A Stranger In A Familiar Land

Chapter One

Green is the Colour of the Heart

"Keep looking, dammit. No matter what... keep looking. Like the moment as a child when you first grasp the concept of death. You let yourself really think about non-existence... and its total inevitability... and it's absolutely terrifying. So you let your mind slide around it, and you eat a sandwich, and it's okay. But not today. Today I'm staring that final horror in the eye. I'm looking right into that empty hole. The void. The End."

– Superman, Action Comics #39

oOo

It was supposed to be a joke, an inside little bit of irony that only their family could understand. That small Superman keychain bought at a comic shop. There was nothing more than the famous shield and a couple of red, yellow, and blue beads that jingled when she walked, but the imagery, the thought of it; that was what mattered the most.

Kal El, the Kryptonian that fell out of the sky and was adopted by earth. An alien hiding among humans. It didn't matter that he wasn't real. What mattered was that he cared about everyone in the world, without exception, without judgment. So different and yet so alike; there was no one more human and more alien than Clark Kent.

Katie laughed with her brother, their own secret something that sparked them not only getting the keychain but a couple of graphic novels as well, reading them beneath their covers when the sun had long vanished over the horizon, whispering about what it would be like to fly, to be faster than sound, to jump a building in a single bound.

Before Kerberos, Katie bought Matt a matching keychain and engraved both with her father's tools using calligraphy stencils bought from the closest hobby store.

You're much stronger than you think you are, she had written. Trust me.

oOo

They were pods. Cryo pods just like the ones that were on the original ship that had first brought Pidge and her family to earth. She remembered the way that the cold air brushed across her skin when she played with the settings, the way that the metal always felt a bit textured when she ran her hands over the sides.

That same cold air brushed against her face, fluttering her bangs and kissing the makeup that covered her cheeks. It had gone from the powder she had used that morning to something that felt almost clay-like. The trials of being baked alive in the desert, she supposed where swat mixed with everything. A cleaning smell, the kind that could be found in hospitals, almost made Pidge sneeze.

But the woman falling out of the pod surprised her just as much as everyone. A scream of "Father!" echoing across the smooth expanse of the metal walls, filling the silence that had settled upon the group when the egg-like shapes had first rose from the floor. She fell, her hand outstretched and reaching for someone that wasn't there anymore and Lance, the only one close enough, jerked forward to catch her.

Pidge stared, eyes wide as she took in the dark features, the bright blue eyes.

The pointed ears.

Hand trembling, she reached up to touch her own cheek, fingers brushing the space between her cheekbone and eye, tracing a mark hidden from view.

A mark mirrored on the woman currently pinning Lance to the ground. The only difference was the striking rose pink that stood out clearly on her dark skin while Pidge's was a certain olive green that was more like the fading of summer than the beginning of spring. She gripped the flaps of the aviator hat keeping her own ears from view and pulled them down, tighter against her head.

But she couldn't stop staring.

"We don't know what you're talking about," Shiro said from her right and Pidge was dragged back into the conversations happening around her. "Why don't you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help."

Pidge's nails dug into the leather of the hat and stared up from under her bangs, holding her breath.

The woman straightened slightly, her eyes bright and yet hardened like light coming through stained glass. "I am Princess Allura," she said, "of Planet Altea."

Altea. The name rung like a bell and shattered all thoughts of anything else. Planet Altea. Princess Allura. Pidge remembered her father speak of King Alfor, of Voltron, of the great cities that looked over wide meadows filled with wildflowers. A planet she couldn't remember, a home that was distant and so very far away.

Gone, now.

"—Where we are. And how long we've been asleep."

Pidge moved automatically out of her way as she stepped up to the control consol. There was a faint roaring in her ears that drowned out the sound of everything and everyone else. She tilted her head back and watched Allura's face, tracing the line of her jaw, the curve of her eyes.

Her heart knocked impatiently against her ribcage, reminding her to breathe, and Pidge inhaled sharply. "You—" she started and swallowed roughly, something thick and painful clogging up her throat. The back of her eyes stung and felt almost unbearably hot and itchy all at once.

The look Allura gave her was carefully guarded.

"Pidge?" Hunk sounded confused.

She couldn't blame him. She was confused too. Her nails dug further into the fabric of the hat and her arms were full on shaking. "Your ears," Pidge managed finally and let go of one flap, letting the heavy material finally be pulled off her head. The aviator hat hung limply in her hands as she stared up at Allura, watched as the Princess' blue eyes grew wide, as her mouth opened in a soft gasp. "You're l-like me!"

