What's this? Oh, it's the next chapter! Time to check up on our paladins, see how those fellas are doing. Hint: not as well as they could! That's what happens when you let your red paladin be kidnapped by scary druids. You gotta stop em from wandering off! Who knows what trouble they could get into on their own! As always, thanks for reading, and until next time~!

who you are in the dark

chapter six

paladins

"You are short two bags of scaultrite."

And there it was. For all his big words back in the yellow lion, he'd honestly been hoping that Allura wouldn't notice. Letting the Galra get away with two bags of the stuff had been a huge blunder on his part, there was no getting around that.

"We uh, had company." Lance told her. "Galra company."

That's where Allura's expression turned from that of a slight frown to being outright alarmed. Not that he could blame her. Heck, he was still surprised he was alive to tell the tale.

They could have just as easily shot him and left, but they didn't.

Which, now that he thought about it? Kind of weird.

Didn't make him any less pissed, though. Maybe they hadn't tried to kill him, but they'd still turned on him. And he'd saved them! Or well, one of them. He was guessing that second Galra was the first Galra's rescue party, since he had a ship of his own ready.

"Are you unhurt?" Allura inquired, visibly checking him over for injuries, before doing the same with Hunk.

"We're fine!" Lance was quick to say. "They just took the bags and left."

"Is- is this going to be a problem?" Hunk asked. "I mean, I know you said that we needed a lot of the stuff, but-"

"It should be fine."

It wasn't Allura that spoke, but Kolivan. He'd been silent up until this point, so he'd almost kind of forgotten he was there. Maybe he didn't loom over him the same way that Antok guy did, but he was still pretty huge, so that was kind of impressive in its own right. The second Galra from the Weblum, the taller one- he was probably just a bit shorter than Kolivan, now that he thought about it.

"We have some reserves of scaultrite in our stores." Kolivan informed them. "Not enough to build the teleduv with, but enough to make up for the difference."

Reminded of his presence, Allura grew more stiff, business-like. She'd accepted the alliance with the Blade of Marmora in the end, but he was pretty sure she still wasn't thrilled about the idea. But if that was what it took to defeat Zarkon, then she would accept working together with the Galra, as much as it seemed she didn't want to.

He could sort of understand her hesitance. Shiro had vouched for them, ever since they'd met Ulaz, but he didn't really know. On one hand, this all seemed way too complex for some kind of trap, on the other hand...

...well, he'd trusted the Galra in the Weblum too, sort of. And look how that turned out.

"Good." Allura told him, her tone curt. "You and Hunk did well, Lance."

"Why thank you, princess." Lance winked, causing Allura to groan- but at least she relaxed a bit. This whole plan had her tense.

It wasn't just her either. Shiro was pretty wound up too.

Had been pretty wound up, actually, for awhile now. It was really just Allura who had changed.

He'd taken Keith's disappearance hard.

He hadn't realized just how close the two of them were until he was gone. Until he watched Shiro break down in what he thought was private, but wasn't. He'd never brought it up to him, unsure of how to approach it, and he'd seemed fine after that, but it wasn't a sight Lance was about to forget.

That was five months ago.

Since then, Shiro had all but thrown himself into his duties as a paladin, like he was using them as some kind of a distraction. No, he was definitely using them as some kind of a distraction.

What time he didn't spend serving as the leader of Voltron, he spent looking for Keith. But without any clues to go off of, actually finding him had proved to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

A very large haystack.

"Oh thank god." Hunk said, heaving a sigh of relief. "Sorry princess, it's just I'd rather not have to go back into one of those things if I can help it. It was not fun."

Letting out a soft laugh at that, Allura merely smiled. "I suppose it is not. However, I must ask about these Galra who stole the scaultrite from you."

"I'm curious as well." Kolivan noted.

"Uh well, they weren't foot soldiers, I can tell you that much." Lance told them, frowning. "I didn't recognize their armor or their ships."

"But you're certain they were Galra?" Allura asked.

