I own nothing
Chapter 1: You Came Back
(Y/N) groaned loudly and sunk her face into her hands. From her vantage point, she watched as Pidge, Hunk, and Lance continuously argued inside the simulator until they eventually crashed and failed. This had happened more often then it really should have, to a point where she had volunteered to tutor the cadets to try and better their skills and their teamwork.
The problem lay in teaching them how to work as a team.
Lance was prideful and stuck up to a fault. (Y/N) could see he had potential to be an amazing pilot but his attitude kept getting in the way of him taking her advice and putting in the extra training hours to catch up to his peers. Hunk, blessed the poor boy's heart, was as sweet as they came, but he seemed ill suited for the life of a pilot with his constant motion sickness. He was intelligent and a capable engineer, but an engineer couldn't throw up into the machinery. And then there was Pidge. Katie wasn't even trying to work with her team. Besides the mandatory communications during drills and simulations, she barely interacted with her teammates or for that matter, anyone who wasn't (Y/N). The female pilot was at her wits end with these 3, so resigned herself to listen to them getting chewed out by their commanding officer before joining them in the hall.
"Glad to know you guys are taking my advice to heart," they turned her. Lance shrugged with a cocky grin on his face.
"I don't think we did that bad. I almost nailed that maneuver," (Y/N) facepalmed.
"Ok, new ground rules. Hunk!" She pointed to the large male who looked very intimidated. "Take medicine to help your motion sickness or don't eat a couple of hours beforehand," the male looked heartbroken.
"I can't do that!"
"Well you'll have to. Pidge! You need to spend more time with your team, and I don't mean just during training. A navigator must know their team and their strengths," her brow raised, subtlety asking the superior why she was drawing attention away from their shared mission.
"No arguments, I'm still your teacher, and as such, it's my job to make sure your greatest potential is brought out. And as for you Lance," the Hispanic boy slyly wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"No need to say it teach, I'll keep up my good work," with an irk mark on her head, the (H/C) haired female elbowed the cadet in the ribs, causing him to retreat.
"I was going to say you need to loose the entitled attitude. I'm going to be frank with you Lance, you did not get into this class on your own skill, you were just lucky a spot opened up. Take it from someone who had to work twice as hard than most to prove herself: you need to work extra in order to keep up with the other pilots and more so if you want to surpass them,"Lance's eyes looked away for a brief second, obviously hurt by her words. Guilt flared in the girl's chest as she wondered if she had went to far in trying to get him focused. Shiro was more suited to this role than her. He always knew just what to say to motive others, but she was the only one these cadets had. Taking a deep breath, she forced Lance to look her in the eye.
"Lance, I know you have the potential to be a great pilot, but you need to understand the only way to unlock that potential is to work hard on it. Look, when I first got here, I struggled since a lot of people didn't give me a chance to prove myself. For me, it only took one person who got under my skin and made me want to surpass him that made me the pilot I am today. But I got here not by pure talent, but by honing my skills. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" Lance gave her a smile, a true one and not a smirk, and nodded.
"I think I do. Thanks teach," she let out a sigh of relief.
"Good, now first thing tomorrow, I want all of you working on your teamwork skills. That's the first thing you have to improve," Hunk and Lance saluted.
"Yes ma'am," (Y/N) playfully nudge Pidge.
"That means all of you," she rolled her eyes.
"Got it,"
"Good, I'll see you 2 first thing tomorrow. Pidge, drop by my office so we can discuss you know what,"
(Y/N) walked away, still hearing Lance scheme about sneaking out and going to meet some girls, Hunk trying to talk him out of it, and Pidge simply walking away to meet up with her. She should have reported them, but she had done her fair share of rule breaking during her time at the Garrison (one of those escapades resulting in her and Shiro's friendship which would blossom into romance), so she understood the appeal. Pidge caught up to her quickly as she mischievously grinned.
"So, not going to follow your team out on a little fun adventure," The glasses wearing teen blushed.
"You heard that?"
"Of course,"
"And you won't tell?"
