Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue

In the Red Lion, the alarms blared consistently, Lance noticing the danger. “Look out! Behind us!” He warned the others. His alert was just in time for them to duck out of the way, avoiding being shot by a massive purple beam of energy. 

Regaining their balance, Keith shouted, “We gotta move!” He realized the extreme urgency of their situation so now, he and Lance inserted their bayards into the keyhole and the Black Lion’s wings transformed into what looked like jet wings. 

They soared through the White Hole at a blistering speed, wanting — needing— to reach Oriande before Honerva could get any more dangerous. This was the final battle, they knew, and this time, it wasn’t just Earth that was in danger, it was the entire universe and all other realities. 

Finally making it to the fantastical place, Voltron was halted in its tracks at the sight before them. 

“She’s draining the Guardian’s quintessence!” Allura screamed in horror. Honerva let out a scream as her eyes turned completely yellow, the White Lion trapped within the sphere started to twist and crack. “No!” 

“No…this can’t be!” Keith gasped out. “Come on, Black! There must be something we can do!” 

Just then, the Guardian disappeared into a bright white light; at the same time, the Black Lion purred to Keith. The Paladin felt its sadness and anger, but there was something else there. 

“What is it, Black?” Keith asked. The bayard in the keyhole lit up, the Lion urging Keith to hold it. Which he did. 

A bright purple light shone in the cockpit, almost blinding Keith. Closing his eyes, he waited until the light subsided before reopening them. When he came to, he saw that he was once more in the Astral Plane. 

The last time Keith had been here it was with the other Paladins, as Allura had the dark entity within her. Using it, they entered the Astral Plane to get into Honerva’s mind and it was truly a scary place to be then. The only other time Keith was here, had been when he faced Shiro’s clone and needed to get back to the others who had been fighting Lotor. 

“Black? Why’d you bring me here?” Keith didn’t know what to do. They were in the middle of a war, and his Lion chose to carry him here? What was Black going to do? Give him consultation without the distraction of outside? 

Just then, he saw the Black Lion come into view, a loud thunderous roar shaking Keith. “I’m sorry, Keith.” 

Keith was shocked. “You…can talk?” While the Lions communicated with their Paladins, it wasn’t like how humans spoke. It was more of understanding their purrs, and the change in their Quintessence than actual speaking. 

“Now is not the time, Paladin.” Black said. “The Guardian of Oriande is being destroyed as we speak, and I’m afraid that from here on out, it’ll be nigh impossible for Voltron to stop her.”

“Then…? Are we all going to die?” Keith asked, trying to mask the fear in his voice but failed. 

For the first time since Black took Keith as his paladin, he’s never heard the young man speak with such fear. Not even when he’s spoken to Red in the earlier days about her fiery paladin had he ever hear her say anything like this about him. He always boundless confidence. 

“Yes. If we don’t do something.” Black said. 

Keith stood frozen in shock. Wasn’t Voltron the strongest weapon in the Universe? Sure, the Paladins weren’t battle hardened warriors like the Paladins of old, but Keith knew his team. And he knew that they have come a far way and have unlocked more of Voltron’s weapons than when they had just started out. So, how would they not be able to beat Honerva? But then, Black’s words came back to him. 

“We? But you said —!”

“With the Quintessence the Guardian has left, there is a task for you.” Black cut him off, knowing what he was coming with. 

As if on cue, the White Lion appeared, though unlike the Black Lion that was clear as day, the Guardian seemed pale and translucent. 

“My Quintessence is almost gone.” It said, the powerful roar shook Keith’s very soul. “So, with the last of my strength, the only way to save me, you, and the entire universe from that Witch is go to back.”

“To the past?” 

“Yes. Then you will have the power to change this future. And kill her before she gets access to Oriande and ends all of us.”

“But I can’t! At least, not by myself! I’ll need back up! You’ll be sending all of the Paladins, right?!”

“No, Black’s cub. I only have the strength for two of you.”

Keith bit his lip. He was going to be sent back to the past, with only one other Paladin. But who? He knew he couldn’t choose Lance, he needed someone really smart, someone like… 

“Send me and Katie. Green’s Paladin.” Keith said. He totally didn’t choose her because she’s his girlfriend. “I’d need help and she’s smart enough to back me up. She can bullshit our way through anything because the others don’t know half of the time what she’s talking about.”

And Keith was right. 

If push comes to shove, Pidge could always lie or make stuff up by throwing in some really complex theories and shit and everyone will buy it because it’s Pidge, the smart Paladin. No one questions her because it’ll just add more to their confusion. 

But then it awakened Keith to a whole new kettle of fish. No matter how far back they’d get sent, Shiro was Black’s Paladin, and as the Black Paladin, everyone listened to him. He was their leader and the plans he has were always good. How would Keith manage to convince Shiro otherwise without a good explanation? Or would they be sent after the battle with Zarkon when Shiro mysteriously disappears? At least that way, when the clone shows up, Keith can always tell them what happened to the real one. But then, Shiro would still be there. His role as their leader wouldn’t change, just that he wouldn’t be flying anymore. 

“It will be done. You and Green’s Paladin will be heading back to the past, to change all this.” The White Lion said.

“But when? Remember, I wasn’t always the leader of Voltron. Red was my original Lion.” 

“Do not worry.” Black said. “I have a strong connection with the cosmos as a whole, just do what you have to Paladin.”

Just then, Keith saw Pidge manifest beside him, confused and dazed. “Keith? What’s going on?”

…

“We have to stop that Witch immediately!” Allura barked out, rage filling her voice. The closer they got to Honerva, Pidge’s sensors picked up incoming threats. 

“Two Robeasts, incoming!” She warned. However, Pidge never got to see the outcome of their encounter with Honerva’s servants. Green’s bayard keyhole emerged, prompting her to insert her weapon. Thinking that it was something to help with the battle, although, she noticed that Keith was strangely silent, she thrust her bayard into its holster without hitch. A faint green light enveloped her cockpit, and when she reopened her eyes, she noticed she was in the Astral Plane. 

With Keith. 

And the Black Lion. 

And the Guardian of Oriande. 

Confused, she asked, “Keith? What’s going on?”

He looked at her with a face she’s never seen him make. “We can’t stop the witch as we are right now.” Keith started; fists clenched at his sides; Pidge sucked in a breath to reiterate but he stopped her. “So Black and the Guardian are sending us to the past, to fix all this.”

“Us? You and me?” She asked, looking around to see the others, but they were absent. She didn’t ask any more questions as she saw the Lion fading. She’s watched many TV shows and cartoons to know that once a living being was fading, it only had couple minutes left of existing, if that much. 

Keith nodded. 

“I wish you all the best, and remember, do anything you have to in order to prevent this.” The White Lion said. 

The Black Lion leaned down to Keith and attempted to rub his cheek on Keith. “I believe in you Paladin, we’ll meet again.” 

Keith placed both his hands on Black, seeming like he was hugging the Lion. "Yeah, see you real soon." He smiled. 

Looking at each other, Keith and Pidge entwined their hands and walked towards the golden light in the distance. They hoped that whichever time in the past they end up, they won’t screw it up. 

Chapter Text

Rewind

When Keith awoke, the first thing he did was examine his surroundings. 

He noticed that he was lying on a worn-out couch, a small table before it with numerous papers thrown about. On the front wall, there was the chart he had made when he “felt the crazy energy” of the Blue Lion after he had gotten expelled from the Garrison. 

He raked a hand through his hair. “Ah shit.” He sighed. This was bad, really bad. Of all the places in time the Black and White Lions chose to send him, it had to be the beginning. When everything started to come together. But that meant…

Keith bolted from his perch and checked the almanac mounted on the left wall. He had roughly three days before Shiro crashed on Earth, but the issue here is something greater. As much as he had wanted to escape it in the previous timeline, Keith realized that for this plan to work, he’d have to be Black’s Paladin from the get-go. But how? 

He remembered the Lion stated that he shouldn’t worry, but really, why shouldn’t he? The Red Lion was second-in-command, but ultimately, the final decision rests with Black’s Paladin, right? 

Keith felt a headache coming on and he wasn’t even in space yet. 

He dragged himself back to the couch to think. Pidge was sent back here as well, but she was in the Garrison. Breaking in would be easy since he was basically a “space-ninja” according to Lance when he was working with the Blades. But he didn’t know which room was Pidge’s. So, the best course of action would be to wait until Pidge finds him out here, or until Shiro crashes and they meet up at the crash site with Lance and Hunk in tow. 

“Sounds like a —” he broke off when he heard a loud banging on his door. Not wanting to be complacent, Keith drew his knife and stood to the left of the door. In case someone — who’s not Pidge— breaks down his door, he can quickly render them unconscious. 

“Oi! Keith! It’s Pid—!”

Keith didn’t wait until she was finished. He swung the door open so quickly, he felt as though he wanted to rip it off the hinges. He embraced her in a warm hug, and of course, there was no way she wasn’t going to return the favour. 

…

Pidge woke up to a familiar room. 

It was her room back at the garrison —there’s no way she’d miss those grey and dreary walls, thank God for her throwing her things all over the place for some semblance of décor. But, Pidge wasn’t in the mood for reminiscing. She was here on a mission and this time around; she was going to make sure that they didn’t go through all the pain and agony that they did the first time.

Quickly gathering some of her things into one of her backpacks —she deliberately left one because she needed to be on the roof that fateful night with Lance and Hunk—she went to her door and peered up and down the hallway. It was night-time, and lights-out wouldn’t be for another ten minutes. 

It gave her all the time she needed, and slipping out of her room, she headed to one of the teachers’ workshops, more specifically, Professor Dale’s. He was one of Hunk’s engineering teachers, and knowing what this man was like, she knew she was bound to find what she was looking for, or something close to it. 

Rounding a corner and making her way into a new hallway, Pidge ducked into a nearby storage room, when she heard loud footsteps approaching and chatter. Realizing it was just a few of the older cadets, she slipped out and darted down the path. A grin stretched on her face as her adrenaline rushed, reminding her of the times in space when they had to infiltrate Galra ships and prison camps. Sneaking around the Garrison would be a piece of cake. 

Making a left turn, Pidge sucked in a breath when she saw Iverson talking with Montgomery. The man seemed to be discussing something serious, given the look on Montgomery’s face and the furrowing of Iverson’s eyebrows whenever the latter spoke. 

Nonetheless, Pidge didn’t care about them. 

If they didn’t need to wait on Shiro’s arrival, Pidge would’ve hauled Lance and Hunk’s asses to Keith’s desert shack and then leave Earth in the Blue Lion by now. But that was not the case. 

Pidge reached the man’s workshop although she had to draw on the few skills that Keith taught her when they had returned to Earth and had defeated Sendak and Honerva’s robeast. Of course, she didn’t wear her trademark outfit, as the orange and green accents would be a dead give-away. And her cadet uniform was worse. 

She worked quickly, scouring the man’s work area for any pieces of equipment that she could use. And after some seconds, she found what she was looking for. It was an old shell of a walkie-talkie, and she rummaged some more for some hardware to put into it. 

She needed these because she doubted Keith had a cellphone or something to contact him with, so right now, these had to suffice. After getting all that she needed, Pidge once more made her way to her room, totally undetected. 

It took Pidge roughly half of an hour to fully assemble and tweak the devices, but she wouldn’t truly know if they worked until she got one to Keith. Glancing at the clock, Pidge saw that she had more time to spare before she went to bed. Sure, by now it was lights off, but the problem was the transport. She could always steal one of the motorbikes, but then she’d have to make sure the tracker is disabled, or rather, check to see if there is a tracker on the thing. 

Pidge smirked. 

Being able to hack into Galra systems and deactivate a virus that nearly destroyed the Castleship and working with the Olkari made her a formidable opponent indeed. She slithered her way down to the vehicle bay where she saw two guards patrolling the perimeter. With a click of the tongue, she waited until one was alone before striking. 

She hid behind one of the cars that she remembered chasing them when they were on Keith’s hoverbike, peering around the vehicle to see where the guard was. When he came closer to her, she crouched low and crept around the car, ending up behind the man. Thanks to Keith’s lessons, she struck the man in his side below his ribs, pushing the air up and out of his body. Wheezing and in pain, the guard fell to the ground, twisting and writhing and Pidge wasted no second in knocking him out. 

“One down.” She murmured as she dragged his body behind the car. She cursed her body’s strength as if she had come back here with her body from the future, this would’ve been nothing. 

Following the same steps as before, Pidge took down the guard and made her way to the motobikes. Whipping out her laptop, she quickly found the tracker, disabled it, and all other things that would make the Garrison know a motorbike was missing. Plus, she couldn’t let them track it to Keith’s shack either. 

So, without any further ado, Pidge took off, the next stop, Keith’s cabin. 

…

The journey was shorter than she remembered. 

Or it could be that the motorbike was faster than Keith’s hoverbike, but then again, at the time, Keith’s hoverbike was carrying five people and here it was she alone. Pulling up within eyeshot of the shack, Pidge dismounted and made her way to the structure, not once did she worry about any desert animal crawling out to attack her. She laughed, being in an intergalactic war that nearly killed her numerous times made her fearless towards the dangers of Earth, she surmised. 

Finally at his door, she banged on the door and shouted, “Oi! Keith! It’s Pid—!”

The door swung open so fast and so strongly that she thought it’s old rotting hinges wouldn’t hold fast. There, Keith stood before her with a look of relief on his face. Why would he look like that? The two of them were in the Astral Plane together, so he knew that she was here in the past with him. But before she could say anything more, he embraced her in a warm hug, burying her face into his chest. 

The times when they could be alone like this in the previous timeline had been scarce, even after everything had cooled down before the Honerva threat, the Paladins still had to be working. Using their Lions, they had helped to rebuild Earth, and once everything was up and running again, the press never let them get any breathing space. 

They had functions to attend, diplomatic shit to do, and since Keith was the head of Voltron, everyone wanted a piece of him. And no matter how hard he tried to escape, it was futile. On their days off, a simple trip to Plaht would turn into a paparazzi disaster. She shuddered at the memory.

And even when they’re on the Garrison, cadets, teachers, everyone would ask them about their adventures in space. Some would go as far as to ask them to take them for a spin in their Lions. Keith would oblige the cadets but only if they managed to beat him in the simulator which never happened, and she would be too busy working on her robot for anyone to ask her.  

She and Keith had been dating since their time in space, and if one were to ask Pidge when it had started, she couldn’t remember. All she knew, she ended up having a crush on him when she witnessed first-hand how awesome he was as a pilot. It had been when Lance had gotten his Lion stolen by Rolo and Nyma, and Keith had to navigate an asteroid belt while avoiding fire from the escaping spacecraft. 

Pidge had always heard Lance say Keith was a piloting monster — Shiro was the god —and seeing it before her eyes, made her take an interest in him. And then the more time she spent around him, the more she realized he was like her. 

Preferred to be alone to work on whatever it was. For her, it was upgrading her Lion or creating a program to translate Galra or learning basic Altean. For him, it was training and trying to bond with the Red Lion even further. 

And he was so awkward that she didn’t even notice he was trying to flirt with her or grab her attention. He’d be in Green’s hangar offering his help or most times when she missed dinner or lunch or eating time in general, he’d carry food to her. He’d let her know when it’s time for bed. And when she was too stubborn, he’d disappear only to reappear with sheets and pillows in order to provide her comfort where she sat. Of course, she’d fall asleep afterwards and he’d have to carry her to her room, or she stays in his lap. 

But once he came out and fessed up, they had been going on dates in the castleship during the night-cycle, each time, Keith would choose a part of the castle they’ve never been before. It was how they’d discover a machine they’d dub the “The Text-style”. It was a play on the word “Textile” she’d come up with and Keith had even joked that she was very “clothes minded”. 

“How’d you get out here?” Keith asked, sounding like a soft murmur against her head. A small smile appeared on Pidge’s face. She had gotten so accustomed to his deeper voice that she forgot what he had sounded like before.

“I stole a motorbike.” She grinned. She looked up and that’s when they both noticed something… strange. 

“Why is your hair white?!” They both screamed at each other. “My hair is white?!” 

Before the scream fest continued, Keith stopped and shifted so that she could enter. He noticed the rather large backpack she had, so Keith quickly took it from her and carried it to the table where he placed it. Then, he went for a square mirror to look at his reflection. 

“Oh shit.” Keith uttered out, he turned to Pidge with a frightened expression on his face. “It is white.”

“That’s what I screamed at you!” Pidge replied, taking a seat on the couch. She raked a hand through her hair, sighed in distress. Keith was still staring in the mirror, and frankly, she couldn’t blame him. She would be staring at herself too. 

“Katie, we have a problem.” Keith said, looking back up from the mirror. When alone, he tended to call her Katie but in front of the others, he always used Pidge. He just couldn’t handle Lance and Hunk’s friendly teasing. 

“What’s th—?” She broke off when Keith came up in her face, as though he wanted to kiss her. 

“You have green Altean markings in your face.” He said, brushing his thumb against her cheek. “As I have red ones.”

“What the…!” Pidge snatched the mirror from Keith and examined herself. Her hairstyle was still the same, but the colour of her hair was white. Resting on her cheeks right below her eyes were the two green Altean markings as Keith had said, but luckily, they were a bit faint. It was probably because of her skin tone coupled with the new hair colour. But Keith's Red markings were blazingly obvious. “What are we going to do?! If Allura and Coran sees us, what’s gonna happen?!”

Keith shrugged. “I have no idea. At least, she’ll tolerate me when she finds out about my Galran heritage.”

Pidge sucked in a breath. “True, she’ll think you’re half-Altean and won’t treat you like shit. After all, Lotor was half-Galra, half-Altean.” She fiddled with her fingers before asking, “What do you think caused this? Is it because the Guardian of Oriande sent us back here? Some of its quintessence got mixed up with ours or someshit?”

“Sounds better than what I thought.”

“What did you think?”

“Nothing.”

“Keith!” She gave him a playful punch on his shoulder before bursting into laughter. Keith descended into chuckles as well, playfully pouting and rubbing his arm where she had punched. Keith then got up to place back the mirror and now that she had a chance to look around, she realized that the shack had what seemed like computer equipment in the left-hand corner. She hadn’t noticed when Keith had come up to stand behind her, she was so immersed in the hardware that she let out a shriek. 

“Oh my God!” 

“What is it?” 

“These are still functional!” Pidge practically dived into the bag Keith set down on the table and pulled out her laptop. Keith never knew a thing about software and hardware, so he didn’t even bother to ask. Her finger flew over the keys so fast, Keith letting out a chuckle. If life had been normal without hostile alien races, he wondered what texting Pidge would’ve been like. 

He was taken out of his thoughts when he heard Pidge call out to him. “What is it?” He asked. 

“These are connected to Earth’s channels…” she started, pointing to the ones on top. “…and these, are connected to outer space.”

Keith whistled. 

In the previous timeline, Keith had tried to see what they were, but even then, he gave up and left them alone. Scooting beside her, he watched her work on her laptop with her headphones on, trying to see if she could connect to them. 

“So…can you use them to hear Galra stuff?” He asked, resting his chin on her shoulder. There wasn’t a response from her immediately, but the way her brows furrowed, and eyes narrowed, Keith knew she was up to something and didn’t disturb her. A minute passed before he heard something from her again. 

“Keith. Pass me the book in my bag. And a pen or something.” She said. Pidge didn’t move from her spot, not even turning to look at Keith. Wordlessly he gave her what she asked for and watched as she furiously scribbled into the book. In the previous timeline, she hadn’t heard this. 

« Commander Sendak, the prisoners have caused another uproar, should I dispose of the troublesome duo? »

« No. They were entertaining in the gladiator pits, send them back there since they have so much energy to spend. Then continue focussing on finding the Blue Lion. I have already located the Red Lion and am heading there as we speak. »

« Yes Sir! Vrepit Sa! »

The transmission ended and she took off her headphones, turning to face Keith. She remembered his earlier question and answered, “Yes. Way clearer than the equipment I built back at the Garrison.”

Keith hummed, nodding. “So, what did you hear? Did you even hear anything at all?”

Pidge chewed on her lower lip. “Yes, I did. Sendak found the Red Lion, and a ship is going to search for the Blue Lion.” Keith gasped. “But that’s not all, two prisoners are apparently ‘giving trouble’ so they’re going to be sent back to the gladiator pits.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think one of these prisoners is your brother, do you?”

“Matt can’t fight to save his life.” Pidge laughed. “I’m just worried that it’s Shiro. If he gets sent back to wherever these pits are, will he even arrive on Earth?”

“We have three days, Katie.” Keith said, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. “So, while we wait for Shiro’s arrival, we could always keep listening to the radio chatter, and prepare for the long journey ahead.”

“I was thinking we do some shopping. I don’t want to eat food goo. At least Hunk can mix Earth cuisine with alien dishes to feed us.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Keith grinned. “Gonna max out my bank card then.”

Pidge smirked, “I can help with that.”

…

…

In a galaxy far away, on planet Arus, deep within a castle that rested there was a massive Black Lion, sealed away for ten thousand years. However, for a brief moment, it’s yellow eyes flickered on, illuminating the darkness. 

Chapter Text

Restructure

Keith returned Pidge to the Garrison, she opted to leave the motorbike out in the desert since she didn’t have anywhere to park it. But before the two parted ways, they made a list of things to buy for the trip into space, although Pidge said that she’ll try to ask Hunk for all the food items. As it was, she wasn’t close to Lance nor Hunk, so asking the latter male for food items for a trip would be odd, hence she’ll try . So, for now, Keith was once more left alone in the desert cabin, with only a walkie-talkie to converse to Pidge with. 

Before, he had always felt lonely, but it hadn’t impacted him as much as it did now. Remembering the times spent out in space, Keith let out a heavy sigh. As much as the war was terrifying, Keith loved being out there. The thrill and adrenaline that came from piloting either of his Lions, the great view of the stars and other planets, but most importantly, the family he’s made while on the Castleship. He missed them. He missed them so much that he was tempted to sneak in the Garrison just to see how they were doing. 

“Damn…” Keith groaned out, knowing that he had a whole three days of this to endure. Shiro’s arrival couldn’t come any sooner. At least shopping will take his mind off all this. 

…

…

“So, what do we have?” Pidge asked, holding a clipboard, placing a pen behind her ear. It was now late evening on their second day of returning to the past. After Keith had gone shopping, he deposited the goods in his cabin and then headed to the Garrison to pick Pidge up. Over their walkie-talkie, they spoke in codes in case somehow the Garrison were listening in on their conversations. As a matter of fact, they spoke as though they were cadets and were planning their romantic meetings on the Garrison’s grounds. 

 Keith was crouched low in front of a large garbage bag filled with goods when he replied, “Let’s start with the food items.” He said, rummaging through the bag. With every canned, frozen, boxed, or jarred item he pulled out of the bag, Pidge ticked them off her list.  There was a myriad of foods —fruits, vegetables, pastas, sauces, cooking oil and condiments, spices, salt, pepper and strangely, teas. Even other things such as cake mixes were there. 

In the previous timeline, they had only carried the clothes on their backs, in Pidge’s case, she had managed to carry a few pieces of equipment that was in her bag. So, they decided, not this time around. With these food stuffs, they figured Hunk could always spice up the alien ingredients he’d find on a planet, and not have them eat food-goo all the time. 

“So, we got a great deal of stuff.” Pidge hummed. “What else?”

“I know how much you love games, so I bought something for you.” Keith said with a blush. He pulled out the game and a console, remembering her story of how she and Lance had to scrape out a fountain in the space mall to be able to buy it. 

“Keith…” Pidge gasped out, tearing up. “...you’re the best boyfriend ever!”

The young man chuckled. “I try.” He then pulled out a few more, a deck of cards and a board game —Monopoly. 

