I. Beginning

'Why? Why did it have to come to this?'

She dodged one of their attacks, scraping her elbow and legs on the rocky terrain. She hissed at the smarting cuts and fumbled in her knapsack for a potion. Avoiding the next attempted strike by less than a centimeter, she downed the potion. She waited for the pain to subside and rushed back to her feet.

She wasn't ready for this. This fight was beyond her. She needed help. But the others were engaged in their own battles. She supposed she could..but no. It was too dangerous. She couldn't put any more lives at risk.

She raced on, summoning a ball of darkness in her hand and throwing it at one of her two opponents. They faltered but regained their momentum in a flash. She projected a barrier and redirected the bolt of lighting aimed at her. It hit her opponent's partner, who yelled out in pain.

She cast Dark Firaga at them, and was about to follow up with a Blizzard spell when the ground lurched. She halted, and turned to look at the center of all this chaos-

The waves of darkness and light surrounding them bursted out. Thick tendrils of light slithered and curled around them, making it hard for her to see. The light was so bright, and it burned. She thought, maybe, the burning had more to do with her than the light itself. If that was the case, she wondered whether any of the others felt this same, inflamed intensity.

A hurricane of rock and Keyblades encircled them amidst the light and darkness. Someone in the background shouted out her name. She couldn't make out their voice, couldn't tell whether it was an ally or enemy.

A voice in the back of her mind whispered, Which one are you?

The darkness mingled with the beams of light, salved its intensity, and left her bitter. She could make out figures in the distance, but between the blazing light and the freezing darkness, she couldn't see who they were.

The ground shook wildly underneath her. She stumbled in place, hair whipping her across the face, vaguely aware of the silhouette approaching her. Screams filled the air.

Someone grabbed her hand.

There were times when Lance couldn't sleep. Not because it was too loud, but because it was too quiet. He was used to the sound of his parents' TV late at night, of his older brother laughing not so quietly to himself as he watched videos on his laptop. Lance complained about it often back home, but as the days passed here in the Castle, he found himself missing all the noise.

Being a pilot was his dream since he was a kid, but he never accounted for how quiet space could be. He made do by focusing on small noises like the hum of the Castle engines, but there were times it just wasn't enough. Like now.

Screw it. Throwing his bed covers off, Lance headed for one of the castle's observation decks. There was one on the upper floor with the most amazing view, and if he was stuck being young and restless, he might as well take it in.

The doors slid open. Lance stepped inside and saw Keith standing close the Castle windows, close enough that he couldn't see his reflection in the glass. The doors closed behind him, and Keith whipped around to face him, surprise written on his face.

It took less than a second for it to turn into irritation. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, hello to you too, Mullet," Lance strode across. "I could ask you the same thing, you know. But I won't. Because, unlike you, I respect people's privacy."

Keith scoffed. "Right."

"Besides, it's not like you own the observation deck. I don't see your name written anywhere on these walls." Lance regarded them with an overcharged wave of the hand.

Keith looked very much like he was fighting the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, because we're not five."

Lance replied, "No kidding. I'm a total ten. You're more of a three, maybe a soft four."

"What?" Keith looked at him blankly for a split second before he shook his head in what Lance knew had to be defeat. He turned his attention back to the window, eyes narrowed.

Lance approached the large window. He kept a few feet away from Keith and gazed out into space. The stars, bright, glossy, and abundant, winked at him dutifully. Lance smiled and remembered his older brother and sister. They dragged six year old him to the beach once one summer night to look up at the stars. Their parents found them with their backs pressed into the sand, hustled together and giggling as they pointed up to the sky and made up constellations. Santiago and Anna had gotten into so much trouble.

Lance grimaced and scrunched his eyes shut. He opened them and turned to Keith, who wore the same intense expression on his face. It was unsettling. "Yo, dude, what's your damage?"

Keith raised an eyebrow. "What happened to respecting others privacy?"

"I got bored of that." Lance said with a shrug. "Come onn, man. Keeping that shit in isn't healthy. What's wrong?"

He was surprised to realize he actually cared. Keith stared at him, an almost thoughtful expression on his face, and then broke into a sigh.

"I just...got a weird feeling," He said, slowly. "Like something's on its way over here. I can't tell what it is, but it's out there, and it's coming right for us."

"...Okaay," Lance said. Ominous, much? But Keith had a knack for these things. He had a knack for a lot of things, not that Lance would ever admit it. It annoyed him to no end. "And, uh, this 'whatever it is', is it a good thing or a bad thing?"

