The last chapter! Whoo! Honestly, I highly highly recommend actually going to AO3 and reading this story on that platform instead - not only is that one somewhat edited and better formatted, but (definitely with this chapter and maybe with the previous ones, I actually don't know) ff/net decides to erase all my internal formatting when I paste it to the doc manager here - so any italics or anything in this chapter that are supposed to be there aren't. If it's in italics here, it's because it's something I caught and manually italicised while I was formatting this, and I honestly cannot be bothered going through it here and making sure everything it right. Just read it on AO3 haha, the platform is so much better.

Anyway, I'll be answering any questions that might be lingering (about the plot, the lore, or just what the fuck I was thinking) over on AO3 comments anyway!

Thanks for reading. It means a lot to me.

The first time Voltron did it, they consumed a planet.

Red landed first, when they finally came back. It had been three and a half weeks since Pidge and Keith had left aboard the Green Lion, on the hunt for her brother. They'd lost four more planets back to the Galra clutches in that time. Progress was starting to be made on repairing the Castleship, with much help from the Blade and much grumbling from Coran about their technique. Personally, Hunk was much more concerned about just getting the Altean and Galran technology and architecture to graft properly than he was about the overall look of the thing. Later, if they lived long enough, then they could worry about making it pretty and uniform. For now, they just needed the Castleship operational. They were desperate.

Technically, progress had been made regarding Allura's arm too, although reality didn't reflect that. The Blade technicians had managed to craft and fit a prosthetic for her; it was derivative of Shiro's, although built lighter and with her agile style of combat in mind. It also lacked whatever nasty Empire surprises they had still to unearth inside Shiro's.

All the same, it lay on a table in Allura's quarters. Next to it lay the socket that she had refused to let them graft to her shoulder. So, technically it was progress, but useless progress. Of course, Hunk understood why Allura wouldn't let the Blade graft Galra tech to her body. It had taken so much time and effort just to get her to trust them, for her to forgive the individuals for the Empire's crimes. Shiro hadn't had a choice, and they all knew that if it could be safely removed, he would lose the Galran arm in a heartbeat. Hunk couldn't blame Allura for making the same choice, even if the source could be trusted.

She stood to Hunk's right, watching the two smallest Lions land; finally home. There was a tension in her back that Hunk didn't envy, a quiver of indecision. She needed more time, really. It had only been a week ago, when Shiro had told them - a shattered, exhausted wreck of Shiro, curled up in his room with Hunk, Allura, and Coran in the dark and away from the Blade members roaming the ship - that Keith had forgotten.

He hadn't meant to tell them. He'd barely been coherent, halfway out of a nightmare and fragile from the flashbacks that had led to them being tucked away in his room in the first place. It had slipped out amongst the panic, just another burden Shiro bore. He'd been frantic afterwards, when he'd realised.

Part of Hunk resented Pidge for keeping it from them. Keith too. But at the same time, Hunk was grateful that she had. He didn't feel the pressure so much, the guilt that came from compassion, knowing that Keith had lost almost his whole life all at once, and he likely didn't even fully understand why anymore; he couldn't remember how much Shiro had meant to him, before Voltron. Hunk had been on the verge of forgiving Keith in a tangible manner anyway, once they came back from their mission.

But Allura… she wasn't. She was already under pressure to forgive Keith. Part of it was her own nature, the bond she'd already had with him, and part of it was Blue. The fact that Keith didn't remember anything before Voltron, before the seven of them, only made it worse. It became so much more than Keith losing control and destroying her home. He'd destroyed his own home. He'd lost his own family.

Suddenly, all his behaviour had made sense. No wonder he'd never even tried to defend himself. No wonder he'd kept his distance from the Blade, even while becoming one of them. No wonder he'd clung so fiercely to Pidge, after she'd forgiven him.

And, barely a week into the mission for Matt Holt, the Red Lion had flown away and not come back.

It had only been days ago - during the time that Coran had now mandated, when the four of them simply curled up together in the dark and forsook their duties for the failing Coalition, and focused on each other - that Allura had even admitted the pressure that put her under. After all, if even Red could forgive Keith, how could she do any less?

She stood on Hunk's right, while the Lions landed and settled, and Shiro stood on Hunk's left, equally as tense. Hunk took Allura's hand and gently squeezed, getting her attention, and then quickly signed a question.

Are you okay?

She offered him a terse smile. "I will be, Hunk." She didn't say any more, didn't share whatever anxious thoughts were on her mind, and Hunk didn't push. She would share them later, if she needed to. Right now wasn't the right time - so instead Hunk glanced back at Shiro deliberately and then signed a second question.

Is he okay?

Allura looked past Hunk to Shiro, "Shiro?" and waited for him to tilt his head towards them. His eyes were covered by a dark visor, one big lens that curved snug across his cheekbones and browline, all the way back to touch his temples. Hunk had only finished them last week, but Shiro wore them almost religiously. The technology in the visor wasn't sophisticated enough to mimic real sight, but it didn't need to be. They were never going to be able to undo the damage coalescence had done to Shiro's eyes, but the visor blocked most of the light and stopped Shiro from being in pain. It came with proximity sensors, and it offered a basic outline of Shiro's immediate surroundings, which let him walk around on his own and not worry about colliding with anything. Covertly, it also monitored Shiro's eye movement and heartbeat; a feature that Hunk had designed to make sure that if anything happened - whether inside his own mind or if he was under attack - that he wouldn't be left alone to deal with it.

"Are you doing okay?" Allura asked him on Hunk's behalf. For a moment, it almost seemed like Shiro might reply aloud, explain himself, but then he simply shook his head and turned back to the Lions. He wouldn't be able to pick out detail or colour, but if the visor was working right then he should see their outlines. Allura exchanged a worried glance with Hunk, and then they too turned back.

Coran wasn't here. Not for lack of trying, but with the Blade here and everything happening at breakneck pace, someone had to help Kolivan coordinate. Things got hectic enough with the bi-weekly breaks they all took. The rest of the time, it was lucky when even just three of them could get away for two seconds. A mixture of guilt and sorrow spun in Hunk's chest. He should be helping still, not standing around doing nothing with both other Paladins, but he couldn't not be here. His family (some of it) was finally coming home.

They waited in silence while the Red Lion sat down, curled her tail around her paws, and went still. She didn't lower her head or open her mouth, and nor did Keith come out. Was he even in there? For a minute, Hunk fought down the fear that maybe they'd been wrong somehow, and she hadn't gone after him. Or, worse, that she had - and she'd failed.

Next to her, Green gently lay down, rested her head on the floor, and opened her mouth. Two figures came walking down her tongue, the smaller one limping badly and supported by the taller.

On Hunk's right, Allura took a short breath and relaxed, a relieved smile breaking onto her face. On Hunk's left, Shiro quivered, hands clenched. If it was working correctly, his visor should be detecting living beings, and then identifying them. It would read both of them as human, but only Pidge would show up as a known life form.

Hunk had never met Matt before. He hadn't been able to program Matt into the visor's systems before.

A strangled sound escaped him, involuntary and meaningless, but Hunk didn't care. The man helping Pidge down from Green's mouth to the floor shared her build, shared her facial features, shared her dark auburn hair. It could only be Matt.

Pidge had been successful. She'd saved her brother.

Finally, something good.

Breaking formation, Hunk ran across the Lion Bay and scooped Pidge up into a hug. He tried to be gentle, but she flinched a little all the same, even as she broke into laughter. "Hey, Hunk," she managed, her voice ragged. She was smiling broadly. "This is my brother, Matt."

Matt's smile was tireder, something underneath it that reminded Hunk of Shiro, but he smiled all the same. "Hey. Nice to meet you. You're a Paladin too?" And pride, there, sparkling in Matt's voice as he glanced at Pidge.

It took all of Hunk's self control to ignore the pit that opened in his stomach and the thought of his sisters. Instead, Hunk just nodded and jerked his chin towards Yellow, peacefully sitting in the back of the hangar and observing. The Lion rumbled comfortingly against the sudden pain in Hunk's chest, and warmth flowed through their link. His shoulders relaxed, and Pidge settled comfortably in his arms.

"Keith's inside Red," she said instead, catching Hunk's eyes. Tone was soft now; reassuring. It didn't really seem directed at Hunk personally; she must be too tired to care about the fragile state of Team Voltron. Hunk went very still, staring back at her, creeping fear peeking around the relief. Pidge's eyes were bright green, no trace left of the sweet amber they were supposed to be. "He'll be out soon. He's been-"

"Shiro?"

Matt's voice was nothing but air, all the warmth gone, replaced by shock and… pain? Uncertain, Hunk looked to Matt, registered the round eyes and tight pupils and parted lips, and then looked back at Shiro. The Black Paladin was utterly still, hands still clenched at his sides, shoulders tight, stiff-backed. Allura was close, murmuring something to him, but Shiro didn't respond. From what Hunk could see of his face, he wasn't even sure Shiro could hear her.

"Shiro!" Matt seemed to have forgotten about them, took a step away.

A visible shudder went through Shiro, and he took a step closer, only to stumble slightly as he immediately stepped back. "... Matt?" Shiro's voice shook.

For a moment, Hunk thought he understood. They'd known each other, before all this. Before Voltron. They'd been on the Kerberos mission together - the mission that had started it all. But then, Pidge let out a quiet, regretful sound. "I'm sorry, Matt. I didn't… know how to tell you." And them there was something deeper there, that Hunk didn't understand yet, couldn't quite pick apart.

