Collecting the shards

The pride 2

Preparing.

The trip back earth is a long and tedious one.

But after the fight against Lotor, and the one against Shiro, the long stretch of nearly-mundane tasks and planetary stops was a welcome relief, tiring as the repetition was.

It gave them time to think.

It gave them time to talk.

Keith and Lance sit side to side, for the first time looking their age.

Akira and Leandro sit side to side, facing them.

That's the first thing revealed, the first of many bandages to get ripped over the course of this trip, each harder to swallow than the one before.

Pidge feels as though they're wading through gravel, each revelation putting their perception of the world in stark contrast, making them question things they were so certain of. But as Akira speaks, they see Leandro shifting in front of their very eyes, still unquestionably human, but now there was an offset edge to it.

Then Leandro, please stick with Lance, starts explaining about his godly mother, the blessing she'd given him, and the cons of having ichor tainted blood. Pidge feels as though the world has started spinning again when Lance delves into alternate realities, and the butterfly effect, and how he's been seeing things before they happen only for them to happen differently.

That makes a lot more sense than Akira's tales of pantheons and monsters, of ancient beings hiding in plain sight. But both of them are equally true.

It is imperative they know this, because when their dad called back to give them the responses of their families, Akira got a worrying message from his brother. The guy isn't actually his brother in the common sense, but after Akira explains the details of his relationship with Leo, Pidge also comes to the conclusion that they are basically siblings.

Captain Valdez, as their dad had referred to Leo, explained that the mist that protected mortals from death by over exposition to the truth, had stopped working shortly after the first Galra attack. He continued to explain that most of the response to said attacks was done by demigods all over the planet, and that with people actually knowing who helped them, the military had no option but to count them in.

Pidge likes that information a lot, likes the fact that Garrison officials are now responding to a twenty-something year old who can literally read them like open books; and when Akira admits Leo was the person behind his hoverbike Pidge decides they must meet him immediately. And they will meet, but only when they make it back to Earth, and Akira gets priority on being family and such.

"Ok but how smart is your brother actually? Like outside the myth knowledge"

Matt has been asking these sorts of questions since they've been brought up to speed on the whole 'the gods are real' thing, and any other time Pidge would be the first one to put a stop to it, but they've missed him so much. Akira is an expert at dodging the things he doesn't want to answer though, so he could probably handle Matt a bit longer.

"Taught an entire murder of crows to communicate in Morse code"

Lance decides to jump in.

"Is that how he got his other name?"

Akira turns to him startled; Lance raises his arms in defense.

"You're an honest drunk"

Akira winces.

"Fuck"

But he never answers the question, as they pick up a distress signal, and have to focus on saving a planet from the remains of the Galra Empire, emphasis required.

It always did something to the six of them, seeing Koráki in his natural habitat, treading through the gaps between half-blood and mortal, and leading a group of once-strangers from four entirely different pantheons.

Reyna had told her, before Frank could take over completely for her, and before Piper was allowed into the talks, that seeing Koráki in the meeting room was like being in the presence of a god. And one day that would be true.

Nico and him had decided to wait until they looked a little more like adults before diving into immortality, enjoying their humanity for a little longer. One a ghost king, the other a lord of crows and envoy to the fates; they would surely slip into godhood as easy as breathing.

Piper had only been invited to the meeting room to prepare the other parties mentally for dealing with a child of a love deity holding a position of power. Koráki had asked her if she wanted to do this for the brother she'd yet to meet, assuring her they were kindred spirits despite the Roman/Greek differences.

Piper had been more curious than anything, at first, and then she'd gotten really into the swing of things, and watching enraptured how the other three demis would go quiet the instant Koráki commanded it.

To contrast it, Piper also got to see him at the end of those meetings, when they met with Nico outside. And she watches him melt into his actual age, every angle softened as he walks towards the son of Hades, watches them meet in the middle as though magnetized, only that's not how it works.

Will, who became really close friends with Nico after the war against Gaia, had once tried to explain it to Piper, they weren't polar opposites, but rather similar melodies, harmonizing. He'd admitted to be jealous of it to her, of the way they fell into place like it was only natural.

She felt it too, as she witnessed firsthand how instead of dwindling like she heard happen so many times, their relationship settles. Her own relationship was a bit wobbly right now, as Jason and her had to learn each other outside of Juno's influence, so she found it hard not to feel jealous.

Ever since Voltron became wild-spread, Koráki had been just that tad more driven, and it seemed to catch onto the others, as fighting diminished and actual discussion became more usual. They made leaps of progress in preparing for the grand fight that would surely happen once Voltron arrived, and in building the new base for Galactic communication, Earth would no longer be an unknown planet but part of the Voltron coalition; they had to be ready.