shining like the stars

67

Lance sat in Blue's cockpit, both of his hands resting lightly on the controls. The temple of Anaximenes was the exact same as they had left it, with the exception of the sleek black fighter craft sitting parked on its plaza. He was watching as Illianya landed her own fighter craft, which was the same type; a long narrow body and two swept-back wings. The fighter craft were mostly matte black, but now seeing them closer than before he could recognize that they were well-worn, the bodies of the craft scarred from combat.

"Maybe you should go get Shiro and Keith," Hunk said, and Lance tilted his head, eyes still on the fighter craft as the cockpit release popped and the small, dark form of the Altean vaulted expertly out. She stood on the plaza a moment before taking off her helmet, and tossed it into the open cockpit, before it sealed behind her. Hunk stared at Lance a long moment, then sighed and snapped his fingers in Lance's field of vision. "Earth to Lance," Hunk said. "Earth to Lance. Come in, Lance."

Lance blinked and shook his head, then glared at Hunk. "What, what?"

"Aren't you taken at this point, dude?" Hunk said.

"I'm not-" Lance's cheeks went pink. "That wasn't what I was thinking about, Hunk!"

"Sure you weren't," Hunk said, but his tone was light. He drummed his fingers on the back of Lance's pilot seat. "Let me off, I'll go with her to talk to Allura and Pidge and whoever else is here."

"I should go too," Lance said, and stood up. "We don't know what they're planning, I don't like blindly trusting someone who attacked you in the dark." He didn't get particularly far, as Hunk put his hand on Lance's shoulder and very firmly sat him back down in the pilot's seat.

"You're the only transportation they've got," Hunk said. "Go get them, bring them here. Between Pidge and me, we can protect the Princess."

They exchanged a long look, and Lance sighed and smiled. "All right, fine," he said. "But don't tell her I'm taken, got it?"

"Don't cheat on your boyfriends that you've only been with like a month," Hunk groaned, and shoved Lance's head. Lance stuck his tongue out at Hunk and laughed, as Blue lowered the exit ramp to let Hunk at least have a dignified exit from the lion. As soon as the ramp closed, though, the grin melted off of Lance's face and he sat forward, staring at the viewscreen. Ilianya waited for Hunk; she had turned her back on the Blue Lion so Lance couldn't see her expression. Hunk caught up to her and they both started to cross the plaza toward the temple's entrance.

Lance leaned his head against the back of the pilot's seat, and then exhaled, both hands on the controls. "All right, Blue," he said. "Let's go get Shiro and Keith."

Blue rumbled something that almost seemed like a response, as opposed to the engines firing as she lifted off the temple plaza and raced across the sky.

#

"How did you even escape the Galra?" Pidge was sitting on her knees, directly in front of Matt. She had pushed her glasses up her face, wiping her palms over her eyes because they kept watering. This was insane, she couldn't even believe it was happening right now in front of her. Matt's grin was large and infectious and she was having a hard time keeping focused on the questions that burned in her chest. "Where's dad?"

His grin faltered at that. Matt looked down and Pidge's stomach plummeted. "I had to leave him," Matt admitted. "He was hurt, when the opportunity finally came up to escape ..." he looked back up at Pidge, determination on his face. "But that's why I'm going back, I'm going to find the prison ship again and I'm going to rescue everyone, I made a promise." Pidge nodded her head violently.

"I'll help," she said. "We'll help, we can't let down all those prisoners."

"How did you even know about the Galra, about where I was?" Matt asked suddenly.

"The Garrison's dirty," she said. "They knew, they told everyone you and dad and Shiro were dead and they knew the truth-" Pidge jerked a little when she felt Allura's hand on her shoulder, she looked up at Allura, who was standing, facing the entrance to the temple. She stood up quickly, bayard in hand still, and even Matt glanced back the way he had come.

"Hunk!" Allura said, and Pidge relaxed again, still standing. Beside Hunk was not Lance, though, and Allura's posture changed just slightly. Shoulders back, chin up, and every inch the royal Princess of a fallen bloodline. Pidge wasn't paying as much attention to Allura, instead staring at the woman walking beside Hunk.

She was also an Altean.

"Princess!" Hunk called, and waved his hand. He drew up a moment as Matt stood up beside Pidge, and a clear confusion crossed his features. "Who-?" he started to ask, but before he could request clarification, the Altean woman stepped past him and stood before Allura.

There was a long moment of silence as the two women measure each other up. Then, without fanfare, the golden-haired Altean dropped to one knee, one arm held across her chest as she bowed her head. "Daughter of the line of Alfor," she said. "Breath of the Lions. I am Illianya, candidate for paladin, and I serve at your behest."

"Illya," Matt said, and she did not lift her head.

"Forgive the human," Ilianya said, with her head still bowed. Then she frowned, and turned her head slightly, so she could see Matt out of the corner of her eye. Then she lifted her head and stared at Pidge, then at Matt.

"Uh," Matt said, and held his hand over Pidge's head. "This is my sister, Illya. Katie."

"Pidge," Pidge corrected. She looked over at Matt and frowned too. "Wait, there are other Alteans? And you know them?"

Hunk raised his hand. "Um," he said. "Pidge, is that your brother?"

Ilianya spoke at the same time. "Why is your sister a paladin?"

"Wait, you're a paladin? Of Voltron?"

As everyone's voices rose and overlapped each other, Allura took a deep breath. "Would you all kindly be quiet?" she ordered, and somehow without raising her voice her projection completely overrode the others. There was a long silence as they all stared at her, and Allura leaned forward and put her hand on Illianya's shoulder. "Please," she said. "Rise." She looked over at Pidge and Matt, and then to Hunk. "We all have a lot of questions for each other," she said. "I think it would be best to wait for the others, before we continue."

Pidge nodded her head, and glanced to Hunk. "Are you really letting Lance go pick up his boyfriends?" she asked, and Hunk shrugged.

Ilianya stepped over to Matt, and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'll comm Rian," she said. "And tell him to stand down."

"Oh," Matt said. "That's probably a good idea. You should hurry."

#

"Well," Lance said as he landed the Blue Lion in the midst of aliens actually fleeing the Fire Temple. "This looks promising." He watched as one of the skiffs took off so quickly it knocked a six-legged green alien and one that resembled a giant bipedal sloth both off their feet, then shook his head. "Only Keith," he said.

He was halfway down the exit ramp when he spotted Shiro leaving the temple. "Shiro!" he called, and waved his hand over his head. "You won't even believe what is going on...."

Lance's voice trailed off in disbelief, as Shiro was carrying a Galra cradled in his arms.