Chapter nine: Light In The Dark

Allura's eyes slowly blinked open; her right cheek pressed to the cool floor of... stone? Her mind slowly began to trickle back to her, the fuzziness fading away and an emptiness replacing it. She heavily pushed herself up, a few loose strands from her eggshell hair hung from her face. Somehow, when she looked up, her helmet lay just a few yards from her; surprisingly not damaged. The dim light of her location obscured much detail, and seemed to have no source.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Allura called out cautiously. What is this place? She thought to herself. How did I get here? She stood up to scan, what would be, the sky. "No sun, or moon." She said, dropping her gaze to the land. "No way to tell what time of day it is... unless.." She turned her attention to her gauntlet, bringing up the screen it fizzled out near immediately.

"Something must be preventing any sort of technology to work here." The alien princess guessed aloud. She looked up to find a small temple. It bore the shape of a lion's head above the entrance. The carving appeared to be pieced together in such a way, as to form a mouth looking like that of the Voltron symbol; from which its mighty roar would thunderously originate. Allura stood there staring at the structure before her. And did she suddenly see the lion's stone eyes flash, or was she simply going mad? A rustling in the bushes called her attention to it, the Princess drew closer in a cautious and stealthy manner. She was startled by a head popping up. A horse-like head with big dark eyes and a cream colored blaze on its face stood before her. It showed no hostile behavior and seemed almost curious of her. Allura backed away slowly as it came forward to where she could see it completely. It had the body that seemed to be a mix between a lion and a horse. It's legs were quite long, but had giant paws like a lion's. Its dark, Almond-shaped eyes tracked her movements calmly; a sighing breath through its nose almost feeding a refreshing calmness into the air. Unable to help herself, her eyes fixed on the creature's. The lion-horse fluttered it's folded wings at its sides; these being much like an eagle or hawk's, only a light-goldish color like a lion's coat. As she stared into its eyes, she could help but be entranced by it. The dark welcoming Ora that reflected off them, seemed to speak to her in ways words would not. The creature's lion-like tail whipped about a couple times behind it, then it turned and look up at the temple. Allura followed its gaze, only looking down again when she heard a gentle purr. The lion looked back at her and paced forward. Allura tensed and held her breath, as the creature brushed against her gently; it walked over in front of her, then around. It purred again, nudging its nose under her right hand; which she withdrew upon coming into contact with its soft face. The lion's tail switched again, as its eyes peered up at her. And she realized in that moment what it wanted from her, finally understanding its unspoken request.

"You want me to go with you." She told it aloud. The creature's tail switched and it leaned down to sniffed her thigh calmly, then looking back up at her. The Princess's eyes widened; she was starting to understand this creature, and now knew what it wanted this time near immediately.

"Um, okay, if you want to." She told it nervously, as she pulled her leg over its back to climb on. It had crouched down a bit for her and as soon as she was securely on its back; looked up to the right toward the temple before heading on towards it.

XXXX

"Augh!" Hunk cried, as he was sent backwards again. "Aw man, this field is a beast." He moaned, spinning off a bit. "Ugh, don't throw up, Hunk! Don't do it!!" He told himself, fighting the unpleasant urge passionately.

"I don't think our lions are strong enough to break through this." Pidge guessed. "That last blow really weakened the Yellow Lion."

"Then maybe we need to all do it at the same time." Keith thought aloud. "Maybe one lion isn't enough."

"It's worth a try." Lance sighed. "But if we continue this, we're gonna mess up the Lions if this keeps not working."

"I know, but what else can we do." Keith returned simply. "We've lost too many teammates already. And we still need to find out where the Black Lion went and figure out how to get Shiro back."

"What if the Black Lion is looking for him?" Pidge suggested.

"What?" Keith returned curiously.

"What if that's the reason it took off?" The Green Paladin continued. "Maybe it knows where he is? Maybe it's going to get him and bring him back to us?"

"That-.. actually makes sense." Lance realized after a moment.

"Yeah, it kinda does." Keith agreed lightly.

"So what does that mean for us?" Hunk put in.

"Ideally, we'd be following it to Shiro." Keith stated. "But since it's already gotten away, we'll have to just keep our scanners peeled for it. Until we can somehow track it down. Until then though, we need to also try and figure out how to get Allura back."

"If we can." Lance mumbled to himself gravely.

XXXX

The lion kept its cantering gait throughout the halls of the temple; lights coming on as they went. Allura gripped his mane, which waterfall both ways down its neck, as though they were reins on a horse's bridle. She squinted into the darkness ahead of her and tried to make anything out. The lion finally slowed to stop in front of a giant door that looked to be that of a throne room.

"Is this where you want me to be?" She asked it. The creature peered up at her quickly and snorted, switching its tail and shook its head and neck as if to say 'yes'. The Princess slid down off the creature's back and approached the door. Putting her hand up, she had barely touched it when it began to open. She withdrew in shock, but when the door had completely open she calmed again. And then she peered into the darkness noticing a strangely familiar looking thing inside...

