Chapter 11
Earth was in ruins. Pidge could see that from the moment Hunk picked her up and carried her out of the wrecked Galra fighter.
Pidge almost wept to see their home destroyed, in shambles.
Everyone, coming out of the ship behind them, looked as ruined and wrecked as their home.
Keith had been the only one to be beat them out of the ship. He had launched himself from the cockpit right before it crashed into the ground. He was holding his arm funny, and he was limping. His forehead and cheek had been cut, probably by some loose pebbles, but that was the only issue.
Shiro looked very tired, his entire body sagging. His left arm was cut from the wrist to his middle finger, and his cheek was bruised.
The rest of the team was better off.
Pidge looked at her exhausted team, then at the wrecked city, the endless desert behind it.
"We. Are. Doomed." She deadpanned, nuzzling into Hunk's hold.
"Don't be like that." Hunk shrugged. "Who knows, the Garrison might be sending reinforcements right now!"
"We brought the healing pod, right?" Keith suddenly asked, perking up.
The Paladins had previously decided to bring along the healing pod with them to Earth. If Earth had some way to recharge it, Pidge could be up and at 'em within the end of the day. And that's what all of them wanted.
Lance came over to take care of Pidge for a moment, Hunk and Allura walking over to the ruins of the wrecked Galra ship, and, after a bit of searching, pulled out the blackened - and slightly busted - healing pod.
Allura had realized that, by using a crystal that might be in Commander Holt's possession, she could recharge the Cryo pod and heal Pidge completely before they took on the Galra.
Fortunately, the pod had enough energy to stay in hover-mode for a while, so they decided to use that opportunity to tow it around.
Secretly they all hoped they didn't have to walk all the way to the Garrison, even with the floating pod.
Lance distracted Pidge's attention from the healing pod, swinging her onto his back with a solid move.
Pidge winced slightly when he grabbed her legs, but stifled the frown when Shiro glanced over.
After several minutes of collecting everything they needed, Hunk scooped up Pidge gently.
"Let's go."
The eight of them - and Kosmo - started into the town, smelling the whiffs of smoke that still lingered in the air from the fires that had taken over the town not too long ago.
"This is terrible." Pidge murmured from her safe cubby in Hunk's arms. "So many people lost their homes…"
"And their lives." Keith deadpanned, always the
Everyone shifted uneasily at his words, frowning down at their boots.
"What? It's true." As if to illustrate his point, Keith stepped over a grey, rotten hand that was barely peaking out from underneath a pile of rubble.
Pidge winced, turning her face away from it drearily, focusing on Hunk's chest plate's symbol.
Allura spared her a sympathetic look, smiling a bit regretfully as she walked past, pushing the healing pod on.
"Pidge, check our position." Keith ordered, pausing beside a car as he addressed the youngest Paladin.
Pidge pulled out her gauntlet, looking at it curiously. After a few seconds, she looked back up at their leader. "If we keep going straight for six more blocks, we'll end in up in city square, and from there we-"
"Tell me once we get there." Keith sighed, turning curiously to look over the Toyota mini-van.
Pidge was about to put away her gauntlet when she suddenly noticed three blinking red dots. "We've got company, guys!"
The entire group huddled down on the 'safe' side of the car, Shiro bending his body around Pidge protectively.
Pidge felt a bit uncomfortable in that position, but she didn't complain.
"How many?" Keith asked Pidge just as the lasers from the drones began hitting the top of the car, a few making it over the roof of the car, landing near their outstretched feet.
"Three." Pidge read off her screen, raising her head to look at Keith's concentrated face as he thought.
"Okay. Lance, I'm going to lure them out. I run, you shoot." Keith paused just long enough to shoot Lance a serious glare, snarling. "Don't miss."
"When have I ever missed?" Lance grinned cockily, but Keith was already running into the fire of the drones, not even bothering to turn on his shield.
The drones – foolishly – immediately turned their complete and undivided attention to Keith, and Lance took his opening, firing three times and knocking the drones down before they could fire upon his leader.
"Boo-yah! Lance style!" Lance whooped, blowing on the top of his gun like it was a cartoon and he was stopping his gun from smoking. But, given how everyone was looking at him weird, it wasn't working.
"Yeah, yeah." Keith snorted, shaking his head as he rejoined them.
"It looks like we got three more incoming." Pidge warned, and Keith slipped back down beside him.
"They're not drones." Shiro hissed as more gun fire thudded on their location. "Look."
Keith peaked over the top of the car, sighing slightly. "He's right. They're sentries. The 'chicken-run-and-fire' plan won't work."
"That's what we're calling it?" Lance pouted, no doubt offended by the choice of name. As if he would have come up with anything better.
Keith didn't bother to give him a response, summoning his sword. "Alright. Lance, Hunk, get your bayards. Allura and I will—" He was cut off by a loud screech, the fire stopping for a second, before one last wild shot sounded.
Romelle peaked over the rim of the car, her little squeak urging the others to look over the car.