And then the sobs came. Great, body wracking sobs that rose up from her stomach and made her ribs ache and her lungs heave. Pidge wiped at the tears that streamed down her cheeks, pushing her glasses up in order to stubbornly clear them away. She tried to use the leather of the hat to soak them up until it was gently pried from her fingers and new hands cupped her cheeks.

Pidge hiccupped and sniffed, shoulders trembling as she stared up at Allura.

The princess wiped her thumb along the makeup covering green marks, using the tears in order to expose them to the eyes of others for the first time in months. "Oh," she murmured softly and lowered herself to one knee, "oh, little one," Allura pulled back only to open her arms. "Come here."

Flinging herself forward, Pidge wrapped her arms around the Princess and buried her face into the soft fabric of the dress. Allura hummed against her hair and ran her hands down the thin, jerking back, rubbing comforting circles along Pidge's spine as she sobbed against the older Altean.

oOo

It was back before the Kerberos mission, a few months after the Garrison had taken her family into their custody that Katie and Matt snuck out of the barracks they had been given, donned makeup and a pair of thick hats to cover their ears, then made the three mile trek to the nearest movie theatre to watch whatever new direction Hollywood had decided to throw Clark Kent this time.

Neither had expected what they saw.

"So I'm alone."

"No. You are as much a child of Earth now as you are of Krypton. You can embody the best of both worlds."

They watched him fall and fly, be alien and, yet, be so incredibly human. Katie gripped her brother's hand and he gripped hers, their fingers digging into each other but neither caring.

"People of earth are different from us, it's true. But, ultimately, I believe that's a good thing. They won't necessarily make the same mistakes we did."

Katie leaned into her brother, their shoulders pressing together as the humans in the theatre were enthralled by the man who's deep voice rumbled through the room. Altea, the war with Galra, the ten thousand years that had passed between then and now. It was a mark on the universe's history, a blemish like every war, every battle that had come before it. Earth had those same blemishes, those same dark scars.

"Embodied within that hope is the very fundamental belief in the potential of every person to be a force for good."

The Alteans on earth couldn't fly, couldn't shoot lasers from their eyes, but they understood the loneliness of being the last, of being on a planet that wasn't their birthplace, but still their home.

So when Kal El killed one of the last of his people, dropping the number even lower, Katie and Matt forgot that they were watching a movie and ducked their heads in respect, in understanding. Neither of them wanted to think about what they would have to do in that situation, what they would feel, how they would react, in having to kill another one of their people after years of feeling alone.

When they got back to the Garrison that evening, Katie and Matt Holt crawled underneath the covers of their beds, turned on their flashlights, and read the old comics over and over again until they fell asleep.

oOo

The sobbing died down to hiccups, to shudders, and, finally, sniffles. Pidge clutched Allura's dress and breathed in as deeply as she could even if the sound was harried and ragged. She wiped at her nose and eyes with a sleeve, grimacing when smears of powder came away and streaked across the fabric. "Sorry," she murmured, turning away so she wouldn't have to see if she had made a mess of the Princess' clothing.

"It's quite alright," Allura said, quiet amusement colouring her tone and Pidge huffed when a hand ran through her hair, fluffing up her bangs.

When she finally got the courage to look up, the older Altean was smiling down at her, expression soft and eyes warm. Shakily, Pidge used her fingers to wipe away the remnants of her tears and carefully kept herself from looking at the humans standing not too far away. Hunk and Lance had been her teammates for quite a few months and being an alien had been only one of the many secrets she had kept from them.

She winced.

"Well," Allura turned to the control panel and Pidge followed, her hip brushing against the flair of the white skirt, "I have to say that this was a surprise."

"But quite a pleasant one!" The red haired man said, grinning as he leaned over and ruffled Pidge's hair. "Did you live on one of the colony planets?"

His hope was evident in both of them and Pidge regretfully shook her head. "No," she said softly, "we escaped from Altea before the Galra arrived."

"You were part of the envoy ships then," Allura frowned. "We thought they had all been destroyed during the ambush between the Double Star asteroid belt."

Flashing red. The ground shuddering beneath her. A belt that cut into her skin when the ship lurched. Crying. Shouting. Crunching metal and arms wrapping around her body.

"I don't know," Pidge rubbed at her arms and ducked her head, "I don't know how we survived." It had been something her father had been tight lipped about, promising to tell her and Matt when they were older. Except now she was older and she still didn't understand it, still didn't know what had happened.

There was less answers and more questions, some only her father could answer if—when—he was found.

Muffled squeaking came from one of the pods and Allura turned with a slight frown, heading towards the one she had woken up in. "Today is a good day," the princess said with a soft smile, looking down at the four mice that were currently racing across the metal, "And looks like we're not all alone after all."

