Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Within the Galra Empire's Command, Zarkon is watching the various explosions around his empire that turned down his particle barrier.

The Castle of Lions' control room and the Paladins communicate with one another as they make their escape.

"What just happened?" Pidge asks.

"Who cares? Wormhole!" Hunk cheers with the Lions.

They activate a wormhole that Haggar hits with her magic as they enter, corrupting it. The Castle struggles to keep its balance in the unstable temporal rift.

"Coran, what's happening?" Shiro asks.

"The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised. It's breaking down!" Coran answers.

"What does that mean?" Lance screams.

"It means we have no control over where we're headed!"

Everyone groans. The hanger doors suddenly opem. First, Red and Black are ejected and lost out to the wormhole.

"Keith! Shiro!" Lance yells, before being ejected.

He is followed by Yellow and Green. Everyone screams and yells and groans at the bumpy ride while being scattered one by one. All the Lions vanish as the Castle of Lions goes in a time loop.

"They've vanished through the temporal rift! The lions are gone!" Allura says.

Keith and Shiro are sent onto an unknown rocky planet, spinning down to the ground, separating. Shiro is still injured and alarms are blaring in both Lions.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Keith begs, both Lions whining at the increasing distance.

Keith and Shiro struggle to keep their Lions at course as they crash land towards an unknown planet. Keith is knocked out by the impact and wakes up with ringing in his ears, something he was far too used to. Red is unable to function.

"You okay, Mom?" Red doesn't make a sound, completely out, "Okay. We'll fix you up. We had a tough battle," Keith climbs Red to see a desolate land, "Where are we? Where have we landed?" Keith gasps when he remembers Shiro came out the wormhole with him, "Shiro. Shiro!"

Elsewhere, Pidge crash lands towards what seems to be rings made out of broken up technology, hitting lots of it until they stop. They scream and cry out a couple times. Then, Green floats, due to the zero gravity.

"Huh? What's the matter, girl?" Pidge asks, fiddling a bit before realising that Green was damaged badly, "Okay, rest a bit. I'll see what I can do," Pidge observes, "Looks like there's no gravity here. It's like a trash nebula of some kind. Okay, Pidge, stay calm. You know what they say. 'When you get lost in space, the best thing to do is stay put and wait for people to find you.' This'll be nice. I'll have some ‘me’ time... No one to annoy me," Pidge says already bored, unable to do anything.

Meanwhile, the Castle is in trouble.

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole is taking us," Coran yells.

"Coran, look! There appears to be something on the other end. We're heading right toward it!" Allura points out.

"Scanners show that there's no exit. It's just nothingness. Find an exit before we run smack into the void!"

"I can't. I've lost control of the Castle."

"Brace yourself! We're about to hit it!"

They show up at the beginning of the Wormhole.

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole is taking us," a younger Coran says.

"Coran, we're okay!"

"What are you talking about? We've lost all the lions!"

"We've just smashed into a black void. Don't you remember? Hmm?" one of the mice crawls up her shoulder, seemingly gone back in evolution steps or deaged to be squirrels (who knows how alien mice grow), "What happened to the mice? They've transformed," Allura realises something as she looks at Coran, "Coran?"

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have a boogie stuck in my mustache again?" younger Coran pulls his moustache.

"No. You look younger."

She is cut off by a thud in the Wormhole knocking the ship.

"Scanners show that there's no exit. It's just nothingness!"

"You said that already!"

"Find an exit before we run smack into the void!"

"I'm entering coordinates to get us out of here," Allura tries, but the Castle's screens flash red, "The Castle won't accept an end point."

"Just enter any coordinates!"

"I tried, but the system is locked. I can't get a signal out or receive a signal in."

"Allura!" Coral yells as they hit the void again.

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole is taking us."

"Oh, no! You're even younger now!" Allura's sighs.

"What's the matter? You look confused. Don't worry, Princess, I'll get us out of here," Coran poses constantly.

"We appear to be in some sort of time loop that's affecting everyone but me," Allura observes, pushing the cow-mice off her.

"Scanners show that there's no exit. It's just - "

"Nothingness, I know. And we can't find another exit point."

"Don't just stand there. We've got to find a way. I'll never give in to nothingness!"

He poses again as the Castle disappears into nothingness once again.
Shiro wakes up in the currently non-functioning Black Lion. He is at the bottom of a ravine. As he exits the Lion, he holds his injured side, worrying about the others.

"Keith, are you there? Keith?" he asks, remembering Keith was nearby.

All he gets is static.

"I've got to get to higher ground," Shiro starts his trek.

On another part of the planet, Keith is trying to contact Shiro, "Shiro, can you hear me? Shiro?" All he gets is static, causing his panic to start rising (all alone in an unknown place, no Mom, no Shiro, no Matt, no team), running in the direction he saw Black fall, "Shiro, are you there?"

Shiro is groaning and panting, the trek exhausting him.

"Shiro, are you there? Answer me!" Keith's voice travels through the comms, staticky and breaking up.

"Keith. I'm here. Keith," Shiro responds, relief audible, only to grunt and collapse against a wall in pain.

"Shiro, it's Keith."

"Keith, Keith, I'm here. I'm okay," Shiro reassures him, putting the kit first.

"Shiro, you made it."

"It takes more than a glowing alien wound, a fall from the upper atmosphere and crashing into a hard pan surface, at what I'm guessing is about 25 meters per second squared, to get rid of me. How are you?"

"Not good. My lion's busted. Wait, what wound?" Keith asks, worry suddenly spiking again, moving faster.

"It's nothing."

"Please tell me you didn't get that from a Druid?" Keith practically begs, but Shiro's groan in pain is answer enough, "Hang on, I'm coming."

"What's that?" Little Keith asks one of the gladiators with a glowing wound.

"Itssa nothing, kiddo," they respond, trying to mask the obvious pain in their voice, "Just a woundssa from a Druid. Never pi-erm-irritate them. Especially Haggar. Don't want youssa getting hurtss."

The gladiator died a few days later .

"You'd better hurry," Shiro says, noticing some creatures on Black, causing Keith to pick up his pace even more.

Pidge starts exploring the space junkyard. There's something in a cave-like trash pile.

"Who's there?" Pidge demands, floating with their Bayard pointing at the entrance, only for fluffy small caterpillars to emerge and approach them, reaching to pet them, "Hmm? Aw! Hey, little guys! Aw, you guys are so cute. Too cute to be found in a dump like this. Are you guys the only ones living here? I hope my rough landing didn't disturb your day. I'll only be here for a short time. I'm waiting for my friends to find me. We were separated during a wormhole jump," five creatures bump into each other in a line in front of Pidge, "Yeah, friends! I sure hope they find me soon."

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole is taking us," even younger Coran is experiencing his teens and no longer cares, "This is so boring."

"Coran, please! I don't need any of your attitude right now," Allura's responds, the mice now snails.

"You don't understand me at all! You have no idea what I'm going through! I'll be in my control area! Hmmph!"

"I can't manually enter coordinates. But the Castle will automatically lock on to the lions' whereabouts, if we can locate them," Allura tries to detect the Lions with the Castle, "It's not working! I'm unable to hone in on their location," Coran starts playing music super loud (which sounds similar to human opera) , "Coran, turn that down! Our lives are at stake!"

"I can only express myself through music!"

"Coran, if you don't turn that down, I swear I'll turn this Castle around and-"

"And what? We're just gonna run into this void that's coming up here. I hate everybody!"

They renter the void.

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole is taking us, whatever that means," little kid Coran says.

"We've tried everything and nothing's worked. A few more trips down this wormhole and you're going to disappear. We must find a way out," Allura says, bringing up monitors and who knows what the mice are now.

"Just blast your way out! Duh!"

"I suppose it's worth a try. The Castle defenses might have enough firepower to destroy the tunnel."

"Yeah! And it'll go ker-plooey!"

"It's not working! It's like we're shooting at ourselves."

Coran blows raspberry, "Where's Voltron?"

They renter the void.

Keith flies towards Shiro with his jetpack, "Shiro, what happened?"

"There's several creatures," Shiro pants as Keith avoids a geyser.

Shiro backs away a monster creeps behind him, "Huh?"

He turns around just in time, but it alerts the other monsters. They approach him slowly.

"Uh-oh," Keith says, suddenly attacked by many more geysers, which he barely escapes. He ends up almost falling in a large chasm.

Shiro is cornered in the meantime and seeks refuge in a small cave. The monsters can't reach him, yet.

"Keith, are you okay? What happened?"

"Minor delay, but I'm on my way. How are you?" Keith responds, hanging from his Bayard in the chasm he can't see the bottom of.

"I'm all right, but I'm trapped in a cave, and some nasty-looking creatures have me cornered," said creatures start digging.

"Stay put. I'm on my way. I just have to... figure this out."

"My name is Keith. I'm so sad," Pidge seems to be losing her mind and has made trash friends.

"Shiro, you're our leader. What should we do?" Pidge asks her 'teammates'.

"We'll get through this if we work together. We're a team," 'Shiro' says.

"Look at me! I'm Lance. Hey, is that a cute girl over there?" 'Lance' says.

"I don't feel good. The smell of this place makes me want to barf," 'Hunk' says.

"Paladins, please. We must defeat Zarkon," 'Allura' says.

"Blah, blah, blah! Crazy words. Mustache," 'Coran' says.

"Huh? What is it?" Pidge asks the now squeaking creatures with glowing moustaches, turning to see Green power back on, "Hey, you're working again! Welcome back!" they try to 'swim' over, but trip, crashes and pushes debris away to reveal a huge satellite, "No, it's not my friends. It's just an old, rusty satellite. Hey! Maybe I can find my friends before they find me."

Pidge perks up and starts scavenging for supplies, getting the hang of zero gravity, the creatures following them. They manage to construct a satellite on top of Green as the creatures watch with the trash friends.

Keith, meanwhile, is still at the huge canyon.

"Patience yields focus," he tells himself, walking away from the edge.

"That really stayed with you, didn't it?" Shiro says, voice weakening.

"You've given me some good advice," Keith breaks a hole in the ground and a geyser spouts water, "If it wasn't for you, my life would have been a lot different."

"Mama? Where are you going?"

"I'll be back soon, my little star."

"Yeah. You wouldn't have crashed a flying lion on an alien planet and be stuck with little hope of rescue. So, you're welcome," Shiro start coughing up a lung.

"Hey there, lil guy. I didn't think any humans would be here."

Growls radiate through the cell.

"He's scared Shiro. He probably doesn't even understand us."

"Do you understand us? We won't hurt you."

“No know lots."

"You don't speak much. We can teach you."

"We won't leave. We promise. Humans like us have to stick together, after all. Right Shiro?"

"Of course!"

"Stay? Yes?"

"Always."

"Stay with me, Shiro," Keith begs.

He uses his Bayard to form a sword and cuts the rock he is stood. The underground water propels him over the chasm, only to crumble to dust beneath his feet and make Keith fall into the chasm. He manages to use his jet pack to save himself and barely reach the other side. He hangs to the edge, catching his breath.

"Keith! Keith!"

"Hang on. I'm on my way," Keith used his jet pack to get up and continues on his journey.

"Good, because these guys just started digging," Shiro notices as lots more ground gives way.

"Shiro, I have a visual on the Black Lion," Keith says, flying overhead.

The creatures dig enough of an entrance so they can reach their face in and snag Shiro by the leg. He is thrown away. He tries to defend himself and run, taking one down, but worsening his own injury and gaining new ones. He is knocked down a rock wall and ends up extremely beat up.

"Shiro, what happened?" Keith asks, concerned, hearing only his pained grunts and screams, speeding up.

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this worm goes. I hungy," toddler Coran throws a tantrum, bouncing up and down on the monitor.

"Coran, no! That is not a toy. You're going to break the Castle and everything will stop! Wait a second. Perhaps we can simply stop the Castle from moving," Allura approaches Coran after pushing away the mice that are now huge balls of goop.

"No! Mine!" Coran cries and bites Allura.

"I've shut down all the power," Allura wonders, "Why are we still moving towards the void?"

"My control panel!" Coran cries, as they go through the void again.

"I know, I know. Who wants to check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole is taking us? You do, that's who. We have to get out of this loop before the only thing left of you is your mustache," Allura tried to calm a crying Coran.

"Poopies," Coran spits his pacifier out and Allura groans.

Keith finally arrives at Black, only to see four beasts ganging up on Shiro.

"I know I'm not Shiro, but he's in trouble. We need to help him," Keith asks desperately.

Shiro is caught by the creatures, barely holding on and about to be struck down. Keith arrives as one pounces, using Black to attack the creatures and save Shiro, scaring off the last one.

"That ought to do it. Now, let's see if we can get a hold of the Castle," Pidge and the little junk caterpillars finish the satellite, only for it to power down immediately after turning on, "No, no! What's wrong? I need to get out of here! I need to find my friends! Come on!" Pidge yells and Green reacts and channels its energy to the satellite, "Thanks. Now, let's see if this thing works," Pidge returns to Green's cockpit, "I hope the signal's strong enough to reach the Castle."

"Coran, what are we going to do? If we hit the end of the tunnel again, you'll cease to exist. I'm sorry. You were like a second father to me," Allura starts to cry as they approach the void, only for the screens to flash, "Coran, look! The Castle has locked onto a coordinate," Allura locks on and prepares to jump, "Come on. Come on!" which succeeds barely, "We made it!

Coran is sucking his thumb in Allura's arms, "Mm? Mom?"

She promptly drops him.

Pidge communicates with Allura and Coran, a screen showing up in the Castle's Bridge.

"You saved us, Pidge. We were stuck in a time loop," Allura says.

"You got us out with this giant trash pile," Coran adds, impressed.

"It's a make-shift communications link that sends out the Green Lion energy. It's similar to the energy that guided the Blue Lion home."

"Pidge, you're a genius!"

"I know. Besides, it wasn't just me. They helped," she gestures to the trash caterpillars.

"Hmm," Coran rubs his bumps from being dropped in thought.

"Let's go get the rest of the paladins," Allura smiles.

Shiro and Keith are now with Red and Black in front of a campfire. Red and Black are having an in depth conversation, blocking Keith out, so he only has Shiro to focus on.

"Thanks for saving me," Shiro says.

"You'd have done the same for me. You already have," Keith mutters, "How's your wound?"

"My wound's great. It's getting bigger all the time," Shiro answers, only to receive the biggest glare of all times from Keith, "Just trying to lighten the mood."

"Hang in there. When Allura and Coran find us, they'll fix you right up. For now, let me help," Keith hovers his hands over the wound, focusing on the unnatural energy, drawing it out and purifying it.

"You can do that? What exactly are you doing?" Shiro looks on in concern, moving to remove Keith's hands when he sees the sweat starting to roll down his face.

"A trick I picked up a long while ago. Gladiators got these from the Druids. I was able to help it slightly, but it's only temporary. This quintessence is tainted. I'm just purifying it. The bad stuff can be released without causing harm and the good stuff helps fight the wound. I think. It works though," Keith tries to explain, concentrating.

"Keith, if I don't make it out of here I want you to lead Voltron," Shiro manages, a bit better than before, but sounding extremely weak.

"Stop talking like that. You're gonna make it," Keith yells, tears starting to come, only for Shiro to remove his hands.

"Don't strain yourself, Yurak," Shiro smiles.

A glowing light interrupts their moment, both turning to see a wormhole, to their surprise. Pidge comes out smiling, contraption gone. Shiro and Keith smile in relief. Keith wipes the forming tears away.

Zarkon is not happy, "Explain to me how you let Voltron escape."

"Perhaps it was a mechanical failure, sire. Haggar boosted the solar barrier's power beyond its normal limits," Prorok says.

"This was no mechanical failure. The two sentries that were guarding the barrier control were found destroyed. This was clearly sabotage," Haggar informs them.

"Lord Zarkon, I will start an investigation immediately. I will not rest until the perpetrators are captured."

"Perhaps I can save months of investigating. Who has been trying to chisel Voltron away from me this entire time? Who sent his fleet out without my orders to get Voltron?" Zarkon answers.

"Sire, no! I-I would never do that."

"Get rid of him."

"No! I'm innocent!" two sentries drag Prorok off as the other Galra watches.

"Before we dispose of him, the druids will find out all that he knows. Then, he will receive a punishment worse than death," Haggar tells Zarkon.

"Lieutenant Thace... You are now in charge of the investigation... Commander," Zarkon informs the shocked Galra.

"Vrepit sa."

Chapter Text

The paladins, Allura and Coran are gathered around Shiro's healing pod. Keith has a hand resting on it, barely audible whimpers and whines escaping him.

"Is he okay?" Hunk asks, worried about Shiro's grunting.

"Sometimes, the healing process can cause involuntary brain wave reactions," Allura says.

"He looks like he's having a bad dream."

"He just got blasted by a space witch and mauled by giant lizards. What dream could be worse than that?" Lance tries to comfort him.

"No, no! No. You took my hand. What more do you want?" Shiro yells, consciousness fading.

"Stop! I want him awake enough to feel this," the Mad Doctor orders before attacking the guards, "Listen to me. We don't have much time. Wake up!" He slaps Shiro, "Zarkon has located the Blue Lion of Voltron on your planet, Earth. You must get it before he does."

"What are you doing?" Shiro asks confused as the Mad Doctor helps him up.

"I've planted a bomb to cover your escape. Get to a pod, now," orders the Mad Doctor.

"Who are you?"

"I am Ulaz. Now, come on! Zarkon will know that I released you, so I must disappear. But, if you survive, go to the coordinates in your arm. The Blade of Marmora is with you," the newly named Ulaz says, shoving him out of the door.

"Why are you helping me?" Shiro asks, unable to comprehend why a Galra would help him.

"As a fighter and a leader, you give hope. Hurry! Earth needs you. We all do," Ulaz tries to hurry him.

"Okay... Wait! No, I can't leave!" Shiro almost yells, delirious from the alien equivalent of anaesthetic.

"Why not?" Ulaz sighs, annoyed.

"I'm not leaving him!" Shiro growls angrily, obviously irritated that the Galra expects him to leave him.

"The kit?" Ulaz asks.

Shiro nods.

"Alright, I understand why you want to go back for him. He can help you escape as well. Let's go, but be quiet and quick."

"There are a lot worse things he could be dreaming of," Keith mutters and Hunk rests a hand on his shoulder, offering a small smile, which Keith returns.

Shiro groans as he wakes up, greeted by the smiles of his team, the Paladins crowded around the pod.

With the Galra, Prorok wakes in a Druid's pod, "You know I'm innocent! I would never betray Zarkon! You're weakening the empire!"

"You misunderstand. I'm giving you the opportunity to serve the empire. You will have the honor of personally bringing down Voltron," Haggar's magic causes Prorok to become one of her Mechabeasts.

Pidge checks Shiro's arm, "I'm not finding any coordinates in here. Are you sure this wasn't just a dream?"

"I'm positive. Someone helped me - us - escape," Shiro tells her.

"I remember him. I didn't know about the coordinates though," Keith adds.

"And he was Galra?" Allura asks.

"Yes," Shiro answers and Keith nods.

"You know you cannot trust them."

"Your father must have trusted them once. Zarkon was the original Black Paladin, wasn't he?" Shiro replies, other hand placed over one of Keith's curled fists, Lance and Hunk standing slightly closer to Keith and more between him and Allura

"That was a long time ago."

"Wait, what?" Lance asks, feeling like this is vital information they should've been told.

"Didn't you see how he stole the Black Lion right out from Shiro? Or that he could do all that cool stuff with his bayard? Shiro's bayard? You know, the black one?" Keith sighs, "It's in the Galran history books. They say that the evil King Alfor stole the Black Lion for his own selfish reasons. Not true, obviously."

"Why didn't you just tell us the truth about Zarkon?" Shiro asks her, aware that Keith was waiting for her to tell the truth, since it wasn't his place.

"I wanted to protect you from the dark history of the paladins so that you would have a chance to bond with your lions on your own. You are the Black Paladin now, not Zarkon," Allura answers.

"Yeah, well, the Black Lion may have a different take on the matter."

"Wait a second. I think I see it now. Some repeating numbers in all this Galra code. Let me extract it. They are coordinates! They lead here: the Thaldycon system," Pidge tells them.

"Then, that's where we're headed."

"Shiro, are you sure you can trust this? I mean, after all the Galra have done to you. They... they took your arm," Lance asks.

"It's worth the risk. Someone helped me escape. If we can locate some allies in our fight against Zarkon, especially ones from his own side, we might just find a way to take him down. After all, they can use the Galra's tech against the Empire."

"We can check the location, but I do not like this. The Galra are not to be trusted," Allura answers, leaving for the Bridge.

"And you shouldn't judge the whole race based on the actions of the Empire," Keith mutters, so that only the Paladins and Coran could hear.

They go through a wormhole to a part of space with balls of crystals floating around.

"Well, this is it. No sign of any activity at all, living or otherwise," Coran informs them.

"Can we get in there to take a closer look?" Shiro asks.

"I don't want to bring the Castle any closer. Those xanthorium chunks contain highly unstable nitrate salts. Even bumping one of them can blow us straight to Wozblay."

"Are you sure this is right?"

"These are the coordinates Number Five gave me."

"Hey! My decryption is solid," Pidge yells.

"There must be something we're missing," Shiro says.

"We should get out of here. We've checked it out, but now, it's time to move on," Allura almost growls.

"No. There must be something more to this. I can feel it," Keith interrupts.

Shiro nods at Keith, trusting his instincts, "I think we should wait."

"Sire, Prorok's transformation is complete. We only need to know where to send him," Haggar informs Zarkon and they move to a chamber where the Druids charge Zarkon with their magic, "Now, reach out with your mind!"

Zarkon reaches out with his mind and finds the Castle, falling to his knees, "I have the coordinates to launch the beast."

The Paladins just happen to receive an alert at the same time and alarms start going off.

"There's an intruder in the Castle!" Coran informs them.

"How could someone just sneak aboard the ship?" Lance wonders.

"I knew coming here was a mistake!" Allura growls, using the Castle to locate the intruder, "There he is. Level five."

"Everyone, suit up," Shiro orders.

The Paladins put on their armor and head to level five. Lance is the first to find him and points his Bayard at the intruder.

"I got him."

"Keep eyes on him, Lance. We're all headed toward you," Shiro informs him.

"Hold it right there!" Lance says and the intruder charges.

How unexpected.

The intruder jumps onto the walls and darts around, almost a blur, as he dodges Lance's laser fire.

"Careful, he's faster than an angry klanmüirl," the intruder gets close enough to catch Lance off guard and get past him, "But he can jump like a sprightly globinheffer!" Coran commentates over the comms.

"Coran, you're not helping!"

The intruder escapes Lance.

"Somebody's as mad as a wet chüper. Coming your way, Number Five!"

The intruder turns the corner and jumps over Pidge. Pidge attempts to grab him with their Bayard, but he grabs the Bayard instead.

"I got him!"

He drags Pidge away as Lance rounds the corner.

"I don't got him!"

"He's dragging Pidge away!" Coran yells.

"Come back here!"

"Huh?" Hunk sees the intruder run past, dragging Pidge and shoots, almost hitting Pidge.

"Hunk!"

"Huh? Sorry!"

"Oh, Hunk failed the team, guys," Coran sighs.

Hunk follows Lance in chasing the intruder and Pidge.

"Hey!" Hunk yells.

"All right, it's up to Keith now," Coran says.

"Copy that. I'm ready," Keith says, "I hope."

Keith activates his Bayard and waits.

"Oh, this is exciting! He's got a sword. One young paladin, one seemingly indestructible foe..." the intruder turns the corner and Keith freezes.

"He looks familiar..." Keith whispers to himself, but is distracted and strikes late, barely missing the intruder.

"Swing and a miss! Oh, another swing and a miss!" Keith chases and continues to try and strike the intruder, who barely dodges, "He almost got him! He's too fast!"

Pidge and Keith share a look. Pidge uses their feet to momentarily stop the intruder, allowing Keith to strike. The intruder pulls out a long sword. Keith struggles and notices the symbol. He freezes momentarily.

"That symbol..." he whispers, but it's enough for the intruder to strike, knocking Keith back. Keith loses his grip on his Bayard, which is flung across the hallway, and his helmet is knocked off his head.

"He knocked his bayard out of his hands! It's on the ground!"

The intruder freezes, drops Pidge's Bayard, removes his hood and his mask disappears from his face, revealing the 'Mad Doctor' who freed Shiro and Keith, "Kit?"

"You?" Keith gasps.

"Me. You have grown much, kit. How is Shiro?" Ulaz offers Keith a hand, which he takes.

"Better," Keith smiles slightly as the other three Paladins approach.

Shiro runs down the hallway, only to stop in shock, "Ulaz?"

Allura charges and pushes Ulaz into a wall, causing Keith to flinch away and fall back over, "Who are you?"

"Stop! It's him! This is the Galra who set us free," Shiro tries to placate her.

The other Paladins move and try to help Keith up, but Keith flinches away from them, whimpering, and scrambles away. Ulaz growls and pushes Allura's arm off him and moves to help Keith with Shiro.

"You've come," Ulaz says to Shiro and Keith.

Allura makes the decision to cuff Ulaz around his wrists and ankles and interrogate him in the Common Room. Coran is the only one not present, occupying the Bridge.

"I don't think this is necessary," Shiro says.

Keith clings to him, slightly behind him and hiding from the Paladins and Allura. He is shaking heavily and hides between Ulaz and Shiro. He whimpers and keens, making many sounds that Ulaz reacts to slightly but the Paladins and Allura elect to ignore, unsure how to react. Shiro keeps skin to skin contact with Keith, aware of his distress.

"I will not have some quiznak-ing Galra soldier on the bridge of my ship!" Allura replies loudly and aggressively.

Keith whimpers and hides more. The Paladins share a knowing look and Coran watches Allura through the monitors sadly.

"If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already," Ulaz holds back a growl only Keith can hear, making him relax slightly.

"Are your Galra threats supposed to win my trust?" Allura growls.

"I'm not trying to win your trust. I'm trying to win a war. And, because of Shiro and the kit, we are closer than we've ever been. Our gamble on you paid off better than we could have ever imagined," Ulaz turns, offering a slight smile only Shiro and Keith notice.

"When you released me, you also mentioned that there were others working with you," Shiro mentions and Keith's eyes widen.

"Yes. We are called the Blade of Marmora."

"If anything ever happens to me, my dagger shall guide you to the Blade of Marmora."

"Uh, others? Are they here?" Hunk asks, nervous.

"Hunk, can you try not to act so scared around the chained-up prisoner? It makes us seem a little lame," Lance asks, glancing at Keith.

"I am alone on this base," Ulaz answers.

Keith whimpers and starts edging closer to Ulaz, pulling Shiro along.

"What is this base you're talking about? Shiro's coordinates just led us to this wasteland," Allura asks.

"The base is hidden. Now that I know it is Shiro and the kit that have come, you are welcome to our outpost. It lies dead ahead."

"Behind all the xanthorium clusters?" Pidge asks, slightly skeptic.

"No. Right in front of it, in a hidden pocket of space-time."

"Coran, are you hearing this?" Allura asks.

"I am picking up some kind of anomaly on the screen. I suppose it could be a cloaked base," Coran says from the Bridge.

"Just fly straight for the center of the xanthorium cluster. You will see."

"You think you're going to get me to destroy our ship just because you say so?" Allura huffs.

"We came out here to find some answers. Are we going to turn back now?" Shiro crosses his arms as Keith finally sits next to Ulaz, causing the Paladins and Allura to visibly tense, noticing just how close Keith has been getting to Ulaz and how much further he has been moving away from them.

"You know I trust you, Shiro," Keith says quietly, as Ulaz rests a hand on his leg.

"I trust you, Shiro, Keith, but something doesn't feel right," Pidge answers.

"And you know I hate to agree with Pidge, but it's a big fat ditto for me," Lance adds.

"The Empire could have implanted fake memories of the escape in your head," Pidge suggests.

"Oh, come on, that would be so evil, which, of course, they are. But they'd have to come up with some molecular level storage unit, which his hand does have. But, to be linked up to memory, it would need a direct pathway to his brain, which... yeah," Hunk decides to stop.

"Ulaz freed us. Without him, we wouldn't be here," Shiro answers, motioning slightly with his head at Keith's obvious comfort with Ulaz.

"Please?" Keith asks, slightly louder, now leaning onto Ulaz slightly.

"Fine. Slow and steady, Coran. Head for the xanthorium cluster," Allura sighs.

"Yes, Princess. Beginning approach. Impact imminent in five, four three, two... Well, that's something," Coran says, a tunnel of lights passing (almost like a nebula or galaxy).

"What is it?"

"Putting it up on the screens."

"Amazing. They're folding space," Pidge says, mouth hanging open.

"It's like a space taco. Or a space calzone. Or a space-time soup dumpling and we're the soup. Hey, is there a cafeteria on this thing?" Hunk explains and gets distracted, causing Keith to giggle slightly and everyone to relax slightly.

"Welcome to the Blade of Marmora Communications Base Thaldycon. Now, if you'll free me, I need to send a message to the leadership. They need to know I've made contact with Voltron," Ulaz informs as they see the base, a lighter colour scheme than its Empire's counterpart.

"Go with him and keep an eye on him. I'm staying here," Allura tells Shiro.

"Oh! Can we go?" Hunk asks.

"I want to see how they make the space pocket!" Pidge jumps up and down.

"You guys go ahead. I'll hang back and protect the princess," Lance says, watching Keith relax slightly at the fewer people joining them.

"Ugh..." Allura sighs.

Keith, Ulaz and Shiro go remove the cuffs and then head to meet Hunk and Pidge. Keith is between them, leaning on Ulaz's larger frame.

