Chapter 44

A/N: hey guys! I'm back for another chapter of possibly one of the most confusing crossovers ever! Yay! Now, as you all know, I just own my OCs and this story, nothing else is mine.

/comms/

"Bold is video chat or intercoms"

Telepathy/dreams/flashbacks

"You're my…Mom?" Keith breathed his eyes wide in shock. "H-How? How did you get to Terra? How'd you meet Dad? How—how are you so sure?!"

"I'm sure," she said. "This isn't how I hoped to meet you again, and this isn't how I wanted to tell you, but it's the truth. We can talk about this later."

The Titan bristled his ghost floating next to him nervously, "What?! You drop a bomb like this and tell me you'll explain later?!"

"We've got more important things to deal with right now."

"Like what? The Vex? The Hive?"

"We're going after the enriched quintessence that created Ranveig's superweapon."

Keith perked up as Krolia moved to the pilot's chair. "What? Kolivan and I've been searching for that for a while now."

Krolia nodded. "I happened to be with Ranveig when an unmarked cargo ship passed into his region. When we checked it out, there was no crew aboard and the ship had been almost torn to pieces. But inside, a single vat of quintessence remained, and it was unlike any other we'd ever seen."

"Did you check the navigation records?" Yorak asked.

"No, they weren't on the ship, however, I was able to analyze it personally. The radiation signature indicated it passed through the Quantum Abyss."

"Quantum Abyss?" Keith asked crossing his arms. "What's that?"

"It's a part of the galaxy where dense neutron stars orbit even larger dark stars. There, planets and other celestial bodies are being pulled and torn in different directions. It's a chaotic, ever-changing environment. And the presence of such massive objects has unusual effects on gravitational waves and space-time itself."

"Sounds an awful lot like the Vex portals," Yorak commented looking at the map shown on the screen.

"That's where we're heading?"

"Yes."

-.-

"Your father King Alfor was a gifted alchemist whose unique ability allowed him to infuse the Voltron ore with Altean energy, granting it and the Paladins access to the quintessence field," Lotor said typing on the monitor as Allura and Jaz worked on the comet-ship. "Now you Allura, possess that same gift."

"Hey! Feeling like chopped liver over here!" Jaz called him out.

"Our visit to Oriande has taught me more than I ever thought possible," Allura said. "Thank you."

"No, thank you Princess."

"Is no one going to comment how I literally grew up there and saved us hours of aimless wandering?"

"With your help we can finally supply the empire with quintessence," Lotor continued. "You are the key to bringing peace to the universe."

"Peace. My father wanted the same thing when he built the lions. It is an honor to follow in his footsteps and continue his work."

"What if I told you I'm supposed to be the next queen of the Awoken?" Getting no response from the dynamic duo Jaz sighed, blowing some of her hair out of her face. "I know who the Guardian is. He's one of my best friends actually."

"LOTOR?!" Tarin shouted raising a brow as she stood with Pidge, Hunk, and Lance down on the ground. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Yeah! You got started without us!" Pidge griped.

Hunk nodded, putting his hands on his hips. "You didn't think to call the engineers before you began building your inter-reality quinetessence field magical Altean alchemy super ship?"

"Right," Lance agreed crossing his arms.

"I appreciate that you want to help," Allura said, "but I'm afraid there's not much for you to do."

Lotor nodded, "Infusing the comet ore with Altean alchemy is quite different than simply building a ship."

"Magic," Hunk and Pidge grumbled. "Oh well, guess we have more time to intergrate those Galra shields with Altean tech. There's gotta be a way to do it."

"Sounds like my field then," Tarin smiled evaporating in a burst of black mist and Lotor jumped when she appeared beside them. "Hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," Lotor said. "I'd be happy to have your input." Opening a file he showed it to her and the couple began looking it over as Allura and Jaz started talking.

"You guys sure you don't need a fifth wheel?" Lance called up. "No?"

-.-

"I think we're here," Keith called as he slowed the ship down as he came across the strangest system he ever saw. Asteroids drifting in and out between planets, some seeming to have long tails.

"Bring us in and stay alert."

"Are you sure we should go in?" Keith asked driving the craft straight towards what appeared to be a dark star.

"Ranveig sent probes trying to track the quintessence. The probes picked up a path that was relatively unaffected by space-time."

Keith looking at the hologram Yorak was scanning analyzing the path. "Where does it go?"

"We never found out. All the probes were destroyed."

"Well that's reassuring," the ghost commented, spinning his shell. "Do you know what took them out?"

