(From Ashes) Chapter 40

Pride: From Ashes
            Chapter 40
            Lay to Rest

The silence was so loud it seemed to echo. For a very long time that couldn't have been more than ten seconds, nobody dared break it. There was too much to process…

At least nobody needed to ask if it was over this time.

"Stormsoul, it is done," Black purred gently. His pilot—and not only his, for that matter—was shivering a little in his seat as he tried to fully grasp everything they'd just been through. "We can return to our dens."

Keith startled a little, then let out a long breath. The lion's advice might be good. To get their feet back on the ground and have a little room to breathe would—

"That just fucking happened!"

"That totally just happened."

He jumped again as the others' voices broke through. "Yeah," he agreed a little shakily. "Yeah it did." Allura reached up and gave his shoulder a squeeze, not without a little jolt of static. But that helped, too; he turned and gave her a grateful nod before starting to flip the formation switches. "We can… head back now."

"Do we uh, do we want to?" Hunk asked, then winced as he triggered his own switches. "Ow."

"Do we want to ow? Not really." Lance moved on autopilot. He was still committing the last image of the ghosts to memory. Of Flynn, his Flynn, not that monstrosity.

"No, the ows should be over," Daniel agreed.

Sven gave a vague grunt of agreement over the comms. Breaking formation sounded good to him. Not breaking formation also sounded good to him. Really, with the amount of sheer relief he was experiencing, he was feeling extremely agreeable.

As the lions detached, Pidge hesitated. "It's a fair question, kir sa tye?" It felt weird to just go back. They'd left too much on the field…

"Alright, what do we do then?" Lance wasn't feeling disagreeable as he landed Red nearby. More like still stunned.

How exactly did you respond to supercharging your magical elemental robot's mental bonds and rescuing the enslaved ghosts of your dead friends? It was a question!

And if he'd had an answer, Pidge wouldn't have asked it; he shrugged vaguely in the direction of the comms. Larmina helpfully chimed in. "He doesn't have any ideas."

Nor did Hunk, truthfully, even though he'd asked first. He shook his head as he brought Yellow to a very careful landing. It just felt weird…

"You are only trying to put off facing the doctor. And perhaps the governess."

…Rude. They can wait. The Earth is patient!

"That is not how it works."

Rolling his eyes, Hunk glanced back to check on Vince, who was just barely snapping out of his own daze. He was shaking and sweating and confused beyond belief, and a little space would be nice. Not to figure things out, they were way beyond that, but to at least settle his brain down so he could begin to process the last few hours.

Keith was thinking the same thing. He understood why they were asking; they weren't wrong. It was strange. He didn't really want to be away from the team, but he also needed some space to decompress from all that…

Well…

All of that.

It kind of defied description.

"I think we should take a few," he clarified. "Then we can regroup afterwards."

That went over better. "I could use a few."

"A few wouldn't hurt."

"Taking a few is a brilliant idea, Commander."

Vince did not think a few was going to be sufficient. Maybe a few months. But it would be a start, so he nodded and sank down in his seat as Hunk got them moving.

"Guess I gotta go see the Doc then?" Sigh. "Fine, but after that we're havin' a party."

"…A party?" his copilot repeated. That was definitely not happening.

Allura had been pondering a nice glass of tea and a little bit of breathing room, hopefully without needing to reassure anyone that she really hadn't been that close to death out there. That wasn't a promise she was sure she could make, for one thing… but Hunk's comment was intriguing. Something told her Earthlings, or at least these Earthlings, had a very different understanding of such things than Arusian royalty. "Sounds good, possibly?"

"Not now it doesn't," Keith muttered only to her. "Believe me." Besides, he was pretty sure they still lacked one of the key resources for that. Did Arus even have heavy metal?

He kind of doubted it.

Still wiping away a couple last traces of tears, Romelle tried to focus on the new conversation. "Why do I feel like any party he's in charge of would be… interesting?" Ah, there was that well-honed royal tact.

"Because everything Hunk does is interesting."

"I'm so here for a party."

"I wanna go to a Hunk party."

"I do not—" Sven paused, reconsidering. "Actually, I'll go for an hour."

Romelle arched an eyebrow. "An hour? Why?"

"Because I don't actually want to go," he'd been dragged to enough parties already in his life, "but I have some morbid curiosity on what a Hunk party actually looks like. And an hour is plenty of time to grab a plate of whatever food he's serving."

A few of the others snorted, and even Hunk laughed. "Priorities bro, I respect it."

"I don't think the doctor will approve of any of this," Pidge muttered. He didn't want to go to a party either.

"I know. He's gotta get used to it."

"All right!" Keith shook his head. "We still have a few logistical constraints, in case you've all forgotten, and we don't need to celebrate by making poor Dr. Gorma's life miserable. Once Hunk is fully recovered we can see about a party." But they did need something. An outlet, maybe. "Let's all take a bit to settle, then meet back in the garden."

"The garden!" Lance was about to protest, but to his surprise the argument didn't come. It hurt less to think about…

"I like the garden," Vince agreed.

"Serviceable plan." That was the most Pidge was prepared to endorse anything right now. Though he didn't object when Larmina made a point of smacking his shoulder hard enough for the comms to pick it up.

"…Okay, but I am gonna grill somethin' again sooner than that," Hunk announced. "And that's a threat!"

As the lions dispersed to their dens, the team was laughing. And that was probably the best they could've hoped for.

*****

One of the first and most important lessons Haggar's acolytes learned was never to enter her inner sanctum uninvited. Circumstances didn't matter—whatever chaos and screams and horrid energies might emanate from there, it was none of their business unless called upon. Necromancy was neither clean nor gentle. Any acolyte who couldn't maintain their discipline in its presence was serving under the wrong witch.

Every so often, this rule did result in Haggar waking alone amidst the embers of some failed experiment. But it had never been quite like this.

Somehow, the Voltron machine had broken the phylactery.

It was only quick wits and quicker reflexes that had saved her from far greater injury. A jaivur attempting to rebel wasn't a new thing at all; indeed, they were designed with that in mind. Doing so successfully? No. The Forbidden One's power had been countered somehow, and in a way that had transcended mere physical connection.

How?

The phylactery was nothing but dust now, glittering on the floor of the sanctum. No trace of the jaivur's energy remained. What did remain were a few faint crackles of silver, and they made Haggar's skin crawl as she looked over the mess. Not out of fear, or even confusion, precisely. No… it was disgust. The power of the Voltron machine was heresy. She didn't want it in her sanctum, couldn't tolerate it here.

Nor could she afford to pass up the opportunity to study it, of course. But not here. Something else would need to be done.

King Zarkon would be waiting for a report, and would need to hear of this failure sooner rather than later. But she didn't even know precisely how it had failed. There was too much to be done. Cleaning up these vestiges of blasphemy, sealing them for further investigation. Meditating to see the moment of shattering, to study the scene that had led to this point. Communing with the Forbidden One, and perhaps the Dark Mother herself, if the findings were worrying enough.

