"I wish I was going up with you guys," she sighed longingly while staring down at her food. All of a sudden, she started feeling light headed as her father's voice, no doubt giving words of confidence, started to drone out into the back of her mind. Then she was back as quickly as she came, but also not.

"Katie?" the concerned voices of her family filled her ears and she wanted to cry; she could look right and see her mom, look left and see Matt, then look further and see her father. That screwed up wormhole really must have dumped her in an unlucky place, to be in a fake world with her family would be something she wouldn't want to leave, as much as she knew she would have to.

"What's wrong, Kat? Miss us already?" Katie tried to ignore her "brother," she really did, but she really wanted to run around the table and...she wanted to do a lot of things. Hug him, hug her dad, but also shake him senseless because her brother was under Galra control, not with her on this illusionary planet. Instead, she tried to focus on something else, like not crying, or the unfamiliar weight of her long hair...or...the fact that she wasn't wearing her Paladin armor. Wait, what?

"Don't worry, Katie. The Kerberos Mission is only supposed to last for 2 months, we'll be back before you know it," her dad, her real dad, assured her. She smiled back and insisted she was fine and would miss them, but her mind was really just whirring. She was not on some planet hallucinating, she was on Earth, and somehow on Earth a day before the Kerberos team would leave.

: :

She didn't have enough time to hack her way into the system to somehow sabotage the mission...and besides, it was Shiro's crash landing after escaping the Galra that gathered them all together to form Voltron. Unexpectedly, her door opened and Matt peeked his head in, breaking her out of her late night planning.

"Hey...back at dinner," Matt's voice trailed off as he closed the door with a soft 'click'. It was an invitation for her to open her heart and problems to him, but also an opening. An opportunity.

"Switch with me!" she blurted out before she could have any second thoughts or lose the chance. At his surprised look, she attempted to reason with him without rambling, thank you very much, Shiro, "I could cut my hair and borrow your spare glasses, and you could use that old wig in my closet from Halloween. Besides, you have contacts so you don't have to worry about being blind without your glasses, and we haven't pulled the switch in so long that Mom and Dad won't think anything of it until it's too late. PLEASE, Matt," she knew it was hardly a plan at all, but she had to at least try to save her brother if nobody else. And maybe, if she were lucky, she'd be able to protect her Dad while hatching an escape plan when she had more time. But first...

Obviously, it wasn't the trivial "switch with me to mess with our friends/parents/teacher" that it used to be when they were younger with about the same length hair. Plus, sooner or later, their parents would figure out. But it was worth a shot and if she wasn't mistaken, the look on Matt's face meant he was considering it.

"I kno-"

"Okay." Katie blinked. A beat passed. "You... From what I can see, this really means a lot to you, probably more than it means to me, to be honest," Matt let out a light chuckle, even as he looked a bit torn over what he was doing. "And besides, how could I let down my favorite sister in the whole wide universe?" Her efforts at dinner may have been successful, but now the waterworks were on with no sign of stopping.

She gave in, and stood up from sitting on her bed to hug Matt like she would never let go, "Thank you, thank you so much, you won't regret this," or at least, she wouldn't, "I...I love you so much, I'll miss you," she hugged tighter and tried not to think of giving up and telling her father to not go, otherwise there would be no Voltron to fight back against Zarkon.

This...changed a lot, now that Katie took a good look at the situation, after already having done a lot. Might as well try to fix that. "Oh, and...maaaaybe, while we're at it, you can enroll in the Garrison for me. And hey, I'll cut you some slack, when you're standing in for me in school you won't have to be a girl, you can stop wearing the wig and contacts. Maybe take on a whole new identity, like in undercover movies, like 'Pidge Gunderson' or something," she made sure to keep her tone light as if she were teasing him.

Matt scoffed and played along, "You want me to deal with Iverson all over again? And what kind of a name is 'Pidge Gunderson'? Like pidgeons? Here, let me write that down so I don't forget," he rolled his eyes and slid the folded paper into his pocket, 'where money and souls disappear' he once joked.

"I'll just go cut my hair," she laughed, "and I have so many of your hand-me-downs anyway, so the clothes won't be an issue and you won't have to wear dresses or skirts."

"I'm really doing this," she repeated to herself in her head, the phrase a calming mantra for her nerves as she steadily clipped her hair into looking like Matt's.

: :

It had worked, initially. Her father still knew she and Matt had impersonated each other, though. But she had been taken by the Galra in Matt's stead. And now, way after-the-fact, they were being led somewhere - her, Shiro, and the prisoners she had rescued in another timeline.

Oh. They were going to fight the thing that would become the first Robeast to go against Voltron. How lovely. Wait, that thing was pointing at her, so she'd be fighting...at least she knew how to beat it now, its weakness was the weapon's recharge period every third time around. She stepped forward, only to be roughtly pulled back and thrown onto the floor. She didn't have long to gather her bearings, he was already making a scene to be thrown into the Gladiator ring in her stead just like he did for Matt.

"Its weapon has to recharge every three times!" she hissed before he could get hauled off and knew he heard her tip because of the look on his face. 'Oh well,' she sighed to herself, 'guess he's the Champion for a reason...I should lay low and not capture anyone's attention...hey, maybe I can reprogram Rover while I'm at it."

: :

"...all crew members are believed to be dead..." Time went on, the world kept revolving, and that female newscaster kept speaking as pictures of his dad, himself, and Shiro were plastered on the screen. "...crash caused by pilot error..." And to think a while ago his main concern was his mother's reaction to the siblings' deceit.

The blue light of the TV shone onto his and his mother's faces, but she didn't move or say anything and neither did he. 'That...that should have been me.'

...guess which piece of trash got roped into marathoning the entirety of Voltron a few nights ago? *cough* It's all AvidAkiraReader's fault.