Shiro scrubbed at his eyes and let out a harsh breath as Matt and Pidge clung to their mother. It relieved him more than he had the words to describe to see those three reunited at last, a moment that for a long time he had been afraid would never come. He knew that Colleen wouldn't have believed the Garrison's lies any more than Pidge had, but that simply left their fates hanging in limbo for her, and her daughter's as well later on. All three had endured so much. They deserved this. But their father, Colleen's husband, should have been there too, and the black paladin knew he would never forgive himself for failing to bring his entire crew back safe as a pilot was supposed to do.

The guilt sat heavy in his chest, but it was still easier to think about than the events of earlier, aboard the Weblum's Breath. Being forced to attack his teammate, the kid he was supposed to be protecting, and then the whole thing with his arm-

He jerked himself roughly away from that train of thought. He couldn't think about that right now. The implications were too numerous, and too painful. Better to save it for when he was alone, with no one to see him break.

Footsteps in the doorway provided a welcome distraction. Commander Iverson was the first to enter, and Shiro felt himself tense in automatic reaction, remembering the man's voice giving the order to sedate him even as Shiro tried desperately to warn them of the impending threat. He didn't miss the sharp glares that Keith, Lance, and even Hunk directed toward the man as well, or the way the red paladin shifted slightly in between the two of them defensively. That calmed him somewhat. No way would Iverson try anything right here and now, alone against the entire team.

The soldier stepped off to the side, making room in the doorway for one more person, and a soft laugh slipped out of Shiro's mouth before he realized it. Ryou looked just as he remembered him, right down to the unbrushed bedhead and rumpled clothes. His adopted brother looked around for a moment before two pairs of dark eyes met and the older's face split into a broad grin as he strode across the room toward him and threw his arms around him in a fierce hug.

The sheer familiarity of it knocked the wind out of Shiro for a moment, and he leaned into the embrace, closing his eyes. Despite the difference in their ages, he and Ryou had always been close, and his hug felt like home in a way he'd almost forgotten. He felt tears burning in the corners of his eyes and fought not to let them spill over as his hands tangled in the back of his brother's shirt, holding on tight as though the other would vanish if he didn't.

"God, Takashi, don't you scare me like that again." The older muttered in his ear, his voice thick with emotion. Shiro felt his brother's arms winding around him, strong and comforting. "When those lying jerks told us you'd died, it was...I couldn't…" He trailed off, unable to find the words for the obvious heartbreak he was trying to express, but the convulsive tightening of his hug and the hitch in his breathing said it all for him.

A fresh wave of guilt washed through Shiro at the pain he'd inadvertently caused, and he clutched tighter at his brother. "I'm so sorry, Ryou. I never meant for this to happen, I swear."

A wet-sounding huff of laughter against his ear. "Well obviously. I highly doubt even you could plan to get abducted by aliens, get back to earth, and take off again in a robot lion with four teenagers. I mean, you always did have a nose for mischief, but that's a bit much, even for you."

Shiro blinked and pulled back, staring at his brother in confusion. "How do you know about all that? I figured it would have been covered up the same way Kerberos was."

"It was." Ryou smirked, rubbing at his own watery eyes and jerked his head at Colleen across the room. "But that one sure wasn't going to just sit around and let the Garrison lie to her face. I got roped into her investigations a couple weeks ago and well, long story short, let's just say the two of us were probably the least surprised people on the planet when you guys showed up to take on those jerks up there."

The black paladin shook his head in quiet disbelief. Trust Colleen Holt to put the pieces together and figure out what had happened to her family. Pidge and Matt both got their brains from their parents after all, not to mention their tenacity. Although how exactly had his brother ended up involved? Ryou was an archaeologist. And yet together they'd somehow ended up knowing a lot more than had been released to the public. Clearly those two had a story of their own to tell, once they all had a chance to sit down and talk.

"Knowing Colleen, not to mention her kids, somehow that doesn't surprise me." He chuckled. "You'll have to tell us all about it."

"Only if you tell us what your group's been up to as well. Our knowledge stops-mostly-after the blue lion disappeared into that portal near Pluto, and it's been driving us both crazy not knowing where you went."

"If you don't mind, I'd be very interested in hearing both stories as well." A new voice cut in. Both Shirogane's turned to see Commander Iverson regarding them from a respectful distance. "I'm fairly certain I know most of what Holt and your brother have been up to, Captain Shirogane," and Shiro blinked at that because that sure as hell hadn't been his rank when he left, he'd only been a Second Lieutenant then, had he been promoted? "But I'd very much like to know your story as well. First, however, I believe I owe you an apology."

