Project: Voltron

No! You are a helper and advisor of the Paladins, the most brave heroes in the universe! Just like them, you are a hero too, and can get out of any alive!

 The sudden self-pep-talk boosted Coran’s morals by quintillion percent. He jumped up, waved his arms, and cheered, “And here begins another chapter of my autobiography, The Absolutely True Tales of an Incredibly Humble Hero!”

Two seconds later the altean crouched down, quickly realizing he might’ve alerted the vesposi of his position.  He began to crawl on his hands and knees through the bushes, as to get away from any enemies, humming a suspenseful tune he heard Lance describe once before… something about an impossible quest!

 “Oh quiznak!” Coran exclaimed when he smashed his head on a tree. He jumped up into a- er, we think it’s a fighting position? “Alright you fired-up tree, if you really want to play dirty, prepare to be Coran-ed!” He started to bounce on the balls of his feet. “You are about to face the wrath of Coran Hieronymous Wimbleton Smythe, you photosynthesizing thug!”

(artist: @lemonlatke)

Coran threw punch after punch against the tough bark of the tree. The contact rang pain through his body, but no - the orange-haired man would never let the pain deter his efforts.  After a clear sign that punching wouldn’t do, he switched over to executing karate moves with his hands and feet. Eventually, a karate chop was deflected by the offender too hard, and he fell to the ground, his eyes watering in pain.

With a dazed head, Coran used his classic finger math to find out just how long it will take to get to the blue lion. “Okay, add the two, carry the 1,000,000, multiply by 69, then subtract the 3. So, this should take NINETY DECAPHEOBES?!” He exclaimed while flicking his fingers in an attempt to recalculate. “I would be well more than dead by the time I reach- oh wait.  It only took us five vargas to come to the pool anyways, didn’t it?” His hands fell back down in defeat. After a moment of silence, the battered man pushed his hands against the ground and got up. “Finger counting is more an art than a science, really,” he mumbled to himself, as he hummed to himself back to the lion.

Approximately a varga later, Coran walked right up to a little creature. It was about the size of his foot.  With short green and white-striped fur, huge purple eyes, and a fluffy tail, it was as cute, as a non-threatening Number 5. Coran shivered a bit at the thought of an angry Pidge; she could be quite intimidating when need be. He reached down to pet the small creature while making an odd cooing noise that sounded sort of like clucking and barking at the same time. The creature looked back at Coran alarmed, and sprayed out a purple and green mist that contained the worst odor to ever be emitted from an animal’s backside.

Coran spluttered and fell over rolling while holding his throat and inch worming on the ground to get away from the smell.

(artist: @hiibrophilia on instagram)

Fortunately, the creature went away.

The gorgeous man continued on his heroic way, getting easily distracted by literally everything (which made the trip that would’ve been really short a whole 10 vargas). Finally, Blue was in sight.

“Oh Blue, how I have missed you!” He chirped in a typical, sing-songy voice.

He began to rummage through the supplies left on the ground near the lion. His hand hit something thin and pulled it right out of the pile. “Ha ha! This should work!”

It was a flimsy bag made of paper.

“I could.. Um… Well, this could be used for…” he mumbled, thinking.

No ideas came to his mind.

“So maybe this won’t work, but the Mighty Coran will not be disheartened!” He resumed his mini garbage shopping spree.

“Well would you look at that… this,” the man pulled out a pendant, “might actually be of use!” He placed the pendant in the palm of his hand and examined its craft. It was silver and decorated with deep blue gemstones. “If I remember correctly, the crythenzine crystals on the pendant should be able to repel the vesposi! Now now… if I… uhm… throw this at them! Wait… no… maybe if I…” he grumbled in deep thought for the perfect plan.

(artist: @cephaliea)

“Oh, I know! I’ll crush them up, and make a circle around the pond, just like the sodium-chloride in those earth movies!”

He began to dash back to the pond, with a newfound sense of determination flowing through him. He skipped past the location of the pond, and casually walked back, acting like it never happened in the first place. Coran began to punch viciously at the crystals in an attempt to crush them into a powder. "Take that you vile crystal!" he shouted while making the most stereotypical kung-fu noises possible. Yet, even after many punches, the crystals were still intact and his hands were bleeding. He realized this wasn't that... effective… "You lustrous fiend..." he grumbled, "you won't get me.. not yet.."

He swiftly lifted his head up, scanning the area for something which might help him to defeat the luscious blue rock. He spotted a conveniently jagged and relatively large rock which seemed sturdy enough to crush the crystals. He figured that might be a better solution than his fist.

He was right! It was working a lot better than his fist and it hurt a lot less. “Ok!” he shouted victoriously. He pounded the crystals until their were pulverized (with much-needed sound effects), before spreading the crystal dust around the pond.  

He barely got the front down when the powder stopped sifting out of his hands.

This wasn’t nearly enough crythenzine crystal powder to surround the whole lake. Why hadn’t he realized that earlier? He began to fidget nervously upon spotting Allura and Romelle in the far distance, slowly but surely approaching the pond, the swarm of vesposi surely surrounding them like a hive of shinloks preparing to attack its next meal.

Coran shuttered at his self-created mental image.

Luckily, the mind control left them in a trance-like state, greatly halting their speed, but this wouldn’t stop them from arriving to their deaths.

“Everything is going just fine!” he reassured himself. “This humble hero can do anything!” he said, twisting his mustache.

He got down and searched the area on all fours, like a dog looking for his bone. He rustled through trees and bushes alike, almost falling and breaking who knows what multiple times. After a good, hard search he was becoming exhausted, greatly altering his ability to function. He wasn’t about to give this up though; his companions depended on him! He glanced around quizzically before noticing a shimmer in the corner of his eye. It appeared to be another crystal! In the tallest tree in the forest!

“Quiznak!” he cursed, “it would take me a varga to get to that!” He shook his head violently. “No! When there’s a will there’s a way!” he began kicking and striking at the thick tree, remembering what he learned during his previous battle. As Coran gathered himself for one last strike, the tree grabbed him. Coran attempted to struggle out of its grasp, kicking and punching in the air. “Unhand me you fiend!” Coran shouted. He would show this tree what’s what.

Then, things got impossibly worse. The tree, apparently angered by Coran’s totally awesome and amazing punches, started to spin him around. Green colored his face and his cheeks puffed out as if he was going to puke. After what felt like 12 vargas, the tree let go. Coran sailed through the air before smacking into the ground hard. He shook his head side to side, standing up with a new vigor.  He pointed to the sky, the other hand on his hip, and declared, “Coran the humble hero will not be discouraged!”

Coran began to formulate a plan in his head. He would sneak up on the tree while disguised as a bush! Yes, that would be brilliant! He gathered some leaves and sticks before plastering them to his body using sap from a non-sentient tree. Then, he started to tip-toe towards the tree with two branches in his outstretched arms. So far, his plan was working out wonderfully.

When he got to the base of the tree he remembered the main problem: it would take too long to climb the tree, so he’d have to think of another way to obtain the crystal. As he was thinking of a plan, he felt an all too familiar itch forming in his nose.

“Ah-ah-ah-achoo!” Coran felt himself jerk forward with the force of his sneeze, a sneeze that sadly gave away his position to the dastardly tree.

The Vesposi quickly turned in his direction and let out a low growling noise. “Quiz-” Coran was stop mid-sentence when a blue hand pulled him back. The hand held him close, as the Vesposi scanned the area for the intruder, but they didn’t find him. Coran eyes widened as he watched them ready Romelle and Allura as sacrifices.

Quickly, the hand released its gripped, and he watched as a young girl crouched next to him. Her skin was a faded blue like the sprites, with cat like golden eyes and sharp ears. “What do you think you are doing?! Don’t you know running to a field of Veposi is suicide!? Especially without a native!” the girl scolded, causing Coran to cringe.

“Well, what are you doing here? Especially by yourself; shouldn’t your parents be with you?”

The girl stepped back in shock.  “I… lost my parents.  I’ve been surviving by myself ever since…”

“Oh, my dear child, I’m so sorry… Um,” Coran found himself in an awkward situation, “I know that’s tragic and all, but do you supposed you could help me find some natives?”

His question snapped the girl out of her shock.  She looked up at him as if he was an idiot.  “I thought I made it quite clear, but obviously you are a more dim witted member of your species. I am a native and my name is Velda.”

“Well Velda… I’m trying to get that crystal,” he explained, stretching his arm to point at the still high branch.

(artist: @hiibrophilia on instagram)

“And that… costume… is related to it, how?” she questioned, a look of slight disgust and confusion on her face as she looked him up and down.

Coran attempted to stutter out an explanation. “Well… Um… the tree…”

She cut him off. “And it clearly isn’t working for you. What are you even doing here?” she sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“My friends have been possessed! The Vesposi flew straight into their earrings and now they are completely brainless! I’m trying to get them back.”

“Okay,” she straightened her posture. Arms stiffened, shoulders relaxed and head tilted back, Velda loosened her throat with a quick cough. Just after, a beautiful noise began emanating through the forest. It was a soft humming tune, that seemed gentle and surreal, seamlessly blending in with the voices of the forest. Coran was stunned. He got so entranced by the gorgeous echo that he didn’t even realize it was coming from the girl.

“Woah…” he muttered, still somewhat dazed. He was caught by surprise when he noticed the glowing gem hovering right in front of his face.

Startled, he jumped back in surprise and twisted his body into a defensive pose. “Woah! How did you do that!?” he exclaimed, but then calmed back down a bit. “I mean, I could have done it with my plan.”

“Oh? So you don’t want this crystal?” the girl teased.

Coran decided to learn his place; this girl was the only way he could help his friends. “Would you, uhm, please give me the crystal?”

The girl thought for a minute. “I suppose so. But do you really think you’re going to get in unnoticed by the Veposi?”

Coran knew she was right. “Then how do you suggest we get through?”

Velda tapped her chin as she gave Coran a smirk.

“We... could just throw you, the old man, to the Veposi. I could grab the girls, run and pray you manage to get away…” the girl snickered.

“ABSOLUTELY NOT! AND I AM NOT OLD!”

Velda kneeled over with laughter. “I’m just joking, Coran,” Velda wiped a tear that had escaped. “But I could distract them with the song, and you…” Velda started slowly but soon her words tumbled over themselves in a string of nonsense.

“Um, excuse me? Did you change languages?”

The girl blinked her eyes slowly before she snapped out of it.

“You are Altean.. correct?”

“Uh, yes. Why?”

“Then you have the ability to shapeshift… do you not?”

“Uhh…. yes, bu-“

“And you do have the ability to communicate with fellow alteans, without actually speaking?” she queries.

“I see where you’re going with this…” he grinned, continuing, “but could you, by chance, handle the entrapment of the Vesposi while I focus on getting my fellow team members?”

“On one condition.”

Coran sighed, raising his eyebrow. “And what might that be?”

“Once the Vesposi are trapped, we remove them from this land so my race can live in peace, without fear of being possessed. I currently don’t know where the living Vesposi are, but they should all be safe. The way to get rid of these sprites is unknown though, but...”

“Deal,” Coran nodded, “you go over there and lure the Vesposi away. My friends, the Alteans, will follow the herd of them, I believe.” He paused, looking down. “I will try my best to shapeshift into an unidentifiable creature and communicate with her. It should be enough. And afterwards we will help you find your people and stop the Vesposi.”

She nodded, grabbing something off the ground. It was a thin and unexpectedly sturdy vine.

“Once you have them communicating with you, trap them and remove their jewelry. It’s the only way to break the spell.”

“Got it. Well… here goes nothing.” He sighed, and signaled for her to begin. She sprinted - faster than he had expected, to say the least - to the opposite side of the forest. Coran touched his fingers to his altean marks.

“Pawpaw, I need your guidance,” he said, addressing his fallen ancestor, “I need your strength and energy to do this. Help me.”

The Altean marks began glowing. He closed his eyes, feeling his body morphing. He looked up. Suddenly, he was the same height as Number Five, a creature with a blazing pelt and white speckled patterns on his back. The blue Altean marks dragged down onto his back from his head. Of course, he still had his gorgeous mustache on his face. 

(artist: @hoeggar on instagram)

He then waited until Velda started singing.

It’s now or never, Coran.

While sneaking towards the Vesposi, the sounds of heaven washed over his ears.  He swayed along softly to the music before he realized that he couldn’t get distracted by the beautiful melody.

Coran scanned the area for any sign of the Princess and Romelle. When he finally spotted them off in the distance - only because of Allura’s hair (boy was it bright) - Coran almost leaped for joy. He made his way over to them slowly because they was no quiznaking way he was going to be able to speak to them telepathically from that far away.

Once he was close enough to make out the details of the Princess’ dress, he halted and began to reach out to them with his mind. He searched around for their brain waves for a few ticks before patching onto Allura’s.

“Princess,” he thought urgently, “the Vesposi— they’re bad news, they are trying to possess you, please break out of it.”

Allura, who was once standing next to the pond, dropped to her knees, curling into a fetal position as she groaned in agony.

The Vesposi were battling with Allura’s conscience, but their hold weakened as Coran intervened. With some rocks and the vine from Velda, he used his skills to make a quick slingshot. He stuck his tongue out and closed one eyes to focus his concentration. Rocks shot forward,  hitting each of the girls earrings. In the few seconds of freedom from the pieces of jewelry, the sweet hymn Velda was singing seemed to cause the Veposi possessing Allura and Romelle’s earring to disperse as the melody sent the Veposi into a trancelike state.

The girls looked to where these sprites were going, and they saw them heading to join a circle of Vesposi. A chorus of spirits were being entertained by a girl. The crythenzine crystal powder which was sprinkled around the pond glowed, giving this girl an ethereal look. Romelle and Allura watched her in awe when suddenly a hand wrapped around each of their wrists.

“Come on Princess, Romelle, while Velda distracts the little demons— we can get away!” Coran whispered sternly, as to not make too much noise.

Allura looked at Coran with shocked eyes. “Coran… are you telling me to leave an innocent girl behind to be possessed in our place? How could you?” Allura shouted in a whisper, as Coran and now Romelle dragged her in the direction of the blue lion.  

A branch snapped behind the trio, causing them to jump into defensive positions. Velda stood in front of them, gasping for breath. She fell to her knees, to which Allura lurched forward and caught her. Velda gasped for breath before she started wailing and clutched onto Allura’s bodysuit, causing a small wet spot to bloom.

“Mommy and Daddy... everybody... they are dead…!”

The ginger altean - he transformed back between rescuing the other Alteans and running into Velda - took the girl from Allura and shook her shoulders.

“What do mean Velda? I thought you said they were lost or just hiding!”

Velda shook her head furiously, causing her long strands of hair to hit Coran in the face. “When I was running from the Vesposi after noticing the three of you get away, the Vesposi started talking in messes of words and phrases. They told me they couldn’t believe one of their kind was still alive, since all of them were either dead or taken by the Galra,” Velda mumbled in a quiet voice.  Romelle gasped, covering her mouth.  Allura stood solemnly next to her.

