Chapter Five:
Shinji frowned as he studied Pidge.
"Katie?" He said, sliding down the sandy hill. "Katie Holt?"
"Pidge." Pidge said with a growl. "My name is Pidge."
"Oh yeah, that's the alias you went by at the Garrison, wasn't it?" Shinji said, eyeing Green warily.
"Well, I wouldn't have had to if someone hadn't gotten me expelled before I even started!" Pidge yelled.
Shinji ignored Pidge, instead walking around Green.
"The videos make this thing look bigger." He commented. "And isn't it supposed to be blue?"
"No," Pidge said through gritted teeth. "Blue is a leg and blue. Green is an arm and green. Don't insult my Lion."
"A leg and an arm?" Shinji said, arching an eyebrow at them.
"Look, I don't have time for this." Pidge said. "But since you're here, and since you owe me, you're going to help me."
"With what, exactly?" Shinji asked.
"I have to get Green fixed up, and back into space, like five minutes ago." Pidge explained, now running towards Keith's cabin, barely aware that Shinji was following. "They can't form Voltron without me, and there's no way that that warship can't be taken down any other way."
"Voltron?" Shinji said, watching as Pidge started grabbing tools and parts from the crates and boxes hidden behind Keith's bike. "Wait, so that Blue Lion thing wasn't Voltron?"
"It's a part of Voltron, just like Green." Pidge explained. "Hold these."
"So there's more of those lions?" Shinji asked as Pidge loaded up his arms with tools and parts. "Is that where you all disappeared to? Space? With robot lions?"
"I don't have time for this right now!" Pidge snapped, throwing a useless part over their shoulder, where it landed with a muffled thud in the sand.
"No, I have questions, and you're going to answer them now, Katie!"
Pidge's back straightened as they turned, eyes on fire as they stuffed more parts and tools into Shinji's hands.
"Four people." They growled. "There are four people in the entire universe who can call me Katie right now. My mom is one. My dad and brother are two and three. You are not number four, Shinji Shirogane. And you will never be. You are going to shut up and do as I say, because if you don't, the people I care for are going to die, Earth is going to be just another planet under Galra rule, and the entire universe is doomed."
"No pressure." Shinji said bitterly, glaring back at Pidge.
"What the hell are you doing out here, anyways?" Pidge demanded, continuing their search.
"Like you and your two teammates, I snuck out of the Garrison. I've been doing some investigating on my own, you see. Found this place abandoned and come here when I can." Shinji explained. "Just happened to have snuck out before the aliens arrived and have been hiding out here ever since."
"This place does not belong to you!" Pidge snapped. Granted, they weren't entirely positive it belonged to Keith either, but whatever.
"Yeah, well, this is the last place I know for sure that my brother was when some idiot teenagers kidnapped him."
Pidge yanked a tool free and, satisfied, started to head back to Green.
"Come on." They said.
"Pidge! You are going to answer my questions!" Shinji said, following Pidge nonetheless.
"Not now!" Pidge snapped as they started to scale Green to get to the damaged area.
"No!" Shinji yelled, throwing the tools and parts to the ground. "Pidge, you're going to answer my questions now!"
"Really not the time!" Pidge yelled back.
"Yeah? Well, you would be demanding answers if it was Matt that crash landed to Earth after being declared dead in space for a year only to be kidnapped by four—sorry, three Garrison underclassmen and a washed out delinquent, and then disappear again without any sort of explanation!"
Pidge froze and crawled over to look down at Shinji, who was glaring up at them, fists clenched.
"My parents, my sister, had to find out Takashi was alive at the same time everyone else in the world did." Shinji said, calmly and coolly. "We all had to watch that video of him strapped to a table, covered in scars, and screaming about aliens."
"You hacked my computer when I grabbed the camera feed." Pidge said, accusingly. "I recognized your signature."
"Yeah, and when no one at Galaxy Garrison came up to me and was like 'oh, by the way, guess what? Turns out your brother is alive after all. Totally out of his mind, but hey we can fix that once we free him from these four crazy kids' the next day, I posted it to the entire internet." Shinji said.
"Then don't blame me for this!" Pidge snapped.
"No, I don't blame you for that. I blame you for abducting Takashi and then taking him right back into space right after he finally got back!" Shinji yelled. "Didn't even think to contact me or my family or anyone so that we could see him, could touch him, could hear his voice when he wasn't yelling about aliens and begging to be kept awake, to know he was actually alive and this all wasn't some sort of cruel joke. Because you just had to find your dad and brother, didn't you? You're so selfish. You didn't even think about Takashi, or his family. You just thought about you and your family."