“So, is this all we need?” She asked with a raised brow. She noticed that there were more things in the bag and decided to leave the question hanging.

“Yes. We can always find the Textstyle and make some clothes. Remember, I don’t know the others’ sizes and there were some spare clothes here for Shiro.”

"Oh. Right."

Keith pulled out another item, a faint blush appearing on his face. "I heard how you said Altean, uh, female stuff was strange and odd, so I bought some for you…"

Pidge let out a gasp and realized that Keith bought her pads. With a shaking hand, she took it, and broke out into a warm smile. It was true that Altean ones were strange, they were good, but odd. She didn’t understand how to use them quite well, and no matter how much Allura showed her, she would still be uncomfortable. 

“I don’t know if this is the brand that you’d use but I spoke with the store clerk and she said that these were the best so I —” Keith broke off when Pidge threw herself onto him, embracing him in a tight hug. 

“Thank you so much, Keith.” She whispered in his ear. “Thank you so, so, so much.” She released him and gave him a peck on his lips. 

“Sure, anything for you.” Keith said, returning her peck. He snaked his arms around her waist, holding her in place. As quickly as he did so, he planted a chaste kiss on Pidge’s lips —it was the most endearing and sensuous kiss she had ever gotten. After breaking apart, Keith locked eyes with Pidge and pressed their foreheads together. The two broke out in chuckles but remained in that position for a little while longer. 

Then, the two repacked the items into a suitcase he’d bought as well, quoting that there was no way he'd walk in the desert with a giant backpack or a plastic bag with all this. A suitcase was sturdier, and he could lie his way with it. 

“What are we going to do with these Altean markings in our faces?” Pidge asked, making Keith halt. “I was thinking make-up but then I know that we both sweat so…no.”

Keith grinned. “I have bandaids.”

Pidge rolled her eyes and sighed, “That’s just asking for them to notice!”

“Not if we use the tiny ones we’d get after an injection.” Keith smirked and showed Pidge the pack of adhesives. They really were tiny and given their skin tone, they could blend right in. “We can use these until we find a way into Oriande.”

Pidge grinned. “And then, we’ll have our excuse of having Altean markings.”

“Exactly.”

…

…

At long last, the fateful day had arrived. Keith made sure to double check all there was to, keeping his walkie-talkie on his person. This day was one in which he couldn’t miss Pidge’s calls. This was the day that Shiro would arrive and then following, they’d find the Blue Lion and leave. 

Keith sat in his couch after he’d done his task and let out a sigh. He never wanted Pidge to know, but he was terrified. Since he knew most things that will happen in the future, he was afraid that he’ll miss it up and make things worse. He was so afraid. Back in the previous timeline when he was blindly going into the heat of war, he knew things were dangerous, but back then, he didn’t know exactly how dangerous they were. But now, having been through all of it, Keith was definitely terrified. 

“Damn, now I know how Hunk feels.” He let out a chuckle. He stretched, placing his feet on the table before the couch and yawned. He decided to get a quick nap because after tonight, he won’t be sleeping soon. 

…

…

“Red, do you copy?” Pidge said into her walkie-talkie. “Over.”  

“I’m here, Green.” Keith replied. “Over.”  

“I’m about to turn in, is everything okay? Over.”

“Affirmative. Over.”

“Alright. Let’s rendezvous in a couple of vargas. Remember, I’ll have Blue and Yellow with me. Over.”

“I’ll be waiting then. Over.”

Pidge ended the transmission and prepared to go out. This was what she and Keith had come up, speaking the opposite of what they meant to do. And to throw the Garrison off (if there was someone picking up their transmissions), they added a little teenage rom-com to it, making them seem like horny love struck teenagers who meet up in the cafeteria at nights. 

Like in the past, Pidge packed her backpack and snuck out of her room, and this time, even though she looked up and down the hallway for people like Iverson, she managed to catch a glimpse of Lance and Hunk who slipped behind the wall. A small smirk appeared on her face, glad that everything was going according to the original timeline. 

She finally reached the roof, where she set up her equipment, just to lure in Lance and Hunk. At this point, she knew she had to do everything by the books, because one slip and it might mean things will get thrown out of whack. Keith wasn’t here with her to back her up, so she had to get Lance and Hunk to the crash site no matter what. Putting on her headphones and listening to the alien chatter, Pidge awaited the others’ arrival. 

“So, you came here to rock out?” Lance said, whispering in her ear. Pidge wasn’t really frightened since she’s been through this before, but she acted like she was. In her periphery, she saw Hunk crawling on his fours to her equipment. 

“Oh, Lance, Hunk.” She said, fixing her glasses. “No, um, just looking at the stars.”

“Where’d you get this stuff? It doesn’t look like Garrison tech.” Lance asked. 

“I built it.” Pidge said smugly. She still felt that swell of pride at her accomplishment. 

“You built all of this?” Hunk asked as he inched closer to her equipment. Quickly, she swatted away his hands.

“Stop it. With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.” She boasted. 

“That’s right? All the way to Kerberos?” Lance asked with a teasing face. Pidge rolled her eyes at him. “You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What’s your deal?”

Hunk then inched closer, touching more of Pidge’s equipment. The young girl’s face flared. “Second warning Hunk!”

“Look, Pidge, if we’re going to bond as a team, we can’t have any secrets.” Lance said, folding his arms.  

“Fine. The world as you know it is about to change.” Pidge didn’t hitch. It was what she had been waiting on and was tempted to burst everything out from the get-go. “The Kerberos Mission wasn’t lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake.” Catching Hunk’s finger hovering dangerously close to her equipment she exploded, “Stop touching my equipment!”

Hunk gave up and laid on the ground. 

“So, I’ve been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter.”

“Whoa. What? Aliens?” Hunk was terrified. 

“Okay. So, you’re insane. Got it.” Lance was not convinced. He sounded like he was about to give up on her. 

“I’m serious!” Pidge snapped. She couldn’t let them leave. Not now. “They keep repeating one word, ‘Voltron’.” She even had her notebook with some less than expertly drawn diagrams on the paper. “And tonight, it’s going crazier than I have ever heard it.”

“How crazy?” Lance asked. 

But Pidge never got to reply as Iverson’s voice sounded over the intercom, “Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: all students are to remain in barracks until further notice.”

Hunk rose to his feet. “What’s going on?” His eyes then caught something in the sky. “Is that a meteor?” Lance and Pidge’s eyes looked in the direction he pointed. “A very, very big meteor?”

Pidge grabbed her binoculars and said, “It’s a ship!” She tried to hide the glee in her voice and hoped that Lance nor Hunk realized it. Throughout their travels in space, she’s found that Lance was pretty perceptive when it came onto certain things. 

“Holy cow!” Lance shrieked, grabbing the binocular and Pidge to look at the ship. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing! That’s not one of ours!”

“It’s one of theirs.” Pidge replied, the smirk was so obvious. 

“So, wait. There really are aliens out there?” Hunk asked, hands trembling. The trio’s eyes watched the ship, following it until it crashed in the distance. 

The Garrison’s vehicles lit up and drove out, not noticing the teens atop the roof. 

“We’ve got to see that ship!” Pidge chirped. Both she and Lance ran off, the latter urging Hunk to follow.

“Oh, this is the worst team-building exercise ever.” Hunk grumbled but still followed. 

The trio managed to make it close to the crash site but hid as they didn’t want to be caught by staff or their instructors. While Pidge set up her equipment, Lance had the binoculars and was examining the area. Like the Loverboy he said he was, Lance’s eyes were on the female officers, it was so irritating that Pidge had to give him a punch on the arm to get him back on track. 

Whipping out her walkie-talkie, Pidge contacted Keith. “Red, are you there? Over.” 

“Red. Here. Over.” Keith replied within a split second later. 

“Something happened and we’re on lockdown. What do you think it is? I’m here sitting and waiting for some answers. Over.” Pidge said. This was her cue telling Keith that they had arrived. 

“Oh. I’m here waiting for the fireworks.” Keith chuckled. “Over.”

“Good. Meet you in a few doboshes. Over.”

Pidge ended the transmission, Lance and Hunk looking at her questioningly. Who was this “Red” that she was speaking to? But before they could ask, Pidge said, “I grabbed a camera feed that they had set-up, let’s look what they’re hiding.”

The inside showed personnel in hazmat suits, and a man strapped to an examination table. However, Pidge let out a startled gasp. Instead of Shiro being on that table, it was her big brother, Matthew Holt. 

“That’s my brother.” Pidge voiced out in shock. Lance and Hunk did a double take before refocussing to the feed. Pidge on the other hand, was confused. How was Matt here? Where was Shiro? 

“What are you guys doing?!” Matt’s voice was strong and laced with venom. He struggled against the restraints but didn’t break free. “We don’t have time for this!” 

“Calm down, Matthew.” The voice was Iverson’s. The trio recognized it. “We need to keep you in quarantine to run some tests.”

“We don’t have time for that! There are aliens coming here for a weapon called Voltron! We have to find it before they do! And get back Shiro and my father!” 

“Why aren’t they listening to him?” Lance asked. “Wasn’t he on the Kerberos Mission with Shiro?”

“Yes, he was.” Pidge replied. She then whipped out her walkie-talkie and gotten Keith. “Red, slight change of plans. Over.”

“Green? What? How slight? Over.”

“It’s still on, but when you see it, you’ll know. Over.” 

“Roger. Over.” 

“We have to get him out.” Pidge said, putting away her walkie-talkie. “I’ll answer your questions later, but right now, we need my brother out of there.” 

“I hate to be the voice of reason, always,” Hunk started, rising to his feet, “but weren’t we watching TV because there was no way to pass the guards?”

“That was before we were properly motivated.” Lance answered. “We’ve just got to think. Could we tunnel in?”

“Or we dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary —” He looked at his teammates with a smirk, “little late night-snack.”

“No. What we need is a distraction.” Lance said, looking around for some inspiration. 

As if on cue, multiple explosions went off around the crash site. 

“Is that the aliens?! Is that the aliens?!” Hunk shrieked. “Are they here? They got here so quick?!”

“No, my partner in crime is here. Let’s go.” Pidge said, moving off towards the crash site. In the faint distance, there was a little blue dot closing in. “The plan is to have the Garrison head towards the blast, and then sneak in from the other side.” She explained. 

“No way! Oh, he is not going to beat us there!” Lance said, taking the binoculars in time to see Keith hopping off his hoverbike. “That guy is always trying to one-up me!”

“Who is it?” Hunk asked. 

“Keith!” Lance answered. 

Hunk ran off asking, “Are you sure?!”

“Oh, I’d recognize that mullet anywhere!” 

They slid down a slope and ran towards the site. 

…

…

Keith was worried. 

When Pidge contacted him and told him that there was a slight change in their plans, he couldn’t help it. How slight was this change? And how much of a big impact would it have on their overall plans? So, remembering what he did in the previous timeline, Keith set off the bombs at the right time, and then went closer on his hoverbike. For now, he acted as though he wasn’t working with Pidge and headed straight into the area. Entering through the front, Keith navigated his way down the straight corridor, drawing his Blade knife and knocking out anyone who dared to stand in his way. Upon reaching the final door, Keith busted the lock, forcing the doors to slide open. Putting his Blade skills to use, Keith hid upon opening, and when the men in the hazmat suits guards were down, he struck. 

Neither of the men knew what hit them. 

Dashing towards the examination table, Keith noticed that the man on the table was not Shiro. He had shoulder length brown hair with a scar on his left cheek. With a gasp, Keith recognized this face. It was Pidge’s brother, Matthew. Shoving his shock aside to get the work done, Keith cut the man free and threw one of his arms over his shoulder. 

“Lance should be coming in anytime now.” Keith muttered. But he didn’t wait. Keith carried Matt out into the hallway, knowing that this was a one way in, one way out kind of situation. So, he had to encounter the cadets. It was when he reached the middle of the hallway that he saw the trio bolting towards him and a sigh of relief escaped his lips. 

“Nope. No, you —no, no no. No, you don’t. I’m saving Matt.” Lance said, taking Matt’s other arm. But then he took notice of Keith’s white hair. “What the hell happened to your hair? Bleached it?”

“Electrocution.” Keith deadpanned. But he didn’t have time for this. “Let’s go before they come back.” He then looked to Pidge and Hunk, “You two, go guard our exit. Keep an eye out for the Garrison until we make it to the hoverbike.”

With a nod, Pidge and Hunk ran off and did what Keith instructed, Lance raising an eyebrow at the other male’s behaviour. Keith was never like this, was he? 

While Hunk and Pidge ran off to secure their exit, Lance and Keith carried Matt to the hoverbike. And this time, they acted quicker, so by the time the Garrison were coming back, the quintet, having packed up on the hoverbike, made their clean getaway. 

…

…

Reaching the cabin, Keith and Hunk gently laid Matt on the bed in the other room. Pidge and Lance were sitting on the couch, the tension so thick one could cut it with a knife. With every second, Lance stole a glance in Pidge’s direction, seeing her bounce her leg up and down impatiently. She chewed on her thumbnail, eyes having a surprised look in them. 

Well, Lance couldn’t blame her. 

Her brother, who the entire world believed to be dead had returned. And looking rather like a battle-hardened warrior with a cyborg arm to boot. His clothing was enough to tell them that he had been through hell. 

Lance was taken out of his thoughts when Hunk and Keith returned, the taller male looking spooked. 

“Ka—Pidge.” Keith started, not knowing what to say to her. In the previous timeline, she had to put finding her family on the backburner in favour of defending the universe. 

“So, is anyone gonna tell me why Matthew Holt arrived back here in an alien ship?” Hunk asked. “I’m glad he isn’t dead in space after all, but still.”

Keith replied, dropping himself down into the couch next to Pidge. “We’d like to know the same thing.” It wasn’t a lie, it should’ve been Shiro on that ship like the previous timeline, but somehow, Matt took his place. Then, Keith wondered if the Black Lion had anything to do with this. Before he and Pidge were sent back here, the Lion told him not to worry about becoming his Paladin, is this what he had meant?

Lance stood up and folded his arms, taking Keith out of his deep thoughts. “What I wanna know is how you two know each other and why both of you got white hair from electrocution.”

Keith looked to Pidge as if to say, your excuse is the same? But, even so, Pidge looked up at Lance and Hunk. 

“Keith is my boyfriend and the only one who didn’t think I was crazy when I talked about aliens.” She answered. 

“And we officially met on the day of the Kerberos Launch. Shiro is like a big brother to me.” Keith added, totally ignoring the looks of absolute shock at the revelations. Lance looked as though he was seeing a ghost. 

“Keith…is your boyfriend?” He echoed, dumbstruck. 

“Holy crow! I didn’t know that you…” Hunk started but trailed off. “…must’ve been love at first sight, huh?”

Pidge and Keith exchanged glances before bursting with laughter. The latter threw his head over the top of the couch, while Pidge covered her face with both hands. 

“Love at first sight?! How hilarious!” Pidge shrieked. This lightened her mood, taking her mind off her brother for a little bit. 

“Our relationship isn’t like that found in TV shows and shit.” Keith came out of his laughing fit and simmered into chuckles. “You know what, let’s get some sleep. We can talk about this tomorrow when we’re fresher.”

Pidge got up and stretched and then she headed into the room where Matt was. Keith then said, “You guys can have the couch. I’ll just make a bed somewhere here.”

Hunk and Lance looked to each other. 

“Who’s gonna take the couch?” Hunk asked. 

Lance smiled. “We both can.” 

Keith returned with three sheets and threw two to Hunk and Lance. Following his lead, Hunk sat beside Lance, covered himself with the sheet and leaned with his back on Lance’s, both males’ feet were over the arm of the couch. They leaned to the back of the couch to prevent them from falling. 

With a smile, Keith refocussed on his task, creating a makeshift bed by the table. And like that, the five drifted off into sleep. 

Chapter Text

Restructure Pt. II

Keith went out for some fresh air, trying to wrap his head around this new turn of events. Matthew Holt was here. Matthew Holt was the one who crashed on Earth instead of Shiro. That leaves him with the question, where was Shiro? Why was Matthew here instead of him? What happened out there?

Just then, he heard footsteps approaching. He turned around and saw Pidge walking towards him, with a solemn look on her face.

“Katie, you okay?” He asked, meeting her midway.

“I’m not.” She replied, burying her face in his chest. “I…I’m glad that Matt is here but, I’m worried. What happened to Shiro? It’s not like I’m not glad that my brother is here but…”

Keith rubbed circles in her back in an attempt to calm her down. He wanted to reassure her that everything will be okay. “Just like how you found your brother previously, we’ll find Shiro. I doubt he’s dead.”

“But Keith…Shiro isn’t as smart as Matt who can hack into stuff and create codes to leave all over the place!” Pidge shouted, eyes welling with water. “He’s a great leader and a fighter! Where are we gonna find a person like him!?”

Keith had to admit, she did have a point, but he kept his cool. “There it is. That’s the biggest clue to where he could be. If he did escape like Matt, maybe he’s with some resistance group.” Keith added, “I doubt he’ll be with the Blades but…”

Pidge finally calmed down. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, her face took on a look of fierce determination. Keith embraced her in a tight hug this time, the early morning sun just peeping over the horizon. Neither of them slept for long, even Lance and Hunk demanded answers from the two —they wanted to know why it seemed as though the duo knew about what was going to happen last night. Their questions were answered, Pidge stating that they had kept in touch from the launch and when she started to listen alien chatter, she contacted Keith.

Luckily, the two bought the story, after all, it does sound plausible.

“So, should we —” Pidge broke off when she heard shouting.

“Pidge! Keith!” Lance called out from the doorway. “Matt’s awake!”

With a grin, Pidge bolted towards the cabin, Keith trailing behind. Entering the structure, Pidge’s eyes lit up when she saw her brother sitting on the couch, drinking water to hydrate himself.

“Matt!” She shrieked and flung herself onto him, the two went tumbling to the floor. “It’s good to have you back.”

With a laugh, Matt replied, “It’s good to be back. How’d you get out here…” The words died on his lips when he noticed Pidge’s hair. “…what happened to your hair!?”

“Let’s not go into details right now.”

The two rose to their feet, Matt turning to face Hunk and Lance. Stretching a hand out for a shake, he said, “Thanks for helping my sister rescue me.”

Hunk and Lance exchanged glances before spluttering, “Pidge is a girl!?” The two stared at her for what seemed to be an eternity, unable to see it. Well, maybe, her height should have indicated something, but at the same time, people’s heights varied all the time. Men weren’t always tall and females weren’t always short.

Matt laughed and threw a hand over her shoulder. “I think I can understand what happened here.” He smirked down on her.

“Can we just not talk about this now?” Pidge groaned out.

“Yeah, how about you tell us about the aliens?” Keith asked, changing the subject. “By the way, what happened out there? Where’s Shiro and your father?”

Matt released Pidge and let out a sigh. His eyes were downcast, his hands forming a fist at his sides. “I don’t remember everything, it’s all bits and pieces. I know because Dad was smart, he was sent somewhere else, Shiro and I had to fight in the gladiator pits.”

Lance and Hunk let out horrified gasps, Pidge and Keith’s eyes narrowed. The latter remembered Pidge telling him that Matt couldn’t fight to save his life, so how was he able to survive? But Keith didn’t ask, he kept his mouth shut until Matthew was ready.

“And if it wasn’t for Shiro, I’d be dead.” Matt continued. “He taught me how to fight, how to rely on instincts instead of my smarts.” He looked up and met their gazes. “It’s a whole different ball game out there, what I was used to on Earth had to be discarded.”

“Matt…” Pidge said, placing a hand on his shoulder. She didn’t complete the sentence, Matt already knowing what she meant.

“Sorry to break up this tender moment but, back to the aliens. Where are they now?” Hunk quickly asked. “Are they coming? Are they coming for us? Where are they at this very moment?”

Pidge looked at Keith and nodded. The young man walked towards the front wall of the cabin and pulled off the sheet that was hiding his work. “You guys should see this.” He said.

“What’s this?” Matt asked, going up closer to inspect the diagrams and pictures.

“I can’t explain it, really.” Keith said, he wore a calm expression. “After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kind of lost and found myself drawn out to this place. It’s like something…some energy was telling me to search.”

“For what?”

“Well, I didn’t really know at the time, until I stumbled across this area.” Keith then pointed to an area on the map that he had on the wall. “It’s an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings.”

Matt moved closer to the board and looked at the pictures. All of them had one thing in common, they showed a Blue Lion.

“Each tells a slightly different story about a Blue Lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night.” Keith continued. He then looked at Matt. “Then, you showed up.”

“I wonder…is this the Voltron that they’re looking for?” Matt said out loud to no one in particular.

“Voltron?” Lance asked, going closer to look at the pictures. “You’ve been doing some great detective work here Keith.”

“Shut up.”

“I can’t really put it together. It’s some kind of weapon they’re looking for, but I don’t know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do.” Matt answered Lance.

“Well, last night, I was rummaging through Pidge’s stuff, and I found this picture.” Hunk said while looking through Pidge’s bag. “I thought it was him and his girlfriend but then I remembered that Pidge is a girl, so the boy must’ve been Matt.” The tanned male pulled out a photo and smiled.

“Hey! Give me that!” Pidge snatched the photo and held it gingerly. She wasn’t angry like the first time it happened, but she made sure to secure this photo. “What were you doing in my stuff?”

“I was looking for a candy bar. But then, I started reading her diary.” Hunk replied.

“What?!” Pidge grabbed the book from Hunk who seemed unperturbed at the action. There were some things that she scratched down from future events, and she prayed that he didn’t notice anything. She shot Keith a worried look, but he mouthed a ‘calm down’ to her. Lance noticed their interaction but said nothing.

“I noticed the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line.” Hunk started up again.

“Frown who?” Keith asked, just to keep up with the original timeline’s dialogue.

“It’s a number describing the emission spectrum of an element, only this element doesn’t exist on Earth. I thought it might be this Voltron.” He explained. “I think I can build a machine to look for it, like a Voltron Geiger counter.”

“Hunk, you big, gassy genius!” Lance said, amazed.

“It’s pretty fascinating, really. The wavelength looks like this.” Hunk pulled out a piece of paper from his pants pocket and opened it.

“Hey, let me see that?” Keith asked, unlike the previous time when he grabbed the paper. Hunk handed him the paper and he walked back to the board. He placed it against one of the pictures that had a canyon on it, and they all seemed to notice something. The lines on the paper matched the shape of the mountains.

“I think we found it.” Keith gasped out. He then looked to Hunk, and said, “We’re gonna need that Geiger counter. Can you build it today?”

Hunk smirked. “It’ll be easy.”

“I can help out.” Pidge said. “Matt, you go get some rest. I have a feeling this is gonna get crazy.”

“But I can help too…” Matt pouted.

While the three were off building the Geiger counter, Keith and Lance were left alone. The latter male didn’t know what to say to Keith. He was supposed to be his rival, but the Keith that Lance knew wasn’t anywhere to be found. This white-haired Keith was calm and collected and was Pidge’s boyfriend. He didn’t even think Keith was capable of love.

“Thanks for helping back there.” Keith started.

“Huh?”

Keith sighed. “Thanks for coming when you did. To be honest, I wouldn’t have been able to drive the hoverbike and keep Matt safe. So, thanks.”

Lance looked dumbfounded. “Oh, yeah, sure.” He uttered out. “Aren’t you supposed to be hot headed? And have behavioural issues?”

Keith laughed. “Where the hell did that come from?”

“No, I mean. It’s what I hear at the Garrison and well, we were in the same class, remember?”

“Yes, I do remember, Lance.” Keith said, emphasizing his name. “You were a cargo pilot. Did you make it to fighter class now?”

