Shiro had to shield his eyes from the light as he walked forward. With his eyes closed, he tripped into something that stuck out of the ground and yelped as he fell forward.

Grass. Fresh, green, long and overgrown grass mixed with a heavy scent of dark soil that filled his senses. His fingers curled into the familiar textures that tickled his face.

His heart started pounding with what this might mean. Glancing around, he found the tree root he had tripped on, twisted and thickened by the years. He quickly noticed he was in a great, lush forest with trees too big and twisted and unrecognizable, vines dripping from the many branches, leaves bigger than his head, and large and vibrant wild flowers dotting the forest floor.

Filled with hope, he got back up and dusted the dirt and grass off his clothes. And then he realized that the Black Lion was no longer by his side and a sense of unease crept back into his gut.

"Okay," he said quietly to himself, taking a deep breath to clear his thoughts and think this through.

He walked into a great white light with an abstract being. Check.

The other side turned out to be an old forest with lots of trees and flowers. The Garden of Eden? Check.

Yep. He must be dead. And it turns out that God is just a big, surprisingly affectionate cat.

"I must be dreaming."

Shiro startled at the voice and spun into a fighting stance, causing Pidge to jump back with her hands up.

"Pidge?" exclaimed Shiro. "How did this happen? How did you get here?" he asked. His chest clenched with guilt as thoughts whirled in his head that maybe if he was faster, stronger, pushed himself that little bit harder, then maybe he could have prevented this and Pidge could've lived. It was his fault the last of Sam's family died, his fault—

Pidge gave him a confused look. "I should be asking you that," she said. "Where the hell did you go after the battle? You just disappeared!"

"What are you talking about?" replied Shiro. "I died, didn't I? Aren't we dead?"

"Die? Oh, I'm not dead," said Pidge with certainty, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"But… the white light, this forest," said Shiro, calmly, as though breaking sad news to an old friend.

Pidge took a look around. "We're on Olkarion," she said.

Shiro then took a look around as well, his ears burning slightly realizing she was right. How did he miss that?

So this was not the Garden of Eden. Uncheck.

"So what… how...?"

"Well, considering what happened today between you suddenly disappearing and me being very much alive, my conclusion would be that I finally passed out from exhaustion and that you're a figment of my imagination," said Pidge, her voice starting to crack at the end. "And a very convincing one at that."

Shiro's head was reeling. "No, I walked in here."

Pidge raised a brow at him, sitting down on the tree root he tripped on earlier. "From where?" she asked.

Shiro sighed to himself and sat down beside her to start describing his weird experience in the void with the Black Lion.

"A wall of solid light," she said, giving him a sceptical glare. "There's no way that my mind made that up," she added in a playfully mocking tone.

"That's because I'm real."

"Prove it," she dared, lifting an arm and pulling back her sleeve for him to pinch her.

Shiro gave her a disapproving look, not unsimilar to the one he typically gives Lance.

"Just do it," she said, her brows fusing in disbelief that a figment of her imagination would dare question her.

Shiro quietly groaned and raised his right hand to pinch her.

"Not the metal one," she said, batting him away.

He rolled his eyes and pinched her with his left hand instead—not hard, obviously. "That hurt?" he asked.

"No." She pulled her hand back and punched him square in the jaw, hard enough to knock him backwards off the tree root. "That hurt?" she asked, smirking down at him.

Shiro gave her The Look. "No," he mumbled, prompting a bubbling laugh from her. The sound of it melted his scowl; he really couldn't bring himself to be mad at her.

"Dreams are awesome. I should try sleeping more," she mused just to tease him.

"So I supposedly vanish into thin air and your first reaction when dreaming about me is to punch me in the face?" he asked, standing up again.

"No, my first reaction was to run up and hug you, but you looked ready to punch me."

Shiro chuckled and opened his arms wide, inviting her to do so. She smiled brightly and jumped down to run into his arms and wrap hers around his middle, burying her face in his chest as he returned the hug.

"All better?" he asked, smiling warmly.

She nodded, but didn't let go. He suddenly felt all too real. With her face still buried there, she said, "you're not really a figment of my imagination, are you," in a tone too serious for Shiro's taste.

"I don't know," he answered honestly.

"You're too self-aware to just be a dream," she continued, her grip at his back tightening. "You just… disappeared. Not a trace, no body, no sign that you might've been ejected or forced out of the Black Lion's cockpit, nothing. It's almost like you never even existed in the first place."

