Ah yes, chapter eleven! It's here, it's done! I did kind of hope to touch a little more on Earth this chapter, but it kind of didn't happen. I still think that was like, the best possible place to end the chapter on though... dreamworks let my boy Matt meet his momma.

cosmic dust

chapter eleven

depart to reunite

"Can't sleep?"

There was a soft click of claws behind her. Turning her head, she squinted in the dark, Keith's glowing eyes like a beacon. It was dark in the castle-ship- Arus was in its night cycle, and the Castle had matched it, dimming all the lights.

She had wandered her way onto the bridge, sitting on the same little plateau from which Allura had told them the blue lion's location from.

She had tried to sleep, really, she had- but after tossing and turning in her bed for what felt like hours, she had simply given up. Putting on the slippers that she had been given to protect her feet from the cold floor, she had grabbed her shirt, bundling herself up in it. Her room was climate controlled, but outside of that, the rest of the Castle could get awfully cold at this hour.

If it bothered Keith, she honestly couldn't tell. He had been given a set of pajamas, dug up from ten thousand year old clothing stores, just as she had, but he appeared to have not changed out of his usual clothes- though he had left the red and white jacket behind somewhere, as he had the boots that matched.

She got the impression that cramming his clawed feet into them hurt, so when they had downtime, he generally spent it barefoot. Made sense- the boots had come from Earth, and they had exactly been tailored with claws in mind.

"Not really." Pidge told him, shaking her head. "I'm just... we're going back to Earth tomorrow, Keith."

There was a faint laugh at that, as Keith situated himself next to her. "Excited?"

"A little." She admitted, pulling her knees closer to her chest. "I just... I was hoping that when I went back, I would be able to bring both dad and Matt home with me."

"One out of two's not bad." Keith observed, glowing eyes falling on her. "You'll find him, Pidge."

"I hope so." Interlocking her fingers, she rested her chin on her knees. "But you're right. At least I'll be bringing Matt home. Mom'll be so happy to see him."

She felt rather than saw his hand on her head, giving her hair a light ruffle. There was something to the habit that made her suspect that he had picked it up from someone else- maybe his human parent, she thought.

His father, she'd learned. He'd told Matt that much- that his mother had been Galra. He'd also told him that he'd never known her, and she wondered what it must have been like, to be raised without the parent whose heritage was made plain as day on your face. His human heritage was obvious just the same, but the Galra stood out more.

Normally she'd make a fuss, but for the moment, she just let him have it. It felt a bit good, if she had to be honest. When he drew his hand away, she almost frowned.

"I'm guessing the person in question's asleep, on account of that I could hear his snoring through the walls." Keith observed.

Letting out a laugh, Pidge grinned in spite of herself. "Yeah, he does snore pretty loud. We think he gets that from grandpa."

"Apparently Alteans snore too." Keith observed, and she didn't need to be able to see in the dark like he could to know that he was making a face. "At least, I hope what I heard from Coran's room was snoring."

Her smile fell at that, lifting her head to study Keith. In the dark, it was next to impossible to make out the bags underneath his eyes, but she found herself wondering just how long he had been awake, if he'd been wandering the castle halls enough to know that. Had he even tried to get to sleep?

Coran and Allura's rooms were located in a different section of the ship than the ones they had been allotted. Guest rooms, near as she could guess, while the ones that they occupied were meant for more permanent residents. She still didn't fully understand how the castle-ship worked, but near as she could guess, it was designed so as to be stationary like a normal castle when needed.

"So all this time, you were born on Earth, huh?"

Her words were faint, but Keith's hearing was good. He heard her.

"I never said I wasn't." Keith observed.

...and he had a point there. He'd never once claimed that he wasn't from Earth.

Which fell in line with what she understood about him. Keith didn't so much lie, as he did omit. She sensed that while he was good at the latter, he was terrible at the former.

"Guess you're not actually an alien, then." Pidge noted. "Give me back my first contact, asshole."

"Technically we're both aliens right now." Keith pointed out. "Unless you're going to tell me that you've actually been from Arus this whole time."

Jerking her head up, she blinked. In all honesty, she had never actually thought about it like that- that the moment she left Earth, she became the alien.

"Whoa."

"Yeah, whoa." Keith echoed, letting out a faint snicker. "You gonna be okay there Pidge?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be okay." She told him. "So you're telling me that all this time, I've been more alien than you?"

"I've been telling you that ever since we left Earth." Keith pointed out, arching a brow. "What do you think I meant whenever I said that being human made you stand out?"