"Ah...sir?" Shiro blinked in confusion, putting a calming hand on Keith's shoulder as he felt the red paladin bristling next to him and glaring at their former superior officer. Ryou had also crossed his arms and was staring the soldier down.

Iverson heaved a tired sigh. "I am sorry for the way you were treated on your previous return to Earth. Policies had been laid out in case of such an event that included sedation and isolation to avoid leaking information that was highly classified-in this case the existence of aliens-to those without sufficient clearance to know about it-that is, most of the officers on base-in order to avoid triggering mass panic. Had things continued according to policy, it is my understanding you would have been taken to speak with those who did have clearance to convey your message personally." He grimaced. "Which is why I went along with those policies despite your distress. I had hoped that you might be able to convince them of the potential threat where they disregarded my concerns."

The world seemed off-balance under Shiro's feet. Distantly he was aware that the others in the room had drawn closer to listen to the conversation, that Keith was wide-eyed in surprise, and Ryou looked like someone had hit him with a brick. Iverson's apology shed an entirely new light on an encounter that he barely remembered beyond desperation and fear. "I...uh...I guess I can understand that. Thank you.

He received a small nod in reply as Iverson turned his attention to his brother. "Mr. Shirogane." Another turn, this time towards the Holts, where Colleen and Pidge were both glaring furiously at him and even Matt looked grim. "Mrs. and Ms. Holt. I owe all of you an apology as well. I never agreed with the decision to lie to your families about the fate of the mission, but I couldn't tell you the truth without compromising my position as base commander."

Colleen's eyes flashed darkly. "So your rank was more important than our knowing our families might not be dead?"

"When I was using it to ensure that the only pilots who completed the fighter program were those with the right mindset for combat so they might stand a chance against hostile aliens, while trying to discourage the ones who were too soft-hearted right out of the program?" Iverson shot a significant look at Lance, whose eyes widened. Shiro remembered him mentioning the way the Commander had loved to pick on him once he got bumped up to fighter class. So his skill had never been at issue at all, only his too-big heart, which Iverson had actually been trying to spare from the realities of combat. Today was just full of surprises. "Yes. It was important. But you deserved to know, which is why I did my best to discreetly assist your daughter's investigations without actively appearing to go against policy."

It was Pidge's turn to scowl as her mother digested Iverson's reasoning. "Assist me how? By banning me from Garrison property?"

Iverson nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "You got caught breaking in, so my options were limited, unfortunately. However, I never for a second thought it would actually stop you. Did it, Mr. Gunderson?" There was a slight smirk on his face now as he lowered his hand and raised an eyebrow at the youngest Holt.

Pidge flushed. "You...you knew?"

A snort of derision from the old soldier. "Please. Two weeks after you get banned the communications class gets a transfer student that looks like a miniature version of Matthew Holt? Exactly how stupid do you think I am?" The blush deepened drastically, but the green paladin had the grace to keep her mouth shut despite a few teasing sniggers from Lance, Hunk, and Matt. Even Alejandro and Kurogane looked amused by the revelation that the youngest paladin hadn't been quite as clever as she thought. "Although I don't believe anyone else noticed, so…" Iverson shook his head in despair at his colleagues' obliviousness. "At least you were easier to cover for as Gunderson. And so was your mother, for that matter."

Colleen let out a startled noise of consternation. Shiro chuckled despite himself, the poor woman looked so thrown by the fact that the man at the top of her enemies list had in fact been on her side all along, and covering for them both. "...I knew that hack seemed too easy." She huffed after a moment.

"What hack?" Matt looked over at his mother, curious, as did Pidge.

Iverson chuckled. "She raided the Garrison database for classified files relating to aliens. And then leaked them to the net."

The eldest Holt scowled, cheeks pink. "I was trying to use public opinion to force the Garrison to ramp up its strength in case the ships ever came back."

"Which I'm grateful for." The Commander sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Even if we didn't have time for it to do its work, in the end."

"I don't think it would have worked even if you did." Alejandro's voice was quiet, but still managed to carry. Everyone turned his way, and Shiro saw Iverson's eyebrows shoot up in confusion as he glanced back and forth between the time traveller and his younger self.

"What do you mean?" Ryou asked, seemingly the least phased by the two extra humans and their similarity to Lance and Keith. But then, if he'd spent the last couple weeks figuring out that aliens existed and had abducted the Kerberos mission,

Shiro knew his brother probably wasn't going to be surprised by much anymore.

