Update time! My new mouse came this morning, and thankfully it is working so much better than the old one... no more dragging text around when I'm just trying to highlight! Makes it so much easier, lol. Anyways, onto the chapter! Please enjoy even more baby Keith content, as he gets himself into just a *bit* of trouble. Though I guess to be fair, it's not totally his fault this time...

Until next time~!


crimson

chapter seven

antok


If he wasn't seeing it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it.

He knew what Kolivan had told him, but he half hadn't believed his leader. Kyix, turning into a youngling? Something like that would be a first, even for him. But there was absolutely no mistake. The youngling that had all but thrown himself into his arms could only be Kyix.

"Antok!" Kyix cried, nuzzling him in an affectionate manner, heedless of the fact that they were not alone in the hangar. "You came!"

"Of course, youngling." Antok said, quickly recovering from his shock. A Blade must be prepared for anything, no matter how... strange. "I made haste."

He'd nearly forgotten how tiny Kyix had been as a proper youngling. He was still tiny now, but he'd grown to the point where he was slightly less concerned about someone of his size taking part on missions. He wondered if Eira would be this small when she grew to this age. She was even smaller than Kyix was as an infant, and it worried him terribly. If it had not been for his timely intervention, she would have been dead already, discarded for not meeting the criteria of the Empire.

Now she was alone, an orphan. Naveera was pushing him to formally adopt her, but he didn't know. After he had lost both his child and his partner over the course of a few short deca-phoebs, he was not so certain about trying to raise another. He'd even nearly died at the hands of the druids, only Kyix's strange possessed scribbling standing between him and certain death. He couldn't say for sure that it wouldn't happen again, and that he'd be half as lucky this time. The scribble was gone now, after all.

And she was just so small.

Kyix ceased his nuzzling, peering up at him with curious eyes. "Are you okay?"

Antok huffed, dissolving his mask and giving him a proper smile. He'd always been perceptive of their moods. "Quite fine, youngling. How are you?"

"Fine." Kyix said, then frowned. "Did you come to make me stay in the infirmary again? The paladins said I won't get sick, and I'm still taking my medicine, so do I really have to?"

Antok fought the urge to arch his brow at the claim that he was still taking his medicine, paying full attention to the paladins for the first time since landing. He could almost smell their nerves, especially from their newly minted black paladin, even if she didn't show it on her face. He made sure to stare at her for longer than was absolutely necessary, before pointedly glancing down at her very borrowed armor, delivering an amused smirk. Kolivan had briefed him on the way here, but seeing the Altean princess' attempt at masquerading as a Blade was nevertheless quite hilarious.

To her credit, she barely even flinched.

But, back to the question asked.

"If the paladins say it is alright," Antok began, "-then it is alright."

Kyix didn't even attempt to conceal his excitement, to which he couldn't help but feel a stab of regret. At this age, Kyix had still been confined to the infirmary, and while he knew it had been absolutely necessary, he'd always felt badly about it. Kyix had never complained about it, but seeing his excitement now, it dawned on him that he'd been attempting to be considerate.

Of course he was. What youngling wouldn't want to go out and play?

Allura cleared her throat, seemingly over her fit of nerves. "It is good to see you again, Antok. Can I ask how long it is you'll be planning to stay?"

She was speaking Old Galran, he noted- and with surprisingly little accent. She had clearly been taught well. As to be expected of a race that had once taken great pride in being known as diplomats- they didn't allow themselves to grow complacent on translators.

Antok considered it. Kolivan had given him no timeline, which meant he could stay as long as he liked. But there was still a war to be fought, and so...

"Until the red paladin returns." He finally concluded. Kyix's situation was the entire reason he had been summoned to the Castle at this busy time. It was only right that he stay until its conclusion.

"How long is that?" Kyix asked, tilting his head.

"It is difficult to say." Allura said truthfully. "His mission is quite complicated. It could take some time to complete."

"Oh." Kyix frowned, trying to grasp just what that meant. "So he might be here for awhile?"