"They both had the insignia of the Galra Empire on their armor." Lance said. "So yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"They weren't exactly chatty." Hunk told her. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I didn't hear them say a single word while I was there. Lance?"

Shaking his head, his frown just deepened. "Not a thing."

"You know," Hunk said, "-the yellow lion might still have a visual of their ship."

Beaming, Allura looked pleased. "Good thinking, Hunk. Why don't you see if you can't put it into the castle-ship's systems? Maybe one of us can identify it."

Kolivan merely gave them a curt nod, but didn't otherwise say anything. He looked... contemplative, maybe? He couldn't really say for sure- reading Galra was hard.

"Right, got it." Hunk said. "Give me just a second."

Watching as Hunk retreated back into the yellow lion, Lance just frowned. "Where are Pidge and Shiro? They get Slav?"

"Yes, they did. Pidge found some information on her brother while there. I believe she is trying to learn what she can from it." Allura told him. "As for Shiro... he went to clean."

Oof. Yeah, he knew what that meant.

He wasn't sure when Shiro picked up the habit, but as far as anyone could tell, cleaning Keith's quarters seemed to give him some form of comfort. He didn't doubt that he was genuinely happy that Pidge had managed to find information about her brother, but at the same time...

...well, nobody could exactly blame him for feeling kind of bitter.

Least of all Pidge, he knew. Out of anyone, she understood the most what it was like to have a loved one snatched away by the Galra. Heck, she'd had two.

And out of all of them, Shiro was the one who understood the most what it was like to be taken by the Galra.

"Princess," it was faint, but he could still sort of make out Hunk's voice from Allura's earring communicators, "-I uploaded that footage I mentioned."

"Wonderful, thank you Hunk." Allura told him. "Now, let's see who our mystery Galra are."

With a swipe of her hand, she brought up a screen. Bringing up the footage that Hunk had uploaded, he watched as her brows furrowed at the sight of the ship that had treated the whole chase like it was a game of cat and mouse.

And the yellow lion was the mouse.

"I am afraid I do not recognize this type of fighter." Allura frowned. "Nor the insignia."

"But I do."

Okay, so maybe he wasn't the best at reading Galra facial expressions, but he was pretty sure that look Kolivan was sporting was him being troubled. Allura certainly seemed to take it as such, almost instantly mirroring it.

"That," lifting his arm and taping at his gauntlet, Kolivan brought up a small screen, displaying the same type of fighter, "-is one of Prince Lotor's ships."

"Prince who now?" Lance asked.

"I am afraid I have never heard of this Prince Lotor." Allura stated.

He could have sworn that Kolivan's brow furrowed at that. "I apologize. I was unaware that you did not know of his existence. Prince Lotor is Zarkon's son."

What.

Wait, what!?

"Zarkon has a son!?"

To his surprise, he wasn't the one to blurt that out- nope, that was all Hunk. He'd come back to them just in time to catch that bombshell.

"That is... troubling information." Allura admitted. "But if Zarkon has a son, why have we not heard anything about him before?"

"He was exiled, centuries ago." Kolivan told her. "Since then, even our network of spies has had difficulty tracking him down."

"So... if Zarkon has a heir, is that like, something we should be worried about?" Hunk asked.

"Perhaps." Kolivan said. "Given his exile, we cannot be certain if he will be called to take his father's place, should he fall. At this moment, we don't even have enough intelligence on him to determine if he even desires his father's throne or not."

"Sounds like this Lotor's one big mystery." Lance frowned.

"Yes, indeed." Allura said, lips set in a tight frown. "What can you tell us about him?"

"We know that he has four generals in his service, all hybrids." Kolivan explained, bringing up different image on his gauntlet's screen. "The Galra you met in the Weblum must be two of their number."

Huh. He didn't even know there were lady Galra.

Which... yeah, in hindsight, kind of dumb of him. But hey, it wasn't like they had run into any yet, and these were aliens he was talking about here.

Squinting, Lance leaned a bit closer, trying to get a better look. In response, Kolivan merely enlarged the image.

"This one, the kind of bluish one," Lance began, "-Hunk, don't you think she looks kind of like the short one? Her frame, I mean."