"...okay, you have me there." Pidge admitted. She had just... never really taken it that way, she guessed. "So... where on Earth were you born?"

He flinched a little at the question- but didn't seem to shy away from it, not this time. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me." Pidge told him.

"Texas."

"Tex-" Pidge began, before squinting at him. "Texas?"

"Texas." Keith repeated, without a hint of irony to his voice. "I told you you wouldn't believe me."

Shit, he had her there. Out of all the places... she would have not expected Texas. Although... it did sort of make sense. There was a lot of open, empty space out in Texas, so if an alien ship was to land undetected somewhere on Earth, Texas would be a good place to do it.

Which must have happened at some point, given the whole half Galra thing.

Actually, come to think of it...

"So... what was your mother doing on Earth in the first place?" Pidge asked, unable to stop herself. "Do you know?"

"Pidge, I didn't even know what the Galra were until-"

Keith froze, glowing eyes now downcast. Even in the dark, she could all but see him draw in on himself, as if he'd said more than he'd wanted to say.

"I'm going to go check on Red."

Rising abruptly, Keith was up and on his feet before she so much as had the chance to say anything. "Keith, wait-!"

But he was already out the door, the sound of the bridge doors closing behind him. Realizing now that she was on her feet just the same, she let out a long breath, slumping back down.

And here she thought she'd been getting somewhere with him.

Stretching out her legs, she let out a loud groan, debating going after him. It was probably better that she didn't- Keith liked to be left alone, and if he wanted company, he usually went to find it for himself.

But still... what had he meant by that? How had he not known about the Galra?

Had his father never told him? How did he... he must have noticed. Even if he had been raised in total isolation, he would have still had his human father to compare himself to. Had he never questioned their differences before?

Or had...

...what if he hadn't always looked that way?

And if he'd... if Keith had looked more human at one point, what had changed?

Pressing his forehead against the red lion's leg, Keith fought the urge to scream.

At himself, mostly. What had he been thinking?

Letting out a loud groan, he lifted his head, only to lightly thunk it back into the red lion's leg. He'd screwed up. He'd said too much. Pidge would realize for sure now that he hadn't always looked this way, that he used to be less Galra. Of course she would, she was smart.

He'd never tried to deny being half-human, or being from Earth... but even with both of those facts now being out in the open, it still didn't mean they'd put two and two together. He wasn't oblivious- he knew that his social skills were... well, lacking, so it would have been simple for them to think that he'd just been raised somewhere in isolation.

But open up just a little about his past, and it was like the floodgates opened. Like he actually wanted to talk to someone about it.

He didn't!

Nobody... he didn't want people to know. Not about any of it.

Groaning again, he turned around, all but collapsing on the red lion's foot. Resting his head against her leg, he closed his eyes, drawing in a long breath.

There was a soft rumble in the back of his mind, one he tried to ignore. Trust, it said.

"Easy for you to say." Keith grumbled. "You're a giant robot cat."

Trust, it repeated again.

Letting out a low growl, Keith opened his eyes. Glancing down at his hands, he took in a long breath, curling his fingers into the palm of his hands, letting his claws press into the fabric of his gloves.

It wasn't... it wasn't about trust. He trusted Pidge. Trusted her with his life, on several occasions. She could be a bit of an imp sometimes, but if he told her something secret, she wouldn't tell.

It was about... he didn't want to be pitied.

It was better for them to believe he'd always appeared this way, rather than for them to learn that he'd been transformed into this. It almost made him wish that he looked more Galra, so that no one could even guess that he was half human.

He didn't want to be pitied, and sure as hell didn't deserve anyone's sympathy. But scorn? Hatred? He could deal with those- he'd been dealing with those, ever since his father died, ever since he became the problem child.

For everyone except Shiro.

But... dropping his hands, he closed his eyes again, grateful that he could only see them when he looked into a mirror. Which... wasn't often. He tended to avoid them. He'd accepted being Galra, but it didn't mean he had to like it.

He didn't want Pidge to hate him- or her brother, or their mother. He knew that he should have left the forest, struck out on his own as soon as he'd given her the information she'd wanted, but something had made him stick around.

He'd tried to convince himself it was the food at the time. He'd spent most of his time in captivity eating as little as possible, terrified of the drugs that were in his food, that they'd started lacing in ever since he caught the attention of the witch. The more he understood about what was being done to him, the less he ate- so the temptation of a steady stream of food had been appealing.

But it wasn't an explanation that held much water, since he knew how to hunt. Sure, he hadn't done it since he'd lived with his father, and he'd only ever helped at the time, too young to do it himself- but he had eyes, and ears, and he'd watched everything his father had done. If necessary, he could live off the land, free of human contact.

