A/N: Not too big of a cliffhanger here. I decided to save that one for tomorrow's chapter. ^_^ Seeing as it's midnight now, I'm crashing and will edit this seriously tomorrow. Night~

Chapter summary: In which Keith is on the verge of a breakdown, Allura hears something horrible, Hunk hears something incredible, and Sendak enjoys the silence.


28: Wintry Silence

When he attacked, Pidge was ready. He dodged the first sweeping strike of the humming purple blade, then the second. The third required a roll to avoid but it gave him to opportunity to throw his bayard blade. Unfortunately for Pidge, the Galra soldier was faster.

The Galra dodged the green blade and tangled the glowing green cord that connected it to the paladin's bayard around his sword. Before Pidge could react, the Galra gripped the cord and swung with all his strength, tossing Pidge to the other side of the catwalk. Pidge landed hard, knocking the wind out of him, and slid across the metal. Thankfully, his back hit the control panel preventing him from sliding right off the catwalk into the primary turbine resulting in what Pidge knew would be a rather painful death.

Pidge grunted and pushed himself up to all fours just as laughter reached his ears. He turned his head and saw the Galra step on his bayard's green cord and allow the cord still coiled around the purple blade to slide off.

"Nowhere left to run," the Galra said. "Nowhere left to hide."

He lifted his blade and Pidge lifted his bayard handle, ready to block when-

"Indeed? Forgive me, my mind was elsewhere."

What? Pidge blinked, startled by the unexpected voice.

"Commander?" the Galra said, pausing his attack.

"Really? It's rude to ignore your guests, you know."

"Lance!" Pidge cried, sitting up in surprise.

The Galra hesitated, but so did Pidge. Neither of them wanted to make a move, too confused by the voices speaking over the Castle's speakers.

"I suppose so."

That must be this Galra soldier's commander. But why was he talking to Lance? Or rather, why was Lance talking to him?

"It would appear another guest has paid a visit to a mutual friend," the Galra continued. "Perhaps you would like to offer some encouragement to help spur our friend on."

"No. Lance!" Pidge cried, sitting up straight. "Don't do it. Whatever he wants you to do, don't do it. I'm fine. Do you hear me, you stupid alien? I'm fine."

"Encouragement?"

Was it just Pidge's imagination running wild, or did the humor in Lance's voice sound a bit forced?

"I don't know what you mean."

There. Pidge was certain he heard a waver in the prince's voice.

"No? Then let me show you." The Galra's voice was deep and smooth. He sounded perfectly at ease with whatever was happening. What was happening?

"I'd rather not."

The prince's voice was definitely wavering now. Whatever was happening, he wasn't liking it. Pidge didn't either.

"What's going on?" Pidge demanded the Galra in front of him. "What's happening to Lance? Tell me!"

The Galra soldier merely smiled.

"Oh, that wasn't a choice."

The scream that followed sounded anything but human. Pidge wouldn't forget it for as long as he lived.


When Keith screamed, it broke Allura's concentration snapping her back to her own body with such force she wobbled on the ledge beneath the bridge. When she recognized the sound for what it was, her heart dropped. Something was happening to Lance and whatever it was, it was powerful enough to affect Keith through their link.

Shiro attempted to jump across the expanse separating him and Allura from Keith, but the distraught red paladin jumped. Allura saw him jump, but she didn't scream right away. Her horrified gaze followed the red paladin down through the air below then sideway accompanied by a blast of light and hot air.

"Keith!" Shiro shouted, dropping to his hands and knees by the edge, staring at the ground far below.

Keith must have used his jet pack. The paladin's jet packs were designed for space but could be used in an atmosphere. They simply lacked the precision needed for sharp turns and sudden, dramatic changes in speed. The provided enough force to stop a paladin's fall as Keith's had just done successfully, but they weren't designed to handle a paladin's full weight in the air for extended periods of time.

Allura could hear the sound of something striking the Galran particle barrier around the Castle and would wager Keith was trying to take the thing down by sheer force alone. It wouldn't work. The attacks from Keith's bayard sword were nothing to a fully powered particle barrier. It could take weeks for Keith's attacks to whittle the power down enough to make an impact.

"Shiro," she said, snatching the black paladin's attention. Shiro's brown eyes were wide and stunned but quickly focused on the princess. "Use your jet pack and take me up to the top of the bridge."

