Take a bunch of drama llamas, a generous sprinkling of Clockie metas (example), a butt-load of action scenes, and my personal taste in endings, and this is what I came up with for a Voltron finale. Smaller scale than the show? Yes. Do I like it more? Yes. Hope you do too.
This last chapter is long. As I thought it might, it bloated a lot. Think of it as a series finale double special lol! But I couldn’t quite get the Shiro/Elslince power-couple dynamic I was going for. Oh well. Side note: Lotor’s fighter’s colours are based on the colours of the ‘alliance’ banner from S5. (It was Lance’s idea, probably.)
There is an epilogue of course!
Chapter 13: Once More Unto the Fray
Part 14: Bring Them Home
The situation in the medbay was not sustainable. Lotor was regaining his physical strength well, but psychologically he was a complete guilt-ridden wreck. Elslince was considering putting him in a strait-jacket in a padded room, not because he was insane, but because he kept trying to harm himself. She and Acxa were taking it in turns to watch over him, to make sure he wouldn’t try to kill himself. And she wished she didn’t have to, he was paranoid enough as it was without being observed constantly, but she didn’t want to lose him now.
It was tragic, she considered. He’d once been so confident and clever and charismatic, and now he lay listlessly on the floor in a corner of his room, staring at nothing, doing nothing, saying and eating as little as possible. He looked very young with short hair, and very vulnerable. Sometimes he would cry as if he would never stop, and sometimes he would beat his head on the walls or the floor – then she had to hurry in with two or three medics to make sure he didn’t give himself a concussion, though he usually gave up fairly quickly once she arrived.
His past misdeeds had faded in her mind in light of the problem of healing him, of finding the solution to his wounds. She no longer cared about the undeniably horrible things he had done, the ways he’d betrayed them; she believed him when he said that he never wanted to hurt people. It wasn’t her place to judge him for all of that, though it was a lot easier to abstain when he was so completely remorseful. All that mattered was that she protect him until he was… well enough to function on his own. To hope for him to someday find peace with his life, and for everyone else to find peace with him, seemed far too distant a goal to dream about. In the first week, even the first goal seemed an impossible task, almost as impossible as his atoning for everything he’d done in his long, long life.
Until she gained an unlikely ally. “Hey, El,” Lance said, rapping on her office doorframe.
“What’s up?” she asked, always happy to see him.
“The opposite of gravity,” he answered, grinning, and she blinked a few times before she got the joke and laughed. His smug grin faded after only a moment. “I was wondering, would I be able to talk to Lotor?”
“Oh, I don’t see why not,” she said. “Why, though?” If this was anything to do with Allura, she was vetoing it.
Lance sighed. “I just thought having another person to talk to might help. I was talking with Keith, and he said Shiro said you’re working really hard to help him. And Acxa, sure, that makes sense, they had a strong relationship at one point and she doesn’t really connect to anyone on the Atlas nearly as well so she has lots of time to spend on him, but you’re…”
“I have more responsibilities than wearing myself out over Lotor, is that what you’re trying to say?” she guessed.
“Well, that and you’re pregnant, so stress is bad,” he said, refreshingly frank after the awkwardness of the other younger Paladins. “My sister – but anyway, I just felt kinda bad for the guy, so I want to help.”
“He’s going to be so surprised,” she said. “You were really hard on him before.”
Lance chuckled. “Yeah, well, part of it was being jealous that Allura seemed to be having such a good time with him, and I’m over that now. I think. Mostly. And the rest of it was kind of justified? But right now he’s completely helpless and alone. He had a crap-ton of power then, and I felt like we didn’t in comparison, and now he has nothing, and almost no one.”
“I understand,” she said. “You can have free access.”
Lance brightened considerably. “Cool! Oh, can I take him out for walkies, too? ‘Snot good to keep him cooped up in one room all the time.”
“He’s not a… doggo,” she said, trying to remember the correct word for the Earth animal. From Lance’s grin, she got it wrong. “And if you can get him out, go ahead. He’s refused so far, and I’m not strong enough to drag him to the exercise room down the hall. Oh, I should warn you – Acxa’s already in there right now.”
“Got it!” Lance said. “I’ll be really nice, I promise. Thanks for everything!”
Lotor was as flabbergasted as she’d expected, though he tried to hide it. “What are you doing here? Didn’t you hate me the most?”
“If you’ve come to gloat, you can forget it while I’m here,” Acxa began.
Lance stopped short, apparently not as prepared as he had thought. “Hate yo- I never hated you, dude, and I’m super not here to gloat. I was suspicious and jealous and a pain in the butt, yeah, but, I never hated you.” He sat down on the floor equidistant from both of them. “Never.”
“I don’t understand,” Lotor said. “You have reasons…”
“Sure I do,” Lance said, wavering between ‘this is serious, I should be serious’ and ‘this is too serious, gotta lighten the mood’. “But I also think we could have been friends if… I dunno. Romelle’s never, ever going to forgive you, that’s for sure. I just… wanna give you a chance, for my own part, you know? You need help right now, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Of course,” Lotor said dryly. “Save the poor broken worthless creature.”
Lance huffed. “I’m really not trying to be condescending. Look, dude, you’ve clearly never had a normal social interaction in your life, so how about getting some practice in-”
Lotor frowned, as if about to say something, but at that moment, the intercom fizzled with unusual, ominous static, and the screen by the door turned on. They froze in horror to see…
“I will only say this once,” Honerva said. “Return my son to me, and I will allow you to live. Bring him to me on the planet Feyiv. If you do not-”
“Now hold on a minute!” Lance yelled at the screen, and through the intercom, she could hear alarmed noises from everyone else on the ship, including the other Paladins and the bridge crew. Lotor had fallen over and was curled with his hands over his eyes and his head in Acxa’s lap.
“…I will destroy what remains of this pathetic universe,” Honerva said as if she hadn’t heard them. “You have one phoeb from now.”
“No!” Lance exclaimed, jumping up, as Honerva disconnected.
Shiro’s voice boomed over the speakers. “Paladins, Lotor, senior staff, Conference Room Alpha now.”
“I’m coming too,” Acxa said fiercely.
“And me,” Elslince said. Lotor would need every ally he had.
“On the double,” Shiro ordered, and Acxa dragged Lotor to his feet.
He was shaking. “H-how d-did she… I d-don’t want to…”
Acxa hesitated, clearly unwilling to tell a comforting lie when she didn’t know the truth. “I don’t know. But I will fight for you today.”
“So will I,” Lance said. “We’re not giving you up to her.”
Lotor looked up at them gratefully, and there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“Thanks for coming,” Shiro said. “Now, after all the trouble we went to in getting Lotor away from Honerva in the first place, I don’t think anyone wants to just hand him over.” Almost everyone nodded. Lotor looked around at them all, shocked. “But what exactly is the position we’re in? We don’t know how she hacked our system to deliver her message, how she intends to destroy the universe, or what her resources are. Or what she would do with Lotor once she had him. Thoughts?”
“We don’t negotiate with terrorists!” Lance cried immediately.
“This is out of my field, but Lance is right,” Iverson said.
“Agreed,” Keith said. “She can’t have him. We’d just be buying time, in any case, and the outcome might be worse than if we just defied her again. Or bringing him to her might be how she destroys the universe, or something. She can’t be trusted.”
“She still has Sincline, in addition to all her other Robeasts, and the Altean colonists,” Hunk said. “We… probably don’t want to find out what she’s planning to do with it.”