Matt barely even glanced at them. He took off, ragged olive green cloak fluttering behind him, and all but collided with Shiro. They stumbled back, lost their footing, and fell. It didn't seem to matter - Matt's arms went around Shiro's waist and locked there, and his head tucked against Shiro's chest. For a second, they were still, and then Shiro put his arms around Matt's shoulders and the sound of sobbing reached Hunk's ears.

When he looked down at Pidge, she looked sad, but a tiny rueful smile was still on her lips. "Damn. I meant to warn him Shiro was here." Soft, regretful but also… pleased? She met Hunk's confused eyes, than glanced towards Allura and was met with the same again. A pause, a tiny shake of her head to herself, and Pidge gestured for Hunk to carry her back towards the group. She must be hurt worse than she looked if she wasn't even trying to walk.

Murmuring resolved as Hunk got closer. Quiet, between jagged breaths, exchanged between Matt and Shiro. "You're okay. How are you okay? You're here! You're okay."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

And all at once, Hunk understood. Oh. He stepped away, nodded for Allura to come with him, and carried Pidge out of earshot of Matt and Shiro. They deserved their privacy. She came willingly enough, glancing back between the Holts. Only once they had put sufficient distance between them did she settle her gaze on Pidge.

"Pidge… are they...?"

Pidge grinned wickedly, the spark suddenly coming back into her eerily green eyes. "Yeah. And once I can walk without seeing double again, I'm going to make up for years of lost teasing opportunities."

It bubbled up in Hunk's chest, a soft laugh. Broke through. Confused but more relaxed, Allura looked around at them all and then smiled. For a second, everything seemed okay. It wasn't perfect - Hunk wasn't sure perfection existed - and the Castleship was still a wreck, the Coalition was still on the verge of collapsing altogether, but for a moment, just inside the Lion Bay, it seemed alright. Lance was still gone, and Pidge was hurt, and Coran was busy with the Blade even at that moment - but somehow… they'd be okay. They had to be. If Pidge could go out and get her brother, if Red could forgive Keith, if Shiro could be reunited with Matt after everything, then surely they could be okay in the end.

Thud.

They turned.

Behind them, Red sat back up and closed her mouth. At her paws, straightening up, Keith let his hood fall down and met their gaze. His eyes caught on Allura for a second, before settling on Pidge. Half a step forward, just a twitch, like he wanted to come closer - and then a flicker back to Allura and he went still.

Before Hunk could do anything, before Pidge could even speak, Allura strode past them. Anxiety swelled in Hunk's stomach, but he didn't interfere; in his arms, Pidge finally wriggled, tried to drop to her feet, took a breath to call after them. Hunk put a finger to her lips, and when she looked at in incredulously, he just shook his head.

Keith didn't seem to know what to do. He watched Allura approach, lines drawn tight in his face, but he didn't move away. A glance back, at Red, and then back to Allura; his weight went from one foot to the other nervously.

Allura stopped a couple feet away from him, and for a moment they just stared at each other. Hunk edged slightly closer, just to hear. It wasn't what he should do - he should give them space and let Allura have her say in private, but he couldn't help it. What was Allura even going to say to him? In a million years, Hunk couldn't have offered a guess with any confidence. He couldn't imagine what it must be like for someone he considered a brother to destroy his home and hurt another brother.

For a moment, Hunk just stared at Keith.

No, scratch that last thought. I definitely know what that feels like.

In silence, Keith waited. He kept shifting, tiny movements: anxiously rubbing one thumb across the back of his other hand, biting his lip, swapping which foot held his weight. Hunk could almost feel the sympathetic fluttering in his own chest, while Keith awaited Allura's judgement.

It stretched out, until Pidge's fingers dug into Hunk's arm painfully and the soft sound of weeping had died out. Finally, Keith lifted his chin and took a breath to speak.

"You destroyed my home." Allura's voice was cutting but even, and quieter than Hunk had expected. Not accusing him - no need to accuse him. She was just stating fact.

Keith hung his head, and his shoulders dropped. The anxiety drained out of him as he deflated. "Yes." Scratchy, even more so than just the fire damage. Taut; delicate. Like he might cry at any moment.

"You're the second person to do that to me," Allura said, in that same somehow gently cutting tone. "You destroyed Coran's home. You attacked Lance, your teammate. You destroyed all our home."

Somehow, Keith seemed small. "I know." Whispered. "I'm sorry. It's not enough, but I'm so sorry."

It hung in the air.

Allura let out a sigh, her hand going to her shoulder, fingers curling around the stump. "This is your home too." Violet eyes shot to her face, wide and confused, uncomprehending. Something like hope lit up in Pidge's searing greens. Quietly, Hunk let out a sigh of relief. "I can't just forgive you, Keith. What you did was… monstrous. But you're one of us." A quick glance at Red. "And you're the Red Paladin. Voltron needs you. And Voltron is bigger than me - than all of us. The universe is suffering, and we have to do something about it."

Still silent, unbelieving, Keith stared at her without blinking. Tiny, shining stars slipped down his face in the form of tears.

"Promise me that you will never do anything like this again, Keith. Promise me that I can trust you. That Voltron can trust you."

Frantically, Keith nodded. "Y-yes. I promise, Allura. I never- I know I- can't make up for it, I know, but… I'll never do anything like that again." Something raw, in his voice. Somehow, this whole thing had always hung on Allura. None of them had ever said it, and Pidge had resented it, constantly fighting against it, but they all knew it. Without Allura's blessing, Keith could never truly be a part of Voltron again.

But Allura was right. All emotions aside, they needed him.

"... Okay." Allura offered Keith her hand. "It's not going to be easy, you know. We're going to have to start from phase one again. You're going to have to earn back Red's trust. You…" and then Allura shook her head, lowered her gaze. "You blew Voltron up in our faces, but we were falling apart before then. We have to put everything back together, properly. We need to be a team if we're going to stand any chance of defeating the Empire."

"I know. I will. I will, Allura - I'll do anything."

"Okay. As soon as everyone is healed… we'll get started."

The first time that Keith and Allura formed Voltron together changed everything.

In practice, their teamwork remained shaky. Allura couldn't bring herself to fully trust Keith even in practice combat, and it was made all the worse by the fact she couldn't fight with two hands. For the most part, the team tried to ensure that Pidge, Hunk, or Shiro were on her left side, covering her weaknesses, but on the occasions where their movements didn't allow it, and Keith ended up there, it fell apart. Allura tried to cover her own opening and overcompensated, fumbling - Keith tried too hard to prove himself and lost sight of other objectives, creating whole new openings on himself.

Outside of combat training, they struggled to connect. Mind meld exercises that excluded one or both of them were working well, cleanly like they were meant to. Allura had slipped into the same mindspace as the other three Paladins easily, and they already knew Keith's touch so well it was hard to resist the old pattern. With everything they were working towards, none of them even tried. But whenever they tried to induce all five of them, Keith overpowered Hunk and Shiro's minds trying too hard, and Allura resisted his touch and pushed him away, while Pidge frantically tried to mediate and balance. Managing four other minds was too much for her, as it would be for any of them. They always broke apart.

Coran had ordered them to forsake the mind meld exercises and jump straight to forming Voltron. After all, in the beginning they'd had to do the same thing. Pidge rather suspected it was just the nature of humanity; they were, largely, a species of action rather than thought. Hunk was pretty certain it was just them specifically who were so difficult - Keith and Allura were mostly just aggravated with their failure.

It was a strange echo, with Shiro taking charge and ordering them to get along, to get it done. Allura instead of Lance, Keith too eager rather than not eager enough, and yet the ashy taste of nostalgia still stuck in Pidge's throat all the same. It was surreal; the Castleship was grounded, and yet it was busier than it had ever been before, Blade agents running back and forth at all times.

It looked nothing like used to, an ugly patchwork of mixed technology and architecture, but it was starting to look like a real ship again. Purple and blue lights clashed where structures met, but they had a functioning training deck again - even if their practice combat was against Marmoran agents and not gladiator bots.

Pidge was starting to hate the Blade. It was probably the constant bruising; she was really starting to miss the baby settings on the old training programs. As it turned out, the good old 'Knowledge or Death' didn't have an easy mode.

It was better when they fought in their Lions. It still got a little hairy when Keith found himself covering Allura - and once when Allura found herself covering Keith and hesitated, but after the week Keith spent in the healing pod she never hesitated again - but Allura and Blue had found their sync and their bond had grown in leaps and bounds. It was Keith and Shiro and Lance's crazy bond to their Lions all over again. Pidge wasn't sure if she was proud, or supremely pissed off.

The Blade and Coran had restored the teludavs. Whilst Voltron was a little hesitant to use it - they could only go one way, after all - they once again had access to wormholes. They'd spent uncounted hours flying back to planet D6-48Y, carving light into the stars (or, more accurately, keeping a tight formation and dodging Galra space and patrols), but as exhausted as it left them, they kept going. It was the only thing that had allowed them to start stitching the wounds in the Coalition. Once, when they'd been too tired to realise their mistake, they'd ended up so far away it had taken five days to fly all the way back. Pidge didn't even remember the last three clearly. Most of the flight had been inside Green's senses, moulded to her mind so closely that Pidge honestly couldn't have picked them apart, flying together.

They'd all needed a bout in the healing pods after that one.

