Lance forgot how many times he has tapped his feet against the floor. He, along with the rest of the Paladins of the Castle of Lions, waited outside the residential corridor as the healer checked on the Green Paladin. The door to his room was kept open for them to see because apparently, four anxious Paladins and two jittery Alteans makes the room smaller and more suffocating than it already is. He and Hunk stood the closest to the door, watching the healer do her thing. Keith was leaning on the wall across them; he looked calm, but the way he shifts his foot every five seconds indicates that he is almost at his limits. Shiro was pacing at the end of the hallway, disappearing occasionally that Lance thought he might have covered the rest of the corridor without realizing it.

Lance's eyes drifted to the Pidge. Despite being covered in layers of the thickest blankets he could find, she was still shivering like a leaf. Her cheeks were flushed and droplets of sweat trickling down her forehead. Occasionally, she was mumbling something unintelligible like she was having a nightmare. It made Lance's stomach churn. She was suffering and they could nothing but quiznaking watch! They are enjoying this friendly planet but here is Pidge, bedridden and apparently has contracted something – probably, an alien virus – from god-knows-where! It isn't fair!

Allura and Coran showed up a few doboshes later just as the healer finished. Behind the two Alteans, the queen of Ninhurgia smiled at the gathered Paladins and regarded the healer. "How is the Green Paladin?"

"I am afraid the Green Paladin's condition has gotten worse." The healer said, lowering her head. "Her quintessence is teetering between life and death. At this point, she is unfit to even move a limb."

Keith stepped toward the healer. "Are you saying…Pidge is going to die?"

"She is not going to die, Red Paladin." The healer's voice was uncharacteristically cold and empty. "She is already dying."

For a moment, everyone seemed to stop breathing. "What…did you say?" Keith growled. He grabbed the healer's robe, almost lifting the Ninhurgian half a foot off the floor. "SAY THAT AGAIN! Pidge is not dying! Tell us you're joking!"

"Keith, you have to calm down!" Shiro gripped Keith's arm firmly. "Let her go. Getting angry at her will not help Pidge!"

"She's supposed to heal her!" Keith shouted. "But she said...!" He closed his eyes tight for a moment before shoving the healer and sending her stumbling on the floor. He turned on his heel and stomped through the hall, leaving a furious silence in his wake.

With one angry Paladin that left, another replaced his place. Lance glared at the healer, with Hunk standing close behind to stop him from lunging at the Ninhurgian next. "YOU-! What do you mean she's dying? Pidge's perfectly healthy! How could she be dying?"

"It is as I said." The healer rose, brushing her robes with trembling hands. "Her quintessence has become unstable to the point of unrepair. I believe it is the work of the Spirit of Decay, a malevolent beast who once almost wiped out all lifeforms in Ninhurgia. Every creature who falls under its Plague is doomed to die."

"THEN, DO SOMETHING!" Lance yelled. "Exorcise that spirit or anything! You're a healer, aren't you? Heal her!"

"I cannot." The healer answered. "I do not have the power to. Even when sealed, the Spirit's power is beyond anyone's grasp."

"There has to be something we can do." Allura insisted. "Maybe I could speak with the Spirit into letting Pidge go -"

"Goodness, Princess, no!" Queen Ourbele said, grabbing the Altean's shoulders. "The Spirit of Decay is very dangerous. It seeks only the destruction of everything! Our ancestors had sacrificed their lives just to seal the Spirit. Even so, it still has the power to corrupt souls from distant lands. It has no heart nor reason. If you approached it willingly, who knows what it will do to you?"

"Her Majesty is correct, Princess." The healer supplied. "The Spirit will not hesitate to slay you. We cannot do more to save the Green Paladin, but there is a way to lengthen her time with the living."

"What the fuck!" Hunk slid his arms around Lance's to hold him back. The yellow Paladin may seem calm, but his eyes tell otherwise. "Let me go, Hunk! Stop saying she's dying! Pidge isn't dying!"

"The Great Ancestor Tree can support her." The healer continued, moving her head away from the Blue Paladin. "I can personally escort the Green Paladin there. Once the preparations are complete, you can come to say your goodbyes. My apologies, but this is the best I can do."