“Is that a vote for or against?” Pidge asked.
“Uhhhh… For or against what? Keeping him or giving him?”
“I’m confused,” Lance said. “Can we get back to the point?”
“Do you think she’s listening now? I’d hate to think she was listening in right now,” Hunk said nervously, glancing at the ceiling. “Pidge, do you know if she is?”
“I’ve been running scans since it occurred,” Commander Holt said. “Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to determine how she did it, which means probably magic. Which concerns me, as you might imagine – how come she didn’t do it before? What could she do to us with it now?”
“I will begin my own investigation when we are done here,” Allura said. “If I might say something?”
Shiro nodded to her, and she stood. “I want to say for the record that I think Keith is right about one thing – we’d just be buying time. But we need time. A phoeb is not enough time to defeat her. It’s barely enough time to get to Feyiv from here without using a portal. Unless we used the Black Lion-”
“No,” Keith said.
“I mean, do you think she’s just going to withdraw once she has what she wants?” Lance exclaimed.
“No, but at least she won’t destroy the universe!” Allura retorted.
“I think you’re biased,” Acxa said. “Honerva is terrifyingly powerful, but it is possible to trick or to rattle her. She’s not a god, even if she thinks she is.”
“I’m biased!?” Allura cried. “How dare you! You’re biased too!”
“Settle down!” Shiro said. “This is not the time to lose tempers.”
Allura inhaled, said nothing, glared, and sat down.
“I think we need to fight,” Keith said. “It’s risky, I know. But let’s not underestimate ourselves. If we all work together – if we get everyone in the universe on our side against her, there’s no way she can win. It’s just not possible.”
“In a phoeb?” Allura said.
“We know what she’s going to do if we don’t do what she asks in a phoeb,” Keith said. “We don’t know what she’s going to do if we do exactly what she asks. I say we gamble.”
“You look like you want to say something,” Shiro said to Lotor. “Go ahead.”
Lotor raised tragic eyes from the tabletop. “I… I don’t want to go back to her. I’d rather die.”
“You’ve been trying to die anyway,” Acxa said. “Stop. I’m not going to let you.”
“You have?” Hunk asked anxiously. “Oh, geez, I’m sorry. That sucks. I mean. You did try to kill us-”
“-And you left him for dead, so aren’t you even on that particular point?” Acxa retorted.
Hunk huffed. “I’m just saying, I’m not forgiving him just because he’s so depressed that he wants to kill himself… but it does suck that he’s so depressed he wants to kill himself.”
“Makes it more difficult to hate him, doesn’t it?” Acxa sniped.
“You’re so-” Pidge started.
“Guys-” Shiro began.
“I-I wasn’t done,” Lotor said, and everyone quieted back down. “I don’t know why you’re treating me so well… but I’m grateful, truly. If I can help you at all… in any way…”
“Well, I had an idea,” Lance said before anyone else could butt in antagonistically. “Remember how we messed with Zarkon’s prisoner exchange? We could…”
“She’d be expecting that,” Allura said. “She may not have been there, but I’m sure she found out how Lotor killed Zarkon.”
“If she found out, it wasn’t through us,” Acxa said. “But she probably is expecting that, it’s a lot riskier than trying it with Zarkon, and he may not be ready for that yet.”
“He has a whole phoeb,” Hunk said. “Isn’t that enough time?”
Elslince shook her head. “Is a phoeb enough time to undo deca-phoebs of damage? Physically, yes, due to his unusual circumstances. I’d say he’s nearly back to his old strength. But mentally, emotionally…”
“…Dayak,” Lotor whispered into the table.
“What?” Commander Holt leaned forward, a hand to his round human ear. “What’s a da-yak?”
“Find Dayak,” Lotor said, more strongly, looking up at them. “If anyone can prepare me for such an encounter, she can.”
“Got it,” Shiro said. “Matt, Pidge, you’re on that.”
“Roger!” said the Holt siblings cheerfully.
“Allura, contact everyone and inform them of the situation. Do your Honerva-proofing thing if you can, but right now we need our forces ready to go for this impending confrontation.”
“All right,” Allura said. “Opening that many portals at once will take a lot of strength, but I can do it.”
Shiro stood and slapped his hands together. “All right. We’re setting course for Feyiv. Everyone get to it!”
Elslince was wakened that night by a soft buzzer – something was going on in Lotor’s room. Shiro grumbled into her shoulderblades, snuggling closer, but she disentangled herself and slipped away. “I’ll be right back, dearest.”
“Mmph. If you gotta.”
There was nothing on the surveillance camera feed, only Lotor looking terrified at nothing in front of him, scrambling backwards into a corner of his room. She ran, ignoring Shiro sitting bolt upright in reaction, her bare feet slapping on the cold metal decks.
She slapped open the door to Lotor’s room, panting hard, hair flailing in uncoordinated knots, and froze.
A huge, ethereal white lion stood over Lotor, who still looked frightened, but not terrified as he had before. As she watched, it breathed on him, and he relaxed, Altean markings glowing blue on his cheekbones. Then it turned and looked straight at her. ‘Defend him, until he is ready,‘ it said though not in words, and disappeared.
Shiro dashed towards her, ready to fight. “What is it? What happened?”
“Th-there was…” she stammered, still not sure what she had seen.
Lotor lifted luminous eyes to them. “She spoke to me. She gave me strength. I-I…”
“Who?” Shiro asked urgently.
“A white lion,” Elslince said softly.
“I killed her, on Oriande,” Lotor said, wavering between hope and guilt. “But she came to me anyway. How…?”
Allura came running down the corridor. “The Lion Goddess – she was here?”
“Yes,” Lotor said, looking her in the face. “She spoke to me.”
Allura was unexpectedly gentle. “What did she say?”
“She said that this could be my redemption. That I could finally be who I was meant to be. I… I don’t know what that means, and… I don’t want… to be… controlled, but… I… trust her.”
“Yes,” Allura said. “I must as well. She told me that… that I must give you a chance as everyone else is. So… I’m still angry. Nothing will take away what you did to my people. What you did to me. But from now on, we will work together, and we will defeat Honerva together.”
“Thank you,” Lotor said gravely.
“We need to talk,” Kolivan said to Lotor, ignoring Elslince entirely.
Lotor gave him a side-eye. “Can this wait? The doctor’s running more tests.”
“Every second counts now,” Kolivan said. “You must reveal yourself to what’s left of the Galra.”
“No,” Lotor said. “I’m just a lowly half-Galra footsoldier, now. What reason would you have for suggesting such a foolish course of action? I can barely manage myself, let alone an entire nation.”
“Because you are a symbol of hope,” Kolivan said. “They don’t know what happened three deca-phoebs ago, only that you disappeared, and that Honerva destroyed the Kral Zera rather than allow them to replace you. Your miraculous survival would show that they can recover as you did.”
“Would that not play into her hands?” Lotor argued. “Should I really be fulfilling the words of a witch? I promised them a new age of prosperity, an end to the endless war, and promptly left them in the lurch to fragment and kill each other. They will not accept me. And we don’t have time for me to run a hearts-and-minds campaign.”
“The Galra need a leader,” Kolivan said. “They have been banding together under the Voltron Coalition, but they need a fighter, but not one like Zarkon – nor one like me. They need one like you.”
“I won’t do it,” Lotor said. “I’m not the one. No one should owe me – should even offer me their loyalty.” His eyes slid away to the door, and she guessed he was thinking of Acxa.
“Think on it,” Kolivan said, and left.
