Voltron flew over the dark surface of the stony planet, its eyes glowing a deep yellow to illuminate the rocks below. The paladins were quiet now. It had been a long day.

Of course, Lance had to be the one to break the silence. "Maybe we should get back to the castle? You know, regroup? Re-plan? Whatever you call it?"

"Get some food?" Hunk added.

"We have to find this thing before it can hurt anyone else," said Shiro. "You saw what it did. If it gathers enough energy to leave the planet, it could do some major damage."

"But we've been looking for hours!" Lance complained. "What if it's already gone?"

"Coran and Allura would have spotted it," Pidge interjected.

"Are you sure? It was pretty sneaky," said Hunk.

"Just shut up and keep looking," Keith snapped.

"You might not be tired, but the lions are! Blue needs a good long nap."

"Me and Yellow could use one of those too."

"Just a little longer," said Shiro firmly. "We have to make sure it's nowhere near the village before we go back to the castle." The paladins lapsed into silence again.

Lance rubbed his eyes. Why was he so tired? Blue purred apologetically at the back of his mind. Is it you? he asked silently. His lion had taken a lot of damage earlier. His connection to Blue must be allowing him to feel the effects. He didn't know it could do that. Why had it never happened before? Maybe he'd just never noticed.

He snapped up straight as Allura's voice came over the comms. "Paladins, we have a serious problem. The power drain on the castle has reached critical levels. We need a safe place to land."

"How will we know if it's safe? We have no way of detecting the creature," said Pidge. "Unless you've come up with something."

Lance felt a sudden strange feeling wash over him. His skin went all numb and tingly and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Blue was trying to tell him something. Land? He hadn't felt like this since that one time he'd fainted after seeing his little sister get a nosebleed.

"Lance? What are you doing?" Shiro asked. Lance blinked, and realized that Blue was flying a little too low, throwing Voltron off balance.

"Something's wrong with Blue. I don't know . . ." he trailed off, trying to figure out the feelings that Blue was sending him.

"I think I know what it is," said Coran. "I'm reading a serious power drain in Blue, just like the one we're experiencing in the castle."

"Should we separate and send Blue back?" Shiro asked.

"Um, no, that would be a very bad idea. I think the rest of Voltron is the only thing keeping Blue up right now. The other lions seem to be lending Blue energy, but it's not going to last much longer."

"Which needs to land first, Blue or the castle?"

"Blue, definitely Blue. The castle has at least half-an-hours' worth of juice left."

Lance felt his stomach do a flip as Blue suddenly dipped. He heard the other paladins grunt as they tried to compensate with their own lions. "Guys? What's the plan?" His own voice sounded weird to him, ringing oddly in his helmet. He blinked as his vision went blurry for a moment and then focused again. Blue groaned in his head, and suddenly they were falling. Distantly he heard the other paladins yelling, but their words were unintelligible, almost like he was underwater.

He vaguely felt a jolt as they hit the ground. Blue had gone silent, a sudden absence that he hadn't felt in months. "Blue . . . he muttered, and then slumped over in his seat, letting the exhaustion take him.