A/N: Happy Thanksgiving (to anyone who celebrates)!
**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender (duh)
Shiro was furious when he returned to the bridge, more with himself than with anyone else. He couldn't believe they had been duped so easily. He couldn't believe he hadn't been able to tell the voice over the comms the last few hours wasn't actually Keith.
"It was a sneaky tactic. We were all tricked for a bit," Scarlett tried to console him.
"It doesn't matter now," Mari said, glaring at Fuigo as the Atlas approached. "Zethrid won't get away with this."
Shiro nodded, his jaw set and his eyes burning in righteous agreement. Hovering at the edge of the room next to Acxa, Ezor shifted uneasily from foot to foot. She bit her lip, her arms folded closely to her chest as they descended through the planet's smoky atmosphere. When the air had cleared, the pirate cruiser was dead ahead of them, hovering over the Voltron lions and pinning them with a tractor beam.
"That's where the ghost protocol is emanating from," Veronica stated.
"Hit them with the electromagnetic pulse," Shiro ordered, and Iverson wasted no time unleashing the beam. It hit the unsuspecting cruiser head on, cutting off its power and sending it listing towards Fuigo's surface.
With Zethrid's main base of operations out of commission, the ground teams were scrambled. Allura and Lance were waiting right below the Atlas near the lions, unarmed and wearing nothing but their armor undersuits. They were quickly taken out of Fuigo's toxic atmosphere to be treated for CO2 poisoning. The pirates who had been pursuing them, punched unconscious earlier by the princess, were handcuffed and dragged to the brig. More crewmates ventured out to retrieve their discarded paladin armor and bayards and stand guard by the lions in case there were more pirates wandering nearby. And finally, the Olkari pirate who had been operating the cruiser and had hacked the Atlas' comms, was brought in.
Hands restrained behind his back and held in place by two of the Atlas' soldiers, a smug grin pulled up the corners of his lips as the bridge team approached.
"Sophisticated hacking and jamming abilities. Impressive," he mused. His eyes flicked to Scarlett knowingly, gleaming with a mischievous light. "It's nice to find others on my level."
She grit her teeth and her antenna glowed brighter in her anger. If Shiro hadn't placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, Mari was sure the Utearen would've decked the scoundrel right then and there.
"Yeah, it's terrific," Shiro said, curt and cold as he glared at the pirate. "Now where's your leader?"
The Olkari shrugged. "I don't know. I lost her signal when you attacked," he replied, dry and uncaring. "But she's out there somewhere, hunting down the paladin you call 'Keith.'"
"She's going to kill him," Ezor realized grimly, and his gaze shifted to her.
"Hey, Red. Long time no see," he smirked, making her scowl. "Didn't expect to see you with the Voltron losers."
Before Ezor could fire back with a retort of her own, Shiro's comms crackled. "Shiro, we've found Keith, Hunk, and Pidge," Coran reported from the bridge. "Two unidentified biorhythms are closing in on Keith's location near the mouth of the volcano."
"Ahh. There's the Captain," the Olkari hummed. He glanced at Ezor again. "She's been heartsick ever since you left. She's got it real bad. All this trouble was made because of you."
Ezor stiffened and Shiro moved to stand in front of her, blocking her from his sight. "That's enough," he snapped. "Lock him up with the others."
The Olkari chuckled but said nothing more as his guards led him away. Shiro waited until he was out of earshot before replying to Coran. "Send out recovery teams to their locations," he ordered. Then turning to the others he said, "Griffin, Veronica, we're going to get Keith. I might need your sharpshooter skills."
Ezor's eye widened. "Wait! You're not going to kill her, are you?"
"I won't if we can help it," Shiro said slowly. "But if it comes to that…I'm not going to let her kill Keith."
Standing there rigidly, Ezor's lower lip quivered, fear and heartbreak threatening to contort her features. She opened her mouth but quickly shut it, in no position to dispute him. Zethrid had deceived and attacked them willingly. They couldn't – wouldn't let the Black Paladin die to her vengeful hands. This was war, and they would do what had to be done to protect the leader of Voltron and the future of universal peace they were all striving towards.
"Take us with you," Acxa suddenly said, drawing everyone's attention to her.
"What?" Ezor hissed, looking even more panicked than before.
"We can reason with her," Acxa insisted. "This doesn't have to end in violence."
"I'm not going out there, Acxa," Ezor said, adamant as she fervently shook her head. Her voice was quivering around the edges, full of fear and uncertainty at the thought of facing a murderous Zethrid. "She's gone this far, there's no telling how she'll react if she sees me now."
"Ezor's right," Shiro chimed in before Acxa could press the matter any further. "We don't have time to argue. We need to get out there."
Acxa regarded Ezor for a moment longer, the pleading light in her gaze fading. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to steel herself. When she reopened them, they were burning with a renewed determination. "Okay," she nodded, before moving to follow after Shiro and the others and suit up for departure.
