Hello friends, it's sequel time! Finally, at last! I've been a little preoccupied over the past few days- our refrigerator broke down, which is always fun, so I've been a bit busy dealing with that, but I did finally get around to find some time to actually sit down and write. We start off with a heaping helping of canon divergence, right off the bat!

So, join me, on this new adventure- let's tackle season two!

maroon

chapter one

wormhole

He came to his senses slowly.

Drawing in a breath brought a sharp surge of pain, reminding him of the deep gash the witch had left behind, if nothing else. Groaning, Shiro pressed his hand up against it, the pressure giving him some small form of relief, though not much.

At least he could use the pain to ground himself.

Grunting, Shiro leaned back in his chair, trying to sort his thoughts. They had been on a rescue mission, to save Princess Allura from Central Command, when...

Eyes snapping open, he felt a cold shiver run down the length of his spine. Memories came back to him at once, like a flood, and he almost wished they hadn't- or at least, that they'd taken their time.

The wormhole.

Being separated.

Keith screaming.

Drawing in a long, if not painful breath, Shiro shut his eyes, trying to drown out the sound that still lingered in his ears. One thing at a time.

First, he needed to try and find out where he had landed. Grunting at the effort, he leaned forward, opening his eyes once more. A quick check revealed that the black lion's main systems were down- and so were any means of sending out a signal, or even discerning his location.

It hadn't taken much damage in the fight, but maybe Zarkon's attempts to take it over had done more than he'd first thought. Either that, or it had been the crash landing.

In his defense, ace pilot or not, he wasn't exactly in his prime condition here.

Leaning back in his chair once more, he forced himself to take in another long, steadying breath. Tapping the side of his helmet with his free hand, he could only make out static. "Hello? Anyone there?"

Nothing.

From the sound of it, he had landed here alone- wherever here was.

Grunting, Shiro got to his feet, one hand still resting firmly on his wound. Removing it for a second, he winced at the sight of it- not only was it as deep as he thought, it was also glowing.

That was new.

Letting out a long sigh, he pulled his hand fully away. He needed to try and establish where he was, and figure out a way to get back into contact with the others.

He could only pray that someone had landed with Keith. That scream he'd let out... it was like nothing he had ever heard before, much less from Keith.

And nothing he ever wished to hear again.

Whatever they'd done to the wormhole, it had obviously affected him too. He didn't have a clear understanding as to how exactly Keith's psychic powers worked, but if he could feel the Balmera dying under his feet, it was safe to say he could feel the wormhole's corruption.

And not just that, either.

With a shudder, his thoughts drifted back, to when Voltron had split apart. He hadn't had much time to dwell on it then, and it had only been for an instant, but in that instant, he'd felt...

He didn't know, exactly. All he'd known was that it had come from Keith's end of the bond, and that whatever it was, he never wanted to feel anything like it again.

He didn't even want to imagine what Keith had been feeling when they'd gone through the wormhole. He'd been through a lot in the past year, even if he couldn't remember more than half of it, but that scream... he didn't know if he'd be able to handle feeling what caused it.

One thing was for sure- if he managed to get out of this one, he owed Keith an apology. He had done the right thing, telling them the truth, and though he'd promised to look after him, it was clear that he'd failed spectacularly at that.

One could argue that he couldn't have possibly known that something like this might happen, but that... still didn't sit right with him. It was the truth, but it just sounded like an excuse, if anything.

Getting the cockpit hatch open wasn't easy, his injury screaming at him as he moved, but he finally forced it open. Taking a breath of fresh air, he was grateful that the planet that he'd landed on had oxygen- though not much else. It was all but a barren wasteland out there, not a soul in sight.

Groaning, Shiro sat back, resting one hand on the black lion. Closing his eyes, he reached out to the bond they shared- and to his relief, got something back.

Not much, but that was probably because it was largely offline at the moment.

What had that been, back there? It was like the black lion had been taken over, forcing him out.