Shiro blinked in surprise. "Jet pack?" He reached behind him and felt his back for any sign of the device. "I have a jet pack?"

Allura nodded. "Yes. It's not optimized for non-space travel but it should well enough to get us up there. You can activate it by choosing that option on the readout on your left armpad."

Shiro stood and tapped his left arm, studying the holographic readout that appeared over his forearm. He couldn't read the Altean letters flashing across the screen, but he got the gist of what he was looking at from the pictures. He moved to select the one that resembled a jet pack when Allura stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Wha- Your highness?" Shiro cried, holding up his hands and leaning back in an attempt to put distance between himself and the princess currently clinging to him. "What are you doing?"

"My flight suit doesn't have a jet pack," she said calmly, ignoring her paladin's obvious discomfort. "You'll need to carry me up there."

"Carry…you?"

"We don't have time for this," she snapped, noticing the way Shiro's body stiffened. "Get us up there before Keith works himself to exhaustion."

"R-right. Sorry about this," he said, wrapping his arms around Allura's body, pulling her tightly to his own.

"Jump before you activate it," she said. "Otherwise, you'll shoot us both into the rock above us."

"Oh." She felt Shiro look down and take a deep breath. "Okay," he said. "You ready?"

She nodded.

"Alright. Hold on."

He waited for Allura to acknowledge him with a nod before stepping out over the open air and allowing himself to fall. The princess instinctively tightened her grip on Shiro's body and tried not to squeeze her eyes shut as they fell. She couldn't see him tap the jet pack choice from the holographic readout, but she heard the tell-tale beep and felt both of their bodies jerk abruptly when the jet pack came online.

It had enough energy to slow their descent and after a couple false starts, Shiro figured out leaning guided the device. He leaned to the left and Allura felt the jet pack push them to the left and up over the bridge's side. She turned her head to face the Castle as they slowly came back down to land on the stone surface of the bridge. Keith stood in front of the particle barrier with his bayard sword drawn and clasped in both hands. He leapt at the barrier, slashing it with all his might, screaming Lance's name as he did so. It was painful to watch.

When she was close enough to the bridge's surface the land safely, she let go of Shiro's neck and dropped the final few spans. She landed in a crouch, absorbing the shock as best she could, and ran to the red paladin's side.

"Keith," she shouted. "Keith stop. Stop!"

She grabbed the halfbreed's left arm and leaned forward, putting her weight onto the paladin's arm effectively preventing him from lifting his bayard with that hand. Keith tried to shake her off, but she dug her right elbow into his chest and held fast.

"This is pointless, Keith," she said. "You won't get the barrier to lower like this."

"Shut up," Keith cried furiously. "Shut up shut up shut up!"

He let go of his sword with his left hand and tried to shake the princess off of him. He adjusted his grip on his bayard sword using his right hand and continued his useless assault on the maddening purple barrier.

"Keith!" Shiro shouted, wrapping his arms around the red paladin's body. He couldn't get Keith's right arm, but he managed to get the left arm, squeezing it to Keith's body. "Keith, I know you're upset but you have to stop. You'll just hurt yourself."

"Keith listen to me," Allura said.

"Shut up," Keith cried, shaking his head and fighting Shiro's hold to continue slashing at the barrier. "Lance!"

Allura grit her teeth furiously. "Enough!"

Keith hesitated at her command and turned his frenzied gaze to hers, waiting for another command.

"I'm close to powering down the particle barrier," Allura said, startling both of her companions. "Give me a few more tecks and it should be down. Save your strength for the Galra behind this. You can actually do some damage to them. Don't tire yourself out before you get the chance to rip them to shreds."

Keith reluctantly lowered his blade obediently, but his body continued to shake with pent-up energy. He bowed his head but his ears remained erect and his breathing did not ease. Allura sympathized with his pain, but this was important. If Keith- If any of them had any hope of getting through this and finding Lance alive, then they needed to all be at their best. Anything less and the princess suspected they wouldn't live to regret it.

She closed her eyes and focused all of her thoughts and energy on regaining her connection to her mice. It took a few ticks but soon Allura was looking up through the eyes of her mice. They were in a small vent tunnel that was much too small for Pidge to fit through. They could see one of the doorways to the generator room from their low vantage point. It was across the room on the other side of the catwalk which meant the other door was in the wall next to the small vent.

