I would have gotten this chapter up sooner, but I was busy with my computer graphics final project. On the plus side, you all get to see the fruits of my labors (and a new chapter). Just check out the cover art for my story. Yes, I did it myself, and I am very proud of it. Okay, okay, I'm done patting myself on the back. Now it's your turn :) Please remember to review!

The silence was palpable as the Voltron Force and their friends stood in shock. While the recent events had been a trial in themselves, the loss of one of their own reverberated through each one of them. Up until that moment, they had survived because they were together. They had felt untouchable, even immortal. Now that one of them was gone, the weight of their situation began to settle over them.

Allura wept openly, finding comfort on Hunk's strong shoulder. Romelle led a distraught Sven from the room, while Pidge tried to console a grieving Richie. Keith watched each of them. The team was hurting, and it broke his heart that he could not find a way to make things right. At the same time, he knew that they would survive. That they would find a way to pick up the pieces and move on. Everyone except Lance. He feared for Lance in the aftermath of Deirdre's death. His fears were confirmed when Lance let out a howl that sounded vaguely familiar to Keith's ears. It was the same wail that had not too long ago echoed through the corridor of Lotor's ship.

They watched in astonishment as the pilot of the Red Lion went to the wall and punched it soundly. "This-cannot-be-happening!" he yelled.

"Lance..." Keith said quietly, "there was nothing you could do."

"It's not fair! And it's not right!" Lance screamed at him. Tears streamed down his face and Keith could see the guilt and the sorrow tormenting his friend like an open wound that refused to heal.

Allura left Hunk's side to go to him. She gently laid a hand on his arm. "Lance, it wasn't your fault."

He jerked away from her harshly, and Keith suddenly wondered if he would need to step between them. Instead, before anyone could contemplate what he was doing, Lance hurled himself at the bed. He grabbed the chest paddles from beside the table and flipped the switch.

"I will not let you die on me!" he bellowed as he jammed the paddles to her chest.

Her body jerked upward then fell back to the bed with a thud. "Come on, Deirdre! Fight, goddammit!" He pushed the paddles down again.

"Lance!" Keith shouted at him, finally moving to his friend. He grabbed Lance from behind, pinning his arms to his side. In his weakened state, Keith had to call upon all of his strength to hold his flailing friend.

"Let go of me!" Lance howled. "This is my fault. I will not let her..."

"Stop it!" Allura screamed. Keith and Lance both stopped abruptly and stared at her. "Look!"

Both men turned to the bed. Deirdre's body began to twitch slightly. Her head jerked from one side of the pillow to the other. Her shoulders began to vibrate. Keith loosened his grip on Lance and moved to stand next to him. They watched, amazed, as a warm white light began at her throat, moved across her shoulders, and throughout her body.

Allura moved to stand next to Keith. "What is it?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head. "I have no idea."

Without warning, Deirdre sat straight up in bed, heaving as she took in a large gulp of air. The light appeared to be growing in strength, casting an eerie glow through the room. Then her eyes opened. But she wasn't looking at any of them. Her eyes were glazed over, completely white, staring straight ahead as if she were the only one in the room.

Allura cocked her head, a slight feeling of deja vu coming over her. Something about that light seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

Without regard for anyone else in the room, Deirdre swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Keith and Lance both instinctively jumped back.

"Deirdre?" Keith moved to intercept her, but stopped when Allura placed a hand on his arm.

"Wait, Keith. Let her go."

Keith and Lance stared at the princess as if she'd grown another head, but both backed up when Deirdre, as if in a deep state of hypnosis, walked past them and out of the room. She wandered the halls unseeing but knowing where she was going at the same time. The team followed with Allura in the lead, making sure they kept their distance. When they arrived in the main control room, Keith began to get nervous.

"We can't let her go in there." he stated, "If she's still under Lotor's control, she might be trying to destroy the mainframe."

Allura shook her head. "She's not." Her certainty made Keith pause.

"What makes you so sure?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, but I can feel it."

Lance caught up to Keith. "This whole thing is a little hinky if you ask me."

"Shh!" Allura hissed.

Deirdre moved to stand in front of the glass tube that moved from below the rock floor through the ceiling into the castle. She stood for a moment, seemingly contemplating what to do next. Then she raised her hands and placed her palms to the glass.

No one could really explain what happened next, but there was a sudden flash of blinding light that radiated from Deirdre, then traveled down her arms like it was alive. It moved to her hands, into her fingertips, then jumped from her into the glass containment unit.

