The Stars Called For Me

Chapter Two - The Beach

Lance stood on the beach, waiting for the three aliens to finish their conversation. He pretended not to notice the glances sent his way, instead focusing on the holoscreen projected by his suit. Nothing was showing up - no location, no information, nothing. Just blank. 

Oh well, Lance thought. Must have a broken UGPS chip. I can get it checked out back at the castle! his brow furrowed slightly as he realized that he wouldn't be able to locate the castle if the chip was broken.

"What's your name?" Lance looked up, eyebrows raised curiously. The small purple girl had stepped forward, hands on her hips.

"I'm Lance. You?"

"I'm Amethyst," she scoffed slightly, as if it were obvious. "The tall one is Pearl, and the cool one is Garnet."

"What exactly are you insinuating?" Pearl stepped forward, glaring at Amethyst. "I am very cool, I'll have you know."

"I never said you weren't cool," Amethyst turned away from Lance to continue her conversation with Pearl. "I said you were tall."

"Break it up, you two," Garnet placed a hand on each of their heads, earning an exasperated growl from Pearl and a snicker from Amethyst. She ignored both of them and looked up at the blue paladin. "Lance, where are you from?"

"Short answer or long answer?" 

"Both."

"Well, short answer: Earth. Long answer: uh, I started out on Earth, but found a Voltron lion a few years ago with some friends of mine. We set out for the other lions and now we're kinda defenders of the universe," Lance looked up to see their reaction. Surprisingly, they only looked slightly skeptical, if anything.

"You're a 'defender of the universe'?" Pearl seemed to look him up and down, one eyebrow raised. Lance crossed his arms defensively and resisted the urge to say "uh, duh". How could they not see by his armor that he wasn't from this world?

"Uh, yes," he huffed, shifting his jaw in anger.

"You said you were from Earth, right?" Amethyst looked up at him expectantly. 

"Yeah..."

"Why'd you come back?"

"What?" Lance's face paled. What did they mean? This wasn't Earth. It couldn't be Earth. If it was Earth...

"Well, if you're a defender of the universe and all, why would you come back to Earth?" Lance bit his lip, ignoring the pain that blossomed in his mouth and began to sting. Oh, God, it was Earth.

"I actually didn't realize this was Earth," Lance admitted, pushing away the anxiousness that seemed to press on his chest. "Now that I think of it, I can't remember where I was supposed to be going..."

"So you're lost?" Pearl looked down at him, utterly unimpressed, if not slightly amused. "Some defender you are."

"Pearl, be nice," Garnet scolded, though she seemed very relaxed about it. Lance wondered if she would compare more to Shiro or Allura. Probably Shiro - they were all leader types, but Garnet and Shiro both seemed to give off an "I-can-kick-your-ass-and-have-fun-while-doing-it" sorta vibe. Allura would sometimes go overboard with her critiques.

"So, I'm sorry for falling into the ocean, I guess. It really wasn't my intent," he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, waiting for a response from the multicolored rock ladies that stood before him.

"Uh, you're forgiven?" Amethyst seemed to hold back a laugh as she spoke. "Dude, you could've died, no need to apologise."

"Well, the beach would've been a mess for weeks," Pearl countered, tapping her chin. Lance swallowed the lump in his throat - she didn't even know him and she already thought of him as a liability. A mess to clean up.

"Pearl," Garnet warned. The pale gem blushed slightly, her cheeks turning light blue. She folded her arms across her chest, trying her best to look angry.

Before Lance or Pearl could say anything, a boy in a red shirt ran up to them, evidently covered in pancake batter and shame.

"Pearl, I may need some help."