The Trial of Julian Hines

by sonicking2004

After saving his friends Elsa and Anna from an enemy that threatened them and their friends in Storybrook, Mr Gold handed him the key to the location of his long-lost home of Wistermere. However, Elsa disagrees with his decision to atone for the unintentional death of his brother, insisting on defending him in a trial where his life, and possibly the fate of his kingdom, rests upon

2. Chapter 2: Proceedings

Proceedings

Getting Julian to cooperate wasn't easy, it was the equivalent to pulling teeth. In the end he only agreed after she had threatened to drag him out of there (not kicking because he would be frozen) and would fight whoever she had to on the way if he didn't help her help him here.

So Julian gave Elsa a list of names to call as character witnesses on his behalf, and some craftsmen were puttby=ing the finishing touches on the fountain-doorway that Julian would be creating the portals to summon them through. Elsa had grown used to seeing Julian make these fountains by using his powers to manipulate random bits of junk to create the cascading effect, but to see something this elaborate so quickly with skill of hand alone was beyongd impressive.

Looking at his list of names Elsa felt a strange sense akin to vertigo. To think that Julian had helped so many people in the time since he had left home until now. some of these names were rather exotic too. If anyone else had handed this list to her Elsa would have thought that they were pulling her leg. However having had experienced an abbreviated form of Julian's own journey first-hand Elsa had no doubt that it was 100% accurate. Still Elsa couldn't help but worry about how those in attendance to today's proceedings would react to the culture shock of meeting these people.

Once she had memorized the questions she walked over to Julian and said, "I talked to your parents: well, your mom, really. Since he's the one judging this and thus has to be impartial he let her do the talking. Apparently, around the time you ran away, some kid with more curiosity than sense decided to peek under the burial shroud your brother was dressed in at his funeral and discovered the burn mark your parents had tried to hide with it. After that things got bad, like even worse than when Anna and I first showed up in Berk and they thought we were enemies of their gods and had harmed their chief. Basically they started accusing your parents of favoritism, saying that you were being shielded from the consequences of your actions when the law was supposed to be equally applicable to all. there were even whispers that a coup d'etat would occur if your parents didn't cease hiding you and turn you over to face justice, even though your parents insisted that you had went missing and they didn't know where you were. It was only with the news of a ship being lost at sea with all hands, and that they might have had a stowaway at the time, that they relented to leave it at that. Guessing that you might have been killed with the crew of the ship you snuck upon the people decided that justice must have found you after all and that your parents' actions could be forgiven as they were merely acting as any parent would when faced with the possibility of losing both their children." Looking at Julian's reaction she saw that he was upset but didn't look very surprised. "You knew this, didn't you?" Elsa guessed, "That's why you were so insistent about finding your way back here no matter what, and why you practically begged for the punishment of killing Miles even though you knew that it was an accident."

"I didn't know, but I had a very educated guess that would be the case," Julian clarified, "The thing about Xavier's Institute is that it's an actual school and not just a cover for a place for us to learn to control our abilities. One of the subjects our instructors drilled into us was world history, and with the fates of so many countries laid out before me, many of which wound up a shell of their former selves or even were wiped off the map entirely, it was not hard to put two and two together and sum up what my disappearance during that time would result in. Of course concern of what would happen to my parents and my country was only part of what drove me here. I know that you had a taste of my pain through your near misses with Anna, but that's that's nothing compared to the burden of knowing that you're the reason why you'll never be able to see your brother's smile or hear his laugh again, that even though you should have been the one to keep him safe you had killed him instead. That's the pain that I've been experiencing for around 10 years give or take, and no matter what I did or who I helped since that pain never went away."

"I'm so sorry," Elsa said empathetically,and she found that she could imagine how she would feel if the miracle that saved her sister's life from her icy powers never happened. "I know that you weren't able to speak to your parents about it as you didn't find your way back until now," Elsa asked, "but did you ever talk to anyone about how you felt about these things?"

Julian nodded as he said, "I've talked about it with my friends at the Institute, one of whom was perhaps an even more powerful telepath than our headmaster. She was as good of a listener as he was too, though I found it harder to talk to her at first due to my having a bit of a crush on her back then. Course I didn't have a shot with her as I was just a kid then and she had a couple of guys more her age courting her at the time (though I would learn later that one was much older than he looked.) I also opened up to Thor when he introduced me to beer when I came of age. I wound up sharing much with Genie, who regretfully informed me that he can't bring anyone back to life even if I had wished it. I had talked with a number of professionals throughout the ages including Sigmund Freud himself, which in hindsight I realize was a bit risky, but at the time I thought that if anyone could help me it would be him. I even spoke with a councillor on a starship whose half-human lineage rendered her an empath that can feel people's emotions, which made it easier for her to relate to what her patients were going through and not simply offer empty platitudes. However, while all that talking helped me keep my brother's memory alive (for which I'll be grateful for) it didn't lessen the pain that I feel at his loss or the guilt I have at being the cause I'm certain that only atonement will finally lift the burden from my shoulders."

Elsa sighed, halfway expecting that response from him ,then she looked Julian in the eyes and said, "It sounds like you need this trial as much as your people do. Hopefully by the time we're done everyone will know just how good of a person you are, that you and they will understand that it would be a bigger crime to take someone like you out of the world than anything that you have unintentionally done."

Julian sighed and said forlornly, "If you say so." It hurt Elsa deeply to hear Julian so down on himself, especially with everything he has done for them, so she steeled herself for a hard and emotional fight as the chancellor, who would be the one to serve as her opponent in this trial, made his way up the hall to the podium opposite her.

"Your Highness," the chancellor said simply, his voice devoid of warmth.

"Chancellor," responded, and even though she was smiling her voice was as cold as the North Mountain in winter.

The silent yet tense standoff lasted for a couple of minutes while the members of the high court entered the hall and filed into position. Then a guard called out in a clear tone, "All rise for His Royal Majesty, Karl Hines III!"

Elsa and the chancellor bowed their heads in deference as the high court rose from their seats to do the same. Within moments the king crossed from the hall entrance to the throne at the other end .he then took a seat and said, "As you were," upon which Elsa and the chancellor straightened up again and the high court reclaimed their seats. "We've gathered here today to try Sir Julian... Hines for the charge of the fratricide of Miles Hines," King Karl said solemnly, and though the hitch in the middle of the sentence was barely noticeable but Elsa picked up on it as well as the emotion making the rest of his sentence rough. He obviously didn't want to do this to his only child, but he was a man of his people and so had to fulfill his duty to them no matter how much it hurt. "Let not that he's our crown prince returned to us after having been thought lost forever influence your judgement," the king advised them, no doubt silently telling himself that too, "and instead focus on the evidence and witness testimony to determine whether or not he's guilty."

Evidence, that was the big problem with this trial as they had none, and while they had a good sized list of witnesses they could only testify on his character: none could say that he didn't do it (since he had) nor had they bore witness to the circumstances of Miles' death as they weren't there. It's possible that one or two might have been shown the footage of the event, but they would be dismissed just as quickly as Elsa herself was. Instead her approach would be to build up just how good a person Julian is, how many lives he had saved since that tragic accident, showing them how much of a waste it would be to kill him just because of said accident. It was pretty much the only shot she had.

Fortunately the chancellor seemed even more more hamstrung than Elsa was. After an opening statement where he vilified Julian as a monster who killed his younger brother in the most cruel manner before fleeing justice for 5 years, the chancellor was only able to call up a couple of witnesses: the young man who found Miles' wound, and one of the maids who served the royal family in the days that Julian lived there, both of whom were easy for Elsa to deal with.

The young man, who looked close to Anna's age (and from the side glances that he kept giving her looked like he might have had a bit of a crush on her, poor lad) swore in his testimony that the wound he saw on Miles could not have been from an accident, therefore he had to have been murdered. When it was Elsa's turn to question him she asked him how he was so sure that it was murder. Had he ever seen anyone killed like that before? If he hadn't then how could he be sure that it wasn't the result of a tragic accident? Elsa didn't think that she was being overly mean, but by the time the questioning came to an end the boy was in tears, and as if to reinforce the crush theory he shielded his face so that Anna couldn't see as he ran out of the hall crying.

Next came the former maid, and her testimony painted Julian as a monster who was terrorizing the staff with his unnatural gifts and dragging poor Miles along on his escapades. Elsa countered by reminding her that Miles enjoyed terrorizing her and the others even more so than Julian, that he was the one who usually instigated said "games", and that it was Julian who convinced Miles to instead engage in play that wasn't so mean to others. The former maid seemed confused by this, and Elsa guessed that her memory of the events was likewise muddled by the passage of time, but she accepted that she was remembering incorrectly and left the stand with more dignity than the lad before.