"I'm not sure. Keep sharp."

Keith activated his helmet and took a breath to calm himself down, not like they wouldn't be stretched into eternity if he made a wrong move.

"Keith, my scanners are picking up movement," Yorak warned and he looked at the scanner on the upper left of his helmet. Sure enough, right behind them were five bogies. The closest one came around the side and they looked at it. "What is that?"

"Yorak hide, things are probably about to get hairy."

"Understood," he said vanishing without a fight for once.

The white thing turned and went from an interesting white-eel animal thing, to a freaky, one-eyed spider that decided his ship was food.

"Krolia, we've got trouble!" he called watching one try to break the glass.

"We have to shake them loose before they breach the hull!"

"Hang on!" he growled gunning the engines, tossing two off.

Hearing a screech as one of the engines failed, he looked back to see one had somehow gotten in, but it didn't last long before Krolia shot it. "What's our status Keith?!"

"Ship's severely damaged, we've lost the thrusters, I'm not gonna be able to hold her!" he exclaimed before realizing they were drifting too far to the side. "We're getting pulled in! We need to ditch!"

Getting out of his seat, he ran next to Krolia as she slammed the hatch, sending them both shooting out of the fighter and away from the abyss. Landing on an asteroid, they both panted as they watched their ship blow up.

"What were those?"

"No idea, but they're gone now," she sighed in relief.

"So is our ship," Keith muttered. "The good news is my ghost downloaded the map. But right now, I don't want to summon any of my other ships, just until we reach as safe distance from the gravity wells."

"Excellent," Krolia said as they started asteroid hopping, "But I think as long as we stay within the borders, we should be good."

"That's basically what the map's showing me," he said landing next to her noticing the ground beneath him was shaking. "What's going on?"

They looked at the dark yellow thing he had been driving for, watching as it glowed and released a wave of light towards them.

Krolia turn, and grabbed onto Keith, using herself as a shield for him as the light engulfed them.

Keith found himself sitting on the ground of a white plane. He was wearing his old Terran clothes, a white long-sleeved tunic with gold embroidery around the collar, a black belt around his waist, a cropped red vest matching the cuffs on his sleeves, dark pants, and his white, red, and black boots. He even had the pendant around his neck made from the first crystal he ever managed to summon from a Balmera.

"Hello?" he called scrambling to his feet.

He turned as an image formed and he saw his father wearing his casual clothes sitting next to Krolia on the bench of the dock at the Farm. In the Galran woman's arms was a small bundle.

"We'll name him 'Yorak,'" Krolia said smiling fondly at the small baby sleeping in her arms.

Allen laughed lightly, giving her a smile as he raised an eyebrow. "Maybe that can be his middle name. How about 'Keith?'"

Krolia looked up at the sky in thought, watching the forms of dragons, wyverns, and amphithere flying high above. "Keith Kogane…I like it," she smiled widely.

"Look at that," Allen pointed as a ghost floated over and looked at him.

"Is this your baby, Guardian?" the ghost asked.

"Sure is."

"…I can sense something from him, something I've never gotten in all my years roaming the universe. I think he's my Guardian. What's his name?" the little light said bobbing at Krolia happily, his shell spinning.

Krolia smiled softly, looking rather uncertain. "His name is Keith Kogane."

"Hi, Keith, I'm your ghost," he said perching himself on Krolia's shoulder.

"Can we name him Yorak?"

Keith blinked in shock, this was the day Yorak picked him…he was so having some words with him later. The area around him went dark as the familiar image of Hofkah vanished, leaving him standing in a dark area filled with violet cryochambers. Turning around, he froze as he saw Shiro, his eyes were violet and his hand was glowing as he glared at him.

Beside him, Keith thought he could make out the form of someone else, but he didn't know who.

"What is this place?"

"I know."

"I'm going to grab one to study."

"I'll handle—!"

"It's ok."

"You're going to be alright!"

"We have to get back to the Castle."

"Shiro!"

"—RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" Shiro's voice clear screamed over the others, filled with a rage he'd never heard before.

Keith gasped as he shot up light sparking along his body painfully, looking around, he found himself looking at Krolia. "What the pit was that?! Were those visions real?"

"Time collapses this close to dark stars. Going through its light triggers glimpses of that past and the future," Krolia stated helping him back to his feet.

They continued leaping through the asteroids, following the map Yorak had directed into both their helmets. Keith landed, energy arching off his body and breaking the rocks he was on.

