InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "He's dead, Jim."

It wasn’t like other planets didn’t have their own suns, but it wasn’t the same. There was warmth in the rays that landed on Lance’s cheeks and nose, but also comfort and familiarity. This was Earth. It was a planet full of humans. There were beaches. There were trees and cities. Sure, the unknown was cool, but every so often you just wanted home.

Lance set his backpack down and stretched out almost feline-like in the sunny patch of ground just outside the military base. They had given him some instructions, a small allowance, and an address that was supposedly where a bed and all the necessities would be. What didn’t get, however… that one blond officer’s number. He heaved a sigh.

Then, he pulled out his phone and punched in the address she had given him. After navigating space, a little walk through town would be cake, right? He squinted against the sun glare reflecting off the screen. Right at the corner? Alright. The backpack was hooked over a shoulder, and Lance took a few steps towards his new destination.

Once outside the facility, Keith just stopped and stared for a long moment. Not because this place was new or anything. It was the opposite. The landscape looked so… normal. Familiar. Ignoring everything that has just happened, he could almost consider that all the space stuff had been some dream and now he had to make his way to his next class at the Garrison.

Almost.

He still didn’t like any of this, but at least the government had kept their word. Clean bill of health, released, and all his weapons back to him. Which put him more at ease even if he wasn’t sure what he was doing here. While finding out he had lodging here already was weird, he was relieved if just for the fact that it gave him something to focus on. He pulled his device out, pulling up the address, and a map. His eyes stayed focused on the device as he moved, making sure he had his orientation right in regards to which direction to go.

Lance breathed deep. Earth. It was just so hard to stop smiling about being home. Or, well, a version of home. This would be perfect if only his family was waiting for him in Cuba, but the military staff had been pretty adamant about not getting hopes up. So far, they seemed to be right about that much…

But, still…! Still, this was a welcome break from fighting against Zarkon, the Galra Empire, and now Lotor and his generals. It was one crisis to another. Was it really so selfish to want a week off? To just find a nice spot outside to soak up some sun? As much as the universe needed Voltron, maybe people overlooked that the average age of the team was in the teens.

Lance hooked a turn, but about halfway down the block, he had a feeling niggling at the back of his mind. Unable to shake it off, he turned halfway to look over his shoulder. His face scrunched up as someone who looked a lot like Keith rounded the same bend.

Keith really wished they’d tossed in his speeder at the very least along with this free apartment. He’d be there by now if he had his speeder. Or be there and out exploring by now even. Glancing up to make sure his bearings were right, he stopped short when he caught sight of- yup, that’d be Lance with that look.

He glanced back over his shoulders just to make sure there wasn’t someone else around before raised his hands in a palms up shrug of ‘what?’.

In response to that, Lance, for all his subtlety, decided that the best thing to do was to yell across the distance. “Are you following me?” It wasn’t really annoyance, but there was a sort of accepted approach to each other that required exasperation and, apparently, open admissions of doubt in turns. Right now, Lance was angling for exasperation.

Keith wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but it hadn’t been that. Which, in hindsight, was his mistake considering, well, this was Lance. Still, he stared in disbelief for a moment before indignant met exasperation.

“What? No,” he yelled back. “Why would I be following you?”

“Because I’m walking in this direction, and you’re…” Lance raised his arms, making little spidery movements with his fingers. “Sneaking around the background. Look, if you’re going this way, just don’t be all creepy about it. We can walk together until you split off to wherever they assigned you.” Feeling that had the right air of maturity, Lance crossed his arms and gave Keith a satisfied smile.

Keith spread his arms out as he looked around at the bright, open street. “How is this sneaking?” Honestly, the only way it could get any farther from sneaking was if he ran his mouth off as much as Lance or Hunk did when things go ‘creepy’.