Not like he could go into any town, not looking like this.

Opening his eyes, he reached behind him, drawing his knife. Crossing his legs, he rested the blade in his lap, turning it over in his hands.

His gaze lingered, as it always did, on the mark on its handle. When he had first been dragged onto a Galra ship, when he'd first seen the mark of the Galra Empire... he'd recognized it. It wasn't the same, but it was close enough.

Even before the word halfbreed was uttered, he'd figured out that the knife his mother had left from him was Galra. That he was Galra.

He still didn't know what the knife was. The Galra officer who had given it back to him had merely thrust it into his chest, asking no questions, though he swore it looked like he wished to. He'd merely told him to run, that if he wanted to escape from here, now was his only chance.

Something about a riot in the main prison block. Thinking back on it, he wondered what damn fool was stupid enough to try and pull something like that.

Fingers tracing the glowing mark, he frowned. He should probably tell the princess and the others about the Galra that had helped him escape, it could be important. But he didn't even know their name, only their rank- lieutenant commander, denoted by their armor.

Maybe there were Galra out there who weren't loyal to Zarkon. It was a comforting thought.

Maybe his mother hadn't just been some stranded solider of the empire, who had played an Earthling for a fiddle, then dumped the end result of it on him and left. He had spent countless hours in his cell wondering what would have happened if he'd been born more Galra, if she would have taken him with her, if he'd be a loyal solider of the empire by now if she had.

So the thought that she might not be... it was his one small comfort.

But telling the others?

He... just telling them that he had been held captive at Central Command felt like it was too much information already. But they'd... Te-Osh had a point. For the rebels, it was important to know just where the red lion had been held, where he'd stolen it from.

But talking too much about his time as a captive was dangerous. If he opened up too much... who knew what kinds of things that he would tell them.

There were some things that they were better off not knowing. If they found out...

...that would be the end.

And he... god help him, but he was afraid of that end.

Allura probably already knew something was wrong with him. She could sense quintessence, and he... he had no idea what his own was like, but he could only imagine that it had been warped. As long as she didn't find out how and why, he might be able to stay here.

...and part of him? Part of him almost wanted to.

There was something almost... warm here, dangerously so. It had been the same way back on Earth, staying with Pidge and her mother. It was part of the reason why he had chosen to leave, to flee, before it could sink into him, before he could delude himself into thinking that this was something that would stay.

Here too, it would be the same. Once they found a new red paladin to replace him, one more suitable, it would be time for him to leave.

He'd be fine with that. He was no defender of the universe, never would be.

Not true, the red lion rumbled, home.

He wished he could believe that.

But the only home he had ever known was a shack in the middle of the desert, and that had been a long time ago.

Come morning, she did what she always did when Keith let too much slip.

Act like it never happened.

He was wary of her at first- in a manner that reminded her of a skittish cat, easily spooked. Once it became clear to him that she wasn't going to ask anything, he relaxed, once more growing casual in her presence. When it came time to launch the castle-ship, it was almost like nothing had happened at all.

She wanted to talk to him about it- she really, seriously did- but she knew how Keith worked, and consequently, knew that was a really bad idea. That he had opened up to her last night at all was a positive thing, and she didn't want to risk him choosing never to do it again because she got a little too aggressive.

He could talk when he was ready.

Even if she was dying of curiosity.

Had Keith really looked more human at one point? What had he looked like? Why did he look more Galra now? Did it have something to do with his time as a prisoner? Was it an adaptation, some sort of survival thing, or had it been done on purpose? If so, why?

Actually, come to think of it... if he had been living on Earth before now, how had he ended up as a captive of the Galra Empire in the first place? Because no matter how she looked at it, if Keith didn't go into space of his own free will, it meant that the Galra would have had to have visited Earth at least twice.

Once for him to have been born, and then again, for him to have become the empire's prisoner.

...and why would they take one of their own kind as a prisoner anyways? Had they tried to get him to join him, only to have him refuse?

It wasn't like she hadn't thought about these questions before, but the whole grew up on Earth thing- in Texas no less- certainly added a whole new element to the story.

But right. No questions. Nope, not her, no sir. Contrary to popular belief, she could, in fact, be respectful of people's boundaries.

When she wanted to.

She just... didn't always want to.

Right now, her desire to not hurt Keith outweighed her curiosity, though it did leave her wondering just how he'd managed to worm his way into her life like this. To think, he used to just be some weird alien that crash landed in her backyard. Now they were apparently going to save the universe from tyranny together.

