i can't be the only one who was affected by the new season, right?


Shiro launched himself out of the hotel lobby. He had neglected taking the Black Lion for this deviant expedition, knowing that a huge mechanical feline would draw more attention than a small fighter plane. The plane hummed to live once he stepped in; the Paladin helmet he stashed under the seat flashed with unanswered calls.

He slipped it on and immediate frantic voices streamed in through the comm.

"Shiro, where are you?"

"Buddy, did you die?"

"Shiro, answer me now or so help me I will kill your future offspring-!" Princess Allura's threat was enough to kickstart his adrenaline.

"Guys, I'm here. What happened?"

A collective sigh of relief.

"I thought you got eaten by Galrans," Keith accused.

Lance snorted. "More like he was freaking out that you had turned into goop stew."

"Shut up, Lance."

"You shut up!"

"Cadets!" Shiro exclaimed, their argumentative nature getting on his nerves.

"Enough," Allura growled. "Shiro, get back to our quarters now. We've received a distressed signal from one of the near moons– most likely Galran activity. My people have held trade ties with Lunarans for centuries and we will honor their call for help. Paladins, let's go!"

Shiro agreed and powered the plane to the last known location of the Althean castle. He piloted the plane with neck breaking speed. The crystal walls of the castle came into view, the desolate craters of this unknown planet looming past. He had deluded himself with this blissful afternoon, that he had forgotten how grey and bleak it looked like. Allura's castle was the only bright spot, and he could see the other lions were already in formation, ready for him to take the head.

He disembarked from the plane, wary of his teammates eyes on him as he zipped down the foyer and into the hangar bay, landing with well-practiced grace into the leather chair of the Black Lion's cockpit. The comms were quiet, everyone waiting for Allura's further instructions.

"Good to see you all back," she started. "Encrypted messages are streaming in from the Lunarans monarch of how there have been sightings of large ships looming in the horizon. We have reason to believe that Zarkon may be scoping the planet to see if he could somehow harness its power."

The knowledge of the Galran Druids and their ability to harness a planet's quintessence was a silent pressure on the team. Shiro took a deep breath, burying Athena and their blissful afternoon. He could not afford to become distracted now.

"Let's take a trip, Paladins," he said and the rest of them hooted in agreement, following his lead as they hurled into the wormhole, ready to face this new threat.

Athena looked back at the room she shared with Shiro these past two days, a wistful smile marring her lips. Shiro may have his own demons and burdens to deal with, but that didn't mean she was free from her own problems.

She was due to Varinja one lengthy dobosh from now. Athena hurried, checking out of her hotel and running to her ship, zooming out of this beautiful planet whose name she still had trouble remembering. Mentally, she prepared her speech, noting the fallacies and the falsities where she marked it out with ruthless dictation. Though the Princess was the one who had called on her when she had offered her brand of help, Athena still felt the need to sell her specialty to the troubled monarch.

The desolate planet that greeted her after the prepared wormhole was hardly the paradise she stayed in, and this rude awakening was a much-needed shock to her brain. She could focus on her mission, and bury her thoughts on Shiro as best she could. There was no need to trouble herself; she didn't believe a word he said when he promised her he would come back.

The domed walls of the castle glistened under the weak sun. She hovered in front of the protective barrier.

"Verification of identity, plane number and intent," a high voice said in way of greeting.

"This is Pilot Nakamura flying Alpha 7 Zulu 31, requested by the Princess of Althea on a special meeting."

A hum and a pleasant man's voice sounded through the radio.

"Entrance granted. Welcome to the Castle of Lions, Pilot Nakamura."

Shiro had never felt this beaten in his life.

They had engaged with the Galrans atop the frozen mountain. The aliens, upon realizing that they were at the losing end, retreated, leaving the planet secure once more. He had commanded the rest of the Paladins to fall back, not wanting to waste their resources on a scouting ship

Though his teammates celebrated, Shiro hardly found in him the need to be festive. They were still leagues away from figuring out what Zarkon and his evil warlocks wanted with harnessing a planet's life forces . The enemy's mission remained a mystery and Shiro held hope that the sooner they found out Zarkon's waking goal, the sooner they could return to earth.

