Chapter 14

A/N: once again readers, story & OCs: mine, Voltron & Destiny: not mine. Kay?

/commlinks/

"Bold is intercoms"

Flashbacks or Yorak talking privately to Guardian

Keith's consciousness returned to him slowly.

First thing he was aware of was that he was slumped over in his seat and everything hurt. Leaning back he took note of his injuries: several broken bones—ribs mostly, they'd heal in a minute; bruises, already vanishing; concussion, five minutes at most. Overall, his injuries could be worse.

"You ok Red?" he asked out quietly, moving the controls and furrowing his eyebrows when she only responded with a tired rumble. The battle against Zarkon took a lot out of her, emotionally and physically. "Alright, you rest up, it was a rough fight."

Patting the inside of her hull, Keith crawled out through the escape hatch. Standing on his lion's head, Keith looked around; landscape was dead, rocks were floating and Keith gave an exasperated groan as he saw a painfully familiar black substance clumped close to one of the rock formations.

On the biggest pod, was the familiar Hivian rune translating to Chamber, the rune used to commune with the dark gods of the Hive in their Ascendent Realms.

The universe just loved screwing him over didn't it?

"Where are we?" Keith muttered.

"I…I don't know," Yorak replied, "my scans aren't detecting any familiar constellations. We might have stumbled across an old Hive nest, maybe it's abaondoned?"

Keith slowly raised an eyebrow; the Hive? Abandon a nest? They never did. Once life on the planet had been wiped out the world was either destroyed or they turned to killing each other in order to feed the dark beings they worshipped.

"I know, not likely, considering our luck," he said looking down.

"Yeah, well…wait…" Keith trailed off, his eyes going wide, "where's Shiro?"

"He's, uh, oh Traveler."

"What?"

"The Black Lion crashed at a nest entrance."

Keith was right, this mission did suck.

-.-

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole's taking us!" Coran exclaimed.

"Coran! Jaz! Look! There's something on the other end!" Allura exclaimed.

"Lig dreh ni kos Kaplii! Lig dreh ni kos Kaplii!" Jaz chanted.

"We're heading right for it!"

"Scanners show that there's no exit, only nothingness!" Coran froze.

"What do you mean nothingness?!" Jaz exclaimed breaking her prayer.

"That's what I'm getting!" Coran exclaimed turning to look at them. "Find an exit before we run smack into the void!"

Allura raised her hands and began typing quickly. "I've lost control of the Castle!"

"Brace for impact!" Jaz ordered as they hit the void.

-.-

Lighting crackled outside the Castle, jostling It as it was sent hurtling aimlessly through the corrupted wormhole.

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole is taking us!" Coran exclaimed flipping his bangs out of the way, making his ponytail shift with it.

"We didn't die?" Jaz asked looking up before balking at Coran's appearance. "Huh?"

"Coran, we're ok!" Allura said.

"We just smashed into a black void, don't you remember?" the Princess questioned.

"I remember his hair being shorter," Jaz replied curtly.

"Jaz that's hardly—WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!" Allura exclaimed before jumping as a pink squirrel jumped onto her shoulder. "What happened to the mice?!"

"What do you mean what happened to me?!"

Allura looked at Coran again. "What? Do I have a boogie in my moustache?"

"Jaz was right, you look…younger?"

"Scanners show there's no exit, only nothingness!"

"You said that already!" both girls shouted.

"Find an exit before we run smack into the void!"

"Entering coordinates to get us out of here!" Allura stated trying to type again before curling her lip in anger. "Nothing's working!"

"Just enter any coordinates!"

"What about 'nothing's working' do you not understand?!" Jaz snapped.

"Allura!" Coran called out before they were absorbed by the void once again.

-.-

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole's taking us!" Coran said.

"He's younger now," Jaz huffed getting back to her feet.

"And you changed too," Allura frowned.

"What do you mean?" Jaz asked and Allura pointed at her ears.

Grabbing the sides of her head, Jaz balked as she felt long pointed ears, running to the window she stared in shock as she was greeted by blue skin, long pointed ears, golden marks, and a pair of long translucent violet wings coming from her back.

