Published August 7, 2018. Revised October 7, 2021.

"Better Together"


A man who works beyond the surface of things, though he may be wrong himself, yet he clears the way for others, and may chance to make even his errors subservient to the cause of truth. ~ Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful


After securing the unconscious bounty hunter, Matt sent his contact a request for someone to take his place at the listening outpost. Pidge needed to get back to her team, and there was no way the two of them could part just after finding each other; plus, they agreed, the paladins and rebels would probably be good allies.

Once they received an affirmative message, they had to wait for Matt's replacement to arrive. They welcomed the wait time, as it let them begin to catch up on everything that had happened while they were apart.

Pidge demanded that Matt go first. It was only fair, she said, since he had heard news about the Voltron paladins, whereas she had not had any news about him for all those months. So he told her about the prisons, the breakout, and his time with the rebels.

Pidge's expression became sad when he mentioned Te-osh. "I met her while I was looking for you just now. She's the one who gave me your transponder code."

"Really? Great! I'm glad you got to meet her. How is she?"

His excitement made questions made tears spring to Pidge's eyes. Matt blinked at this reaction, feeling dread for the first time since either of them had mentioned Te-osh. "Is she …"

"When I was looking for her, to ask if she knew where you were … she was injured in an aerial battle. When I got to her she gave me your transponder code; then she died. I was with her."

Matt was stunned. He had been aware of casualties among the rebels, but he had never lost someone as close to him as Te-osh had been.

And Pidge had been with her when she died. That had probably been a comfort to Te-osh, to have an ally with her when she died, but for Pidge to go through that—

"Were you close?" she asked tenatively. She was not thinking about herself, but about Matt and how this news impacted him.

"Yeah … relatively speaking." Te-osh was not the only rebel Matt had befriended and looked up to, but she had saved him, looked after him, and taught him about being a rebel, a warrior. He tilted his head back, resting it against the metal column, and found himself blinking back tears. "She was … kind of like the big sister I never had."

Pidge reached out and squeezed his hand. To him, it was a reassurance that this was real, that she was here with him and for him. To her, it was a promise that she would not let anything happen to him or his friends or allies.

"I wish you could've seen her in action. She was awesome."

Pidge nodded and acknowledged, "She was a hero."

"Yeah … she was." Matt was trembling now, the intensity of his shock and euphoria and sorrow threatening to overwhelm him. He swiped at his eyes with his free hand, trying to stave off tears.

"It's okay to cry, Matt," Pidge said. "I cried when it happened, and I barely knew her. I won't think less of you."

Matt looked at her, smiling fondly and gratefully through his tears. "Thanks."

Once Matt finished his narrative, Pidge recounted everything that had happened on Earth between the Kerberos crew's disappearance and her own departure. Matt found himself hooting with incredulity and glee. "You hoodwinked the whole Garrison?"

"Like you always said—"

He joined his voice with hers as he realized what she was going to say: "'What the Garrison doesn't know won't hurt them!'"

Matt laughed and tousled Pidge's hair, which had always been messy but seemed even more so now that it was short and so often tucked into a helmet. "Pidge, I don't know what our family—or the universe—would do without you."

Her eyes softened. "Well, I wouldn't have become a paladin it wasn't for you and Dad. I wouldn't have gone to the Garrison so early, or helped rescue Shiro when he landed, or tried to leave Earth. It was all to find you."

Matt felt a slight pang of something melancholy, somewhere between guilt or sorrow, threatening to embitter the sweetness of their reunion. He was sorry that Pidge had suffered so much, first on Earth and then in space. Yet at the same time, having her be a part of this cause, able to fight at his side, excited him and made him feel proud. "I probably shouldn't be happy about you being out here, mixed up in the war … but I can't help being glad you're with me."

Pidge smiled with those funny catlike dimples. "You know what I like to think about? How surprised and furious Iverson will be when he finds out that I was under his nose, and did what I said I would—found out what happened to you."

Matt returned her grin. "I want to be there with a camera when that happens!"

Once his replacement arrived, Pidge led Matt out to the Green Voltron Lion. Matt whistled, impressed by its size and awed by its sophisticated technology. He had never seen anything like it, even in all his months of living among aliens.

Watching Pidge at the controls was weird. Matt had been aware of Pidge's ambition to be a pilot, but had not expected her to achieve that goal so young. And yet, she seemed at home in the cockpit that was the Lion's mouth.

"So, who are the other paladins?" he asked. "They're also from Earth, right? Anyone I know?"

"Hm …" Pidge cupped her chin in her hand, feigning thoughtfulness, all with a mischievous look on her face. "They're all from the Garrison, but most of them are closer to my age than yours. There's one I definitely want to be a surprise, and some you might've known. Oh—did you know Keith at the Garrison? A friend of Shiro's?"