"I did some pretty bad things as a cadet, one of them nearly being fatal, so I won't talk,"
"I just don't get why you want me to work with them so badly, I'm just here to find my family,"
"I know Pidge, but they need a navigator and even if it's not in your interest to work on a team, as a cadet, you have an obligation to work with them, for their sake,"
"Even if Lance isn't that great a pilot,"
"Especially if so," She stated as she unlocked the door and pulled out the machine before both of them headed towards the terrace opening.  Most of the time, it was off limits to cadets, but whenever someone caught them, (Y/N) always said Pidge was helping her with an experiment, which was good enough for most. After setting up the equipment, (Y/N) watched as Pidge fiddled with the device and her headset.
"They're really rowdy tonight,"
"Let me take a listen," Pidge placed the headphones over her head and the older pilot listen closely to the static garbles. Pidge was right, they were louder tonight and one word keep popping up.
"Voltron?"
Pidge, after taking back the headphones, got to work on the machine, leaning in as if to listen more closely, when suddenly, a familiar person popped up.
"Watcha working on?" Lance asked, making Pidge jolt back surprise. Hunk came up behind, out of breath. (Y/N) chuckled.
"I should be asking you that. This area's off limits to cadets,"
"Pidge is here!"
"He's an exception Lance. He's helping me with something," Hunk walked up to the machine and started poking at it.
"What exactly?" Pidge slapped his hand away.
"Don't touch! And that's none of your business," (Y/N) shot the secret girl a look.
"Pidge, they're your teammates. Maybe it's against my better judgement, but I think it's for the best we let them in on it,"
"Yeah! No secrets!"
"If you must know, this machine is allowing us to send signals into deep space,"
"For what?"Lance asked. (Y/N) answered.
"Communication purposes. Some force not native to Earth has the signal locked to it. Meaning we might be the first humans to make contact with extraterrestrial life,"
"Oh, so you're both crazy," Pidge shot up.
"No. Look, do you remember the Kerberos mission? The one that failed due to pilot error? It wasn't an accident, and these transmissions prove- HUNK STOP TOUCHING MY STUFF!" The larger than average male bashfully backed away from the device. Lance decided to take a seat next to Pidge.
"So, what exactly are these aliens saying?" Pidge began typing away again.
"We cant exactly say, but they've been especially rowdy tonight. Something about finding Voltron," Lance shot the older pilot a confused look.
"And that is?" The superior shrugged her shoulders.
"We're not really sure. We think it could be a weapon of some sort, but we're not sure," Hunk began panicking at the word "weapon".
"Um, what if it's a dangerous weapon!? Maybe you really shouldn't mess with it or the space people," She shook her head.
"Sorry Hunk, but we need to do this for our own reasons," before the scared cadet could reply, a loud siren rang out, forcing everyone to cover their ears. A male's voice then spoke.
"ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL, LOCKDOWN INITIATED. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ALL STUDENTS ARE TO REMAIN IN THE BARRACKS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE ."
"What's going on?" Lance asked as all 3 cadets looked to their teacher. She shrugged.
"I don't know, I'm not entirely authorized yet, but it must be big if the entire Garrison is on lockdown,"
"You mean like that?" Hunk asked while pointing a shaking finger behind her. All eyes turned a ship that shot pass them in a ball of fire and crashed off in the distance. Lance ran to the edge of the platform.
"What the crow was that?!" (Y/N) ran up to him.
"I don't know. I didn't get that great a look but I know for sure it's not one of our ships,"Hunk clapped his hands together.
"No, it's one of theirs," Pidge reasoned, unable to hide a look of excitement.
"Wait so aliens are real!?" Hunk asked while clinging to the most capable person on the platform, nearly crushing (Y/N). Out of the corner of her eye, the teacher saw the motor units being deployed. Pidge grabbed the computer.
"Come on, We've gotta see that ship!" Lance followed after her while (Y/N) managed to get out of still cowering student's grip.
"Hang on, I can't let you guys go unsupervised. Follow my lead," the others had no problem with her taking the lead. Lance shot a backwards glance at Hunk.
"Hunk come on!" The big guy looked down in disappointment.