He rolled his eyes as he started up walking again. Not to take Lance up on his offer, but just because that was the direction he was going and he’d rather get to whatever lodging this was sooner rather than later. And sooner wouldn’t happen with either doing a stand off or having to deal with Lance stopping every ten steps to go on about ‘sneaking’. “I’m just walking. You’re the one making it all weird.”

“I’m not --” Lance had a finger lifted to protest, but as Keith walked past, he dropped his arm and bolted ahead into a short jog to catch up. “Whatever. Look, if we’re both going this way, might as well just team up.”

There was a fire hydrant in Lance’s direct path, but he swooped a long leg over it easily. “Where’re you headed? Did they give you an address?” With that, Lance leaned over, attempting to peer at the screen in Keith’s hand, ignoring entirely what personal space was.

Keith glared at Lance as he came into his space. Not a very heated glare, more of the usual ‘are you kidding me’ glare. He nudged Lance with his elbow to get him to back off. He didn’t try and hide the phone though. He wasn’t in that much of a contrary mood at the moment. Instead he held the phone with the address blipping on the map out towards Lance as a bit of a reward and also more incentive to get some space.

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” he ventured. “We’ve gotten free rooms from other places before, but they owned the buildings. Does the military own this entire town?”

It was lack of familiarity with the area and route that made Lance realize that seeing the screen didn’t really help. It just looked like Keith was headed in the same direction in general, which, Lance supposed, probably made sense. All of the housing had to be in the same area. A quick check on his own phone verified that that looked to be the case. They were only a few blocks away from his own destination now.

“I don’t… think so?” Lance stooped a bit, his free hand thrust into the pocket of his jeans as he thought back on what the military staff had told him. “It sounded like whatever pulled us here pulled a lot of other people, but there are locals that have no idea what’s going on.” A thin line appeared between Lance’s brows. “No one seems brainwashed, but it is pretty weird.”

He scanned along the sidewalk across the street. A father and daughter were walking the opposite way. When the daughter caught Lance looked, she gave a small, cheerful wave. Lance raised a hand to wave back, but whispered over to Keith, “Other theory: everyone is a robot.”

Keith tilted his head to catch a glimpse of Lance’s phone. Which… didn’t help much. The layout looked very similar to what he’d been studying before, but he also hadn’t memorized the whole town yet, so he couldn’t be sure if there wasn’t other parts of town with the same sort of street plan.

He frowned as he mimicked the scanning of the area around them. “They don’t need to be brainwashed to be clueless. If the government are lying to them about us, who knows what else they’re lying about.” Maybe that was a bit too paranoid. The government had kept their word after all and Shiro seemed to trust them. But back on their world, they hadn’t even scratched the surface of what the Garrison might be covering up before Blue whisked them away and who knows what they might’ve done to Shiro if they hadn’t rescued him. Plus the timing just left him on edge. Their trip to that alternate world. Finding out Lotor made a ship from the comet and was trying to open a wormhole. Zarkon and Voltron’s history with the rifts between worlds. And then they end up in this new place? That seemed like an awfully big coincidence.

He sighed as he looked at the father and daughter passing by. Even if he was being paranoid, that… “They’re not robots,” he pointed out before frowning more. “Maybe. How would you even test for that?”

“If we do things your way, I guess you could stab them with a blade, but…” Lance shrugged. “I think that goes against the code we have going. And the law?”

A glimpse at the phone in Lance’s hands revealed a turn about a block ahead. Maybe this would be the point when Keith wandered off on his own. The thought made a small part of Lance’s heart twist. This wasn’t the first time the team had split apart, but never had there been a case of saying goodnight and wandering off to separate buildings without knowing there would be plenty of teamwork tomorrow. What really held them together, right? What if there weren’t any lions on this Earth? What if… this was it?

Lance barely noticed that a frown had formed on his face as the questions and doubts amplified and multiplied outwards. He fell silent, staring at the stretch of pavement ahead with his phone held up to compare against the plotted route.

