while the black paladins is a brilliant episode of voltron and one of the better ones, frankly i felt cheated that the confrontation came with no resolution between shiro and lance, when it was lance who through the seasons was on the bad end of Kuron’s abuse and rapidly deteriorating temper.
it would’ve been, in my opinion, a more fulfilling conclusion for lance to have been the one to have the final showdown with kuron and bring shiro back home AND it would’ve been the payoff of lance slowly developing as a character in season 4 where it seemed like he was being groomed for the role of black paladin (another voltron storyline with an unsatisfactory ending how did they keep fucking up good premises-)
so here i offer you The Black Paladins, the alternate ending (wherein lotor isn’t the bad guy because seriously what kind of lessons is the abused becomes the abuser) where keith gets back too late to help shiro but in time to step up and protect his friends and team after missing them for years, while lance’s story comes full circle with him, again, rescuing shiro, not as a hero, but as a friend :)
Lance deals with Allura's death BUT learning the secrets of Oriande, wakes up back in time and is able to fix everything with time travel.
He does this by driving Voltron into the rift- it opens up again and the black lion communicates with Lance thats it's VOLTRON that needs to enter the rift to destroy it given that the arrival of Voltron was what ripped a hole through space in the first place. After piloting Black and in turn the other lions alone Lance is the only one to push Voltron into the rift [it closed before since Allura's life force was tied to the lions so it bought them time] Given that all the paladins moved on with the Atlas Voltron wasn't needed anymore. The Paladins don't find out until its too late and hear Lance's screams through the headset before the rift is closed for good [Pidge confirms as energy has been fluctuating for years but they never gifured out WHAt until now] all are heartbroken that Lance has died, Pidge falls into Hunks arms and the two crumble to the floor, Keith falls to his knees screaming that it was supposed to be over Lance can't just be gone, and Shiro is staring frozen thinking of all the ways they could've solved this why did Lance go alone? Something touches his hand and he flinches to see Adam holding his hand tightly, silent. Adam didn't know Lance that well and Shiro eyes burned, resting his head at the crook of Adams shoulder as he heaved. It was supposed to be over.
-The Druids were Alteans, and converted Quintescence into a more potent stronger version that they called 'Crux'
-Lotor's alteans that he ended up saving, adopting and leading...ended up dying. Most of them who were more sensitive to cosmic energy which is what made Alteans terrific alchemists to begin with, were sensitive- with the rift open it was like radiation the alteans struck first died first BUT it would soon affect the whole universe if not closed.
Lotor needed Allura to cure them [even more if the alteans that were sick were the ones who shapeshifted and overtaxed themselves] a pure, untainted Altean body could be used to create a cure to save his people. He was going to take Allura by force after gaining her trust then fell in love and decided to work with Allura he saw a better future because of her.
Romelle an Altean Druid working for Hagger is sent in once Hagger spies through Kurons eyes of how Allura is sad by the death of her people. Hagger knows Allura will be emotionally compromised so sends a Romelle who acts like a prisoner/damsel in distress and is then 'saved' by Voltron.
-Lance [for once] not only doesn't flirt with Romelle, he doesn't trust her and [after being the teams punching bag] just keeps and eye on Romelle and keeps his mouth shut. When Kuron backs her up it's easy. Now the ship has TWO imposters.
-Lance finds Romelle and Allura with the mind melds but located to another room [like kalterneckers room OR Alfors room before it was destroyed] thus both Lance and Romelle see Altean culture for the first time.
-Cue, Altean technology, culture, cuisine, polticis, sports games ANYTHING, heck give us an Allura/Alfor bonding of them making a hover skooter or something like treasure planet and have Allura zoom through altea ANYTHING!
-Romelle accuses Lotor of using Alteans as human batteries that he enslaved her people and killed her brother. Lotor fleed unable to defend himself after it was exposed that he was going to use Allura for malicious intent.
-And so Lance uses his meld, and Romelle is curious. She and Lance use the room and he tells her it's good for people with ptsd to talk about their problems or visualise what their fighting for.