Left in charge of the bridge, Mari monitored the situation on the ground. Standing at the captain's station, her arms crossed, she watched as their teams worked. Ezor stood behind her, quiet and nervous but insistent on keeping up to date with the mission.
"Paladins Hunk and Pidge have been recovered," an officer reported over the comms. "We are en route to the Atlas now."
"Good. Please get them to the medical bay ASAP," Mari instructed.
"Yes, ma'am."
She sighed, unable to calm her restless heart. Four of five paladins were found and on the road to recovery. But it was too early to feel relieved yet. She had no idea what state they were in, like how extensive the CO2 poisoning was or if they had sustained any other injuries while running from Zethrid's crew. And of course, Keith was still out there, being chased by Zethrid in her relentless fury. She couldn't help but glance down at her ring every few seconds, afraid the next time she looked, its light would have gone out.
Outside, the MFEs zipped towards the volcano. They hovered as close to the surface as they dared, allowing Shiro, Acxa, and Veronica to jump out and land and make their way towards Keith's location. Coran adjusted their visuals, tapping into the live feed from the MFEs, only to inhale sharply as the images popped up on screen. Standing on a ledge with her back to a bubbling lava pool below, Zethrid stood with Keith in a one-armed chokehold. A blaster was gripped in her hand, charged and ready to fire at Keith or at Acxa and Shiro where they stood several yards in front of her. A second feed showed Veronica's point of view, where she had hidden behind a nearby rock with her rifle's sights trained on the pirate captain.
"Does anyone have the shot?" James asked, his MFE hanging above Shiro and Acxa.
"It's too risky!" Rizavi answered, circling the volcano top.
Mari's heart nearly leapt into her throat, her mouth going dry. Ezor gasped and rushed to her side to stare closer at the scene going on outside. She looked just as frightened as Mari felt, both forced to watch the people they loved in such a precarious predicament.
On screen, Acxa took a careful step forward, taking charge of the situation. "Zethrid, don't do this!" she called out across the space between them, her voice pleading but firm.
"I knew you'd come," Zethrid snarled. "Now you will feel what I felt."
Acxa's frown deepened. "It's over. You're surrounded."
"You think this deters me, Acxa?" Zethrid scoffed. "I welcome death, now that Ezor's gone."
Ezor flinched, sucking in a startled breath. She watched Acxa's reaction, intently waiting for her response.
Acxa was silent for a tick. She closed her eyes and removed her helmet so she could look at her old comrade head-on. "Zethrid, I know you hurt," she said, her tone turning incredibly gentle and consoling. "Ezor hurt too. That's why she left you. She couldn't keep holding on to the anger."
Zethrid's teeth gnashed together, her anger boiling. "Stop!" she spat, unwilling to listen to her logic. Unwilling to accept what she already knew.
"Hear my words," Acxa pressed onward, refusing to be deterred. "Remember how we first met. We were all so full of hate and rage, half-breeds rejected by the Galra. Lotor used us. He led us down a painful path, a never-ending cycle of destruction and loss. Now's your chance to break that cycle! With me, with Ezor. She wants you to leave the rage behind."
Zethrid hesitated, her resolve wavering in the face of her sincerity. Her words carried the truth, the wholehearted understanding of their shared past and trauma. Ezor waited with bated breath, shoulders tense and the long whip-like appendage on her head swishing back and forth with anticipation. Her hand unconsciously sought Mari's, tentatively holding it in a desperate search for a source of comfort. Mari let her, tightening her grip to help ground her. To help ground herself. Wordlessly offering one another what little stability they could, they watched as the anger in Zethrid's gaze flared.
"I'm too far gone," she growled. "She'll never take me back!"
Her grip on Keith tightened and he screwed his eyes shut in pain, grunting and gagging as she threatened to crush his windpipe. Panic flashed across Acxa's face as she realized Zethrid had already made her decision.
"Wait! Please!" she begged. "Don't let the rage control you!"
"All I have left…is revenge!" Zethrid trained her blaster on Acxa, ready to shoot her head off.
"Veronica!" Mari prompted, unable to stop her voice from rising in her escalating terror.
"I'm on it!" she murmured, her rifle whining dimly in the background.
"Please, don't kill her!" Ezor cried out just as Veronica and Zethrid pulled their triggers.
The beam from Zethrid's blaster missed its mark. It soared past Acxa's ear, whipping her hair back in the process. But Veronica's shot didn't. It landed squarely on Zethrid's right shoulder, right where she had intended it to go. Zethrid shouted, the force of the blast knocking her gun out of her hand and causing her to stumble backwards. Keith escaped from her grip, turning around just in time to witness her slipping off the ledge. A choked scream caught in Ezor's throat. Tears pricked in the corner of her widened eye, helpless as she watched Zethrid fall to what would be a fiery and agonizing death.