"Shinji, you can yell at me, curse me, whatever you want to do, later. Right now, if I don't get Green fixed and running again, people are going to die. Or get hurt. Or captured. And Shiro is one of those people. So if you want to see him again, help me get to him." Pidge said. "Or go away. Either way, you're wasting my time!"
Shinji glared, but then grabbed the tools he had thrown to the ground.
"Tell me what to do." He said.
Pidge nodded.
After ten minutes of silence occasionally interrupted by terse exchanges of instructions and inquiries of clarification, the outside damage was repaired. Pidge grinned as Green purred beneath them.
"Whoa!" Shinji said, eyes wide. "Was that supposed to happen?"
"Glad to have you back, girl." Pidge said, ignoring Shinji as they patted Green's hull affectionately. "I thought I lost you. Now, ready to get back up there?"
Green gave another purr, mixed with a growl.
"Alright," Pidge said. "Come on, Shinji."
Pidge jumped down off of Green, Shinji following. Pidge ran up the ramp, hopping into the seat. However, nothing happened once they were at the controls. With a growl, Pidge wiggled out of the chair and underneath Green's consul, seeing instantly what the problem was. It also explained their sudden communication issues with the other Lions and the Castle. Fortunately, a much easier fix than the outside damage.
"Bring me that screwdriver!" They yelled.
"This thing is watching me!" Shinji said. "I think it's glaring…"
"Green doesn't like you because I don't like you. But don't let that intimidate you." Pidge responded. "Screwdriver, now."
"I am not getting anywhere near that thing!" Shinji said.
"GET IN THE ROBOT, SHINJI!" Pidge yelled in exasperation.
"You've been dying to say that, haven't you?" Shinji grumbled as he came up the ramp, passing the screwdriver to Pidge. He looked around. "So, is it a robot, a space-ship or what?"
"It's all that. And also magic." Pidge said, tightening the last piece. Green flashed to life with a roar.
"Whoa!" Shinji said, stumbling backwards as Pidge crawled out and into the seat, putting on the harness.
"Alright, Green, let's go!" Pidge said, putting on their helmet again. "Shinji, I suggest you find something to hold on to."
"Wait, what?" Shinji said, eyes wide.
But he was too late.
Pidge threw forward the thrusters and Green was in the air.
Within seconds, they were in space. As soon as Green left the atmosphere, Pidge heard Keith's voice, directing things.
"Lance, ice blast those hanger doors!"
"I'm on it!"
"Hunk, grab a fighter and use it like Black's jaw blade!"
"Got it!"
Pidge felt something grip their heart. Why wasn't Shiro directing the Paladins? What was wrong? A glance out the side showed the Black Lion blasting and firing, but for some reason it didn't feel like Shiro was controlling the Lion. Like Black had taken over, flying on autopilot, doing everything she could to protect her Paladin. What was wrong with Shiro?
"Paladins, we can't cover you much longer!" Allura cried out. "The Castle has taken too many hits!"
"Well, it's not like we can form—" Lance started to say.
"When I say Vol, you say Tron!" Pidge said, grinning as they did so, flying Green in view of all of their teammates.
"PIDGE!" Was the immediate, happy response from her teammates, followed by roars from the other four Lions, who were clearly happy to see the smallest Lion.
"Pidge, we thought you were dead!" Hunk exclaimed.
"We're so happy to see you, buddy!" Lance said.
"Oh, thank the stars!" Allura cried out.
"Katie…"
Shiro's voice, barely a whisper, more like an exhale.
"I'm here," Pidge said. "What's the damage?"
"Well, there's about to be a lot more of it." Keith said, sounding thoroughly relieved. "Unfortunately for the Galra and fortunately for us. Shiro?"
It took a moment and Pidge could imagine Shiro blinking rapidly, shaking his head some, like he always did once he came out of a bad flashback.
"Alright, team." Shiro said, his voice still shaky. "Let's form Voltron!"
Pidge pulled Green into position, relaxing in the feel of their bond with their Lion, with their teammates, pulling them all together.
"What is going on?" Shinji asked, pulling onto Pidge's chair to pull himself to his feet. His eyes widened as he saw the Galra ship. "What the heck, that thing is huge!"
"Thank you, captain obvious. Remember how I told you how to hold on to something? I was not talking about my chair." Pidge snapped, not looking at Shinji behind her.
"Uh, Pidge, you talking to us?" Lance asked.
"No. Let's just say, I may have picked up someone on Earth." Pidge said.
"A… friendly someone, I hope?" Hunk said.
"Depends on who you ask." Was Pidge's response.
"Shield, now!" Shiro yelled suddenly before anyone could ask them to elaborate.
