Lance had always considered himself an expert at sneaking out. Hell, he'd become a paladin because of sneaking out of the Garrison the fateful night Shiro had crash-landed on Earth.

And even though UA greatly differed from the Garrison, a school was still a school with the same, good old 'super-strong' security system he had seen Pidge crack a thousand times. All it took was asking her for a quick recap before dinner and catching a camera-bot with Keith a few hours later to rewire it and switch to some previously recorded footage. With the help of Aoyama's and Ashido's student IDs as a back-up plan, cameras reporting yesterday's feed and a not-quite-unimpressive athletic feast to get over the school's walls without alerting anyone, Lance and Keith finally found themselves outside school grounds at two in the morning.

"And now?" He asked, as if he didn't know well enough that their plan was nonexistent. All of their previous actions had been more or less improvised on the spot, and the following ones would likely be no exceptions.

"I don't know. We need to get out of the city, that's for sure." Keith shrugged, choosing a random direction and beginning a fast pace.

"Oh really, Captain Obvious?" Lance let out an over-dramatic gasp. He was unusually thankful for his lanky legs when he had no problem catching up to and passing the red paladin – snide remarks wouldn't have had much of an effect if he kept following behind like some sheep.

"You asked!"

"Sure, but I was expecting an answer like 'we'll take this subway and get off at this station and walk to this location'... You know, because you're supposedly pretty smart and all?"

Biting his lip, Keith decided to ignore that comment, instead grabbing Lance's wrist to take a sudden left turn and pull him through a small side-street that consisted of a neatly arranged row of cream-colored two-story houses. "Your plan sounds good. We'll just have to ask someone for directions."

"Wait, we don't even have money, it-" Lance protested, silenced barely a second later by the other pulling out a small black wallet full of coins and some notes.

Oh right. The money they'd gotten from the principal when they had just arrived in that reality. But they had entrusted Shiro with it, so why was Keith waving it around now?

He decided he'd save that question for later. Instead, Lance nodded solemnly and buried his hands in the pockets of his jacket, fixing his gaze on the asphalt while he let his mind wander off.

Everything around him felt so normal at the moment that he didn't quite know what to do with that sensation.

The flickering lamppost at the end of the street. The distant noise of cars driving by. The neon signs of fast-food restaurants towering over the sea of rooftops.

He was back on Earth. He was back on Earth and walking around town like a normal human. Everything was alright. There were no aliens, no lions – not yet, anyway –, no pesky 'professional superheroes' that watched his every move. It was just like the times he would sneak out with Hunk, and yet oh-so-different.

So much had changed.

Looking up at Keith and meeting his eyes, he decided he didn't quite mind that. Yes, he would've given everything to see his family, to know they were safe and sound and not mourning his presumed death or whatever. But he also wouldn't have wanted to change a single thing regarding his adventures in space. He had no regrets.

His family wasn't the only reason he wanted to return to his reality. He wanted to go for Allura and Coran, for all the aliens who depended on them. For Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith, who all had their own reasons for wanting to go back.

In a way, Lance's main motivation had become all the friends that had grown to be much more than that.

"What are you thinking about?" Keith asked at last. He must've gotten tired of Lance staring at him.

Lance shrugged. "Stuff."

"Stuff?"

"It's weird to be back on Earth. Even weirder to go to space again."

"...Yeah. Yeah, it is."

It wasn't unusual for Shouto Todoroki to have nightmares. He was used to waking up in the middle of the night, hearing cursed words spoken in the past echoing in his head.

Being greeted with buzzing radio static was something entirely new.

He sat up and kicked the blanket off his legs.

The white noise was clearly coming from his desk, even though he couldn't recall leaving any sort of electronic device there earlier.

Shouto shuffled over to the source, grabbing random objects in the dark until he finally heard the buzz move slightly to the left as he pulled his hand back. Having found what he'd been looking for, he ran his fingers across the surface to identify the item; his mother's old radio he'd discovered in one of the boxes when he had first moved in.

As far as he knew, he hadn't ever used it. Because his mother had received it from his great-grandmother in the first place, the device was worn down and the sound quality was no good. It was best used as only a decoration now.

So why was it turned on all of a sudden?

Not that it mattered. Such a thing could be easily explained by Kaminari accidentally messing with the electronic devices in his surroundings. Shouto could just turn it off and go back to sleep.

All of a sudden, a woman's voice overlaid the static. It took him a few seconds to comprehend that he did not understand what she was saying, maybe because he knew she needed help despite that. Her rushed speech sounded panicked, albeit she must've calmed down halfway through, as she slowed down and tried her best at a firm voice.

"Paladins of Voltron, can you hear me?" A different woman had taken over, switching to a heavily accented, somewhat broken try at English. It sounded worse than Shouto in middle school, and that said a lot. "What's your situation?"

"The princess and I are very worried. Please send us your location coordinates." This time, it was a man speaking, rambling on about something Shouto didn't understand before pausing.

"Wait. Princess, what if they got separated? What if the lions all got sent to different reali-?"

That was the last thing Shouto heard before the transmission cut out and the radio static returned again and he was left to ponder about the cryptic message in the dark.