If it came to that, the Voltron machine might well come to regret its insolence. One way or another, the Goddess of Death did not tend to lose in the long term…

"This may be a much longer war than expected," she murmured, and called for her acolytes.

*****

Finding a place to just relax was harder than it sounded. Sven hadn't wanted to just stay in the den. It was peaceful there, yes. Almost too much so. The gentle lapping of the waves was just inconsistent enough to get on his nerves. That wasn't normal, of course; his nerves were wound a little tight right now.

He'd ended up going out to where the river met the lake. The pounding of the waterfall was more constant, more calming. Strange how that worked. Sitting just on the edges of the spray, he could just let the noise wash over him, and focus on how wonderful it was to know their friends were finally saved. It was over.

Now if all the tension built up in his body would just catch up with the relief in his mind, and chill out.

He wasn't necessarily invested in being alone, even if he'd agreed that time to themselves sounded like a brilliant idea. It felt like he was just slightly more aware of Blue Lion's presence, for one thing. Something had changed out there. Something about this fascinating, confounding robot they'd barely even begun to understand. Worrying about the implications could wait, but he was conscious of it. Like initially bonding, but more.

At least so far, it wasn't objectionable…

Much as she was pretty sure she was meant to be relaxing right now, Romelle found herself with a to-do list. It wasn't a long one, just a couple of things she felt she needed to… put to rest, perhaps. And it was instinct more than any direct guidance from Blue that guided her to the waterfall.

"Sven?"

Her presence didn't surprise him; it was that connection thing again, he supposed. What did surprise him a little was when he turned and saw her holding Jace's jacket in her arms. "Romelle? Are you okay?"

"I'm alright." She smiled, but there was some nervousness behind it. "I've just been thinking that I should finally give this back to you."

She held it out, but he didn't take it. Huh. He really hadn't given the jacket much thought lately; he'd finally gotten used to her wearing it. It was actually interesting that he hadn't thought about it, considering the whole jaivur thing had very much involved the person who'd owned that jacket.

He didn't really think that was why she was offering it back, though. Not precisely. And yet…

"Better you keep it. I'm not going to wear it." That would've felt kind of weird even before; now it would feel really weird. Besides, he kind of liked the idea of his new partner keeping that little bit of his old partner around. Like Jace had her back.

Which they'd kind of just confirmed, he was pretty sure.

The long silence had worried her a little; the eventual answer took her by surprise. "Are…" She looked at the jacket, then back to him. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." He smiled. "I think it's fitting."

Romelle considered that, then a smile took hold on her own face. I understand. It had always meant something different to each of them. For him the jacket was a memory, for her it had been more like a shield. A bit of protection given to her by a near-stranger when she'd been at her most vulnerable, and a bit of welcome security to hold onto as they'd ventured through all the madness here on Arus. Being bonded to a lion, to the team, to Voltron… her mind had told her she no longer needed that shield, that she should give it back to its rightful owner.

But being part of the team meant more than that. Things changed. Had it become a part of her as she'd become a part of them? Perhaps.

Did she really want to give it up? Perhaps not…

"All right." Returning the smile, she pulled the jacket back on, and she couldn't deny it still felt correct.

Blue purred.

…Actually, now that she thought about it, the correctness was interesting in more ways than one. Hesitating for a moment, Romelle looked Sven over, gauging the situation. It didn't feel like he thought she was intruding?

Which he certainly didn't. He had come here for peace, not isolation. "What else is on your mind?"

"Just realizing…" She looked down at herself. Not just the jacket, but the scavenged jumpsuit from the Falcon… "I never really had 'normal' clothes until I met you all. It's a strange thing." She gave a soft laugh. "The least of all the strange things that have happened since we met, I suppose that's why I'm just now thinking about it. But even so."

The navigator side-eyed her slightly. Whether the clothes they'd stolen from literal art thief aliens were normal, he couldn't say. An infantry medic jacket? "I don't know that I'd call that 'normal' either," he chuckled. "But I know what you mean. It's no poofy royal dress."

Romelle chuckled softly too. "Pollux doesn't do poofy, really. One of the parts of 'Arusian decadence' we got rid of." Though having seen Arus' current state, she vaguely wondered how many of those banished bits of decadence had been intentional… and how many had just been the result of fleeing to a planet with fewer resources. It turned out even Arus could put a few brakes on the Arusian decadence when they had to.

"Well," Sven shrugged, "dresses of poof or no, my point still stands."

She giggled. "So what would qualify as 'normal' clothing, in your mind?"

Ask him an easy one, why didn't she? Though he supposed it was his own fault. "I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask that, honestly. I only had one official lesson." And the occasional unofficial lesson, which, in retrospect, had not clarified things.

But the thought of it did make him smile…

He wondered if Arus had khakis.

"Oh." Romelle considered that. "Perhaps that's something else we can learn about together?"

That sounded like far more effort than the subject deserved. "I think we should wear whatever the hell we want and call that normal."

Somehow, that hadn't even occurred to Romelle as an option. She did have a lot more left to learn about being, well, whatever exactly she was now. Not a princess, but not normal either.

She was looking forward to all of it. "I think we can do that."

*****

Daniel was sitting under his tree—yes, his tree, Green Lion who? Wasn't in her forest, and she probably hadn't lost a fight with it. It was officially his now! Not that he was intending to pick another fight with it, at least not today. He had a bottle and two glasses and was sipping from one of them as deeply as he dared, which wasn't very.

Getting the whole cultural concept of vodka across to Larmina had taken a little doing. Eventually, she'd gotten enough of the idea to produce something distilled from cave tubers that was usually a cleaning agent; the militia had been known to drink it on a dare.

Good enough!

That was the scene Keith wandered up on; even though he'd been the one to suggest they all take a few, he hadn't had any idea what to do with himself. He'd ended up just walking aimlessly around the castle grounds. Pacing, except he had enough room not to have to go back and forth. Which had brought him to whatever this was.

"Hi, Daniel." It was the safest thing to say, he decided.

Not even the presence of an authority figure could bother Daniel right now. "'Sup, Keith."

"Everything alright?"

"Everything's good. Me and Cam are drinking some Arusian vodka." He motioned to the bottle which Keith had definitely already noticed. "Well, I am anyway, 'cause he's… you know. And I'm not sure this is actually the Arusian version of vodka, but it certainly tastes vodka-adjacent. Either way, it's the thought that counts, or something like that." Throwing caution out the window he downed his glass, and leaned over to pour another as his throat caught on actual fire.

He still wondered if he could breathe fire, but this didn't seem like the time to test it out.

Keith stared. He wasn't sure what floored him more, Daniel's actual explanation or just the fact that he'd explained anything. "Yeah." But he couldn't help a small grin, because it felt somehow fitting. "That's what they say."