Lance smiled, it was small and not at all like the cocky grin that Keith was used to. “Yeah, thanks to you washing out.”

“Well, congratulations.”

The two continued their little chat until Hunk came and announced that the Geiger counter was ready, Keith immediately turned on his “leader persona”. With swift instructions —Pidge and Hunk were to ride the motorbike that she had stolen from the Garrison, while the others followed behind them on the hoverbike—the quintet left for the Blue Lion.

Keith loaded the suitcase into a compartment of the hoverbike, when the others asked, he simply replied that he didn’t know how long this journey was going to last for. Seeing how this could lead to something else, Pidge quickly changed the subject, and within no time, the quintet was leaving the cabin. Since the motorbike was parked a distance away from the cabin, Keith carried Hunk and Pidge to the motorbike, and when they were settled, the group sped off to the mountains in the distance.

…

…

The journey took about an hour, faster than the previous timeline as they had walked then. Reaching the area, they dismounted off their vehicles and continued the journey on foot. Hunk had one piece of the Geiger counter in his hand, while Matt carried the rest. Keith had his suitcase, and Pidge had her backpack that she had carried to Keith’s cabin on the first night of returning.

They walked for fifteen minutes until they came upon a cave. Entering it, they noticed the various Lion markings on the walls, and when Lance cleared the dust off one marking, everything in the cave lit up into a beautiful blue colour. The ground beneath the quintet then caved in, three of the five screaming in fear as they slid down the tunnel in water.

Coming to a halt at the end of the tunnel, that’s when they saw it.

Before them was the Blue Lion of Voltron, it’s particle barrier up.

“Is this it? Is this the Voltron?” Hunk asked.

“It must be.” Matt replied. “I’m sure humans aren’t capable of building something like this.”

“This is what’s been causing all of this crazy energy out there.” Keith walked towards the Lion. He then stole a glance at Lance and couldn’t help the sinking feeling in his gut. Maybe he was worried for no reason, but since Matt was here, Keith started to think that maybe the Blue Lion would choose him instead of Lance. And that would leave them with another issue when it’s time to retrieve the Red Lion. But then again, Matt has fought in the gladiator pits, so maybe his personality was changed by his time spent there.

“Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?” Lance asked, walking in a zig-zag to prove his point. Keith was taken out of his thoughts by this comment and heaved a sigh of relief.

“No.” Pidge replied with a sigh.

“Yeah, the eyes are totally following me.” Lance said again, continuously walking in the zig-zag.

Reaching to the barrier, Keith placed his hands on it and said, “I wonder how we get through this.” He said it while looking at Lance as if prompting the male to do something.

“Maybe you just have to knock.” Lance said. He then knocked on the barrier, the Lion’s eyes glowed yellow for a moment before the barrier was lowered. Keith let out a sigh of relief, Pidge entwined her fingers with his and gave a small squeeze.

“You need to look surprised.” She whispered.

“I know, but I was worrying that maybe Blue will choose Matt instead of Lance.” Keith replied.

“Well, even if that was the case, it’ll still be us piloting Voltron.”

“True.”

There was a bright light from the ground, of which the ornate markings lit up, unlike Matt and Hunk, Lance didn’t scream. Instead, he seemed just mildly surprised and then, the scene of all five Voltron lions flying upwards into the sky and then making the giant robot appeared. However, Voltron wielded a flaming sword.

“Whoa.” They all voiced out. Even though they’ve been through this before, it still never ceased to amaze Keith and Pidge.

“Uh, did everyone just see that?” Lance asked, hoping that he wasn’t hallucinating.

“Voltron is a robot. Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!” Hunk said with too much energy.

“And this thing is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are.” Pidge added like she did in the first timeline.  

“This is what they’re looking for.” Matt breathed out in awe.

The Lion then moved, lowering its head, opening its mouth and unfolding its ramp, right at Lance. The boy was slack-jawed. Coming out of his initial shock, Lance entered the beast, the others following. And of course, Matt had one of Pidge’s backpacks, she carried the other one, Keith held onto his suitcase like it was the second most important thing in the universe.

When they were all in, they saw multiple holo-screens before Lance, the young man pressing a few buttons, getting the Lion into gear.

“Okay guys, I feel the need to point out, just so that we’re all aware.” Hunk started. "We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now."

“Yes, we know, Hunk.” Keith replied. “And we’re probably gonna go find the rest.” He mumbled the last part, Pidge wearing a small smile on her face.

“Are the rest of them on Earth?” Matt asked. “I really hope.”

Pidge didn’t reply neither did Keith because as far as Lance, Hunk and Matt knew, they were just as clueless. Lance then flew out of the cave, Hunk and Matt doing most of the screaming. Keith and Pidge’s screams were more subdued, but they couldn’t help but let out a few shrieks and squeaks at Blue’s joy of being free after ten thousand years.

In the previous timeline, Lance had told them that he wasn’t the one making Blue fly so reckless on Earth. The Lion was glad to finally be out in the open. Soon, they were flying to the upper atmosphere and not before long, they were out in space.

“It says there’s an alien ship heading towards Earth.” Lance said when Matt asked where he was going.

Hunk shrieked in fright, even suggesting that they hand the Lion over to the aliens and hopefully, they’ll leave Earth alone. Matt was quick to reply.

“You don’t get it. They’re like cancer, spreading and destroying everywhere they go.”

“Which means, we can’t let them have the Voltron.” Keith added. He then looked down at Lance. “Lance, keep on the alert for that alien ship. As soon as you see it, you take it out or lead it away from Earth.”

Lance turned and looked at him, “Who died and made you leader?” He said with a smirk. Keith stiffened, remembering when Shiro had died, and he had to become the Black Paladin. “Yes, Captain. I hear you.” He joked.

Not a moment later, a Galra battlecruiser exited from the hyperdrive and appeared in front of them. Hunk, scared out of his wits, exclaimed, “Holy crow! Is that really an alien ship?!” 

“Lance! Do some damage!” Keith instructed. Pidge doubled her lips to not burst out laughing, Keith’s leader side was coming out quite strongly and he hadn’t even noticed.

“I…” Lance started but then the Lion purred to him again, and more confidently, he said, “I think I know what to do!” He pushed one of the controls forwards, and a beam of energy shot from the Lion’s mouth towards the ship, running across the entirety of the side of it. Then, Lance went in closer, using the claws of Blue for added damage while he dodged the lasers aimed at them.

The area exploded in orange and yellow, Keith placing a hand on his shoulder. “Good job. Now get us out of here!”

Without a word Lance steered the Lion away from Earth and the ship, going deeper into space. Looking at their new surroundings, Matt let out a gasp, “There’s Kerberos!” He exclaimed. “It took us months to get out here! And we were out here in what?”

“Five seconds.” Pidge replied.

“Shit.” Matt raked a hand through his hair and sighed, “We definitely can’t let them get the rest of the Lions.”

Just then, a wormhole appeared before them, Lance turning to look at Keith. “The Lion wants us to go through it. What do we do?”

Keith looked at Matt and said, “I agree with the Lion, but Matt, you’re the most senior one of us here. What do you think?”

Matt laughed. “Full thrust ahead.” He grinned. “It should be a no-brainer, we have one Lion, we need to find the rest and form Voltron. Then we kick these aliens’ butts, find Shiro and Dad.”

Pidge couldn’t help it. She laughed, it was such a stark difference from when Shiro was here instead, but she wanted to know, why had Lance looked to Keith for advice? Was it that he didn’t see Matt as the leader?

“Alright, I guess we’re all ditching class tomorrow.” Lance smirked.

Pidge snorted, And possibly for the next four Earth years.

Lance flew the Lion through the wormhole, the Galra ship chasing them barely missing it.

…

…

The flight through the wormhole was rough, or probably it was just Lance’s bad piloting skills, but they all had to grip even tighter or else they would’ve been flung all around the cockpit. The Lion flew towards Arus, Lance saying that it was going home. Upon re-entry, they all huddled closer together due to the intense turbulence.

For the remainder of the journey, no one spoke, not even when Hunk vomited. All Keith did was rub the bigger male’s back, trying to offer comfort. When the Lion landed before a grand castle, Keith and Pidge heaved a sigh of relief.

“Be on your guard, guys.” Keith said.

“Yeah, I was captured by aliens before, it’s not gonna happen again.” Matt added. The two males led the way out of the Lion, Blue then letting out a roar to open the doors. With a nudge from Keith, Hunk entered the Castle with the others, and upon entering, they were scanned and led towards what they deemed a sleeping chamber.

Keith tried to look surprised, but his thoughts were on the mission that he and Pidge had. Finally, it was set in motion, all the Paladins are now gathered in the Castle of Lions, although there was a change to the lineup. Just then, Keith heard something.

Paladin…you’re finally here…

Keith recognized this voice. A gasp left his mouth, the others turning to look at him. Quickly he said, “I’m amazed by the tech.”

But Pidge knew that that wasn’t the case. Noticing the look on his face, he seemed a bit spooked, but she didn’t ask him right away. She couldn’t draw attention to them.

The group followed the lit-up areas towards a circular chamber. After seconds of reaching there, two pods emerged from the floor, the one nearest to Lance opened up and a tall young woman with long white hair and tanned skin fell out, screaming “Father!”

“Enter: Allura.” Pidge snickered beside Keith.

Luckily, Lance caught her before she hit the ground face-first, and being his usual Loverboy self, he greeted her, “Well, hello.” With a smirk.

“Who are you? Where am I?”

“I’m Lance. And you’re right here in my arms.”

Allura looked at Lance with confusion before she asked, “Your…ears?”

Confused, Lance said, “Yeah?”

“They’re hideous. What’s wrong with them?”

Keith wasn’t in the mood for this all over again. “Uh, hi there.” He started, catching Allura’s attention. “I’m Keith, this is Pidge, he’s Matt, that’s Hunk and before you, is Lance.” Keith introduced the others. “Could you tell us where we are? A Blue Lion brought us here, and it told its pilot, the boy in front of you, that it was coming home.”

“What are you doing with the Blue Lion? What happened to its Paladin?”

“We have no idea. Dead, maybe?” Keith replied. Pidge gave him a nudge in his side at his tactless remark.

“Where are the other Lions?” Matt joined in. “The Galra are after the Voltron and we can’t let them have it!”

Pidge looked at her brother. She noticed that the soft spoken and gentle Matt that she knew was no longer here. Instead, her brother had become fierce, and rough. Well, she surmised, that fighting in an alien gladiator pit for a year would do that to a person if they didn’t die.

Allura’s gasp made Pidge refocus. “Wait, let me see how long we’ve been in cryo-sleep for.” While Allura busied herself by the controls in the centre of the room, the other cryo-pod opened to reveal an orange-haired man.

Seeing the gathering, a shriek escaped his lips and he shouted, “E-Enemy combatants!”

“Wait, Coran!” Allura shouted. The man stopped in his tracks. She then looked at the Humans and said, “I’m Princess Allura of Planet Altea. This is my advisor, Coran.” She then turned to look back at the holo-screen and yet another gasp escaped her lips.

“What is it, Princess?” Coran asked.

“We’ve been asleep for ten thousand deca-phoebs!” She shrieked. “Planet Altea and all the planets in our solar system have been destroyed! Coran, Father is gone. Our entire civilization…” A few sobs left her as she leaned into Coran’s chest.

Matt became enraged. “Zarkon…” he hissed out.

This caught Allura’s attention. “How’d you know that name?”

“I was his prisoner. Sent to fight in his gladiator pits.”

“Zarkon is still alive? That’s impossible!”

“Who’s Zarkon?” Lance asked.

“King of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people.” Allura spat with venom. “And he’s looking for Voltron because he knows it’s the only thing that can defeat him.”

“Which means we gotta find it before he does.” Matt said. “When do we start?”

“Immediately.” Allura answered. “Follow me.”

…

…

“This is the footage found in the quarantine site last night.” A tall, brown haired man in a grey military jacket and matching pants started. He stood before a long table of other military personnel, a large screen taking up the entire wall behind him. He played the video, and the others in the room looked on.

The video showed a white-haired young man in a short red jacket, disposing of the men in the hazmat suits. He then went to Matt who was on the examination table, cut him free and held Matt’s hand over his shoulder.

“Lance should be coming in soon.” The white-haired male said. But, he left the room with Matt and out in the hallway, three other cadets had run towards him.

“Nope. No, you —no, no no. No, you don’t. I’m saving Matt.” The slender brown skinned male said, taking Matt’s other arm. But then he took notice of the young man’s white hair. “What the hell happened to your hair? Bleached it?”

“Electrocution. Let’s go before they come back.” The white-haired teen then looked to the other two, “You two, go guard our exit. Keep an eye out for the Garrison until we make it to the hoverbike.”

The man ended the video there and turned to face the table. “Thanks to the explosions that distracted us, by the time we came back, they were long gone.” He stated. “And we’ve later found out the identities of these cadets, the young man with the white hair is Keith Alexander, an expelled fighter class pilot. He was the best we’ve ever had since Takashi Shirogane. The next one is Lance Aguero, who was moved from cargo pilot to fighter. The other male is Hunk Pereira, an engineer. And lastly, we have Pidge Gunderson, or rather, Katie Holt. She was a communications specialist.”

Gasps rang out in the room when the two photos appeared on the screen.

“Katie Holt had hacked into our systems before, and then we banned her from entering Garrison grounds. But as you can see, she found a loophole and entered illegally as a student.”

“Now, the four of them are missing.” A female officer said. She was Admiral Sanda. “And we have no idea of where they’ve gone with Matthew Holt.”

“But where can four cadets and an unconscious adult go without raising suspicion?” Another Lieutenant spoke up. He was dark skinned with short brown hair and wore glasses. “Surely not in the city.”

“That’s what we found out.” The man —Commander Bailey continued. “We’ve managed to track one of our motorbikes that went missing four days ago. We sent out a small team to retrieve it, and we found it parked with a red hoverbike. It was in an area of outcropping rocks, and by the looks of it, something broke out, something big.

“Which leads us to the next thing. Our sensors picked video footage of a mechanical Blue Lion, flying around the area. It’s something that none of our tech can match, and before we know it, it was gone from Earth.”

Iverson asked, “You don’t suspect those cadets had anything to do with the Lion right? After all, Matthew kept shouting that we need to find the ‘Voltron’ before the aliens. Was that it?”

“But how did they find it? Matthew knew where it was?” The lieutenant in the glasses —Adam wondered.

“We don’t know. But right now, we have four missing cadets, three of which families are going to wonder what happened to them.” Commander Bailey sighed. “There are so many questions and we have no one to answer them.”

“It’s simple. They died in a training accident. We can leave the details to the public communications department, because right now, we have more pressing matters to deal with.”

“Yes, Matthew did tell us that aliens were coming and the transmission that we’ve intercepted a year ago from Kerberos…”

…

…

Back in the Castleship, Allura and the soon-to-be Paladins were assembled on the bridge, Hunk eating food-goo from a plate that floated nearby. Matt was in awe at the technology and couldn’t help but give out.

“Altea created such awesome tech ten thousand years ago. It must’ve been an amazing place.” He said.

Allura stopped briefly and said, “Yes, yes it was.” In a soft voice.

Just then, the alarms blared, the lights flashing red. A Galra warship appeared on the screen, sending the others into a panicky mode.

“A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!” Coran shrieked.

“How did they find us?!” Allura asked.

“I’m not sure, but I bet it’s Keith’s fault.” Lance said, giving Keith the stink eye.

Keith didn’t react like he did in the previous time. “Lance, this is no time to play the blame game. A battleship is headed towards us and we need to find the other Lions before they do.” He replied calmly. He then turned to look at Coran. “How long before they arrive?”

Coran counting on his fingers replied, “At their speed? Oh, well, uh, carry the two... I'd say probably a couple of days?"

"Good. Let them come! By the time they get here, you five will have reformed, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire!" Allura said, fiercely.

Despite all this, Hunk managed to let out a burp, disturbing the mood. “Sorry, food-goo.”

“There are five of these Lions, where are we gonna find the rest?” Matt asked.

Allura walked to the centre of the bridge and stood underneath the giant crystal in the ceiling. Placing her hands on the controls, a map of the universe emerged.

“King Alfor connected the Lions to Allura’s lifeforce. She alone is the key to their whereabouts.” Coran said as he watched the Princess.

“Ain’t that dangerous?” Matt asked.

Coran shrugged.

Seeing the cooridnates and the holograms of the Lions, Matt said, “The Black Lion is in the same place as the Blue one?”

“Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their brain cage!” Coran chuckled.

“Very observant.” Allura smiled. “That’s because the Black Lion Is here in the castle.”

“To keep it out of Zarkon’s hands, King Alfor sealed it away in the castle and can only free once the other four Lions are present.”

Allura nodded, confirming Coran’s statement. “As you have found, the Lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The Quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his Lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain."

“Whoa.” Matt breathed out in awe.

Allura then sent the Black Lion’s hologram towards Keith, who couldn’t help but exhale a sigh of relief. He was Black’s Paladin. And this meant, he had the power to control the plans of Voltron, and to prevent any shitstorm from happening. Pidge held his hand and squeezed it, her face saying “stop being so obvious”.

“The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Keith, you will pilot the Black Lion."

Keith nodded, but said nothing. He wasn’t going to make any unnecessary comments that may trigger anything. But what surprised him was that Lance didn’t say anything. Keith had noticed Lance’s behaviour when they were in the Blue Lion, the teen had looked to him when the wormhole appeared.

Is it that Lance accepted me as the leader or something? No way. Keith thought absentmindedly. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Pidge let out a whoop. Looking at her, he saw that she had gotten back her Green Lion. At first, Keith was worried that since Matt was here, and he knew how fierce Pidge could get, maybe there was a chance that Matt would’ve piloted Green and she would’ve gotten Red. Using his knowledge of Matt from the future and seeing this fierce Matt, Keith felt that Pidge’s brother could pilot either Blue, Green or Red. But thank God she remained in her Lion.

So, that would mean, the Red Lion would be piloted by Matt. When Allura told them the personality of the Lion, Matt was completely unsure.

“I’m not a pilot. I only read Shiro’s flight manuals on our way to Kerberos, and these are warships. How am I going to pilot an Altean warship, worse, the fastest and most agile of them all?”

“Yeah, I’m not a pilot either. I get sick from all that g-force. I’m just an engineer.” Hunk whimpered out.

Keith didn’t like where this is going. So quickly he stood in front of Allura and faced them. He said, “Guys, I can teach you. We have a couple of days until that Galra ship reaches here, so I think I can get you through the basics.” Keith meant it, but he knew full well that the ship would be here within hours.

Pidge stood beside him, adding her bits. “I’m not a pilot either, but we’ve got to do this. The Galra want Voltron, we can’t let them have it. We are the universe’s hope in eradicating that foul demon Zarkon and freeing the captured planets. We have to man-up and do it.”

“Plus, if we don’t do it, Earth is gonna get blown to cosmic dust.” Keith said. “We have to do this to protect our home, our families.” Keith paused a while. “Are you in?” He mumbled, “Well, there’s no turning back now anyway.”

Hunk sighed and stuck out his hand. “Make sure you teach me once we get our Lions. I don’t wanna be Galra dinner.”

“Of course, Hunk.” Keith said, placing his hand on top of Hunk’s. Pidge followed suit and so did Matt and Lance. Keith turned to look at Allura and Coran, calling them over with his free hand.

“What’s this?” Allura asked.

“It’s us Humans’ way of showing that we’re all in this together.” Keith replied. Lance made a grin at Allura when she placed her hand on top of his.

“Alright guys, we don’t have much time, so here’s the plan.” Keith looked at Hunk and Lance and using the same plan that Shiro had thought up —because he thought if the plan worked before, why the hell not?—“Lance, you carry Hunk to get his Lion, I’ll follow Pidge for hers —” Keith broke off when he heard Matt suck in a breath, about to protest. “—Matt, you have to stay in case the Princess locates your Lion. Plus, you said you can’t fly. Don’t worry, I’ll keep her safe.”

“I’m counting on you.”

“I’ll go load the pod with the coordinates for the Green Lion!” Coran chirped and dashed off.

“In the meantime, I’ll get this Castle’s defenses ready. They’ll be sorely needed.” Allura said.

“Lemme help. I’ve fell in love with the tech!” Matt followed behind Allura, Lance frowning.

Keith walked up to the Cuban male and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Dude, if you want her, you gotta show her you’re serious.”

“Wha—?”

“I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being a goofball sometimes, but Lance, she’s an alien, with a mission to wipe out Zarkon and break his chokehold on the universe. She doesn’t have the time to fool around.” Keith smiled. “So, you just gotta be serious when it’s time to be serious, if she needs comforting, offer comfort. You get me?”

Lance looked at Keith, agape. “Keith…I never knew you could offer relationship advice.”

Keith’s face went deadpan. “I see someone’s forgotten that I’ve had a girlfriend for over a year now.”

“Ri—”

“Keith! Let’s go!” Pidge shouted, waving at him and Lance.

“I’m coming!” Keith ran off, leaving Lance gaping at the young man’s retreating back.

After everything was done and set up, the two teams took off in the air, going through the wormholes that Allura opened up in Arus’ upper atmosphere.

Chapter Text

Restructure Pt. III

Exiting from the wormhole, Keith piloted the Altean pod towards the planet, a small gasp of awe escaped his lips. The planet looked like a greener version of Earth, and the young man couldn’t wait to see the lifeforms that lived there.

“So, Keith.” Pidge started, turning to face him.

“Hmm?”

“What was that all about? When we entered the Castleship, you really did sound surprised. What? Saw something different this time around?”

“I heard Black’s voice.” He replied. “He called out to me.”

Pidge’s face changed. “What?”

“Yup. So, I think Black travelled back as well. That’s the only reasoning I can come up with.”

Pidge leaned back in her seat and folded her arms with a pout. “Why didn’t Green travel back too?”

Keith shrugged. “I guess it’s probably because I was supposed to be the only one who travelled back.” He replied. “Brace for re-entry.” He said it so casually, Pidge didn’t think anything of it. If she hadn’t travelled back, she would’ve thought that this would’ve been a smooth ride, but just like when they entered Arus’ atmosphere in the Blue Lion, the turbulence was awful.

Keith found an open area to land in, and following the map that Coran gave Pidge, they walked hand-in-hand through the jungle. Keith awed at the scenery, and wondered if Humans hadn’t been so destructive, would the jungles on Earth be like this as well. Still, the reason Keith decided to accompany Pidge was not because he didn’t want to raise suspicions of letting a non-pilot go alone to fetch her lion, it was because he needed to talk to her about the future events without the others being around.

“Katie, what are we going to do about Sendak?” He started, pushing away a low tree branch so she could walk unhindered. “If we leave him alone, later on, he’s going to invade Earth, and not to mention, bomb the Castleship and injure Lance.”

Pidge hummed but stopped in her tracks. “We leave Sendak and handle him as how we did in Future A. The bombing has to happen, it’s just that we have to prevent Lance and Coran from being in the bridge at the time.” Keith sucked in a breath, but Pidge knew her boyfriend all too well. She continued, “If the bombing doesn’t happen, Hunk and Coran would never need to go to Shay’s Balmera and we’ll never know the distress that her people are in. It needs to happen.”

Keith let out a groan. “So, you’re saying that some events have to happen?”

“Yes. Because some of these events lead up to something helpful or important.” Pidge replied. Exiting the thick bush, the duo came upon a river, and like before, Pidge saw the Lion canoe, but she had yet to see the native sloth-like creature that rowed her to her Lion. Within a moment later, the sloth-like creature appeared beside them, Keith letting out a shriek that she never knew he could make.

