Replying to guest, "Some reader": Gosh, if that isn't the biggest mood. What really miffed me is when the other paladins just went along with it too. Like yeah, no, we don't care that our friend has an obviously evil entity inside of her! This sounds like a great idea! NO. JUST. NO. The whole plot line reeks of forced conflict and the writers panicking over the approaching deadline. So I changed it. And in this fic, we won't have to speak about Allura in the past tense...

Episode Nine: Trial by Weblum

Keith woke up in his armor, slumped against the backrest of his pilot's seat in the Black Lion. His ears were still ringing in his helmet, and as he groaned and sat up, pushing against the joysticks, Black didn't respond. The lights in the cockpit were dim.

That's when he remembered. Voltron was still formed. They'd taken a massive hit in the battle against one of Honerva's Robeasts, and as Voltron crashed into the planet's surface, he'd blacked out.

"Is...is everyone okay?" he rasped. It felt like a dumb question to ask.

Over the internal radio, Pidge groaned a response. "M' here," she mumbled.

"What hit us?" asked Lance. He sounded groggy from pain.

"The Robeast's projection form," whispered Allura. Blue started to respond, and Voltron raised its knee slowly, sending a cloud of dust into the air. "To create a corporeal form out of nothing requires advanced Altaen alchemy. I learned about it on Oriande. I just never thought it would be used against us..."

"Uh, guys?" Hunk asked slowly. "Look."

He didn't have to say any more. The entire planet was a jagged desert, dust whirling up into clouds where there were once plants, pools of water, and flourishing cities. All of the quintessence had been drained from the planet, leaving nothing.

"All of those people. Their homes..." whispered Pidge.

"We were too late." Allura sounded choked with tears.

"Let's just try to get up." It wasn't Keith's strength to comfort his team, but even he couldn't raise his voice above a whisper. "We did what we could."

The lights began to blink on in Black's cockpit. External systems and additional screens leaped online, and the comms opened to Shiro's worried voice. "This is the Atlas to Voltron, do you copy? I repeat, do you copy?"

"We read ya, Shiro," answered Keith. Voltron slowly rumbled and got to its feet. "Our systems were out for a bit, but we're back online."

"Good." Relief rang heavy in Shiro's voice. "Team, the Atlas is suffering a power outage. We're running communications on backup systems now. As soon as you can get airborne, rendezvous at our location."

"Copy that. Pidge?"

"I've got coordinates," she answered. "We're just a couple doboshes out. Wha—oh, no."

"What? What 'oh no'?" Hunk asked, panicking. "First we lose, and now the Atlas is down, and how could this even get any worse?"

"My scanners are picking up a weblum in this star system," answered Pidge. She didn't sound frantic yet, but she was picking up pace as she talked. "It's headed this way."

"How long do we have?" demanded Keith.

"At the speed it's going, about ten vargas."

"Then we gotta move. The Atlas has to get airborne before daylight ends." He shoved both joysticks forward, and the thrusters roared, rocketing Voltron across the landscape. "Let's go."

Only the orange screens, emergency lights, and blue lines in Shiro's Altean arm gave off a faint glow to light the Atlas' Bridge. All other lights were dark. Shiro, Coran, Slav, and Sam Holt were gathered around the podium for the power crystal, and they looked up when the door slid open.

"What happened?" Keith burst through the door, the other paladins behind him, and ran to Shiro's side.

Sam Holt answered slowly, looking up from his portable screen. "The infinite mass crystal shattered. We didn't think it was possible, but the transfer of quintessence in the battle must have overloaded it and caused a rupture."

Coran knelt on the floor, the shattered pieces in his glove. The crystal shards no longer gave off even the faintest glow. "It was our last memento of the Castle of Lions," Coran said sadly. "Our home."

Allura gave a strangled cry and dropped to her knees beside him. Lance was immediately at her side, and Coran put his arm around her shoulders.

Keith turned to Sam. "How are you still running the ship?"

"There's still some residual power stored in battery cells on board," answered Mr. Holt, "but it's only enough to run communications and vital life support systems. Even then, it should only last us about six quintaints before oxygen runs out."

"We don't have that kind of time!" cried Pidge. "There's a weblum heading this way, and it'll be here in less than ten vargas. We've gotta get the ship airborne!"

"Oh, that is terrible," moaned Slav, clutching his head with two of his many hands. "I knew I should have eaten the duflax eggs scrambled instead of fried."

"We sent a distress signal out to members of the coalition for help," said Shiro, "but this is an isolated system. Help might be a long time in coming."