A thought occurred to Daniel then. A thought that might not be a good idea, but whatever, he refused to overthink right now. He grabbed Cam's glass and held it up. "Want his share? He's not here to actually drink it, and you know he'd be horrified if we wasted good clear alcohol in his name."

And now Keith was really floored. But… he thought back to what had happened with Voltron. That realization. How many more times before now should he have let himself just join in his team's… well, them-ness? And it did feel oddly like an appropriate salute to Cam.

Nodding, he accepted the glass. "Do we… make a toast?"

"Toast is back in my room. I don't trust the salalizards around alcohol." Daniel was happily surprised that Keith was actually going to join in on this. "And I said everything I needed to say at the funeral, but if you wanna say something go for it."

Keith considered that, looking at the liquid in the glass. He couldn't even remember what he'd said at the funeral. A struggle for words. They'd needed it, the closest to a farewell they'd had any reason to think they would get. But now?

"To finally being at rest," he said quietly.

Daniel lifted his glass in agreement, taking another small sip. The goal was to get plastered slowly, how else was he supposed to enjoy it? "He'd love this."

Sipping his own drink, Keith struggled not to cough. He had not expected that much kick. "Wow, that's strong… he would love it, wouldn't he? Wonder if this is more potent than that Drule vodka he tried."

Smirk. "I don't even think it was that potent, I think he was just a lightweight."

"Possibly." Keith chuckled. But he felt awkward just standing there with the glass, so he waved to the ground next to Daniel. "Mind if I…?"

"Sure." Daniel scooted over, offering him half of the tree. Because it was his tree, but he could share. And it was actually nice, he decided, as Keith sat and sipped from his glass. No insults, no bickering, no orders, no overbearing sense of authority. Just him and Keith leaning back against a tree he'd busted up both of his hands punching in worse times—

"So you don't have to answer if you don't want, but…" Keith wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or just the relaxed mood that emboldened him to ask, but either way it felt like the right opportunity. "The curiosity has been gnawing at me since the game. Roommate number one?"

—Never mind that! Daniel laughed, but then, why not? He didn't feel like overthinking this one either, and it was probably only fair. "Griffin. James Griffin." The name always tasted a little bitter, but today he opted simply to not let it. Maybe the vodka helped. Maybe it was something else. "You know, he's actually the only roommate I had whose name I bothered to remember."

Given how quickly he'd apparently gone through them, Keith could see that. "Being memorable is something, right?"

"Heh. Yeah." Then the words just started to pour out. "He was one of the top ten ranked cadets of our year, and he stayed in the Academy for advanced officer training. He was kinda like Cam, minus the obsession with you part. Big career dreams, really bought into the Alliance koolaid." A smile had started to creep across his lips, but now it faded. "Also like Cam it could make him kind of a dick, and unlike Cam he didn't care." Frown. "…He was also really hot."

Part of him couldn't believe he was telling Keith this, of all people. But part of him felt like it kind of seemed right. So he shrugged and raised his glass a little, a salute to the weirdness of the situation.

Keith also couldn't quite believe Daniel had told him all of that, and tried to cover the surprise with a gulp of his drink. Which was the exact wrong way to drink this stuff, and this time he really did cough. The kid looked amused by it. Blushing, he lowered the glass and nodded quietly. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry he didn't care."

"Yeah, me too." Daniel sipped his own drink. "I don't think I've ever actually talked to anyone about him, at least not since we broke up." Since he broke up with you. No, he was still refusing to be bitter right now. Right now was about celebration and alcohol.

"Stuff like that is always hard." Keith was not speaking from any particular experience there, but he had gone through the Academy. Things happened, stories got around. "Sounds like you're… better off without him?"

Daniel eyed him, then laughed again. "I don't think I'm ever going to come to you for dating advice. But I appreciate the thought." Which, maybe to his own surprise, he really did.

Keith laughed too; he couldn't help it. "Yeah, I wouldn't ask me either."

Raising his glass again, Daniel took another sip, and they lapsed into comfortable silence.

*****

Getting back to the infirmary had been much less painful than getting out of it had been, and Hunk had his suspicions about who or what was responsible. Yellow hadn't really denied his accusations, either. Well, maybe he had. It had been lion-speak.

"Even if I had all of my memories, I do not think I could tell you everything the Defender and the Bonds are capable of, Earthwarder. But such energies do have their unexpected side effects."

Lady Hys had apparently been called away to do something else while they'd been fighting, so Dr. Gorma couldn't even lecture him when he made his return. Or at least he couldn't do it in a language Hunk could understand. He'd dutifully started to examine the wound nonetheless, and several times made disapproving-Arusian-noises that did not require a translation.

"That bad, huh?" The doctor couldn't understand him either, but he'd used that phrase enough that it might get across.

"Tse'capho," the doctor answered without hesitation.

That'll do? Something was getting lost in translation there, that was for sure. Good enough, maybe? Actually, 'good enough' would make a lot of sense for what he had going on here. It was definitely a better sign than Arusian profanity, right?

Right!

For reasons that didn't even have to do with the jaivur debacle, Hunk was once again really missing Jace.

Of course, it was pretty hard to miss Jace right now without his mind returning to the jaivur debacle, as if he wouldn't have been dwelling on it anyway. And what had happened with Voltron, which… well, the two weren't really easy to separate. Just as the 686 and those they'd lost were, and would always be, part of the Voltron Force by nature.

The bonds. They hadn't just freed them, they'd felt their presence one more time. Hunk was at peace with that. He'd promised them he would mourn when he had the chance. Hell, he'd thought he kept that promise when he'd pushed for the funeral. Now?

It's for sure called 'closure' when you face down a monster literally made out of your past trauma and stab it in the guts until it gives your friends back, right?

He was kind of surprised when Yellow didn't have anything to say about that. The lion felt close, even closer than usual. But then, maybe he knew Hunk didn't really need an answer.

Gorma poked a particularly tender spot, and he winced. "Dude! Is that helpin' or are you just reminding me I shouldn't have left?"

Whatever the doctor said in response, he couldn't understand it and chose to believe it wasn't too insulting. Wasn't like he'd really had a choice in the matter of leaving, and surely word had gotten to the infirmary at some point about the new robeast on the loose. Otherwise he might be chained to a bed by now.

Something else was bothering Hunk, though. And the more he just sat here with his own thoughts, the more it was getting to him. Since coming back, he kept seeing flickers in the infirmary. Glimpses of light, crackles of energy, even a hint or two of humanoid forms that couldn't possibly be there.

Now he knew exactly what Vince had been feeling, well, this entire time. And he wanted it even less.

Yellow, we gotta talk about this ghost thing.

"Ah. Yes, I thought we might. I am surprised it's taken this long."

I didn't think you'd be real receptive.

"When has that ever stopped you?"

Hunk glared in his brain, then let up on it. Harsh. But fair.

