Chapter three

The wind blew through his light brown hair. The sun shone on his skin, as it dipped into the horizon, sinking from view. The sky was the bathed in colors of all different hues.

"One day you'll be up there." A female voice broke through the Cuban boy's thoughts. Her dark brown hair, grey eyes, and glasses met him when he turned towards the voice.

"Yeah,... I know." Lance broke his gaze.

"Aren't you excited?" Veronica went on.

"Well- Yeah, but what if I don't have time for you guys? It'd be like I was abandoning you."

"Look, Lance, you can't abandon us." Veronica encouraged, shifting closer to her younger brother. "We wouldn't let if you tried. And I'd be the first to hunt you down." She gave him a joking, determined smiled. "Besides this is what you've been wanting for years. Ever since I joined, you've gone on about wanting to go too. And now you can." The two stared up at the sky as the colored sky faded into blackness and the stars began to twinkle overhead.

"Maybe you're right." Lance breathed, his gaze not breaking.

"Aren't I always." Veronica teased, nudging him. Then she wrapped an arm around his neck and knuckled his head, ruffling his hair. And Lance couldn't help but laugh. As the memory faded away...

"I probably would been here if it weren't for her." Lance finished.

"I- had no idea." Allura commented thoughtfully. "I always did wonder how you found the Blue lion and brought it back to Arus." Shiro motioned an answer to that.

"I think that's my fault." Keith read. "When Ulaz released me, he sent me after the Blue Lion. According to him, they had just located it and were about to go looking for it. So when I managed to get to a pod I was sent to Earth immediately."

"What do you mean by sent?" Allura questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"An explosion to cover my escape, knocked me out in the pod. Ulaz must have programmed it ahead of time to send me back to Earth. The next thing I knew I was in Garrison quarantine."

"Where we found you." Keith concluded, after relaying Shiro's response. Shiro nodded. Pidge then turned to Allura.

"We were all cadets at the Garrison when we saw Shiro crash-land on Earth."

"Well most of us were." Lance shot an annoyed glance at Keith, who just stared blankly, as normal, back at him. His eyebrows furrowing in disinterest of the Blue paladin's statement.

"Okay, who's next." Coran broke the silence, away from the glaring

"I'll go." Pidge decided...

"Hurry up, Katie!" Matt called, pulling harder on her hand as they ran. Where they were going, at the time, she didn't know, but she ran faster nonetheless. Bae bae barked at their heels, as they ran through the kitchen.

"Slow down you two." Their mother called after them. Bursting out the door they ran toward the familiar shape of a Garrison car. The commander at its controls stepping out to greet his excited children, to which the two jumped into his arms.

"Ugh, well hello to you too." Sam strained, steadying himself again. Bae bae licked his cheek and his two children hugged him tightly. "Ok, ok, I've only been gone a month." He laughed standing up. He ruffled Matt's hair and pulled Katie close. Bae bae just stood there wagging her tail, happily waiting for her masters' next move. "So. How have you two been?" Sam asked as they strode back toward the house.

"Great, but we've missed you." Pidge told him, hugging him again.

"All the kids in our classes were excited to hear about your trip to the moon!" Matt told him excitedly.

"Well.." Sam was at a loss for words. "That's..good to hear. I'm actually quite flattered. But one of my lieutenants deserves some credit too."

"Who?" Pidge asked.

"Wait." Matt froze. "You mean, officer Lieutenant Shirogane!" The young man's eyes sparkled in saying that name.

"Who's that?" Katie asked again.

"You don't know who Shiro is?!" Matt gasped. "He's only the most famous guys in all the Garrison."

"One of the most famous, Matt." His father corrected.

"Shiro's one of the best pilots that Garrison has ever seen. And he's been in so many missions!" Matt raved. "He's broken like a gizillion Garrison records, even when he was a cadet. He's practically a legend!!"

"Now, now, Matt." Sam broke in. "Shiro may be good, but he's not the only one."

"I know dad." Matt shrugged coolly. "But he's the best!" He thrust his elbows down with his hands balled into fists, showing how awesome he felt about his idol.