Thus the last witness called by the chancellor was discredited, and yet when Elsa saw the smug look on his face it didn't seem like he was concerned about the possibility of losing the case. She didn't know what he could possibly have up his sleeve that was making him this confident, but Elsa was determined to not make it easy for him.

Taking a deep breath to calm her mind, Elsa called out in a clear voice, "I call to testify Jack Horologist and his fiancee Acacia." Just as Julian had explained would happen, the waterfall portal lit up in response to Elsa's voice and moments later a young couple stepped out. Immediately Elsa's eyes were drawn to the young woman. What was diverting about her wasn't her beauty, with her ruffled Flamenco dress draped over a frame that was so slender that Elsa wondered if the girl was eating properly, yet on her it brought out an athletic grace that Elsa would be proud to have. No, it was the thorny vine that encircled the young woman from head to foot. To call these thorns seemed to be inappropriate, however, as they were roughly the length of Elsa's hand and looked wickedly sharp. Despite this the woman had no scratches or other blemishes that Elsa could see. Rather than restraining her threatening her the vines seemed to be protecting her, the vines nestled against the anxious young woman as gentle as an embrace while the thorns bristled outwards keeping most others at a safe distance. When the young man (whom Elsa guessed was Jack) gently took the hand of the young woman (likely Acacia) she smiled and visibly relaxed, the vines retracting until only a couple of vines floated along behind her like kelp in the outlet of the fjord.

Once the pair reached the witness stand Elsa approached them. Almost immediately Acacia tensed up, but Elsa smiled and held out her hand with her palm up, then she created a large snowflake which floated just above it and slowly rotated. Elsa heard the gasps and mutters of the others in the hall and she realized that she hadn't openly displayed her powers since she first arrived, but she ignored them for the moment as she assured Acacia, "It's all right, you and I aren't all that different." Acacia stared at the large snowflake in wide-eyed wonder, slowly reaching towards it as it revolved before her. Then, when Acacia's hand made contact with Elsa's snowflake she gasped in surprised delight as it burst into a small flurry of regular-sized snowflake that fluttered down into both of their hands and quickly melted. "I know from my own recent experiences just how scary it can be to suddenly find yourselves strangers in a strange land, especially when you're with someone that you care about and feel that you need to protect them, and it can be tough if you're unsure that you are up to the task," Elsa assured her, "I promise you that as long as you're here I'll do everything in my power to make sure that no harm comes to either of you, and as soon as you help us by answering a few questions (or if trouble starts) then you can go home."

Acacia looked like she was still a little nervous, but she looked Elsa in the eye and smiled as she nodded. Jack brought Acacia's hand up in his to kiss the knuckles, then he turned to Elsa and asked, "What do you need to know?"

Elsa smiled at the bravery these people were showing, then she gestured towards Julian behind her as she asked, "Can you identify the person behind me here today?"

Jack and Acacia turned their gaze to look at Julian, who raised his shackled hands to wave at them. "That's Julian. He's the one who saved my life, both figuratively and literally," Jack said in surprised recognition. Then, as what he was seeing caught up to him he asked in a shocked tone, "Why is Julian in cuffs? Don't tell me that he got into trouble for helping us!"

Julian gently smiled and shook his head no, but since the procedures dictate that he can't speak during the testimonies of others Elsa clarified, "It's nothing like that. There was a terrible accident a few years ago, and due to his being involved in it he's getting blamed. I understand that you went through something similar yourself, Jack?" Jack nodded thoughtfully, and Elsa guessed that he was recalling how Joe was threatening his cuckoo clock heart until the cuckoo within gouged out Joe's eye. "I'm hoping to get things cleared up here today," Elsa continued.

"I'll help out however I can," Jack said determinedly, and despite his scrawny frame he never looked stronger.

"Thank you," Elsa said gratefully, "Now, about Julian saving your life, could you please tell us more about that? What happened?"

Jack started to speak, but then Acacia put a hand on his arm and smiled as she said, "Perhaps I should tell them about it, since you were practically dead for a good part of it."

"Are you sure that you're up to this, Acacia?" Jack asked her in concern.

"It's okay, I think that we can trust her," Acacia told him with a smile, "And we're only together today thanks to his help, so if this helps him then we owe it to him."

Jack nodded his understanding, and after an exchange of smiles Acacia began her testimony. She started with a summary of how she and Jack met when she was singing in the streets, how they had been reunited when an incident involving the school bully Joe forced Jack to escape being arrested on trumped-up charges by running away to a traveling circus that Acacia happened to be living in. How they had spent much time together and were on the verge of establishing a relationship between them when Joe turned up once more. Determined to either win Acacia for himself or at least make Jack suffer by driving a wedge between him and Acacia, Joe nearly succeeded in the latter when he revealed the three rules Jack must live by to keep his cuckoo clock heart ticking:

1) Don't fiddle with or try to set the hands on his clock.

2) Keep a tight reign on his anger. never lose control.

3) No matter what, never fail in love.

Joe had intended to scare Acacia away from Jack with this revelation, using himself and his ruined eye as a cautionary tale. This backfired on him, though the actual effects of his plan were just as devastating. Rather than being made fearful of Jack, Acacia became afraid for Jack, afraid that if she let him fall in love with her then he would die. Not wanting to be responsible for Jack's death Acacia started a fight about him not telling her about it, breaking up with him and leaving with Joe.

Acacia hated to do it, but she figured it was the only way to save Jack's life. However after they got down the road a ways Joe dropped another bombshell on her. Shortly after Jack had left home the constables showed up to arrest him, and when they couldn't find him they took his mother Madeline into custody instead. A few days later she died of a broken heart clutching the key to winding Jack's heart, so now there was nobody to repair or wind up his heart ever again.

Realizing that what Jack handed her earlier was literally the key to his heart and by leaving with it she had not saved him but rather condemned him to death she lept from Joe's carriage and ran back to the circus only to find that Jack had already left to go back home not knowing his mother was already gone. Acacia then raced back to their home town and arrived at Jack's house to find him slumped against his mother's grave atop a snow-covered hill. Discovering that he was still alive she put the clock face she found back in place and was about to wind his clock when he woke up. After expressing how much it meant to him for her to come back for him Jack took the key from Acacia and threw it as far from them as he could manage. To distract her from trying to find it Jack kissed her, and though she didn't intend to Acacia got lost in the kiss until the moment his heart stopped ticking and he slumped over in her arms. Jack's aunts and grandfather heard Acacia screaming herself hoarse for Jack to wake up proceeded to carry him inside.

That's where Julian came in. Everyone inside was lamenting that they didn't know enough about Jack's clock to replace the cogs that were missing from it, and even if they could rig up something workable they had nothing to replace the key that was lost in the snow, when Julian let himself in. Julian didn't ask what needed doing, only if he could help, and they were so desperate to not lose Jack that they said he could without thinking about it. Julian then dismantled Jack's ruined heart with a speed that was beyond belief and replaced it with a frame made with rods of what he called "surgical-grade titanium" that he pulled out of his canvas bag.

Acacia didn't know how long the operation took, nor did she see much of it beyond the start as she was too lost in her grief. However once Jack woke up and apologized to her for basically giving up she saw that the spot where his cuckoo clock used to be was now replaced by fabric the same hue as his skin surrounding a pocket watch with the outer cover covered by the same fabric. Julian also informed them that Joe's mates had rolled on him, that they told the constabulary the truth about what happened to Joe's eye, and now they were hunting down Joe instead of Jack. Julian didn't claim to have any hand in it, but Acacia suspected that it took more than the death of Madeline to jump-start their conscience. Acacia wrapped up her testimony saying how grateful she was that Julian came by when he had.

Elsa nodded in acknowledgement as she focused her gaze on Jack and asked, "Is there anything that you would like to add?"

"As Acacia said I was all but dead for the most part, so the only different testimony I could offer is how I climbed up the snowflakes to the gates of Heaven where I talked to my birth and adopted mothers, though I doubt that is pertinent here," Jack told them, and his comment got a few chuckles from the high court. Elsa suppressed her own smile as she asked, "One last question: Based off what you know, would you say that Julian is the type of person who'd kill his younger brother?"