"Keith! You're getting too close to the gravity wells!" Krolia warned as he started drifting through the void of space. "Use your thrusters!"

"I'm trying!" he said turning the thrusters on his back on to full power as he could feel the gravity pulling on him. Grabbing his knife, he attacked it to the cable on his waist and threw it into the nearest asteroid as Krolia leapt to the one beside it, grabbing onto the line. Throwing her arms up, she yanked her son out of the well towards her.

"Grab my hand!" she exclaimed and Keith reached grabbing onto her as another burst of light came from the dark star.

Two monitors blinked to life as Krolia sat in her Galra fighter approaching Terra. Even from this far she could see the dark moon and the Traveler, as well as the constant flow of ships coming and going from the infamous Guardian home world. Some would travel to the Shore, others would head towards the Reef in the Sol System, and a few other ships would head towards other destinations of trade.

/Is it possible?/ her partner for this assignment asked. /The signature's nearly identical to that of the Red Lion's/

"We should obtain the Guardian's blessings as well as visual confirmation before calling it in," Krolia stated. "The last thing Emperor Zarkon wants is for us to start a war with the Light Wielders."

/Negative. We've gotten another reading like this before. Besides the Guardians are too busy to help us search for what they consider to be a myth. There's a Voltron Lion on this planet. Call it in immediately/

Krolia remained silent, her grip tightening on her controls. Seems she would have to blow her cover sooner than later.

/I said call it in. That's an order!/

"Vrepit Sa!" she replied pulling back on the controls. Dropping behind her partner she began to open fire.

/You think you can take all the glory for yourself?/

"I'm not looking for glory," she hissed as he whirled on her and began shooting back, one of his shots hitting the wing of her ship. Baring her fangs, she hit both triggers, firing in reply before he could move out of the way.

Krolia began typing in an attempt to restore power to the thrusters as the large planet's gravity began to pull her in. Entering the atmosphere, she had just enough time to memorize the coordinates before crashing in the Cosmodrome.

A large roar resounded through the air around her and she could make out the form of a large animal landing nearby before a smaller form jumped off.

The last thing she saw was a tall figure in red and white armor forcing the craft open with their bare hands and calling out to her in concern before everything went dark.

Keith gasped as he returned to the present and Krolia pulled him to the ground. "So, that's how you and Dad met," he murmured. "But…if a Lion was on Terra…how did it get to the other planets we found them on if the Red Lion was already captured?"

"We moved it," she stated. "After Sendak found the Red Lion, the Galra engineered a way to pick up on those lions' signatures from a close range. Zarkon had thousands of scouts searching for them. The Blade of Marmora made sure to embed agents in as many of those groups as possible. In an effort to prevent the Empire from obtaining anymore lions. I was just in the right place at the right time."

There was a rumble and they both turned quickly to see another one.

"Aw c'mon!" Keith groaned before light covered them again.

Keith found himself standing in a cave where his father stood next to Krolia as his fireteam looked over the Blue Lion.

"I never thought I'd see another lion in my lifetime," Krolia whispered in awe.

"I never thought I'd see one, Voltron was supposed to be a myth," Ryzor stated twirling his pistol.

Keith's father chuckled, putting his hands on his hips. "Traveler, you've been telling me about this ship for months, but this is beyond words," he breathed.

"Do you think the Guardians could keep it safe here?" Krolia asked.

Allen frowned, looking up at the Blue Lion calculatingly. "That may be difficult. If we put guards here, our enemies are sure to discover there's something important here, and this would become a battlefront in no time. However…I know a place we can hide it. Ryzor, Joel, think you can hide its signature form Galra tech?"

"Do creech have bioluminescence?" the exo man said giving a thumbs-up.

"Where are you thinking of hiding it?" Krolia asked.

"The Sol system. It has the other half of the Awoken civilization as well as my home planet. I just so happen to own some land miles from anything and there's a series of canyons with caverns we could bury the lion," he answered looking at her from the corner of his eye. "Are you going to contact your people about this? Continue your mission?"

"My ship being destroyed was the best thing that ever happened to me. I wouldn't go back if I could. I have a new mission now. I'm going to stay here and ensure the Blue Lion is hidden and protected."

Allen reached out and took her hand in his own with a fond smile. "I'm going to help."

"Ooh! Somebody's in love—OW!"

"Wow," Keith breathed, "even though you had the resources to leave…you chose to stay?"

Krolia smiled and turned to him. "There was no better place I could be."

"C'mon, we better keep moving," Keith said and they began their infuriatingly long journey of asteroid hopping again. "We should be getting close enough for me to summon a ship soon."