-Romelle was made to believe what she was doing was for the GOOD of the Empire that they were...helping other planets to connect and make them stronger and pursue science. She was wrong.
-So she shows Lance her memories. EVERYTHING. Including the Kuron project she was working on, "You and I both know that is NOT Shiro."
-Both take down Shiro, after he corners them and saw through the door and it's a typical SHINING moment "Hereee's SHIRO!"
-Romelle kinda panics that Hagger may have saw that. And she admits she lied about Lotor who- after running away WITH the comet is running into Haggers hands.
-Also- Lotor when he comes back says that Hagger admitted the deats on what she and Zarkon was doing. That they were trying to make their own Anti-Voltron but a singular Lion that Zarkon can use indepednetly without relying on others he was going to use the Black Lion as a base then keep it as a trophy after. And they were going to call it;
White Lion.
Allura is pissed coz the white lion symbolisings justice for all free people and worthy pursuit of science. But Zarkon using that to enslave others and destroy planets with their technology was a mockery of it.
-But wait theres more! Voltron needs someone to watch their back AND an upgrade. Once Keith comes back, he's gained a new Member.
Lotor is going to be on the back of Voltron, giving that they always have to duck and dodge so many it'd made sense since Voltron faces forward SO the white lion will be the wings of Voltron, as well as taking charge and can even make Voltron rotate - [kinda like his ship in season 3 episode that could go forward or back that would be his skill set] and his bayard could make Voltron fly and warp somewhere faster.
-Alluras blue lion shoul open wormholes. Or her bayard should do it- just saying the blue Lion TOOK the team to arus episode one with a wormhole and Allura opens wormholes
[But that was a fail safe so the lion would-] then why didn't the other lions like Yellow/green open a wormhole?
But Allura had to hold it open for them. It'd be cool of Voltron could warp- snap from one place to another during battle. [I hate that Voltron abilties was just, laser, sword shield it sucks]
-The garrison is working for the Galra. And tried to take Voltron and make THEIR MFE pilots fly Voltron instead only for the Lions particle barriers to come down.
-Bayards...so much potential. A gun that sends an energy blast, Hunk can use a batterram to shock the earth making all the galra fall from the shock wave while the paladins use their jetpacks to avoid the shock-wave? A sonic pulse, a grenade launcher, like- so many weapons [like think Spider-man, anti-gravity? like COME ON!]
-There's going to be some changes as well as nerfs to some characters- for one; Pidge installing the green lion to cloak - lets retcon that. Instead have it where it was an ability the lions already had but Pidge with her hacking cheated and unlocked it faster than the others.
Instead since Voltron was an unknown Comet that was sentient and happened to be the most advanced strongest weapon ever instead should have been used as a blueprint to advance ALTEAN technology. Instead the alteans sutdied Voltron, and were able to progress their society by a thousand years.
Now the comet landed in Zarkons home and he gladly gave the comet to Alfor who speicilises in alchemy the two became friends because of a politcal marriage- Zarkon married Honerva Alfors sister [yep, we're making Lotor and Allura cousins and Allura will get with Matt instead :p] But alfor got the better end of the deal his people were thriving and they ended up expanding, meanwhile Zarkons people were plauged by a rift that was only getting bigger, and more dangerous- kinda like how scientists were working with radiation but had no idea of the effects it would have until years later?
So with their child in danger and Honervas obsession with studying the rift they were able to finally crack it and began to harvest pure quintescence and then began creating technology that was only second to Alteans. Worse- some Alteans thought that Alfor was holding them back from the pursuit of science [they were testing from alteans and themselves and Alfor forbade it] so they went to Honerva and created the druids since they saw Honerva and Zarkon started calling her Haggar coz she looked haggared. It was a cute nickname that ended up erasing their history when both started losing sight of what their end goal was.
With in-fighting as well as fighting his sister and one he called brother- Alfor had no choice but to hide the lions, especially since Zarkon was acting strange and when they were unable to form Voltron was when Alfor realised how lost his friend had become.