Both Jack and Acacia looked shocked at the question, but Acacia was able to vigorously shake her head no as Jack said, "Not in the slightest. I can't even imagine anyone accusing him of such a thing."

"Thank you," Elsa told them gratefully, then she lowered her voice to a whisper and said, "Now that gentleman is going to ask you some questions. He might try to antagonize you or do other things to attempt to discredit your testimony, but don't let him get under your skin and answer his questions as honestly as possible, OK?" They looked a little on edge, but Jack and Acacia nodded their heads in firm determination. Elsa then gave them what she hoped was a reassuring smile before turning and saying "chancellor" in a dry tone while returning to her podium.

Elsa had already guessed that the chancellor would give a hard time to this young couple, who sounded like they had a hard time to this point already, but her stomach still churned and flipped over as he approached them with a smarmy smile and said in a faux-friendly voice, "I got to say that is quite the entertaining story. Not the least bit credible, mind you, but certainly one as good as any parents here have been telling their children at bedtime."

"I assure you that what we said was entirely the truth,." Jack said in an unflustered tone.

"In fact the only thing plausible about your story is the concept of one criminal aiding another," the chancellor continued as if Jack hadn't said anything.

"Jack isn't a criminal!" Acacia hotly contested, "The constables conducted their investigation and cleared him of any wrongdoing!"

"So you say, but the entire tale is so ludicrous that it makes the entire debate moot," the chancellor said dismissively, "I mean do you really think that this court would believe that this lad actually has a cuckoo clock for a heart?"

"Had," Jack corrects him, "As we explained, Julian had replaced it with a pocket watch."

"My apologies, a pocket watch heart," the chancellor said mockingly, "As if that's any more believable."

Jack didn't say anything in response. instead he just slipped off his jacket and handed it to Acacia before unbuttoning his shirt and pulling it back to expose the largish circular bump on the left side of his chest. Jack then pressed a button on the top edge that Elsa hadn't noticed before and the bump hinged down to reveal what appeared to be a pocket watch fancier than any Elsa had seen before. Of course it didn't appear to be as advanced as the computers Xanatos had in his building in New York, but the workmanship of this timepiece couldn't be denied and the court audibly murmured at its reveal.

"Well if nothing else you certainly have a future in theatre," the chancellor said, "but I bet that if I was to rip that off your chest you would be fine." And, much to Elsa's shock and horror, the chancellor lunged forward as if he was going to do exactly that! She had just finished promising them that they would be safe here and the chancellor was going to just rip the boy's heart out of his chest? To prove a point!? Elsa didn't care if this tanked their efforts in the trial, she'd fight their way out if she had to. Elsa simply darted around the podium, forming an ice sword in her upraised hand and was preparing to slow down the chancellor with an ice blast from the other, and she felt the heat from Anna's flames right behind her when...

CRACK! The sound ripped through the hall and brought Elsa, Anna and even the chancellor to a screeching halt. At first Elsa thought that Julian had interceded so as to prevent her and her sister from getting themselves into trouble with this kingdom like he was in. However, when she followed the sound to its source she saw the chancellor clutching his hand, which was sporting some faintly bleeding scratches, exchanging glares with Acacia, who was clutching one of her thorny vines like a whip. "If you even THINK about touching Jack's heart again, then you'll be lucky if you only lose a hand!" Acacia said to the chancellor in a growl that filled the new-found silence of the hall. Elsa stood there for a moment, rooted in shock at the fierce expression on the face of the previously meek Acacia. Then she became aware of the weight of the stares of the equally shocked court that was largely leveled at Anna and herself, and she consigned her ice sword to the atmosphere and Anna extinguished her flames as Elsa called out, "Your Highness? The chancellor is threatening my witness."

The king, who had been just as shocked as the rest of the court shook himself out of it as he said, "What? Oh, yes of course. Chancellor, if you have a problem with the testimony you need to resolve it through questioning only."

The chancellor, who was still nursing his injured hand, glared daggers at Acacia, Anna and Elsa in turn before responding, "No further questions."

The king nodded his acknowledgement before looking at Elsa and asking, "Your Highness?"

"Nothing further from this witness, Your Highness," Elsa informed him.

The king nodded, then he looked at Jack and Acacia and said, "You may step down." They thanked the king and stepped down from the podium.

Elsa breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that it was too early to relax, but she was just glad to have avoided the worst case scenario and that there was still a chance to do this the right way, where Julian could still come back and live amongst them if he wanted. She then looked back to find Julian scribble something on a piece of paper before folding it in half and passing it to Anna. Anna then handed the note to Acacia as she and Jack drew near, whispering something short as she did so, then the young couple took the folded note with them through the portal. "What was that all about?" Elsa asked Julian, still somewhat confused.

"Just a note informing Jack about his heart," Julian informed her as casually as if he was conversing about the weather.

"You mean that pocket watch you used to replace his broken cuckoo clock?" Elsa asked, "I confess that I had my doubts about it when you told me about it back in Berk, even though I had witnessed the talents of the fairies of Pixie Hollow and the stone sleep of the gargoyles. Personally meeting Jack cleared up those doubts, however."

"I know what you mean: Jack's continued urvival flying in the face of known science still has questioning what is possible," Julian agreed, "However, what I was talking about was Jack's flesh-and-blood heart that's growing underneath his pocket-watch one."

"Jack's... real heart?" Elsa asked in confusion, previously under the belief that he didn't have one.

"I found it when I was performing the surgery on Jack," Julian explained, "It was incredibly small, no bigger than that of a newborn, and I wasn't even sure if it would last though the strain of keeping Jack alive though the surgery. However, when he got here today I could feel that it had grown, though it's still too small to keep him going by itself. Regardless I figured that this was a good time to let him know about it, for if it isn't big enough for him to notice above the ticking of his watch-heart soon he'll likely notice it once he and Acacia get married and start engaging in some of the more... adult activities."

Elsa wasn't sure why Julian described it like that, or why his face was as red as a tomato now. Of course he had mentioned just the one crush he had when he was young, as well as how he was too young to catch her attention or even have a chance with her, but with how well traveled as he was Elsa would have thought him to be more... experienced. When it comes down to it Elsa was about his age, and contemplating these questions had her blushing pretty hard too. However, Elsa was the Queen of her country, and so she was expected to be pure of body until such time as she takes a spouse, not that any of the male suitors that tried courting her interested her enough to choose them. Even Julian, whom she liked best of all of them in spite of how he had not actually courted her, felt more like a beloved brother than a romantic partner to Elsa. As for why Julian never had experience with someone, Elsa figured that he hadn't figured on settling in those other places and/or he didn't want to leave any child he might have fathered to grow up without a father because he knew that when he found his way here he wouldn't be leaving. It wasn't likely from a lack of interest from others, nor was it that he still saw himself as the crown prince of this kingdom judging by how he was ready to die without even putting up a fight.

Elsa was so deep in her contemplations that she had nearly missed King Karl asking, "Your Highness, you have any more witnesses to call today?"

Elsa collected herself, hoping that her blush wasn't as visible as it felt, as she responded, "I do, Your Highness." Elsa then took a deep breath and focused, hoping that Julian actually meant that she was supposed to summon all of these people here and that she wasn't about to embarrass herself, particularly with how odd some of these names were, as she called out in a clear voice, "I call upon to testify Hiro Himada, Go Go Tomago, Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Baymax, and Fred." Like before the portal lit up at the summons and a number of figures came out. Five of them appeared to be young people of different races, the youngest an Asian boy who was even younger than Anna and was wearing some sort of purple armor, whereas the other 4 were around her and Anna's age, with 3 of them wearing similar armor to the boy while the 4th sported some sort of suit that would have made him look like a monster had the suit's head not been flipped back and his goofy face exposed. As for the two largest, Elsa saw no signs that they were even human. The second largest one was about the size of Stoick the Vast, but the eyes she saw through the helmet's face slit were anything but human. Pure black circles connected by a thin black line and set against a pure white face with no visible nose or mouth, Elsa would have thought it was a mask that was being worn under the helmet had she not seen the eyes blink. The largest figure had angular arms and legs attached to an orbular torso, and the entire thing (save for a dark circular area towards the top) was painted red and blue with a black web-like pattern over it and a red and white symbol that vaguely resembled a spider lit up in the middle of its chest.

Within the dark, unpainted area a pair of symmetrical shapes lit up on its surface and moved from the front to the right side of the dome, then towards the top, then to its left before returning to the front, giving Elsa the impression of a pair of eyes scanning the hall as it walked.

