Chapter four: Joy and Sadness

"Woah." Pidge breathed.

"The-... Altean colony." Gasped Allura. She knew this place existed, but to actually see it was the most wonderful thing in the world to her. "All these years I thought we were the last ones, and now..." she turned to her royal advisor. "Coran we're not alone anymore." They embraced, overwhelmed by the reality of their new situation.

"I know." Coran said, holding her close. "We're not a lost race after all.." They continued toward the village and walked down the narrow dirt streets.

"Despite the leadership of Lotor ruling over us, we have established our own sort of hierarchy here." Romelle explained, as children were running and playing together. A group of female Alteans were going about their house work. They were talking and laughing together, is if they didn't have a care in the world. Some male Alteans were building a structure that looked like another hut. Allura stared at their structures quizzically.

"What happened to the Altean alloyed houses like back on Altea?" She asked, her heart nearly about to break.

"Lotor told us that manufacturing the alloyed necessary to build our homes, like those of the fallen Altea, was too risky." Romelle informed her sadly. "He told us that if the galra discovered the alloyed somehow, it would compromise our safety here... probably just another lie I'd imagine." Romelle shook her head.

"Actually no." Allura corrected her. "It does make sense. The galra know of Coran's and myself's existence, but not of yours. If Zarkon was still alive and discovered that his son was hiding and protecting Alteans, he would stop at nothing to find them. The production of this alloyed would be a distinctive clue, because of its unique properties. The Alteans had used it for generations."

"And what about the new colony?" Romelle wondered hopefully.

"We'll head over to it and see what we can do. Once the colony is secure and everyone understands the truth about Lotor." Allura assured her.

"But Princess?" Coran realized. "If we're no longer the only ones. Then that means... they are your subjects. They are the Alteans, our people. We now have a responsibility to them." Allura froze in realization of this fact.

"You're right Coran." She breathed. "We have a chance to make our race great again."

"So what do you want us to do." Shiro asked. Allura thought for a moment, searching for the right trying to say.

"We tell them the truth, and try to gain their trust." The Princess decided finally.

"Then let us gather them in the square next to the Lotor statue." Romelle suggested.

"Of course."

"Alright we have our plan," Shiro concluded. "Let's move."

The Alteans went about their work and play, when a sound from above drew their attention. They were amazed and terrified to see five robotic lions fly through the air. They landed near the Lotor statue making everyone follow. Nine figures emerged from the lions accompanied by a blue space-wolf and four mice. Allura removed her helmet. Her white hair falling from the bands holding it up, and showering down over her shoulders. Her Altean marks glimmered in the sun and all who beheld her were in awe. Who was this stranger? They asked each other.

"I am Princess Allura. Daughter and successor of Alfor, king of Altea. And your new leader, your true ruler." The crowd was confused they looked from one another quizzically.

"Lotor has been lying to us for generations!" Romelle blurted out. "He's not our leader, or our protector, instead he has been using our culture for his own satisfactions."

Pain and disbelief rippled through the crowd. The truth coming out was harder to swallow than the team had imagined. Romelle burst into tears and buried her face in her hands. Coran pulled her close to comfort her.

"Lotor has betrayed you by his deceptive and corrupt ways." Allura continued. "But I intend to rectify his wrongdoings and restore the Altean culture to the greatness it once had. But first I must tell the truth about our race and it's origins." Allura then began the history of King Alfor and the process that led to the creation of Voltron. "These are the lions of Voltron, the creation of a great man. It is known as the Defender of the Universe. And it is here to protect our newly reborn race. I ask you now to look deep within yourself and see that this is the future of our culture that Lotor would never have given you. The question is... are you willing to join us?" The crowd was silent. Blankly staring, Allura squirmed nervously. But then one Altean took a knee and bowed their head in respect. Another followed, then a few more and a few more, until the whole crowd bowed to their princess.

"So what happens now, my princess." One Altean asked.

"We need to hide the lions here, but before we do that we need to head to the other colony and try to undo the damage Lotor has caused." Shiro saw another memory of himself handing over Lotor to his ex-generals. He came back to reality as if he'd been struck by lightning.