-First thing Lance does when going back after the first time the defeated Sendeks airship, he asks Coran if there was anyway for the people on the ship to request Alfor to help them esp since they couldn't understand altean and Coran nodded that Alfor can traverse the ship AND help them. Since ALlura and Coran are fixing the ship they won't have time to give the new Paladins the tour/explain stuff etc. So Lance requests for Alfor and then asks what his lion can do, he plans to study and see how far Voltron can go he lied to Alfor with a "Zarkons been around for a long time he knows what the lions can do, meanwhile what we have is shield, sword and laser is that it for earths greatest weapon?"
Alfor nodded, "No there is more even the Paladins of old never unlocked but here is all the data for what the Blue lion can do, and what it can do with a bayard and what else it can do connected with Voltron." Alfor was giving him a considering look, but Lance was too focused on reading and studying.
Whenever you are given a new craft you're supposed to read the schematics first. Lance had an entire night of studying...
missing the fact that he was reading the logs in altean and Alfor watching looking amused. Even for a pile of data it figured that the blue Paladin was intersting.
"Oh and Al?" Lance asked glancing up, "Given the advancment of Galra technology- is there anyway to back you up where no technology can touch you and infect you with a virus?"
Any other time he would be wary, but Alfor knew exactly what the Blue Paladin was hinting at. "There is," he showed a map to a lower storage area that had class crystals and Lance stared.
"It's like power rangers Alpha and Supermans dad all over again-" Alfor ignored it. and directed Lance on creating a 'copy' of him.
And when Alfor data flickered on the bridge and both Coran and Allura looked close to tears he realised what had happened esp when Lance laughed, "Huh who knew exploring and finding a ton of junk would be this helpful."
"Yes very lucky."
When Alfor had time, he'd like to question this time travelling Altean he wanted to know everything.
-Also in Season one when Pidge found the Spores leading to Olkari- just what was the point in that? [And that is when i realised that Voltron had a writing problem since day one-] Since Hunk was the engineer and was supposed to fix the problems with the Ship wouldn't it make sense for Hunk and Coran to be fixing the ship outside, while Allura made sure it was correct from the inside? Why make Paladins who knew NOTHING about Altean craft FIX a ship while the ones who KNEW how to fix it who inside not handling it? Hunk should've learned how the castle works instead of being the cave who retrived the weblum crystals/scoualtrie like WHY was all the workload piled onto Pidge?
She did extraction, hacking, viruses, navigation, as well as helping with the castle repairs and learned Altean? Like she even helped Coran with the Teleduv that should've been HUNKS job. As the Engineer!
...God just throw Voltron in the trash and start over oh my god.
In this version since Lance is time travelling is pretty much fine with letting things play out and will be THERE for Keith this time- Except that doesn't go to plan.
Lance becomes the Black paladin. He's just as shocked as everyone else AND stressed out because now things will go VERY differently with him as the black Paladin. So now he tries to find the Clone Shiro base and speedrun bringing Shiro back BEFORE the clone ends up coming to the team and messing stuff up. When the team find the base and see all those chickens [shiros] they are now more wary. Allura and Lance find a clone that hasn't been processed yet [as in, installed with camera lenses/virus protecals to make him a sleeping agent other than the galra arm] so they take that Shiro put him in a pod because Lance tells the team Shiro is trapped spirtually in the Black Lion because his body was destroyed.
-bullies Kolivan to bring Kroila to team voltron or so help him he will hunt her down and they will be one member short of a blade.
-keith gets pissed when he finds out Lance knows about the future and that Shiro would die, "And you said NOTHING." And Lance recalls how Shiro said he was dying on earth and if it wasn't for the Galra and the clone he would've died out in space, only Coran knew that Shiro didn't have long after being in the cryopod and his body was shutting down. The galra wanted perfect soldiers and they did that with Shiro's body.
Summary: Allura doesn't take the news that Keith is half-Galra very well. Lance and Hunk decide Keith is in need of a Boys Night because, dammit, who the hell cares that he's Galra?! Doesn't change the fact he's still Keith--their hothead, impulsive, reckless Red Paladin, who also may or may not be Lance's bi awakening rival.