The duo followed the alien to the canoe, and soon, they were rowing down the calm river. Pidge sat at the front like in the previous timeline, while Keith sat where Shiro had been. It was to balance the weight distribution.

“So, then that means we have to let the Castleship get destroyed too?” Keith asked, his voice was low and sounded a bit dejected.

Pidge turned to face him with a sad look. “Maybe. I remember Coran saying if he didn’t have the infinite mass crystal from the Castleship, the Atlas would need about three battleship class crystal from a Balmera.” She sighed. “And that’s a stress I wouldn’t want Allura to go through. With every crystal, she’d have to replenish the Balmera, right?”

“Yeah.” Keith nodded. “So, that means, we have to let Lotor have his way? I was gonna dispose of him the moment I see him, you know?”

Pidge laughed. It was her trademark, loud, raucous and ending with a snort. Keith loved it. “Damn, no wonder we both had to come! You would’ve just gone around and killed every threat before they even became a threat, right?”

Keith turned red from embarrassment. “No, not really.”

Soon, they entered a tunnel and Pidge was practically bouncing where she sat. Keith saw the Lion carvings on the wall and knew that they were close. Plus, he felt the energy of the Green Lion, a wild surging force, which was different than the Blue one. Blue had been calm and soothing, and when they had neared her location with Lance in tow, the energy reminded Keith of storm surges. He had pushed the feeling aside to get the mission moving, but now that he’s feeling Green, he’s starting to wonder if this is what Allura felt from them to be able to assign them their Lions.

It’s either that or she went with the colours they wore, which happened to correspond with the Lion they were destined to pilot.

They stepped out of the canoe as soon as they reached the shore, Pidge bolted towards the giant steps and climbed over the massive vines that overran them. Keith looked on with pride, but midway he saw Pidge stopped and turned to face him.

“Watch me be great.” She smirked. The fire in her eyes were beautiful.

Keith replied with an equal and sexy smirk, “You were always great.”

She made her way to the top of the steps and jumped down into the mound of vines. A rumble shook the ground, Keith almost falling onto his face. The Green Lion burst forth from the vines, Keith wearing a proud smile on his face. His girlfriend was indeed great, and he wouldn’t trade her for any Lion in Voltron.

The Lion lowered itself and opened up its mouth, allowing Keith to climb in and into the cockpit. Pidge sat looking like the experienced war veteran she was, one hand clasped around one control stick while the other typed speedily on one of the many holo-screens that were present.

“Hold on tight, General Alexander.” Pidge teased, both hands on the controls now. The Lion roared and started to hover. Pidge then went to the area where Keith had parked the pod, the white-haired male exiting the Lion and when Pidge opened the cargo hold, he flew the pod inside.

Pressing the buttons on the controls, the Green Lion shot forwards and up, exiting the planet and going back through the wormhole.

…

…

Just like the previous timeline, the Green Lion returned before the Blue and Yellow ones. Making their way back to the bridge, they saw Matt standing nearby Allura with Coran on the other side. The young man stood with his arms folded, a slightly uneasy look on his face.

“We’re back!” Pidge announced. She made her way to where Matt was, Keith trailing behind.

“Pidge! That was fast!” Matt exclaimed.

“Yeah, the planet was peaceful as Coran had said.” She chuckled.

“Good. You won’t believe where my Lion is.” Matt groaned out in distress. Keith and Pidge shook their heads. They did know, but they couldn’t blow their covers. “It’s on a friggin’ Galra ship. The same ship that’s heading towards us.”

“Oh shit.” Keith gasped out, trying to act surprised.

“Yeah. How are we going to do this?! Keith is supposed to teach me the basics of flying so that we can form the Voltron when that ship arrives, but if the Lion is on the ship, what’s gonna happen now?” Matt sounded frantic and Keith knew he had to calm down the man before Hunk and Lance arrives.

“Matt…look.” Keith started. “It’ll work out. Since….since we can’t learn to form Voltron before the Galra arrive, you can…” he trailed off when an idea popped into his head. He turned to Pidge and said, “Katie, take your Lion for a spin and show Matt how to accelerate, decelerate and shoot energy beams. I think the Lions are built to standard, so when Matt gets his Lion, the controls should be similar if not the same.”

Pidge’s face brightened. It was a good idea. “Sure, come on Matt, let’s go!”

“Wait, how do you know how to do that so quick?!” Matt asked, Pidge tugging his arm.

“Keith gave me a 5-minute crash course.” She lied.

They disappeared through the doors, Keith now awaiting Lance and Hunk. He figured that when the two came from retrieving the Yellow Lion, Hunk may want a similar crash course like what was offered to Matt. But then again, in the previous timeline, Hunk didn’t get any teaching, yet he could pilot his Lion to some extent. Keith shrugged his shoulders, trying not to overthink.

Ten minutes later, Lance and Hunk returned to Arus, Allura calling back Pidge. When the duo entered the bridge, they rubbed their backs and shoulders, letting out pained groans. They dragged themselves further in, and then noticed that Matt and Pidge were nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Pidge? And Matt?” Lance asked.

“Out. I told —”

The doors opened again, and this time, Pidge and Matt were the ones that entered.

“You’re back! How was it?” Matt asked.

“A nightmare.” Lance replied. “I almost puked out there! I felt like Hunk!”

“Think of how I felt.” Hunk joined in. “I am Hunk.”

“That’s rough, buddy.” Keith said with a concerned look. He then looked to Allura to get them back on track, “So, now we head to get the Red Lion.”

“Where is it?” Hunk asked. “I hope it’s in a place where there aren’t any Galra.”

Coran started, “There’s a bit of good news and bad news.” He said, fiddling with his moustache. “The good news is, the Red Lion is nearby. But the bad news is it’s on board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus.” He then perked up and grinned, “Another piece of good news, we’re Arus!”

“They’re here already?!” Hunk shrieked. “Didn’t you say that it’ll take some days?!”

“Yes, my calculations were a bit off.” Coran said in a soft voice. “Finger counting, it’s more of an art than science.” He muttered whilst looking at his fingers. Just then, the screen flickered on, and a purple alien appeared.

“Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe.” He said. “I am here to confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me or I will destroy your planet.”

The transmission ended, a deafening silence enveloping the Paladins. Before anyone could utter a single word, Hunk shrieked, “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m panicking right now!”

“Let’s not.” Keith said, trying to diffuse the air.

“That giant purple alien thing is driving his battleship towards us! How can we not!?”

“Because we need to get on that ship to get the Red Lion.” Keith replied. “Look, we have three working Lions, but they only know about Blue one, right?”

“Actually, when we were going for Hunk’s, the entire place was infested with Galra.” Lance answered.

“Okay, so, they know that we have two Lions. We have to use Green to our advantage.” Keith’s voice sounded a lot more confident here. “We have to —” he cut himself off as though realizing something. He turned to Allura and asked, “Allura, what should we do? These are your Lions, right?” He wanted to prompt her to see her father’s AI.

“I…I…I don’t know.” She said with uncertainty.

“How about we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day?” Lance suggested.

“You’re crazy. Staying and fighting is our only option.” Matt said.

“Plus, if we run, Sendak could destroy Arus. If we don’t fight, the Galra will keep capturing planets and taking prisoners!” Pidge added.

“We gave it the old college try. We form a snake and we —hiss out of here.” Hunk said, making snake-like gestures with his hands.

“We’re staying!” Matt shouted.

“Leaving!” Lance countered.

“Staying!” Pidge added.

“Snake!” Hunk said.

Keith found it funny. The Arms of Voltron were arguing with the Legs. But there was no time to argue. Getting into his leader persona, he quickly quelled the group and then asked Allura, “You’ve fought the Galra before. What do you think is the best course of action?”

“The castle has a particle barrier I can activate, but I…don’t know what else to do.”

“Maybe your Father can help.” Coran chimed in, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“My father?”

“Excuse us for a few ticks. I’m taking the Princess to the Memory Chamber.” Coran said to the Paladins before he took Allura by the hand and exited the bridge. Keith saw this as a chance to talk to Pidge about the upcoming events.

“She’s gone to talk with King Alfor, I think that keeping the King’s AI intact will be good for us.” Keith whispered. “Who knows, maybe he could guide us to Oriande so we won’t need to wait on Lotor to make his entrance.” Keith gently stroked his cheek with his index, “I’m tired of wearing these bandaids on my face and it’s been what? A day?”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. But that means, when the bombing happens, we have to move fast. Before they can corrupt the castle’s systems.” Pidge said, taking a glance in the others’ directions. They were engrossed in a conversation and didn’t pay much attention to the two time-travellers.

Not before long, Allura returned, donning a space suit with her hair caught in a bun. The look in her eyes were fierce, not at all timid and uncertain like when she left.

“You five Paladins were brought here for a reason.” She started. “The Voltron Lions were meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe’s only hope, we are the universe’s only hope.”

“Let’s do this.” Keith said.

“Follow me.” Allura said, walking off and heading through the door. She carried them to the Castleship’s armoury, where they saw the Paladin’s Armours being housed in their respective pods. Keith let out a groan. The Black Bayard was still in Zarkon’s hands. Luckily, he had his knife, so he wasn’t completely defenceless.

“Here are your armours.” Allura announced. The others, sans Pidge and Keith, were awed at the suits, Lance and Matt were hyped up. Hunk on the other hand, compared the suit’s size to his body and had doubts that he’d fit.

“Guys, let’s suit up!” Keith said with a perk in his voice. Pidge noticed that he was all too eager to put on the armour. But what she didn’t know was that as Keith looked on the Black armour, he remembered Shiro. He still felt as though the true Black Paladin was the man he looked up to as his big brother. He could never do what Shiro could, but in this timeline, Keith was the Black Paladin, not Shiro. The universe won’t know of the amazing man who piloted the Black Lion and led Voltron to many victories.

The five put on their suits in record time, Keith looking at Pidge and admiring her in the Green armour. It would’ve been awesome if she was in Red. Keith inwardly chuckled at himself, he was glad she got back her Lion, but a part of him wanted to see her in the armour that he used to wear. Call it something akin to “boyfriend shirt” only Paladin armour version.

With a hand placed on the blue surface, Allura revealed four bayards as they floated their way to their Paladin.

“The Bayards are the traditional weapons of the Paladins. It takes a distinct form depending on its Paladin.” Allura said.

Hunk’s bayard glowed a bright light before transforming into a large arm cannon, the teen struggling to hold it. The Red bayard floated to Matt and upon holding it, it transformed into a long staff, the young man going through a few katas with it.

“Cool! I used a staff in the pits too! This’ll be easy!” He cheered.

The Blue Bayard headed to Lance, his turning into a single-shot laser rifle, Pidge’s bayard turned into a grappling hook with a knife head. Lance mocked her for it, but she electrocuted him, smirking at his demise. Keith nearly died of laughter.

“I’m sorry Keith, but I’m afraid that your Bayard was lost with its Paladin.” Allura sighed.

“Ah…don’t worry, I’ll make do until I get it back.”

Allura’s eyes widened, wondering about the statement. She was tempted to ask if he knew something, but she held it back. He was from Earth; they didn’t know about the existence of aliens.

Afterwards, they assembled back on the bridge of the Castleship, and started to make plans for the Red Lion retrieval. Matt was extremely nervous, wondering if he’ll be able to find it. But the others quickly reassured him that he’ll be able to sense the Lion.

“Remember Matthew, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental, you have to earn its respect.” Allura reminded. She was worried for the Red Paladin, he was constantly doubting himself.

“Matt…” Keith started. “Think of your time in the gladiator pits. Channel that fury, and don’t doubt yourself. You need to exude boundless confidence to mow down any shit in your way.” The white-haired teen smiled. But then he quickly got back into serious mode, “So, here’s the plan.”

…

…

The Blue and Yellow Lions flew towards the Galra ship, getting the full, undivided attention of Sendak. In the meantime, Pidge piloted the Green Lion with Keith and Matt with her, coming up at the back of the ship, landing on its underside totally undetected.

“Attention, Galra ship.” Lance started. “Do not fire. We’re surrendering our lions.” The Blue Paladin looked worried, and said to Hunk, “Hope this works.” The two Lions drifted towards the ship, while Pidge, Keith and Matt made their way inside. “Pidge, what’s your ETA?” Lance asked.

“We’re in.” She replied.

Just then, the tractor beam was activated, Lance and Hunk quickly swivelled out of the way. Enraged, Sendak barked, “They lied to us! Launch the fighters!”

Seeing the numerous fighters exiting the ship, Lance said, “Hunk! You dismantle the ion cannon! I’ll take these jerks on a wild space ride!”

“Ten-four!” Hunk responded.

The two Lions went into action, Lance enjoying every bit of the action, while Hunk struggled, not knowing what to do.

The trio of Pidge, Keith and Matt made it into a hallway, watching out carefully for any Galran sentries. The way was clear, but when Matt looked down the hallway of dimly lit purple lights, he remembered his time in Galra captivity. He staggered a little, panting heavily.

“Matt, you okay?!” Keith asked. Pidge placed her hand on his head to check his temperature.

“Yea…yeah.” He struggled out. “I was here. After they took us from Kerberos, they placed us here.”

Pidge and Keith looked at each other.

“That means, there are prisoners here.” Pidge said. “Let’s go get them.”

“Do you remember the way, Matt?” Keith asked.

Matt nodded.

The trio moved off, navigating their way around corners and away from sentries. Soon, they reached the hallways were there were green lights, but then a triangular drone robot appeared from around the corner. A squeal escaped Pidge’s lips as she shot it down and repurposed it.

She had gotten back Rover.

And boy, this time, she has some plans that not even Keith knew yet.

They followed Matt to a metal door, Pidge allowing Rover to open the door since they had no means of doing so. When the door lifted open, Keith stayed on the outside, keeping watch while Matt and Pidge entered the cell. There were different aliens there, but as Pidge already knew, her father was not.

“We’re here to save you. Come on, let’s go.” Matt said.

“Hey, it’s you.” The one that looked like a fish said. “One of the Champions.”

“We don’t have time for this! Get them out and let’s go for the Lion!” Keith barked.

Matt and Pidge led them out of the cell, but then there was another dilemma. They couldn’t allow the prisoners to head to the escape pods by themselves. They’d get recaptured.

“Pidge, lead them to the escape pods. I’ll follow Matt to the Lion.” Keith instructed. He knew she was capable to defending herself, and should anything happen, she could always call upon her Lion. She nodded and blew a kiss to him. Keith’s face heated up, Matt looking confused.

They then went their separate ways, Matt worrying about his sister, but Keith reassured him that she was definitely a badass. The two males headed for the Lion, and like with the other Lions, Keith could sense the Red Lion. She reminded him of a blazing Fire, warm yet at the same time, he could feel her destructive nature.

He missed this feeling, he missed piloting her. She was fast, and fierce, never backing down from a fight. Even Lance had stated that the Red Lion was just Keith in a giant Altean warship form. Matt followed behind Keith, but at one point, Keith had stopped to make Matt try to sense the Lion.

“You can do this, Matt. Try and find her.” Keith urged. “Remember, Patience yields focus.”

Matt chuckled. He remembered seeing a scribble of that in one of Shiro’s flight manuals. With a nod, Matt closed his eyes and took a deep breath as per Keith’s instructions, and soon, he felt a surge of energy.

“She’s this way!” Matt shrieked, dashing off. He hadn’t even realized that he was addressing the Lion like Keith was.

Bolting down the hallways and turning a couple more corners, the two males made it to the hangar where the Red Lion was. Keith’s breath hitched. Although offline, she looked majestic inside her particle barrier. Matt ran up to the Lion and looked around.

“So, how do I get her to respect me?”

Keith shrugged. “Eject yourself out into space for her sake.” He said in a deadpan.

Matt blanched. He turned back to the Lion and placed a hand on her barrier. “Hey there. It’s me, Matthew.” He started. “I’m supposed to be your Paladin, so…open up?”

Keith made a grunt. Matt ignored him and continued to focus on the Lion. “Come on, it’s me! Matthew! Your new paladin!” He shouted. The brown-haired male was getting irritated and frustrated, his fierceness slowly coming out. Just then, the doors opened, and a horde of sentries came in, firing at the two males.

“Shit!” Keith hissed. He whipped out his knife, the blade transforming into the longsword. Matt whipped out his bayard and both he and Keith charged towards the sentries. He hadn’t even noticed that Keith’s knife changed form, or maybe he did, he just didn’t care at the moment. Matt spun his staff to deflect the shots fired by the sentries as he moved closer. Keith was already ahead, cutting down their enemies.

Matt then made a dash towards the sentries, swinging his staff to the left, striking a sentry in the head. Using the momentum from the swing, Matt thrust the staff forward, piercing another through the chest. Lifting the staff with the impaled soldier, he flung the machine into the others, causing them to tumble down.

But more kept pouring in.

Keith froze as he watched Matt tackled the sentries. The young man was vicious —he swung his staff with such ferocity, the sentries’ heads all flew off, flying all over the place, crashing into the walls and nearly hitting Keith sometimes. Ducking out of the way, Keith looked up just in time to see Matt thrust the red and white weapon into one sentry and releasing bolts of electricity into its body. Spinning, Matt crashed the sentry into others running towards him, then, he repeatedly stabbed them with the staff.

Keith gaped. Matt really was fit to be the Red Paladin. Red will love him. He thought.

Scrambling onto his feet, Keith wanted to re-join the fight when he heard a loud roar coming from behind them. The Red Lion was moving. Keith’s eyes widened when she swung her tail in Matt’s direction, sweeping the sentries away and protecting her Paladin. She then lowered herself and opened her mouth, the ramp lowering to allow him in.

With a smirk, Matt dashed in, Keith following. There was a pang of pain in his chest seeing his Lion accept another, without needing to eject themselves out into deep space. Was he not wild enough in the previous timeline? Was he not ferocious enough previously? He knew Red was audacious and feisty but damn, what did Matthew do that he didn’t?

“Katie, are you okay?” Keith spoke into his comms. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine. The prisoners are all loaded in the escape pod.”

“No sentries?”

“We did have a few but then a Lion’s roar made them all detour.” She chuckled. “Good job guys.”

Keith heaved a sigh of relief. “Alright, time to —” Keith broke off when he felt his body slam into the back of the cockpit, Matt had sent the Lion flying, ripping through the underside of the ship, leaving a large gaping hole.

“Keith!!!!” Matt screamed, panicking.

Rising to his feet, Keith fumbled towards the panicking pilot. “Calm down Matt!” Keith barked. He stood behind the seat and held onto Matt’s shoulder. He then pulled on his right shoulder, indicating to Matt to do the same with the controls. He did, and this slowed the Lion, however, she was still far from flying smoothly. “Remember what Katie showed you!” he hissed. “Red is the fastest Lion so accelerating is different! Pull the controls all the way back!”

Matt followed the instructions, and the Lion came to a screeching halt, if Keith hadn’t stood behind the chair he would’ve been flung onto the screens. Gathering themselves, Matt settled comfortably in the chair and looked behind him to see how Keith was doing.

“You…okay?”

“I’ve been worse.” Keith replied. “Now, barely push her controls forwards.” The Lion moved forwards, but this time, not as fast as before. “Push a little more, and…” Keith continued to instruct. Red got faster, making its way to Arus. “…hold it like that.”

“Kitty Rose has left the stage people!” Pidge hooted. She followed in her Lion. Lance and Hunk later retreated, Hunk lamenting that the ion cannon was difficult to destroy. As it was, he barely even made a dent in the thing. Lance was just eager to get out of the warzone.

Upon making it back to the Castleship, the Lions all gathered in the Black Lion’s hangar, Keith standing at the steps that led up to the sealed chamber. The Lions’ eyes glowed a bright yellow, after which the blue accents on the door shone. It slowly rose, revealing the chamber of the Black Lion, the massive spacecraft letting out a thunderous roar, prompting the other Lions to follow.

Paladin…you sure took your time in arriving. Black joked, he lowered his body so that Keith could enter, and the young man practically sprinted to the Lion.

When settled, Keith said, “Yeah, this is something we couldn’t rush.” He held onto the controls when the seat pushed him to it, a purple light illuminating the cockpit. His screens came on, and Keith heaved a sigh of relief. He then opened a private comms with Pidge and said, “Hey.”

Pidge laughed. “What kind of greeting is that? Sounds so drained and we haven’t even fought Sendak’s ship yet.”

“I’m just…I can’t believe I’m the Black Paladin from the get-go though.” Keith started. “I knew it was going to happen since Matt was here, but, Shiro…”

Pidge hummed but didn’t say a thing just yet. She knew how Keith felt about becoming the Black Paladin, even before they travelled back. If he hadn’t spent those two years with his mother on the back of a space whale, maybe Keith would’ve still been the reckless, hotheaded teen who refused to take on the role of the leader because he believed it belonged to Shiro.

It was a fact that they all thought of Shiro as the true leader of their team. Even when he was commanding the Atlas, and the Paladins had interviews to do, Shiro was always dragged along with them.

“It’s fine, Keith.” Pidge replied. “You need to stop comparing yourself with Shiro because you aren’t the same person. Not even his clone could be.”

“You’re right, but what if I mess up?”

“Then I’ll be here to find a solution to the mess you made.” And she meant it. They were in this together, with the others.

“You know, I felt jealous of Matt.” Keith changed the subject. “He didn’t have to eject himself out into deep space for Red’s sake before she came to him. He just…slaughtered the sentries and there she was, saving her Paladin.”

Pidge shook her head. “You’re jealous because of that?”

“Yes…” He drawled. “…Black is an awesome Lion too, but Red feels like my twin sometimes, you know?”

“Oh yes, you’re both audacious and stubborn.” Pidge groaned out. “Definitely a Keith in Altean warship form.” She added a laugh here.

Meanwhile, Allura and Coran were rejoicing at the completion, all five Lions each now had new Paladins, which meant Voltron could be formed and they were one step closer in stopping Zarkon’s reign. However, their joy was short-lived. The Castle’s alarms blared, and zooming in to see the cause, Allura and Coran saw Sendak’s ship entering Arus’ atmosphere.

“Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere! We need Voltron, now!” Allura urged.

“Alright, that’s our cue.” Keith said, turning off the private chat with Pidge. He got Black into gear and with a roar, Keith flew up and out of the castleship, the others not far behind. When they landed outside, the fighters were attacking the particle barrier, but Allura noticed something off about the Galra ship. While it descended, she saw a faint yellow light coming from underneath it, and without a few ticks, that part of the ship exploded.

She shared this with the Paladins, Hunk heaving a sigh of relief.

“That’s all Matt’s doing.” Keith laughed. “He busted a hole through the underside with Red so I guess, re-entry totally smoked it.”

“Wow! You’re a Godsend Matt!” Lance cheered.

“Yeah, but we still need to clear out these fighters.” Matt said.

Keith grinned. “Alright guys, go loose!” He yelled a bit too gleefully. Thanks to Sendak’s ship being downed, Keith thought that there was no need for Voltron. Plus, Matt was still having trouble adjusting to Red. Unlike the other Lions, Red really was hard to master, but Keith guessed because they were so similar, he didn’t have a hard time.

The Black Paladin heard Pidge let out a whoop and shot off, Lance screaming and telling her to leave some for him. Hunk trailed behind, but Keith noticed that Matt barely moved.

“You okay, Matt?” Keith asked over the comms.

“No.” Matt replied without hitch.

Keith knew what it was. “Look, you can sit this one out. Wait, here and as soon as we finish with these fighters, I’ll teach you okay?”

“Okay.” Matt mumbled.

As though he could feel the young man’s despondency, Keith quickly said, “Matt, the Red Lion chose you for a reason. Don’t doubt your greatness.” He then added, “Use this time to bond with her, understand her purring or someshit. But never, ever, doubt whether you’re fit to be a Paladin.”