Coran enveloped Velda into a hug. “It is going to be okay. Voltron is going to permanently defeat the Galra,” Coran assured, attempting to comfort the girl. Even with all the maturity and skills she had shown, she was still just a child.

“Coran, could we bring her with us?”

Coran whipped his head in the direction of the voice, to see it was Romelle.

(cosplayer: @silverliningarts)

Allura shook her head. “Even if she saved us… Velda is still just a child. We cannot raise a child during war,” Allura said sternly.

“But, there is no one here to raise her! Who is going to shelter her? It is much more dangerous for her if she stays here,” Romelle shot back.

The two girls started bickering, till Coran had enough.

“Quiet!” Coran yelled, in turn scolding the girls. “She can make her own decisions. It’s her life.” He turned to the quavering girl. “Now Velda… what do you want to do?”

Velda tapped her chin, still wet with tears, repeating the gesture from when Coran first met her. She soon gave Coran a smirk (which I now dub her signature look), and stood up from her position on the floor.

“I believe I could be a great asset on the team. I can put people people in a trance like state with my singing, and apparently my mother told me I would be able to manipulate people with my voice and make them do my bidding,” Velda chuckled ominously. “I'll make those Galra pay…and,” Velda suddenly brightened up. “I’m also very handy with a knife and slingshot and I can cook pretty well.” She gestured to the knife Coran now noticed at her hip, and the slingshot she most likely picked up from when he had dropped it.

Coran, Romelle, and Allura chuckled, “Another child fascinated with knives on our ship?! I think this is what Lance said was… uh… what’s the word… eggy?” She quoted from a dissipated memory.

“I think the term is.. edgy, princess.” Coran pointed out.

Somewhere a couple of galaxies away

Allura laughed at Velda’s introduction, and held out her hand towards her. “Well, Velda, you’ve changed my mind. Welcome to the Voltron Coalition.”

Velda shook it gleefully. “Glad to be a part.”

On the way back to the blue lion, Allura noticed it seemed to be back on air. The eyes were a dull yellow- but still showed signs of light. Upon difficult re-entering, the Lion was launched into space.

“All of the other lions are still out…” Allura muttered, looking down. “Do you think they’re okay?”

Coran put a hand on her shoulder.

“Of course. They’re the paladins of Voltron, after all. Why wouldn’t they be?”

[previous chapter | next chapter]

Pidge groaned as she straightened up from her seat, massaging her sore neck, eyes still shut. She flinched at a knot she’d painfully found and quickly opened her eyes, remembering the events that had occurred what could have only been a few seconds ago. She looked around the outside of the cockpit, noticing the familiar inside of a wormhole. The lights were off inside the pit and Green was drooping. Furtively, she tried the controls, but was left with no resistance where there usually was, and not even a twitch of the Lion. Her next course of action was to try the comms in her helmet. Hopefully she could reach someone that was conscious.

“Hello?! Can anyone hear me? Team Voltron! Calling Paladins of Voltron! Lance? Keith? Allura? Hunk? Anyone? Can anyone hear me?! Please! Oh, please, God, don’t be dead...”

She yanked at controls in desperation again. The end of the wormhole was approaching. She sat up and reached to Green in her mind. The Lion was in great pain and was exhausted. Pidge sat back and stared at the cockpit ceiling. “Sorry for the beating, girl. Just a bit longer and then you can rest. It was a tough battle today, huh? I’d try to direct us somewhere else but I guess you aren’t feeling up to it right now.”

The familiar sensation of falling and jostling hit her as she entered the blackness at the end of the wormhole.

It spat her out in the middle of an asteroid belt. She cringed everytime Green hit an asteroid, her head swinging every which way. The fluffy little aliens she had picked up the last time the team had been separated were flying all over the place in distress, and Pidge was starting to get nauseated.

She was a little glad that it was her going through this, and not Hunk. Then again, there was a very big chance he could be dead, and she’d rather him go through this than… not. Pidge didn't want to think about that right now, but her mind jumped further into the rabbit hole of how her teammates were doing. How were Lance, Keith, Krolia and Shiro? Hunk? Allura, Romelle and Coran? Pidge hoped they were alright, or at the very least, in a better situation than her. She imagined where her teammates had ended up, if they were even alive. She was, but she had only been grazed by a cannon, so there wasn’t much to go by there. Lance has gotten hit by two. She couldn’t even imagine what was happening with him or the pain he had to be in. Pidge just hoped they’d landed on a friendly planet, or a planet at all.

The Green Lion finally fell out of the asteroid belt after what seemed like eternity, and was drifting through a relatively small solar system when Pidge realized she was starting to get too close to one of the planets.

(artist: @kcscos)

“No, no, no, wait! Come on, girl, come on, come on! Please, I just need you to wake up for a few minutes!” Pidge screamed, desperately trying to regain control of her lion before she crashed. It was too late. The Lion had gotten sucked into the gravity from the planet.

In a way, it was silent. There was no one to disturb her or see her in what she figured would be her final moments. There were tears streaming from her eyes, and as she closed them, she smiled to herself.  She thought about all of the times she'd spent with Lance, Hunk, Allura, Coran, Keith and Shiro in the Castle of Lions. How she was amazed at the technology and the quintessence, and how she had learned to use this technology on a whole new scale. How she had learned so much that she’d always thought she never could.

She could feel the rush of her lion speeding towards the planet. Pidge smiled to herself and let the words she'd always hoped she'd never have to say slip from her mouth.

"See you soon, Rover.”

Pidge braced herself for impact.

The metal beast plunged into the ground, knocking over everything in its path, and as far as she'd known at that point in time, that was where it should have ended for her, where her would should’ve stopped. The movement slowed, and then finally stopped. Time slowed to a crawl, yet seemed to rush by as she lay there in a state of confusion.

Pidge opened her eyes, barely even remembering closing them and examined the cockpit. Everything was in disarray or damaged, and it was evident she wouldn't be able to leave this planet anytime soon, or even use her location device. She would have to fix Green first, if she was even fixable.

Pidge groaned as she tried to stand up in her lopsided lion. Thankfully, her alien friends were alright, burbling at her from where they had huddled in the corner. Green had landed sideways, making it extremely difficult to clamber out. When she finally managed it, however, she sighed with relief and looked around at her surroundings, the alien caterpillars following her out.

(artist: @kcscos)

Pidge had landed in the midst of a thick forest with blue leafed trees and blue stemmed flora. She looked up and noticed that the sky was pink, dotted with fluffy clouds and a bright sun that signalled that it was around midday, despite her previous theory that it was dusk or dawn. There was a line of fallen trees from behind her starting at where she guessed Green had made impact. She quickly took a scan of atmospheric gases using one of the tools in her toolkit to help decide if she should take off her helmet or not.

(artist: @kcscos)

“Interesting, the atmosphere here causes light rays to refract and appear pink, yet the air has enough elements of gas familiar to humans to allow us to breathe,” Pidge muttered half to herself, half to the fuzzballs. She walked over to a nearby tree that, surprisingly, had remained out of the crash site just far enough to not be harmed. “And the plant life here has seemingly developed without the use of chlorophyll, but instead a replacement that converts one of these planets unique gases into energy!” She bent down and poked at one of the leaves that had fallen off the tree. “Interesting.”

She then took off her helmet, which had developed a crack in the visor, and tied up her hair, which now grew just past her shoulders. She was proud to be able to embrace her feminine side again. “Maybe I should start wearing dresses again,” she said to herself, and then laughed. “No way, Lance and Hunk would have a fit!” She giggled a bit and then allowed herself to settle into a small smile. Pidge then went back to scanning the area.

(artist: @kcscos)

She glanced around at the sky once more, and noticed a large plume of smoke coming from somewhere in the distance. “Civilization! Score!” Pidge exclaimed happily as she began to walk towards the signal.

She ended up walking for far longer than she anticipated. The smoke plume hadn’t seemed this far away, but around her she noticed the changes in that the plant life slowly faded from the yellow she had landed in, to green, to a pale blue.

As she walked, she began to pay more attention to the wildlife around her. The trees were structurally the same as Earthen trees, but with different chemical compounds, which made them alien in appearance. The leaves seemed to turn purple as opposed to the usual brown, and squished against her boots instead of crackling. Unbeknownst to her, as she was walking along, helmet under her arm, she had begun to pay more attention to the wildlife than her immediate surroundings.

Pidge yelped as she slid into a surprisingly deep pile of leaves and felt something quickly tighten around her ankle. Before she could properly process what was happening, she was flipped upside down and left to hang by her foot from a tree branch. The fuzzballs buzzed around her in distress and confusion and her helmet lay on the ground.

(artist: @divya_the_sphinx)

Pidge wondered how long she would be left like this, as the trap could have been set many years ago. “I wonder if the aliens here use years like us, or different time measurements, like the Alteans?” she murmured to the fuzzballs. However, based on the smoke nearby, whoever, or whatever, set this trap would notice soon enough. Her alien caterpillars might be able to free her before then, though...

Suddenly, something rustled in the tree across from her. It shivered before an alien sprung up and out of it with the grace of an Earthen deer. It was a bipedal alien that seemed to be only a couple inches taller than Pidge, with a pale blue skin tone and large goat-like horns. It was a similar pale blue as the flora around her, almost periwinkle. It also had an array of black marks resembling a mixture of tiger stripes and tattoos, and a long, lion-like tail with a fluffy end. It took a second for Pidge to realize that it was wearing clothes, as they were the same periwinkle as everything else around them. The alien was staring into Pidge’s eyes, not saying anything and pointing a dagger like weapon at Pidge’s throat. It’s tail was swishing back and forth like a cat ready to pounce.

“Uh, hi! Nice camouflage system you got there! I didn’t even know you were there until you roped up my foot. Is this a hunting trap?” Pidge asked, letting her curiosity overtake her in an effort to fill the uncomfortable silence.

“What are you?” The alien asked. At least the translator was working, which meant that the lion would most likely fixable if this technology was able to work.

“Well, my name’s Pidge and-”

“I said what are you not who are you. I couldn't care less about what your name was,” the alien interrupted.

“Okay, ouch. What I was going to say was that I’m a human and a Paladin of Voltron. I got separated from the rest of my team and crashed. I need to fix my lion and get back to them.” Pidge explained.

“What are those?” The alien asked, gesturing to the caterpillars.

“Oh, I actually don’t know. I befriended them in this area full of trash the last time my team was seperated.”

“You don’t sound like a very capable team.”

“It’s not like it happened yesterday…” Pidge mumbled. She glanced up at the alien, who seemed deep in thought. Finally, they swiftly cut the rope holding Pidge up, and she fell a little less than gracefully. Considering the circumstances, she thought to herself bitterly, it could’ve been worse.

“Ow… I mean thanks, the blood was starting to rush to my head, but I mean geez, give a girl some warning next ti-” Pidge didn’t get to finish as she was rather violently hoisted to her feet, her arms being held behind her back.

“You are coming with me, but be warned, I do not trust you,” the alien said as it tied some of the rope from the trap around Pidge’s wrists.

“Fair enough.” Pidge said, glancing behind her to see some of the fuzzballs picking up and wearing her helmet. She gave a slight chuckle at the sight as she was escorted along.

Soon enough, they got to where the smoke plume originated. It was a large campfire surrounded by several huts ranging in size and coloration amidst a clearing. Around the larger huts were smaller ones, that seemed to branch off into a section of town meant for everyday folk. As they approached the village, Pidge could see it was bustling with activity, but as soon as they entered and people began to take notice of them, things changed. She noticed that the inhabitants looked incredibly frightened. Many rushed back into their homes, and some whom she guessed were further away from their hut hid their children behind them. Pidge couldn’t blame them. Judging by how naturally advanced the village was, she guessed that they had had little to no alien contact before, which had likely saved them from the Galra. They looked like the species had adapted to living without help from others. The alien escorting Pidge marched her right up to a larger hut in the center, the was the closest to the large fire that was sending up the smoke she had seen. They weren’t waiting for long before a smaller than seemingly-average alien ran out of the hut, followed by two taller ones who seemed to have a bodyguard-esque job..

“What have you found?” The smaller alien asked. It seemed to be in charge, and was wearing fancier, more colourful clothing than the others. A bright, feather-adorned headdress rested between its horns, and the alien also had a light cloak with ripped edges and a fluffy trim around the neck draping its shoulders. The coat was a shade darker of periwinkle than what the others had been wearing. Aside from that, the only other thing the alien had on was a short ripped skirt, white with blue markings, going down only to about mid thigh. The tiger-like marks on the alien wrapped around its abdomen, covering its stomach in black.

(artist: @dimshadows & @vanllamlk)

“I’m not sure,” the alien who had caught Pidge began. “I was out hunting when suddenly this-” the alien gestured towards Pidge, “stumbled into one of my traps. It claims to be called Pidge, and that it comes from a race called the humans. It also claims that they are part of a team called Voltron, and it’s ship, which it called a ‘lion’, crashed in our division of the forest and needs fixing so that it can return to this team of here. This also apparently is not the first time they’ve been separated.”

“I’m a her, not an it,” Pidge muttered. The others seemed to ignore her.

“And what of those things?” The small alien asked. “What are they? Are they dangerous?”

“‘Pidge’ claims they are not harmful, but she doesn’t know what they are.” It seemed the hunter alien had heard her, and put special emphasis on the “she”. Though if it was being rude or not, Pidge couldn’t tell.

“What should we do with it, chief?” Asked one of the guards. The chief glanced behind Pidge, and she turned to notice that a crowd had formed not to far away from them, watching the exchange. When Pidge turned back around however, she noticed a hint of a new feeling in the chief's eyes. Fear. Pidge began to feel a spark of dread light in her stomach as the chief thought about the decision, but before she could say anything, the chief made up her mind and spoke.

“We do not know if she’s telling the truth or not, we also do not know if she plans to harm this and surrounding tribes, and we do not know if she will bring harm to our world just by being here. Perhaps her teammates will come and wreak havoc, perhaps an enemy will find her first and do the same. The risk is too high, and I have made up my mind. Tomorrow, when the moons at the east and west are at their highest peak, we will execute her. As the chieftex, this is my formal and final command.”

Pidge’s eyes widened and she went pale. The chieftex nodded at her and Pidge was handed off to the guards. She wondered if she had imagined that odd look that passed over her face, or the way she hesitated to walk away.

“No-- no wait! Please, you have to listen to me! You have to trust me! No!” Pidge yelled, struggling against the tight grip of the rope around her wrists and the guards holding onto her. Amidst her panic, her bayard appeared at her hip and without thinking, she tried to reach for it despite the rope.

A familiar voice rang out, interrupting her actions. “I would advise against that if I were you.” She stopped and craned her neck to look where the voice was coming from. Her eyes landed on the chieftex‘s glowing yellow eyes. They had narrowed themselves into slits. The chieftex had turned to walk away, but had turned back at the last moment to face her. Pidge held their gaze as she was dragged away, hoping to get her message across. The sharp pain on her wrists was getting more intense as she struggled against the strong tugging. The guards paid no mind to her shorter stature and hauled her roughly over limbs and wet spots in the camp. Soon after she found herself in a barren jail, throwing herself at the bars, shouting for the guards to listen. Once she realized how futile her efforts were, she had stopped, hunkering down in the corner furthest from the door. Her thoughts begin to swell about her, taking over her head.