Allura merely nodded in confirmation, prompting Kyix's expression to brighten. It sunk in that he had no idea that he was the red paladin. His memories truly had been suppressed then, just as Kolivan had warned him. As fascinating as this situation was, he hoped that it could be reversed quickly- both for Kyix's sake, and for the sake of the universe. Without a red paladin, they would be unable to form Voltron- if they were even still capable of it, now that they had a different paladin in the black lion. As of yet, it hadn't been attempted.

"For awhile, perhaps." Antok said, glancing over towards the rest of the paladins. "Now, why don't you see if any of the paladins wish to play with you? I have much to discuss with-"

"Alora!" The blue paladin suddenly called out. "I'll watch him!"

Antok arched his brow, but nevertheless picked up on the reason for the blue paladin's sudden interruption. So not only had the princess borrowed Kyix's armor- and blade, he noted, with a slight amount of disdain, only tempered by the fact that he would have done the same under the circumstances- she had also come up with an alias. Not a particularly convincing alias- Alora was certainly a name of Galra origin, but it had fallen out of fashion after Zarkon had begun his campaign of conquest, for rather... obvious reasons.

If there was one thing the Emperor loathed, it was being reminded of Altea.

"-with Alora." Antok finished, allowing his tail a slight twitch with which to display his amusement.

Kyix frowned, his brows knitting together. "I thought we could play together."

"And so we shall." Antok promised him. "But the adults must first discuss things between themselves. And you know how boring that is."

Kyix made a face. "You never talk about anything interesting."

Antok simply laughed, carefully setting down the shrunken Blade. "Go on then. To the blue one."

"But I don't like the blue one." Kyix complained. "He's so noisy."

"Wha-!" The blue paladin's voice hit a rather impressive high note, doing nothing to disprove Kyix's compliant. "I'm not noisy."

"You literally just screeched about not being noisy." Pidge pointed out.

"Hey," Lance glowered at the green paladin, "-whose side are even you on, Pidge?"

Sharply clearing her throat, Allura stared rather intensely at the pair. They both flinched, childish argument brought to a swift halt. Antok had to admit, he was impressed. It could not be easy reigning in the paladin's more childish antics when she was but a youngling herself, but she seemed to do a fine job.

"Right." Allura said. "I'm certain Pidge and Hunk would be more than happy to join the two of you while Antok and I talk about important matters."

Pidge's eyes went wide. "But I was going to check the data from the prison satellite again!"

"Haven't you checked that data like, a thousand times already?" Lance asked. "I think if you were going to find something, you'd have found it already."

"Lance." Allura said sharply, before heaving a sigh, looking back over towards the green paladin. "You did promise to show Kyix the green lion."

Kyix perked up at that, before shooting Pidge a dirty look. It would probably be more effective as a glower were he his normal height. "You did promise me that."

"Yeah, Pidge, you promised." Lance chimed in.

Pidge glared at Lance, before grumbling. "Fine. Let's just get this over with."

Kyix frowned, tilting his head, before he just seemed to shrug, the promise of being able to see a Voltron lion apparently winning out over any other apprehensions he might have. Antok felt a bitter smile touch his lips, recalling the way his brother had enthralled the youngling with his stories about the paladins of old and their mighty lions. Asnik always did have a way with words.

Now he was dead and gone too.

Kyix had been the one to bring his blade back to him. It still hung on his wall, alongside that of his partner's, a silent testament to the dangers that they faced as Blades. One day soon, he hoped he would be able to pass his brother's blade on to the newest generation, but until then, it would remain there, dim as the day he had been given it.

Once they were gone, Allura breathed a slight sigh of relief. Without a word, she returned to her natural form, eying him with a wariness that he knew did not stem from her complex feelings towards the Galra.

"I must apologize." She said. "He reacted poorly. This was the only way I could think of to get him to calm down."

Antok merely huffed. "So Kolivan informed me. How is he?"

"Kyix?" Allura frowned, glancing towards the hangar doors. "Other than the obvious, he seems to be doing just fine. Only he doesn't remember us."

Antok nodded, taking that to mean there were no pressing concerns in regards to his immune system. That had been his key worry, but he was certain the paladins would have done thorough scans, and were unlikely to have missed anything truly critical.

So instead, he turned to the more pressing topic at hand- how this had happened. "Kolivan mentioned something about a tree?"