THE SPACE BETWEEN STARS ≡ chapter twenty four: revival
They'd been young and in love, once, millennia ago. They were old, weathered and rejuvenated, now. The last time they'd been like this, it'd been him by her bedside, for the birth of their beloved son. When he'd risked everything to bring her into the Rift, her lungs shaking and his soothing voice murmured into her hair, despite his own fear. An eternity with you is not enough. Haggar clutched at his hand. "Please, my love. I need your help to protect our family. To hold onto the throne that is rightfully yours, for all of time." Her other hand shifted to touch the base of her temples, and she let her quintessence leak into his, her fingertips and eyes glowing. "Come back for me."
With the discovery of the location of the mystical land of Oriande, Lotor is determined to go there and unlock the secrets of Altean Alchemy with Allura’s help.
But, things take a different turn when Ember returns with a new friend.
***************************
Originally titled “The White Lion”, this chapter went through some serious rewriting before the final draft. Totally worth it, though because it came out better than I had hoped!
WARNING: The author and beta reader of this story are not responsible for any tears that may be shed depending on your feelings and thoughts on certain characters. We advice you to keep tissues or a snot rag at the ready. Thank you for your cooperation.
Rewrite the Stars: A Voltron Love Story Chapter 24: Razor's Edge, a voltron: legendary defender fanfic | FanFiction
Hi @ibupony - I’m your secret santa for the @voltronsecretsanta2k18 event! Happy late new year!
I have to thank @hailqiqi both for helping me with ideas for this little story/what you might like, and for being an amazing beta. <3
Anyway, after seeing your ship list I decided to try my hand at some future Shidge for your present, and though the story isn’t specifically Christmas themed, I tried to keep it as fluffy as possible due to your requests. I hope you enjoy it! I certainly had fun writing it!
~~Season 8 spoilers, but also diverges from the epilogue obviously haha.~~
***
Wormholes and Wishes
“Hey, Captain!”
Pidge leans against the edge of the bed, trying to toe her shoes on quickly enough to catch up before he leaves, but Shiro chuckles at her call and ducks his head back into the bedroom. “What?”
The second shoe doesn’t slip onto her foot fast enough for her tastes, but when she leans down to tug it over her heel she nearly unbalances. She lets out a squeak and isn’t surprised to find Shiro’s floating hand bracing her arm with practiced ease before he even makes it back to her side.
His smile is fond, even as he pretends to chide her. “Careful!”
Pidge smirks and snatches up the rectangular black glasses from their nightstand behind her.
“I’ll slow down when you stop ‘forgetting’ these,” she teases, dropping them into his flesh hand. Laughter bubbles up in her chest when he pushes them onto his face with a sigh because she knows exactly what he’s going to say. “Yes, you need them.”
He frowns just so, mouth opening in that way that means he’s going to construct an argument, and she raises an eyebrow before he can say anything; she’s heard it all before.
“You couldn’t read your console in prelaunch checks yesterday.” Remembering the way he squinted at it when he thought no-one was looking is probably why she’s having a hard time keeping a straight face.
Shiro closes his mouth for a moment, but the corners quirk up as he draws her against him, his arms around her waist. “I knew what it said.”
“Because you’ve memorized it, you nerd.”
When he leans down close enough Pidge kisses his nose before resting her head against his chest and making herself be more serious for a moment. As much as they tease each other, sometimes he needs to be reminded of things.
Sometimes she does, too.
“It’s been twelve years, Takashi. We’re not at war anymore,” she says gently. “You’re gonna have to get over the whole ‘not wanting to look weak’ thing. You’re too hard on yourself just because you’re the captain.”
“That’s not what I think...”
She pulls away just enough to look up. “It is, don’t give me that.”
Her arms slide up around his neck to keep him at her level, and he meets her eyes and smiles—more wistfully this time. Apologetic. “Sorry. Old habits die hard.”
Something in her chest twinges. Habits learned from everything he went through at the hands of the Galra, he means. In the war.