"You recognised my symbol, kit," Ulaz says, as they walk.

"My mother had a dagger with it on. I still have it," Keith answers quietly, "Was she part of the Blades?"

"Most likely. There are only two ways to get the Blade. Be a member or take it from a member. Since she was in the arena, she was most likely a member," Ulaz smiles, "What was your mother's name, little one?"

"Krolia," Keith whispers, after a moment of thinking.

"Krolia? I remember her. You look a lot like her. We haven't spoken in a long time. What happened to her?"

"She's gone," Shiro says, resting a hand on Keith's shoulder, whose eyes are covered by his bangs.

"I see... She was a good, kind, strong woman. She was one of my mentee's. We were very close," Ulaz explains.

"I'm sorry you are only just finding out," Keith whimpers.

Ulaz stops and crouches in front of Keith. He cups Keith's face in his hands and uses his thumbs to wipe the tears beginning to fall. He offers a soft smile to Keith and stands again, only to pull him into his chest. Keith begins to break down crying.

"It's okay, kit. She was much like my daughter, but she was your mother. You didn't deserve this, my little grandkit," Ulaz whispers softly, making comforting noises to combat Keith's distressed noises only Galra are capable of.

Shiro takes Keith's hand in his and starts drawing patterns in it, humming an Earth lullaby, a technique he, and Krolia apparently, used in the arena to comfort Keith. Eventually, Keith stops crying and pushes away, giving Shiro and Ulaz a small smile. Keith cleans up and they arrive at Red's hangar. No one says anything at Keith's slightly bloodshot and puffy eyes.

The five person squad take Red down to the station, letting Keith get more comfortable again with Hunk and Pidge, who maintain distance. Hunk holds Red's head at the back of the cockpit and holds Pidge to keep them steady. Ulaz and Shiro hold onto Red and Keith's seat, keeping their hands where he can feel them, but not on him so they don't restrict his movements.

"This is the gravity generator that creates the space-time fold that hides the station. It was created by a reclusive genius engineer named Slav. His technology allows the Blade of Marmora to remain hidden while we work to take down the Galra Empire. Zarkon would do anything to get his hands on this technology," Ulaz informs them.

"Why are there Galra out there that aren't loyal to Zarkon?" Hunk asks.

"We thought expanding the Galra Empire would bring stability. We learned too late, a tyrant doesn't seek stability, only power. With our members working on the inside, planning coordinated attacks with Voltron, we may finally have a chance," Ulaz almost growls.

In the Bridge of the station, Ulaz sends the message. Keith keeps an ear open, listening to Ulaz, as he explores, always returning to Ulaz. Shiro hovers nearby Keith, but pays attention to everything Ulaz says. Pidge and Hunk are enraptured by everything.

"So, you have agents working within Zarkon's ranks?" Hunk asks.

"How do you think you got away from Zarkon in that last fight? Do you think those shields around Zarkon's command center went down on their own? We've got people risking their lives in this war, just like you," Ulaz answers.

"If you have people on the inside, can they tell me where my family is? They were taken the same time Shiro was," Pidge asks.

"I knew others from Earth were captured. I never saw them, but I have some records of Galra prisoners here. I can transmit them to your ship."

"What's that weapon you carry?" Hunk asks.

"It's a ceremonial blade that each member of our order carries," he shows Hunk it.

"If you see anyone with a blade with this symbol, trust them. They are one of our own."

"Hmm, nice," Alarms go off, "Huh?"

"Oh, no!" Ulaz brings up an image on screen, revealing one of Zarkon's ships, Keith moving next to him with Shiro, "You were tracked!"

"What? Us?" Pidge asks, "If Zarkon knows we're here, it's because you ratted us out."

"It's another one of Zarkon's robot beast ro-beasts!" Hunk dubs it, as Keith whimpers.

"We have to get back to the ship," Shiro orders.

"Shiro, wait. These are instructions on how to reach the Blade of Marmora headquarters. Before you go there, find out how Zarkon is tracking you. If you lead him there, our entire underground network, everything we've spent centuries building, will be lost."

"I knew he cannot be trusted!" Allura declares through the comms at all four Paladins (Pidge and Hunk now able to be close to Keith).

"It wasn't him," Shiro retaliates.

"How can you be sure?" Allura snaps.

"It doesn't matter now. What should we do?" Coran breaks up the fight.

"Why can't we hide here in the space clam and wait for it to go away?" Hunk suggests.

"Everyone get to your lions, but don't launch. We'll wait to see what it does. I don't want to risk fighting it if we don't have to," Shiro orders as the ro-beast approaches.

"We should be safe as long as we're hidden in the space pocket," Pidge says.

The ro-beast opens it mouth and the clusters start approaching it.

"He's drawing in the xanthorium clusters," Coran observes.

It then fire the energy collected at the clusters, before scanning and detecting the anomaly.

"I think he knows we're here," Hunk says.

Keith whimpers at the dark, wrong, void-like quintessence and Red comforts him. He takes a deep breath and pushes his emotions away temporarily, a technique developed from the arena.

"Hold..." Shiro orders.

It fires again, this time into the space fold. It hits the castle.

"Direct hit! He definitely knows we're here!" Coran informs them.

"Get the particle barrier up!" Allura orders.

It draws in more clusters.

"He's readying another attack!"

"He's pulling us in as well! Paladins, I think it's time to launch!"

"Form Voltron!" Shiro orders.

Voltron exits the fold and punches the ro-beast. It zaps the field and the fold deactivates.

"We're exposed! The space fold has been lowered!" Allura observes.

"Well, there goes Ulaz," Coran points out the retreating ship.

"I knew we should never trust a Galra!"

"Let's light this thing up. Fire lasers!" Shiro orders after a barrage of punches.

The barrage of lasers fail and it starts drawing in more clusters.

"He's pulling in more ammo!" Pidge points out.

"Move, move, move! Lance, Hunk, give me full reverse boosters!" Shiro orders, as they are blown away by the clusters only to be drawn in by the ro-beast and attacked by clusters.

"This thing wants to eat us like we're a space taco!" Hunk says.

They use Voltron's legs to stay out of the mouth, but it grabs their arms. Keith hears the Lions growl angrily.

"Can't get free!" Shiro groans.

"I'll make him back off!" Keith activates Red's jaw blade and stabs it, allowing them to retreat.

"We've got to keep some distance between us and that ro-beast!" Shiro orders, but it fires and hits the clusters, causing Voltron to get caught up in the explosions.

The ro-beast approaches and Voltron escapes the explosion, only to be drawn in again. They barely escape the first time. The second time it tries, it succeeds.

"It's trying to pull us in again!" Hunk yells.

"I'm burning thrusters at full capacity and it's not making any difference!" Lance replies.

They approach the mouth, when a blast hits it, blowing it and Voltron apart and away from each other.

"Is everyone alright?" Allura asks.

"Alive, yes. Alright, no," Lance answers.

The ro-beast draws the Castle in, the clusters hitting the particle barrier as it draws the Castle in.

"It's going for the Castle!" Keith yells.

"We need some way to stop its tractor beam!" Pidge yells back.

"I've got an idea. Pidge, form shield! We can use the shield to block the beam!" Shiro orders.

They lodge the shield into its mouth and punch it away, doing slight damage.

"We stopped the beam. Now, what?" Keith asks, anxiety skyrocketing.

"Now, we go on the offensive," Shiro orders.

"The xanthorium clusters! We can use them!" Pidge advises.

They grab the ro-beast and push it into a cluster, removing the shield. The clusters blow. The ro-beast is unharmed and fires a laser that pushes Voltron back.

"The shield can't handle this much power!" Pidge yells and they lose the shield and fly backwards, only for the ro-beast to chase them and attempt to draw them in again.

"We might not be strong enough to beat this thing!" Hunk says.

"Hang on!" Ulaz yells.

"Ulaz?" Shiro asks.

"I'm going to take it down from the inside!"

"Ulaz, no! Let us handle this!"

"Voltron is too valuable. The universe needs you," Ulaz drives the station towards the mouth of the ro-beast.

"Ulaz!" Keith's voice echoes in Ulaz's head.

Ulaz clenches his fists and makes a decision. The station flies into the ro-beast's mouth.

"Get ready!" Shiro orders as the ro-beast approaches, only to start to be swallowed up and compressed into what looks like nothing.

"Ulaz opened up the space pocket from inside! It's falling in on itself!" Pidge observes.

Voltron and the Castle are unable to look at the bright explosion. The explosion disappears, a large amount of missing cluster the only evidence of the fight.

"He did it!" Hunk gasps.

"Ulaz saved us," Shiro smiles warmly, but sadly, "Again."

"He's gone," Keith whimpers, the Lions instantly trying to comfort him.

"Sorry we doubted Ulaz, Shiro, Keith. He saved all our lives," Lance says when they are all on the Bridge.

"I still have so many questions," Keith whispers, resting his forehead on Shiro's chest.

"I know, buddy, so do I," Shiro replies, holding him close and stroking his hair.

"Do you think Zarkon is really tracking us?" Hunk asks.

"We cannot know for sure. Only Ulaz knew our whereabouts," Allura says.

"You don't really think Ulaz gave us up? After he sacrificed himself?" Shiro almost growls, tightening his hold on Keith, who keens and buries his head in Shiro's chest.

"Yeah! Maybe Zarkon found out about this place on his own. He's probably been searching for the Blade of Marmora," Pidge defends.

"It's clear the loss of Ulaz has caused you great concern, but, regardless of how Zarkon located us, we cannot stay here any longer. It isn't safe," Allura replies, making Keith growl slightly.

"We should meet up with the rest of Ulaz's group, finish what we started," Lance suggests.

"No. We're not going to the headquarters until we figure out how Zarkon found us. We can't risk losing the only allies we have in this war," Shiro replies, looking at Keith.

That night, when Keith's nightmares happen with a renewed vigour and include Ulaz, Shiro is already ready and lying in bed with him. Shiro sits up with Keith and pulls the dagger from under the pillow, allowing Keith to unwrap it and reveal the same mark on Ulaz's sword. Shiro focuses his attention on Keith's face, as it contorts with sorrow, and holds him gently as he cries himself to sleep for the first time in a long time. He ignores the dagger and the symbol. They aren’t important, but Keith is.

Or risk losing the only family you have.

Chapter Text

The Castle floats in space. The Paladins are all outside, together, attempting to fix the ship. Keith keeps a noticeable distance from Lance, but is very close to Shiro. He tries to keep a small amount of distance between him and Hunk and Pidge.

"Let's hurry up with these repairs. Zarkon could be here at any moment," Shiro says.

"Okay, panel's off. Now, what?" Hunk asks after opening the panel to reveal a glowing blue thing.

"Very simple. Just loosen the blaxums on the somoflange," Coran explains.

"Could you be more specific?" Hunk sighs, no idea what they are talking about.

"Sorry, Hunk, he means the poklones on the agroclams," Allura answers.

"No, that doesn't help."

"Easy, Hunk. I got this," Lance says and presses buttons and fiddles with a dial, only for whirring and alarms to go off and everything to go red instead of blue, "Uh-oh. That can't be good."

"No, not the smalters, the poklones!" Allura cries.

"No, no! It's the blaxums!" Coran yells.

"What are you talking about?" Keith asks quietly, reminding them that even the one from space isn't aware of those things.

"There. Fixed," Pidge fiddles around with it and fixes it.

"Well done, Pidge!" Allura congratulates.

"The tech on this ship never ceases to amaze me. It's so mathematically elegant. Its fit is a 100 times more frictionless than any exoskeleton we have on Earth. It's beautiful," Pidge sighs.

Keith smiles slightly, understanding where Pidge is coming from, thinking of how the Lions work. Green makes their pride known. Blue tries to block Green out and Yellow tries to get them both to get along. He asks Red to remind him to ask Pidge to teach him about technology and engineering and anything else in the future, since he never got the chance to learn anything really, except fighting, before joining the Paladins.

"It's not a sunset, Pidge," Lance deadpans.

"You're right. A billion sunsets just happen every day. Some genius engineer actually built this," Pidge replies.

"Kinda looks like a big, delicious curly fry," Hunk says and is hit in the face by what looks like a snowball, before Keith can ask what a 'curly fry' is, "What the?"

More and more of the snowball-like balls approach, surrounding the Castle.

"All right, we're prepared for this. Remember your rogue projectile cluster training from the Garrison. First, we need a temporary shelter," Shiro says, activating his shield.

Keith follows his lead, having no idea about this training, but Lance throws the balls at Shiro. One hits and surprises him and Keith, "Wha—?"

"Oh, sorry, Shiro. I was trying to hit Keith," Lance laughs.

"Like that?" Keith asks, as he lands one right in Lance's face, causing Shiro to smirk.

"Yes! Squishy asteroid fight!" Hunk declares and they start pelting each other.

Lance uses Hunk as a shield, "Alright, guys..." Shiro tries to stop them as he and Keith use their own shields to protect themselves from Lance's barrage, "Oh, oh! Okay, now, it's on!" Keith is laughing with everyone.

"Hmm," Pidge looks at the balls.

"Oh, come on!" Lance laughs, moving forward with Hunk as his shield, fighting Shiro and Keith, who seem to be on a team.

"I don't think these are asteroids. Coran, I'm going to need a containment unit."

"Just a tick," Coran says.

"They appear to be some sort of hyper-resilient spore," Allura observes from the computers.

"This bio-luminescent pulsing doesn't seem natural. It appears programmed. I think it's a code," Pidge adds, placing it in containment, finally catching the attention of those behind.

"A code? From who?" Hunk asks, only to be hit in the face by the spore.

"I don't know. I mean, it makes no sense. You can't program a spore."

"Actually, that's not true," Keith speaks up, shocking everyone into pausing the 'sporefight' temporarily.

"Really?" Lance asks.

"There's a race that could potentially do something like this, but they are under the Empire's control with almost no freedom. There are rebels, but I don't know if they could do something like this," Keith looks at a spore and squishes it into powder, "I didn't know..." Keith trails off, sadness lacing his tone, "I didn't know what a spore looked like until now."

"Maybe it's some sort of distress signal then?" Hunk suggests.

"If anyone can figure it out, it's you, Pidge," Shiro smiles, before getting hit in the face by a spore, resuming the fight temporarily.

"Before that, everyone needs to come in for decontamination," Allura informs them, shutting it down.

They go into the shower. Keith stands between Pidge and Shiro with no problems, but he still stands closer to Shiro. Shiro and Lance enjoy the shower, Keith stands still, slightly on edge and thinking. Hunk and Pidge are attacked by the water. When the soap comes in, Keith doesn't move, Shiro continues showering happily, but is now joined by Hunk, whilst Pidge and Lance struggle against the pull of the water. When water fills the room, Lance enjoys it, Keith continues thinking whilst the rest are intrigued. The air blows through and Shiro removes his helmet, making the most of it. Keith stands next to him, still thinking and Hunk just stands, letting himself dry. Lance tries to use Hunk as a wall to protect himself. Meanwhile, Pidge struggles against the air flow and gets blown away.

As they wait for Pidge to decode the spore, Keith looks at the symbol on his dagger. Footsteps approach and Keith hides it under his pillow. The door opens.

"Keith, did you happen to see a mouse come through here? He has something of mine," Coran scowls.

"Uh... n-no," Keith stutters.

"I'll find you, Platt," Coran says, before turning, only to stop and smile, "If you need someone to talk to, I'm always here," Coran turns to leave.

"Wait, Coran! How do you feel about the Galra?" Keith asks, nervously, playing with his jacket's zipper.

"They are a race like any other. They only have a different culture. Their current emperor is the one who created the Empire and causing all the pain," Coran looks at Keith, unwilling to approach and make the boy clam up.

"Thank you," Keith smiles slightly.

Coran nods and moves on. Lance, who was waiting in the hallway, follows him.

"Coran! Do you think the Galra ever went to Earth? Is that possible? They would have taken it over, right?" Lance asks, once they are far from Keith's room.

"Oh, I think you'd know if the Galra were there."

"The Blue Lion was there. Did a Galra pilot the Blue Lion, too?"

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"No! The Blue Lion's with me and we're very happy together! Very happy!" Lance just casts a longing look down the hallways and Coran rests a hand on his shoulder.

"Guys! Check this out!" Pidge interrupts.

Everyone heads to Green's hangar. Hunk and Lance stare at the floating spore. Coran stands near them and away from Keith, who is still slightly on edge with the Altean. Keith looks over Pidge's shoulder and admires their work. Shiro stands behind Keith (him and Pidge acting as a barrier between Keith and their teammates) but spares a look at Pidge's work only to be completely overwhelmed and look back at the spore.

"Oh, oh! I've seen this experiment. But, question: Why do we need to get electricity from a potato?" Hunk asks.

"What? No, no. I was able to crack the 'sporse code,'" Pidge chuckles and everyone but Keith and the Alteans groan.

"What's 'sporse code'?" Keith whispers to Shiro.

"Morse code is an old human code. Pidge is making a joke. I'll teach you it, if you want," Shiro smiles gently and Keith nods, turning back to Pidge.

"I ran the bioluminescent pattern through a variety of code-breaking sequences, including this homemade virtual Turing machine. Of course, I had to make a few tweaks to the original design, because, obviously, there have been several advancements since he designed it. Although, you have to admit, Turing was a shining light in the world of science in an age when far too many were still," everyone starts to stare at Pidge.

"Pidge," Keith says, sternly (worried about the Olkari), causing them to yelp, "What does it say?"

"Oh, yeah. 'Under attack. Galra. Help.' And then, there are coordinates."

"It's a distress signal. Good work, Pidge. Get those coordinates into the castleship's navigation system," Shiro orders.

The team moves to the Bridge. Allura steers and Coran stands at the front of the Bridge. Keith paces near the back, tense and almost growling, causing the others to shoot him worried glances constantly. The rest of the Paladins stand in a line between Allura and Coran, although Shiro looks ready to sprint to Keith's side at a moment's notice.

"The signal came from Olkarion, home to the Olkari, a proud class of engineers, builders of vast cities that could change shape at the whim of their creators," Coran explains as they approach the planet.

"They had a seemingly magical ability to manipulate solid metal. With just a wave of their hands, they could build a computer inside a block of steel," Allura adds.

"Whoa," Pidge gasps.

"An Olkari once gave me this!" Coran says, showing them a floating cube.

"What is it?" Lance asks.

"Uh, hello? It's a floating cube!," Coran laughs, "Oh, this guy. And watch! My name is Coran and I'm a gorgeous man."

"My name is Coran and I'm a gorgeous man," the cube beeps and repeats what Coran says, causing Pidge to start gushing at it and astounding Lance and Hunk.

Keith growls slightly, causing the team to look at him worriedly. Pidge stops gushing and the team regains their focus.

"Why would a society full of literal tech wizards use spores to send a distress signal?" Lance asks.

"Who cares? When do we get to see that city?" Pidge questions.

"Actually, Pidge, the distress signal isn't coming from the city. It's coming from... the forest," Allura answers.

"Oh," Pidge moans.

Keith growls again and heads to Red's hangar. She purrs in an attempt of comfort, the other Lions attempting to assist. It works slightly. He approaches Red, who lowers her head. Keith rests his hand and forehead against her mouth and starts to whimper.

"It wasn't bad enough to ask for help, when we were there not long ago. We could've done something. They were good and kind. Why does the Emperor have to be so cruel? Why is life so unfair, Mom?" Keith whimpers.

Red responds by nudging him and reminding him of the fates of the Paladins, had he not interfered. She tells him it wasn't his fault, and if it were, it would also be her own, since she was supposed to help and guide him. The true fault lies with the Empire and Zarkon, she tells him, and now, more than ever, they need to be stopped. She asks if he's up to it.

"Y-yeah," Keith wipes away his tears he hadn't realised had been falling, standing up straight and smiling slightly, "Yes. I can handle it, Mom."

She and the Pride purr in pride and Red opens her mouth. Keith enters and waits for the other Paladins. They head to the forest.

"Why doesn't anyone ever send a distress signal from a cool place? I hate the outdoors. Nothing but sunburn and poison oak," Pidge complains, as they pass the city.

"I like it out here. It's quiet," Keith smiles, the Lions agreeing, only to stop at arrows firing past the Lions, "Huh?"

"What was that?" Hunk asks as the arrows hit.

"Uh, are we being attacked?" Keith wonders, the Lions slightly worried.

"I don't know, but something's dragging my lion down to the surface," Shiro informs them, the Lions growling at their lack of control.

"Yeah, something's pulling Blue down, too," Lance adds, as they land in the forest in front of Olkari with wooden mech-suits and wooden blasters and wooden spears.

"Are those wooden mech-suits?" Hunk wonders.

"Are you kidding me? We got taken down by a bunch of tree people!" Lance complains.

"We come in peace!" Shiro says over speakers.

"Could it be? Voltron?" Ryner approaches.

"We found your distress signal!" Pidge comes out the top of Green's head with the spore as Red lets Keith out on the ground.

The Olkari notice him and the spore. They realise they are allies. Joy and hope seems to spread amongst the rebels.

"Praise Lubos!" Ryner says.

"Lubos! Lubos!" The Olkari chant.

Ryner smiles and guides them into the city, acting as a tour guide, "When the Galra attacked, only a few of us escaped the cities. We were forced to flee into the forest."

"How long have you lived like this?" Shiro gasps.

"Many decaphoebs, but, as you can see, our people are resilient. We never stopped evolving. Instead, we adapted our skills to the environment," Ryner answers.

Shiro clenches his fists, sharing a look with Keith.

"And the Champion is unstoppable! Will this kill be his last?"

"Shiro?"

"It'll be okay, Yurak. I promise. We'll get out of here and find Matt," Shiro holds him tight, whispering, "I've got you."

It never got easier. Taking lives. The Paladins have had few breakdowns, but they mostly try to ignore the fact that people died on those ships. It's not healthy, but killing can destroy people. They are coping and can deal with it in healthy manners, once this war is over.

One Olkari creates a wooden dragonfly. It approaches Pidge. Keith pounces and tries to grab it. He ends up chasing it and laughing. Shiro laughs and asks Lance and Hunk to keep an eye on him. They salut and start to chase. Eventually, Keith's game changes from chase the wooden creature to escape Lance and Hunk.

"Coran was right, Ryner. You really are the most incredible engineers in the universe. To be able to switch from working with precision machinery to a bunch of sticks!" Pidge grins widely.

"Nature's designs are superior to any that we could devise."

"No offense, but I'll take my computer over a tree any day."

"You two can talk science later. Let's assemble Voltron and get rid of these Empire invaders," Shiro interrupts.

"It's not that simple, I'm afraid. The Empire has our leader, Lubos," Ryner answers (the Olkari say Lubos), "If you attack, who knows what they'll do to him?"

"Then, we'll just have to rescue him."

Lance and Hunk return panting.

"Where's Keith?"

They share a look.

"He's fast-" Lance begins.

"Very fast," Hunk interrupts.

"And agile-"

"Very agile."

"And we may have lost him-"

"We totally lost him."

Both boys look disappointed in themselves as Shiro sighs and holds the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb. He turns to the Olkari and smiles, before bowing.

"Sorry about this. He doesn't get to go outside much. We have to go find him," Shiro apologises.

Ryner laughs, "It is quite alright. We understand curiosity. Let us help."

The Olkari form more of the dragonflies to find Keith. The dragonflies find him with two female Olkari, asleep, and lead the Paladins and Ryner to them. They wait nearby, but hidden so as not to startle Keith too much. It doesn't take long for the three to wake up. Keith smiles, stretching like a cat and thanks them before leaving, having had the best sleep in a while. The Paladins approach him and act relieved. Ryner smiles at the found family, tells them good luck and informs them that they will always be welcome to return, even when the mission is complete. They leave to plan.

"Work faster! Faster! For a bunch of slaves with magical, metalworking powers, they're taking an awfully long time to build my super weapon. Perhaps they need a little bit of- motivation. Show them their king!" The Commander growls, a few drones send lasers between themselves to form a screen showing the King in high-tech stocks.

"No. No more! Please don't hurt me!" Lubios begs and the slaves cry and work faster.

"That's more like it."

The Paladins all stand in a section of the forest.

"Um Ryner, where are we?" Keith asks, feeling the quintessence reacting strangely (more readily but also more restricted).

"This is the armoury," Ryner explains, as one of the Olkari women Keith met earlier and a few other Olkarians create weapons from the plants.

"Huh?" Hunk gasps.

Ryner interacts with the tree, causing a huge wooden mech to fall down in front of them. It opens to reveal a relatively high-tech cockpit.

"Cool!" Lance gushes.

"Uh, can I get one of those?" Keith asks from next to Shiro, on the opposite side to the other Paladins.

"Of course. You can each have one," Ryner opens a flower to reveal circular glowing branches and hands one to each Paladin, "Now, the key to operating it is understanding that the nanocellulose responds to electrical impulses from the neural pathways connected through this."

"Do what now?" Lance asks.

"Mm. Mm! Makes my tongue itchy," Hunk says after tasting his, causing Keith to giggle and Shiro to facepalm.

"That's your interface?" Pidge puts it on.

"Of course, all commands need to come as binary coded messages," Ryner adds.

"So, like this," Pidge approaches a tree and copies what Ryner did.

"Yes! Excellent!" Ryner praises.

All the other Paladins are unable to do it. Keith feels the quintessence wrapping around him and connecting in a way even the Olkari can't, but finds himself unable to communicate. He makes a mental note to learn binary code from Pidge (alongside the other couple million things he needs/wants to learn).

"I think mine is just a tree," Lance says.

"You must have a deep connection with nature," Ryner suggests, ignoring the others.

"Not really. My allergies and pale skin don't mix with outdoor living," Pidge answers.

"Pidge is our resident tech expert," Shiro explains.

"Well, that explains it. Like the Olkari, you understand that, at the deepest level, trees, metal, you, me we're all made up of the same cosmic dust, all arranged by the laws of mathematics," Ryner observes.

"Does this mean I should start gardening?" Pidge wonders.

"It means you're going to need to give your friends a ride," Ryner smiles.

Lance and Hunk ride with Pidge. Keith and Shiro ride with Ryner. Shiro keeps a hand on Keith's shoulder, despite this making it harder for him to hold on, as a reassurance, worried that Keith will react badly to confined spaces. Keith doesn't like it, but the hand and Lions help ground him, but he trusts Ryner and the majority of the Olkari, which does help.

"This way! To the edge of the forest! To save our king!" Ryner says.

In the city, the cube starts to fit together into a cube shape, "Finally, the cube is ready for launch. Load the top Olkari engineers onto our ships and prepare for departure. After the cube destroys Olkarion, hopefully, Zarkon will welcome us back to the main fleet," orders the Commander.

"Their headquarters are impenetrable from the ground, but there is one way in, a small opening in the roof. It goes all the way down to an open courtyard," Ryner explains, showcasing the defences of the city through the wooden mech.

"That's quite a drop," Keith comments.

"But there you will have total access to the building. The hard part will be getting onto the roof undetected."

"That won't be a problem," Shiro replies.

"Hey, hey, what's that? Is that part of the building?" Hunk notices the cube.

"My Lubos! It can't be!" Ryner gasps.

"Hey! That looks like the cube Coran gave me!" Pidge mentions, showing the cube to Ryner through the comms.

"I haven't seen one of those in many decaphoebs. We used to play with them as children. But this! Only King Lubos could have designed one that size."

"Why would he do that?" Keith mutters, more to himself and the Lions, all of them getting a bad feeling.

"They must have forced him to reveal his designs and reconstruct it as a weapon. From the looks of it, I'd say it's almost finished."

"Okay, we need to act fast. Everyone, back to base. I have a plan," Shiro explains the plan, once they return to base, "First, we'll need to get to the top of that tower. Since the Green Lion has stealth capabilities, Pidge, you're the drop ship. You'll take Keith, Hunk, Lance, and me to the roof, then drop back to a safe position. After the drop, we'll use a sensor to scan the building for any Olkari biorhythms."

Pidge uses Green's 'invisibility' to drop the four Paladins. The four stop their fall with their jet packs. They scan and Green picks it all up, sending to the Paladins' helmets. They avoid the sentries and make it to a door. Inside, sobbing is heard. They make their way into the strangely unlocked room, Keith's instincts warning him something is wrong. They all look on aghast at the TV.

"Betrayal! She loves you!" Lubos cries, stuffing his face as a starving slave stands beside him.

"King Lubos?" Shiro asks.

"Yes? Who are you? The jesters I requested?" Lubos wonders.

"Um, we're here to, like, rescue you?" Lance questions uncertainly.

"Hmm..." Lubos says and trips the alarm, causing the Commander and sentries to storm the room.

"You could have just said, 'No, thanks,'" Hunk answers.

"Looks like someone came to rescue you, Lubos," the Commander says.

"You turned your back on your people to save your own skin?" Shiro's voice shows almost no emotion, but Keith feels the anger pouring off him in waves and the venom in his tone.

"I'm doing this for my people! They wanted to fight the Galra, but they are too powerful! The Galra could destroy us!" Lubos argues, causing Keith to snarl slightly, but Shiro moves his arm slightly in front of Keith to keep him from attacking and to keep him behind him, if the sentries shoot.

"So, you helped enslave your people to build some super weapon?" Lance answers.

"Don't make me the bad guy! He forced me to do it!" Lubos pouts and points at the Commander.

"Did he force-feed you too?" Lance replies, rolling his eyes.

"Uh," Lubos has no response to that.

"You're no king," Keith growls, as Shiro goes to grab his wrist on the far side of his body lightly to calm him and the Commander's eyebrow raises at the sound.