"This is the worse team building exercise ever,"
Timeskip
The group took a position on a stone ledge above the make shift lab. Lance scouted out the area below with Pidge's night vision binoculars while the girls handled the surveillance.
"Woah, what the heck is that thing? And who the heck is she!" (Y/N) glared at him before knocking him in the head.
"Ow!"
"Lance, focus!"
"Ok ok! It's definitely an alien ship. Man we'll never get pass all those guards to get a look!" Hunk sighed in relief and turned towards the direction of the Garrison.
"Aw man, yeah well guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks right?" (Y/N) grabbed the boy by his collar as she finished setting up the last bit of equipment.
"We've set up a surveillance system so we can see,"
"How'd you do that?" Lance asked. The teacher smirked.
"Flying micro cameras curtesy of the science department,"
"Wait, I thought you didn't have full authorization yet," Hunk stated in confusion.
"The commander keeps secrets from me, I keep secrets from the commander. It's how work relationships work most of the time," Pidge gulped loudly, catching her attention.
"What's wrong?"
"You're gonna want to see this,"
Pidge turned the screen to the now crouching girl as her eyes widen. There, strapped to a table, was her missing boy who looked like he'd been through hell and back. (Y/N) felt tears well up in her eyes.
"Shiro!"
"Who?" Hunk asked. Lance unconsciously pushed (Y/N) out of the way.
"No way! He's the pilot of the Kerberos mission. That guy's like my hero!"
"Then why isn't he lost in space?" Hunk asked validly. Pidge followed up.
"And where's the rest of the crew?" (Y/N) reclaimed her spot by pushing Lance back and put her finger to her lips.
"Quiet! Listen!"
The 4 listened closely to the scientist's interrogation of the missing pilot. Shiro himself was quite agitated with the entire situation.
"Look you have to listen to me! They're coming!"
"Calm down Shiro. Where's the rest of the crew?"
"I don't know,"
"Do you know how long you've been gone?"
"Months? Years? That doesn't matter! We need to find Voltron before they do!"
The trio of cadets shot up.
"Voltron!" Pidge piped out. (Y/N) couldn't tear away from the screen, growing angrier at her coworkers' treatment of her boyfriend. The cadets went back to watching.
"Take a look at this, his entire arm seems to have been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic,"
"Put him under!"
"No! Do not put me under!"
(Y/N)'s teeth gritted together as she watched Shiro put forcefully under anesthesia. Lance seemed equally angry.
"This guy's a legend, why aren't they listening to him?"
"We have to get him out," Pidge said firmly. Hunk stood up.
"Uh, I hate to be the voice of reason here, always, but weren't we just watching on TV because there's no way to get pass the guards?" Lance looked at him with eyes that burned with determination (I sense memes from this line alone).
"That was before we were properly motivated. We just gotta think. Could we tunnel in?" Pidge smirk.
"Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs," Hunk interrupted.
"Or dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary, and grab a late night snack,"
"Or just go guns blazing like her," Pidge retorted, pointing at (Y/N) who was already heading towards the labs without the students knowing. Hunk panicked.
"Oh come on (Y/N)! Shouldn't you be the adult here!?" Pidge pushed up "his" glasses.
"Don't even bother, she's a woman on a mission now," Lance cupped his chin in between his thumb and finger.
"Still, she's gonna need a distraction just to get close,"
As if God himself heard him, several consecutive blasts range out across the distance, shaking the trio. Hunk immediately took cover.
"Is that the aliens!? Are they here?" Pidge leaned over.
"No those explosions were a distraction, for him! The Garrison's headed towards the blasts, and he's sneaking in from the other side!" Lance looked through the binoculars and immediately went into over drive.
"No way! Oh he is not gonna beat us in there! That guy is always trying one up me!" Lance took off with Hunk behind him.
"Who?"
"Keith!" Pidge followed suit.
"Who?"
"Are you sure?"
"I'd recognize that mullet anywhere!"
"WHO'S KEITH!?"
On (Y/N)'s end, she walked up quietly to the door only to be met with a pleasant surprise for once. It was dark and kinda hard to see, but that mullet was too recognizable.
"Keith?"