"Good," Krolia said as they landed on another asteroid. There was a rumble and they could see white lines trailing the outline of space making both of them stop to look at it. "What is that?"

Keith narrowed his eyes as his hemlet zoomed in. He could make out a grid like pattern forming in the lines, forming a geometric shape. But why did it…oh quiznak. "Vex!" he exclaimed tackling Krolia down as the gate burst open.

Several loud shouts came from it and the mother and son duo raised their weapons as several figures crashed to the ground and stood up bearing their own arms. Keith stopped, recognizing the armor. Guardians. They were Guardians. Just like him.

Seeming to reach the same conclusion, they lowered their weapons. "You're one of us."

They heard something and turned to see a large animal that resembled a whale with flora and vegetation covering its back. it released a loud call that shook the ground and made them take a step back.

"What are those things?"

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like them," Krolia breathed, "but these creatures seem to know their way through the quantum abyss without falling into the space-time drop-offs."

"Amazing."

"Let's hop on those, they seem safer than this area, we can talk there," Krolia said taking the lead as they leapt onto the beast as another wave started.

Keith found himself standing in his father's room back in the cabin in the desert, he spent many of his father's vacations there and lived in the small home for a while after the Tower's fall while his dad worked as a firefighter before heading back to Terra.

On the bed his father and mother sat feeding him as a baby as the two ghosts watched curiously. "When did you even get this place?" Krolia asked looking around the home as she fed her son.

Allen leaned back, looking thoughtful. "Don't know…it's been a long time. I've owned this place for the past...I think since a century or two after my revival. At least around a thousand years."

"That's…very specific," Krolia stated raising an eyebrow, a smile playing on her lips.

Her husband smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, it was around that time I got curious about my past life, you know, before becoming a Guardian. I looked into it—against the Vanguard's orders obviously. You see, when I was first revived it was in a graveyard in the nearby town, like any Risen I didn't know anything about myself. I had no name, no memories, it was just me in that graveyard that foggy night with my ghost," he said tapping the red and white ghost with his hand. "She told me that I'd been dead for only a few months, or weeks, when she'd found me. On the gravestone beside me, I saw the name: Allen James Volk. I liked the first name so I took that as mine and just came up with the rest of it as I went along. It wasn't till later I learned that I wasn't teleported upon revival. I looked into my history and found out I used to own this place before I died. So, I just bought it back; owned it ever since."

"Did you ever think of taking your old name back?" Krolia asked looking curious.

Allen shrugged, "Too much paperwork."

On the nightstand, Krolia's knife began glowing and Allen's comm-screen came to life as his SIC stood in her armor. /Captain, Galra scouts have entered the atmosphere. Ryzor and Joel need more time to complete the set up for the Signal-Cloak/

"We need to stop them before they report back to their command," Krolia stated.

/Understood. We'll ground them and hold them off till you arrive/

"Stand down," Allen ordered before looking to Krolia. "Will they want visual confirmation first?"

"Most likely, no one wants to make a mistake as big as this."

"Prepare an ambush, let them think they're alone."

/Yes sir/

"I have explosives, they're not powerful enough to destroy them, but if placed in the intake valve we can use the detonator to take them out," Krolia suggested as she got changed into her armor. Her husband having simply changed in a mere flash of light.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Allen smirked. Going to the crib he gently picked up Keith and cradled him in his arms before going outside and walking to the large transport ship his fireteam had used to bring the Blue Lion to Earth. Walking inside he whistled and clicked his tongue. "Dusk. Dusky girl, where are ya?"

A loud grumble came from within the dark hold of the ship as the massive drake walked forwards, smoke blowing out of her nose. Bowing her head down, her ruby eyes locked onto the tiny bundle in Allen's arms. Crooning, she walked to the wall and lied down on a bed made of a bunch of mattresses shoved together purring as Allen set Keith between her massive paws.

Ari's drake walked over to investigate, but before he could even walk in several yards, the massive female bared her fangs, snarling at him, her spear-like tail swinging back and forth, making the other drake back off.

"Keep an eye on him girl, Yorak, you know what to do if he gets hungry?" Allen asked glaring at his son's ghost.

"Yep!"

"Good!"

Running outside, Allen activated two of his sparrows. Hopping on, the pair gunned the engines and shot across the vast desert towards the caverns the were hiding the lion.

Pulling up, the sparrows vanished and they both ducked behind rocks. "Mara, Ryzor, anyone up top?"