Lotor huffed a sigh, but she could observe quite clearly how fast his heart was racing. She’d have been annoyed at Kolivan for interrupting and making her redo the test, except that this seemed a really good time to do some therapeutic listening. “What is he thinking? Everything I’ve ever done – ever – has ended in failure.”
“I don’t think so,” she said, and he looked at her in surprise. “I mean, I’m not a psychologist, but you’re used to gambling – and you’re flexible enough in your planning that usually you can pull something positive from any development. When we first met you, we were scared of how you seemed to win every encounter, how you always seemed to get what you wanted.”
“The encounter at the rift gate would suggest otherwise.”
“Those were extraordinary circumstances,” she said. “We might be facing even more extraordinary circumstances at Feyiv… but I’d much rather you were on our side. You’re really good at everything you do.”
“I’m not switching sides,” he began indignantly. “Oh, you meant- sorry. But I’m not going to lead the Galra. That’s a futile endeavour.”
“I’m not going to persuade you one way or another,” she assured him. “That’s not my job. I’m just glad you’ve got the confidence to refuse Kolivan. He’s kind of intimidating! That means you’re improving still. I think. Not a psychologist.”
Finally, his heart rate began to go down. “I’m glad I haven’t disappointed you yet this time.”
“Such a pessimist,” she teased him, though there was more conviction behind his words than maybe was safe to tease. She turned away, hugging herself. “It must be really difficult when the entire universe seems to want to fight you your entire life, I can’t even imagine. I can’t blame you for having planet-sized baggage. All I can do is try to make sure that some small part of the universe doesn’t fight you – and hope that we don’t let you down.”
His eyes bored into her, a strangely vulnerable expression that she only caught a glimpse of; it made her uncomfortable. “I… don’t deserve that. We’ve each betrayed each other too deeply-”
“That’s exactly why I’m saying this!” she exclaimed, and he flinched. “Sorry. But even if we can’t wipe the past clean, even if we can’t start from a truly blank slate, I can make the voluntary choice to trust you.” It was a bizarre replay of their very first interactions, when she’d been so afraid of him – and now she chose to be fearless. “You have my word that at least one person in the galaxy will never hurt you – unless you try to kill Shiro.”
He smiled. “I remember. Your strength has only grown. …You don’t know how envious I am. Of all of you, really.” She didn’t know what to say to that. He was silent a moment. “…Do you think I could lead the Galra again?”
She smiled and shrugged. “I’m just a doctor. But I wouldn’t mind you doing it. So yes, I suppose I think you could.”
He glanced away uncomfortably. “I’ll… think about it.”
A week closer to Feyiv, Matt Holt’s investigations bore fruit, and Dayak was invited to the IGF Atlas. Elslince gave them complete privacy, both in the recuperation room and the exercise room where Dayak dragged him by his ear two hours into her first visit, but whatever was said or done, the change was immediate and remarkable. After the visit from the White Lion, he had gained such confidence that Shiro had allowed him his freedom, but Lance and Acxa still had difficulty in prodding him to the exercise room. Not so with Dayak. After he’d been half a day with her, Elslince would have sworn that he’d had never betrayed them, had never been trapped in the Quintessence field. He was back to his old self as far as she could tell, except for a lingering shyness, and the faint Altean markings that still persisted on his cheekbones. And the haircut. He looked strange in Garrison orange, but he seemed determined to fit in as best he could.
Romelle avoided him like the plague, to no one’s surprise, and felt betrayed that even Allura now seemed to accept him, and was very vocal about it, but there was not much they could do to make the situation better for her. Lotor apologized, repeatedly, but as Lance had guessed, that did very little.
Unsurprisingly, Dayak still believed in him as a leader of the Galra. Very surprisingly, Lotor allowed himself to be talked into trying it. The day after she came, he was teleconferencing with Kolivan and the other remaining Galra commanders, at first simply as an advisor, then as their equal, and before long some sort of switch had been made and the Galra were acknowledging his authority. Elslince wondered how it would turn out, and cheered him on whenever she saw him – which was less and less, after that. He was in Acxa’s hands, now.
The days until they arrived at Feyiv counted down far too quickly, and their preparations were still shaky and last-minute. Their fleet of allies was large but poorly equipped, and Shiro was constantly stressing that they might be torn to pieces by the Robeasts instead of overwhelming them. The Holt siblings and Hunk, their Dayak-locating duty discharged, were giving 120% to finish a new secret project by the projected date. All Elslince could do was ensure the medbay was fully ready for a cataclysmic fight, and wait, and provide Shiro with an oasis of calm in his cabin when he thought to seek it out – which was not often enough for her peace of mind, but this wasn’t the time to interfere.
“How are you holding up?” she asked, two days before they were due to arrive.
“I’m fine,” he said, looking exhausted, uniform rumpled, hair sticking every which way from running his hand through it too many times.
She laughed at him. “Yes, you look just fine. Come here, lovely.”
He made a rueful chuckle and let her tug him into her arms, into the embrace of her hair. And he sighed long. “The build-up is killing me. I want to fight her now.”
“So impatient,” she teased him. “You really want me to patch you up that badly?”
“Honestly, I’m more worried for Lotor,” he said, rolling over to rest his chin on her belly. “He’s as reckless as me, if you recall, and if he gets into melee combat with Honerva… there’s no telling where either of them will stop.”
She caressed his short white hair, ran her thumbs down either side of his scar. “I’ll take care of him too. I’ll take care of everyone. I’ll fight anyone who tries to hurt my babies.”
“You already have a baby,” he said, grinning, patting her belly.
“I do. But you’re my baby too,” she said. “And all my patients. Everyone on the Atlas. Everyone in the fleets. Also the civilians.”
“I’m starting to feel not very special,” Shiro said, pouting.
“Also my plants, and Wolfy,” she finished… for the time being. “I tell you, if Honerva brings any weedkiller into my home…”
“Sounds like I should just point you at her with some pruning shears,” he joked. “Everyone else can go home.”
She laughed. “Nah. You’re much better at fighting. I’m just embracing my defensive momma tree instinct.”
He looked up into her eyes, and the smile faded to something very intense, a look so determined and steely it was terrifying. “I will defend you with my life. I swear it.”
She simply stared, unable to speak, and slowly he crumbled. “S-sorry. That wasn’t the right thing to say, was it. It’s just… I’ve let everyone down, at some point or another. My family, Keith, Adam, Voltron. And I won’t let you down this time. Or the baby.”
“I know. It… This is probably not the right thing to say either, but it does bother me, because while I know you want to protect everyone, personally, with your own body, sometimes it seems like… like you’re still trying to die.”
His brows furrowed plaintively. “Not anymore. I have so much more to fight for – to live for now. Old habits die hard?”
It was a lame excuse, and she almost felt angry that he’d tried it. She sat up and leaned forward and kissed him. “I know. And I love you. And just for this little while… could you let me hold you?”
He smiled anxiously, though somehow his grey eyes were unreadable right now. “Anything you want.”
“I’m sorry for being selfish.”
“Everyone’s allowed to be a little selfish. I’m actually glad you’re selfish about me. I’m selfish about you.”
“It doesn’t stop you running headfirst into danger,” she said mournfully. “I’m proud of you, I just worry.” I want my baby to know its amazing father. I love you too much to give all of you to the universe yet. And if you go, I can’t stop you, because that’s your choice...
“Love you. With all my heart.”