Matt didn’t say anything but he felt Keith’s words.

Ever since the beginning, he was having second thoughts of actually being a Paladin. He didn’t mind that he was helping to prevent the Galra from getting these superweapons, but to actually pilot one, when he’s never been a pilot? Matt didn’t think he could do it.

Watching the others fly and take the fighters was a sight to behold, but more so, he watched the Green Lion. He was amazed at how his sister was piloting her Lion, and he wondered just how good of a crash course did she get. Between retrieving her Lion and returning to the Castleship, Keith managed to teach her all that?

Matt found it hard to believe.

She moved like an experienced pilot who’s had their spacecraft for years. Or been through a lot with their spacecraft. There was no way a 5-minute crash course could produce that. But then he laughed. His sister was a genius, a 5-minute course was about all she needed.

His eyes then shifted to Keith.

The boy was out there slaughtering the fighters like he was built for this. The way he flew the Black Lion —expertly dodging the laser-fire of the fighters and then in turn taking them out with a…jaw blade? Matt noticed the dual blade in the Lion’s mouth and was amazed. Keith didn’t get the Lion for an hour properly, yet he was using a weapon from its arsenal?

“Is there a tutorial or guide somewhere in the cockpit?” Matt mumbled to himself.

Just then, he felt a purr.

Paladin…

Matt gasped out. He couldn’t describe the voice, but he likened it to warm fire. It was neither blazing to the point of instilling fear, but instead, welcoming. It was the sort of fire that he’d huddle up to on a cold winter night.

“Ye—yes?” He stuttered.

Why do you not fight!? This time, the fiery voice made Matt yelp. This time, Matt imagined the small, warm flame flaring up into a wild blaze. We should be out there!

“But I can’t fly. I’m not a pilot.” Matt mumbled out. “I mean, look at the others. Look at Keith and Black. He hasn’t gotten the Lion for an adequate time and he’s already doing great stuff.”

Matt heard Red snort. Black and his Paladin travelled from the future back here. Don’t compare yourself with them. I chose you for a reason, Paladin. You have an inner fury that compliments mine. Do not fear, Paladin. Just trust me.

Matt gaped. “Wha…what?”

Are you ready to go out there?

Deciding to push that newfound information about Keith to the back of his mind, he said, “Well then, take it away, Red.” He released the controls, raising his hands into the air.

I do need you to pilot me, though.

Matt blanched, but her reassuring purr made him change his mind. He was a Paladin of Voltron, albeit inexperienced, just like the other four, but he couldn’t let his fear and worry cripple him. In the gladiator pits he never backed down from a fight, so why should he now?

With a yell, Matt said, “Lezzgo!”

And pushed the Red Lion’s controls forwards.

Chapter Text

Reconnect

The fighters were all disposed of, Allura heaving a sigh of relief as the Lions all descended to the front of the Castle. Both she and Coran exited, greeting the sweaty Paladins to congratulate them on a job well done.

“That was superb!” Allura said with joy.

“It was a little difficult because the fighters don’t stay one place but, yeah, we did it.” Hunk said, pulling his helmet off. He shook his head to get the sweat out.

“Of course, it’s not going to be easy. You guys are the Defenders of the Universe.” Coran said, fiddling with his moustache. “Plus, you haven’t even formed Voltron yet.”

They, minus Pidge and Keith, looked shocked. What a title to be bestowed upon them. They weren’t war veterans, they weren’t even full-fledged military personnel, only Matt was. They were cadets who still had some years of schooling left. But now, it looks as though they weren’t even going to finish school in their destined years. Who knows how long this war will take to end? It’s been raging on for ten thousand years, showing no signs of even halting.

“So, uh, how do we even form Voltron?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, I didn’t see a combine into a giant robot on my dashboard.” Hunk replied.

Keith smiled. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it done.”

Matt looked at the Black Paladin with concerned eyes, and then he said, “Keith, remember you’re supposed to give me some pointers on flying.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder to Red. “She’s very difficult to fly. Too fast, man.”

Keith chuckled and said, “Yeah, let’s get cracking.” He walked towards the Red Lion, with Matt behind him after which, he allowed the Red Paladin to go first, prompting the Lion to lower her head and open up. Hunk was throwing in his bits too, saying that he was next in line for Keith’s Teaching Course.

Matt settled in and Keith firmly gripping the seat, to prevent what happened back on Sendak’s ship.

“So, Teach, what now?” Matt asked with a bright smile.

“I’m sure you can get her up and running right? I’ll teach you how to dodge incoming threats and shoot them accordingly.” Keith replied. “I mean, you can get her up, but flying isn’t smooth sailing. Especially in a war.”

“Yes sir.” Matt nodded. “So, how and where are the incoming threats coming from?”

“The Castleship.” Keith said with nonchalance. Matt face blanched. “When I deem you fit enough, I’ll have Allura test out the ship’s defenses on you.”

“Me?! You’re evil!” Matt shrieked in horror.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be here.” Keith then tapped him on his shoulder and said, “Now, let’s go.”

…

…

While Matt and Keith took off, Pidge returned to her Lion and flew into the Castle. She had things to do, like incorporate the cloaking into Green and set up Rover and the Castleship with one of the equipment she took from Keith’s cabin. For her, she didn’t like that their families were left in the dark. In the previous timeline, when they returned to Earth, Colleen had told her that the Garrison released a statement that they were missing. It grieved the families of the Paladins, and at one point, Lance’s family thought he had died.

She quickly set up Green’s hangar with her equipment like the previous timeline, but she still had to see Coran and Allura for making the contact with Earth. She remembered her mother’s IP addresses, so she was going to connect to that and have Colleen distribute the videos to their respective families.

Within an hour she was finished with her makeshift lab, she made notes to upgrade her things as they go along their journey. Especially when they reach Olkarion. She knew she’d be able to upgrade her equipment even better then.

Finished with her work in the hangar, she bid Green farewell, and left to find Allura or Coran or both. She walked along the walkways not all amazed by the infrastructure since she was used to this and made her way to the Bridge. There were the two Alteans, having a discussion. Upon seeing her, they stopped and smiled at her.

“Number Five!” Coran perked up. “We were just talking about how we’re going to get you guys to form Voltron.”

“What? You’re ranking us by height or something?” Pidge asked, knowing that was the answer.

Coran laughed. “Wow! Very good induction!” He perked. “So, what brings you here?”

“I need your help.” She said. Allura’s eyebrows rose. “I want to contact Earth, my mother, periodically to let her know that we’re alright. We left Earth without telling either of our families, so we don’t want them to think we’re dead.”

Coran nodded. “I see. I see. But how are you going to contact Earth? I know the Castleship has a computer that houses our communication system but we need a —”

“I have a way! Just show me the way to the computer!” Pidge chirped.

“Give me a few doboshes, Princess.” Coran said.

“Go on, I’ll be here seeing to the Castle’s defenses.” Allura nodded.

…

…

Back in the Red Lion, Keith gave Matt instructions, letting the male imagine enemies before him and/or obstacles. There were times when Keith made the young man navigate the terrain on the ground, and boy, was it a bumpy ride. Matt wasn’t a pilot but what Keith liked about him was that he was trying, and he spoke and listened to Red.

“You’re going good.” Keith praised, applauding the young man. “Of course, you have a long way to go, but you’re getting there.”

Matt didn’t reply. Instead, without warning, Matt pressed the buttons on the control sticks and the Lion lifted off the ground. Keith didn’t mind this, but before he could ask, Matt pushed one of the control sticks, sending Red flying forwards. And just like when they had to retrieve the Lion, Keith was viciously flung to the back of the cockpit, a hiss escaping his lips.

“What the hell, man?!” Keith barked. “At least warn —!” Keith didn’t get to finish as Red suddenly soared upwards, keeping Keith pinned at door. Due to the pressure of flying upwards so fast, the Black Paladin couldn’t move an inch. Then, Red evened out. Keith stood up, holding onto the door to steady himself. However, before he could regain his footing, Red went into a nosedive and as such, Keith found himself plastered up on the roof of the cockpit. Thank God he was in his helmet. “Matt! Matthew Holt!” Keith was getting angry. What was the man doing?!

But Matthew ignored him.

The Lion continued its downward journey, this time, Matt put Red into a barrel roll, Keith getting thrown all over the place.

“Fuck! Matt! Stop!” Keith screamed at the man. “The fuck’s wrong with you?!”

Still no reply. Soon, the Lion once more evened out, Keith slamming into the floor with a loud thud. Red travelled to a mountain in the distance, coming to rest on a cliff overlooking the forest below. Catching his breath, Keith struggled to his feet and said, “Matthew,” His voice nearly sounded like a snarl, but deep down, Keith prayed that this wasn’t a clone situation.

“Keith.” Matt responded, unlike Keith who looked like he was about to rip the man a new one, Matt seemed a bit hurt. “What aren’t you telling me, us?”

Keith raised a brow, anger slowly diffusing. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve been thinking, the Lions don’t come with a tutorial, so how are you able to give Katie instructions on how to fly hers? And then me?”

“Because I’m a fighter class —”

“I know.” Matt interjected. “Shiro talks about you and Adam all the time on our way to Kerberos.” He took a few steps to the Black Paladin. “But these are alien warships, Keith. How the hell do you know to pilot one?”

Keith didn’t answer. He wracked his brain for a lie, and thankfully, he managed to come up with one. “I played video games on Earth. The retro ones —”

“Don’t lie to me!” Matt barked, surprising Keith. He never knew Matt had such a voice. “Red told me. She told me you’re from the future.”

Keith dragged a hand over his face. Red spilt to Matt? How? That meant Black had to tell Red. But why? Knowing that it made no sense to continue his charade, he said, “Yes, I came from the future.”

“But why didn’t you say something?! And that meant, you knew everything all along!?” Keith nodded. Matt looked like he was about to blow a fuse. “You knew where the Red Lion was, you knew about Voltron, you knew.”

Keith nodded. “At least let me explain before you crucify me.” Matt bit the inside of his lip. Even Keith was slightly surprised at his own calmness in this situation. If it were back then, Matt’s jaw would’ve been broken by now. The future really did douse his inner flame somewhat.  “In the future, a really bad thing is gonna happen. So w—I was sent here to prevent that.”

“By who?”

“The Guardian of Oriande. Allura would know the place since it’s Altean.”

“Oh. So why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I don’t want to cause unnecessary stuff. If I tell them, who knows what they’ll ask about? And try to prevent?”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Yes. Some events need to happen because they trigger other stuff. Like one incident would lead us to stumble upon something else.” Keith drew for the Balmera incident since it was the one freshest in his head.

Matt understood. “Okay, fine.” He said, “So, it’s the reason your hair is white, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, it means Pidge is from the future too. I see.” Matt nodded in realization. He was pretty casual about it too, like it was something the whole universe could figure out easily.

Keith sucked in a breath. He fell into that trap.

“I’m no idiot, Keith. People can’t get white hair from electrocution. And I’ve seen how you two interact. Being in the gladiator pits, I had to pay attention to miniscule details, so your little subtle gestures, I noticed them.”

“Fuck.” Keith sighed. His shoulders sagged, and honestly, he hoped the other Lions kept their mouths shut.

Matt returned to the seat and started up Red again, this time, flying slower back to the Castle of Lions. “So, are you dating my sister? I saw her blow a kiss to you while on Sendak’s ship.”

“Yeah, she’s my girlfriend. Future wife too.” Keith replied casually. “So, manhandle me again and I’ll tell on your ass, brother-in-law.”

Matt smirked. “You better prepare yourself; you have no idea who you’re dealing with.” He then added, “Plus, if you fuck up and hurt my sister in any way, shape or form, then Voltron is gonna have to look for a new Black Paladin.”

The journey back to the Castleship was short, and uneventful, but Keith needed to have a talk with Black ASAP. He really couldn’t deal with Lance screaming in his face about anything. Exiting out of the Lion, without a glance back, Keith left Red’s hangar and bolted for Black’s. Making it there, the Lion lowered himself to allow Keith in.

You seem disturbed. What happened?

“Of course I would be. Red told Matt that I was from the future.” Keith huffed, folding his arms as well.

Black sighed. Why would she?! I told her specifically not to tell anyone!

“But why would you tell her anything in the first place?”

The Lions needed to know. We aren’t like you Humans, but it was to stop her from choosing you as her Paladin.

Keith was surprised. “Huh? Why would she choose me if Allura already assigned us to you guys?”

Because your Quintessence greatly matched Red’s. So even though Allura assigned Matt as her Paladin, on Sendak’s ship when you went to retrieve her, I doubt she would’ve opened up for Matt. She would’ve accepted you instead.

Keith didn’t even know how to respond to that. Hearing Black’s statement and remembering that Red started moving after they started to fight the sentries, it would seem as though Black had told her to accept Matt instead of Keith. But, remembering the other timeline, Keith endured the same thing and had to eject himself out into deep space before he got her respect.

“I see. But it still didn’t give her a reason to tell Matt anything! Just make sure the other Lions don’t tell their Paladins anything. I really can’t handle this.”

Black laughed. In Green’s case, she was upset that her Paladin didn’t tell her right off the bat that she was from the future.

“I can imagine.”

But…is everything alright?

Keith sighed. “Apart from Matt nearly killing me, everything’s going fine. Katie and I don’t want to deviate too much from the original timeline without a clear plan first.” Keith felt Black purr in agreement. “Although, Matt’s presence alone is a huge deviation already.”

Black sighed. It had to be done, Paladin. How else were you going to lead Voltron? You know that with Shiro’s Quintessence, he would’ve been chosen to lead.

Keith sighed.

And, since things are so dire, maybe you and Katie would have to tell him you’re from the future in order to get him to agree with any plans you make.

“And that would be…” Keith trailed off. “…it wouldn’t be that bad. Shiro wouldn’t be spilling to everyone, and he’d understand.”

I know. He’s the best Paladin I ever had.

Keith gasped, pretending to be offended. “What about me? Aren’t I a good Paladin?”

Black laughed. Yes you are. Keith, you bring out my aggressive nature more than Shiro did, but Shiro was…perfect.

Keith couldn’t disagree. “I know he is.”

Plus, you’re too much like Red. Hotheaded, impulsive, too emotionally invested into everything to think straight.

“Black, come on, I was a little angsty teenager! I never had family during my developmental years, I had alien blood coursing me and I never knew so I…I just never had anyone really, except Shiro. Can’t blame me, right?”

I know. You do make a good Paladin, don’t get me wrong. You have the capabilities of a leader, just, get rid of your Red-like behaviour sometimes. You think I forgot that time when you took on Zarkon all alone? I know it was for him to not get to me, but damn, Keith. You and Red weren’t thinking.

“Please, you need a hothead on your team to get things done.” Keith said smugly.

Yes, yes, Keith.

Keith could feel Black rolling his eyes.

But, I need you to get back my bayard.

“How? Do we let Allura get captured like the previous time?”

Yes. But this time, I will guide you as to what to do. Our bond is strong, so I believe we can pull it off.

Keith smiled. He stroked the controls, a gesture he’d use to pet the Lion. “Of course, there’s nothing we can’t do, right?”

Don’t push it.

Keith laughed.  

…

…

“Alright everyone.” Pidge started, a huge grin on her face. She had assembled everyone in the computer room, even though Coran and Hunk assisted her in getting the things set up.

“What’s this about?” Lance asked, looking around the room. There were two seats before a large round desk, and behind were two rectangular server towers imbedded into the wall. Between the towers however, was a small shelf that housed the small server Pidge took from Keith’s cabin.

“So, Pidge thought that us leaving Earth without even a goodbye to our families was pretty bad, so she made this thing here.” Hunk started, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder at the set-up behind him.

“We made this thing.” She corrected him. “I took one of the equipment from Keith’s cabin that connected to Earth’s channels, hooked it up to the Castleship’s communications system and Rover.” She sent a triumphant look to Keith before she continued, “And, since I know my mother’s devices IP addresses, I inputted it into the computer for connection. And someone always said that it made no sense to know your parents’ IP addresses.”

Keith folded his arms and huffed. “Well…I stand corrected.”

Pidge chuckled. “Right, so, I’ve managed to connect —"

Lance and Matt’s eyes brightened. “It connected?!” They screamed, strangely in unison.

“Yes.” Pidge replied, ignoring the whooping by the two males. “However, it’s a one-way street.”

“That’s fine by me! As long as I know Mom and Dad are getting my message then…!” Lance chirped.

“Message?” Pidge asked. “We’ll be sending stuff periodically to them. Keep them updated, you know?”

“That’s even better!” Lance shrieked. “Can I give them a tour of the Castleship?!” He gasped and turned to Hunk, “We can show them our Lions! Take them for a spin in outer space!”

“Alright, alright, Lance. Let’s just hope when we do that, we don’t run into Galra.” Hunk replied.

“Even better! Let them see how awesome we are!”

“So, I call dibs on being cameraman.” Keith chuckled. “I’m an orphan, so I don’t have anyone to send a message to.”

Lance and Hunk exchanged glances, Allura and Coran looked worried.

“Dude, you’re a part of the Voltron family now, our families are now your families!” Lance threw an arm over Keith’s shoulder, Hunk following and ruffling his white hair.

“I can’t wait to let you see my niece and nephew!” The Yellow Paladin chirped.

“Okay, okay.” Keith tried to worm his way out of their grasp.

“Alright, so how are we gonna start? Do we just send messages to our families or….?”

Lance grinned. “I have an idea of how we can start.” His blue eyes landed on Allura and Coran.

…

…

Mrs. Colleen Holt still couldn’t believe the news.

After losing her son and husband on Kerberos, now she lost her daughter. Her daughter who illegally entered the Garrison as a boy named Pidge Gunderson, studying to be a Communications Specialist. She thought Katie was in school. She was in school. So, all this time, Katie had gotten herself into the Garrison, as a boy, and no one realized it?

When Iverson told her that her daughter was missing a week ago, she found it hard to believe. But then, he showed her “Pidge Gunderson” and it was then Colleen had realized. Her daughter managed to fool not only her, but the military as well. She was proud of her, being that smart at fifteen, but another part of her wished she wasn’t.

At least then, she’d still be with her today.

Still, Colleen wasn’t the only one grieving. Two other families —The Agueros and the Pereiras. They knew each other through their sons Lance and Hunk, who had been best friends since childhood. They too, had gone missing. And the funny thing is, they were teamed together by the Garrison along with Katie.

It got Colleen wondering.

She knew her daughter wouldn’t just run away without reason. Thinking back, she realized that Katie went to the Garrison to find out what really happened on Kerberos, because how can the best pilot, hailed as a legend, mess up on a mission such as this? She’s met Takashi Shirogane, and she knew he wasn’t the type to fail so easily. It had to be some irreparable damage that he couldn’t control.

But what caused Lance and Hunk’s disappearances?

They had no reason to second guess the Garrison unless Katie managed to find something out and persuade them as well. Maybe, she even found something off-site and left to find it.

Colleen held her head.

All this thinking was not going to bring back their children. She didn’t even know where to start. The Garrison was in the middle of a desert, the nearest city being Plaht. Where could three cadets go without arousing suspicion? Hell, where could they go any at all without supplies? They would’ve gotten caught by now.

Colleen dropped onto her couch in the living room. She turned on the TV for no reason, leaned her head back and sighed. Her family was gone. She was alone. She contemplated going back to Italy, but what could that do? What if Katie was not dead? What if she was being a little Nancy Drew and gone dig up something the Garrison chose to hide?

“Oh, God. Help me.” She cried. “Send something. Anything to let me know my little girl’s alright.”

As if her prayers were answered, the TV started to have static. Hating the frying sound, Colleen switched the channel but encountered the same thing. Giving up, she was about to turn the TV off when a face appeared.

She was a dark-skinned woman with long fluffy white hair and bright blue eyes. Colleen noticed that there were two pink chisel shaped markings under her eyes. She seemed to be talking to someone else because her bodily gestures suggested that she was calling out to someone. Out of the two chairs there, the woman sat in the one on the right, and afterwards, an orange haired man sat beside her. His most striking feature was his thick moustache, but he too, had chisel markings but his were a pale blue.

It was then that Colleen noticed it.

Their eyes were pointy. It reminded her of Elves in the games that Pidge, and Matt played often, and Colleen thought to herself, was this a TV show?

But she’s never seen it advertised.

“Uh, how I start?” The dark-skinned woman mumbled, looking to the orange haired man.

“I think we introduce ourselves! And then the Paladins? Or will they introduce themselves?”  The orange haired man fiddled with his moustache.

“Right, let’s do that.”  The woman looked in the camera and this time, her facial features changed to that of seriousness, confidence. “Hello, Mrs. Colleen Holt, the Aguero Family and the Pereira family.”

Colleen froze. Did the elven woman just call her name?

“I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea and this is my advisor, Coran.”

“Please to meet you.”  The orange-haired man, Coran, replied with a wave.

“I don’t know to say this, so I’ll just get straight to it. The Universe is at war. And has been for the past ten thousand years. Zarkon is the Emperor of the Galra, a foul race that has been terrorizing the universe. Ten thousand years ago, my father created the Lions, five individual spacecrafts that when combined, form Voltron, the most powerful weapon in the universe.”

Colleen gasped. In her panic, she switched the channel, but noticed that it was there. She switched again and found something horrific. The dark-skinned woman was on every channel.

“—chose a new set of Paladins, ones who are out here putting their lives at risk to fight against the Galra, and Zarkon. Without them, all would have been lost, but thanks to them, hope is restored. Our mission is to defeat Zarkon and his empire, free the Universe from his stranglehold and usher in an era of peace. It will take some time, but I assure you, it will be done.”

“But what does this have to do with me?” Colleen asked herself.

“Now, you will hear the messages from the Defenders of the Universe, the Paladins of Voltron.”  Coran said with a smile, but when he and Allura looked off to the side, their faces turned to that of shock. “Paladins! What are you doing!? You’re up next!”

Then, she saw Allura and Coran leave the two seats, voices in the background arguing who should go next. She heard one snap and say the leader should go sit, but another voice stating that there was no one to send a message to. Then another one suggested to go in the order that they found the Lions and then a bunch of okays.

Then, she saw two persons come into view, but she couldn’t see their faces as they haven’t sat down. They wore the same armour —over a black suit, there was a white cuirass with a stylized V that spanned across the chest and stopping at the pauldrons. On their arms were white rerebraces and bracers, and a belt, however, one had black accents on his armour and the other had blue.

When the two sat down, a gasp left Colleen’s mouth.

The boy in the Blue armour was Lance. It was him. He wasn’t dead and by the looks of it, he’s not missing either, he’s just not where his family expected him to be.

“Why am I here, again?” Colleen heard the white-haired male ask. She thought his face had some familiarity, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. But then again, wouldn’t she remember someone with white hair?

“What do you mean? You’re helping me send mine to my family, Mr. Orphan.” Lance said with an eye roll. “So, introduce yourself because they won’t know who you are. I think everyone knows you when you had the black hair so…”

The white-haired male bristled. “Fine!” He looked into the camera and sighed, “My name is Keith Alexander, the pilot of the Black Lion,” He looked across to Lance and asked, “Or should I say, I’m a Paladin, I fly the Black Lion?”

Lance cracked up beside him.

“See?! That’s why I shouldn’t be here! I’m bad at this!”

Lance threw an arm over Keith’s shoulder, still dying of laughter. “Alright, let me do it for you.” He laughed. “This is Keith, the Black Paladin which means he flies the Black Lion. He’s also our leader.”

“Hey…”

“And also, my rival. Not for love because he has his girlfriend but —”

“I’m just his wingman.” Keith mumbled. “But anyway, we don’t have all day!”