She was a quiznacking Fae.

"I'm changing species?!"

"It would appear so," Allura worried.

"What's the matter ladies? You look confused?" Coran asked flexing his muscles. "Don't you worry yet, I'll get us out of here!"

Jaz's light blue skin turned darker, "I'm gonna hurl."

"Ah!" Allura shrieked, jumping as one of the mice-turned-cows licked her elbow. "We appear to be trapped in some sort of timeloop that's effecting everyone but me!"

"LUCKY YOU!"

"Scanners show that there's no exit. It's just—"

"Nothingness we know!" Jaz snapped flying in front of the Altean man.

"And we've already tried finding another exit!" Allura added.

"Don't just stand and fly there! We've got to find an exit! I'll never give into nothingness!"

Jaz was about to strangle Coran as they hit the void again.

-.-

Shiro groaned softly as he woke up lying in the cockpit of the unresponsive Black Lion. Slowly getting to his feet, he cried out and collapsed to his knees, clutching his side.

It hurt, Kami-sama, it burned. Every pulse of the mysterious energy in the wound sent agony rippling further through his exhausted, battered body as it continued to spread like a poison.

Shiro wanted nothing more than to curl up and try to escape the pain even though he knew there was no escape, nothing to fight against or hide from. Escaping the witch's magic was impossible.

Getting to his feet, he slowly made his way up and out of the escape hatch, biting back a scream and barely staying on his feet as he stood upon Black's head. "Keith?" he tried, opening up a comm-channel, "Are you there? Keith?"

His only response was static.

That made Shiro worry, Keith and Red had been pretty beat up as it was after their battle with Zarkon, the crash could've knocked Keith unconscious, or worse…It could've killed him depending on the speed of his impact and where he crashed. It wasn't like the lions had seatbelts

No.

No, Shiro couldn't afford to think like that, Keith was fine. Keith Kogane was too damn stubborn to die in a crash. The static was probably the result of a malfunction or the canyon walls blocking it from reaching his brother.

It might even be blocking any of Keith's calls from reaching him.

"I need to get to higher ground," he breathed.

Carefully maneuvering his way down Black, Shiro began walking up the canyon.

The treck was slow and painful, every step made him want to scream. But he couldn't stop. He had to reach Keith. He needed to know he was safe.

/Shiro—re you there? —rio—Answer me!/ a familiar voice broke through the pain, making him focus.

"Keith?" he asked quietly. "I'm here…Keith?"

Pain once again erupted through his body as the dark stain on his suit slowly continued to spread. At this rate, he'd bleed out before the poison killed him. Leaning against the rock wall, Shiro slid down into a sit, gasping for air.

His lungs, breathing was starting to hurt. Did he break a rib? Hopefully it didn't puncture anything important; Keith didn't deserve to lose anymore family.

/Shiro?!/

"Keith," he called again, putting more effort into making his voice louder, despite how much it hurt, "Keith, I'm here. I'm alright."

He heard a relieved laugh on the other end of the line over the sound of a running engine, was Keith using Red's speeder? Maybe she wasn't as damaged as he throught.

/Good. Glad to hear it. How are you doing?/

"It takes more than a glowing alien wound and a fall from the upper atmosphere, crashing into a hard pan surface at what I'm guessing is twenty-five meters per second squared to get rid of me," he huffed. "How are you?"

The was a grunt, and the sound of speeds changing. /Not good, scans from Red indicated that this is real nasty territory and Red's busted up pretty bad. You've landed near the entrance of a nest full of what're essentially living demons. You should stay in Black—wait…/ Keith trailed off as Shiro's words finally caught up with him, /what wound?/

"It's nothing," Shiro lied through his teeth, grimacing at the still fresh image of the witch's claws digging in and ripping through his side, tearing his flesh and making his body explode in absolute hellish pain. "What animals were you talking about?"

/Just stay in Black! I'm almost there!/ Keith exclaimed sounding very panicked now.