XXXX

"It's been too long!" Lance groaned. "How long are we gonna wait here before we try something else?"

"There's not really much else we can do, Lance." Pidge responded dryly. "Are options are limited."

"I have a feeling we just need to wait." Keith spoke up, his eyes finally opening. "I think something is happening;.. something we don't know about. And that, once it's over with, Allura will return. I'm not sure why or how, but-... I say we wait. Just a little longer." Lance looked from the screen of Keith's face to the invisible force-field in front of him.

"Ok." He half mumbled to himself.

XXXX

Allura couldn't believe her eyes,... what stood before her.. she felt as though it were a dream. One she wasn't sure of whether it was joyous,.. or tragic. The shape was unmistakeable, yet her mind was believing it to be a fake. But when its eyes flashed on, its roar made it that much more real! The White Lion bent down to accept her; but the Altean princess simply stood there staring at it. It was almost as though she were in some sort of illusion, but couldn't break free from it. Her legs finally took over and walked her into the lion's mouth. Sitting down in the cockpit's chair, her eyes remained as wide as ever at what she was experiencing. The feeling of the chair beneath her mesmerized her,.. the shapes of the handles boldly becoming visible as the screen came to life before her. The hanger lights had finally come on and she realized how similar the White Lion was to the Blue Lion. She sighed thankfully, she had just gotten the hang of the Blue Lion's controls, and now it seems she had to learn how to operate this Lion. Was this her new lion? Or was it just an extra one they hadn't known about until now? She couldn't be sure. But yet now she was here, inside a sixth Voltron Lion; and wondered even more how this was possible. Small paneling to her left shifted away to reveal a device which projected something that she could not believe was possible to ever see again.

XXXX

An unfamiliar growl sounded, and the Paladins all searched for its origin.

"-uhh, what was that?" Lance asked, a bit nervous now. Suddenly the space near Keith began to glow, cracking as though someone were breaking a particle barrier. Keith had to jerked his lion forward when it finally burst into a solid white beam; causing them all to scatter. Even more surprising they could've sworn something came blasting through the beam; and, when it died down, realized that they were right.

"Is that.." Hunk trailed off, thoughtfully squinting to see it.

"..A lion?" Lance finished for him.

"Paladins. Are you alright?" The team was shocked to hear the Princess's voice.

"Allura!!" They gasped.

"You're ok?!" Lance cried.

"But how-.." Keith thought aloud.

"Where'd you get that lion?!" Pidge asked.

"Ho-ly crow, what?!" Hunk exclaimed.

"It's a long story." The Princess said. "But let's get to the castle and I'll explain."

XXXX

"So the Red and Blue lions took you both back again?" Allura's eyes lit up in astonishment at this new fact.

"Yeah, right after we realized you were missing, I left Keith in the Red Lion to find you, when it connected with me and asked me to take its controls." Lance explained.

"And then Red took me back as well." Keith finished, his arms characteristically crossed across his chest. "But the Black Lion is gone. And we have no idea where it is or why it took off like that."

"It's like we said earlier though.." Pidge pointed out, gesturing with her pointer finger up. "It might have gone after Shiro; maybe it knows where he is."

"If that is the case we may not need to worry." Allura realized. "Because I'm sure once the Black Lion retrieves him. It'll return to the Castle; whether Shiro pilots it or not."

"We don't even know if he's alright, or what kind of shape he's in. Heck, we still don't even know where he is." Keith became increasingly distressed the more he spoke.

"Calm down, man." Lance told him. "We'll find him.

"As long as we keep on the same heading, we're bound to find him sooner or later." Coran guessed.

"We may not have a later." Keith shook his head. "Shiro could be in trouble right now, and we don't have any idea how to get to him."

"That's why we're heading along the path you took, to get from where you started to where we were when you called for backup." Lance reminded him. He placed a hand on Keith's shoulder. "Everything's gonna be fine." Keith lowered his head and shoulders, and heaved a sigh.

"This is all my fault." He said, silently cursing himself.

"It doesn't matter who's fault it is." Lance told him, placing his other hand hand firmly on his other shoulder. "Just as long as we make it right in the end. You know what Shiro has always been telling us. That we're a team, we cover each other's mistakes. And that's never gonna change; with or without Shiro."

"Yeah, well, let's hope it stays with Shiro, okay." Hunk put in, half joking. And the team couldn't resist a light chuckle amongst themselves, as emotional tears were being dried.

Hey guys! Finally got this chapter done!! So sorry for lagging behind on this one, but I kinda got a little stuck. But hopefully now, it'll be a little better. Can't wait to hear what you guys think of this new chapter, enjoy!! Thx!!!