His frown tightened into a scowl as Keith turned his focus on Lance. “I don’t just go around and stab people,” he grumbled. Even if it would technically answer the question, it would only really work out if the people being stabbed were robots who could then be repaired. Not so much if they were actually flesh and blood.

He was expecting some sort of retort. Something along the usual lines of loner, moody, and pointing out all the times he had slashed someone with his sword or knife. He hadn’t expected silence and a frown. And not really the sort of frown you’d get from confusing directions. No, it wasn’t that. They’d had to try and figure stuff out together enough that he’d recognize that look. This frown was more… well, it reminded Keith of the tail end of whenever Lance talked about his family and home. Or maybe six paladins, five lions…

“It’ll work out,” he offered, not sure what he was even talking about but it seemed like something good and comforting to say. He glanced down at his phone. “Where to next?”

“Hmm?” Lance stirred from his inner thoughts, looking up and over at Keith with a slightly bemused expression. “Oh. Oh, yeah. Sure,” he mumbled, distracted for just a second more as he tried to shake the fear that Voltron was a closed chapter in their lives. Going home -- getting back to Earth was always the end goal, but not like this. They had so much more work to do, and Lance knew that. Even if he tried to convince himself and everyone else that this was perfect. For moments at a time, it was even believable.

“I’m turning up ahead. I think I have a few more blocks to walk after that, but it looks like we’re close to my stop.” A slender finger tapped the screen as Lance verified the final few directions. “What about you? Think you can make it alone?” And just like that, the little switch was flipped. Lance grinned over at Keith, even nudging the other paladin with an elbow.

With that whatever moment was gone. Whatever had caused the frown was pushed down wherever Lance pushes stuff. If it was important, the other boy might bring it up later. After all, you’re the leader. Keith’s smile back was a little tight before he rolled his eyes.

“Making it alone is required for that whole ‘loner’ thing,” he pointed out. Even so, his brow furrowed as he looked at his screen. “Wait… turn and then a few blocks?” His eyes narrowed. “Right or left side?”

“Yeah…” Lance double-checked his screen, then jabbed a thumb in his intended direction. “Right. Bluebonnet Village?”

There was a beat, then Lance stopped in his tracks, and narrowed his eyes at Keith.

“You’re headed there, too.” It wasn’t a question. Of course Keith would be assigned the same building. It was a relief, all told, but Lance had to keep up appearances. He leaned in, still squinting and awaiting Keith to confirm.

Keith crossed his arms and stood his ground, his lips pressed in a tight line and his expression stuck on annoyed even if resignation and dread were having a field day in his brain. Really though, Lance couldn’t just state something and then look like he was going to pounce if he didn’t get an answer. Especially when Keith really didn’t have any say in where he was staying. At all. If he had a say, they wouldn’t be walking into town, they’d be walking out of it…

“Which unit?” he asked, the resignation coming out in his voice because he knew. With how much the universe obviously hated him, he knew what the answer had to be.

“Seven. Which is what they assigned you, isn’t it? Of course it is!” Lance threw his arms up, turned full around on his heels, and started to chew up the distance between them and the housing complex, which was just a short jaunt further. He could see the sign in front.

“First dibs on bedrooms!” Lance called back over his shoulder. It might have been a dare to get Keith scrambling, but with that much, Lance broke into a run.

A long whoosh of breath was the only answer. Because of course. Of course. Keith hadn’t really needed to ask to know, but now he had the confirmation. So much for alone. He would’ve been content to just stand there and let the housing situation sink in fully. To eventually mosey on over and maybe by that time Lance would be less… energy. Except…

“Hey! No!” he called out. “You can’t do that!” For all he knew, this new place of theirs only had one bedroom and he wasn’t going to get stuck with the couch for the entire time they were stuck here. Not that a couch was a bad thing, but he knew he’d have to deal with Lance lording over the fact he got the bedroom every morning. “You don’t get dibs!” he shouted as he sprinted after Lance, the distance between them closing quickly.