The lion chuckled. "Truthfully, Earthwarder, until the bonds were complete I could not have fulfilled the request you are thinking of. We have lacked both power and precision."

Now that he mentioned it, Hunk was pretty sure his eyes hadn't glowed once since leaving the cockpit last. That had toned down a lot as more people bonded, but never gone all the way away. Which… was exactly what the lions had told them, wasn't it?

Kind of weird for them to have been completely open and correct about something after all.

"How rude."

Grin. Harsh, but fair?

"I'll accept it." Yellow chuckled, then became serious again. "I can keep my vision from you, Earthwarder. You will no longer see the lingering spirits, if that will ease your mind, and you would not be the first of my cubs to ask it. But you must understand, it is neither easily done nor undone. There are things I can teach you about managing the ability, if you would prefer."

He felt like he should give that more thought than he really did. On the other hand, he'd been giving it enough thought already. Just in bits and pieces, brief moments. And it had finally all come together when he saw the only ghosts he'd wanted to see… and realized he'd been waiting for them all along.

As much as it had meant to see them again, that had kind of been a special case.

No. Look, I get what you're sayin', but if I'm supposed to be… faith or the foundation or whatever? I need to be able to focus on what's still here. You get that, yeah?

"Yes." The lion growled quietly. "There is wisdom in that decision as well."

Wisdom? Thought that was Vince's gig.

Yellow chuckled again. "Ah, I wondered when you would bring that up. Stonespark's being the Paladin of Wisdom hardly means you lack the trait, my cub. Quite the opposite; you are still my bonded. Wisdom very much lies within you." He could feel the lion smirking. "I am sorry if you find that disappointing."

Hunk actually laughed at that, then quickly forced it down as Gorma gave him a reproachful look. "Uh, sorry."

The doctor rolled his eyes, which didn't require translation either. Then, to Hunk's surprise, he stepped back and fetched a piece of paper—or at least, one of the pressed leaves the Arusians used as a substitute—and handed it to him.

It wasn't Lady Hys' delicate script; Hunk assumed they'd grabbed either Coran or Sarial to do a favor. The message clarified it quickly.

Doctor Gorma is sure this is against his better judgment, but you're cleared to leave the infirmary, since he's also sure you'll do it anyway. Take it easy on your side, come back if it starts to hurt any worse, and if he finds out you've been exacerbating the injury he will send me after you.

I didn't agree to that, but it's what he told me to write. Please just try not to hurt yourself.

—Sarial

Laughing would get him in more trouble. Laughing would definitely get him in more trouble. So, with a heroic effort, Hunk limited himself to a huge grin. "Thanks, Doc! I'll be careful, I promise."

Maybe, just maybe, he'd even be able to keep that promise this time.

*****

Lance couldn't have explained exactly what instinct had taken him out to the meadow. His feet had just carried him there. But he began to notice things as he walked further from the castle. Hints of ash in the grass… the path the jaivur had taken after it attacked him, when Daniel drove it off.

Was he walking this path for catharsis, then? He did feel less angry. Satisfied that it was over, that they'd been saved. He wasn't sure he'd have said he was feeling better, what did that word even mean in this context? To be thrilled they'd stopped that monster didn't make him seethe for justice any less, but…

A glint beneath some ashes caught his eye. And suddenly he understood why he was really here, what he'd been searching for and hoping for without even realizing.

Flynn's gun was laying in the grass.

Bending over and picking it up, Lance just held the weapon for a minute, feeling the weight and the coolness of the metal as memories washed over him. Good memories, even. Not…

"Desert Eagle."

"FUCK!" Somehow he kept a solid hold on the gun, despite jumping a couple of feet in the air after being ninja'd at. "Pidge!"

"Sorry." Pidge supposed he was actually sorry. He didn't even think he'd been all that quiet, but Lance had been a little preoccupied.

A lot preoccupied, in fact. As he gave his fellow pilot a mildly skeptical look, Lance was only now noticing what he'd actually said. "Yeah…" That might've been a response to the apology. This being Pidge, he would probably be satisfied with it as such. But his attention quickly went back to the gun. "He loved this thing… maybe that's how it made its way here."

"Probably." Pidge hadn't thought a great deal about the weapon until now, and it raised a lot of questions, actually. About jaivurs, sure. But also about the Bolt, and what exactly the Drules were making of their team… "Feels like him being able to bring that with him means a few things, kir sa tye? But probably nothing we can use right now."

Practicality was not on Lance's mind at all. He brought it with him. There had been enough of him in there for that. "It's sentimental now, you know? I got to fire it once."

Aha, it was that sort of discussion. Shrugging, Pidge nodded his understanding. "He liked the name. Wasn't him that came up with it, though "

"The name, yeah." Lance smirked. "I mean, Desert Eagle is awesome."

"It is a good name." Pidge noticed his hand was on his knife again, though for once he was pretty sure it wasn't a defensive reaction. Just a memory of his own, from a discussion that felt like forever ago. "Isn't it an impractical weapon though? Even by firearm standards?"

"It threw me on my ass," Lance agreed, laughing. "He couldn't believe I hit the target, you should've seen his face."

That… sounded a lot like Lance, Pidge decided. And a lot like Flynn. "I couldn't even hit a target with a standard issue, consider me sufficiently impressed."

He couldn't? Lance was actually surprised enough by that to pause a moment, looking the ninja up and down. "Bet you could hit with that knife."

"Throwing it doesn't work that well." Shrug. "Though I've had the occasion." Some more memorable than others, to be sure…

Nodding, Lance wondered if he should ask about that. When Pidge's eyes went to the gun again, he decided probably not. "This needs a good cleaning." It had never been quite pristine, that he'd known of—it was an old and well-used weapon. But dirt and ash had dulled the metal quite a bit more than usual. "Think he'd want me to keep it?"

The ninja looked confused. "Obviously?" What else had they been discussing?

Laughing at himself a little sheepishly, the pilot nodded. "I mean, I hope it's obvious." Of course Flynn would want someone who'd properly appreciate his baby to have it…

"It is."

They were both quiet for a minute, but Lance realized he didn't want to stop talking. And that was new, not wanting to veer off this subject as quickly as possible. Was that healing? It had to be. "So when did he tell you he liked the name?"

"Terina. We had a discussion about weapons." Pidge couldn't help a small, chagrined laugh of his own. "Mostly in the context of me drawing mine too often."

Snort. "Yeah?" That did sound like a conversation they would've needed to have. "Well, he did like any excuse to show his off."

Maybe, though the discussion hadn't really been that. At the time Pidge had thought he understood what was going on. And he hadn't been wrong, but maybe he hadn't appreciated it enough. In the moment it had just been another new superior officer trying to make him behave correctly. But… just different enough to mean something.

"More like he traded it to me to see what I'd do." He didn't know anything, but he could tell I wouldn't go unarmed.