Keith pushes away from Shiro and moves forward to grab Lubos. Lubos recognises the danger and attempts to run, but Lubos' servant throws him towards Keith. The servant glares at him, having been taken forcefully as a hostage. Keith presses his Bayard at Lubos' neck, unwilling to let up. He hears Red and the Lions try to calm him down and it works enough to keep Lubos as a hostage instead of a stain on the floor (like so many who were enslaved, like the Olkari, like his own people were without even knowing, more blood on his hands, more blood on his hands, morebloodonhishands-). His growls are still inaudible to the sentries, the servant, Lance and Hunk, but Shiro knows what Keith looks and acts like when he growls, Lubos can feel it from Keith's mouth being near his ear and the Commander has the senses of the Galra.

"Okay, we're walking out of here! Anyone tries to stop us and Lubos gets it!"

"Whoa, K-Keith!" Shiro half-protests, all three Paladins' eyes wide as saucers.

"That came out of nowhere!" Lance remarks.

"La-sai, what are you doing?" Lubos almost whimpers, sweating.

"You betrayed our people. I can't live this lie anymore," La-sai glares harshly.

"You don't want me to hurt your genius engineer, right?" Keith growls, calming down enough, from the Lions' constant, calming voices in his head and the reminder he has friends and family around him, that he's not about to kill Lubos.

"Oh, be my guest. His work is done. The cube is complete," the Commander smiles cruelly.

"What? But-but I thought we had a deal!" Lubos' hope is crushed.

"Guards, put them all out of their misery," the Commander orders, only for a laser to shoot through the building separating the Paladins and Olkari from the Commander and sentries.

"Your ride is here!" Pidge says through Green's speakers, as they hover outside the new hole.

"Engage the cube! Take down the lion!" the Commander pushes a sentry off him and orders.

As the other sentries start shooting, the Paladins use their shields to get away. Shiro protects La-sai, whilst Keith uses Lubos as a shield. Shiro ends up protecting the four of them as they use their jet packs to get on top of Green. They shoot back, but the cube glows purple.

"The cube is operational! We've got to get back to the other lions and form Voltron!" Shiro orders.

"On it!" Pidge answers.

They fly off and arrive back at the forest. Keith throws Lubos at the feet of his free people.

"Lubos... What's going on?" Ryner asks, the Olkari murmuring.

"While your countrymen starved, King Lubos was well taken care of by the Empire. He willingly helped them build that cube, willingly helped to enslave his own people," Shiro explains, causing the Olkari to gasp, "I know you're devastated, but it's time to be strong and use your Olkari spirit to fight alongside Voltron and take back your planet!"

"Lubos, how could you?"

"I- I was only trying to-" Lubos tries to make more excuses.

"Enough! We must free our people!" Ryner interrupts, making the Olkari cheer.

The Paladins all enter their Lions, but Ryner stops Keith. Shiro notices and stops, but Keith smiles and shakes his head, making Shiro enter Black. He turns to Ryner.

"When you came to us, we didn't expect everything to get this bad. We owe that to the one who knew us best," Ryner glares at Lubos being taken away, before turning back to Keith and resting a hand on his shoulder, "You knew we were in trouble and you helped us. You brought Voltron to us. You will help us save us. Show the rest of the Universe that the Empire is not all Galra."

Keith gapes for a moment before collecting himself, "You- you knew?"

Ryner smiles, "We have had good, kind Galra, like you, stay with us before. It's why we knew how to handle your chase situation so easily," Ryner laughs.

"Thank you," Keith smiles.

"No, thank you, kit. You are always welcome here; no matter what anyone else in the Universe says."

Keith waves as he leaves. The Olkari return the wave and he heads into Red, spirit renewed and ready for the fight. They form Voltron, once Keith joins them. They find the cube floating in a mountain area.

"All right, team, let's take that thing down!" Shiro yells, only for the cube to shoot at them as they approach, "Form shield!"

"Let's see how tough this magic cube is," Keith says and shoots their own blast, as the shield takes a few blasts from the cube, only for their blast to be shot back.

"Did it just absorb our lasers?" Pidge observes.

"We need to increase firepower! Hunk, use your blaster!" Shiro yells.

"-I'm not sure this is a good idea-" Pidge tries to interject.

"Got it!" Hunk answers, blasting the cube, "Yeah, I think it's working!"

The Cube fires the blast back, pushing Voltron back.

"It's giving back whatever we fire into it, like Coran's echo cube," Shiro observes.

That's what I was trying to tell you guys! It's learning! Making its own versions of our weapons to use against us!" Pidge cries,

"We can't just sit here. We've got to move!" Lance answers.

Voltron attempts to avoid the laser, only to be hit and knocked onto the ground. They get up and fly away, before the Cube can hit them again. They fly over the forest, trying to buy time to think of a plan. Keith tries to focus on the plan brainstorming session and not on the Lions arguing over whether or not they should kill Lubos.

"How do we beat it?" Hunk asks.

"Maybe, if we form our sword, we can cut through the surface and hack right into the center thinking point place?" Lance suggests.

"Can't be any worse than what's happening now," Keith answers, growling at the Lions to save it for later and leaving no room for argument.

"Let's do it. Form sword!" Shiro orders.

Keith forms the sword and they approach the Cube. They avoid multiple lasers and cut it in half, landing in the forest.

"It's working!" Pidge almost laughs in relief, only for the cube to say nope and now be two functional rectangles.

"It's still operational! Re-engage!" Shiro yells, Voltron flying up and cutting the rectangles in half.

"We did it! They're going down!" Hunk cries in joy, only for them now to have to deal with four cubes.

'What did they expect was going to happen?' Red groans.

'Desperation makes people do stupid things, Mom!' Keith thinks.

"Uh-oh!" Lance cries as they have to defend from four lasers at once now.

"We've got to move! Move!" Shiro orders and they try flying high, only to be shot, "We can't fight them like this! We need to split up! Back into lions!" the Lions manage to dodge easier than Voltron.

"Excellent. Voltron doesn't stand a chance against my weapon. Soon, I'll have both the cube and Voltron to present to Emperor Zarkon," the Commander watches from his control room.

"Let's see if I can freeze these guys!" Lance tries, but it is ineffective and Blue's head gets frozen, "Oh, no! So cold, so cold!" Keith uses Red’s fire to thaw it, "Oh, oh. Thanks, Keith."

"You got it," they continue flying and dodging.

"Shiro, what are we going to do?" Hunk asks.

"There doesn't seem to be any way to stop them, but we can't let this weapon get into Zarkon's hands!" Shiro answers, but Pidge gets chased in between two and hit, "Pidge!"

"The Green Lion's in trouble!" Ryner says and the Olkari rush to Pidge's aid.

"Pidge! Are you okay?" Hunk asks over the comms.

"Pidge, can you hear me?" Ryner's voice echoes.

"Yeah. Wait. How am I hearing you?" Pidge asks.

"That's not important right now. We need to get your lion back up and running. I think we can heal your lion's body, but you must bond with its spirit if it is to fly again," Ryner explains, the Lion wrecked and bound by vines.

"But I thought we bonded already."

"Your bond must be stronger."

"Come on, girl. I need you."

"Remember what I said. You, the lion, the Olkari We are all made of the same essence," the Olkari heal Green's body and Green manages to let Pidge hear the Paladins through the comms.

"Where are you, Pidge? We need you!" Shiro calls.

"Pidge!" Keith grunts, getting blasted.

Pidge finally understands and Green and Pidge's bond grows stronger. Green roars at the new power flowing. Keith feels the connection strengthen and how much easier it is to feel Pidge. Pidge has finally accepted themselves as the Green Paladin. He almost pauses, as he revels in the feeling of Pidge - Pidge - but the sounds of lasers keeps him in the moment and keeps him trying to move from the ground. The Lions all end up shot and on the ground.

"Guys, hang on!" Pidge calls.

"Pidge!" the Paladins cry in relief.

"Whoa, Pidge! What's going on? You're booking!" Hunk observes, as Green moves faster, avoiding the lasers.

"I'm not sure, but I feel more connected with my lion than ever! I know what I have to do!"

Green shoots a laser at the Cube, only for it to try and send it back. Some roots burst out and try to consume it.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Lance gasps.

"That's right! Circle up, everybody! Get some of this!" Pidge answers, shooting the Cubes.

"Ha. Vines," Hunk chuckles slightly, "Well, that is not the way I thought a giant cube of death would go down."

"No!" the Commander growls, losing his weapon and the Olkari city that the rebels are reclaiming.

"Commander, we have to evacuate. The cube is down and the Olkari have taken back the city."

The Empire leave in their ship and the Olkari celebrate.

"I want to thank you all. You helped us get our home back. And, for that, we will never be able to repay you," Ryner tells the Paladins.

"Just promise me that when it's time to take the fight to Zarkon, we can count on the Olkari for help," Shiro answers.

"Now and forever," Ryner turns to Pidge, "And you... The spirit of the Olkari resides in you. The bond between you and your lion has grown stronger than ever."

"Without you, I would never have been able to unlock my lion's hidden power," Pidge answers.

As the Paladins leave, Keith stops to talk to Ryner. Shiro lingers nearby, watching carefully. He motions to the other Paladins to go on ahead, when they stop too.

"What will happen to Lubos?" Keith asks.

"He will get what he deserves," Ryner answers, looking at Keith, "We can't hurt him, like some would. It is not in our nature, but we can make him pay us back for our suffering. He will work harder than our people did under the Empire."

Keith smiles slightly, "I'm glad things worked out."

"Goodbye kit. Remember you are always welcome," Ryner waves and two Olkari women approach, giving Keith a cube.

"A present. A reminder that you are always welcome," the smaller says ands the older only smiles.

"I will visit when I can," Keith assures and hugs the two, before joining Shiro and waving as they enter their Lions.

Once they reach the Castle, they debrief.

"Nice job, Pidge," Shiro congratulates.

"You know, it's weird. I've always been a tech junkie. That's how I connected with the world. But, for the first time, I feel connected to everything. I guess it's like Ryner said. We're all made up of the same cosmic dust," Pidge smiles.

"So, that means we're all related. This ship, those stars, the Olkari," Keith whispers, from his place between Pidge and Shiro, away from the others.

"Even the Galra," Lance adds, a small smile aimed at Keith.

"Uh-oh. I think Keith and Lance just blew their own minds," Hunk jokes and they all laugh, "What?"

"Well, that was a productive trip. Look at all these cubes they gave me! Coran, Coran, the gorgeous man!" Coran uses the Cube, which splits into many.

"Coran, Coran, the gorgeous man!" the Cubes repeat.

"Ah, sounds pretty good," Coran says.

"Ah, sounds pretty good," the Cubes repeat.

Hunk makes a fart noise that the Cubes copy. Everyone laughs, except Shiro and Keith. Shiro has his 'unimpressed dad' look on.

"Why was that funny?" Keith asks.

"We'll explain it later, Mullet," Lance waves it off and adds it to his mental list of things to teach Keith.

"Whoa!" Hunk and everyone gasps, surprised by the sudden alarms.

"What's that..?" Coran asks and the Cubes repeat.

Zarkon's Central Command shows up with many battle cruisers.

"Oh, no," Coran gasps and the Cubes copy.

Keith whimpers and moves closer to Shiro, who takes Keith's wrist and rubs soothing patterns into it. Red and the Lions growl in anger and try to help keep Keith calm, but he can feel Zarkon, the Druids and Zarkon's connection to Black.

Chapter Text

"Zarkon! How did he find us?" Allura asks as Coran grabs his cube.

"His commanders must have radioed him from Olkarion," Keith mutters.

"We need to wormhole, now! Everyone to your stations. We've got to put some distance between us and Zarkon. This could be the fight of our lives," Shiro orders, separating reluctantly from Keith.

"That's sure a lot of fighters," Hunk observes, as they are bombarded by lasers.

"Allura, can you evade these fighters? We can't have them following us through the wormhole," Shiro asks.

"I can try."

"Keith, Lance, let's lay down some covering fire," Shiro orders, three drones leaving the particle barrier and attacking the incoming fighters.

"Lance, incoming, 12 o'clock high!" Pidge warns.

"Got it!" Lance answers, only for Keith's drone to knock into his drone and take out the fighters, "Hey!"

"Sorry! Gotta be quick!" Keith says, trying to ignore the extra consciousness he can feel prodding at the Lions.

"How's that for quick?" Lance shoots some incoming fighters coming from Keith's rear, barely missing Keith's drone.

"Knock it off, you two! Stay in your zones!" Shiro orders, trying to get some order back.

"Yeah, Keith!" Lance calls, stressed, but his eyes soften when he sees Keith shaking slightly, "I can handle this."

"Keep calling out those fighters, Pidge. Hunk, how are the defenses holding?"

"I don't know. Ten percent? Fifteen maybe? Everything's a blur. I've been up too long. I have tired eyes!" Hunk rubs his eyes.

"I know we just came off an intense battle, but we've got to stay focused, just until we jump."

"And when is that?" Keith growls, trying to shake away the presence trying to reach him through Black.

"They're still too close! We need to gain more speed!" Coran yells.

"I've got an idea! Hold on!" Allura cries, heading for a nearby moon.

"Allura, what are you doing?" Pidge calls.

"I'm going to use this moon's gravity to gain speed and put some distance between us and Zarkon."

The gravity causes some strain for the Paladins and Alteans, but they put enough distance between them and the fighters.

"We're clear to wormhole!" Coran announces.

They fly into the wormhole. Zarkon watches. Keith whimpers, holding himself as he feels Zarkon watching, finally able to feel like himself without the foreign presence.

"We got away from Zarkon, how come we're still on alert?" Lance asks in the wormhole.

"Coran, what's going on?" Shiro demands, eyes focusing on Keith, who seems to be losing consciousness.

"Oh, no! Teludav lens malfunction! We're about to exit this wormhole a lot sooner than we planned! " Coran says, Allura looking like she is struggling to.

"Whoa. Where are we? Looks like some sort of iceberg graveyard," Lance observes.

"Coran, what's the status?" Allura asks.

"Checking that now. We didn't make it to our exit point, but we're several galaxies from Zarkon's fleet," Coran informs them and Allura falls to the floor exhausted.

Everyone except for Keith rushes over, struggling to stay awake. He grows a bit more aware at the commotion and reaches out to Allura with a whimper from his position curled in his seat. Shiro notices and goes to Keith instead. He picks Keith up, the younger putting his arms around the elder's neck. Shiro places a hand just below his neck and positions Keith's legs so he is holding Shiro like a Koala. Keith looks at the Paladins and Allura, who have been watching the interaction, watching them carefully. Keith whimpers and slowly reaches a hand out to Allura, who smiles softly and takes it, rubbing small patterns into it, Keith slowly falling asleep. The Paladins and Alteans take it as a sign to focus on Allura and their situation.

"Oh, you both look exhausted. You must rest. You've been exerting way too much energy. I'll go check on the main turbine and figure out what's going," Coran runs only to slip into a wall, "Whoa!"

"Are you alright?" Lance asks, Keith waking up slightly to send a worried look to Coran.

"I'm fine. Look, I tell you what, I've probably hit a slippery spot on the ground there. Someone please wipe that up there!" Coran tries to play it off.

"You're sweating. You might have a case of the slipperies," Allura says.

"What? No! No, that's an old person virus, and I'm not old. I'm young," Coran dismisses, "Well, young-ish."

"What are the slipperies?" Lance wonder aloud.

"It's a common Altean virus that occurs later in life. It's not harmful and usually only lasts a couple of days, but it causes one's body to secrete extremely slick fluid."

"Ew! Gross!" The Paladins moan, Keith whimpering in sympathy and growling at the man to stay away.

"Yes, it is gross, so it's a good thing I don't have it!" Coran answers, making Keith growl quietly enough that only Shiro hears and pats his hair reassuringly.

"Coran, it's nothing to be embarrassed about," Allura smiles.

"I'm not embarrassed because I don't have it! And, now, I'm actually going to leave because I've got to fix the main turbine!" Coran tries to leave, only to be stuck in the same spot due to his fluids on the floor.

Eventually he slips and goes sliding down the hallways, "Quiznak!"

"All right. Since Zarkon has no idea where we are, this is the perfect time to focus on our next step. Maybe we can find that secret group, the Blade of Marmora. Pidge, where are those coordinates?" Shiro makes everyone groan, but Keith enjoys the vibrations.

"Wait, hang on. I'm so tired, my brain's not working," Pidge stares at their holoscreen.

"Yeah, neither is mine," Lance adds.

"Hello all. I've checked the engines," Coran says over the comms.

"That was fast," Pidge observes.

"Well, I slipped right down- I mean, hurried down. Anyway, the good news is, the Galra fighter did minimal damage. I flushed the turbine and it's fine. The bad news is, the teludav, or wormholer, as you Earthlings call it, is in bad shape. Several scaultrite lens-stones of the magnifying beam generator are cracked. As you know, the magnifying beam generator uses a crystal to convert Altean energy into usable fuel. That supplies the power needed to wormhole. Well, anyway, I need to remove the cracked lenses and readjust their trajectory temporarily until we can replace them. I'll also need to divert power to make up for the lost energy. Anyway, it's going to take at least a quintant," Coran struggles to stop sliding around and bashes himself on many surfaces.

"All right. We'll hide the ship and get some rest while Coran comes up with a work-around. Tomorrow, we'll be sharper and refocused," Shiro says, the Paladins looking at him suspiciously.

He carries Keith away to Keith's room.

"How are you doing, Yurak?" he asks the kit quietly.

"Tired. Mind hurts," Keith whimpers into Shiro's neck.

"I know, but you were so brave today. Fighting for the Olkari like that and then fighting Zarkon and then with Allura. I'm proud of you," Shiro murmurs into Keith's hair as he sits on the bed.

"Thanks, Dad," Keith smiles.

"So, how do you want to spend your day off?" Shiro asks, hiding his own smile and blush in Keith's hair, "I know you won't be sleeping."

"I have an idea."

"Huh? What the heck do you think you're doing?" Lance asks as Keith walks into the elevator like a zombie.

"Allura said there's a pool. I'm gonna go check it out. What do you think you're doing?"

"Same thing."

"Look, you stay on one side of the pool and I'll stay on the other, and we'll be far, far away from each other. Very... far... away..." Keith says from the opposite side of the elevator, still not feeling completely safe with the Blue Paladin without Shiro, Lance straining to have to hear him.

The elevator stops. Both sigh.

"Uh I thought you were exhausted. Why are you making cookies?" Pidge asks Hunk.

"Because baking clears my head, Pidge. Okay? I thought you were gonna help Coran with the wormholer."

"One mention of the slipperies and he got all sensitive and kicked me out. I hate not being able to read Altean. What is this stuff? Are you sure you're making food?"

"You're gonna try and tell me that these aren't cookies?" Hunk takes a bite, only to feel his teeth crack, "Okay, I might have overcooked them. Wait, where you going? You don't want to wait for the next batch?"

Pidge leaves.

Keith and Lance are trying to climb the elevator shaft.

"It's right, then left. You're off," Keith growls, hating that his only choice to get out of the cramped (not a cell, not again) elevator was to touch a not-family (he was family, once, but can't trust that easily, big mistake).

"You're off! And shoving too hard!" Lance bites back, a playful tone in his voice.

"You're not shoving hard enough!" Keith growls back playfully.

The boys stop as they slip. The situation gets them to quieten down, only to burst out laughing.

"I should be at the pool right now!" Lance whines, once the laughs die down.

"Would you stop whining?" Keith looks up to see a door, "Huh? Look!"

Keith kicks the vent covering in and they slide down. Lance. Doesn't. Stop. Screaming. They land in the pool room. Keith lands on his backside, tiredness numbing his reflexes so he doesn't roll or land on his feet. Lance lands on his face.

"What the heck?!" Lance asks, seeing the upside down pools.

"Quiznak! Stupid Altean pools," Keith growls.

"Welcome to introductory Altean."

"Awesome! I'm finally gonna learn the Altean language!" Pidge smiles.

"Level, beginner. Safety, off."

"Safety? That's weird."

"Klanmüirl," a bear hologram is shown.

"Klan-mural," the incorrect beep sounds and the Klanmüirl growls and advances, "Hm? Uh, what's that?"

"Klanmüirl."

"Klan-mirl?" Pidge tries only for the Klanmüirl to become large and terrifying and roar in Pidge's face, "Klanmüirl! Klanmüirl!"

"Kazrlgi Squikqwl."

"Oh, quiznak."

"What are you doing here? You should be resting," Shiro tells Allura when she enters the Bridge.

"I cannot sleep. Zarkon is out there. He's searching for us."

"I know how you feel, but you have to step away for a while. It's what's best for everyone."

The moment is interrupted by the Castle shaking and the Empire's fighters bombarding the Castle.

"We are several galaxies away. How could they find us so soon?" Allura asks aloud.
"Oh, no! My good batch!" Hunk complains as he drops his cookies.

The Paladins are all thrown around by the explosions and attacks.

"Particle barrier! Up!" Allura attempts to protect them from the onslaught of attacks, "Coran, are you there?"

"I'm here! Over here! Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Coran slides on and off the screen.

"Zarkon is back! What's our status?"

"Wormholing will be a problem. The lenses haven't been readjusted! I don't know if the teludav will generate enough power."

"Do everything you can!"

"They found us again? How is that possible? Is that possible? That doesn't seem possible!" Lance rants, all the Paladins hurrying into the Bridge.

"Right now, we must figure out a way to get out of here."

"Or we can stay and fight. Now's our chance. Form Voltron. Enough running!" Keith suggests, knowing that they can't keep running with Zarkon's connection to Black, his own focus fading as he feels Zarkon's influence again.

"It's too dangerous!" Allura's voice snaps Keith's attention to the situation at hand.

"Allura's right. We can't take on Zarkon and his entire fleet. Remember what happened at Zarkon's command center. We wouldn't have escaped if the Blade of Marmora hadn't shut down the shield," Shiro argues logically.

"The turbine's up. Still working on the worm-" Coran falls and slips and bashes his head, "Uh, guys, I think I'm realizing now that I do, in fact, have a case of the slipperies," everyone gives him disbelieving looks, "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Pidge. I may need your help, after all."

"I'm coming down."

"Let's clear a path," Shiro orders and the Castle begins to move.

"Lance, there's a fighter advancing on your nine!" Keith points out.

"Thanks for the heads-up! And you've got one going for the lower barrier," Lance replies.

"Good eye!"

"What can I do?" Pidge asks upon arrival.

"Help me divert power. Slide me to that monitor! Wipe my sweat!" Pidge does so reluctantly.

"Okay, buddy, you're mine," Lance says, only for his control panel to deactivate, "What's going on? I lost control of my defense drone!"

"I got you covered!" Keith says, only for the same thing to happen to him, "Uh, I don't got you. There must be a system failure."

"Nope, that was us! We're diverting power from non-essential systems to get the wormhole generator working," Pidge yells as Coran slides in the background screaming.

"Shooting bad guys is pretty essential!" Lance yells.

"We lost secondary controls! Thermal regulator's offline! Oh, no, there goes the particle barrier!" Hunk gives commentary.

"Okay, try it! We should be able to make one very small jump I hope," Coran says.

"Is it gonna hold?" Pidge asks.

"I guess we're about to find out."

"The wormhole's open!" Shiro informs them.

Keith shakes, whimpering at the sudden anger that he feels from Zarkon. It fades as soon as it appears and all Keith feels is the foreboding sense of possessiveness. Zarkon is coming and he will find them again. He will always find them. Keith doesn't know how to fix that, but the Lions have an idea they won't share. When they enter the wormhole, Keith doesn't feel a sense of relief at the lack of Zarkon he feels, like before. He curls up on his seat, hugging himself tightly.

"Oh, no! The lenses are breaking down even more! We'll be out of the wormhole even sooner this time!" Coran tells them.

"Zarkon keeps finding us. It's like... he knows how to track us down. Maybe he planted some kind of tracking device," Shiro suggests.

"Well, it is nothing on the ship. The Castle would have detected any tracking devices," Allura answers.

"Until we figure out exactly how he's doing it, we should assume that he could show up at any minute. So, stay alert."

Hunk snores and his 'snot bubble' pops, waking him up, "Oh, man! Oh, what's going on? What are you guys doing? What are you looking at?"

"You woke yourself up snoring," Keith snickers.

"My bad."

"Coran, what's our status? Any good news?" Shiro asks.

"Actually, there is a bit of good news. I'm finally getting used to these slipperies. My mucus glands are working at an incredible rate!"

"Any good news about the teludav?" Shiro ignores that comment.

"I'm afraid not. The last jump overloaded the lens-stones. Now, even more of them are broken. I'm going to try some readjustments to change the beam trajectory. Until then, wormholing away will be impossible."

"Hey, there's a giant metallic storm ahead of us. I think we can hide in the eye of the storm. It should give off enough interference so we can't be tracked," Pidge suggests.

"It's worth a shot," Shiro says.

"Brilliant, Pidge. We're essentially invisible to any radar, radio waves, universal scans, or any other known technology," Allura compliments.

The alarms start blaring and Keith starts whimpering.

"No...." Allura gasps, Zarkon's ship hovering above the eye of the storm where they are hiding.

"Send in the fighters, flush them out. When they are within range, I will take control of the Black Lion," Zarkon orders.

"Okay, I don't know how he found us, but it definitely wasn't with normal instruments," Pidge yells.

"It's me. It's been me all along. That's how they found us on planet Arus," Allura gasps, when they are bombarded by the many fighters, Keith unable to argue otherwise with Zarkon in his head and no distractions.

"It doesn't matter, Princess. We're in this together. We're gonna get out together," Shiro answers.

"Uh, how? We're trapped," Hunk asks.

"We need to form Voltron and go through the storm," Shiro answers, Keith growling at the dangerous idea, but knowing it is their best chance, giving Shiro a nod.

"The storm? What are you, nuts?" Lance cries.

"Yeah! What do you mean? Yeah, why would we do that?" Hunk stammers.

"It's risky, I know, but it's our only chance. We have to go through the storm, then lure Zarkon's ship away, giving Allura some time to get into open space," Shiro answers.

"Then, what?" Allura asks.

"Then, we wormhole away. Coran, remember how you said getting this Castle to wormhole is impossible? Well, I need you to do the impossible."

The Lions leave the Castle and form Voltron, "Team, let's draw those fighters out!"

The fighters follow Voltron.

"I think it's working! They're following us!" Keith yells, Red and the Lions trying to keep Zarkon away from his mind.

"How's it coming, Coran?" Allura asks.

"In order for this to work, each remaining lens-stone will need to take the equivalent of five beams! There's no way it can hold that kind of power! The whole thing will explode!"

"We've lost them in the storm!" Haggar tells Zarkon.

"They won't be in there long."

"They can't follow us in this storm! It's tearing them apart!" Keith tells the Paladins.

"The debris! It's gonna tear us apart if we don't do something!" Hunk adds.

"Pidge, we're gonna need that shield!" Shiro orders.

"On it!"

"And, Keith, the sword!"

"Yes, sir!" Keith finally feels like himself, Shiro's order voice cutting through the haze of Zarkon's presence.

They slice the debris and shield themselves the best they can.

"Legs, I need everything you got!"

"Roger! Engaging lower thrusters!" Hunk answers.

"I'm right there with ya!" Lance adds.

They fly out of the storm.

"Get me closer to the Black Lion," Zarkon orders.

"Sire, we have the Princess trapped. We can finish her now!" Haggar tried to reason.

"The Black Lion is all that matters!" Zarkon answers.

Zarkon's ship leaves the eye of the storm.

"Coran, here we go!" the Castle escapes.

"It worked! They escaped!" Hunk cheers.

The peace lasts a tic, before they are consumed by pain. Keith feels it worst than the others, shielding them. Zarkon wants Black, but he's also curious about the Quintessence Sensitive Red Paladin. Keith’s connection to the Lions is stronger, but Zarkon has experience. It hurts.

"What's going on?" Lance screams.

"My lion!" Hunk yells.

"Zarkon's taking control of the Black Lion again! Fall back!" Shiro orders, but Keith knows it's too late.

"Mom, I need your help to connect to Black. Please, I need your help," Keith pleads and hears her purr in response.

His trance makes everything fade and time becomes meaningless. It is both dark and light. It is near and far. It is warm and cold.

Then, it is warm.

Everything is fire. A weapon he wields now, with his mom's assistance. The comfortable and empowering warmth, he knows is Red. He watches the flames twirl around him in this mindscape, almost like a caress, similar to how he feels with Mom in his head. It feels familiar, a fire he has had, since he was born.

"You've always been here, haven't you Mom?" Keith smiles, the fire tightening, almost like a hug.

He sighs, as he pushes onwards, knowing Mom is not who he is hear to see or help. He feels the cold before the water. Blue helps to soothe Mom's warmth and Keith feels the familiar presence that watched over him as a baby and when he returned to Earth. He shivers, the cold not something that he deals with often. Blue is a calming presence, guiding him on the right path and supporting him always, not the rush of adrenaline and desire he is used to with Red, but she is still home and there to help him reach Black.

Zarkon knows what Keith is trying, making it harder for him to reach Black, but Zarkon is alone and Keith has his family and friends.

The musky-earthy smell is next to hit him and he feels the rocks preventing him from falling back, Yellow protecting his back. The sense of protection and safety keeping Zarkon from invading is at the forefront of his mind. Keith smiles, but pushes onwards. The vines rise to help pull him, making his (imaginary, mindscape) muscles move without him thinking. Green was more logical in their help, but that didn't mean they weren't taking advantage of the situation to be near and hold Keith, one of their Pride.

Suddenly, all four presences disappear.

