It took me literly 3 days to work on this chapter!
XxXxXx
Celestia screamed when White Lion suddenly slammed down to the ground. The force of a beam is keeping her and White Lion pinned down.
"We're trapped!" Yellow Lion cried. "Don't take my Paladin!"
Celestia moved very slowly. "Stay strong, Lions!" She told them in her head. "Don't panic."
"Don't hurt my Paladin, you Galra!" Red Lion cried. "Or you're going to be snack!"
Suddenly the hatch of White Lion opened and two pirate looking Galra came in, holding guns.
Celestia tried to move, but the Galra grabbed her quickly restrained her. "Let go of me!" She could somehow move freely when the beam disappeared, but she was still restrained with her arms pinned behind her back.
"Quiet!" One of the Galra used the butt of his gun to hit her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her as she fell to her knees. "On your feet!" One of the Galra grabbed her shoulder and roughly yanked her to her feet and slapped cuffs on her wrists.
XxXxXx
Keith, Krolia, Hunk, Romelle, Pidge, Lance, Allura, and Shiro stood outside - with a group of Galra pointing their guns at the cuffed good guys.
"Where's Celestia!?" Keith demanded, glaring at the Galra.
"If she's smart, she won't try anything." The Galra, who was closest to him, hissed as he adjusted his gun to continue to point it at Keith.
"You keep shoving me, you're going to be wearing that thing!" Celestia's voice threatened from the side of White Lion.
Everyone turned to see Celestia was shoved forward, she stumbled over towards her friends, and fell to the ground.
"Celestia!" Pidge cried when Celestia fell in front of her. "Are you ok!?"
"Yeah." Celestia nod. "I'm ok." She yelps when one of the Galra grabbed her by the hair and yanked her up.
"Celestia!" Keith yelled, starting forward, but a Galra slammed the butt of his gun into Keith's stomach.
"Keith!" Krolia cried as she and Shiro started forward, but the Galra stopped when as Keith fell to his knees.
"Let's move it!" One of the Galra ordered.
XxXxXxXx
Celestia had been moved to a different cell then the rest of the team. She leaned back on the wall and looking down. The door unlocking had her look up to see Acxa walking in.
"What do you want!?" Celestia demanded.
Acxa took a step forward. "I'm trying to help you." She said calmly.
"The last time we saw each other, I believe I told you I was going to rip your face off!"
"What's done is done." Acxa said. "All I ever known is evil."
"Why help us now!?" Celestia demanded. "You have been trying to kill us for years!"
"Where's Lotor?"
Celestia blinked, a little taken aback. "He's dead! He's been left in the Quintessence Field. All that power he was craving, he got what he wanted. And it destroyed him." She saw something flicker in Acxa's face.
"He's really dead?"
"Yes!"
"I know you don't trust me." Acxa replied. "But you have to trust me now."
Celestia's eyes narrowed. "Why? What do you want in return?"
"Redemption."
That surprised the Princess. "Excuse me?"
"I can't change the past." Acxa said. "But I can change my ways now." Before she could continue she hears footsteps. "Someone's coming." She steps backwards.
"Whoa?" Celestia blinked. "Wait!" She runs up to the door, but stops when the footsteps stop in front of the door. She backs away and back into the corner just as her door is again unlocked and again opens.
Ezor and Zethrid walk into the cell. "Hello Princess!" Zethrid greeted as she held something in her hand.
"Great, what are you two wanting?" Celestia hissed.
"We want your quintessence!" Zethrid said as she pulled out the rod she was holding.
"You can try it!" Celestia growled as she braced herself, then screamed when Zethrid pointed the rod at the Princess who fell to the floor on her hands and knees as she felt weak. "What do you want with my quintessence?"
"That's for us to know." Ezor answered simply.
Celestia tried in vain to push herself up, causing her to fall backwards into the wall behind her. "Stop." She begs with a strain and her voice shook as she winced cause it hurt so much. "Please."
Ezor quickly grabbed the rod from Zethrid. "That's enough Zethrid. We just want to weaken her, remember?"
The dangerous looking Galra growled. "Fine." She huffs. "We got the Paladins to interrogated." With that she turned and stalked out.
"Don't hurt them!" Celestia cried weakly, before she closed her eyes and soon she was out cold.
XxXxXxXx
"Keith!"
Celestia could barely stay awake as she slowly opened her eyes to find Krolia knelt down in front of her and taking off the cuffs, then Keith is quick to run into the room.
"Is she ok!?" He demands as he rushes up to them. Just as he fell to his knees, Celestia's eyes fluttered opened.
"I'm ok." She said very weakly. "They ... stole ... most ... of ... my quintessence." She tried to speak as Keith ran his fingers along her face in a loving way.
Both Krolia and Keith stood up. "Can you stand?" She asked Celestia gently.
"I don't know." The Princess whispered, Krolia held her hands out and helped Celestia stand up. But once she stood, she collapsed heavily into Krolia.
"Celestia!" Keith cried with worry.
"We need to get her out of here." Krolia said as she shifted the Princess and now held her.