"Oh yeah, totally." Hunk agreed.

"Acxa." Kolivan informed him. "Out of his four generals, our intelligence indicates that she is the most loyal. We believe she's held as his second in command."

"What of the other?" Allura asked.

"Well, they were tall, but they weren't as bulky as this one." Lance said, eyeing the one with the fluffy looking ears. "And they had a tail, but I think it was longer than hers, and like, more purple. And it definitely wasn't this colorful chick."

Pausing, Lance could only frown. "I'm... I'm not sure they were any of these."

"You're certain?" Kolivan asked.

"I- yeah." Lance said, nodding his head. "At least maybe like, ninety five percent certain? I don't know, they never showed their face."

"In which case, he's found another general to recruit." Kolivan observed, his brow furrowing. "You've brought us valuable intelligence."

"Should we be concerned?" Allura inquired. "He may try to gain back his father's favor by informing him that the paladins of Voltron were collecting large amounts of scaultrite."

Closing the image, Kolivan lowered his arm. "I will have Thace monitor for any communications of the sort. But I doubt it."

Allura didn't seem fully convinced, but nevertheless chose to accept it. "I will brief Pidge and Shiro on the matter. Hunk, Lance, the two of you can rest for awhile. There is still time before the teleduv is completed, and we will all need to be in top condition in order for this plan to work."

"You too, princess." Lance told her. "I mean- a huge bulk of this plan basically falls onto you, so..."

"I know the risks." Allura told him. "I promise you, I would not have signed off on this plan if I did not think I could endure what it calls for. This is the best chance we have to defeat Zarkon, and I do not want to see it slip away."

She was right about that.

This was the best chance they had. If they didn't take it, who knew when they'd be able to find another one.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Shiro closed his eyes, trying to stem the tide of his growing headache. He knew it was because he had been awake for too long, and staring at this screen for the past hour and a half wasn't helping, but there was just so much to get done that he felt like he couldn't even think about resting just yet.

Letting out a long breath, he slumped back in his chair. At least everyone else had gone to bed- except for maybe Coran, who was helping the Olkari with a few last minute adjustments. The teleduv would be up and ready by tomorrow morning, and once it had gone through a full system check, they'd be ready to launch.

Ready to take the fight to Zarkon.

Letting out another long sigh, Shiro opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling. Some part of him had naively thought that once they took out Zarkon, that would be the end of it, but he knew now that wasn't the case. The news that Zarkon had a son, even one that he had exiled, did not rest easy with him.

Prince Lotor. A figure that not even the Blades knew much about.

He was just glad that Lance and Hunk had returned to them. He couldn't- he wouldn't- lose another paladin.

He had already failed Keith. He wouldn't fail anyone else.

Keith.

Losing any of the paladins would have been bad, but they'd lost Keith. This was the same scrappy kid who had impressed him with his flying skills, the one he'd promised to give a second chance, to never give up on.

Now he was lost.

Taken.

Now he understood how Pidge felt, willing to tear apart the cosmos to find even a single trace of her family. That she'd been able to find a clue to Matt's location in that prison... he was happy for her, really, he was.

But all it did was remind him that it had been eight months, and he didn't have so much as a single clue where Keith was.

When he'd first been captured, he'd dreaded the announcement from the Galra Empire. He feared that they would crow about their achievement, let all the universe know that they had seized the red paladin of Voltron. He was afraid of seeing Keith in the gladiator arena, forced to fight for his life.

But that didn't happen.

There had been radio silence from the Galra Empire, ever since Keith had vanished.

Seeing Keith thrown into the arena might actually be preferable to this. If there was one thing Keith knew how to do, it was survive. But that was the problem- he'd already survived so much, more than any one kid should have to. When he'd gotten him into the Galaxy Garrison, he'd promised him that for once, he could do more than just survive.

He could thrive.

But he'd gone and let him down.

Sure, maybe being abducted by aliens hadn't exactly been according to plan, but he'd chosen to go on that mission, against the objections of his superior officers- and Adam. The only one he could blame for being there was himself.