A great rumble rocked the ground. Lance was thrown off balance and hit the ground hard. Keith snatched Allura and pulled her to him to steady her as they both struggled to stay on their feet. She clung to his chest as the shock wave vibrated throughout the cavern. Then they heard it. It started as a low rumbling sound. As it became louder, it became more familiar to their ears. It grew until five distinct yet harmonizing roars echoed shamelessly into the night.

"Keith," Allura breathed, looking up at him, "it's the lions! They're awake!"

Just a suddenly as it started, everything stopped. The roars faded, the ground vibrations ceased, and the white light emanating from Deirdre was gone, leaving her drained figure lying on the ground in a heap. But the power conduit within the glass remained lit.

"The castle is back on-line!" Pidge shouted hysterically. He was standing at the far end of the room where the computer console was lit up like a Christmas tree.

"What the hell happened?" Hunk bellowed from where he stood still clinging to the door frame.

"Deirdre!" Lance had managed to crawl to her and cradled her in his arms. "Keith! She's breathing! She's alive." He pulled her tightly to his chest. She began to struggle against him. He loosened his grip and she looked up at him.

"You're smothering me, you asshole!" she gasped, but made no move to get up. Instead, she laid her head back and closed her eyes.

Her insult only added to Lance's elation, and he laughed out loud. "I think she might be back to her old self, guys! Jesus Christ, Deirdre! I can't believe you're alive!"

Keith, still holding Allura in his arms – and surprisingly comfortable with that fact – smiled down at them. "You better get her back to the Med Bay. I think Gorma's definitely going to want to take a look at her. Hunk and Pidge, stay here and run any diagnostics you can think of to make sure this baby is up and running like she should. I want to make damn sure that this wasn't just a fluke."

"You got it, Boss!" Pidge nodded eagerly.

Hunk sauntered up next to where he still stood by the console. "You are way too excited about this, little buddy. We definitely need to get you out more."

Glancing down at Allura once more, Keith gazed into her shining eyes. He sighed and decided that the time to have a talk with the princess – the talk – was getting to be inevitable. However, now that the lions were up and running, there was a lot of planning that needed to be done first. So it would have to wait. But he silently promised her that they would make time in the near future. In the meantime, he reluctantly disengaged himself from her and turned to follow Lance, who had scooped Deirdre up in his arms, to the Med Bay.

In an open field only a few miles from the Castle of Lions, a Drule warship stood as a sentinel over the downed Blue Lion. Two platoons kept a vigil over the sleeping lion while tech crews worked tirelessly attempting to power it. Thus far, they had been unsuccessful. Gaining access to the cockpit had been simple enough. The Drule team had extracted the pilot without incident, but despite the fact that the lion was inoperable, the security system had held firm.

Commander Drogo growled audibly at his men as they stared up at the massive machine. "This is unacceptable!" he finally said. "There has got to be an override mechanism to this stupid thing."

His second, Major Ranulf, bristled next to him. "Well, the techs have not been able to find one, Sir. There is absolutely no power."

Drogo narrowed his eyes at him. "Is that what you would like me to report to Lotor?"

His subordinate shook his head. "Surely even Lotor understands that there are limitations to what we can accomplish under these circumstances."

"You apparently are not aware of how the king rewards failure, Major. Regardless of the circumstances. If we're lucky, we may be able to prove our worth in the pits. If we're not, a swift execution is in our future."

The major shook his head. "Even if it's out of our hands? Even if there's nothing we can do about it?"

His response was muted when the ground began to shake beneath them. Them to their astonishment, the Blue Lion's eyes suddenly came to life shedding an eerie glow on them. Then, Blue reared to itself, gave out am earth shattering roar, and took the air. Even as the ground beneath their feet stopped shaking, Drogo and Ranulf watched in stunned silence as the lion powered up to full throttle, streaked across the sky, and disappeared.

Drogo looked at Ranulf who only stood staring with his mouth hanging open. "What just happened?"

The major shrugged. "I have no idea, Sir. But I'd say that we have a very big problem on our hands, Commander." He matched his commanding officer's gaze. How do we tell Lotor that we lost the Blue Lion?"

"What the hell was that?" Lotor bellowed barely two steps into Castle Control before the words left his mouth.

The Drule technicians buzzed about the brightly lit console trying to discern an answer for him. The commander jumped to attention when Lotor stormed into the room. "Your Highness, we don't know exactly what happened yet." he said timidly. "There was a sudden earthquake, and the computer inexplicably came to life. We have no idea what caused it."