He commanded them to reconnaissance at the Castle, dutifully alerting Allura of their victory. The wormhole greeted them with its familiar pulsing speed and soon they were back on the stark grounds of planet Varinja.

There was another plane parked outside the gates. To anyone else, this ship was little to no concern, but to Shiro, his guard was already up.

"Allura, were you expecting company?"

"An ally," her voice said over the comm, breezy and unhurt. "I can't wait for you Paladins to meet her."

"Her?" Lance said, perking up at the mention of a female. He removed his helmet and smoothed back his brown locks, cocky grin in place. "Do I look handsome or do I look handsome?"

"Neither. You look like death. Only scrawnier," Keith replied in a bored fashion.

Lance stuck out his tongue and Shiro, used to their bickering, didn't register the mention of this newcomer. "Allura, I'll have our mission details presented soon."

"That's wonderful to hear."

He turned to Pidge. "Did you get the duplicate code of the ship's mothering signal?"

"Sure did," the smart communications officer said. "It's already encoding into our system for filing right now as we speak."

"Great job, Pidge," Shiro said, smiling warmly.

"Hungry," Hunk grunted as he went before them, presumably to the castle pantry.

Shiro stood a little way back from the group, marching on behind them as their lions returned to the hangers. He kept his mind glued to the last words the Galran spat over the comm as they sped their scouting ship away:

"Zarkon will have what belongs to him!"

He was starting to dislike this Zarkon character more and more, seeing as how the alien dictator would be willing to rip lives apart for his own gain. And amusement.

Shiro's cybertronic arm gave a tiny spasm.

Allura was missing, and he let his team settle down on the communal sofas for a rest as he marched into the control room. The door to his right hissed open and the Althean princess walked out, accompanied by another similar sized figure. He stopped in his tracks, disbelieving.

They were talking , and he could see color on the princess' cheeks. The smaller figure was heart-achingly familiar, gesturing with enthusiasm.

The young woman stopped in her tracks, as Lance assuaged her with his typical brand of flirtation, but they fell on deaf ears. Her eyes were glued on him and only him.

His breath caught.

Athena.

"Wait, you two know each other?"

He must've said her name out loud instead. Shiro had to mentally shake off the surprise, responding to Pidge's question.

"Paladins, meet—"

"Athena Nakamura," Shiro said. Her attention was on him, and he struggled to keep his tone and expression neutral. "The Garrison's best female pilot. From the 2112 batch."

"Before I dropped out," she amended to the quiet room.

Keith looked her up and down, breaking the silence. "I remember you." The Red Paladin had no sense of tact when he said: "You're Ethan's sister, aren't you?"

Athena nodded, growing quieter.

"Athena has recently lost her brother on the attack in Narvos. He was killed while leading a flight of freedom fighters against Zarkon's third quadrants in the region," Allura murmured, her shrewd blue eyes landing on Keith.

"Ethan's dead?" Shiro's voice had taken on a low quality and Athena looked at him – really looked at him for the first time since she arrived.

"Yes," was her simple reply. "It's been almost a year."

Keith had the decency to look ashamed. "I-I'm sorry for your lost."

Shiro nodded, murmuring, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Athena said, smiling at him. "My brother died a hero and I feel no need to be sad over it."

"I understand," Pidge quipped from her stance in the middle of the room, the atmosphere weighing with not one, but three losses.

"What are you doing here, Athena?" Shiro asked, addressing her instead of allowing Allura to finish her introduction.

"Athena is here as a friend and a comrade. She has a particular interest in quintessence and will be able to help us study its properties. Her familial ties are, also, of great advantage to us." Allura looked over the whole team as she said this: "She holds ties to the Galran Empire. Her great-grandfather was a defect from a colony."

Shiro's heart skipped a beat.