/One sniper, keeping an eye on the ships/ the exo Hunter replied, his tone practically showing his grin /Permission to take him out?/

"Granted," Allen nodded.

Peering through his scope the exo chuckled. "Hello," pulling the trigger, the Galra fell without a sound, "and goodbye."

The two hunters jumped off their perches rolling as they landed and running over the Captain and his wife. "Put these in the intake valves of each other the fighters, when finished, use the detonators to activate the bombs," Krolia stated handing them the bag of bombs.

"Understood," they nodded before darting off.

"Joel, Ari, what's going on in the tunnels?" Allen asked as they ran in.

/We have three teams for four working to break the reinforced shield Joel made, we're hiding up in the stalactites of the cave. Shall we launch the ambush?/

"And start the party without me?"

/It won't be much of a party/

Allen smirked as he and Krolia ran into the room, the Galra woman grabbed her blade and hurled it into one of the devices, breaking it as the two turned with growls, as Krolia charged them. Ducking under the shots, she launched herself off the ground, kicking one away before lunging to her knife and knocked the gun out of the other's grip.

The rest of the Galra activated their weapons, failing to realize she didn't enter alone as Allen's hands clenched into fists and the other two Guardians in the room dropped to the ground silently.

"Drop your weapon!"

"You drop yours," Ari said as she, Allen, and Joel aimed their guns at them.

The Galra froze, spotting the three Guardians, all wearing the sigils of one of Terra's most infamous fireteams. "You have precisely ten seconds to drop your weapons and let my wife go," Allen snarled, red energy arching over him.

The men froze looking at each other, their options were slim, either surrender or fight the Rein Fireteam to the death.

"Victory or Death!" one recited.

"So be it," Allen snarled, as the light arched over him and the hammer of a Sunbreaker formed his grasp.

Krolia dropped and kicked one of the men restraining her over to Allen, the fiery Titan incinerating him as soon as the hammer made contact as he and his team completely obliterated the scouting party.

"Did any escape?" Ari asked dropping her helmet.

/No/ Mara replied smugly /everything's gone according to plan. Want me to set off the bombs?/

"Do it."

/You got it/

The image changed and Krolia stood in the window of the loft Keith lived in with his father back at the Tower, Allen stood next to Keith's crib tucking the baby in, moving the fingers of a hand he spent a few minutes regenerating after a wild dragon that had landed on the walls bit his arm off.

"I have to go," Krolia said breaking the silence and she watched as his shoulders drooped.

"I thought you said you'd seen enough war?" Allen said turning to look at her. "Ryzor's and Joel's program is functioning perfectly. They won't find the Blue Lion."

"Yes, but there's no telling if they won't find the others," she replied. "I need to report back to the Blade and stop the Galra from the inside." She walked over and took his hand. "I'm sorry, Allen, but this is the best way to keep you both safe from them. Guardian or not."

Krolia leaned down, kissing her son's cheek for the last time as he slept peacefully beside his ghost, tightly clutching the plushie of an Earthern animal known as a hippo. Grabbing her knife, she held it out to him. "This is for Keith. He may need it someday."

Allen took the knife with a solemn look, before pressing their foreheads together. "You know you will always have a home here."

"I know, Allen," she said giving him a quick kiss. "And I hope one day we'll see each other again."

"I finally understand why you left," Keith whispered as they got onto the ship, removing their helmets as the door closed. "You put the mission above all else."

"That's not true," she said. "I left to protect the people I love most. You and your father."

"Wait…his father?" the Warlock questioned looking towards him. "…Keith?"

They eached removed their helmets and Keith's eyes widened in shock. A girl with yellow skin, orange eyes, and magenta hair wearing Hunter armor. A green-eyed Altean Hunter with tan skin and green marks. There was an Awoken warlock with maroon hair and red eyes, and a Titan hybrid girl with waist-length white hair and golden eyes.

"Wren? Silyna? Kol? Sky? Is it really you?" he breathed in shock.

No way, there was absolutely no quiznaking way his luck was this good. The universe had to be totally screwing with him. Keith Kogane, did not have enough luck to run into his old fireteam; he was more likely to get struck by lightning in the middle of the desert on a cloudless day or attacked by an acid-spitting hydra in the void of space, maybe both.

The group tackled him in a hug, and Krolia watched as her son reunited with his Guardian friends, his fireteam. "Traveler! It's so good to see all of you! Where've you been? What's going on? Why are you here? What's the word on the war?"

