Chapter 11: Isometric

An epilogue of sorts
Also a chapter told entirely in Matt's POV cuz I love him

The liberation of Vallen was over before the castle even landed. And while Shiro and the princess—Allura, Katie said her name was?—spoke with the prisoners there, Matt and his father had been pressured into the infirmary. Katie had gone on about what she called a 'healing pod', insisting that they both needed to spend time in one. After weak protests, Katie had won, and the strange mustached man had helped each of them into a white bodysuit.

The last thing Matt saw before succumbing to the cold and to the sleep was Katie's face, smiling happier than he'd seen her in ages. "I'll be right here when you wake up," she'd told them. "I promise."

Then his eyes had closed.

Hours later, the cold air receded and he woke up as the pod opened.

The room was dark and still. Faint mechanical hums stood out in the quiet, and the only light came from the pale blue glow of the healing pods. Next to his own, his father rested peacefully.

He stumbled, disoriented, taking in the room around him.

Katie lay curled up on the floor. She wasn't in her armor, instead wearing a baggy green-and-white shirt and a pair of gray cargo shorts. A laptop lay beside her, long since powered down, and one of her hands rested lightly on the keyboard.

Matt smiled, sitting down beside her. "Hey there, sis," he murmured. He pushed the laptop away, closing it firmly. He took her hand in his, drinking in how peaceful she looked.

Safe. He reveled in the fact. We're safe. She's actually here.

"You're awake."

Matt looked up, glancing towards the doorway. A figure stood there—a teenage boy. He was wearing all black, and his dark hair hung loosely around his face. In his hands he carried a pillow and a large blanket.

Matt tried to remember his name, but he'd never seen any of the other paladins out of their armor. "Hi."

"We weren't expecting you to wake up yet," the paladin (was this the red one?) continued, walking over. "Estimates said you still had a few more hours." He knelt beside Katie, setting down the blanket. "She'll be sorry she missed you."

Matt relaxed, smiling. "I'll still be here when she wakes up," he murmured.

"She tends to do this a lot," the paladin told him. "She'll stay awake for as long as she can…and then she'll just crash and fall asleep wherever she happens to be." He gently lifted her head, slipping the pillow beneath. "We've all sorta gotten into the habit of finding wherever she's passed out and then carrying her back to her room. But tonight…I thought she'd rather stay here with you." He shook out the blanket, spreading out over Katie. He paused, glancing at Matt suddenly. "Do you, uh, do you want me to get you another blanket or something…?"

Matt laughed. "Thank you, but I'm okay."

The paladin only nodded, seemly unsure of what to say next. "I, uh…."

"I'm sorry," Matt said, shaking his head. "I don't think we were properly introduced." He held out his hand to the paladin. "I'm Matt. Matt Holt."

"Keith Kogane," he replied, shaking Matt's hand.

Matt paused, furrowing his eyebrows. "Wait…Shiro's little brother?"

Keith froze. "I…brother?"

"Yeah; you were at the Garrison, weren't you?" Seeing Keith's wide-eyed and flustered look, Matt nearly laughed. "Dude, he practically adopted you. So you may not be related by blood. Whatever. You're still brothers."

"No, no, I get that," Keith hastened to assure him. "I just…didn't realize he talked about me."

Matt laughed. "Shiro and I were roommates, back at the Garrison," he said with a smile. "He's my best friend. Of course he told me about you."

They settled into comfortable silence, sitting on either side of Katie, watching the stars go by through the window. Katie shifted in her sleep, burying herself deeper into her pillow, mumbling something about peanut butter and someone called Kaltenecker.

Matt chuckled, watching her fondly. "I'm glad she's getting some rest."

"Yeah, I think you can speak for all of us there," Keith muttered. "She hasn't really been sleeping well lately."

Matt furrowed his brow. "Is…she okay?"

Keith exhaled, long and slow. "She'll be fine," he said eventually. "It's just been rough, these past few weeks." Matt was silent, and Keith took that as a signal to keep going. "She just wasn't in the best place when we found her," he continued. "She told us about what happened. We headed straight there…but you were already gone. After that, well, she was angry. At the Galra. At Zarkon. But mostly, I think, at herself."