"He sounds great." Pidge commented, resting her elbows on the railing of the porch. Facing out towards the yard.

"Oh he is." Sam confirmed, from his chair. Matt was swinging the porch swing back and forth quickly, when the front door opened and Colleen Holt emerged from it. She brought with her a tray of mugs which she set carefully down onto the small coffee table.

"Who's up for some coffee and hot cocoa." She announced, handing her husband his coffee.

"Me!!" Matt cheered.

"Me too." Pidge called, not quite as excited as her brother. But the smile on her face indicted her delight. Brother and sister sat down next to each other. Taking a sip, the smell of the warm, chocolaty drink filled their nostrils. The two children let out a satisfied sigh, when chuckling from their parents got their attention.

"What's so funny?" Matt asked, arching an eyebrow. Colleen and Sam shared another chuckle.

"Um," their mother said, then pointed to her mouth. The two looked at one another, and saw that they both had mustaches from the whipped cream. Realizing now what was funny they all burst out laughing together. Matt took another sip, when a big slobbery tongue licked the chocolate off his face.

"Aagh! Puh pluh pluck!!" Matt spluttered, "Bae bae!!" As Matt wiped his face, his family laughed some more...

...Pidge was disturbed from her sleep in hearing voices out side her bedroom door, which was letting only a sliver of light in. Quietly getting up she inched towards the door. Squinting one eye through the crack, she saw her parents, their backs to her. And just beyond them standing across the family dinner table, was a tall man. He was was so far way and the crack was so small that she couldn't get a good look at him. But she could make out the Garrison uniform, and he had dark hair, which had a forelock that hung down a little over his face. He spoke in a calm gentle voice. And the way her parents talked to him, was just as calm and gentle. 'They must be friends' she thought to herself. Their voices were so low that she couldn't hear them from where she was. She wanted to go out there, but didn't want her folks to know she was awake.

"I should be getting back." The man said finally. "Thank you for the opportunity, Sam."

'I knew they were friends!' Her thoughts stated.

"It's my pleasure." Sam told him. "Have a good night."

"You too." The man said, he then Turin's and left. As the door closed, her parents footsteps headed for their room...

..."Hey Matt." Pidge called, after her brother as they walked down the street towards their schools. She soon fell instep with him as she went on. "Did you hear the stranger that showed up last night?"

"Yeah." Matt confirmed. "Did you?"

"Yeah. Any idea who it was?"

"Couldn't tell." Matt sighed. "Too far away. Couldn't get a good look at him." He paused before glancing up at her. "Your room is closer, did you see him?" She hesitated.

"No, not really. All I know is that he was tall, had dark hair, and spoke in a low voice."

"Oh well," Matt shrugged. "Maybe we can ask Dad about it later." The school bells rang, interrupting their conversation. "Well, got to go, see you later, Katie." Matt called, crossing the street to the middle school. She gave him a little wave the hurried up to the door of her school...

Pidge looked at her hands in finishing her story, then glanced up at the others.

"We never did find out who showed up that night." Pidge commented. Shiro signed and Keith said:

"I remember that night." Pidge's eyes widened.

"It was you?!" She gasped. Shiro nodded, then continued.

"Sam had asked me to come because he had something to tell me. He wanted me to know that he was selecting me, for the potential mission that was the Kerberos mission."

"So you were there to talk to my Dad. But why so late?" Keith's fingers formed Pidge's question.

"I had training late, that was the only time I had available at the time." Shiro returned.

"My father was like that for a while." Allura recalled. "When he was a Paladin. I didn't see him as much because he was so busy. And with the rift experiments on Daibazaal, he wasn't around as much as he was at first...

Hey guys how's it hangin'?! Hope you enjoying this story. I actually haven't fun writing this. The story idea is kind of just a filler to add content to the story. But I find, now, that it's a good way to get to know different sides of the Paladins. And this may be staged in season two. But IDC(I don't care!) creating this theses stories about each of the Paladins has been kinda fun. Anyway, thank for reading. Peace!!