Shiro stumbled out of the Green Lion and into the hangar, leaning heavily on Hunk for support. Every breath was like a knife in his ribs, every heartbeat a throbbing pain in his side. Keith was right next to him, holding onto him; Shiro knew Pidge and Lance were just steps behind, ready to help however they could.

"It'll be okay, Shiro," Keith was saying. "We're home now. We made it- I knew we'd make it."

Shiro smiled faintly, glancing at Keith out the corner of his eye. "Why does that sound like an 'I told you so' in disguise?"

Pidge and Lance chuckled nervously behind him. As soon as everyone was off the ramp, Pidge and Lance darted ahead, heading straight for the doors.

"ALLURA! CORAN!" Lance yelled, sprinting past the other lions at full speed. "WE'RE BACK! BUT SHIRO'S-"

Lance stopped short and almost fell over when Allura suddenly appeared down the hallway, charging towards them. Pidge, unable to stop, rammed into Lance, and they both went down in a bickering heap. Hunk and Keith chuckled, but Shiro hardly noticed what was so funny- his eyes were only for Allura, relief flooding through him like a wave. She was safe- they were all safe- they'd survived that awful, awful wormhole, and they were together at last-

Wait…

Shiro squinted, blinking hard. Well, that couldn't be right. "Um…" Shiro panted; it was an effort just to speak, with that burning quintessence wound in his side. "Are you guys seeing this?"

"Whaaaa?" was Hunk's only reply. Keith didn't speak at all; he simply stared.

For Allura had strange cargo with her. When she finally came to a stop in front of Lance and Pidge, Shiro's eyes told him that Allura was holding a baby. A BABY, of all things- a chubby, redheaded one that was apparently having the time of its life, being bounced around by Allura's running. Allura herself looked terribly relieved, yet also terribly worried, especially when she laid eyes on Shiro. But before she could say anything, Lance sat up and spoke.

"HUH?"

His words seemed to release the others, who began to speak in turn. "Is… is that a- a baby?" Pidge stammered, her eyes almost as wide as her glasses.

Keith groaned, more in dread than disbelief. "Oh, no…"

Shiro simply stared, forgetting his pain for a moment. He was pretty sure there hadn't been a baby on board the Castle of Lions before the team got separated, but of course, anything could've happened since then. After all, he and Keith had been stranded and fought space lizards- come to think of it, Shiro wasn't feeling all that well after that, on top of the little scratch Haggar had given him- and Pidge had made a homing signal in a space junkyard. Hunk and Lance had gone and saved an entire PLANET, for crying out loud!

Hunk almost dropped an unsteady Shiro, who was leaning on him for support. "A BABY?! What? But- but where'd it come from? What the quiznak is-"

Allura interrupted him rather breathlessly. "It's Coran!" She held up the little baby, who gurgled and cooed at the paladins.

Silence fell.

After a long, uncomfortable moment, Shiro finally broke the silence. "What?" Well, this was just dandy- he must be hallucinating because of his wounds. There was no conceivable way that baby was Coran… was Allura finally losing it?...

Lance was the next to speak. "Well, he does have the red hair," he admitted uncertainly, getting to his feet. "And the blue markings. And the purple eyes. Just not the mustache."

Coran cooed cheerfully in response and reached out to Lance with his chubby little arms.

"But- but that's impossible!" Pidge sputtered. She didn't do well with the illogical. "Nobody can age backwards!"

"Nevertheless, that is what happened," Allura replied, seeming to calm down a little. "We got stuck in the wormhole- a time loop, you see- and every time we went through the end, Coran got younger and younger. Pidge's homing signal helped us get out, but Coran still isn't back to normal. Neither are the mice."

Coran, as if confirming her words, grabbed at the air in front of Keith and giggled wildly. Keith actually flinched, which didn't do Shiro much good, as Keith was helping Hunk support the Black Paladin. Shiro promptly went into a coughing fit, making his head spin and his legs shake.

At length he took a shaky breath- the pain was rushing back, almost overwhelming him. Fighting the fuzzy darkness that tinged the edge of his vision, he managed to force out, "How- how do we get him back to normal?"

Allura held Coran close and met Shiro's gaze with frightened eyes. "I don't know."