"Thank you for being there for her."

Keith seemed a bit taken aback for a moment, but he quickly relaxed. "Of course. She…really means a lot to me." He pulled his legs up against his chest, resting his chin on his knees. "I never really had much of a family back on Earth," he confessed. "Team Voltron is about as close to family as I've got."

Matt quirked a lopsided grin. "Well, any family of Katie's is family of mine. So, in that case, welcome to the family."

Keith let out a laugh, but he seemed a bit tense, uneasy about something.

Matt's smile faded, and he looked at him curiously. "Can I ask you something?"

Keith looked at him askance. "Yeah, go ahead."

"Back on the ship, with Reggar," Matt started, "Katie…she called you Galra." Keith froze. "But you don't look Galra," Matt continued. "And you're from Earth. Right?"

Keith sighed. "I don't even know the full story, to be honest," he said. "But to answer your question…yes. I'm part Galra. I don't know how much, but…." He cast his gaze downwards. "I only found out recently. I'm still coming to terms with it myself." He seemed to be bracing himself for the worst, closing his eyes, hugging himself. "If…if that makes you uncomfortable, I understand," he whispered.

Matt's eyes widened and he shook his head quickly. "No! No way." Keith looked up at him in shock, and Matt cautiously reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. "Dude. You saved my life. You saved my baby sister's life. I trust you."

Keith melted. The look in his eyes was filled with such surprise, such compassion, such adoration. Then he smiled.

Well, Matt thought wryly. I guess I've got a brother now. But he found he didn't mind the thought. Welcomed it, really.

Between them, Katie shifted again. "Would you nerds just cut it out already and go to sleep?"

Keith snorted, and Matt struggled to hold back his own laughter. "Sorry, Katie." He glanced over at Keith. "You wanna just, like, crash here for the night?"

"In…the infirmary?"

Matt was already lying down, yawning. "Mm. Always liked slumber parties."

Keith laughed. "I'll go get some more blankets."

The rest of the team had come to join them within the next few hours. Hunk had procured what tasted like the alien equivalent of hot chocolate, and Lance accused them of having a slumber party without them; but the two of them joined Matt, Keith, and Katie in their impromptu blanket fort, passing out mugs of the hot cocoa. Shiro had come into the infirmary not too much later, and, at the insistence of Matt and Katie, had sat down to join them. When Allura and Coran had entered, it was to the sight of their five paladins along with Matt all swaddled in blankets and contently drinking hot chocolate. "It's a very important and common Earth ritual for unwinding after stressful events," Katie told them, to which the rest of them dutifully nodded. And when Sam woke up, they had another blanket and steaming mug waiting for him.

Both Matt and his sister wrapped their arms around him, and the three of them embraced. "Hi, Dad," Katie squeaked through her tears.

"Oh my little girl," he whispered. "Katie, darling, I am so proud of you."

As he pulled away from the hug, his eyes fell on Shiro, standing nearby with a soft smile. Shiro reached out to shake his hand. "It's good to see you, Commander."

Sam chuckled, completely forgoing the handshake to instead pull him into a hug. "How many times do I have to tell you this, Shiro? Please. Call me Sam."

Shiro let out a laugh, reciprocating the hug. "Yes, sir."

"Takashi."

"Come on, I need to introduce you to everyone!" Katie bubbled, taking her father by the arm. "You met Lance and Keith earlier," she said, gesturing to the group of boys, "and this is Hunk—"

"Doctor Holt, it is such an honor to finally meet you," Hunk gushed, shaking his hand enthusiastically. "I've read all your books. Going Beyond Terrestrial Engineering is what inspired me to enroll at the Garrison."

Sam laughed good-naturedly. "I'm glad to hear that!"

Katie's eyes were comically wide, and she had both her hands pressed to her mouth, doing nothing to smother the massive smile on her face. "Hunk!" she squealed. "You didn't tell me you were a fan!"

Hunk's flushed, his expression morphing into one of embarrassment. "I—"

"Dude," Lance interjected. "I had a poster of Shiro on my wall. No one's gonna judge you."

Matt nearly choked on his drink. "You what?"

"Alright," Shiro said firmly. "Enough of that."