"The rire." Allura almost grimaced. "It seems to be the cause of all of this. I watched it turn a Galra commander to dust on Caligo, so I suppose in that sense, we are actually quite fortunate."

Antok's expression took a shift for the grave. He had not heard of this rire before, but it sounded alarming. "Are you sure he is in no danger?"

"None that we can tell." Allura said. "But Coran is keeping a close eye on the situation. Thankfully, with the information you provided, he should be close to creating an antidote."

Antok felt himself exhale. "Then it can be fixed?"

"He seems confident that it can." Allura said. "I can only hope the ingredients will prove simple to gather."

"You can count on my aid." Antok told her.

Looking up at him, the princess gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you. We may need it. I don't believe this is an act I can continue for very long."

"It was certainly quite the sight." Antok said. "I had heard that Alteans were natural shapeshifters, but I never thought I would have the chance to see it for myself."

He didn't mention that he had heard it from Kyix. He wouldn't be surprised if the princess still had some lingering resentment over the fact that he had been their spy. Best not to stir up any unneeded tensions, not if they were going to work together to fix this.

"Yes, well," Allura said, the faintest pink tint gracing her cheeks, "-I hardly expected to use it this way myself."

"It was quick thinking." Antok said, before sparing a glance down at her borrowed armor. "Though I'm not sure if Kyix would necessarily approve."

Allura grimaced. "I will have to apologize to him once this all is over. Assuming he remembers, of course."

"Ah yes," Antok hummed in agreement, "-there is that."

For Kyix's sake... he hoped he did not. The embarrassment might actually break him, in a way that even his trials had not.

"Come," Allura said, "-Coran is waiting for us on the bridge. With any luck, he'll have that antidote list ready for us."


"Remember- don't touch anything."

Kyix huffed, crossing his arms in front of him. "I said I wouldn't."

Pidge just stared at him, disbelief transparent in her gaze. He just narrowed his eyes, biting back a comment that he wasn't a baby, he knew how to follow orders.

Mostly.

Though its paladin was more reluctant than Hunk was to let him inside their lion, he found the green lion to be almost as welcoming as the yellow lion had been. He swore he could feel it prod at him curiously, something that he scrunched up his nose at. He hadn't thought about it when he'd been in the yellow lion, but it sort of felt like he could sense them a little. Maybe this was that reazit thing his mother and Kolivan would sometimes talk about.

He didn't know much about it. All he knew was that some Galra were born special, and that he was one of them. His grandma had been reazit too, but he'd never met her, since she'd died before he was even born. His mom said he was sensitive to quintessence, and that it was an impressive talent, but he didn't think so. All it ever did was give him a headache.

The lions were different, though. The green lion might be curious, but it still felt safe, almost as safe as the yellow lion had. It had been so comforting that he'd let his guard down without thinking, and before he knew it, he'd fallen asleep. Just thinking about it caused his cheeks to heat up- he didn't even know these people. For all he knew, this could just be one big trick. Since when did the Blade of Marmora have allies?

Then again, Antok was here now, and Antok was Kolivan's right hand. He wouldn't have sent him if this was all some kind of trick, right?

Maybe he was just overthinking things. But it just felt like... he didn't know. That something was out of place. He just didn't know what.

Maybe it was just because he wasn't used to the Castle yet. Yeah, that was probably it.

He only sort of listened to Pidge ramble off a bunch of facts about the green lion. Most of it wasn't even interesting anyways. He'd been under the impression that she was a kid too, like him, but maybe he'd been wrong. Maybe she was an adult, and humans just came in really small sizes. He couldn't see any other reason why she would be telling him about something as boring as fuel cells.

To his side, Lance loudly yawned. "Boring."

Snapping her mouth shut, Pidge gave the blue paladin a slight frown. "What did you say?"

"I said you're being boring." Lance repeated himself. "Come on, Pidge, he's like six. He doesn't care about all this science stuff."

Kyix frowned, glancing suspiciously up towards Lance. They were actually agreeing about something? That didn't sound right.

"Well what do you think he cares about, then?" Pidge asked.

"I don't know, lasers and stuff?" Lance suggested. "You like lasers, right?"