Shiro swallowed hard, finding his own grip around her shoulders tightening protectively.

"It's not fair," she continued. "First dad and Matt, and now you too, this isn't fair and it doesn't make sense!"

Shiro could hear her voice cracking and laid his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "I'll find a way back," he promised, willing the weight of his words to get through to Pidge.

She gazed up at him, her eyes swelling with tears she was too proud to let drop. "We're all made of the same cosmic dust," she murmured to herself, pieces of a puzzle too complex starting to fit into place in her mind, just as Shiro had a flash memory of the light particles he walked through to get here, almost like lightbulbs going off in his brain.

"The Black Lion was with you, you said?" she asked him with a resounding sense of urgency.

"Yes?"

"She's been offline since our fight with Zarkon," said Pidge with dawning realization. "When you landed that last blow, Voltron was forced apart and we were all fine except the Black Lion was offline and you stopped responding. We carried her back to the castle and went inside to see if you were okay, but you were gone too!" she exclaimed, realization morphing into excitement.

"Okay, you say that like it's a good thing, but that sounds really, really bad."

"No! Don't you get it? It's like you literally turned into cosmic dust!"

"That sounds very much like being dead to me," deadpanned Shiro.

"Except you wouldn't just be casually walking into other people's dreams if you were dead," she replied, mockingly mimicking him on the last word.

Shiro gave her The Look again.

"I rest my case," she said with a smug grin.

"Unless you're a figment of my imagination," he reminded soberly, knowing all too well his mind was never really the same since his imprisonment with the Galra. It wouldn't be the first time he's heard voices, although it would be the first time they materialize in front of him. And punched him in the face.

"Well, yeah, there's that," said Pidge, not seeming particularly bothered by that and not noticing how Shiro's expression suddenly darkened. "Just find the Black Lion again. She must be leading you somewhere. Trust her."

"How do I find her?"

"Same way Keith found the Blue Lion?" She shrugged, giving him a lopsided grin.

Shiro raised a brow at her before returning the grin. "Care for an adventure?"

"Heck yeah!" she beamed. "Where're we heading?"

Shiro couldn't help smiling at her enthusiasm. Closing his eyes, he tried to concentrate is thoughts on the Black Lion's energy that think, delicate lace that bound them together, trying to call her with his very being just like many times before.

But Shiro was distracted.

He couldn't bring himself to completely believe Pidge's theory. It seemed too farfetched, too unrealistic to think he was just walking into people's dreams, alive yet non-existent. Despite Pidge's confidence in her theory, Shiro couldn't shake the feeling that he was very much dead and he couldn't fool himself into thinking otherwise.

It wasn't his death that troubled him. He came to terms with the end of his life a long time ago, but it tormented him to think the other paladins, these kids might have died with him, and he didn't feel as though he had done his best to protect them.

The way he was looking at this, either Pidge was just another mind trick, or she died too and was just in denial about the fact that her life had ended far too soon.

"What's wrong?" she asked, and Shiro hardly noticed the worry in her voice.

He stopped trying to concentrate and let out a long breath.

"Sorry. I can't reach her," he said.

"Fairly sure that's not the reason why you're crying," murmured Pidge, her eyes fixed sternly with worry. She wasn't about to let him brush her off from within her own dream.

Shiro could see that she was determined and sighed. "It's nothing," he said, rubbing the moisture from his eyes.

She groaned loudly. "Don't pull that macho crap on me. This thing guys have where they can't cry or have emotions is so unhealthy and stupid. Every time I catch Lance almost crying, it makes me want to cry from secondhand embarrassment—" Shiro laughed at that and she softened a little at the sound of it, clearing her throat. "Look, my point is that I'm definitely not dead. I'm just asleep, so unless I died of an aneurysm in my sleep or something, then I'm dreaming." She adjusted her glasses again. "And as I've already said, you're too self-aware and real… feeling to just be a dream, which tells me you're not dead either. You're still alive, Shiro, and you're missing. Your lion led you into my dream for a reason so let me help!"

"How am I supposed to know why she led me here? She won't even answer to me," he argued, his frustration mounting.

"My guess is that it has something to do with why you were about to cry just now," she mumbled, cocking a brow at him and crossing her arms in steadfast resolve.