A heavy hand rested on Pidge's shoulder and she fought the urge to jump, looking up at the owner out of the corner of her eye. It was Hunk and his grip tightened for a second before releasing, a small smile on his face. Tension bled out of her and she leaned into the engineer's hold, closing her eyes with a sigh of relief.

"You could have told us," his voice was soft so that the others wouldn't quite be able to pick up on it. "Lance and I wouldn't have told anyone."

What could she say to that? That she had been scared of getting caught? That the Garrison was the closest way to find out what had happened to her brother and father so she kept a careful tie on everything? That Lance and Hunk finding out might mean that she would get them in trouble as well?

Or was it just fear of a lack of acceptance, of the side-eyed looks the officers had given her family once the Garrison had taken them in, the awkward silences, the distrust. She was an alien. Her family hadn't been born on Earth even if they had been raised there. Perhaps that was the problem.

Pidge sighed and smiled apologetically up at the taller cadet. "I know," she said softly, "I'm sorry, it's just—"

"You don't care because they're different!"

She rubbed at her arm and ducked her head slightly.

"No, no," Hunk raised his hands up, "it's okay, I get it!" He didn't, not really, not to the fullest extent, but he could, one day. Some day.

She returned his smile.

oOo

Pidge Gunderson. She wrote it in her notebooks over and over again, carefully wiping Katie Holt out of her muscle memory no matter how much it stung. Just think of it as another identity, another persona.

Matt's old glass lenses were carefully replaced by non-corrective lenses, suitcase packed with his old clothing. She cut her hair but was unable to keep it from curling up at the ends making some sort of mockery of her brother. That was okay, though; it was something to remember him by.

"Are you sure?" Her mother asked her, carefully brushing the powder across Katie's cheeks. It was an old tradition from when she and Matt were younger and their parents had to help them disguise themselves because the chameleon abilities that naturally came with their species didn't quite kick in until they were adults. "If you get caught—"

"I just want answers," Katie pulled the aviator hat over her head and checked the mirror to make sure her ears were concealed. Everything that made her different was hidden away and she looked human.

That didn't mean she felt like it.

"Matt and dad are out there, I know it."

Her mother sighed softly and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I know," she said.

So Pidge Gunderson walked into the Garrison with only a pair of glasses and an aviator hat to keep her identity safe from the officials. It wasn't as hard as she thought it would be, answering to a new name, adopting a new identity.

Superman did not become Superman because of murder in an alley or a freak accident involving lightning or toxic materials; he was born into the role. His alter ego is Clark Kent. The outfit with the big red S is the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him; those are his clothes. What Kent wears, the glasses the business suit, that's the costume.

That's what Superman wears to blend in with the people of earth.

She just had to think human. Think like Clark Kent.

Katie adjusted her glasses and walked towards the two boys talking in front of the team assignments.

"Who the heck is Pidge Gunderson?"

"Right here."

oOo

"We don't have much time," Shiro was saying and Pidge was torn out of her thoughts on Voltron and the Lions. "Pidge and I will go get the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk to get the yellow one. Keith, you stay here. If you locate that Red Lion, go get it."

Allura was watching Shiro, but she nodded sharply once and spoke, bringing everyone's attention back to her. "In the meantime," she said, "I'll get this castle's defences ready. They'll be sorely needed."

Turning away from the Princess, Coran gave them all a once over before his gaze landed on Pidge. A small smile spread across his face and she ducked her head away, reaching up for the aviator hat that was no longer there. "I'll ready a pod and load the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion," he told Shiro, "but first..."

He grabbed the lump of leather and fur, offering it to Pidge and she snatched it up, pulling it over her head and letting out a sigh of relief as the familiar weight settled upon her brow. She was about to follow him and Shiro to one of the pods when an arm circled her shoulder.

"Pidge!" Lance stood over her, his eyes comically wide. "You're an alien!"

Behind him, Allura bristled slightly, her blue eyes narrowed and watched the teenager like a tigress observing a zookeeper with a cub.

"Yeah, I'm... I'm sorry I didn't tell you—"

"That's so cool! Can you fly? Can you pick up a car? Can you pick up me?"

She blinked rapidly for a second before shaking her head. "Uh, well, no I can't fly," Not for the lack of trying, though, "I don't know and, um, maybe?"

Lance looked like he was about to fling himself on top of her in order to test it before a hand grabbed the collar of his jacket and Hunk smiled the same kind of smile mothers used when their children were being an embarrassment in the grocery store. "Sorry," he told them both, though the word had a different meaning for the two of them, "Lance, we better get going."

"Oh," the pilot said, sounding disappointed, "yeah, guess you're right," he turned and nudged Pidge with his hip. "Seriously though," Lance winked at her, "it's totally cool."