"Are we in a castle!?" the large red-blue figure said in an excited female voice just as Elsa did a headcount and realized that there was one more here than the number of names that she called, "This is so cool!"

"It is, but please try to reign it in, Sp/ /dr," The youngest member admonished it, "We came here to help our friend Julian, not to sightsee."

"I know, you don't have to tell me," Sp/ /dr said sulkily, "This isn't my first trip to another world, I'll have you know!"

"According to my sensors, the ozone content in the air seem to indicate that we have traveled over 700 years into the past," the big red-armored figure said in a tone that sounded almost human but not quite, "However the level of technology I detected in the vicinity is inconsistent with that of any known civilizations of this era. I conclude then that this is an advanced, previously unknown..."

"Baymax, this isn't the time for that," the young man told him, "Perhaps you could compile the data silently and then tell us your findings when we get back home."

Baymax tilted its head and said, "Understood, Hiro. Data and findings compiled for disclosure upon return."

"Constructor, remember?" Hiro corrected him, "When I'm dressed like this you need to call me Constructor."

"Understood, when in uniform you are Constructor," Baymax acknowledged.

"You're Hiro Himada?" Elsa asked him.

"No, he is Constructor," Baymax answered for him.

"Baymax, it's fine if these people call me Hiro," Hiro clarified, "but you and everyone else back home needs to call me Constructor like this."

"Exemptions noted," Baymax acknowledged.

Elsa nodded her understanding, then continued, "Hiro, I noticed that you came with one more companion than I had called for."

Hiro gestured towards Sp/ /dr and said, "Sp/ /dr had joined us just recently, but when we were called upon by Julian she insisted on coming along."

"That's fine, but since she's not testifying she'll need to wait over there for you guys until you're done," Elsa informed Hiro while gesturing towards her podium.

"That's fine," Sp/ /dr agreed, "Sounds like it'll be more fun over there anyway." Sp/ /dr then walked past the podium before turning around and settling into a squatting sit with its back facing the nearby wall. Then, to Elsa's surprise, the dome atop Sp/ /dr hinged open to reveal a young girl within. Approximately Hiro's age, the girl's skin tone seemed to suggest that she was Asian as well. Elsa couldn't be sure of either assessment, however, due to the red, multi-faceted glasses affixed straplessly to her face. The jumpsuit, which was colored like the machine she rode in, didn't show off any figure despite it being as skintight as the jumpsuit Julian first showed up in. So the only clue Elsa had to the girl's gender was her voice, which she confirmed was indeed hers when Sp/ /dr's pilot flipped out of its interior before turning around and patting it with one hand as she said, "I'm going just over here, so you stay put until everyone is done. Okay, Sp/ /dr?" Elsa saw the dome of the machine, which had flipped closed again after the girl left, light up with what looked like a simple line drawing of a smiling face. The pilot seemed to take that as an affirmative as she smiled back and turned to walk straight towards Anna, extending her hand out and, "Hello, my name is Sp/ /dr-Girl."

"Spider-Girl, huh?" Anna said with a smile, "I'm Anna, princess of Arrendale."

"A princess? Wow, I've never met one before!" Sp/ dr-Girl said excitedly, "The closest I ever got was a diplomat's daughter I saved from being either kidnapped or killed. Is this your castle?"

Anna shook her head as she answered, "No, my sister and I are from another kingdom. However, before we came here we helped to defend this one town from a shape-shifting sorcerer, fighting alongside Snow White and her daughter, the Red Queen and the Knave of Hearts, the Evil Queen and the Wicked Witch of the West."

"No way!" Sp/ /dr-Girl almost yelled in surprise.

Anna, who probably realized that Sp/ dr-Girl was getting too loud, promptly hushed her as she said in a softer tone, "It's true, and that's even before we met another version of ourselves."

Elsa, who was proud of her sister for how she was handling the situation, had turned her attention back to Hiro and his friends to begin the questioning when Hiro gestured over towards Julian and asked, "I see Julian locked up over there, but those manacles don't look strong enough to hold him at all. Is this about that thing with his brother?"

"He told you about Miles," Elsa said, more a statement of realization than a question.

Hiro nodded and said, "Both of our journeys began with our brothers' deaths, me trying to avenge mine while he was trying to atone for his."

"Well that's why we're here," Elsa confirmed, "I don't believe that Julian should be punished so severely for something that was just a terrible accident, and his people should know what kind of person he truly is rather than what rumors and speculation have painted him to be."

"Julian helped to save our world," the black-haired girl said as she gripped Hiro's hand, "so whatever we can do to return the favor we'll be glad to."

"Then why don't you tell me how you became acquainted with Julian?" Elsa asked them.

Hiro and his friends then started telling her about how about a month ago (in their world) Hiro and his friends found themselves facing a massive invasion of a cybernetic alien race known as the Chitauri. Even though they had some experience fighting crime before then they had never faced a threat as tremendous as this. Just when it seemed that they would be overwhelmed and their world lost Julian showed up. Hijacking the energies of the Chitauri's portal to permit his own transversal then he utilized his gift to force the Chitauri back through before collapsing it behind them. Julian had then explained that the Chitauri would only find this a mere setback, that they'd soon return in greater numbers, as he proceeded to upgrade the weapons and armor of Hiro and his friends. Julian even summoned the aid of the superhero family The Incredibles (and their long-time friend Frozone) and recreated Hiro's microbots, installing the controller headset within Hiro's helmet. Then by following Julian's plan involving Baymax's flight capabilities and Hiro's new microbots they then delt the Chitauri a crippling defeat. Hiro then finished his testimony by saying that Julian saw to it that their new heroic friends got back home safely before leaving himself.

"Thank you," Elsa said gratefully, feeling that such a powerful account of the lengths Julian would go through to help others would have this court considering if they really would kill such a man over a tragic accident, "One last question: considering what you know about him, would you believe Julian someone who would kill his younger brother?"

"No way," the young woman with black hair (Go Go Tomago, Elsa guessed) responded.

"Not a chance," Hiro echoed, "He seems to feel responsible for the accident that took his brother's life, but he wouldn't just go and kill him. Not with how much he helped us out."

"Thank you for your cooperation," Elsa told them. Even though she doubted that the chancellor would take it any easier on these young people than he had on Jack and Acacia Elsa didn't worry about them as much as they looked like they could take care of themselves. Regardless Elsa found herself saying to them, "Now, at this time, I'll... aaagh!"

As she was speaking Elsa had started to gesture towards the Chancellor to indicate that he would be questioning them now. However, just as Elsa started raise her arm to do so she felt a painful throbbing in the side under it. This pain was unexpected as Elsa didn't recall being injured there. This pain was likewise different from the other types of pain that she could recall feeling: different from when the chandelier in her ice palace collapsed on her, different from when she was involved in a car wreck courtesy of the Quarrymen, different even from when that Navy Admiral nearly burned half her face off. It wasn't pleasant in any way, just on the side of being uncomfortable in fact, but all the same Elsa wouldn't have said anything about it had it not come on suddenly.

Elsa had gotten distracted by the new sensation of pain that she didn't see the moment when the large figure in red armor (which she learned from the testimony was called Baymax) had turned to leave the podium, didn't even realize something was up until Hiro called out, "Baymax, wait!"

"Here we go again," the young man named Wasabi said dryly.

When Elsa looked up and saw Baymax standing before her she was taken aback. After hearing what this machine was capable of Elsa wasn't sure that she wanted it this close to her. Therefore she found herself shocked yet again when Baymax raised its hand and said, "Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said 'Now, at this time, I'll... aaagh!'."

This was really bizarre to Elsa, so she turned towards Hiro who had caught up with it and asked him, "Your fighting machine is a... doctor?"

"Nurse, actually," Hiro answered, sounding embarrassed, "That's what my brother originally designed him for before I added the combat functionality."

"On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?" Baymax asked her as if nobody had interrupted him.

"Huh?" Elsa said, unsure of what it was asking or how to respond.

"That was an unclear response," Baymax stated, "I will scan you now."

"Scan me!?" Elsa said, still not comprehending this thing but what it said sounded rather intrusive which got her back up, "What are you...!? "

"Scan complete," Baymax announced, "you appear to be experiencing muscle spasms of your external obliques, most likely caused by overexertion and/or stress." Elsa didn't know what Baymax had just done, but she did have to admit that its assessment was likely accurate. Not even counting this trial she had been under a lot of stress the last few days, and between the numerous battles she had fought and the time she spent recovering from illness followed by serious injury she supposed that she might have overdone it. It looked like Baymax wasn't done, however, as it added, "Also your autoimmune response seems to indicate that you had suffered severe 4th degree burns within the last 48 hours. However I've been unable to locate the source of the injury."