Shiro turned to Allura. His usually firm voice pleading in desperation. "Princess, tell me you can do something with your power. Please! I'm begging you."

"I…" Allura pursed her lips. "I'll do my best." She turned to the healer. "Please give me some time. Perhaps, I can do something. Maybe I could heal her with my power."

"Princess, that is very risky!" The queen of Ninhurgia exclaimed. "The Spirit's Plague may corrupt your soul as well!"

"I have to try!" Allura clenched her fists. "Pidge is my friend and family. I have to help her!"

The queen and the healer exchanged worried looks. "I understand…" The queen murmured somberly. "Forgive me, Princess. As the reigning monarch of Ninhurgia, it is I to blame. I cannot do more, even with my power. I swore as queen of Ninhurgia that I will do my best to support Voltron. Anything you need, Ninhurgia will provide."

"Thank you, Your majesty…"

Queen Ourbele squeezed her shoulder reassuringly before letting go. Allura stepped inside Lance's room; her regal composure crumbling to pieces at the sight of the Green Paladin's bedridden body. She almost stumbled as she knelt at the side of the bed and gripped the young girl's pale hand. "Pidge…"

The healer stepped back at view by the doorway. "I'll retrieve the Green Paladin at the setting of the Three Suns tomorrow. I pray for your success, Princess Allura of Altea." The healer bowed her head low, almost bending her entire upper body, and moved away. The two Ninhurgians watched as the other residents filed inside as quickly as their feet could. The queen exchanged a brief, sorrowful nod to the male Altean, and gestured to the healer.

"Let us away." The queen said and the healer ambled three steps behind her, leaving behind the muted sorrow of the residents of the Castle of Lions. The silence of the empty corridors swallowing the tiny procession as they made their outside of the humongous Altean spaceship. The thick forest seemingly welcoming them under the harsh daylight - an irony to the situation Fate had just presented them.

"It is unfortunate that the Plague has touched the Green Paladin." The healer spoke once they are ways away from the spaceship. "You are quite fond of her, aren't you Your Majesty?"

"Yes," The queen cooed. "Terribly so." She glanced at the healer over her shoulder. "Are you truly certain that the cause was the Spirit?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." The healer answered grimly, wringing her hands together. "I cannot mistake such corruption. I have seen many infected, but the corruption that touched the Green Paladin is more terrible."

"How so?"

"I sensed the Spirit's malice more clearly. It truly intends to destroy the Green Paladin once and for all." The healer dared to look up at the queen. "What should we do now, Your Majesty?"

Queen Ourbele kept her eyes trained ahead as the healer waited patiently for an answer. "…Dispose of her." She answered after a beat of silence.

The healer looked genuinely surprised. "Pardon?"

"If the Plague that struck the Green Paladin is viler than before, should not we get rid of it immediately?" The queen stopped abruptly on her steps and knelt before a small plant growing the middle of the loamy ground. Her pale, white fingers brushing on the long, slender leaves of lone plant as she spoke. "Take this tiny plant for example. It is here in the middle of the road, providing nothing but an obstacle, and will continue to so unless we," She wrapped her fingers around plant and pulled it – leaves, stem, and roots, all of it – off the ground. "Uproot the source of the problem."

She threw the poor plant away and clapped her hands to brush the dirt away. "Dispose of the Green Paladin at once. I'm sure we can make do with four Paladins and two Alteans. The Emperor does not expect them to be brought alive either way, and we need only one for the Ritual." Her pupil-less eyes glittered wickedly. "Yes, perhaps the Altean Princess will do. She may not be as bound to nature as the Green Paladin, but her power will serve as well for more than a hundred deca-phoebs."

She turned to the healer. "Once you dispose of the Green Paladin, make haste with the preparations. Everything must be perfect."

"Yes, Your Majesty." The healer bowed. "I will do as you wish for the grace of Ninhurgia."

"Yes…" The queen smiled, baring jagged teeth. "For the grace of Ninhurgia."