“Right…” Lance removed his hand from around Keith’s shoulder, sat forwards and intertwined his fingers. “Mom, Dad, Marco, Luis, Veronica, Rachel…” His voice lost the chirp it had and had gotten sombre. “I don’t know how to start but, I’m okay.” Lance said. “I’m out here in space somewhere —”

“We’re on planet Arus.” Keith added.

“Yeah, I’m on planet Arus, far, far, far, so far away from Earth we can’t even imagine it.” Lance fiddled with his fingers, but Keith placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry I left without a word to you. It wasn’t intentional, it just…happened. It started off as a normal day, Hunk, Pidge and I got chewed by Iverson because we crashed in the simulator, so later in the night, I decided that the three of us should do some team boding.

“Man, that turned out to be a life-changer. We stalked Pidge up onto the roof of the Garrison, and she told us about the alien radio chatter she’s been listening to. At first, we didn’t believe her but then a spaceship crashed a few miles away from the Garrison. We followed it, went out there to see what it was.

“It turned out to be someone neither of us expected. The Garrison, however, had security tight around the area, but Pidge was so smart she managed to hack their stuff and we saw who came from the spaceship. With the help of this guy here,” Lance jabbed his thumb in Keith’s direction, “We busted the guy out and packed up on Keith’s hoverbike and left before the Garrison could catch us.

“Then we went to Keith’s house where he’d been doing some detective work and found a Blue Lion, sitting in the Garrison’s backyard. And yes, it took three cadets, an expelled fighter class cadet and an adult to find it.”

“You had to say I was expelled huh?” Keith hissed.

“Well, aren’t you?”

Keith huffed but didn’t reply.

“The Blue Lion chose me as its Paladin, pilot. So, intrigued by it, we all entered the cockpit and it just took off, flying around the desert and feeling free. And then it told me that there was an alien ship heading to Earth, we fought it, and lured it away. Within five seconds, we were at Kerberos, and then we entered through a wormhole and ended up here, on Arus.

“We met Allura and Coran, now we live in a giant Castleship and is fighting in a war. A war that has been going on for ten thousand years that we didn’t know about. I…I miss you guys, but just know that I’m okay and I’ll come home the moment we’re done out here. Love you, Lance.”

Colleen saw the pained look on his face, and almost cried. Keith looked confident, calm and reassuring, but Colleen could see it. In his purple eyes, she could see the worry and concern for Lance, and it grieved her heart that these children had to be out in space, fighting in a war.

“Don’t worry, we’re all gonna make it home, I’ll see to it.” Keith said.

“Yeah, you better, Leader.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“But you are, Black Paladin.” Lance got up and stretched, before he said, “Hey, who’s next? We went for the Yellow and Green Lions at the same right?”

“Yeah, but Green came back first. So she’s next.” Keith replied. Lance left but Keith remained, until a much smaller person came and sat where Lance had been.

“Hello, Mom.” Pidge started.

Colleen nearly lost her shit. There her daughter was. All right and in one piece. But, her hair was different. Did she colour it to avoid being caught? The white hair stood out too much, but was that the intention?

“Sorry I left home without telling you. And sorry I hacked into the Garrison and illegally registered myself.” Keith snorted beside her. She jabbed him in his side with an elbow. He winced. “But, I’m okay, and I’ve met some cool people, Allura and Coran, who are from a planet called Altea. But it’s no longer in existence because Zarkon wiped it out.

“Mom, I’m…I’m the Green Paladin, meaning I pilot the Green Lion. It all happened so suddenly, one moment I was on Earth, found a giant Blue Lion, and then within five seconds of it leaving Earth, we were at Kerberos heading through a wormhole.

“And now, I’m fighting in an intergalactic war with four other guys as Paladins, and two other people who command this Castleship that we live in. It’s a daunting task, but I love you, Mom. And I promise that I’ll find Dad and Shiro. They aren’t dead. So, see you in a few.”

Keith cleared his throat. “That’s it? Lance’s own was pretty long.”

“He told a story.” Pidge deadpanned. But then, her face brightened into mischief. “Oh! And Mom, this is Keith, my boyfriend for over a year now. Sorry I couldn’t introduce you guys under better circumstances.”

Keith froze. “K—K—Katie!” He shrieked in panic. He then faced the camera before shyly saying, “Hi. N-Ni-Nice to meet you, Mrs. Holt.” He stuttered out.

Pidge snickered and got up, and when she left out of the camera, another came in. He wore Yellow accents in his armour.

Colleen had a feeling who he might be. Lance and Katie were there, then that meant he should be the son of the Pereiras.

“Hey!”

Colleen was right, it was Hunk.

“Well, the others said a lot of things that I would’ve said, but here goes anyway. I’m sorry. I never meant to leave and if I could come back I would. I miss your cooking Mom. Coran has us out here eating food goo.”

In the background, Colleen could hear who she deduced to be Coran screeching, “Altean slush is healthy!”

“But, just like the others, I never intended to leave, and everything just happened so suddenly. Within minutes of leaving Earth in the Blue Lion, we had to fight a Galra battlecruiser, and then minutes of getting of here, we were back at it again with only three Lions.” Hunk turned to look at Keith, “How did you guys get the Red Lion? You never told us the story!”

Keith laughed. “We broke in, freed prisoners, then we split up —Pidge guided them to the escape pods, Matt and I went for Red. We encountered a shit ton of sentries, we fought them off, Red opened up to allow Matt in, he ripped a hole in the underside of the ship, we escaped. There.”

Hunk frowned. “How uneventful.”

“What did you expect?!”

“Well Lance and I were almost killed! The place was infested with Galra, guns blazing, even missiles!”

Colleen blanched at the story. She saw that Keith’s face wasn’t any better.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come with you.” Keith apologized.

“I know, I know. If you had your Lion, it would’ve been a piece of cake, Mr. Ace Pilot.”

“Ugh! Hunk! Not you too!”

Hunk laughed, and then someone in the background urged, “You know that the camera is still rolling right? Don’t go off on a tangent!”

“Oh right. Mom, Dad, Aleki, Atamai, I love you guys, a lot. So, stay safe, alright? Yellow Paladin, out!” He said with a salute.

With that, Hunk got up, but not a second later, there was another Paladin, this time, his armour had red accents.

“Pidge, come sit with him.” Keith said, getting up out of his seat.

Colleen wondered why the sudden change, but when the Red Paladin sat, she flew up out of her seat. It was Matthew. Her son was alive! Tears rolled out of her eyes and down her cheeks, a sense of relief washed over her. Her son, was alive!

“Hey Mom.” Matt started with a nervous chuckle. “Pidge told me that the Garrison killed us off.”

Pidge placed a hand on his shoulder, he held her hand there.

“Mom, we made it to Kerberos okay. Everything was fine and Shiro was an awesome pilot. We had no problems at all. But, during our research, we were abducted by a hostile alien race, the Galra.”

Colleen’s eyes widened. Then, that meant, the story about the Crew perishing due to pilot error was all a lie. The Military killed off her husband and son and Shiro to hide the truth. This was what probably prompted her daughter to illegally enter herself into the school.

Katie unravelled their lies and discovered their truth. And brought her friends along for the ride.

“Dad was taken somewhere else because he was smart, Shiro and I were taken to their gladiator pits and had to fight for our lives, the Galra seeing it as a sick form of entertainment.” Matt shivered and held his head down. “It was hell, Mom. And if it wasn’t for Shiro, I’d be dead Mom. He’s the one who saved me, he taught me how to fight, how to rely on instincts because Mom, it’s a nasty place out there.”

Colleen teared up. Her son’s voice cracked, his body trembled, his head held down. She knew he was about to cry. Or he was, just hiding his face. A few seconds, he raised his head, but Colleen saw the redness in eyes. He was going to cry.  

“We had to endure so many things that I can’t even talk about, but luckily, we managed to break free and escape. When I crashed on Earth, yes Mom, I had returned to Earth but Katie and her friends, and boyfriend, busted me out from the Garrison. The Garrison wouldn’t listen to me, I tried to warn them that aliens were coming to Earth for the Blue Lion. Well, at the time, I thought it was Voltron, but they didn’t listen still.

“But anyway, it was supposed to be me and Shiro who escaped. But, right as we were at the escape pods, a horde of Galran sentries attacked us, and to make sure that one of us made it to Earth, Shiro pushed me into the pod and held off the sentries.

“Mom, it’s crazy out here. But I’m gonna find Dad and Shiro —”

“We are gonna find them, Matt.” Pidge corrected. “You’re not alone in this. Plus, Shiro is like a big brother to Keith, you know he’s gonna headhunt the man.”

Matt chuckled. “Yeah.”

“So, Mom as you can see, Matt pilots the Red Lion. He’s been getting some help from Keith on piloting,” Pidge turned to face him, “how’s it going?”

Matt looked nervous. “Keith wants to kill me.”

“Yeah, because he almost tried to kill me! Made me slam into the back of the cockpit and then pinned onto the roof!” Keith roared from the background. “Quiznaking little —!”

“You’re not using that word correctly.” Matt interrupted.

“Oh, shut the quiznak up!”

“Alright, enough!” Allura’s voice joined in, and the arguing ceased. “Matt, get back to your video!”

“Right. So, Mom, I love you, and I’m trying my best out here, so please, hold on. We’re still alive, Dad too and Shiro. And we’re gonna get them back, kick Zarkon’s butt and save the universe! So when we get back, have a hero’s welcome party waiting for us! Red Paladin, signing off.”

Matt waved before he and Pidge got up, and hearing some mumbling, the screen went dark.

Colleen dropped to her feet in shock. For a few minutes she sat there in silence, gawking at the screen that now that regular Earth programming was going on.

Getting out of her stupor, she reached for her phone and called Isabel Aguero, Lance’s mother. She, Colleen and Hunk’s mother —Manaia became friends thanks to the three having missing children from the garrison.

The phone rang thrice before Isabel picked it up.

“Isabel, did—did…” Colleen stuttered before she could speak fully. “Did you see anything on your TV?”

“Colleen! I was wondering what was going on! I saw Lance! And Hunk! And even your daughter! What…what is going on?!”

Colleen sighed. “Apparently, our children have gotten themselves into something that is beyond even us.” She said. “An intergalactic war?! They’re still cadets!”

“Manaia is freaking out as we speak. Only her husband can console her right now.”

Colleen was silent for a while. She was okay, strangely, and she wondered if it was because Matthew was there with Katie. “I would be the same too.”

“I wonder what the Garrison will say about this. It was all over the world, Colleen! Even people in Japan were seeing it!”

“What?!”

“Yes! A cousin of mine who works at the Embassy messaged me that she saw them on the TV!”

“Oh my God.”

“What are we going to do, Colleen?”

“Let’s meet up in the evening. I’ll text Manaia of our plans, but please, wear some coverings. We don’t want to be noticed in public.”

“Right.”

…

…

The Galaxy Garrison was a mess.

Since it was the weekend, the cadets, the staff —everyone had been watching TV to relieve some stress. Many had been watching drama series, documentaries, some were even on YouTube watching a myriad of videos.

But, the Paladins interrupted all that.

Seeing the cadets deemed missing telling their stories of what happened, and to put the icing on the cake, Matthew Holt, who was supposedly dead. Everyone was shocked.

James Griffin and his friends —Nadia Rizavi, Ryan Kinkade and Ina Leifsdottir had been sitting in the common room, watching TV when the Paladins hijacked the channels. They sat and listened to everything the five paladins and two Alteans said and couldn’t believe their ears nor eyes.

They kidnapped Matthew Holt out of Garrison quarantine and ended up fighting in an intergalactic war. James was intrigued by this, he was curious as to what these “Lions” looked like, but more so, Keith was their leader according to Lance. He couldn’t see Keith leading anyone, hell, James felt like Keith needed guidance himself. So, how the hell was he able to lead in a war?

“Damn…what the hell was that?” Rizavi asked in shock. “What…?”

“I take it that the Lance, Hunk and Pidge aren’t missing for real then?” Ina said.

A week ago, they were told that three cadets, Lance Aguero, Hunk Pereira and Pidge Gunderson were missing. The story they were told was that the trio left the compound without permission but never returned. In addition, a falling “meteor” had crashed nearby, so the student body were to assume the worst.

Surely, the Garrison never thought that their lie would’ve blown up in their faces like this.

“I don’t know what to say about this.” James said. “It’s obvious that the Garrison is hiding something right?”

“Yeah, they probably knew that the Kerberos Crew weren’t dead in space because of pilot error, but because they were nabbed by aliens.” Kinkade shrugged. “But why didn’t they tell the truth?”

“Maybe they didn’t want to cause a panic?” Rizavi guessed.

“Tsch, well, look at what just happened. The cat’s out of the bag now.”

…

…

“This is a disaster!” Commander Bailey shrieked. He was seated on the left in the meeting room. “What was that broadcast?!”

“Ah shit, now all my division’s hardwork went down the drain.” Another said. She was Olivia, a tall woman with dark hair and eyes. “Now, we have this to fix.”

“Fix? There’s nothing to fix.” Adam spoke up. “The fact that this was broadcasted across the world, on every channel, means that this was legitimate. We can’t say that it was just the cadets awakening their inner filmmakers, Matthew Holt was there. Where would they have gotten a dead man from? And the ability to hijack every channel?”

“Which means, we have to tell the truth.” Olivia sighed. “We can’t continue to beat around the bush anymore. Plus, what if they decide to make another video?”

As if on cue, there was static on the giant screen behind them, and all eyes whipped to it. It came on, and this time, it was Keith. And he was alone.

“Uh, hello again, Mrs. Holt.” He said. He seemed slightly nervous, and like what most people imagined an eighteen year old to be.

The commanders sitting realized that the Paladins are broadcasting to Colleen, not knowing that it was hijacking every signal and showing across the planet.

“I’ve introduced myself earlier, but just in case you got overwhelmed and forgot, I’m Keith Alexander. I was a fighter class pilot in the Garrison until I got expelled.” He said it with such casualness, it seemed as though he didn’t care. “This is a serious matter. When we left in the Blue Lion, a Galra warship was heading to Earth. We attacked it and lured it away, because if we didn’t either the world would’ve been blown to cosmic dust, or you’ll all be enslaved by now.

The commanders gasped in shock.

“I say this to say, we, the Paladins cannot be in five galaxies at once. Technically, since we pilot five individual Lions we can, but Voltron is formed when we combine. Thus, in the off chance that we need to form, which would be every time we face the Galra, we must be close.

“You’re a smart woman, and your husband worked for the Garrison. I’m sure you can get a pass to get inside. Here’s what I want you to do. Over the course of our journey, we’ll need to gather intel on the Galra. Everything that we manage to download, we’ll send it back to you and you get it to the Garrison. That way, Earth’s defenses can bolstered because if the planet gets attacked when we’re busy saving the universe, then you’re on your own.

“As it is, Earth doesn’t stand a chance against the Galra. Or any alien race for that matter. We don’t want to come back home to a destroyed planet or an enslaved one. We’re counting on you.”

Keith saluted, signalling the end of the transmission.

For a moment the room was silent, until Admiral Sanda spoke. “Get Colleen Holt here, now.”

Chapter Text

Repurpose

Before Colleen knew it, her house was swarming with military personnel, she didn’t even get to meet with Isabel and Manaia. Although they spoke respectively, the army men’s tone was rather demanding and intimidating. But she was Colleen Holt, intimidating was her middle name.

“Good day, Sirs. I would like if you could step back and give me some breathing space. As it is, you’re invading my personal space.” Her face darkened like the coalescence of storm clouds, and immediately, the men backed off. She locked her door behind her and then said, “Well, lead the way.”

She knew she didn’t have any other option but to go with the military. But Colleen wondered if all this was necessary.

The roads were blocked off, and she was in the third car from the front. She was just one woman, and it just so happened that the cadets in space were planning to send her important alien intel. What was the big deal? The whole world knew about it too, so it wasn’t like this was top-secret.

Reaching the Garrison, she was led to Admiral Sanda’s office.

“Mrs. Holt, I’m sure you know the reason you’re being called here, right?” Admiral Sanda started.

“Yes, I do.” Colleen replied with a nod. “It’s because of what Keith said in the second broadcast, isn’t it?”

“Exactly.” Sanda said as she placed her chin on the back of her hands. Her eyes narrowed at Colleen, the latter not even flinching under the gaze. Nothing will make her quiver. “And since this is the case, we need you here at all times. When the information comes in, we need to get it as quickly as possible without delay.”

Colleen drew back. She didn’t mind staying here, if it meant helping Earth to be able to withstand a possible alien attack, then so be it. “I understand, but under a few conditions.”

“Name them.”

“Whenever the Paladins’ broadcast starts, you don’t hide it. And I want to be a part of any decision-making pertaining to all this. You will not omit me from any meeting. Second, I want to head a team which will deal with the information we get from the Paladins. That team will be responsible for analysing the data and understanding what it is we need to do, or to build.” She then chewed on her thumbnail absentmindedly. “If only Sam was here…” she mumbled.

“Consider it done.” Admiral Sanda nodded. There was nothing she wouldn’t grant Colleen. The safety of the entire planet was at stake and she was the only one who can stop it, or at least thwart it to some degree.

“Another thing, for me to stay here, I’d need to set up something which links my devices IP addresses to the ones I’ll be using here. I’d like to think Katie is sending me things using that, if I move, I’m not sure if I’ll get the information.”

“But they’re broadcasting to the entire world! How —”

“With all due respect, remember Keith said that they’ll send the information to me. I don’t think they’ll broadcast it like the others.”

Admiral Sanda nodded. “I’ll send a team of the best to get you sorted out. Is there anything else?”

Colleen shook her head. “Not yet.”

…

…

“And that’s a wrap!” Lance applauded when Keith got up from the seat.

“Yes, yes, thanks Director Lance.” Keith joked.

“But are you sure that your mother will get the information, Number Five?” Coran asked, fiddling with his moustache. “I know it’s a good idea, but…”

“It would’ve been good if we could’ve given Mom some sort of communicator or rig up something for her on Earth that no matter where we are, we’re sure she’ll get it.” Matt suggested. “But that’ll mean we have to infuse Altean tech and Earth’s right?” Everyone shrugged their uncertainty.

“But wait, doesn’t that mean we’ll have to pop by Earth?” Hunk asked.

“Not necessarily. Allura can open a wormhole, Pidge and Matt flies through in Green or Red and drops off the thing to Mrs. Holt.” Keith said. “I mean, Mrs. Holt hasn’t seen her son in a year, even though we sent her the video, I’m sure she’ll still want to see him in the flesh.”

“But…I want to see my parents too.” Hunk softly said, Lance placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

Keith saw this exchange and mentally slapped himself. Of course, they all wanted to see their families. How could he have forgotten that?!

“Alright, if we do need to head back to Earth, I’ll be the drop ship.” Keith said. “I’ll drop you guys off at your families and come pick you back up when you’re ready.”

“Not a bad idea, Number Four.” Coran nodded.

“Well, I don’t have any family left, so I’ll try for the others who do.”

“But back to the issue at hand. What could we possibly use to send the info to Mom?” Matt asked, “Is there anything in the Castle…?”

“Why don’t we use the thing we got when we going for our Lions? It’s small enough to hold in our pockets, but it can make holographic projections.” Hunk suggested. “If we get that to her, fix it up to receive information from the Castleship and bam! We’re good to go!”

“Alright, Pidge, Hunk, let’s get to work!” Matt shrieked and dragged off his sister with Coran in tow.

Keith looked to Hunk who was about to move off and said, “Hunk, there’s something I want to show you before you go with them. Follow me to my room.”

“Uh, sure.”

“So, what about me?” Lance asked.

Keith winked. “Try to woo the Princess. And let me know how it goes. I’ve got your back, remember?”

Lance let out a sigh. If someone had told him two years ago that Keith would’ve become his wingman to help him woo an alien princess, he’d definitely laugh them to scorn.

“So, Allura…” Lance started, making his way towards her.

The two paladins walked towards Keith’s room in silence, and upon arrival, Hunk was surprised at how minimal the teen was. There was only the large suitcase he carried with him when they left the cabin in the desert. Hunk was tempted to ask Keith why he had a packed suitcase ready in case of anything, but he didn’t. He wasn’t close to Keith, so he didn’t want to seem like he was being nosy.

Keith knelt in front of the suitcase and popped it open. What Hunk saw left him speechless. There were fruits, vegetables, pastas, sauces, cooking oil and condiments, spices, salts and peppers, teas, and even cake mixes.

“What the quiznak?!” Hunk shrieked in joy and shock. “This…”

“A little birdie told me that you can cook. So, I was wondering if you would be able to mix Earth’s ingredients with alien ones to make a dish. I don’t know how long this supply will last, so best to see how we can stretch it out, right?”

Hunk didn’t respond, instead he embraced Keith in a tight bear-hug, the Black Paladin letting out a chuckle and patting Hunk’s back. “You’re welcome,”

“Man, I can’t wait to start cooking!”

“Hold your horses. Remember, Pidge and Matt are waiting for you.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get Lance to help me to pack these things out in the kitchen. Run along now.”

When Hunk left, Keith carried the suitcase to the kitchen and unpacked it all by himself. He wasn’t going to ask Lance for help because despite Keith’s attitude, he really wanted Lance and Allura to have something going on. In the previous timeline, he saw how happy his friend was, and decided to let him have his joy earlier on. That and, Keith hated Lotor. There’s no way he’d allow that bastard to slither his way into team Voltron like the last time.

“It was all because I had left them…” He mumbled to himself. His hands balled into a fist, and unable to control himself, he slammed his fist onto the table. So many things have happened to the team when he left for the Blades, and up until this day, Keith was still going through a phrase of self-blaming.

Shaking his head to rid the thoughts, Keith refocused on unpacking.

…

…

The next day on Arus, with Allura working on the Castle’s systems, they had target practice, in which they were the targets and were supposed to dodge. It went fairly well in some instances. At first, Keith had to be present in both the Yellow and Red Lions to give Hunk and Matt a few lessons. After that, he left them to fend for themselves. Of course, Pidge had no issue, Lance at one point gave up and attempted to fly in.

It was only when the firing stopped that they flew back in the Castle.

While the others headed to the lounge to relax, Pidge spared no time and began to incorporate the invisible maze technology into her Lion, as with future knowledge, having a Lion that can cloak is highly beneficial.

So engrossed she was that she didn’t notice Keith enter.

“Hey.” Keith came in and greeted her with a kiss on her cheek.

“Hey yourself.”

“What you up to?”

“Cloaking.”

She was so immersed that she missed Keith’s grin. “Can you see if that can work with Black too?” Pidge paused and whipped her head around to him. “I remember you saying that you placed the tech in Green’s Shield, so Black has jetwings, could you try to see if you could —”

“Keith! You’re a genius! Why didn’t we think of that before!?”

“Probably because previously, we were just discovering as we went along. Now that we know what’s gonna happen, it’s best to have two cloaking lions.”

“After I’m done with Green, I’ll go see what I can do for Black.”

Keith smiled, “I know you can do it.” But then he took a seat and sat beside her. He fiddled with his fingers, eyes downcast. Pidge paused, knowing this gesture all too well. It was when Keith had something on his mind and didn’t know how to come out right with it.

“Katie,” Keith’s voice was lower this time, and she knew he was coming with something serious. “How are we going to tell Allura that I’m half Galra? I don’t think we should wait until we meet the Blades, because I have to use my knife. What if any of the others see it when we’re in battle? What she sees it?”

Pidge sighed. This was a tough one indeed. “We’ll work on it. For now, we’re on Arus and that Robeast won’t be coming anytime soon, so we have some time to think up something.”

“Yeah, maybe Black will have an idea?”

Pidge laughed. “You can try. Green is still upset with me because I didn’t tell her I time-travelled.”