Funny how life worked out sometimes.

And besides, right now she was dying to see how the Castle launched.

Seated in her chair- and it was her chair, marked by glowing green panels much the same way Keith's was with red- Pidge watched with fascination as Allura and Coran made ready to launch the Castle. As near as she could gather, the castle-ship seemed to be some kind of blend of both science and magic- what the Alteans referred to as alchemy.

And while she was... skeptical of combining something as precise as science with something as vaguely defined as magic, she couldn't deny that the results were amazing. She could spend years studying the castle-ship alone, and never get tired of it.

That wasn't even touching on the lions.

And the chance to travel through wormhole? Sure, they had done that to get here in the first place, but it wasn't like she had the chance to see it being made. So suffice to say, her thoughts were fully occupied by many non-Keith things at the moment, on top of her growing excitement for her return to Earth.

"This almost makes being abducted by aliens worth it."

Glancing behind her, she caught Matt's eye. There were other chairs on the bridge, but they were apparently to be occupied by the other paladins. Being in space must have taught Matt a thing or two about decorum, because he didn't try to plant himself in one the first chance he got.

Not like the trip would take that long anyways. It was almost depressing, knowing that a ten thousand year old ship that had sat gathering dust for all that time was way more advanced than anything humanity had been able to come up with.

"Almost?" Pidge asked.

"Almost." Matt told her with a shrug. "Nothing will ever make up for the food."

"That bad, huh."

"That bad." Matt repeated. "I cannot tell you how much I am dying to have some of mom's meatloaf right now."

"Matt, you hate mom's meatloaf." Pidge observed, cocking a brow.

"Exactly." He told her.

Shaking her head, she turned her attention forward, feeling as the engines roared, flaring to life, one by one. It sent a tingle up her spine, her breath hitching in her throat as the castle-ship lifted from the ground, taking them away from planet Arus.

She had been on many ships in her time, but this... this was something else.

Second, she thought, only to the green lion.

Oh man... she couldn't wait to show her mother the green lion.

"Are you really sure you will be alright, Coran?"

Ah yes, there it was.

He'd been sensing the question brewing for some time now, but he'd half thought she might not ask it. She wasn't being honest, he knew- rather than asking him if he was alright, he knew what she really wanted to ask was if he wanted to come with them.

He could understand it. She'd woken to a world where she thought she was the last Altean alive. To have another one survive, and one that she knew so well at that... well, it was to be expected that it would make her hesitant to leave him behind.

"I'll be just fine, princess." Coran assured her. "Someone has to stay behind with the Castle, and I'll be able to get some work done while you're gone."

There was, in fact, still much work to be done around the Castle. In the past two quintants, with Number Three's help, he had managed to restore the most vital systems to full working order, but some of them still needed some work. This was as good a test flight as any- he would be able to double check his previous work to see if there was anything that he had missed before.

"I know, but I just..." She trailed off, letting out a long sigh. "I do not wish to leave you."

"I won't be going anywhere, I promise." Coran assured her again. "I'll be here when you get back."

That seemed to take some of the weight off of her shoulders, Allura drawing in a breath. "We will try to locate the blue lion as quickly as possible."

"Well now, don't rush too much." Coran advised her, casting a glance behind him. Turning on her heel, she followed his gaze, falling on the trio of Earthlings massed around the green lion. "Give them a chance to enjoy a taste of home."

There was a certain weight to his words, now that their own home was gone, vanished.

"Yes, of course." Allura said. "How silly of me."

There was... a hint, just a hint, of envy in her voice, but he did not begrudge her for it. Envy, yes, but there was nary a trace of resentment- not in her voice, nor in the soft gaze she watched the Earthlings with.

They were going home, if only for awhile.

"Do be sure to bring me back a souvenir, though!" Coran chirped.

"I will be sure to." Allura assured him. "I just hope the gift that I am bringing with me will be well received. This... Colleen that we are to meet may not be an ambassador, but if I am to bring her children back into space with me, then I at least must try to present something to her."

"Oh, I'm sure she'll love it." Coran reassured her. "Besides, she let one of her children go once, so I reckon she'll come around again."

"Yes, I suppose you are right." Allura said. "And I am looking rather forward to seeing more of this Earth."

"Yes well, do be careful, princess." Coran warned her. "I trust Number Two's insight on this one."

He would know best, being only half human on a planet where most of the populace had no knowledge of life outside of Earth. He could only wonder what growing up in such an environment was like, and could only pray that his words had not come from experience.