"Keith," Matt murmured, thinking back. "Yeah, I remember seeing him a few times. Shiro mentioned him too."

"Well, he was the one who helped us find a Voltron lion on Earth."

"What? But … that would mean … aliens came to Earth before?"

"Yeah. And actually, Keith apparently is part Galra, which means someone in his family tree met aliens."

Matt was surprisingly disappointed to hear this. For a long time, his dream, and his father's dream, had been to be the first humans to meet aliens. He had thought that that dream had come true, albeit in a twisted way, when they were captured. But now he could not even claim that honor, such as it was.

Pidge went on blithely. "Anyway, Keith was a paladin for a while. He actually led Voltron when our usual leader was away. But recently, he started training with the Blade of Marmora, and recently he left to work with them full-time. So we're still in touch, but I don't know if you'll get to see him in person."

"So, where exactly are we going?"

"Planet Olkarion. You'll love it there; the natural environment is basically married to the technology. It's become a safe haven for refugees, so we've been helping them resettle or travel to other parts of the universe. A lot of them are signing up to fight with us against the Galra."

When they arrived, the Green Lion roared to announce their triumphant arrival. Several people in armor similar to Pidge's lined up to greet the siblings as they disembarked. Matt did not recognize the former Galaxy Garrison cadets Hunk and Lance, but it was easy to see that they were from Earth. Even Coran the Altean looked almost like a human.

Matt was floored when he saw Princess Allura. In all his time in space, he had never encountered an alien race that looked so much like Earth's humans, and he had certainly never met one so beautiful by Earth standards. First, he felt incredulous; then euphoric, like an excited little kid; then he was trying to sound as mature, formal, and flattering as he could; then he was fending off the furious looks Lance shot him. If looks could kill, Pidge would have been avenging her brother's death.

Then, beyond Allura and Lance, Matt saw Shiro.

Matt had heard about the Champion of the gladiator arena, and had long worried about him, but he had not known whether he was still alive. Shiro looked somewhat different—his undercut was gone, and his bangs were white—but it was undeniably him. Pidge had neglected to mention him so Matt would be surprised!

Matt did not know how to react—they had been as close as any astronauts on a long-term mission could be, but they had always been professional about it. Shiro had been his senior in the Garrison, and was definitely his senior as a Voltron paladin, so Matt kept his tone respectful, even though it was saturated with relief. "It's so good to see you—uh, sir." Matt held out a hand, which Shiro took, and then pulled so Matt fell into a hug. Matt welcomed it.

"Pidge never gave up on finding you," Shiro told Matt.

"Yeah." Matt looked over his shoulder at Pidge, who grinned proudly. "She can be pretty stubborn at times."

"And I want you to know that all of us will help you find your father."

"Thanks." Matt felt increasingly confident that he would find his father, now that he had Pidge and several allies from Earth to help him do so.

Pidge gestured to guide her brother's attention. "Matt, this is the Castle of Lions."

Matt looked up at the massive, elegant white structure. "Whoa. Nice ship."

"Let me take you on a tour." Pidge grabbed his hand and pulled him along after her.

Matt was consistently impressed by the high-quality technology and facilities, and occasionally bemused by its eccentric features (like an Earth cow and a machine that squirted out food goo). It was clear that the castle was as much the paladins' home as it was their headquarters. Every room had a story, or multiple stories, which kept Pidge chattering as they went from one part of the ship to another.

It had been a long time since Matt had seen anyone so happy and excited, and for that person to be his sister made him happier than he had been since leaving Earth.

Hunk was the only one who intruded on the siblings' bonding time, offering them milkshakes he had made from the cow's milk. Matt could hardly believe he was tasting that sweet Earth treat again, after months of living off alien military rations and whatever scraps the rebels could scavenge or steal on the black market.

It would have been natural for Matt to feel jealous when Pidge talked about everything she and her friends had done together. But ultimately, he was glad to know that Pidge had been living in a nice home with good people. He had adapted to the irregular, unpredictable life of a fugitive, but he was an adult. Pidge was still in the process of growing up, which meant she needed a stable living situation more than he did. Of course, fighting in a war was not exactly stable, but having a home and a family to come back to after each mission and battle was a great blessing.

The strangest thing about being together again was how natural it felt, even after spending almost two years apart and having so many separate experiences. Even though they had both changed a great deal, their bond was as strong as it had ever been, if not even stronger. They had so much to tell each other about, and new things they could bond over, like cooperating in battle and collaborating in research.