Before she can dwell on it, he pulls her closer again, pressing a kiss into her hair and murmuring, “Glasses never looked like anything but strength on you though.”
Pidge winks and swats his arm as he releases her. “Then you should be proud we match!”
Shiro nudges a finger at her own greenish frames, nestled on her nose. “You don’t even actually need those! It’s not fair.”
They’re both laughing as she turns him around and pushes him from their quarters on the Atlas. “We can argue later; launch now. At this rate, EVERYONE else will get to Altea before we do, and we’re going by wormhole.”
In the corridor they fall into step, side by side and arm-in-arm. An old habit of their own, much better than any lingering effects of the war.
Shiro speaks up again halfway to the bridge. “How did you know I couldn’t read the console?”
“You have a face, honey.”
***
Pidge is bouncing on her toes at her husband’s side as the Atlas enters the wormhole between Earth and Altea. The purple swirls of the vortex and the familiar tug at her insides from wormhole travel are as welcome as they are every year, but the pull is stronger now.
The older they get the longer it is, at times, between seeing their friends. So often when she was younger she was warned that keeping up would be hard. That growing up isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. How many times did she hear it from her mother in particular? Especially after she came back from galavanting around the universe as a teenager and had trouble adjusting to being parented again.
You shouldn’t want to grow up too fast, her mother had told her. She was right.
Once upon a time Hunk was with them, a regular member of the Atlas’ diplomatic core before he branched out on his own. Lance is usually here too, but this year he’s mostly been off-world making rounds, visiting the others. He should be arriving with Hunk in a day or so. Keith will meet them there, too.
It’s moments like this when the familiar ache of missing them eases, and Pidge can’t keep the grin from her face.
Ever since her dad perfected Earth’s version of Altean teladuv technology, the ride has been smooth. It’s been long enough now that even wormholes large enough for the Atlas aren’t a problem.
Which is why the shaking that suddenly begins halfway through should not be happening.
Shiro grabs for his console with one arm, the other snapping around Pidge’s waist. “Report!”
“Unknown, sir! There’s a disturbance in the wormhole’s energy.”
Outside the viewports, the wormhole has...changed. The ship shakes as the colors flicker, the purple interchanging with a bright white blue and back to purple again, several times over.
Pidge would know that blue anywhere. How many times had Allura opened wormholes that looked like that? She hasn’t seen a wormhole like that in a dozen years and...and...
And what?
Her breath comes out in a rush, her chest aching for a reason that has nothing to do with the nausea brought on by the shaking. “Shiro…”
“I see it,” he murmurs between receiving reports from other officers.
But then the wormhole is gone. The ship goes still and the space around them is empty.
They wait for a long, tensely quiet moment, but nothing else happens. Pidge lets go of the breath she was holding. Some of the nausea lingers, but she nods when Shiro glances at her to ask if she’s all right.
Her heart is sinking, but she tells herself it isn’t. There’s no reason for her to hope. It was just...a spatial anomaly. A number of things could have disrupted the wormhole and its color.
“Where are we?” Shiro asks.
Pidge’s fingers twitch, aching for a console of her own, for answers, but she doesn’t have a station here.
“The wormhole collapsed. We’ve been dropped about...a day and a half out from Altea, at normal cruising speed,” Sam offers over the comms.
Shiro sighs. “Program a course for Altea, then, but let’s stay here until we’re sure there’s no damage. Veronica, contact both Altea and Earth; let them know what’s happened...”
He trails off, and at first Pidge isn’t sure why. His prosthetic arm is on his other side from her. But when he holds it up in front of him, confused, she can see its blue lights flaring brighter than usual. His eyes go distant for a moment as if he's listening to something only he can hear.
She rests a hand on his shoulder and his gaze snaps to her, his eyebrows climbing to his hairline. “Something’s…”
“Captain, we’re getting strange readings from…”
Pidge doesn’t even register who said it. She and Shiro exchange a look and she KNOWS, just like he does.
“It’s Princess Allura’s old quarters, isn’t it?” he asks.
A pause. “Yes, sir.”
That room has been sealed for more than a decade.