"But that's not all!" Slav spoke up, pointing one of his many first fingers in the air. "The hit that ruptured our quintessence store also caused damage to the teleduv. Half of our scaultrite is burned and cannot be used to wormhole!"

"Oh, man," Hunk groaned, his shoulders slumping. "I shouldn't have asked how this could get worse."

"There's gotta be something we can do," Keith said, his teeth gritted.

"Let me know if you have any ideas," Shiro answered, sounding exhausted.

Lance was still kneeling on the floor by Allura, but his thin eyebrows scrunched as an idea hit him. "Hey..." He lifted his head and turned to Hunk. "You guys remember Taujeer? The acid planet?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember!" Hunk cracked a smile. "The Yellow Lion got some awesome, huge claws there."

"Right. The ark with the refugees had a thruster out, and Voltron managed to push it into the upper atmosphere so it could fly away." There was a gleam in his eye, and the beginnings of a smile on his face. "Maybe we could try that."

"The Atlas is a lot bigger than the ark was, Lance," Pidge said, frowning.

"Yeah, but now we've got those huge wings!" retorted Lance.

"I dunno, he could be on to something," said Hunk with a shrug.

"If you could get us out of the planet's gravitational field," Sam Holt said, hand on his chin in thought, "a small burst from the thrusters would be enough to set us on course. We could drift the rest of the way on momentum!"

"'Cause there's no friction in the vacuum of space!" cried Pidge, her eyes gleaming, and Mr. Holt beamed at her.

"It's worth a shot," Shiro said with the beginnings of a smile. He knelt by Allura and put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you up for this, Allura?"

She lifted her head, her eyes still tear-stained, but a determined, wobbly smile on her face. "Let's try it."

"Form Voltron!"

The humanoid mech was dwarfed by just the nose of the Atlas. As Voltron looked up, the enormous ship cast its shadow over them, the nearby suns just specks of light on the other side of the hull.

"Oh, man, I'm having second thoughts about this," groaned Hunk.

"We've got to try it," Keith answered in his best team leader voice. "Team, get ready. On my signal, give it everything you've got!"

Voltron crouched underneath a raised part of the Atlas' hull and braced its back and hands against the white metal. The joints in the lions creaked as they began to take the enormous ship's weight.

"Thrusters, now!" shouted Keith.

All five lions shot jets of blue fire, whipping the sand and dirt under their feet into a huge cloud. All of the pilots strained with the effort.

"Nothing's happening!" yelled Pidge.

"Hunk, Allura! Give us a boost!" shouted Keith.

"Right!" the two pilots shouted back.

Two bayards in, and twisted. The jets on Voltron's feet doubled and tripled in size, roaring into the earth. Heat waves began to ripple up from Voltron's feet, and the ground began to sear into glass.

"Still nothing!"

"We can see that, Pidge!" Hunk shot back.

"How about those wings, team leader?" Lance barked at Keith.

"Please, please work," whispered Keith. He slammed his bayard into the port and locked it in.

With a blast of blue light, Voltron's wings sprouted from its back and the engines roared. All five pilots yelled over the comms at once as they strained against the hull.

One second turned into two turned into five, but it felt like an eternity as sweat dripped down Keith's forehead and nose. An alarm sprang up on Black's dashboard, blaring and flashing red.

"It's too much! We're overheating!" cried Pidge.

"Abort!" rasped Keith.

Voltron powered down with a whoosh, crashing to one knee. The wings disappeared.

Keith was gasping for breath. "Pidge. Anything?"

She sounded despondent. "We raised the nose upwards by about seventeen degrees."

There was a moment of silence, and then Hunk cried, "What, that's it?!"

"I'm sorry, guys," whispered Lance.

"It's not your fault," Keith answered, biting back his disappointment.

"We lost a varga," Pidge droned on. "Weblum is still on its way."

Allura gave a loud noise of anger. "I'm sick and tired of this!" she shouted, and a bang resounded over the comm as if she'd slammed her fists on her dashboard. "Those Robeasts could be off draining other innocent planets, and here we are stranded!"

"It isn't a good situation, but we're not turning our back on the Atlas," said Keith. "If it weren't for them, it could have been far worse. Let's just get back inside and come up with a new plan."

"Uh, guys?" asked Pidge. "We've got incoming."

Keith looked up. Sure enough, high in the atmosphere was a long, purple ship—a Galra cruiser.

"Oh, no, not now!" groaned Hunk.

"Paladins—!" began Keith, gripping the controls, but he never finished as his jaw dropped open instead.

"This is Krolia, hailing Voltron," said a familiar voice over the comms. "We received your distress signal and we're here to help."

"Mom," whispered Keith.

