Chapter 30: Family Reunion and not Just for the Good Guys(Marinette's POV)

Marinette grumpily sits in the shuttle. Most of her team thought it'd be best, even if it was a setup, to go to the exchange site. Because then they could at least fight. But she doesn't like it one bit.

It's obviously a trap where Zarkon will try to double cross them. Who hasn't seen a movie where the villain has someone's loved one and then tries to use it as leverage to get what they want? Then again, it is Pidge's father and this is real life. Meaning if they don't come Zarkon might follow through with his threat.

Might.

She chews her lip. There must be more to this than meets the eye, there's no way Zarkon could ever….

"Marinette you okay?" Shiro asks, breaking her thoughts.

"I'm just worried. Lotor is a valuable ally and so is Pidge's father. And then there's a possibility this could all be some trap and we could lose both of them."

"Yeah, which is why we're only taking an Altean shuttle and just us four plus Lotor to meet Zarkon."

Marinette looks at him, "Still. I can't help but feel there's something wrong about this. Or that something wrong is absolutely going to happen."

Shiro chuckles, "Don't worry, even the best of pilots have fear sometimes. I remember my first mission. I was a bundle of nerves and it was only to carry astronauts to the Galaxy Garrison Space Station."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. But the point is, we all feel fear sometimes and I agree with you that something feels wrong. About all of this. But Pidge and Matt are counting on us to at least try and get their father back."

She leans back in the passenger seat of the shuttle.

"You're right. I just hope everything turns out okay."

A Few Moments Later:

Pidge's POV

Pidge looks at the other ship, anticipation flowing through her. Her father is on that ship. Everything she has done, everything she's worked for has led up to this moment. Reuniting with her dad….

She can't help but hold her breath as the other ship's door opens, revealing a Galra clad in red armour with some grey parts. It kind of resembles Paladin armour. Emperor Zarkon she hisses in her mind once she realises who he is. The one creature responsible for tearing her family apart, for starting this filthy war that has gone on for

Millennia's. And he's standing directly across from her, Matt, Marinette, Shiro and Lotor.

She tries to calm herself down, knowing that in a hostage exchange such as this, a level head is required, but she has so much hate for the Galra across from her.

Then she sees her father, unruly grey hair and bread, Galra prison rags that hang loosely on his skinny frame, hands cuffed. It makes her sick to see her father this way when she remembers how such a proud Commander and Scientist for the Garrison he had been.

And the lovely nights at the dinner table talking about his work, his trips into space, and mixing in some of her, her brothers, and her mother's life as well.

"Now," Zarkon booms, making Pidge return her attention to him, making her anger and hate rise again. "I believe we have an exchange to make, my son Lotor, for this scientist. Now give him to me!"

"Not so fast, you give us our scientist first to make sure there are no tricks!" Marinette shouts. It makes Pidge relieved to see her make sure that her father will be alright. Especially since she was the one to initially refuse coming to the exchange, and she knows the reasons for why Marinette did it, but still.

Zarkon smiles a wicked smile, "Very well."

He nods to her father and her father starts walking. Immediately she rushes towards him, despite Marinette and Shiro's protests, so relieved that she can finally have her father back. So relieved. Then something weird happens, she fazes through her dad.

Falling to the ground and quickly turning to face the back of her father, she whispers, "Dad," in disbelief. She was supposed to reunite with him, her father! Not some hologram! Despair washes over her.

So, it really was a trap. They were never going to get her father back, because Zarkon won't hold his end of the deal.

"What's the meaning of this!?" shouts Marinette, which Pidge barely registers, lost in her own despair of not having her father back.

"We agreed to your terms, Lotor is right here! So then why give us a hologram?!"

"I think you already know Black Paladin." Zarkon replies, smirking evilly.

"There's no way you're getting the Lions! Besides, even if we would give them to you there's no way we would do it now! You lied to us about the nature of our deal! We assumed one thing while you want something else entirely. And that's dishonest."

"Well put, Black Paladin. But see I will do anything to get the Lions of Voltron because once I have them no can stop me from conquering the universe! Now prepare to die!"

Pidge widens her eyes as Zarkon lurches forward with incredible speed. But he doesn't stop at her, instead he rushes past towards Shiro and Marinette. Pidge quickly jumps up and grabs out her bayard which turns into her weapon, preparing to swing it.

She swings and her bayard lets loose a green triangle which stabs Zarkon's back. Zarkon howls as it elecroutes him and then rips the bayard off and throws it, making Pidge fall to the ground, again.

"Paladins, get your scientist while I take care of my father!" Lotor shouts, making Pidge stunned. He'd rather us go get my father than let us help him defeat Zarkon.

"Go! If I know my father he actually has the scientist on board the ship in case you actually agreed to trade the lions for the scientist!"

Suddenly Marinette grabs her arm. They run together towards the ship with Shiro presumably behind them. Once inside the ship, it looked like the Altean shuttle but it had a longer and wider space in the back. Her amber eyes quickly scanned the room and she found her father sitting on the floor, hands chained to the floor, slumped over and his head hanging low.

"Dad?" She says, knowing it's already him. This perks her dad up and she sees his amber eyes, unbelief in his gaze.

"Katie?"

But before she can respond she hears Marinette yell "Get your father free Pidge, I'll hold these guys off."

Pidge nods. She uses her bayard, which is convenitaly still in her hand, to cut off the chain holding her dad to the floor, which it does easily. Well it did stab Zarkon in the back.

"Katie?" her dad asks again.

"Yes it's me. Come on, we have to get you out of here."

She leads him off the ship and back towards the shuttle. Strangely it seems as if Lotor moved his and his father's duel away from the Altean shuttle. Or rather not so strange since in a fight you do tend to move a lot.

Once aboard the shuttle she sees from the front seats where Lotor and Zarkon are duelling and it looks like Shiro is watching the duel f, for some odd reason. Then she ducks behind the seats and faces her father and her brother is there too of course.

It's finally him after a year and several, several months of trying to piece out the truth and searching for him. Finally. Tears reach the surface of her eyes, happy ones, as she realises she now has her brother and father.

"Katie? Are you alright?"

"Yeah….I'm fine dad. I'm….I'm just happy to finally reunite with you after so long."

Her dad smiles, "Me too Katie, me too.

"So am I dad. I didn't know if I'd ever see you, mom, or Katie again ever since I got involved with this war. But we're all here, except mom of course, but still."

Her father then wraps both of them in a tight hug, squishing everybody expect himself. And Pidge smiles and embraces it. Finally they're all here again. And nothing can separate us ever again.

Author's Note: The Holt family has reunited, yeah! This part stayed pretty close to canon though I changed some things, notably that Zarkon is super obsessed with the Lions at this point(cause lets face it it's been one of his main goals since season one) so that hinders his ability to think rationally and plan. Remember he has just recovered from an injury and thinks his son is a traitor to the Galra Empire. So he might not be seeing so clearly( because his emotions have blinded him and he still might be disoriented from his injury. And even then Haggar was the one always coming up with the best plans rather than Zarkon, kind of like a certain Miraculous Villain duo). Anyways hope you guys enjoyed this chapter:)