Wandering through the streets had eventually led them to a bigger, better lit road where a still open convenience store drew in people doing some necessity-shopping. It was unusually lively; perhaps a spot beloved by half-drunken party-goers, late-night snack-seekers, or people working night shifts.

"So, I'm the one doing the talking, I suppose?" Lance questioned, though that had been kind of obvious since the start. A sort of unspoken decision they had made back when they'd first resolved on asking for directions.

Keith nodded and took a few more steps towards the entrance, his expectant gaze urging Lance to do the same.

"Excuse me, Ma'am," the latter begun, earning a surprised look from the middle-aged woman leaving the store with five full plastic bags hung on her arms. Because a Latino speaking perfect Japanese was a lot weirder than guys with Lego blocks for heads, it seemed. "if you don't mind me asking, could you please tell us where the nearest subway or bus station is located?"

"Oh…" The woman paused, looking around as if she was desperately searching for someone to help her out of the situation. "I don't think I'm the best person to ask… But I think it's three streets from here. Might depend on where you want to go, though."

"Ah, well, we're-"

"Boys! What are you doing here at this time of day?" A tall, muscular man in a weird get-up – a superhero most likely – answered the lady's pleads for help and stepped in. He wore a bright smile that did not at all match his furrowed eyebrows. "Shouldn't you be at home? Your parents must be worried!"

This earned a disapproving look from both paladins. Sadly, it didn't deter the guy in the slightest.

"We're looking for the nearest subway or bus station, Sir."

The hero's attitude changed at the drop of a hat as Keith and Lance went from a delinquent-status to potential supporters in his mind, immediately insisting on accompanying the 'poor lost teenagers' on their way to the station.

"Are you on some kind of trip, then?" Quantum Crow – introducing himself was the second thing he'd done after they'd set off towards their destination – inquired, ruffling a clearly uncomfortable Keith's hair in the process. "Or are you new here?"

"I guess you could call it a trip, yeah." Lance shrugged. He too wanted desperately for this to be over.

"You guess? That doesn't sound all too confident now, does it? Where are you from?"

"Far, far away." He replied, surprised when his voice melted together with Keith's.

"America."

Lance looked at the red paladin with surprise. Their gazes met, and the look on Keith's face was just too ridiculous not to laugh. To his relief, Keith didn't take it too seriously and joined in with a weak chuckle.

It was the sort of private moment where one cracked up for no apparent reason, where even the smallest thing from a specific person could set off a smile. And gosh, had Lance missed laughing so carefree and comfortably.

Of course, Quantum Crow had to ruin the moment. "Yeah, I guess America is pretty far away. Nothing too bad though. I personally think long flights are the most enjoyable. But your parents let you kids travel this far all alone?"

Did they really look that young? Maybe it was the millennia-old lioness talking, but Lance felt quite mature compared to other teens around here.

"Yeah…? Why wouldn't they? We're more than able to look out for ourselves." Keith argued.

"Fair enough. Your Japanese is quite impressive as well. I suppose I'm a bit overprotective, if that's even something you can be with strangers." The pro-hero grinned. "Oh look, we're here. Just get off at the fourth- no, the fifth stop."

"Thank you," Lance said with an amused smile, not even stopping to say goodbye.

"No problem! Quantum Crow is always willing to help! Have a nice trip, guys!"

Keith smirked as the hero flailed his arms – a sorry excuse of a wave, Lance assumed – and ran off into the night in his flashy cyberpunk-Zorro-cosplay.

"I don't know about you, but I like him. He's my favorite superhero now." Lance gently elbowed Keith's side, then turned on his heels to buy their tickets.

"Can we focus on the mission, please? It's almost morning. We lost nearly an hour trying to find here."

"That's what we've been doing this whole time, Mullet. Missions usually don't just take less than five minutes."

Keith pursed his lips, placing a banknote into Lance's outstretched palm. "I know. Sorry."

"School starts around eight, most students would wake up around six. We still have hours, okay?" Lance assured, pocketing the tickets and the change handed to him by the machine and heading for the bus. "Come on."

He sat down in the last row and watched as Keith came to a halt in front of him, grabbing the edge of another seat to keep himself from falling once the bus slowly set in motion.

"So, what's the plan? What are we going to do once we're out there?"

The red paladin, ever so decisive and stubborn, shrugged. Perhaps this whole thing was wearing him down to the point not even breaking out of the nation's top hero school got his blood boiling, perhaps he was just tired. Either way, Lance did not like Keith's low-energy alter ego.

"Well, I'd say we go find that certain empty lot or whatever, do what we're supposed to do to bond with our lions when they're a part of us and repeat that until we summon them. Then, we fly into space, distance ourselves a few galaxies from Earth, and look for alien life. We have to find it eventually if we go deep enough and travel as far away from Earth as possible." His rambling slowly died out when the only response he got was a curt nod.

Keith had closed his eyes and scrunched up his nose in concentration.

"How's Red?" Lance asked while attacking the other's side with his index finger to get his attention.