But they kept going. It was worth it. A lot of the faith in Voltron had been destroyed alongside their own stability; entire planets had willingly submitted back to Galra rule, rather than risk being blown to smithereens. Re-liberating them was a pipe dream, at this point - they had the firepower to do it, individually, planet by planet, the same way they'd done it the first time, but they had no chance of holding all of them, and they needed to do better this time.

For now, they stuck to small rescues; taking out Galra strongholds and information centres, destroying prisons and freeing their slaves and prisoners. If they were going to start liberating planets again, they couldn't just do it randomly like the first time. They couldn't count on the unconditional support and the general anti-Galra sentiment. This time, they had to do better.

They were working on a plan, in between missions, in between responding to individual distress calls, between garnering the support they'd cost themselves. They'd picked a solar system based on Blade information; it was close by, barely two star systems away from D6-48Y, and big enough to present a strong front but small enough to hold with five Lions relatively easily. Their central planet, the basis of their system takeover, was a planet called Naxzela. It was, by the Blade's account, a purely military target - a planet the Galra used for weapons and sentry production.

It was also perfectly positioned to work as an outpost for their most pressing concern. A pair of immense weapons systems called Zaiforge Cannons were currently under construction. It was a secret, of course, but it was nearly impossible to completely hide something that massive and important. The Blade was still working on getting all the information about them, hadn't yet secured blueprints or gotten stable access to the project, but they knew roughly where they being built.

Both locations were within Lion-flight of Naxzela.

And once they took that planet, they could quickly and relatively painlessly expand to holding the whole solar system. Once that was theirs, they could handle the Zaiforge Cannons. Leaving such powerful weapons in Galra hands was something they couldn't afford, but destroying them would be their last resort. Collectively they'd agreed that claiming the Zaiforge Cannons for their own cause was a better, smarter option. It wasn't like they didn't need the extra firepower.

Until then, they needed to play smart. Naxzela and its star system were going to form the basis of their new stronghold. Once the Castleship was capable of spaceflight again, that's where they'd begin. An unspoken opinion, Pidge was fairly certain that once they'd made it there, they'd have to ground the Castleship again and repair it, but getting there was the important part. If they had a solid stronghold - especially in the middle of Galra space with the Zaiforge Cannons at their back - then they could work on expansion from there.

And in the meantime, they ran small missions. Smart missions. Team missions. There was a lot of reasons that they had decided not to run solo missions anymore; in the end, they all boiled down to We don't want to go out there alone. Of course, 'alone' was a relative term, since they had their Lions, but there was something reassuring about the other Paladins' presence that even the Lions couldn't mimic.

Pidge had fallen into the routine that had been established while she and Keith were away with more ease than she'd expected. Conceptually, if the team had just suggested that twice a week they all bundle up in a blanket fort in Shiro's room and share their deep dark secrets, she would have laughed them all the way to hell. Before coalescence, she could only imagine Keith blowing such an idea off - even after, she wasn't sure he'd be down for something like that. Memories or not, Keith was never going to be a totally bare-his-soul kind of dude.

But the team hadn't asked them. They hadn't even really explained. Two days after their return - Pidge had only gotten out of the healing pod that morning - Allura had come to collect them, and quite honestly Pidge had been too relieved that she was willing to even speak to Keith to argue.

And… it felt good. Just being in the darkness with her space family (and her Earth family, Matt cuddled between her and Shiro), even if they spiralled from anecdotes and compliments into sadder and darker territory as the night wore on, even if she ended up crying. Even if it almost felt invasive, when Matt shared what had happened to him after Shiro had saved him from the Pit - even if Shiro fell apart. It still felt good. They were Voltron (Voltron+ with Matt and Coran there) - they were supposed to trust each other with everything.

That first session with all of them, Keith and Allura didn't talk much. They contributed, when Hunk brought up how it almost felt right, except still wrong without Lance. Not aloud, of course; he typed it out on the Altean tablet he carried everywhere, and gave it to Allura to read it out to them. Allura stumbled through the thought, and then handed back the tablet, leaned against Hunk's shoulder. He was right. There was one empty spot in the room, something that was intangible but deafening.

It wasn't until a week later that they broached the subject. It was Keith who did it; in the form of an apology. "I can't imagine how much I hurt you…" Pidge's chest hurt, to listen to him talk. He was fully healed now, but even so his voice scraped in his throat; wounded beyond repair.

Just like all of them. Like Shiro, who could barely sleep for the hellscape of nightmares that plagued him; like Matt, who could get lost in the cold until he was nothing but fear and memory. Like Hunk, who still sometimes forgot that trying to speak cost so much effort and never came out right. Like Allura, who had lost her father and her planet and her home and her arm. Coran, who had never shown any signs of the pain that clung on inside him.

Like Pidge, who had only the week before opened up about the apparitions she'd begun to see - and even then, only because she'd seen them in battle and nearly eaten an ion cannon blast for her trouble. Like Lance, who was - in a best case scenario - Lotor's prisoner; or maybe dead.

And it helped, the two of them finally opening up, being able to say what they needed to without the other interrupting them or dismissing them (that was part of Coran's rules). It didn't stop there being problems with their teamwork, and it didn't fix the attempts at mind melds, but it helped.

Then came the first attack. It had only been a matter of time until the Galra figured out where they were; with Voltron making more and more appearances again, it was only natural that their response increase in kind.

They'd come at team Voltron full force. Four whole battlecruisers and their entourages. On some level, Pidge appreciated the effort; the Empire certainly wasn't underestimating them anymore. It stroked her ego, in some shallow, primal way - so much effort and power, just to try and stop them.

The first two battlecruisers had fallen fairly easily. Shiro and Keith had circled around and attacked one from either end. They carried the bulk of Voltron's attack power - at least compared to the other Lions - and they brought all that power to bear. The ship was ruptured and splintered before Pidge could even get an attack off. Twenty seconds ticked off, the rush of combat and Green howling triumph in her mind, and Pidge's target broken apart too, Hunk and Allura hovering at intersecting points around the wreckage.

But the second two moved past them. Fighters streamed out of the battlecruiser wreckage, the only thing left they had to offer, and those onboard the intact cruisers flowed out to meet them.

Combat engaged.

Pidge was preternaturally aware of the other Paladins as they fought; she never looked up from her own enemies, saw them only in flashes of colour and lasers and the roar of the Lions, but she always knew. It was something she'd noticed, growing stronger and stronger as time went on - she could always find the other Paladins, no matter where they were.

She wished more than anything that she could sense what direction Lance was.

One more battlecruiser went down as they fought on, and it almost seemed the Lions were drowning in wreckage and fighter jets. Pidge couldn't even see properly through the scattered and sparking bits of metal that surrounded them - like a nebula. Like a graveyard.

Then came the cry. Shiro, closer to D6-48Y than the rest of them, fending off those sent to destroy the Castleship. The Blade was on the ground there, to kill anything that made it past Voltron, but if they could prevent any Galra forces from landing then the better. All their non-combatants were down there; not many, of course, but Coran was down there, Matt (much to his distaste), the steadily growing number of people who they'd rescued and couldn't send anywhere else. Shiro was flashing through the sea of fighters, Black's wings extended and shining brilliant blue, light bursting as he teleported from target to target, cutting swaths of destruction as he went.

The battlecruiser was on him. Collectively, the other four circled back and shot towards their leader. Pidge couldn't see the other Lions, but she could feel their energy. A distant flutter against her, a touch of quintessence.

The ion cannon took aim at the Castleship, and Shiro abandoned his post by the planet, teleporting in short bursts towards the cruiser. Red was faster, and she made it just as the purple light bubbled up and ruptured - Keith slammed her bodily into the cannon, the collision violent enough to send shivers racing under Pidge's skin. Red recoiled, tumbling and stunned, but the cannon was knocked aside.

The ion blast tore through the atmosphere of D6-48Y, and struck ocean. Pidge could see the water explode even from space. Thank god we haven't found any natives. A tsunami is the last thing they'd need. Then Yellow tore past her and caught Red, and Blue let off a beam of ice at the base of the cannon, trying to stick it in place.

Around her, everything swirled. The presence of the other Paladins pulsed against her mind, frenzied in battle, even now, disconnected as they were. There was only one more battlecruiser, and surely they should be able to take it down - but the fighters kept swarming. The longer they took, the more there were. It would take too long to hunt down every fighter individually, and even if they could do it (and they could), they'd never hesitated before to fight the easy way, and if they refused to now then… wasn't it obvious? If they were so fractured they couldn't function together, then Zarkon would take advantage of that.

He'd been a Black Paladin, once. He knew their weaknesses. He would know how to exploit them.

Pidge dragged Green around, forsaking her individual fight, and flew for Black. "Guys! Now! Form Voltron!"

Not her place, to give that order. Doesn't matter. Who cares. It couldn't work - how could it work? They'd tried everything to form Voltron, and the closest they'd gotten was a quintessence storm before breaking apart.

(It wasn't an experience she was keen to repeat).

But there was no hesitation. She felt them all streak after her, felt them fall into line. They buzzed against her mind; no thoughts, not yet, but intent. Presence.

Shiro took his place in the centre of their formation, and then everything else slotted together. They were the Paladins of Voltron, and they would prove it. Let the Galra Empire tremble. The light engulfed them, and Pidge relaxed as they finally made connection.