And that... that weapon, that Zarkon had been using against the red lion, against Keith... he hadn't gotten a good look at it, but he felt fairly certain that had been a bayard.

Had Zarkon been the previous black paladin? Was that even possible?

Come to think of it, Allura had never told them anything about the previous paladins. He'd never thought to ask, either- he'd just assumed that they all had been lost in the same war the Altean home world had fallen in.

Maybe he should have.

But that was neither here, nor there. Right now, he had to focus on two things- surviving, and hopefully, if he could do that, somehow getting back into contact with the others.

To do the latter, he'd have to wait for the black lion to come back online. And to do that, he'd have to do the former, one way or another.

Pressing his hand against his side, Shiro made his way carefully down the black lion, feet striking solid, if not dusty ground. The place appeared to almost be some kind of vast, rocky desert- and he couldn't help but let out a faint snort at that, recalling Keith's tiny desert shack.

Where had he even found that thing anyways?

God, Keith.

He didn't consider himself much of one for prayer, but right now, he prayed that he was alright. He had pulled through after the Balmera, but that scream had been...

He wasn't going to forget it in a hurry.

He was a tough kid, though. Maybe more so than he'd ever given him credit for.

Although trying to take on Zarkon himself... yeah, he was going to be having a few words with him about that, provided he managed to pull through. Provided that they both pulled through.

(If it had to be one or the other, he hoped it would be Keith.)

Letting out a sigh, he pushed aside such thoughts, instead trying to get a better look at just where he had landed. At first glance, it appeared to be at the bottom of some kind of steep cavern, maybe a canyon- but a quick study proved that there was a way to get to the top, one that he couldn't tell if it were of nature's design or not.

At least it would be difficult for any passing ships to spot the black lion. No doubt Zarkon had put out some kind of edict to find the missing Voltron lions, especially the black lion.

But this deep down, it would be hard to get a signal out. Not to mention it made him easy to sneak up on.

That one proved itself to be true faster than he could have ever expected.

"Freeze."

Breath hitching in his throat, Shiro just barely made out the whirring sound he had come to associate with a blaster being charged. It was a woman who spoke- her tone cold, military.

"Hands up." Her words were curt, tone commanding. "Turn around- slowly."

Doing what she said, Shiro raised his hands, gritting his teeth at the pain it caused him. He couldn't afford to show weakness in front of the enemy like this- and turning around revealed that's just where he found himself- in front of the enemy.

Galra.

Just his luck.

Judging by the markings on her armor, she must have been a lieutenant commander at least, or another officer of equally high rank. She was tall, as most Galra were, but what struck him the most about her was not her rank, nor her height.

It was her eyes.

She had pupils.

Her sclera were yellow, just as any other Galra's, but her pupils... the iris was a violet so striking, that it was almost unsettling.

Mostly because the only other person he'd seen with eyes like that was Keith.

Shoving that thought out of his mind, along with the twinge of guilt that came with it, Shiro braced himself. He didn't know how much of a fight he had left in him, but he wasn't about to give up and hand the black lion over to the Galra Empire that easily.

Except what the Galra did next made no sense to him.

He'd expected... well, he wasn't sure. She didn't seem like the shoot first, ask questions later type, not from the way that she held herself. A demand, of some kind, maybe. But instead of doing that, any of that, she just lowered her pistol, holstering it.

The unexpected action only served to make him more tense. Some kind of trick, maybe she was trying to get him to lower her guard. Take him alive, rather than dead.

"At ease, paladin." The woman spoke again, and though her tone was just as cold as it was before, it came across as more relaxed. "No harm will come to you here."

He didn't believe it for a second, but he did take the chance to slowly lower his hands. He fought the urge to press one back over his wound, no matter how much his body was currently begging him to do so.

"Pardon me if I find that a little hard to believe." Shiro told her, a wry grin on his face.

Against his expectations- he was starting to sense a trend here- the woman let out a faint snort. "I am not your enemy, Champion."