Her smile was a tiny bit shy as she looked up at him. "Thank you," Pidge murmured and then scurried off to catch up with Shiro and Coran. She ducked between the two of them, fiddling with her shirt sleeves as they walked to the hanger. Lights that hadn't been on for over ten thousand years flickered to life and she watched them burn with that strange, blue-white light that covered the rest of the castle.

The pods themselves were strange and almost insect shaped, more round and lumpy than the cylinders of airplanes back on Earth. They were also white with a black bit of metal that fell away like it wasn't there at all for a cover to the two seats and controls. Shiro didn't seem all that surprised, but the guy had also, probably, been to the edge of the galaxy and back so Pidge didn't really take his lack of concern into account.

The ship he had crash landed back on Earth with must have been a bit weird anyway coming from a civilization that had existed for over ten thousand years. Maybe the pod and it were similar in make? It would explain a bit.

And then they were in the sky, heading out to space for the second time that day, and Pidge watched the Blue Lion turn towards a wormhole as she and Shiro entered another, took a deep breath as the pod lurched forward, and exhaled when they were out the other side.

"You're the other Altean," Shiro said after a moment when they were flying through nothing to get to a large, mostly green planet. "Commander Holt's daughter, right?"

She turned away slightly, rested her shoulder on the arm rest, and put her chin on her palm. The stars were interesting on this side of the universe—none of the constellations fully matched up and navigation would be a nightmare.

"I'm sorry," the pilot continued softly, "I'm sorry that I couldn't bring them back with me."

"It's not your fault," Pidge murmured and heard the sound of hands tightening on the controls. So she turned and saw Shiro's gritted teeth, the furrow of his brow. "It's not," she told him with more conviction.

His grey eyes turned to her, glinting like the edges of distant spears. "I failed them; my job was to look out for them and I didn't."

She stared at him for a long moment and then scowled, "I'm pretty sure you were in no condition to look after yourself much less the lives of two other people," Pidge poked him in the arm, right above where the prosthetic met flesh. "When you landed on Earth you were half delirious and were in a panic over an incoming invasion."

Pulling up slightly on the controls so that they weren't nose diving through the green planet's atmosphere, Shiro shook his head.

He was guilty and she knew it because she had felt that same soul crushing guilt from the time the Garrison told her about the so-called 'accident' to when the Lance and Hunk had caught her out on the rooftop. It was the type of guilt that was poisonous, that would eat the heart from the inside out.

Like hell it was his fault. Like hell it was hers.

"You said it yourself—that you don't remember all that happened when you were a prisoner," Pidge hunkered down in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. "For all you know, Matt and my father weren't even in the same place as you so there was no other option but to escape by yourself."

The pod jerked as they entered the atmosphere and Shiro tightened his grip to keep it steady. "You don't know that," he said quietly, the words barely heard over the roar of the gases that tried to burn the metal keeping them safe.

"But I know you, Shiro," Pidge turned away from him to stare over the dashboard. "I know that you helped my brother when others would stay away simply because he was different. I know that you were chosen by my father to pilot the mission for a reason," She closed her eyes and breathed in the filtered, recycled oxygen. Funny how life worked that way—people across the universe being fundamentally different and, yet, still needing the same, basic needs.

"I know that you would try to protect them even if it meant giving your own life in the process."

They entered a cloud and the windows were covered in white for a split moment, enough time for the low hum of the pod to fill both of their minds and gently encourage the thoughts blooming there. Reaching into her pocket, Pidge curled her hand around the heavy keychain that was there.

oOo

Trust was a bitter, frail thing. Trust, unlike hope, could be broken in seconds, in a handshake, a firm word, a cold look. Trust, Katie knew, was not something she could ever apply to Garrison Galaxy.

The feeds of the Kerberos Mission were carefully wiped, carefully doctored, the probes found nothing, files said, no evidence of a crash, of life, of scientific equipment and the pictures showed a similar story. There was simply nothing on Pluto's moon.

But there was a spot out of alignment. The surface twisted in one picture and was flat in the next. A star that didn't belong was on the horizon, the same crater taken from one place and stamped on the next without any changes to the form or shape.

Trust, Katie would scoff. Trust and faith could only take you so far when the people around you lied so blatantly to your face.

At night she would pull the pictures stolen from the Garrison up on her computer, clutch at the Superman keychain, and settle for hope instead.

oOo

This story is based off of Jakehercydraws' Altean!Pidge au which can be found on Tumblr. I'll update it gradually but this is just a place to put it and decide whether or not to keep writing posting my writing in the Voltron fandom.

Thank you for reading, please review if you liked (or even if you didn't).