Sam laughed again. "It's good to meet all of you," he said. "Hunk, I would love to speak with you further on your studies."

Hunk's eyes were sparkling. "I—yes, wow, thank you!"

Sam turned towards the other two in the room, the Alteans, and he held out a hand to them. "And you must be Allura and Coran?"

Allura was wiping at her eyes, trying to compose herself. She clasped his hand firmly. "Welcome aboard the Castle of Lions," she said. "We are all very happy to have you here with us."

"Absolutely," Coran agreed. "Number Five has told us a lot about you. And it's always exciting meeting new humans!"

Out of nowhere, Katie's eyes widened, and she gasped. "Oh my god, Matt, I almost forgot! I'll be right back." Without another word, she took off.

When she returned a couple minutes later, she was carefully cradling something in her hands. "Um, these are yours," she told Matt, holding out her hands towards him. "I've been holding onto them for you."

He glanced down, surprised. "My glasses?"

She nodded, almost sheepishly. "They were part of my disguise when I was sneaking into the Garrison," she confessed, "and so I sorta brought them out here with me. For when we found you."

He took the glasses almost reverently. "Katie, I—" His voice cracked. "Thank you."

"Oh, hey," Lance said suddenly. "That actually reminds me. Pidge?"

Katie turned towards him. "Yeah?"

"I know I've asked this before," he began, "and you said Pidge was fine…but do you want us to start calling you Katie? Now that, you know, they're here?"

She paused, then smiled. "I like being Pidge," she told him. "I've gotten pretty used to it."

Matt frowned, taking that it. He glanced at her curiously. "Do…do you want us to call you Pidge too?"

For a moment, she seemed taken aback. "I—I don't know," she fretted. "I mean. You can call me whatever? I guess? Either is fine. Katie's fine. I mean, I haven't been Katie in so long, it's kinda nice, ya know? But I don't want anyone to get confused or anything. And you don't have to go out of your way to try to use a different name if you don't really want to—"

Sam put a hand on her back, and she paused in her rambling. "Alright," he said gently. "Katie. Pidge. You're fine."

She breathed deeply, relaxing into his touch. "Thanks, Dad."

"While this has been a nice respite," the princess said, "we really must get focused back on the main plan here."

"The princess is right," Shiro agreed. "We have a lot of work to do."

Lance sighed. "Yes, sir, Space Dad."

Matt frowned. "Right away?"

"That's the life of a Voltron paladin," his sister said with a shrug. "We do not get a break."

"There is still some time before we reach our next position," Coran said. "We need to get the castle to a point about equidistant from Olkarion, the Balmera, Beta Traz, the weblum…. It will take a bit for us to get there."

Shiro furrowed his brow. "Can't we do a wormhole jump?"

"Ah, we could," Coran replied. "But it'd be best for Allura to save her energy. We'll need that for later."

"So what I'm getting here," Hunk said slowly, "is that we do get a break?"

Allura sighed. "For a little while longer, I suppose. But please, be ready to go once the castle is in position."

Lance was grinning, nearly bouncing up and down on his toes. "You got it, Allura! Alright, I wanna try to figure out that Altean pool. I'll catch you guys later!" Before anyone could say anything, he took off.

"In the meantime," Allura continued, glancing towards Matt and his father. "We should get the two of you a change of clothing. And would you like a tour of the castle?"

It was later when Matt went looking for his sister. He wandered the castle aimlessly, remembering what he could from the tour Allura had given them. Afterwards, she and Coran had headed to the bridge; the rest of the team had splintered off throughout the tour, mentioning other preparations they needed to do before they went on for their next mission.

When there was no answer at the door to Katie's—Pidge's—room, he frowned. This was correct, wasn't it? He double-checked, seeing the telltale green light on the panel by the door, and nodded to himself. Yes, this was her room. So where was she?

He wandered a bit further down the hall, knocking on the next door he saw. A "Come in!" came from inside, and so Matt slid the door open. Lance turned to face him, pulling his shirt on. "Oh, hey, man."

"Have you seen my sister?"

Lance frowned. "Did you try her room?"

"She wasn't there."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Huh." He left the room, coming to stand beside Matt in the hallway, clapping him on the shoulder. "Alright, she shouldn't be too hard to find. Then again, knowing her, she could be asleep in a vent or something."