Slowly, Kyix nodded. He did like lasers- he just didn't want to look too eager to agree with Lance.

"See?" Lance beamed, triumphant. "Hey, maybe we should take old Greenie here out, show off your vine laser. I bet Kei- Kyix would love it."

Perking up at Lance's suggestion, the blue paladin's slipup with his name went almost completely without notice. It was the second time someone had started to mess it up, but who cared about that when the offer to fly in one of the Voltron lions was on the table.

"Uh, Lance?" Hunk chimed in. "You heard Coran. Kyix can't leave the Castle."

Kyix's smile almost instantly dropped. Oh. Right. He did hear someone say something like that earlier. He was free to roam around- but only in the confines of the Castle.

"It'll be fine." Lance said. "We'd just be going out for a quick spin. We'd be back before anyone even noticed we were gone."

Kyix found himself nodding eagerly. If he was well enough to leave the infirmary, then he had to be well enough to leave the ship for at least a little while, right? Besides, he'd be in the lion the whole time, so it wasn't like he'd be going to visit a planet or anything like that. And he really wanted to find out what this vine laser did.

"Yeah, I'm with Hunk on this one." Pidge said. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Kyix's expression fell yet again. Crossing his arms tightly in front of him, he glowered down at the floor. What was the point of him even being here if he couldn't even fly in one of the lions? He never got the chance to do anything fun.

Hunk seemed to notice, reaching down to ruffle his headfur. "Sorry, buddy. Maybe another time."

Kyix didn't respond, just kept staring at the floor. It wasn't just fun things- nobody ever let him do anything. Antok had even said he wasn't sick anymore! What was the point of being better if he didn't get the chance to even do anything?

At this rate, he'd never get the chance to be a real Blade.

Hunk exchanged a glance with Pidge, the green paladin just shrugging her shoulders. Heaving a sigh, Hunk removed his hand from his head.

"I mean, we could still show you around the rest of the Castle?" He offered. "You know, if you wanted."

"No thanks." Kyix said, keeping his tone curt. "Just take me back to the infirmary."

"Are you sure?" Hunk asked. "Because we could still-"

"I'm sure." Kyix cut him off, not caring how rude he was being. No one was around to lecture him for it anyways- except the paladins he guessed, but he didn't see any reason why he should listen to them. Antok was busy talking with Alora, and it didn't sound like there were any other Blades on the ship, beyond the red paladin, who wasn't even here.

"Okay." Hunk said. "If that's what you want."

"I do."

Kyix sulked as they lead him out of the green lion, staring at his feet the entire time. He'd been so good all this time, he didn't understand why he couldn't have just this one thing. Everyone always told him to be patient, but he'd been patient. He was tired of being patient! Everyone was out there, risking their lives in the fight against the Empire, and all he was doing was sitting around, studying and listening to stories. He couldn't even train like a real Blade could.

Maybe he just wasn't meant to be a Blade.

"Pidge, Hunk," Alora's voice suddenly came over the ship's intercoms, "-can the two of you come to the bridge, please?"

"We're on our way." Pidge said, before glancing over towards Lance with a slight grin. "Sounds like you're still on babysitting duty."

Kyix jerked his head up, momentarily forgetting he was sulking. "I'm not a baby!" He blurted out. "And I don't want to be sat on!"

Lance snorted, before letting out a bark of laughter. "You think- oh man, that's too funny, mullet."

Kyix blinked, tilting his head. "Mullet?"

The paladins all flinched, Pidge glaring at Lance like he'd said something he wasn't supposed to. Frowning, he narrowed his eyes, that strange feeling of something being out of place coming back. Maybe he wasn't just overthinking things- maybe there really was something going on here that he didn't know about.

And what even was a mullet?

"Lance just likes giving people weird nicknames." Pidge said. "Right, Lance?"

"Uh... yeah!" Lance said quickly, only to then frown, glancing down at Pidge. "Wait. What do you mean, weird?"

"Uh, you guys," Hunk cut in, "-not to interrupt, but we do kind of need to get to the bridge. I don't want to keep All- Alora waiting."

Pidge grimaced, clearly not keen on doing that. "Good point. Lance do you...?"