"Huh." Thinking about all the times he and Flynn had commiserated about their respective kids, Lance abruptly realized how little about Pidge he actually knew. He'd never given away what he knew of Daniel's secrets, of course, sticking to behavior and broad strokes. Flynn had protected the ninja just as carefully, hadn't he? "What did you do?"

"Asked about its name," he scoffed. "What else was I going to do? I reiterate I can't do anything with guns, they're not my area of expertise."

Well, it had been worth a try. Lance looked at the gun again himself. "Not surprised he didn't give it a name." That wasn't especially common, as far as he knew, and it already had a perfectly good name. But then, he remembered Pidge asking about Voltron's sword, too. Was it a Baltan thing? He couldn't help but be curious. "So does the knife have a name?"

Blinking, Pidge looked between Lance and their respective weapons. And then, again a little bit despite himself, he grinned. "Kiretya. It means…" He paused, thinking it through for a moment. "It's the opposite of varetya, it doesn't translate very cleanly. Not defective… 'as designed', more or less."

It took a little effort not to frown too deeply at the word varetya. Lance had just learned it and it already felt gross. And really, he just had a pretty poor opinion of Baltans who weren't Pidge in general right now, which surely wasn't fair… he fought those thoughts down, trying to decide what to say. "As designed, huh? So it's basically named Stabby."

Pidge snorted. "Functional. Yes."

Serviceable, even? He decided not to press his luck, and grinned instead. "I like it. It fits you."

That seemed to hit him hard for a moment, then he drew the knife and laid it across his hands. He'd seen Lance's expression. "It's called a taisseli," he explained quietly. "Shard knife." He'd told Flynn that, too, but hadn't been ready to tell much more. Now… "The name comes from the source material—the instructor breaks a chunk of obsidian, and the students pick out the pieces they want. If there's a conflict you spar for them. Your class is connected, but the best weapon should still go to the best warrior." There was a little bitterness in his tone. "The pieces I took weren't great, but they challenged me for all of them because that's what those idiots did. So I won all the challenges and named it out of spite." Shrug. "I liked it."

Now the name really seemed to fit him. "That's fucked up." He took in the shape of the blade; with the sunlight at just the right angles, he could see what might have been the seams where different shards connected. Or maybe he was imagining it. "But you know, it's pretty fucking badass, too."

Pidge hesitated a moment at that. Really? It was strange. For so much of his time in the Alliance he'd seen humans as universally sheltered, soft. But he'd never thought of himself as… badass. Just Baltan, like it or not.

Was he?

Then again, weren't they all?

He grinned again, sheathing the knife. There was still so much he needed to get used to, and to learn. But it felt like it was getting easier.

While Pidge was clearly working through a thing or two, Lance's eyes had gone back to the gun. Also working through a thing or two, truthfully. Flynn's gun… something solid and heavy and real that had belonged to him, that he'd loved. A part of him that Lance could hold onto now… he swallowed, feeling emotions trying to bubble up that he didn't think this was the place or time for. "We should probably start heading back, huh?"

"Yeah, we should." Pidge noted how Lance was handling the Desert Eagle, with something close to reverence, and couldn't help feeling it was correct somehow. To the extent anything since Korrinoth could be described as 'correct'.

We keep on living…

Green Lion purred. And he supposed, for once, he couldn't even be annoyed about it.

*****

Scrounging up some alcohol for Daniel had told Larmina two things. First, offworlders were weird; she'd known that, but she enjoyed the reassurance. Second, despite what she might have initially thought, she did not want any alcohol. Just the smell of the ropi'a had sent her stomach doing backflips.

That was kind of what the stuff was for, to be fair. She wondered if Earthling vodka was really that bad.

In any case, alcohol sounded awful and vehka sounded like a bad idea, so she was camped out in the staff dining room sipping a glass of water and pretending it was something more useful. Her head was still spinning from all the… well, all the things.

She wasn't alone in the hall, in any case. Allura had braved the vehka; not what she'd usually have done to try to unwind, but her mind was going to be racing regardless. Might as well be as alert as possible, to try to make sense of the magic she'd worked. More than that, the magic they'd worked together.

They'd seen what Voltron could truly be, and it was everything the legends said and more.

Word must have gone around, because every soldier who passed through for a little sustenance between patrols or training offered some gesture of congratulations. Mercifully, nobody had actually stopped to chat. Larmina wasn't confident she would've remembered how a normal conversation worked, and her aunt may or may not have even registered any attempt.

"I knew the lions were… but these levels? It's…" Allura gestured vaguely to fill in the gaps, which actually worked pretty well since they both knew exactly what she was talking about.

"No kidding." I don't remember being warned that this 'bonding' thing meant I was gonna have to feel my own feelings. Then she frowned. Worse, that I was gonna have to feel other people's feelings!

"Are we pretending you weren't perfectly aware of that without a warning?" Green asked innocently, and Larmina nearly spit her water out.

"And I don't know about yours but my lion's being smug about it!"

Allura couldn't help a little grin at that. And it turned into a bigger grin as someone new arrived to the dining hall, looking slightly less lost than might have been expected.

Only slightly, though. "Hello, Romelle!"

"Hello, Allura." Romelle smiled as she approached the two of them. "Larmina." The younger royal just raised her cup in acknowledgment.

"How are you doing after that battle?" It was the obvious question, the only question—only the first question of about a million.

"I think I'm alright." Being at the waterfall with Sven had helped a great deal. She might still be there, but her to-do list had been a list because there was more than one thing that needed done. "Mentally still…" She shrugged helplessly. "It was a lot, for sure."

Allura nodded, and Larmina drained her water. "It was a lot of a lot. Feels like we could go storm Korrinoth right now." Pause. "After a nap." Another, longer pause, this one with a hint of affectionate lion snickering in the back of her mind. "I know we shouldn't actually do that, it just feels like we could."

Yeah, she really wasn't one bit wound down yet.

Romelle chuckled, pouring herself some water as well. "It does feel like emotions and… adrenaline are still running pretty high." And she, of all people, understood the desire to take the fight to Korrinoth as close to immediately as possible.

She also understood exactly why it would be a bad idea. She'd seen the true might of the Ninth Kingdom, and the war was only beginning. But this was not the time to dwell on that.

Similar thoughts were running through Allura's head. There was so much more to do, but time to rest from what they'd already accomplished was also crucial. "I would agree with the nap, at least. Would make planning anything else that much easier."

"They do say sleep is important." Romelle could not remember the last time she'd had a decent night's sleep, but naps were nice.

Larmina had become very accomplished at napping since the invasion, and didn't feel like they made her any better at planning things. Very little had gone according to her plans lately. "Sounds like another legend to me. But legends do have a good track record around here!"

"So it seems." Romelle giggled, but it faded quickly. Around here… she could keep putting off why she'd sought them out, but it seemed unwise. So she looked to Allura, biting her lip. "So, um. Princess…"

Allura tilted her head. "Yes?"

