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Part 1: Fernweh
Lance still wasn’t sure about the plan. It wasn’t his plan, not really, and he’d only agreed because the rest of the paladins had seemed so happy at the chance to do something for him. Which wasn’t necessary in his mind, but they never listened. Not to him.So now he was here.Corvexus loomed large before the Castleship. The entire team was gathered around the central controls except for Lance, who was still stuck to his seat. This was real. It was really real. He was part bird-alien and that planet right in front of him could hold all of the answers he was looking for.  All the questions he had about who the Avicorians were and how they lived and how they flew-Lance had always wanted to fly. He was the kid that jumped off the swing and gave all of his friends early cardiac issues. He tried to climb onto the roof of his childhood home to touch the stars at least once a week. He climbed trees so much his mother had recruited all of his older siblings to keep him out of the branches.Dios mío, Mamá. Lance had been trying not to think about his mother ever since he’d realized that she might not be his - no.He stood slowly, shoving his wings back behind him. Corvexus spun before him. Brilliant green continents vanished under pinkish clouds. The quiet conversation behind him faded away. His breath caught in his chest. A trembling trill wormed its way out of his throat. His wings dipped until he could feel the floor against his primary feathers. There was no way he was ready for this. What was he even expecting to find? Corvexus had been abandoned for hundreds of deca-phoebs. What could be left after so long?Somewhere between his spiraling thoughts, Lance noticed a lone figure approaching. He kept his gaze fixed on the image of Corvexus, but moved one of his wings out of the way to let them by. The figure’s hesitant steps slowed to a stop.“Hey,” Keith said. Lance glanced his way and the look on his face was of nothing but soft concern. He hummed in response, although it trailed into a chirp. “Are you ready for this?”“What am I looking for down there, Keith?” he murmured back. “What’s left?”“Coran insists that their society would have survived the elements.” Keith stepped closer, his indigo gaze burning against his downcast face. “It’s not going to be everything, but it’s something.”“But what if we came here for nothing?” Lance said, his voice cracking. “What if-”Keith sighed, as sharp as his bayard. “Remember what I said?” “Keith, I…” “You always keep us afloat,” he said instead. “We want you to be happy. You don’t have to put us before all of this. You deserve answers, Lance. You deserve to know who you are.”Lance chuckled wetly, swiping at his eyes. “When did you get so wise?”“Two years on a space whale with your Mom, you learn a thing or two.” Keith nudged him in the side and dodged the wing flared his way. He opened his arms in their nonverbal sign that had become commonplace over the last few months. Lance slipped under his arms with a choked sob. Keith swayed slightly, ignoring the way that Lance clung desperately and shook apart in his embrace. He turned so his back was facing the team. Lance had never wanted them to know how much this was really affecting him, but he couldn’t avoid Keith.He slowly pulled away. Lance winced as one of his feathers caught on Keith’s armor but stepped back anyway. Keith offered a small smile, though it still looked a little strange on his face. Lance wiped at the tear tracks and returned Keith’s smile, though it felt like his was even weaker. “C’mon, they’re waiting for us.” Keith tugged him towards the central console, where Coran was gesturing wildly at a hologram of one of Corvexus’ continents.“What - you didn’t say they were waiting!” Lance hissed. Keith half-shrugged and deliberately looked away. “Keith!”“You’re more important than you think you are,” he said. “What’s waiting a few doboshes when it’s for you?” Lance stopped short. ¿Qué? Since when- what? He shook his head and joined the rest of the group, finally listening to Coran’s extended speech.“You all are going to set down over by the coast,” he explained, “because it’s tougher getting through those trees than it is to separate a pack of yalmors! You’ll have to traverse by foot to get to Aztreal’vin.”“And you’re sure we can’t just use the speeders?” Pidge said.“Unfortunately not, Number 5! The foliage of the old forests is much too thick, and there is every chance you might miss the city entirely.” Coran shrugged, zooming out slightly. “Avicorian cities are much more vertical than they are horizontal. They only really spread out when you get to the top!”The group was quiet, all looking at each other but not saying anything. Eventually, Shiro spoke up. “Are we clear to go down, then?”“There seems to be a bit of rain going on right now, but I don’t see why not.”Rain?“Rain?” Pidge groaned. “Really?”Lance hadn’t seen rain in so long.“Could we wait for another day, maybe?” Hunk said. Keith caught Lance’s eye. He must’ve seen something, because he asked, “How much is a bit of rain, Coran?”“No more than usual for Corvexus,” he said. “Which is no small amount, but you’re all geared up anyhow! The paladin armor is more than enough to keep you from getting wet, if that’s what you’re worried about.”“No, I just don’t really like rain,” Pidge said. “Or much about the outside.”
“Mamá, can I go outside?”
“Not now, Leandro, it’s raining.”
“But that’s why I want to go outside.”
“Alright, go put your boots on.”
Lance pulled himself out of the memory with a small jerk. He missed rain so, so much. Nowhere in space had managed to get close enough to make him feel at home. The cruel irony that it had to be Corvexus was not lost on him.He wasn’t about to make the rest of the paladins slog through mud puddles just because he missed a little bit of water falling from the sky. Lance had no idea how his wings would react to rain, either. It wasn’t worth it.He looked back up at Coran’s map and accidentally locked eyes with Keith across their little circle. He’d been searching his face with an unreadable gaze. Suddenly his expression softened and he sent him another tiny smile. Lance blinked in confusion until he started to speak.“I mean, I lived by the Garrison so I didn’t see very much of it, but rain was always something special.” Keith fixed his gaze on the projection and didn’t look back at Lance. “If it’s just a bit of rain, I don’t see a reason why we couldn’t go today.”A warm feeling bubbled up in his chest. Lance quickly schooled his expression before it could turn besotted and sappy. There was no reason anyone had to see that. Pidge scoffed, but it was fond. “You’re such a weirdo. Who likes rain?”“I’ve never experienced rain like Earth or Corvexus,” Allura said. “I must admit, I am curious.”“If no one has any objections, we can head down to the surface now.” Keith glanced at Shiro, who nodded slightly. “Shiro can ride with me. Everyone else, to your Lions.”A small but enthusiastic cheer went up. Truth be told, this was the closest thing to a vacation that they’d gotten in a long while. Lance glanced at the screen one last time. He still wasn’t ready, but there was no time like the present. He descended into Red’s hangar with a grimace. Red purred loudly when he sat down in the cockpit, murmuring you’ll be fine, Solecito. But Lance really wasn’t sure he would be.Entering Corvexus’ atmosphere went smoothly and the sound of the team discussing where exactly they would land faded away. He followed Black through a cloud bank to the surface and set Red down on a giant sand dune.Coran hadn’t been kidding. The rain was coming down hard, although it seemed like it was lessening ever so slightly by the time he got down the ramp. But still, it was definitely still raining. A smile crept over his face. The moment that they’d made it out of their Lions, all of the paladins had been drenched. Pidge was loudly complaining about it, but in a tone that suggested she’d just realized how much she’d missed the rain. Hunk and Shiro were both quiet, but Keith was almost laughing at how much rain there was. Allura was mystified by the entire thing, but did comment on how much it felt like showering with clothes on.Lance wasn’t paying attention to any of that. He stood there, wings outstretched against the storm and just felt so relieved that Keith had pushed for what he hadn’t been willing to ask for. The rain slid over his feathers in a strange, familiar-but-unfamiliar sensation.The beach they were on looked so similar to Earthen ones that Lance almost choked upon looking at the coastal horizon. Misty teal water stretched for miles and miles, and pristine white sand greeted each wave. The pink-hued clouds added a warm touch to the water, giving the entire area a dreamy overlay. Even with the rain it was gorgeous.Eventually the team gathered together again, with half of them standing under the shelter of an outstretched branch and the other half still out on the beach. Pidge huddled next to Shiro and Hunk, using their broad frames to protect her from the wind. “Lance, why on Earth did you take your helmet off?”He blinked, finally feeling the water running down his face. He looked down at the helmet resting on his hip. “I uh, I don’t know?”“You must be some kind of water-bird,” muttered Pidge. “Like a duflax.”Hunk snorted. “A duflax? Really?”“What’s a…” Keith trailed off, glancing at Shiro. “Do you know what a duflax is?” Shiro looked just as lost as Keith felt. “I’m not a duflax,” Lance hissed.“But if you are- oh! Then you really are like Pike!” Hunk said. Pidge near-cackled, collapsing against his side. Allura laughed politely, somehow.“Coño, please don’t.” Lance did not want to relive the adventures of Pike and his many, many sad dice rolls. He glanced over at Keith and Shiro and noticed the latter’s confusion. He wondered why Shiro wasn’t saying anything, and then it hit him.But before he could say anything, Hunk talked over him. “And then- oh man- you don’t know about Gyro, Keith you should have seen this-”“Gyro? Like the food?” Shiro’s interruption was a surprising one.“I’m almost sad you don’t remember that.” Lance sighed. “But then again, I’m not.”“You know, I’ve got a recording of the entire game!” Coran cheered over the comms. Everyone jumped (except Lance whose helmet comm wasn’t directly in his ear). “I can show it to all of you when you get back, if you’d like.” The ensuing shout contained mixed reactions, including but not limited to yes, no, and what game?“A HA ha, thanks Coran, but I think we’re good!” Lance shouted. “Where do we need to go?”“I gave the map to Number 5! I just popped on to let you know that I’ll be trying to repair the teludav while you all are in the thick of it. I won’t be able to reach you for a bit.” The comms crackled from his helmet as Lance glanced at Pidge. She nodded and pulled up a hologram of the map. “Good luck out there, all of you.”Lance could tell that everyone was trying not to look at him. He sighed and speed walked back to Red, dropping his helmet by her paws. He could feel her eyes on him as she spoke. Be safe. Her rumble shook his bones, just a little bit. It was still strange hearing actual words from the Lions. He patted one of her claws with a small hum. “I’ll be fine, Roja.” “Alright Coran,” Keith said, “we’ll see you soon.” The comm line snapped as he signed off. An awkward silence descended over the group. Lance flicked his gaze side to side before sighing and breaking the silence. “Where are we headed, Pidge?”The green paladin snapped up. “Aztreal’vin is about a mile inland, almost a straight shot that way.” She pointed almost directly into the woods. Lance followed her hand and found himself staring into the surprisingly well-lit forest. Despite the rain, it was still fairly light out. Veronica would have called it a sun shower. The team collectively looked at each other and headed into the woods together. The sunlight fell around them in thin streams, lighting up the steady flow of rain. The green and occasional blue and purple of the low-growing foliage shone brightly under the dappled light.No one said anything, but Lance could feel them all looking at him. He didn’t meet anyone’s eyes, but just kept pushing his way through the plants. There had to be something out here. A bead of water dripped from his hair and trailed down his face. The forest was eerily quiet compared to Earth’s raucous environments. There wasn’t a single cricket, no far-off rustling of animals, no bird calls bouncing between the trees. Even without his knowledge of what had happened to the Avicorians, this place would have felt like a graveyard. No, not really a graveyard. At least a graveyard would have headstones and names and dates or at least something at all. This felt more and more like standing in the middle of an archaeological site chosen by chance in the middle of the desert. Sure, you might find something, but there was an equal chance that you were just a few feet too far to one side.Lance pushed a leaf aside, trying not to think about the fact that he might be standing on top of all of the answers he’d ever wanted. But he would never know. Their cities were here once; Coran had the pictures and maps to prove it. But no civilization had survived thousands of years unscathed. Not one.Add to that his abysmal luck and Lance wasn’t sure if they were going to find anything out there. Maybe ruins swallowed by the forest or structures fallen apart over the centuries. But he couldn’t have come all this way for nothing. There had to be something. There had to be.