"I'm Impressed," Elsa told it, meaning what she said, "You're right, I had recently been badly burned on the left side of my face. However a friend I just met used magic to heal it for me."

"I see," Baymax commented as it removed its metal right hand to reveal a white puffy one underneath, "I have no 'magic' but I can apply my cryo spray to help relieve the pain in your side, after which I recommend that you rest and allow yourself to heal and recover."

"Your what spray?" Elsa asked, unsure of what it was referring to.

Baymax tilted its head as if it was considering before it explained, "My cryo spray is a medically formulated compound designed to safely apply deep-tissue cooling to an area to bring down swelling and reduce painful inflammation. if you have a problem with cold, however, I do have formulas that deliver similar results by warming or numbing the area."

"Cold never bothered me, though I never before thought of it as beneficial," Elsa admitted, then when Baymax extended his white hand out towards her and a port opened up in it she said, "Thank you, Baymax, but under the circumstances I think that I should apply it myself." Elsa then reached her right hand under her left arm and unleashed a light ice stream to where she felt the throbbing. Initially feeling a stinging sensation upon contact, Elsa then felt the pain quickly fade away, the throbbing dying down until it was unnoticeable. When she examined her handiwork Elsa saw that the ice took on a similar hue to her dress, really only noticeable when you saw the lack of patterns in it or how it subtly changed her body figure.

"I see. Direct application of ice would calm the muscle spasms and numb the pain, and the temperature of the ice is just so that prolonged contact would not cause any damage to the skin or underlying tissues," Baymax commented while its companions stared slack-jawed, "Also, upon further inspection, it seems as though your dress is made up of frost-like ice formations."

Wasabi, who was just ahead of the others in recovering from his surprise, asked in wonder, "You have ice powers like Frozone?"

"I think that she might be better than Frozone," Hiro told him, "I haven't heard of him making or modifying his outfits out of ice."

"Hey guys!" Sp/ /dr-Girl called out from the podium where Anna and Julian were at, "Apparently Princess Anna here is her younger sister, and you've gotta see the things that she can do with fire!"

"Sisters of fire and ice," Go Go said with a slight smile, "sounds like an all-girl metal band."

"Yeah, isn't it awesome!?" Fred agreed excitedly.

Elsa started to think that it might have been better to sacrifice a bit of her dignity and let Baymax treat her rather than to draw more attention to herself like she had. Also it was probably a mistake to have Sp/ /dr-Girl wait with Anna, for while her sister may be the more socially outgoing of them that trait looks to have backfired on them this time around. Elsa then glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw the chancellor looking like he was about to burst a blood vessel, which reminded her that before Baymax's "nurse-mode" interrupted her she was about to turn the questioning over to him. "Uh, sorry to interrupt..." Elsa said awkwardly.

"Let me guess, sourpuss over there needs to ask us some questions now?" Hiro said with a smile, and Elsa had to suppress a very inappropriate chuckle as she nodded yes, "Don't worry, we have courtrooms back home, and we've seen a court show or two when nothing more interesting was on. We can handle this." Understanding that they were prepared Elsa turned and returned to her podium while Hiro and his friends returned to the witness stand.

After taking a moment to recompose himself, the chancellor approached Hiro and his friends to begin his questioning. Elsa had been concerned about how they would handle his interrogation, but from what she saw they did have things well in hand. In spite of how young they all were (which made Elsa realize that she wasn't as old as she felt), Hiro and the others apparently possessed an intelligence that went beyond their years. At least most of them did: Fred was at least smart enough to not run his mouth off right now.

The chancellor did his best to twist Julian's efforts to help these people save their world into something more sinister with his questions: claiming that he was in on the invasion until he chose to turn against them for his own self interests, that invasion itself was staged, that he only helped them in order to distract the High Court from his crimes here. No matter what argument he tried to use or how he put it Hiro and his friends calmly and rationally deconstructed his arguments and pointed out why they were extremely unlikely: the cost of such a thing would be too high for so little of a payout, how it would have been more efficient to help the invaders instead and have them twist the narrative to his liking, that Julian had no way of knowing that he would be able to return to this place so laying the groundwork for such a thing was frivolous to the extreme, and so on. With each argument they tore apart the chancellor grew increasingly irate, particularly when he tried asking them the same questions all over again with only a slight rewording and they called him out on it. Crazily enough Baymax's suggestion that he calm down, telling him that such stress was detrimental to his cardiovascular health, appeared to have the opposite effect.

Eventually the chancellor had to accept that he wasn't going to be able to twist the narrative to his benefit and he dismissed them from the stand. The group then took a moment to thank Julian for helping them on their way out through the portal, with Sp/ /dr-Girl taking her own moment to invite Anna and Elsa to come visit them in San Fransokio should they get the opportunity in the future.

Once the last of them had went through the portal King Karl asked if there was anyone else that she wanted to call forward, to which she readily said yes. Mentally reviewing the list of names Elsa breathed a sigh of relief as she recalled that the next one was a princess. Elsa had nothing against the previous witnesses, finding them rather likeable. She was just afraid that their oddness might have possibly diverted the court from focusing on the important part: their testimony that Julian isn't the type of person to kill his younger brother, that Mile's death was a tragic accident and that Julian shouldn't be punished as if it was otherwise. Elsa just hoped for the sake of Julian's case that this princess was more like Odette and less like Anna or even herself.

Mentally crossing her fingers and praying that she wasn't about to offend this person by mispronouncing their name or where they're from, Elsa called out, "I now call upon Princess Allura of Altea." At first nothing happened, even the portal remained unaffected, and Elsa started to think that she had indeed mispronounced them. Elsa then looked over at Julian for confirmation, but he just shrugged unhelpfully.

Just as she was about to try again Elsa felt some low vibrations shaking the castle. Her first thought was that this land had an infestation of Whispering Death, and that she and Anna would have to work together to evacuate everyone since they didn't know as much as Hiccup about how to handle this particular breed of dragon. Just as she thought to suggest this to Julian she saw that the looked confused for a second before he chuckled ruefully and softly said in an unconcerned tone, "I should have guessed they'd do that." Before Elsa could ask Julian what he was talking about a large shadow fell over her, and when she looked to see what caused it she gasped: on the other side of a window set near the apex of the room was the head of a giant lion!

To be more accurate it was a metal rendering of a lion, but it was huge and it was definitely not there before! Angular and menacing looking, the lion's visage filled the window despite it being some distance away (though, because she didn't see a mane, Elsa thought it might be a lioness.) As it descended further Elsa saw the metal beast's body with primarily yellow with white accents. The way that it was designed was odd, though: while the lion's head was looking straight forward horizontally, the body of the beast was ramrod straight up in the air. As it continued its descent, Elsa realized that what she saw as a giant metal lion was actually the leg of a titanically massive metal man! Monstrous in scale, each of the limbs was a different color and had lion heads serving as its hands and feet, and even its head was peeking out of a lion's wide-open maw. With it towering over the castle, Elsa could imagine it leveling the place with ease.

Thinking about the timing of the behemoth's appearance an uneasy idea occurred to Elsa. looking at Julian she asked, "Princess Allura?"

Julian nodded as he confirmed with a sympathetic half-smile, "She's one of the pilots."

"Of course she is," Elsa said with a small chuckle of acceptance just as she felt a sizeable thump from outside (likely from the big metal man's landing) and the vibrations faded then stopped. A few moments later a group of individuals entered the hall. Like Hiro's group these people looked mostly around Elsa's age, though the youngest looked closer to Anna's age than Hiro or Go Go's.

Also setting apart from Hiro's group was their style of dress. the female in the leading couple was wearing a dress that Elsa would have said was fit for a princess. In fact it bore a similarly to Elsa's own dress, though the color palette was reversed. The others each seemed to be wearing what looked like military dress uniforms, five of them matching except for a color accent that set each of them apart with one being a different color and style entirely. The uniform wasn't the only thing that set this one apart from the others, for the dark blue of her complexion was unlike any Elsa had seen or even heard of on this Earth. Elsa supposed she might have been kinda pretty, but her rigid posture, severe uniform and unearthly skin tone made her seem unapproachable, an impression that was lightened somewhat by the occasional smile she would offer the human-looking young man she was walking beside with her hand in his.