The beams of energy glowed purple, filling the generator room with its eerie, unwelcoming light. A strange sound filled her mice's ears but it was hard to make out clearly over the loud hum of the generator. The sentry who stood by the door nearest the small vent paid the mice no mind. If he saw them at all in the dim light or heard them over the noise, it most likely dismissed them as a threat. Good.

Allura encouraged the mice to run across the catwalk to the control panel, following their progress closely. They climbed up the panel's support column and peered over the side at the panel on top. The big green mouse bravely climbed over first and stared at the readouts on the screen.

Allura studied the readouts through her companion's eyes and nudged the green mouse towards a series of flashing symbols on the left. With her gentle encouragement, the mouse pressed its tiny paw on the symbols she indicated. A visualization of the Castle of Lions appeared on the panel's view screen showing the particle barrier power down. Her mice cheered and so did she until the now inoperative generator's hum faded and she could hear the other sound more clearly.

It was scream.

The sound threw her from her mice's minds. Her sight returned to her body and she realized she had fallen to her knees sometime during her stay in her mice's eyes. She suspected she knew exactly when her balance had given way.

"Princess," Shiro's voice called. "Princess, are you alright?"

Allura pressed her hand to her mouth as her sight blurred from tears. That scream… That sounded like…

"Lance," she breathed.

Movement caught her attention and she looked up in time to see the Galran particle barrier turn off. Keith wasted no time adjusting his sword in his right hand and running into the Castle at full speed. Allura bit back her pain and leapt up to follow her paladin with Shiro at her heels. The moment they entered the Castle proper, that sound filled her ears.

"What is that?" Shiro asked, stunned.

"Lance," Allura said, pushing herself to go faster. "It's Lance."

"My god."

Allura steeled herself, fully prepared to listen to her brother's screams the whole way to the bridge if she had to. For this reason and this reason only, she skidded to a stop when Lance suddenly fell silent.


Hunk could barely believe what he was hearing.

"These ones will take you as far as the crystal, but no further," the elder said from her place by the fire. "You claim you will perform the energy exchange when you return. Is this not so?"

Coran nodded. "You have my word," he swore, kneeling on one knee and touching his forehead, his mouth, and his heart with the fingers of his right hand.

The elder's eyes widened, the gold gleaming in the firelight. "Then consider this an act of trust," she said. "If you return and complete the exchange within a single turn as the ancient ones once did, then these ones," she gestured to the Balmerans around her, "shall offer you aid in your endeavors. However," she warned, "if you do not return within the time given to you by these ones, then you will not find us as allies."

"We understand and accept your most gracious offer, elder," Coran said, standing. "Lead the way."

"I will not be going and neither shall these ones," Rax said, standing from his place by the fire. He turned to the Balmeran elder and said angrily, "We have family. We are together now. The Galra would tear this family asunder if they learned we offered aid to these skylings. I will not be a part of such an act."

"I will," Shay said.

"Shay," Rax breathed in betrayal.

"I told you once, brother. I cannot turn my back on the skylings," she said, gazing at her brother sadly. "This one's words touched my heart," she said, gesturing to the yellow paladin. "I wish for all of Balmera to have this freedom this one speaks of and I believe these one's Voltron can make it so."

"Voltron?" the elder asked.

"An Altean tale and nothing more," Rax said. "Why must you allow these skylings to fill your ears with their shadow shows?"

"You speak of one Voltron," the elder said, interrupting the young Balmerans' burgeoning argument. "Where did you hear of such a name?"

"I'm a paladin of Voltron," Hunk said, finally finding the courage to speak up. "I pilot the Yellow Lion."

The elder's eyes stared unblinkingly at Hunk saying nothing. After a moment she turned her gaze to Coran and nodded. "I know what you are now skyling," she said gravely. "There are those who still remember your people."

Coran's shoulders slumped and his expression fell. "I see," he said.

"Your oath has more weight now," the elder said. "This one shall guide you," she gestured to Shay, "to the crystal. If you are who I believe you to be, then the crystal shall come free for you. This one shall take the crystal to your ship but then you shall be on your own. We cannot and will not protect you. Fulfilling your oath shall decide whether you deserve our aid."

Coran bowed, this time at the waist. "Let it be as you say," he intoned.