That made Shiro furrow his eyebrows; in all the time Shiro had known the younger man, Keith had never, ever panicked. Not even when Commander Iverson would threaten to send him back to the home, not when Griffin had locked Keith in the freezer, not when Keith's map and other vital supplies went missing for the survival mission in the desert all Cadets were required to do on their own during their first year.

He hadn't even freaked out when Shiro told him about his disease, he just accepted it as a painful fact. Shiro was surprised, but grateful Keith could handle those situations better than most adults, so whatever made Keith panic could not be good.

Just what on Earth was it?

Shiro's answer, came in the form of low growls.

Grunting quietly, he got onto his belly and crawled to the edge of the legde he managed to climb to. What was down there, made him freeze in horror.

Flashback

Shiro shifted his stance gazing warily around the arena for his upcoming opponent. According to what he heard from the other prisoners when he and Jaz did see them in the waiting area or the training room whenever they were released from their shared cell was that a Tournament of the Dark was going to start soon.

From what they gathered it was a nasty event the Galra hosted one every few cycles due to a certain population of…monsters growing too high in number. Apparently, they only kept four of these things around for a rare event known as the Trial of the Hive, a series of battles against ever-stronger opponents, if the gladiator won the Trial, the prize was their freedom.

No one had ever made it past the first opponent.

That first opponent was apparently the creature he was about to fight to kickstart Tournament. And since he was the Champion, he was fighting alone.

Shiro's new arm flared with power as he nervously looked around. Normally he and his opponent would enter the arena at the same time, and if he was lucky, it was someone he could talk into surrendering before things got too bloody and either one of them was seriously injured.

But now…it was just him, alone in the arena as the crowd remained uncharacteristically silent. Normally they'd be cheering so loud it physically hurt, currently the crowd was so quiet the only thing heard was quiet whispers, Shiro's ragged breathing and quite possibly his ever-increasing heart-rate.

That silence was broken by the sound of the door at the other end of the arena creaking open slowly, and Shiro's hair stood on end as he felt the change in atmosphere as even the hushed whispers vanished.

Whatever it was he was about to face, one thing was clear, no one wanted to be unfortunate enough to get its attention, sitting in the crowd or not.

Rushing behind the nearest post like he did with his first battle against Myzax, he slowly peered around as it fully opened and a piercing scream that made his blood run cold came from the dark doorway.

A pale form ran out, giving another of those damned cries, before it came to a stop, giving a low growl as it slowly began prowling towards the arena center as the door closed behind it.

One thing Shiro first noticed about the creature, was the strange fact that it appeared to have no face, but it's maw—filled with sharp, dagger-like teeth—resembled that of a skull. Another thing he found disturbing was the color, white.

White normally represented purity, and life, and just anything good in general…but this thing…it was a physical embodiment of death, plain and simple.

What he'd give to have Jaz by his side, his combat partner could easily kill this thing. However, she'd been taken by the witch again a few days ago. She had yet to come back.

Hiding behind the post again he took a few slow breaths, trying to control his breathing. Now was not the time to panic, if he panicked then he'd lose focus and die. And Shiro refused to die in this Kami-sama forsaken arena!

Taking another slow breath, he slowly peered around the pillar. The beast was still slowly walking around the arena center, hissing and growling lowly as its faceless head slowly swung side-to-side as if observing its surroundings.

"Alright, just because it looked like it didn't have a face didn't mean it can't see," he murmured quietly. "Smell might not be so great since it hasn't found me yet…or it's confused by all the other scents. And considering no one's making any noises I'd bet this thing has amazing hearing."

Shiro's gaze wondered away from its head to observe the rest of it. The white skeleton-thing was about his height, possibly a bit shorter. It seemed to move in a slow, hunched over position, but considering the many different shades of blood still covering the white armor-like plates, he didn't want to underestimate this thing's speed or strength.

That's probably what got those other gladiators killed.

Then there were the claws: three, very long, disproportionaly so. Without a doubt they'd tear him to ribbons.

If it was an option, Shiro would've preferred to use some sort of distance attack, but no, he just had his new arm.