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Part 2: Kaukokaipuu
“Are you sure about this?” Lance paced around the observatory, clutching his arms around himself. “Really, really sure?”“The teludav isn’t going to be fixed for at least a few quintants at best.” Keith leaned against one wall, watching him go. “Corvexus is closer than you think it is and it’s not that far out of the way.”“But still! You heard Krolia, it’s been abandoned for thousands of deca-phoebs,” Lance said. He stopped short and stared out one window into the surrounding stars. One hand clutched at his hair. “What if there’s nothing left?”“Lance, even Earth's civilizations left things behind, and Avicorians were far more advanced than we are.” Keith pushed off the wall and approached his still figure. He carefully untangled Lance’s hand from his hair and closed his around it. “There’s answers there for you, I know it.”“And if there’s not?” He looked down. His wings spread out behind him, trailing on the floor. “What then?”“Lance-”“No.”“What?”Lance yanked his hand away, wings fluffing and expanding over and in front of his shoulders. “Don’t you get it? You didn’t have a mom! You knew which parent was- wasn’t human! You KNEW something was missing, and you FOUND it! But me?” He heaved for breath, some of the fire fading and wings falling limp behind him.“I thought I knew who I was. I’ve spent years building myself, solidifying who I am, and- and I was so SURE that I was finally, well, me. But I’m not. I’m part- part something I have no knowledge of and won’t ever get answers about. I kne- know my parents, and neither of them are- well, alien.”Keith started forwards, but Lance waved him off. His wings shook and his voice wavered.“They don’t have heterochromia or like climbing trees. They don’t have sharp vision or are able to sense auras in the way I could- can. They don’t- they’re not like me in all the ways that used to not matter. But if neither of them are aliens, but I am?”A tear trailed down his cheek, followed by another. And another. His claws dug into his sleeves but Keith pulled his hands away before they could do any significant damage. His sobs were starting to make it hard to continue, but he needed to get this out. He needed Keith- someone to understand.“Then I’m not who I thought I was.” His knees buckled. Keith half-caught half-guided him down to the floor as gently as he could manage. They still landed hard as Lance forged on.“I’m not Luis’s baby brother. I’m not Veronica’s little star. I’m not Marco’s swing dance sibling. I’m not Rachel’s twin. I’m not my Papá’s hijo or my Mamá’s Lancito. I’m- Keith, I might not even be a- God, I don’t even know if my birth name is McClain.” He paused and took a breath, his voice falling quiet.“And to lose that part of me? To lose what I’m proud to be called? It’s terrifying. I thought I knew who I was, but I have no idea now, and I’m scared of what that means for me.”Keith was quiet. Lance pulled his hands out of his grip again, but softer this time. He wiped at the tears coming down his cheeks, not making that much of a difference. He looked up, finally meeting his friend’s eyes. His face crumbled.Keith was crying.He’d made Keith cry.Lance flung himself back, regret pooling in his features. “Mierda, puta, no, Keith I-,” he stuttered, rushing back to Keith and wiping away his tears. “I didn’t mean to make you cry. I’m so, so sorry you probably already have had to deal with this kind of thing on your own and now I just pushed all that on to you, coño, I’m sorry I’m- I know I’m being a baby about it I mean, what does this change, right? I’m still the same old Lance, bird and all, you kno-”“Lance, I’m not crying because of that.”His mouth clicked shut, confusion freezing his expression and flailing hands.Keith pulled Lance’s hands down from his face, cradling them in his cupped palms. “I’m crying because I care. You're going through so much, maybe even more than I did, and while yes, it hurts, it's because I hate seeing you so distraught that it does. I know the answers we find, and we will find some, may or may not be what you want to hear. But I hope that through all the pain you’ll find some closure. Like I did.”Lance stared at him through a veil of his own tears. He knew how much Keith had struggled with his feelings and how difficult it was for him to talk about them. He’d learned to expect the quiet gestures in return for his kindness. Nothing more than a soft smile or the brush of a hand or silence together in the kitchen at midnight.But this? He’d never expected this. So what could Lance do but hug him fiercely after all that?He could feel Keith’s surprise in his incredibly unguarded reaction. He clutched him closer, as close as he dared. Lance missed hugs. This almost felt like home. Home…“It’s Leandro.”“...huh?”“My- my name. Lance is just a nickname.”“Oh… do- do you want me to call you that? Leandro?”And oh, didn't that do things to Lance’s heart. He stifled a laugh, pushing Keith away slightly, saying, “Please don't, that is not how you pronounce it.”“Wait, what?” Keith caught himself with one hand, gesturing wildly with the other.  “How am I saying it wrong?”“It’s Leandro,” he said. “You’re saying it Le-an-dro.”“Leandro.”“How are you even-” Lance laughed harder, his wings shaking violently. “No, no, have you never taken a Spanish class in your life? You’re saying your r’s wrong.”“What?” Keith repeated. Lance glanced up long enough to catch his half-annoyed, half-fond expression before he was laughing again. “How can someone say an r wrong?”“Oh man, I haven’t had to explain this to anyone in so long.” Lance stifled another laugh, splaying his wings out on the floor behind him. “Okay so - actually first, can you roll your rs?”And so they went, going back and forth at least another dozen times until Lance was finally satisfied. Keith was more Texan than he’d thought he was, but Lance was determined to see him get it right. At this point, it was a matter of honor.“No, no, try again. One last time.”“Leandro.”“No, you’ve done better. One more time, but really this time.”“Leandro.”“Finally!” Lance cheered, a wide grin splitting his face. Keith rolled his eyes at the following round of applause, but gave a faux bow anyways. “I thought it would take you all night.”“Leandro,” Keith murmured again, almost like he was tasting the word. His indigo eyes locked onto Lance’s as he said it and Lance could feel himself warming. “Thank you.”“Oh.” Lance tilted his head and blinked inquisitively. “For what?”Keith scooted back a bit and laid down, staring up through the observatory’s ceiling. “For letting me help.”Lance didn’t say anything. A swirl of mixed emotions expanded in his chest, something pulling at him from within. He looked up at the unfamiliar constellations, wondering if these were the stars that they saw from Corvexus. Wondered if something deep in his bones would recognize the patterns his ancestors had drawn in their night sky.He slowly released a shuddering, painful breath. “Yeah,” he whispered. “Of course.” ~~~ Lance pushed aside another giant fern-like plant. Its upper fronds doused him with a wave of water and he couldn’t help the quiet laugh that followed. Unlike the rain, which was relatively cool, the water from the fern was almost room-temperature.Behind him, he could hear Pidge’s endless complaining. “Have I ever mentioned how much I hate nature?”“Yes, Pidge,” Keith and Hunk said in unison. Shiro’s sigh echoed after them, and Lance could almost pretend they’d just gotten to space again.“I mean, I’m not usually a big fan of rain, and it is nice to see it again, but you know what I can’t stand?”“What’s that, Pidge?” Shiro did not sound like he wanted to know.“The mud!”Keith finally cracked. “Pidge! We are walking in the same mud!”“And it’s not even that bad, y’know?” Hunk tried his best to be optimistic. “I mean, there were some seriously muddy times back on Earth that were way worse than this.”Lance turned back to look at them, stopping in the shade of another giant fern. Pidge was flailing a bit as she tried to defend her point, and Hunk’s expression was growing more and more smug. An idea came over him and he slipped back through the greenery, aiming for the base of the fern. They were so engrossed in their argument that they didn’t see him coming.