Yelping, Keith slapped his hand away. "She finds your idea good, however simple it may be. Sorry if it looked like I wasn't paying attention to you."

Starting to feel kind of bad now, Lance took his eyes off the boy and looked out the window. The yellow lights in the distance shone like the sea of stars he would see from the Castle of Lions every time the ship swam around in dark matter.

It was amusing how he ended up missing space now when he'd always longed for home whenever he was away.

"You know what I like most about Earth?"

"Hmm?" He could see Keith raise his eyebrows in the corner of his vision. The sight immediately made him smile.

"The diversity of little moments that make you feel like time has stopped. Where reality just isn't like it normally is. Driving through the middle of nowhere at night, for example." Lance gestured to the window with his head. "You don't get that in space."

Keith nodded understandingly, but Lance could see the gears in his head turning, trying to fully comprehend what exactly he meant by that. It wasn't an unusual thing for people who didn't have the patience to think about the world to not grasp his thoughts on that matter at first.

"I'm getting distracted, I know, and I'm sorry," he quickly dismissed the subject. They didn't have the time to chat about his obscure thoughts.

Keith's expression softened a bit. "That's okay. We don't have to get off yet anyway."

Lance let out a sigh of relief. Did this mean he could carry on with his ramblings?

"What is it for you? Do you even like Earth? You seem more than eager to leave, and I know it's because the universe is in danger and Voltron is the only weapon holding back Zarkon from destroying everything, but… Still."

"I..." Keith opened his mouth, but the words seemed to have gotten stuck in his throat. "I'm not sure. We should get off now."

"Wait, no, you're not seriously changing the subject! The pro-hero guy said the fifth stop, not the fourth!" Lance protested, but before he knew it, the bus had hit the brakes and Keith was gone.

Lance stood across from him with crossed arms, looking at him expectantly.

"Try to concentrate. Patience yields focus," Keith recited, closing his eyes once more as he listened to the calming purring in the back of his head.

"Oh, so you're okay with bonding with your lion but not with me? I thought you wanted to have a bonding moment?"

"So you do remember it!" He narrowed his eyes. Couldn't Lance just focus on why they were here?

"Concentrate, Keith, you said it yourself!" Lance back-pedaled, facing away from him and finally letting the silence return, giving Keith a second chance at talking to Red.

So, he wondered, giving his attention to his lion's purring once more, did Red have any idea how to do this?

She wasn't quite sure.

Such an answer just didn't sound right coming from an ancient magic robot lion destined to save the universe.

The sensation of warmth across his skin did provide partial comfort though. What had been the coldness of night air turned into a blazing fire that embraced but refused to burn him. He felt empowered; nearly invincible, like the physical restraints of his mortal body simply didn't exist anymore. It was only passionate fire and power he consisted of.

Once the fleeting feeling of being drunk with power passed, Keith opened his eyes, only to see the ever-so-familiar glowing red control panel in front of him.

He was home.

Looking to his left, he could see Blue standing there in all her glory, a grinning Lance's face appearing in holographic form next to Keith's hand.

"That was easier than I'd thought... Gosh, it feels so good to be flying my girl again, right Blue?" The blue paladin gave the wall of his lion a gentle pat. "Let's take these ladies for a ride, shall we?"

Blue prepared for takeoff and barely five seconds later, Lance was already rocketing towards the night sky like a blue reverse-meteor. About three-hundred feet above Keith, the lion decelerated and changed into a slower backward-float.

"Are you coming, buddy?"

Right. Keith grabbed Red's controls and began lifting the massive robot-lion off the ground, hovering over the deserted field just long enough to make sure they hadn't caused any major damages. The Voltron lions were massive, after all.

Quiznak, he hadn't realized how much he'd missed flying.

Riding the lions was a feeling that could hardly be explained to someone who hadn't experienced it first hand. It was a thousand times better than any sort of flier the Garrison could come up with. Alone the absolute freedom one felt when speeding through the sky. You could give your lion the smallest of impulses and she would know exactly what you meant as if she was an extension of your body. Like an extra limb with a little more free will.

Okay, Keith wasn't the best at describing it either.

Passing Blue, Keith soared into the clouds and even higher, the stars coming into sight as he left Earth's atmosphere behind.

Lance did a few loops for good measure before coming to a stop beside him. "The stars are beautiful tonight, aren't they?"

"They are magnificent." He smiled. "Let's hope it stays like that. Red, do you know the way?"

Of course, she did. It would take a while without wormholes, Keith was aware, but even this took less time than waiting for Earth's scientists to figure things out.

"Alright... Lance-"

"The one who finds extraterrestrials first wins!" Lance shouted over the intercom, speeding off towards the galaxies next door.

Hey there! Thanks for reading this chapter!

I know it's super Lance & Keith centric (and Shouto's scene low-key feels out of place), I'm sorry, but that also means the next chapter will be focusing on those left behind in UA, so there's that, I guess...?

Also, I really hope I didn't get too philosophical or something with Lance. I just feel like he's the type of person who appreciates the small things, you know?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please tell me what you think/what you liked in the comments, feedback always helps me a lot! On another note, I hope you stay safe and healthy! See you next chapter!