He'd probably have to come at it from behind very fast and very quietly, otherwise he'd be killed.

Seems Kami-sama was looking out for him, because in that moment a child gave a cry that got the creature's attention. Seeing it was turning its back to him, Shiro activated his arm and sprinted at the skeleton-creature and the crowd started cheering as the fight began.

Jumping in the air, Shiro swung his arm down just as it turned to look at him and successfully buried it into the thing's right shoulder.

It screamed, but unlike any of his regular opponents where'd they'd simply attempt to shove him away, it lunged at him, completely ignoring the glowing hand burning its way through its arm. The spare arm claws down his left side from his ribs to his hip, the claws effortlessly tearing through his clothes and flesh, making him scream and pull his Galra-arm out before punching it away.

The skeleton-creature skipped a few times, before it rolled to its feet, green blood spilling from the gaping wound Shiro had inflicted. Releasing another terrifying scream, the thing began sprinting at him again, forcing Shiro to roll out of the way as it blindly swung its claws at him with both arms.

Whatever it was, this thing had to be one of those Druid beasts he'd heard about. It seemed like it couldn't even register pain.

He held back a cry as a claw tore along the bridge of his nose and along his side. Shiro couldn't afford the luxury of focusing in the pain, not with this thing still kicking.

Whirling around, he ducked under another set of claws and buried his glowing arm wrist-deep in the creature's throat. Green blood spurt out covering the human-gladiator as he yanked his arm out and scrambled back as it kept hobbling towards him.

Shiro's wounded leg gave out, when did it even get wounded? Nonetheless, it forced him to his knees, watching in horror as it continued to hobble after him. Just how was it still alive?! It had to die at some point, right?!

Thankfully, it didn't get far before it finally collapsed. Its head was still turned towards him releasing shrill shrieks as the uninjured arm's claws opened and closed while the limb reached out towards him.

After a few terrifying seconds, the arm dropped as it finally died and the guards entered the arena as the sound of cheering came back into focus, Shiro never thought he'd be relieved to have that, but it was a reassurance that he was still alive after that terrifying ordeal.

And to think that thing was only the first opponent in the Trial of the Hive.

Shiro watched with wide eyes as the ten white monsters slowly moved around the Black Lion; there was no way he could get to it now. Not without being spotted by them…he barely survived one the last time.

"On second thought, you better hurry Keith," Shiro whispered crawling back and getting into a crouch.

He had to find a place to hide, now.

-.-

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole's taking us," Coran drawled, before scoffing and flipping his hair. "Ugh, this is so boring."

"Coran please! Jaz and I do not need any of your attitude right now!" Allura scolded as she and the now human Jaz typed quickly on the monitors trying to find a way out.

"You don't understand me at all! You have no idea what I'm going through!" Coran huffed, crossing his arms and tilitng his chin in the air. "I'll be in my control area!"

Jaz's pale freckled skin slowly turned red as she brushed some of her brilliant red hair out of the way. "Coran! Stop being a big baby and help us find a way out of this!" she chided. "Allura, do you have anything?"

"I can't enter any coordinates…"

"I'm sensing a but?" Jaz perked up.

"But, the Castle will automatically lock onto the lions' whereabouts if we can locate them!" Allura realized.

"Let's do this!" Jaz cheered summoning the map.

Allura closed her eyes and concentrated. "It's not working! I'm unable to hone of their location!"

The two women looked to each other as they tried to formulate another plan and jumped as loud operatic music began blasting throughout the bridge.

"CORAN! TURN THAT INFERNAL RACKET DOWN THIS INSTANT! OUR LIVES ARE AT STAKE!" Jaz shouted.

"I can only express myself through music!" he snapped back turning it up louder.

"CORAN!" Allura exploded, "IF YOU DON'T LISTEN TO JAZ AND TURN THAT DOWN, I SWEAR I WILL TURN THIS CASTLE AROUND AND—!"

"And what?" he sneered. "We're just going to run into this void that's coming up here! I HATE EVERYBODY!"

-.-

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole is taking us," the ten-year-old said cheerily, "whatever that means."

