PART ONE:

"The first law of thermodynamics—more commonly understood as the Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed." Pidge stood upon the platform, in their usual informative stance.

The team—the original team—was assembled on the bridge of the Atlas, adorned in their color-coded uniforms. Pidge, of course, in their green. Hunk—yellow. Lance had his ocean blue, and Keith in his fire-engine red. Shiro stood closest to Pidge, donned in black to match the head of Voltron.

The only member not present was Allura. Neither her, nor her tailored pink Atlas uniform were to be accounted for. Not since Honerva.

It'd only been a wounding three weeks since the reinstatement of life, the universe, and everything as they knew it, and the loss of their beloved princess, their beacon of hope, remained a deep and tender cut to the heart of Voltron. Three weeks. And it felt like an eternity.

Nevertheless, the team tackled their next objectives with due diligence. Though it would seem Pidge had a little side project they had been working on all this time, and that's why they called a team meeting aboard the Atlas.

Pidge pushed the nosepiece of their glasses up the bridge of their nose, readying themself to continue. They then said, "The second half of the law says it can only be transferred or changed from one form to another."

"What're you getting at Pidge?" Keith prodded.

"Yeah," Lance joined, "We didn't expect a science lesson so early today." He yawned and stretched.

"Given all that we've been through, individually, and together as a team—Shiro with your consciousness drifting in the void as long as it did—"

Shiro gave a half-laugh, "Connecting with my lion again wasn't easy—"

"—and then again when we freed the original paladins in Honerva's mind, and with Allura's history on Oriande, there's no telling what other secrets and knowledge the alchemists are wanting us to find—"

"Us?" Hunk asked. "Did everyone else hear that? Is this an 'us' thing? Are we being sucked back out to space again?"

"Quiet," Shiro ordered. "Pidge, please, we all have our assigned work we need to be doing. What is the point of us being here?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you!"

"What?!" the other three limbs of Voltron rang out like a chorus.

Pidge took a deep breath. "I'm saying…I'm saying I think there's a way to bring Allura back."