"Slow down Cap, we've got questions for you too!" Wren grinned slapping him on the back. "First off, who's she?"

"Guys, I want you to meet my mother, Krolia. Krolia, this is my Fireteam, Skylar, Kol, Wren, and Silyna."

"Your mom?!"

"Dude, you have so much to explain," Kol grumbled running a hand through his maroon hair.

"Let's make camp," Krolia said. "We can share tales while we all rest."

"I'll get firewood!"

"I've got water!"

"I'll make the tents."

-.-

"So Keith, what've you been up to since the evac?" Wren asked.

"Lived on Earth for a while, got bored, was kidnapped by one of the Voltron Lions, became a Paladin of Voltron, found out I was half-Galra, joined my Mom's rebel organization, found her on a mission, and now I'm here trying to complete said mission. You guys?"

"Whoa! Hold your hyperdrive! Voltron? That old legend our parents told us about when we were kids?" Skylar asked.

"Yea, turns out its real and our parents helped Krolia hide the Blue Lion on Earth."

"So which Lion did you pilot?" Silyna asked, her translucent-magenta fairy wings fluttering.

"Red and Black," he supplied.

"You drove two! Traveler! Why is it you always get the cool stuff?" Kol complained as Keith shrugged.

"So anyways, what's been going on with you guys? Any word on the Tower?" Keith asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"We ended the Red War a few years ago when the Traveler awakened. We've been building up an alliance with Emperor Callus ever since and hunting down the remains of the Red Legion."

"Yep, that's we all started to be able to go home. Your dad's been looking for you. He nearly ripped Sanda apart when she told him she didn't know where you were," Kol added.

"So how did you end up here?" Krolia questioned. "If you were all the way in the Krien System?"

"The Vex," Sky grumbled. "Osiris came back."

Krolia frowned, she didn't know who that was, but judging from the way Keith stiffened, he did. "What? I thought he and that stupid cult of his were exiled?"

"They were," Silyna nodded, her magenta wings twitching. "But his ghost was found, ended up possessing another Guardian. Right now, Ikora has teams running all over the Infinate Forest trying to locate Osiris and stop Panoptes."

Keith sighed, crossing his arms. "Which is what I'm assuming you were doing when you got sent here?"

Skylar nodded. "We were. But we went through the wrong portal, ended up here."

"Sounds like we've all had quite the adventure waiting to group up again," Wren chuckled as the others rolled their eyes.

"Speaking of adventures, what are you doing out here?"

"We're trying to locate the source of some strange quintessence shipments. We've tracked them through this sector. We have a map. We just need a ship."

"We all have our ships in storage. We just need supplies and food."

-.-

"Think the others are having any luck?" Keith asked as he and his mother continued walking, searching for supplies.

The group had split up into teams in order to collect what they needed: he and Krolia had assigned themselves to food duty, Wren and Kol were in charge of ship maintenance, and Sky and Silyna were finding water.

A blue comet flew overhead, making the duo stop as they watched it crash nearby. Running over, they ran through the vegetation to find a small blue wolf surrounded by strange bug-like creatures.

Seems they found their food.

It didn't take long for Keith and Krolia to slice through the armored bugs using their swords, Keith reluctantly not using his favorite because they didn't want dinner burnt to a crisp. However, it did take a while to drag the carcasses to the campsite Sky and Sil set up, the blue wolf pup following them all the way.

Krolia watched as the group of young adults ate dinner, telling stories about their favorite childhood memories on Terra, making a mission to tell her as many embarrassing stories about her son as he protested loudly, trying to win over the new pet wolf—Keith was its favorite so far—and pressuring Keith into talking about his adventures with Voltron.

It was hard to believe she had missed so much, Keith had gone on so many adventures in his short life, and he hadn't even become of age yet in Guardian standards. The point where he stops aging completely, in fact none of his fireteam had yet. They were still kids.

Looking at them she couldn't help but smile, Silyna and Skylar had chosen to sleep in the back of the cave, however the Faen girl's wings might've been smothering the Titan girl. Seeing that made her chuckle, there'd been moments she'd found Allen smothering himself in the pillows after passing out after a hard mission, not to mention there were plenty of moments where she'd come close to smothering him because of his God-awful snoring.

Wren had somehow wrapped himself up in his cloak, making him look like what Allen had called a burrito as Kol spooned him. Needless she got a photo, because while it would embarrass the two boys later, it also reminded her of the one-time Allen had taken her to see the creech for the first time, her husband had been grabbed and cuddled by a big red one for so long he just decided to fall asleep until it let him go.