"Whoo, we're saved!" Hunk whooped, and the other paladins were cheering too.

Keith had to chuckle. "We're not in the clear yet, guys. But I'm happy to see her too."

The paladins returned to the Bridge to find it a little more crowded than they'd left it. The MFE pilots hung back in a corner, talking with Veronica, Iverson, and Acxa.

"They're just parking the cruiser now," Iverson said in his gravelly voice. "Should be up any minute."

"Okay, wait," Risani poked in, waving her hand flippantly, "you're telling me that the Galra are helping us this time? As in, the same Galra who were trying to kill us?!"

"It's a rebel faction called the Blade of Marmora," Keith explained as he stepped up to the group, helmet tucked under his arm. "I'm a member. They're on the good side."

"I trust you, Keith," Acxa remarked with her arms crossed, "not necessarily them. I've been betrayed by my own kind too many times to count."

The looks she got from the MFE pilots suggested that maybe she should lighten up a little.

"My mom is leading them," Keith insisted. He dropped the frown himself and tried to sound encouraging. "We can trust them. It's gonna be okay."

Acxa just frowned deeper and turned away, pursing her blue lips.

Just then, the door slid open. Krolia stepped through the doorway, Kolivan behind her. Keith crossed the Bridge in record time and only slowed down to hug his mom. She laughed in surprise and returned the embrace.

"Welcome back," he said, smiling into her shoulder.

"Thank you," she said with a chuckle and released him. "Sorry it took so long. We came as soon as we cou—"

Her eyes lost focus, and the smile dropped. When Keith turned to see what she was looking at, all she saw were the MFE pilots and...

"Acxa?" whispered Krolia, her eyes wide.

Acxa had been staring blankly as if she'd been stunned, but then she turned away, arms crossed.

"It's good to see you both again," said Shiro, shaking Kolivan's hand and then extending it to Krolia. "We could really use your help."

"O-of course," she stammered, shaking his offered hand. "Just tell us what you need."

"The Atlas is grounded due to a shattered power crystal," answered Shiro, "and we've got a weblum nine vargas out. We've tried to get her airborne, but...no success. Until we can get the power back on, we're dead in the water."

"If it's a crystal you need, there's a balmera the next system over," Kolivan remarked flatly. "We passed it on the way here."

"It's about four vargas out," added Krolia. "If you hurry, a scout team might be able to get there and back just in time."

"That—that's great," breathed Shiro. "Cutting it close, but it's just what we need. I'll send a team immediately."

"There's more," Krolia added urgently. "We have more intel on where the Robeasts are headed next."

"You'd never get there in time without a jump," Kolivan ground out. "Much less without power."

Shiro winced. "That's the other thing. Our teleduv has taken damage. There's no way we have enough scaultrite for a wormhole, even if we did have the energy."

"Well, there is a weblum coming," Pidge remarked, sticking her head in long enough to push up her glasses.

Hunk, who was listening, suddenly turned a little green. "Oh, oh man, not doing that again. I, for one, volunteer to go to the balmera, please."

"You might have to," answered Shiro. "I'd send the MFEs, but we can't get their ships charged until the Atlas is back online."

"If we need to recover more scaultrite, I'll go," said Keith, his eyebrows set. "I've done it once. I can do it again."

"I'll go with you." Krolia set her hand on his shoulder. "There's safety in numbers."

"And I'll go too!" cried Coran, bursting out of nowhere and causing everyone in the circle (but Kolivan) to jump. "We'll just have to make it through the gills and into the second stomach—or was it the third stomach? And avoid the—! Hm." He scratched his chin in thought. "It's been a long time since I made that video."

"I'll go with you," said a new voice. Acxa stood behind him, just outside the circle. "I spent pheebs in the stomach of a weblum, living only off the rations in my ship. If anyone knows how to navigate it, it's me."

Coran looked crushed.

"Sorry, Coran," managed Keith.

"Oh, no, no, it's all right," answered Coran, waving it away with his hand. "At some point all us old folks have to learn to pass the torch to the young talent. I'll just...be here. Trying to get the ship working." His shoulders slumped.

"Uh, actually, Coran," Hunk said slowly, pushing the tips of his fingers together, "I...could...kinda use your help on the balmera? Y'know, if you want to come."

"Why, of course, my boy." Coran chuckled and threw his arm over Hunk's shoulder. "It'll be just like old times!"

"Okay, but if we have to use disguises, I'm in charge of wardrobe," Hunk grinned, elbowing him in the side.