“I’m just saying, maybe if you went outside more often back on Earth this wouldn’t seem so bad.” Hunk shrugged, hiding his smile. Lance crept closer, raising a wing. Across the group, Shiro edged out from under the fern.“Well, Hunk, if I’d gone outside more then we wouldn’t have- aaAARGH!” Pidge cut herself off with a shriek as an entire plant’s worth of water was dumped directly on her head. She jumped straight up and pointed an accusatory finger at the perpetrator. “YOU!”“What’s the matter? Scared of a little water?” Lance’s face turned from a smirk to a look of absolute fear. “Wait wait Pidge no no no- I’m not wearing a helmet!”“Oh yeah? And who’s fault is that?” she cried as she crashed into his waist and sent them both spilling backwards into the largest mud puddle they’d seen all day. He cringed at the feeling of the muck seeping into the spaces in his armor. He shuddered.Lance laid there for a few more seconds, trying to catch his breath. The edges of his armor dug into his back and wings uncomfortably. He rolled over with a groan, trying not to slip on his own extra limbs. Pidge clambered off with a lighthearted cackle. Both of them were dripping with mud. Pidge’s gloves and gauntlets were covered in the stuff, and Lance could feel it sliding down his feathers. Eugh.Lance stretched them out, trying to see the extent of the damage. Instead, “Wait! No no no, Lance!” he started shaking all of the mud off with rapid flaps and a gratuitous amount of shaking. By the time he was done, his feathers felt clean enough. At least they weren’t dripping anymore, despite the fact that he could still feel it on his face. He finally looked up and noticed the rest of the paladins. A sharp trill escaped before he slammed his mouth shut to keep the rest of the giggles from escaping.Everyone else was covered in mud. And Lance meant it.Pidge, being the closest, was trying to wipe mud off of her visor and everywhere else. Hunk was almost in the same boat. Half of Shiro’s armor was splattered with mud, and Keith’s was more brown than it was red or white. Allura looked like she’d rather be anywhere else, despite the fact that she had the least amount of mud on her.Lance bent over, shaking from hysterical laughter. He completely missed their array of soft, fond expressions as he laughed in a way almost none of them had heard in a long time. It filled a void in their lives that they hadn’t really noticed was there.Eventually, Lance’s giggles were cut off by another thunk and a flood of water over him, washing away most of the remaining mud. Keith, now also sparkling clean, ruffled Lance’s wet hair and set off back into the forest. Lance chased after him, yelling about how long it would take for him to get his hair back in order.The team watched the two of them go, all finding their own ferns or gaps in the canopy to get the mud off. By the time they managed to catch up, Lance and Keith were staring up through a layer of branches at an old structure suspended there. A literal tree house, seemingly made of rounded branches and a few flowering vines.“We must be going in the right direction,” Keith said. He glanced sideways at Lance’s pale face before forging on. “Can’t be too far now. Let’s go.”Pidge led them through a maze of increasingly wide tree trunks, Keith having to tug Lance along when he couldn’t stop looking at the low, abandoned tree houses. They walked in silence as the sun brightened above them and the rain slowed to a drizzle.She suddenly stopped short and pulled up the holographic map again. “Well, it says Aztreal’vin should be right in front of us.”Allura took a few steps forward, squinting against the sunlight. “I’m afraid I’m not seeing anything like a city. Are you sure we’re in the right place?”“According to this, we are.” Pidge closed the map and turned in a full circle. “I don’t get it.”Lance wrapped one hand over the other and squeezed tight enough that it hurt. He closed his eyes and bit his lip to keep from voicing his disappointment. He knew he shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up.“Maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way.” Hunk’s words washed over him without really processing what he was saying.They shouldn’t have come, he’d pulled them all away from Earth - from home - for no reason.“Hunk’s right.” Shiro’s voice faded into the pounding of his heart. “Coran said the cities were more vertical than horizontal, right?”And now, if they didn’t get home, it would be his fault for looking for answers in a place he knew had none-“Guys.” Keith’s voice caught as he tried to say something. “Look up.”Stupid, stupid, cabrón, why had he been so stupid to think that he was ever going to find out anything?! Avicorians were dead and gone; he was a walking contradiction that shouldn’t even exist-Someone put a hand on his. Lance jumped, his head snapping up to stare right at Keith. Keith, who had a soft smile on his face and eyes full of hope.“It’s still there, Lance.”Lance shook his head, the weight of everything that might be there but might not be about to suffocate him. His head felt squished. His hands twisted harder. He fixed his gaze on the ground and felt his wings brush against the greenery.“Lance, please.” Keith’s voice was pleading, a near whisper so soft it almost vanished into the rain. “Aztreal’vin is up there, I swear it is.”The words were sticking in his throat. He shook his head again and forced out, “Don’t lie to me.”“I’m not-” Keith sucked in a breath. “Do you trust me?”Everything was rushing, too fast too soon too present too much. The rain felt harder somehow. “It’s not you, I just- I can’t.”“I won’t promise you anything,” Keith said, “just please, look up.”Lance swallowed hard, the lingering feeling of dread pulling at him in all the worst ways. The world came into focus around him and he could see every worried facet of Keith’s expression. He still felt terrible, but Lance could tell that Keith really meant it. And dios mío, wasn’t that a scary thought.He closed his hands around Keith’s and squeezed tight. If he was going to do this, he wasn’t gonna do it alone. He tipped his head back, staring up through the trees-But they weren’t just trees. Not… really.Hundreds of feet up, the branches curled around platforms and rounded houses that sprouted straight from the trunks. Except, the branches were the platforms and houses, as if they’d been twisted into shape and grown into the structures themselves. Light glinted off scattered pieces of metal and more of the flowering vines dangled from the edges.Lance could see the dim glow of teal lights in a few of the houses and flickering yellow in some of the others. A few walkways spanned between some of the smaller gaps, but they were few and far between. Instead, every platform was without railings and most windows had no bars. It was beautiful.“Yeah, it is,” said Keith. Lance hadn’t even realized he’d said that aloud. He sent him a small but real smile and darted forward, jogging through the trees to get a better view.“It’s gorgeous, but how are we going to get up there?” Pidge asked. “The Avicorians were not fond of ladders.”“Or stairs,” agreed Hunk. “Is there an elevator somewhere, or…?”Lance stopped in the middle of a circle of tree trunks, each one crowned with layer after layer of the crescent and pod shaped rooms. The lights were scattered across the structures; each one a loop of barely-there teal and half-lit yellow strung in and around each wooden globe.As he stared at the trees, each wider than any he’d ever seen before, an inexplicable feeling welled up inside him. He wanted to sink his claws into the bark, he wanted to haul himself up into the sky, he wanted to perch himself on the highest branches to stare up at the stars above and spread his wings and fly-
“Leandro! Get down from there this instant!”
”But Mamá, look how high up I am!”
“¡Te vas a hacer daño! ¡Bajar! ¡Ahora!”
”Sí, Mamá…”
Lance choked back a gasp as the memory overwhelmed him. Was that just an instinct he’d had all along? Granted the trees in Cuba were nowhere near as tall as these, but… there were no ladders. No stairs. There had to be a way for flightless Avicorians to get up there. A way for him to get up there.Hmm.He glanced down at his hands, and slowly pulled off his gloves. His new claws shimmered in the sunlight, the dark surface covered with a scattering of iridescent flecks. They were strong, he knew that. Were they strong enough to get him all the way up there?Well. There was only one way to find out.