"Trust me, I have things plenty handled here." Lance promised her- although somehow, Kyix didn't get the impression that she actually believed him.

Still, after a hasty goodbye to him, Pidge and Hunk made their way out of the green lion's hangar. He watched them go, his earlier bad mood all but forgotten, replaced with curiosity. He should feel a lot more worried that he was being kept in the dark about something, but for some reason... he didn't know. Once he'd actually let himself relax somewhat in their presence, there was definitely something almost familiar about the paladins. He just wasn't sure what it was.

Maybe he really had hit his head and scrambled his memories, just like Alora said he had. Maybe he already knew them, and they were just acting like it was the first time they'd met to be nice.

He frowned a little at the thought. If he'd really forgotten them, didn't make him the bad one? Shouldn't they be mad at him?

"You know," Lance began, an almost sly grin on his face, "-with Pidge and Hunk gone, there's nothing stopping us from going on that space ride."

"Space ride?" Kyix asked, blinking.

"You, me, the blue lion." Lance told him, kneeling down so that they could see eye to eye. "How about it? Blue's got a pretty cool freeze ray I could show you."

Instantly, Kyix perked up, all other thoughts forgotten. Was he saying-?

"You'll take me out in your lion?" Kyix blurted out, then flinched, glancing around the hangar like he expected someone to have overheard him. "I thought you weren't supposed to."

"Well," Lance's grin just grew, "-what they don't know won't hurt them, right?"

Kyix beamed, eagerly nodding his head. Of course he wanted to go out in a lion. Why would he ever say no to that?

Maybe he'd been too hasty in judging Lance.


You know, tiny baby Keith was actually starting to grow on him. Now that he wasn't hissing at him from underneath a table and trying to scratch his eyes out, he had to admit that the little guy was actually pretty cute.

You know, in that weird, totally precocious kind of way. Though, honestly- Keith? Precocious? Totally made sense. What didn't make sense was just how fluffy he was. He only had the fur on his head, but it was like a fluffy little mane- it actually managed to make the mini-mullet look almost cute.

Honestly, how the heck did Galra even grow up to be so big and intimidating when they started out this small and fluffy? Okay, to be fair, he'd seen a grand total of like, two Galra children now, and one of them was just a shrunken Keith, but still- how? Did Kolivan and Antok use to be this tiny? Sendak? Zarkon?

Oh man, baby Zarkon. That was such a weird thought. Were they positive that he'd actually been born, or had he just sprouted from the earth, fully formed and ready to conquer the universe? He had a few GAC he was willing to bet on the latter.

"And this," Lance said, focusing back on his chosen task of keeping tiny mullet entertained, "-is the freeze ray!"

Keith's eyes went wide as he used the blue lion's freeze ray on a piece of space debris. He couldn't help but feel a little smug. Who knew all he'd needed to do to get mullet to think he was cool was to shrink him down to the size of a toddler?

"Pretty cool, right?" Lance grinned.

Keith just frowned, tilting his head back so that he could get a better look at him. "Of course it's cool. It's ice."

"That's not what I-" Lance began, before he just shrugged. If regular Keith was bad at picking up on figures of speech, then it was only fair to expect the same of baby Keith, just worse. "You know what? Nevermind."

Keith's frown deepened slightly, before he shrugged it off, staring back out the window. "So what else can it do?"

"Uh, not it," Lance corrected him, "-she."

Keith peered up at him, cocking his head slightly to one side. "It's a girl?"

"Mm-hm." Lance hummed, lightly stroking the blue lion's controls. "She sure is. Why, do you think that's weird or something?"

Keith seemed to consider it, before shaking his head. "No. It feels right."

Lance cocked a brow at that, but chose not to ask. He already knew that Keith had some kind of weird sixth sense or whatever, so there was no reason to think that whatever that weird tree toxin had done to him would have gotten rid of it. Guess maybe it let him sense lions that weren't his own. That would explain how he'd been able to sense the blue lion out in the desert.

He frowned a bit at that, wondering if sensing them was all he could do. What if he could fly them too? Allura had said that they had all been chosen by their lions, but now Shiro was gone, and she was flying the black lion. Could multiple people fly the lions? Or was it just people like Allura, who had special quintessence powers who could fly a lion that already had a paladin?