Athena, Galran, defect…

"And you're…okay with this?" Lance asked, perplexed. The team knew what he was talking about. It was no secret that Allura despised Galras and extended the same treatment to any connection with them.

"I'm fine," the princess said. "I trust her; how could I not when her brother sacrificed his life for the universe and her family has renounced all ties?"

It was all swimming in his mind, the information building a block in his senses. It was all giving him a migraine and Allura wasn't helping.

"I know the deeper properties of quintessence and offered to help when Allura's message was picked up by Earth," she said, commanding the attention of everyone in the room. "I offered this specific set of skills and information when I heard about the reformation of Voltron. I hope that by aligning myself with this cause, I will erase my family's dark past and redeem our…better qualities."

Hunk whistled lowly, breaking the tense silence. "This day keeps getting interesting.

"How do you know all this when you're from Earth?" Lance quizzed.

She sighed. "When a Blue lion erupts from the dirt and NASA catches sight of that same lion engaged in a fight with a Galran ship. Well...Earth wants answers."

Lance had the audacity to grin. "Did we look good?"

"The point is, conspiracy theories are rampant and NASA partnered with my family's lab to send one of us in space to figure out what the hell's going on. What we found instead was a war. And that's where my ties with the Galra come in."

The team shared some glances, not knowing what to say.

He recalled that her mother and father both owned independent research labs that had ties to NASA. It would explain why she was here and how Earth managed to intercept Allura's message.

"Well, if you're willing to help us, I don't see what the problem is," Pidge said, when clearly, she had a mild problem with it.

Nobody in the room mentioned this, but there was an expectant quality in the air, and it was directed at Shiro. As leader, he had to set an example to welcome this newcomer, even if his heart and mind waged war on what was right.

"We welcome anybody who has the means and the willingness to help us defeat Zarkon," he stated. The rest of the room agreed.

Internally, his emotions scattered, became erratic. He knew Athena harbored her own secrets, but to have her here, on the same ship, and in the same room made him dread the size of her deception. When he had met her at the cantina, he held no belief that his friend had any connections to this tiring and bloody campaign they ran to overthrow the Galran dictator.

Nor did he expect to have her in the heart of all this conflict.

The need to protect conflicted with his level-headedness and Shiro settled on tugging her back as she walked past by him. The room started emptying out as the Paladins and Princess Allura went on their own way.

"We have to talk," he gritted out.

"I agree, but not now," she said in low tones.

"Meet me tonight in the first hangar, in front of the black lion. We'll talk inside. It'll be safer then."

She nodded, violet eyes hard, and stalked away. Allura was waiting for her at the end of the hallway to presumably show her to her chambers.

Shiro wanted to work off all this pent-up energy, slash at robots or throw around his weight around droids if only to relieve himself of this sudden dread. It wasn't his usual way of handling things; destroying things was Keith's method of coping. Shiro couldn't pinpoint why, but Athena's presence pivoted the dynamics and placed them in more danger than they already were. It also tainted his composure and made him feel vulnerable in ways he hadn't anticipated.

He trusted his instincts - they were what got him out alive of the fighting rink. His innate sense was tingling with fear and apprehension; he had to figure out what her real intentions were. There was no way that a Galran defect would show up willing to help without something in it for her as well. He refused to believe his own train of thought even if it was concerned with his friend.

It was because she was a friend that made this whole thing worse.

Athena set her gear down as Allura's chipper voice disappeared behind the closed door.

"Thank you!" she called as the princess' retreating footsteps echoed down the hall. She sighed, and sat at the edge of the plain bed with its dull blue covers. She thought back to her speech, and remembered those months she spent in space. Athena had volunteered for different reasons, but her words remained true.

There was a war and she could help with it, in any capacity possible.

She remembered Dr. Holt, who had kick-started the Kerberos mission because he wanted to discover the planet's primitive live. She couldn't help but feel that the smaller one – Pidge – was familiar. She had seen his face before, on a different cadet. But it couldn't be...

Shiro would tell her if Matt was in the same room as them.