She began to think about the paladins; her best friends, her space family. In her head, she heard Hunk’s scream as he was hit; she heard Keith’s pained shout again and relived the moment Allura floated into the wormhole. She saw Lance being hit by the duel cannons, she felt her lion’s pain as she got hit. And then, she realized. She might be the only one left. Tears begin to slip down her cheeks. They trickled over her face, wiping away the dust and grime almost as a mockery to her pain. She thought of all the possible ways she could have saved them, could have made the outcome different.

“Do not cry young one, there is no need for tears.”

A voice interrupted her mental reverie. She looked up and her eyes met an old face, one full of lines and wrinkles. It held bags residing under eyes that had become barely visible due to the cloth hiding them. The face was stern, yet somehow soft and kind. It reminded Pidge almost of her grandmother, back on Earth. They were dressed in a well-worn cloak with the edges ripped, a what might have once been an intricate pattern along the arms of the cloak. Many odd ornamental objects were hanging from the cloak, giving off an atmosphere of oldness and reverence. Despite the obvious age of the outfit, its regalness gave off a feeling of unknown power.

(artist: @dimshadows) 

“What has caused you such pain? Were those guards too rough?” The voice was calming and sweet, and Pidge automatically relaxed into it. It seemed like she already knew this person, that they knew her. Cautiously, she approached the bars of the cell that she was thrown in. In spite of the calming nature surrounding the strange figure, Pidge had a hard time trusting them, considering the rest of the aliens were a little less than friendly to her. The thought of her friends put her on edge, although maybe not quite as sharp of one that she hoped.

And so, the strange voice spoke once more. “You must be the Pidge that Cheiftex Vriena has an apparent issue with.”

“What did I do wrong?” Pidge asked, obvious confusion forming in her eyes.

The old, barricade door swung open at a few flicks of the wrist, methodically yet effectively opening up the entry. “In times like this, simply existing could be wrong.” The hooded person whispered as they turned around and paced to the dark lonely halls of the muddy prison.

Pidge was quick to follow after their shadow, completely unaware of where she was being lead to. She reasoned that it was better than the prison cell, and that it had nothing to do with the little instinct telling her to trust the figure. After a couple of minutes that felt much longer than necessary, the cold breeze of the night's fresh air hit Pidge’s face, sending chills down her spine. Her moment of freedom was interrupted, though, in need of catching up with the cloaked person.

Eventually, the shadow arrived at a small wooden hut, filled almost to the brim with tiny blue creatures. As she stepped in after the figure, hundreds of yellow-eyed creatures were locked on her, in fear of the unknown. The paladin’s attention was quick to be brought back to the strange figurine, whose cowl was now pulled back revealing the blue face of an old alien.

“I’m Oresald, the Elvien’s oracle. Pleasure to meet you, paladin of Voltron.” Quiet interjections escaped the smaller creature’s mouths, making Pidge rather nervous.

“Who are the Elviens? How do you know who I am? How do you know about Voltron?” The paladin hurriedly asked, obvious curiosity in her voice.

“We are the race that inhabit this planet. One would have to be deaf to not have heard of the great Voltron and their mighty paladins,” the oracle replied. As the oracle spoke, Pidge began to look around. She saw that her fuzzy traveling companions are becoming fast friends with the young elviens and almost laughed at the sight of the fuzzballs curiously poking at the tiny aliens. She examined the walls of the small hut, eyes dancing over the many odd trinkets and sculptures.

“How did you end up on this planet?” The oracle asked her.

“It’s quite a long story, I’m not sure-” She trails off awkwardly.

“Nonsense. My dear, I’m sure all the children would love to hear your tale of adventure.” Oresald stated, spreading their arms and gesturing for the kids to gather around them. Each child was carrying one of the fuzzballs, or was attached to one in an interesting way.

“Well, I do suppose it's not like I can go anywhere else, anyways.” Pidge shrugged. So she began to recount the tales of Voltron.

Elsewhere, Cheiftex Vriena was angrily storming around her hut. “What do you mean she just left?! What the quiznack happened?!” The guards recoiled at the cheiftex’s shouting. They exchanged quick glances laced with fear and questions.

“Chief, I have discovered traces of Oresald’s energy around the cell.” One of the official guards said to, waiting for a response.

“Well then why are you just standing around?! Go get her!” The chieftex shouted at them. The guard shook himself, startled at her outburst, and saluted her before running off.

Back at the oracle’s hut, Pidge was finishing her tale.

“The galra shot at us and brought my lion down with the ion cannon. We ended up in a wormhole as the others did, that’s how I ended up on this planet. I’m still trying to figure out why they stuck us in wormholes, instead of capturing us. I had a theo- huh?” A knock on the door interrupted her musing. Her hands, which had been animatedly retelling the story with her, came back down to rest in her lap.

Oresald stoop up carefully and approached the door with caution. “Children, go out into the back. This isn’t something you younglings should hear.” they said calmly, after peering out the door. The older kids nodded and helped lead the younger ones outside. Oresald watched to make sure they all made it before they even opened the door just a crack.

“Yes?”

“By the decree of Cheitex Vriena, you are hereby to be taken into questioning about the human Pidge that has escaped from our cells.” A loud voice demanded from outside the door.

“I don’t think much questioning is necessary considering the escapee is sitting in my house,” The oracle replied, opening the door further to reveal Pidge sitting on a makeshift couch, hand wrapped around a drink, blinking owlishly up at the guard. “But I would enjoy a little chat with my old friend.”

Cheiftex Vriena, Oresald, and Pidge found themselves, a few moments later, sitting together at the circular table with a wooden cup of a strange tea-like liquid each. Pidge sipped at it cautiously, and winced at the strong taste. She set the mug down carefully and threaded her fingers together, placing her chin on them. “What did you want to talk to me for? I'm busy, you know.” said the Cheiftex, their ears twitching. They sat on the edge of the chair, muscles tensed, yet oddly calm.

Oresald took a sip of the tea and replied, “Oh yes, doing what, Cheiftex? Pidge the human has told me and the children the story of her quest, and it was a very heroic tale indeed. I do believe it proves her innocence and proves there is no need to hold her captive. She means us no harm.” To which Pidge nodded amiably and sipped her tea again.  

“But Oresald, she could be lying! And we have no true evidence that she is not a threat. I cannot risk the lives of our villagers because of some stupid human!”

(artist: @dimshadows)

Pidge frowned angrily and spoke in a harsh tone, “I am not stupi-!” they were stopped by Oresald, who placed a finger over her mouth.

“I understand why you may believe she is a threat, but Pidge here is a member of something very important. She needs to be kept with me. Please do not fret, my child.”

Pidge looked up, mind having wandered off into strange places, to see the Cheiftex almost burning with rage. “Oresald, you fhalgën! I am not your child, and I make the rules around here. I understand how you feel, but it is not your place!” The Oracle seemed concerned, but not upset as she replied, “Be calm, my child, there is no need to shout. You must understand that the human must not be held captive. Now please, my Vri, please calm down.

If you were to restrain yourself, you could see the human for who she is.”

With that, the chieftex started shouting. “Do not call me that! And stop treating me like a  child! It's all you've ever done since what happened to brother and fa-!” They stopped as they felt the tears rolling down their cheeks and their fists clenched at their side. “Fine. The human stays here.” Vriena said as they walked out the door, pushing past the guards that turned to usher them out.

“This is nice tea.” said Pidge.

“Indeed,” replied the Oracle, surprisingly looking a little worried. “Indeed.”

The sunlight was quick to be gone, the starry sky expanding over them. Pidge found herself nestled in the thriving sapphire grass as her eyes hovered over the constellations. As her eyes danced over the stars and her mind with them, two shiny pinpoints caught her attention. “Beautiful, aren’t they?” A familiar voice spoke. Oresald had supported their head in between their hands, eyes sparkling under the two beacon’s peculiar blue light.

“They are.”

(artists: @dimshadows & @vanllamlk)

“Pidge” the old oracle called and the paladin turned their head towards them, noticing a necklace with a long chain resting on their palm. “I would like you to have this.” Oresald said, externing out her hand towards her. Pidge picked it up, examining it. “Its a gift that has been passed down by generations in my family, and it is said to keep you safe for as long the stars continue to brighten.” they exclaimed, eyes returning back to the starry night. Pidge gently pulled it through her neck, resting on her chest. “Thank you, Oresald.. it’s beautiful.”

(cosplayer: @aurorasdust)

Silence covered the human and the elvien for a long time, until an unclear voice decided to interrupt it. “Tell me, Pidge. How do you plan to return back to Earth?”

The human took a moment before speaking up, in fear of tears. “Green- My lion is broken. It was hurt during the crash.” The Oracle smiled;  they already knew. “I have no idea how to go back- I have no idea how to get in touch with my friends.. I’m all alone.” She hesitantly whispered, tears already forming between her eyes.

“Do you know what happens once those moons come together?” Oresald questioned. Pidge didn’t answer, only shook her head. “Once they align, underneath the moonlight shall lie the answer you’re looking for.” they said. Pidge’s eyes lingered on their face before returning to the sky. The next thing she remembered was falling asleep to the sweet melody of the stars.

“Good morning, Pidge.” The girl heard as her eyes opened, searching for the old elvien. She mumbled a “good morning” back, then yawned and stretched her arms. Suddenly, a bunch of small elviens appeared out of the blue, the fuzzballs not once leaving their side. Many blue and green colored plants and exotic edible food was placed on wooden plates all around her bed, the little children smiling and giggling. “Eat up!” they all laughed out loud.

The elviens were cheerfully playing with the fuzzballs as always and the life on the village had just begun. The grass underneath her rustled as she sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

She drew her legs in and rubbed her arms. “I feel terrible.”

Oresald chuckled. “No wonder, you slept out here all night.” They glanced back at the sky. “There is a river beyond the hut, if you would like to refresh yourself there.”

Pidge grunted and reluctantly pushed herself off of the ground. She headed in the direction Oresald told her to, running her hands through her hair and grumbling about “stupid alien grass and stupid alien dirt”.

Yellow eyes tracked her to the edge of forest.

Pidge entered the forest, wearily groaning as she saw the meager trail before her. Her hand rubbed over her face as she started to walk, still half asleep. The trees she walked past this time were a purple-green, the light that found its way past the leaves washing the forest floor with their gentle color. Smaller animals chattered amongst them, reminiscent of the animals back on Earth. The thrum of the river in the distance seemed to permeate through it all, as though a song playing in the background would.

It was a truly beautiful sight, and if Pidge could’ve dredged up a bit of awe, it wouldn’t have gone unappreciated.

She reached the river and thumped down on the stone bank. Half-awake at this point, she reached down into the freezing cold water and dredged up a handful to dunk her head in.

Pidge came out spluttering and gasping, but awake. She shook her head to get the water off and let her hands linger in the water.

“Refreshing, isn’t it?”

Pidge yelped and jumped back, reaching for her bayard. Her hand met air and she fumbled along her belt before realizing who was in front of her.

“Vriena?”

Golden eyes stared at her. Pidge noted in the back of her head that these aliens blinked less than the average human.

“The one and only.” Pidge stared again as they spoke. She hesitantly sat back down again, keeping a safe distance.

“Why are you here?” she said.

“What, I can’t come to my own river?”

Pidge fumbled for a second, cheeks flushed. “Well, no- I mean yes! You can, of course, but this seems a bit.. huh?”

The chieftex was making an odd hiccuping noise. It took Pidge a second to realize that she was being laughed at.

“Hey, I’m just saying-!”

“Shh, my friend. I’m not making fun of you.”

Pidge eyed them suspiciously. “Since when are we friends? And why did I happen to run into you here? This obviously is a long river, it has to be, the source seems to be pretty far away and there’s many other spots you can go to. You knew I’d be here, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes.” The chieftex spoke. “I was waiting for you.” Pidge’s eyes widened, not expecting them to be so straightforward.

“Okay.. why?” she asked. Vriena looked mildly amused.

“Why not?”

Pidge huffed. “Stop speaking in circles!” she shouted.

“Fine. I wanted to talk to you. And, well...”

Pidge raised an eyebrow and frowned slightly, worried for what she was about to say. “And what..?”.

The Cheiftex looked down slightly, obviously ashamed, although they tried to hide it. “...I wanted to say sorry. For all the things I said, and the mistakes I've made as of recently. I hope you can forgi-”

The Cheiftex saw Pidge’s shoulders shaking. They watched her, bemused, pausing in their speech. They then heard Pidge say “You know, you don't have to apologise. It's just the look on your face was hilarious!” she laughed a bit more and smiled at the Cheiftex. They smiled back slightly before going back to their serious state. The Cheiftex then held out their hand and asked “So, are we on the same page?”, to which Pidge replied “I guess we are.”

“So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?” asked Pidge, shifting into a more comfortable position.

Vriena took a while to think about how to put her mind in words. “I mean- well- what do you think of me?” They said as they tried to brush it off.

“You’re weird.” She admitted as she smirked. Vrienna was taken back, a gasp escaping their lips.

“Wait. You don’t think I’m mean? Or cruel? Or unfair?” She quickly questioned the young human and Pidge frowned upon the extremely curiosity of the elvien.

“No? Why would I think that?”

They stared at each other, before Vrienna’s stare dropped to the river. In a moment of silence, the paladin spoke up. “Why did you assume I thought of you as mean?” She asked, her head turning towards the blue skinned chieftex, as they simultaneously lowered their head. “Well..” They sighed before talking. “Let’s say I haven’t been the same ever since the incident.” Pidge’s eyes locked on their yellow eyes, taken by surprise.

“What incident?”

“Well…” the Cheiftex moved her gaze to the river. “I- I wanted to talk about my parent and sibling. To you, obviously.”

Pidge nodded. “Okay then. What about them?”. The Cheiftex sighed and sat down on the river's edge, signalling for Pidge to sit beside them, which she did.

“My father and sibling went missing a few years ago. My father was the Cheiftex at the time so it caused havoc among the village. My mother even killed themself because of it…” Vrienna looked down as she began to feel tears well up in her eyes.

“That left me to lead this village, which I must do even though I'm young. In all honesty, I rely on Oresald as almost a parental figure to me. They make certain decisions for me and they're usually for the better. I miss them a lot…” Vriena laughed sadly as the tears ran down their cheeks. “I'm a leader, I shouldn't be like thi-”

They was stopped by a sudden hug from Pidge, who also had a tear in her eye. “I'm so sorry. It must have been terrible to go through something like that alone. I'll help you in any way I can. I promise”. Vriena smiled, and let go of Pidge as she stood up and offered the girl a hand.

“You and I are going to get along well, Pidge the human.” Vriena said with a comforting grin.

“Yes we are, Vriena the…” Pidge paused for a second, her mind blank, “What are you again?”.

