As the Paladins disbanded the Lions and headed back into the Castle, Keith heard Pidge saying something in a high, excited, garbled sort of tone that brought all other conversation to a complete halt.

"GUYS! GUYS, I FOUND MY FAMILY!"

Lance's whoop of sheer joy at the news echoed in all their headsets, and he immediately began thinking out loud, the way he always did when he was happy or excited.

"Pidge! Pidge, that's AWESOME! I can help you find them some Altean clothes - Coran was showing me around the Castle the other day - and oh, yeah, that's right, we should make sure they have rooms close to you, Pidge - you're totally going to want to spend time with them - "

Hunk had shouted out in happiness as well, and Shiro heard Keith join in too, asking if Matt and Sam were okay, if they needed to get to the healing pods or-

Pidge's voice was still happy, excited, more alive then it had been since Shiro could remember as she responded. "It's - it's fine - I think they still might need to spend some time in them - at some point - just to be safe - but Shiro - Shiro, I know they want to see you first -"

After that, Pidge's voice went on, still excited, still vibrantly chattering away over the comms, saying something about finding Matt and Sam in the crowd of rescued prisoners right before she'd come and formed Voltron with the team, but Shiro couldn't say anything. He wanted to, but the words wouldn't come.

As he landed Black in her bay and got to his feet, he could still hear the other Paladins over his comms, but he didn't have the breath to join in their happy chatter, because he had already begun to run.

Keith seemed to understand what Shiro was doing.

"It's good, Shiro," he said. "You go ahead - we're on our way - we'll meet you there -"

The others chimed in with excited agreement, but at that point, Shiro couldn't hear the words.

He was already out of Black's bay, running at a full sprint down the corridor, and everything else just - faded away. Every thought, every fiber of his being was concentrated on the fact that Matt and Sam were here, in the Castle, they were here, and they had wanted to see him.

Coran saw Shiro come sprinting down the hallway, and Shiro was glad the Altean counselor guessed what he wanted to know, because Shiro wouldn't have been able to say anything at that point, because his heart was pounding far too loudly in his ears, and he knew that he wouldn't have been able to speak even if he'd had breath to spare for the words.

"They're still in the transporter room with the other prisoners we rescued - second door on the right," Coran said, and Shiro didn't even slow down as he turned the corner at a full on sprint. Just as he came within reach of the door, it began to hiss open, and it was only then that Shiro realized that he had no idea what to say to either Matt or Sam.

Hell with it.

He'd improvise.

Even as the door finished opening and Shiro charged through it, he looked wildly around the room for the two people he'd thought he might never see again.

Aurelis was standing near the now-open door, speaking to the newly-freed prisoners, apparently summing up how he'd come to be on the Castle with the Paladins of Voltron.

"Oh - and here is one of our Paladins now -" Aurelis said, turning to greet Shiro with a smile. "Everyone, this is - "

Shiro was still scanning the room quickly, impatiently, trying to see where Matt and Sam were. Could they be in the back of the room, maybe, sitting down?

Then he realized he still had his Black Paladin's helmet on.

"Dammit," he said, reaching up with both hands and ripping off the helmet without any ceremony or delay whatsoever. As he pulled it off, he heard a few startled squauks on the other end of the comms, and he almost laughed at the sheer craziness of it all. Lance was going to give him flak about swearing for days -

"…Shiro…?"

Sam. That was Sam's voice.

Shiro looked up to see that Samuel Holt was standing right behind Aurelis, directly beside the transporter device that Rayzor had installed earlier that week. He'd obviously been examining the screens and controls, but now his eyes were huge in astonishment, and they were fixed onto Shiro's face in something resembling shock, but also not quite full recognition.

In that instant, all words, all reactions, all Garrison protocol, completely vanished from Shiro's mind. He found himself frozen to the spot. He didn't know what to say, or what to do.

He suddenly realized how different he must look to Sam. It had been - how long had it been? At least a full year - since -

"SHIRO!"

Matt's cry of absolute joy drove all other thoughts from Shiro's mind, and he turned just in time to see his friend tackle him in a hug that almost sent them both to the ground.

"Ohmygod - Shiro - you're alive - how the fuck are you alive - "

Shiro didn't know if he was laughing or crying when he tried to reply.

"Uh - " was all he managed before Sam had stumbled forwards and grabbed both him and Matt into a huge hug, and they just stayed that way for awhile.

Distantly, Shiro heard the door open again behind him, and Lance give a whoop of joy at the sight.

"Wow, Katie! You do look just like your brother!"

Shiro turned his head just in time to see Hunk and Keith move to one side, and then Pidge had pushed forward and tackled her father around his middle in another embrace that sent him staggering into Shiro again, and all four of them almost went to the ground again in a sprawl.