The former blue paladin sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "We're time-travellers." He waved his other hand to indicate Kurogane as well as himself. "In our history, this battle took place over a year and a half from now, and there were no reinforcements from the ground at all."

There was a stunned pause as the newest arrivals digested this revelation. "Alright." Colleen said slowly. "I think we all better sit down and let you tell us the whole story."

00000000000

Hunk yawned and leaned back to rest his head on the back of the couch. Now that he had a chance to just sit and breathe, the exhaustion from the battle was hitting him hard. No one else seemed quite as tired, but then, he'd been using an aspect continuously throughout the three-hour fight and the clean-up afterward. Considering the aspects were based from quintessence, and quintessence was supposed to be life force, it made sense he'd be feeling drained after something like that.

He heard his name and wearily lifted his head again to see what was going on. Pidge was talking animatedly, and he blearily made out the words 'Taujeerian' and 'armor'. Oh. She was recounting their rescue of the Taujeerians, back when he'd gotten the Earth aspect. He tipped his head back again and closed his eyes.

They'd spent the last hour or so taking turns working their way through the events of their time away from Earth, sometimes in detail and sometimes glossing over their darker moments. Shiro and Matt had gone first, covering the year after the Kerberos mission as well as Matt's year with the Icebringers, and neither made any effort to hide how unwilling they were to go into detail. Shiro had literally only uttered a handful of sentences about his year in the arena, and his brother hadn't pushed him. And no one said anything when Matt nearly broke down again explaining what had happened to Commander Holt, aside from his Mom pulling him close again to comfort him.

Despite how abbreviated some of their adventures were, it was still taking a while to get through everything because they kept having to stop and explain things that the space-farers were so used to they no longer gave it a second thought but that Colleen, Ryou, and Commander Iverson were utterly baffled by. It made for a bit of jumping around, but they'd managed to keep things more or less coherent. The worst part, though, was they would have to do this all again two more times for his and Lance's families once they finally got to see them.

Speaking of Lance. Hunk opened his eyes again and glanced over at the blue paladin beside him. The other teen had been oddly quiet, letting the others tell most of the story, and instead seemed lost in thought as he picked at the bandages wrapped around his right hand. The yellow paladin frowned, nudging the other lightly with his shoulder. "You okay, buddy?" He asked, keeping his voice low so as not to interrupt the others as Keith took over the narrative to talk about their first time going to the headquarters of the Blade. How were they doing, anyway? Kolivan had said he needed to recall his operatives because they were compromised. He just hoped they'd all made it out in time.

Lance startled, looking up. "What? Yeah, of course." He gave a small laugh, but it sounded hollow and Hunk shot him a disbelieving look that made the other wince. "Okay, fine." He huffed a soft breath, staring down at his lap. "I'm just...really not looking forward to when we explain what happened today." The discomfort in his voice was obvious, and Hunk frowned.

"On the Weblum's Breath?" He was fairly certain, but wanted to confirm, and received a small nod in return. "We already know some of it. Alejandro was able to use the mind link you guys have to...look? I guess? Through your eyes, and see what was happening."

Instead of reassuring Lance that he wouldn't have to talk about as much of it, Hunk's words seemed to have the opposite effect. The blue paladin stiffened beside him, and seemed almost...afraid? "How...how much did you see?" His voice was a thin whisper.

Hunk blinked. "Well, when he looked the first time, you were hurt and Shiro was coming after you because Haggar was controlling him. We know most of what happened after that, with Shiro's bayard, and his arm-that must have been an aspect, right? Because Alejandro was saying something about it never being the arm at all, which didn't make much sense until he explained that his arm was lit up with quintessence like the old prosthetic used to do-and you shooting out the lattice. You did really good, by the way. I didn't know you could shoot with your off hand." He gestured to the sling.

A small smile twisted the other's lips. "Tio Kieran insisted I know how to shoot one-handed with both, just in case I couldn't use one hand for some reason. Lucky for us. And lucky Kovirak had a one-handed blaster on her."

"Kovirak?" Hunk stopped short, straightening. "Who's Kovirak?"

"The Blade who was helping us on the ship. She came back with us after." Frowning, Lance lifted his head and looked around. "Where'd she go, anyway? I know she was on the main deck when we were landing."