"We've tried everything and nothing's worked!" Allura exclaimed. "A few more trips down this wormhole and you're going to disappear disappear."

"We really need to find a way out," Jaz said sitting up from where she fell on the floor. "I really hate this, I mean look! I'm a mermaid!"

"Just blast your way out! Duh!" Coran said running around the bridge making plane noises.

"I suppose it's worth a try," Allura surrendered, "the Castle might have enough firepower to destroy the tunnel."

"Yeah! And it'll go ker-plooey!"

"This seems like a terrible plan! What if it ricochets?"

"It's the only thing we haven't tried," Allura said charging the cannon; firing they all yelped as the shots came back at them. "It's not working! It's like we're shooting at ourselves!"

"That's exactly what I was trying to warn you about!"

Coran blew a raspberry at the currently mermaid Awoken, "Where's Voltron?"

-.-

"What happened?" Keith demanded as he picked up speed, driving towards Shiro's location.

/There's a bunch of these creatures. They—they came out of nowhere/ Shiro gulped, /Keith…I fought just one of these beasts in the pits and I barely made it out…/

"Just hold on," he called.

"Geyser field, dead ahead."

Driving onto the field, Keith's sparrow quickly flew ahead of the waterspouts that erupted in their wake. "Qogralbar!" he cursed, slamming on the brakes and skidding to a stop just before going over the cliff.

/Keith?! Are you ok?! What happened?/ Shiro called.

"Uh…well, it's a minor delay, but I'll be there soon," he reassured. "How are you?"

/I'm fine, but I'm trapped in a small cave/ he breathed shakily, /and those things are blocking my way out/

"If you're dealing with what I think you are just stay quiet and stay downwind. These things have a terrible sight, but their hearing is incredible, and their smell is crazy good."

/Thanks for the warning/ Shiro said even quieter then before.

"Now, I just need to…figure this out," Keith sighed looking over the canyon and muting his side of the comm to Shiro. "Yorak, you see any way around?"

"No, but…"

"But what?"

"I think I found a shortcut, through which we could reach Shiro faster?"

"Great. Where is it?"

"It's down there. In the Hive nest."

"You're kidding."

"No."

"Patience yields focus," Keith said tapping his comm, unmuting it, he had to at least warn Shiro of what he was about to pull.

The was a small chuckle on the other end of the line, /That really stuck with you didn't it?/

"Why wouldn't it?" Keith smiled. "If it wasn't for you, my life would've been a lot different."

/Yeah. You wouldn't have crashed a flying lion on an alien planet and be stuck with little hope of rescue/ Shiro tiredly replied, /You're welcome/

"Eh, don't beat yourself up," Keith drawled. "I would've gotten myself in this situation some other way."

Shiro laughed slightly before coughing.

"Stay with me Shiro. I need you to hold on longer. Look, I think I found a shortcut, but it's underground. I'm probably gonna be out of reach for a little bit."

/Keith. You said yourself that I'm at the entrance of one of these nests. What if that's an entrance?/ Shiro questioned sounding worried.

"That's what I'm counting on. From what I managed to get from Red, these things make some pretty big nests. It'll be faster for me to use the pre-existing tunnels," he stated before a smirk crept onto his face. "Besides, judging by the dead ones, something's already been clearing my way."

The was silence on the other end for a few moments, /If you feel like you're in any danger, get the hell out and take the long way. That's an order/

"Yes sir. See ya on the other side," Keith said turning off the comms. "Mask."

"Copy," Yorak replied and Paladin armor changed to Guardian.

"Let's do this."

Putting his sparrow away, Keith jumped into the canyon, about halfway down, he activated his jetpack to slow his descent, turning it off and on till he reached the bottom. Switching his bayard out for one of his guns, Keith followed the scanner towards the entrance, quickly shooting down the few Thralls and Acolytes guarding it.

Walking inside, Keith kept close to the walls, eying his scanner as he waited for the warning systems to flash as he moved through the halls.

"Is it just me, or does this nest seem empty?"