And in spite of himself, he couldn't help but twitch at that. As if in response, his wound stung with fresh pain, but he resisted the urge to give in, even if he sucked in his breath more than he wished.

"Don't call me that."

"You should take a bit more pride in it." The woman observed. "The empire may have latched onto it, but it was their prisoners who began it. You were their champion first."

The empire. There was a disconnect there that he didn't miss, and he sensed it was deliberate. Arching his brows, he watched the woman with caution, trying to figure out what her game here was.

Maybe he had once been the champion of the gladiator arena, but right now he was just a badly injured human. If she wanted to take him out, she could have simply shot him in the back of his head before he'd even noticed her.

Even if she wanted him alive, she probably wouldn't have to go through this much effort. Even with his guard up, he'd probably be easy to take down right now.

"Who are you?" Shiro asked.

"I am Krolia." Taking a step forward, the woman's gaze dropped, lingering for a span on his wound. "We should treat that."

"Krolia." He repeated, watching her with a wary gaze. "You're Galra."

"An astute observation." Krolia hummed, and he could have sworn that was sarcasm. "Let me see it."

Arching his brows, Shiro held his ground. "You do realize I'm not about to show a gaping wound to the enemy that easily, right?"

"As I said, I am not your enemy." Krolia told him, dropping the pack that he only now noticed she had brought with her. She paid him no heed as she rifled through it, yet she left no openings- she was subtle about it, but she was keeping him in her peripheral.

That reminded him of Keith too.

It was that disquieting sense of familiarity that put him ill at ease.

She must have found what she was looking for, for she shouldered the pack again. "It might not be much compared to those healing pods on your ship, but this will hold you until you can get back into contact with them."

Staring down at what she was proffering him, Shiro's lips tightened into a frown. She seemed to catch that he didn't know what it was, for she thrust it forward a second time. "It's a healing patch. Take it."

Weighing his options, Shiro finally took the patch from her. For the moment, he didn't have much of a choice but to trust what this woman said, though he still wasn't fully comfortable with the idea.

Peeling off the pad, he drew in a breath, deciding to take the plunge. Maybe it was some kind of poison, but he doubted it- again, she could have just shot him. Pressing it against his wound, he sucked in his breath as it seemed to tighten around it, forming to the curve of his body.

All at once, the pain eased, and he felt himself let out a long breath.

"See?" Krolia told him, folding her arms in front of her, a familiar stance that he tried not to think too much on. "Now what's the status of your lion?"

"Hold on." Shiro interjected, holding up a hand. "First, tell me exactly who you are, and what you're doing here. And maybe also where exactly I am right now, while you're at it."

To that, she merely arched a brow. "As I said before, I am Krolia. You are in Warlord Ranveig's territory. I assume you must have been transported here by the corrupted wormhole."

For the brief span of a second, there was a crease to her brows, that almost spoke of worry- before she buried it back under a soldier's discipline. It raised, Shiro thought, more questions than her immediate knowledge of the corrupted wormhole.

Maybe he'd been out longer than he'd thought.

"How do you know about that?" Shiro asked, watching her anew with wary eyes.

"A mutual ally informed me." She told him, her tone curt in a manner that suggested she was still keeping much to herself. "I managed to conceal your landing here as nothing more than debris. There was a skirmish not too long ago."

"So I take it there's a base somewhere nearby?" Shiro asked, tensing at that information.

"One that I am in charge of, more or less." Krolia told him. "Whenever Ranveig himself is absent, which, currently, he is."

Something in her tone told him that was a good thing.

Finally exhaling, Shiro released some of his wariness. Thus far, this Krolia had done nothing to arouse his suspicion- other than the disquieting familiarity that clung to her, which wasn't necessarily her fault. The least he could do was try to trust her, for now.

Dimly, he couldn't shake the feeling that something like this had happened before.