Her breathing slowed, calming and steadying into the battle trance; Shiro, measuring them in eight seconds (four seconds in, four seconds out), holding all five of them in sync as the Lions unlocked into light and sequence and became one. Even as she fell into Shiro's even calm, her heart began to race and thunder in her chest - Keith, a constant battle drum that she could feel span all five of them. The screaming pulse he gave Voltron spiralled out under her skin, an itch she couldn't scratch, the urge to fight, a constant awareness. Shiro kept them synced, but Keith kept them sharp.

But even with the jackrabbit pace of her heart, Pidge felt no panic or fear. Slow and heavy, the warmth that came from Hunk filled her. Combined with the adrenalin and Keith's heartbeat and Shiro's breathing, the warmth made her body feel like liquid - molten steel that was fluid and heavy at the same time. Movement was easy, and yet everything she did held such weight that she didn't dare waste it. Everything felt hyper realistic; almost too real to be real.

Looking out across the battle, every detail picked out in that shining hyper realism, Pidge realised it felt… wrong. Lance was missing. She couldn't… see like she always had before. Voltron was different without him. There was no emergent pattern to the way the fighters wove around them, like deadly hummingbirds. She tried, and she felt Hunk and Keith and Shiro looking for it alongside her - the recognition, the clarity of battle. The things she saw that Lance had always put together. The predictions of movement and tactics that had lent Voltron the inhuman reflexes that they could never achieve on their own.

But a second look, and suddenly Pidge saw something else instead.

Allura was there with them, singing under Pidge's skin. She couldn't see the patterns, and Lance's absence was a piercing agony that rippled out across Voltron, something they shared so deeply that even Allura felt it. She'd never formed Voltron with Lance, she had no idea what it was they were missing, but she felt it with them anyway. And even so, her soul surged up to fill the absence.

Looking out across the battlefield, Pidge could see the spark of quintessence in everything - fizzing and shining in colours she didn't even recognise. She couldn't see the patterns in their enemies' movements, but she could see other things from the flairs of quintessence that lit up their ship.

Pain, desperation. Death, as single flames of life went out; rage as others remained. Overlaid on everything, a constant metallic sheen across the Galra forces, was the glow of fear.

They feared Voltron.

They should.

The actual battle, after that, was little more than a euphoric blur to Pidge. She hadn't realised how much she'd missed being Voltron - being so deeply connected to the other Paladins that no explanations were even needed. Underneath the battleheat, their emotions flowed like a waterfall, all five of them. It was never a coherent feeling, and it wasn't permanent either. Without their minds to stabilise hers, the deluge was too much to process; she remembered the echo of sensation, afterwards, a lingering awareness. Even in fragments, she understood them better than anyone else, and they her.

And afterwards, when they'd landed by the Castleship and disengaged as Voltron, when they'd exited their Lions and tugged off their helmets to celebrate, giddy, when all Pidge could think about was how incredible they were and how much she loved them, she got one more miracle.

Keith had approached the group on the ground, and then collapsed to his knees. Pidge could still sense him, a tremulous, burning presence - overwhelmed, somehow - but he wasn't hurt. She chose not to worry, and instead beamed at him, and then Hunk, and then Shiro. She wasn't sure Shiro could even see it, but he could feel it and that was all that mattered. He grinned right back at them, a smile that wasn't tinged in sadness, finally finally a purely joyous moment.

Faster than any of them, even before Pidge could speak, Allura sprinted across the clearing the Lions had created, dropped her helmet, fell to her knees beside Keith. Only now did Pidge see their tears. Without even hesitating, Allura put her one arm around Keith's shoulders and pulled him into a hug.

Just as fast, Keith wrapped his arms tight around her waist.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, shaking and raw. "I- I didn't know how much- I felt-"

How much pain she's in. Pidge had felt it too, but she'd also felt the elation Allura had felt at finally forming Voltron with them. She'd felt it from Keith, from Shiro. Hunk. Mixed ecstasy and agony. And wasn't that always the way? Voltron had always felt like that. Emotionally speaking, Allura truly wasn't so different to Lance.

It must have been different for Keith. Maybe he'd focused on Allura too closely. It would make sense, considering everything, considering their behaviour.

"I know," Allura whispered back, shaking her head. "I know, I- I felt it too." She squeezed Keith tighter. "I forgive you."

It wasn't a decision Pidge made, but she found herself on the ground with them, putting an arm around them each. On their other side, Shiro did the same, and Hunk somehow managed to hug them all. Allura was shaking, in the middle of the Paladin dogpile. Keith was unnaturally still, eyes wide.

"You…?"

"I forgive you. You won't do it again, Keith. I believe you. I'm sorry. I didn't know." Voice low, a little guilty, but firm. No hesitation, no doubt. Allura was certain of every word.

Keith shook his head. "Don't apologise to me. I- I knew I hurt you, but I-"

"It's okay." Softly, soothingly. "We're the Voltron Paladins. My pain is your pain. Your pain is mine. Your joy. That's what it means. I understand, now. I forgive you. We can do better now, Keith. We have to do better."

Hunk squeezed, met Pidge's eyes for a moment, and just for a moment, she felt his mind flash against hers - like the faintest purr, like the distant touch of someone else's Lion. Her eyes widened, but she smiled and found the words tumbling out of her mouth anyway. "We're already better. We can do this." And she looked away from Hunk, looked at Keith and Allura, and felt it in her chest like packed earth. "We're gonna fuck Zarkon up."

First, they'd take Naxcela and the Zaiforge Cannons. Then they'd take the whole sector. And then, it was only onwards until they could kill Zarkon for good and wipe out the Empire's hold on the universe.

The only direction they could go was forward.

The Galra could keep Victory or Death. They were Voltron. They were only here for victory.

Voltron had escorted the first Zaiforge Cannon. It was a tiny operation, not counting the five monstrous robots, so in the end they'd all agreed they couldn't risk being away from it. It still sat wrong, deep in Shiro's chest, to let the Blade do all the groundwork for the planetside Cannon - but Matt was piloting the ship that led their assault on the spacebound one.

Even though he wanted someone escorting the Blade - not for lack of trust in them, but because they always seemed so vulnerable despite their strength - Shiro couldn't have left Matt to do this task without him. He couldn't have asked Pidge to walk away from protecting her brother. And it was too risky, sending Keith or Allura or Hunk alone with their Lions.

The gods knew that their bonds were strong, and Voltron was as close now as it had ever been, but in all honesty it was too dangerous to send any of them alone. Solo missions had been abandoned a long time ago now, and for good reason.

So Voltron escorted the first Zaiforge Cannon, Pidge scouting ahead with Green in stealth mode, waiting for the go ahead from Blade forces; Matt following her behind in a small ship, armed with those who'd volunteered from the ever-growing group of refugees that remained on the Castleship. Keith came behind that, a streak of colour in the back whose only purpose was to keep their backs safe. Shiro hated giving up that position, hated being so far back, circling the Castleship with Hunk as Allura wormholed them all into the star system and then swung out with Blue.

But it was for the good of the mission, it was where he fit best, so he let Keith tag ahead and keep Matt safe, and he remained in orbit around the patchwork Castleship. Once they'd wormholed successfully, Coran was left in charge of piloting and Allura joined her team.

By the time they'd arrived and locked into position by the Cannon, Keith and Matt's team had already infiltrated the structure on foot, while Pidge darted around the outside making pinpoint punctures in the hull. She and Keith were working in tandem - her hacking remotely, Keith working internally - to lock off certain sections that they didn't need, to segregate the Galra forces within them.

Pidge didn't even hesitate when she got the go ahead. She broke those sections opened and didn't pause to watch the bodies burst into space.

Watching through Sable's eyes, as they approached and Coran docked the Castleship, Shiro saw the quintessence erupt and dissolve as they worked with deadly efficiency. Sable was a comforting rumble in his soul, but it didn't ease the heavy ache in his chest. Keith had been a child when they'd been dragged into this mess; scarred, all too willing to fight the whole world, but still a child. His child. Pidge had been even younger; Matt's cheeky baby sister. And now they flew as the defenders of the universe.

A burden that led them to slaughter dozens of Galra without a second of hesitation, and then go sleepless with remorse.

And they'd do it again. And again. That was what war was - that was the price his kids were going to pay for the whole universe.

I don't even know when they became my kids. I have got to stop adopting strays.

Sable purred against him, comforting. Hers. Her pride. Shiro felt himself smile, slightly; a distant sensation, so wrapped up in Sable's senses was he, but he felt it all the same.

Yeah.

But Shiro didn't have the time to ruminate on how much damage this war had done to them. Even as his Red and Green worked, the Galra had begun to take action to retaliate. Shiro broke away from the Castleship, sensing Hunk move in the opposite direction, and flew straight for the oncoming battlecruisers. They'd been too far out, in defensive orbit of their super-secret weapon. Voltron had been as careful as possible to make sure the Empire hadn't known about the teludavs being back online.

Shiro shot around it, jawblade flashing into existence. It was barely a conscious motion anymore, triggering it from inside Sable's cockpit. He was merged so closely with her, their senses alight, quintessence boiling together, that it felt like it held between his own teeth. They wanted it - and there it was, caught tight in their jaws, humming with energy as they spiralled and cut swaths of the cruiser away.

Small explosions chased them like firecrackers, and soon enough they let the jawblade dissolve back into quintessence and banked a wide turn back towards the Castleship. In their wake, the battlecruiser - and the half a billion souls it housed - splintered and broke and died. As they returned, on the far opposite side of their claimed Zaiforge Cannon, Shiro could see the second cruiser succumb to the same fate at Hunk and Yellow's paws- hands. Much closer, and of more concern, Allura and Blue - paws spread wide, facing the third battlecruiser.