It gave her more comfort to have him in her arms, silent, heavy, warm, breathing, with his face buried in her bosom and his prosthetic resting against her spine, warm metallic fingers splayed against the back of her neck. She was too tired to fear the future properly. All she could do was rest in this moment and deal with tomorrow when it came.
Feyiv lay before them. Something glittered between war-form Atlas and the planet, something dark and threatening. “Sincline,” Lotor muttered, from where he stood by Shiro. Allura, standing below by Coran, didn’t react visibly, but Shiro guessed she would be frowning to see it again. Behind, eight Robeasts waited, lined up like honour guards.
Shiro just wished he knew why Honerva wanted Lotor. The explanations offered all seemed weak to him. If this was a family thing… they were the most dysfunctional family he’d ever witnessed, and there was no way he was handing over a living being to more abuse. But why then, was Honerva seeking so much power, political and magical, just to ask for her son? What was her endgoal? What had been her endgoal this entire time?
Until he knew what she was after, he didn’t know what he was supposed to be protecting. ‘Everything’ was not a helpful strategic answer.
Lotor seemed to sense his antsiness, glanced at him. “I’ve dealt with her before. Never with her wielding so much power, but I can advise you how to react.”
“I don’t just want to react, though,” Shiro said. “I’m much more comfortable making the first move.”
“Not this time,” Lotor said, and Shiro nodded. He felt that he and Lotor had come to unspoken terms with each other. Without having to converse too much, they knew where each other stood. Distantly, they could empathize with each other’s circumstances – both knew how it felt to have everything but their anger taken from them, their very sense of self violated. And more than that… wasn’t his business. He would accept and support Lotor while they were on the same side, and give Elslince whatever she needed to take care of him.
The viewscreen before them flickered, and Honerva appeared, dressed in a black armoured space suit, clearly piloting Sincline. “You have brought him.”
“He’s here,” Shiro said. “And we’re not giving him to you.”
“I would die, first!” Lotor exclaimed.
Honerva appeared amused. “Yes, you are. Oh, I see your great ship, and Voltron, and your defiance. I know your fleets are lying in wait. It doesn’t matter. You’re only lucky that soon I won’t even care about punishing you for your ignorant insolence.”
A dark beam shot out from Sincline, aimed directly at the bridge. A brilliant blue shield sprang up before it, not from their shield projectors, but from Allura’s power. The beam hit and sizzled on the shield, but the shield held.
“You don’t want to do this the easy way?” Honerva asked, almost sounding bored and disappointed. “Fine.”
“Allura, now,” Shiro ordered, and the shield vanished as Sincline dove to attack with a giant energy staff, lightning fast – and four portals appeared, portals through which their allied fleets flung themselves, rag-tag bands of all shapes and sizes and colours, firing many beams of their own as they came. Every race who they’d ever worked with, humans, Olkarians, Puigians, Taujeerians, Galrans, the Mer, Reiphodans, Bi-Bis, Telerans, countless others he couldn’t remember the names of, and all the space pirates Zethrid and Ezor could bully into the coalition, they all came, the largest fleet perhaps assembled in history. While casualties were going to be heavy, they’d give the Robeasts stiff competition – and maybe even threaten Sincline through its trans-reality-comet armour.
He glanced at Allura and Lotor. “Go. We need Voltron now.”
Sweet stars, that mecha was fast. He hadn’t been conscious to see Sincline in action previously, and it bothered him. That thing was a challenge to fly against, a challenge to fight. Atlas was definitely going to have trouble with it, if they couldn’t even keep up with a Robeast. He wanted to be in the Black Lion again.
Keith belonged there now. All he had to do was support them.
All he could do was grit his teeth and try to keep his cool, because the situation was getting much too complicated, much too quickly. Voltron was tangling with Sincline, looking strangely boxy and colourful, almost childish, and definitely slow, against its sleek and agile opponent. He winced to hear their struggle over the comms, fighting the urge to charge in recklessly. After all, he had a much better resource to send charging in recklessly.
A narrow-profiled set of gold-streaked purple wings darted past the viewscreen, spiralling effortlessly into a series of barrel-rolls, moving even faster than the MFEs. It spat fire at Sincline and broke away at a near-impossible angle, swooping between the legs of a Robeast and looping gracefully around enemy fire. Shiro grinned to himself. He respected fancy flying, and Lotor had a spectacular hand on the controls. Pidge, Hunk, Matt, and Lotor had worked overtime to assemble the cutting-edge fighter; he wasn’t sure that the paint was quite dry, honestly. But it appeared to work like a charm. And it had gotten Honerva’s attention.
Honerva getting Lotor was another matter entirely. The Robeasts were turning away from the fleets now, ignoring the smaller fire pounding their armour as best they could, to try to ensnare the little fighter in tractor beams. But it slipped delicately between them, twisting and looping, firing its own shots back at them. And now the Atlas came up, firing at the Robeasts with its heavy cannons, forcing them to defend their backs. The heavy Galran cruisers the Alliance could muster flanked the Atlas, using their own tractor beams to hinder the Robeasts while charging their ion cannons.
The battle had begun well for them. But he couldn’t get complacent. The balance of power still teetered on a knife’s edge, and the moment Honerva pressed her attention anywhere except Lotor, they were going to be hard put to it. He barked more orders, felt the Atlas shift against its own internal gravity as they changed course. Fighting against Sincline was not going to work, even in Atlas’s battle form – they were just too slow. But keeping the Robeasts occupied, that they could do. A small ship somersaulted across the viewscreen and exploded. He couldn’t spare the attention to wince right now. Voltron had drawn its largest sword and was chasing Sincline, though the dark mecha was evading its attacks so far, holding off the Defender of the Universe with one hand while still keeping its gaze fixed on Lotor’s fighter.
The Robeasts tactics changed, abruptly – all eight of them swarming towards the Atlas. Shiro felt his heartrate spike briefly, then regained his calm. The enemy had decided to go for the Alliance’s shield and smash it. Well, the Atlas was ready for them. They’d taken a planet-destroying blast and walked it off before. “All power to shields.” Their energy shields had been modified to at least partially counter the dark energy that the Robeasts used, so they could take a hit now.
Could they take eight, all at once?
One after another, they zoomed at the Atlas, from all different angles. “Iverson, designate the lead Robeast as T1. Focus target.” Otherwise they’d never down any of them.
T1 faltered under the barrage, but the other seven came past, striking the Atlas’s shields with beams and scythes. They peeled off, cutting a sickening swath through the fleet behind the Atlas, swinging around for another attack.
“Shield integrity at 42%,” Veronica reported, and Shiro gritted his teeth. They weren’t going to survive many waves of this.
“Keep focusing T1! Iverson, designate the rest T2 through 8 and send target information to each fleet! MFEs, target T2! Stay nimble, everyone!” While he wanted to take everything on with the Atlas, protect their allies who could definitely not take any hits from a Robeast, wasn’t it one of Voltron’s tenets that they only succeeded through teamwork? If the Atlas died, there would be nothing to stop the Robeasts from tearing through the rest of the fleet. This way, some of the fleet was still going to die – there was nothing he could do about that – but far more would survive in the long run. There was a wave of explosions in the distance and his heart beat harder.
Then the second Robeast assault hit them, magenta energy scythes carving through what was left of the shield and into the hull. Shiro staggered, clinging to his console to remain upright. “Shield integrity at 11%!” Veronica called, the strain in her voice intensifying with every word.
“They got one!” Iverson roared triumphantly. “T2 is down!”
“Great work!” Shiro said. They weren’t invincible. Just seven more to go. And of those seven, three had been drawn away by the fleets, chasing after the MFEs and the big warships.