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Part 3: Anemoia
Lance had almost made it to the first platform before any of the paladins on the ground noticed he’d left them behind. His hands were cramping and his wings kept fluttering nervously, but he’d never felt more alive. He noticed, hauling himself up onto the first platform, that the air was clearer up there, with less of the haze that he hadn’t seen from the ground.He picked some bark out from under his claws almost absentmindedly as he started strolling around the platform. The wood of the structure was solid underfoot and dimly lit from many fixtures of tiny glowing crystals. More of the vines were draped across the platform, the blooms painting bright spots of color amidst the brown and green of everything else.He circled the tree, occasionally having to dodge some of the vines or branches that had grown over the path. The pods that crowded around the trunk were all small, and utterly empty. There wasn’t anything there that Lance could see except for dust. He didn’t know if that dust used to be anything. He kept going around, peeking in every window and finding nothing in every single one of them.Somewhere far below, he could hear the distant shouts of the rest of his team. They faded away as Lance brushed aside another low-hanging branch, taking in the little nook it had disguised. Some remnants of paint decorated intricate patterns in the wood. Whether or not they were actual script, he couldn’t tell. He swallowed around the lump in his throat and let the branch snap back to where it was.It felt too quiet. His steps echoed strangely and the only other sound came from the rustling of the leaves all around him. Something moved in the corner of his vision, but when he turned to look it was just another set of vines blowing in the gentle breeze.It was different, though. They hung over the edge of one of a few bridges between this tree and then next one over, all at varying levels. The tree he was standing on was big, but the other looked even bigger.Lance made up his mind and crossed the bridge. It wasn’t as wide as the platforms and he had to step over a lot of random vines and fallen twigs. He peered over the side and stopped short.Wow. He was a lot further up than he thought he was. Even with his excellent vision, Lance could barely see the other paladins down below. The little colorful specks stood out against the vibrant green of the plant life but he couldn’t hear anything they were saying. He cursed to himself for leaving his helmet behind.He definitely hadn’t climbed this far up with his hands alone either. He looked back at the tree he’d come from and realized that he’d actually gone around it several times, following the spiraling path. The bridge he was standing on came from one of the top platforms, which actually explained a lot.Lance stopped staring at the ground and eventually made his way across, his wings spread for balance. It seemed like this tree had just one platform that wrapped all the way around with intermittent openings. Unfortunately, most of them were blocked by solid branches or hidden within the leaves.He made it about halfway around the tree before an unobstructed doorway caught his eye. Lance ducked into the entryway of the largest and best lit structure so far, some of the vines trailing over his wings. As he straightened up, his foot bumped something loose on the floor. He glanced down, and… oh.He scooped it up and tried to ignore his shaking hands. Dust floated off as he tilted it from side to side to get a better look at it. It was a tiny carving, detailed and probably once brightly painted. The miniature Avicorian stood with one hand outstretched and the other holding what appeared to be a little sword. There were sections that looked like they’d been repaired, although the entire thing was worn from sitting on the floor for thousands of deca-phoebs.“I guess figurines are universal… huh.”Lance knelt down and placed the figure back on the floor. There was a whole collection of them, all in different colors but wielding the same sword. Some had chipped feathers, one was missing a hand, and another had a clearly reattached head. Someone had loved these toys once, enough that they’d done their best to fix them when they broke.He stood and carefully stepped around the little pile. The space was lit up with sunlight from the many windows and the occasional string of crystalline lights. Dust puffed from his footsteps as he turned in a full circle. The remains of what once might have been some kind of textile were piled all around the edges of the room. Small platforms and branches stuck out of the walls at seemingly random intervals. He turned in a full circle, just then noticing how high the ceiling really was. There wasn’t a ceiling, really - the canopy of the tree that was another couple hundred or so feet up let most of the light in. And then- there was something by the way he came in.Lance stepped back towards the doorway, his heart skipping a beat. There, above the rounded opening, was a basic pictograph under a script that he couldn’t recognize. But he could tell exactly what the emblem was supposed to be.A parent holding the hands of their child, both with their wings outstretched. The child hovered almost at their parent’s shoulders. There were no faces, no details, no vibrant colors. Not anymore. But Lance knew what this place used to be.He glanced at the room behind him. Everything looked different now. He could see where the mounds of pillows used to be to catch any overeager child. He could see the kids hopping from branch to platform and back again, watched over by their parents. He could hear the high, chirping laughter of play-fighting siblings and the indulgent chuckles of the adults around them.It hit him like a blaster bolt to the chest. This was where they taught the next generation to fly. ~~~ Keith’s voice was quiet, but it carried over the entire group. “What the quiznack, Lance?”The paladins turned to him as one, their argument over the efficiency of building ladders versus stairs ending abruptly. There were more than a few confused faces as Keith started walking away. Hunk called after him, “Hey man, are you gonna explain that or…”Much to everyone else’s dissatisfaction, he did not explain. Instead, he walked straight through the trees until he stopped just inside a circle of them. He held a hand up to shade his eyes as the rest of them crowded around.“What is it you’re looking at?” Allura asked.”Well, Lance figured out how to get up there,” he said with a sigh, “but I don’t think the rest of us can do it that way.””What? Why not?” Pidge said, brushing past him.Keith pointed up, about halfway up the trunk. “Unless you’re also secretly Avicorian, I don’t think you can do that.” They all followed his hand until they saw Lance, who was hauling himself up onto a platform with nothing but his bare hands. His azure wings fluttered against the wood for half a heartbeat before they vanished over the edge with the rest of him.”Woah,” Pidge whispered. “How long did that take him?””Not very.” Keith paced to the center of the tree circle and stared at where Lance had just disappeared. Shiro followed close behind, a look of wonder in his eyes.“How did they do this?” he asked. “It doesn’t look like anything from Earth.”“Well I’d hope not, given it isn’t from Earth.” Pidge continued on to the base of the tree.“We can discuss the architecture and mechanics later, but we need to figure out a way to get up the tree.” Allura hesitated, face torn. “Lance left his helmet with Red, and I do not want him alone up there for very long.”“Allura’s right, we gotta figure out a way up,” Keith said. He glanced back at her, hearing the conflict in her voice. He drifted back a few steps. “I’m sure however long it takes to get to him will be the time he needs to… uh, process stuff.”Allura giggled and asked, “When did you get so wise?”“Y’know, Lance asked me that question earlier.” He smiled, something soft in the edges of his expression.“Did he?”“Yeah.” Keith shrugged. “As I told him, two years on a space whale with your mother and you learn a thing or two.”“What?” Shiro interrupted. “Two years - on a space whale?”“I forgot you weren’t really there for that,” Keith said.“No, you definitely didn’t tell the rest of us either,” said Hunk.“Two years?” Allura blinked. “Is that close to two deca-phoebs?”“Eh. It’s close enough.” Hunk didn’t even bother pulling up their time conversion calculator.“But Keith - you were gone for two years?” Shiro was really stuck on that point. “On a what-”“Hey guys, come look at these gouges!” Pidge called. “Look how deep they are!”Their conversation thoroughly interrupted, the rest of the group made their way over. The gouges in question were at least two inches long and pierced deep into the soft bark.“These trees are so much like sequoias!” Pidge continued. “I’ve compared their surface level biometrics with the scanners I installed forever ago - which I’m so glad I finally get to use by the way - and you would not believe how similar they are! But they’re also so different? These trees would never have gotten this big in this climate on earth, that’s why the coastal redwoods are so much smaller by the way, and-”Shiro stopped her rambling with a, “Pidge.” She hummed a yes, still fixated on the tree. “Do you have the biometrics of a sequoia downloaded into your paladin armor?”“Well, yeah.” She dismissed the holographic screen with a wave. “You don’t?”There was a collective no with one what’s a sequoia?Pidge’s face lit up faster than a dry redwood forest in a California summer. “I’m so glad you asked!”“They’re the biggest trees on our planet,” Keith said, effectively stealing her thunder. “And yeah, they look a lot like these.”“You can’t just say that! Giant Sequoias are the largest trees by volume, but they’re not the tallest species.” Pidge turned to Allura, who had a curious look on her face. “But these trees are taller than Hyperion - hundreds and hundreds of feet tall. I wonder if they have taproots or if they root into each other’s systems like redwoods do… I need to get my scanners down here!”“I didn’t know you knew so much about trees,” Hunk said, honestly surprised.She laughed brightly, something real in her smile that they were glad to see hadn't been stolen from her yet. “Have you met my mother?”“Ah,” said Shiro. “That explains some things.”“You’re gonna have to explain a bit more, Pidge,” Hunk said, “as I have not met your mother.”Allura turned to Keith as the other three continued on without them. His expression was tight and he wandered back into the clearing with an almost lost look in his eyes. She followed behind him, calling his name. When he didn’t respond, she pulled him to a stop with a hand on his shoulder.“Where are you going, Keith?”“I have a bad feeling,” he said. “Lance was so against coming here, and now he’s up there alone… we really need to get up that tree.”“I know you’re worried for him, but there’s not much we can do until we reach him.” She dropped her hand and looked back up at the tree. “One thing at a time.”Keith’s shoulders slumped. “You’re right. Thanks, Allura.”She nodded in response and the two of them stood there for a long moment, staring up into the sky. Almost as if their gazes had summoned him, a tiny blue and white dot appeared at the edge of one of the platforms.Allura called the rest of the team over as Keith kept an eye on their wayward paladin. They clustered in the center of the clearing as Lance paused in the middle of a bridge far above them. If he was saying anything, they couldn’t hear him.Eventually, he continued on and vanished over the edge of another platform. They all glanced at each other and then back at the tree that Lance had climbed. Pidge said what everyone was thinking:“We need to get up there.” There was another moment of silence before Hunk groaned.“Wait, guys - I feel like such an idiot - we have jetpacks.” There was a much louder, collective groan as they all processed the statement. There were also a few sighs and facepalms in the mix.A relieved smile spread across Keith’s face. “We’re coming for you, Lance. Just hang on.” ~~~ Lance crumbled to his knees. He hit the floor hard but didn’t register the pain. The world tilted and spun. His chest hurt. He couldn’t think, couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t breathe-One hand clawed at his throat. The other dug into the wood beneath him. His sobs echoed across the hollow building, filling it with pain. Tears scattered across the floor as he heaved for air.Lance slammed both of his hands down and braced himself for another round of cries. He couldn’t stop shaking and his wings dragged across the floor with every movement. The little bit of mud still in his feathers itched like mad.He just couldn’t stop crying.This was where they learned to fly. This is where they played with their toys and repaired them because they were just like his little Sylvio and Nadia. This was where their parents - who loved them, who cared for them, who were there - lifted them into the sky for the first time. He can almost feel the centuries of reassurances built into the very walls: I won’t let you fall.But there he was, all alone in a universe that might not have loved him but had definitely forgotten about him somewhere along the line. There he was, barely holding himself up on the ground of a place that had never been his home but yet felt like it should have been. There he was, without a single soul to reach out a hand and tell him who he was.No one to guide him through their constellations. Nothing of their words, of their culture. No one on a planet that had been left behind just like he had been.Lance choked on another sob and pressed his forehead to the floor. The wood smelled so much like home - but he had no idea if that meant a house by the beach with salt in the wood and summer in the sky or a tree with a hundred empty apartments with no colors left and an abandoned school filled with the memories that they could afford to leave behind.And there he was, rooting through the scraps as though that could give him any closure.What a fucking joke.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 4: Saudade