"The black lion's systems are down." Shiro told her. "I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon, much less able to get into contact with the Castle of Lions. Although from the sound of it, that might not be my best course of action."

Her lips seemed to quirk in a faint grin, a gleam to those violet eyes that he recognized, though not from her. "There are standing orders to search for the Voltron lions. If your Castle showed up here, now, Zarkon would not be far behind."

"I'd also rather avoid blowing my cover." Krolia observed. "But," she said, removing her pack, and tossing it towards him, "...I believe I can provide you with a chance to leave this planet, undetected."

Taking the planet, he peered into it- she'd come prepared, with not only rations, but also diagnostic tools. Pulling one out, he glanced up towards her, studying her with a slight frown.

She really did resemble Keith, he thought.

Not just in mannerisms- although if he had to be honest, that was the more disquieting- but also in appearance.

Taller, and well, purple- but she had the same face shape, the arch of their nose nearly identical. If he accounted for the differences between human and Galran anatomy, they even had the same overall frame- and then, of course, there was the hair.

If Lance were here, he'd probably have some kind of mullet-based observation to share.

"You are staring." Krolia observed, though she did not seem off put by it.

Clearing his throat, Shiro set down the pack, holding the diagnostic tool firmly in his artificial hand. "Sorry, you just... kind of look like someone I know."

Inwardly, he winced. He had no idea why he had just admitted that much.

Krolia merely hummed at that, absently making her way towards the black lion, stopping just short of it. He nearly thought she wouldn't address it, until she did.

"What are they like?"

Blinking, Shiro frowned. He'd been the one to bring up the subject, but he wasn't sure how he felt about talking about Keith- or any of his fellow paladins, really- to a Galra, even one who claimed to be on their side.

Even if he was starting to believe it.

"I probably wouldn't be here right now without him, for one." Shiro said finally. "You said you had a way for me to get off this planet undetected?"

Krolia turned, and for the span of a moment, he could swear she almost looked disappointed, though with what, he couldn't begin to guess. But it was gone in the blink of an eye, instead leaving her to return to her pack, fetching a tool.

"There should be a radiation storm in the upper atmosphere in the next three vargas." She told him. "Our scanners will be dead during the duration of it. As long as we can get the black lion operational before then, you should be able to slip out, unnoticed."

It was as good a plan as any. He'd rather avoid picking a fight with the Galra so soon after they had just barely escaped from Central Command, especially when he didn't know what the status of any of the other paladins was.

Wherever they landed, he hoped they were having more luck than him.

He could only hope that they had all pulled through alright- it had been a tough fight. He hadn't had enough time to really assess the damage that the green, blue, and yellow lions had taken, but they had at least been able to return to their hangars on their own. He'd had to bring the red lion back with him, it having taken so much damage during Keith's skirmish with Zarkon.

What had he been thinking?

Keeping the black lion safe, probably.

Pushing such thoughts aside, he turned to address Krolia. "And if we don't get it working before then?"

"Then you're either stuck here until I can think of a different plan, or you risk leading Zarkon straight to your allies." Krolia told him.

Neither of those sounded like good options.

"Guess we're going with Plan A, then." Shiro quipped, hand lightly grazing his wound. The healing patch took away most of the pain, but the faster he got actual medical treatment, the better.

Eying Krolia, he made his way back towards the black lion. Resting his hand against the cool metal of the robot, he drew in a long breath, steadier than he had before.

One thing was clear to him- he needed to try and deepen his bond with the black lion. They couldn't afford to lose it to Zarkon.

They worked in silence for a good while. It wasn't that there weren't things he wanted to ask her- he had a million questions, starting with why she was helping him. It was just that the need to get this done, and get it done quickly, outweighed anything else.

"Are you worried?"

Krolia's voice caught his ears, the sudden question catching him off guard. "About?"

"The paladins." Krolia remarked. "The Altean princess."

That one sounded a bit like an afterthought.

"Yes." He admitted- no sense lying about that.