Out of instinct, Shiro reached out with his right arm and braced himself against the nearest wall to make sure no one went flying. Pidge was emitting squeaks of sheer delight and keeping her arms firmly wrapped around her dad, who hugged her back just as enthusiastically. Matt had moved his hands so now they clutched Shiro's shoulders, and he still seemed almost dazed with both delight and excitement.

"No, really, man," Matt was still asking, and he tried to shake Shiro to get his attention again, "How the actual fuck are you still breathing after everything that's happened?!"

Sam and Pidge looked up at Shiro then too, and Shiro found that he really didn't know, after all, so he tried to make a joke.

"Uh - " he said, but he saw Matt's face go white, and then Matt was staring where Shiro's right hand was pressed up against the wall.

Shiro didn't know why he was doing that.

What was wrong?

"…Shiro…" Matt said, and his face almost looked like that of a ghost. "…what…did they…"

Shiro realized his cybernetic arm was glowing faintly, and when he drew his hand away from the wall, there was a hand-shaped impression in the metal, still glowing from the heat of his weaponized hand. He felt his throat close up, and he fervently wished he hadn't powered up his weaponized arm out of instinct.

"Uh - I - it - was - uh - " he said, and only realized he was stammering when Sam looked down at Pidge, and then up at Shiro again, his usually kind face settling into an expression that was both sad and knowing.

"Was it - the witch?" Sam said, his voice low, but not at all accusatory.

Shiro found he didn't have any words, so he just nodded. Matt hadn't moved away from Shiro at all, but Katie saw her brother grind his jaw as he asked the question, now looking directly into Shiro's face.

"…it was…one of her dumb experiments…wasn't it…oh, God, Shiro…"

Out of habit, Shiro tried to downplay it. He didn't want Matt to feel guilty - or Sam to look at him like that -

"It's not - uh - so bad - " he said, and with an effort of will, he forced his cybernetic arm to stop glowing, to power down completely, to not be a weapon, to not ruin this reunion.

He realized that the other freed prisoners were staring at them now, and he felt a sudden, irrational embarrassment about his arm.

His Druid-given, cyborg, prosthetic arm.

Shiro tore his eyes away from his right hand and glanced back up at Sam, but Sam didn't seem to be - afraid of him - which was good - and Matt didn't, either -

Distract, his mind screamed, distract-deflect-distract-deflect-it's-not-a-big-deal-not-now-not-now-not-anymore-just-have-to-live-with-it-come-on-come-on-come-on-don't-ruin-this-for-Katie-

"…Shiro…" Matt's voice was quiet, but Shiro saw his friend seemed on the verge of tears. "…I'm sorry…"

The completely out of nowhere apology was like cold water thrown into Shiro's face. It completely took the Black Paladin by surprise, and just for a moment, Shiro forgot all about the awkwardness of his cybernetic arm.

Pidge saw Shiro blink and gave his friend a disbelieving look, with one eyebrow raised, a completely confused expression that was absolutely genuine.

"For...what?!" he asked, and his question seemed to break some of the tension that had been building, because Sam snorted in soft laughter and Pidge leaned closer and threw her other arm around her brother.

"Matt," she said, and her tone was equal parts comforting and no-nonsense, "don't be stupid, bro. You don't have to be sorry for anything-"

Matt had let his gaze drop to the floor, and he was shaking his head slowly. "-no-Katie - it's - it's my fault - that - that -"

"Whoa, now, Matt," Shiro said, his tone becoming more serious, but still containing a sense of humor. He grabbed Matt's shoulder with his left hand and shook him, gently. "-don't take on blame for something that had nothing to do with you, Matt - trust me - that's just way too much for any one person to handle-"

Matt looked back up at his friend, and his jaw was still clenched tight, his eyes still miserable. "But - you fought in the arena - instead of me - Shiro - you - "

"-had a better chance of living in that hell-hole than anyone else in that cell block did," Shiro said, his voice taking on an iron quality. "Those fights were rigged, and we all knew it - come on, Matt - I'm serious - it's not your fault - this - "

Shiro jerked his head towards his right arm dismissively, and he thought he saw a fraction of the tension leave Matt's shoulders at the gesture.

"-this - happened long after you got transferred - and anyway, don't you think that bitch would have done something like this eventually?"

From behind then, Lance let out another surprised squawk, but Shiro heard it only distantly. His entire attention was focused on Matt, who had blinked in apparent surprise at the dismissive way Shiro had just referred to the witch. Shiro continued, intentionally keeping his tone and his words short and honest.

"She's sadistic - and evil - and just - completely obsessed with her experiments - so - just - don't take that blame on yourself, okay? It had nothing to do with you-"

Shiro realized he was in danger of rambling, and he made an effort to just say what he meant, and be done with it.