Lance wasn’t sure how long he’d spent almost curled up on himself, but everything hurt. His head was pounding and every single one of his limbs was sore. His claws had carved deep slices into the wood of the floor and his wings were trembling all over. He sat back and took a deep breath. His vision was still blurry. His cheeks stung from the salt.He tried to slowly release the breath he’d taken in, but it was shaking as much as he was.Lance scrubbed his palms over his face and clambered to his feet. Right, that was enough of that. He was on Corvexus, he was in a tree, and he was in a school-type place where Avicorian kids once learned how to fly.He couldn’t read whatever their script was, and there didn’t seem to be any convenient Rosetta Stone-type thing lying around. So he couldn’t try that route.Lance pursed his lips, tsking quietly. Maybe if they taught the kids to fly here, he could figure it out for himself. There was nowhere on the Castle that he could really fly without running the risk of smacking against the ceiling. But up here? There was no ceiling, save for the tree’s canopy. It helped that there was no one close enough to see him when he inevitably face planted. He still couldn’t hear the paladins. They couldn’t be very close.Actually, in the distance he could hear Pidge’s distinctive shriek fading away very fast. He decided to ask her about that later.Lance stretched out his wings. How would they have done it? He eyed the many branches sticking out from the walls; much more abundant around the bottom of the room than they were at the top. Maybe they glided from branch to branch before they flew?It made sense to him in the same way that climbing did. He decided to trust his instincts again and headed for the closest one. Once he was perched on top, he froze. Was he really doing this? Really?Yes, said the little voice in the back of his head. Now jump.Lance followed his instincts and ended up rolling along the floor. When he eventually stopped in the midst of a puddle, he stared up at the ceiling with wide eyes. He pushed himself up with a determined set to his jaw. It was going to take more than that to make him quit.The second and third and fourth times he tried gliding, he rolled like a thrice-whacked piñata: limbs everywhere, somehow never ending up in the same position twice. Despite the consistent failure, Lance kept getting back up.The fifth time he tried, he managed to not flail around in the air so much and actually landed on his feet for a bit. It wasn’t like he stayed upright anyways, but still! Finally, he was getting somewhere. When he found himself flat on his back again, he couldn’t help the laugh that burst from his chest.This was going to take a while. ~~~ “Pidge! Are you okay?” Keith yelled. He couldn’t hear very much over the whine of his jetpack and his own heavy breathing, but he could hear her confirmation that she was alright. He heaved a relieved breath and turned back to the tree.Now that Pidge had fallen fifty feet or so, he was the furthest one up. Allura was somewhere between them, using her energy whip to work her way up the trunk. It was slow going, and she’d almost fallen several times.Keith tightened his grip on his Marmora knife and swung himself up on top of his bayard, which was lodged into the trunk. His jetpack powered off as he leaned against the tree and tried to catch his breath. He didn’t really feel like he’d managed to go anywhere, though he could barely see Hunk and Shiro far below.He glanced up at the gap in the platform he was aiming for. It looked so far away, but he’d come so far. He couldn’t stop now.Keith activated his jetpack again and rolled his wrist. His Marmora knife in hand, he leapt straight up from his bayard. For a few heartbeats, he soared upwards unimpeded.And then gravity kicked in again. The jetpacks weren’t made for sustained flight with the gravity of a planet, so they didn’t last forever. Keith stabbed his knife into the tree two-handed. The force generated by the jetpack meant he didn’t dislocate his arms, but he was definitely going to feel that tomorrow.Keith swung slightly as he dangled from the side of the trunk. He let go of the knife with one hand and stretched it down to where his bayard was still stuck in the tree. With a quick tug on their connection, his bayard reappeared in hand.He grinned tiredly and dug the newly reformed sword into the tree. Keith pulled himself up with a pained grunt. His head thudded against the bark and he stared at the platform high above.“Just a bit more,” he mumbled. “I’m almost there.” He yanked his knife from the tree and prepared to do it all over again. “I hope you’re alright up there, Lance.” His hands shook on his knife until he forced them to stop.
Please be okay.
 ~~~ Lance whooped as he finally managed to glide down without tripping on the landing. Sure, he stumbled a little bit, but he didn’t fall over! A win’s a win in his book.He scrambled back up the wall, managing to push off of each branch with a downward sweep of his wings. He wasn’t wobbling as violently as he was just a few minutes ago, and it was so much easier to find his footing.Once he was about halfway up, Lance stopped. He hadn’t gotten this high before. It was almost dizzying, but he wanted to try something. From this high up, he had enough time to actually attempt flight before he crashed into the floor.He balanced at the end of the branch and spread his wings. They felt sore, but some hidden muscle memory had activated and guided him through gliding without falling. Despite all that, he felt like he was missing something.Lance pushed his thoughts aside and stepped off the branch. He drove his wings down in the same second and beat them as fast as he dared.And instead of falling, he flew. Something clicked in the back of his mind and he knew what he had to do. Lance twisted in midair and folded his wings in, diving almost straight down. Air rushed past him. The roar in his ears blocked everything out. The floor grew closer, and closer, and-He snapped his wings open and caught the air with a loud fwump. He beat his wings just in time and soared upwards with a gleeful laugh, spiraling towards the canopy that made up the ceiling. He dodged every stray branch with almost dizzying ease.Far above, there was a gap in the canopy. The branches of the great tree didn’t quite cover the entire school, which explained all of the puddles down below. Lance pumped his wings faster as he climbed through the air. He couldn’t explain why, but he wanted to fly through the branches and into the sky.He wanted to fly above the trees and through the clouds; he wanted to soar through sunbeams and float through the moonlight. He wanted to skim the waves and race through the dunes. He wanted to dive through the forest and weave through the maze of branches and vines. He wanted… he wanted…Lance blinked, suddenly finding himself above the canopy. Above him, the sky stretched on endlessly, only broken by the occasional pink cloud. Actual wind pushed at his wings. It was so beautiful, and everything he had just wanted.It was really lonely, though. He circled around the tree for a little bit, riding on the wind currents. He didn’t dare go too far even though his instincts really wanted him to. Lance had no idea how to navigate the forest and no map to find his way back to the Lions if he got lost.Luckily for him, he found the gap in the branches before he fell out of the sky. Flying was so much more exhausting than he thought it was. Lance didn’t even bother going all the way down to the floor of the school. Instead he perched on one of the high-up branches and kept staring at the sky through the canopy.‘I can fly now. It feels good. Great, even. Is this where my need to be a pilot comes from? Needing to be in the air?’ He let his wings hang in the breeze and rested his head back against the inner bark. The clouds drifted by, completely ignoring the fact that he was there. ‘It doesn’t matter if it is, I like being a pilot. But I do wonder if I would still have that determination if I wasn’t, well, Avicorian. Maybe I would have become a swimmer, or, or even a surfer like Marco believed. I do like water a lot too.‘Wait. Given the climate and location… Is that just a me thing or is that Avicorian too? How much of what I like is instinct? Where does the alien stop and I start?’ Lance stood, balanced easily on the branch. ‘Mierda, can I even still swim? How will the- my wings affect that? I got lucky that the paladin armor morphed to fit me, but not everything will.’ He hopped up a branch, poking his head out through the leaves. The light of Corvexus’ red-toned sun was warm against his face.‘Not like there’s a swim team at the Garrison anyways, but still! Oh God, the Garrison. Wait, no, screw the Garrison,  my family .   Are they also Avicorian? I mean, obviously if I am but, well… What, what if I’m not actually related to them?’ Lance stopped short halfway up another branch, his claws digging into the bark. He took a short breath in and out and stood to his full height on top of the canopy. The branches shook under him as he started walking across the roof, unafraid of falling.‘I guess it doesn’t matter if I am adopted, but it would have been nice to know. And if I’m not, how am I going to explain this to them all? Hey Mamá, guess what?! I’m part alien!’ Lance laughed quietly, leaping from one branch to another. ‘Wait, how alien am I? Maybe the cryopods could tell me? ‘Ugh, what if I’m exactly half and it’s the Keith thing all over again… huh. I really do exist just to fill in for Keith. Fighter pilot, red paladin, right hand, swordsman, half-alien, what’s next, lone wolf? Ha, Kuron certainly tried for that one.’ Lance stopped at the edge of the branch and sat down, swinging his legs. He draped his wings over the leaves behind him and watched as the sun set in the distance.‘I didn’t imagine that, right? Kuron was separating me on purpose.’ Lance drummed his fingers on his legs. His jaw clenched. ‘He was. He- but was he? He didn’t, like, actively exclude me from stuff, well, except for the Kral Zera conversation, but that was stressful anyways. And he helped me with the broadsword. And the Voltron Show, man, wasn’t that an experience. Ah, coño, publicity is gonna be hard when there could be people actively trying to kill me.’ He tilted his head to one side. ‘Wait, no, that’s not new. We’re always in danger like that. Ugh, but what if it does affect the team’s reputation?’ Lance felt his heart sink. ‘I get that Avicorians were- were poached for material reasons, but does it also have something to do with, I don’t know, racism?‘Do other species think less of them, contributing to the ignorance surrounding their extinction? Would I be considered an outlier of that exclusion due to my mixed race, or would it be read as nil ‘cause I’m mostly human, a race not many know of anyways? If people are gonna discredit Voltron because I’m a paladin - the right hand at that - then, then maybe I should step aside.’ Lance stilled. The wind felt colder all of a sudden. A chill ran over his back as he stood. The path back to the roof of the school took him much longer to traverse than it had before.‘I’m sure Black and Red would be more than happy to have their paladins back, and Blue hasn’t spoken to me since the quintessence field, which was a strange scenario, so I highly doubt Blue wants me back. Maybe then I could, I don’t know, go off exploring and see if there really is anything left for me. Find my space heritage or something.’ Lance stood over the edge of the school’s roof. ‘Like- like Keith did… I really am just his copy-cat. Heh, a sad one at that.’ He stepped off the edge and started gliding down in a spiral. 
‘I’m glad he found his mom, but- but I wish he had stayed. Voltron would definitely have done better with him around in Red. Did… did Blue only pick me because I was the outlier? She and Allura get along so well, but when Blue was on Earth, she couldn’t get to Allura for obvious reasons.