"We're sticking to the edges of the nest, that's probably why. Remember? The deeper we go the more Hive there are," he replied crouching down behind a corner as he got red.

Peering around, he cursed explicitly, a Shrieker. And where there were Shriekers, there were always Thralls nearby. Taking a breath, Keith stepped into the infernal eye's line of sight, watching as the armor plates furled away from the eye, that focused on him quickly and began firing. Putting his light shield up, Keith crouched down and fired, using it for cover before he took too many hits.

Moving around and firing again, he watched as it exploded and the screams came.

"Usually they're earlier than this," Keith muttered pulling out a sword watching as the thralls emerged from the darkness ahead.

"At least they still sprint in a nice straight line for us."

"True," Keith grunted stabbing the blade through two before swinging it out to slice through the one jumping above them. Spinning out of the way, he winced as the claws got his side and ripped through a small gap in the armor before stabbing it in the head. Looking around, Keith was relieved to find that the scanners were clear, for now anyways.

Placing a hand on his side, he found the wound already fading. "And I just got this armor fixed too."

Switching back to a gun, Keith made his way deeped into the nest. Making a right at a fork, he felt the slope change from down to up.

Before long, the red was back. Creeping up behind a spire, Keith watched as he saw the entrance. There was two Knights armed with guns, a Wizard, about nine Acolytes, and Lord knew how many qogralbar're Thralls.

"Looks like the whole nest might be up here."

"Shiro's crash landing must've gotten their attention," Keith whispered.

In the small cave, Shiro slowly crawled to the entrance, making sure to stick close to the shadows as he peered outside. The creatures weren't leaving, if anything, they were getting closer, slowly following the scent of his blood till they found him.

Looking past Black, he could see where they came from; a massive cave entrance sat a ways behind and he could only stare at the other beasts guarding in. Slightly larger ones carrying blasters, the two hulking monsters that practically shook the ground as they walked, and the glowing, flying druid above them.

Then, something else shot out of the cave.

Shiro stared at the armored humanoid in shcok. Was he nuts? Who would…?

One of the big ones turned towards him and the newcomer slid under a swing, rolling to their feet and decapitated it in one stroke. The pack began turning and Shiro could almost watch in slow motion as the other beast dropped dead. The druid turned and began firing at them and Shiro's eyes widened as a shield made of pure energy erupted in front of him, the druid's blasts harmlessly bouncing off. The armored figure crouched behind the glowing shield for a moment, before sprinting out, right towards the druid.

Whoever this guy was, he was completely unafraid of the beasts, the same beasts that gave Shiro nightmares.

The armored being leapt up at the flying beast, punching it in the face, before he grabbed a pistol off his hip and shot up under its jaw before kicking the falling body away and going after the rest.

Shiro jumped as his view was blocked and he came face to face with one of the white ones as it crouched down and stared at him. The Black Paladin scrambled back with a scream, watching as two others joined it and they began digging, their claws occasionally trying to swipe at him.

Activating his arm, Shiro rushed forwards and used it to cut off the arms as the creatures tried reaching for him again. Shreiking, they stumbled back allowing him to get out of the cave and slice his hand through the weaker heads, grimacing as the blood almost seemed to burn as it came into contact with this injury.

Fumbling for his footing, Shiro clutched his side as another wave of angony rippled over him. Several of the white monsters charged and he scrambled away, losing his footing and rolling down the cliff, dropping his helmet in the process. Grunting in even more pain than he had been in before, Shiro got to his feet and ran as he watched the first one jump down after him.

Keith raced past Black, wincing as he felt a few blaster shots hit his back, looking down the slope Shiro had fallen, he could see that Shiro was trying to outrun the group of Thralls, but they were swiftly gaining ground.

Summoning his sparrow, Keith flew off the cliff speeding towards his brother.

Shiro dodged out of the way as another of the skeletons jumped at him, slamming its head into the rocks, before having to duck as another materialized to his left, the massive claws barely missing cutting him to ribbons. He could barely keep up with these things, they were fast, insanely fast, and Shiro was quickly starting to run on fumes. Sooner or later, one of them would land a hit, then it would be all over.