"(Y/N)!?" Keith had been to Shiro in a way that Pidge, Lance, and Hunk were to her, and they had met often times before and became pretty close friends, (Y/N) sorta becoming a mother to him. However, after Shiro vanished, Keith dropped out of the Garrison, leaving room for Lance in the Fighter class. She smiled at the teen.
"Nice to see a friendly face for once. But now's not the time. Let's get him out of there," Keith needed no explaining, and without a word between them, they headed in and quickly knocked out the scientist still remaining, (Y/N) being a little rougher than necessary. Keith coughed a laugh.
"And I have issues?"
"Don't start with me Keith,"
They ran up to the unconscious pilot and while Keith began cutting him loose, (Y/N) examined her lost lover. He was still as handsome as it had been but his nose was now marred by a large scar and a tuff of his ebony hair was now a ghostly white. Most alarming was his entire right arm was now missing and replaced with some sort of cyborg arm. Keith quickly pulled the still dreaming from the bed when Lance stormed in.
"No, nope, nope, I'm saving Shiro," Lance quickly supported Shiro from the other side while Keith just looked confused.
"Who are you?"
"Lance?...We were in the same class at the Garrison,"
"Really? Were you an engineer?"
"No, I'm a pilot, we were like rivals, you know Lance and Keith, neck and neck?"
"Oh wait I remember, you're a cargo pilot,"
"Well not anymore, I'm fighter class thanks to you washing out,"
"Well congratulations," the 2 bickering boys suddenly felt chills down their spines as (Y/N) sent a glare that could freeze over hell. Even Hunk and Pidge clung to each other in fear.
"Look, I enjoy reunions as much as the next person, BUT WE SHOULD REALLY GET A MOVE ON BEFORE SECURITY COMES BACK!" The boys swallowed loudly.
"Yes ma'am!"
The group ran out and Hunk scanned the distance with the binoculars.
"Oh they are coming back and they do not look happy! We've gotta go!"
The group ran over to parked hoverbike, everyone quickly piling on, the bike shuddering under the weight. (Y/N) took a position behind Keith, helping Pidge keep Shiro steady. Keith looked back at her.
"Is this thing gonna be big enough for all of us?" Pidge asked.
"No. How'd you know about this (N/N)?"
"We saw the ship crash at the Garrison. And you?"
"Um...call it some mystical pull or something,"
"Keith...I warned you about drinking the cactus juice out here didn't I?"
"I DO NOT DRINK THE CACTUS JUICE...this time,"
"Wait, you 2 know each other!? Back off man she's mentor!" Lance yelled. The group was then lit up by the lights of the motor units heading straight for them. (Y/N) gave Keith a shove.
"DRIVE MAN!" Keith immediately put his bike into drive and bolted away from the unit. As the chase began, everyone adjusted on the vehicle.
"Hey we did all fit!" Hunk stated in relief while (Y/N) and Pidge struggled to keep Shiro balanced.
"Why are me and (Y/N) holding this guy!?"
The teacher look back at the now gaining motor units while Lance growled in frustration.
"Can't this thing go any faster!?"
"We could throw out some non essential weight,"
"Good idea!...ok so that was an insult, I get it,"
"Lance, let Keith concentrate. Keith, play nice with my students!"
"Big man, lean left," Hunk did as he was told, causing 2 of the units to crash.
"Aw man, Professor Hiltman just totally took out Professor Montgomery! No wait, he's fine,"
"Hunk, lean right!"
The bike turned into a narrow and curved edge, wiping out another unit and put the group into a break away with a cliff dead ahead. Hunk pointed at it.
"Um is that a cliff!?" The group began crying out in worry and fear.
"Yep," Keith and (Y/N) said in unison. Keith smirked while picking up the pace while (Y/N) just nonchalantly readjusted to make sure neither she nor Shiro fell off. The trio gripped tightly to their mentor as they went over, ditching the last unit. Lance angrily yelled.
"What are doing!? You're gonna get us all killed!"
"Just shut up and trust me!" Keith repositioned his hand, causing the bike to narrowly avoid a crash and drive off into the distance.
Being accurate with dialogue is hard, but I wanted to be for this chapter!