Vriena giggled as she spoke “I'm an Elvien.”

Pidge laughed a little and said, “Yeah, we're going to get along swell, Vriena the Elvien”.

Only the leaves were witnesses to their smiles.

[previous chapter | next chapter]

Hunk opened his eyes lazily. He had passed out perhaps, or maybe just fell asleep and hadn’t noticed that he had floated near a planet; it looked so normal from where he was, and his instincts told him he should visit it, for any sign of life. A little voice in his head filled him with hope- saying that there’d be someone there to help him fix his lion, and help him find his friends.

“Hopefully if there is anyone, they’re nice… or at least friendly. I don’t know how many more big, spooky monsters I can take.” He laughed nervously to himself and leaned back into his seat, watching as he floated closer to a certain planet… Wait, it just looked massive, why did it suddenly look like it was the size of a basketball? Hunk leaned forward with interest as his lion kept floating forward, the planet seeming to change sizes right in front of him. Hunk was so taken aback by the planet that he didn’t notice the fact that he… had just entered the atmosphere.

“Wait, wait wait!” He yelled as he suddenly felt weightless, and he was falling faster and faster.

Hunk desperately tried to do something, turn something  on, a secret parachute maybe?

“YELLOW SWEETIE, THIS WOULD BE A GREAT TIME TO, Y’KNOW, START WORKING!” Hunk yelled as he curled his arms over his head, bracing for the impact onto the planet.

Hunk groaned, cracking his eyes open and looking at the rocky ceiling, a strange aroma hitting his nose which made him scrunch it up and raise his hand to cover it. He sat up with a groan and looked around, everything seemed blurry and his head was still fuzzy about what had happened and how he had gotten there.

“Hello?” He called as he raised his hand from his nose to his eyes and rubbed them, hoping to get a bit of the blurriness to fade away, he heard footsteps and was going to hop off wherever he was on, but then decided against it and just stayed on the table… bed thing.

“Ah I see you’ve woken up, I honestly thought you’d be asleep longer.” A voice said and Hunk looked around, confused for a moment before noticing that the voice was coming from beyond this room.

“Hello? Where are you?” Hunk asked, tiredness and confusion hinted in his voice. A figure walked into the room, blocking some light… that was coming from wherever.

“Where am I? Who are you? Where’s my lion? Is my lion okay? Am I okay?” He blurted out all these questions at once and he had a ton more to ask but held back to not scare whoever this mystery rescuer was.

“I’m Qotho, and you are?” the alien asked him, Hunk sighed and rubbed his eyes, noticing that the blurriness was slowly fading as he started to look at everything, examining things.

(artist: @timid-illustrations)

“I’m Hunk” He said slowly, a bit suspiciously to be honest.

“Well, ...Hunk,” Qotho said as they walked closer,

“Your ‘lion’... am I saying that right?” The alien asked, and hunk nodded quietly. “Your lion is fine, maybe damaged, perhaps a few things were broken, but they were like that when I found you, so you can’t exactly blame me for anything that… happens to not function.”  Qotho finished and now Hunk could see them clearly, a tall lean alien was leaning against a cave wall.

“Well then….. next question, where am I?” Hunk questioned, closing his hands into fists and then opening them again.

“Answer me this, first. Where are you from?” Hunk thought about it for a moment. He was from Earth, but also from the no-longer existing Castle of Lions, his residency for the past few years. “I’m uh, from Earth. I’m a paladin of Voltron.” The aliens mouth gaped. “You… you’re from Earth? That’s light years away! So ‘Voltron’, huh? The childs-tale myth?” They commented and snickered, then pushed themselves off the wall and walked into the room next door, “We are on planet Trakora, all the way on the edge of the Triea BS0 system, it’s a tiny planet, well considering the time of rotation you come, it’s mostly occupied by scavengers looking for a quick place to trade with their clients. The galra haven’t even tried to occupy this planet... thats how far out we are” Qotho laughed the last part as if it was a casual joke, as if other planets weren’t being enslaved by the galra empire and forced into eternal labor… or anything.

“Okay... well, I need to get back as soon as possible, my friends need me.” Hunk begged and got up, and then immediately crumpled to the ground and cried out in pain.

“Ah, yeah sorry forgot to tell you, when I found you, uhh… Hunk, you were banged up. Your leg was injured. It’s better now but not fully healed” Qotho chimed up and swung back into the room, going over to Hunk and reaching a hand out,

“Also your armor was cracked, too, so I assume that’s what kept most of you intact. And, man is it broken, so… well unless you know how to fix it, I don’t know if  someone will… or can, for that matter.” Qotho explained and helped Hunk up, letting him lean on the table.

“Okay... why don’t I help you over to the fire, I can get us some food ready and I can tell you most of the things that happened when I found you and maybe you could tell me how you ended up on this little planet of ours?” Qotho offered and smiled as Hunk nodded, helping up again and towards the other room.

Hunk sat down with a grunt, watching the alien twist around and suddenly… get small!? What!

“Wait where’d you go!?” Hunk exclaimed as he tried to look around for the Alien and then they were suddenly there again! What!

Qotho laughed and tossed something into a pot,

“The look on your face!” They laughed and tossed a green looking plant towardshim.

“Seriously!! What is going on? What is this planet?” Hunk replied and was going to peek into the pot but then decided he would probably lose his appetite.

Qotho turned to him, a surprised expression now lining their features, their hand digging through a jar for something,

“You seriously don’t know where Trakora is? You haven’t at least heard of it? The planet that can change in a blink of an eye! Has no one even bother to mention it to you? Not even in some, well I don’t know..., some important diplomatic meeting on your so claimed Voltron team?” They asked as they dropped something in and then sat down, looking over at Hunk with a bit of confusion.

“ I guess…. we’ve been kinda forgotten” Qotho muttered softly after Hunk had explained that he had heard the name Trakora maybe once during all the meetings they had… however Hunk never really paid too much attention to them. Qotho wasn’t that surprised that he heard it rarely, it did seem to be on the very edge of this system. Hunk sighed and looked at Qotho with a small shrug,

Hunk blurted out,“Okay. Let’s get one thing off the table, tell me everything that happened when you found me” Hunk started but then smiled hopefully “Please?” He added quickly, not wanting to be rude to the person that was holding his life in their hands, he watched as Qotho leaned back a bit and let out a long sigh.

“Someone down at the trading market said they saw some Ylarkiv-colored craft floating just outside our atmosphere, and naturally everyone dismissed them because, honestly the last time we got an actual visitor was a few Deca-Phoebs ago, and even those visitors only stayed for a few vargas.” Qotho started, fiddling with their hands.

“But then something entered the atmosphere, and when I went to check it out I found you there, I didn’t know the severity of your injuries, but you looked hurt… so I took you back here” They continued, pausing and looking at Hunk if he had any questions but Hunk stayed quiet.

“And that happened a movement ago-” Qotho was going to keep talking but Hunk started stuttering,

“That- that was a, a movement ago!?” Hunk hollered and was almost tackled by Qotho,

“Don’t yell! No one’s supposed to know you’re here! Luckily most of them were to suspicious were too scared to go see what happened! But it won’t be long before they start going over and trying to scavenge things from your lion!” Qotho exclaimed and glared at Hunk angrily.

“How do you know that they haven’t already!” Hunk whispered angrily, still a bit too loud to Qotho’s liking but still, quieter than before.

“I don’t! I’ve been staying here for the entire movement to make sure you didn’t die!” Qotho whispered back and then sat back up.

They both let out a sigh and just sat quietly for a few moments before Hunk finally spoke up.

“Now that I’m awake, and you see that I’m fine, could you please go and check that Yellow is okay?” He pleaded,

“Please… she has to be okay.” Hunk insisted to the alien and was going to get up but remembered how he immediately fell to the floor last time, and decided he would stay seated on this comfy… rock.

“I’ll check on her tonight, she’ll be fine, she scared the cranixum out of me when I went near her, I almost decided to just leave and let the thing be.” the alien commented with a small awkward smile, they then got up and looked at Hunk.

“I’ll go now if it makes you rest easier, and you should be able to get back to the bed area just fine.” Qotho said and nodded before leaving through more rooms and then leaving Hunk in complete silence, minus the small crackling of the dying flame underneath the pot but that was white noise.

“Man, that was a rollercoaster” Hunk muttered to himself as he looked around, he had most of his armor still on… surprisingly, except his leg armor for his left leg, but whatever, he’d find it later.

“Okay, let’s see, maybe my comm is going to start magically working...” Hunk whispered and fiddled with it and then sat quietly, maybe it would pick something up? Maybe the other paladins were in the same system and they could get at least a static to hear, but nope, no static, nothing came from his comm, which meant it was broken.

Hunk let out a defeated sigh and looked around, this planet, this size changing planet was definitely interesting.

“How can it help me? All this shrinking… and growing...” Hunk muttered as he looked around, something on a shelf would shrink, or grow occasionally, “But does Qotho have anything I can use to fix this comm?” He queried, moving over and then suddenly he was small, and everything looked massive! Everything looked like it could be its own planet, and then suddenly Hunk was back to his normal size, except now he was much closer to a shelf, he tried to not touch anything, sift through everything with his eyes but it simply didn’t work, and he started to move things, strangely finding things that seemed… like they were supposed to be hidden away, a pamphlet that had a galra soldier on the front and things written inside, a notebook filled with more galra-esque writing. Whatever, he would leave it alone, the Galra probably came by and tried to do something, maybe tried to set up post before they realized this planet had no resources that could help them. Hunk put the notebook back and kept digging, finding some wires, okay… that was.

“Quiznak! Quiznak! Quiznak!” He wailed and tossed the wires to the side, how was he supposed to fix his comm with a few stray wires!?

“If only my leg wasn’t hurt!” He grumbled and looked around at what else was in the room. He saw a box of some metal tools; there were so many! And exactly what he might need.

He started to scoot over, when he heard someone coming in, his eyes widened as he looked around, there was no place to hide.

Hunk kept watching, but, no one came out, or atleast Hunk didn’t see them, for all he knew they could be tiny at the moment.

He watched as a cloaked figure walked in, looking around then pulling the cloak off their head. They looked almost identical to Qotho but something seemed off, almost like they were here on a secret mission. They walked right past Hunk and started digging through the shelves, throwing things across the room in frustration.

“Where did you hide it Qotho!? Where! Ugh!” The alien exclaimed and kicked the pot over, spilling everything onto the ground, and dousing the fire at the same time, they looked over the shelves again with crazed eyes, a smirk pulled at their lips as they picked up the notebook, they flipped through it and stopped near the end, flipping through a few pages before ripping two out and flung the notebook back on the shelf, they folded the pieces of paper, and then they left.

Hunk was suddenly big and was glad that he had stayed small through that ordeal otherwise that would’ve been worse than awkward.

Hunk sat quietly, wanting to make sure that whoever that was that they left.

“What are you doing here!?” Hunk heard but instead of calling out a tiny voice told him to stay quiet and listen

(cosplayer: @cunningcosplay)

“What do you mean? Haggar needs these pages and you haven’t been responding to the messages she’s been sending!”

“What do you mean? I’ve only heard that there might be a problem but that’s it.” Qotho spoke.

“Well Zarkon is dead, prince Lotor is missing and Haggar has taken control; she’s hunting the paladins of voltron so she can rebuild what Lotor broke down.”

“No… I was going to get back but… if she needs me back so soon I… I can come back sooner.” Qotho quickly responded and then they whispered a few things that Hunk didn’t catch but as soon as he heard footsteps coming closer he threw his head into his lap and pretended to sleep.

“Uh H-hunk?” Qotho stuttered and Hunk shot up.

“Yes?!” He exclaimed which made Qotho flinch.

“Why is there such a big mess?” Qotho questioned and kicked at an empty box, looking over at Hunk with some confusion.

“Oh yeah well I sometimes… sleepwalk! And I get so… rambunctious y’know...” Hunk shrugged and just shook his head.

“Well could you then at least help me clean up? Or… never mind, I have to throw out most of these things anyway.” Qotho muttered.

-

Another movement had passed since Hunk had woken up and his leg was definitely getting better, he was going to ask Qotho to take him to his lion today. He had to make sure no scavengers had pried off the metal.

Hunk stood up and left the cave-like home, easily finding Qotho outside looking for something in the bushes.

“Hey Qotho, could you take me to my lion today, I can maybe finally see whats wrong and then maybe go to the market and get whatever I need.” Hunk told them as they stood up, dropping a few seeds but they just pushed them into the ground with their foot.

“The market, well that’s at least a day to get there but I think we can go, you have anything to sell or trade though?” They pried and Hunk shrugged.

“I probably have something somewhere in my lion” He answered and shrugged a bit, Qotho sighed and nodded, walking past Hunk and going inside but then a few doboshes later they came back out, wearing a cloak.

“What’s that for? Why are we putting these on?” Hunk asked and grunted as they shoved another cloak to him.

“First, because everyone wears them, and second so no one sees that I’m walking around with a paladin of voltron” They responded simply and began walking, Hunk awkwardly jogged after them.

Hunk didn’t know how much time had passed but they eventually got to his lion, and it was seriously broken. There were wires that were hanging out all over the place, sparks flying up from a few different places, the right front paw was dented and the metal would have to be replaced completely; and this was just on the outside, he didn’t even know how damaged it was on the inside. He groaned in frustration. He didn’t even know if the market place, or whatever it was called, would have all the pieces he needed, but he would make do with whatever he could get and at least try to get his lion to be able to fly and get off this planet. Maybe then he could get to another planet and fix his comm.

(artist: @keithsback)

“What is it?” Qotho asked and turned to Hunk who had wandered closer to his lion, resting his hand on the left paw.

“How far is the trading market… market place… whatever you call it?” Hunk asked and then trailed off, looking up at his lion, he would have to get in somehow, the top could have some kind of entrance or something. Hunk walked away from the lion and looked for a rock but decided against his idea, “Is there any way for me to get into my lion? I have things that could be traded off, maybe I could find something worth a lot.” He muttered, he walked around the lion and found that there were vines entangled, so he used that and with the help of his jet pack he managed to climb on top of the lion,

“Hunk be careful! I should’ve done that since I don’t have a broken leg!” Qotho exclaimed and watched with crossed arms as Hunk walked across the top.

“Don’t worry! I’ve done this a few times!” He replied and got an over exaggerated sigh from Qotho, he opened the hatch that would lead inside and jumped in, stumbling and letting out a yelp as his leg still hurt but it was better than two movements ago.

He looked around and then noticed how bad it was in there. The boxes were all over the place, some of them were dented and some of the contents were spilled out and some of the things were either smeared across the ground or just broken.

Hunk kept walking through the mess, digging around in some places and finding interesting things that he could trade; some old drones, scrap metal, and just other things he wouldn’t miss too dearly. He walked back towards the cockpit with his arms full of things, looking between the ceiling and his bundle of stuff. He could just go down again if he dropped anything. He took a deep breath and jumped up, his jet pack turning on and he almost went too high before he fell backwards onto the lion.