It was Keith’s turn to laugh. “She still isn’t over it?”

“She’s coming around. Installing the cloaking tech is my way of winning back her favour.” Pidge grinned. A rumble came from the Green Lion in that moment, and Pidge heard her voice as clear as day.

Fine. I’ll accept your apology. But don’t hide any thing else from me!

“You got it, Girl.” Pidge replied.

Keith bade the two farewell and headed to Black’s hangar. Climbing into the cockpit and making himself comfortable, he began to speak with his Lion.

“BBLLACCCCKKK…” Keith sounded frustrated.

What is it, Paladin?

“How am I going to tell everyone that I’m half Galra?”

You just…tell them. There is no need for a ‘how’.

“No Black, you don’t understand. In the previous timeline, when Allura found out, she hated my guts. And at the time, I didn’t even know that I was part Galra either.”

Black snorted. Well, what is she gonna do? Find another Black Paladin?

Keith laughed. He knew that Black wouldn’t desert him, and even if Shiro were to turn up at their doorstep tomorrow, Black would still keep Keith.

“No, but for us to win against Zarkon, we need to trust and work with each other. We can’t do that if the Princess hates me. Plus, what’s gonna happen when we need to go to the Quantum abyss for the Altean colony? How am I gonna convince her if she hates me?”

Keith could feel Black’s grin. I have a plan, do you want to hear it?

“Oh, do I ever.”

…

…

« Everyone! It’s time for dinner! »

Hunk’s voice sounded through the intercom and slowly, the two made their way to the dining hall. When everyone was settled, the mood was lightened, and frankly, it was a good time. But Keith was still a little out of it. His mind kept weighing on his half Galra nature and even though Black’s plan was solid, Keith couldn’t help the twisting knot in his stomach.

“Keith, you okay?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just…” He trailed off and looked across to Pidge. She knew of the plan since after he left Black’s hangar, he went straight to her. “…it’s just dawning on me that we’re actually in space, about to fight in an intergalactic war, you know?” It was not entirely a lie; in the previous timeline this was how he had felt.

“I see. But we can do this. If we just bond together as a team, right?” Hunk stated. “By the way, thanks to your suitcase, we can have these delicious foods!”

“But I don’t even know you guys so well.” Matt said. “So, I guess for this to work, we need some more bonding exercises?”

Lance laughed. “It’s an attempt of a bonding exercise how Pidge, Hunk and I ended up seeing your ship crash land that night.”

Coran piped up. “Really?!” the others nodded. “Then, let me help you with that! The Paladins of old were like a pack of yalmors joined together at the ears! I have some exercises that you can do!”

The sound of a hand slamming on the table stopped them all.

Keith took in a deep breath before saying, “There’s something that I must tell you all.” Black, I’m going in. Get ready.

I was always ready, Keith. Black replied.

“What’s that?”

Keith decided to make things up on the fly. “My father died when I was six. I never met my mother, so I always thought she abandoned me.” He sucked in a breath when he saw their faces. “But, my father told me a few things about her, so when I was older, I tried to find her. Or her people…anything that could lead me to her, really. But I came up emptyhanded every time, so when I assumed that she was probably from an undocumented tribe on Earth, I eventually stopped looking.

“However, when we found Blue, and arrived here and Allura saying that Zarkon was the Galra King, I realized. My mother was an alien. My father had told me she was Galra, so I had assumed that Galra was her tribe’s name. This knife was the only thing she left me, and during the fight with the sentries on Sendak’s ship, it changed into something else. I —”

“Enough!” Allura’s voice resounded like thunder. “You’re a Galra!?” The rage in her was leaking out like waves.

“I’m half, Allura. And —”

“Don’t you dare speak my name.”

Keith shrunk back in his seat. This was a bad idea. But it had to be done. But one thing Keith was glad for, he wasn’t as fierce and hotheaded like he had been. If he still was, he and Allura would probably be locked in a vicious scream fest right now.

“Allura! What is your problem?! It’s not like he’s done anything wrong!” Matt said, rising to his feet. “Can you control who your parents are?! No! Plus, if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have gotten Blue!”

“That’s right.” Pidge followed suit. “Plus, Keith is eighteen. If his mother was truly under Zarkon’s thumb, you think that it’d take eighteen decaphoebes for them to reach Earth?”

“You don’t know what they could be planning! The fact that his mother is a Galra, and she left him something! Who knows if that was what led Sendak to us in the first place?!” Allura reasoned. “The castle has been here for ten-thousand decaphoebes! But all of a sudden, Sendak found us!?”

“It’s not my knife that caused Sendak to find us!” Keith roared back.

“Then what is it?! What if that knife was made to activate the moment you came close to the Black Lion?!”

“The hell?! Are you hearing yourself!?” Keith wanted to smack her. He knew Allura was smart, but this wasn’t like her. “If that was the case, then the fucking knife should’ve alerted the Galra about Blue being on Earth the moment my mother landed! But it didn’t now, did it?!” He spat.

Hunk, Lance and Coran sat and watched the drama unfold before them. It wasn’t that they were enjoying it, they didn’t know how to join in without seeming as though they were taking sides. In Coran’s eyes, Keith was a Paladin, and a damn good one at that. He didn’t care whether or not the boy was half Galra. Keith was just…Keith.

“You know what, I’ve had enough of this fuckery.” Keith hissed, he was really tired of it. He then stood, closed his eyes and exhaled. It’s your turn, Black.

Took you long enough.

When Keith stood, all eyes turned to the Black Paladin, but when he reopened his eyes, they were glowing a soft purple colour. His pupil was gone and suddenly, his entire body had the same purple light around him.

“Allura,” Black started, speaking through Keith. “My Paladin has a good heart, there is nothing for you to fear. He won’t become another Zarkon, rest assured.” A low growl came from his throat, sounding just like the angered purr that Pidge was used to hearing from Green in the other timeline. “But, if you continue to let your hatred for the Galra blind you, you could turn away the most needed help. Don’t let it happen. You need to accept my Paladin for who he is, because if you don’t, good luck to saving the universe without Voltron, or any Lion for that matter.”

“Holy crow, the Black Lion is speaking?! Through Keith?!” Hunk gasped.

“Yes, Yellow One.” Black replied. His eyes hadn’t left Allura for a second. “I know it’s probably hard on you that Voltron’s leader is a half Galra but put that aside and see the boy as the self-sacrificing fool that he is. Trust me, he’ll never do anything that’ll destroy the universe willingly. I shall take my leave now.”

Allura bit her lip and exhaled. The tension was high in the room, and noticing this, Black then left Keith’s body, allowing the boy to return. But when he did, Keith swayed and staggered, leaning on the table for support. It was a strange feeling, the first time, he felt as though he was being sucked out of his own body, and then coming back, he felt a strong force pushing him back to into his body.

“Oh shit, I’m never doing that again.” He panted, leaning on the table for support.

“Keith? You’re —you’re—back?” Lance asked, stuttering.  

“Yeah, but what happened?” Keith feigned ignorance. “I remember arguing and then everything went black and there were…stars?”

“Dude! The Black Lion took you over! And spoke through you!” Hunk shrieked. “I never knew Lions could do that!”

“Yeah, well neither did I.” Keith said with a shaky chuckle. “I’m gonna go…back to my room. I’m…I’m…” Keith didn’t finish, instead he staggered off, Lance running to catch him before he fell face-first onto the floor.

“Damn son, you can’t even stand!” Lance whispered excitedly as he threw Keith’s arm over his shoulder.

“Let me help you.” Matt said, taking Keith’s other arm. The two then left the room.

And while Pidge knew that Black was going take Keith over, what she expected, wasn’t what she got. As a matter of fact, she never knew the Lions could take over their Paladins like that. What stopped them from doing it in the previous timeline?

By the time they made it back to Keith’s room, the leader was back to normal. It seemed that the after-effects of Black taking him over wasn’t a long-lasting thing.

“Can you believe Allura, though?” Matt started, sitting on Keith’s bed. “I can understand why she would hate the Galra but directing that on you…” he shook his head in disappointment. “…I don’t approve.”

Lance was silent for a moment. “She really had no right to accuse you like that.”

Keith placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled, “Go talk to her. Find out what’s eating her alive so much. I know, her civilization was destroyed by the Galra and she hasn’t a chance to see the Universe outside of that. So, I guess she’s assuming that every Galra is Zarkon’s bitch.”

Matt snorted and tried to stifle down his laughter. “Zarkon’s bitch…” he snickered. “…if I come in contact with any Galra soldier, I’m definitely gonna say that to rile them up.”

“Why are you like this?!” Lance guffawed.

“What can I say?” Matt shrugged with a playful smirk. “I’m special.”

…

…

Later that night, Keith made his way to Allura’s room but stopping outside of her door. He knew she wouldn’t let him in, so he decided to say what he needed and leave. But as he neared, he heard voices. One of them was definitely Allura, but when he listened again, he realized the other. It was Lance. What was the Blue paladin doing here?

“Allura, I’m not siding with him because we’re both from the same planet.” Keith heard Lance say, followed by a heavy sigh. “I’m siding with him because it’s not his fault. I’m sure you never asked to be your father’s daughter, right?”

There was no answer.

“See? And if it weren’t for Keith, we wouldn’t have found Blue. He could’ve sensed her, Allura. Back on Earth, he sensed Blue’s energy but was unable to find exactly where she was because I wasn’t there.”

“But Lance, the Galra are monsters! They destroy worlds! People! Everything!” Allura shrieked. “The last memory I have of Altea was Zarkon’s invasion. Everything was burning, destroyed.”

“Allura…” Lance’s voice was soft here, and Keith was upset that he couldn’t see Lance’s face or even see how he was comforting her. But another part of Keith felt that this was too intrusive. As much as he was this (relation)ship’s captain, he couldn’t continue to eavesdrop on them like this.

Clearing his throat, Keith then knocked on the door and said, “Princess? It’s me, Keith.” He was met with no answer. “If you’re awake, knock on the door to let me know.”

Keith heard a little shuffling before hearing the knock. He wondered if it was Lance.

“Good. So, uh, I know you’re angry with me. But, I can’t do anything about it. My mother is Galra and my father is a human. I’ve grown up on Earth my whole life, not knowing about the existence of alien races. But, I want to say, I’m sorry.” Keith sucked in a breath. He hated this. Apologizing for what? For being born? “And since it pains you to be around a half Galra monster like me, I’ll stay away from you. I’ll stay out of your eyes, your hair, anything really.”

He let out a stressed sigh. “But as the Black Paladin, there are times when we need to work together for the greater good. In times like those, we can’t help it. We’re going to have to make plans together, and for the love of the universe, please don’t shoot down my ideas just because I am who I am. I need you as much as you need me. So, until then, goodbye.”

And with that, Keith walked away from her door with a heavy heart.

His feet carried him only to one place, Pidge’s room. He knew her code as she did his, and when the door slid open, Pidge didn’t need to move from her bed to know who entered. It could’ve been either two people, Matt or Keith but she could feel Keith’s Quintessence leaking out in thick waves. His sadness slammed into her like a brick, and she wondered what could’ve triggered it. Today at dinner, she did feel the change, but it was more of anger than sadness.

Keith then crawled into bed beside her, and snuggled his face into her chest, wrapping his arms around her. This was how he slept whenever he wanted comfort, a habit he carried from the previous timeline.

“Keith? What’s the matter?”

“This is the worst part about time-travelling.” He mumbled. “Allura hates me, and I don’t know how long it’ll last.”

Pidge stroked his hair gently. “She’ll come around faster than you think. After all, we have Sendak to deal with soon, and that Robeast.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want her to ignore me. Or change my plans just because I’m Galra.” Keith groaned. “Hatred blinds people, you know that right?”

“Oh, how could I forget when you attacked Zarkon head on in the Red Lion?” Pidge said with a chuckle. “Not one of your braincells were working then.”

Keith smiled; Pidge could feel it. “I’m not talking about that. In general Katie, in general.”

“I know.” She continued to stroke his hair, trying her best to soothe him. “Plus, didn’t I tell you that we were in this together? We just have to do what we have to, and it’ll be okay.”

Keith looked up at her. “Easier said than done. What if…?”

“What if nothing.” Pidge replied. “I don’t think you heard Black’s words today, but if Allura keeps up her shit, the Lions are gonna strike.”

A chuckle escaped Keith’s lips. “A strike? What is this? A terrible workplace?”

Pidge snorted. “Well, it sure is turning into a toxic atmosphere. Especially for you.” She continued. “Plus, Green told me about it. Black gave the Lions the order, that if Allura prohibits you from flying, the other Lions won’t budge.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Keith asked.

“As quoted from Green, ‘even if the universe is being decimated, if the Princess forbids Keith from flying, you all better sit your asses down too’. End quote.”

Keith burst with laughter. “Black said that?”

“Yeah, you’re corrupting Voltron’s leader.”

“Am not.”

“Is too.”

Keith finally relaxed, Pidge noting the change in his Quintessence. “Hey, you want to go with me for a fly?”

Pidge smirked. “Is this an impromptu date?”

“Of course, it is. We can go look at the stars in this galaxy.”

Pidge nodded. “If only Mom could see it too.”

Rover made a rapid beeping sound, green light running around its crevices. Pidge chuckled when she saw the triangular bot and patted the top of it. “Of course, you can come.”

“Is that what it’s saying?”

“I think so.”

…

…

Colleen got a very comfortable room and even though the Garrison managed to get most of her things here, she still found it hard to sleep. Of course, her devices were left at home until the engineers finished linking the home devices with the ones she was to use here. The windows showed an early morning sun of a new day, the star just rising above the horizon.

Just then, the TV in the room (which she kept on to not miss a Paladin broadcast), started to have static. She knew what this meant. Quickly, she sat in the sofa before giving it her undivided attention. She wondered what the Paladins would be broadcasting about today.

“Is that what it’s saying?” Keith asked.

“I think so.” Pidge replied.

Colleen was confused. What happened? She could see that they were both in bed, and of course, as a mother, there was a part of her that wanted to rip Keith to shreds. She knew he was Katie’s boyfriend, but the fact that she never knew a thing about him prior to this, made her upset. Plus, what was he doing in her daughter’s room? Cuddling her so close too?

“Well, then, let’s get dressed.” Keith said, getting up out of bed and helping Pidge to her feet. Keith walked to the door and peered out in the hallway, to see if anyone was passing. “The coast is clear.” He whispered.

“Great.”

The two headed down the hallway and down an elevator before branching off their separate ways. Pidge walked towards the chute where her Paladin armour was kept and entered. The door closed but Rover stayed outside, and within a few minutes, she was out, fully clothed in her Green Paladin armour. She then walked through the other door on the right, and then made a left turn. When that door opened, she saw the Black Lion, sitting upright, with a particle barrier up. 

Colleen gaped. This was the Lion that Keith piloted. It was massive and Colleen instinctively knew that nothing on Earth could match it. While she heard Lance and the others say how they got to Kerberos within five seconds in Blue, now she could imagine.

“Keith’s not here yet, huh?” Pidge mumbled.

As in on cue, the door slid open and in sauntered Keith, helmet tucked under his right arm. The particle barrier then dissipated, and the Black Lion lowered itself to Keith, the ramp extending to allow entrance.

Colleen’s eyebrows rose. “Did the Lion just move…without Keith?”

The two then entered the mouth of the Lion, where Keith sat in the chair provided, Pidge sitting in his lap. The chair then moved upwards and through a latch before moving forwards to the control sticks.

Colleen was in awe at the cockpit. A soft purple light shone throughout the cockpit, diagrams and numerous alien words were on the holo-screens before them. She then saw Keith type something on the holo-keyboard as he shifted in the seat.

“I put Black on autopilot so I can have you all to myself.” Keith purred and nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck.

“Keith!” She giggled and threw a hand over his shoulder, fixing herself better in his lap.

Colleen was out to blow a blood-vessel. While Keith wasn’t touching her daughter inappropriately, she couldn’t wrap her head around seeing Katie with a boyfriend. And one she didn’t know existed before all this. How did her daughter even meet him? And she said they’ve been together for more than a year…but she didn’t see Katie act any different.

So, how the hell did she meet Keith?! And how long Katie had planned on keeping this a secret?!

The Black Lion shot off and soon, Arus’ night sky was in view and not before long, they were out in space.

“So, what now, Romeo?” Pidge asked, taking off her helmet and letting it hang off the control stick.

“I just want to enjoy your company without your brother breathing down my back.” Keith replied, following suit.

“Hmm…” Pidge hummed.

The two stayed in silence for a couple more minutes, the Lion drifting through space and passing by a few moons. But Keith didn’t even look at the celestial bodies they were passing. He was true to his word. He only wanted Pidge’s company without Matt intruding.

“What you did today was pretty brave, you know that?” Pidge started, stroking his hair.

“Really? But look at where it got us? Allura hates me now.”

Colleen’s eyebrows rose. If her memory was right, Allura was the elven woman who had appeared on her TV in the first broadcast. What happened?

“But, it’s best you did it now than later on.” Pidge said, raising up a little. “Think about it.”

“Yeah, I know.” Keith’s voice sounded doleful. “Oh shit! How would your parents react?!”

“What? That their future son-in-law is half alien?” Pidge laughed. “What are they gonna do?”

Colleen’s jaws dropped. “Keith is half-alien?! What?!”

“When we get to that bridge, we’ll know how best to cross it. Plus, it’s not like it’s the whole world that’s gonna know. Just Mom and Dad, since Matt already knows.”

“But I imagine that they’ll be pretty startled though.”

“Just as you were when you found out, right?”

“Trust me, startled is an understatement. I was downright —"

Just then, the alarms in the cockpit went off, dangerous red lights flashing continuously. Pidge sprang off Keith’s lap and put on her helmet, Keith doing the same. Looking at his monitors, he noticed that they were locked onto by a Galra battlecruiser.

“Shit!” Keith cursed. “Black, I need another chair!”

In that instant, a similar seat to that of Keith’s materialized to Keith’s left. Pidge hopped in and seatbelts strapped her in place. She wasn’t surprised, just like in the previous timeline, Green had created a seat for Matt when they had found him and needed his assistance in cloaking Voltron entirely.

“Man, the Galra knows how to ruin a date, huh.” Keith mumbled. “They’re going to pay.” He hissed in anger. “Let’s go, Jawblade!” Keith screamed. The Lion roared and shot forwards, straight into the way of the cruiser. However, numerous fighters emerged, but Keith wasn’t fazed.

He piloted the Lion with precision through the swarms of fighters, taking them out with the Lion’s energy beams instead of the Jawblade. He didn’t want to waste too much time on the fighters when the battlecruiser was present.

However, today was not Keith’s day.

Two more battlecruisers appeared out of hyperdrive, releasing even more fighters on the Black Lion.

“Fuck. We’re gonna need backup.” Keith said between gritted teeth. No matter how great of a pilot Keith was, he knew his limits. Especially against these Galra fighters. He then spoke in his communicator. “Guys! Get to your Lions! We need help!” He practically screamed.

Pidge was sitting calmly in her seat, eyes closed. Keith had a feeling of what she was doing, so he tried his best to not let her get disturbed. Soon, the Green Lion appeared on his radar, and with a smirk, Keith sent his Lion downwards in the direction of Green while Green (piloted remotely by Pidge) flew upwards towards Black.  Pidge hopped out of the seat and stood behind Keith, right atop the eject area.

“Babe, it’s all you.” He said, ejecting her out in space, Rover stayed with Keith since Pidge didn’t know if he’ll swept away by the vacuum of space. Pidge landed right in Green’s mouth and within no time, she was up in her cockpit.

A chuckle escaped Pidge’s lips as she spoke in her comms. “Damn, it’s like we made our Lions kiss!”

“It was my intention.” Keith said.

Black purred angrily at Keith.

“Alright! Black! I’m sorry! I won’t do it again, I promise!”

Colleen’s jaws dropped through the floor. Not at the size of the Galra battlecruisers, nor at the sheer number of fighters, but at that manoeuvre pulled off by Keith and the Green Lion. From her view, she thought the Lions were going to crash, upon seeing the Green Lion coming in towards Black. But then, Keith ejected her daughter right in the mouth of Green.

“But…who flew the Lion?” She realized that her daughter was the Green Paladin, but if she was with Keith, how did the Lion get out there? She wondered if there was some sort of function built in their armour to call the Lions to their assistance.

She refocused on the screen and was in awe. Her daughter was piloting. Her daughter was piloting!

And by the looks of it, she didn’t seem like someone who was just starting. According to Iverson and Sanda, Katie was a Communications Specialist, not a pilot. She’s never flown before. So, seeing her daughter navigate her way and demolishing the fighters was astounding.

Just then, two more Galra battlecruisers exited hyperdrive, spitting out even more fighters at the two Lions. Pidge was holding her own, but the fighters seem to be going after Black Lion more.

“Ugh! Guys! Where are you??!!!” Keith screamed in his comms, and since Rover was connected to the Castleship, it was broadcasting what was said as well.

“I’ll be there before you can say, quiznak!” Matt replied.

“Ugh, I think I’m gonna be sick.” Hunk groaned out.

Colleen sighed in relief at the sound of the familiar voices. “Thank God.”

From the view of the Black Lion, a Red Lion shot past and into the thick of the fighters, the Green Lion following. The Red and Green Lion decimated the fighters in their area, all the while trying to dodge the energy beams from the cruisers.

“Man! These things are endless! Plus, we have the battlecruisers to deal with!” Hunk shrieked. “How did you get into this mess!?”

“We didn’t do anything! We were just minding our own businesses and these fuckers appeared out of nowhere!” Keith replied angrily. “Fuck!”

Colleen watched with amazement at Keith’s piloting skills. Effortlessly the teen navigated the fighters, pulling most of them from the others. However, that was his intention. With the fighters’ backs to the other Lions, the Paladins were able to take them out easier. Still, the battlecruisers made it a little difficult.

“Lance! Where are you?!” Keith shouted in his comms. “Get out here NOW!”

The other Paladins who heard this command shivered in their seats. Although they, sans Pidge, haven’t known Keith for that long, his tone of voice was enough to make them quiver. Hunk mumbled to himself that he felt sorry for Lance went all this is over.

It wasn’t until a few minutes later that Lance arrived, trying to diffuse the tension with his entrance “Lancey Lance has arrived at the party!”. Of course, Keith was not amused, but he held it down.

“Guys,” Keith started, voice solemn. “We’re getting nowhere in our Lions and now that Lance is here, we have to form Voltron.”

“But Keith, we don’t even know how to do that! What do we do?!” Matt shrieked, his picture coming up on the screen to Keith’s left.

“Listen to your Lions.” Keith replied. He then pulled one of the controls back and then turned the stick upwards, causing the Lion to turn to the left, avoiding a blast from the battlecruiser.  “As it is, we have these fighters, plus —ugh!”

He broke off when a fighter shot at him, sending him and his Lion spinning away. A Galra battlecruiser had its tractor beam ready to take the Black Lion, but quickly, he regained his balance and finished it.

“Oh no! Keith!” Colleen screamed in fear. Watching the Lion spin and hearing Keith grunt made her wonder if he’ll be okay.

“We have five battlecruisers on us! If we don’t put an end to them here, they could go to Arus and destroy it! Plus, we can’t let them find Allura either! So, we have to do this! We can do this! Are with me?!” Keith tried to give a moving speech.

“Yeah!” The four chorused.

“Let’s go! Form Voltron!”

Colleen looked on with intrigue. In the last broadcast, Keith had stated that Voltron was formed when they combined. She wanted to see what it looked like. Or how it was done. Suddenly, there was the sound of a Lion roaring, and the clinking sound of metal. Then, she noticed that the Black Lion straightened while Red and Green flew towards it. Then, there was a sudden flash of light, and then darkness. A Lion’s fierce roar pierced the darkness, after which Colleen saw something like a hatch opening up. The purple light returned to the cockpit and the view outside remained the same.