The woman in the lead, who judging by her dress was likely Princess Allura, was a rather exotic beauty herself. Her skin tone, which was much like Elisa Maza's if not a bit darker, contrasted brilliantly with her hair which sparkled as white as Elsa's own. Together with her gorgeous dress, Allura might have been thought of as a member of royalty from some distant country on Earth were it not for two things: her ears, which were as pointed as Puck's or Tinkerbell's, and the pair of triangular pink marks atop her cheekbones which seemed to glow even in this bright hall. In comparison her male companion, who was rather handsome in his own human way, looked rather plain next to her. At least his pale skin tone and rounded ears made him appear human, though the glowing blue marks on his cheekbones had Elsa wondering about that.

As they approached her Princess Allura dipped into a small respectful bow while her companions thumped their right fists against the left side of their chests in a smart salute as Allura said, "Thank you for calling us here today."

Elsa responded with her own curtsey as she said, "Thank you for coming, Princess Allura."

"Actually it's Queen Allura now," the young man next to Allura corrected Elsa.

"Lance," Allura softly protested as she looked down and away, a slight flush making the marks on her cheeks glow even brighter.

"Allura, you know that our people would give me a hard time if I let you be addressed by your old title," Lance gently explained to her, "You are the Queen now, and it's time for all of us, including you yourself, get used to that."

"Yeah, but we're so far away from Altea, both in time and distance," Allura reasoned, "so I don't think that they're likely to find out if I was addressed less than formally here."

"Honestly we're lucky that they let you come here at all," the young man with the fierce eyes just behind her said, "I mean it's only been a few phoebs since you returned to us after vanishing for a few deca-phoebs after going to sacrifice yourself in order to restore the multiverse."

"But that's why I had to respond to the call to help Julian," Allura argued, "I mean if he hadn't went to sacrifice himself in my place then I would not even be here today."

"Your people understand that, Your Highness," the unearthly woman said with a gentle smile that contrasted with her fierce appearance, "which is why they permitted you to go so long as we went with you and we took Voltron to ensure your safety."

"And avoided anything more dangerous than a class 2 robeast, Acxa" a stout young man said in a teasing tone, his appearance very much like how Elsa imagined that Stoick the Vast would look like at Hiccup's age had he grown up in a more modern era like Allura's companions.

"Honestly I don't know what they were so worried about," Acxa complained, "Voltron has faced threats much worse than that without any problems. You know that Hunk!"

"I also know that none of us have seen any action since the end of the war with Galra over 5 deca-phoebs ago, which is probably what the Alteans are worried about since we 'lost' Allura back when we were at our peak," Hunk responded.

"Speak for yourself, Hunk," Acxa said with a slight smirk, "Even after our wedding Keith and I haven't slowed down on our exercises, and I'm a couple of phoebs pregnant." Elsa was about to ask them what their relationship was to Allura, but this latest revelation caught her off guard. Apparently she wasn't alone in her surprise, as Allura and most of her companions stared at Acxa, their mouths slightly agape. Acxa noticed her friends' unusual reactions and apparently put 2 and 2 together as she turned to Keith and asked, "You hadn't told them yet?"

Elsa, who was still trying to get her thoughts in order after a series of repeated shocks, just managed to ask, "Uh... Voltron?"

"That would be the giant robot standing just a few clicks outside the palace," the youngest member of the group answered as she adjusted her glasses.

"Thank you, Pidge," Allura said with a smile, "And congratulations, Acxa! I'm really happy for you, and I totally agree with your desire. You have no idea how dull and frustrating it can be to, after serving as a Paladin of Voltron in the war, to now be coddled and 'protected' like a delicate little princ..."

"Okay you guys, that's enough," a visibly older gentleman said to the others in the group in a tone that was both gentle and commanding, "Try to remember where we are and why we're here."

Almost as if it was choreographed all his companions, Allura included, lowered their eyes and in remorseful voices said as one, "Sorry Commander!"

The one they referred to as the Commander sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration (with his human hand, as Elsa noticed that his other arm looked like it was made of metal) as he said, "I'm never going to get you guys to drop that, am I?"

"Well you've technically only been retired for a few deca-phoebs, Shiro sir, so maybe given another centa-phoeb or two we'll finally get used to the fact enough to treat you a little less formally" Allura told him with a slight smile, which elicits laughter from the others, and even Shiro indulges himself in a short chuckle.

Elsa, who found their laughter infectious, suppressed her own chuckle. Then Allura squeezed Lance's hand in hers, compelling Elsa to look down. It didn't surprise her that their entwined hands each bore a ring, nor that Acxa and Keith had rings of their own. What did surprise her was that every single person in their group had a ring, even Shiro (who wore his ring on his human hand) and Pidge (whose ring was on a gilded chain around her neck.) Even more surprising was that the stones set in all their rings was glowing.

Elsa did notice that Allura's/Lance's rings as well as Acxa's/Keith's were glowing brighter than the others' the meaning of which Elsa could only guess at, but the way they were glowing was incredibly familiar to her. Following her train of thought, Elsa pulled out the pendant Julian had made for her. Looking at the stone set within it, Elsa saw that the color was different than the ones set in the rings of Allura's companions, and it was much bigger than them too, but the nature of the glow seemed to be the same.

It seems that Allura and her friends were just as surprised about Elsa's pendant as she had been about their rings, the lot of them bringing them up and looking between them and her pendant. Finally Allura broke the newborn silence and asked, "Excuse me miss, you... you wouldn't happen to be Elsa? Queen Elsa?"

Elsa, who was surprised that Queen Allura knew her though not as surprised as she thought she would be, simply responded, "I am."

Allura then directed her gaze at Anna and asked, "And you would be Princess Anna?"

"You know of us?" Anna asked, surprise coloring her voice.

Just as the answer occurred to Elsa, Allura confirmed her suspicions correct when she nodded and said, "Julian told me about you guys around the time he took my place. I got from what he was saying that one of the main reasons he came to sacrifice himself in my place was because he wanted to make sure that your worldline was among those restored."

"Uh... sacrifice himself?" Elsa asked, unsure if there was something being lost in translation here. She had heard Allura mention something about Julian sacrificing himself earlier, but there was so much to unpack in the discourse amongst them that by the time Elsa registered that part of the conversation it had been buried under several other parts.

"Actually it was his time-remnant or something that took over the task of channeling the Quintessence at the heart of existence in order to restore the vanished worldlines," Allura explained, "but if he hadn't then I would surely have been killed in the process. Also Julian said that he didn't know which out of them was the original and which were the remnants so he was treating them all as him, so I'm doing the same."

Elsa kept the peaceful smile on her face, but internally she was groaning in anticipation. The ones overseeing this trial had already been exposed to much that must've been strange to them, and Elsa had hoped that the arrival of the giant robot and the unusual features of this latest group would have been the peak of it. However it looked like they were about to dive even deeper into the rabbit hole, and Elsa wasn't sure how much more the council could take before they noped out of it entirely and treat her and her case as believable as Alice's. Elsa didn't have much of a choice here but to proceed, however, so reluctantly she asked, "Why don't you go and start from the top?"

Allura began her recount of how Honerva had been an Altean researcher and alchemist who 10,000 deca-phoebs ago (with deca-phoeb being roughly the equivalent of an Earth year) met and fell in love with Zarkon leader of the Galran and one of the original Paladins of Voltron. It was also around that time that Quintessence, the lifeblood of the multiverse, was discovered. Unfortunately there was a dark entity of unknown origin within the quintessence that corrupted anyone who was exposed to it. Honerva driven by scientific curiosity and pride, Ignored the warnings and investigates it anyway, leading to her getting infected and hanging onto life by a thread. Zarkon, desperate to save his wife and deaf to any advice or warnings to the contrary, tricked his fellow paladins into taking Voltron to the White Space where the pure quintessence was. Once there he exposed his wife (and consequently himself) to the quintessence directly. Though the gambit initially seemed to have backfired and killed them both eventually they both recovered, but when Zarkon had woke he learned that Honerva had lost her memories of herself and the life they shared, and that the Galran homeworld had been destroyed to prevent the portal from being opened again and those within from harming anyone else.

Over the next 10,000 years Zarkon, corrupted by the quintessence and fueled by revenge over his wife and his world, began a quest to conquer the known universe and hunt down his former comrades. Because the remaining paladins scattered Voltron to prevent Zarkon from using it to his own ends again his campaign was largely successful. Only small and technologically insignificant worlds (like Earth) managed to escape either conquest or destruction by the Galrans in this time.