“UMpH!” Hunk grunted as he tried to hold everything, a piece of metal digging into his skin.

“Uh, you good up there?” Qotho asked as they made their way around the lion.

“Yep! I’m coming down in a dobosh.” Hunk replied as he stood up, almost dropping something as he walked to the back, looking down. He gulped and turned away.

“Ehhhh...” he groaned as he looked down again before squatting,then sliding down, using his jet pack to get down the rest of the way. He walked around to the front and found Qotho laying down on the ground, looking as if they were sleeping. Hunk walked over to them and nudged them with his foot.

“You dead?” he asked and watched as they opened one eye and looked at Hunk.

“Not yet,” Qotho responded and sat up, almost hitting their head on some relique that Hunk was holding.

“Okay, is that what you’re going to take?” Qotho asked as they pulled themselves onto their feet and tried to look at the mess that Hunk was holding. They motioned for Hunk to just drop everything on the ground which took a few doboshes, since Hunk couldn’t decide whether he wanted to let everything fall.

“AHHHHHH!” He exclaimed as he stretched his arms out and then let them flop down at his sides, looking over at Qotho questioningly.

“Well I mean, some of these things might do good, like those drones. Keep them close because someone is going to try and make you a bad trade for them, just wait and find what you need first.” Qotho told him and nudged the drones to the side with their foot, looking down at a few reliques. They shrugged at those and then looked at a few posters that Hunk had, mostly of voltron and some posters of all the paladins together. “You should start signing these,” Qotho jokes, laughing. He swiped his hand over his forehead in a dramatic manner and laughed again, then tossed the posters onto the drones and looked at everything else, shrugging.

(cosplayer: @cunningcosplay)

“Some of these things look… Earthy? Did you get them from the space mall?” Qotho asked and took Hunk by surprise.

“Hmm yeah, we went there when the castle was still… with us.” Hunk responded and frowned at the memory of the castle.

“What do you mean? What happened?” Qotho asked and watched as Hunk sat down, flicking at some dirt. Qotho sat down beside him.

“Lotor, he-he was supposed to help us to unite the whole universe and the Galra empire, y’know, be a good ruler and all but turns out he had alteans hidden away and he was using them to harvest quintessence and whatnot.” Hunk paused and looked at a relique, tossing it into the good pile and sighed.

“He was using them for experiments… and then he made this…. like… bad voltron and there was a big fight and apparently he was ripping holes in the universe, we had to use the castle to close them.” Hunk finished and turned away, wiping away at a tear that decided it was a good time to show itself.

“Oh wow…“ Qotho muttered and nodded solemnly, they patted Hunk on the shoulder, then turned to look at the good pile.

“This looks good. I can make a bag out of my cloak, then we can make our way to the marketplace.” Qotho told him.

Hunk looked at the pile that might actually be useful. It was small but it might get him the most important things he needed, from there he could figure it out.

“You know how to do that!? I tried a few times when I was a kid but it never worked.” he muttered the last part and shook his head, watching as Qotho stuff the things into the makeshift bag. They collected the rest of the things and started on their way.

-

Qotho wasn’t lying when they said that it was a long way to get there, it took them about a quintant and a half but they made it. As they had been walking Qotho asked questions like; what happened afterwards, where their course had been set on before they were seperated, where his teammates were, or at least where he thought they were, Hunk thought about his responses but it didn’t seem that strange, just someone trying to get to know Hunk better… nevermind, it did seem strange but Hunk brushed it off, not minding the fact that he got to talk because walking for a quitant and a half without conversation seemed boring and strange.

When they first arrived at the market it wasn’t too busy, different vendors setting up shop, a few early birds here and there trying to coax a vendor into a ‘good deal’ as they said. Qotho took Hunk over to a small little embankment of what he assumed were flowers and critters.

(cosplayer: @kellibene)

“If at any point you get seperated from me, don’t talk to the vendors, they can and most likely will manipulate you. Instead, just find your way over here.” Qotho explained and without letting Hunk respond, pulled him along, starting to notice whispers here and there.

“Is that the yellow paladin?”

“See! I told you Drazan wasn’t lying.”

“I thought it was just a joke that he was here.”

“No way, I have to get an autograph, it’ll be worth a ton!”

Hunk nervously pulled on his hood but continued following Qotho, until a big burst of aliens came out of nowhere and swooped him away,

“Hey watch it!”

“Watch where you’re going!”

“Foi num quugseh quoolo iea'lo teot!”

Hunk yelped and spun around, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him away, he let out a sigh of relief, expecting it to be Qotho pulling him out of that crowd but when he turned around he saw a four armed alien, rather short and not that evil looking, it still took Hunk by surprise and he definitely almost dropped the bag. His eyes widened as he grabbed his bag and checked that no one had sneakily tried to take something, maybe auction it off; but luckily nothing was gone as far as he knew.

He held his bag as he watched the alien who silently stood there. Hunk looked them over and relaxed just a tiny bit.

“Do you know who you’re walking around with?” The alien asked which Hunk responded with a confused look, the alien widened its eyes, as if that would help.

“Yeah? Qotho? Lives like a quintant and a day away from here?” Hunk responded and shrugged. Honestly he had thought that Qotho was some kind of evil spy that would be willing to betray who ever if it turned out better for them in the end… nah.

“Are you sure you really know them? Don’t they act… suspicious?” The alien asked and put a lot, like A LOT of emphasize on the word suspicious.

“Well, not really, I mean they had talked with some random person but I barely heard any of it.” Hunk said, and the last part was a lie, he had heard most of the very short conversation, and now that he thought about it… it did seem strange. Whatever, for all he knew this could be some random alien trying to trick him, but this alien had planted a seed of doubt in Hunk, he really was doubting if he really knew who Qotho was, or if who it was simply a disguise that they were hiding behind.

Another arm grabbed him and this time it was Qotho,

“Hunk don’t talk to these vendors, they steal your stuff and then deny it.” Qotho sneered at the four armed alien, Hunk barely resisted as Qotho pulled him along, and he turned his head away after the alien disappeared into the crowd.

Qotho released his arm after they had gone a good distance.

“You scared me, it was like you were there and suddenly you weren’t.” Qotho muttered as they lead the way through the ever growing crowd, and now Hunk couldn’t help but start listening in on all the whispers.

“No way is that Chozakai.”

“It can’t be! I heard that their name was Qotho now!”

“Oh, shut it will you? I heard they died in a crash decapheobs ago.”

“No they didn’t, they would’ve had a funeral then.”

“Who is that following Nasheer?”

“Looks like an earthling.”

“No, they don’t have advanced enough technology to be able to get all the way out here!”

Hunk couldn’t help it, his brain started to form questions he knew would lead to consequences, but he had a burning desire to ask them anyway, to find out if all these careless whispers were just that, or whether they were true, whether he would be better to figure out how to fix his lion on his own. Then again it did feel nice to have company…

“Well, I heard that they had gone back to Haggar.”

“I thought that Kryloden was loyal to Lotor, not that witch!”

“Don’t say that! I heard she has eyes everywhere and that she makes sure there’s no one standing in her path. Always!”

“Like Lotor would actually be able to control Daxan!”

“He… did win in the arena quite a lot of times.”

Hunk let out a sigh, speeding up his pace so he could keep pace with Qotho,

“Qotho where are we going?” Hunk asked, wondering why they had passed a bunch of perfectly good vendors who could probably sell them what they needed… or most of the things.

“I don’t trust most of them, they seem… sketchy” Qotho responded.,

‘You seem sketchy’ Hunk thought and almost, ALMOST, said it out loud before catching his tongue. He didn’t want trouble now.

“Is there some magical fairy lady that's hidden away and for whatever reason you truuuust her?” Hunk asked again but this time in a sing songy voice, just to tease them.

Hunk sighed, his courage slowly building up as he thought of what could happen if he asked the next question… But he didn’t want Qotho to catch onto him, ‘I could act like I have no idea what I’m talking about’ he thought to himself as they kept walking, ‘I could also just play dumb, I mean he doesn’t know what I do at- did in the castle of lions’ Hunk thought before deciding that he would act dumb.

“Qotho… are you a Galra spy? Or some mercenary that does the Galra’s dirty work?” Hunk asked and almost ran into Qotho, who stopped dead in their tracks. They looked at Hunk with a funny expression.

“Of course not, Hunk.” Qotho smiled deviously.

(artist: @timid-illustrations​)

[previous chapter | next chapter]

A sea of gray and shining scarlet swarmed his vision. The tirade of lasers and detonations left him scrambling for the dashboard; only to be thrown back into another direction. Through it all, an overwhelming and unknown mass shadowed him.

A strained glance upward gave him his answer, one that made him stiffen in disbelief. The sight of the Central Command Ship and its ring of warships could only mean one thing: Haggar. A sense of foreboding hung over his shoulders, whispering warnings and promises of grief. Soon after, the unmistakable sound of ion cannons powering up overpowered the jets lasers.

Amidst the deafening noise, Lance heard Pidge cry out, “We need to form Voltron or else we’ll never be able to take out those ion cannons!” The loud blast and grunt that followed was worrying. He could only agree as he watched the cruiser wormhole away from each of her attacks. No matter how many fighter jets were caught in the crossfire and, consequently, blown to bits, the threat of the ion cannons remained.

Vaguely, Lance heard Keith yell something about that not being possible as retreat was not an option because they were surrounded. Thanks for stating the obvious, Mullet. Keith cut out before he could say his musings out loud.

(artist: @ashel)

By now, Lance was trying a hit-and-run method, something he had perfected from pulling pranks on the team during their time on the castleship. It was harder, though, when you’re in a lion, playing a deadly game of tag, with hundreds of jets that fired laser beams.

Sweat trickled down his cheek as he saw Hunk caught in the middle of two ion cannons. As he was still being bombarded by both jets and warships alike, he had no opening to aid him. All he could do was trust his teammates.

Not long after this revelation, Lance, along with the rest of the team, was congratulating Allura on her quick reactions and thinking, “Nice one Princess! You make a really good leg!” Internally, Lance was sighing in relief that someone got to Hunk’s aid before things got ugly.  

Keith interjected, “Good job Allura, that’s one warship down! But we still have seven more to go, and that took us way too long to destroy even one. At this rate, we’ll be here for a varga.” As Pidge began to explain how three more warships would be their limit, Lance could only wonder if they could even survive for forty more minutes.

“How many doboshes is that?” Coran questioned.

Lance snapped. “Doboshes or minutes, it doesn’t matter. That’s too long!”

“If you can suggest another plan, let’s hear it, Lance,” Keith, being the rude quiznak he is, countered.

Prepared to crush him to bits, Lance opened his mouth, only to be silenced by Hunk, “Is there a way to disengage and form Voltron?” Pidge voiced her doubts, before asking Allura for her input. Then, it happened.

A flash of energy flickered before the crash of an impact sounded. There were two beats of silence on the comms, before ear-shattering screams blared through them. The faint crackling of electricity played in the background as all the lions heads turned toward Yellow’s.

The Yellow Lion’s eyes flared, and along with the rest of the power in its body, went out; Hunk and his lion were down. Frantically, Allura urged Blue forward. Lance already knew what she was trying to do, after all, she had done it to him. However, when she said she might not make it in time to heal Hunk, his heart seized.

Her focus on getting to Hunk distracted her. Lance saw the warship and the charged ion cannon with it before she could. Still, the words stuck in his throat, dry from shouting and still swallowing the blood in his mouth, causing his warning to be a moment too late, “-Allura watch out!”

(artist: @uano-chr)

The ray struck home, causing Blues comms to go dead not even a moment after. Panicked concerns filled the silence as Lance forced Red through the swarm of fighter jets to get to the two fallen lions. Mere ticks before he got there, Blue vanished, the wisps of a wormholes residue the only thing indicating it was even there in the first place.

They could only stare in shock and disbelieving silence at the empty space where the Blue Lion used to be. Over the comms, there was the distant sound of someone hyperventilating. The numbing surprise had not worn off yet for Lance, but on Keiths end, it sounded like anxiety surfaced instead.

Quiet mumbles about how he was the leader came from Keith, and how he was trying, but it was harder than it loo- a sudden wheeze cut off the string of monologue. Shouts of Keith! with rising levels of unease arose.

As quickly as the last, Keith and the rest in the Black Lion fell silent as Black went limp. A cloud of bright yellows and oranges blocked the rest of the paladins view; a fighter jet had detonated itself into Black’s side.

He and Pidge struggled to break through the walls and barriers of fighter jets bombarding them, but they never got the chance to. A familiar feeling of loss struck Lance as the cloud dispersed. Like the Blue Lion, the Black Lion had disappeared.

Pidge started to ramble over the intercoms, stressing her worries about the two Lions who were god know where, and the still enormous division of jets and warships herding them. Not to mention they had a fighter out of commission but still on the battlefield; completely vulnerable.

Just after that thought, a warship appeared behind Hunk, the ion cannon poised to shoot at whoever came, and a new wormhole forming behind the Yellow Lion.

Their reverie was quickly shattered as a clamour of warnings and pleas arose in a crescendo. Moving on pure autopilot, Lance pushed Red to her max speed praying it would be enough. That this effort wouldn’t be another failure; that he wouldn’t fail his team again.

Last time, Lance was a tick too early. This time, he got there with a tick to spare. Still going at a neck-breaking pace, Lance braced himself as he slammed into Hunks lion, effectively pushing it away from the growing wormhole. He didn’t celebrate his success though.

As the wormhole swallowed him whole, his gaze found Pidge and Hunk’s lions with the hope they wouldn’t lose connection. With his consciousness fading from the collision and devastating exhaustion, he could only utter in half delirium, “I’m glad...I got there in time,” before a blinding white filled his mind.

(artist: @ashel)

His awakening came in several stages. The pain came first. The very action of existing was excruciating. Lance could deal with soreness, but his entire body ached and protested with every movement. He tried to catch his breath.

With the pain came confusion. The forgetfulness to where he was, what was happening, and how he got there. Like a child, he studied his fingertips, wreathed in light, almost questioning his existence. This childish ignorance, at the moment, was bliss. Unfortunately, this oblivious state was the shortest of them all. The calm before the storm, you could say.

Realization hit the hardest. His memories of the battle and separation slammed into him like a storm; cold, hard, and unforgiving. With the worry and violence coursing through his memories on replay, Lance was merely capable of reminding himself how to breathe. This process too was short, but the time it took to settle in gave leeway to the last and most painful phase.

(artist: @uano-chr)

Hysteria did not slam into clarity like pain, nor did it stay short and sweet like confusion, and did not even take time for comprehending like realization. No, Hysteria crept into its holders mind, increasing their paranoia and anxiety the longer time went on. The panic builds and festers; it plants dark ideas and unrealistically realistic scenarios into one’s mind.

Eventually, one will snap.

You could say Hysteria comes in stages too, but eventually, it all comes to the same ending: a long-lasting meltdown.

Moving into the flashing light that bathed his lion in red and warnings, Lance could make out the blank screens on the console, and the lack of any other signal of life from Red. Both his neck and spine protested as he craned his neck up to look out the windshield to gain any semblance as to where he was.