She hadn't flown away from the Castleship, because the third cruiser had been quicker and cleverer then the others. A capable commander. It had engaged at a distance, taking aim with its ion cannon and firing while only one Lion remained to protect the attacking force.

Blue's thrusters were lit up at full power, bathing her body in warm blue light, and from her open maw poured quintessence in the form of blistering ice; a wide beam that burned brighter than the jetflame and infinitely colder. Where it met the ion blast in space, the clashing energies ruptured and burst into a blinding cacophony. Purple and blue spat in all directions. Under the onslaught, Blue's ice was slowly being consumed - but Allura was smarter than that, and even as she was pushed back the ice spilled out and over, curling into itself, melting and sealing under the scalding ion blast.

Even as Shiro turned and Sable shot towards the cruiser, the ion blast hit the centre of Allura's makeshift ice prism and fractured. It split, and energy sheared off in all directions; weak and spent. A shaft struck Sable as they approached and Shiro hissed in pain at the touch, but Sable merely snarled a challenge and spread her wings. They warped, an acidic constricting feeling that had started to feel good the more they did it, like pressing on a bruise.

An eternity passed in a split second, an infinite moment between realms as they teleported. For just one heartbeat, Sable's mind became words, and then tangible, and then sensation again.

The infinite white plane that Sable used to teleport spat them back out behind that cruiser. Without hesitation, Shiro spun them around, tucked her wings in, folded her paws up against her stomach, and shot straight towards the cruiser's bridge.

And me too. Merciless. We're murderers all.

At the last second, Sable's wings lit and energy scorched through them; blue light encased her front claws as she extended them, made contact with the battlecruiser's hull. The energy rippled back as they collided, and her claws- her paws- her forelegs phased through. Then it dissipated, her wings dimmed again, and physics caught up with them. Sable's transdimensional body emerged victorious against the Galra's ship, and even as she broke through the bridge and dug her claws into the floor the hull behind her exploded, its molecular bonds broken.

For a brief moment, as the chain rippled across the ship like a balloon popping in slow motion, it became the weakest kind of sun.

Sable flew away from it and back towards the Castleship without a scratch.

"Is that all of them?" Allura, slightly breathless but sounding bright - exhilarated, battle-blood roaring. Shiro could feel it; his own, making Sable's body vibrate, and the distant touch of it from the other Paladins. "We should have about half a varga before any reinforcements arrive."

A burst of static from the Yellow - for a moment, Shiro floundered for a response that wasn't Sable's pleased purring, and then he found his way back to his own body enough to remember how to speak. It was very dark inside his Lion. The visor Hunk had made for him (I love him) was set aside for battle. Shiro and Sable didn't fly with the datascreens flashing anymore.

"Yeah, it should be. Circle back, get an orbit going around the Cannon. We need to stay here until the Blade have control of the other one. Once that happens-"

"Yes, yes. Once that happens they can cover each other and we're free to take Naxzela. I remember the plan, Shiro." But he could hear the teasing smile in her voice, the echo of laughter she withheld for the sake of focus. Shiro smiled back.

"Alright, have it your way. Do you want to take point when we for-"

Kshhhhh-ttz.

With barely half a second's charging time, the Zaiforge Cannon gathered energy, condensed it into a blazing purple orb, and then fired. The beam shot away faster than Shiro could follow, even through Sable's eyes - unprepared, they couldn't turn in time. They simply rocked in the shockwaves that washed off the blast. Buzzing and bright in the Lions' eyes, the Zaiforge blast sparkled with the quintessence the Galra had stolen from countless worlds, blended with their ion technology to form something monstrously lethal.

Shiro couldn't even see the target they'd been aiming at. The purple went into the distance, so far that it seemed to arc even without an active horizon. Whatever it had been fired on, it was beyond Shiro's vanishing point.

"Keith?" he asked instead, spinning Sable back around and gunning for the Cannon. Allura followed on his heels - a quiver of uncertainty came from Hunk as they shot past, but he took up a shallow orbit and stayed at the rear of the structure with the Castleship. "Was that you?"

"Yeah," came the response, rough but breathless. "This thing is amazing. I just- We just took out the cruiser in orbit around Senfama."

Sable slowed to a drift, Blue right beside her, as they took that in.

"Whoo! Oh, fuck yes. Keith, that's three planetary orbits away! Gotta hand it to the Galra, they really know how to build some fuck ass weapons." Elated, and out of the corner of Sable's eye, Shiro saw the Green Lion do a backflip. He didn't even have it in him to scold Pidge. "Okay, you've got Namora with you in there, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, she's right here."

"Sweet. Show her how to do the thing and then get your ass back in your Lion so we can siege a damn planet."

It was hard to keep hold of the ache in his chest, when Pidge sounded so delighted, but Shiro managed. They were going to siege an entire planet.

I've got a ten-thousand year old princess and three teenagers and one arm and I'm going to siege a planet. Oh, and the princess also has one arm. Sable, am I a badass or an idiot?

It sounded like laughter, the meowing that rang in his head. She curled around his thoughts protectively, the sound that might be laughter vibrating from her to him. It was infectious - maybe it was madness, then. Oh well. No choice now.

"Namora, you there?"

"Tza!" A half-second went by. "I-! I mean- Yes! I'm sorry! I'm- Yes, I'm there. Here! I'm here." Honestly, it was a waste of time to let it go by, but Shiro found himself grinning all the same. One of the refugees they'd taken in on their various rescue missions, Namora was the only one of the volunteer force to help infiltrate the Zaiforge Cannon who (aside from Keith) could claim Galra heritage. A half-breed born to a low-level soldier on an enslaved planet, she'd been the only survivor of the skirmish that had blown up the factories and her entire home continent. She'd elected to go with Voltron rather than return to her planet.

Of an anxious disposition, but she'd been raised in Galra culture and she picked up their techniques easily. It was only by Pidge's intervention that the Blade hadn't claimed her for their own. "You got this Cannon working right?"

"Yes sir! I have everything under control. Red Paladin Keith showed me how." And one day she'd have to stop addressing everyone by their title, but today was not the day to worry about it.

"Excellent work, Namora. Keep in contact with Kolivan. Cover each other's backs while we take Naxzela." As he spoke, Red disengaged from a hole in the hull of the Cannon and flew around to meet up with Green, and then both Lions circled back to meet up with Sable and Blue. "Actually, cover our backs too."

"Vrepit sa, Black Paladin Shiro!"

It still made him feel weird, having the Galra phrases directed at him like that (as Namora did all too often), but he tried not to project that to the girl. She was just like the rest of the kids; too young to be in this war, but given no choice by circumstance and personal integrity. She knew she could help them, so she'd stepped up despite the fear it caused her. When she offered Galra salutes, it was because that was how she knew to show respect.

"Good work, everyone. Voltron! Let's go."

Allura didn't take point as they took off for Naxzela, although she did offer a cheeky little spiral as the other three got into formation. In response, Shiro flared light down Sable's wings and opened them as they flew. Warm, bubbly amusement floated back from the other Paladins; a flutter against his senses.

A rumble emanated from the Green Lion; Pidge had finally figured out how to rev a Lion. "Okay, enough flirting. Let's go kick some ass."

They were stronger together; it was something that Shiro didn't think consciously, as they lined up and narrowed formation and let the light and quintessence overtake them. They were stronger together and they were unstoppable when they were one. Sable's senses opened wide even as her body unlocked, and the others washed over him and into him as they linked.

Hunk and Yellow, with the warmth of packed sand in his chest and the stable confidence of bedrock. Pidge and Green, a soft but biting embrace like ivy and the threads of thought and strategy just as numerous and sprawling. Keith and Red - magma under his skin and racing heartbeat, eager and ready for battle. Allura and Blue; different, and yet familiar, a quietly rising tide that drowned his unease and gave them the light of the universe.

He could see it, with all of them together; like a map of freeform rainbows. Together, they could see it - and together, they had the power and the will to follow it.

"We should split! The gravity will exert less on the individual Lions!" Pidge.

"We won't stand a chance on our own! The Lions don't have the individual strength to- tch- to fight this kind of gravity!" Shiro.

"Make a decision! We have to do something, we're dying here!" Keith.

No words from Hunk, of course, but panic and pain rattled Allura's teeth from their bond. She could feel it, balanced against her own like a crystal on the verge of shattering.

Voltron lay, twisted on its side, against the surface of Naxzela. Above them, covering the entire planet like a fiendish spiderweb, the glowing purple energy field pressed down. Buildings crumbled around them, Naxzela compressed by its own compounding gravity. The land cracked and shuddered; Voltron dug a canyon across the city by virtue of its own weight and nothing more.

"Leave Voltron! We need to find out what's causing this gravity well!" Allura herself, spat through the flashing emotions. No real anger there; it was fear that bounced off each of the other Paladins and back into her, and then back to them again. They didn't understand what was happening and it was painful; their bones too heavy inside their bodies, their muscles unable to handle such strain. Voltron couldn't even get off the surface, despite their best efforts - they'd gotten so close.

"Leave- Are you serious?!" Pidge, her voice a shriek. "Have you forgotten about the bajillion sentries still trying to make Paladin rubble out of us?!"