She gave another soft hum- he would have thought that with pupils, she would have been easier to read, but no- she was quite skilled at gauging her expressions.

"Why are you helping me?" Shiro asked.

She paused in her work, sparing him a glance. "What do you remember about your escape?"

"I-" Shiro began, lips set in a tight frown. "Not much."

Thinking about it made his head hurt, so he pushed it aside for the moment. He needed his full focus on the here and now, though at this point, he was quite certain that if Krolia was going to betray him, she would have done so already.

Trusting her felt as if it came easier than it should.

"Thought not." Krolia remarked, turning her focus back to her task. "Not all Galra are with the empire."

Something in Shiro's head clicked, and he halted, watching Krolia anew. "You're a spy."

"You are smart." Krolia observed. "I can see why-," and for a split second, he could have sworn she was about to say something else, "-Ulaz put his faith in you."

Ulaz. There was something about that name that was almost familiar, but he couldn't place it. Brow furrowing, he mulled this information over in his head- if there really were Galra out there working against the empire, then that could be a huge asset to Voltron.

He just... wasn't sure how Allura would feel about it.

Trusting the Galra would be a risk- what if this was all part of some longer game? No, shaking his head, he dismissed the thought. From what he understood of Zarkon, he wouldn't put it past him, but even he would have had no way of knowing where the black lion would have ended up.

And again- if he wanted to take it, he could have just done so. He'd been able to do nothing to stop him even when he had been in prime condition, so it was safe to say he wouldn't have stood a chance now. Why play a long game when you could just take what you wanted?

"There." Drawing away from the black lion, Krolia let out a long breath, stepping back as if to study her work. "With any luck, you should have enough power to break through the storm."

Resting a hand against the black lion, Shiro felt a soft hum underneath his fingertips. Their bond, which had been weak and fractured before, felt as if it were a little stronger.

"What will you do?" Shiro asked.

"Return to base." Krolia told him. "I'm not bred for riding out radiation storms."

In spite of himself, Shiro felt his lips quirk into a faint smile. Fair point.

"Thank you." Shiro told her- and his words were genuine.

"Voltron is our best hope at putting an end to the Galra Empire." She told him. "We cannot afford to lose you."

Giving her a curt nod of his head, Shiro made his way back up to the black lion's cockpit. The ascent was easier than his previous descent, the healing patch putting a constant pressure on his wound, keeping it from growing.

"Shiro."

The sound of his name on her lips caused him to jerk his head up, looking her way. For a fraction of a second, he could have sworn she looked amused- and that too, reminded him strongly of Keith.

He had never mentioned his name. How did she know it?

"Remember," she said, shouldering her pack, "-the Blade of Marmora is with you."

She gave him no chance to react, nor say anything- for she turned on her heel, starting to make her way out of the canyon. There was a natural ease in the way she moved, clambering up walls that would have given him no fair amount of trouble. Before he knew it, she was gone.

It felt, he thought, a bit like meeting with a ghost.

The Blade of Marmora- drawing in a breath, he felt his head throb at the name. He'd heard it before, somewhere.

Pushing off such thoughts once again, Shiro instead entered into the black lion's cockpit. Resting his body for a moment in the pilot's seat, he drew in and let out a long breath, before he reached for the controls, wrapping his hands tight around them.

One thing at a time- he had to get back to the others. Connecting with the castle-ship took first priority.

Feeling the black lion come to life around him, Shiro let out a breath of relief. Their bond flickered back to life, as if it had never been broken.

He would have to ask Allura some questions later, but that too, could wait.

"Alright, let's get out of here."

The Castle of Lions had never been a more welcome sight.

Once he was certain he was far enough away from the planet he'd crash landed on not to be detected, Shiro had make quick work out of contacting the castle-ship. To his relief, his signal had been picked up right away, a very relived sounding Allura responding to his hail.

In short order a wormhole- the normal kind- manifested before him, bringing him home.