He'd gone and removed himself from Keith's life, after he'd said that he would stick around. At least for so long as he was able.

Heaving a sigh, he opened his eyes, hand straying to his right wrist. The metal of his Galra arm was cool to the touch, unlike the device he'd kept strapped to his wrist for so long. It warmed with the sun, and in the desert environment in which the Galaxy Garrison was situated, it was almost never cold.

Space, on the other hand, was.

He knew for a fact that the prison cells on Galra ships were always cold. The thin fabric of the clothes the prisoners were given didn't do much to protect against it- he'd spent many a night, huddled up, desperately trying to sleep.

To think that Keith could be going through the same things he had... he didn't want to think about it.

He did anyways.

He thought about it and thought about it, until he couldn't take thinking anymore. He'd usually drown himself in work, but right now, it wasn't helping much.

It was that video that was bothering him.

Against his better judgement, he brought it up again. He watched as the Galra fighter ducked and weaved through both space rock and laser blasts alike, none of them ever coming close to it. He watched as it suddenly accelerated, but instead of pushing forward, it went back- falling behind the yellow lion, and out of sight.

He knew that move.

He'd taught it to Keith.

Obviously, the pilot of the Galra fighter wasn't Keith. But it still made him think of Keith.

A lot of things made him think of Keith.

Adam had cracked a joke once, about him being like a father to Keith. He'd laughed at it and had dismissed it- he was way too young to be a father- but maybe he had a point. Maybe not a son, but a brother, surely.

Either way, family.

Family that he'd let down.

Which seemed to be about the only thing he was capable of doing. First Adam, now Keith... but at least he knew Adam was alive, safe on Earth. But Keith?

God, he didn't even know if Keith was alive.

He had to be. That was what he told himself every day. He had to be alive.

Keith was a survivor. He had endured the desert for a year. He had endured foster care, even when not all of his foster families had been kind to him. I'm not normal, Keith would tell him, I'm not normal, so they're afraid of that. Of me. They lash out. That's normal.

He'd told him that no, that wasn't normal. But he got the feeling that Keith had never actually listened, even when he said he had.

It wasn't like he'd never noticed that Keith wasn't entirely normal. But a physical oddity here and there by no means justified what he'd had to endure, and it certainly didn't mean that he'd deserved it.

Getting him out of the foster system and into the Garrison had been his top priority even before he'd noticed the scars. After he'd noticed them...

Well, he wasn't about to let Keith go back.

Now because of him, Keith was lost in space, at the mercy of the Galra Empire. So yeah. He'd done a great job.

"You know," Pidge's voice nearly caused him to jump out of his skin, "-there's such a thing as being too predictable."

Pressing a hand over his heart, trying to calm it back down again, Shiro frowned. "Pidge."

Lifting her brows, Pidge otherwise looked impassive. "Shiro."

"It's late." He told her. "You should be in bed."

"So should you." She pointed out- and he knew she was right, he should. "You're our leader, Shiro. I thought you were supposed to be setting the good example."

He winced at that. She had a point.

"Just some work I needed to finish up." Shiro lied. "I was planning on sleeping after that."

Pidge looked unconvinced. "Shiro, we both know that isn't true."

Defeated, Shiro gave her a wry grin. "You caught me."

"It's about Keith, isn't it?" She asked. "You've been acting weird ever since I told you I found footage of Matt."

For someone so young, Pidge had an uncanny ability to see right through people. It was probably the reason why she hadn't been fooled for one second by the Garrison's lies.

"Yeah," Shiro admitted, "-it's about Keith."

Leaning against the armrest of the black paladin's chair, Pidge just frowned. "It's not like I don't get it. If you found something about Keith on that ship, I'd probably be feeling the same way you are now."

"Or well," tilting her head, her brows furrowed, "-maybe not exactly, because Keith is important to me too, but I guess Matt and dad are also kind of important to you, I mean, you did live with them on that shuttle for like months, so-"

"Pidge."