"Have no fear, Coran." Allura told him. "You do remember that father taught me how to change my form, do you not?"

"Ah yes, I had forgotten actually." Coran admitted. "I suppose that would make things rather simple."

"There, see?" Allura told him, reaching out to squeeze his hand. "Nothing to worry about. Now, I suppose I should be going. Pidge seems to be getting a tad impatient."

"Ah yes, best not to keep them waiting any longer." Coran told her, giving her a curt nod. "Off with you now."

Watching as she made her way over towards the green lion, Coran could only smile, though it was not one that he wore with ease. This was not a burden he ever would have wished for her to carry, but he intended to be here, every step of the way, to ensure that she was not alone with it.

"Good luck, princess."

"Establishing last known locations of all known probes and satellites, and constructing a route around them."

Peering down over the back of her chair, Matt couldn't help but marvel at the ease with which his sister commanded the green lion. She had tried to talk him through it, something about some kind of a connection, a bond, that existed between lion and paladin, and while he thought he got the gist of it, there was probably a lot that he didn't understand.

And likely wouldn't, unless he became one himself.

A paladin, that is. Not a giant robot lion.

Although that would also be quite the experience.

"Would you listen to you," Matt said, "...you almost sound like a real pilot."

"I'd hope so, otherwise this is going to be a very short trip." Pidge noted, barely sparing him a glance- but he could tell she was grinning. "Besides, I had a good teacher."

"Only since you wouldn't stop bugging me about it." If Keith thought he was fooling anyone, he wasn't- Matt totally caught the pride in his voice.

He could understand it, he could! There was so much pride to be had in his little sister, and in so far as he could tell, Keith had stepped up to the role of big brother in his absence.

Oh man, he hoped he wouldn't have to fight Keith to get said role back. Because he would totally lose. Keith'd cream him. Maybe he could arrange some kind of joint custody...

"Should be a short trip." Pidge noted. "We'll land under the cover of darkness. Mom said she set up some landing beacons for us."

"That's mom for you, always thoughtful." Matt noted. "Probably has dinner waiting on the table and everything."

"After like, three days of eating nothing but food goo, I sure hope so." Pidge noted. "No offense, Allura."

"None taken." Allura said simply, lifting a hand. "The food goo is merely meant as a nutritional supplement, it does not reflect upon Altean culinary culture as a whole."

"I've had worse." Keith observed with a shrug.

"Same." Matt echoed.

"Glad you boys are bonding over your time as Galra prisoners, but at least one of you needs to actually focus on monitoring that satellite feed." Pidge noted.

"Checking for unregistered ghost satellites." Keith noted. "Looks like we're in the clear."

"All silent on the radio chatter." Matt mentioned.

"Is that Earth there?" Allura asked, peering through the cockpit. "It looks to be more water than land."

Looking out the window for himself, Matt felt his heart leap at the sight. There it was, shining like a jewel before him- Earth. Sure, in comparison to some of the other planets he had seen since traveling to space, it wasn't much to look at, but to him... to him it was like the ultimate treasure.

"That's cause it is." Pidge told her. "Alright, cross checking our course with all registered airline flights."

"What is an airline?" Allura inquired.

"Imagine looking out the window and seeing a giant flying lion." Matt joked, trying to steady himself with humor.

"Keep imagining it, because I'm not letting that happen." Pidge told him. "Alright, looks like we're in the clear. I'm bringing us down."

"Matt, are you crying?" Keith asked.

Oh dang, he was. Reaching up a hand, he wiped away the stray tear. "I'm just- it's Earth, man- Earth! When they took us... I never thought I'd see it again."

He could have sworn Keith's features softened. He understood, and it... knowing that he came from Earth, it made sense. He'd probably felt the same, once.

"Save your tears for when you actually see mom. Then you can cry as much as you want." Pidge told him. "I can see her landing beacons."

Against the dark of the night, they glowed, true to their name. Feeling his heart pounding in anticipation, Matt shifted on his feet. Soon he would be home- soon he would take his first breath of fresh Earth air since he had left for Kerberos what felt like a lifetime ago.

He'd get to see his mom.

It was with that thought in mind that he basically bolted out of the green lion as soon as it had landed, tripping over himself to get down the ramp. His mother was there, alit by the landing beacons, and he barely gave her a chance to so much as say his name before his arms were around her, holding her tight.

So what if he was nearly a grown ass man. He'd been away from Earth for too damn long, he was going to hug his mother and cry into her shoulder all he damn well wanted and nobody could stop him.

"I'm home, mom."

"Welcome home, son."