Or maybe... was Shiro like... gone, gone?

Nope. Nun-uh. He wasn't going to think about that today, no sir. He'd come out here to show off and have fun, not to dwell on whether or not their fearless leader was dead. Besides, if Shiro was dead, he would have left a body, right?

Right?

"Well," Lance began, shoving those thoughts aside as hastily as possible, "-she has a pretty cool sonic cannon too, but it's not exactly an explode-y type laser or anything like that. It mostly just disrupts sensors and giant brainwashing sea serpents. You know, stuff like that."

"You've fought a sea serpent?" Keith asked.

"Sure have." Lance preened. "Saved a bunch of cute mermaids too. Even got a kiss from one."

Keith just made a slight face at that, sticking out his tongue. Right. Should have figured the six year old probably wouldn't be much into romance. His nephew was exactly the same.

Although... come to think of it, what was Galra romance even like? He knew it had to exist- maybe not in the Empire, sure, an oppressive militaristic regime didn't exactly seem like it was the best place to find your soulmate, but the Blades? They probably had romance, right? I mean, they had babies after all, and he was pretty sure that Keith had said that Ilun and Vrek were partnered, which had to be Galra for married.

Ugh, now he was super curious. Too bad the only person around he could ask was Keith. Somehow he got the feeling that even at his normal age, he wasn't that big into romance.

He guessed he could ask Antok, but... yeah, not gonna happen. The guy was like, twice his size, if not more. What if he said the wrong thing? What if he pissed him off and he challenged him to a match like Keith had challenged Allura? Because not to sell himself short, but he would almost definitely die if that happened.

"Yeah, I guess that's a bit above your age level." Lance said. "So, what do you want to do now? We probably have a little while longer before anyone notices we're gone so-"

He was cut short by the proximity alarm going off. Seconds later, a Galra cruiser made the jump out of hyperspeed almost right on top of them.

Oh man, this was so not good.


Allura looked up as Hunk and Pidge entered the bridge, briefly checking behind them to ensure that there were no unexpected tagalongs. She'd yet to resume her disguise, so it would have been a bit of problem if Kyix were trailing along behind them. Thankfully, it seemed that Lance was keeping his earlier promise, and the shrunken red paladin was nowhere to be found.

"I trust there were no issues in getting away?" Allura inquired nevertheless.

"Nope." Pidge said. "Lance said he'd keep an eye on Keith. Guess you got tired of being purple, huh?"

"It has been quite some time since I've had to change my shape for so long." Allura admitted. "I'm afraid that I am somewhat out of practice."

"Huh," Pidge said, arching her brows, "-wouldn't have noticed."

Allura just smiled at her, before looking towards Coran. "Well, the good news is that I shouldn't have to for much longer. Coran thinks he's come up with an antidote."

"Hey, that's great!" Hunk beamed.

"Of course, we still need a few key ingredients." Coran said. "With Lance busy with Kyix, we'll be counting on the two of you to help with that."

"Please just tell me we don't have to go into another weblum." Hunk said, grimacing at the memory.

"No, no weblums this time." Coran said, twirling one end of his mustache. "I've taken the liberty of transmitting the list to your personal devices. I've highlighted the ones you're in charge of in your lion's colors. Antok and Allura will handle the most difficult ones."

Allura watched as the two paladins dug into their pockets, pulling out the rectangular devices they called phones. They seemed to be the main method of communication on their planet. Shortly after departing Arus, Pidge had modified them so that they could be used this far out in space, connecting them both to the Castle and to each other. Lance had one too, though neither Shiro nor Kyix did.

She frowned slightly at the thought of Shiro. Not for the first time, she wished he were here. She was almost positive he would have been able to calm Kyix without resorting to deception as she had. The two clearly had a deep bond between them, a strong friendship that was almost like family.

Not just with Kyix, either. Shiro had served as a strong glue, one that kept the team together, regardless of the circumstances that they faced. It was a valuable asset to have as the black paladin, and she only hoped that she would be able to live up to it, however (hopefully) temporary her position might be. She didn't feel as if she'd gotten off to the greatest of starts, but the black lion had chosen her for a reason. She just had to have confidence in that.