"Shiro? You ok?" Keith whispered

"Yeah." Shiro responded shakily. Allura glanced back and gestured to Shiro to come to her. The Black Paladin willingly responded to her non verbal command. "YOU, are the head of Voltron, they need to hear from you. To give them a sense of security in their time of doubt." Shiro nodded and faced the crowd.

"My name is Shiro, I pilot the Black lion of Voltron. I'm the leader of this group of people. Our mission is to protect the universe from those that seek to distroy it. We will do whatever it takes to continue that mission, and make sure that Lotor's actions are justified. No matter what it takes, but we can't do it alone. We need your support in our fight against Lotor. And your trust in Voltron as the Defender of the Universe." The crowd cheered in response showing their new found loyalty to them. Allura and Shiro turned to face their friends.

"Let's get to that second colony." Allura decided.

In no time, they were jetting to the other colony. "It shouldn't be much further." Allura informed them, coming upon a facility nestled in the crust of a midnight black moon.

When they had landed, the team proceeded to the entrance. Sliding open the door they peered into the darkness. The only light was a Galra purple glow of giant, six-foot-tall glass capsules full of quintessence. The whole wall was lined with these capsules, but only a few held quintessence.

"So how exactly are we going to fix this?" Hunk asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Keith agreed, as the team spread out in the large, silent facility. "And how do we know that we can fix this?"

"Well," Allura sighed. "We don't. But we still have to try. Some of these Alteans can be saved, we just have to figure out how." She scanned the room for anything that might give her an indication of a solution. She wracked her brain to think of something. Pidge laid a hand on one of the capsules of quintessence.

"This quintessence has been harvested from these Alteans." She said. "If we can somehow reverse the process, we might be able to re-infuse them with their own quintessence to save them."

"You may be right, Pidge." Allura sighed again. "But I fear some of these Alteans are too far gone to be saved."

"Then let's make sure that doesn't happen." Keith decided confidently.

"Allura, is there a way to save these Alteans?" Shiro asked, after they'd been looking around for a while.

"I think so." Allura confirmed. "If we use up the rest of the quintessence in these capsules, and using the alchemic knowledge I got from Oriande to create Synthetic Quintessence, it could work."

"Wait what?" Lance was confused.

"Synthetic Quintessence is more potent than the quintessence we're used to. It is so potent that you don't need to use as much as you might think." Allura explained. "By increasing it's potency, we can make it go a lot further into saving as many lives as possible."

"So you don't think it'll save all of them." Lance concluded bluntly. Pain flashed in Allura's eyes in hearing this fact. She closed them tightly, then suddenly felt brave.

"We're going to try." She decided.

"But Princess," Coran protested. "Synthetic Quintessence hasn't been made in years. All the Alteans with that level of skill are all gone."

"I know." Allura replied, "that's why I'm going to do it." The team froze.

"You can do that?" Pidge asked, half in shock.

"But you may not have enough power to save all of them." Coran pried, trying to change her mind.

"And who knows if the synthetic quintessence will be enough still."

"Then that's a risk we'll just have to take." Allura insisted firmly. Pidge and Hunk worked at the control panels on the capsules and on the facility's main circuitry board.

"Ok," Pidge said finally. "Everything's set, do your thing, Princess." Smaller viles of a green liquid were mounted on top of the capsules, ready for infusion.

"Begin the infusion process." Allura instructed. With a press of a button the green solution was released into the purple quintessence making it glow. Allura placed her hands on the capsules and focus her Altean energy into this substance. The liquid slowly turned a light blue and then a golden yellow. This new substance then began a journey through the pipes of the facility, snaking around to each one of the hundreds of pods that contained the helpless Alteans. The pods began to glow and the silhouette of the Alteans could still be seen, as the quintessence filled their nearly lifeless bodies. Allura continued to push through, trying to keep going. The glow got brighter and brighter until everyone had to shield their eyes from it. The light then engulfed the entire room, and when it died down... the capsules opened and the liquid in which the Alteans were submerged washed way at once. And a dispersal of gasp spread throughout the giant room.

How's it hanging fans! My stories may seem a little redundant at times, so I apologize. But I love Shiro and whenever I get ideas on a new story for him it always seems to begin in a similar way. I just try to diversify the description of it carefully so it doesn't seem so similar. But as I said more stories are yet to come. Also as always my stories do not include shipping or romantic interactions with the characters. But I hope you still enjoy. Stay hyped! Peace!