Home. He couldn't help but wonder when he had started to think of the castle-ship as such. Sure, it wasn't the home that he had left behind on Earth, the one that even now, he longed to return to- but it was a home, his home, and the people in it were those that he had started to think of as family.

Both those he had known before, and those he hadn't.

It was one of the former that all but launched herself at him as he exited the black lion- and he fought back the urge to wince, the sudden, unexpected pressure sending a sharp surge of pain through his wound. Whatever effect the healing patch had was starting to wear off, leaving him with a sharp reminder of the damage that Zarkon's witch had done.

Apparently he didn't cover the noise as well as he thought, for Pidge immediately backed off. "You're hurt!"

Giving her a weak smile, Shiro rested a hand on her head. "I've been better, yeah. Glad to see you're alright, Pidge."

Across the room, Allura locked eyes with him- she knew where he got the wound from, since she'd helped save him. She'd looked to be in good health, if not a bit on the frazzled side- understandable, given what they'd all been through.

Her eyes falling on the healing patch, her gaze turned quizzical. "What is that?"

"A long story." Shiro told her. "It can wait."

She didn't look convinced, but she also wasn't about to press the issue, not when he was clearly in pain. "If you say so."

"Come on, Number One, let's get you to a healing pod." Coran said.

"That'd be great, thanks." Shiro smiled. "Where are the others?"

"We have picked up a signal from Lance and Hunk around the same time we picked up yours." Allura told him. "It seems as if they came out of the wormhole together. They seem to be quite safe at the moment, so we decided to pick you up first."

"Can't say I don't appreciate it." Shiro told her. "What about Keith?"

The three of them exchanged a look, one that he did not like, Allura's face set in a tight frown. "We have not yet heard from Keith."

Sucking in a breath, Shiro fought back the urge to panic. Because that didn't sound good.

"The red lion did take a fair bit of damage." Coran said, his expression mirroring that of Allura's. "It might still be offline."

"The faster we find him, the better." Shiro said, his brow creasing with worry. "I'm assuming you all heard what I did, just before we got separated."

Pidge winced. "Kind of hard to miss."

"Coran has informed me of Keith's... sensitivities." Allura said, seeming to almost stumble over the word. "Rest assured that we are doing all that we can to locate the red lion."

He'd have to believe her. Pressing his hand against his side, he grunted, knowing for sure now that the healing patch's effects had worn off. He couldn't exactly chew Keith out for making reckless decisions if he didn't take care of his own health.

"Keith's tough." Shiro told them, half trying to convince himself of it. "He'll be fine."

At least, he hoped he would.

"That he will!" Coran agreed. "Now come on, Number One, off with you. The faster we get you into a healing pod, the sooner you'll be out of it. Looks like that witch did a right doozy on you."

"That's one way of putting it, yeah." Shiro told him. "Lead the way, Coran."

"Right then, this way." Coran told him.

He fell into step behind the Altean man, keeping his hand pressed up against his side as he followed him into the med bay. As glad as he was to be back on the castle-ship, he would have felt a lot better to know for sure that everyone was safe and accounted for.

He'd just have to have faith.

He was right about one thing- Keith was tough. Whatever his story was, whatever the truth was, that much was clear.

Letting his thoughts drift, only half listening to Coran's instructions, they fell back on Krolia.

Who exactly was she?

Ulaz, the Blade of Marmora- he was almost certain that he'd heard those before. But where?

For a moment, unbidden, his thoughts flashed back to something he hadn't thought about in awhile- the unknown that had boarded the Castle of Lions, the one that had taken out Haxus. The one with the luxite blade.

Who was that?

No friend of the Galra Empire, to be sure.

Closing his eyes, he stepped inside of the healing pod, Krolia's parting words lingering in his thoughts.

"Remember- the Blade of Marmora is with you."

Just as his consciousness began to fade, he could have sworn he heard another, fainter voice, an echo of an older memory, half forgotten.

"The Blade of Marmora is with you."