“What happened? Where’s the Voltron?” Colleen mumbled.

“We did it! We formed Voltron!” Matt exclaimed with glee.

“I’m a leg!” Hunk joined in.

“How are we doing this?” Lance asked, but the excitement was present in his voice.

“We can pat ourselves later, right now we have them to deal with!” Pidge shrieked.

“Hunk! I need the cannon!” Keith screamed; the panic evident in his voice. They’ve never been in a situation like this so early on before, facing five battlecruisers and a shit ton of fighters. Their time on Arus had been uneventful for the most part, except for facing Sendak and that Robeast. So why had so many battlecruisers appeared?

“Huh? What?” Hunk asked. “What are you —?” Keith heard him abruptly break off, before he started up again. “Wait! Yellow knows what to do!”

“Hurry and shove the bayard into the console!” Keith barked.

Colleen wondered what Keith meant. What was a bayard? What was he talking about? But she soon understood what he meant.

Just then, a massive cannon materialized on the right side of Keith’s screen after which numerous beams of energy shot out at the battlecruisers and fighters.

“Holy Crow! Look at that!” Hunk shrieked.

“Yes!” Keith cheered. “Die bitches!”  The young man was still pissed that his alone time with Pidge was interrupted, and made sure that everything Galra would be exterminated. The other Paladins laughed at Keith’s reactions, just another thing for them to mentally note as one of Keith’s quirks.

As for Colleen (and the rest of the world watching this), she was in a state of shock. Seeing the power of the shoulder cannon left her frozen. Seeing the Black Lion earlier she knew that individually, the Lions could be disastrous, but now that they’ve formed Voltron and wielded that cannon? She now knew the extent of which Earth doesn’t compare.

Her mission, given to her by Keith in the second broadcast suddenly weighed so much more now. She was the one who would be the key factor in helping Earth stand against weapons of the Galra. Those battlecruisers look pretty sturdy too.

“Pidge! Shield Up!” Keith ordered.

Colleen was taken out of her thoughts by Keith’s shout and refocussed to see what was happening there.

A blast of purple energy slammed into Voltron’s shield; grunts could be heard from all five Paladins. When the firing stopped, the shield retreated, and Keith gave another order.

“Matt! Form sword!”

Colleen heard a grunt and could only assume that this was Matt’s way of replying. She didn’t know whether it was in the positive or negative though. Then, from Keith’s cockpit, she saw the Red and Green Lions, coming together before pulling apart. A sword then emerged from the light and stayed in the Red Lion’s mouth.

“What is Voltron?” Colleen gasped out. That motion reminded her of two hands just as with the shield, but she couldn’t understand how robotic lions could form a hand.

“Let’s rip them to shreds!” Matt screamed.

Colleen watched Keith push his controls forwards and Voltron lurched forwards, the Red and Green Lions stretching out before them, reminiscent of how Superheroes fly in comics. Now she had an idea of what Voltron was.

“It’s a giant robot that’s in the shape of a person?” She guessed. From what she’s seen so far, that’s the only description she could come up with. She then shook her head to rid the thought, she could always brainstorm what Voltron was later. Right now, her children and their friends are busy kicking alien butt.

She wouldn’t allow herself to be distracted any further.

….

….

After the battle, Colleen watched Voltron return to Arus, splitting up into the five Lions and then disappearing down their respective hangars. Since Rover was with Keith, she even saw him talk to the Lion, and replied as though the Lion spoke to him. If only she could communicate them as well, Colleen was all too eager to know more about these Lions. Were they somewhat sentient? Could they do basic things on their own? How do they communicate with their Paladins?

She had so many questions, but no one to answer them.  

…

…

In the lounge, Keith let out a sigh. They had already met with Allura and Coran to explain what the hell happened out there and why they were even out so far. To say she was not pleased would be an understatement. Because Keith took the Black out, Allura had assumed that it lured out the Galra which caused the Paladins to end up in the mess that they did.

When she was finished giving her lecture —she still praised them on a job well done and forming Voltron—she returned to her room while Coran lingered a bit. He gave Keith an apologetic gaze before he said, “I’m sorry for the Princess’ actions, I’ve tried to counsel her about it, but she’s stubborn, as you can see.”

“Don’t worry, in time she’ll come around.” Keith replied. With that Coran left the five in the lounge.

Keith then looked to Hunk with an apologetic face and said, “Hey man, sorry about shouting at you during the battle.” He started. “I was completely out of line.”

Hunk, shocked at the sudden apology, replied, “No, I could hear the panic in your voice, so I didn’t think anything of it.” He placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder and smiled warmly. “It’s cool man.”

“Thanks.”

“What I wanna know is how do you know that Hunk’s bayard makes a cannon!? And Matt’s makes a sword?!” Lance asked. “The last time I checked, the Lions don’t have a User Manual.”

Without missing a beat, Keith lied, “Black told me. I asked him if Voltron can make a cannon and he told me the weapons we have at our disposal.”

That seemed to work since the others seemed convinced. Matt on the other hand, knew the true reason for Keith’s knowledge.

“But anyway, it’s been a long night, and I’m beat, let’s go sleep.”

Chapter Text

Restart

[Before Matt crashed on Earth.]

“Shiro!” Matt shrieked. “We’re not gonna make it!”

In the hangar of the escape pod, the two Human prisoners were facing off against what seemed to be an endless amount of Galran sentries. It was partially thanks to their robotic arms that they were able to put up much of a fight, but time was still running out. They needed to get into the pod before a higher soldier arrived, and they get recaptured.

Shiro made a small smile. Matt could tell what was coming next. “We both don’t need to. You go on ahead, warn Earth and find the Voltron.”

“But Shiro!”

“Just go!” Shiro barked, giving him a push to go with it.

Gritting his teeth, Matt mowed through the sentries but shouted back. “I’ll definitely come back for you!”

“Tell Keith and Adam I said hi.” The man grinned.

Matt slid onto his knees to make it through the closing doors of the pod, and once in it, he inputted the coordinates for Earth. With one last look, he saw Shiro wiping out the sentries before he shot off into space.

…

…

Shiro was jolted awake.

He kept having the same dream for a while now, he’s lost track. As a matter of fact, he felt as though he wasn’t dreaming. It was more of reliving his and Matt’s escape whenever he slept.

“Shiro…are you okay?” Ulaz, the Galran spy who assisted him in escaping, asked. He was piloting the small spacecraft that they managed to steal from Sendak’s ship, heading to Icceron, located in the Ice Star System. When Shiro looked out through the window, all the planets and stars in this system were frozen and covered with ice. He wondered if there were life on these planets, but he didn’t ask.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just had a…” Shiro trailed off, not knowing what to even call it. Was it a dream? A flashback? A dream flashback or flashback dream? Was that even a thing? “…a dream.” Shiro settled for the simplest one.

Ulaz hummed and refocused ahead of him. “That’s Icceron.” He pointed to the bluest planet of the two celestial bodies before them. “It’s an Ice planet, with the native people —The Icceris—rumored to be as cold as their planet.

“Then…why are we heading there?” Shiro asked with a raised brow. If the people were as “cold as ice”, shouldn’t they be unwelcoming?

Ulaz smirked. “I have some friends there, you know?”

Shiro nodded. Through their journey to Icceron, Shiro had asked about the Blades and luckily, Ulaz was willing to tell him what he could. Which wasn’t much. Ulaz kept referring them to a simple ‘band of friends’ who want to escape Zarkon’s tyranny. At first, Shiro was a bit upset that he didn’t trust him, but then he remembered that they could be captured at any moment. If push comes to shove and Shiro gets caught, at least, he wouldn’t have any information to divulge. Still, it relieved Shiro that there were Galrans out here fighting from the inside of the empire. But another thing concerned him.

“The Voltron. What exactly is it?”

“It’s a superweapon. The most powerful in all the universe.”

Shiro was truly alarmed. “And it’s hidden on Earth?! Of all the planets, they chose Earth?!” Shiro couldn’t believe it. He knew Voltron was important, but he didn’t think it was this important.

“Why? It’s the best hiding spot. Your planet is in the backwater of the universe, no? If I were Zarkon, naturally I’d think that Voltron was hidden on the most fortified of planets.”

“That’s not it Ulaz!” Shiro almost shrieked. “If the Galra goes to Earth, they’ll get the Voltron hassle free because our technology is so…primitive compared to you guys.”

Ulaz paled in realization. “Let’s…let’s just hope Matthew made it before they do.”

Shiro shrank in his seat. He felt his blood pressure just skyrocket, worry for not only the universe but Earth as well. If the Galra do make it there, they could do either one of two things —enslave the people or blow the planet to cosmic dust. But then again, this was the Galra, they’ll probably do both. And if that happened, he’d never see his friends and family he had back in Japan, he’d never see Keith again, to ruffle his soft black hair…but most importantly, he’d never see Adam again.

Shiro choked down a sob.

A simple research trip to Kerberos shouldn’t have ended like this. Not with him lightyears away from his home and seeming to be fighting in a ten-thousand-year-old intergalactic war. He, Sam and Matt were supposed to go to Kerberos, do what they had to, and come back and live happily ever after. Not with this possible death flag being hoisted in the air.

“Shiro…” Ulaz looked at the man with concern. He knew what it was like to be ripped away from family and friends —at a tender age, he was taken from his home and thrown into Zarkon’s military camp to be trained as a soldier for the tyrant. Luckily, after four deca-phoebs, the Blade of Marmora had infiltrated and freed them, those who wanted to join them had been recruited. “…I’m sure Matthew made it to Earth, and if your species are like any of the two of you, then who knows? Voltron is probably up and running and has started the fight against Zarkon.”

This earned a smile from Shiro, “Yes, I do believe so.”

The cockpit fell into a comforting silence, only the whir of the engine could be heard. Shiro didn’t know what Voltron looked like, but he had hope that the Garrison had found it. Within a few minutes, Ulaz was entering Icceron’s atmosphere, the rough turbulence causing Shiro to grip onto Ulaz’s seat for dear life.

He’s never experienced turbulence like this, not even when he’s on a plane going through a storm. He heard sounds of ice grating against the metal of the spacecraft and fretted. Were they going to crash? Was the ship going to explode in mid-air? Shiro sincerely hoped that they made it to the ground in one piece, even if the ship was in pieces.

Coming out of the clouds, Ulaz flew the ship to a mountain range, and parked it into a secluded area, making sure it was devoid of intelligent life.

Touching down onto the ice was a new feeling for Shiro. It was nothing compared to the ice back on Earth, or on Kerberos, instead, it felt very sticky. As he followed behind Ulaz, Shiro felt as though he was walking through sludge, and wondered if it was okay to refer to this as ‘just ice’.

The duo made their way through the nightmare of ice trees, the large ice barks reflecting the glare of the cold, blue sun. Shiro eyes were all over the area, his cyborg arm lighting up, preparing for any creature that might jump out at them.

Soon, they reached the edge of the forest, and descended the cliff face on the stairs carved into the sides. A frigid wind blew, Shiro immediately stilling. It was too cold.

“Damn, how do people in Siberia live?” Shiro mumbled, teeth chittering together.

“Let’s make haste.” Ulaz said, seeming to be totally unfazed by the cold. “That breeze is only a prelude for what’s to come. As we aren’t native Icceris, we could be turned into frozen statues.”

Shiro only nodded.

The duo made their way inside a vast cave, Ulaz placing his knife at the symbol in the rocks before the ice and earth moved, revealing a door. Out of respect, Shiro had turned his face away, even closing his eyes. Ulaz chuckled but admired the man’s nobility.

“Let’s go.”

Shiro and Ulaz walked inside the cave, the place lighting up the moment they entered. Shiro could see that the place was still being used, being that all the equipment was fairly maintained.

“I’ll have to contact base. As it is, I have no idea what to do with you.” Ulaz said, busying himself by the holographic keyboards.

Shiro shrugged. “I hope your leader has pity on me and allow me to stay with you.”

Ulaz raised an eyebrow at his statement. “But your planet’s coordinates are in your arm. All you’ll need is a ship. You don’t want to go home?”

“Nope.” Shiro said quickly. Even though he was homesick, there was no way he could just up and leave in the midst of all this. “Now that I know what’s happening out here, there’s no way I can return to Earth and pretend that all is well. I want to do my part in this fight against Zarkon.”

A small smile appeared on Ulaz’s face. “You know, many aren’t like you.” He said. “Within a heartbeat, they would’ve asked to go home.”

“Well, as much as I am itching to go home, I won’t until this is over.” Shiro said, his voice was low. Ulaz could tell that the man was sad and tried his best to hide it. “Sometimes, you’d be surprised to see how an extra arm comes in handy. If the Blades need someone to help them, someone who doesn’t even know much about them, then I can be of use. I want to do my part, even if it’s not much, to help bring the Universe to peace.”

“Well said.”

The screen then came on, but before Shiro could see who Ulaz was talking to, he turned his face away. And since he didn’t know Galran, Ulaz was free to talk.

“Ulaz, you’re calling from Icceron, why?” The large Galra on the screen asked. But then he took of Shiro, whose back was turned. “And what is that behind you?”

“Greetings, Kolivan.” Ulaz started. “The man behind me is Shiro. And this is how I met him…”

And so, Ulaz recounted the events that led to him meeting both Shiro and Matt and sending Matt ending up on Earth while Shiro was now stuck with him. In addition, Ulaz explained the reason Shiro wouldn’t leave his side.

“He wants to fight against Zarkon? How can he be of use?” Kolivan asked, “Are his species capable of battle? He doesn’t look all that impressive.”

“That might be true, but Shiro is a capable fighter. Plus, he was endowed with a robotic Galran arm. It can be utilised to our advantage.”

“You always had a penchant for doing whatever it is that you wanted. But this is war Ulaz, you can’t just decide to —”

“With all due respect, Sir.” Ulaz interrupted, cutting the man off. “I didn’t decide anything. When Shiro heard about the dire situation of the universe, he was willing to help in any way he could! He doesn’t even know what the Blades are! He thinks we’re just a simple band of ragtag friends!”

Kolivan chuckled slightly. With a shake of the head, he decided to humour Ulaz. This was not something he’d do, Shiro would have to pass the Trial of Marmora before becoming an official Blade. Plus, Shiro wasn’t even half Galra.

“If I may speak, freely, Sir.” Another voice spoke up from off the camera. Ulaz knew who this voice belonged to, Antok. Kolivan nodded. “Since this Shiro knows nothing of us, couldn’t we use him to help out agent Krolia at Ranveig’s residence?”

“Agent Krolia is a very capable woman. Why would she need assistance? I don’t want to risk her mission. So far, she’s been doing exceptionally well.” Kolivan reasoned.

Antok continued, “But, we can use him to send out information.”

“Under what pretence?”

“He’s Krolia’s pet and she’s sending him back to her lands for some grunt work.”

“As if that would work.”

Ulaz cleared his throat. “So, what are we going to do with him? I can’t just leave him like this.”

“Return him to his people. I can’t have him risk our goal.” Kolivan said flatly.

“I’ll take him.” Antok said quickly. “I’ll train him off site and find a way to put him to good use. Since he’s not Galra, I’m sure there will be instances where he can be useful.”

Ulaz saw Kolivan pinch the bridge of his nose. Both Ulaz and Antok had made reasonable suggestions, but Kolivan was the type to hate wrenches thrown in his plans. If it seemed as though things were going bad, he’d abort. But since his right-hand was so adamant, he decided that he’ll allow it.

“Fine. This Shiro will be taken and trained by Antok, and after his assessment, we’ll see whether or not he’s fit to be a Blade.”

Ulaz nodded. “Will he be a Blade, though? Or someone just affiliated with us? He won’t be able to wield a luxite blade, would he?”

“You mentioned he had a Galran arm. We’ll see if that can suffice.”

“Yes Sir.”

The transmission ended, and by now, Shiro had made himself comfortable at the far side of the cave and fell asleep. With a chuckle, Ulaz walked over to him and shook him awake. But what happened next, frightened the Galran spy. Shiro flew up, activated his cyborg arm and pointed it at Ulaz’s neck.

“It’s Ulaz, Shiro.”

“Ulaz…I…I…” Shiro lowered his arm and held his hair. “I’m sorr—”

“You don’t need to be sorry. If you had survived that hell without being mentally or emotionally damaged, then something would’ve been off about you.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“But enough of that, you have a task cut out for you.”

“A task?”

“Yes, first, another member of our ‘ragtag band of friends’ is coming to train you. And then, you’ll see if you’re qualified to be a part of our cause.”

Shiro’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

“How else are you going to help stop Zarkon? As you are, you’d just be killed.”

Shiro said nothing more because he understood. As it is, he didn’t even have any armour or weapon, except the robotic arm that was forced onto him. But Shiro was determined to make this count.

…

…

Shiro lost track of all time.

Ever since he and Ulaz left Icceron and met up with Antok on a base built into an asteroid, Shiro didn’t know how long since he’s been away from Earth. Was it months? Or was it years? Space travel was so different that sometimes he worried that when he’s finally able to go home, a whole century has passed.

That would be devastating.

“What are you thinking about?” Antok’s voice took him out of his thoughts. “Your face is extremely pensive.”

“I…uh…”

Antok sighed. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“It’s not that. I was just wondering how much time has passed on my planet.”

Antok looked to the ground and murmured, “Don’t think about it. You’ll get depressed.” He then placed a hand on Shiro’s shoulder, voice a little higher. “It’s best to just do what you can, so that you can have a planet to return to.”

Shiro sighed. “I don’t think that’s better.”

Antok laughed. “It is. Better to have a planet than none at all, right?”

Even though Antok laughed, Shiro could see a look of longing in the galra’s face. But Shiro never questioned him.

A deafening silence fell between two as they walked the abandoned hallways of the base. Under Antok’s tutelage, Shiro had improved greatly, his hand-to-hand combat was better, and fighting with a knife was something Shiro didn’t like at first, but eventually welcomed it.

“It’s safe to say, it’s about time you got your assessment.” Antok said, opening the door with the code.

“Assessment?”

“Yes, to see whether or not you’re fit to be a Blade.”

The doors opened and what Shiro saw left him gaping. The entire area before him was like somewhat reminiscent of the Gladiator pits, he used to fight in, sans the spectator seats and obstacles. However, there were many Blade Operatives milling about, and Shiro had a feeling of where this was going.

“For the first part of the assessment, you will be engaged in a battle royale. For the second assessment, you and your partner must infiltrate an enemy base, steal the “item” and return, all without being noticed.”

“Item? Partner?”

Antok chuckled lightly and pulled out a small orb. “It’s just an object we use for training purposes. Blade agents tend to work in pairs, so I’ll be assessing your ability to work together with someone as well.”

Shiro nodded. “When do I start?”

Antok smiled. “As soon as you get dressed.”

…

…

Back on Earth, Colleen sat by the TV awaiting the press conference. It’s been roughly two weeks since the Paladins first hijacked the channels, and the public has been calling out the Garrison for a statement —an explanation really, of these events. In the prior week, the Garrison had indicated of an upcoming press conference and finally, today was such. The entire hall was packed to capacity, the Garrison having to repurpose their biggest room for this occasion. Journalists from all over the world were present, each seeking answers.

“Thank you for coming here today.” Admiral Sanda started, totally unfazed by the dozens of camera flashes. “What we are about to show you is no longer top secret, and the Garrison pledges that from this day forward, we will not hide anything pertaining to alien lifeforms.”

Colleen chuckled, “As if you can hide anything when the Paladins are broadcasting to the entire world.”

“This is a video of what happened on the night Matthew Holt crashed on Earth.” Sanda continued, the giant screen behind her flickered on. The video showed what happened from start to finish, which included the rescue done by the cadets.

Colleen was shocked to be finally able to see what truly happened that night, and silently thanked Keith in her heart. The boy was brave enough to enter a place full of military personnel, plus he was skilled enough to take them all out.

Following that video, the Garrison showed the footage they managed to get of the Blue Lion and explained the reason they couldn’t capture it was because the craft was too fast and was like nothing their tech could match.

“So, Lance was piloting it then, huh?” Colleen murmured. She remembered in the video when Lance recounted the events, and he was even donned in his Blue Paladin armour as well.

“So, Admiral, in the second broadcast, the Black Paladin stated that he’ll send important alien intel to Mrs. Holt. What do you plan on doing with it?”

Sanda remained unfazed. “As Keith said, it is to bolster Earth’s defences. Once we get the intel, Mrs. Holt and her team will dissect the information and begin working on the planet’s defences.”

“But what about the rest of the world?”

“Did you not hear me?” Sanda asked, her tone, sharp. “We will use the information to help the entire planet. As it is, we are in the process of choosing individuals from across the world to work with Mrs. Holt. That way, each continent can be strengthened.”

Colleen tuned out the rest of the press conference. She knew all the Garrison’s plans anyway, so she didn’t see the need to watch it. She headed towards the kitchen where she fixed herself a midday snack, her mind running on her husband and Shiro. Matthew and Katie were fine, but there’s still no news on the other two. And even though Matthew had stated that they’ll definitely find Sam and Shiro, she truly wondered if they could.

The universe is a vast place, and chances are, finding them might take a lot more than just hacking into Galran systems. But she prayed and hoped that luck would the Paladins’ side. How heart-wrenching it would be if Sam and Shiro didn’t make it.

…

…

Elsewhere in the Garrison, a young lieutenant lay in bed, gazing at the ceiling.

His dark eyes seemed out of it, but the man just had a lot on his mind. Ever since this whole ‘Paladin Broadcast’ situation, he felt as though there was hope.

The first time Adam heard the news of the Kerberos Crew’s demise, he felt as though his entire life just shattered. Shiro had been the pilot, and even though he told the man to deny the offer, and let the Garrison find some other pilot, the man had still left. It caused their relationship to become strained, until, ultimately, they broke up. Or did they?

It wasn’t a ‘let’s break up’ or a ‘I’m breaking up with you’ but Adam knew what he said, and knew what he meant, but at the time, he was in the heat of the moment. But, when the Kerberos mission was lost, Adam didn’t know what to do with himself.

One thing plagued his mind was that he’d never see his Takashi again. He’d never get to tell him how he truly felt. He’d never get to tell apologize to him because really, even though Adam cared, he was being a bit selfish.

Flying was Shiro’s bread and butter. The man could pilot anything the Garrison threw at him and really, looking back, Adam felt that he was too harsh on Takashi. It was what the latter came to the Garrison to do, it was what he excelled in and that’s what he was. A pilot.

Why did Adam even try to convince a pilot not to fly?

But now, he wasn’t even sure if he’ll see him again. The universe was a vast place, and the Paladins were humans —teenagers who still had years of schooling left before they graduated. They were cadets. Well, Matt was different, but he wasn’t a pilot. He was a scientist. Adam could only imagine the horrors that they’ll encounter in space, horrors that not even fiction writers could dream up.

Plus, how were they going to find Takashi?

Both he and Matt had been in the same place according to the Broadcast, but surely, Takashi wouldn’t stay there. How will they know which planet he’s on, in whichever galaxy? Takashi wasn’t a man who could create codes and leave all over the place so that Matt could decipher it and find him.

Adam felt the grey hairs growing and he wasn’t the one in space.

But as he lay in his bed, he hoped that the Paladins’ luck hadn’t run out. He hoped that they’d find some lead to his beloved and bring him in one piece.

“Heh,” Adam chuckled, trying to fight back a tear that managed to escape his eyes anyway. “I’d give anything to have you back by my side, even if you lose an arm.” He mumbled. “Stay safe, Takashi. And please, come back to me.”