FW09: Hnnnnggghhhhh...why did no one tell me Netflix's new Voltron show had such a freaking hottie?! Shirooooo. SHIROOOOO. Move over Allura, he is MINE. Also...Lance. LANCE, you are my child, and I don't care how much you perv/goof off, I will always back you over Keith and Pidge. Hunk, you are also my child, though I will probably have barf bags near me whenever I am with you.

Phew, now that I got that out of the way, let me just say that this show surprised me in ways I never dreamed of. I watched this show in my little PJs when I was a kid, and even then, I could tell that it was a little on the cheesy/corny side. THIS version, though, I loved. The lore is a bit different than what I'm used to, but it all happened so long ago, I'm willing to forgive it and allow myself to immerse into the new storyline.

Great animation, great voice-acting, great humor - as always from Dreamworks (finished Trollhunters a while ago, and I still think it's one of Netflix's, Guillermo's, and Dreamworks' best works). And so far, great character development and establishment. Pidge is the only one that disturbs me so far (I don't like Keith either, but it's because I haven't seen any episodes really focused on him yet), and that's because Pidge has got a fair bit of tropes in his backstory that stops me from fully liking him, but I can understand why he acts the way he acts - to a degree. The story might need to explain his backstory sooner rather than later for me for that. (And for people who know, don't spoil it in the reviews, I have progressed through the series enough to know that...thing, and I'm just avoiding saying it to avoid spoiling it for other people who haven't watched it.)

I've...ahem...completely rambled on about how much I love this show, but damn - it surprised me! Anyway, I've been feeling the writer's block funk for a long time now, as a lot of my Miraculous story readers have probably noticed, and I just felt like I needed to get this story out. It sparked my creativity and I'm so happy to make progress in something fanfiction-related.

Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defenders or any of its sister series. I do own this story, however.

Prologue

"(The road to) Hell is paved with good intentions." - John Ray, 1670

Log Entry 6102-016

Odd saying, ain't it? Humans're full of 'em. An answer fer every problem, even if they don't make no sense.

Like that "Hell" business. Never heard of no place like "Hell", at least not the way Shiro said it. The Alteans believe that death is some beautiful process, that no matter what ya are, ye'll meet yer end when it's right. Pffftttt. Peace-quacks, the lot o' them. And they get the keys to that Voltron weapon? A pretty good universal joke, that.

Me, personally? I think I'd be all right if there really was a place called Hell. I mean, I weren't no Saint, but there're loads of folks who I'd love to see there with me. And who knows, maybe a fire bath'd be nice.

...Heh. Probably shouldn't joke about that. Shiro would get mad at me, yeah.

...

...I never used to care about what that kid thought about. Especially 'bout me. But it just feels so quiet without 'im.

...

I miss you, kid.

(One Year after the failed Kerberos Mission)

"I thought you said you knew this place like the back of your hand?!"

A tall, Asian human ran through the halls of the Galra prison ship, his hand glowing an unnatural purple hue and sweat pouring off his forehead profusely. Just behind him, a similarly well-built, pale woman jogged behind him, one large alien pistol swinging hard as she pumped her arms. Red lights flashed above them as loud sirens blasted through the hallways of the ship, echoing around them as their feet pounded against the unforgiving metal floor.

"First off, quit yer weird human phrases, it's throwin' me off. Second, said I knew the hangar bay," she swiveled around when she heard metal clanging of boots behind her and fired several shots that took out the closest Galran sentries at their heels, "Never said nothin' 'bout the whole quiznakkin' ship!"

However, more robots poured from behind them, and the woman had to grit her teeth when she felt their shots graze past her long, pointed ears - Altean ears. When she bobbed and weaved, silvery-blue hair, tied in a tight pony tail behind her, with a long bundle of bangs dangling over her right eye, whipped around her head like a jagged tornado of steel. She crouched suddenly, surprising the sentries somewhat, and she pulled out a second gun, a mirror image of the first, and fired magnum-sized rounds at them. A pair of heterochromic eyes peered from behind the guns' sights, the left a radiant, ghostly-blue and the right a startling amber, almost bloody red color.

"In here!" the human shouted to her and she backed up quickly, dodging the shots skillfully and returning fire before ducking into the right-side passage with him.

"Y'know, this would'a been a lot easier if ya didn't piss off Sendak, kid," she grunted as she tucked the second gun back into the holster on her left hip, running alongside him now, "Infirmary's on the other side o' the ship, an' ya knew it! Spittin' on a Commander's boots like some idiot..."

"Could've said the same about you," the man pointed an accusatory glare at her, "Did you betray him before or after he got in your bed?

"Awww, what, ya jealous?" she grinned wickedly, and only snickered when his glare didn't lessen, "Calm yer space undies, kid. He didn't even get his pants off."

"And I can trust what you say because...?"

Just as he spoke, the Altean's ears picked up another squad of sentries trying to head them off. She grabbed the back of his shirt without a word and shoved him and herself into the nearest and darkest nook. With all the noise and confusion, the squad managed to pass them by completely, and they took a moment to breathe. The woman also took the opportunity to lean up towards him, speaking in his ear.

"Ya know why," she chuckled, and gave a little pinch to his earlobe, "Round-Ears."

"It's Shiro," he replied, but it was in amusement rather than admonishment, "...Come on, I think they left."