The sight that greeted him wasn’t much of a sight at all. A vast wasteland painted in murky grays and no notable landmarks nor lifeforms stood outside the window. If Lance could describe it, the only accurate word would be Nothing. This planet was what comprised the blank slate of Nothing in people's minds; empty, neverending, and utterly stagnant.

A soft and pained moo dragged him out of his trance, its owner, Kaltenecker, laid on her side with only the barest rise and fall in her abdomen. Her skin was sunken in, enough to suggests its been multiple quintants since they were worm-holed. He wondered what he looked like now.

Lance staggered out the airlock, his bayard hung by his limp fingers at his side. Hazily, he scanned the area, vaguely remembering to search for threats. He found something far more dangerous, though.

Fate, who had screwed him over time and time again, decided to give him a new predicament. One made out of crashing waves, the smell of salt and sun, and the sight of his family that he had longed to see for oh so long, materializing out of thin air.

As his family- Marco, Luis, Veronica, Papa, Mama- enveloped him into a hug, he could forget about the true reality he was in. All that mattered was the warmth from their arms and the soothing sounds of their voices. He closed his eyes, basking in the familiar scents and atmosphere, relaxing into its serenity. However, one blink of an eye, it seems, held the power to change everything.

The moment he opened his eyes, the perfect picture of happiness and normality vanished. Turning towards the rolling sea, Lance began to shiver as the behemoth of a storm washed out the soft blue of the sky.

The sudden absence of his family's’ presence caused a tinge of unease to spike through him, prompting him to quickly turn and grasp at whoever he could find. The unexpected chill only became colder when he beheld the sight in front of him.

Items that held dear memories to him, like his favorite book or the jacket from his first year in light school. Things he cared about so dearly, the shark plush he got when he was born. They sank right into the sand. He began to dig relentlessly into the muddy beach, but to no avail.

As each piece of his childhood disappeared, Lance could practically feel the memories that came with them sink into the mud and out of his mind as well.

The world around him turned back into normal, yet his eyes, pin pricked and glazed, stuck trained onto what seemed to have stayed; on what has never left. He still had the beach in front of him, which he loved to dearly.

Now, however, this beach with it’s slate gray skies and searing cold felt like anything but love.

Lance didn’t move from where he was, kneeled in the soil for a long time. Not when the cold became frigid, or when the dark became darker, and when the tide rose to slosh against his knees.

He just continued to stare.

The illusions didn’t stop. With each scenario, Lance began to lose his grasp on what was real and what wasn’t. Lance wasn’t sure if his heart could take this any longer, if his mind could outlast this. Everything and anything he ever loved was presented to him on a silver platter, before it was crushed to pieces and dust right before him.

His teammates appeared in front of him, asking Lance if he really cared, or tried to be apart of the team.

“I thought you were supposed to be a fighter pilot Lance! That maneuver was too risky; somebody could have gotten hurt!” I’m sorry I didn’t mea-

“Everybody is working hard to win this war Lance! Stop being lazy and help out!” I’m trying, I really am.

“Come on, Lance!”

He pleaded them to understand he did, but they turned their back on him and walked into the ocean. Their remarks continued to sail on the wind and travel back to him.

“Shiro!” He called out; surely the team leader would realize how much this hurt him. He turned his head to look back, and for a moment, Lance saw him. He actually saw him, not the figment of his imagination, but him. But he turned his head and continued.

Lance sprinted after him, into the ocean that bit and prickled his skin. It chilled him to the core, and he was forced to retreat as the water submerged the paladins before him.

And then they were gone.

His arm, still stretched to where his teammates used to be, lowered as his heart sank.

He had nothing.

This planet was an eternal nightmare, both figuratively and literally. In all his torture, Lance had not seen a glimpse of light in the landscapes true form. The only place he could find warmth was in the illusions. Every time, nonetheless, he craved for the happy beginnings of a hallucination after experiencing the agony of the end of one.

To survive, he needed these visions. He could pretend his friends really were there, even though he knew they simply were not.

Lance could feel himself fading. It continued one after another, leaving no time for him to even try to survive. He could feel the acid in his stomach eating away his insides. His throat and mouth was parched from his endless cries and lack of water.

Once, his hunger and madness took over. He moved before he knew what was happening. With a savagery he didn’t know he possessed, he drew his bayard and aimed at the first sense of motion he saw. He had to end this insanity. He was lucky some sane part of him recognized the familiar white and black hide.

(artist: @hoeggar on instagram)

The scenario rolled, play by play, in his mind. With one twitch of a finger, a glorious shower of red would rain down upon him. Shaking his head, he put his gun down. He was better than this.

He promised he would wait for them to save him. That whatever this planet did to him, he would simply wait; he would I trust them to come.

So he waited.

And waited.

He’d forgotten what warmth felt like; their warmth.

But the cycle continued, and no one ever came. He squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for the next round of infliction. With his eyelids closed, a familiar light shone through the skin.

He shot his eyes open, a ship unrecognizable to him landed. His brain raced; could he trust this? Was this just another mind game?

But he didn’t recognize the ship, nor the person who stepped off of it. Maybe he just desperately wanted to be found, by anyone. But this didn’t make any sense- he’d probably be rescued by his family, or the paladins…. who was this?

A hand and a kind smile reached out for him, lifting him up off of the ground. Maybe this was an escape.

…Maybe…..

...he was saved.

[previous chapter] | [next chapter]

The Black Lion crashed into a small planet, which was a much better alternative to aimlessly floating in space. Keith was the first to regain consciousness, dazed and barely able to focus. One getting a grip on his reigns he tried desperately to send a distress signal, or contact the other paladins. He was quickly met with nothing but static emitting from the communicator. The lion scanned the planet upon entry, showing statistics that determined it had a relatively safe atmosphere, or atleast enough oxygen where their bodies would adjust easily. With a huff of breath he made his way towards Black’s mouth, opening automatically. With a cautious scan, he stepped onto the planet for some fresh air. After he took in deep lungfuls of air he finally noticed that the planet was quite beautiful. It was covered with a muted color grass and had a pale purple sky. The plants were different pastel colors with a few darker shades dispersed among them. Keith quickly searched around the outside of the lion, checking for any danger. Stepping back in, he observed that everyone else still seemed to be unconscious and Black was still unresponsive. He examined everyone for injuries, including Yorak, his space wolf, but no one seemed to be harmed. At least on the outside. He was worried for Shiro though, considering he had just been put into a new body not even a few hours ago. Krolia began to wake up, placing a hand against her head in pain from the sudden movement.

“Keith, are you okay? How is Shiro?” Krolia questioned as she pulled herself into a sitting position.

“He seems fine for the most part,” Keith replied, “I'm going to go check and see what's outside. You stay here and try to wake up Shiro.”

Keith exited the lion once again, he continued to stay cautious as he held his hand out, stopping his mother from exiting the lion. The planet was new to him and seemed harmless, however, he wasn’t going to take any risks; especially with the people he cared about on the line if he made any reckless decisions. After a scan of the surroundings and Keith not seeing or hearing anything that would put them in immediate danger he signaled Krolia to follow him from outside the lion. Apparently, her attempt at waking Shiro up had been successful. She helped him up, and began walking slowly out of the lion. Yorak rushed out of the lion and teleported somewhere else, but Keith trusted that he’d be back. He always returned.

“I just got a new body and I'm already getting it banged up,” he said with a slightly pained laugh, “What have you found out so far, Keith?” Shiro groaned and held his head with his only hand as a sharp pain struck him suddenly in his head.

As Keith was about to answer, he heard a branch snap behind him. He was going to turn around to see what it was behind him, but it was too late. The strangers grabbed him from behind, temporarily binding his wrists with their hands, which caused Keith to let out a yell in surprise.

“Who do you think you are?! Let go of me!”

During Keith's outburst, more natives came out of the surrounding plants and grabbed Krolia and Shiro before either of them could react. With the lack of support from Krolia and with being weak to begin with, Shiro dropped to the ground on his knees.

The natives all looked strangely human-like, yet they had devilish horns on the top of their heads and dark markings across their skin, which was covered in a monochrome, protective armor. Some even had strange eye colors, with blackened sclera and brightly colored irises.

A young, boyish looking male stepped forward. He was wearing a jagged, black armor made of some sort of steel. It had redish-silver clasp and a longsword at his hip.

“Men, raise your swords!”

The Black Lion suddenly woke at the man’s command and let out a protective roar as she spread her wings. The apparent commander and the soldiers were caught off guard, astounded by the unknown beast that towered before them.

“That is one mighty beast at your control. You, the one with the white hair, does she belong to you?” the man asked as he gestured the question to Shiro.

“The Black Lion belongs to no one. But, I can pilot her if that's what you mean.” Shiro never liked it when people claimed that he or anyone else owned the Black Lion. She was her own separate being, and should be treated as such. No man could harbor a fierce warrior such as her.

The man cleared his throat, swiftly raising his sword in an odd victorious pose. “Men, do not harm these people. I believe that we have finally found our king.”

The group looked to the man who was commanding them with looks of confusion and back to the strange people they apprehended. Without any complaint, they followed the order given to them.

Keith, Krolia, and Shiro all shared a dumbfounded look. What? King? No. We need to get back to the others. But… there was no point in resisting. We don’t know what they’re capable of.

(artist: @thatartkitten)

Keith scanned the area with precaution as their entourage was escorted to the nearby ‘kingdom.’ Unease coiled thickly like tar in his gut, activating a permanent guard that remained up and alert at all times. He didn’t like where anything was going at all. First, they had crashed onto a mysterious planet. They bounded them and told them to raise their weapons. The creatures were treating Shiro as if he was some type of god.

Suddenly, Yorak teleported by them. The guards looked alert, but the commander brushed it off. Yorak let out a long whine, his tail between his legs.

Great, now that to add to the list of things that are causing me anxiety, my own wolf is signalling something’s wrong.

He rubbed his wrists, relishing in the fact that they were no longer bound behind him anymore. He was still furious that these people had snuck up on them and tried to attack them. No, that was not it. He was actually mad at himself. Disappointed even. He had months of training with the Blade and he still was caught off guard. Worse yet, it happened in front of his mom and Shiro, who he’d looked up to for most of his life.

During the time that Keith was scolding himself in his head, they had walked over a bridge and through a small town and were now standing in front of a magnificent castle. It looked to be like a high-tech Victorian house but with multiple tiers and tall towers that seemed to be made with black stones.

They entered the castle, shoes clicking against the glossy floor. It appeared to be a marbled mixture of a smokey black and grey tone. The rest of the interior was very similar to the outside. A black and grey palette with small traces of silver and gold.

Keith lagged behind the group, as he was amazed by gargantuan aquariums that lined parts of the walls. The tanks were filled with large, softly colored fish, which was refreshing to the eyes and provided a nice contrast to the castle’s dark harsh design. He couldn’t help but get lost in the vast scapes that spanned the floors of the aquariums. He glanced from fish to fish, in a dream like trance, as he observed each ones’ delicate features. It was unusual for him to appreciate the small things, like the way one of the fishes had larger eyes than the others.

(artist: @totallynotashotacon)

Krolia noticed him lagging behind and laid her hand gently on his shoulder.

“Make sure to keep up, ok?” She spoke to him in a soft tone.

With a slight nervous nod,  Keith quickly shifted his focus back to the situation they were in.

They proceeded down the halls into a large and spacious room. It was a dark area, similar to castle’s main design with decor that gave the room a grand feeling. It made them feel somewhat...uncomfortable. They let the feeling pass and focused on a large set of obsidian thrones towards the back of the wall. They were decorated graciously with metallic linings and small crimson gems that glimmered whenever light passed over them.

The guide gestured toward the largest throne of the collection, as if he were asking Shiro to sit. He was confused, to say the least.

A few moments of silence passed. The young man coughed lightly, “This will be your throne.” he clarified. Shiro looked over at the man with pure confusion coating his features. He opened his mouth to speak before closing it as no words left. Some moments passed of his inner turmoil before he exhaled deeply. “If you don’t mind me asking....” he paused as he chose his words carefully, trying not to offend the native, “What do you mean by ‘my throne’?” he finished slowly, trying to process the information himself. The guide looked at him in bewilderment before responding nervously. “Well, it is your throne of course, highness. You are the king after all. You were sent to us.” He attempted to fidget as he finished. Shiro stared with a blank expression as he slowly thought over the information. Once it registered in his mind, his face morphed into a look of shock.

“Oh,” he stated finally as the shock slowly began to cease. The guide motioned towards the throne again with a large hand gesture, trying to encourage enthusiasm in the white headed man.

“Please sit, Your Highness.” He said as he backpedaled, giving a faint bow. Shiro cautiously scanned the throne. He looked toward Keith with stormy eyes and raised eyebrows before turning back and reluctantly sitting on the throne. He was unsure of how to feel about it. It radiated an authoritative glow as well as being decorative and showing clear superiority. It gave an overwhelming sense of power to the occupant as it showed a clear view of the surrounding area. It felt... nice. But it was also terrifying. Shiro swallowed a large ball of nerves as he shifted in the seat. The chair was stiff and hard, however was oddly comfortable. It was fit for a king. ‘Oh.. right, me,’ He reminded himself.

He had still struggled to process it. He already had the weight of saving the universe on his shoulders. He was a man who had been dead for almost an entire year with his fellow teammates, his family, not knowing, and had the title “Champion” verbally burned into his skin, like a tag. Something like that was hard to cover up, even with a single word that declared royalty.

King.

(artist: @totallynotashotacon)

Yes, definitely hard to process. Krolia and Keith looked up at Shiro and smirked as he scowled back. Keith ran his hands through his hair and sighed, walking up to Shiro.

He leaned against the side of the throne nonchalantly and twirled his knife. Tilting his head back towards Shiro, he whispered, “So what’s the plan?”

“P-plan?” He stuttered over his words, as if he hadn’t even considered that there was a possibility they’d get out of this mess. He gathered himself and spoke again, “Right, the plan. I...don’t have one.”

“I know you don’t. That’s why I have one.” Keith smiled and placed his knife back into its sheath. Krolia lit up and looked up fondly at Keith.

“That’s my boy.”

Shiro looked down despondently at his feet. The smile on Keith’s face faded, replaced by a frown of concern. He placed his hand on Shiro’s shoulder, and offered him a small smile.

“I’m sorry.” Shiro placed his face in his hands.

“About what?” Keith frowned again.

“I’m not sure.” He sighed and stood up.

“Shiro, I know this is kind of the worst possible thing right now. But we’re gonna get out of here. I promise you.”

Shiro walked to the aquarium and looked at the fish. He placed his hand gently on the glass. “We’re basically like these guys, aren’t we?”

Keith walked slowly up to him, crossing his arms. “What… do you… mean?”

“These fish are not from here. They don’t even belong here. We...what are we doing? What are we getting ourselves into? I love protecting others. I love being the guardians of space. It makes me feel great- valued, even…. and don’t get me wrong, but-,” He hesitated.