‘The other’s all have clear traits of the paladin color-coding or whatever it’s called, but me?’ Lance forced himself to focus on flying. ‘Heh, I really am a seventh wheel. I don’t really fit any of the Lions, I guess. I never got to hear what Blue looks for in a paladin, but that’s my own fault. Even if she does look for the “coolest, most handsome” of the bunch, that’s still not me.’  He alighted on a branch about halfway down, catching his breath. ‘That- that’s Keith. Who had sensed her energy long before I was aware of anything wrong. I- did I take Blue from him by accident? And Allura was supposed to get Red?’ His claws bit into his palms and pain spiked all the way up his arms. The world blurred at the edges. He could feel his breath catching a bit as he tried to slow his racing thoughts.
‘STOP Stop stop. Stop thinking about the what-ifs, Leandro. You need to focus on the now. Like where the team is currently.

‘Wait, where are they?’

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 5: Cianalas
Lance dove off of the platform, stopping himself at the last moment with a loud snap of his wings. His muscles pulled slightly, but he relished in the burn. It kept him grounded as he shook out his feathers. As much as he hated to get down so soon, he really did need to check in on the team. He was probably worrying them since he left his helmet, and therefore coms, with Red.
Idiot, Burden, Stu- Shut

up.

Walking back through the doorway, he found Keith helping Pidge up onto the platform across the bridge. Pidge had one hand on her bayard and the other was clutching Keith. He was rendered momentarily speechless.“Hey, uh, Keith?” Lance called. “How did you guys get up here?”Keith’s head snapped up and his grip on Pidge went slack. She flailed as he shouted, “LANCE! Uh, hi- you, are you okay?”Pidge disappeared over the edge. “Keith - you TRAITOR!”Lance couldn’t keep himself from laughing as he watched Keith almost dive over the edge in an attempt to catch her. As usual, Pidge was more prepared than either of them and anchored her grappling hook into the wood of the path above them.“Sorry Pidge!” Keith said frantically, one hand extended below the platform to where she was hanging. Lance trotted across the bridge, still laughing a bit.Pidge waved both of them off and clambered up onto the platform herself. “Can’t trust anyone nowadays,” she grumbled. Her body contorted into a pretzel as she hooked one of her heels over the edge and hauled herself up. Lance made eye contact with Keith through his helmet and had to clap a hand over his mouth to stop the resurgence of laughter.A pinkish blur flew up over the side and Allura landed gracefully into a kneel. Her bayard disappeared in a shower of sparks. She glanced down at where Pidge was untangling her limbs with a confused look in her eyes.“Show off,” Pidge muttered.“Are you alright?” Allura asked. She pulled the green paladin to her feet and poked at a particularly deep scratch on her armor.“Yeah, I’m good.” Pidge shot a nasty look at Keith. “Of course, I’d be better if someone hadn’t dropped me off the tree at the last second!”“What?”“I said I was sorry!”“Oh, your faces.” Lance couldn’t stop the fond smile or the quiet laughter as both of them glared daggers at him. He raised his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop.” He took a longer look at them and noticed just how hard Keith and Pidge were breathing. Allura looked fine, as always, but her Altean strength was nothing to sneeze at.But the other two? Keith’s arms were trembling a bit and hanging awkwardly. Pidge was rolling her wrist with a slight grimace, her hand clamped tight around her bayard.Lance took a few steps forward and grabbed Pidge’s hand. As he slowly peeled away her stiff fingers, he asked, “How did you get up here?”“We - ow, ow, Lance - climbed.” Pidge shrugged. “Not much else to it.”Lance didn’t respond, instead opting to massage her wrist with his thumbs. Nothing was sprained, thank goodness, just overused. Giving the green paladin a once-over, he deemed her alright and let go. He turned back towards the other two mentally checking for any obvious signs of strain, and upon finding none except for Keith’s embarrassed flush, he asked, “Where are the other two? Do they need help getting up here?”Allura peered over the edge. “They are still pretty far down. I think Hunk is trying to help Shiro up, but it’s not working too well.”Thinking over it, Lance supposed he could fly down and carry them up, but that depended on two things: One, he just learned to fly not even half a varga ago, so his confidence in flying was low. Two, he didn’t know if the extra weight of carrying someone would disrupt his ability. Well, only one way to test it.Looking across at the other three on the platform with him, he settled on Keith. “Hey, Mullet, can I test something with you real quick?”Keith glanced over at him, confusion evident in his furrowed brow. “I, uh- sure? What do you have in mind?”“Here”–Lance walked over and grabbed Keith closer to him by the waist–“hold on tight!” That was all the warning Keith got before he pushed off the platform straight up into the branches above them.It was actually rather easy to carry Keith while flying. Either he weighed less than he thought, or Avicorians had more natural strength like Alteans. Lance had no idea if he’d always been this strong or not. Working out wasn’t really something he did (besides swimming) until he became a paladin. Even then, it’s not like they weight trained so much as they practiced agility and teamwork. Either way, the strain on his arms was barely there, and flapping about was only slightly harder with the extra weight.“Leandro,” Keith hissed, deadly serious, “if you don’t put me down right now then Zarkon so help me I’ll get down myself.”“What’s wrong, Keith? Scared of heights?”“Only when you’re flying.” Keith’s arms tightened around his neck. “Actually, yeah, that’s a good question, since when can you fly?!”“Eh, since about 30 doboshes ago?”“Lance,” he said slowly, “we’ve been climbing for two vargas.”Lance glanced down at him as they started to spiral back down. “That’s a long time to be climbing. Also, sorry about doing this unannounced, but I needed to know if I could carry Hunk or Shiro up here.”“It’s… fine. Warm me next time. Please.”“Ehh, maybe.” Lance eyed the platform and tensed his wings. “No promises.” He folded them in and they dove almost straight down.“Lance, what- no, no, no, nO, NO , NO-”Keith’s vice grip around his neck was joined by his legs wrapping around his waist. His neck tucked into Lance’s armor as they fell out of the sky. Lance grinned into the rush of wind, waiting for just the right moment.At the last second, he snapped his wings open. They set down so lightly he barely even felt it. Keith didn’t budge from where he was, still clinging as tightly as before.“Lance,” he growled murderously, “I am never flying with you again.”“But you need to,” Lance replied. “To form Voltr- ow!”Keith’s elbow found its way into the soft spot under his ribs. He let go of Lance almost all at once, a pained grimace crossing over his face.“What, it’s not like I hurt you… right?”“Huh? No, it wasn’t you.” Keith rolled his shoulders. He wouldn’t meet his gaze.“Oh, good, I mean-” Lance stopped, eyes narrowing in on how delicately Keith was holding himself. “What happened?”“Tree.”“What?”“He’s more hurt than I am, but not by much,” Pidge said. “Getting up here wasn’t fun.”Lance whirled around to look at her. “What?!”“Nothing’s sprained or worse, you already checked for that yourself.” She shrugged, more preoccupied with their surroundings than anything else.He rounded on Allura. “And you?”“I thank you for your concern Lance, but I’m just fine,” she said. “Alteans may not be built for these situations, but we certainly have an easier time of it than humans do.”Lance’s wings drooped and he churred quietly. “I don’t want you to hurt yourselves for me.”Pidge turned back to him with a strange look before shrugging again. “We didn't climb up all this way just for you, you egoist. We all wanted to see what was up here and now I can take samples.”He blinked twice at Pidge’s insult and reasoning, then rolled his eyes and sent her a small smile. He missed the disapproving faces that Allura and Keith shot her, but it didn't matter. Pidge knew how to subtly reassure him that he wasn’t at fault even if it was through less than nice wording.“Alright, alright, go get your samples,” he said while making a shooing motion at her. “I’m gonna go get Hunk and Shiro.”Without even waiting to hear their responses he stepped off the edge of the platform and glided down to where the remaining paladins were struggling up the tree. He gracefully (for once) landed on a small branch near them, digging his claws into the bark on his left for balance. Once settled, he propped himself up and leaned a shoulder against the tree as if he were casually standing in a doorway. The other two hadn't noticed his arrival, too caught up in not falling. Lance cleared his throat, a smile creeping up his face at the way the duo’s heads snapped up to look at the newcomer.“You know,” he started with a grin, “if you need assistance, I do happen to be rather good at uphill transportation.” He winked at them, trying to suppress the giggles at their stunned faces.“Lance! How did you get down here so fast?” Hunk shouted at him, trying to regain his grip on the bark. His bayard didn’t have any sharp parts for him to use to climb, but it did have the little turrets that he was using as foot and hand-holds for Shiro and himself.Lance cocked his head to one side. “Did you not see me gliding down? At all?”“Uhh, no. Wait, gliding?”“I didn’t see anything either,” Shiro said, not losing his death grip on the tree.“Yep,” was the only response Lance gave before he fluttered off his branch and landed closer to the two of them, almost in arm’s reach. He held a hand out with a grin. “Anyone ready to head up?”Hunk and Shiro looked at Lance, then at each other, then back at Lance. Shiro slowly let go of the bark and reached out for his hand. Lance waited until he had a firm grip, then tested it a bit.A grin flooded across his face. “Don’t let go!”“What do you m- aaAaAAA!” Lance swooped down and tugged Shiro into him. He wrapped both arms around his waist and held on tight as they started to fall. Ignoring Shiro’s startled squawks, he turned the dive into a spiral upward. Lance couldn’t see Shiro’s face from how he was holding him, but the man’s sudden silence spoke volumes to his surprise. It was a bit unfortunate to think this was the closest Lance had gotten to a hug from Shiro since they first fought Zarkon, but oh well.Swooping up a little ways past the platform where the other three paladins stood, Lance glided down to an open spot with a quick “Your stop’s here, Shiro.” He let go when he got close enough to safely drop him down. Without landing Lance spun and dove back over the ledge, presumably to get Hunk.Shiro stood stock still for a moment, blinking at where Lance had disappeared over the edge. He turned to the trio staring at him and asked, “Is that new, or did I miss that while I was in the cryopod too?”Lance hummed as he descended back to Hunk, artfully dodging branches with the barest flick of a wing. The wind rushed past him until he snapped open his wings and started gliding down instead. Hunk was still standing against the trunk in the same place he’d left him.