Curiously enough it was on Earth where the Blue Lion of Voltron was found by a group of cadets (apparently the giant robot Voltron is composed of 5 smaller lion-shaped robots) which took them to a planet where then-Princess Allura had been hibernating ever since Zarkon's turn-face, and from her mobile base they tracked down the remaining Lions and learned to control the legendary defender to push back against Zarkon.

As for Honerva, since she had lost all of her memories and sense of self including her own name she was given the name Haggar. Her Altean alchemy twisted into dark sorcery, the warm and caring researcher was replaced by a fearsome cold-hearted witch, one who was fiercely loyal to Zarkon despite having no memory of how she came to know him or of their child that she birthed while recovering from her quintessence overdose.

It wasn't until after one of Zarkon's major defeats against the new Paladins of Voltron that Haggar's memories as Honerva truly began to return, her reviving Zarkon reminding her of when he did so for her. Unfortunately the return of her memories didn't mark the restoration of her original relationship with him. Instead she learned that the noble Galran warrior she fell in love with was gone, replaced by a cruel, ruthless dictator who would sacrifice anything and anyone to stay in power, even their own son. Forced to choose between her beloved, who was no longer recognizable to her, and her son Lotor, who had never known Honerva as his mother but still seemed to possess his humanity, Honerva chose to support her son and help him defeat Zarkon once and for all. Unfortunately it wasn't long before Lotor succumbed to the corrupting influence of the Quintessence and wound up turning against his friends and allies like his father before him, forcing Voltron to eliminate him before his threat to the universe became too great.

This proved to be a tipping point for Honerva who became obsessed with finding a way to start over again with her husband and son. Her obsession and the corruption of the Quintessence drove her to devise a way to tear a hole from their universe and into the Infinite Void that's connected to all the others This action would wipe out all the other realities, but Honerva was determined to reclaim the happiness she was long since denied. This was not to be, however, for even though she managed to reach that other universe despite Voltron's best efforts to stop her, the Zarkon and Lotor of that world didn't recognize her and treated her as a monstrous impostor.

Driven into a spiraling despair, Honerva decided that if the multiverse was going to deny her happiness then it had no right to exist and proceeded to eliminate all the other universes. She had nearly succeeded when Allura and the other Paladins of Voltron managed to drive her into the heart of everything where she would not be able to cause any more damage. Unfortunately the damage had been done, as there was only a few universes remaining and the structural integrity of the entire multiverse was on the verge of collapse. All seemed to be lost, but there seemed to be one hope remaining. Even though the worldlines had been slashed through and dissolved their bases were remaining. If Allura could use the technique Lotor taught her to channel the massive amount of Quintessence powering Honerva's mech they might be able to encourage the universes to regenerate and restore themselves. The downside was that even if she could survive channeling so much power to accomplish this, being next to the Big Bang-level that would start it off would certainly obliterate her. It was a difficult and painful decision, especially since she had recently found true love with Lance, but it was the only choice besides consigning everything to oblivion. So after some rather tearful goodbyes (especially with Lance, whom she gifted a touch of her own Quintessence so that she would always be with him) she sent her friends back to their lions and went with Honerva, who was brought back to her senses by Allura and was now wanting to atone, to unleash the quintessence and heal the multiverse.

It was during this process that Julian came into the picture. Now Allura had anticipated the process to be painful, a? and that she would die, but she didn't expect the mysterious dark entity to torment her and try tempting her to take the quintessence for her own. However, Allura persisted until she got to the point where she and Honerva didn't have to put any active thought into the process and merely had to hold out and maintain it until it flared to restore the worldlines, at which point it would be literally out of their hands as they would be reduced to cosmic dust. It was when they got this far that Julian intervened, spinning Allura away from the quintessence core and towards the other Julian, who was standing near a freestanding portal, before using his abilities to maintain the conversion for her. The other Julian then tried to convince Allura to exit through his portal so he could bring her back to her friends, and it was only when Honerva insisted and assured Allura that she was at peace with her choice that Allura reluctantly agreed, leaving Honerva and the one Julian to sacrifice themselves to save all of creation.

Allura wrapped up her recount by telling Elsa how once They got back to Julian's boat (which Elsa guessed from the description was the boat he had from the moment Julian got it from Hiccup to take her and Anna home to the moment he used it to crush Rothbart) where he handed her a glowing stone. Allura would later find out that stone in her hands was going to serve as the compas that would guide them to the point of existence that she belonged once her worldline was restored. As they waited for the flare Julian told Allura about his past: his tragic accident, his running away from home when his parents wanted to protect him by hiding what really happened, and his finding a kind mentor who taught him to control his powers only to lose him when his sensei's unleashed inner demons forced the world, including his own students, to come together to stop him from destroying it. Motivated by his mentor turning himself in to account for his crimes, however unintentional, Julian began his quest to find his way back home to do the same. Julian took a great many journeys and helped many people along the way, but his quest to find his home remained unfulfilled by that point and so it continued on. Once the multiverse was restored though the sacrifice of Honerva and his other Julian ceased his recount to navigate his ship with the light of Allura's stone as his guide, and upon reaching his destination he abruptly sent her back to her friends. Following their surprise reunion in which her friends caught her up with what happened since they had parted, Allura's guardian Corran took the stone Julian left her with and divided it into 10 smaller gems and set them into rings that they all now bore. Allura didn't know until now what had become of Julian since he gave her that push to go back home, but she was grateful that he had.

Elsa nodded her acknowledgement. As she feared Allura's tale was rather fantastic. Even with her own incredible journey as experience Elsa had found it a challenge to follow, so she didn't want to think how it was took by these people who barely set foot outside their own kingdom. Still she had a duty to wrap up with this witness before she called her next, and so Elsa asked Allura, "One last question: would you say that Julian is the sort to kill his younger brother deliberately?"

"No," Allura said without hesitation, "He's made it clear that his brother's death was his fault, and he feels extremely remorseful about it, but from what he said it's apparent that it was a tragic accident resultant from his mishandling of his powers that he couldn't control just yet. It's unthinkable that he would go and kill his brother on purpose."

With that Elsa thanked Allura for her testimony and returned to her podium. Elsa began to feel anxious about the questions the chancellor may come up with. Elsa felt certain that Allura wasn't lying, but depending on how the chancellor phrased his questions he might make her seem less than credible. When the King addressed the chancellor, however, he simply said that he had "no questions for this witness," at which point the king said that Allura and her group were dismissed. Elsa thought that she would feel a sense of relief that the chancellor didn't try to pick apart Allura's testimony, but instead she felt more anxious than before. Did he not bother to question them because he saw no point to it, because he felt like the fanciful nature of the testimony would lead to it being largely ignored?

While this worry was floating around in Elsa's head Allura and her group stopped right next to them, Allura saying, "I never got a chance to thank you properly for what you did, Julian. I was prepared to give up my life to save the multiverse for my friends, but because you chose to take my place I was able experience a life of peace and happiness with Lance, and for that I will be forever grateful."

"You're quite welcome, Queen Allura," Julian said with a slight bow and a smile.

"Are you okay, though?" Allura asked concern coloring her voice, "Is this what you truly wanted?"

"It is," Julian assured her, not a trace of doubt in his voice or his eyes.

"Are you sure? We could get you out of here no problem," Lance told him with a confident half-smile, "I doubt that anyone here would argue with a giant robot demanding that they let you go, and we really do owe you for bringing Allura back to us."

Julian let out a small well-meaning chuckle as he said, "Thank you, but no. Even if such a thing didn't tarnish or outright destroy Voltron's reputation in this universe the fact is that I knew what I was doing when I came here. I knew that if I came back here after years of searching for it that this was likely to happen, and even when it became apparent that it was going this way I still stayed. This is my choice, and I choose to do what is best for my family and my people regardless of what it costs me."

Allura nodded as she said, "I understand, but if you can do one thing for me? Just forgive yourself. It'll be hard for to forgive you until you do, and I don't believe that your brother wants to to be still carrying that burden the day reunite with him."

"That's a tall order, Your Highness, but I'll do my best," Julian assured her with a smile on his face.

