Even as Rayzor's voice told him that a Galra ship was headed straight for them, Shiro knew whose ship it was.

She always found him. He'd been foolish to think she wouldn't this time.

But he wasn't going to let her take his team too.

As he told Keith to get out, he saw the terror and fear on his teams' faces, tried to keep from showing any on his own. He managed it just long enough to see that Keith had started to run, was going to get the team to safety, and then Shiro reached out and ended the comms link to the shuttle.

He had wanted to say goodbye - and in a way, he had. All he could do now was buy them time, and make sure the witch couldn't track them down.

He took a precious second to pull off his helmet, intent on destroying the comms unit inside so that Haggar couldn't use it as a way to reach his team, but then he saw the Druid ship had fired at the shuttle, and everything he did in the next few moments was sheer reflex.

Black and Shiro flew as they never had before, and as Shiro saw the shuttle that held his friends - his family - everything dear to him - disappear into the asteroid field behind him, he felt a savage smile of triumph cross his face.

He and Black had done what they'd intended to do - but there was no reason they couldn't still evade the Druids for a short time. Give them a run for their money.

So they did, if only for a few moments.

As Black flew and leapt among the stars, a voice - Rayzor's voice - sounded from the second comms unit, and he was asking Shiro if he could still make it out, if he would be able to meet them at the beta coordinates.

A screen opened up, flickering and juddering, but Shiro felt a sudden gladness that he was able to see someone - anyone - before the Druids took him again.

"No." Shiro said, and he tried to keep his voice tight, controlled, but damn it all, he couldn't manage to keep it from shaking as he continued, still piloting Black, still flying, still free. For now.

"I - I won't make it to the meet site."

The screen - filled with static as it was - still showed the expression in Rayzor's eyes clearly. He made as if to speak, but Shiro cut over him.

"I'm going to destroy the shielding device you gave Black - and I'll destroy all the comms and star maps too. The Galra won't find your planet - or the Lions - or the Castle."

The Black Paladin felt his stomach roil and churn at the thought of what Haggar was going to do to him for that, but he forced the next words out nonetheless. "Take - take care of my team, okay?"

Rayzor nodded. He seemed unable to speak.

Just then, Shiro felt the purple lightning envelop Black, and the comms started to shudder and buzz, even as he reached towards the device to end the call. As Shiro pressed the 'terminate' button, and the call shorted out with a final crackle, he drew back his cybernetic arm and activated the weapons setting.

Shiro reached out, and with three harsh strikes, he broke the star map into pieces, destroyed the shielding device that Rayzor had given Black, and pulverized the comms unit he'd just switched off. Finally - lastly - he picked up his Paladin's helmet and crushed the comms inside.

As the last link to his team crumbled between his cybernetic fingers, he heard Black reaching out to him, her voice tired, almost timid.

My pilot? she asked, and he said gently, "Yeah, Black?"

He answered her out loud, more out of habit than anything else.

The Druids' beam was pulling them into the landing bay now, and Shiro wanted to close his eyes, to not see the all-too familiar purple lines of light that lined the walls, the ceiling, the floor, but he gritted his jaw and concentrated instead on Black's voice.

Black was scared - really scared - and it almost made Shiro cry when he heard the fear and despair in his Lion's voice as she spoke inside his mind.

I cannot protect you, she said. I tried - but I cannot - the Druid's magic is too strong - I cannot - I cannot prevent them from taking you-

"It's okay," he told her. He reached out with his left hand and laid it on the control panel in front of him. It was all he could do to comfort his Lion, and he wished he could do more before -

Well. Before the end.

I don't know what to do, she told him then, and he almost smiled at how very much they were alike in that regard. He had to swallow before he answered her that time.

"Don't - don't go over - to Zarkon," he said. "No matter what happens, Black - don't let him - don't let him take you."

A sudden ray of hope - a desperate idea - suddenly appeared in Black's voice.

My pilot - there is something I could try - I could - I could go back to sleep…

Shiro sees that Black's paws have almost reached the hanger bay floor now, and he nods in understanding.

"You mean - like you did after King Alfor locked you in the Castle?"

Yes. I do not know if it will work, but -

"Do it," Shiro tells her.

But if I am asleep - I will not be able to aid you -

The outer bay doors cycle shut, and Shiro saw a familiar figure walking towards the Black Lion.

The witch was coming for him.

"Do it, Black." He said again, and he kept his voice quiet and steady. Somehow it's easier then he thought. "We're out of time."

I am sorry.

Shiro got to his feet, brought his weaponized arm up to bear, and turned around to face where the ramp would open.

"It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault."

Black's voice faded a little, but she still whispered to him. Stay strong, my pilot. I will try to find a way to help y-

Mid-word, her voice broke off and faded entirely, and there was sudden emptiness where Black's presence had been in his mind.

Shiro felt a sudden pang of loss, of fear, and an awful, aching loneliness.

"Black?"

Nothing.

Shiro somehow knew that if Black had gone to sleep, she would have answered him somehow. Maybe not with words, but - but she would have answered him somehow. This silence - it felt like she was just - gone. Like someone had closed a door in his mind, and she had been left outside, leaving him completely alone.

"Black?!"

He heard the sound of the ramp descending to the ground, and he felt a sudden surge of panic run through him at the knowledge that someone stood down there who was going to take Black away from him forever.

Hell with it. He wasn't giving up his Lion without a fight.

Shiro came to stand at the top of the ramp and took up a defensive position, just like he had at the Castle when Sendak had attacked. He expected Haggar to be there at the bottom of the ramp, with at least two of her Druids beside her.

But it wasn't Haggar standing there when the ramp hit the ground with a very final thud.

It was Zarkon.

The Galra Emperor held a bayard in one hand, down at his side, and he was looking up at Shiro with no discernible expression on his face.

"You would fight me, child?" He asked, and the question was almost a laugh.

Shiro felt his heart stutter and leap inside his chest then, and he hoped he could keep himself from shaking as every instinct in him screamed for him to run.

Black, he thought, Black, please - please answer me -

"Don't bother calling out to her," the Emperor said. Shiro felt a chill creep up his spine at the realization that Zarkon had heard him calling out to the Black Lion.

"-she's already forgotten your name."

Shiro snarled then, in denial and fear, and he tried one last time to reach out to his Lion, but he was met with a silence that seemed to go on forever.

Black was gone.

Had Zarkon - had he already forced Black back under his control?

Shiro remembered how scared Black had been only a few short moments ago, the terror and fear she had felt at the thought of Zarkon being her pilot once again, and he felt anger and rage drown out his own fear then.

Black was no one's property.

She wasn't just a weapon.

She was Black.