Lotor rubbed his chin for a moment. "The reason it happened isn't really relevant right now, Commander. What I want to know is: can we activate the lions? Can we control Voltron?"

"We are looking into it, Sire. It will take some time to figure out how to open the hatch that leads to each of the lions. But it shouldn't take long now that the computer is up and running."

"Fine!" Lotor pouted. He had been hoping for a better report. "Get it done!"

"Um Sire?" Another young technician approached him hesitantly. "I have just received a message from our teams in the field. Apparently, the Blue Lion has powered up and flown away unmanned, Sire. The guard post in the castle turrets reported seeing the lion make a splashdown in the lake just outside of the castle. They have no further information, Your Majesty."

Lotor summoned every once of control to keep himself from breaking the man's neck. The tongue lashing that he was prepared to give fell short when someone behind him interrupted.

"Lotor."

He spun to face Hagar, who had once again used her insane powers to sneak up on him. "What?" he spat at her.

She seemed nonplussed at his attitude toward her. "I think we should move cautiously, Lotor. Something was able to reverse my spell on the castle. It could only have been magic. Powerful magic." She paused with her thoughts for a brief moment before she continued. "We should be careful."

Lotor huffed. "I am afraid of no magic, Witch. Yours or anyone else's. No one sleeps until those lions are mine!"

This time Hagar narrowed her red eyes at him, clearly irritated. "You are a fool, Lotor. And it will prove to be your downfall."

"You just worry about your orders, Hagar." he responded. "Have you prepared your new robeast?"

She nodded. "It is nearly complete."

"King Lotor," one of technicians called to him, "Emperor Zeppo is sending a communication, Sire."

Zeppo's image appeared on the large screen, glaring down at Lotor. His expression reminded Lotor of the way his father used to look at him with disapproval. It made Lotor hate him even more. "Yes, Emperor." he bit out through gritted teeth.

"I want a status update. Are you any closer to forming Voltron?"

Lotor dropped his gaze. "No progress, yet, Emperor. But we are working diligently, I assure you."

"Right." Zeppo replied. "Perhaps my superior technicians will have better luck. We will be entering the atmosphere within the hour."

"Yes, Eminence." Lotor bowed.

The image faded away and Lotor was left staring at a blank screen. "You lied to him, Lotor." Hagar observed.

"Soon it won't matter. Once we launch the robeast, we will crush Zeppo, and I will rule as Supreme Emperor of the Drule Empire!"

Everyone gathered again in the corridor just outside of the the medical bay. As expected, Gorma had been flabbergasted when Lance had arrived with a very much alive Deirdre. Now he and his staff hovered around her, checking all of her vitals and performing any and all tests that they could think to run.

"Man," Lance said, running a hand through his hair, "we've been spending way too much time here lately."

Keith nodded. "Agreed. So let's say that we're going to stop this trend before it gets to be a habit."

"So," Sven interjected, "now that the lions are awake, what's the plan?"

Keith rubbed his chin. "Hunk and Pidge are still running tests. They will be able to verify if the lions are operational and ready for flight. In the meantime, we need to start making plans. I want everyone in the conference room in ten minutes."

"Does that mean that you're taking your command back?" Lance asked.

Keith raised an eyebrow. "If that's alright with you, Lance."

To everyone's surprise, Lance rushed to Keith and pulled him into a bear hug. "YES! YES!" he crowed, grinning. "You can have it!"

Romelle laughed loudly. "Tired of command already, Lance?"

He nodded eagerly. "I want in on all of the action...without all the decision making."

Keith couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his lips. "Okay, then. Everyone get yourselves together and meet in ten minutes."

As the group dispersed, Allura stopped Keith from leaving. "Are you sure that Dr. Gorma is going to clear you for duty?"

She was surprised when he merely smirked at her and the familiar lightness that she felt when they were alone together returned.

"I'm not going to give him a choice." was his only response.

Twelve minutes later, Lance strolled with his old cocky stride into the the meeting room to face a see of irritated expressions. He stopped short. "What?"

Keith crossed his arms. "I said ten minutes Lance. Not fifteen."

Lance shrugged. "By my watch, it's only been twelve minutes, Fearless Leader." he responded, dropping into the seat between Romelle and Hunk. On the other side of Romelle, Sven, and Pidge watched him with disapproval while Allura, sitting between Hunk and Keith hid a knowing grin behind her hand. "Gimme a break, Keith. I was in the shower. I had to get all the grime off from, you know, when I was saving your ass." To make his point, he shook his wet hair, spraying droplets of water around the table.