"Do you recall the conversation we had… not too long after the lions began to awaken?"

In fact, Allura remembered every conversation she'd had with Romelle. Given the circumstances of themselves and their planets, it was hard not to. Narrowing down exactly which one she meant was less simple, but something told her the other princess would elaborate. "I believe so, yes."

That was a hedge, but Romelle could understand why. She had to say the words aloud, no matter how difficult… she inhaled and thought of peace. "About home."

Aha. That conversation. Allura smiled softly. "Yes."

"Well, since I've bonded to a lion and all…" And not just any lion. The lion that had apparently been native to Arus, whatever exactly that meant. Right now, what it meant to Romelle was that she'd made a commitment she might once have thought impossible—and she was prepared to see it through, wherever it might lead. "I suppose I might be asking if your offer is still on the table."

"It never left," Allura assured her, smile widening. She remembered it well.

You can choose, when you are sure.

Larmina had very little idea what was going on here, but this being Romelle, she could guess. So she sipped her water and tried to avoid having any further feelings today. Fat chance, but she'd fake it…

Feeling a little more confident, Romelle nodded. "I don't know what's happening on Pollux, but… I'm here. I chose to fight for this world. So…"

"You are welcome here for as long as you wish," Allura assured her.

She grinned a little sheepishly. "I'm glad, because the lions haven't said anything about an expiration date."

"Heard they used to have a pretty long commute," Larmina commented; it was more than clear exactly what was going on by now. "Don't think we'll be seeing that again any time soon, though."

No, probably not. They knew so little about the past, but at least the immediate future of Voltron was here. Giving Larmina a quick grin, Allura turned back to Romelle. "As far as I'm concerned, you are my cousin, no matter how far you've traveled or where you've come from. You will always have a home here."

"I…" All of Romelle's carefully-structured composure collapsed in an instant, and she had to look away and force the tears back. She'd hoped for acceptance of course, because it was necessary, but that was far more than she'd anticipated. After a few failed attempts, she cleared her throat and looked up again. "Th… thank you."

"You are welcome." Allura's huge grin belied the formality of the words, and it was all she could do not to do more…

Awwww. Larmina was feeling things again and couldn't even complain; she got it. After all, she was also royalty of questionable pedigree who Auntie had accepted without question. Maybe it was a House of Raimon thing… or just an Allura and King Alfor thing.

Something was missing though, and she could see Auntie almost ready to burst. "She's gonna hug you," she whispered conspiratorially.

Romelle blinked. "She's going to what…?"

Well, if she was going to lose the fight anyway she may as well lose it with some warning. "I'm so happy you'll be staying here!" With that, Allura wrapped Romelle up in a huge hug that would have absolutely mortified Nanny.

Larmina burst into laughter.

"Oof!" The warning had done Romelle no good at all, but she found herself hugging back anyway. "Um… me… me too!"

"You'll get used to it," Larmina promised, still snickering. Allura finally let go, giving her niece an oh come on look; it was returned with the very best oh no you don't look in her arsenal. One gigantic ambush hug seemed like enough for Romelle right now anyway.

She was giggling a little though, despite herself. "I'm sure I will." The hug had left her feeling unexpectedly light—not just determined or at peace, but happy.

If that was what it meant to be… home, again… she could absolutely get used to it.

*****

Vince didn't feel like he'd done a whole lot with his time to himself, which was exactly what he'd wanted to do with it. Mostly he'd just laid in bed, stared at the slightly cracked ceiling, and done everything in his power to not think.

Oddly, Yellow might even have helped him with that. The purring had been something to focus on, anyway. And the familiar whirr of too much weird in his head, with a little bit of grounding, had become oddly comforting.

The end result was that, while he certainly wasn't calm, by the time he started for the garden he was feeling a lot less ready to completely explode than he had been before. And he would take it.

Goodbye to being normal and boring… he looked at his hands, and was able to make a couple of sparks dance between his fingers. Extremely not boring.

"Hey!"

Speaking of not boring, he turned to see Daniel running to catch up with him. "Hey, Daniel." …Was he weaving a little?

He certainly was, though it was really only a little. Once they'd finished the vodka, Keith had dragged him back to the castle and force-fed him bread and water. All of the water. There was probably nothing left for Blue Lion to swim in at this point. In any case, it had taken him back down to just a little tipsy, which was good enough for now.

And the only thing better than Keith willingly getting drunk with him was Vince finally getting out of his denial. "How're you feeling?"

All Vince could really do with that question was laugh. "Uh, somewhere between grounded and weird."

Blink. "Who grounded you—oh." Definitely still tipsy.

"Yellow," Vince snorted; he couldn't resist.

Daniel laughed. "That a good or bad thing?" He absently wondered if his lion had the authority to ground him.

"Do I need to?"

Shush.

Red snickered.

"It's something," Vince hedged. Then he cocked his head. He'd been so busy nope-ing at everything that he really hadn't known what to expect from bonding, despite plenty of people who would at least have tried to give him some hints. It felt late to start, but whatever. "Did you feel, um… fiery?"

"I still feel fiery."

That wasn't at all surprising. Vince took a deep breath, then nodded and let himself admit it. "I think it's good, actually. Kind of shocked."

Daniel shook his head in disapproval. "Only Keith and Allura are supposed to feel shocked."

"Yeah, well." Vince had to grin at that, but he knew—well, he was pretty sure, anyway—Daniel knew what he really meant. "I fought it pretty hard."

"You did. How's not being in denial?"

"Relieving. Terrifying." He considered the question a little more, hearing Yellow purr again. "And just kind of… nice, you know? Especially given what we just accomplished."

Especially, but not entirely. The simple fact of acceptance was giving him more calm than he would've expected. He didn't have to struggle against what he wasn't anymore. Not normal, not boring, not safe, not all human… and most critically, not at all unconnected to the lions. Figuring out how to move forward with that, to figure out who and what he was—what he'd been all this time—that was another story.

But questions were easier when he felt like he wanted the answers again.

"That makes sense," Daniel agreed, smiling brighter. "Voltron was awesome, wasn't it? If I'd known that that was what we were looking for, I might've taken our mission a little more seriously to start…" He paused, then frowned. "Nah, probably not. But I would've been way more excited."

Snort. "Voltron is epic." It was also relieving to be able to just say that, without having to worry that he'd have an unwelcome lion in his head that he'd have to nope at. "And its tech is just crazy, right? I really wanna dive into it now that, you know, I'm out of denial."

"That also makes sense." The bread and water really must have worked for everything to seem so sensible.

"I might also look into seat belts."

Immediately Daniel's grin turned into a glare. "You better fucking not." Vince burst into laughter, but he wasn't done. "I'll get hurt one time and Lance will turn into the mother hen from hell. Don't do that to me!"

"Yeah, okay. He is worse than my moms sometimes."