Acxa smartly tapped the left side of her own chest with her right fist in what looked like a salute, one which Allura and her friends echoed, before she said, "May the stars welcome you into their embrace and sing praises of your good deeds for as long as they burn." Julian returned their salute as did Elsa and Anna, then Allura and her group turned and marched past the still inactive portal and out the double doors. A few moments later the castle started to rumble again, and with a low but loud roar the Voltron robot took off. The noise continued until a few seconds after leaving the sight of the window near the ceiling, growing fainter until a flash of light that briefly brightened the darkening sky cut it off completely, whereupon it was replaced by a sigh of collective breaths being released that Elsa hadn't realized that the court had been holding. She guessed that they must have heard Lance's offer to help Julian (highly possible since he wasn't exactly whispering) and was worried that they would follow through despite what Julian told them until they were truly gone.

After a couple of minutes of uncomfortable murmuring in the court King Karl found his voice and asked Elsa, "Do you have anything else to present today, Queen Elsa?" He'd kept his face impassive, but Elsa felt that she could see in his eyes and hear in his voice him asking her to say "No." She couldn't blame him for part of her felt the same way, concerned about what witness would be called forward next. Despite this, however, Elsa knew that she couldn't stop, not until every person here was convinced that Julian was too good a soul and too important to all that is to be killed over a tragic accident.

"I do, Your Majesty," Elsa told him, bracing herself, "I would like to call..."

"Pardon me for interrupting, Queen Elsa Your Highness," the chancellor interrupted with an almost imperceptible smirk, "but will this next witness actually be relevant to this case?"

"Excuse me?" Elsa asked, caught off guard with this unexpected interruption.

"What I'm asking is will this be yet another 'character witness' or will we finally hear some relevant testimony?" the chancellor clarified, still wearing his smug expression.

"The character witness testimony is important!" Elsa insisted, "You're trying to prove that Julian murdered his brother, while the witnesses I'm calling up illustrate that there's no way that he would intentionally..."

"That's not what this trial is about," the chancellor interrupted again, his words stopping her cold as he turned to King Karl and asked, "Your Majesty, could you please remind the court the purpose of today's trial?"

King Karl took a breath and said in a matter-of-fact voice, "We're trying Julian Hines on the fratricide of his younger brother Miles."

"Fratricide: the killing of one's own brother," the chancellor explained smugly, "There's nothing in there about it being intentional, nor are there any exemptions for a lack thereof."

"But the witnesses you called," Elsa protested, "they were painting Julian as a homicidal monster!"

"And you were very effective in shutting them down. Should you come to where you set down your crown you might make for a good public defender," the chancellor told her in mock praise, "However the charge of fratricide is as of yet uncontested, so I ask again: do you have any witnesses to call or evidence to present that may indicate that someone other than Julian had killed his brother?"

Elsa reviewed her list, but deep down she already knew the answer. Julian had always maintained that he was the one responsible for Miles' death, that it was his power that killed him, that it was his irresponsibility with that power that led to that moment. The names on this list were all character witnesses: people who knew that he helped them (like Mulan), people who he grew up with and fought beside (like Thor and his fellow students at Xavier's academy), and others he met while trying to find his way home after his brother died. While that was fine when she was basing her case on how Julian was too good of a person to kill his brother in cold blood and too important to all that lives to be killed over an accident from his youth, now she needed someone or something that could point out that Julian wasn't the one responsible for Miles' death. There was nothing in this list to help her with that, and from what Julian told her there wouldn't be. Elsa lowered the list, a feeling of cold washing over her (echoes from the dream she had when she was on the verge of dying from fever, perhaps?) as she looked up and was barely able to say, "No."

"So all you managed to do here was waste everyone's time," the chancellor said, looking much like the cat who caught the canary, "It is as as I thought, if you had just... let it go..."

When the chancellor's voice trailed off Elsa noticed that he wasn't looking at her anymore but rather past her, and when she followed his gaze she saw that he had locked eyes with Julian. While the chancellor's face had gone pale, Julian's expression hadn't changed. What she saw in his eyes Elsa found to be a bit frightening, however, though that quickly changed when Julian turned to his father and said in a voice that was as friendly and respectful as his eyes, "Your Majesty, might I be allowed to speak?"

"As the accused you do have the right," the king told Julian, his voice thick with emotion in spite of his stoic expression, and Elsa was sure that she the eyes of Julian's mother misting up as he approached the podium .

"First off I feel I should say that on a number of points the chancellor is correct," Julian told the room at large, his words feeling to Elsa like a blow to the gut (a sensation Elsa had been acquainted with far too soon for Elsa's liking), "While there are cases where someone's intent would have affected their case, either reducing the punishment they would be subjected to if found guilty or else getting them off completely, but this particular charge is one of those that has no such leeway. All that would come from the testimonies of those called today, and those who would have been called, is that they would have felt bad about having to do their duty, yet do it they must."

The chancellor seemed to be regaining his confidence having seemingly gained the support of the very man he was trying to condemn to death, but before the chancellor was able to say anything Julian sternly added, *What I DON'T agree with, however, is his assessment that the testimonies today were a waste of everyone's time. I myself found it a comfort to know that people who I helped on my journey to find my way back home, that they're not suffering any backlash from my sticking my nose into their issues. It was good knowing that I made a difference, and now I feel like I feel like I can face the outcome of this trial regardless of how it turns out."

Julian then took a deep breath, thumped his inflated chest in a salute similar to the one he shared with Allura and her companions as he said in a clear voice, "My name is Julian Hines! As the firstborn of King Karl Hines and the crown prince of Wistermere I was tasked with a great responsibility, one which grew greater when my brother Miles was born. Due to my genetics I was gifted with a powerful and dangerous ability. Had I acted like the responsible prince and older brother that I was supposed to be, had I treated my gift with the caution that I should have, then the accident that claimed my brother's life could have been avoided. I failed to do either, and so Mile's death is on my hands. As there are no provisions in the law for intent with this particular crime I am guilty. I will not ask anyone in this court to try and twist its interpretation to make things better for me. However, I do ask that once this trial and my sentencing is carried out to completion that this law and others be reexamined and adjusted so that the accused's intent does affect the outcome. It would make me feel more at ease to know that my death resulted in future innocents from being punished too severely on account of an accident. Thank you." Julian finished his statement with a respectful bow of his head as he let his hands rest in front of him.

For a moment nobody spoke. The king maintained his stoic expression, but because she was looking for it Elsa saw the tumult in his eyes at the knowledge that he was going to lose his son and couldn't really do anything about it. The Queen beside him was obviously on the verge of tears. The chancellor, whom Elsa had expected to be exultant at being handed this case on a silver platter, instead looked like he was force-fed a lemon with a lime chaser. As for Elsa herself she felt like she was back in New York, trapped in that tumbling car after it was assaulted by the Quarrymen and unable to do anything about it.

After what seemed like an eternity the king turned his attention to the Chancellor and asked, "Do you have any questions for the accused?"

In a tone that was as sour as his expression, the chancellor said, "Nothing further, Your Majesty."

The king then turned towards Elsa, a last fading ember of hope glinting in his eyes, as he asked, "Do you have anything further, Your Highness?"

Elsa knew that there was nothing she could do to get Julian to change his story to something that would lift his head off the chopping block, and that he would see through any attempt of hers to suggest that there was possibly someone else, so in a tone that was so hollow that she could hear her own despair echoing around in it, "No, Your Majesty."

The hope in the king's eyes died as he sighed and said in the same commanding voice, "Very well. Due to the lateness of the hour we will call a halt to today's proceedings, but I would like to ask the members of this court to deliberate the facts of this case and we'll reconvene the same time tomorrow to see if you've reached a verdict." Those in attendance grimly nodded their understanding, and Julian smiled serenely as he nodded along with them and turned to march back up the aisle towards the guards coming up to meet him. Julian's peaceful expression only faltered when his eyes met Elsa's, and she was once again reminded of the look he gave her during her fever dream in Storybrook, then when he was past she heard Julian's mother's composure finally break as she began to softly sob.

"What are we going to do!?" Anna asked anxiously, "If things go on like this they're going to kill Julian!"

Elsa wasn't sure if Anna was feeling a sisterly concern towards Julian like her (because Elsa was sure Anna still liked Kristoph), if she was worried that this might prevent them from being able to get back home, of if there was something else going on. However hearing the anxiety in Anna's voice helped calm Elsa down as it increased her desire to reassure Anna as her older sister, so she said softly with a confident smile, "We'll wait until later tonight, then we're going to plan B."

Anna's eyes lit up and her grin widened as she said, "You mean...!?"

Elsa put her finger to her lips and said even softer, "We tried to play by their rules to get them to treat Julian fairly. Now we're simply going to get him out of here no matter what!"