With the tension between them less, Shiro took one of the Altean's hands and pulled her along to where he assumed was the hanger bay - if the pilot-class sentries that just passed them were anything to go by. The Altean stiffened at the contact, her feet running staggered as she let herself be led along, albeit reluctantly. She wasn't used to letting others take charge, and it made her feel...funny. Something Shiro liked exploiting as often as he could.

"This ain't necessary, ya know?" she muttered uncomfortably, her face screwed up in an awkward frown.

"Awww, what, nervous?" Shiro mocked her, enjoying the bare display of emotions, and she gave a twitch of her ears in annoyance. It only irritated her more because he was right.

They finally made it to the hanger bay, much to the Altean's relief, and she snatched her hand back like she'd been burned. Shiro gave a scoffing laugh, smirking at her with a knowing grin. She, on the other hand, just grimaced and shoved the same hand into his face, pushing him out of the way and whacking the butt of her pistol against the control panel, breaking it. With that done, the Altean jogged towards one of the numerous escape pods and knelt at its control panel. Shiro slid next to her as she pulled out a knife from her boot, working at the interface before popping it open. She pushed aside her sweaty blue bangs as she re-programming the directives and positioning system to make the escape pod into a ship with a specific destination rather than just landing on the nearest planet.

"These don't look very big," Shiro observed when he glanced at the pod, his main focus being the look-out.

"Don't worry, ye'll fit," she stole a look at him, grinning, "Or not. Ya did put on some bulk."

"No, I meant...wait, are you calling me fat? Really?" the human gave her a raised eyebrow, and she laughed as she switched her efforts to the pod next to the one she just reconfigured.

"I never said nothin', ye're the one who said it," the Altean looked behind her, ears twitching with the sounds of sentries struggling to open the hangar bay door manually.

"Ugh, just...I mean, the both of us aren't going to fit!"

"Oh, now ye're calling me fat," she dodged the statement expertly, and finished re-programming the second one in record time.

"Stop changing the subject!" Shiro turned to her fully to address her, but his vision spun as she grabbed the front and swung him into the first escape pod, "Wha-ooof!?"

She bent over Shiro inside the pod, blocking him in.

"Kid...look..." the Altean sighed, and her voice took on a serious tone which surprised him, "This's probably gonna be the last time we're gonna see each otha, so...I just wanted ta say I'm sorry for everythin'."

"What're you talking about?" Shiro struggled to sit upright in the small space, but she forced him to stop with a hand on his stomach, "We're going to get out of this, and when we do, we're going to find Voltron - together. And stop Zarkon once and for all!"

The pale woman smiled a genuine smile, though sad, and she leaned forward to press a tender kiss against his forehead. Shiro froze against the touch of her lips, and she took the opportunity to place a small scanner against his right temple.

"Includin' this," she reared back and squeezed the trigger.

Shiro realized the deception a second too late, his eyes wide and his mouth forming protests that died in his throat when a bright light erupted from the scanner. The Altean felt tears form as she continued to hold the device against his head, but before they could drop, a hot bolt of plasma shot the control panel at her side. The small explosion threw her to the side, and when she opened her eyes, she saw that the pod was gone.

"No, no, NO!" she despaired, crawling back to the empty space desperately, "I wasn't finished! Quiznak!"

The Altean growled in frustration, observing the dripping metal of the control panel. The plasma shot must have fried it, causing the escape pod to jettison in a state of emergency. It was a good thing she prepped it beforehand, the coordinates plugged in directing the pod to go straight to his home world - Earth. Far from this place.

"Tracker 84-2009!" a mechanized voice commanded from behind her, and she cursed under her breath, "You are under arrest for treason against the Galra Empire! Drop your weapons and come with us!"

"Heh, just as 'bout stupid as ya look, I'll give ya that," the Altean tapped the gun butt against her palm, and a small capsule ejected from it, "Catch."

Tracker 84-2009 threw the capsule behind her, and it erupted into a little storm of electricity. Sounds of stuttering mechanical whirring were ripped from the pained sentries, twitching and shaking from the electrical shock as they dropped their guns. Taking advantage of their momentary paralysis, the Altean dashed into the second pod and launched it manually, escaping the prison ship and her enemies. As the pod flew towards her ship, hidden behind a far away moon, her face was drawn tight and her brow furrowed in thought.

'Damn it...damn those quiznaks!'

Due to Shiro's accidental jettison, she didn't have enough to time to cloak his pod from the ship's scanners, which meant they'd be able to track him. And she definitely didn't have enough time to fully wipe his mind of the past year's memories. Worse yet, with how weak the wipe was, she was certain that he'd be able to get those memories back, given enough time.

And she couldn't let that happen.

'...When did life have ta get so complicated?' the Altean glanced out the window and spotted her ship growing closer, 'This's all yer fault, Shiro.'

FW09: All right, done with that chapter! Now, I just want to clarify, in case anyone gets confused: the log entries are and will be happening at different times than the main story. For instance, hopefully you noticed that the non-italic stuff happening probably happened before the log entry. Or the log entry was recorded after their escape, whichever way you want to phrase it.

And this will be occurring a lot in this story, which will serve as flashbacks/reflection from Tracker 84-2009. This kind of story telling is a little complicated for me, so I hope that you'll be patient with me as I try to sort out and organize my thoughts and ideas.

Well, that's pretty much it for the prologue, and I hope you were reading carefully at the end for the tidbit I slipped in there! I'm still watching the series, but I don't think they've still explained everything that happened to Shiro on the prison ship, even after two seasons. So, I'm just taking advantage of that and putting my own spin on things. XD Hope you enjoyed reading, and see you next time!