Shiro sighed, taking the chance to just be out with it. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. It was surprisingly hard to confide his guilt to a little girl.

Pidge sighed. "Fine," she murmured, turning her back and starting to walk in the direction of the city.

"Wait, Pidge," called Shiro, catching up to her and following. "I'm sorry, it's just not easy to talk about."

"I know."

"So if I can't sense my lion, how do I find her?"

"I don't know. Maybe mine will know," she shrugged, still walking through the forest.

"You know where the Green Lion is?" replied Shiro in surprise.

"I sensed her this way a while ago," said Pidge.

Shiro's chest constricted. Maybe he hadn't properly bonded with his lion after all.

They continued to walk through the bustling forest, reaching the now deserted habitats. On the ground, the Green Lion was plainly visible, sitting erect with eyes glaring yellow, waiting patiently for her paladin.

As well as the Blue, Red, and Yellow Lions, each sitting up like watchful statues, gazes alert. They formed a semicircle around the Black Lion, laying with her head between her front paws, her eyes dimmed and dormant.

"I never liked metaphors," murmured Pidge, jumping down into the clearing to greet the Green Lion.

Shiro walked up to the Black Lion and laid his palm against the metal of her jaw, trying to feel for her.

"She's not here," he murmured. "It's just her empty shell."

"That's pretty much how we found her when she was just floating in space," said Pidge, joining Shiro by the Black Lion's side. "If she doesn't wake up, then no one can pilot her. Without her, there's no Voltron."

"Allura could probably—"

"Coran doesn't have the energy to create wormholes like Allura does. She's the only one that can pilot the ship safely."

Shiro frowned. "Then it's a good thing we finally beat Zarkon."

"Well… about that," she said sheepishly. "We don't actually know if we beat him or just knocked him out."

Shiro spun on her. "Are you kidding me?"

"I wish," she said sadly. "We need you back, Shiro."

Shiro's expression softened. "I wish I knew how to get back," he said. "But I don't even know how to reach my lion."

"It's okay. We'll figure it out," assured Pidge, shifting closer to hold his hand and give it an encouraging squeeze. "In the meantime, might as well make the most of it, right?"

"What d'you mean?" he asked, a little confused.

"I mean… If there's anyone that sleeps less than me in the Castle, it's you," she said with a hint of amusement. "We all need a break, but you most of all. We thought we were just skipping school for a day. You just escaped from a Galra prison and became the Head of Voltron."

Shiro groaned internally.

"Just go ahead and take a stupid vacation. With Zarkon down and this fancy new ability to walk into people's dreams, now's your chance to take that stupid vacation," reasoned Pidge.

"Yes, well. That's nice and all, but this whole Schrodinger's Cat situation doesn't feel too restful."

Shiro couldn't help observing Pidge, trying to gouge her mental state.

"Shiro," she said suddenly. "Do you blame yourself?"

Shiro was stunned by the question.

"I mean for what happened to my dad and brother," she continued.

Shiro somehow felt like he was caught red-handed in the middle of a lie. "Y-yes," he said. "It was a pilot error, after all," he reasoned, enunciating slowly.

Pidge frowned. "We all know that's bullshit."

"Language—"

"Nothing that happened to us—or them—was your fault," she ploughed on. "I certainly don't blame you, so why blame yourself?"

Shiro swallowed hard. "Because I was there," he said. "I could've done something."

"And you probably tried your best, too. Has it occurred to you that the results you got from your efforts might've been the best results you could've possibly gotten in this reality?"

Shiro grimaced. "You sound like Slav."

"Yeah, well, he's rubbing off on me," pouted Pidge, hiding behind her glasses.

Shiro chuckled. "Do you really think that's true? That I did the best I could?"

"You always do," she replied. "There's no reason why it would've been different back on Kerberos."

Shiro thought her words over, staring blankly at the Black Lion in front of him. Was he ready to forgive himself for all the things that went wrong?

"But what happened with Zarkon, with him being able to connect with the Black Lion and find us every ti—"

"Not your fault."

"But—"

"No!" Pidge shouted, standing aside now with her fists balled at her sides. "Allura said the previous paladins of Voltron had years to train with their lions. We didn't. It only makes sense that the previous paladins' links with the lions would still stay strong, even after 10,000 years, but it's not your fault that Zarkon even lived that long." She crossed her arms. "If anything, it's thanks to you our team didn't fall apart at the very beginning. You managed to forge a bond strong enough and fast enough to prevent Zarkon from taking over at any point in any given battle in the first place."