Keith takes another step forward, only to hit a blockade. Not one caused by Black, but by Zarkon. Zarkon knows Keith could be dangerous and blocks him out.

Keith won't give up so easily.

A blast knocks both Zarkon and Keith out of the mindscape.

"Paladins, now's your chance! Get out of there!" Allura calls, destroying Zarkon's ship and helping them escape.

"I forgot how intense Zarkon's connection to the Black Lion is. We have to keep our distance or risk losing Voltron. Let's disband and get back to the Castle," Shiro orders.

"Attack that Castle with everything we've got! Capture Voltron!" Zarkon yells.

"Why haven't we wormholed yet?" Keith growls, head still reeling.

"Because we can't! We're missing several scaultrite lens-stones! They've shattered! Gone! Don't exist! Sloven-day-ho! That's Altean for 'gone'," Coran explains.

"Wait, did you say "scaultrite"? I've seen that somewhere before. I think Hunk was making some terrible cookies from that stuff!" Pidge realises and Hunk growls.

"Unbelievable! These cookies do have trace elements of scaultrite," Coran observes.

"Could they work?" Shiro asks.

"They might be able to hold for one jump, but we'd still need several people actually physically holding them. And, if the trajectories were calculated just so."

The Paladins end up holding the lenses. In wacky and wonderful positions.

"It just warms my heart that people are enjoying my cookies," Hunk smiles as Coran places one in his feet.

"Okay, there. Now, nobody move if you want to live," Coran answers and the Castle shifts.

"I think I moved! I think I moved!" Lance screams.

"Well, then move back to where you think you were! Okay, now, I'm going to monitor the beam from out there."

"Wait, Coran! How dangerous is this?" Hunk asks.

"Honestly, this is the most dangerous thing I've ever seen, or heard of, but since we're probably going to die anyway, what the heck, let's give it a shot! Good luck, gentlemen and gentlelady. It's been a pleasure. Don't touch the lasers!" Coran answers, "They're in position!"

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" Lance screams as the lasers start up.

"Hold tight, Lance!" Pidge says.

Lance screams, only for the laser to not work.

"It's not working!" Coran screams.

"Coran, what's happening? Zarkon's right on top of us!" Allura asks.

"The stones aren't reflecting properly! I need something to shine them up!" Coran has a realisation after wiping away his sweat. "Wait a second. I think I've got it. Hit the wormhole in ten ticks!"

"Ten."

"What's happening?" Shiro asks as Coran slides into the tube.

"Nine."

"No one move! I've got to shine these stones! Good thing I've got a case of the slipperies!" Coran wipes off his sweat onto the cookies.

"Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One!"

Allura activates the wormhole and Coran has one more cookie to shine. He uses his face and hides between the other lenses. They wormhole away just before Zarkon hits them with his ship's laser. Keith let's out a sigh of relief as Black's presence returns and Zarkon's fades.

"Great work, team! We made it! Huh?" Allura walks in to see the scorched Paladins.

"We were close, sire, but it appears they were able to make a full jump," Haggar informs Zarkon.

"There is no place in this universe beyond my vision's reach. Time is on my side. Set a course for Voltron."

Chapter Text

"Stay back," a Galra robot tells an 'alien'.

"You have already taken all our supplies and resources. My people are loaded on that ark, ready to leave our beloved home before it dissolves completely. Don't take our only means of escape," the 'alien' begs.

"You still have one engine left, Baujal. Not to mention a very viable collection of parts. If your people are strong enough to survive, they will. That is the Galra way," a Galra Commander answers from his literal floating pedestal.

"Morvok!" Baujal yells and tries to charge him, but is held back by the robots as the Commander leaves.

"There's no point in debating this further. Zarkon is clearly tracking us through me," Allura continues arguing.

"Aww, space baloney," Lance retorts.

"That's not possible," Pidge adds.

"Why would that be so hard to believe? Zarkon's forces showed up on Arus only after I awoke," Allura points out.

"She's got a point. I would absolutely travel across the galaxy to find you," Lance flirts.

"It's not you, Princess Allura," Keith barely manages to whisper, certainty in his tone.

"Because?" Hunk asks.

"I just know," Keith answers from his place in Shiro's arms and lap in Shiro's chair.

"Look, the fact is, we don't know how Zarkon is tracking us. It could be through the Black Lion. Every time Zarkon gets close to it, Shiro has to fight him for control," Pidge points out and Shiro feels Keith nod against his chest.

"That's only when Zarkon is nearby. No Paladin has ever been able to connect with a lion over a vast distance," Coran argues and Keith shakes his head.

"So what are we going to do?" Hunk asks.

"Look, it doesn't matter how he's tracking us because we're gonna take the fight to the Empire soon enough. They've been chasing us from galaxy to galaxy. The last thing they expect is for us to come after them," Shiro declares.

"The hunter becomes the hunted, hmm? Awesome! That's the tag line from like six of my favorite movies," Lance laughs.

("What's a movie?" Keith whispers to Shiro.

"Like a video for entertainment. We can watch some later," Shiro whispers back.)

"As it happens, I took our list of recent Galr-," Keith's barely audible growl causes Pidge to backtrack, "Sorry, Empire attacks and analyzed it for both commonalities and anomalies among the attack sites. I was hoping to create an algorithm that would, within a statistically acceptable margin of error, provide a list of target-rich Empire environments color-coded, of course, because what are we, animals?" Pidge rambles about their incredible device.

"Cool! What is it again?" Lance asks and Keith giggles.

"It's an Empire finder?" Hunk asks.

"Well, "finder" suggests that it locates the Empire, whereas it would be more accurate to say that my model predicts their likeliest," Pidge stops at everyone's faces and growls, "Fine. It's an Empire finder."

"So, where is the Empire?" Lance asks.

"The nearest ones are right here. A planet called Taujeer."

"Then that's where we're headed. Everyone should get some sleep. Tomorrow, we'll find that Galra fleet and take it out," Shiro orders, standing up with a now-asleep Keith in his arms.

Everyone else leaves Shiro and Keith alone. Keith stops pretending to sleep, but still yawns and rubs his eyes. Shiro looks down at the boy in his arms and sighs, putting him down. Keith whines at the loss of contact, but stops when he sees Shiro's face.

"Is everything okay, Yurak?" Shiro asks, putting a hand on Keith's shoulder.

Keith refuses to meet Shiro's eyes.

"You seem a bit anxious," Shiro continues, "and with everything that happened today... Zarkon did something, didn't he?"

"I'm fine. Just tired. Like you said, I should get some sleep," Keith walks away, afraid to reveal exactly what happened.

That night, Keith has a nightmare. He doesn't remember most of it, so he knows it's about his Momma. Instead of seeking Red out, he follows her lessons and reaches out to the team's familiar quintessence. It's comforting, feeling them all safe and sound. Except one. Keith decides to make the most of his late night discovery.

"Princess, what are you doing here?" Keith says as he moves from behind the pod he was waiting behind.

"Oh," Allura panics, "I might ask you the same thing."

"I asked first," Keith crosses his arms and gives his most deadpan stare.

"I have to know if Zarkon is tracking me. This is the only way. Don't try to stop me."

"I'm not going to stop you. I'm going to join you."

"You'd do that for me? Even if we have to be in close quarters?" Keith nods, his mind slipping into survival mode and pushing his personal fear away for now.

"I had a feeling you would sneak out and I'm not letting you go alone," Keith gestures to himself and his armor, not revealing the reason he didn't get one of the others.

Allura wants to hug him, but smiles brightly at Keith instead.

"We should be entering Taujeer's orbit soon," Coran tells the remaining Paladins.

"Raise the particle barrier. Scan for the Empire. Where are Keith and Allura?" Shiro asks, concern carefully hidden from his team.

"It appears that one of the pods launched in the middle of the night."

"Wait a minute, Keith and Allura? In the middle of the night? You don't think they're sittin' in a tree?" Lance partially jokes.

"Contact the pod," Shiro orders.

"Yes! Contact that pod!" Lance agrees.

"Princess, Keith, where are you?" Coran's voice comes over the comms.

"Exactly where we should be, far away from the Castle," Allura answers.

"What? Why?" Shiro's barely audible stutter makes Keith's heart drop, but he grits his teeth.

"We must know if I am who Zarkon is tracking."

"They're isolating the variable," Pidge observes and Keith tries to beat down the feeling of guilt at almost manipulating Allura.

"In English, please?" Lance requests.

"In order to test a hypothesis-"

"I said English."

"Never mind!"

"Pidge is right. If Zarkon finds you despite my absence, we will know with total certainty that I am not who or what he is tracking," Allura continues.

"Splitting up the group makes us far more vulnerable. Come back to the Castle immediately," Shiro orders, barely hidden concern bleeding through, causing Keith to bite his tongue to hold back his whimpers and apologies.

"I'm sorry, Shiro, I cannot do that."

Keith takes a deep breath and finally speaks up, his voice gentle, but louder and more determined than usual, startling everyone, "If Zarkon does find us, I can pilot us to safety. We're in wide-open space with plenty of room to maneuver. Plus, we'd be able to outrun him. Pidge added that booster rocket."

"That thing's still on there?" Coran mutters.

"We need both of you back here now!" Shiro orders and the alarms go off, "What's goin' on?"

"We're in some sort of debris field," Hunk observes.

"I believe it's coming from Taujeer. Correction: I think it is Taujeer!" Coran replies.

"Coran, what's going on-" Allura demands.

"Some kind of radiation from the planet is interfering with communications!"

"Move the Castle away from the planet and reestablish the link. Everyone else, get to your lions," Shiro orders and the Lions deploy and head to the planet, avoiding the debris.

"Something's approaching!" In their ship, one of the planet's citizens point out.

"I don't see any Empire," Hunk observes after the four land.

"Looks like that fancy Empire finder doesn't work. Nice try, Pidge," Lance sasses.

Pidge is unimpressed.

"Thank goodness you're here! I am Baujal, the leader of the Taujeerians. The Galra just destroyed our ship's engines and left," Baujal runs over to greet them.

"So the Empire was here. Lance," Pidge smirks and Lance blushes in embarrassment, almost pouting.

"They've taken everything. We must get everyone off the planet before it dissolves completely! Please, help us!" Baujal begs.

"How long do we have?" Shiro asks.

"Not long," Hunk answers as more of the planet's outer shell floats into space.

"How did this happen?"

"We've known for years that our planet would eventually lose its outer layer," Baujal answers.

"Like a snake shedding its skin?" Lance asks.

"Yeah, yeah, that doesn't sound so bad. Beneath that old skin is a new, healthy layer, right?" Hunk answers, hoping his fears are wrong.

"Nope. No, I-I think the next layer is acid," Pidge crushes Hunk's hopes and dreams.

"The plan was to evacuate the population to our nearest moon, where we have built a colony to wait out the shedding process. So we relocated to higher ground and constructed that ark," Baujal continues.

"What happened?" Lance asks.

"The Galra attacked," Baujal explains and the Paladins hold their tongues to keep from correcting Baujal, "led by a vile commander named Morvok. He robbed us of vital resources and left us with only one operational engine, stranding us here."

"You're not stranded anymore. We will save your people," Shiro tells Baujal.

"I believe you, for I have heard many legends of the valor of Voltron. Five brave Paladins dedicated to this- Wait, wait. I count only four of you. Are you not Voltron?"

"Uh, almost?" Lance answers.

"Where is the fifth Paladin?"

"He's not here, but we can still help you," Shiro assures him.

"I would feel more comfortable with all five Paladins."

"Duly noted. Pidge, Hunk, take a look at the ark and see what we're dealing with."

"Piece of cake. We'll get it flying in no time," Hunk says, only for the ground to shake and the ship, that was on its last legs, becomes unattached from its legs, "Would you settle for upright?"

"We've been here for hours. Still no sign of Zarkon," Keith says from the pilot seat, too close to Allura for comfort, but far enough to prevent panic.

"Well, I'm glad I don't have to wait here alone. You understand, I could never live with myself if Zarkon was finding us because of me. I must know. We face such a dire threat from the Galr-" Keith growls.

"What is it with you and growling whenever anyone says Galra?" Allura's asks, trying to keep a handle on her rage.

"Well, sure, some are bad. No doubt about that. But at the same time, a group of them are fighting for good. Just look at Ulaz," Keith argues, look at Momma, "He sacrificed himself to save us. That's why I don't like grouping all Galra together. Not all of them believe in what Zarkon preaches. Not all of them follow him. Not all of them are Empire."

"For all we know, his sacrifice was a ploy. One life means nothing to Zarkon," Allura bites back, her ego hurt and the nagging feeling of something in her gut driving her to anger.

"It means something to me! It means some of them are actually willing to help. And we could use all the help we can get!" Keith practically yells, catching Allura off guard.

"You could use a family, Yurak," Matt whispers into his hair.

"Any offer of help from the Galra is merely a prelude to a trap. I know all too well how quickly they turn," Allura huffs, regaining her regal attitude.

"It just seems crazy to lump everyone together," Keith mutters quietly to himself, the moment of unusual confidence gone.

"Listen, if there are any good Galra, they have had 10,000 years to take down Zarkon. I would never count on them for help," Allura retaliates, glaring at the controls.

She misses Keith's flinch.

At Galra Central Command, Zarkon continues hunting the Paladins.

"I have located them. Get me Morvok," Zarkon commands when he is released from the Druid magic and ends up contacting the man, "Commander Morvok."

"Aaah! Lord Zarkon!" Morvok jumps.

"I am sending you coordinates near your current location. Voltron is there. Find it and bring it to me," Zarkon orders.

"Voltron, sire?"

"Indeed. Have you received the coordinates?"

Markov has, but does not reply with a simple yes or no,"If I may, I was able to acquire many resources, all to glorify your mighty reign, may it last a thousand centuries."

"Your bootlicking does not impress me, Morvok."

"I merely meant that I could be of even more use if I were to bring you these resources instead of-"

"Are you refusing my order?" Zarkon growls.

"Of course not! I will not fail you, Lord Zarkon."

"See that you don't. Vrepit sa."

"Vrepit sa."

The other Paladins and Coran, however, have everything completely under control.

"Assuming we can get it back up, the repairs will still take time," Pidge explains.

"Which would appear to be the one thing we don't have," Lance adds.

Or not.

"We need to slow down the shedding," Shiro answers.

"How do you stop a planet that's coming apart at the seams?" Pidge asks.

"By sewing it back together!" Hunk realises.

"What do you mean?" Shiro questions, confused.

"That new Green Lion weapon causes vegetation to grow, right? Well, I was thinking that if you aim it at the cracks in the planet the vines could act like stitches," Hunk allows his knowledge to shine through, showing he is not an idiot once again.

"But won't the stitches get dissolved by the acid?"

"The stitches might hold longer if they're frozen," Pidge adds to the idea.

"It's a plan. Hunk, you and I will take our lions and get this ark upright while Pidge and Lance buy us some time," Shiro orders.

The Paladins' plan works temporarily and Hunk and Shiro remove the legs of the ship.

"My side's clear, Shiro," Hunk says over the comms.

"Almost done," Shiro replies.

"Yes! It worked!" Pidge cheers.

"It won't hold forever. Keep going!" Shiro orders, him and Hunk pushing, "Come on! Give it all you got. That's it! We're almost there," Shiro encourages, only for the ground to start to open up under them, but Lance and Pidge step in with the stitches and ice, "Thanks, guys."

"You got it," Lance answers.

"Anytime," Pidge replies.

The legs are gone, so all that's left are the engines, "All right, Hunk, time to work on those engines."

Keith works up the nerve to ask a question playing in his mind (one he asks himself constantly, due to the message of 'There is no escape' constantly on loop in his mind), "So, what happens if Zarkon does come after us?"

"You said you could pilot us to safety, right?" Allura accuses.

"Sure, but after that, could we even go back to the group? And if we don't, who would pilot the Castle or create wormholes?" Keith's gentle voice replies.

"Well, what about you? Without you, the team cannot form Voltron," Allura retorts.

Keith doesn't answer. He doesn't tell her that, until they solve Zarkon's connection to Black, Voltron is useless against him. He can't even look at her, when he thinks about how he is a risk, with Zarkon messing with his mind (something he didn't even tell Shiro and he always used to tell him and Matt everything. Is this Zarkon's influence or his fear of Allura and everything else adding up or a bit of both?).

He misses Mom.

"Well, it ain't pretty, but it should get you airborne," Hunk finishes repairs, using his cannon gun as a welder.

"Just in time," Shiro adds as another part of the planet sheds.

The engines work, but one of them is shot.

"What was that?" Pidge yells.

"The Empire. They're back," Shiro answers.

The Empire ship shoots of more of the crust, causing the ark to begin to fall into the acid.

"Hunk! Take the Yellow Lion and hold up the ark. If it falls into the acid, the Taujeerians are doomed," Shiro orders, Hunk predicting his words and taking action.

"Not to mention the guy beneath them. Which would be me, in this particular scenario," Hunk yells.

"Lance, Pidge, we've got to draw the cruiser's fire. Coran, we need you here now. Attack the Galra cruiser! "

"I'm on my way!" Coran begins to enter the atmosphere, "Keith, Allura, are you there?"

"We're here, Coran. What is it?" Allura replies.

"Zarkon is definitely not tracking us through you."

"He's not?" Keith allows a ghost of a smile on his face.

No one needs to know, except for Keith and the Lions, that he was worried. Zarkon's presence in his mind is almost completely gone, but it is still there, poking at the edges of his mind. Keith was almost certain that it was Black, but he couldn't be completely sure. It could've been both of them.

"How do you know?" Allura asks, panicking slightly.

Keith begins flying.

"Because you're out there and a Galra fleet just showed up here! We need you now!" Coran cries.

"We'll be there in two doboshes."

"Even faster than that," Keith answers, feeling for the Lions and realising the situation is so dire, they weren't subconsciously reaching out to him, selecting the booster option.

"What is that?"

"It's the booster fuel Pidge added to this pod."

They both scream as the pod explodes and they are ejected into space, spinning. Keith uses his jetpack to stop his own spinning and flies towards Allura, pushing down his hatred at being touched and entering survivor mode.

"Allura! Grab my hand!" she does and Keith stops their spinning, supressing his distaste at her holding his hands, "Princess, are you okay?"

"I believe so. Is your radio still working?"

"Let's find out. Coran, can you hear me?"

All they get is static.

Morvok is having a much better time, "This is going far better than I anticipated. We could actually capture Voltron! I could get transferred back to the hub. And they said I wasn't good enough to be in the hub. Maybe Zarkon will invite me to sit in his box at the gladiator matches! The ultimate honour!"

He actually cries happy tears, whilst posing.

("Keith, why did you growl?"

"No idea. It just felt appropriate. Someone must be praising the arena or something.")

"Sir! Three Voltron Lions incoming!" a soldier informs him.

"Fire on them with our full arsenal!" the Lions dodge and deal significant damage to the Empire cruiser, "Keep firing!"

"Sir, the lions are moving too fast for us to hit," a different soldier replies.

"Well, let's make them stay in one place! Train the ion cannon on the ark. Sink the entire thing into the acid!"

"They're aiming the ion cannon at the ark! Lance! Pidge! Attack the ship with your jaw blades!" Shiro orders and significant damage is dealt to the ship.

"We'll never get there at this rate," Keith growls, focusing on the mission and not the person holding his hand.

"This was a terrible mistake. Shiro was right. We never should have left them," Allura cries, causing Keith to no longer to be able to ignore her.

"Trust me, not knowing for certain is much worse," Keith mutters.

Allura doesn't speak up, knowing she wasn't supposed to hear that, but gives him a strange look anyway. Keith ignores her the best he can as he tries to connect to Red over the vast distance. They haven't been separated like this in a long time and when they were, he hadn't been aware of the connection. Red had been the one reaching out. Now, it's Keith's turn.

Shiro uses Black's jawblade to cut the ion canon. It isn't disabled, but it is knocked off course and misses the ark. Only to hit some of the stitches and destroy more of the planet's crust.

"Rocks! Big, big rocks!" Hunk cries, trying to stop the ark from falling and seeing big lumps of crust heading for him and the ship.

"We got you, buddy," Lance says as he and Pidge destroy them.

"What happened?" Morvok demands.

"The Black Lion attacked the cannon. He's disabled our projectile guidance system. We won't be able to aim the cannon until it's fixed," the first soldier answers.

"Fix it! Full attack! Fire with everything we've got!"

The cruiser has Shiro on the ropes, but is attacked by the shielded Castle.

"Way to go, Coran! Hunk, what's your status?" Shiro cheers.

"Mostly just trying not to fall into a bubbling pot of acid," Hunk answers, getting far too close to the edge.

"Divert all shields to the main hull! Focus full firepower on their ship!" Morvok orders.

"We're being overwhelmed!" Lance cries.

"We need Voltron!" Pidge yells.

"Oh, if only there were another who could pilot the Red Lion," Coran sighs, only to smirk and pose.

He shows up in Red's hangar, wearing Paladin armour like Allura's with more colours, a red cape, what looks like small yellow knifes on the helmet and a red visor with a blue line, "Finally, Alfor. I will walk in your footsteps! Oh, Red Lion, I am unworthy to be your Paladin, but, since you have chosen to bestow this honor upon me, Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe, I humbly accept."

Red wakes up and growls, only to fly out of the hangar.

"Right. Okay. Just a quick lap," Coran stretches, only for Red to use her boosters to fly away, "Uh, okay, guys? So, yeah... the-the Red Lion ran away."

Hunk is on the edge of the crust, "I can't hold it any longer!"

"Hunk, you have to! If you let go, the Taujeerians will die!" Shiro answers.

Hunk screams, pushing himself, and Yellow recognises his heart and gives him the power to hold on a little bit longer, "Oh, whoa! Armor claws! Guys, I can keep this thing from falling any farther but I need your help to get it back up."

"We're on our way!" Shiro answers and the Paladins begin to help.

"Keith, look!" Allura cries, "The Red Lion found you!"

Red is flying towards them, low growls coming from her in an attempt of comfort and a show of worry. Keith smiles faintly as she picks them up and he returns to the familiar controls.

He missed her.

"I will always find you, Yurak."

Keith shakes his head to clear it. That was something he remembers multiple people saying to him, some good, some bad.

"Sir, the ion cannon's guidance system is back online. And the lions appear to have gathered beneath the ark," the second soldier informs their commander.

"Perfect! The lions will go down with it. Fire when ready!" the ion cannon charges, only to be stopped as Red's laser hits it and fall into the acid as Red's jawblade cuts it off.

The Paladins cheer.

"Good to have you back, Keith," Shiro says in relief.

"Good to be back," Keith smiles.

"Is the Princess with you?" Lance asks.

"Yes."

"Like 'with you' with you, or-" Lance asks.

("Shiro, what did Lance mean by 'with you' with you?" Keith asks, tired from the exhausting day.

"Don't worry about it. I'll tell you when you're older," Shiro replies, gentle smile turning sharp as he plays with Keith's hair.

Keith frowns, but doesn't question it. Or question why, later, Lance is screaming and apologising to Keith for what he said. Humans are strange like that.)

"Uh, Keith? Little help?" Hunk interrupts.

"On my way, buddy," Keith answers, helping push the ark.

"All right, everybody. No time to relax. Let's show them what they're dealing with. Form Voltron!" Shiro orders.

"Sir, our weapons systems are knocked out completely. Should we retreat?" asks the first soldier.

"Never! Aim the ship at the ark! We will take it down ourselves. To die for the Galra Empire is the greatest honor imaginable. Vrepit sa!"

"Vrepit sa!" reply both soldiers.

"Prepare my escape pod," Markov says to a sentry.

"They're heading for the ark!" Pidge cries.

"They're gonna ram it!" Hunk realises.

"We'll have to meet them head-on. Form sword!" Shiro orders.

"Will the sword be able to cut through an entire battle cruiser?" Lance asks.

"It'll have to!" Shiro answers.

"Guys, I think my lion is telling me something," Keith smiles at the warmth and determination coming from everyone, Paladins and Lions.

"Yeah, mine too," Lance mentions.

"I can feel it too," Pidge adds.

"Same here," Hunk says.

"Then do it!" Shiro orders and the sword becomes much larger and charged with quintessence.

They cut the cruiser in half easily and it explodes. Morvok escapes in his pod.

"Now let's get the Taujeerians to safety," Shiro orders.

"How are we going to do that? Their booster rockets are shot," Hunk asks.

The ark begins to fall into the acid. Voltron manages to carry it and fly it away from the planet.

"I'm so sorry for leaving," Allura bows.

"Me too, but we needed to know and this was the only way," Keith adds and Shiro hugs Keith gently.

"But clearly you were correct, Shiro. We are always stronger together."

"At least we learned that Zarkon isn't tracking us through you," Lance points out.

"Plus, I learned that my lion can grow armor and extend its claws like that! Ting! Which will come in handy if we ever needed to, say, I don't know, slice up a giant steak while getting beat up. Or fight evil and save innocent people. That too. That would work," Hunk adds.

Shiro brings the focus back to the problem at hand, "The fact that the Red Lion came to help Keith from so far away is a vital piece of information. We now have proof that a lion and a Paladin can, in fact, connect over a far greater distance than we realized. Which means we finally know how Zarkon is tracking us. It's through the Black Lion."

Chapter Text

"Okay, look. I now know for certain that Zarkon is tracking us through the Black Lion. We have to find some way to stop him," Shiro declares, very serious.

Everyone tries not to laugh in his face.

"How are we gonna do that?" Pidge asks, more composed than Hunk and Lance, who have tears in their eyes.

"We've never had this situation before. Two paladins battling for the same lion," Allura answers, the only one seemingly unaffected.

"Well, unless we want Zarkon taking control of Voltron every time we get close. I'll have to forge a new bond with my lion. One that's stronger than his," Shiro replies.

"Well, while you're working on that, the rest of us need to find some new teludav lenses otherwise we won't be able to travel via wormhole," Coran snickers when he looks at Shiro.

"Is that something we have to mail order?" Hunk barely keeps himself from laughing.

"Does anyone even make those anymore?" Keith asks, remembering them from the Cookie Incident not long ago.

"Teludav lenses allowed the creation of wormholes to travel to different places instantly. Alteans were incredible," a man says.

"Do they still exist?" little Keith asks, looking at a hologram of the lenses.

"I do not know. Even if they do, no one can use them anymore," the man says and pets Keith's hair, stopping when a voice calls, "I have to go. I will be back as soon as possible."

Keith shakes his head to clear his mind.

"I don't know. Only a few Alteans could use the teludav 10,000 decaphoebs ago. They may not exist anymore," Allura sighs.

"I think I may know where we can get some," Coran brings up pictures from his travels in his younger days.

"Coran! You're not suggesting going to one of those filthy swap moons! The last time you went, those space pirates took you for everything you had," Allura scolds.

"Space pirates?" Lance asks, sufficiently distracted from Shiro's face.

"The Unilu were traders and pirates that roamed the galaxies and dealt in black market goods. Umvy spice, by-tor water, little bottles of infinity vapor. Of course, you had to bargain. No one could bargain like the Unilu. Last time, I ended up giving away three quarters of my shipment of lango in exchange for a used pogo oscillator," Coran chuckles.

"Father was not pleased about that," Allura laughs.

"Well, while Coran is picking up his lenses I'll take you shopping for something sparkly," Lance suggests, sidling up to Allura.

"This isn't shopping! You're not wandering around saying 'Oooo What a lovely pink hat! This is so becoming.' No! I can't allow Allura to get anywhere near those filthy, lowballing Unilu hoodlums," Coran scolds.

"But I'd love something sparkly," Allura tries the puppy dog eyes (or the Altean equivalent).

They fail.

"Look, you're the only one who can operate the Castle. You need to be resting, after all you've been through. Now, let's ready a pod for our mission. We need to get in find the scaultrite lenses and just get out," Coran sighs and Allura pouts.

"Shotgun!" Lance yells.

"What? No, you have to be in the pod bay to call shotgun," Hunk responds.

"Since when?"

"Uhh, since forever? That's shotgun etiquette! I wrote the book."

None of them pick up on the fact that Keith disappeared after Lance started flirting to set up a pod. He's excited. It's been too long since he has left the Castle and he misses the freedom. Plus, Space Mall! He's never been to one before! No one needs to know about said excitement though.

"While they're doing that, I'm going to head down to the hangar. I need to strengthen my bond with the Black Lion," Shiro walks off.

"Huh? So what am I supposed to do now, sit around and worry all day?" Allura pouts.

Shiro pokes his head back in, "Do you have any makeup remover?"

Allura sighs, "Second draw on the left."

"Thanks."

Last night, Keith was tired, but energetic. Apparently, being close to a planet, without exploring, has side affects on Keith, after a life of captivity. The Paladins had all collapsed, but Keith kept coming and waking Shiro up, since apparently, that's what Galra kits do. They tried to get Keith to burn off that energy, but he was either too tired or too energetic to do anything. It also turns out bouncy Keith is a curious Keith, who found makeup in one of the bathrooms and enjoys art.

Allura sighs again and the mice climb her shoulders to speak to her, "What? Dinner and a show?"

"You and I have some work to do," Shiro, face now makeupless, says to Black, "Work with me. What do I have to do to strengthen our bond?" Shiro asks and Black responds, taking them far away from the Castle, "Whoa! Hey! What are you doing? Stop. Stop! I said stop! Turn around. That's an order!"

"Hello? Back passengers? Can you hear me?" Coran asks through the comms.

"Oh, it's so comfy back here. Extra leg-room, heated seats! Oh, man!" Lance tries to convince the front passengers to switch.

"Keith, wake up," Coran calls.

"Huh? Something up?" Keith answers groggily, rubbing his eyes.