"This doesn't look too hard." Pidge said, studying the list.

"Speak for yourself." Hunk frowned. "Coran has me climbing a mountain."

"I'll have you know that Mount Lonmagnus is absolutely lovely this time of year." Coran said.

"And yet, it's still a mountain." Hunk said.

"I'm certain you will be just fine, Hunk." Allura assured him. "Coran wouldn't have chosen it if he didn't think you could handle it."

Glancing over towards her, Hunk gave her a faint smile. She smiled back, before her gaze flicked towards Antok. They would be working together to fetch a fair number of the items on Coran's list. He had been silent for most of their conversation, but she was beginning to suspect that the one-eyed Galra simply didn't talk much. He'd asked very few questions during his briefing with Coran, simply nodding along to let him know he was still listening.

Still, she was starting to understand why Kolivan trusted him as his right hand. At the same time, there was something about his hulking, looming presence that brought with it a sense of unease. She couldn't help but think about the last time a Galra of his size had been in the Castle, and everything that had unfolded after.

But it was just a feeling. A reminder of old times, nothing more. She'd yet to tackle her complicated feelings for the Galra Emperor- or Honerva, for that matter, if that truly was the true identity of Zarkon's witch Haggar. She kept putting it off, attempting to convince herself that she didn't need to think about the past, and instead just focus on the present. Regardless of what they might have once been to her, now they were nothing more than monsters.

Zarkon, at least, she hoped was dead.

"Are you sure we don't need Lance for this?" Pidge asked.

"Someone needs to stay and look after Kyix." Allura said. "It might as well be Lance, seeing as he volunteered."

"Don't you worry." Coran said. "I'll be around to make sure they don't get into too much trouble while you're gone."

She swore Antok chuckled, a deep sound emanating from the bottom of his throat. "Do not underestimate Kyix's ability to find trouble. It is his greatest skill."

"Even better than being a pilot?" Hunk asked.

"Yes." Antok answered. "Kolivan has always said that he fears one day the youngling will turn the rest of his fur white."

"That sounds like Keith, alright." Pidge said.

"Paladins-" Allura began, about to chide them for losing focus, only to be cut off by the Castle's proximity alarm. Sharply pivoting on her heel, she brought it up on screen in a flash, narrowing her eyes as she read it over.

"A Galra cruiser just came out of hyperspeed not far from our location." Allura informed them. "We should make preparations to escape. We can't afford to get into a fight with the Galra Empire right now."

She hoped it was just a coincidence. They were several galaxies away from Caligo right now- after they'd gotten onboard the Castle, and confirmed that Kyix wasn't in any immediate danger, she had quickly wormholed them away in case Lotor decided to send more Galran forces after them. She'd thought they'd escaped pursuit, but what if she had been mistaken?

A single cruiser they might be able to handle, but she didn't want to fight if they didn't have to. They needed to be focusing on curing Kyix, not fighting the Galra.

"Hold on a tick, princess." Coran said. "According to our long range scanners, it's already releasing its load of fighters."

Allura shot a confused glance in Coran's direction. "That far away?"

"They seem to be attacking something." Coran said, narrowing his eyes as he studied the screen in more depth, before they widened. "Ancients! They're attacking the blue lion!"

"The blue lion?" Allura asked, no less confused than before, even as a quick check of the information yielded her the same result. Turning on her heel, she looked towards Pidge and Hunk. "I don't understand. I thought you said Lance was watching Kyix."

Hunk instantly turned pale, frantically glancing over towards Pidge. "You don't think he-?"

Pidge just groaned. "He was talking about taking Keith out in one of the lions, but I thought he was just joking."

Allura paled. "You mean Kyix is out there as well?"

If he were his regular age, she wouldn't think twice about it, but as he was now, he was little more than a child. And to throw a mere child into a space battle... they had to get them out of there, and quickly.

"Coran," Allura began, turning back around, "-move the Castle to intercept. Hunk, Pidge, get to your lions. I'll-"

She didn't get a chance to finish that sentence, yet another alarm going off. Only this time, it wasn't the proximity alarm.

"Princess," Coran said, his tone disbelieving, "-the black lion has left its hangar."