He started wandering down the hall, and Matt paused, staring after him. "She what?"

"She falls asleep in the weirdest places," Lance called, not even bothering to turn around. "If I find her, I'll tell her you're looking for her."

Matt sighed. "Thanks." He turned, heading in the other direction. After a while, he found himself back in another section of the castle he recognized. Wasn't this near where he'd woken up? Yes, he was pretty sure that the cryo-pod chamber was that door at the end of the hall—

There were voices coming from one of the open doors ahead.

"We'll need to take off your shirt so I can take care of this properly. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. I've got my binder on."

He paused. Wasn't that her voice? And…Keith? Matt poked his head through the doorway to check it out.

Pidge sat on what looked like an examination table from the doctor's office. Her green-and-white shirt was lying beside her, leaving her in a strapless top of some kind––a chest binder, she'd said?

Keith was perched next to her, holding her arm in one hand and some kind of jar in the other. He was gently spreading a layer of salve over her left shoulder. "You shouldn't have kept this to yourself."

"It's fine," she insisted. "Barely feel it."

Keith's hand rubbed a bit closer to the red mark on her shoulder, and she flinched. He stilled, glancing at her and raising an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

"Shut up."

He sighed, setting down the jar of healing salve and picking up a roll of bandages.

In the doorway, Matt stood watching in shock. "What happened?"

Pidge turned to him in surprise. "Matt!"

"Are you okay?!"

She let out a groan. "I'm fine!"

Keith rolled his eyes. "Keep telling yourself that," he muttered. He held up the bandages. "Now hold still."

She kept her eyes downcast as Keith carefully wrapped the bandages around her shoulder, stubbornly refusing to meet the frantic eyes of her brother.

"Katie," he pleaded.

She broke.

"It's nothing to worry about," she insisted quietly. "I don't need a healing pod or anything. I had my armor on. And even then, it just grazed me." She glared at her clenched hands. "Stupid Galra and their stupid laser guns."

Matt sighed.

"Alright," Keith announced as he finished. "We'll need to replace the bandages periodically. Find me tomorrow morning and we can take care of that."

She nodded, rotating her shoulder experimentally. "Thanks, Keith."

He just smiled and ruffled her hair. "Next time, maybe tell someone when you get shot," he admonished, standing up.

"Yeah, yeah, responsibility and stuff."

He sighed, shaking his head. He clapped Matt on the shoulder on his way out. "Don't let her over-exert herself," he instructed Matt as he headed into the hall.

"I heard that!" Pidge called.

"Good."

He wandered off, leaving Matt and his sister alone.

Pidge tugged her shirt back on sullenly, wincing a bit as she flexed her shoulder.

Matt was silent for a minute. When he finally spoke, he simply stated, "You got shot."

She sighed. "I really am fine," she assured him. "It's nothing major."

"Nothing major?" Matt repeated, flabbergasted. "It—you—," he sputtered. "Katie!"

Pidge smiled wryly. "You know, that's the same thing Lance said when I got back to the castle and he found out I'd fractured a rib."

"KATIE!"

She winced. "Sorry. But that's all taken care of. See? I'm all better now."

"Except for the burn on your shoulder."

She closed her eyes in defeat. "Yeah. 'Cept for that."

"Why didn't you mention something earlier?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

"I didn't want to worry you."

"Katie, I'm your brother. It's my job to worry about you."

"That's just the thing!" she exclaimed. She paused, exhaling heavily. "When I left Serva, it was only a few hours before they all picked me up," she murmured. "I managed to get a strong enough signal out and they found me pretty much right away. And after I told them all what happened…." She broke off. She pulled up her legs and hugged them to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. "By the time we got back to Serva, you were already gone," she murmured. "And we didn't know where you were, or how to find you. We didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do." She squeezed her eyes shut. "And it's like everyone was trying to fill that hole. For days. They were just…always there. Asking if I was okay, if I needed anything, if I wanted company." Her voice was rising in pitch, frantic. "And…on the one hand, it's really nice. To know that they care about me like that. I mean, we're a team, and we're supposed to support each other. But it kinda goes deeper than that too." She rested her forehead on her knees, burying her face. "But on the other hand…it's suffocating." She paused to take a breath, and sighed. "What I'm getting at here, is that I'm not fragile. I'm not gonna break. I can take care of myself."