"...I can't tell." said Keith. "I think...both?"

Lance stared at him. "That's not cryptic at all. Maybe you should tell Shiro about this?"

Keith stiffened. "Are you making fun of me."

"What? No!" A part of him really wanted to, though. Lance squashed it down and focused on his fellow Paladin. "It's just, if you're having a weird feeling, like we're about to be attacked, the others should probably know about it, right?"

"...Yeah." Keith nodded. His hand inching towards his knife, he started to leave the room. "Let's go."

"What, no, 'You're right, Lance. Thanks for the totally awesome advice?'" Lance prodded. He grinned when Keith gave in and rolled his eyes at him.

They were about to leave together when the Castle started to tremble unbridled. "Ahh!" Lance let out a startled shout. He scrambled for balance but failed and landed flat on his stomach. Keith, swaying, took a step towards him. He was halfway there when another tremor passed. He stumbled and fell on his knees.

"What the quiznak?!" Lance shouted over the shudders and groans of the castle. He tried in vain to find something to steady himself with. "What's happening?!"

There was an upheaval that sent both boys flying across the floor. The deck filled with an all encompassing light, and a warmth filled Lance up from head to toe. Soft but brilliant, it was like drinking hot chocolate in the winter. He felt relieved and cozy. He was content. He never wanted this feeling to end.

The peacefulness vanished and was replaced with pure terror. The warmth was gone; now all that was left was a biting cold that had Lance curled into a ball, desperate to preserve the warmth. He started to suffocate from the weight of the cold, from the heavy tension choking him.

Something grabbed his wrist.

Lance scrambled to get away but was pulled into an awkward, protective clutch. He resisted out of instinct, then realized how snug and steady the arms around him were. He leaned in, desperate for reprieve, and the other's arms tightened around him.

The cold left him, and the castle tremors reached a slow, gentle stop. Lance kept still, acutely aware of his own labored breathing. Keith hovered above him, eyeing the deck with caution.

He had readjusted himself so his and Lance's shoulders were pressed together. Lance's stomach flipped, and he shoved Keith off of him. Keith wavered but didn't fall, though he still shot Lance a glare. "Hey! Watch it!"

"You watch it!" Lance shot back. His voice cracked, to his annoyance. Hopefully Keith didn't notice. "Personal space, buddy. Respect it!"

"Yeah, like that's what's important right now." Keith snapped, getting up on his feet. Lance followed suit. The terror was gone, as was the peace and joy. All that was left was trepidation. "What just happened?"

"I don't know," Keith said, eyebrows furrowed and fingers curled. He had his knife out, and searched the room with a hard gaze.

"Well, what are your feelings telling you now?"

Lance's words came out harsher than he meant them to. Keith threw him a dirty look and growled,"Stop being a dick. And get over here. You're defenseless without your Bayard, you're gonna get yourself killed."

"By who? There's no one else here besides us!"

Keith ignored him, which only added to Lance's irritation. The red paladin circled the room, coming to a stop a few feet from the deck window. He examined the outlook for a few ticks, and seemed to zero in on an unknown object.

Lance joined him. "What? What is it? What's wrong?"

Pointing outside, Keith asked, "Do you see that?"

Lance followed the direction of Keith's finger. All he saw was stars. "Uh..."

Keith let out an exasperated groan. Grabbing Lance by the chin, he ignored his protests as he adjusted his head's position.

"There," He said.

Lance stretched his neck out, squinting with concentration. Seconds passed and he was able to make out the sight of what looked like a moon. It was far off into the distance, so he couldn't get a good look at it. To his astonishment, it appeared to be shaped like...a heart?

Lance and Keith turned to stare at each other. "What the heck is that?"

"I think," Keith said, eyebrows crumpled. "That's a problem."

New semester, new project! The chapters length will probably vary-It will be around 1500 words each so the wait time between chapters will be minimum. For now I'm following LooLa' from Deviantart's 100 theme challenge, which would put the entire word count into an eventual 150,000 or so :D This is a full crossover between Kingdom Hearts and Voltron: Legendary Defender, but I figure not too many people will find this story in the crossover section, and the Kingdom Hearts section allows me to tag the majority of the main characters-by which I mean the pivotal characters. The story will also focus on three specific Voltron characters, but rest assured, all of Team Voltron will have a significant presence.

Man I'm SO excited for this. I've got plans for this story, plans which I hope will surprise you guys and keep you hooked until the bitter end. Remember to read and review, please~!