***
They could have brought a security team, but it didn’t feel right. Not here. They’re more than capable of defending themselves anyway if need be, even if they’re both probably a little rusty.
Pidge takes a carefully even breath, trying to calm her racing heart and the anxiousness clawing at her throat. Shiro’s presence at her side would usually do that on its own—and is she ever glad she isn’t alone outside THIS door—but right now she needs a little more than that.
“Why do you need a gun?” she teases lightly.
“You have that out,” Shiro retorts.
Pidge shrugs and glances at the short energy blade that curls around her fist, similar to the way her bayard once did. Hunk helped her design it years ago. It flickers, and she knocks the end of the handle gripped in her fingers against her other hand to force it back on.
Still some glitches to work out.
“You’re going to cut a finger off with that one day, and I’m not even going to be sorry,” Shiro deadpans. Well, at least she isn’t the only one resorting to jokes.
“Hush; we don’t know what’s in there.”
“That’s what I’m saying!”
It could be a trick. It could be dangerous. She knows they both felt something but…
She wants to hope, but after so long that could be dangerous, too.
Shiro overrides the door, and Pidge almost expects the room to smell musty. But they’re on a spaceship: the air cycles, and there isn’t any dust to collect, no external forces. It’s exactly as it was left. Coran retrieved most of the few belongings Allura left behind, but the desk still holds an empty juniberry pot and a few odds and ends. Pidge swallows when she catches a glimpse of the bejeweled helmet she brought back from Clear Day that Allura never really had time to enjoy.
But there is nothing else here. As Shiro edges slowly into the room, firearm at the ready and his other arm raised to keep Pidge behind him, there doesn’t seem to be anyone or anything here that shouldn’t be.
No. No, there HAS to be something. Anything. She could have explained away the incident with the wormhole, but Shiro’s arm...Shiro’s arm that carries the jewel from Allura’s crown as its power source…
That had to mean something.
With Shiro’s prosthetic arm the one outstretched to keep her back, an impatient Pidge is able to turn sideways and slip between it and his shoulder. It sends a little bit of a shock through both of them—nothing more than a sudden tingling, really—but he yelps anyway, because she was ready for it and he wasn’t.
“I really hate it when you do that.”
She tosses a not-at-all-apologetic smile at him over her shoulder, but it fades as quickly as she mustered it when the new vantage point fails to reveal anything new. “There’s nothing in here…”
Shiro lowers his gun and holds out his metal arm again as if to study it. The brighter glow has faded. “Maybe it was nothing...” His shoulders slump. “Just some reaction to whatever was going on with the wormhole…”
He sounds as disappointed as she is, and she doesn’t feel so silly for hoping anymore.
A crash sounds from the closet, and Pidge whirls around with her small blade activated again, heart jumping into her throat. She doesn’t know what she expects next, but it is definitely NOT the high-pitched wail that floats through the slightly open door.
Her eyebrows climb and any anxiety or disappointment is shoved aside by concern. “What the…”
“Wait, Pidge, let me—”
She ignores him, stuffing the deactivated handle of her blade into the pocket of her long jacket as she bounds the two or three steps to the closet to shove the door the rest of the way open. Her mind is telling her she can’t be hearing what she’s hearing—there are no children on board, this room was sealed, it wouldn’t make any sense, unless...but it can’t be...
Just as she thought it was, just as she was sure it couldn’t be...the wailing is coming from an actual baby. A tiny, naked figure plopped on the floor, fallen back on her (his?) plump haunches, scared by the empty crate that’s fallen off another one beside her. Maybe a year or so old? She isn’t sure.
“Quiznak…”
Pidge doesn’t think as she yanks off her coat and reaches for the child, wrapping her warmly as she scoops her up and brings her in close.
“Hey, hey, you’re okay, it was just a noise….” She cradles the youngster against her shoulder and rubs her back, swaying and making soothing noises; still, tears soak through her shirt before the child finally calms down and relaxes against her.
