A/N: This chapter will make a whole lot more sense if you go back and re-read chapter 5. I promise!

Shiro and Pidge trekked for what felt like deca-phoebs before they found water. She collapsed by the stream, cupped hands shakily lifting the cool water to her lips.

During the hike Pidge spent a lot of time thinking. Reflecting on the other paladins' criticisms. It was hard to hear everything. But Lance...

She shouldn't think about Lance. It hurt too much. They're—they were friends. Not as close as her and Matt, but close enough. And Lance may tease the other members of the team, but he never meant anything he said to be mean. To actually hurt.

And that, that was definitely not a joke.

Shiro noticed Pidge's ongoing internal conflict while they sat by the stream. "Something bothering you?"

Pidge nodded.

Shiro's hand clenched her shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Her head went spinning, vision blurred into white and she was back on the table, they were holding her down and she couldn't move couldn't—

She jerked away from his hand, shaking, curling in on herself. Her ears rang, drowning out his voice.

"Katie? Katie, breathe. Open your eyes. Look at me. Can you do that for me?"

Panic screwed up her senses. Despite there being ground beneath her, and her knowledge of its existence, she was trapped in the room with Haggar. She felt pinpricks crawling down her back from the table, the restraints, the hands pinning her down with no hope of escape, no way out no way nowayout

She shook her head as an attempt to rid herself of her thoughts. Her chest spasmed. Needles dug into her arms. She needed to escape. She wasn't there. She wasn't there anymore. Haggar was gone. She was safe. Safe. Not back in the lab. Not being cut into pieces and poked at for—what were they going to use her for?

"Katie. Please, Katie. Look at me, look here. It's me. It's Shiro. I'm here."

Pidge opened her eyes to see a worried face sitting in front of her. Pain and empathy filled Shiro's eyes. She took a deep breath, unable to meet his eyes. Her nails dug into her arms.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

They sat like this for a while. The invisible sun was setting, and the sky turned into a shade of pink and red.

"I just want to go home," Pidge croaked. "I just want this all to end. I don't know what's going on, Shiro. I don't know how I got here, I don't know why everyone was so..."

"Cruel?"

Pidge's stomach turned. "N-no, they weren't cruel. Just... really mean. And why haven't they said anything before? Why didn't they talk to me? I understand that they—they hate me? And that maybe, I'm not supposed to be on this team. I just," she took a shaky breath. "It hurts. A lot."

Shiro nodded. "Your father was pretty doubtful about whether to be on the Kerberos mission or not. Plenty of people thought that someone else should've taken his place. He even tried to get out of it, suggest other people to take the mission. But we needed him. He was a crucial part of the team. Like family."

"I know."

now.

"Katie?"

"Hm?"

"You're nothing like him."

Pidge dared to look up at Shiro. She wiped her sweaty hands on her pants. "What do you mean?"

"We don't need you. You're staying here."

"Shiro, wait," Pidge stuttered. "Why—"

Shiro's entire demeanor had changed. Kindness and warmth no longer radiated from his eyes. They were stone cold. "You will never be the kind of person your father was. You're a hopeless cause. I'm sorry, Katie."

"Wait, Shiro, Shiro please," she begged. "Please, give me another chance! I can prove myself, I promise!"

He disappeared.

Hours passed. Pidge was coming to terms with being abandoned. She felt like throwing up. Was she really this big of an inconvenience? That her team—that Voltron decided it would be better to just drop her off on some alien planet? Wasn't she good enough? She offered some valuable skills. Anything tech related. Did everything else about her warrant abandonment?

If six defenders of the universe thought so, she must.

"Katie?"

Pidge's head shot up at the sound of her brother's voice. Matt towered above her, translucent, dressed in the same prison wear she wore.

"How did you get here?" His gaze was cold and emotionless.

"I don't know," she whispered. "I was with the Galra and now I'm not... why are you—"

"Seniority rules. No questions until you answer all of mine."

Matt never acted like this unless he was seriously upset. Pidge held her knees close to her chest.

"How did you end up in space?"

Fair question. "Shiro crash landed on Earth next to the Garrison, so some friends and I went to check out the crash site—"

"What were you doing at the Garrison? Mom would never let you go after what happened to us."

Pidge cringed. "I kind of snuck in and left her."

"You what?" Matt fumed. "You just left her? What were you thinking?"

"I had to find out what happened to you! I had to get you and Dad back!"

"So you abandoned Mom?" A flock of birds flew out of the surrounding trees. "Great idea, Katie! She lost her husband and her son to a bunch of aliens, and her daughter disappears out of the blue! That'll make things way better!"

Her heart constricted. "I was going to bring you home! The Garrison said it was an accident, but I knew you were alive! I had to bring you home!"

"You're too late."

Pidge's eyes fell to the ground. "You're dead, aren't you?"

"Yeah. For a couple of days now."

"But what about Dad?" She glanced back up. "He's still alive, right? He has to be."

Matt shook his head.

"No... that—no. That can't be right." Pidge shifted, her hands pulling out grass around her. "You're—you're lying. This is a dream. You're not real, ghosts aren't real! You're still alive! You and Dad are still alive, and I'm gonna take you two home!"

"I'm sorry Katie. You were too late."

we're finished here.