Hunk shook his head in disbelief and had to scurry to catch up with Shay and Coran. He followed them through the winding tunnels of the Balmera with no light save that from his paladin armor and, surprisingly, from Coran's clothes. Who knew.

"This is it," Shay said, stopping. She pointed to something that sparkled dimly in the corner of the cavern. "The crystal you seek is there. I must stay here as the elder wished." She turned her gaze to Hunk and smiled. "I pray your actions be as the elder believes."

"They will be," Hunk said returning Shay's smile. "I promise."

"Well," Coran said, cracking his knuckles, "let's do this."

He walked across the dark room to a huge crystal embedded in the Balmera's body with Hunk at his side. The yellow paladin studied the crystal closely. There was no way they could dig the thing out it was too deep in the ground. Not to mention the fact this thing probably weighed twice as much as Hunk did on a bad day.

"Halt."

Hunk spun around in time to see two Galra sentries race across the cavern towards him. He didn't think. He just drew his bayard, activated it, and fired. The sentries fell to the bright yellow energy blasts from his huge bayard gun easily.

"Okay," he said. "That's two down. Anymore to go?"

Shay didn't speak, but he wasn't exactly expecting her to. It wasn't her job to get involved. The last thing he wanted was for Shay to die before she could even get a taste of freedom. Hunk wouldn't fail her after giving her something to hope for.

"I think we're safe for the time being," Coran said, standing from where he'd hidden behind Hunk.

He turned to the crystal and placed his hands on its surface. He closed his eyes and relaxed his mind and body opening himself to the Balmera. The crystal began to glow from within casting turquoise light across Coran and Hunk's faces.

"Um, I don't mean to push, but can you speed things up a bit maybe?" Hunk asked, hefting his gun and keeping a lookout for any more Galra.

"This isn't something that can be rushed," Coran admonished. "If I tried wrenching the crystal free, I'd be no better than a common Galra monster." He sighed deeply. "The Balmera are sacred beings. If I want the crystal, then I have to ask it."

"Oh," Hunk said, lowering his weapon to gaze at the soft light. "How do you ask? Is it like with the princess and her mice?"

Coran chuckled. "Sort of. But it's deeper than that, more personal. By asking for this, I'm connecting my life force with the Balmera's. If it agrees to give us the crystal, it's acknowledging my oath to return and heal it in the exchange process."

"That's why the elder meant when she said a sign of trust," Hunk said, beginning to understand. "She didn't mean her trust. She meant the Balmera's."

Coran nodded. A moment later, the ground rumbled and both Coran and Hunk stepped away from the crystal. Hunk watched in amazement as the ground crumbled away from the crystal allowing it to tip to the side, waiting to be taken away. The Altean advisor smiled.

"It trusts me," he whispered in awe.

"You say that like it was your first time getting one of these," Hunk said wryly.

"It was."

Hunk stared at Coran for a moment. "I'm not sure if I'm proud of you or if I should be yelling at you for getting us in danger," he said.

"Both probably," the advisor said with a wink.

He stood back when Shay approached them. Hunk turned to the Balmeran, stepping aside so she could take the crystal. "I am glad," she said, lifting the crystal with ease. "Since the Balmera trusts you, then I hope you take this with our blessing. Heal you friend and return to us as you promised."

"We will," Hunk said.


Sendak gazed at the fallen prince in pleased silence. If he'd known the boy would scream like that, he would have done this sooner. As it was now, he could no longer strike the Altean without leaving another mark on him. However, considering the silence he now had, he could focus on getting this ship off this godforsaken rock.

He fiddled absently with his prize. The salve Sendak had Haxus apply to the prince's back had healed the more serious wounds so they no longer posed a threat to the prisoner's life now covered the entire right half of the Altean's face. It wasn't much, but it would ensure the brat lived long enough to be delivered to Zarkon even in this state.

Something flashed in the corner of his eye and he turned to the control panel. He tapped the flashing symbol and a video feed showed three people running down the Castle halls towards the bridge. How had they gotten inside? He checked the status of the particle barrier and hummed thoughtfully. The saboteur must have gotten to it. That must be what had distracted Haxus from his duty. A mild annoyance only.

"Well," he said aloud. "It appears you and I will have more guests sooner than expected."

He received no response except the silence and smiled, pleased.