Pidge brought up the shield, taking the blow, but without being on solid ground, Voltron was still pushed back.
"Aaah!" Shinji yelled, falling forward, grabbing hold of Pidge's shoulder.
"Get off of me!" Pidge yelled, instinctively bringing back their elbow, hitting Shinji somewhere in the face, sending him backwards. "Find something back there to hold onto, not me!"
"Shiro, sword or canon?" Keith asked.
"Start with the sword," Shiro said. "We'll bring out the shoulder canon after we get in a few hits on that main canon."
"On it." Keith said and they all heard the sound of his bayard fitting in to its slot at the consul.
"Pidge, incoming!" Hunk exclaimed.
Pidge quickly moved the shield to take the new shot.
"Lance, Hunk, give us a boost here!" Pidge said through gritted teeth. "We move any further back and we're going to crash to Earth!"
Pidge felt the rockets firing from beneath them, pushing them forward.
"Keith, have the sword ready," Shiro said. "Pidge, can you hold that shield just a bit longer?"
"I think so!" Pidge said.
"Good. Lance, Hunk, keep going, get us as close in as you can!" Shiro said.
"Got it, boss!" Lance said.
"Steady, steady…" Shiro said. "Keith, now!"
Pidge kept the shield steady as Keith swung the sword with a shout.
There was the distinct sound of metal colliding with metal, and suddenly Pidge had nothing to block. The laser disappeared.
"Shoulder canon!" Shiro commanded.
"I'm on it!" Hunk cried out. Pidge made the shield disappear in time to help hoist up the canon, which was fired on Shiro's order.
Within minutes, all of the ship's weapons were destroyed. Pidge watched as there were multiple explosions, but it didn't seem to bring any more damage to the ship itself. Before they could finish it off, the ship suddenly pulled away, turning back to the direction from whence it came. To their surprise, dozens of fighters came soaring past.
"They're retreating!" Pidge said. "All of those fighters, they have to be from Earth!"
"Woohoo! Another victory for Team Voltron!" Lance whooped. "That'll teach them to mess with our planet!"
"Yeah, but it seems they gave up their new colony a little too easy." Keith said, and Pidge could mentally imagine his scowl. "That's going to piss off Zarkon."
"They may have left drones, but not living Galra." Coran said. "Either way, we should get planet-side as soon as possible to evaluate the situation. The Castle is in bad need of repairs. And I do believe Pidge has some cargo that needs to be dropped."
"I can drop that cargo from here…" Pidge said, grinning wickedly at Shinji, who was clinging for dear life to the side of Green, looking a little ill. He gave her a wide-eyed, horrified look, shaking his head.
"Alright, Earth it is." Pidge said, tapping on the keys. "I'm sending you all coordinates for where we should land."
"Let's go, then." Lance said. "I can smell my Abuelita's empanadas already!"
They touched down to Earth as Voltron, the Castle right behind them. It wasn't until Blue and Yellow touched the ground that the Lions and their exhausted Paladins split apart, the Lions landing in formation.
Pidge tore out of the Green Lion, pushing past the still-dizzy Shinji in their haste to get out and to their teammates. They had barely touched the ground when suddenly they were swept up into one of Hunk's bone-crushing hugs, grinning and leaning into the hug.
"Pidge, you scared us so bad!" Hunk said, nuzzling his cheek against Pidge's hair.
"Sorry, guys!" Pidge said as Hunk put them back on the ground, where Pidge was immediately seized into a hug by Lance, who affectionately ruffled Pidge's hair.
"Don't ever scare us like that again, Pidgito!" Lance said, swaying with Pidge in his arms.
Pidge smiled at Lance's affectionate nickname, and was just as reluctant to leave his arms as they were to leave Hunk's. But that reluctance was gone when they turned to see Keith, grinning and holding his arms wide open for his hug. Pidge grinned and jumped into his arms, not wanting to waste the rare moment Keith offered any sort of physical affection.
"You did good, kid. We didn't stand a chance without you." Keith whispered into their ear.
"Yeah, well, of course, for Voltron." Pidge said, looking up at the Red Paladin.
"Voltron wasn't the reason I said that." Keith said, releasing Pidge from the hug and patting them on the shoulder, turning them around to face Shiro, who stood a few steps away, helmet dangling limply from his fingers, just staring silently at Pidge.
Pidge smiled at him, barely noticing that Keith's hand left their shoulder. Pidge opened their mouth to speak, but before they could, Shiro had crossed over, and they were wrapped up in his arms so fast all they could do was stand there, stunned.
Though muffled through his armor, Pidge could hear Shiro's heart thudding in his chest. His chest shook some as he held them tightly. Pidge felt a light sort of pressure against the top of their head and, to their surprise, wet droplets.