Jumping out of the third one's way, Shiro grunted as the fourth jumped on his back, making him grab it and toss the creature over his shoulder, slamming it to the ground. It seemed stunned for a split second before one of its claws tore through the leg armor like it was paper, forcing him down to one knee as they began to circle him like sharks.

It was over.

Shiro lost.

Actiavting his arm again, Shiro grit his teeth, no, he wasn't going to die here. Not without a fight. He could at least take a few with him. Getting up and turning to the closest one, Shiro was greeted by a rush of air and the impact dust and the armored being stood on top of one of the skeleton creatures, green blood oozing out from under it.

The monsters' attention turned away from him and they all shrieked at the newcomer. The man charged, his fist slamming into one of their heads. Shiro could only stare as the white armor gave way like putty under the being's fist.

That certainly explained why he wasn't scared.

Pulling out a long red and black sword, the man cut through the creatures quickly, his long blade tearing through sometimes multiple at once. Stabbing the last one, Shiro stiffened as the masked head turned to him.

In all the chaos, he never considered if he should fear for his own life. This guy just took out a horde of demon creatures single handedly. Even without his injuries Shiro didn't like his odds.

The man strapped the sword to his back and calmly crouched next to him. "Issi jeme paktot [Are you alright]?"

Shiro bit his lip, he had no idea what this guy just said.

There was a sigh and the man spoke again, this time in a different language, "Ken uniy ynporntenp thun [Can you understand this]?"

Shiro shook his head.

The next lanague was a surprise. "Hohu arbhhohsust'h nhohu [How about now]?" he asked in Eliksni.

Shiro, too surprised to speak, merely nodded. How did this guy know Eliksni? They couldn't be Matt or Sam, the voice was altered by the helmet, but they'd be more than happy to see him.

"Gohohd'h. Ae'rfef yrohsus ohk'h [Good. Are you ok]?"

Shiro grimaced reregistering the wound on his side, all the adrenaline made him forget about it. The armored man noticed it with a nod, moving to his wounded side and inspecting the injury.

"Lohohk'hhs lhgygk'hfef ar Hgygvhfef Wgygzhare'rd'h ghoht'h yrar [Looks like a Hive Wizard got ya]," the man commented.

Shiro furrowed his brows, is that…is that what those beasts were called? Hive? It would make sense, the freedom matches were called the Trial of the Hive.

"Hohlhd'h hst'hgyglhlh, t'hhgyghs mharyr hsuse'rt'h [Hold still, this may hurt]."

Yanking himself from his thoughts, Shiro opened his mouth to protests as the man rested his hands on the wound. His words were cut off as pain erupted in his side. He could feel it, two different energies coiling against one another, trying to eradricate each other.

The pain slowly began to ebb, and Shiro opened his eyes, glancing down. The man's hands were glowing, just like Allura and Jaz when they did magic. He could see glowing violet energy being forced out by a orange light, travelling up onto the man and dissappating harmlessly.

The man pulled back, resting his hands on his knees with a tired huff. "Ziry iksos issare iā while pār nyke've gaomagon ōños hae bona," he muttered in the first strange language again.

But, this time, it struck a familiar chord with Shiro. He could swear he'd heard this language before.

"I d'hgygd'h uhart'h I c'hhohsuslhd'h. Phyrhsgygc'hharlh uohsusnhd'hhs are'rfef nhoht'h mhyr fefzp'hfefe'rt'hgyghsfef, bhhsust'h yrohsus uohnh't'h harvhfef t'hoh uohe're'ryr arbhhohsust'h Dare'rk'hnhfefhshs hslhohulhyr k'hgyglhlhgygnhgh yrohsus [I did what I could. Physical wounds are not my expertise, but you won't have to worry about Darkness slowly killing you]."

Darkness? What was that?

Before he could ask, the man stood up, grabbing a blaster. "Yohsuse'r fhe'rgygfefnhd'h ugyglhlh bhhfef hfefe'rfef hsohohnh. Thfef ohnhfef gygnh e'rfefd'h [Your friend will be here soon. The one in red]."