“We’re losing power!” Sam called from engineering. “Every attack is draining our crystal!”
“Here they come again!” Coran said.
“Iverson, fire!” Shiro yelled.
There was a series of explosions, and the Atlas rocked violently, sending Shiro flying to the right side of the room. There was a crackling and fizzling and a series of secondary explosions; the screens flickered, and gravity wavered for a moment. There was a sudden smell of smoke, and they were definitely no longer in war form.
“Sir!” Curtis exclaimed, jumping from his seat and falling to his knees beside him. Being seated had definitely helped him with the blast, maybe Shiro should get a chair for the captain’s post. But he liked to stand… “Sir, are you all right?”
“I’ll be fine. Damage report!” Shiro ordered, climbing unsteadily to his feet with Curtis’s help and coughing. His shoulder felt bruised behind his prosthetic joint and he felt blood trickling down his temple; he’d hit the wall full-on, unprepared.
“Shields down,” Veronica said. “Power at 38%, hull at 82%.” Shiro hissed in dismay. They’d lost that much power from one strike alone.
“Only three of the engines are online,” Coran said. “The planet’s gravity is going to draw us in within fifteen doboshes unless we can regain control of at least half.”
“We got one Robeast, though!” Iverson said. “Wait, what are they doing?”
“They’re… channeling the power they stole from us into Sincline!” Coran cried. “Oh, no!”
That was a lot of power, judging by how their power crystal was like a tiny inert star. “MFEs, status?” Shiro said. “Could use you about now!”
“Sorry, sir!” Griffin responded. “Little tied up here ourselves!”
The Robeasts flexed their arms and legs, and bright beams arced from them to Sincline. Sincline beat Voltron back with its tail and turned to accept the power, growing a corona around its body. Without warning, it turned away from everything, and a magic circle began to form in space – but where was its centre? Something seemed wrong. Was this the part where she destroyed reality? The Atlas couldn’t take any more of this. “Allura, what’s that?”
Allura was silent a moment, and when she spoke, her voice was full of fear. “It’s a Quintessence siphon big enough to cover this entire galaxy. Shiro! We need to get away! At least get our fleets away!”
“Do it,” Shiro said, calculating rapidly. More circles were appearing around them, more power than he could fathom beaming into the distance. How were they going to stop this circle? Where was it drawing from? Honerva’s circles needed power to seize power, and they were not letting her murder an entire galaxy. Could they do it by disorienting her? Usually they had to give her a pretty good shock to halt her rituals. “Belay that. All fleets, hit Sincline, now! Iverson, give me everything we have left!” He coughed again; the smoke was getting thicker.
Sincline seemed to vanish behind a massive cloud of explosions; the Atlas lurched and shuddered as the guns fired one last time, and then the lights flickered again.
“We’re in trouble!” Coran cried. “Descent accelerating!”
“If we can’t recover, just try and make the crash gentle,” Shiro told him. They’d given everything they could for this moment. If they could get things repaired enough, regenerate enough energy to get back into the fight, he’d take it, but Voltron was in a much better place to act now. “Voltron, it’s up to you!”
“Got it,” Keith said, and Voltron swerved towards the dissipating cloud – and flinched.
Sincline had shielded or dodged most of the barrage, and now an ominous magenta light appeared in the distance. It rapidly grew, spreading towards them, growing brighter as it came. How fast was it going? The speed of light was only – but this was absolutely not the time for theoretical concerns.
“Oh no-” Allura began. “Get away, get away, get away! I’ll open portals if I can but get away!”
“No can do here,” Shiro said, watching Coran and feeling the Atlas struggling against Feyiv’s gravity. “Fleets, scatter!” Many other ships had been closer, and were caught up; about half the fleet was consumed, including two Robeasts, as the rest raced helter-skelter away. The light was brightening to white as it swept towards them, a giant wall covering the left side of the viewport. It slowed and halted handfuls of kilometers away; Shiro had to shade his eyes to look in that direction.
A horrible scream echoed over the comm; Sincline had snatched Lotor’s fighter in a claw and held it firmly; before they could react, Sincline slashed at the light with its staff and dove straight in to the rift that appeared in it.
Voltron’s pilots gave a collective horrified gasp and raced towards the rapidly widening gap in reality, and instantly Shiro lost connection.
“Oh quiznack,” Lance yelped. “The quintessence field!” They were surrounded by glowing gold, but though they felt physically rejuvenated as before, he would guess that every one of them had a really bad feeling in the pit of their stomach.
“Where’s Honerva?” Keith snapped.
“Got her!” Pidge cried, and off they went, chasing Sincline again. “Be gentle, that fighter’s brand new!”
“Also I’m in it,” Lotor said dryly, but Lance could hear the strain in his voice.
“Where’s she going!?” Hunk demanded. “It almost looks like she’s… looking for something.”
Allura must have been multitasking really hard. She was so smart. “She’s looking for another reality. Something to do with Lotor-”
“She’s looking for another me,” Lotor said flatly, having come to the same realization. “I’m not good enough for her. She’s broken me against her so much it’s not fun anymore.”
“That’s not true,” Honerva broke in, and Lance found a really disturbed look settling on his face. She sounded almost gentle and caring. “All I want is the family I could never have in this reality. Is that so much to ask? Only a little farther, and we’ll be rid of each other forever.” Her voice turned hard. “Unless you want me to destroy you as a parting gift, of course. You should turn back, Voltron. The rift will consume your universe without you to stop it.”
There was silence; Voltron still pursued Sincline.
“No,” Lotor said finally. “No, I will not let you inflict yourself upon another reality – upon another me! Haven’t you ruined enough? You and Zarkon made my life a living hell, you destroyed anything I ever dared grow attached to. You destroyed Daibazal and Altea, whether you meant to or not. All the suffering and fear of the last ten thousand years – they’re because of you!” The gold-and-purple fighter’s engines flared dangerously, and with a horrible screech of metal, thrust free of Sincline’s tightening grip. “I’ll die before I let you control me again… whether in this reality or any other!”
“Get back here!” Honerva hissed, Sincline spinning and grabbing for the dangerously crippled fighter. “I’m… so… close!” Seizing the fighter before Voltron could intervene, even less gently than before – Lotor’s cry of physical pain and mental anguish echoed through the comm – Sincline shot forward, slashing at the Quintessence field, rending a gaping hole in it.
“Gotta go faster, guys!” Pidge said. “If that rift closes, we can’t follow her!”
“Give it your all!” Keith ordered, and Voltron zoomed towards the opening as Sincline clambered through. “It’s closing! She’s closing it!”
Just as Sincline slipped through, a giant red lion’s head reached through and grabbed its ankle.
“Get back here!” Lance grunted, throwing Red into full reverse. They could see – the distinctive shape of Daibazal, alive and green and blue, dusted with clouds. Green braced against the edge of the portal – how an insubstantial divide between realities could have a hard enough edge to brace a giant mecha against, Lance didn’t know, but he was very glad Pidge was managing it.
“No – no!!” Honerva shrieked, turning to attack them with the staff.
“You’re not going anywhere, Honerva!” Keith said, as they dodged to one side. “You’re our reality’s problem. You won’t harm another!”
“Let me go, Voltron, before you regret it! You return me to your reality, and I won’t rest until all of it is consumed before your eyes by the multiverse! Are you prepared to sacrifice your reality to save one you don’t even know, ‘Defender of the Universe’?”