"No. I just need you awake for this next bit. Now, these swap moons are very dangerous environments. So be on your toes. No weapons or communication devices of any kind! Also, I've brought along some disguises," Coran explains, making the back passengers perk up in curiosity.

Keith raises an eyebrow, "Don't forget things have changed in ten thousand decaphoebs, Coran."

"It can't have changed that muc-" Keith cuts him off with a yawn and curls up, "Don't go back to sleep! We are landing!"

Keith groans.

Keith is right and the only one not in disguise.

"Coran? This Unilu swap meet looks an awful lot like a regular mall," Pidge observes.

"It does seem to be a little cleaner than I remember. Still, be vigilant. The Unilu are cut-throat wheeler-dealers. So keep your hands on your coin satchels," Coran orders.

"My satchels are empty," Hunk answers.

"Good."

"Let's just get this over with," Keith yawns again.

"Yes, right. Everyone, let's fan out, search the area for teludav lenses. We'll meet by the giant ticking clock here in one varga. Don't be late and try to blend in," Coran walks off and the other Paladins take off their outfits.

Keith is already trying to wander off and explore, but Hunk and Lance remember what happened with the Olkari. Keith reluctantly agrees to let them grab him, if he wanders too far and doesn't respond to his name.

"What the? Space pirates!" an Empire cop stuffs his face, watching the cameras, "Disguising yourselves as harmless shoppers, huh? Well, it won't work. Don't worry, Emperor Zarkon. I know you can't be here to protect the mall, but your faithful number two is on the case. Hope you pirates are ready to face, Varkon."

Shiro can't regain control of Black, who is now dodging space rocks, "Come on! I don't know where you're headed, but you need to start listening to me right now!" Black stops, "That's better. Where are we? Why did you bring me here? What are you trying to tell me?" Black talks to Shiro, "So you want me to see through your eyes," Shiro closes his eyes and focuses, seeing the husk of a planet as it once was, with Alfor and Zarkon side by side, "Was this your home?"

"Okay, if I were a 10,000-year-old wormhole lens, where would I be?" Hunk stands on the moving sidewalks, Keith next to him, but when two aliens pass them, he proceeds to run after them, while Keith just watches, "Excuse me, hey, hi, excuse me, hi! Wow, you guys are really booking here. So I was just wondering if you guys knew where I could find some lenses for my ship around here? Is there a one-hour lens place around here or something? Anything? Nothing? Never mind, you know what? I'll catch up with you guys later!" Hunk pants, reaching the end of the sidewalk and sees the food court, "Oh! This is beautiful! Maybe the scaultrite is under these samples. I don't know," Hunk helps himself to many samples, "Rubbery. Sweet and salty. So cold, but spicy. Mmm, eh... What's next, what do you got?"

"Five hundred GAC."

"Five hundred GAC. Excuse me?" Hunk asks, confused.

"Sustenance provided by Vrepit Sal, that's me. Five hundred GAC is now owed."

"I thought this was a "free sample" situation."

"Free?"

"Of charge. You know, gratis? Look, I don't have any money. So, you know..." Hunk gets locked in the kitchen by his ankle, "Oh, man! How long you been here?"

"Sal put me in when I was just a little girl."

"Oh no."

Keith watches from his seat at the court. He was told not to wander off and get in trouble, but now Hunk's in trouble. He's confused and tired and a nap doesn't sound too bad right now. Maybe after, Hunk will be done and they can explore.

"Trouble at the food court? It's one of those pirates! I knew they looked edgy. Varkon's comin' for ya!" Varkon leaves on his little scooter.

"So this was Zarkon's home planet. Show me more. King Alfor built you from that comet. And you fought beside him. With Zarkon," Shiro asks and Black shows him.

One problem, Zarkon is also there and finds Shiro.

The mice preform for Allura, "Absolutely stunning! After we defeat Zarkon, I'm taking you on the road!"
Even on Earth, Pidge has trouble picking the right restroom, but now is even worse, "I'll just hold it."

Lance flirts with some alien girls, who only think he's exotic, before a salesman approaches him from a shop, "Can I interest you in the latest Earth fashions?"

"Lance, come on! We have to be back at the ticking clock in a half hour," Pidge shows up.

"But Pidge, wait, look at all this crazy Earth stuff this alien is selling!”

“We're supposed to be looking for the teludav lenses and you're looking in the one store we know for certain won't have- Oh, my gosh! Is that Killbot Phantasm 1? The first journey to the depths of the demon sphere? Oh! Mercury Gameflux Two! With the original power glove that gives you infinite lives if you touch the index finger to the pinky! We have to have this! How much is this?" Pidge is a gaming nerd.

"Twelve hundred GAC."

"Is that a lot?" Pidge also doesn't seem to understand the value of GAC.

"Well, compared to what we have, which is none, yes. It's a lot," Lance answers.

"We're gonna find some money. Come on! Don't sell that!"

"Don't worry. I never sell anything. Do I, Kaltenecker?"

Kaltenecker simply moos. In agreement or just moos, no one shall ever know.

"Ah, one of the Unilu," but Coran has a little more luck than the other Paladins and tries to sneak around.

"Like, can I help you?"

"Yes. Can you tell me where the 'other' market is?"

"The what?"

"Well, some might call it the 'black market'."

"Ummm, I don't think I know that. Maybe check there," the girl points to the mall map.

"I don't think this would be 'on' the map. It might be more 'off-book'. Hm? Maybe this will help you remember?" Coran passes a piece of money over.

"Again, what?"

"Ah, the old Unilu shakedown, eh? Fine. Starting to get a fuzzy recollection yet?" he adds some more money.

"Who is this? Is this you?"

"No! That-that's King Groggery the Infirm! You know what? I'll find it myself!"

"Uck! I'm so out of this dump."

"I gotta escape somehow. Maybe I can scrub through these cuffs," Hunk wonders.

"Forty-three! Sustenance unit complete. Ingest," his robot breaks, "Huh? Oh, not again! Now who will be my sustenance preparer?"

"I got this, Sal. Un-cuff me," Hunk offers, seeing a chance to escape.

"You?"

"Trust me. I'm an enthusiastic gourmand with an incredible palate. Also, your robot is dead on the floor."

"That last part is true," he cuffs Hunk to the bot, "All right, work."

"Okay, now watch this! I can't read this. Doesn't matter. I'll just improvise. Do you smell how the tanginess of tuber masture really brings out the charred flavor from the palmagoren fillet? No, no, we won't be using that. Let's just say, 'Number 44? Your order's up.' Enjoy your meal."

"What did you do to her face? It's cracking!" Sal worries.

"She's smiling! She's enjoying her food. Okay, let's provide some sustenance!"

Sal is smiling and the customers are coming in and enjoying their food. Keith yawns and wakes up, only to see Hunk enjoying his cooking. He smiles and approaches, avoiding the growing line.

"Hunk?" Keith calls out.

"Keith! Sorry. I kinda made a mistake and have to repay Sal here," Hunk points to the large Galra man, "Wanna join me? You can help me teach these guys to cook."

Keith nods and Sal lets the boy into the kitchen.

"I'm Sal. Nice to meet you, kid. Can you cook?" Sal asks, gruff.

"I'm Keith. Nice to meet you," Keith bows slightly, "And I can cook a little. Hunk has been teaching me."

Hunk snorts, "That's an understatement. You are well on your way to surpassing the master," Keith blushes and Hunk points to himself, "That's me. I'm the master."

Keith laughs, "We know, Hunk."

Shiro keeps seeing more and more of Black's past, deepening their bond. Eventually, he gets too far in and is confronted by Zarkon. Zarkon charges and gets the first hit. The fight is fast paced and Shiro does not stand a chance.

"What's going on here?" Varkon sees the huge crowd, "Official business, excuse me, this is a fire hazard. I'm in the middle of a hot pursuit."

"I said "over medium". Over medium, you rube! Does this look over medium to you?" Hunk scolds Sal, no longer with a chain on his ankle, whilst Keith laughs, ducking under Hunk's arm to add seasoning.

"No, Chef," Sal looks thoroughly disappointed in himself.

"Then let's get it right, huh? If it ain't perfect, it ain't coming out of this kitchen, people! Sauce me! Now you're getting it! Bon appetite," Hunk offers the meal to the cheering crowd, only for Varkon to show up.

"I got you now, pirate! Where are your friends?"

Hunk screams, "Don't forget what I taught you! Those are the fundamentals of cooking! Keith! Come on!"

Keith is already at the edge of the food court. He waves at Hunk as Hunk jumps on Varkon's face. They run and don't look back.

"That kid is a genius. I don't care if we have to search the entire galaxy! I want him back at Vrepit Sal's!" Sal declares, crying.

Not only does Shiro receive a beating, he faces his fears and insecurities.

"You have no idea how to command a weapon like this!"

"No one commands the Black Lion!"

"You dare lecture me? Do you think the Black Lion would allow such a feeble creature to pilot it? Only the powerful can command it."

"You've forgotten what's most important between a lion and its paladin. It's not about power. It's about earning each other's trust."

"And the Lions and their Paladins brought peace to the universe," Keith finishes the story.

"That's quite the story," Matt laughs.

"It's history!" Keith protests.

"Sure, a weapon is great, but they must have been lost to time, if something like this happened," Shiro interjects.

"That's not what brought peace. It was the trust between Paladin and Lion that made them strong and the trust between all of them that made them invincible, but peace was brought because of their good hearts," Keith explains.

"I think I'd be a great Paladin then!" Matt declares, ruffling Keith's hair.

"Trust has nothing to do with it. The lion is mine, forever," Shiro's realisation is what makes Black willing to fight for Shiro, like Shiro fights for Black, and willing to push Zarkon from the mind space.

Shiro wakes up in Black's cockpit, "Did you just save me? Thank you. Let's go home,” Black’s screen shows the hangar, “We never left," Shiro smiles, the mind is greater than the body, after all.

Meanwhile, Pidge and Lance rob a fountain of all its GAC.

"Oh, this tenner looks like the last one. So how much have we got?" Pidge asks.

"Eleven hundred and ninety-six GAC," Lance replies, able to keep count somehow.

"We're so close! Lance, look!" Pidge points at a kid about to throw 4 GAC into the fountain.

"Already on it!" Lance comes out of the water and grabs it with his teeth.

"Yeah! Let's go!"

"Thanks!" Lance waves as the kid pouts.

Hunk is still running from Varkon and Keith is missing now. He's panicking and out of breath.

"Gotta hide! Gotta hide!" Hunk mutters, only to see Keith come out of the bathroom, "Keith! How? Nevermind! He's right behind me!"

Keith gives him his most deadpan look that Hunk can just hear is scolding him for involving him when Keith has escaped the mall cop without notice. They turn as Varkon shoots past, only to reverse back and turn to them.

"Pirate ally! My lucky day!" Varkon declares and starts approaching Hunk.

Hunk turns to run and Keith is once again gone. Hunk decides that next mall trip, no disguises and someone else can keep an eye on Keith.

Lance and Pidge have purchased the game and are leaving when they see Keith run past.

"Was that Keith? Where's Hunk?" Lance asks Pidge, who just shrugs, as the salesman hands them Kaltenecker.

"Time to get moving, guys! Security's on our tail!" Hunk yells as he runs past.

"There's the rest of the crew!" Varkon declares, racing forward, and as Lance and Pidge flee, Kaltenecker knocks the alien shop owner over.

"Everyone hop on Kaltenecker!" Lance yells as they jump the railing.

"Did you buy a cow?" Hunk asks.

"It was free with purchase!" Pidge answers.

They land on the bottom floor and Keith looks from where he was looking at the fountain. Hunk offers his hand and Keith grabs on, no hesitation. Hunk pulls him on and holds on so that Keith doesn't have to hold Pidge.

Coran is the only one who has been successful.

"There he is!" Pidge points from Kaltenecker.

"We gotta go, Coran!" Lance yells.

Hunk offers Coran his hand and he uses it to keep his balance on the antigravity board Kaltenecker is on.

"I got the scaultrite lenses!" Coran declares.

They scream as they move around people and go through the tunnel outside the mall, "Doggone it! You better run! Don't let me catch you in my jurisdiction again, pirates!" Varkon declares.

"Oh, so you can't follow us outside, huh?" Lance decided to stand up and mock Varkon, hitting his head of the roof.

"That's one for Varkon," Varkon grins and the Paladins laugh.

"We got our lenses!" Coran declares as soon as they reach the Bridge.

"Excellent! Now, we can get the teludav up and running," Allura says, standing up and scaring the animals away from her hair.

"Where's Shiro?" Keith asks from where he is leaning against Hunk, yawning again, now the adrenaline has worn off and not having been able to nap on the ride back.

Allura smiles at the sight and Shiro enters through the door, making everyone turn to him. Shiro smiles and ruffles Keith's hair, proud of the boy for finally being close to Hunk and not immediately returning to Shiro's side.

"What did you do? Take a nap?" Allura asks Shiro.

"Not exactly. Is that a cow?" Shiro asks, ignoring the bandage on Lance's forehead.

"Mm-hmm, his name is Kaltenecker," Lance smiles and Kaltenecker moos.

Keith moos quietly in response, his head cocked to the side slightly, "Cow?"

"Yep. He's an animal from Earth. We can introduce you to Earth milk and cream and cheese and all sorts!" Hunk whispers, arm wrapping around Keith.

"So, did you find a way to bond with your lion?" Pidge asks, bringing the attention back to the matter at hand.

"Yes, and we need to get moving. We're headed for the Blade of Marmora's headquarters," Shiro declares, Keith's face lighting up at the prospect of meeting his sort-of unknown extended family.

"I'll plot a course," Coran answers.

"While you're doing that, I'm gonna hook up the video game Lance and I bought," Pidge's face lights up in excitement.

"Yeah! Let's get this baby set up," Lance cheers.

"Where can we..." their plans come to a standstill when they realise they can't plug it in, "How do... Nooooo!"

Chapter Text

The Paladins and Alteans all stand scattered at different posts in the Bridge. Hunk sits in a chair with Keith sat between his legs and resting his head on Hunk's leg, like his younger relatives sometimes did. Hunk can see he is fiddling with something in his jacket pocket, but doesn't pry, Keith's body having tensed as they got closer to the base of the Blades. The way his eyes brighten and he sits up as Shiro asks how soon they will reach the base makes it obvious that he knows something. Allura's side glances don't hide how she feels about Keith keeping secrets at all.

"Based on the coordinates that Ulaz gave us, we should be there within a few doboshes," Coran assures.

"I can't wait to see it. I mea they were able to fold space-time and that was just at an outpost!" Pidge exclaims.

Hunk puts a hand on his stomach and rubs it, "Mm, the space taco. It left us too soon," he sees how Keith's face falls at the mention of the outpost and flicks Keith's ear to give him a soft smile.

Hunk's stomach betrays the serious moment with its grumbles. Keith laughs and Pidge rolls their eyes.

"Well, sure, but my point is, imagine how amazing their home base will be!" Pidge gestures, smiling freely.

"Exactly. It could take on any shape. Like a space jelly donut. Or long, like a space éclair. Or a space cheese blintz with a cherry sauce on top. Maybe a little dusting of powdered sugar. That's the stars."

"Aw, now I'm hungry for breakfast!" Lance moans.

"Guys, this is a serious mission. We need to focus," Keith snaps (his voice at a normal volume, a rarity nowadays), catching everyone's attention and making them stop joking, thinking back to Ulaz.

"We need to focus," Lance mocks, only to get slapped over the back of the head by Pidge.

"The base is in range," Coran informs them and everyone turns their attention to outside the bridge.

"Take us in slowly," Shiro orders.

"That might prove the tiniest bit of a challenge."

Turns out the Blade of Marmora's headquarters is between two black holes and a giant blue star between them. No wonder they haven't been wiped out. Everyone moves slightly to gawk at the sight, except Allura, Coran and Shiro. Keith smiles, his hand rubbing the item in his pocket.

"Is that a black hole?" Hunk gapes.

"No, no, no, no, no. It's two black holes and a giant blue star."

"That's not better."

"No kidding. Just inside a black hole, the temperature is one millionth of a degree above absolute zero. But, just outside of that, it's hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius," Pidge explains.

("Celsius is a way to measure temperature on Earth, right?" Keith asks Shiro, now that he's stood next to him to get a better look at the base.

"Yes. Where did you learn that?" Shiro asks.

"Hunk taught me when we were baking and cooking," Keith smiles warmly.

"Good to hear," Shiro squeezes Keith's shoulder.)

"Okay, it's like when you try to nuke a frozen burrito in the microwave, and it comes out all scorching hot on the outside, but it's still frozen in the middle, right?" Hunk explains and everyone just gives him a look, except Keith (who is thinking back to what a burrito is) and the Alteans (who don't know what a burrito is).

"Now I'm hungry for lunch!" Lance complains.

"Quiet! Coran, where's the base located?" Shiro orders, picking up on how antsy Keith is getting.

The Castle screen zooms in on the headquarters, hidden between the black holes and the star. A small section of what looks like an asteroid seems to be the base's location, according to coordinates.

"In between those three deadly celestial objects," Coran confirms.

"The perfect defensive position," Pidge frowns.

"Or the perfect trap," Allura adds.

"Yeah, I'm with Allura. Maybe we shouldn't, like, go in there at all?" Hunk suggests.

"We have to go in!" Keith snaps, his instincts screaming at him to go there (the Lions are trying to calm him, but quickly realise they are making things worse), knowing that that was Momma's home, but he can't tell them that, "This is the whole reason we came out here! There is no other option!"

"Okay. Calm down," Lance raises his hands trying to placate Keith.

Keith's instincts keep him on edge, the quintessence heightening them and making everything worst. The Lions can't even do anything without making everything worse. His Momma's home and family are there, aren't they? His focus and control keeps slipping and he needs to go soon, preferably now.

The computer beeps. Everyone turns to face it, taking the attention of Keith. Galran characters are visible.

"Identify yourself," Keith and the computer say in sync, only for Keith to cover his mouth.

"You can read Galran?" Allura asks, raising an eyebrow.

"You try growing up in the centre of the Empire," Keith growls slightly at the accusing tone.

"Allura. Keith," Shiro says, catching their attention, "Open a hailing frequency, Coran. We are the Paladins of Voltron, sent here by Ulaz."

A momentary silence that lasts far too long. Everyone wears determined expressions on their faces, except Lance (who has an 'I'm not amused' face on) and Allura (who looks worried).

The characters change and Keith and the computer speak in sync again, "Two may enter. Come unarmed," and then the characters disappear and the frequency closes.

"Why would they insist we come unarmed? Shiro, this doesn't feel right," Allura says aloud.

"We've come too far to turn back now."

"They just sent us a route to the base, but we'll have to move quickly. Because of the solar flares, it's only open for another varga," Coran adds, as the Castle's screen highlights the path, then shows a blinking icon on top of it, "Then, it will be closed for two quintants."

"They're gonna close it for two years?" Hunk asks.

"Two days," Pidge answers and Keith can't stop the small smile at how their lessons together have paid off.

"Oh."

Keith makes a mental note to double his lessons with Hunk. It only makes sense Hunk is further behind, considering he started teaching Hunk after Pidge and Pidge is Pidge

"So, any thoughts on who's gonna join you on this little mission? I'm thinking things might get a little hot, so you're gonna want someone who can stay cool," Lance smirks at Shiro.

"You're right. Keith, you're coming with me," Shiro slashes Lance's hopes and dreams.

"Wha—? Keith's a hothead! He's probably going to shoot first and ask questions later! And they're not gonna be able to answer his questions because they'll be dead!" Lance exclaims, leaning closer to Shiro, staring him down.

"We haven't yet severed Zarkon's link with the Black Lion, so it has to stay here," Shiro explains, putting his hands on Lance's shoulders and lightly pushing the pouting teenager away, "And the Red Lion can withstand the heat from that sun. So, yes, it'll be Keith."

"The course to the base will be quite treacherous, to say the least. You're walking a razor's edge between the gravitational pull of the black holes and the sun. One false move, and you'll either be crushed into infinity or burnt to a crisp," Coran adds.

The Red Lion flies towards the base. Keith tries to focus on the path and ignoring how his instincts are warring with each other. He wants to go faster and get to the base quicker, but that's a death sentence and he needs to stay steady and follow the path. Shiro tries to help. Somewhat.

"Keith, is everything okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Yurak..." Shiro sighs, "You kind of blew up at everybody back there. You'll have to control your emotions if you're going to lead this group someday."

Keith looks shocked, before chuckling slightly, "Lead the group?"

"When we were stranded, I told you, if anything ever happens to me, I want you to lead Voltron."

"I thought you were just delirious with pain. Why would you make me the leader?"

"Because I know what you're capable of, if you can learn how to handle people. You've been good at keeping the team connected recently," Shiro's sad look turns into a soft, proud smile,

"Why are we even talking about this? Nothing is gonna happen to you, Dad," Keith growls.

Shiro puts his hand on Keith's shoulder, grounding him, "It's just in case. I need you to get focused. When you and Allura ran off, it put us all in jeopardy. If you're going to be a leader, you've got to get your head on straight, sort out your priorities and always put the team first."

"I'm sorry. I've just had a lot on my mind," Keith answers, a small whimper escaping.

"I know," Shiro rests a hand on Keith's helmet, with a sad smile, "We all have."

A crash interrupts the moment. Red shakes and an alarm blares. The visual aid veers to the right and Red is pulled towards the black hole. Turns out talking and flying (or is it technically floating) is extremely deadly. Come to think of it, it's like talking and driving. It can be a distraction to. At least Keith hasn't been drinking.

"We're getting drawn in by one of the black holes!" Keith yells.

"Get us out of here!"

Keith pulls a lever. The Red Lion's thrusters engage, pushing them out of the gravitational pull. They use a piece of debris as a boost to help get back on track and enter through the path Coran specified, just as the solar flares close it behind them.

"Great job, Yurak! That was close," Shiro praises and Keith and Red preen at the praise.

The Red Lion lands. Keith and Shiro exit. There doesn't seem to be an entrance.

"There's nothing here. This place just looks like a plain asteroid," Keith observes, but he can feel the many different quintessence signatures below and above them.

There is a loud rumbling and Keith turns to where two quintessence signatures approach the surface. Shiro notices and trusts Keith's instincts, turning as a panel slides open in the rock, revealing two Blade of Marmora agents.

Keith and Shiro enter an elevator, in front of the two Blade operatives. There is oxygen and Keith can now smell the different Galra. He picks up on a familiar scent. One he came across fairly recently, but should not have come across again. Keith's frown alerts Shiro to something being wrong, so he stays on guard. The elevator stops and opens, revealing the Blade's actual headquarters. Galra agents stand in two rows, leading to a raised platform with one person standing on it. Another Galra stands to the side of the raised platform, in the corner of the room, necessary for the meeting, but considered an outcast by his peers, Keith notes, the behaviour something his Momma taught him. A holographic logo can be seen in the center of the room above their heads. Keith and Shiro are led to the platform.

"I am Kolivan, leader of the Blade of Marmora," the one on the platform speaks.

"My name is Shiro and this is Keith. We are Paladins of Voltron."

"I know who you are."

"Then you know we were sent by one of your own."

"Ulaz was a fool to divulge this location to you," Keith notices the Galra to the side flinch and quickly puts the pieces together, "He had a penchant for ignoring orders and following his impulses. That's what nearly got him killed."

"He gave his life to save us! What he did brought us here today, and Voltron is ready to assist you," Shiro growls out, only to stop as Keith raises his arm.

"Nearly?" Keith manages, looking at the Galra to the side, as Shiro gapes, "That's why the scent was fresh."

The Galra approaches, "It is good to see you again, grandkit."

"Ulaz?" Shiro gasps in disbelief, "How? You-!"

"Here, we learn sacrifice for the sake of the mission. My mission was not only to secure the future of the Universe, but to protect my own," Keith hugs the older Galra, purring, "I barely made it to the escape pods and the explosion meant I got flung far away. I was lucky some travellers picked me up and patched me up. I knew you would find your way here."

"Because you gave them the location, which is to never be divulged to outsiders," Kolivan growls and Keith stops purring, slight whimpers escaping as he hides behind Ulaz.

"Are we welcome here or not?" Shiro demands, positioning himself in front of the other two.

"You were told to come unarmed," Kolivan refuses to answer.

"You also told us to identify ourselves. The lions are about as close as we come to an ID," Keith speaks up, quieter than when he snapped earlier.

"If anything happens, believe me, you'll be happy you have the Red Lion on your side," Shiro adds.

"I imagine we would. However, I wasn't referring to your beast," Kolovan answers.

A Blade of Marmora operative approaches Keith from behind. Ulaz motions for him to stop and holds his hand out to Keith. Keith reluctantly hands over the blade.

"Here, Antok," Ulaz hands it over, "Next time, ask before going to attack a kit," he threatens.

"Keith!" Shiro gasps in surprise, never having seen the blade before, but remembering Keith mentioning it.

Antok looks at the blade, hilt unwrapped to reveal the Blade of Marmora's logo, "He has one of our blades! Who did you steal this from? Did you use it to trick Ulaz?"

"I didn't! I've had it since I was little! It-" Keith is cut off by Antok.

"Lies!" Antok growls.

"Can you corroborate your friend's statement? Does this blade truly belong to him?" Kolivan asks Shiro.

"I... I think so. He spoke about it, but never showed it to me. He would never have had chance to steal one," Shiro answers.

"I promise I didn't steal it. I've had this knife for almost as long as I can remember. My-" Keith is cut off again by Antok.

"We can't trust them," Antok hisses, territorial when his home and livelihood is threatened.

"I'm telling the truth. It's my Momma's," Keith declares the last bit in Galran, watching how Shiro picks up on it, despite the translator in the helmets and his arm, "She told me that if I see anyone with a blade with this symbol, that I should trust them. That they are one of our own. Not long after, she left and never came back."

"Our organization is built on secrecy and trust. You two should leave. You have betrayed our trust and Ulaz and your mother have betrayed the secrecy. However, Galra blood runs through your veins and your mother was one of us, so you have a choice. Leave or take the trials of Marmora. Should you survive, you may keep the blade and it's secrets will be revealed."

"Survive? Keith, this is crazy. We came here to form an alliance, but obviously we're not welcome. Come on, we're leaving," Shiro moves to lead Keith away.

"I'm not going anywhere. I have to do this," Keith tells him, "It's personal."

Shiro just gives him a resigned nod, knowing there is no way to change Keith's mind. Ulaz squeezes the boy's shoulder and stands by his side.

"Antok, give the boy the blade," Kolivan orders and Antok hands Keith his knife.

"We will meet again," Antok says, the Galran form of good luck.

"Can't wait," Keith nods, a small purr escaping as he takes the blade back.

"These trials result in one of two things: Knowledge, or death," Kolivan explains.

Keith is left alone in a new room, wearing a suit similar to those of the Blade. He holds his knife in his right hand. A panel opens in the center of the floor, revealing a single Blade agent.

"Surrender the blade," they draw their sword, "You cannot win."

Keith growls. He charges and they fight. Keith receives multiple blows and a cut to the shoulder. He screams, using his left hand to apply pressure while holding the knife out in his right.

Shiro and Ulaz watch Keith through a screen with Kolivan.

"Come on, Keith," Shiro mutters.

"He's a kit with no experience in Blade and Galra customs," Ulaz growls at Kolivan under his breath.

"His mother claimed he was one of us. If that is true, she will have prepared him as one of us," Kolivan answers.

Keith ends up with the Blade's blade to his throat and effectively disarmed, his arm pulled behind him and his head forced down with a yell.

"Surrender the blade and the pain will cease."

"I won't quit. I can't," Keith growls.

"Then the pain continues," the Blade responds.

He removes his sword from Keith's neck and lets go of his arm. Keith falls to all fours, gasping. He gets to his feet, looking at the Blade in confusion, a whimper escaping. Keith pushes the Lions' worry away, focusing on their support and understanding.

The Blade steps aside, pointing to the door across the room, "You are not meant to go through that door."

Keith walks towards the door, starting to run.

"Sometimes you need to think outside the box," Matt smiles, messing with the technology in the around the ear translator he no longer needs, due to his recent implant.

"What does that meal?" Keith asks, sitting infront of Matt to hide his tinkering.

"Mean, Yurak. The word is mean," Shiro smiles from his position by the wall.

"Mean. What does that mean?" Keith corrects himself, clapping happily when Shiro nods at him.

"It's a saying from Earth. It means that if you want to solve a problem, you need to do things differently. Untraditional problems require untraditional solutions," Matt explains, "Sometimes the solution is right in front of you, but you just can't see it yet. Like loopholes."

"Looholes."

"Loop. Holes. Loopholes."

"Loopholes! What's a loophole?"

"When you find a way to get around something. For example, a way to get around a rule," Shiro explains.

Keith runs into a similar room, this time with two panels that open and reveal two Blades. They fight.

"This is not a fair fight!" Shiro declares.

"Nor is taking on the Galra, yet that is the fight we face," Kolivan replies.

Keith is beaten badly and falls to his knees, a sword at his neck. He knows that he isn't supposed to go through the door, but what else can he do? He can't beat the Blades and they don't want him to beat them.

"Surrender the blade and the pain will cease."

"Never!" Keith responds, panting.

The Blade steps aside, "You are not meant to go through that door."

Three panels open to reveal three Blades. Again, Keith is beaten.

"How long does this go on?" Shiro demands.

"Sometimes, the greatest challenge is knowing when to stop."

"He'll never quit," Ulaz worries.

"One way or another, this will end. Knowledge or death."

