"Hey lance I scanned the pod and all the stuff but I transferred the data to the small devices so you can keep an eye on Lotor while he's in the pod and your piloting," pidge walked up to lance as he was sitting outside of the red lion and drinking some water the next day.

"Oh really? Thanks Pidge," lance smiled at her as she handed him the orange phone they all had now.

"No problem, Keith told us the conditions but I mean the pods never let us down before," Pidge put her hands behind her and rocked on her heels.

"That's true," lance agreed sipping some water.

"Did you get sleep last night?" She asked concerned.

"Yea-Yea I got some, enough, a lot is on my mind, plus we get to go home again," lance sighed smiling softly.

"I'm so excited to see my dad and my mom- oh she's going to be so mad that I ran away... I hope I'm not grounded," Pidge froze now thinking about her mother's punishments.

"Ugh same, my mom is going to lock me in my room to make sure I don't leave again," lance snorted.

"Do they know your bi?" Pidge sat with him curiously.

"Ha... no," Lance gulped rubbing the back of his neck. "I've been in garrisons so it was hard to talk to them after the accident, and I never got to it I guess,"

"Well they're going to be surprised who you got wrapped around your pinky," Pidge smirked at him and lance smiled seeing she was trying to cheer him up but it faded soon.

"You okay?" She asked seeing Lances face.

"Yea, just Lotor, i know you guys think I'm just going to go running back to him like this all never happened but I'm upset with him for it all, I'm pissed for what he did but I never wanted anyone to be hurt, including him, Lotor messed up but he doesn't deserve this," lance sighed rubbing his face.

"No one deserves to loose one or two limbs," Pidge nodded.

"Something still bothers me, Lotor mentioned Hagar," Lance looked at the ground frowning. "Hagar is dead, but he sounded like she wasn't really..."

"You think Hagar is alive?" Pidge asked.

"She's a Druid, that didn't die for 10,000 years, I wouldn't doubt it, if Honerva is alive what if... what if that's what pushed Lotor past his limit?" Lance looked at her calmly and pidge thought about it.

"Honerva and Hagar... theyre the same person?" Pidge asked again connecting the dots.

"Yea, honerva-Hagar, she's lotors mother, and all the stress of the empire, telling him he's the abusive evil dictator that's his father, I can't imagine," lance pursed his lips looking ahead as he thought about it all.

"And the quintessence access to his body, it just increases everything," Pidge nodded feeling guilty.

"I'm not making excuses for him, what he did was still wrong but I think he was having a break down," lance sighed putting his hand over his chin and rubbed his face again.

"I-I'm Sorry, I'm sorry this happened to him," Pidge leaned against lance, he smiled and wrapped an arm around her.

"It'll be okay Pidge," he smiled down at her.

"Hey mind if I scan Lotor? I'll need something to do on the trip and maybe I can figure out to make him prosthetics by the time we get to earth," Pidge looked up at lance with wide eyes.

"Sure, go do that quick while we finish packing for the trip," lance got up and pidge ran in the red lion with her screens up.

——

"We're you able to contact earth?" Shiro asked as Pidge and lance walked over to the group.

"No luck, the low power levels are probably affecting our broadcast distance, I'll keep trying as we head for earth," Pidge told them pursing her lips as it was odd.

"I can't believe we're going home," lance crossed his arms next to her smiling.

"I'm going to hug my parents and never let go," Hunk hummed happily.

"I can't wait to see how dad interacted altean and earth technologies together, I bet he came up with something amazing!" Pidge gasped excited looking at the boys.

"How long do you think it'll take us to get home?" Keith asked looking at Coran as the altean started to do the math in his head thinking.

"Without the luxury of a wormhole and diminished power cores, let me see... carry the one... ah, it's going to take about approximately 150,000 earth years," Coran told them confidently.

"What?!" They all screamed in horror.

"One hundred and fifty thousand years?!" Keith cried out wide eyes.

"Coran... I think your finger counting is a little off," Pidge said flatly.

"It's going to be 1.5 years," she adjusted her glasses with the correct answer.

They all let out a breath of relief.

"It's going to be a very long and difficult voyage, but it's our only chance to replace the castle of lions," Allura told them with a sigh.

"There were times when I thought I'd never see earth again, to be able to go back-" shiro was cut off as he looked hopefully but Coran cut him off.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's hit the road!" Coran punched the air.

"I suppose we need to figure out who's flying with whom?" Krolia said leaning against a crate.

"What about the animals?" Lance nodded.

"What about them?" Pidge asked.

"I can't have either of the big ones with me with the pod," lance told her.

"And the wolf cant go with the Kaltenecker, wolfs eat cows. And the cow can't be in the same area as the mice because aren't cows afraid of mice?" Coran explained looking at them.

"That's elephants," hunk put up his hand.

"The wolf riding with me, hunk is going to have to keep the cow in his lion," Keith nodded.

"I'll take the mice!" Allura smiled with her hands behind her back.

"How come you get the smallest passenger?" Keith frowned.

"There's no way I'm riding with the red lion," Romelle crossed her arms looking at lance.

"Do we have a problem?" Lance sent her a glare and Romelle pouted looking away.

"I say we go old school and draw straws," hunk broke them up.

"But I'm terrible at drawing," Allura whined.

Hunk thought about it for a moment and snapped his fingers smiling.

"I know exactly where everyone should go," he beamed brightly.