"That doesn't surprise me." If he thought about it, Daniel probably shouldn't be surprised to have ended up with Lance at all. He probably needed some over-parenting to make up for the previous lack of it. But still…

"I think I did start to get the hang of it, though. Even without any training… or seat belts."

"You did awesome!" Daniel might not have known exactly what had been going on in Yellow's cockpit, but he was pretty certain of that. "I mean, it's not so bad once you know what all the buttons do, but you hadn't had any practice. You did great."

"We all did." Vince exhaled, feeling his brain start to spool up again. "That was… overwhelming. Kind of looking forward to some time in the garden."

"Yeah." Daniel wasn't dreading this the way he'd dreaded the funeral. Everything felt a little lighter somehow… no, a lot lighter.

"Then I can figure out the buttons." Which he was also looking forward to. "I seem to have a lot of them, for not having a lot to actually control."

Daniel scoffed. "Control? Boring. All you need to know is most of them blow shit up."

That probably was true of Red Lion, now that Vince thought about it. "Yellow seems to be more of a bludgeon."

"Stonespark, you know I can hear you thinking that you don't just mean my weapons."

Well, he wasn't going to deny it.

"More 'Hulk Smash' than 'Human Torch' huh?" Daniel shrugged, accepting that; it did seem to fit. Or it fit the lion and Hunk, anyway. But he was sure Vince could learn if he needed to!

They were getting close to the garden now, and it looked like they weren't the only ones. "Seems like we're all getting here about the same time."

"That's…" Daniel trailed off, frowning. "I was gonna say weird but it's not really all that weird." He couldn't explain exactly why he'd been on his way at exactly this time, except that it had felt right. He'd taken sufficient breathing space for himself and that was it—they really hadn't set a meeting time.

They were just a team, and a family, and they were probably all feeling the same way.

Vince's thoughts had followed a similar path. "It's about the only thing that's not weird at all today."

"If weird is the new normal is it even weird anymore?"

"It still seems weird. Learning to embrace it, though." Slowly but surely…

"The Earth is patient."

…Oh, no, it was really going to be like that wasn't it?

Yellow roared with laughter.

Daniel laughed too. "If you can un-denial yourself, I'm sure we can all figure out how to embrace the weird."

"You know…" Vince trailed off and shook his head. "Yeah. That's fair."

They'd been doing pretty well with it so far, hadn't they?

*****

Sven had been the first to arrive, though that had only been by a matter of minutes. The garden was as peaceful as Blue's lake—just in an entirely different way, but that was kind of perfect. He settled in to wait, looking at Jace's thorny plant, and grinned as he noticed one of the branches raised a bit above the others. Had it always been like that and he'd been too preoccupied to notice, or had that branch shifted to avoid the next plant over? Either way, he couldn't help thinking it looked like the thorns were flipping him off. And Jace would love that, so he chose to keep seeing it that way.

As he nodded in acknowledgment to the others as they arrived, the peace seemed to remain. The last time the whole team had gathered here, the mood had been tense. Sorrow, determination, even release, they'd all been there, but the echoes of loss had been beneath it all. Now it felt… relaxed.

Larmina was thinking about that as she arrived, glancing over the plants and giving her mother's fire lily a small grin. Queen Orla's last charge rang through her mind again.

Fight. Survive.

She felt like she was doing pretty well at that, honestly.

Vince had wandered up to pull an errant weed away from Cam's plant; he'd never actually finished his work here, had he? Overtaken by events. It got Larmina's attention, and her grin broadened. She knew a little something about bonding to a lion after being in all of the denial. As he straightened up, she approached and gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder.

"Ow!" But he smiled back at her. He got it.

Turning back to the plants, he couldn't help but wonder. Were they safe for good, now that they'd been freed? He shouldn't ask Yellow, he didn't think. Really he shouldn't ask anyone. He wanted to believe it, his treacherous brain just wanted to overthink things like usual.

As he wondered, a few glimmers of light gathered in front of him. Like the last time he'd called a ghost, and his eyes widened…

Following his gaze, Larmina couldn't quite help grinning too. She wasn't surprised to see them, exactly. Every so often, ghosts could show up when they were wanted.

It had felt like they should make an appearance, just for a moment. Hearing Vince's tentative question had only confirmed it. Flynn gave him a quiet nod, an answer. No more connection to that hellscape where they'd died, nothing tying them back there… Cam grinned and gave a little wave, extending it to the girl next to him too, it was only polite.

Jace, of course, decided all the subtle niceties could be damned. "We'll be around." He flipped one last salute as the three began to flicker out. "Try not to need us though, would you?"

It was all Vince could do not to laugh, and he shook his head with an affectionate snort. It was true, and it was bittersweet. He wasn't going to need to call them again… they could rest, and in a way, so could he.

Hunk had arrived last, trying to take it easy for Gorma's sake. He arrived just in time to see Vince and Larmina looking at something that clearly wasn't there. Not exactly. Yellow was keeping his word, it seemed… he nodded. That was bittersweet too, but it was better this way. And it was good to know, even without seeing them, that they were still here.

Two others had glimpsed the ghosts as well; Allura and Romelle exchanged brief, knowing smiles before splitting off from each other. It was good. Romelle went to stand by Sven, while Allura went to Keith, who was trying to avoid much attention. Bread and water had helped, but if he was still slightly buzzed, well… being able to relax for this wouldn't hurt either.

Pidge had wandered up with Lance, but slipped away as Daniel approached and gave his frontseater a poke. Lance poked back, smirking. "Yeah?"

The kid gave him a bigger smirk in return. "I did something that all three of them would have been super proud of me for."

"Alright, I'm terrified."

"I got drunk. With Keith." And aside from the Griffin nonsense, it might just be one of his most treasured memories already.

Looking from Keith, who sure did seem to be weaving just the tiniest bit, back to Daniel, Lance shook his head in mild disbelief. "How are you standing?"

"He made me drink lots of water."

Now he burst out laughing. "Of course he did."

Of course he did. Daniel eyed him; Lance had been pretty weird lately, more than usual. Understandable, but still. But he seemed a little less so now. "You feeling better?"

"Yeah." He patted his jacket, then showed the kid Flynn's gun, carefully stashed in an inside pocket. "Yeah, I fucking do." Maybe I really can start to move forward now.

Lance might like guns even more than Roommate Number Five had, Daniel decided. It might be a little terrifying. But he was also pretty sure he recognized that particular gun, so he didn't say it.

"So!" Everyone seemed here and settled, and Larmina felt just a little bit of authority over the memorial garden. Much like with trivia toss, she was the expert, sort of. And memorial gardens were for memories, weren't they? Not just the bad memories, the death and the Drules and their bullshit. All of the memories. "We get more stories, right? I mean, you people had been searching for the lions for how long? Maybe now that we have some breathing room and we're all out of denial and all, you can tell us about it!"