Shiro glanced at Pidge. He was aware of his throat constricting, making it harder to breathe and swallow—it was the first sign of any pain since "dying".

Must be some sort of breakthrough.

"Shiro, please," begged Pidge. "You need to let go of all this guilt."

"I don't know how," he said, barely holding back his exasperation.

Pidge's eyes flashed with frustration before she sighed. She yanked on his arm to pull him down to her level—causing him to yelp in surprise—and wrapped her arms around in neck in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry."

"Never mind that," said Pidge. "You can make it all up to all of us by coming back home and helping us find my family."

Shiro returned the hug. "You really think I can do this? Come back to life?"

"I do. Find the Black Lion. She'll bring you back to us."

Shiro nodded. He gently nudged Pidge off him to get back up, placing a hand against the Black Lion's cold, lifeless bulk. "If you're not here, then where?" he asked himself.

The only concrete words the Black Lion has ever spoken to him: this is not the end. Keeping that in mind, Shiro had to believe that everything Pidge said was true. Did the Black Lion lead him into Pidge's dream to get him to let go of his guilt, just like she told him?

If Pidge is right about something as absurd as this all being a dream where his soul just wandered, then why wouldn't he be able to forgive himself for his past mistakes? If he can trust that she's right about them being alive, then surely he can trust her when she says he's not at fault.

He rested his brow against the back of his left hand still pressed against his lion's snout. He felt the fingers of his right hand being nudged apart and something weaving between them. Although he couldn't feel her warmth through his lifeless limb, he knew it was Pidge again. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, actually," he assured, lifting his head up again to gaze up at his lion. "For the first time in a long time, I think I feel okay."

She smiled up at him. "Let's go inside," she suggested.

"All right," agreed Shiro, his lips quirking into a ghost of a smile.

Since Pidge was in her regular clothes, Shiro picked her up before using his jetpack to glide up onto the Black Lion's head, opening the hatch to slip inside. Hardly a moment later, he was sitting in the cockpit with Pidge hovering over his shoulder. He grasped the handles as he'd done many times before, trying to sense his lion again, but she did not react to his touch.

"It's kind of like a quest, isn't it?" asked Pidge. "Turning into cosmic dust, having your soul drift through an abstract realm, trying to put the pieces of your life back together?"

The Black Lion's engines hummed around them, startling them both.

"My guess is that the Black Lion agrees with you," Shiro thought aloud.

"So that's one piece of the puzzle. What else?"

"The Black Lion is the one guiding me."

"Right. And you're drifting through dreams."

"Right…"

A burst of white light filled the cockpit from outside. The same dusky wall appeared in the horizon, just barely visible behind the tall trees.

"Is that…?" asked Pidge, her thought barely forming in her awe at what she'd seen.

"The light at the end of the metaphorical tunnel," he smirked.

She gave his arm a punch for daring to utter that, prompting a laugh from him.

"I guess that's where I'm heading," he said, getting up to leave the cockpit.

"Why aren't you just piloting the Black Lion to get there?" asked Pidge. "Is she still inactive?"

"Wherever she is, she's not here," frowned Shiro, opening the hatch to slip out as Pidge followed. "My best bet is to reach that edge."

"You don't even know where it leads," reasoned Pidge.

"I didn't know where the last one went, either," he said. "Besides, nothing here has been a coincidence so far. For the wall to show itself while we were inside the Black Lion, that must be where I need to go to find her."

Pidge wrinkled her nose in thought. "It's not impossible," she murmured, jumping down off the Black Lion.

"That's funny," laughed Shiro, "coming from the paladin that came up with the theory that I didn't die but turned into 'cosmic dust' and drifted into some dream realm."

"Better than being dead," mumbled Pidge, feeling the back of her neck all the way up to her cheeks burn.

"It's okay, Pidge. I'm just taking things in stride—the way you would," he said, pausing to glance back at her and smiled as he noticed her blushing even more.

She sighed in defeat and followed him. With a loud screech of metal and gears, the Green Lion sitting behind lifted her head up as she kept a careful watch over them. Pidge glanced back to wave at her lion before turning back in the direction of the light with Shiro.

"You think I'll be able to follow you into the light?" Pidge asked curiously. "Would be interesting to see what Coran dreams about…"

"I'd rather you don't," admitted Shiro. "Would defeat the purpose of a personal quest," he added more playfully.