The young scientist set out her books and mapping tools. She had become infatuated with the idea of quintessence when she read it in a science book, disregarded for its inaccurate depictions of the secret power. She believed that the quintessence wasn't evil, per say. Opening her wallet, she retrieved a picture of her family. They smiled at her, faces tanned from the sun, visibly relaxed. Dr. Hannah Nakamura's hair shone bright, Ethan's brown eyes twinkling at a joke their father, Professor Alexis had told before they were photographed.

As far as she recalled, people had often told her that she resembled her father more than her mother. Ethan was their mother's image through and through. His normal brown eyes held a depth of knowledge and warmth no gaze could compare. She missed Ethan, and his loss echoed in her soul. Athena was going to see that her brother's legacy continued; she would not let his death be the end of his name.

That was partly why she had taken her mother's offer. When she had heard the stories of the legendary Paladins – folklore of her girlhood – resonating around the universe, she had to be a part of it. Especially when news that the Black Lion's pilot was an ex-garrison instructor came to her attention.

She had never expected to meet Shiro here, and his presence threw a ranch into the mission she had wanted to execute. Of course, no one sane would think she was here just to help the Princess Allura as a favor to their company. There was something else, something darker that she was trying to unveil.

A knock on her door jolted her out of her thoughts and she asked: "Who is it?"

"It's me – uh – Keith."

Her brow furrowed. Keith? The elusive Red Paladin baffled her. Why would he want a conversation with her when she had snubbed him in front of his team?

"G-Give me a second."

She stowed away her materials and smoothed her bed, even if she had only been sitting on it for the past five minutes. A press of a button and the door opened to admit a stony-faced Keith. His pale violet eyes were flint, and she picked up on his energy.

"Are you busy?" he asked, as usual without preamble.

Athena shook her head. "Can I help you with something?"

He leaned on the edge of the door. "I wanted to…apologize." Keith's arms crossed when he said that, and Athena didn't need a body language expert to tell her he was uncomfortable.

"Apologize?"

"For being rude. I'm...sorry for your loss. I knew Ethan," he said.

"Thank you. That's kind of you."

"May I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Did you…did you see him after – I mean after everything…"

Keith trailed off, and Athena understood his question. "No. I didn't see his body. We buried an empty casket."

He bowed his head, dark locks obscuring part of his face.

Athena didn't know what compelled her to touch his shoulder, and when she did, a tiny spark pricked her fingers at their contact. She brushed it off like it didn't happen for his sake. Keith's face remained stoic.

"That was rude of me," he started and turned to walk away. "I'm sorry I disturbed you, you must've wanted some rest."

"No, you didn't," she said kindly. "Keith…if you want to talk about it, I'm here."

He jerked back in mild surprise.

"You knew Ethan from Shiro, right? It's okay, I understand if you're upset with everything," she admitted.

'Everything' encompassed Ethan's death and Shiro's disappearance. Her and Keith were more similar than she thought.

"I heard you left it, too," he said, referring to the news of her dropping out.

She peeked past his shoulder, down the empty hallway and decided it was best that they weren't seen talking about this.

"Do you want to come in?" she asked, not prepared for his reaction.

The unaffected Paladin had the audacity to look embarrassed. "Are you sure?"

Athena snorted. "I didn't mean it that way. It's just I don't know who would be listening and I don't want to start my first day here by throwing suspicion around myself."

"In that case," he stepped into her room and the door closed behind him. Athena didn't expect how big his frame was and how much he took up space in her room. He was a few inches taller than her, and although he lacked Shiro's natural bulk, Keith was commanding in his own way.

His eyes landed on her family photo.

"Nice picture."

She followed his gaze. "Yeah," Athena admitted ruefully. "We were celebrating Ethan's acceptance into the Garrison."

"Did you ever think of how your brother's life could've turned out different if he didn't accept the invitation?"

Athena laughed. "He would've found another way to explore space. My brother is nothing but stubborn – something I lack."