Keith, again, their shared heartbeat thundering in Allura's chest, voice unsteady. "She's right. We have to figure this out so we can stop it." Something sharp flashed across them from Pidge, a vicious ripple, but Keith met it with something softer and Hunk pressed in silently, trying to ease it despite his own panic. "We need data, Pidge."

"I'm calling it. Those towers did this, we're going down one. Everyone out of the Lions. Now. Shields up, watch each other's backs." Shiro, his voice steadier than theirs, commanding - even if they shared his breathing, his ragged gasps, even if they felt the shadow in his mind that the Lions fought back with snarling teeth and flashing claws.

It was barely a decision. Allura found herself locking up her helm and grabbing her bladestaff from the floor, climbing down to the hatch in Blue's throat. She could feel it from the others as well, the movement in tandem - they moved together, almost one unit, just as Voltron did. None of them had ever left the Lions while they were linked together as Voltron; Allura wasn't sure what would happen if they did.

(Pidge was wondering, in reality, but it might as well have been the same thing).

They flowed together once they all climbed out, shields lifting in unison, sensing the flex and flow of each other's bodies. It was a surreal feeling, moving like Voltron but without Voltron at all - shields turning, Hunk in the middle of their formation firing off huge cannon blasts to knock out swaths of sentries, Keith having transformed his bayard into a small, long-nosed gun that Allura didn't recognise but looked like it might be of Galran design, squeezing off shots on anything that got too close. She could feel the unfamiliar ease of it - a skill he didn't have but borrowed from one of them. From her, in all likelihood. Allura was an excellent mark.

When they reached the side of one tower - a terrifying jump and too much jetflame later - they switched formation without a word. Allura, Shiro and Keith formed a wide barrier with Hunk just behind to continue firing back on the sentries, and Pidge behind him again while she hacked the door.

Silently, they urged her to hurry, and her anxiety and panic bubbled back to them. The loop spun them downwards, but Hunk did his best to stay steady, to provide somewhat of a base to work off.

The gravity bore down ever heavier. Shiro was first to drop to one knee, a low grunt of pain that echoed across the link and made Allura's legs burn. She went after, and Hunk after that. Just as Keith was on the verge of giving way, bright elation burned through them like a sun.

"I-"

She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. As one, Allura and the other Paladins turned, and Pidge leapt before she'd even stopped talking, the others mere half-ticks behind her.

As soon as they were inside the tower, the gravity force eased. Suddenly feeling too light, like the air might burst her lungs, Allura focused on properly controlling her descent. They'd burned a lot of jetflame just to get to the tower in the first place.

"How far down does this go?" Keith asked a they fell, bobbing in coordinated sequence to avoid scorching each other. It wasn't a conscious or practiced activity; they just knew.

Allura shook her head. "I don't know, but… It seems familiar somehow." Frowned, and the unease that caused in the other Paladins crawled down her spine. "It doesn't matter. We just need to get to the bottom of this thing."

It took an achingly long time, burning precious jetflame, but they made it to the bottom. Allura shuddered to think how deep into the planet these towers must be buried - on the outside, bubbling against her like a purr, she could feel how intense the gravity had gotten through Blue. The Lion tried to protect her from it, but it was starting to feel like pain, trickling through from one mind to another.

"What is this place?" said Pidge as they all touched down, jetpacks feeling lighter; Allura prayed they all had the fuel to get back up.

On the verge of answering, but Allura led the way to the doors, sunk into a small portion of the cylindrical tower, gleaming white and blue, and as she approached they lit up. Little wavers of white light pulsed outwards from them, and the others all looked to her as she recoiled, bodies tensing, ready to fight. A moment later, and they saw the flickers, her sight mingled in with theirs.

"Is that… quintessence?" From Keith, low, confused.

Lifting her hand, Allura stepped up to the doors. "Yes. But I don't understand-"

And she reached out with quintessence and the doors opened. Shining behind them, thrumming with light, so white it was blinding against the little faint curls of purple that laced the glow like violet filigree - an immense orb, bursting with power, streaming upwards into the tower and up, further, into the atmosphere. Fuelling the net that was closing ever-faster on Naxzela.

Recognition bloomed in Allura's chest, and not a tick later she felt the unease ripple back fourfold. She swallowed. "This… This is Altean technology." Very soft, stepping into the room with wide eyes.

Pidge and Keith came with her, at her sides, flanking like they were her royal guard. Shiro and Hunk were behind them - Hunk kept one of Shiro's hands in his own, standing almost elbow to elbow. Without the Black Lion, he was blind here, especially with such bright light. But he kept his head up, even if his visor was down and blackened to protect him; only the faintest tingle of pain came from his corner of their link.

"Do you know what it's for, Allura?" he asked; holding tight to Hunk, his heart thundering at Keith's pace, but his voice as strong and steady as it had ever been. It reassured all of them, lifted the stress cascading between them a little.

Allura shook her head, even as she got closer to try and touch the enormous orb, and then memories struck her. "It's-"

"-for terraforming?!" Shreed from Pidge, half excited and half terrified. "Oh my god, that's so cool- Fuck, fuck, we're so fucked. What are we supposed to do about terraforming? There's got to be hundreds of these things on Naxzela - thousands maybe!"

"We have to shut it down. It doesn't matter how many there are, they're all part of one network, right?" Shiro didn't wait for verbal confirmation - he felt it ripple across the five of them and continued. "So if we can get this one to shut down, we can make them all shut down."

Keith was studying the terraforming orb, watching the quintessence he couldn't normally see spiral off the beam streaming upwards. She could sense it in him, the beginnings of an idea, a half-formed plan that probably didn't make sense yet. "... Theoretically that would work, yes, but the problem is getting this one to shut off," she offered instead. "And even if we could safely interface with it, there's no telling how much power is in the network right now. The whole planet is going to combust - and take out several star systems with it. That's a tremendous amount of energy."

"I wonder where it's coming from?" An idle thought from Pidge, watching the light as well, but Allura felt the answer constrict in her chest and a tick later it rebounded back from Shiro - a shared realisation, a shared repulsion. The faint feeling of nausea flashed across them all.

A quick glance at Shiro, but Allura could already feel he was incapable of saying it. It shivered through their bond, a quivering unsteadiness that had them all tighten formation, Hunk drifting closer and offering Shiro more support. None of them acknowledged it, not aloud, but their thoughts spun in closer, centring on Shiro.

Allura stared upwards, towards the surface, and wondered how much of it was left. "... Haggar. This… She must have planned this. To destroy us. We fell into her trap." Her voice oddly empty, even as her hand clenched at her side and shook, even as the rage flew from her and into her friends, even as Keith snarled softly in response and Shiro drank in her fury to quell the ever-creeping fear.

"Allura…" Tentative, from Keith; not with the fear of rejection, not anymore, but still turning words over in his mind. She sensed it, like the half-formed images Blue sent her sometimes - Allura touching the orb. Her eye-scales. "You're…"

Pidge gasped. "You're Altean! You can use magic even without the Lions! Allura-"

"You can turn it off. You can hijack the network, disrupt whatever Haggar's doing-"

"And if you turn it off, we can make sure this planet doesn't blow up and take us all with it."

"If they're safe, the Blade can probably get to Haggar and stop her from getting away-"

"You have to try, Allura. I know you can do this."

She wasn't even sure who was speaking. She could feel it as it compounded, growing between them until she couldn't feel anything else - their sudden hope, their faith in her, morphing slowly into something more violent, an aggressive sort of belief that snapped back at all the uncertainty spilling out of her. Everything seemed to echo, and for a second she felt unsteady - she reached for Blue, too far away, too hurt, still fighting the gravity, and instead she found…

Them.

Her Paladins. Her family. They pressed back, desperate for her to at least try, furiously confident that she could do it.

"I… I'm not… There's so much energy, I don't know if I can control that much…"

But she found herself stepping closer, reluctantly reaching out. She had to try - she can do it, she has to do it, we have to do it.

Hunk and Shiro were behind her. She wasn't sure when they'd gotten so close, but they each put a hand on her shoulders, a constant steadying weight. They were backing her, they'd keep her on her feet. Pidge pressed a hand against Allura's ribcage, right below her hollow shoulder socket, staring at the fluctuating quintessence, waiting for Allura to act. She would watch every reaction, she'd guide Allura when she lost focus, if it was too much to juggle. Pidge would be her aim.

Keith was on her other side, and when she hesitated again, her palm hovering mere inches from the surface of the orb - quintessence spitting and stinging against her skin - he put his hand over hers. "You can do this, Allura." A swift glance around, as Hunk and Shiro repositioned slightly, Shiro standing behind Keith and Hunk behind her. "We can do this."

They touched the orb.

For a moment, it was all Allura could do to hang on, and she felt Hunk press her back against the pressure, the energy and malicious intent surging through her like electricity. She thought she heard Keith groan - was that all of them? Something warm and heavy pressing against her left side, twisting, gripping the tight fabric of her armour and tugging down-

Pidge.

Allura followed that feeling, took a deep breath - Keith's hand pressed against the back of hers, keeping them against the orb, an open channel for the flood of quintessence, sharing it with her. It flowed back out of them, quickly losing momentum until it sloshed back against Shiro and Hunk. Beside her, Pidge soaked up the leftovers, looping it back into the Lions, her focus entirely on them. Her eyes were locked upwards on the quintessence stream, glowing a brilliant emerald as the energy went through her.

Patience yields focus.