Her smug smirk fades as she realizes that Shiro has been quiet the whole time, and she quickly turns to check on him. He’s still right there, over her shoulder, but he’s frozen in place, staring with his mouth slightly open. Eyes wide like...like he’s seen a ghost.
It isn’t until then that she registers the dark skin and white hair in her periphery, and the delicately pointed ear brushing her cheek. She shifts the child down in her arms, carefully, only to see familiar blue eyes looking back at her, underlined with pink cheek marks.
Her breath catches in her throat.
She’s holding the ghost.
Shiro takes a tentative step closer, reaching out as if to support her even though Pidge isn’t aware of any problem with her balance right now. Better safe than sorry, maybe. She does feel a little lightheaded. Maybe he can tell. Maybe he can see the cascade of memories flooding her mind as she looks into the child’s bright eyes, or maybe he’s reaching out because he’s lost in his own.
He swallows. “How…?”
Pidge doesn’t know whether to laugh or sob. A sound somewhere in-between squeezes itself out of her throat, and the child in her arms reaches up to coo and pat her face when tears start to track down her cheeks. She does know she’s suddenly grinning like an idiot, and she doesn’t care at all.
“Does it matter?”
***
There’s no doubt in either of their minds that the child they now have on their hands is somehow Allura, but how and in what way are the biggest questions. Is it just her DNA, her essence? Or are her memories in there somewhere?
The ship’s doctor could only tell them that she’s perfectly, physically normal in development, genetics, and energy readings for a sacred Altean child of about eighteen months old. Pidge doesn’t remember much else from the visit to the infirmary in detail, just how grateful she was that Shiro never once let her go. Maybe they both needed the support, but his warm hand at her back as the doctor examined the dozing youngster with the face of their friend kept her grounded.
The way the child will only let Pidge and Shiro hold her, the way she reaches out to them with shining eyes and that smile when she’s awake and clings to them when sleeping, seems to suggest maybe a part of Allura really is in there. Since she seems to become upset when anyone else is near, they’ve sequestered themselves in their quarters for now.
“Do you think she could really remember us?” Pidge asks. The baby has fallen asleep on their bed, curled against Shiro’s chest and wrapped now in a soft blanket from the infirmary. Underneath it, they’d managed to MacGyver a diaper out of a smaller cloth and some medical tape.
“I don’t know,” he murmurs quietly. His face is still damp with the tears he’d shed as soon as they were alone here, but confused joy still radiates from the excited smile that hasn’t left his face. “I don’t even know how Honerva managed to copy my memories into this body, or how I still have the memories the other me accumulated with it. It’s just...not something we understand.”
“And neither is where she came from to begin with,” Pidge sighs. She strokes the silky white hair, smiling when the child yawns in her sleep.
“Maybe you’re right...it doesn’t matter, does it?” Shiro says. His voice holds more than a little bit of awe.
“I guess not. But maybe Coran will have an idea...he knows a lot more about weird Altean stuff than we do; even though we’ve come a long way integrating with their technology, their magic is still something else.”
Shiro stops the beeping of another message from his comms and makes a face, swiping at his cheeks to rid them of any remnants of moisture. “I should go. We need to finish checks on all systems before we get under way.” He doesn’t sound like he wants to move a muscle.
“It’s okay. I can keep an eye on her.”
He nods a little, and reluctantly shifts away from the tiny sleeping body. He pauses, caught by a finger, her small ones still wrapped around one of his. He smiles fondly. “I just…”
“Yeah…”
Shiro gently pulls his hand free, reaching out to squeeze Pidge’s shoulder before he gets up from the bed and smooths out his uniform. “Call me if you need me?”
“I will. Go on; we’ll be fine.”
And they are, for a while. But Pidge stretches out beside her before much longer, exhausted even though it’s early in the day still. Just watching the little sleeping face, taking in the softly rounded versions of the features she once knew so well...the child sleeps the same way Allura did, half-curled with her hands drawn up near her chin. She saw it often enough on that long trip back to Earth so long ago, when they camped to let their lions recover and all slept together around campfires.
One moment everything is fine but the next Pidge is sobbing, muffling the sounds in her pillow to avoid waking the child...Allura.