But it never happened. Keith moved as fast as lightning, practically throwing himself at the cliff's edge. He just barely grabbed Zethrid's hand, bringing her descent to an abrupt halt. Tired, hurt, and out of breath, he struggled to keep himself from being dragged over the side with her. Shiro, Acxa, and Veronica rushed forward, helping him to pull her up to safety. Unconscious but alive, Zethrid was no longer a threat to their team.
Zethrid's blaster wound was treated. Her shoulder had been dislocated when Keith caught her, and the doctors put her arm into a sling. When she regained consciousness, she was quietly escorted to the brig to be locked away with the other pirates.
Aside from the CO2 poisoning and several cuts, bumps, and bruises, none of the paladins had sustained any serious physical injuries. They sat on the beds in the med-bay, hooked up to oxygen machines that flushed their systems of the bad gas. They relayed their misadventures on Fuigo to the bridge team, before going quiet, too exhausted from the chaotic near-death events of the day.
"We shouldn't have split up," Shiro said, his expression lined with a frustrated guilt. "It's still too dangerous out there for Voltron to be without backup."
Keith sighed. "We had to. It was the only way we could get any leads on Honerva," he said, his voice hoarse and raw. An angry red mark decorated the skin of his neck from where Zethrid's arm had been pressing into his throat, and he grimaced as Mari gingerly applied a cold patch.
"At least we got some useful information. It makes almost suffocating to death worthwhile," Pidge stated flatly, and Sam ran a soothing hand through her hair, now grimy with dried sweat and ash.
"Thank goodness Zethrid's locked away now." Allura let out a sigh of relief as she leaned back against her pillows, glancing briefly at Coran while he carefully polished her golden tiara free of soot. "That's one less enemy for us to worry about."
"Yeah. Except her partner's still out there running loose," Lance sourly reminded them.
The air shimmered next to Acxa before Ezor appeared, reluctantly revealing her presence to the five heroes. They startled, eyes widening in a mixture of alarm and anger.
"E-Ezor!" Hunk stammered. He scrambled to sit up straighter, bracing himself in case she suddenly pounced on them.
Pidge gnashed her teeth together, looking ready to throw hands. "What is she doing here?"
"It's okay, she won't hurt you." Veronica stood from where she had been sitting next to Lance, hurrying to come to her defense. "She's a friend now. She's joined the coalition."
The Green Paladin didn't look convinced. "Explain," she demanded.
"While you were gone, we stopped on a planet called Thoh," Mari quickly elaborated. "Long story short, we found Ezor there with a bunch of young Galra cadets. She was helping them, but they were barely surviving there. So, we brought them here."
"There are kids on this ship now too?" Pidge groaned. When Mari nodded, she flopped onto her back, exasperated. "Ugh, great!"
"We couldn't have left them there," Mari frowned at her. "They'll be heading to Vurelle as soon as they're healthy enough."
Lance turned to Ezor again, unable to shake his glare. "So what, you adopt a few kids and we're just supposed to trust you now?" he asked. "I think it's highly sus that you showed up here right before Zethrid came for us."
"She had nothing to do with that," Acxa insisted, her gaze narrowing to match his scowl. "Ezor left Zethrid of her own free will. She hasn't done anything wrong since she boarded the Atlas."
Ezor inched forward, nervous beneath their hostile glares. "I'm sorry. She went to such extremes because of me, because I left," she murmured. Her head drooped, honest remorse flooding her gaze. "This is all my fault."
"It's not. You made the right choice for yourself when you left," Mari tried to reassure her.
"But I hurt her so much…"
"She hurt you by putting her own need for revenge first," Veronica gently countered.
Ezor huffed, rubbing at her temples in frustration. "Ugh, I don't know what to do anymore…" she moaned. "I know deep down, she wants to move on. I want to help her, but I don't want her to do it just because I tell her to. She has to realize she was wrong and let go of the anger herself."
Acxa took one of Ezor's hands in hers, giving it a light squeeze. "We won't give up on her," she promised, a hopeful and encouraging warmth in her voice. "Now that her fleet is gone, Zethrid's lost. We'll help to set her on the right path. There's nowhere to go except forward for us."
Ezor stared at her for a long moment, absorbing her words and their current situation. The fear and anxiety in her eye began to recede and she slowly nodded in agreement. "Okay." She paused, inhaling and exhaling deeply to steel herself, before pressing her lips into a determined line. "I want to see her," she finally decided. "Can we go talk to her?"
Acxa looked at Shiro and he nodded. "I think she'd like that," she said, a small smile gracing her features.
Ezor visibly brightened, her shoulders straightening as her usual bubbly energy returned. The paladins watched in silence as she followed Acxa towards the exit, until she suddenly stopped in the doorway. She hesitated before facing Keith.
"Thank you. For saving her," she said, sounding awkward and embarrassed, but honest as she forced herself to look him in the eyes.
Keith stared back at her, his frown softening just a tad. "I'm giving her a second chance," he said, as if it were only natural. "Don't make me regret it."
Ezor grinned. "We won't," she promised. Then she followed after Acxa, leaving the med-bay behind to visit the brig.
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