“Glad to see you’re still hanging in there,” he called. Hunk jerked in surprise and braced himself against the tree as he let out a relieved breath.“Oh, it is good to- wait.” Hunk squinted at him as he hovered close by, his face nothing but innocent. “Did you just-”“What? No, definitely not,” Lance said, biting back a grin. He held his arms out and landed on the edge of a branch. “You ready to fly McClainAir?”“Not really.” Hunk glanced down and then back up, swallowing thickly. “But I trust you.”Lance smiled, warmed by his best friend’s words, but said nothing. He pulled Hunk up into his grip and took off. It was a bit harder than with Shiro, but he managed just fine. The pair flew up through the branches, aiming for the same platform. Lance dropped Hunk near the center of the group and landed lightly.The paladins had mostly stayed in a group except for Pidge, who had wandered away at some point to scan as many of the pods as she could with an arm projector she must have installed into her armor. Keith was hovering nervously by Shiro, who was tempting fate by peering over the edge of the bridge. He and Allura kept exchanging glances. There was a bit of nonverbal communication between them that Lance didn’t quite catch.Finally, Allura huffed and stepped forward. She put a hand on Shiro’s shoulder and pulled him away from the edge. “I’m sorry Shiro, but I did not retrieve your soul from the Black Lion just to see you meet your demise falling from a tree.”“If I was going to die to a tree, I would want to die to this one,” yelled Pidge. “This is amazing!”“How about we just have no more dying?” Lance stifled a hysterical laugh and walked closer to the rest of the paladins. “A third of Voltron has already died. I don’t think we should make it to half today.”“One third of… what-” Pidge shrieked. Keith made a choking sound and Shiro shook Allura’s hand off with a horrified look.“Not important right now.” He waved a hand. “Pidge, what did you find?”“One of you died while I was gone?” Keith whispered.“I’m not going to just move past that.” Pidge said at the same time. “Who died - other than Shiro - and when?!” She stalked over to him. Ire poured from every footstep.Allura caught eyes with Hunk. An understanding crossed between them but otherwise she remained silent. Hunk did not.“Hey, Pidge-” he started, but was cut off by Lance.“Pidge. Not right now.” Lance didn’t move even as she jabbed a finger into his chestplate. Her hand was shaking. “Please. Not now.”“You-” Pidge stopped with a muffled snarl. Hunk’s gaze flicked between them, trying to figure out if he’d be able to say anything that could help. He didn’t get the chance.Allura seized the opportunity the pause gave her and brought their debate to a screeching halt. “It was Lance, at the Omega Shield. I healed him.” She shot a sideways look at him, but he wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. “And now he's requesting we move on so please, do.”Pidge glanced between her and Lance and sighed in reluctant defeat. “Fine. But I’m not letting you avoid this forever.”Lance smiled, trying not to look sad. “I know. Now, what did you find?”“Right. The trees.” Pidge summoned a holographic screen from her scanner and pulled up a cross-section of the tree trunk. “They don’t grow. Not really.” She highlighted a line of text that meant nothing to Lance but must have been important. “You see that? They’ve been alive for over ten or twelve thousand years. There’s nothing on Earth that even gets close to that. Our sequoias only get to about three thousand. Our oldest tree might be five.“But they also grew so fast?” The cross-section expanded until the rings were displayed in full detail. “It doesn’t make any sense. This tree got to this size in less than a hundred years. Probably somewhere around sixty or seventy, maybe even less. Each ring is over seven inches wide, with some variation, yeah, but still.”“How big are seven of your inches?” Allura muttered.Shiro started to gesture, remembered he only had one hand, and then stopped. He helpfully pulled up Keith’s hand to act as his second and approximated the distance. “A bit wider than this, Princess. I think.” Keith gave him a weird look but kept his focus on Pidge, who’s gestures at the screen were growing increasingly erratic.“It doesn’t make any sense! One inch is bigger than most tree rings. How can a tree grow that much in a single season?”“Well, maybe they forced it to.” Hunk shrugged, avoiding one of Pidge’s flailing arms. He was met with a variety of stares. “Well, you know, ‘cause the room house thingys are like, made into the trees and it's kinda similar looking to the Olkari camp. Oh, and Coran said they had a special connection to quintessence so maybe they used that to magic them?”There was a moment of silence; both shocked and contemplative.“That… makes sense?” said Keith, who didn’t look like he’d understood it at all.“It would explain a lot, actually.” Pidge scrolled through her data with a slowly growing smile. “It would explain how the tree rings are so pronounced when the seasons on Corvexus are less like summer and winter and more like warm, hot, or wet.”“What, like the Mediterranean?” Shiro said.“Um, sure.” Pidge closed the data file and opened up the map. “Anyways, it’s getting dark and I do not feel confident in navigating this place after sundown.”“Pidge is right. We should get back to the Lions.” Keith took a hesitant step towards the edge of the platform and eyed the ground with a nervous look. “How should we…”“I can fly you all down one by one,” Lance offered. “Wouldn’t take too long.”Hunk grinned. “Really man? ‘Cause if you’re offering I’m taking you up on that.” Shiro nodded behind him.“I can climb down by myself,” Keith said. He moved back from the edge and grabbed his knife. He was about to pull out his bayard when Lance put a hand on his arm.“Nope, no you- no no no no, no you don’t,” he said shortly. “You’re hurt. I’m not letting you injure yourself more by clawing your way down the tree. I can fly you.”Keith sighed and tucked his knife away. “Fine.” Lance pointedly ignored Pidge’s knowing look. He approached her first and tried to somehow convey that she should wipe that smug smile off of her face.The ride down to the forest floor went smoothly, the green of the leaves rushing past them. Pidge immediately started scanning some of the flora around the base of the trunk and was still doing so when Lance returned with Hunk and then Shiro.Flying back up and landing in front of Allura, he offered a hand to her. “Your boarding pass, please?” he asked with a crooked smile.”What?” She tilted her head, confused.”Never mind. Set to fly down?”“I believe so.” She took his hand, letting herself be pulled in. Lance wrapped his arms around her waist, not yet taking off.“Do you want to face out or towards me?” He kept his arms loose around her, letting her shift if need be. Allura thought for a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck.“Let’s go.”“You got it, Princess.” Lance nodded, holding tight and pushing off into the air. Allura gave a small squeak of surprise when he took off, burying her head in his armored shoulder. Her arms tightened as they climbed. Up up up he went, above the canopy and into the open air. Lance hovered there in the sky, looking out at the scene.“Allura, look.” She shook her head no, a muffled no thank you sounding from the collar of his armor through the rushing wind. “Please?”Allura lifted her head back up and gasped. The view was breathtaking. The setting sun cast deep orange, red, and purple across the sky, pink clouds lit up by stray sun rays. The ocean glistened in the distance, reflecting the sky’s gorgeous colors, and the leftover dew from the rainfall made the leaves below look as though they were sparkling.“It’s beautiful,” she breathed out, eyes wide with wonder.”Yeah, it is.” She turned back to look at Lance at the sound of his voice, breath catching. The orange of the sunset made his skin practically glow, hair windswept and smile wide. The blue of his eyes, wings, everything, contrasted the warm tones of the sky around them, yet fit oh so perfectly. Like he was always meant to be here.“Sorry about the detour, but I really wanted you to see this.” Her eyes snapped up to his, a small smile gracing her face.”Thank you. And I don’t mind, now that I’ve seen such a lovely view.” Lance’s smile grew at her words, raising an eyebrow.“Am I a part of that view?” he asked, the lilt in his voice giving away his poor flirting attempt.Yes. “No, you’re blocking it.” Allura deadpanned, smile dropping but tone light. Lance laughed at her comment, shaking his head. She laughed with him. “Your attempts at self flattery are getting worse.”He rolled his eyes. “It was worth a shot.” He glanced out at the quickly setting sun, then back to Allura with a sigh. “I still have Keith to fly down, so we should probably move quickly. Ready to go?”She nodded, tightening her arms around him once more. “Don’t drop me.”“Wouldn’t dream of it, Princess.” Lance dove down, holding Allura securely as he glided through the branches and back to the forest floor. He snapped his wings out at the last second, pulling them out of the dive and landing them with grace near the other paladins. “You can let go now.”“Right, my apologies.” Allura let go, taking a step back. Looking up at him once more, their eyes met, neither breaking away for a long moment. Allura broke first, glancing off to the side before meeting his gaze again. “Thank you.”Lance blinked back into reality. “For what?”For everything. “For not dropping me.”Lance gasped, mocking offense dramatically. “I would never!”She laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. “I know, I know.” She patted his shoulder, giggles calming down. “I trust you with my life.”Lance flushed, turning his head to the side. “And you with mine.”There was an awkward pause before she spoke again. “You might want to go get Keith now.”Lance jumped, eyes wide. “Right! Right, I’ll uh, go do that.”Before he could take off again, Allura pulled him in for a hug, careful of the wings on his back. He returned the hug, squeezing a bit then letting go completely. She nodded at him, Lance turning around and taking off back into the branches above.Hunk and Shiro side-eyed each other, shrugging and going back to monitoring Pidge.Keith was standing on the bridge when Lance made it back up. The sky was getting darker by the dobash. The vines rustled in the growing breeze.“Hey,” Lance said softly. “You alright?””I should be more worried about you,” he replied. “How are you?”For a long moment, the only sound was the wind winding around the trees. “…Ask me tomorrow,” Lance finally said. “You ready?” Warmth spiraled down his wings as Keith stepped into his arms with a trusting smile.”Let’s go home, Sharpshooter.”Lance looked around at the faded remnants of this grand civilization filled with unreadable signs and unsolvable clues. A mockery of what once had been; a shell of everything he knew it used to be. The lights still flickered as if they’d been left on, but there was no one left to tend to them. He swallowed thickly.“Yeah,” Lance agreed, stepping off the bridge into the open air.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Plus 1: Hiraeth