"Then that settles it," said Shiro. "Hunk, Coran, you're leading a team to the balmera. Take whoever you need, and get in and out as soon as you can. Keith, Krolia, and Acxa, you're going into the weblum. Stay in communication with the Atlas. We'll take radio silence as a sign of trouble."

"Roger that," said Keith.

"Kolivan, if anything goes south, I need you to get the civilians in here aboard your cruiser," Shiro said in a lower tone. "My priority is them. A select team of us will stay here and try to keep working to get the ship up, but if we're cutting it too close..." He trailed off.

"Understood," said Kolivan, a grim look on his face.

"Good. You all know what to do."

The group broke off in different directions, Hunk and Coran chatting eagerly and Kolivan deathly silent.

"And Keith?" added Shiro.

Keith paused on his way to the door and turned around. "What is it?"

Shiro just smiled, stepped forward, and enveloped Keith in his arms. Keith's eyes shot wide for a second, but then he smiled and relaxed against Shiro, resting his face in the white coat lapel.

"Stay safe," Shiro said warmly.

"We will," answered Keith with a smile.

And then they let go, and Shiro squeezed Keith's shoulder one last time with his flesh-and-blood hand before he stepped away.

Krolia had stood by, smiling at the whole exchange, but when she lifted her head, Acxa avoided her gaze and headed through the door.

A few vargas later, Black touched down on the surface of the weblum and crouched to let Keith and Acxa out. Krolia was just behind them in a small ship from the cruiser.

As they glided towards the creature's gills, jet packs hissing softly, Keith stole a look at his mom's downcast face, then slowly leaned forward so that he caught up to Acxa.

Keith stayed by Acxa's side, trying to muster his best team leader voice, as they entered through the weblum's gills. "Look, whatever's going on, we need to hash it out now so it doesn't cause any problems," he said. "Do you two know each other?"

Acxa froze for a second, righting herself and looking at Keith with shock. Then her eyebrows furrowed. "You have no idea, do you?" she asked, her voice grim, and she glared daggers at Krolia. "I guess she didn't tell you. Why am I not surprised."

Krolia was staring past her feet.

"What are you talking about?" asked Keith, trying but failing to keep the bite out of his voice.

"Did she leave you too?" Acxa asked bitterly. "Abandon you, promising she had a good reason and everything was going to turn out fine? Did she ever come back? Or did you find her out in space too?"

"I..." Keith turned to Krolia, helpless.

She still wouldn't look up.

The realization Keith him like a freighter ship. "Wait." He whipped around to face Acxa, eyes wide. "You don't mean—?"

"It's true, Keith." Krolia finally lifted her head, a deep sadness in her voice. "I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner."

Acxa turned and flew away.

Keith hurried to catch up with her. "Wait. You're my sister?"

"Half-sister," Acxa corrected him with no emotion.

Keith's head was spinning. "All those times we fought—you refused to kill me. Even Lotor's other generals noticed. Did you know...?"

Acxa glanced at him with surprise. "I don't know if you realize this, but..." She looked away, her voice softer. "You look like her."

She took off ahead, and Keith tried to catch up again. He could hardly think over the sound of bubbling acid and the weblum's digestive system around him. "Look, I know how you feel," he blurted. "I felt abandoned all my life too. But if my—if our mom left you, it had to be to protect you. She wouldn't just—"

Acxa whirled on him, snapping, "You don't know her like I do, Keith! Krolia is someone who always leaves when the chips are down, and she doesn't come back!" Then she paused, hovering, and looked around the large cavern they were in. "Wait."

Keith paused and turned around, a sick feeling coiling in the pit of his gut. Acid hissed and popped far below their feet, gusts of rancid air whirled through occasionally, jostling the remnants of rocks in the weblum's stomach, and pus leaked from huge pores along the walls.

"Where is she?" whispered Acxa.

Immediately, antibodies the size of their heads started to spew from the walls, swarming. Keith sliced through the fog of them with his sword, yelling and swatting them back from his armor, but for all of them he killed, there were twelve hundred more.

There was a screech and a crunch. Out of the green fog came a huge worm, and it barreled down and crushed a remaining boulder in huge, beak-like jaws. Another appeared, screeching, and dove right at Keith and Acxa.

"The last weblum didn't have those!" shouted Keith.

Acxa leaped in front of him, firing on the worms with her energy blaster, and the worm recoiled with a howl.

"Less talk!" ordered Acxa. "We have to get to the scaultrite glands."

Keith sliced off the head of a worm and slashed at the antibodies as Acxa covered him from behind. "Mom! Mom, come in!" he hollered into the comm. "We need your help!"

And that's what broke Acxa.