Two cars stood parked where the sentries had been a moment before.
"We got them!" The driver of one of them peaked out of the car, waving to the Paladins. "Hey! You guys need a hand?" She asked as she stepped out the door.
The other driver, this time a boy, also came out. Pulling off his helmet and tucking it under one arm. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Paladins of Voltron?"
"James." Keith hissed at the boy, who smirked in an unflattering manner. "We had it!" He shouted a bit louder, glaring at the man.
"Ha! Sentries and drones send out a distress signal when they're attacked." James adopted a snarky tone, shaking his head. "Our guns neutralize those signals. Soo…unless if you want to be swarmed by a load of those guys, let us handle it."
Keith bared his teeth, earing a surprised look from the other Paladins. Nobody – who was on their side – had ever ticked him off so much before.
"Now, I'm guessing that all of you want a ride back to the Garrison." The girl hummed, leaning against her truck snootily.
"Yes." Lance said the single word with so much force, that all the Paladins and the newcomers looked surprised by the eagerness of his tone. "Please."
"Well, then." The girl blinked. "Get in." She slid open the doors, gesturing them in.
Keith made a point of going in hers and avoiding 'James', snarling at the armored man as he went past. James just shrugged at him.
Allura, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge loaded into James' rover, which also carried the Cryo pod, and Keith, Coran, Romelle, and Shiro went into the other one, while Kosmo tucked himself on top of it.
The moment that the full group squeezed in, they started off, carefully maneuvering their way through the city.
"How excited are you to see your families?" Lance asked Pidge and Hunk giddily, squeezing their wrists.
"Man, I literally cannot wait." Hunk beamed, bouncing up and down.
"I'm just worried how they'll react to my legs." Pidge mumbled uncertainly. At Lance's questioning look; he hadn't heard what she said, she changed her tone. "I'm excited! They might have a spare crystal to charge the healing pod."
Lance glanced toward the part of the roof the healing pod rested, sighing. "They better. We won't be able to face Sendak until you heal."
Pidge nodded, looking dully out the window.
The rest of the trip was silent, not very exciting.
But…the moment that they saw the Garrison doors, Hunk began to cry, hugging Lance, who sat in the middle, between his two arms.
"We're home!"
"This is the Garrison?" Allura asked, blinking at the building. "I was expecting it to look more like the Castle of Lions."
"Nope." James grunted, turning his face towards her but keeping his eyes on the road. "This looks nothing like the Castle of Lions."
"Do you even know what the Castle looks like?"
"Uh-huh. I've seen pictures." James maneuvered the truck through the doors, and Pidge's heart squeezed.
They were so close!
She just knew that the moment she left the rover, all her emotions would come running out, and she'd begin crying.
Lance squeezed her hand, as if he could sense her built up emotions. Just a few minutes more…
The rover pulled to a stop after what seemed like an eternity, and James pushed the button that opened the doors.
Pidge felt Lance's arms helping her up to her shaky feet, and she looked around the crowd anxiously.
It took hardly two seconds for her to see her mother, Colleen's entire form trembling.
Pidge's backpack flared, catapulting her into the air.
Colleen ran forward, reaching out her arms towards her daughter.
They met in the middle, arms clinging around each other despertly.
Pidge, sure enough, began crying. It wasn't from the odd angle her legs were twisted at, but from the love and thankfulness she felt at being reunited with her mother.
Several minutes passed, in which she knew the others were reunited with their families and were sharing tears of love and joy.
It didn't take nearly as long as she wanted for her mother to break away.
"Katie!" Her mother hiccupped as she forced back her sobs. "How are you?"
"I've been fine!" Pidge sobbed back, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. She knew, however, that she couldn't withhold her injury from her mother for long. "But…Mom…"
She paused, not really wanting her mother to freak out.
"What is it, Katie?" Colleen froze, eyes widening as she realized that Pidge was about to say something terrible.
"My legs are broken…" Pidge admitted, looking down uneasily. "I…"
"Oh my gosh!" Colleen's hands went to her mouth in shock, and she jumped up, whirling around. "Sam!"
Sam, from where we stood talking to Coran and the others a little ways off, looked over.
Seeing his wife's panicked expression, he rushed over. "What's wrong?" He demanded instantly.
While Colleen explained in horror to him what happened, he stared at his daughter in shock. "How did this happen?"
"We—" Pidge began, but he cut her off.
"Tell me later." He scooped her up, hugging her close. "Right now, we need to get you better.
"Wait!" Pidge stopped him, touching him on the shoulder. "We brought along one of our healing pods! But it isn't charged, but if we have a power source, we could get it up and running!"
"Right! Iverson, get the spare crystal!" Sam ordered, then turned to a few workers. "Get the healing pod!"
As everyone rushed around, Pidge finally – for the first time in about a week - felt like everything would be okay.
(:)
So…I decided to end it there. I didn't realize that it was so close to the twentieth until, like, three days ago, and was in a rush to get it out on time. That's why the ending seems so rushed.