With those parting words, the man ran back up towards the cave, disappearing inside.

Just like he said, Keith emerged less than a minute later. His armor was scuffed up, but overall he looked fine.

-.-

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitors to see where this wormhole goes!" the toddler Coran said before grabbing his stomach. "I hungry."

Seeing the tiny child start throwing a tantrum, both Altean women rushed forwards. "No! No Coran! You're going to damage the Castle and everything will stop!"

"Wait…" Jaz said as they looked at each other.

Allura shoved Coran into Jaz's hands and raced for the controls as Coran pulled the other woman's hair. "NO! MINE!" he exclaimed biting her.

"BAD CORAN!" Jaz shrieked yanking him off her arm.

"I shut down the power, but we're still moving towards the void," Allura worried.

"My control panel!" Coran cried.

"We probably haven't stopped because there isn't enough friction, can we drive the Castle in reverse?" Jaz questioned before yelping as Coran yanked on her ear.

-.-

Jaz and Allura looked at each other as they started the loop again, this time the Awoken woman standing as a Galran with a crying Altean baby in her arms. "I know, who what's to check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor?" Jaz cooed.

"You do, that's who," Allura said as Coran made a whimper. "We must find a way out of this time loop before all that's left of him is his moustache."

"Seriously, did he have that since he was this little?"

Coran spat out the pacifier, hitting Jaz in the side of the head. "Poopies."

"That's all you," Jaz said shoving Coran into Allura's arms.

"Now wait a tick!" Allura protested holding him away.

"We don't have time to argue; we need to figure out what we're going to do?" Jaz asked rubbing Coran's head, "If we hit that void again Coran will cease to exist."

"I don't know, I'm out of ideas," the Princess despondently answered, holding Coran close. "I'm so sorry Coran. You were like a second father to me."

The monitors activated, showing a set of coordinates. "Talk about luck!" Jaz said typing on the monitor.

Opening the wormhole, they shot out into a trash nebula. "We made it!" Allura cheered before noticing the heavy weight in her arms.

Coran woke himself up with a snore, looking at Allura and Jaz. "Mom? Auntie?"

Allura promptly dropped him and they both crossed their arms before smiling as they saw Pidge appeared. "Thanks for that Pidge, you saved us. We were stuck in a time loop," Allura praised.

"I kept changing species!"

"How'd you get us out?!"

"I made a communications link that sends out the Green Lion's energy. It's like the energy that guided the Blue Lion home."

"Pidge you're a genius!" Coran praised and she crossed her arms looking smug.

"I know, but it wasn't just me. They helped," she said pointing to the adorable fluff-balls floating behind her.

"AWWW! THEY'RE SO CUTE! WE'RE KEEPING THEM!" Jaz squealed.

"How many?"

"ALL!"

Allura and Coran backed away from the overly excited Awoken woman. "How about we go retrieve the rest of the Paladins?"

-.-

"Thanks for coming to save me," Shiro said as Keith started a small fire.

"You'd have done the same for me," he shrugged, leaning back against the rock they were using. "How's your wound?"

"My wound's great. It's better than it was before," he chuckled weakly before breaking into a coughing fit.

"Hang in there. When Allura and Coran find us, they'll fix you right up," Keith stated.

"Keith?"

"Yeah?"

"Did…did you see a man run through? A man in armor?"

The younger man raised a brow looking confused. "No. Why?"

"Before you arrived, those…things were about to kill me. This guy came out of nowhere. He killed them all like it was nothing. He's the reason the wound isn't glowing."

"Wait, you wound was glowing?"

"Druids. Whatever he did, it worked."

"Guess we're fortunate that that dude was here."

"Keith," Shiro breathed, "if…if I don't make it out of here, I want you to lead Voltron."

Keith froze, there was no way he'd let Shiro die on this planet. "Don't talk like that. You'll be fine, you're gonna make it," he stated as the sky light blue for a moment, and Keith physically felt the stress of Shiro possibly dying on this planet leave him as he saw the Castle flying above. "My point's proven."