Four Blades rise through the floor. Keith is visibly shaking, breathing heavily while holding his injured shoulder. The Blades step off of their panels and they slide down, another sliding forward to take its place. Keith narrows his eyes and charges forward. He throws his knife, which spirals past the Blades and lands in the panel to prevent it from closing. Keith yells, charging forward and fighting the Blades unarmed. A Blade throws him and he slides across the floor, smirking as he grabs his knife and slips through the still open panel.

"All about the loopholes, right Matt?" Keith grins.

Back at the Castle, the other Paladins and Allura watch over the star and black holes.

"How long has it been?" Allura demands.

"Roughly ten vargas," Coran answers.

"We cannot just wait here."

"The path is closed for, like, I don't know, 30 more vargas or something?" Lance predicts.

"That's actually correct," Coran replies, after calculating.

"Really?" Hunk is surprised.

Lance cracks his knuckles and looks smug, "Yeah, I wasn't born yester-quintant."

"I-I have to know what's going on down there," Allura decides and tries to scan the base with the Castle.

"There's no way to get a read on their base. Too much interference from the solar flares and the black holes," Pidge answers.

"If we account for the gravitational lensing, maybe we can reduce the noise and interference and connect with the Red Lion's sensors, right? Th-That's right, right?" Hunk asks, showing off his intelligence that Keith has learnt much from.

Hunk looks to Lance. Lance looks between Hunk and Coran.

Lance points to himself, "Are you looking at me?"

"We can give it a try," Coran answers.

"Get on it," Allura orders.

Inside of Central Command, Thace removes a chip from under his fingernail and plugs it into the computer to download data. During the download, a soldier enters the room. Thace closes the console before he enters and turns to him. The soldier informs Thace that Haggar wishes to speak with him. Thace looks surprised for a moment. He glances back to the console, the chip still inside.

"Keith!" Shiro cries out, worried.

A door opens and the camera Shiro, Kolivan and Ulaz are watching shifts to show Keith lingering in the elevator, just long enough to catch his breath and steel his resolve to keep moving forward. Keith steps out, hunched over and holding his shoulder.

"Guess I really wasn't supposed to go through that door," Keith gasps out.

Keith slows down, his vision blurring and doubling. He groans and collapses sideways. A shadow passes over him and he looks up, seeing a blurred Shiro. He blinks and Shiro is closer, offering a hand to him.

"Hey, man. You did it," Shiro says.

Keith knows something is off, but he is tired and in pain and he just wants Shiro right now. He wants to go home (when did the Castle become home?). He smiles weakly, then grimaces.

"Shiro?"

He reaches out and takes Shiro's hand. Shiro pulls him to his feet by his injured arm.

"Kolivan told me you lasted longer than anyone ever has in those battles. You don't have to keep this up."

Keith looks up at Shiro, "What are you talking about?"

Shiro smiles, "Just give them the knife and let's get out of here."

"I can't give it to them, Shiro. You know that," Keith feels unnerved, because something is wrong.

Shiro, meanwhile, stands in front of the screen showing himself, "Is that a hologram?"

"His suit has the ability to create a virtual mindscape, reflecting its wearer's greatest hopes and fears. And at this moment, your friend desperately wants to see you," Kolivan answers.

This technology is even more advanced than the Altean technology on the Castle. What could the Galra and Altean's have become, working together for the last 10,000 years, Shiro wonders.

"What is it with you and that thing?" Shiro says, venom lacing his tone.

"It's the only connection I have to my Momma. It's my chance to learn who she was, who my family are, where I come from, why I'm not like you and the others. I'm different! I'm violent! I don't even know who I am!" Keith cries out, letting out everything he's been too scared to tell Shiro for a long time.

"You know exactly who you are. A Paladin of Voltron. We're all the family you need-"

Keith starts to get upset, "Shiro, you're like a brother, a father to me... but I have to do this."

"No, you don't. So just give them the knife."

He almost hands the knife over, but...

"Family is more than blood, Yurak. Momma loves you, but she also loves her own family, back home. I made that family, without blood ties. They will love you, like I do. They can-"

"It's time to go," a guard is there, tearing him from his Momma's arms.

"Momma loves you, more than anything," she declares, her face unrecognisable.

She never came back.

"I can't do that."

"Just give up the knife, Keith! You're only thinking of yourself, as usual!"

Keith's eyes widen, then he looks away. He trusts Shiro and he wants to give in, but he wants to do this. He wants to do this. He isn't doing this because he needs to know what Momma never got to tell him, but because he wants to know about the life she lived that she could never tell him about, without risking the Empire finding out. Keith has never wanted something like this, never made a choice that is all his own before. He doesn't regret his choices, but this is his own choice and no fake Shiro is going to change that.

"I've made my choice," Keith looks Shiro in the eyes and the absolute certainty in Keith's voice shocks Shiro and Ulaz, leaving Shiro gaping, like a fish, and almost in tears at how he has grown.

"Then you've chosen to be alone," Shiro starts to walk away.

Keith looks down at the knife, then back up at Shiro's retreating figure, "Shiro! Wait!"

Keith runs after Shiro, but Shiro keeps walking away. Even though he knows it isn't Shiro, he still feels the need to explain what he is doing to the only father figure he ever had, but a bright light engulfs them both before Keith can reach him.

The light fades, leaving Keith in his old cell. He looks around slowly, afraid to move and confirm anything. An explosion almost knocks him over and survival instincts take over. Keith rushes to the cell door, only for it to open and for Keith to run into a man standing there.

A familiar man Keith can hardly remember.

"Yurak..." the man speaks, voice so familiar.

"Teludav lenses allowed the creation of wormholes to travel to different places instantly. Alteans were incredible," a man says.

"Do they still exist?" little Keith asks, looking at a hologram of the lenses.

"I do not know. Even if they do, no one can use them anymore," the man says and pets Keith's hair, stopping when a voice calls, "I have to go. I will be back as soon as possible."

Keith gasps in surprise, "I know you."

The man nods, a soft smile on his face, as he walks into the cell, sitting by the wall facing the door, "Come, sit," he gestures to the spot next to him.

Another loud crash startles Keith, and he looks over at the door, "What's going on outside?"

"Don't worry about that. We'll be fine as long as we stay in here. Don't you wanna catch up?" the man asks.

Keith frowns, looking distressed, knowing this person means a lot to him, "Of course I do."

The man sighs, "So many years have passed. I have so much to tell you."

A third loud crash sounds and Keith turns to face the window, "What is that?"

"Everything's fine."

Keith pokes his head outside and gasps. Outside, the other gladiators are being torn apart by the holes being blasted into their cells from the outside. They can be heard screaming.

"I-I'm sorry. I gotta go. There's people that need me out there."

The man is suddenly stood up, standing next to him with a hand on his shoulder (he didn't flinch so he trusts this stranger for some reason), holding Keith's knife, "Don't you wanna know about where you came from? About your mother? About me?"

"Momma?"

A fourth crash, rumbling. People can be heard screaming, closer now. The blasts are growing in speed and getting closer. Lines of sentries visible are visible as they start to fire into cells.

The man smirks, "She'll be here soon."

In reality, Keith is still in the Blade of Marmora headquarters. Keith's unconscious form is on the ground while he grunts as if in a nightmare. To his body, he is. He can't handle remembering this man, that's why he repressed the memories.

"You need to get him out of there," Shiro declares.

"He can decide when to leave," Kolivan answers.

Shiro throws his hands out, clearly frustrated, not understanding, "You're messing with his mind. You're going to kill him!"

"Knowledge or death, Shiro," Kolivan answers.

Shiro grits his teeth and starts walking away, "I'm calling this off."

Two Blade members block his way. Ulaz stands behind Shiro in silent support.

"You gotta tell me. I have to know. Who are you? What about Momma? Who was she? What about her family?" Keith practically begs.

The man moves one arm over Keith's shoulder, looking down at the knife, "I couldn't do this to you before. You've grown," the man looks to the door, "Your mother is almost here," he looks at Keith, "She'll tell you everything."

An explosion occurs outside. Light flashes in through the door.

"I can't wait around anymore. I have to go," Keith pushes the man off and walks towards the door.

"If you go out that door, you'll never find out who we are," the man calls after him, making no move to stop him.

Keith freezes. After a moment, he looks down. Another explosion happens outside, light flaring inside the cell and over the view of Keith's knife. Keith looks over his shoulder at the man he was so close to.

"Goodbye," Keith leaves.

The man smiles proudly.

The Red Lion's eyes flare yellow, and it roars before firing on the base.

"The Red Lion is moving!" Allura announces.

"We gotta get down there!" Lance realises something is wrong and worry peaks in his gut.

"It won't be ready for five more minutes," Hunk replies.

With Thace and Haggar, Haggar interrogates Thace, only to put him in charge of the investigation.

Back at the Blade of Marmora headquarter, the Red Lion fires on the base, trying to get to Keith. The trial room shakes, the screens show only static, and alarms blare. Ulaz is growling at the other Blades, restrained by Antok. Shiro is being restrained by two Blade members.

Another Blade runs in, "The Red Lion is attacking the base! It's trying to break through!"

The Red Lion fires again.

"It has a link with Keith. It knows when he's in danger. It's coming for him," Shiro answers the silent question.

Debris collapses into the room. Everyone grunts and Shiro elbows the first Galra holding him before ducking out of the second's grip and running from the room. The Blades chase him out.

Back at the Castle, on the screen, the Red Lion's icon blinks and beeps.

"The Red Lion has started attacking!" Coral declares.

"Wait, what does that mean? Why would the lion attack? Unless..." Hunk putting the situation into words makes it a lot worse.

"Allura?" Lance turns to their other leader in worry.

"Everyone, stay focused."

Keith opens his eyes as the base is destroyed around him. Footsteps are heard as Shiro runs into the room, helping Keith to his feet. Ulaz shows up next to them and helps steady Keith.

"Keith, are you okay?"

"Stop what you're doing!" Kolivan demands.

Shiro puts Keith's injured arm over his shoulders, supporting him while Keith stands and loosely grips his knife in his left hand.

"What are you talking about? What's going on?" Keith asks, out of it still.

"Call off your beast!" Kolivan demands.

"Move out of the way! We're leaving!" Shiro declares, Ulaz moving into a defensive position in front of Keith and Shiro.

"You're not leaving with that blade. It does not belong to you. You failed to awaken it!"

"What does that mean?" Keith practically cries.

Antok pulls out a sword and charges, "Give up the blade!"

Shiro activates his prosthetic and is about to let go of Keith, when Ulaz rushes forwards. Ulaz charges forward to meet Antok's strike.

"Coran, how much longer until we can get in?" Allura asks, Lance watching her carefully.

"Just a few more ticks, Princess," Coran answers.

None of the Paladins or Coran thought the meeting would end this way, not with his heritage (or what they believe to be his heritage), and it shows on their faces and in their body language.

"Get ready."

Ulaz and Antok clash.

"Wait! Just take the knife!" Keith pushes off Shiro and holds out the knife hilt first.

Ulaz deactivates his blade and both he and Antok lower their blades. Everyone turns to look at Keith.

"It doesn't matter where Momma came from or who her family is. I know who I am and who my family is. We all need to work together to defeat Zarkon. And if that means I give up this knife, fine. Take it. I have what Momma taught me to remember her bu," Keith declares and the Blade insignia on the knife glows faintly, "Huh?" the light becomes a blinding white, shielding Keith from view.

"You've awoken the blade!" Antok declares, letting out a deep, grumbling purr of approval.

The knife glows brightly, shifting into a long, curved sword, like the other Blades.

"The only way this is possible is if Galra blood runs through your veins," Kolivan acknowledges that Keith's claim of his mother being one of them is extremely likely to be true, considering the Empire's low tolerance for half-breeds.

"Five... four... three... two... one!" Coran counts down, the tension in the Bridge growing with each number.

The pathway on the screen flashes and the Red Lion is shown.

"Princess, we're coming back, and we're bringing someone you should meet," Shiro declares.

"They're all right!" Coran cheers, everyone celebrating.

Red lands in the hangar. Shiro and Kolivan step out to meet the others. Keith has his arms wrapped around Shiro's neck and his legs around Shiro's waist, like a koala. Shiro's mechanical arm holds Keith up and his human arm rest over his back and head, which rests on Shiro's shoulder, where he fights sleep. Kolivan's mask vanishes, revealing his face. He pulls down his hood and kneels in front of Allura.

"Princess Allura, it's good to see that the rumors are true. You're still alive after all these years," Kolivan speaks.

"So is Zarkon. Can we consider you our ally in the fight against him?" Allura's cold gaze pierces through Kolivan.

"Yes, but we have little time to discuss this. I just received word from our spy inside the Galran hierarchy. They have become aware of our presence, so the timetable for our plan has been moved up."

"How soon do we need to begin?" Shiro asks, Keith trying to stay awake.

"Now."

Keith really wishes he could've slept earlier.

Chapter Text

Kolivan had taken a pod to base to retrieve Antok, Ulaz and some information for the meeting, whilst the Paladins and Alteans all get caught up. At least, that was Shiro’s original intention. Shiro sits down on the sofa in the common room, Keith resting against him. Whatever had happened had exhausted Keith and sent Shiro into his overprotective SpaceDad™ mode. They all wait for Keith or Shiro to speak up.

"You are all aware of how Keith was already in the arena when I was sent there?" Shiro speaks up finally, squeezing Keith's hand.

Everyone nods.

"He has been there almost his entire life," everyone looks slightly more concerned, but nod anyway, "But he wasn't born there. He was born on Earth. His mother was a member of the Blades who prevented the Empire from finding Blue. According to Keith, they lost his father to the Empire and attempted to return to the Blades, but were captured by the Empire."

"We kinda knew already. You had a picture on Earth and one of your parents were purple so I guess that was your mother," Lance says, hesitating, before asking, "What happened to your mother?"

"We don't know. No one does," Keith whispers.

The Paladins and Coran all share looks. They turn to Keith and give him warm smiles.

"We will find out," Shiro declares, offering them all a thankful smile.

"No we won't. We don't need to find out the fate of some Galra! We have more important things to do!" Allura declares.

Everyone just looks at her shocked, except Keith, who whimpers. Shiro picks him up and leaves, the other Paladins following close behind, keeping a reasonable distance. None of them have forgotten what happened with Ulaz, when Allura shoved Keith. The boy has latched onto Hunk and has warmed up to Pidge enough to ask for lessons. Coran has started to tell stories to Keith, when he knows he is nearby, because the boy is still too scared to ask and Lance keeps an eye on him, learning how not to lose the sneaky kit, so they don't have a repeat of Olkarion. He had only just beginning to warm up to Allura and now that's ruined. Again. They all give Allura varied looks (disgusted, angry, disappointed and pitying looks).

"Allura! How can you say that?" Coran yells disgusted, once the Paladins have left.

"He's Galra, Coran! What am I supposed to do? He lied to us!" Allura yells back.

"Do you think he wants to? He didn't choose to be Galra and he knew you would react like this! He hates the Empire too! They killed his family and made so many of his loved ones suffer!" Coran growls.

"I don't care! They killed my family! My loved ones! My planet! They hurt people every day! I have a right to be angry!" Allura cries, breaking down into tears.

"But, at least, he understands that not all Galra are evil! You need to learn that if you want to be a good princess! A good person!" Coran sighs, "I understand, Allura. I do, but Keith is still Keith and the Blades are good people. I still remember the old days when Zarkon..." Coran trails off, "It doesn't matter. Sometimes people are good and sometimes they are bad. It is not race exclusive. Please, don't cause more pain," Coran turns away and leaves.

Allura falls to the ground, crying her eyes out, and Coran barely hears her say, "I know. I know. But it still hurts and it doesn't stop hurting. I miss them everyday, but I thought I had gained a family. But... but he lied to us. My little brother lied to us."

Allura already broke Keith's trust in her once, but she was working hard and had regained a small amount. She knows she makes mistakes, but she's emotional. She always lets her emotions get the better of her and, now, she has ruined their relationship again. Everyone is hurting, but everyone is healing. What did Hunk say? A chipped pot is chipped forever, but a broken vase can be fixed? It doesn't matter. Maybe now, Allura can really understand and change for the better.

Coran looks for Keith, wanting to apologise, so he searches for any of the humans. He finds him asleep in his room, Shiro cradling him in his sleep and the Paladins all stood around the room watching in worry, waiting for Keith to wake up. Coran sighs. Coran has had his own breakdowns before (comes with the job) and will always recognise one when he sees one. He was in many battles, after all, so he knows all about injuries and mental health. Coran had to make sure Alfor and the other Paladins were happy and healthy, so he knows what he's doing. He walks in, moves some hair out of Keith's face that had gotten stuck from his tears and watches Shiro wipe the tear tracks on Keith's face. He smiles weakly at the look of peace, before kissing the child's forehead and leaving, because that's what Keith is, a child. A child forced through so many hardships.

"Take care of him Paladins. I'm going to check on the Lions," Coran says as he leaves, heading to Red's hangar to check on her.

"Of course. We are family after all," he hears Lance mutter.

Coran smiles slightly, heading to Red. Just entering the hangar, he can feel her anger, fear and worry. Normally, the Lions can control their emotions, but Keith's recovering mental state must have declined by a large amount, for this type of reaction from Red. This doesn't stop Coran from approaching, despite the near suffocating presence. The Paladins of Old and New never seemed to pick up on how Coran kept an eye on the Lions, as well as the Paladins themselves.

"Hey girl. He's going to be fine. Got lots of people looking out for him. I know he will be fine, we will make sure," Coran smiles and sits down against her paw, "Looks like you found a great cub. Even Allura loves him, despite knowing he's Galra. I know she will learn to accept him and continue to see him as family. I hope you take good care of him," Coran smiles and pats her paw, looks up at her, before turning to leave, "I know we will."

"After all, family sticks together."

Chapter Text

Hunk is snoring. He gasps, begins to snore again and tips over, waking himself up in the process.

"What? What'd I miss?"

"Oh, nothing important. We've just figured out a way to defeat Zarkon," Lance smirks, motioning to the Alteans, Blades and Keith hiding behind Shiro.

"Really? I dozed for ten minutes and you guys figured out how to defeat the forces of evil?"

"You've been asleep for three hours," Pidge deadpans, raising an eyebrow.

Hunk sweat drops, like a totally non-animated character, then looks over at the projection of Zarkon's command ship and the separate group with wide eyes.

"I think we've got something here. It's dangerous and there are a lot of moving parts, but if we can coordinate everything just right, then—" Shiro begins.

"Zarkon's reign will be at an end and the savagery that's poisoned our universe can finally be cleansed. You've done it, Shiro," Kolivan finishes.

"We did it together," Shiro smiles, offering his right, robotic arm.

Shiro and Kolivan clasp each other's arms. Keith smiles slightly, moving from behind Shiro to see the older Galra better.

"As long as we all stick to the plan, it should work," Allura says, venom lacing her tone.

Keith flinches and returns to hide behind Shiro. In turn, Shiro moves his left arm infront of Keith and positions his body, so his right arm is infront and ready to attack. Kolivan tenses a minuscule amount and Antok moves closer to his leader's side. Ulaz makes sure to block Keith from view from his position on Shiro's left side.

"It will work. Perhaps, then, you'll learn that not all Galra are as bad as Zarkon," Kolivan replies, voice neutral.

Allura's eyes focus on where Keith is hidden. The boy shifts, feeling her gaze, and tightens his hold on Shiro.

"I hope not," Allura mutters.

"Ulaz was right to trust you all," Antok says.

"He almost sacrificed everything to bring us together. Let's honor him and our fallen by taking down Zarkon," Shiro answers.

Ulaz resolutely ignores the heat in his cheeks.

"So, what's the plan?" Hunk asks, having missed the whole thing, but getting a giggle from Keith.

Hunk and Shiro give the boy soft smiles and Lance runs to the center of the group, movements exaggerated and telegraphed. He begins to explain the plan, using exaggerated movements and acting out various parts.

"The plan is amazing! First, we infect Zarkon's ship with a virus. Then, we make an extra-large wormhole and lure Zarkon inside of it, zapping him a bajillion light-years away. Then, when he pops out on the other side, all like," Lance decides to use a mocking tone of voice, "'Oh, why doesn't my ship work?'" before returning to his normal voice, "Voltron kicks his butt! Pew, pew, pew! Womp, womp, womp! Huh! Hi-yah!" Lance uses a deep voice, "'I'll form the head!'" before returning, once again to his normal voice, "That's what you say, Shiro. Yeah, yeah. Yeah! We won for all time!"

"Wow. So, this is it." Hunk breathes.

Everyone stands in silence for a moment, reflecting quietly.

"I guess the only question is, when do we strike?" Pidge asks.

Coran pulls up an interface and presses a few buttons, causing the projector to show the inner workings of a teludav, "As soon as we build a teludav big enough to wormhole Zarkon's ship."

"Oh, man. The teludav again? Does that mean we need more scaultrite?" Hunk wonders.

"That's just one of the many things we'll need," Allura informs them.

"Am I, uh... Am I sensing a trip back to the space mall here?" Hunk's face brightens with hope, only to fall as his hopes and dreams are crushed.

"I'm afraid not. This is gonna take a lot more scaultrite than we can find at any Unilu shop. For this plan to succeed, we're gonna need to split up," Coran's serious face embodies just how dangerous things are right now.

At Yellow's hangar, the team is beginning to split up. While Coran continues speaking, Keith and Shiro clasp hands and embrace each other in a hug. Keith pulls away, only for Shiro to salute. Keith beams at the gesture Matt and Shiro taught him, tearing up. To them, the gesture is a sign of great respect and trust. Keith happily returns it. Hunk and Pidge shake both arms rapidly, both crying. Lance tries to comfort Hunk and Allura watches Keith.

"We all have a task to do. Keith, Hunk, you'll be in charge of getting the scaultrite. If any one of us fails, the entire plan fails."

Keith catches Allura's gaze. Allura quickly looks away, her expression changing to one of contempt. Keith frowns and Shiro lays a hand on his shoulder.

"Give her time, Yurak," Shiro offers an understanding smile and Keith nods, squeezing the hand.

Keith and Hunk head into the Yellow Lion. Keith is finally able to hear Red again, since she blocked him out so she and Yellow could talk. They say their goodbyes and good lucks. Keith feels the mental hug and kiss/lick from her and his face brightens momentarily, before remembering Allura. Hunk looks back at the others with a nervous smile on his face, while Keith stares at the ground as if ashamed. Behind them, Pidge waves and the others see them off with fond smiles.

The Yellow Lion leaves the Castle, entering a wormhole.

Inside the Yellow Lion's hangar, Pidge pets Platt while they squeak.

Lance looks to Allura, grinning, "So, uh, how about a kiss for good luck?"

Lance leans forward, smacking his lips and making exaggerated kissing sounds. Coran and Allura just look at him, until Coran has the most incredible idea. He picks up Platt, carrying them towards Lance, making Lance kiss the mouse. Lance hums, then opens his eyes and lets out a muffled scream. Platt smiles.

As they board the Blue Lion, Pidge is in front, waving with a grin. Lance stands slightly behind and to Pidge's right, looking distressed while he wipes his sleeve over his mouth. Shiro stands in the back, between Pidge and Lance, smiling fondly. The Blue Lion leaves the Castle, entering a wormhole.

In one of the general hangars, Coran and Allura stand outside of a pod.

"Don't worry, we'll see each other soon," Coran tries to comfort.

Allura pulls Coran into a hug, "Take care, Coran."

They separate, but Coran keeps his hands on Allura's shoulders, "Stay safe, Princess."

Coran enters the pod, the top closing over him. The pod leaves the Castle, entering a wormhole. On the bridge, Allura places her hands on the control pedestals in the center and pulls up an image of the Balmera on screen.

At Zarkon's Central Command, several battleships can be seen in the background advancing on a planet. Inside, the Druids attempt to once again infuse Zarkon with quintessence. One Druid collapses from exhaustion and the connection breaks, causing Zarkon to fall to his knees with a grunt.

"Did you sense the lion?" Haggar asks.

Zarkon groans, "Nothing."

"It is wise that you rest."

"I will find that lion. Begin the process again."

The Druids prepare to begin the process again.

"Why does Allura get to take a leisurely visit to the Balmera while we have to fly into the belly of a giant space worm to get scaultrite?" Hunk asks.

"You heard Coran. Building a huge teludav isn't easy. Everyone has a job to do and this is ours," Keith sighs.

"The Alteans used scaultrite for everything. Only problem was that they had to go into the belly of these huge space worms to get it!" the man Keith saw in his vision gestures his arms wildly.

"That's silly. You're silly, ——-" Keith giggles from his spot infront of the man, legs crossed.

"Nope! It's very true! And if anyone's silly, it's you, little Yurak," the man pokes Keith's nose, making him go cross eyed.

Keith sticks his tongue out and the man laughs.

Keith shakes his head. He can't even remember the man's name, but he's important. He remembers Momma's name is Krolia, so why can't he remember that.

"But I always get the worst jobs. Go to a Galra-occupied planet to get my lion. Go to a Galra-occupied Balmera to get a crystal. Go into a belly of a beast with the only Galra alien team member," Hunk moans, pulling Keith out of his thoughts.

"And?" Keith growls.

"Hey! I'm not saying anything bad!" Hunk raises his hands in surrender, "I thinks it's kinda cool! You're an alien. At least, you're way more alien than me. You're some alien and you lived in space you're entire life. I'm-I'm none alien and I've only recently started to live in space."

Keith sighs, moving towards the front of the cockpit, "Let's just concentrate on the job here."

"Yeah. Your mother was the alien, right? Doesn't that make you half Galra? Do-do you have any special abilities, like seeing better?" Hunk asks, curious.

"I don't know. Never had anyone to test against," Keith mumbles.

Hunk smiles and holds his hand out for Keith, who slowly takes it, and squeezes it, "We should experiment when we get back. Pidge would love that," Keith laughs a little at that, so Hunk playfully narrows his eyes, "Did the Blade of Marmora, like, teach you the secret handshake, or something?"

"No. No one said anything," Keith starts to snicker.

"The Blade of Marmora... they're real tight-lipped, aren't they? I get that your society is secret, but is everything a secret?" Hunk frowns, worried.

"I don't know. It's how they've survived so it makes sense," Keith frowns, "Allura hates them- hates me now, because they never did anything, but they couldn't do anything," Keith growls.

"Allura doesn't hate you. You just need to give her time to accept the fact that you're Galra, the race that destroyed her entire planet and all of her people," Hunk frowns, sighs and blinks, "Yeah, she might hate you a little bit, but-" Hunk says as Keith opens his mouth, "She still cares for you. It's a shock and she doesn't know how to react, but she will move past this," Hunk smiles.

Keith returns it, reluctantly removing his hand from Hunk's and turning to Yellow's console, "Let's watch the video Coran uploaded and stay on task. We need to find out how to collect this stuff."

Hunk taps a button on his console, which transforms into a video screen. It glitches at first before settling onto the image of a younger-looking Coran in the Castle of Lions, cheerful music playing in the background.

Video Coran (VC) raises his hand in greeting, "Hello, brave Altean."

"No way," Hunk grins, barely holding back laughter, and points at the screen, "Is that Coran?"

"So, you're about to go into the belly of a weblum to harvest scaultrite. Good for you!" VC points to his right, where a screen appears showing the various items he describes, "Scaultrite is an important substance, with thousands of commercial and industrial uses, including fabrication foam, insect night vision goggles, teludav-" VC is cut off by static.

"Uh..." Hunk manages as he and Keith gape at the video.

"—anti-fungal klanmüirl lotion and other such lubricants," VC finishes.

"What's wrong with the video?" Keith asks.

"It's ten thousand years old. It's probably corroded," Hunk answers.

"Sadly, lots of Altean history was lost, not just in the destruction, but due to time," the man lectures.

"What do you mean?"

"In time, videos and items corrode. That means they lose their quality so you watch a video and it's unable to show certain parts or a book is missing a paragraph."

Hunk taps a few buttons on his console, and the static fades.

"I could go on for days. But you've got a weblum to enter and some scaultrite to collect. Oh, look! There's a weblum now. Hello, big fella!" VC greets a cartoon weblum who enters the screen.

"Hey, Coran! I'm off to eat some planets. There's one now! Nyum, nyum, nyum, nyum, nyum!" the cartoon weblum exits.

"We'll see you soon! As you probably remember from school, the weblum is an enormous creature and an integral part of keeping our universe functioning. It survives off of the-" static cuts VC off again, "—left over from dead planets. It then reconverts the quintessence remnants by-" and again, "—becoming the building blocks of new solar systems. Incredible, isn't it?" And static.

Keith and Hunk share a nervous glance, both whimpering, panicking.

"Of course, these are no gentle giants. They're actually giants that are quite deadly, which leads to," VC's voice is distorted, "rule number one," and returns back to normal, "It's an important one, so listen closely. Stay away from it's-" static again, "You got that?"

"No. No, I didn't," Hunk panics.

"We are going to die," Keith whimpers to himself.

"No! No jinxing us!" Hunk says.

"We are so dead," Keith mutters, looking at the multiple sentries approaching.

"No! No jinxing us!" Matt scolds.

"What's that?" Keith asks.

"Jinxing just means saying something that gives you bad luck," Shiro explains.

"We do not need any bad luck right now!" Matt adds, watching the approaching sentries,

"It's like a rhyme. Say it with me," VC's voice grows distorted, "Stay away from its-" and more static.

"Oh, come on!" Hunk moans.

"Other things to remember include avoiding the poisonous-" static, "—eye sockets-" more static, "—could lead to certain death!"

Hunk is distracted from certain death by a debris field outside Yellow, "Whoa. What are those?"

"They look like... Feel like dead planets," Keith mutters, feeling the traces of quintessence left on all the debris, Yellow and Red immediately comfort him.