“We’re not sacrificing anything!” Allura said, and Lance wanted to cheer. “We’re your equals here! We’ll drag you kicking and screaming back to our reality and defeat you there, no matter what!”
Lotor had been chanting something indistinct, which now rose to audible pitch. “Get me out of here, get me out of here, get me out of here…”
“Hang in there, buddy!” Lance called, still straining to pull Honerva through.
He swore Sincline turned its head to look at him specifically, then crushed Lotor’s fighter to bits in its grip.
“No!” they all cried, and the Green Lion shot out and snapped at the debris, trying to gather in anything left, praying there was still a living body among it. Honerva took advantage of their distraction and ripped away, heading towards the planet.
Voltron jumped through the rift after her, abusing its unsustainable super-speed to get in front of Sincline and blocking its way. They charged, but Sincline dodged, whipping them with its tail. Team Voltron yelled in defiance, as each mecha unleashed a flurry of blows on each other, leaving twining light-bleed trails through space. Sincline zipped around frenetically, striking at them from all angles; Voltron braced behind its shield and swung back with its sword when it could. All that mattered now was the fight, was surviving, was winning for the sake of this unsuspecting universe.
As they refused to get out of her way, as they refused to die, Sincline’s strikes became even more vicious, sucking energy out of them with every hit. Voltron bulled into Sincline, heedless of the energy drain going out from them, heedless of Sincline’s raking strikes against their arms and sides, of the tail wrapping about them and squeezing even more power from them. Just a little further, though they were so weak, and they’d be in the portal…
They pitched through together, and immediately felt a surge of energy. This was Sincline’s weakness now, to absorb energy until it overloaded. But Honerva, though furious, was not raving as Lotor had been when they fought here. She wouldn’t be so easily worn down. Besides…
“How the heck are we gonna seal the rift?” Lance demanded. “Explosions worked last time, but how do we…?”
“We don’t want to fire into it and accidentally hit Daibazal,” Pidge said.
“That won’t happen,” a hoarse, weary voice said over the comms.
“Lotor!” they cried. “You’re all right!” Lance said, genuinely happy.
“Are you sure??” Hunk asked suspiciously.
“Yes,” Lotor said patiently. “I studied this extensively and I have no wish to harm my alternate universe people. Only trans-reality material and quintessence can pass the portal. Give it your strongest shot!”
“It won’t do you any good,” Honerva snarled, ripping away from them, and immediately attacking. “I know where to look now. Once I kill you I’ll be right back.”
“You won’t win,” Allura said sternly. “Keith, do it!”
As one, they turned, ignoring Sincline, and blasted a blinding beam of light from the V on Voltron’s chest. It struck the portal at an angle, but it was enough. For a moment, Lance couldn’t see through his viewscreens, it was so bright. As he blinked and the light faded, they saw: the portal had disappeared.
Sincline struck them in the back, impaling them on the staff. They cried out in pain, flying forwards, but the Quintessence field healed them almost immediately. “We’ve got to get out of here,” Pidge said. “Just like last time!”
“But we’re not going to push her all the way back to the entrance rift, are we?” Hunk said.
“Just go,” Lotor said. “She wants our blood, and revenge, and the tying of loose ends. She knows better than to let an enemy live even if she believes herself to have attained everything she wanted and to be completely inaccessible.” His voice turned mocking. “Isn’t that right, Honerva?”
Honerva growled, and a purplish darkness rose behind her, gathering, swelling.
“HOLYQUIZNACKWHAT’STHAT!?!?” Lance screamed, pointing even though no one could see him.
“We’re getting out of here,” Keith said. Voltron about-faced hastily and spread its wings to race for the exit. Sincline turned to look at the dark mass, and followed them.
“We need to seal the rift once we emerge-” Allura began. “After we all emerge, and before that – that thing emerges.”
“The rift entity can be contained, and even controlled,” Honerva said patronizingly, icy fury frightening Lance better than any heated rage could do. “Don’t fear it the way your father did.”
“That’s the rift entity we were told about!?” Pidge exclaimed. “Okay, now I know why he destroyed Daibazal!”
“Yep, officially terrified,” Hunk chimed in.
“Focus, team,” Keith said. “It’s not time for words now.” Time to commune with your Lions, he meant. Lance understood and closed his eyes, sinking deeper into the bond he’d developed with Red. She was so dramatic, and a little bitchy, way less chill than Blue, but he loved her anyway. And now he needed her power to escape this life-filled prison and destroy the entrance before the creature in it swallowed everything he cared about.
The exit was in sight, and they burst out among the flames and wreckage of war. So many ships were drifting in space, or pieces of ships, and also most of the Robeasts were drifting, inert. It wrenched his heart to see how much had been destroyed, and he didn’t want to know how many had died. But they didn’t have time to think about that now anyway, spinning around to meet Sincline’s charge-
The staff slammed back into them before their shield was ready, knocking them up and down and around, weakening them again with each hit. They couldn’t get anything back on Sincline; Honerva was determined to kill them now.
“We have to close the rift!” Allura cried. “Before the entity comes through!” God, it was a gaping mess, a visibly-expanding swirl of madness. And this time they had no castle-ship to sacrifice to it. Nor was their super-beam going to cut it.
“Easier said than done at this exact moment, I think,” Pidge said. “Oh, quiznack!”
Quiznack was putting it mildly, though really there was no word capable of describing this; everyone gasped in absolute horror as that purplish mass burst from the rift, surging towards them like an angry grape pudding.
Something white coalesced before it, appearing as a ghostly white lion that reared up to grapple with the entity. Was it just his imagination, or did he hear roaring…?
“No… I thought-” Honerva began, before giving a cry of anger and assaulting Voltron yet again. But this time, distracted though they were, Voltron slashed back and struck true.
Both mecha took their hits, lost power, and tumbled towards Feyiv.
Shiro shook his head, dazed, and tried to put the universe back together. Someone was helping him up and he accepted it, climbing unsteadily to his feet. They’d gone down on Feyiv after Voltron had left, unable to get the engines cooperating in time. Even though he’d gotten to the emergency crash position, he’d still been knocked unconscious. Now the deck was listing to starboard at 25 degrees, even more consoles were on fire, and the viewport was dead. Someone was under his arm, holding him up. He didn’t even have to look down to know who it was, the tendril-y sensation told him all he needed to know. And he was grateful for her support, both literal and figurative. “D-damage report.”
“We’re on back-up auxilliary power,” Sam reported from engineering, also sounding shaken. “It will take some time to regenerate enough to get anything running besides life support, lights, and diagnostics. I’m beginning repairs now, but don’t hold your breath.”
“Why should I? We’ve still got life support,” Shiro tried to joke. “Veronica? Coran?”
“Well, hull integrity is compromised,” Veronica said helplessly. “Even if we get the Atlas’ systems functioning, I wouldn’t recommend taking off in this state. Not without a great many caveats.”
“I don’t think we’re much help to Voltron anymore,” Coran said. “We’ve done our part-”
The ship shook, twice. “What was that?” Shiro snapped, pulling upright; Elslince stepped back unobtrusively.
“Voltron and Sincline just crashed near our position, sir,” Curtis reported. “According to our remaining sensors, both are non-functional.”
Well, if that didn’t jolt his adrenaline back into battle-high, he didn’t know what did. “Are they alive? What about Lotor?” He’d been grabbed too.
“I don’t have that information,” Curtis said.
There was only one thing to do. “I’m heading out,” Shiro said. “Stay here and focus on repairing the ship.”