"You're okay…" Shiro whispered.
Pidge blinked and wrapped their arms around Shiro.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Pidge said softly. "You're okay. We're all okay…"
Shiro's grip on them loosened some as he pulled back to look down at them, reaching up to gently rub a smear of grime off of Pidge's cheekbone. It broke Pidge's heart to see Shiro's teary, but relieved eyes.
"I thought I lost you." Shiro said in a low voice. Pidge licked their lips and tried to hold back their own tears.
"Well, you haven't." Pidge said, trying to force a smile, even though all they wanted to do was cry against Shiro, in the embraces of their teammates, let out the fear that they had contained to handle the situation as quickly as possible. Pidge snaked their arm out to grab Shiro's human hand, squeezing it firmly. "And you're not going to lose me."
"Katie…" Shiro said, but whatever he was going to say next, he didn't, choosing instead to hug Pidge tightly to him again, his metallic hand in their hair while his flesh and blood hand was still wrapped in theirs.
Pidge wasn't sure how long they stayed in that embrace, but wished it had lasted longer.
"Okay, Shiro, stop hogging the Pidge!" Lance said. "Allura and Coran are growing impatient for their hugs."
Giving Shiro's hand a final squeeze and flashing a grin up at him, which Shiro weakly returned, Pidge went to be embraced by the two Alteans and the mice, who latter of whom immediately buried themselves in Pidge's hair.
It was at this point that Shiro noticed the person standing at the bottom of the Green Lion's ramp. He wasn't sure how long the boy had been standing there, but knew it must have been the person who helped Pidge repair Green.
The boy… looked vaguely familiar… Not enough to trigger a flashback or bring a name to mind. Had he seen the boy around the Garrison? He must have. He looked to be about that age.
That was when he noticed that the boy was watching him silently. Eyes a little wide, jaw a little slack, breathing a little heavy.
Remembering his first ride in a Lion without being the one to pilot, Shiro felt a little pity for the boy. Granted, he assumed that it was probably a much smoother ride with Pidge at the controls instead of Lance "I always crash the simulators" Sanchez-Garcia.
Shiro made the first move, crossing over to where the boy stood. As he got closer, the boy stood straighter, his mouth closing.
"Thank you." Shiro said. "For helping Pidge. I cannot express my gratitude for your actions."
The boy studied Shiro, glancing at Pidge briefly but then back at Shiro.
"You… You called her Katie?" The boy said, sounding almost confused.
"Sometimes." Shiro admitted. "But they prefer Pidge."
The boy said nothing, just stared at Shiro.
Shiro automatically stuck out his hand.
"I'm Shiro, by the way." He said, giving the boy a smile.
Behind him, there was dead silence, a silence that had been growing when Keith had looked to see where Shiro was, then suddenly grabbing Lance's arm with wide-eyes when he saw not only where he was, but who he was talking to.
"Is… Is that…?" Allura whispered in a low voice.
The boy's features quickly seemed to contort with anger.
"Yeah." The boy said, voice flat. "I know who you are, Takashi."
"Oh?" Shiro said, a little taken aback at the boy's sudden anger, as well as mildly surprised that the boy knew his given name.
"Yeah." The boy said again, still no emotion in his voice. "My name, since I guess you've forgotten that, too, is Shinji."
Shinji's fists clenched into balls at his side as he watched the gears turn in Shiro's head, as he still wracked his brain to figure out who he was.
"I'm your brother." Shinji spat out before striding past Shiro, leaving him standing alone, dazed, confused, and more than a little upset with himself.
Shinji strode past the rest of the Paladins and the two Alteans, ignoring the angry glares he was getting from Keith and Lance, the horror on Hunk's face, the wide-eyed confusion and hurt on Shiro's behalf on the faces of Allura and Coran.
But he did meet Pidge's eyes.
And in one look, made it clear that he blamed them.
He stormed over the sand dune as the Galaxy Garrison vehicles arrived.
Pidge closed their eyes for a moment, then followed Hunk over to where Shiro stood, alone and quiet. Behind them, Lance was hissing curses in Spanish while Coran and Allura had to put their hands on Keith's shoulders to restrain him from following Shinji. Hunk put his hand on Shiro's shoulder while Pidge came up to his other side.
"Hey, man," Hunk said. "You—"
But Hunk cut himself off before he could ask the question.
Shiro was definitely not okay.
But he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning around to watch as a furious Commander Iverson emerged from an armored car.
"Time for the hard part of the job." Shiro mumbled, walking away from his two teammates in silence.
Hunk and Pidge only had time to exchange a worried glance before they hurried after him.