"That's strange. The charts I'm looking at show these planets should still be thriving. Wow. What do you think happened to them? Asteroid strike?" Hunk asks.

"They died an unnatural death," Keith answers, hand clutching Hunk's chair with a hand, eyes on the husks, not looking at Hunk.

A large creature floats into view.

"Look!" Hunk cries.

"Guess that ancient Altean weblum tracker put us right on the money," Keith says, feeling the overwhelming quintessence without much effort.

He won't be able to rely on it inside. He doesn't want a sensory overload, so he puts up mental blocks to the quintessence, saying his goodbyes to Red and Yellow.

"We gotta get out of here! We haven't watched the entire video yet! We don't know what to do!"

"We're not leaving. You fly, keep our distance. I'll skim through the video," Keith answers, unwilling to block off his connection to the Lions for longer than necessary.

"So, you've made it into the weblum's first stomach!" VC says.

"Rewind!" Hunk yells.

"I know!" Keith growls.

"So, you've identified a weblum. Great! Now, remember rule number one. Stay away from its face," VC says.

"Wait, that's rule number one? We broke rule number one!" Hunk cries and the weblum opens its mouth and begins pulling objects in like a black hole, "Oh, no! What's it doing?"

"Get us out of the way, now!" Keith orders.

The weblum fires a large beam of energy, which the Yellow Lion manages to dodge. Hunk grunts as the beam begins to follow them, trying to stay out of its range of fire. The weblum follows them and fires off another beam, this one closer to hitting the Yellow Lion.

"The weblum's natural defense-" static, "-venomous laser, deadly acid-" and more static, "-total annihilation-" and even more static, "-death monster-" and look! Even more static! When it finally clears, the cartoon weblum is there, "to find its blind spot on the back of its neck, just below the gills."

"That's your way inside! If I can't see ya, I can't kill ya!"

Yellow beeps rapidly. Hunk grunts, pulling the control levers and changing their course to head to the back of the weblum's neck. The Yellow Lion descends to land, but begins to bounce back and forth between the spikes on the weblum's back.

"This isn't good. This isn't good!" Hunk says, surprisingly calm.

Yellow crashes into one of the spikes and hits the weblum hard. Keith and Hunk groan, but Yellow manages to right themself on their feet while skidding backwards. Hunk uses the Yellow Lion's upgraded claws and armor to secure their position on the weblum's back.

"We're attached to its back, in its blind spot."

"Good. We're going in," Keith says.

"Wait, what do we do when we're inside the beast?"

"A quick recap of what to do when you're inside the beast. One, avoid things that want to kill you. Two, get to the third stomach and find the scaultrite gland. Three, activate the weblum's defense mechanisms and collect the excess material from the gland. That's the scaultrite!" and we say goodbye to VC.

"Seems simple enough," Keith speaks up.

"Seems under-explained," Hunk frowns.

"Come on."

Hunk sighs. Keith and Hunk exit the Yellow Lion. Hunk hits the ground and overbalances, beginning to spin with his jetpack pushing his momentum. He manages to right himself and they travel to the weblum's gills. Hunk begins to flip over yet again, but manages to right himself.

"Got it, got it."

Thace enters a room to see one of the Druids using its magic on a damaged sentry.

"Why are you tampering with evidence?"

"Commander Thace, I was ordered to assist you in your investigation into the possible traitors on board."

"Ordered by whom?"

"Haggar. I've analyzed the sentry that was destroyed just before the shields went down."

"The one that was killed by Prorok. I've already examined him."

"So, you found the trace elements of luxite on the wound?" Thace freezes, "It's a very rare metal. If we find others on the ship in possession of luxite, we will have found our traitors."

"Then what are you waiting for? Begin the search starting with the lower block."

"I'll assign some sentries to that."

Thace turns to leave, but the Druid follows. Thace looks over his shoulder, then turns to face the Druid.

"Is there anything else?"

"As chief investigator, your life could be in danger. I have been given orders to remain by your side until we clear all personnel or find the spy."

Inside the weblum, Keith and Hunk descend safely using their jetpacks. Upon touching down, Hunk grunts as he steps on a bubble that pops underneath him. He lifts his foot up, revealing a mucus-like substance clinging to the boot.

"Uh, yuck! What am I standing on? A mucus pocket? I do not like mucus! And is that steaming stomach acid? Lookit, right over there. Oh, man, I really hope I don't see any blood," Hunk panics.

"Hunk! Knock it off. You're freaking yourself out," Keith says, laughter bubbling from his throat.

"No, standing inches away from a pus-bubble is freaking me out." 

He stomps on said pus-bubble when he says 'pus' to prove his point. The substance inside lands on the ground and begins to sizzle, causing Hunk to rear back and cry out in disgust.

Keith stops laughing and holds his hand out, "Look, we're inside a disgusting worm. There's no way to sugarcoat it. We're gonna need that big brain of yours if we want to make it through. Will you be alright?"

Hunk continues groaning and freaking out. Keith understands fear is difficult to get past, but Hunk is one of the bravest people he knows.

Keith sighs, a whimper of concern escaping, catching Hunk's attention, "I said, will you be alright?"

"Uh... Okay, okay," Hunk inhales deeply and takes Keith's hand, squeezing it, "I'll be okay."

"Good. I gotta be able to count on you," he begins walking away, "Besides, no one knows an explosive digestive tract like you."

Hunk tilts his head, then shakes it and holds his hands up, "Wait, wait, wait. Did you just make a joke?" he chuckles, "Seriously, that was a joke, wasn't it? You're saying I throw up a lot. I get it. It's funny," Hunk laughs, "I do. Wow. I'm so proud," Hunk wipes away a tear, "Wait until Lance finds out about this. He's going to be so jealous! Galra Keith is way funnier than regular Keith."

Keith smiles slightly. He knows what parental figures are like. Give them someone or something to focus on and they forget all about their fear. Hunk and Shiro are a lot alike in that way.

"Okay, we need to find a way around the stomach acid," Keith ignores Hunk's joke, focusing on the mission.

"Huh?"

Strange creatures begin to enter the stomach through various holes.

"What are these things?"

"Uh... Uh... I don't know. Maybe they're bacteria? Uh... Oh..."

The creatures squeak as two of them land on Hunk's helmet. Another lands on his hand.

"Wait, wait, wait. They seem friendly. They seem friendly. Maybe they're good bacteria. They like me. They're—" Hunk chuckles, "They're tickling me. Wait, that's not tickling! That's hot acid!" he screams, throwing the creatures off of him, "They want to kill us! They want to kill us!" Keith and Hunk summon their bayards as the creatures begin to surround them, "I think they're part of the creature's digestive system! They're trying to break down the food and we're the food!"

Keith grunts as he slices through a few of the creatures with his bayard. Hunk fires off several shots, but in doing so one of the creatures' residue splatters across Hunk's visor, effectively blinding him.

Hunk groans, "I can't see anything!"  Hunk deactivates his bayard, stumbling backwards until he hits the wall and is pulled through it by the muscles there.

"Hunk!" Keith yells.

Hunk swims through a tunnel filled with blood, "I'm here, surrounded by blood. I hate blood!"

"You've gotta find a way out of the circulatory system," Keith takes another swing with his bayard, but he is quickly backed up to a ledge over a pool of stomach acid, "Hunk! I'm outnumbered here! Meet me in the third stomach!"

Keith dematerializes his bayard, running for the edge and diving over it. The creatures try to follow, but don't submerge themselves in the stomach acid. An alarm goes off in Keith's suit and he reaches up to silence it.

"Gotta get out of this acid," Keith mutters.

Keith exits the stomach, screaming as he begins to fall straight down. He grunts and manages to use his jetpack to propel himself to a ledge, landing roughly and taking a moment to catch his breath. He starts to push himself up, but looks over and sees a person in a suit of armor within the pod that had been absorbed into the weblum.

"What the—? Impossible."

Hunk screams as he tumbles throughout the weblum's circulatory system, "I don't like blood-slides!" he grunts as he gets stuck in one of the tunnels, struggling to free himself, "Oh, no."

Keith slices through the parts of the weblum keeping the pod shut, then prepares himself to strike again.

"Don't move. I'm here to help."

Keith thrusts his blade through the glass, cutting a hole large enough to pull the person out. He offers them a hand and pulls them out, but notices the Galra Empire's insignia on their shoulder. Keith shoves the stranger past him, reaching down and stealing the blaster from their belt in the process. They turn just in time for Keith to point their own blaster at them, eyes narrowing, ignoring his growing headache and the familiarity of the armour.

"You're Empire."

The bacteria creatures begin to emerge from the walls again, squeaking. They begin to form one large group.

"Not those things again," the stranger opens a console, typing out a sequence, "What are you doing?" the pod begins to flash red as an alarm blares, "You're turning this ship into a bomb."

The group of creatures suddenly splits off into a smaller channel that heads straight for them. Keith and the stranger jump off of the pod, using their jets to propel themselves away as the creatures surround the pod. The pod explodes, and Keith summons his shield to protect himself and the stranger from the oncoming debris. They fall through the walls of the weblum into a new area.

Hunk struggles to free himself from the weblum's circulatory system, hearing Keith's cries, "Keith! Keith, are you there? Keith, answer me!" Hunk continues to struggle until he uses his jetpack, gaining the speed he needs to free himself.

Keith groans from the fall and starts to push himself up, the sound of running footsteps catching his attention. The stranger tackles Keith, firing off a shot, but it goes wild. Both roll to their knees, coming up with the stranger's blaster pointed at Keith. Several shots fire off.

"——-, stop," Keith yells, the man's name falling from his lips from muscle memory.

The shots travel over Keith's shoulder instead, destroying the bacteria creatures that approached from behind. Keith and the person stare at each other for awhile.

"Yurak," the masked person says, a statement, not a question, a female voice.

"How?" Keith manages, regaining enough breath, after his almost panic attack, to speak.

"He speaks of you a lot."

"He?" Keith mutters, eyes widening and beginning to shake, before shaking his head, "I... I have a friend... I need to find him first..."

The woman watches and follows him.

One of the walls of the weblum spits Hunk out into an open area and he uses his jetpack to control his momentum. He sighs, turning to look around.

"Oh, my gosh, I found it!" Hunk's stomach grumbles., "Oh, my gosh, don't throw up. Don't throw—" he retches.

Another part of the weblum opens, allowing Keith and the stranger to enter the area where Hunk is. Hunk begins to fly down to meet them.

"Keith! Keith, you made it! We both made it! Who is this?" Hunk asks, concern obvious.

"Someone I found. She doesn't talk much. Also, she's Empire," Keith says.

"What? Wonder what the Empire wants with scaultrite. Are you sure we should be rescuing an Empire soldier right now?"

"We're Paladins of Voltron. We can't just leave people to die even if they are Empire. Now, come on. Let's get what we came for and get out."

"Okay, well, that— that might be a problem, too. The scaultrite gland somehow secretes mucus or saliva or something gross, which becomes crystallized. The only problem is, I think that we have to trigger the weblum's defense mechanism."

A distant rumbling sounds. More bacteria creatures begin to invade from the walls. Keith groans.

"Not again."

The rumbling increases in volume as the creatures quickly collect in one large group. Both Paladins groan. Groups of the creatures begin attacking, but they dodge. Keith manages to slice through a large group, cutting them off from the center, and Hunk blasts a large hole out of the center that fills itself in within seconds. Hunk screams as another group tries to attack him.

"They're everywhere!" Hunk yells.

Areas in the walls begin to open, pulling out air and the bacteria creatures. Keith and Hunk both yell as they start getting pulled in as well, but manage to catch themselves.

"I think this thing is getting rid of the excess gas produced from its multiple stomachs."

"What?"

"It's farting!" Hunk laughs and Keith decides to question Earth humour later.

Keith grunts as the walls close again, allowing them to stand, "Hunk, what do we gotta do to get that scaultrite gland to goop?"

"Uh, oh. Uh... Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. 'Stay away from its face.' The blue laser. Ah! I know what to do!" Hunk begins flying away from Keith, towards the central mass of bacteria creatures.

"What?"

He turns back to face Keith, "If we want that third stomach gland to secrete the ooze, I need to get farted out of the weblum's butt and attack the face, getting it to fire its laser puke," Hunk strikes a heroic pose, making Keith smile, despite the situation, "For the sake of the universe, I'll provoke the beast! You two stay here and get that scaultrite!"

"Hurry! I don't know how long we can hold these things off."

The creatures begin their attack again, and Hunk makes his way towards the center as the walls begin opening. He flies up and out of the weblum with a yell, leaving Keith alone with the strange Galra.

"I'm out! Heading to my lion now."

At Zarkon's Central Command, Thace runs through the corridors, ensuring he is not seen as he approaches a console. He removes a drive from underneath his fingernail and inserts it into the system, downloading files. He removes the chip just as the door beeps and opens. Thace gasps, quickly turning to face the door and reaching for his blade while hiding the chip behind his back.

"Commander, there you are. The lower block has been scanned for luxite. I found nothing."

"Then continue the search."

"Sir, I must remain by your side. Haggar's orders."

Thace leaves the room with the Druid following.

The Yellow Lion flies towards the weblum's face. Meanwhile, Keith and the stranger are surrounded by bacteria creatures, struggling to fight them off.

"Hunk, whatever you're gonna do, do it now!" Keith cries,

"Roger that. Provoking giant space worm now," Yellow flies in front of the weblum, but is ignored, "Come on!"

Keith grunts and slices through more of the creatures, activating his shield to stop the next group, "Hunk!"

"Let's see you ignore me now," Hunk growls and activates the Yellow Lion's improved armor, taking a shot at the weblum, "Yoo-hoo! Over here!" the weblum begins to charge its laser, "Yes! Yes, it's gonna do it! Oh, no, it's gonna do it!"

The bacteria creatures suddenly retreat and spots inside the scaultrite gland begin to glow. Keith gasps.

"It's working! I think it's about to get hot in here."

Keith and the soldier retreat to a side alcove, Keith activating his shield to protect them from the laser when it fires.

"Oh, yes!" Hunk cries as the weblum prepares to fire, "Oh, no!" he flies away just as the laser fires, yelling and grunting, "Oh, yeah! He's out!" he sighs, "Tell me you got the scaultrite."

Inside the weblum's third stomach, many shards of scaultrite float around the area.

"Grabbing it now."

Keith begins to fill bags with scaultrite, and by the time he has several of them a weapon whirs from behind him. He turns, seeing the stranger's blaster pointed at him again.

"So, you're just like the rest of 'em."

"Sorry, but I have a mission," the stranger says, taking one of the bags, turning and using her jets to make a quick escape, "I hope you survive until we meet again."

"I'm coming out," Keith sighs.

"On my way."

Yellow leaves the area, Keith entering the cockpit alone, "Where's your buddy?"

"She's long gone by now and she got a bag of scaultrite," Keith sighs, reflecting on her words and bringing down his mental blocks.

"What? Should we go after her?" Hunk asks.

"No. Whatever the Empire is planning won't matter after we defeat Zarkon," Keith doesn't mention that he doesn't think she is all bad and instead basks in Red's affection.

"Copy that," Hunk smiles.

Keith steps forward, putting a hand on the back of Hunk's chair, leaning over, hand on his hip, "By the way, Hunk, you really came through in the clutch back there. Without you, the mission would have been a failure."

"Aw, thanks, Galra Keith. You're all right. I think turning Galra has made you a better human," Hunk pats his arm.

Keith groans, then yells, "I didn't just turn Galra!"

Chapter Text

"I didn't just turn Galra! Are you trying to see if my skin is purple?" Keith just stares at Hunk.

"No."

The computer beeps and Allura's voice comes through, "Hunk, Keith, are you there? Can you hear me?"

"Hunk and Keith here. What's going on, Princess?" Keith asks.

"You must return to the castle! I need you!"

Keith and Hunk share a look, "We're on our way."

Blue's cockpit is a little bit more full and tense.

"Alright, what are we doing now?" Lance asks.

"Let's call Allura and let her know that we have Slav and we're ready for her to use the teludav," Pidge suggests.

"You didn't say we'd be traveling by teludav," Slav jumps in.

Shiro's face goes red, his vein starts pumping and he starts yelling, "What's the problem? We're traveling by teludav. So just count your hair follicles or fluff a pillow or whatever you need to do to make sure we survive the wormhole trip in this reality!"

Pidge is terrified and Lance just looks on in shock. Shiro hides his embarrassment. Slav looks nervous.

"I was just going to point out that the teludav is a very efficient form of travel," Slav pushes two fingers together.

"Paladins, are you there?" Allura shows up on screen.

"Princess, what's happening?" Lance asks.

"That monster that attacked us on the Balmera before has returned!"

Slav squawks and everyone else yells, "What?"

"I need you back here immediately."

"You got it, Princess. Sharpshooter is on the way," Lance smirks.

"Sharpshooter?" Pidge asks.

"It's my new nickname that I gave myself. Just-- Just pass it on," Lance blushes in slight embarrassment.

The creature skims the particle barrier.

"Ready when you are, Allura," Shiro says.

Allura opens two wormholes and another blast hits the Castle directly, just missing the two lions.

"Whoa! How is that thing operational? It doesn't have a head!" Lance cries.

"The crystals have lots of quintessence and are powering the suit, which contains the same programming and mission as before, when we originally fought it," Keith explains.

Crickets.

"How do you know that?" Lance gapes.

"Pidge has been teaching me about robots and stuff," Keith answers.

"Not that! The other bit!"

"I just do?" Keith asks, sounding like he's questioning himself.

"It's Keith. He knows all things quintessence," Shiro interrupts, "We can talk about this later. We have to protect the castle."

The Castle that has been attacked by the laser whilst they were talking. Slav runs around crying and whimpering. Keith closes his eyes and reaches out.

"How did we beat it last time?" Shiro asks.

"We formed Voltron, then I stuck in my Bayard and shot it with my blaster right in its arm lasers, but that didn't stop it so then we had to punch it," Hunk recaps.

"So we're gonna need Voltron," Shiro summarises.

"But we only have two lions," Pidge mentions.

"Well, maybe we can form the legs and kick it?" Lance suggests, getting deadpan looks from everyone, even Slav, dodging the laser with Yellow, "Whoa!"

Two moons blow up.

"That new laser is much more powerful. We're definitely gonna need all the lions. Hunk, you distract it so we can fly into the castle. Once we get our lions out, we'll cover you so you can fly Keith in for Red," Shiro orders.

"Wait, wait, wait. I have to hold that thing off by myself?" Hunk asks.

"You have Keith," Pidge points out.

"Yeah, but he's in here. With me..." Hunk trails off as he sees Keith with closed eyes.

"There's no time to argue. We got to do this now," Shiro decides.

Blue flies back to the Castle, only for Red to fly past, passing underneath Yellow.

"Oh, Quiznak! Keith did it again!" Lance yells.

"Keith! You are in big trouble when we get back!" Shiro yells.

Yellow and Red fly around trying to hit the monster. Nothing works.

"Those crystals are blocking all of our attacks!" Hunk cries, only for a large beam to hit the particle barrier, "Oh, no!" the particle barrier falls, "The castle is doomed unless we distract that beast."

Yellow rams the beast, knocking it off course.

The creature follows Yellow and Red follows it, "Good, it's chasing you."

"The particle barrier is severely damaged," Allura informs the four people entering the Bridge.

"Lance, get back out to help Keith give Hunk cover. Pidge and I are right behind you," Shiro orders.

"You got it, Shiro."

"Don't worry about me. I'll just hang out here," Slav says.

"Can you help the Princess restore the particle barrier?" Shiro asks.

"Yes."

"Now?"

"Oh, you mean in this reality. Got it," Slav walks off, "Oh..." only to run in the opposite direction and gain a raised eyebrow from Allura.

"Bank left! Barrel roll! Nose dive!" Keith yells.

"Quit back lion driving!" Hunk snarks.

Lance shows up, "I'll distract it!"

"Oh ho ho, good timing, Lance!" Hunk cheers, dodging attacks and gaining some distance.

Blue and Red fire at the creature, only for it to fire at them. Blue dodges, but Red is hit straight on. Keith screams in pain.

"Keith!" Lance screams.

Red no longer responds and starts to fall towards the planet, burning up somewhat. Shiro growls and puts the throttle down.

"Keith, do something!" Hunk worries, ramming the creature to distract it.

Keith doesn't respond.

"We need to protect Keith," Pidge cries.

"I've got him!" Shiro goes and catches Red, whilst the others attack the creature, distracting it.

"I'm getting real sick of that crystal. Let's take it out," Lance says.

"On it," Pidge and Lance twirl, shooting shots.

They land on the crystal, only to be knocked together and thrown off. Yellow charges from behind, only for the shield to block and throw him towards Lance and Pidge.

"Shiro, it's on its way to the castle!" Pidge yells.

"I got it!" Shiro responds, "Form jaw blade!"

Shiro fights the creature in close combat.

"We'll keep the crystals busy. Shiro, you attack from the other side," Pidge explains.

"On my way," Shiro answers.

The creature fires a laser, just scraping Red. It causes her to float to the side. She growls, waking up. Seeing the fight and Keith's state, she makes her own decision, reaching out to her siblings for support.

Hunk flies in close, only to be grabbed, the creature's chest beginning to prepare to fire the laser, "Oh, man! Oh, no, no, no!"

Hunk has tears in his eyes and the other Lions fire from behind, blocked by the shields. Red uses her flame to burn the chest crystal, allowing Yellow and Hunk to escape.

"You're late, Mullet," Lance laughs.

The lack of response worries the team, but none of them let this distract them from the current threat, firing on it.

"Okay, let's form Voltron and take this thing down like we did last time," Shiro orders.

"I don't think the Robeast is gonna sit around and wait for us to transform," Pidge says.

"Pidge is right. We'll need to think of something else," Lance answers.

"Hey, at least we outnumber those crystal shields," Hunk points out.

"Yeah, he can only block two of us," Lance cheers and the Lions dodge the blast.

"I think I've got an idea. Guys, see if you can get me an open shot at its chest," Pidge orders.

"Got it!" Shiro responds and all the Lions start attacking its front. Pidge manages to shoot the chest, causing vines to grow and temporarily disarm it.

"Nice job, Pidge. Now, form Voltron!" Shiro orders, only three Paladins responding to his dismay, and they form Voltron.

Voltron forms his sword and they manage to skewer it, getting past the shields to the core.

"Great work, Paladins. Now return to the castle so we can get back to Olkarion," Allura praises.

Slav lazily types on the computer, picking at earwax, "Why is there a grand entrance on the 40th floor? And what's with all the ziplines? You have hover technology,” Slav asks the real questions we all have.

"Well, you know what? Ziplines were quite fashionable 10,000 years ago," Allura sasses.

"So we ready to pop through the wormhole and get back to Olkarion?" Lance asks.

"Yes, I've checked in with Coran and the teludav is nearly complete. Hunk, thank you for getting the scaultrite," Allura smiles pleasantly and not like she singled a Paladin out for his genes.

"No problem. You know, Keith was there too," Hunk says, frown on his face as he points to the door.

Allura's face falls, before hiding it, "Where's Shiro?"

"Waiting outside the healing pods for Keith to wake up," Lance says, voice void of all emotion.

"Keith didn't actually wake up during the fight, so Red must've fought with us and formed Voltron," Pidge exclaims, excited at the information, trying to distract everyone from the somber atmosphere, "I wonder if we could all learn to do things like that? Maybe connect with the Lions over vast distances? Or-" Pidge begins to mumble ideas, moving to their station to write them down.

Once back on Olkarion, they meet up with Coran.

"We've made great progress while you were gone. And now that we have the scaultrite, we should be finished in less than a quintant," Coran exclaims.

"Wow. That is one giant teludav," Lance gasps.

"Nice work, Coran. You're amazing. We owe you, big time," Keith mutters sleepily.

He holds onto Hunk like a koala, because Hunk is apparently soft, like a cloud. Shiro is not jealous. Not at all. It doesn't stop him from standing behind Hunk and holding Keith's hand.

"Good job, Coran. Fist bump," Lance offers and they fist bump, "Now, blow it up."

"Oh, don't you dare! It took forever to build this teludav and let's not forget it's a pivotal piece that we need for our plan to defeat Zarkon," Coran scolds.

Keith nods along sleepily, "He' 'ight."

"Yes, he is," Shiro smiles, rubbing circles into Keith's hand.

"Aaah!" Coran yells, seeing Slav banging a rock on the teludav.

"I've made some improvements to your design. This will increase our chances of survival in this reality 205 percent."

"Is this guy a little?" Coran asks and everyone understands immediately.

"Yes," Shiro answers.

"No doubt," Pidge adds.

"Not a fan," Lance mutters.

"He jus' super smar'" Keith murmurs, "He knowsssss," Keith hisses the last bit.

"Yes, he does. Why don't you get some sleep, Keith? The healing pods seem to have left you drained," Hunk murmurs back.

Keith nods and Hunk takes him back to the ship, Shiro sticking close by. All they hear is Coran scream, "Stop hitting the teludav!" and an explosion.

"Ow."

Later, Coran approaches Allura as she watches end of the quintant, "Princess, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

"What is it, Coran?"

"This plan of ours, it's... Well, it's dangerous, you know? We're taking certain risks. You are taking certain risks. This teludav, the amount of exertion it will take... I ju-- You may not survive," Coran worries, suddenly looking very old and weary.

"Coran, I know the risks," Allura replies, determined.

Coran's eyes soften, "Your father would be proud of the leader that you've become."

The Paladins watch the horizon together. Keith leans against Hunk, looking between the horizon and his legs (that he is kicking) rapidly, much to the amusement of the other Paladins. Shiro sits on his other side, watching the beaming smile on Keith's face that he never thought he would see. Hunk and Shiro share a look as they hear Keith giggle, before their gazes move to the horizon. Pidge's legs just rest over the edge and they lean on Shiro. Lance sits sideways, so that his entire back rests on Pidge, and holds one of his knees to his chest.

"What's everybody thinking about?" Pidge speaks up, breaking the almost silence.

"Zarkon," Shiro answers.

"Calzones," Hunk also answers, making everyone stare at him, "I mean, uh, heck, yeah, I'm thinking about calzones, okay? I mean, does it always have to be about Zarkon? He's a bad guy. We're trying to defeat him. I get it. I'm hungry," Hunk's stomach rumbles and Keith laughs at the sound.

"We've come a long way," Shiro says, ruffling Pidge and Keith's hair (Pidge bats the hand away and hisses, but Keith leans into it and purrs).

"Yeah, remember when Hunk used to throw up from riding in the elevator?" Lance jokes, moving so his legs also dangle over the edge.

Hunk groans, "You guys remember that Arusian, Klaizap? I think his name was? Cool name."

Lance chuckles, "Yeah, Keith tried to beat him up even though he's the size of a peanut."

"He was their bravest warrior and you should never underestimate your opponent!" Keith defends.

But Keith smiles. He didn't flinch or get forced into flashbacks of the last tiny warrior that was underestimated. He's getting better. Shiro's hand ruffles Keith's hair again. Keith looks at Shiro's beaming, understanding smile and returns it with a soft, warm one of his own.

"How about the time the food goo machines attacked us in the kitchen?" Pidge laughs.

"That was the scariest thing that's happened to me the entire time I've been here," Hunk declares.

"Oh, come on," Lance looks at Hunk with a raised eyebrow.

"What? It's the truth!" Hunk defends and Keith chuckles softly, making Hunk squeeze him slightly.

"We faced sentries, a haunted castle, giant Robeasts, a mall security guard-" Lance recaps,

"And don't forget that cool cube thing," Pidge adds.

"Yeah and that awful cube thing," Lance corrects.

"You realize once we defeat Zarkon, the universe won't need Voltron anymore," Shiro mentions, voice sad.

"We can return to Earth," Lance realises.

"I can look for my family," Pidge says.

"I guess I could look for mine," Keith decides, thinking about Momma, the man, the masked woman and the possible extended family he could have.

"This is it. As long as everything goes according to plan, we can't fail," Shiro says.

Chapter Text

"Thank you, Ryner, for all you and the Olkari have done to assist us," Allura thanks the new leader of the Olkari, "Once we defeat Zarkon, it is my hope that we can continue to unite our forces and rebuild the once great coalition that my father, King Alfor, began."

The Olkari cheer in response, excited. Keith watches and smiles, twitching slightly with the desire to join in and nerves about the near battle. He takes a deep breath and listens to the Lions and Paladins cheer and laugh.

"Princess, it's time," Coran declares and they return to the Castle.

"Everyone lock into position. We're taking this thing up," Shiro orders.

The Lions grab the huge Teludav with their jaws and lift it into space. They follow the Castle, which has the Alteans, Kolivan, Ulaz, Antok and Slav in.

Thace is not having a good time. The Druids are cruel and relentless.

"Alright, guys, listen up," Shiro orders and uses a hologram to lay out the plan, everyone watching from around him, Keith with Hunk and the Blades, "I'll use the Black Lion to lure Zarkon's fleet to our current location and make sure he's within the teludav's area of effect. Keeping the teludav hidden behind the space-fold until the last possible second is essential. We can count on you, right, Slav?"

"Absolutely. I'll be fine," Slav answers, "I'm not sure about the gravity generator, though."

"What? What was that last thing?" Hunk asks, trying to stay calm.

Keith squeezes his hand, hearing his heartbeat speed up, knowing how Hunk likes physical contact.

"Hiding a ship is one thing, but I've never had to build a gravity generator for something this large before. I know it'll work, but I'm not really sure for how long."

"Well, that's a risk we'll have to take," Shiro decides, "Once Zarkon's ship is in position, Kolivan, Antok and Ulaz will coordinate with Thace. Together, they'll take down Zarkon's security system and upload the virus."