She stored the photo of that incident somewhere.

Keith had elected to sleep closest to the entrance. He had tried to convince her to let him take the first watch, but something told Krolia if she let him, there was a strong chance he wouldn't wake anyone up to take over. Just like her husband did.

Besides, the kids needed rest for the long flight they had ahead.

Krolia smiled as she saw that at some point the wolf pup had slid under Keith's arm and chosen to cuddle with him. It was odd seeing such a familiar animal out here. Earth had the wolves and cyotes she remembered Allen showing her when they first went to the planet to try and find a spot of hide the lion; and Terra had the Fire Wolves that the Iron Wolves kept as pets.

She smiled softly watching the small pup lick Keith's nose as he slept, it was honestly one of the most adorable she'd seen in a long time.

The sight made her wonder if Allen ever got their son any pets? He probably did, considering she'd caught him holding Keith to show him the Dragon and Drake hatchlings more than once, and showing him the creech, and the Fire Wolves, and holding him up to play with Sahqo's horns. Needless to say the last one had almost made her scream the first time she caught him, because that wyvern had just licked Keith when she walked in.

And Sahqo was not a small wyvern, his head alone was massive enough to bite Allen in half if he wanted to, Keith would've just been a snack.

However, Allen's drake, Dusk always made a wonderful babysitter. While she was almost as big as her husband's wyvern, the large animal had instantly taken a liking to Keith and it made Krolia pity whoever tried to harm him after watching her completely fry an escaped Fallen Prisoner that had broken into their loft. Needless to say they found Dusk in Keith's room curled round the crib more often than not.

After that incident, it wasn't uncommon for her or Allen to place Keith with the colorful drake when they were busy and couldn't find the other. She'd found Keith more times than she could count between Dusk's paws with her playfully letting the baby bat at the ends of the massive tug-o-war rope when Allen would suddenly get called away for a mission or patrol while she was out shopping or working on the alliance between the Guardians and the Blade.

Seeing a flash from the corner of her eye, she watched as another time-flash came from the dark star and engulfed them.

She stood on the Tower walls on a stormy night, she could hear the roars of the drakes, dragons, and wyverns occasionally spotting a column of different color fire shooting out of the mouth, outlining the massive creatures as something in the stormy skies seemed to be spooking them.

Keith stood with his friends and several other kids she didn't recognize as they played with a light ball, something Allen had explained to her helped the younglings control their powers. The boy caught the ball, the light levitating between his hands before her son passed it to Silyna as she flew above them.

Their game was ended by the wail of a siren.

She watched as the kids instantly stopped playing, looking to the skies with wide eyes as she saw the lightning crackle, outlining a fleet of warships heading right for the city.

Then the bombs dropped and the screams began.

The image changed and Keith sat on a small black and golden drake, about the size of what Allen called a horse when he took her out for a drive on Earth. Beside him, Allen sat on his own grey, violet, red and yellow drake Dusk, who was so large Krolia had to crawl up the tail the first few times she rode her.

What startled her, was that her husband's red and white armor was broken, barely clinging to him and covered in blood.

"Allen!" Ari called riding over on a grey and orange drake. "There's a camp up ahead, all survivors there were slaughtered."

"Joel, is there another route to Hofkah?" Allen called, and for the first time in Krolia's life, she heard genuine fear in his voice. Even Dusk looked nervous as she shifted under Allen, the massive drake couldn't seem to stay still.

The Warlock sat on his Griffin and looked at a map. "There's another way, through the mountains. It'll be cold, but the Cabal should stay away."

The warm forest changed to cold, snow-covered rocks and she could see the kids Keith had been playing with in the earlier flashbacks riding wyverns, drakes, dragons, and griffins of their own; the animals looking tiny compared to the full-grown counterparts surrounding them.

Dusk stopped, snarling and lowering her massive head, baring her teeth. An unholy yowl filled her ears as she watched a small Enrix-sized red animal with violet spines on its back racing towards them.

All the adults pulled their animals forwards, aiming their weapons as they began firing as more of the strange creatures appeared, followed by a Cabal soldier wielding a massive cannon of some sort. The drakes reared their heads, and shot fire from their jaws, turning their enemies to ash.

Krolia found herself back at the Farm, or Hofkah as the Guardians called it, she could see Allen and his fireteam, all in new armor, looking over plans with an Altean woman she didn't recognize.

"And how long do we have before the next evacuation ship leaves?"

"Thirty-six hours," the Altean with the navy marks on her dark skin replied, the phoenix on her shoulder cawing.