"Leave it, Keith!" she snarled, almost pouncing on him. Keith stared, taken aback, at her face contorted and yellow eyes flaring with anger. "She's not coming back!"

When Hunk and Coran stepped through the door to the Bridge, Hunk with a heavy balmeran crystal in his arms, Allura almost jumped on them.

"Oh thank the Ancients, you're back!" she cried.

"What?" asked Hunk, worry fluttering in his stomach. "What happened?"

Lance popped up and shrieked, "We lost Keith. They're sitting ducks!"

"Keith! Come in! Can you hear me?" Shiro was bent over the communicator, beads of sweat on his forehead and his teeth ground together. He shut his eyes and whispered, "Come on, don't do this..."

That's when the door burst open again and someone fell through. Hunk shrieked and jumped out of the way.

"Krolia?" Shiro asked in surprise, stepping away for just a moment.

She was on the floor, covered with some sticky substance and coughing, and she raised herself on one elbow. "I got separated from them." She scanned the room quickly with a sharp glint in her eyes, then pointed to Coran. "You."

Coran looked to his left and to his right nervously, then pointed to himself. "Me?!"

Krolia had her battle face on. "I need your help."

Keith slashed at another wave of little green antibodies. There didn't seem to be an end to them. "We have to get the scaultrite back to the Atlas!" he ground out between labored breaths.

"Forget the scaultrite," snapped Acxa, her own voice hoarse. "We have to get out of here!"

Keith pulled his sword back, ready to hack off the head of another intestinal worm, when a laser shot from above did the job for him. The worm wheezed, its head burnt black and smoking, and collapsed.

When Keith glanced up, there was Krolia, looking very surprised, and Coran with his sights down the barrel of a blaster.

Krolia turned to Coran with a smile. "Nice shot."

Coran preened slightly and pulled on his mustache. "Why, thank you."

"Mom!" Keith shouted in relief. "Coran!"

"How..." whispered Acxa.

"Don't look so surprised!" answered Coran. "You'd be amazed what I can remember under pressure!" A gleam came to his eye, and he raised the blaster again. "Now let's get out of here."

As soon as Hunk lifted and fit the crystal into the podium, with Sam Holt looking on closely, the Atlas' lights flickered and beamed to life, and the engines started up in earnest. The Atlas was almost looking the weblum right in the eye as it fired all thrusters and flew off-planet, up and out into the starry blackness of space.

As soon as they were clear, a great blue beam split the sky, blasting the planet to smithereens. The weblum soared on its way through, gulping chunks of the planet into its gaping maw.

Shiro watched its progress on the big screen, anxiously hovering over the comm, with the other Paladins gathered around him. Everyone in the Bridge held their breath.

"This is the Black Lion to the Atlas," came Keith's voice, broadcast loud and clear over the Bridge. "We're on our way."

Immediately the whole Bridge was whooping and hollering and hugging each other in relief. Iverson pumped his fist in the air, roaring. Hunk slammed into Shiro and gave him a much-needed bear hug.

Shiro laughed into the comm, trying to be annoyed and trying not to cry at the same time. "You...scared me," he said with misty eyes. "Never do that again."

Keith's soft laughter came back over the comms. "Sorry, Shiro."

"You'd better be." He chuckled, got a hold of himself, wiped his eyes with a thumb and forefinger, and put on his best smile and captain voice. "Now get back here with that scaultrite. There's a whole planet that's counting on us."

"Roger that."

It was long after that battle, in the Atlas' training and recreational center, that Krolia found Acxa doing chin-ups on the bars. They both wore simple clothes, their armor long since stored away, and bandages on their wounds.

Krolia stopped a short distance from her daughter. "Hey," she said quietly.

Acxa paused at the top of her chin-up. She wrinkled her nose at Krolia, then seemed to reconsider something and dropped slowly down to the mat.

"I...should apologize." Krolia began.

"No, I should," Acxa interrupted quietly. "You were just doing what you thought was right." She looked melancholy and didn't meet her eyes. "It doesn't matter how I feel."

"But it does." Krolia raised her head, a mother's concern flooding into her voice.

Acxa paused, then sighed. "Look," she said. "I still can't accept you back as my mother. You weren't there when I needed you."

Krolia lowered her eyes. She had to admit it was fair; that didn't change how much it stung.

"But I can trust you as an ally." Acxa wore a grim smile, and she extended her hand. "If we're going to fight to save the universe, we'll have to do it together."

Krolia gave a small smile. "That's good enough for me."

They shook hands in the Blade way, clasping each other at the wrist. And Keith, watching from across the room with a towel over his shoulders, smiled.

Next up - Episode Ten: Friends Like These