"And then, he'll be a sitting du-flax," Pidge smirks, "What? A du-flax is an Altean creature with a beak and webbed feet."

Keith nudges Hunk and he just smiles and shakes his head, a sign he will explain it later.

Coran runs onto the podium and pushes Shiro out of the way, creating a wormhole hologram and throwing it away, similar to Lance, not so long ago, "We'll wormhole Zarkon 500 million light years away and he'll be in the Yggiz Galaxy before he knows what's hit him!"

"What about Thace?" Shiro asks.

"He should be getting into position now," Kolivan says, "We received his last communication three quintants ago. We should hear from him soon."

"Let's do it."

Shiro walks to Black's hangar, knowing Keith will follow. He isn't disappointed. A hand slips into his human hand and squeezes lightly. Shiro squeezes back. They walk together in silence. Once they reach Black, Keith lets go of Shiro's hand, surprising Shiro. Shiro turns to speak, only to have to steady himself, because Keith runs into him, giving him a tight hug. They stay like that for a few moments, basking in each other's presence. They separate and Shiro smiles warmly at Keith, proud of how he's grown more confident. He is, once again, surprised, when Keith beams at him.

He's hiding his tears.

"It'll be alright, Yurak," Shiro smiles, hand on his kit's shoulder.

"I know..." Keith pauses, his mouth opening and closing, "I love you, Dad. You know that, right?"

"I do. I love you, too, my dear kit," Shiro smiles.

They share one last hug, before going their separate ways. Shiro enters Black and Keith returns to the Bridge, waiting for when he is needed.

Zarkon, with the help of Haggar and the Druids, eventually finds Black and falls into the trap.

"Zarkon took the bait. He's got my location. Is everybody in position?"

"We've not yet heard from Thace. He was supposed to contact us two Vargas ago," Kolivan grits his teeth slightly.

"He could've been captured," Antok suggests.

"Or killed. We need to abort the mission immediately."

"Abort?" Allura yells, quietening down when she notices Keith flinch slightly out of the corner of her eye, "No! We cannot back away now."

"The Blade of Marmora does not take chances," Antok turns to her, "It's how we've survived for so long."

"It's held you back. Your caution is the reason Zarkon is still in power."

"We would rather wait than jeopardise everything," Kolivan replies, "Besides, it's too late to get someone else on the inside."

Keith stands up, "I'll do it."

"What?" Allura asks, voice quiet.

"I'll sneak onto Zarkon's ship. I'm Galra, so I'll be able to interact with their technology. Pidge, we can rig up one of those pods with a cloaking device, right?"

"Well, yeah," Pidge gets cut off by Kolivan.

"Going onto Zarkon's ship is a suicide mission. I would never command someone so inexperienced and young to go on a mission so dangerous."

"No one's commanding me. I'm doing it."

"Pidge, get that pod ready," Shiro orders, proud and worried, but knowing Keith has made up his mind, "Keith... let me know when you're on your way. I'll give you cover.

More meaning was conveyed between Keith and Shiro in that pause than anything else Shiro said.

"Okay, the cloaking device is ready to go," Pidge finishes installing the device.

"Pidge..." Allura calls out, just after she enters the hangar, "may I have a moment with Keith, please?"

Pidge looks between the two of them for a few seconds, "Sure thing. Have all the moments you like."

Pidge begins to walk away, only to stop and turn back. The look in their eyes ask Keith for permission. Confused, he nods, granting it. Pidge barrels forwards, wrapping their arms around him, tight. Keith returns the hug with a large smile.

"Stay safe and come back, okay?" Pidge whispers into his shoulder.

"Of course. We still have a big brother to find," Keith whispers back.

"See you later, little brother. Love you."

"Love you too, older sibling... if you really are older," Keith smirks and feels Pidge laugh.

"Maybe someday we can find out," Pidge pulls away and leaves Allura and Keith alone, sparing a few seconds to wave at Keith and shoot Allura a warning glance.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Keith asks Allura, expression completely neutral.

"I... I just wanted to say..." Allura seems to struggle to get her words out, "the Gal- Empire, they've done terrible things. Destroyed entire civilisations. They took my family. But, in time, I've grown to consider you and the Paladins my family. So, when I learned you were Galra, the race of the Empire, I... I didn't know what to think. I wanted to hate you," Keith's surprised, hurt and doesn't know what to make of this.

"Allura... it's-"

"But it's not you," Keith looks at her in shock, "It's me. My anger has blinded me for too long. I hurt you," Allura steps forward, going to hug Keith, before stopping, remembering he wouldn't like that, "I'm so sorry I misjudged you. You've proven it's not what's in your blood, it's who you are that counts. Please come back to us."

Keith snaps out of his shock and offers Allura a small smile she hasn't received since the early days, "I will."

"They're here," Shiro announces as Black starts to bleep warnings.

Black dodges many ion cannons, using the jaw blade to take multiple ships down. Shiro leads them towards the teludav.

"I've got Zarkon on the hook. Bringing him your way. Keith, you ready? We've only got one shot at this."

"Engaging cloaking device," Keith's pod cloaks and then moves towards the fleet, "Moving towards the fleet now."

"Roger that. I don't see you, but I'm locked on your signal. I'll clear a path."

Shiro clears a path and Keith flies into a hangar, "Thanks, Shiro. I'm coming in hot!"

The pod takes out multiple sentries and Keith jumps out, dealing with the remaining one. He shivers, the alternate types of quintessence and the sheer amount in the ship unnerving him.

"I'm in."

"The plan is working. Keith is on board and Zarkon's fleet is on the way," Allura declares.

"The Castle of Lions' defences are up and ready to go," Lance informs Allura.

"Starting gravity generator now," Slav tells them, "Commencing cloak."

Keith dodges sentry patrols, using his strong hearing and what he learnt when memorising the patrol routes with Shiro. The patrol routes don't vary much. Turns out that Zarkon's ship has a very similar layout to multiple command ships on top of each other and joined together.

Thace manages to free himself.

"Okay, you've made it to the lower communication deck," Kolivan tells Keith, "Head left down that corridor."

"Based on the schematics from Thace," Antok explains, as Keith follows Kolivan's directions, "there should be a large door up ahead. This is the central hub for the Galra fleet."

"I see it," Keith replies, switching to Galran to communicate in their language, despite the universal translators they all possess.

"I'm two minutes out. Is everybody ready?" Shiro asks.

"No, Keith hasn't made it to the hub yet," Kolivan replies, "We need more time."

"How much more?"

"I hope not much because my gravity generator is not going to run forever!" Slav interjects.

"I don't know how much longer I can hold Zarkon's fleet in this position by myself!"

"You won't have to!" Pidge declares as the remaining three Paladins join the fight.

"Good timing. Okay, we've got Zarkon's ship right where it needs to be. We gotta keep it here until that virus is uploaded."

"Let's do it!" Hunk cheers.

"Alright!" Lance yells.

"We got this!" Pidge smiles.

Thace continues his mission.

Keith reaches the hub. He heads to the computer.

"Kolivan, I'm in. Now what?" Keith asks.

"Now you need to reset the system, using the codes that Thace obtained. It'll be down for a dobosh. That's when we'll upload the virus."

The computer beeps, rejecting the codes.

"It doesn't seem to be working."

"Try it again."

The door beeps and Keith hides behind the computer.

"Keith, are you there?"

Thace starts to enter codes. Two Druids that were interrogating him open the door.

"And now we know you were attempting to shut down the system," one Druid says.

They charge, but Thace enters the code.

"You're too late!"

"No, Thace. You're too late. We already changed the code."

The computer beeps, showing that the code is incorrect. The Druids leap, preparing to use their magic on Thace. Keith feels them and it hurts, but he uses it as a guide, not completely relying on the quintessence or his eyesight. He leaps from behind the computer, throwing his Blade at the Druid, knowing it would take care of the Druid. He doesn't know how he’s known that for as long as he can remember, but he had asked Ulaz if it was true once.

("The Blades are special, right?" Keith asks, his head on Ulaz's lap.

"Yes. They are made from a rare metal called luxite. They are connected to our life forces and will stop glowing when we pass-”

"Die. You mean die."

"Yes. Yes, I do. Apologies, grandkit," Ulaz rubs behind Keith's ear, eliciting a purr, "It is also what allows them to change form, once we awaken it, and it is more effective than any normal weapon against Druids."

"I already know that," Keith mutters.

"You do?"

"I do. I feel it."

"You feel it?"

"Yeah. Like I can feel you and everyone in the Castle, even the Lions. I can feel your very being. I know where they all are."

"Our very being? Like our life force? Our quintessence?"

"Yeah. Red says I'm extremely quintessence sensitive."

"That would explain how I survived," Keith gives Ulaz a confused look, "I heard your voice cry out and immediately ran for an escape pod. I shouldn't have made it, but I think you gave me some strength," Ulaz looks Keith in the eyes, "It's a gift. Use it wisely.")

It is.

The Druid seems to almost be sucked into the Blade. The other retreats and tries to hit Thace. Thace dodges and charges. Keith also charges, grabbing his now full-grown Blade, and leaps, getting hit. He manages to dig the Blade into the bridge and fling himself under, using his jet pack to return to the fight. Thace manages to push the Druid to Keith, who barely misses. Keith dodge a double blast and Thace charges, deflecting once blast, but getting hit by another. Keith kicks the Druid towards Thace, who throws him into one of the glowing red computer spikes of electrical death.

"Thace, I'm Keith, a Paladins of Voltron."

"And a fellow Blade, I see. I guess we haven't failed."

"Not yet."

"Yeah! That was close!" Lance cheers, finally dealing with some fighters that were on his tail.

"Somebody! Anybody! A little help here!" Hunk cries.

"Lure them to me!" Shiro responds and destroys the fighters following Hunk.

"Zarkon's ship is leaving the teludav's area of effect. You must guide it back in," Allura informs the Paladins.

"This is getting hairy. How you doing, Keith?" Lance asks.

"Hairy?" Keith whispers to himself, before shaking his head and slashing a panel, "The Galra switched the codes. We're trying a work-around."

"'We'? Who's 'we'?" Lance asks.

"Thace. I found him. I'll explain later."

"Copy that."

"What exactly are you doing?"

"I'm using the main power to overload the system."

"You're turning the room into a bomb," Keith realises.

"It's the only way."

Zarkon and Haggar are now aware it is definitely a trap.

Slav, on the other hand, is struggling to keep the gravity generator operational, "Uh, everyone, the gravity generator won't maintain power much longer. If it goes down, we're just going to be uncloaked in open space."

"Do all you can," Shiro orders, "We just need to hold out a little longer."

Haggar destroys the door to the room Keith and Thace occupy. Keith uses a gun he grabbed earlier to shoot the sentries that enter and then knock a glowing red computer spike of electrical death down to cover the entrance to the room.

"That solves one problem, but now we're trapped in here," Keith tells Thace.

"No, we're not. There's an exit through the main power conduit. It leads to the second deck," Thace points over the edge, "Go, now."

"What? No! I'm not gonna leave you!" Keith whimpers.

"You must. I will shut down the system. Paladin, this is where my journey ends, but, as a member of Voltron, you have a bigger mission. You must understand that."

Keith understands the meaning behind those words. He can feel it. There is no helping Thace. He is dying. The reason he took this mission in the first place was because he would die eventually from this illness. He used to have more time, but the Druids left their mark. Even the healing pods won't save him. Keith says the only words that matter to a man like Thace. A man who just wants to die an honourable death.

"It was an honour to meet you," Keith looks him in the eye.

The glowing red computer spike of electrical death covering the entrance is destroyed.

"Go! Now!" Thace orders and Keith hands him the gun.

He runs and jumps over the edge, using his jet pack to slow his fall. The sentries attack Thace, who uses his hand to start the overload. The gravity generator loses power.

"Oh, I hate it when I'm right," Slav moans, "The gravity generator just lost power! Now there's no reality where we all get out alive!"

"Princess, the teludav is completely exposed!" Coran says.

"Come on, Yurak," Shiro mutters.

Keith runs through the hallway, using his jet pack to give himself a boost.

"What do we do?" Pidge asks.

"We can't do anything. If Keith doesn't get Zarkon's ship shut down, we're done for. It's over."

"Charge the ion cannon! Take it down!" Zarkon commands.

"We cannot was any longer," Allura decides, "I'm powering the teludav now!"

The room finally blows. Thace smiles and shuts his eyes. Keith uses his shield to protect himself as he is blown out of the ship by the blast. Red charges in to save her cub.

"The system is down. Uploading virus now," Kolivan says.

They manage to upload it just before the ion cannon fires.

"Thace did it," Keith smiles, ignoring the tear sliding down his cheek, and turns to see Red, who purrs, "Hey Mom."

The teludav creates a wormhole to swallow Zarkon's ship whole and separate him from the fleet. Allura grunts from the strain and faints afterwards.

"Everyone, hang on! Here we go!" Coran says as the Castle enters, "Hurry, Paladins! We must make it in, before the wormhole closes!"

"Coran, how's Allura?" Shiro asks.

"She's weak, but okay."

"You take care of her. We got it from here."

"We did it! I can't believe we did it!" Pidge cheers.

"See, I told you we could do it," Slav speaks up.

"It's not over yet," Shiro adds, "Everyone, form Voltron!"

Voltron forms and Keith listens to the Lions congratulations and worries. He feels their excitement, determination and small amount of nervousness flow through him.

Chapter Text

"We've gotta act fast. The power will only be down for 20 minutes. The Blade of Marmora's schematics showed four targets we need to hit. The weapons systems, the engines, the bridge and the shield generators. Now, let's put an end to Zarkon, once and for all," Shiro orders.

"Yeah!" the Paladins reply.

"Form sword!"

They start to attack their targets.

"I want weapons systems activated immediately! Restart the entire crystal core manually if you have to!" Zarkon orders his frantic troops, as the ship falls apart.

"Our ship may be without power, but we are not. I can use the komar to draw the quintessence directly from Voltron, rendering him lifeless," Haggar informs Zarkon.

"It is time I face Voltron myself."

"No, lord! It is certain death!"

"Today, the Black Lion will be mine."

"Your obsession with the Black Lion is clouding your judgment! You must not go out there!" Haggar turns to the Druids, "Hurry! We need to protect our emperor."

"Hit the engine systems!" Shiro orders.

Allura wakes up, "We've done it. This is the end of Zarkon's reign.

"Yes, Princess," Coran agrees.

Alarms blare in Zarkon's ship.

"Ready my armor," Zarkon orders.

"But, lord, it has never been successfully tested. To do-" the scientist screams as Zarkon pushes him into a wall.

The others turn to their stations and Zarkon enters a machine.

"Begin the ritual!" Haggar receives power from the other Druids.

Voltron blasts and slices the ship.

"Stay focused. We've neutralized the engines. Let's target the bridge," Shiro encourages.

"Ready..."

An almost black hole object appears beneath Voltron. Keith immediately feels it. The wave of nothingness consuming everything leaves him unsteady and ready to vomit. He reaches for the familiar comfort from Red, feeling her focus on keeping them able to respond, so that Voltron doesn't fall apart whilst Keith is out of commission.

"What is that?" Lance asks.

Keith whines, "Not good. Bad. Bad."

"Oh, no," Kolivan gasps.

"Attack!" Haggar orders.

The black hole fires at Voltron, turning into vine-like blackness.

"No!" Allura cries.

Voltron is hit and, suddenly, blue light starts to interact with the blackness, being pulled into the nothing. Keith manages to push his in first, but is unable to do so for long, passing out. The other four Paladins scream as they feel their quintessence being sucked out.

"It's pure quintessence!" Haggar screams.

An explosion and then nothing. Quintessence fills the Druids' chamber. Voltron floats, blue, electrical quintessence sparking across his surface.

"Paladins! Can you hear me?" Coran tries, only to be greeted by static, "I thought the virus shut down all of Zarkon's power!"

"That blast was not from the ship's weapons. It was magic," Allura corrects.

"It must have been the komar. Zarkon has been trying to develop a device to extract the quintessence from planets. It appears he succeeded," Kolivan adds.

"If it destroys planets, what did it do to the paladins? To the quintessence sensitive kit?" Ulaz growls, a few whimpers escaping him as he stands by the window.

"Quintessence sensitive?" Allura gasps, only getting a nod, "Paladins! Shiro! Keith! Can you hear me?"

The comms crackle and Shiro's voice comes through, "Yes, Princess. We're alive."

"Oh, thank the ancients!" Coran cries in relief, tears in his eyes.

"Is Voltron operational?"

Keith struggles, trying to pick up on the Lions. He can't even feel Red. Tears begin to fall.

Hunk weakly tries moving Yellow, only for nothing to happen, "It's not working."

Pidge grunts, "I can't move my lion."

"You've been hit with some kind of witchcraft that draws the quintessence out of you. You need to get out of there! Another blast like that and you may not survive!" Coran informs them.

"Wait. What's that?" Lance asks, spotting Zarkon's suit.

"You must get moving. Remember your training. Remember all the battles you've been through," Allura tells them.

Keith feels Red faintly and the tears fall faster. Weak. He feels the faintest connection to the other Lions.

Shiro grunts, "Voltron's still not responding," Shiro feels Zarkon through the faint link and groans in pain, Keith feeling it and Zarkon, "It's Zarkon."

"We must buy them more time. Get us in closer. Divert all power to our weapons system," Allura orders.

"What? Princess, we'll be defenseless!" Coran argues.

"It's the only way," Allura flies the Castle into the fight, "Listen to me. You are true paladins now. Connect with your lions, reach out to each other! Fight! This cannot end now! Fire! "

The Castle keeps Zarkon pinned, only for the weapons to be redirected at the Castle. Allura screams and the Castle takes lots of damage.

"Allura!" Shiro yells and Keith feels the Castle's flow of quintessence experience serious damage, but no one is dead, yet, "Everybody, listen. We have to fight. We have to channel all our energy. Visualize five becoming one. We have to focus everything we have into moving Voltron."

Keith takes a deep breath, focusing not only on Red, but directing the others' quintessence to their Lions. He helps them connect and push them towards moving, exhausting himself, but continues to focus on his Mom. She gives him a small amount of quintessence to keep him going, aware she's can't give it like she wishes she could.

"We are the last thing standing in the way of Zarkon's total universal domination. I'm not giving up that fight! Are you, Hunk?" Shiro asks.

"No," Hunk says and Yellow answers with a roar.

"Pidge?"

"Never!" Pidge replies, Green roaring in agreement.

"Lance?"

"Let's go down swingin'," Lance smirks and Blue roars.

"Keith?"

"I'm all in," Keith responds, since this family is all he has left to lose, and Red roars her encouragement.

"Then let's get Voltron back in this battle."

Zarkon forms his own sword and charges at Voltron, who forms a sword. Keith focuses on the quintessence of Voltron and the familiar life forces in the Castle, unable to handle splitting his focus more to focus on the overwhelming quintessence from the ships and Emperor.

"Now, I will take back what is mine!" Zarkon declares.

The epic sword fight starts, neither an obvious victor.

"Summon the energy again! We must fight beside our emperor!" Haggar orders, Komar starting up again.

Voltron dodges the attacks thrown at him.

"All right, let's hit him with the big guns. Hunk, form shoulder cannon! Fire!" Shiro yells.

Zarkon uses his wings as a shield.

"Attack!" Haggar cries.

"Look out!" Shiro yells and they dodge the komar only to be hit by Zarkon.

Coran wakes up, floating in zero gravity, and pushes himself to Allura, "Oh... Huh? Princess! Are you all right, Princess?"

Allura wakes up, "I'm fine. How badly is the Castle damaged?"

Coran pushes himself over to the console, "Our power levels are decimated. Communications aren't working. We can't reach the paladins. I'm afraid we can't fight anymore."

"We cannot give up."

Slav grunts, opening the door, "Did we win yet?"

"Coran, you and Slav do what you can to get the Castle functioning again. Kolivan, can you get me to the komar?"

Kolivan floats by, "It will be dangerous, but I know a way."

"You, Antok and Ulaz come with me. We're going to have to attack the witch directly if we hope to stop that thing. Coran, the bridge is yours."

"No! You've been weakened by operating the teludav. You can't face Haggar directly!"

"We don't have a choice."

Zarkon dodges their blows and begins to overwhelm Voltron.

"We've never faced anything this powerful before," Pidge says.

"One way or another, this may be our last battle. We've got to give everything we have. Dig deep and fight!" Shiro grunts, beginning to lose his cool and almost growl.

Allura and the Blades makes their way into Zarkon's ship.

Antok's glider hits a platform and the Druid on it screams. The komar stops working. Antok and Allura attack a second Druid together.

Haggar growls, "Attack!"

The fights between Voltron and Zarkon continues.

"This is my time to reclaim the Black Lion. Nothing can stop me," Zarkon declares.

Shiro grunts in pain, Keith trying to help, but unable to break through the mental barrier caused by Zarkon (it's cracking), "He's trying to control my lion. I can feel him in my mind."

"Fight it, Shiro!" Keith yells, the barrier giving way as he pours more quintessence into it, the Lions helping (almost).

They manage to stab Zarkon, only to get caught in his whip and electrocuted. The whip separates Voltron into Lions. Keith slips from the barrier, exhaustion beginning to win out. Red can't give much more and the other Lions are doing what they can.

"You should have fled like your predecessors. Now, the time of the Voltron Paladins is finished."

"Shiro! Shiro!" Keith yells, reaching out, feeling that something is wrong, "Something's wrong with Shiro."

Everyone hears the worry and fear in his voice. He is the right arm of Voltron, but he isn't ready to be a leader, not yet.

But then again, no one ever is ready, not really.

Lance definitely isn't, but, despite the overwhelming fear, he puts on a confident persona, "Guys, we can't let Zarkon get the Black Lion and Shiro. We need to protect them."

Antok and Ulaz dodge lightning from a Druid. Kolivan throws his Blade, which the Druid teleports away from. Allura jumps from a higher platform and attacks the Druid with her staff. She gets blasted away and Kolivan charges forward, recently regaining his knife. It teleports away and Kolivan throws it past Allura to where a Druid shows up. Allura whacks it in the stomach with her staff and throws him of the edge. Antok and Ulaz manage to injure their Druid opponent, but Antok gets hit by Haggar. The Druid uses the distraction to attack Antok.

Keith, terrified and reaching his mental and emotional limits, yells something no other Paladin understand and mistakes for a battle cry and cry of pain, "Antok!"

The Blades, Druids and Allura, however, also hear it. Ulaz makes the most of the slight distraction to pull Antok out of the line of fire, throwing him off the side and towards Kolivan and Allura.

Kolivan screams, "Antok!"

He and Allura just manage to catch him. Kolivan checks Antok's wound and Allura looks up to see Ulaz stab the Druid.

"Keep Zarkon away from the Black Lion!" Pidge yells.

"Come on! We can't give up!" Keith growls.

"I'm running out of strength, man," Hunk complains.

"Look out!" Lance orders.

Shiro, who has been regaining consciousness, sees his team, his family, fighting of Zarkon, alone. Lance screams in pain and Pidge screams in exertion. They are struggling to keep Zarkon away from Shiro and Black, but they are doing it. Shiro groans and pants, watching the fight. He notices Black urging him to look to his side, where a panel reveals itself. A place for the Bayard.

"Hunk!" Pidge calls out.

Shiro is already flying towards them, focusing on the memories they, the Paladins and the Lions, have made. A new power surges through their connected minds, Black's wings enlarging without the Bayard directing their connection. They attack Zarkon and Shiro passes Zarkon as the true Black Paladin.

"Whoa... What did you do?" Lance whispers.

"I've got Zarkon's bayard," Shiro gasps.

"You mean you've got your bayard," Keith laughs, tears streaming down his face, everything starting to go right.

"We've only got a few minutes left before power returns to Zarkon's ship. Form Voltron!" Shiro orders.

Kolivan attacks a Druid, who throws up a shield. Ulaz jumps down and joins him, both of them defending their injured comrade. Allura jumps along platforms to take on Haggar. She dodges and uses her staff to whack Haggar away, revealing her face. White hair, glowing yellow eyes and long red Altean markings.

Allura gasps, "You're Altean?"

Haggar yells, shooting off a beam of magic, disarming Allura. However, Allura is unharmed and instead absorbs the magic, glowing purple.

"Impossible!" Haggar claims and attacks Allura again.

Allura simply pushes through the magic and some magic leaks out, immobilising Haggar.

"You will never destroy another innocent world!" Allura places her hand on the floor and releases the stored magic, destroying the komar.

Kolivan dives to protect Antok and Ulaz takes up a defensive position in front of them. The released magic strikes the platform, causing a cloud to block the field of vision and distract the Druid, allowing Ulaz to finish the Druid. Haggar teleports away. The Blades use their platform to reach Allura.

"Come on!" Kolivan beckons her.

Zarkon and Voltron continue to clash.

Coran and Slav float, working on the Castle. Suddenly, the lights return and they fall to the floor, screaming. Coran stands up, Slav wrapped around him.

"We're back!" Coran cheers, laughing, and opens a communication channel with the Paladins, "Hello, Paladins!"

"Yeah!" the Paladins cheer in relief.

Lance has tears in his eyes and Hunk's tears are already streams. Pidge is relieved and Shiro smiles affectionately. Keith purrs slightly, a small, concerned growl in the background.

"You're alive!" Hunk cries.

"Is everyone okay?" Shiro asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine! Don't worry, guys!" Slav answers.

"Oh, great. Slav made it," Lance says, as his and Shiro's faces fall.

Keith laughs and calls, "Hi, Slav!" much to everyone else's surprise.

"Hello there!" Slav greets back.

"The power on Zarkon's ship is returning! We need to get out of here! I'm going to get Allura!" Coran interrupts, as Zarkon's ship powers up again.

"This is our last chance! Let's finish this!" Shiro orders.

They manage to get their sword into Zarkon's machine's abdomen, but the monster (because that's all that's left now) grabs Voltron's head. He charges an attack of pure, corrupted quintessence. Everyone screams in pain and Keith immediately directs it away from them and towards himself, despite Red's protests.

Keith can feel his exhaustion, but pushes himself for his family. Red cries out and he obeys, placing his Bayard in her console. She uses it to increase their connection, combining their quintessence.

Keith feels himself wake up.

The Lions all guard their respective Paladins from the corrupted quintessence in the air, the best they can. Hunk, Pidge and Lance all stand, Lions wrapped around their feet, their respective element protecting them. Keith is the only one aware of this. He turns to the source of the corrupted quintessence. Shiro lies on the ground, pained groans escaping him, causing Keith to respond with pained whines. Black stands over him, a barrier above him beginning to crack from Zarkon. Keith moves forward, Red, reluctantly, helping push him.

He struggles, hardly getting anywhere.

Red roars and the other Lions react, moving to assist. Black starts to push Shiro backwards towards them. Keith cries out, as he moves forwards, the corrupted quintessence licking at his skin. The Paladins react, not waking up, but each of them, even Shiro, raise a hand towards Keith, supplying him with quintessence.

It's enough just knowing that these people have his back.

"Shiro! Dad! I'm here!" Keith cries, grabbing Shiro and pulling him into the pack of Lions.

Shiro doesn't react to Keith in that world, but the Shiro that is focused on the fight hears him. Black beeps, using the worry rising in Shiro to drag his attention to the rising, flashing console for the Bayard.

Keith hugs his dad, tears streaming.

He freezes.

Black's shield shatters and Black flies to the left. Keith lays Shiro behind him, among the Lions, and stands, shaking slightly. He's at his limit.

It doesn't stop him.

Shiro obeys Black's wishes, using his Bayard to activate the console.

Zarkon grabs Keith by his collar, not even reacting to Red holding the boy's leg in her maw. The corrupted quintessence begins to annihilate his body, but Keith pushes past the pain, like he always does. He's at his limit, with no more quintessence he can freely give, even after his family gave him so much.

The sword increases in size and power.

But Keith still has quintessence to give. He can still take Zarkon down.

They can still takes Zarkon down.

Keith laughs at how Zarkon doesn't even know this is the reality of what he is doing. The monster hates Shiro and targets him, but Shiro isn't the one who can use Zarkon's quintessence fuelled weapons against him. Is this irony?

Red uses the sword to run this monster through, destroying the machine. The resulting explosion eliminates the driver and the machine from the fight.

All that's left is wreckage and the unconscious Lions and their Paladins.

Lance groans, waking up, "Did we do it?"

Yellow reactivates and rights themself, "Is it over?"

Zarkon is rubble.

"I have Allura and the Blades. We need to go!" Coran orders.

The Paladins head towards the Castle, except one is missing. Red is still deactivated.

Shiro gasps, "Keith!"

"We need to get him!" Pidge says.

"I've got him!" Shiro grabs Red with Black's mouth, like before, when Keith and Red faced Zarkon alone.

"Princess, we're all onboard," Pidge informs Allura.

They go through a wormhole, just as a few fighters charge toward them.

Shiro runs towards the deactivated Red Lion, panting, from exertion and panic, the other Paladins, the Alteans and the Blades just behind, "Keith!"

He reaches with his mind, knowing that there should be a bond and that Keith should be reaching out.

He doesn't.

Red doesn't shut them out. She lets them see her empty cockpit. She focuses her energy away from her failure at protecting her stubborn cub and onto something more important.

"He's gone," Lance gasps.

All that's left is his Bayard. Everyone stares, quiet. Lance looks at Shiro, concerned. Shiro's grip tightens on the chair, Keith's chair.

Meanwhile, Zarkon heals under Haggar's watchful eye. She leaves to face the Empire's Generals.

"Summon Prince Lotor," Haggar orders.