“But, what?” Krolia walked up behind them, staring at the fish, too.

“But...we’re just humans. People that happened to have a good message and now they want to follow us and fight behind us. And you know… that’s all good and well, but now we’re being treated like something bigger than we ever were. What are we doing?”

“Shiro…” Keith gawked. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This was Shiro. Someone who would rushed into battle without a second thought, so long as it meant protecting others. This was someone who’d always put others before himself, never complained, never for a second made it about himself - and what was he saying? He wasn’t...no, he wasn’t mad at Shiro, not at all. It was just a shock to hear him be so vulnerable.

“I’m...sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Let’s just focus on getting off of this planet.” He smiled weakly.

“Hey, don’t apologi-” Krolia started.

“No, it’s really okay. I don’t know what got into me. My apologies.” He stretched out his arms and sighed deeply. “So, Keith, what’s this plan of yours?”

Keith snapped out of his trance and looked back at Shiro. “Y-yeah. The plan. Um.” He shook his head and took a deep breath. “There are some fighter pods down the hall. I saw them while they led us here. We can use parts from them to fix the Black Lion’s radio system -”

“Okay, but what about the guards? They’re bound to notice that someone is taking parts from their ships. And I don’t think they’ll let us if we ask them. We need to find a way to get there without them noticing -”

“Shiro.”

“What?”

“You’re their king. I doubt they’d do anything to stop you. Just tell them that this is to communicate with other nations to form peace or whatever. The only problem is that they might not like you leaving...at all. You’re like their God!”

Shiro frowned, hating the sound of not being able to leave. “Right.”

Krolia sat down and held Yorak, who had been silently observing by Krolia’s side, in her lap tightly. “So what are you going to tell them?”

“I...guess I’m just going with what Keith said. It sounds like the most normal explanation. As for when we leave...we could leave them in the dark, or I can try to talk to them - explain what’s going on. We could get them to join the alliance.”

The group was intruded on by several natives. They were dragged out of the throne room and through the castle to another large room. The room was cluttered and resembled an armory, however, the smorgasbord of equipment was also filled with clothes that had an elegant appearance, compared to the intimidating style of the armor and weapons that lined the walls and shelves.

“What is this?” Keith snapped. The way they were so rudely interrupted and brought there had really bothered him. He was both confused and angry at the sudden action.

One of the natives gasped. “Oh I’m sorry!” she sputtered profusely, “It’s just we need to dress and equip you all appropriately.”

“Is there something wrong with what we have on and with us currently?” Krolia asked in an interrogating tone, which matched the somewhat angered expression that spread across her face.

“Oh, there’s nothing wrong! It’s just tradition, I meant no offense! Really!”

“Ah..” Shiro sighed as he gazed at her with a soft look, “I’ll allow it. You can continue with it.”

The young woman suddenly lit up at his approval. She and the other natives began to excitedly gather bundles of clothing and other garments. Once it was all bunched in her frantic hands, they began to swarm around the trio.

They ruthlessly stripped and dressed them up like dolls, ignoring the sheepish and embarrassed yelps and protests. They continued this until they were finally satisfied, of course though, this  wasn’t until over an hour later, after Keith and Shiro had been drained and deemed exhausted. Krolia, however, seemed unaffected.

Krolia and Keith were dressed in heavier duty clothing. Keith’s outfit wasn’t anything vaguely different from what he typically wears, a black protective material of some sort which vaguely resembled a turtleneck back on earth, but this? It was almost bulletproof, but so thin. It was impossible to tear or rip. His pants were tight and black, with golden chains that clasped together around the knees. Krolia’s outfit was almost the same, except for a jewelry headband placed upon her forehead, diamonds dripping down. Shiro, however, was dressed in a much more formal outfit. It still looked quite protective, but it much less resembled armor and showcased a more elegant appeal, showcasing his well sculpted body.

(artist: @totallynotashotacon)

Keith looked at Shiro and a look of confusion appeared on his face. “His clothes are different from ours. We are clearly wearing some form of armor,” He observed before looking over at the girl, “What's with the difference between them?” He questioned.

The native girl jerked her head towards him. “Well… You’re the King's bodyguards, right?” She answered in puzzlement.

Keith appearance soured, his face turning red, but Shiro answered before letting him blow up. “They’re not.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry for assuming!” she fidgeted, “W-we can change it immediately!”

Keith calmed down a bit. He actually quite liked the uniform, and Krolia showed no discontent either. Noticing this, Shiro assured her it was fine with a simple smile.

“Ok! Then it’s time to choose clothes for the wedding!” she gushed cheerfully. “Oh...It’s all so exciting!”

“Wait!” Keith interjected, “The what?”

“The… wedding…?”

Shiro was just as shocked, “Wait… what wedding?”

The girl seemed incredibly embarrassed. “W-wait, no one told you?”

Krolia glanced at her. “We were not informed.”

“Well, um, there is currently somewhat of a disagreement between us and another kingdom nearby, but now that we finally have you as King, you can marry the princess and everything will be solved!”

“Wh- princess?!” Shiro said stunned.

“Well, there isn’t a prince…?”

Keith was obviously beginning to get impatient. “Seriously? A wedding? And you never even thought about asking first?” He grit through his teeth.

She flinched in shock at the sharp tone in his voice. “Uh- I-I’m sorry, I thought they would have told you already… It wasn’t my idea…”

Keith suddenly felt guilty. “I-I didn’t-”

“The princess is missing!” Screamed another native girl as she barged through the door, followed by several others including the royal advisor.

The girl who had dressed them quivered. “S-she’s what?” she said, her voice shaking.

“Please! Your Majesty! You must find her!” begged the group of natives who had just previously barged in.

They paused before all looking towards their king. Shiro stared back, his face unreadable for a few moments as it spun through a mix of emotions.

Eventually Shiro shut his eyes for a tick before opening them with a deep exhale. He looked toward the girl and gave a weak smile.

“I will do whatever I have to do to find her,” He stated in earnest.

Sighs and gasps of relief rang around the room.

Another member of the court scrambled frantically and quickly yelled out: “I’ll prepare your ride, Your Highness!” They bolted from the room.

Keith slid up to his side and whispered, “Sure you can find the missing princess, 'Your Highness?’” He mocked slightly with a tiny grin.

Shiro looked towards him with a firm nod before giving a cheeky smile.

“Please, just call me Shiro.”

“You cannot be serious,” Keith muttered, giving a sheepish smile back. “Your jokes are the worst and this isn’t the time.”

The escort party was... not something Shiro expected.

It consisted of a large group of guards, servants, and political personnel. All of whom wanted to sit close to the king, yet far away as possible.

What they would be riding on was a domesticated animal from the planet. It was a thicker structured animal that looked of a cross between a hippopotamus, bear and elephant. It looked as how Allura had previously described a breed of animal on Altea.

Each animal, which he later found out the species was named ‘Fifians', had been decorated extraordinary. Fine silks, colorful clothes and jewelry coated the hide of the animal like paint; showing off wealth and exactly who was traveling in this party.

After some minutes of marveling the beasts, Keith helped Shiro and Krolia onto an olive, tinted blue Fifian. The steed was situated near the front but far enough from the outskirts to still give protection to the royalty inside.

To Shiro's unease, it was also considered the most extravagantly decked out one of the group.

Once every rider and participants were situated, there was a loud whistling noise before the herd began to move.

Shiro looked toward a local who sat near the front, the one who made the ear piercing whistling tune. They held a small reed, one that looked almost like a set of whistles.

Shiro leaned forward and waved to catch their attention.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how does that whistle work?”

The local jumped and quickly turned around. His eyes widened and he began to splutter, trying to find something to say.

“Oh-Oh! Um.. It well works like this because um..”

Shiro cut him off with a gentle voice. “It’s alright. No need to feel anxious.”

The male looked up with wide, shining eyes and a small, sheepish smile. He continued this time, with less anxiousness and rambling.

“It's a tradition in my family where we possess the ability to communicate with the animals of these lands. My family has been generations of animal keepers. We can communicate and give them orders with these whistles, however later on, most of them expect something in return,” He rambled on carefully but with a small excited smile present.

“Your Highness!” He quickly added on with embarrassment as he forgot earlier.

Shiro mulled over the information with a small hum. He gave him a small smile.

“That’s very interesting. Thank you for helping me.”

The animal keeper gave a beaming smile and with a quick nod, they turned back to the road and began to command the beasts again, all with a high pitched tune.

Shiro looked over at Keith and nudged him, catching his attention.

“Interesting isn't it? These animals, the locals, the…” He cut his thought short as he finally took in their surrounding area.

The planets vegetation created dense forests of multitudes of colors. It showcased lush leaves and trees, showing wild fruits and vibrant brush that shook in the wind. It seemed like a splash of color on a once blank canvas, however, it seemed nice, relaxing.

(artist: @totallynotashotacon)

Keith elbowed him lightly in the side as he noticed Shiro getting sidetracked. With Shiro’s attention now on himself rather than the forest surrounding them, he pointed up ahead.

“Look up there,” He says simply, catching the gaze of many riders on the Fifians.

Before them, stood a looming castle. It was no bigger than the one they had originally departed from.

The castle radiated a powerful aura and showed a magnificent hue that the human eye couldn't describe. It gave off a feeling of astonishment, and power.

After some time, the party eventually ascended to the large gates of the castle. Outside stood two large guards in armor, who upon noticing the herd, hastily opened the gates.

The beasts stopped in a courtyard that was positioned right outside the castle. With some help, the trio was down on the ground, stretching and wincing over sores in their back and hips from the ride.

Once everyone was situated, they made their way inside.

Shiro’s advisor quickly made their way in front of the group and moved ahead, already beginning to talk with an authoritative presence.

Shiro took his time to survey the room. There were four exits, two side hallways, one entrance, eight possible hiding places. He took note of all of these, his guard up significantly.

If there was one thing he learned as a paladin of Voltron, it was to expect the unexpected and to know your allies as well as your enemies. Keith gripped to his knife, and held it close to his body to use if needed.

The group finally stopped in front of a large throne. The throne was a deep murky blue, that in the right light, it gave off iridescent glows.

Several servants were gathered in the middle of the room, an air of awkwardness and anxiety consuming the room. Few words were exchanged before one of them gulped, offering a tour of the castle.

“If you don't mind, we’ll be touring the castle by ourselves.” Keith stated sharply. The servant nodded and Keith began to drag Shiro off down one of the two side halls.

Once they got far enough, Shiro stopped Keith and shot him a raised eyebrow.  

“Look, the best place to start searching is here, so let’s get going.” Keith stated in response to the raised brow. Krolia nodded her head in silent agreement.

Shiro exhaled deeply before giving a swift nod of agreement. He then began to do a visual survey of the corridors.

“Got it.” Shiro stated after some time off commiting the sights to memory. The trio stood next to each other as they began to explore the castle halls.

The walls were covered in colorful glass windows and tiled mosaics, showing off wealth and beauty within the castle.

After many twists and turns, their senses were infiltrated with a hushed conversation.

“I can't do..” A muffled voice whimper out as another began to shush them softly, trying to comfort them.

“It’s alright-...get through this-..”

Shiro, Krolia, and Keith all looked to each other with furrowed brows before they collectively began to move closer. Silently, they began to stalk to hallway before hiding at the edge of a corner. Hesitantly, the three snuck their heads out and began to take in the scene.

(artist: @totallynotashotacon)

In front of them stood the advisor and princess, Shiro noted. The princess stood in the advisor’s arms, audibly distressed.

“I know you say we can get through this, but what am I supposed to do?! I have to marry that man!” The princess gasped out as she tried to control her panicked breathing.

The advisor held onto the princess, consoling her.

“It's alright, everything will be fine. We’ll figure something out, darling.” She whispered to her as her fingers began to trace patterns into the princess's soft skin.

The princess seemed to visibly relax as she fell silent and melted more into the touch. She let out a deep shaky breath as she leaned into her.

The advisor crouched down and gently grabbed the princess's chin before leaning forward and gently resting their foreheads together.

“It will be alright. We will figure out something. Everything will be okay.” She said more firmly, reassuring the princess and herself.

The princess let out a shaky, tearful sigh as her eyes feel shut.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you.. I love you.” She whispered out as she leaned closer.

The advisor deeply exhaled before a shaky smile reached her normally stoic face.

“As do I, darling..” she whispered and met her halfway.

They shared a gentle kiss and immediately, the trio felt like they were intruding on the moment. They all stumbled backwards, not expecting the intimate moment. This quickly gave away their position and they were heard with hushed gasps and a fearful atmosphere.

Shiro looked over at his other two companions before giving a nod of his head and mouthing out words;

“They already know we’re here.”

The two nodded and the trio moved from their hiding place behind the corner.

Shiro raised his hands, trying to show a peaceful gesture before beginning.

“Look it-”

He was cut off quickly though when he was met with horrified gasps.

The advisor’s face quickly morphed into fear and horror as she recognized the man.

“You...You're the King..” She whispered out in a muted sense of horror as he backpedaled slightly.

Shiro watched nervously but slowly nodded. Keith and Krolia on instinct took a few steps forward.

The princess's panicked breathing raised in volume as she fearfully moved backwards. The advisor face moved from fearful to frantic in a matter of seconds.

“Ple-please! Your highness, don't do this, you-you don't understand-!” The advisor tried to reason as she shook her head.

Shiro quickly tried to calm the situation, however failed. “Hey it’s al-” He was cut off though once again, this time by the princess.

“Please don't do this. I’ll do whatever you ask just please don't tell.” She tried to compromise with worry.

Shiro’s eyebrows furrowed once again.

“Please just explain to me the situation.” He tried to agree and get their side of the story, him and the trio began to take some steps closer.

The advisor stood in front of the princess and her hand grasped the handle to a blade in its sheath. Pulling it only out slightly, the blade glinted in the light. Her next words seemed to freeze the people in the room to the floor. A chilling silence glided over the atmosphere. The threat wrung clear.

“Take one step closer and you won't make it out of this room.”

[previous chapter] | [next chapter]

Allura felt hot and stuffy in the lion as she turned toward the sound of an ion cannon charging up.

“We need to form Voltron or else we’ll never be able to take out the ion cannons!” Pidge yelled as she moved out of the way of an ion cannon blast. She pointed the Green Lion’s mouth towards the base of the cannon, but as she fired, a purple wormhole appeared and the cruiser flew through, swallowing the battleship before closing. By the time Pidge’s laser reached the location of the warship, it was gone, and the beam went on to explode six fighter jets.

“That’s not going to happen! We have to disengage from the fight first, but we’re completely surrounded!” Keith screamed from somewhere; Allura couldn’t see him, but she could hear lasers firing at about four shots a tick. He most likely was being bombarded by tens of fighter jets.

“Uh… guys, I think I need a little help here!” Hunk cut in.

Turning to the bottom left, the blue paladin could see the Yellow Lion stuck between two ion cannons. Both of them were firing up.

“Hunk, get the ship in front of you, I’ll fire at the one behind.” Allura positioned herself at the second cruiser, before shoving her bayard into its slot and turning. A large cannon formed on top of Blue, and Allura pushed the bayard in. A beam of ice shot out and pierced the battleship, chopping off the cannon and exploding the ship.