"It's a long story," Pidge said immediately, eyeing her with suspicion. He did not want to talk about Dradin.

"Longer than even the ninja knows," Hunk agreed.

"There are many stories," Sven objected. Trying to frame their entire adventure as a single story could only end in failure. "The giant dead monster, the Galra spy, the ghost ship—"

"—The ruined ghost ship," Daniel interrupted, and no amount of happiness from getting drunk with Keith could stop him from shooting the bossman a glare on principle. "We need to find another one of those."

"Oh sure, we'll get right on that," Keith muttered under his breath. Then, louder, "There was the fight with a lizard kangaroo." He'd already told Coran and Sarial that story, but they weren't here. No doubt he'd be telling it again before the day was over.

"Oh, my." How far must they have traveled? Allura wanted to hear everything. Though it sounded like actually telling them everything might be a point of some contention.

Then again, the team was getting started. As they did.

"Vince and I killed a snake man."

"A very pretty snake man."

"We negotiated with bat people to build us a runway. With magic."

"The Commander let me steal from a museum."

"There were spatial rift jumps."

"We went to Planet Vegas, it was sweet."

"What's a Vegas?" Romelle asked, certain that reference was supposed to mean something, but she wasn't even sure anyone heard her. They were rolling now.

"I feel like we pretended to be pirates quite a bit."

"What about the terrifying spider puppy robot and evil wasps?"

"Shady merchants with a flying arcade on the edge of No Man's Land, that was a thing."

"I think I fell in love with Flynn."

Lance had not actually meant for that to be out loud. He'd just been looking at Flynn's plant, thinking about his eyes, listening to all the good—completely fucking insane, but good—stories the team had to tell. And there it had been, the admission he'd needed to make all this time, finally surfacing in as many words.

For a moment, it seemed like he'd even get away with it, because the others were still going.

"We visited mice with terrifying low-gravity golf carts, and that was an uneventful stop."

"The boar-tahs. We can't forget the boar-tahs."

But Daniel, naturally, had heard, and after his brain finished short-circuiting he whirled around on his pilot. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?"

"Huh? Did I say that out loud?" Lance reddened a little, but what the hell? Admitting it to himself was the hard part of the equation. "Yeah, I think… no, I definitely fell in love with Flynn."

Daniel actually didn't have anything to say to that right away, because his brain actually hurt. Pidge, on the other hand, looked over in confusion. "You didn't know that already?"

What? No, actually what the fuck? Lance stared at the ninja—the ninja! "You knew?!"

Recoiling, Pidge backed up next to Vince, and whispered with wide eyes. "Was it a secret?"

Snort. "To them, maybe."

"Wh—wait, I didn't know!" Daniel shot them a betrayed look. "Why didn't anyone tell me?" All of the gossip he'd missed!

"Kid, it was complicated! Or I thought it was, fuck."

Keith was just staring silently, while Sven gave a mild shrug in response to Romelle's questioning look. He hadn't not known, he just hadn't felt it was any of his business. Meanwhile, Hunk had completely given up on composure and just burst out laughing.

All Daniel could offer was an apologetic shrug. "I'm not emotionally mature enough to respond to this correctly."

Oh, like everyone else was doing a great job of that… "Wait." Lance looked at Pidge again. That whole talk they'd had earlier he'd known? This entire time he'd known? And if he'd known… "Did Flynn know?"

"Well I thought you knew, so how would I know what he knew?" Pidge still didn't entirely understand how this had been a mystery, but he understood one thing with perfect certainty. Crossing his arms, he looked away and huffed in annoyance. "HUMANS!"

Hunk found a clear patch of ground to plop down on; he was laughing too hard to stay upright.

"Lives of the offworlders are now super interesting," Allura whispered to Larmina in Arusian; her niece giggled. Even she'd kind of gotten that vibe.

"You and him were what my mums would call idiots," Vince said, somehow managing to sound even more apologetic. Daniel glowered at him.

"Hey, just because they were emotionally constipated doesn't mean they were idiots."

"No…" Lance shook his head. "I was a fucking idiot." It felt like that should've ripped the wound all the way open again, but that wasn't how it felt. It was a wistful sort of ache, not a new gut punch. As if he couldn't hope to find closure without understanding what he was truly finding it for…

I can start to move forward again.

"Oh." Daniel shrugged. "Well, I guess it's okay if you say it."

"Watch it, kid."

"Maybe we should start this whole thing at the start, yeah?" Hunk's ribs couldn't take much more of this, and he was not going back to Gorma in defeat. At least if they tried to tell the entire story of Explorer Team 686 in order, there would be breaks in between bouts of injury-exacerbating hilarity.

Keith could appreciate the sentiment, but… "That could take awhile, Hunk."

"We've got time." Larmina grinned. "We're a team, right? You have to learn Arusian court nonsense, we get to hear about snake people and pirates."

Lance snorted. "The only good part of the snake man story is his death."

"We destroyed something beautiful that day," Daniel said, shaking his head sadly. "Evil, but beautiful."

"We got banned from a second spaceport," Hunk said with as deadpan a tone as he could muster. "And that one wasn't even our fault!"

Vince raised an eyebrow. "The first one was?"

"Totally our fault."

"I am not included in that 'our'," Sven declared immediately.

Larmina nodded sagely. "I completely believe that Sven has never done anything wrong."

The navigator smiled. "And that's why Larmina is the smart one." Pidge raised an extremely skeptical eyebrow at that.

"I'm so glad I was asleep for most of that," Keith muttered. That only made Allura more interested.

"Look, some cat people are just immune to charm."

"Your charm."

"HEY!"

Shaking her head, Romelle interjected in a mildly reproachful tone. "I'm hearing a lot of talking, but not much explaining."

"They're good at that," Pidge snorted.

"We'd need a dart board to figure out where to start."

"I feel like starting at the beginning makes the most sense."

"When do we ever make sense?"

Allura giggled again. "Well, you've listed off so many of your adventures, maybe those of us who haven't heard them can pick some to ask for details?" Though she remembered something from before that hadn't been mentioned just now. "Wasn't there something about a murder temple?"

Everyone went silent, staring at her. Even Larmina looked stunned. She flushed; had she misremembered, said something wrong? But then Hunk threw his arms up in exasperation.

"We still haven't told you about that? Guys, we have failed."

"Like any of you will talk about that until you've expended all other options," Pidge shot back.

"Even I've dragged that story out of you!" Larmina crossed her arms, then grinned. "New plan, murder temple first, then start and tell the rest from the beginning."

Keith sighed. "Always with the murder temples… fine. One definitive, last retelling of the murder temple." Maybe they should write it down; he wondered if that was how the lion books had really gotten started. "So, our last stop on our first mission was a planet called Sorthal…"

The rest of the group gathered around, settling in next to the plants. And as he began the tale, he was very aware of Black Lion's rumbling purr from the mountains.

For a moment, the world felt almost right again.