There was truth in her words: Athena had often been the black sheep of the family, Ethan dazzling everyone who encountered him and leaving his younger sister in the shadows. He was smart, kind, intuitive and even when he graduated, the commanders still used his performance and name as a bar she could never achieve.

It left her resentful of her older brother, an emotion that remained unresolved. She never got to talk to Ethan about what happened in her second year, and he never answered her Morse telegraphs during his mission. It seemed like he was separating himself from her even before his death occurred.

"Yeah, I remember," he said, as her words coaxed a smile out of him. When Keith smiled, he no longer looked like a discontented teenager; there were dimples on his cheeks and a bright shift in his eyes. "Why did you leave the garrison? Were you there when I was?"

"I don't think so," she said. "I would've remembered meeting you."

That caused his stoic exterior to soften. "As would I."

"How close were you to Ethan?" Athena was interested. Keith seemed like a young man who had gone through the worse barracks of life and that resulted in his lone wolf façade, something that reminded Athena of Shiro when she first met him.

"Not that close. My batch mates generally stayed away from me, but Ethan would often say 'hello' or ask me how I was. It was as close to someone I could get in the Garrison besides Shiro," he revealed.

"Oh, Ethan," she sighed, the goodness of her brother living on even after his death. "He was always a bright spot."

Keith seemed troubled over something, and she wondered what it was.

"Is there something else?" she prodded gently.

"God, I don't know why I can talk to you," he admitted, and sat down on the floor. Athena followed his lead and sat opposite of him, the cold from the room seeping into her skin.

"You can trust me. I know I've never given you cause to, but I can promise any secret of yours is safe with me," she reassured.

"You're Galran," he said, ploughing through with the non-existent niceties.

"Ah."

"Y-You don't have to tell me," he added, hasty to reiterate. "It's just that I'm—"

"Part Galran, too," she said.

"How—?"

"Your eyes. They're exactly like my fathers and he's only a smidge of Galran."

"A smidge?"

Athena chuckled. "Yeah. My great-grandfather was a Galran from my paternal side. Dad tried to keep it under wraps when he found out how his heritage race was trying to conquer the universe."

"It's not something to be proud of."

"I know you won't believe me, Keith," she said in earnest, "but there are some good Galras out there. I refuse to believe that a whole race is evil."

"They are," he argued. "You've no idea what they've done to Shiro, or to us."

"Shiro?"

Keith's face fell. "You don't know?"

She shook her head. "I just arrived fifteen minutes ago, Keith."

The Red Paladin raised a brow. "Guess that's his story to tell," he surmised.

"What did happen to him?"

"I don't know the full extent but all I know is that the whole crew of the Kerberos mission did not disappear in a day. They were captured by the Galrans."

"Captured?" Athena looked troubled for Keith said no more. He stood up.

"Like I said, it's Shiro's story to tell. Thank you for listening and I'm sorry to barge in on you like this."

Athena stood, watching as he exited her room. The door closed behind, leaving her once more with her fervent thoughts and a sick pitted feeling in her gut.

He hadn't meant to spy on her.

Shiro was against monitoring anyone on his team, but he didn't trust Athena. There was something shifty in her disposition that she kept well-hidden that even Allura, with her Althean sense couldn't detect. There was a hint of desperation about her.

He followed them, hiding behind a pillar, as the princess left after saying goodbye. A few moments passed and Shiro debated on whether to leave, when Keith arrived.

His teammate knocked on her door, and Athena opened to him. Shiro could see from Keith's face that he seemed troubled, and his suspicions were only heightened when she invited him into his room. The Black Paladin wanted to keep this professional, but he couldn't help the pang of jealousy rushing in his veins, igniting disturbing thoughts of Keith and Athena in situations that made his stomach turn.

He reminded himself that she didn't belong to him. He sure as hell didn't belong to her.

Shiro kept on this train of thought, footfalls soft as he stalked to her door. He could hear nothing except for the quiet murmuring of voices and Athena's brief burst of laughter.

It relieved him, somewhat.

Curiosity sated, he left, knowing that nothing troubling awaited behind her doors.