Frowning as well, Hunk thought back to their arrival back on the main deck once they finally finished the battle clean-up. They'd only just had time to get there from their lions before the Castle-ship began its descent into atmosphere. He remembered Allura manning the main controls, Coran at the communications console where he was confirming the descent coordinates with the few Icebringer ships that still needed to land. And he remembered Matt helping Lance limp into the room behind them, both of their eyes immediately seeking out the broad expanse of screens that showed the sky lightening around them. There had been a Galra, he realized, trailing behind the other two with bandages on her shoulder and cheek, but he'd been more focused on reassuring himself that his best friend was okay. Then he blinked. "Wait. Isn't Kovirak the name of the Blade Kolivan mentioned he was pretty sure was the traitor?"

There was an instant of stunned silence between the two of them, filled only with the sounds of Shiro summarizing the Beta Traz mission with frequent laughing interjections from Pidge about his adventures with Slav, before Lance groaned and dragged his hand down his face. "Crap! I knew that name sounded familiar! I knew it and it kept bugging me, but I couldn't remember!" He scowled in frustration. "If I'd known I would've kicked her behind right then and there!"

Hunk put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "Hey. You had other things on your mind at the time, remember? And she didn't sabotage the mission, did she?"

Lance shook his head. "No. She was helping us. Even went after Haggar when she-" He cut himself off, biting his lip. The anxious look in his eyes was back, and it bothered the yellow paladin immensely. Exactly what had happened on that ship that was bothering the other teen so much? Something to do with whatever Haggar had done to Shiro, by the sound of it. Maybe just a reluctance to think about what must have been a terrifying experience? With a grimace, Hunk put an arm around Lance's shoulder and tugged him against his side, letting him rest his head on his shoulder. He was rewarded by a slight uncoiling of the tension in the other's body. "She was helping us. And she definitely hated Haggar." The blue paladin said finally. "You could see it easy."

"Guess we'll ask her when she reappears, then."

Lance snorted. "Assuming she does. If she is the traitor, maybe she ran off while we were all distracted. And if she is and she still comes back, well…" He looked over at Keith and Kurogane, the latter of whom was giving a clipped summary of the circumstances that had driven them to make a six-year leap back in time. Despite the lack of detail, Ryou, Colleen, and Iverson all looked horrified, and Colleen had tightened her arms around Matt and Pidge. Even as they tuned in to the discussion, Hunk could hear the bitterness in Kurogane's voice as he mentioned that the Blades had been slaughtered because of a traitor in their midst. If Kovirak was the traitor, that was a conversation they were going to have to handle very delicately.

Lance heaved a long sigh, and Hunk tactfully changed the subject. "How's your hand and your arm?" He asked, unable to keep the worry out of his voice. Alejandro hadn't been able to tell them much beyond where the pain was localized to and how intense it was, since Lance hadn't actually been looking at the injuries when his older self used the link. It had been hugely reassuring that Matt hadn't deemed it necessary to put the blue paladin in a pod, but he still worried.

"Arm's not too bad. Just a graze, really." He was awarded a reassuring smile, a genuine one this time. "And my hand looks worse than it actually is, Matt says. Like, a lot worse. Ripped off the back of it, that's why it hurts so much, because it ripped up all the nerves, but no really major damage to anything important, thank god. Or not much anyway. He's a little worried about the mobility of a couple of fingers, but it's not like we have a pod to spare for a non-critical injury right now."

Hunk frowned, but nodded. There were only so many pods, and they'd been filled almost immediately with Icebringer fighter pilots again, just like after Trepan Kev. "And the ankle's just a sprain, right?"

Lance hummed a confirmation. "Just gotta try to stay off it for a day or two."

"Good. You should tell Shiro all of that, too, if Matt hasn't already." He yawned again in spite of himself. Man, that battle really wore him out.

"Can do." Lance caught himself yawning as well and grimaced. "Man, take a nap. You look exhausted. We're probably gonna be here for a while anyway. Heck, with debriefing and catching up those three," he jerked a thumb at their visitors, "We may not even get to go see our families until tomorrow." Seeing Hunk's hesitation, he offered a winning smile. "I promise I'll fill you in after, and if it's important I'll wake you up. And if we do get to go tonight, you don't wanna fall asleep in your mama's oka, right?"

After a moment's consideration, Hunk gave in. Lance made very good points, and right now he doubted he could even manage the walk down to the hangar. "Just an hour or two." he warned, shaking a finger at his best friend's knowing grin. The blue paladin simply rolled his eyes and put an arm around his shoulders, pulling him over so he was leaning on the skinnier teen. The yellow paladin sighed, shifting a little to get comfortable as exhaustion pulled at his limbs. Just a short nap. And then afterwards he'd be better able to get his friend to open up about what had happened on the Weblum's Breath that had him so anxious.