“Thanks, Allura!” Hunk said.

“Nice one, Princess! You make a really good leg,” Lance commed in.

Even Keith congratulated the Princess. “Good job Allura, that’s one warship down! But we still have seven more to go, and that took us way too long to destroy even one. At this rate, we’ll be here for a varga.”

Pidge cut in, “I actually did the math - we can probably handle three warships max, so that would be four more to destroy. Since it took us ten minutes to take out the first one, that would mean we could damage this squadron enough to escape in forty minutes.”

“How many doboshes is that?” Coran asked.

Lanced groaned. “Doboshes or minutes, it doesn’t matter. That’s too long!”

“If you can suggest another plan, let’s hear it, Lance,” Keith retorted.

Hunk attempted to steer the conversation back. “Is there a way to disengage and form Voltron?”

“I don’t think so,” Pidge answered. “What do you think, Princess?”

Before Allura could respond, the first ion cannon fired directly at Hunk. Screaming filled the ears of the other paladins, followed by the sound of sizzling electricity.

The Yellow Lion flickered her lights before going out.

Hunk was down.

“Hunk!” Allura called out, before pushing the controls forward. Blue launched herself towards her fellow companion, spraying jets with ice along the way.

I can heal Hunk like I did Lance moments ago, but he wasn’t directly hit by an ion cannon… but if I don’t reach on time, Hunk might not make it-

“-Princess,” Coran placed his hand on Allura’s shoulder, shaking her out of her thoughts, “you’ll do great. You’ve learned much from Oriande, and this should be nothing compared to transferring Shiro’s spirit.”

“Yeah, what you did with that man - and even when fighting with Lotor - was amazing.” Romelle chimed in, “you’re amazing. We all owe you one.”

Reinspired by the comments, Allura fixed her posture and pushed forward-

“-Allura watch out!” Lance cried out.

Another ion cannon had teleported in and fired. Allura tried her best to move out of the way, but the lion’s back was still hit.

Electricity filled the blue lion, knocking out everyone inside.

Outside, another purple wormhole opened up, and the Blue Lion floated in, taking it somewhere unknown and probably ages away from the rest of the crew.

—

Coran woke up with red lights filling his vision. He shook his head, clearing his mind before looking around.  Allura was at the control seat, still unconscious. Her helmet had fallen off and her white hair fell like a waterfall over the seat. Romelle was on the floor of the lion, with her arms sprawled under her and her eyes closed. A scratch on her left arm was the only wound present.

As Coran looked at the scenery ahead of him, he was in awe. Huge trees draped in vines rose out of the turquoise grass. It was sunset, yet all of the vegetation lit up the area under the pink-purple sky. His mind was still fuzzy, but the scenery around him struck a somewhat familiar chord within.

Coran was so entranced by the bioluminescent jungle, he nearly hit his head on the ceiling from jumping so high when he heard hissing. Turning around in fear, Coran discovered that a hatch in the floor had popped open. He looked down.

The ground was really far away.

The situation finally caught up to the old man.

He was stuck in a lion in the trees with an unconscious princess and Romelle.

“Princess, wake up!” Coran shouted while trying to reach Allura. The lion was somehow slanted, making walking a challenge. “Princess!” he yelled again desperately.

Romelle and Allura woke from the shouting, confusion and worry painted on their faces like murals.

“Agh!! What...?” Allura asked, unbuckling herself from the seat.

“Coran! What happened? Where… are we?” Romelle asked, her voice small and trembling.

“The electromagnetic wave knocked out our systems and placed our bodies in temporary shock,” Coran said as he evaluated the damage to the blue lion. “I’m guessing, at least.” Romelle and Allura nodded, seeming to accept this explanation. “We landed in a planet with jungle-like trees, however we are stuck in some trees, so we can’t have the lion lower us down. We need to find a way out.” Allura and Romelle widened their eyes at this news.

“I have my jetpack on my armor, but I don’t know how you two will be able to get out,” Allura admitted.

“I mean, you can carry us up and down,” Romelle pointed out.

“I’m not sure they can support the weight of two people,” Allura turned around, pointing at her back from over her shoulder, “after all, look how tiny the jets are.”

With this idea knocked out, the stranded stood in silence. Distracted by the nature of the foreign planet, Coran gazed out the windows for a second time. His gaze rested on the trees. And his brain started running.

“Princess, do you think you could fetch us some vines?”

“Huh?” She wasn’t following along with Coran’s Grand Plan.

“Romelle and I could ride down the vines to the floor while you fly in and out with whatever supplies we will need - food, weapons, any communication devices. Since only you can go in and out, we should take things with us until we have rescued the lion from the trees.” Romelle was nodding along with the plan. “We will camp and travel until we come across civilization. Once we meet someone, we can have them help us take down and repair the Blue Lion, as well as restock. From there, we will blast off into space and be free!” He bends his knees and extended his hand outwards, simulation the Blue Lion taking off.

“Coran, that’s an amazing plan!”

“Of course, Princess. I wasn’t just appointed as your father’s advisor because of my good looks.” He straightened up and tugged on his moustache.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Allura, go on ahead, Coran and I will start collecting things to take down,” Romelle stated before walking towards the boxes at the back of the lion.

“Okay, I’ll be off.” The princess jumped down the hatch. Coran walked over to Romelle and joined in with the packing.

Allura came back inside the lion with two vines in her hands, still attached to the trees. Coran and Romelle grabbed the vines and swung down, screaming along the way. When they were very close to the ground, they let go and fell into the grass. Meanwhile, Allura was flying up and down, taking the items the other two had packed and placing them next to the fallen Alteans.

(artist: @more_fandom_trash_)

The sun was nearly past the horizon when Allura placed the last of their belongings on the ground. That’s when she realized a flaw in Coran’s Grand Plan.

“Uh Coran, how will we carry all of this?”

He lifted his head up to stare at the huge pile of goods. “We cannot. That is all too much.”

“Well, I guess we’re gonna have to leave some things behind.” Romelle got up and began to sift through the pile.

Coran carried the food, Romelle held two knives and some bedding, and Allura had her bayard and communication device as they headed off to who-knows-where in the silent dusk.

But the dusk didn’t stay silent for too long.

“Chirp, Chiirrp!”

Chirping sounds fill the Alteans’ heads.

“What is that sound?” Romelle asked while walking in a circle, watching the glowing blue and green trees. Little spheres of glowing blue light floated around the space, dotting the landscape.

“Are those-?” Romelle’s eyes widen.

“Flaming freckles on some sort of gargantuan face.” Coran interrupts, waving his arms in a silly fashion somewhat resembling ancient Altean martial arts.

“CHIRRRP!” The sounds were now becoming more excited as the Alteans continued to speak.

“I don’t think so Coran,” Allura said, dazed. Her hand reached up, her eyes following her fingers - she was reaching up to one of the wisp creatures.

“Careful,” Romelle and Coran both said at once.  

One of the blue creatures floated over to Allura’s waiting hand. As Allura pulled her arm back to her front, the wisp followed. Allura opened her palm. The wisp flew over and hovered over her hand. “Chirrp!” The creature squeaked. Coran and Romelle gathered around to watch as the wisp flickered, in and out, blue flames in the Princesses hand.

“What are you?” Coran reached for the creature and it flew around Allura’s head in fear. “This creature seems so familiar…”

The wisp flew into Allura’s earrings, turning them blue. Another wisp had come dangerously close in the inattention of the paladins, and flew into Romelle’s earrings.

(artist: @felixdaartist)

Immediately, Allura and Romelle started hearing whispers.

“⍜⌰⌰⍜⍙⌇.”

“Did you hear that?” Allura asked Romelle.

“Yeah, I did.” They were looking at each other with surprise.

“Hear what? Princess, are you okay? Where did the wisps go?” Coran began to fret over the girls.

“⍜⌰⌰⍜⍙⌇.”

“Coran, this is amazing!” Allura exclaimed.

“Yeah, they are communicating with us! The wisps keep repeating, ‘⍜⌰⌰⍜⍙⌇,’” Romelle explained.

As soon as Romelle said the foreign words, Coran was hit with sudden deja-vu.

“That means, ‘follow us.’”

The girls turned towards the other Altean.

Allura was the first to speak “Coran… how did you know?”

He scratched his head. “Well, I don’t know. I don’t recognize the language, but at some point I must’ve learned a word or two. Either way, if we want to find a way back to the others, our best option would be to find a settlement. These wisps probably want to show us where the locals live.”

“Oh right, the others,” Allura admitted. We must find a way back to the other paladins.

“You know, considering you don’t know much about this planet, how can you be so sure they are taking us to a nice colony and not a death trap?” Romelle cut in.

“Good point… but if we don’t follow them, we lose our only possible lead,” Coran pointed out, “nothing else here points to a civilization of any kind.”

The other wisps started flying off towards a clearing. “I trust Coran,” Allura decided, “we will let the wisps take us wherever they please. But do keep your guard.”

The three Alteans followed the flock of wisps as they soared over the fading sky. The darkness seemed to engulf the planet, leaving only the bioluminescent grass and treetops visible. Allura had a gut instinct that something wasn’t right, but she kept on pushing for the sake of the paladins. Out of the corner of her eye, the shimmer of a lapping wave caught her attention. She paused, briefly glancing at the body of water before tapping on Coran’s shoulder.

“What’s… that?” She asked, her eyebrows raised.

“Oh! I recognize that! It’s a breeding pool! The liquid contains vital compounds that is essential for growing newborns, which come from the algae that grow inside. Many species have breeding pools that slightly differ between planets. These wisps must have their own,” Coran commented, turning himself towards the pool. However, the wisps had other plans for their guests; they continued in the same direction as before. “Aww, I was hoping I could observe the baby wisps.” Pouting, he trudged on.

Romelle and Allura exchanged glances before following.

The trudging continued for what seemed like a long time. It was probably only a five minute trek maximum, but the mesmerizing scenery must’ve made time feel like it dragged out longer. Or they were going a lot slower than normal. Either way, the group was surprised to see structures rising out from the distance. Allura held her hand out in front and above her, like a wayfinder used on ships before compasses. As they neared closer to the structures, thousands of whisps flew down to greet them.

“Hello, there! Can you help us?”  

A few of them flew around Allura and Romelle. Allura reached her hand out, her earrings shining as they communicated with her.

(artist: @more_fandom_trash_)

“⍙⟒ ⏃⍀⟒ ⟒⌇⌿⍜⌇⟟, ⍙⟒ ⊑⏃⟒ ⏚⟒⟒⋏ ⟟⋏⊑⏃⏚⟟⏁⟟⋏☌ ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⌿⌰⏃⋏⟒⏁ ⍜⍀ ⏁⊑⟒ ⌿⏃⌇⏁ ⏁⊑⍜⌇⏃⋏⟒☊⏃-⌿⊑⍜⟒⏚⟒⌇.”

Allura repeated the words out loud, looking towards Coran.

After a moment of thought, he spoke up. “We are Vesposi, we have been inhabiting this planet for the past thousand deca-phoebes.”

Romelle butted in, “Where are we right now?! Can you help us restore power to our ship? Is there..”

Coran’s interest peaked as Romelle’s earrings glowed and she quieted, her questions dissolving. It seemed to be communicating with her eyes.

Vesposi…. he’d heard the creatures’ names before. Alfor, back when he was alive, had given Coran thousands of old articles and history texts to study, as Coran was fascinated by this kind of stuff.

He recalled reading about them quite recently, as he often found himself reading the educational literature Alfor had given him. It was like… a coping mechanism for losing someone. Replacing them with other stuff to fill that void, which so happened to be learning for Coran. Let’s see here… Vesposi… singular being Vespos…

His mind was blank, he couldn’t think of anything else. What was it, what was it…

Spirits? Probably not-

Oh.

Oh.

Vesposi are what the Veparthos refer to as the spirit. Unlike other species, when a Verpartha dies, it’s spirit is released into the world to continue to live. Although able to live in this spirit-like form, Vesposi prefer living in a host body. They attach to ornaments to communicate to potential hosts, then lure them into pools of algae to kill off the host and officially inhabit the body. However, they will only do this with other species, so if you are visiting the planet of Shralthic, stay on alert and always surround yourself with Veparthos.

“Coran?”

Recalling the name Shralthic awoke buried memories in Coran’s mind.

He had visited the planet once, long ago on a medical trip with Alfor. Coran only came along because he knew their language. They had come to discuss creating a trading alliance, since many Altean alchemists were interested in the properties of the algae for medical advancements.

The Veparthos were infuriated by this.

Coran could recall the king going off on how the algae were vital to reinhabiting Vesposi, and something along the lines of threatening to shove a Vespos into Alfor.

After all that, the advisor was glad no Vepartha actually attempted to sacrifice them.

“Coran?! Are you listening?”

He finally snapped out of his thoughts to hear Allura recite, “⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⌿⌰⏃⋏⟒⏁ ⍙⏃⌇ ⟒⌇⏁⍀⍜⊬⟒⌰⍜⋏☌ ⏃☌⍜ ⏚⊬ ⏁⊑⟒ ☌⏃⌰⍀⏃. ⏃⌇ ⍜⍀ ⊬⍜⍀ ⌇⊑⟟⌿, ⍙⟒ ⊑⏃⟒ ⌇⍜⋔⟒ ⌰⏃☍⟒⌇ ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ☊⍜⋏⏁⏃⟟⋏ ⌇⍜⋔⟒ ⟟⋏⏁⟒⌇⌇⟒⋏☊⟒ ⊬⍜ ⋔⏃⊬ ⏚⟒ ⏃⏚⌰⟒ ⏁⍜ ⌇⟒.”

“They said this planet was destroyed long ago by the Galra, and as for our ship, they have some lakes that contain some quintessence we may be able to use.” Coran translated absentmindedly, before realizing his mistake. “Princess, no! They are lying to you, these wisps are actually-”

“Coran?! Are you alrigh-….”

Allura’s voice trailed off as her earrings twinkled. Above, the Vesposi flocked back in the direction they came from, heading towards the pool they passed earlier. In a trance-like state, Romelle and Allura followed the Vesposi.

“NO!” Coran dashed up to the girls and pulled hard on their arms.

“Coran, let go of us! Are you out of your mind?” Romelle screamed at him.

He continued to tug when pain erupted on his face. The ginger fell to the ground, caressing his face in his palms. Between his fingers, he noticed Allura had her right hand in a fist, next to her face. She quickly turned back to the front, grabbed Romelle’s hands, and walked with her towards the sacrificial pool.

(artist: @thatartkitten)

Allura packed quite the punch! Coran was left helpless on the ground, as he watched his only two companions walk away.

“Princess! Romelle! Please! The Vesposi are trying to take over your bodies! Don’t listen! Come back…” He could do nothing but shout at the retreating figures, his voice growing hoarse with each word.

I have to get Allura and Romelle back… and fast.

(artist: @more_fandom_trash_)

[next chapter]