Blinking, Pidge startled. "Oh right. Uh. I guess what I was trying to say is- we all know you're doing your best, Shiro. We'll find him."

"Sometimes it just doesn't feel like my best is enough." Shiro admitted.

"Yeah," closing her eyes, Pidge's shoulders slumped, "-I get that too."

For a moment, they just sat in silence, listening to the faint sounds of the castle-ship. It was strangely relaxing, he thought.

"Maybe," Pidge spoke up, "-maybe once we defeat Zarkon, you can look for him. Full time, I mean. Like me and my family."

Giving her a faint smile, one that didn't quite reach his eyes, Shiro nodded his head. "Maybe. That is, if this Prince Lotor doesn't become a problem."

Crinkling her nose, Pidge frowned. "Right, him. I still can't believe someone actually-"

Sensing where that was going, he cut her off. "Pidge."

Pidge merely leveled her gaze with him, daring him to challenge her. "-fucked Zarkon."

"Okay," getting to his feet, Shiro held up his hands, "-that's it. Bedtime for you, young lady."

"Fine. But only if you get some sleep too." She told him.

Arching a brow, wondering if that had been her ploy all along, he just heaved a sigh. "Alright, fine. I'll try to get some sleep too."

Nodding her head, Pidge appeared satisfied with that. "Good. We're going to need you tomorrow. Next to Allura, you have like, the toughest role."

"I don't know about that." Shiro told her. "I think Thace has a harder role than I do."

"I mean yeah, but I don't know Thace." Pidge told him. "I just know you. And Allura."

"...maybe don't tell Allura I tacked her on as an afterthought there."

"Promise." Shiro told her. "Now let's see about getting some sleep."

Sleep might not help him find Keith, but at least it would leave him fresh for the fight to come. Pidge was right. Once Zarkon was defeated, they could all focus on other tasks.

At least, he hoped.

She knew that she should be asleep.

Between Lance and Coran, no one had failed to remind her of the risks that she would be taking tomorrow. She knew them all too well herself, and while she couldn't- and wouldn't- deny them, she knew that so long as they had this shot, that she could not be the one to hold them back.

She knew all too well that she wasn't supposed to be the one flying the red lion.

She wished that she could be happy about it.

It was her father's lion, once. To fly it meant that she was following in his footsteps, actively fighting back against the tyranny that had infected the universe like a plague.

But she could not.

She was not the red lion's true paladin.

She had not connected with it, not like the others had with theirs. It allowed her to fly it, allowed her to join with the others as a unit, to form Voltron- but she was not its paladin. It was waiting, she sensed.

Waiting for Keith.

Who they just could not find.

She could only blame herself. She had been the one who had insisted that they stay longer at that transportation hub. She had been the one who had suggested they go there in the first place, so no matter what anyone else said, in so far as she was concerned, the blame for Keith's capture fell squarely on her.

And she knew the others blamed themselves.

Lance blamed himself for not stopping him.

Hunk blamed himself for not going with him.

Pidge blamed herself for not arriving in time.

Shiro blamed himself for not being there.

She was all but certain even Coran blamed himself for this, somehow.

But she? She had been the one to cause all this. And it was because of her that he was lost to them now.

She knew he had to be alive. The red lion would sense it if he passed.

It was not as much of a comfort as she would have hoped. Alive was one thing, but doing well was another- and there was no way that he could possibly be doing well, not while he was in the hands of the Galra.

None of them should even be involved in this war. Thinking back on it, that had been her fault too. She had been the one who had assigned them each a lion, going on about destiny.

Such thoughts were what brought her down to the red lion's hangar, well past when she should be sleeping. Resting her hand on one of the red lion's legs, she closed her eyes, feeling its energy.

Though not as a paladin would.

"I know that I am not your first choice," Allura spoke, "-and I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to find your true paladin, and bring him home."

Opening her eyes, she stared up at the red lion. "But I will need you in this next fight. We will all need you. So please- if only just for tomorrow, think of me as yours."

She did not expect a response.

But instead, the red lion roared.

All she could feel was fear, cold and heavy in her heart.