As he flew Black over the planet's surface, searching for signs of Sendak, Shiro snarled to himself.
Stupid, stupid, stupid - this was his fault - he'd ejected the pod out into space - dammit, dammit, dammit -
It is not your fault, Black said to him, sensing his distress and attempting to calm him. The crystal infected the castle - it played upon your fears -
"But I let it!" Shiro said to her, anger rising in his chest. "Black - "
Suddenly his comms crackled into life, and Lance was saying his name, and Shiro felt a sudden rush of both hope and worry.
"Lance - did they find -"
"SHIRO!" Lance cut over him, and his voice was panicked, almost thready. "Shiro - you've got to track Allura's position - do it, now!"
Something in Lance's voice told Shiro they didn't have a second to lose.
"Black!"
My pilot, she is near - but - she is not with the other Paladins -
Even as she spoke in his mind, Lance was saying more. "It's Sendak - he got into the tunnels somehow - he took her! He took her - we think he's going to kill her - Shiro, you've got to find her - you've got to find her now -"
Shiro felt his vision flicker at the edges and shrink for an awful instant, fear and rage and terror all mixing into an almost vicious sense of panic.
But Black had already turned and begun to fly in the direction where Allura was - Shiro could sense that - so he was told Lance to keep looking, to keep searching, that he was coming - but then there was a burst of static, and suddenly the comms cut out. Just as the connection was lost, Black flew into a gorge that was not far from where the Council had met with Allura, and Shiro felt they had to be close.
There were tunnel entrances everywhere here, high up on either side of the steep rocky walls, down by the river that ran through the bottom. Rocks and mist were everywhere - Sendak could have taken her anywhere - but Sendak was smart, he would know he couldn't run or hide with the Princess for long - and that meant that Shiro might - literally - only have seconds to act.
Shiro forced himself to think, to stay in control of his emotions long enough to find and save Allura. He could panic later, after she was safe.
Sendak had grabbed Allura from the tunnels - and it had probably been one of the ones that were closer to the surface - he would have tried to stay as close to an escape route as possible.
And he wouldn't have wanted to chance being caught or stopped by too many guards, so he would have headed out of the tunnels as soon as he could have.
He'd lost his cybernetic arm in the fight with Keith and Pidge - and he hadn't been able to get another one. Allura was strong, more than strong enough to get free if Sendak tried to kill her - unless - unless Sendak was just planning to -
"BLACK!" Shiro screamed. "Scan the tunnel entrances at the top of the gorge - hurry!"
Even as Black turned her eyes up to the top of the gorge, Shiro saw two figures on the edge of a plateau, and he felt his heart almost stop in dread as one of them - a slender figure with long white hair - was thrown off the edge and dropped into the mist, towards the sharp rocks at the bottom of the canyon.
"BLACK!" Shiro screamed to his Lion. He had never felt so desperate, so frantic. "CATCH HER - NOW!"