how it had been prior to the Arena. Being clean for the first time in what felt like an eternity certainly helped too. Blue purred in the back of our mind, proud of us for taking these few first steps into feeling better. Steps towards getting closer to being able to look at our reflection without seeing a monster.

We let our head drop, closing our eyes. Too dark. We opened them, staring with unfocused eyes at the drain in the odd alien sink.

"Oh- Whoa! Okay!"

We glanced over our shoulder, staring out of the corner of our eye. Mullet. Keith. His face beet red, a lick of emotions so strong that they almost touched our skin and almost met our Grace, yet far enough away that we felt and yet did not know what it was that he was feeling.

"Jeez, warn a guy next time," Keith grumbled, purposely not staring at us as he made his way towards one of the shower pods. We'd learned from our own experience that once he stepped into one and closed it, the clear glass would turn color so that it would no longer be see-through. We hoped he wasn't tricked by the little bench thing that took your clothes when you took them off before stepping into the shower portion of the pod.

"The Greeks often played their games completely in the nude," we said calmly, turning our head back towards the mirror and staring back into the eyes of our reflection, wondering who was staring back at us, "that was how the Olympics were played, originally. Though.. women were not allowed to join in or spectate. That was disappointing, considering the fact that in Olympus the rules carried there as well. Probably because all the women pagans would have kicked the mens' collective asses."

Keith froze, and our eyes flickered up to his reflection that we saw in the mirror, his hand still reaching towards the shower pod. He stared at us with wide eyes.

"You... you just...you just talked."

We turned, raising an eyebrow at the mortal. He kept his eyes stubbornly focused on our face. We wondered why he looked nowhere else until we let ourself look down despite not wanting to see the scar on our chest. Ah. No clothes. Why would that bother- oh. This wasn't Greece. This was space. In... sometime past 2000s? Yes. Mortals are odd about this sort of thing.

"Not Lance," we said, "right? Talking must be a very not Lance thing to do."

The red on his face somehow grew even redder, something we hadn't known was possible with how red it had already been.

"You... heard that. The whole.. not Lance thing."

"Yes," we confirmed.

He sighed and ran his hand down his face, "look, I.. I know that you must have gone through a lot during your time with the Galra. I didn't mean anything by it, not really-"

"You want to know what happened there," we said, and we found ourselves diverting our gaze from his, our eyes inspecting one of the pods instead, "yet you went to Shiro to ask. But he does not know, and neither did Griff. Not all of it."

He was silent for a long moment, but we didn't move our gaze onto him.

"Lance..." he spoke, voice soft, and there was something odd about that, as if something in us told us that wasn't a tone we'd heard him use on us before, "I didn't think you'd want to.. look, I'm not good at this whole people thing, okay? I can't help you feel better, and I don't even know how I would even start on trying to make you feel better."

We took a deep breath before turning our eyes back to his, our brow furrowed, "you could have asked. Any questions you have, you'll get answers. But not from Shiro."

He opened his mouth, about to say something, but a loud voice cut in before that could happen.

"JESUS CHRIST!" a shrill voice screeched, and both Keith and I jumped, turning in unison to see the green one covering her eyes, already going red from head to toe.

"Good morning," we said calmly.

"P- Pants! Please- please put on some clothes!" the green one shrieked, not moving her hands from her eyes, "NOW!"

Keith went beet red again, as if remembering my lack of attire.

"The pants disappeared. The wall took them," we explained, "there is no clothes to put on."

"H-hold on!" Keith said quickly, "I'll, uh, I'll go find you some. Just, like, I don't know-"

"TOWEL!" the green one screeched at us.

"Right!" Keith snapped his fingers, "uh- towel! Put on a towel!"

He snatched up the nearest one that he could find and tossed it at us. We watched it fall to the floor before we rolled our eyes and picked it up. We wrapped it around ourself, covering our chest and lower area. Wait, no, this was past that part in humanity's history where males were not allowed to show their chest. Weird mortals. Why let males do that and not females? We shook our head and undid the towel, wrapping it around our lower half instead.

"Was it requested that you interrupt us?" we gestured to ourself, "why didn't either of you knock, if you are that upset about the possibility of a lack of attire? This is a shower room."

The green one lowered her hand slowly, squinting at us, "wait a minute... you're talking again! Oddly, but uh, talking."

We stared at the two of them before we rolled our eyes and breezed past them as dignified as a guy wearing only a towel can be.

"Have you been up all night?"

"Hmm?" we hummed, pausing at the exit.

"I mean.." the green one paused before throwing her words forth, "I got up to pee, and this is the quickest shortcut there -but it was kind of weird because I really don't remember going back to my room- and Keith's always up being emo-"

"HEY!"

"-but you usually don't get up so early so why..." she trailed off, eyes catching obviously on the Galra markings before she averted her eyes from us, "um, never- nevermind, for- forget I said anything, Lance."