She wasn't sure who that was. It could have been Shiro or Keith. It could have been both. It didn't really matter. Allura took a deep breath, reached for Keith, drew him closer. They had to work as one if they were going to do this, even more than normal. All her walls had to come down - all her inhibitions.

Keith first, because he didn't hesitate to respond, thoughts and feelings and senses merging together until it was hard to even differentiate themselves. They drew in Shiro next, then Hunk, then Pidge. Pidge hovered, surrounding them all, a close link to what was going on outside them rather than inside.

And slowly, they took control of the quintessence stream.

It was a lead, and a quick second, with the power and the structure behind, keeping them steady. It was more than just each of them, more than just all of them - it wasn't anyone, it was magic and Voltron and slowly, ever so slowly, they bent the quintessence and brought it to muster.

Allura took hold of the core, and the others were pushed out, scrambling, clawing at the loose threads to keep it together. They couldn't get this deep, even with her there, even locked into her magic.

Her face burned, two little curves under each eye, like fire. Like being branded. It was too much, but she had to - everyone was counting on her. They were so close, so so close, even pushed away from this core, even…

Allura throttled the quintessence flow, squeezed with every tiny scrap of force she could muster, trying to kill it. For a tick, it dimmed - then flickered - then died. Elation formed around her, pressing in from all sides, half a tick of it, just a fraction of a heartbeat.

Success.

And then cold.

Something so utterly cold and cruel touched her instead, wove through her hands, through her thoughts.

It reached through her, swept through the other Paladins - so cold and so, so vicious, hateful; hope and triumph fled them, fear broke open within their bond like a damn and then vapourised into nothing, and then there wasn't even thought. They were cold and hollow, floating, suspended in the blazing white as quintessence erupted to life again.

Around them. Inside them? They couldn't tell. Everything was white and nothing, an inverse void, a flood without water. The cold spiralled deeper, consuming everything-

It touched the Lions.

It wasn't a roar that echoed back, it was a scream. Like the Lions were in agony - crushed and desperate and cold, and the whiplash blew them back like an explosion. For a second, Allura remembered who she was, felt Blue pulse bigger and brighter and press against her. Blue breached her mind, like a tangible violation, protective barriers popping around her soul like soap bubbles. Quick on her heels were the other Lions, an onslaught of energy - Voltron, the heartbeat of infinite power, except all comfort dissolved to nothing as they entered her.

The other Paladins winked against her consciousness like stars, distant and burning in desperation, little flickers of colour against the cold and the white and the Lions. Pain radiated off them, spreading through her instead of warmth, and dimly she became aware of her own.

Agony.

Was she screaming? Were they? Was that the Lions? She couldn't tell. Couldn't remember, couldn't see - nothing was real, just the pain and the light and the Lions, howling a symphony inside her mind.

Her minds.

Their minds?

Everything shuddered. The world cracked.

She'd felt this before. Distant memories of ice filling her body, the acid as skin and muscle and bone dissolved - fear flickered once more, a desperate reflex, but it died under the white pressure of the Lions and the light. It filled her throat, the feeling, the quintessence - like swallowing ice. Vomiting ice? She couldn't tell. Lost, directionless, overflowing-

Agony split her thoughts, pulsing out as if it was blood and her body had ruptured.

There was a thin wail, somewhere, inside her. Something…

The trickle of water. Just a drop. A tiny ripple in a tiny puddle of a tiny lake. Rain, glinting azure light - numbness and panic and a surge of-

Nothing.

The light shattered.

He felt it before they even dropped out of hyperspace. It was like a tingle; ice held against his skin, pleasant and painful at the same time, a cooling burn on a hot beach day. Fingers gripped tighter around the handle of his dormant bayard, and he let the energy trickle down his arm and out through it.

Frost formed on the floor below him as it dripped down.

"Lance?"

It almost felt good despite the curling dread it brought to his chest. He'd been looking forward to this, desperately, for so long - but Blue's distant touch wasn't gentle or comforting like he'd dreamed. There was no cooling ocean to be found there, not now. There was only the ice. Still, he let the freezing quintessence whirl through his body and drip from his bayard, because it was better than the numbness. Even Acxa's hand on his shoulder was nothing more than vague weight.

Lance shook his head. "Something's wrong. I think- They're in battle. I think they're going…" He stopped. Surely the universe wouldn't be that cruel. He couldn't be showing up during that again - but it tickled something in his mind, something like poetry. It was oddly poignant.

He'd been broken away from Blue during coalescence. He would return to her during coalescence. As if no time had passed.

But it has. And Lance knew better now. He could fight better now - he knew the touch of magic.

"Acxa, make sure we drop with shields. Blue's going coalescent. It must be Allura. We're going to have to help them." His bayard morphed as he spoke, glowing with the excess quintessence; a long blade, white and blue, heavy but symmetrical and perfectly balanced. The edges of the Altean broadsword glowed softly with ice, widening the blade.

The air around him began to chill; he couldn't feel it, but Acxa stepped away and he saw the telltale lift of the fur under her ears and down her neck. "Uh… You know, just a thought, but maybe you should like… go outside?"

All eyes flashed to Ezor for a second.

"What?" Her face took on a slightly deeper orange hue. "Oh, don't look at me like that - obviously not while we're in hyperspace but… I mean, you're still a Paladin, right? Look at you, you aren't even fully established back with your big kitty and you're glowing!"

"That's a good point."

Firm but soft, yielding to her thoughts but acting as an ultimate authority. Lotor wasn't even in the room, but the weight still carried across the comms. Lance's other hand clenched at his side - it was nothing like being led by Shiro, but he had become accustomed to it none the less.

"Lance, make your way to the docking bay and be ready to eject as soon as we drop into normal space. I trust you can control yourself, but I'd rather you didn't blow up our only ship." A trace of amusement, but nausea and memory lurched in Lance's stomach. Flames and fear and drowning inside Blue. Stranded in a dying Castleship, lost in flames in violet eyes.

He swallowed it, focused on the ice filling his body, weaving through every part of him until even his blood felt cold. It was better than the numbness that pervaded him normally - the touch and thread of magic that made him feel alive. "Yeah, sure thing. Try not fuck this up, Acxa."

An acknowledging grunt, and her middle finger lifted in his direction (a flicker of satisfaction, that at least however much he'd changed, they'd changed too), and Lance took off for the main bay. There wasn't much selection, on the lone lightcruiser they'd taken with them upon fleeing the Empire, but Lance knew he'd need to space. Controlling magic was one thing, the energy woven into his soul from when Blue had bound them together, but he knew that if he was headed for coalescence, that would be another thing entirely.

Still, he had to try.

The feeling grew stronger, even as he ran, glowing sword in hand. It started to pound in his chest, louder than his heartbeat - a waterfall that threatened to douse his soul and consume him with energy.

A familiar feeling.

Stronger, and Lance felt as if he was running upstream, fighting the rising tide with nothing but open air above his head, but he took a breath and kept going. He'd felt this before, even if it had always been weaker. He'd overcome this already. He just had to find the currents - a riptide was nothing if he could recognise its flow and manipulate it himself.

Vision flickered, but Lance fought back - for a second the ship vanished, a step into the void, nothing but boiling ocean and fathomless water. It felt like he was floating and falling at the same time.

He let the magic burst out of him, focused on the shadows instead of the light. He couldn't quite see clearly, tearing his way down to the docking bay, but he could see the shadows of where things were; the vacancy they left behind rather than the space they occupied. He reached the end, touched the panel - swirling energy crackled and warning lights went off as the ship doors began to open.

Screaming whirling colour whipped by, overloading even the icy white-blue pouring off his sword, from his eyes, his mouth, from every part of him. It felt like drowning in technicolour.

"We're dropping. See you on the other side."

The sickening rainbow of hyperspace vanished.

Lance had already jumped, but the quintessence hit him and he screamed, convulsing, tumbling into nothing. Blue surged into his mind, overtook everything - he couldn't breathe, a crushing weight squeezing everything out until he felt flat and unreal. Flickers touched him - panic, the desperate agonies roars of the Lions - a faint flicker of scent, like flowers, and then ash and lightning and dust and wet leaves, and too many thoughts throbbed against his own. Pulsing, in his skull, like the bone came in while his brain went out. His whole body felt like it might inverse.

Pain engulfed him, so acute a sensation that he hadn't felt for months.

But his bayard was in hand,the heavy Altean blade, and Lance found the riptide in the flow, sunk into it, let it rush through and down through the sword.

When he opened his eyes, he could see again.

He was floating in space, and the pale blue light had to be coming off him, the curls of ice like invisible glinting glass spilling into the vacuum uncontrollable as quintessence rushed out of him. Not his own - too strong, too much, a searing flow like being waterboarded from the inside out, like liquid fire - but he let it flow through him, let it escape in any way it could, let his bayard burn in his hand like a star.

His attention, what there was of it, went twofold. Lance didn't care about the ship behind him, didn't care about the Lieutenants fighting or Lotor zipping around in his fighter jet, didn't care about the constant buzzing back and forth in his comms. He cared about the other ship, huge - bigger than even a battlecruiser - and the huge gleaming purple bubble that protected it. A huge attachment that hung below the main cruiser, like a bloated abdomen on a metal spider, surrounded by a particle barrier with hexagonal weave so tight Lance wasn't sure he'd have been able to breach it even with magic. Even as he watched, red lights struck and sheared off into nothing, and the buzzing in his ears shot up an octave in response.