"-look, I can access Galra tech with it, and - uh - it's been useful. I melded a door shut once - mostly - kind of - it was a busy day - but the point is, I've been able to use it against the Galra, and it's not all bad. So - just - don't beat yourself up about this, okay?"

Matt bit his lip, still seeming unsure. Shiro felt a genuine grin cross his face as he continued.

"-because otherwise, I'll change my code name to Winter Solider - and you know I would do it, too-"

Matt let out a half-hysterical laugh at that, and Shiro saw that his friend was indescribably gladdened by Shiro's ability to make a joke about the entire fucked-up situation.

"You are such an astro-nerd," Matt said, and Shiro snorted.

"You should know it," he said. "I mean, you sort of have to know by now - six months in a three-person spaceship headed for a distant moon really doesn't leave much room for secrets -"

Matt shoved Shiro's shoulder in the way he always had, and then his jaw dropped and his tone became lighter as the tension seemed to drain away, at least for the time being.

"-holy - shit -" Matt said, staring at Shiro. "-when did you get this ripped, Shirogane? It's practically - hurting my eyes - ow -"

Shiro felt himself grin and saw that Sam and Pidge were still hugging each other tightly as he snorted again, and then Matt and he started to snark at each other, like they used to on the trip to Kerberos.

"-I have always looked this good - it was just - uh - hidden - under the spacesuit - "

"Oh, God, now I feel inferior - quick, someone get me a training regimen and a whole bunch of vitamins before I- "

"Did they always do that?" Pidge asked Sam, who nodded. "Almost nonstop."

He smiled as he watched Matt and Shiro interact. "I've missed seeing that."

Keith grinned to himself as he watched Shiro and Matt give each other grief. He hadn't been sure what to expect when Shiro was reunited with the Holts, but it seemed like it was going as well as could be expected. Sam seemed to understand Keith's train of thought and nodded.

"…It's going to take some time to get used to everything that's happened…but I think it'll be all right," he said, glancing over at Matt, who had just thrown a punch at Shiro's left shoulder. Shiro blocked it and just kept talking as if nothing had happened while Matt rolled his eyes.

"- new record on the training deck - "

"-you are such an overachiver, Shirogane-"

"-that's my middle name - Takashi Overachiever Shirogane -"

"Oh, gods, make it stop - I swear, it's like you just got nerdier - how is that even possible - "

Then Matt saw Keith and broke off, his eyes going wide.

"Keith?!" he exclaimed in bewildered delight. "What the - how the - okay, is anyone else from our class at the Garrison here?!"

Keith came over, a half-smile crossing his face as he did so.

"There shouldn't be," he said, and Matt clapped him on the back of the shoulder and pulled him into an enthusiastic hug of greeting, which Shiro thought Keith bore with relative good grace.

"Okay, great, because otherwise I think I'd have to pass out from the sheer weirdness of today," Matt said, and as he and Keith and Shiro continued to talk, Sam and Pidge turned to face the other two Paladins, with Pidge still hugging her father around the middle and beaming as if Christmas had come early.

"So, Katie," Sam said, looking at Lance and Hunk. "Who are your friends?"

Lance bounded forward, a huge smile on his face, and shook Commander Holt's hand enthusiastically.

"I'm Lance, Lance McClain, sir, and it's an honor to meet you - we're just so glad you're here-"

Commander Holt smiled at Lance's genuine happiness and warm welcome. "-likewise, I assure you - but please, don't feel the need to stand on formality - anyone who rescues me from an alien prison can call me Sam."

Lance grinned widely at that, nodding enthusiastically. "Sure, okay - uh — I've just always thought of you as - uh - you know - Pidge's dad - so - um - "

Samuel Holt smiled again at Lance. "It's all right, Lance, you can call me sir if you'd prefer - I don't mind either way - "

Lance snapped to attention, then flushed red as he tried to reply. "Yes, sir! I mean, Sam! I mean…uh…"

Pidge beamed at Lance in a friendly manner as she spoke, and that seemed to put him more at ease.

"Lance, dude, it's okay, you're cool."

Lance brightened at the compliment even as he stepped to one side so Hunk could come forward and meet Mr. Holt.

Man, he thought, it's going to take some time to get used to having Pidge's dad here - and her brother - but it's going to be awesome, all the same.

Lance just felt so happy for them.

He wished his own family could be here with him, too, but he pushed that thought away. Now was not the time to dwell on that loneliness.

Pidge had found her family.

Today was a good day.

And Lance would make it so.

"Come on," he said, after Hunk had been introduced. "I think we should take you both up to the ship's control deck - I just know the Alteans want to meet you, too."