Despite the steam surrounding him, Lance felt cold. Corvexus was indeed a dead end, just like he had feared. He’d learned to fly, sure, but everything else was what he expected.Empty.He dried himself off with a sigh. At least the rain had been nice. Like a little slice of home.That was another thing. Home. Lance was tired of being out here in space. He just wanted to be back already, surrounded by his family and the noise, ocean crashing in the distance. There wasn’t anything like that in the space between star systems, just the rumbling of the engines and the tinny hum of the lights and - no. He’d drive himself crazy, thinking about that again.But there was still work to be done. With three years magically gone from their lives, there was no telling what state the Empire and Coalition were in. There had been no contact from allies on either side. The Blade of Marmora had vanished too; the only distress signal they’d picked up on had been a fake. At least Kolivan was alive.Lance couldn't shake the frown off his face as he got dressed. His mood worsened when he spotted his jacket hanging in the closet. That was another thing he missed: his clothes. Allura and Coran had managed to find or make a few tops that worked with his wings, but Lance just wanted to wear his baseball tee and jacket without having to tear them to shreds. Especially the jacket. He and Rachel had bought matching ones for Christmas years ago, claiming that it would be like a piece of them was with the other no matter how far apart they were. It was only meant to be as far as the Galaxy Garrison. Now, it was lightyears.Lance sighed as he made his way to the bridge. Red had been pestering him for the last varga, insistent that he come to speak with her face to cockpit immediately. What it was about, Lance had no idea, but who was he to deny Red’s wishes?Pidge waved to him as he passed her in the hall. He waved back with a smile and turned back when he heard her call his name.“Yeah, what’s up?”“I found the recording of our first Monsters and Mana campaign.” Pidge’s grin was entirely evil. Lance froze, his eyes like saucers. “Wanna come watch your Top Ten Pike Failstm with us?”Lance fixed his smile back on his face. Pidge’s grin widened as she noticed his momentary panic. “No, I, uh, I think I’m good. Red’s calling, so I better get going.” “You know we still need to have that talk, right?” she said. “I’m not letting you avoid this like you did last time.”“Again, Red’s calling, I gotta go.” Lance tried to back away slowly, but Pidge matched him step for step. “As in, now. Like, right now.” He turned and fled down the hall, praying Pidge wouldn’t chase him all the way to the hangar.To his relief, she didn’t follow him. Unfortunately, she did yell after him, “You can’t run forever!”Lance winced as he stumbled into the bridge. He would much rather run from that conversation but he knew just how determined Pidge could be.He continued down to Red’s hangar. The zipline was rather useless to him now. He instead glided down the corridor, his wings carrying him past the channel vehicle and straight to Red’s hangar and the Lion herself.“Hey girl, you wanted to see me?”Red roared back, her voice much louder with the close proximity. Not me. Blue. And, what? Blue hadn’t spoken to him since they swapped Lions. He’d heard her in the quintessence field, sure, but he hadn’t actually talked to her since then.Lance took a cautious step towards the hall that led to Blue. He hesitated at the daunting sight, then turned back to Red. “Are you sure?” Red gave him the silent treatment, eyes flashing with a snap push towards Blue. “Okay then…”Lance made his way to Blue’s hangar, his wings shifting nervously behind him. He tried to think of what Blue could possibly want to tell him, but nothing came to mind. When he finally arrived the hangar was dark, illuminated only by the gentle light of Blue’s particle barrier. The overhead lights flicked on with a snap and Lance winced at the sudden brightness. Blue’s presence softened, as if she’d just noticed he was there.Lance walked up, placing a hand on the shield. “Hey girl, Red said you wanted to talk to me?” Blue remained still a bit longer before the shield faded, her head dropping and opening to the cockpit. With a deep breath he walked in, nostalgia hitting him full force at the sight of Blue’s interior.The halls were dark, none of the usual lights on and no screens up. It felt colder than usual, but it had been a while. Lance shook out his wings before finally crossing the threshold into the cockpit.He sat down in the pilot chair, fully expecting Blue to stay dark with him at the helm. He did not, however, expect the roar of rushing waves to surround him, vision whiting out. All he could manage was a small “Blue-” before he fell unconscious in her chair.Lance blinked open his eyes to a horrible scene. Flames licked up at the windows of the castle. Sirens screeched in the distance. The harsh light of the flames cut across the much softer teal glow of the Altean technology . Shadows stretched and warped across the floor of the bridge, the shapes of distant galra ships flickering in and out of sight. The occasional hint of purple light heralded another galra warship on the horizon, cutting through everything in its path.At the center of it all stood King Alfor. He was speaking to someone Lacne didn’t recognize over the mainframe screen, but Lance’s ears were still clogged with that ocean sound. The king’s motions were frantic as he spoke to the other party. Another figure walked in, rushing to the king’s side.An Avicorian.“Zarkon’s fleet has completely blocked the northside and is coming in faster than we can hold off. He’ll be at the Lions soon.”Lance could hear him.Alfor turned to the Avicorian with a solemn gaze. “I’m afraid the best course of action is to send them away.”“But sir!” The Avicorian’s wings puffed up in protest. “Would it not be best to pilot the Lions and take down Zarkon?”“I’m afraid it’s too late for that. The other paladins are gone.” Alfor shook his head in dismay. “There is no Voltron to help us now.”A roar reverberated through the castle and the Avicorian’s wing marks lit up for a split second. Alfor looked at him with a small sliver of hope in his eyes. “Go, Dai-Wik. Blue calls to you. Take her as far away from here as you can.”Dai-Wik stayed where he was, his bluish eyes trained on the Altean king. He started to say something, hesitated, and then asked,  “But what of the others?”“They will follow Blue’s lead. Now go.” Dust fell from the ceiling as another boom shook the castle, this one the hit of a zyforge canon on the particle barrier. The castle’s screens flickered for a heartbeat.“Good luck, Alfor.” With those words of departure, the scene changed. A wash of blue overtook Lance’s vision, carrying him dizzyingly to a desert cave. The cave they had found Blue in, to be exact.There was a duo by Blue’s barrier this time, a human man and- a galra? Wait. That galra was Krolia. While Lance once again couldn’t hear them, he knew immediately that the man was Keith’s dad.The two moved out of sight rather quickly, leaving the cave feeling hollow. Once they were gone, Blue moved. She lowered her head and opened her mouth like she always did for her pilots. Out walked the Avicorian from earlier. Dai-Wik. He shivered as he walked out, frost clinging to the edges of his clothes. His brown and blue wings- just like Lance’s- were huddled close to his body, and his bird-like feet wobbled underneath him. A cloud of mist burst from his mouth with each labored exhale.Lance was plunged back into the sea of blue far faster this time. Only now when he blinked his eyes open it was to Blue’s cockpit. He stood up in a flash, unable to be still after what he had witnessed. “Blue?” he called out cautiously.Blue rumbled comfortingly around him, yet no words could be made out of her sounds. He sat back into the chair with a sigh, hissing slightly when he sat on a few of his secondary feathers. His head was pounding. His cheeks felt wet. He was crying?Lance lifted a hand to his face, wiping at the tears there. The rush of emotion sweeping through him wasn’t his own. They weren’t his tears to cry. Blue?Blue was crying. Crying for a paladin long since lost to the empire, to the unending march of history. The weight of her sadness fell upon his shoulders full force, keeping him locked in her chair. Lance could do nothing but sob.It felt like hours had passed when Blue finally ceased her cries, releasing him from his tearful prison. Lance patted the chair as he walked out in an attempt of comfort to the Lion. She purred back.As he made his way back to his room, Lance could only think of more questions. Why had Blue shown him that? Was there more to the story than what he was seeing? Could Dai-Wik be his- A loud laugh echoing from the lounge snapped him from his thoughts. He walked over to investigate, doors sliding open automatically as he neared them.Lance was greeted to the sight of his first terrible Monsters and Mana play. The other paladins were gathered around the center table, howling with laughter at each of Pike’s misfortunes. He walked up to the free seat by Allura, waving to her as he sat down. She smiled at him, warm and welcoming.Across the way, Keith was watching the fight against Dakin with rapt interest. Pidge would point out who rolled and asked what, while Hunk was reminiscing about the reactions of what occurred. Shiro was settled back in his chair, a frown on his face as the third variation of his paladin player ran across the holographic display. There was laughter throughout the entire room.Something small and warm bloomed in his chest. The remnants of Blue’s melancholy subsided somewhat as the happiness of the team washed over him. Onscreen Pike turned into a merman as Dakin vanished into a fiery explosion.Lance had no idea what was waiting back on Earth. He had no idea what might happen with the galra or the empire or… his family. But at least right then, in that precious moment, he didn’t have to worry about any of that.Coran walked through the door, twirling his mustache and laughing along with the rest of them. Lance felt a soft smile creep across his face as the emotions of the room settled into something happy for once. There was no telling what would come next. But he knew that his team, his newfound family, would always have his back. No matter if he was an alien or not.And Lance? Well. He couldn’t ask for anything more.