Distantly, he wondered why Zethrid had even bothered firing upon it. Red sheared off it again, passing over him as it did; the blue light blistering off him consumed it without resistance.

In the opposite direction, far in the distance, his whole body vibrating as he fought the urge to drift closer and floated in the current of magic that was here and now, was a planet. Lance wasn't entirely sure how he knew it was a planet, but he knew.

Blue was there.

Blue, and the other Lions, and the other Paladins, and he could feel them in the flow, feel their touch and their power like ribbons braided into the riptide and the current. Tangible colours, lost sensation against skin he knew had no nerves left, but it was like breathing in life. Like drinking hope.

He pressed back against them, wove his own magic into theirs, and felt them thunder in response.

Lance - Here - Alive - Lance - Lance - Here - Lance - ALIVE - Lance - Lance

Voltron was on that planet. Voltron was there, Lions and Paladins melted down into light and power and a single entity, and Lance would lose himself in that whirlpool if he let himself,

He wanted to.

But the pain flew from the swirling ocean currents from them to him, and the gleaming purple ship remained in sight, in mind. Voltron was there, but it was in trouble, it was wounded - fighting, together, coalescent, burning itself out just to survive - Voltron was failing.

Lance turned to the ship, the sickening violet light trickling from the protected abdomen out towards the planet - towards Voltron - like slender, twisting fingers. It was barely visible to him, just shimmers that slipped in and out of reality - but Lance knew they were there. He could taste them, washing past his own quintessence, past Blue's, past Voltron's.

He changed his grip on the sword. Ice sheathed it, rushing outwards, the metal blade dwarfed by the ice blade that grew out larger than Lance's whole body, and even that was dwarfed by the light that continued further, larger than the lightcruiser, like a Lion made weapon in its own right. Everything was weightless in space - he felt weightless, nothing but power and light and thought, navigating the riptide outflow as it crashed and eddied around him.

Lance lifted the sword, high, far above his head, and then slashed down across the tendrils of light.

In space, nothing changed. Quintessence winked away from him in spirals, gleaming ice and blinding light. But the threads snapped and recoiled back towards the enemy ship, and Lance felt the shockwave ripple through him.

There was a sound - not a sound, but like a scream, somewhere distant, somewhere inside him. The pain coming from Voltron abated. In its place came fury - a thunderous vengeance, a rage that swept Lance away and took him under with it. You hurt us. Unacceptable.

Die.

He turned, unable to swim any longer, vision flickering, awash in the sudden lack of pain, the surge of power. The crushing weight seemed to disappear, Voltron rising up inside him, surrounding him from within, consuming everything. The universe was ringing in his ears. Voltron wasn't losing anymore.

They were winning. They would win. They had won. Nothing would hurt them. Not here, not again - there would be nothing left to hurt them. Never again.

Fury filled his mind, bubbling lava and crashing frozen waterfalls and thundering earthquakes and storms and disasters and more than Lance could contain. It didn't even hurt when it broke out of him. He didn't even cry when his body broke, when it felt as if his skin peeled back from his body and there nothing but the shimmering rage underneath. He wasn't even real anymore - how could he swim this tide, this tsunami, when he was nothing but light and intent himself? He wasn't surfing it - he was part of it. A speck of foam on a wave that could eclipse the whole universe.

The sword lifted.

Unacceptable. We will drown you.

The sword fell.

Shouting had long since stopped being worthwhile. Shiro hadn't responded since the strange purple shell had encased Naxzela - none of the Paladins had. Coran was still trying to establish communication with them from the Castleship, had stayed behind to protect the spacebound Zaiforge Cannon, but Matt was already long gone.

Too close, he knew, too close to the planet that sure was a trap, that surely- couldn't become Voltron's grave. It couldn't. It couldn't, it couldn't - it wouldn't be fair, it wouldn't be right. Voltron was too powerful to fail like that, such a simple trap couldn't have fooled them all.

He couldn't lose them all again. He couldn't watch his sister die for this godforsaken war. He couldn't lose Shiro a third time.

When the light came though, he stopped. It had begun as pinpricks, little coloured stars that shone through the purple shell, and Matt had slowed his flight - and then they'd eclipsed the shell and the whole planet and Matt hadn't even been able to look directly at it.

Flashes of colour filled his cockpit, and the ship swayed even though he'd let it drift to a standstill.

Turbulence.

He'd felt cold, when he'd made himself squint back towards Naxzela, eyes so narrow he could barely see through the thick black blur of his eyelashes. He couldn't pick out anything through the multicoloured light, but his ship shuddered again, space itself quaking, and the stories flashed through his head.

Coalescence. He'd never fully understood the terrified awe that all the others had spoken about it with, the thinly veiled fear and shame and desire all mixed into one. Of course, something like that would be powerful - incredibly so. Voltron was the most powerful weapon in existence. In multiple universes should he and Pidges theories and Coran's historical knowledge hold up. Of course something like coalescence would be scary.

But he couldn't even look at it. The space around Naxzela thundered and shuddered silently, and Matt could feel the heat even through his solar shields, even two entire orbits away, couldn't see anything through the light except colour.

Pidge was inside that somewhere. Shiro was inside that. The Paladins were inside that power, conduits for it, nothing but jacked up power converters to translate the Lions into an elemental storm. They were inside that, and Matt couldn't even get closer than half a star system.

He'd been cold, despite the heat, and he couldn't do anything but wait.

And then, a spark of fear and hope all at once that made his heart drop and his stomach backflip, a burst of static on the radio. In the far distance, far on the left of his viewscreens, a flash of light - pale blue. Twisting, glowing - something went past him like a silent whine, a sting. Matt couldn't put his finger on it.

It felt like a ripple that came from inside him, except it flowed out from the faint pale blue and rushed across his body like an echo. He shuddered.

Static again, the light pulsing brighter, and Matt closed his eyes. Even then, hands covering his face, visor down and darkened, all he could see was blinding white. The static went louder, and then flickered into noise - voices - screaming. Screams, thunderous in his ears - screams of pain, of fury, screams - but it meant they were alive. Voltron was alive, and if Matt could hear them then the shell must have cracked around Naxzela, the interference must have been broken.

His ship rocked.

Another echo across his skin, like a tangible shadow, and then shouting, and-

His ears rang in the sudden silence. It was almost worse than the explosion, than the light dying all at once. Everything just seemed to… stop. He couldn't even see, when he dared open his eyes, everything shimmering white and yellow and black in the afterimage of the light.

But his ship was still, the comms were silent, and the light had died. Like a snapshot - like turning off a lightswitch. Too sharp, too sudden - Matt felt disoriented, like he'd lived a jumpcut, like the whole universe had just turned off for a moment. Nausea bloomed and the acid tasted vile, but it gave him something other than the hollow ringing to focus on.

Slowly, Matt blinked away enough of the afterimages to pick out Naxzela.

What was left of it.

The planet was gone, a halo of debris and burning asteroids that still spun out. It would take time to settle. Naxzela was nothing but shrapnel now. Glinting faintly, in the centre of where it had been minutes before, like five orbiting ghosts, were the Lions.

Matt couldn't quite tell, tried to enhance his view of them, but red flashed in his cockpit and errors flared to life across his viewscreens. The Lions were distinctly separated, and he didn't think they were moving. Fear coiled under the nausea, one hand clamped over his mouth and his teeth ground shut. Tears pricked, finally, at the corners of his eyes.

But the Lions had gone dim before. Always did after coalescence, according to Coran. Normal. Matt didn't need to be so afraid.

Static erupted from the comms.

Then, slowly, it resolved into a voice.

"Hello, Voltron. What's left of you. I think it's time we had a little chat about peace."

Matt didn't know that voice. It was lilting, only the tiniest edge betraying- weariness? Fear, anger, desperation- Don't know, doesn't matter. Who cares. Need to get to Pidge, need to get to Shiro. Ship's fucked, I can't move - I need to get to the Lions.

Coran's response was a low hiss, crackled across the radio, and only one word: "Lotor."

Something cracked inside Matt's chest. It felt… suddenly smooth. Calm. As if his heart was glass. He focused dimly on the viewscreens, on the tiny ship that was left far in the distance - the only thing still alive amidst the wreckage of a battlecruiser and thousands of Galra fighters.

"I don't come to fight you, Altean. As you might have heard, I've been evicted from the Empire and branded a war criminal. You and I want the same thing - peace. I'd like to propose an alliance."

He sounded so… Despite the edge to his voice, Lotor sounded so calm. As if he was somehow still in control, as if the honey in his tone could sweeten the memory of all the terrible things he'd done. As if Voltron would ever consider an alliance with the Galra Prince. Matt wanted to spit, he wanted to scream and rage and break Lotor's face, but the glass in his chest beat like a crystal chime, and instead his voice came out cold and hollow.

Matt could barely even hear himself. "We decline. That's never going to happen."

A soft chuckle, and the glass shattered. Red blurred across Matt's vision. Bile rose in his throat like venom, the rage overpowering his other emotions, stomach revolting against it, too much emotion and stress for his body to handle.

"I would reconsider that response, if you wish your other Blue Paladin returned to you."

Lance. Lance, the man Matt had never met, the mysterious Blue Paladin who wasn't Allura, who was nothing more than just a floating name and painful memory and the shared tears and anguish of the others on dark and quiet nights together. Lance.

Matt couldn't speak, but Coran's voice shook when he did.

"We accept."