"You can ask whatever you want to ask."

"No, it.. I should have-" she let out an irritated huff, "-I just- nevermind. Go. Get clothes."

We nodded and turned.

"Wait!"

We paused, managing not to let our irritation show as we turned back around.

The green one fiddled with her hands, looking hesitant before meeting our eyes with her own, "are you.. are you okay?"

We opened our mouth, but found that we had no words for her, for we couldn't agree on what to say this time. Instead of answering her, we turned and left the room.


We found a couple outfits in our room (after first finding the closet, of course), but were quite disappointed in the variety. A single blue/white shirt? We left it and examined our room further, until a flash of a memory shifted through our mind as we paced past our bed.

We returned to the closet and tapped a panel inside of it; a part of the wall inside slid up and we hesitated before grabbing the clothing and squeezing it against our chest. It was a brown jacket, with an orange stripe on both sleeves and a white hood. It felt important, a warm feeling in our chest as we clutched the soft fabric, and we smiled as a nostalgic feeling rose up in us, a blurry memory at the edge of our mind.

Something about a brother. This jacket was his. He gave it to me.

The spell lashed out, almost as if angry. Blue's constant presence retreated in surprise for a single moment before returning with a roar, but the spell had grabbed back the small amount of ground Blue had managed to chip away. A grumbling growl echoed through our mind before Blue eased back into the barely noticeable presence she held in our mind, already poking at the spell again.

We let the jacket fall from our hands, the feeling gone, and resumed our search. We found a pair of jeans, but after so long in the shorts we had worn the last several months, the clothing felt tight and restrictive on our legs. The same went for the underwear, but kept those on after pulling them on, despite how unfamiliar it was to be wearing it instead of only the shorts. A sense of disgust rose up in us as we realized the Galra must have undressed us completely before getting us into those shorts. Perverted little-

We tripped over the jeans we had left on the floor and gave the article of clothing the dirtiest look we could muster before snatching them up and getting into them. The jeans still felt uncomfortable, but we ignored it and pulled the shirt off its hanger. The feeling of a shirt was even odder than the pants. But it made us feel...

It made us feel human. At least a little.

We mustered the smallest of smiles and picked the jacket up off the ground, brushing the dust off of it and pulling it on.

We felt human again. As human as an archangel can be, at least, and as human as a human can be.

It was nice not to feel like a monster.


The Castle was already starting to awaken, as the clocks assured us that it was morning even when we had no sky to let us know. They all seemed eager to keep us within their sights as much as they could, as if we would disappear otherwise, and one of them was always nearby.

Keith and the green one did not mention this early morning's events, and we did not prompt them to mention it. In fact, we hadn't spoken a single word since then, either. Words were difficult, when our one mind was originally two.

First thing Hunk did was sit us down with a large meal for breakfast. We stared at the food gathered on the table (and the mortals, who seemed happy by the prospect of the food Hunk had made), then back at Hunk who waited beside us expectantly. Some part of us didn't want to let him down, so we reached towards the heaping plate before us and picked up a piece of what appeared to be bacon.

"Don't eat too fast, okay?" Hunk said quickly, making us pause before we could put the food in our mouth, "and if you feel full, don't eat any more. Shiro says that your stomach might be smaller and none of us want you to get hurt. But, like, you know, dig in? Um..."

We gave him a grateful look before putting the bacon thing in our mouth. It didn't quite taste like bacon but we chewed it slowly before swallowing it, wincing as our throat burned at the simple action. We pushed our plate away, rubbing our throat and shaking our head, "...full... sorry."

Hunk's face fell, but he took our plate, staring at it with a downcast expression, "oh... well, uh, that's okay, Lance. You're probably still full from eating garlic knots yesterday. It's probably been a while since you last ate, huh?"

"Yes," we admitted.

"Do you want anything to drink?"

We paused, thinking, before speaking up, "I-...Iveline water?"

"Iveline water?" Coran asked, twisting one end of his moustache around his finger, "never heard of it. Must be new."

"Oh," we stared at the food before us, dreading what might happen if we couldn't get our hands on some sugar. The Trickster...

"That's the sugar water that Griff was talking about, wasn't it?" Shiro spoke, spearing a piece of food with.. was that a spork?

"Iveline!" we nodded quickly.

"Perhaps we can pick it up next time we stop," Allura decided, and we decided that maybe she wasn't all that bad.

"Are we talking space mall?" the green one asked, large smile on her face at the idea.

"Yes, Pidge," Allura smiled back, "we're talking space mall."

(Hey, so, thank you for all the positive feedback guys! One thing for you all: what needs improved with this story? What am I doing wrong and how could I fix it? And what would you guys like to see in this story? You can answer any or all of these questions, and thank you all for reading and reviewing!)