“I’m coming,” Veronica said. “I’ve got to check on Lance.”
“I’m coming too,” Elslince said. “You might need me.” She gave him a critical once-over, taking in the blood from his headwound. “You already need me.”
“I always need you,” he muttered, trying to be discrete with his unprofessionalism and failing terribly. He was distracted by the stars in her eyes, okay? And a head wound compromising his judgement. He caught a grin from Iverson and ignored it. “Veronica, stay with Elslince, just in case. Let’s go!”
He changed into the light-action spacesuit that had served him reasonably against Sendak, let Elslince clean off his head, and headed out. Outside was chilly; it was dusk, and overhead the wreckage of ships glittered among the stars, reflecting that white light of the white lion fighting the dark monster and the still-growing portal to another realm. Ahead of them lay Voltron; beyond it, the more curvacious form of Sincline. Both mecha were dark, no lights of any kind. But he could hear voices, and picked up his speed.
In the canyon carved by Sincline’s impact sliding away from Voltron, there were seven small figures. But the tallest and most slender were the ones facing each other. So both Honerva and Lotor had survived.
Honerva seemed to be too angry for words anymore, and Lotor watched her carefully. Shiro jogged up to stand next to Keith, holding out his arm to direct Veronica and Elslince to stay back. Veronica might be as brave as any Paladin, but this was out of her league.
“Finally, it comes to this,” Lotor said. “Whether I live or die, I will finally be free of you. And whether I live or die, my- my friends will make sure that every other Lotor is also free of you.”
“You will never be free,” Honerva hissed. “What I made you into ensures you will always be alone – except for me.”
“Shut up!” yelled Allura. “Your torture ends here!”
“Come and finish it, then,” Honerva said, baring her teeth, and as one the Paladins drew their weapons and attacked. Shiro was beside them, his friends that he’d come all this way with, he wasn’t leaving them now.
And yet she was somehow supernaturally powerful, dodging every attack they made, parrying Allura’s whip and Lotor and Keith’s swords with strength equal to theirs, and that was when she wasn’t blinking through teleportation or shooting dark magic at them. She caught his prosthetic fist with an open palm and drove him back. This couldn’t be her natural strength, her natural speed. She was cheating somehow. Lance and Hunk were hesitating, unwilling to fire into the melee.
“You could have been my champion,” Honerva said to him, twisting his arm until he fell. “I took your disease from you. I gave you your arm, your training. I could have given you so much more. But you chose to rebel.” She channeled dark magic into him and he groaned in pain.
“Gee, I wonder why!” he gritted out, going for a leg sweep. She let go of him to block Keith’s incoming assault, fast and graceful; he would have admired her if he didn’t know to the very core of his soul how much he hated her. “Guess I just loved the idea of being a monster so much!” God, the idea of slavery under her ignited his spirit like little else did. Humans – living beings in general – just weren’t built to be controlled.
“Your wit does you little credit. The rest of you are children, playing with forces you don’t understand.”
“We’re not playing,” Keith gritted, forced back almost to his knees.
“Also we’re not children!” Pidge cried, firing her Bayard at her, tagteaming with Allura. “Children don’t go to war!”
Honerva blinked away from the binding cords seeking her, reappearing just beyond their reach. “You haven’t seen what I’ve seen. You don’t know what I know.”
“I think we’re done listening to you,” Lance said, in that deadly serious voice that he used so rarely, that Shiro was glad not to hear from his young, happy-go-lucky-seeming friend. “You don’t know what we’ve seen, either.”
“Nor do I care,” Honerva said, blinking away from his shot, and flinging a spell his way. Allura jumped in front, shield brandished, deflected it.
“No! Oh, no!” Pidge cried, and he followed her gaze to see the dark entity had overwhelmed the white lion.
“Stay calm!” Shiro told her. “Paladins, get back to Voltron, we’ll hold Honerva here!”
Before anyone could do anything, Honerva jumped back and swung her staff at the ground, flinging them back and creating a small crater before her. Shiro tumbled back head over heels; he wasn’t sure, but it looked like the only people able to keep their footing were Keith, Allura, and Lotor. She smiled and he felt a shudder. “I said you should not fear the rift entity, but… I think now would be a good time to start fearing it.” And even as they charged back to her, she lifted her arm and cried out.
The rift entity surged downwards, making contact with her arm, rushing into her body. How much was there!? It was a cloud of tiny purple-black lights, now that he was closer – closer than he wanted to be, if he were absolutely honest – a cloud as big as the Atlas. Honerva screamed as she absorbed it, and her body began to change, to grow larger, still recognizable as her but… a literal monster now.
“What the actual cheese sandwich with pickles on top,” Lance whispered.
“LotORrrRR!” Honerva roared. Lotor stared up at her with frozen, unbelieving incomprehension as the last of the rift entity vanished into her; she was four or five times the size she had been, and her eyes glowed with purple light. Her stance was strange, her arms hanging as if she wasn’t sure what to do with them. But then she moved, striking like lightning, and Keith shoved Lotor out of the way to catch her blow on his sword.
“How do we defeat her!?” he yelled, grunting, driven back effortlessly across the rocky ground. His hair was sticking to his face and Shiro wondered, not for the first time, how he could see well enough to fight.
“Uh, I got nothing!” Lance yelled back.
“Me either!” Pidge cried.
“Everyone!” Allura cried. “Give me your energy! Tell the fleet – tell everyone in the universe! Concentrate on me!”
“We’ll keep it away from you!” Keith said. “Hunk, Lance, go long!”
“Roger!”
Shiro turned to see Veronica and Elslince, sort of under cover, praying to Allura. He wished they were a lot further from the fight than they were, a lot further from the entity than they were, but at least the monster wasn’t looking in their direction. Allura stood with her arms outstretched and her eyes closed, and bright teal blue sparkles were beginning to stream in her direction from everywhere around then.
Well, then, time to go back on the assault. It wasn’t the first time he’d fought something much bigger than himself! They rushed her, Keith and Lotor and Pidge and him, their weapons flashing in the dark. Brilliant blue and yellow bolts sizzled down from the hillside where Lance and Hunk had taken positions, able to fire at the larger target with less concern of collateral damage. Though a yellow grenade struck her in the back and exploded, though a trio of sniper shots struck her in the head, she simply shook them off and swatted at Keith as if she barely felt them. It seemed she hadn’t lost her mental faculties in her transformation, and her gaze was fixed on Allura.
Shiro felt adrenaline surging through him. The last time he’d felt this way was when he was fighting Sendak or Zarkon himself. She pursued them, and he dashed and rolled out of her reach, narrowly dodging her blows. He could hear the air whistle past him as she missed, felt the breath rasping in his throat, hardly felt the slight injuries he’d taken earlier.
Pidge, trying to trip her up with her Bayard, was smacked aside; she flew fifty meters with a squawk and landed with a thud. “Pidge!” Shiro yelled. She didn’t answer.
“I’ll check on her!” Hunk said.
“No, keep fighting!” He wanted to know that Pidge was okay, he really did. But they couldn’t lose two fighters for the price of one. Not now. Every moment, the monster got closer. “Keith!”
“I read you!” Together they charged, shoulder to shoulder, determined to halt her there, to drive her back… somehow… physically, if possible, for certainly it was necessary. She ignored Keith, but a giant hand closed about Shiro even as he dodged and squeezed, and he felt ribs pop. He suddenly felt very fragile, wondering how much more he could take before his spine broke. But while she was crushing him to death she wasn’t stepping on Keith or punching Allura.