"Think that'll be enough time to reach the shard?" Ari asked.

"More than enough," Allen smirked picking up his gun and walking outside to where a red, yellow and white Wyvern reared back, flapping its wings, its spiny crests flaring. "Down Sahqo," Allen said patting his muzzle and climbing on to the massive beast.

"Dad!" Keith called running up, holding his knife in his hand. "Where are you going?"

"We're heading for the shard, if we're lucky we'll get our light and immortality back."

"We're coming with!" some of Keith's friends exclaimed joining her son.

"Kids, the Dead Zone is infested with Fallen, you could be killed!" Mara protested.

"Better than living the rest of our days on the run!" Wren called.

Krolia whipped around as the lush forests faded and she found Keith sitting on the couch in the desert house in front of Allen as he knelt in front of him wearing his armor. Nearby a nervous man in a grey military uniform stood next to a truck trying not to interrupt.

"I'll be back as soon as I can Keith, we've all agreed that the bastards who took our home will pay. Think about it this way, as soon as we have the Tower back, you'll get your old room, your pets, and everything will go back to normal."

"Where am I going if you're not here?!"

"This man is from the Galaxy Garrison, his name is Iverson, he's promised me that you'll be set up with some of their senior officers. They'll take good care of you till I get back," Allen reassured motioning to the nervous man. "If you think something is wrong just call him, alright?"

"But I want to stay here with you! What if the Cabal take away your Light again! What if you don't come back! What if—"

"Hey," he said running his hand through Keith's hair, "everything's going to be fine. You'll see. If you worry, just pray, like I do, it'll all work out."

Allen's gaze softened before pulling Keith into a hug. "I promise pal, and just remember, no matter what happens, no one can ever take away my love for you, and I know one day your light will shine brighter than mine ever did."

"I love you too Dad," Keith sniffled, hugging back.

The land before her changed again, and Krolia found herself standing in a yard full of kids, under a tree in the corner, she could see Keith hiding, sporting a bruise on his face and a bloody lip as he watched the other kids warily.

"Hey freak!" an older boy taunted spotting Keith hidden behind the tree.

"Leave me alone, I don't want any trouble," he whispered. He was already in trouble for getting some extra food because he was hungry and already had his lunch and snack privileges revoked for the day. He didn't want to lose dinner too.

"Well then if that's the case, then I want you to do my chores today, you see, I have a thing with some friends this evening, and considering you're the freak who no one wants to be friends with I figured you had the free time to do them."

"No, I won't do your work for you, that won't get you anywhere in the future," Keith retorted remembering what his father had told him when he'd tried to convince him to help deconstruct his first weapon.

"Look here brat, you're going to do them or else!"

Keith narrowed his eyes and stood up to his full height, and while he only reached the boy's chest, that didn't intimidate him in the slightest. He'd killed bigger. "Make me!"

The older boy drew his fist back, and swung forwards, sidestepping, Keith grabbed his arm, twisted it and hurled the older boy over his shoulder so hard he bounced off the ground and landed near the fence.

He got up and wiped the blood at his nose in shock before smirking. "Miss Ryland!" he cried putting on a show of tears as he ran up to a woman sitting on the porch reading a book. "Keith hit me! He asked if we could let him play with our frisbee and when I said no he hit me!" Showing her his bloody nose, the woman looked towards Keith and narrowed her eyes.

"Kogane! Over here! Now."

Gulping, Keith went over, nervously tucking his hands in the pockets of his only hoodie. "Yes ma'am?"

"Did you do this?"

"He tried to hit me first! I was just—" Keith protested.

The lady clicked her tongue. "Now, that's not the story Christian just told me," she said grabbing his wrist and dragging him inside. Taking Keith upstairs, she closed the door and pulled out a belt. "Now, that's five for hitting your peers and five for lying, as well as revoked dinner privilages. Turn around."

Krolia pulled herself out of the past, wiping away the tears. She could still smell the burning bodies, hear the scream of those dying. Had these kids, her son, really lived through that?

Looking at them, she resolved to look after each of them, after all, no child could go through such a thing and not have scars. And with experience in war, maybe she could help heal them.

Going over to Keith, she sat next to him and looked at him as he slept, his expression saying his sleep was anything but peaceful. Running her hand gently through his hair, she smiled as she watched him relax. Just like his father would when she comforted him on the nights he fell asleep first, the nights his nightmares were the worst.

She may have missed a lot Keith's life, but she was going to keep her promise.