"I know."

"I mean, Shiro was always like an overprotective mom. But the rest of them? Since when does Keith have feelings?!"

Matt laughed, thinking back on his conversation with the Red Paladin the night before. "Yeah, well, that's what it's like when your family gets hurt. And you told me yourself: they're like family."

"Yeah," she whispered. "I guess so."

They fell into silence.

"So…," Matt mused. "Shiro mentioned you have another mission coming up."

"Yep." She made a popping sound with the 'p'. "Beta Traz."

"What's that exactly?"

"High security space prison. Built specifically to contain one prisoner. We need to break in there and get him out."

He nudged her playfully. "Is that all you guys do? Prison breaks?"

She huffed. "Feels like it sometimes," she told him. "Jailbreaks and liberating planets."

He paused, thinking. She was fourteen. And already, she was facing things that no one should ever have to. She was a child soldier conscripted into an intergalactic war that had been raging for thousands of years.

"So you're going into combat," he said softly. "Are you sure you're gonna be okay? I mean. With your injured shoulder?"

"I'll be fine," she promised him. "Lance and Shiro will be there."

"Mm."

That's another thing—the rest of the paladins weren't too much older than her. Shiro was really the only adult. How old were the other three? Seventeen?

Pidge was watching him curiously, and after a moment, she reached out to take him by the hands. "Hey, Matt? I know that the stuff I do can get scary," she murmured. "It gets dangerous. I've…I've had a lot of close calls. But also, at the same time, this is the most incredible experience I've ever had." She sighed. "I know you're always gonna worry about me. Cuz we're family. But just keep in mind," she instructed, a smile starting to tug at the corner of her lips. "I'm gonna do some insane stuff and you're probably gonna freak out. But just know that I've already done a whole lot of insane dangerous stuff; I know what I'm doing."

"That's really not making me feel any better."

She laughed, and the tension started to ease.

"The thing is," she added after a moment, her smile falling. "Things are gonna get real crazy, real fast. I mean, we've got Beta Traz to deal with now. But it's only gonna get crazier after that."

His brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"We have…a very extensive plan. Beta Traz is only one step."

"So what happens next?"

She took a deep breath, looking him in the eye. "We find Zarkon," she said. "And we take him out."

AN:

The first chapter: posted on Pidge's birthday
The last chapter: posted on my birthday
What a nice parallel

Also it's like 7am so enjoy this super early installment. I went and got myself a summer job like some kind of """responsible adult""" and I start at 8am today. So that means you guys get the chapter bright and early!

A chapter of pure fluff to ease the sting of earlier chapters
My working title for this chapter was 'they all go back to the castle and live happily ever after'

The title for Sam's book was supplied by my own father, who also happens to be an aerospace engineer (though my dad's not also an astronaut like Pidge's, haha). So that's a cool thing?
Hunk being a fan of Sam's is something I've seen in several other fics and it's a hc that I LOVE. I emmay/em write a oneshot on that later? We'll see.

In other news: my sister finished season 2 of Voltron on Saturday! She told me her favorite character was now probably Pidge. Partially because she said I rubbed off on her. Partially because "she's the same age as me. Also she's tiny, like me."

Anyways
This concludes Singularity!
The rest of the story would progress as it does in the show, just with the addition of Matt and Sam along for the ride. (Imagining their reactions to the s2 finale destroys me, oi).

I do have a couple, like, extra bits and deleted scenes and stuff? If enough people are interested, maybe I'll post them on my tumblr or something. Let me know!

One HC of mine that I didn't manage to work into this fic: Matt and Lance end up getting along very well, and they come up with an extremely intricate and overly complicated best friends' handshake. This is canon. Fight me.

Thank you all so much for coming along on this crazy adventure!

And a HUGE Thank You to my wonderful beta! Seifert, my dear, I don't know what I'd do without you. Love you! Thanks for putting up with me and my constant rambles.

Come hang with me on Tumblr! My url is this-book-has-been-loved, and there's a link in my bio.

~Brigit