It’s Allura.
Pidge wakes what must be hours later with little Allura curled up against her and a headache that is probably equal parts hunger and emotional hangover. But she can’t stop smiling, even when Allura wakes up fussy.
Pidge knows the baby must need something to eat, too. However, she really doesn’t want to drag her to the kitchen to find something she can eat wearing just a blanket and a diaper, so she digs through the small stash of clothes she keeps on the Atlas. She comes up with the smallest t-shirt of hers she can find and the green sash from the one dress in the closet. The shirt almost works as a dress when tied, even though the neck is far too big. The child picks at the sash, playing with the ends so much Pidge is afraid she’ll pull out the knot, so she unties it and does it again in the back instead.
Pidge is proud of herself for the impromptu styling. She’s never seen Allura wear green before, but it seems to suit this tiny version of her.
“There. I don’t know what else to do for you, kiddo, but you sure are cute.”
Allura just giggles and reaches up from the bed, asking to be picked up again. She’s making sounds like she’s trying to say something, and Pidge is pretty sure she should maybe be saying a few words by the age she’s supposed to be, but nothing clear has come out yet. It doesn’t seem like anything to worry about, though. Either Alteans develop differently than humans, or maybe she’s just not ready.
“Okay, yeah, let’s go find food,” she says, scooping her up onto her hip. “You always liked fruit; maybe there’s fruit or something we can cut up…just be nice to the random people in the hall, would you?” The request earns her a pout. “Oh come on, you used to LIKE people.”
No verbal answer, of course, not that she expected one. Instead little Allura just pushes up in her arms to wrap her own small ones around Pidge’s neck and squeeze, hiding her face against Pidge’s skin.
“Whoa, I’ve got you…”
She doesn’t know what it’s like inside that little head right now. She can’t, but it can’t be easy to be brought back to life, no matter how it happens. Memories or no. Whether this child really understands any of it or not.
It certainly wasn’t easy for Shiro.
“I missed you, you know that?” Pidge whispers. “We all do. Did...I don’t know…”
Maybe she imagines the small arms tightening around her, but maybe she doesn’t. She gives a watery chuckle. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out together.”
***
Allura’s first mostly clear word comes when they make it to Altea the next day, and any doubt that might have been left is gone.
They’re the last to arrive after all, but they’d sent a message ahead and the others are crowded at the base of the ramp the moment it touches down. Pidge can’t help grinning in anticipation even as she holds Allura a little tighter, knowing soon she’ll have to let her go.
Allura’s voice comes as a delighted scream at the top of her lungs when she sees them. Pidge is halfway down the ramp when the girl twists around in her grip and catches a glimpse of the staring, slack-jawed and damp-eyed face at the front of the pack.
“-’ORAN!”
“Allura!”
He recognizes her immediately—and of course he would; he’s known her since she was born ten thousand years ago—and he’s already hurrying up the ramp before he’s finished getting the name out, the others close on his heels. Allura nearly tips out of Pidge’s grasp reaching for him before he’s anywhere close.
Pidge wonders, too, if Allura knowing Coran proves anything at all. They probably won’t know until she grows. Until she can tell them. But as Coran takes the tiny giggling princess and swings her around before pulling her in close, Pidge laughs, and she doesn’t think anyone will mind waiting.
Pidge and Shiro pull back a step or two to let the others crowd in. All of them are crying, even Keith. Allura looks confused and wide-eyed, but she smiles at all of them the way she did for Pidge and Shiro, as if she’s trying to cheer them up because she doesn’t understand that they’re actually happy. Lance leans in and her small hand traces one of the blue marks on his face. Pidge thinks she hears something that sounds like Lance’s name, and Coran lets Lance take her next.
Shiro’s arm slips around her shoulders as they watch. “You know, I think our news is going to end up a little overshadowed this trip, no matter how long we wait.”
Pidge smirks and leans into him, relaxed and content.
Her family is whole again.
“We could always just show up with a six month old next year and try to convince them we figured out how to pull babies out of wormholes.”