000000000

"So, the battle was visible from the surface?" Allura directed the question to the base commander, Mitch Iverson.

They had finished recounting most of their own story. But with Lance and Shiro both showing signs of mounting anxiety as the point of retelling the earlier battle approached, she had made the decision not to discuss it with their visitors just yet. She had begged off with the explanation that they hadn't had a chance to debrief yet, and would be better able to explain things after they had. And with Hunk passed out on Lance's shoulder, and the others ranging from anxious to exhausted, well, debriefing would have to wait. With what little she already knew about what had happened, her paladins would be better able to come to terms with it once they'd had some time to rest. Iverson had raised an eyebrow at her excuse, but accepted it with surprising equanimity. And when Colleen looked like she might have protested, Ryou had silenced her with a shake of his head.

Allura could hardly blame them for their curiosity. Apparently their ship-to-ship transmissions during the battle had been picked up by Earth receivers and re-broadcast live across the globe. While such methods would not have received the benefits of the Castle's translation software, they would still have heard and understood everything the Humans in the link had to say.

"Across most of this hemisphere, yes." Commander Iverson confirmed. "I've been told there was some rioting and looting panic responses in the Eastern cities. Thankfully a large portion of the continent was still early enough in their day not to have as much problem with that."

"Most people were too busy having existential crises to really freak out." Colleen's tone was disgusted as she ran a hand through messy hair in exasperation. "That's why it took us so long to get here. The highway was a fucking parking lot."

The Altean princess winced. That was unfortunate. The Human race just had to be in that narrow window of development where a major battle in orbit over the planet could not be explained away as gods or magic, but where the existence of other alien races was not yet such a fact of everyday life that the arrival of such was un-noteworthy. While it was quite rare to make first contact with a race during that stage, such situations had been frequent favourite examples used by her diplomacy tutors because they were invariably complicated, unpredictable, unstable, and massive headaches for everyone involved.

She could already feel herself developing one at the thought of the damage control that would be necessary here, given the planet's...less than stellar introduction to what interstellar societies were like.

Taking a deep breath and straightening, she folded her hands in her lap. "I am terribly sorry for all the difficulty our arrival has caused. Normally your people would have, Galra permitting, been left to make first contact on your own time, once you became capable of interstellar travel. Unfortunately, under the circumstances, that obviously wasn't an option. If there's anything we can do to make amends, or to help repair-" She stopped, blinking, because Shiro's brother was holding up a hand to silence her.

"Listen, Princess Allura, don't worry about any of that. If there's one thing Humans are good at, it's cleaning up after messes like this." He gave her a small grin, much like Shiro's when he was in a good mood. "Right now, you guys should be focusing on your own problems, whether it's repairs or giving those kids a chance to see their families again." Ryou nodded towards the other couch where Lance seemed to have dozed off as well now, his head leaning against Hunk's. Allura couldn't help but smile at the sight before she turned her attention back to the young man across from her.

"Your priority," He continued, "should be taking down those jerks who've been running the show in the worst possible way for way too long. You've done your duty in protecting us." He rose to his feet and gave a bow from the waist, a gesture she'd seen Shiro make before as well. A cultural gesture of respect, if she recalled correctly. "And you have our thanks for that. But now it's us who should be saying to you, if there's anything we can do to help, all you have to do is ask. I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say that the people of Earth stand with the Voltron Alliance."

For a moment Allura was stunned into silence by Ryou's words. A glance to the side revealed that her black paladin was regarding his brother with an openly proud expression that only expanded as Colleen straightened with a fierce "Damn right." and Iverson nodded sharply, looking fully ready to march into battle himself if she said the word.

She had known, of course, how brave and fierce and strong Humans could be. Her paladins demonstrated it every day, every time they went into battle. In another time, under other circumstances, this offer of aid and support would have been laughable, coming from a race not yet capable of interstellar travel to one that had once spread across galaxies. But now, it filled her with awe, as people who had seen what their enemies were capable of, how far beyond them they were in terms of strength and technology, stood ready anyway to assist in the fight for freedom throughout the universe for races and species they had never met. If even one race in a hundred in the universe had had this much courage, the Galra Empire would have never spread beyond its own homeworld.

Gratitude and awe swelled in her heart and she found herself blinking away tears as she rose to her feet and bowed deeply. "Then on behalf of-of the rest of the Voltron Alliance," She smiled, "please allow me to say thank you, and-how would Lance put it? Ah, yes. Welcome to the team."