"Alright, alright," Keith scowled, "we get it." He turned his attention to rest of the team. "Hunk and Pidge, report."

Pidge leaned forward in his chair, propping his elbows on the table. "The energy source to the castle seems to be stabilized. It looks like whatever Deirdre did to it brought it back on-line. At least for awhile."

"Long enough to get Voltron up and running?" Keith asked.

Pidge nodded. "I would say so."

"Speaking of Deirdre's heroics," Lance interjected, "what the hell did she do?"

Hunk shrugged. "That we have yet to figure out."

"We can worry about that later." Keith cut in to keep them on task. "Right now all that matters is that the lions have power."

"Hunk," Allura said, "how long do you think it will be before Lotor and Hagar figure out how to access the lions?"

The big man rubbed his chin. "Well, there are several security mechanisms in place that they will have to bypass to get to the access shoots. Pidge and I put them in place ourselves."

Pidge cleared his throat. "But even if they do get to the access points, they would still need the keys to operate the lions."

Keith nodded. "And we all still have our keys, right?"

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge nodded.

"Oh no," Allura breathed suddenly, "I don't know what happened to Blue Lion's key after Lotor's soldiers took me."

There was a brief silence as they contemplated the situation. Without the key, there was no Blue Lion. Without Blue Lion...no Voltron.

"There is a possibility that the key is still in the lion." Pidge offered. He glanced at Hunk. "Hunk and I installed a new program in the lions no too long ago. If any of the lions are incapacitated or if the system if abruptly shut down – as in this case – the computer will fuse the key into the port, making it impossible for anyone to take the key out without an access code."

Allura let out an audible sigh of relief.

"There's more," Pidge continued, "if any of us are forced to abandon our lions, the new system will send a signal to the lions to either find the others or return to it's lair. I'm betting that now that the lions have power that Blue has already gone back to the lake."

"Which means Allura can still access Blue through the underground tunnels." Keith finished. Pidge and Hunk both nodded.

Lance jumped up from his seat. "What the hell are we waiting for? Let's gear up and go get Lotor. You have no idea how I am itching to kick some Drule ass right now."

Keith narrowed his eyes at his second in command. "Yes, I think we do, Lance. Trust me when I tell you that I think we are all feeling it right now. Now sit down."

With the wind suddenly taken out of his sails, Lance dropped back into his chair sullenly.

"There are still a few more details that we need to take care of." Keith announced. Then he turned to Sven and Romelle. "How far out are your soldiers, Romelle?"

"A few hours by foot, maybe." she answered, "They are camped just beyond the mountains. Waiting for their orders."

"Good. We are going to need all the ground support we can get to clear out any of the Drule soldiers still in the towns. If we get you a transport can you and Sven rally the troops?"

Romelle and Sven nodded in tandem. "Of course."

"What about me?"

The group turned toward the door where Richie leaned casually against the frame.

"You want to help us?" Lance spit out before he could stop himself.

Richie ignored him and walked to stand in front of Keith. "I know that I have always given you a hard time, Kogane, but with everything that's been going on, it's obvious to me that you are trying to do something good here." He shrugged. "I would like to help."

Keith looked up at the bigger man, maintaining eye contact. It was clear to him that Richie was telling the truth. There was no hidden agenda. He nodded. "You've had military training. That could be useful. You can help Sven and Romelle. They could use another body who has field experience."

Richie glanced at Sven who nodded his approval before giving Keith his own nod.

Lance let out a big, fake yawn. "Oh my god, if we're all done singing camp fire songs and roasting marshmallows, can we please get this show on the road?"

Instead of chastising Lance at that moment, Keith said, "Right. Everyone's got their orders. Let's do this!"

As they shuffled out the door, Allura caught Sven by the arm. "Hey, Sven. I need to talk to you about something."

"Allura?" Keith called. "Are you coming?"

"I'll be right there, Keith."

"Okay, but don't be long."

"Alright." she called before returning her attention to Sven.

Romelle sidled up beside them. "Do you need to speak in private?" she asked.

Allura shook her head. "Actually, I need to talk to the both of you." She glanced around to make sure that they were alone. "I have a favor that I need to ask of you."

END OF ACT II

Yes, Friends, this is the end of Act II. We are now officially 2/3 of the way through the story and there is a lot more stuff to come. Thanks to all of you who are muddling through with me. Your words of support mean very much to me. :) Keep the reviews coming. They keep me at the keyboard (although I'm not so sure that's necessarily a good thing) ha ha...

Up Next - ACT III: The Final Battle