But on the other hand, he wondered what would happen if Pidge did follow him into the light. Would her soul follow him into another dream? Would she suddenly wake up? A small part of Shiro even feared the possibility that Pidge might turn into cosmic dust as well.

And that was something he couldn't allow.

"I should do it," grinned Pidge. "Nothing bad can happen; I'm just sleeping."

"No," Shiro said more firmly. "If your soul drifts like mine and you slip into a coma, you're useless. You need to wake up and let the others know what happened to me."

She gave him an angry frown. "You're basing this on what ifs?'

"Everything about this is a what if," countered Shiro.

Pidge huffed, thinking to herself that he can't actually stop her once he's already passed through.

Shiro sighed, realizing what she was probably thinking but knew he couldn't physically stop her.

"Look, don't you agree that the others should know what happened?"

"Yes," mumbled Pidge. Knowing where he was going with this, she groaned and said: "Fine. I won't go into the cool-looking white light."

"Thank you," he said, smiling at her.

"I better not be missing out on anything awesome," she murmured, and Shiro could only chuckle, giving her hair an affectionate ruffle.

They walked in a comfortable silence through the forest, always towards the light that filled the horizon. Since they had the leisure for it, both of them took the time to take a better look around them, at the rich, colourful lush of the forest they found themselves.

"Why are you dreaming of Olkarion?" Shiro thought to ask.

"I don't know," shrugged Pidge. "I guess I've been thinking about this place a lot since I discovered the Green Lion's ability. Like a special connection." She gasped quietly when she heard a rustle in the ferns, the first sign of any life aside from her and Shiro since they found each other. "Did you hear that?"

Shiro opened his mouth to answer, his features scrunched in confusion when he saw a shimmer in the greenery. "Never mind. I think I saw it," he whispered.

"I saw it too," murmured Pidge, starting to feel scared but not willing to show it-not until she knows what it is.

Before their eyes, the shimmering in the ferns turned into a pale glimmer, like a cluster of fireflies against the leaves. The little sparks of light came closer, taking shape into a feline figure, a low growl emanating from it.

Pidge and Shiro balked as the Green Lion materialized in front of their eyes. Shiro watched as realization and a look of pure glee came over Pidge's features as she moved towards her lion, her hand weaving through her thick fur, causing a rumbling purr to fill the silence.

"Look at you… So beautiful," she smiled. The Green Lion nuzzled into her paladin's neck, giving her a light, affectionate headbutt before walking away in the direction of the light.

Pidge happily followed her lion. Shiro smiled seeing her so happy, following behind the two. It wasn't the Black Lion, but it was a good sign in any case. He kept quiet since it seemed as though Pidge and her lion were exchanging thoughts and feelings, filling the forest with hushed giggles and warm purrs until the light was blindingly close.

"So much cooler up close," beamed Pidge, keeping a safe distance from the light and the flecks of dust radiating off of it. "Does it feel warm when you walk into it?"

"Not warm, not cold, no pressure, nothing," answered Shiro. "Feels like nothing's even there."

"So cool," she grinned.

Shiro stood before the wall, hesitating as he continued to contemplate everything they said in this dream.

"Your dad and brother would be proud of you," he said to Pidge, glancing back at her. "They will be proud. When we find them."

"I know," she smiled. "They'd be proud of you too, you know. They are proud of you."

That brought a smile to Shiro's face. When he turned back, he noticed the Black Lion walking towards them from the light, her body a black nebula filled with stars. They both marvelled at the immensity of her being, although she physically only appeared to reach up to Shiro's chest.

"See ya on the other side," grinned Pidge, causing him to laugh again as he strode forward with his lion, disappearing into the blinding light as it evaporated into air with him.

"Huh?" exclaimed Pidge in confusion and surprise as she watched the wall of light fade out, its flecks of cosmic dust floating up into an azure sky. Panic fluttered in her chest as the flecks hit the atmosphere and caused everything around her to dissolve into blackness, closing in on her and—


Pidge woke up to an alarm blaring, her messy workshop flooded with an intermittent red light that spoke a universal sign: Danger! Danger!

The Castle was in danger.

With adrenaline surging in her veins, Pidge jumped out of her chair to get suited up and find out what was going on and how she can help fix it. Her dream was forgotten.