Keith slashed, and another shot struck her in the head, though Hunk stopped firing, and Honerva dropped him before she could kill him; he landed heavily and with a cry of pain, trying not to breathe too hard. He could feel sweat beading on his forehead. But he couldn’t lie here. Even if she didn’t step on him, he couldn’t just curl in a ball while there was still fight in him.
True, there wasn’t a lot of fight left in him, and he really hoped that Elslince was still focusing on Allura and not watching. But just knowing she was there, nearby, in danger, dragged him to his feet yet again. She’d saved him so many times. Just let him save her once more…
Without warning, a brilliant teal-blue light blossomed behind him, and a beam blasted the giant Honerva, knocking her back, sending a shockwave through them all. The giant screeched, darkness boiling away from its skin in that dazzling light. He turned to see Allura channeling all those sparkles, everyone’s hopes and dreams and prayers, into a massive blast of life, willingly given, and gratefully taken.
She put a hand Lotor’s shoulder. “Now.”
“For Narti!” Lotor sprang forwards, dodging the monster’s last, clumsy blows, leapt up through Shiro’s two-handed stirrup boost, and stabbed, his blade glowing blue with the same energy. He landed several feet behind and rolled, coming up in a guard position, but there was no need. The monster wailed, shrinking, the last darkness flowing out of it through the wound. Darkness… and blood.
Honerva collapsed to one knee, panting, sweating, her hair disheveled under her headdress. Even as she made a move with one hand, whether to attack them or heal herself, something seemed to snap in her and she collapsed with a cry.
More magic flowed from her, but this was not dark. In fact, it seemed to have colours… It formed into the likenesses of aliens, a tall and elegant green woman, a big blue man with a big grin, another big man in yellow with a square jaw and fantastic hair, and… Zarkon. But not Zarkon as Shiro had known him, an implacable heartless granite-faced tyrant, but just a really big buff Galra with a slightly awkward air. And right now he looked grieved, looking at Honerva.
So focused Shiro was on trying to figure out what was different with this Zarkon, that he almost missed the last figure, a handsome, knightly Altean with a familiar cocky smile, until Allura choked. “F-father…?”
“You did it,” said the ghost, smiling at her. “Thank you.”
And all five disappeared, fading from view.
“Father!” Allura cried, but she was smiling through her sudden tears. “You’re welcome.”
Honerva collapsed to the ground onto her back as Lotor stalked around to see her. “So you did win, in the end,” she whispered. “Well… done.”
“Don’t you quiznacking ‘well done’ me,” Lotor growled, shaking. “You never cared for me, don’t pretend to now.”
“You were always… the most… precious one to me… my son,” Honerva gasped. “My legacy… the old Paladins… they will live on in all of you.”
Lotor stood over her, darkness and hurt and rage clouding his face. “You liar. I was nothing more to you than a toy.” He turned away to march off, drowning in angst. “Nothing of you will live in anyone!”
“Lotor!” Shiro shouted, jumping forward. And he grunted, as Honerva’s last spell struck him in the gut.
As he clutched his stomach, staggering, Honerva’s head rolled back and she sighed. Dead for good this time? Fingers crossed? It hurt so much, the pain spreading through him. An old, familiar pain. It was like when she used to torture him, in his lost memories, but worse. He could dimly hear the others calling his name, saw Allura and Elslince kneeling over him, looking worried, talking urgently to each other. But he couldn’t hold on anymore…
Hunk stumped up, carrying Pidge in his arms. “I don’t want to interrupt, because I’m worried about Shiro too, but what about the portal?” he said anxiously, gazing up at it. It stretched across the sky now, and Lance felt like it was getting closer by the tick. They’d probably waited too long on it. Was the universe going to get destroyed anyway, even though they’d won? Nah, they had to have hope. Someone would come up with something. Maybe even him!
Allura sighed as she looked up from Shiro’s body. “It’s always easier to destroy than to create… and easier to open than to seal.”
“Gosh, that is so true,” Hunk said. “Especially those fancy old-fashioned soda-pop bottles with the screw tops, I can never get those to go back on right…”
“You’re such a dork,” Pidge said, opening her eyes. “I can stand now, thanks.”
Allura stared at him for a minute. “…Anyway, I think I know how we can deal with this, without an explosion that will, say, shatter Feyiv and the surrounding galaxy.”
“Voltron?” Lance asked hopefully.
Allura smiled at him and he felt his spirits returning. “Voltron. And magic. That I’ve never tried before. But with the energy of everyone in the universe…”
“Try something new every day,” Lance said, and hugged her proudly. “You can do it! Let’s get to our Lions!”
“Why did you do that? For me?” Lotor asked.
Shiro cracked open his eyes and glared at him. “You sure pick the lightest of topics for a wake-up call.”
Lotor didn’t know what to do with that and dropped his gaze to his hands.
“By the way, who’s Narti?” Lotor had yelled something before his final attack…
Lotor sighed sadly. “A dear friend… who Honerva destroyed in the same way she tried to destroy you. I will forever blame myself for her death… but now I know who it was who killed her.”
“Shiro!” Elslince squealed, bursting through the door, interrupting the moment. “Thank the trees, finally! I just knew you were going to do something like that!”
“Like what?” he asked, still groggy. “Try to kill myself?” He poked his belly and felt a small crater under the bandages. Great, another one for the collection. But his ribs felt wierdly okay. Had Allura healed them or something? “Would I do that?”
“Would you do that – Takashi Shirogane you have a lot of nerve-” Elslince coughed and recovered her composure. God, she was adorable when she was pretending to be angry. “I mean, it was all Honerva’s fault, with that cheap final shot. You should answer Lotor’s question, though. He’s been spending a lot of time in here.”
“Huh? Oh.” He looked back at Lotor, who was looking strangely shy. “Why not? You’ve decided to live, haven’t you?”
“Y-yes, but… I would not ask anyone to sacrifice themselves for that… for me…”
“That’s why you didn’t have to ask,” Shiro said cheerfully. “I did it anyway.”
Lotor seemed lost.
“It’s all right,” Lance said from the door. “This is called ‘having friends’, you paranoid dork.”
“And usually it’s not so dramatic,” Hunk said. “Hey, Shiro!”
“Hey, guys,” Shiro said. “Glad you all made it.”
“You’re very lucky Elslince was there,” Keith scolded him, leaning against the wall with his arms folded, looking far more annoyed than he actually felt.
“Just so you know, we got the Atlas repaired,” Pidge said. “Enough to take off and head for Earth. Which is why your bed isn’t tilted.”
“But the lions…” Allura began, and everyone stopped.
Shiro looked up anxiously at them. “What about the lions?”
“We were sealing the rift, but before it was done, Voltron split up into lions,” Keith said. “They ejected us, and then they kind of looked at us, and then… flew away into the rift. And then it closed.”
“We all felt them say goodbye,” Lance said, mournfully. “We’ll miss ’em.”
“I see,” Shiro said, absorbing that. “Well… that’s good, right?”
“Huh?” Hunk looked at him.
Shiro smiled. “It means they know we don’t need them anymore. We’re on our own now. And we can handle it.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Keith said. “I got that feeling myself.”
“We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do,” Pidge said, beaming. “I can’t wait!”
“Yeah,” Shiro said. “Yeah, me either.” He looked at Elslince and her beautiful smile, her starry blue eyes and swirling hair, and for the first time he couldn’t help but notice she was starting to show. “And we better get to work right away!”