With Pidge and Hunk's help, Matt was able to finally break the codes he had been struggling with, and they were able to observe Galra troop movements almost live. But as soon as they made the breakthrough, they overheard some startling news: Emperor Zarkon was alive and had ordered his forces to mobilize around a particular location.

That was when Matt got to see how Team Voltron operated. Shiro and Allura seemed to have the most authority, but everyone on the team had their say—including Pidge, who proposed that they use cloaking to go in close and find out who Zarkon was attacking.

Matt appreciated that Shiro pointed out the danger she would be in if she went alone. Honestly, that was what he should have done. He was already fairly used to thinking of Pidge as a competent soldier. But Pidge was not suggesting that they split up the team. "I'm pretty sure I could upgrade Voltron with cloaking. We could all go."

Lance punched her playfully. "Were you just waiting for your big brother to show up before you rolled that one out?"

Pidge smiled, a little sheepish but mostly proud. "It's something I've been working on for a while, but I can't pilot the Green Lion and operate the cloaking at the same time." She side-eyed Matt, sly and hopeful. "But if I had a co-pilot …"

"Absolutely," Matt agreed, offering his hand, which she took and squeezed, palm-to-palm.

It did not take long for Pidge to show Matt how to use the cloaking tech. He sat in the chair behind Pidge's in the Green Lion, and the five lions formed Voltron before he ran the cloaking sequence. Then they flew in to survey the cosmic battlefield.

The many Galra fleets seemed to be attacking a single Galra station. The paladins were bemused as to what this could mean. Then three ships Matt had never seen before, maneuvering faster than he had imagined possible, emerged and flew through the barrage toward Voltron.

"It's Lotor." Allura's voice was hard.

Matt had heard rumors and reports about Lotor, who had taking up leadership after Zarkon's defeat. But he was surprised to learn that Lotor was working against the Galra Empire, not helping them. Besides the Blade of Marmora, the rebels had not seen any division within the Galra Empire.

Lotor's high-speed ships flew so close to Voltron that it ruined the cloaking sequence. Voltron was visible and the paladins had to engage with the Galra fleets that turned their attention on it. Shiro shouted the commands, and Matt got to see what Hunk's bayard could do, hitting multiple targets in several fell swoops.

Then, for the second time in his life, Matt heard the voice of Emperor Zarkon himself, broadcast through a transmission addressed to all Galra officers. Both his tone and his message were eerie, unnerving. Though Matt was considerably braver than he had been a year ago, and assured of his and his allies' safety with Voltron on their side, that voice was frightening even to him.

Apparently, while the Holt family's ties were being restored and strengthened, the ties within Zarkon's family were weakening and being severed. Zarkon ordered his people to approach Lotor with prejudice and kill him on sight.

After the message ended, the paladins sat in stunned silence for a few moments. Finally Hunk broke the silence by asking, "What do we do now?"

"There's nothing more for us to do here," Allura said finally. With that they turned Voltron around and headed back to the Castle of Lions.

Matt did not want to think about leaving. While he knew he could not stay permanently, he had hoped he might be able to spend a few quintents with Pidge and her "found family." But all these new developments—Zarkon being alive, Lotor being a fugitive, and the paladins of Voltron being potential allies—were things Matt knew he ought to discuss with the rebels. After talking it over with Pidge and Shiro, they agreed that after he had rested, he would borrow an Altean pod and rejoin the rebels.

"But there's one thing we need to do first," Pidge said with a gleam in her eye.

"What's that?" Matt asked warily.

"You and I need to play … Mercury Gameflux II!"

Matt choked on his food goo, which should have been impossible but somehow he managed it. "What?"

"We found it at a store that sold stuff from Earth. That's where we got Kaltenecker—she was free with purchase!"

Matt howled with laughter. Apparently wonders never ceased in space, especially where his sister was concerned.

They spent hours playing the video game. Lance insisted on playing against the winner, but that turned out to be Pidge, which meant Matt not have to risk being humiliated by the one paladin who might resent his presence. He cheered for Pidge while Hunk hollered advice to Lance, until Shiro came in to make sure there was no emergency.

Saying goodbye the next day was strange. Matt and Pidge could expect to be in regular contact and see each other in person in the near future. But they could hardly be casual about parting, when their previous farewell had been followed by such a long separation, and now that they understood what high stakes they faced.

"I never expected to have this much fun in space," Matt told his hosts. "I didn't realize how much I missed that. So thanks."

"You're welcome here anytime," Allura said graciously, making Matt's insides flutter. "And you and your allies in the rebel alliance can always call on Voltron for help."

"I'll be sure to tell them that. We need all the help we can get."


Music: "Better Together" by Jack Johnson