XxXxXxX
An hour later, Celestia awoke to find herself in White Lion's cargo bay. Using her arms, she shakily pushed her upper body up.
"Celestia." Krolia is soon by her side. "Are you ok?" She asks gently as she places a hand on her back.
"I, I think so." Celestia started to stand. "Where are we?" She soon saw Acxa. "YOU!" She jumped up and flew at the Galra, surprising Krolia with the amount of strength and speed.
Acxa fell on her back on the floor of White Lion's cargo bay with Celestia's hands on her throat.
"Princess!" Krolia is quick to her side. "Celestia!" She grabbed her arms. "She saved us!"
Celestia blinked and let go of Acxa's neck, and the Galra coughed. "She what?" Celestia turned to look at Keith's mother.
"She didn't have to, but she did." Krolia added as Celestia moved away from Acxa, who sat up and rubbed her throat.
"I didn't know they were going to steal your quintessence." Acxa told Celestia, who folded her arms and huffed.
"Yeah right." She turns her attention back to Krolia. "Where are we?"
"On a distent planet and away from the Warlords."
"I'll go talk to the Paladins." Acxa said, before she quickly left the cargo bay of White Lion.
Krolia looked at the floor of the Lion. "She saved our lives."
Celestia sighs heavily. "It's only fair that we hear her out."
XxXxXxX
Everyone turned when the tarp that Lance had placed, moved to the side to reveal Krolia, she side stepped and Celestia slowly walked into the make shift camp.
"Celestia!" Pidge beamed, she flew over to the Princess and tackled her in a big hug, but Celestia winced.
"Be careful Pidge." Krolia warned gently. "She's still recovering."
"Oh!" Pidge quickly let go and jumped backwards. "I'm sorry!"
Celestia smiled as she walked up to Pidge. "It's ok." She pulled the youngest into a hug, and youngest smiled as she returned it with a tight but not too tight of a hug and on the verge of tears.
"You had us all worried." Lance added as Keith walked past him.
"I'm sorry." She apologized as Keith walked up to her.
"Are you sure you're ok?" The Red Paladin asked with worry.
"I just need a little time to rest." Celestia answered with a nod, and Coran jumped up from where he was sitting.
"Princess! You can have my seat." He offers, stepping to the side and guestering for her to take a seat.
Celestia pulled away from Pidge's hug and let both Pidge and Keith lead her to the log and sit down, the two sat on ether side of her.
"Do you know how the Lions are?" Hunk asked her.
"Hunk!" Allura scolded, and he winced and quickly hid behind Romelle.
"Sorry."
"It's ok." Celestia said with a soft smile. "I'm too weak right now to communicate with the Lions."
Hunk started to move. "I'll go check on them." He moved and disappeared behind the tarp.
Celestia laid the side of her head on Keith's shoulder. Feeling eyes on her she turns to see Pidge watching, the Princess smiled a little and reached out to take Pidge's hand, gently squeezing it causing Pidge to smile brightly.
Lance smiled as he watched Pidge, he knew Pidge admired her and looked up to her. He turned to pay attention to the fire, and he poked at it a little.
XxXxXx
Hunk returned as he carried an armload of firewood. "The Lions look to be in worse shape then ever."
"We should probably give them some time to recharge." Shiro said, looking over at Celestia who looked like she was going to fall asleep any minute.
Lance gazed around. "Wow, a lot of things have changed in the past few weeks."
Acxa frowned as she straightened up. "Weeks? What are you talking about?"
Lance turns to her with his own frown. "The last time we saw you. You were fighting with Lotor."
Acxa looked at the fire. "That was deca-pheebs ago." She explained while gazing into the fire. "No one has seen you since your fight with Lotor."
Team Voltron looked at her with shock. "That's impossible." Keith said.
"Its true. After Lotor jettisoned us, we managed to make it to a small meteoroid. There we saw both Voltron and Lotor disappear. Eventually, Voltron re-emerged alone. But then there was an explosion and after that ... nothing. That was three deca-pheebs ago."
It was quiet for a long time, the only sound was the fire as the realization kicked in.
"Whoa." Lance breathed.
Allura turns to Acxa. "So as far as everyone else in the universe is concerned, Voltron has been gone for three deca-pheebs?"
It was once again silent, Hunk dropped half the load of firewood he'd brought back as he gaped.
Pidge gazed into the fire. "That explains the discrepancies in the star charts of the Lions. I thought they were off because of our inter-dimensional jumping. I guess they were in a way. Because when you think about it, it must have been the cause of the time slippage between our experience and that of the rest of the universe."
Keith wrapped his arms around Celestia, and pulled her into his lap as she still looked tired. "Thank you for saving us." He told Acxa.
"I hope that this makes up, in some way, for the wrongs I've done. I realize now that Lotor wasn't the man I thought he was. He preached unity, but in the end, he sought only power."
"I understand how you feel." Allura said as she gazed into the fire. "I fell for Lotor's lies as well."
Lance placed a hand on her shoulder, she looked up at him then reached up and rested her hand over his as she accepted the comfort.
"I'll do everything I can to make sure to help the Voltron Coalition." Acxa vowed.
