Chapter 46

A/N: once again, I just own the story and OCs in it.

/comm/

"Bold is intercom/videochat"

Ghost telepathy/flashbacks/dreams

"Are we sure this will work?" Hunk asked as they watched Lotor and Allura pilot the Sincline ship towards where the rift of Dibazaal had been. "I can't be the only who sees this is nuts? Just getting in there's a long shot. There's no telling if they'll be able to get back out."

"I agree with Hunk," Coran stated crossing his arms. "This whole plan is a foolhardy and unnecessary risk."

Pidge frowned and crossed her arms as well, "I don't know. We've traveled through the quintessence field to another reality before. So it isn't just theoretical physics, we now it's possible mathematically."

"Well it is hard to argue with math, believe me, I've tried!" Coran grumbled.

"But even if they do reach the quintessence field, then what? The last time anyone got in there Zarkon turned evil," Lance pointed out.

"Lance makes a point! Take that math!"

"Zarkon fell prey to his own evil instincts," Shiro replied, "the quintessence field didn't create them, it revealed them."

"Maybe," Tarin frowned, "I researched the ancients for years with…my husband. Logs indicate that Zarkon might have been possessed by void creatures that came from the abyss."

"Where Allura and Lotor are going right now," Jaz remarked.

They all turned to see the ship approaching the breach-point.

"So this is goodbye, for now," Coran whispered.

"Allura."

/Yes Lance?/

"Get back safely."

/I will/

"T-minue ten ticks till gate entry," Coran said starting the coutdown. "Nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one."

They watched as the constructed portal began to glow brightly as the ship passed through, before it dulled down unexpectedly and they all looked for a signal from the ship.

"I'm not getting anything," Pidge said. "They must've made it through."

"Must have," Jaz sighed and Tarin nodded, anxiously biting on her claws.

"Hopefully," Coran frowned before the alarms began flashing.

"What is that?"

"Incoming craft."

Shiro narrowed his eyes. "Shields up and pull it up on screen."

Pidge tapped a few keys and they zoomed in on the ship…or well, ships. There were six in total, each looking different from the others. The lead ship reminded them of a boomerang shape, with black and silver coloring and a metal tail coming off the back. The ship to the right resembled a flying tank with blue and white coloring. To the left, a military style ship with green camo patterns on it. In the back was a small, shield shaped ship with vribant greens and blues on it. On it's side was a ship that reminded Shiro of the Garrison's fighter jets, just red and white. "They're not Galra, rebels?"

"Let's find out," Shiro stated. "Unidentified craft, this is the Castle of Lions, identify yourself!"

A comm-screen opened and they were greeted by the Titan Guardian in the black and red armor, his ghost flying just above his shoulder. "Voltron, we need to talk."

"Oh…uh…of course," Shiro stuttered in surprise.

"Is it just me, or does he look bigger?" Lance commented.

"Where's Lotor?"

"He's inside the quintessence field, sir," Tarin chimed in.

"Draaf!" the Guardian cursed and they thought they heard a few other muttered curses from offscreen.

"We're opening a hangar, fly in and tell us what's going on," Jaz said.

"Understood."

-.-

Racing down into the hangar, they all stood back as the ships landed. Their ramps lowered and the Titan walked down, flanked by a feminine Titan in white and green armor, a Warlock wearing a violet and gold jacket and armor, a female Hunter with dark green armor and magenta wings flicking from under her long cloak, and a male Hunter wearing dark brown armor and a black cloak.

"Guardians, it's an honor to meet you," Tarin greeted with a bow.

"We've met before Tarin, and I deeply apologize for my deception to all of you," the leader stated, dropping his helmet and they all stared with wide eyes as a familiar mess of black hair fell out and the Titan moved the dark locks out of his face, revealing a set of distinct violet eyes.

"K-Keith?" Shiro stuttered.

"Wait, how do we know you're really Keith and not some cooler doppelganger?" Lance demanded and he was answered as a familiar Marmoran blade was held up.

"I don't have time for this Lance!" Keith snapped.

"Hey everyone Keith's back!"

"How…How are you a…?" Shiro trailed off, trying to find the words.

"It's a long story, one we'll have to explain later," the white Titan stated as her helmet vanished, revealing a pale woman with gold-amber eyes and white hair long enough to rival Allura's.

"Right now, our current objective is to stop Lotor," Keith continued tossing Sky a warning glare. "He's been lying to all of us!"

"Lying about what?" Shiro asked.

"Everything!"

Following the sound of the voice, all eyes turned to the blonde Altean woman storming out of the ship followed swiftly by a tall Galra woman and a bright glowing wolf.

"You're…You're Altean!" Coran exclaimed.

"She's not the only one, the brown Hunter stated removing his hood and dropping his helmet, revealing a slightly tan Altean man with pale hair and green marks that matched his eyes. Beside the Altean Hunter, the other Hunter dropped her covers, revealing a yellow woman with red marks and bright magenta hair as the Awoken Warlock slicked some of his maroon hair back, his red eyes looking over them.

"Silyna? Skylar? Wren? Kol?" Jaz spoke up stepping forwards. "Is it really you? Uh—How?"

"Long story short: Vex," Sky answered and Jaz nodded.

"That makes sense."

"Wait, Jaz you know them?" Lance asked. "Who are all of you?"

"Is that a wolf?" Hunk asked.

"I promise, I'll explain everything once we have handled Lotor," Keith stated firmly.

"We can't get to him, he just entered the quintessence field with Allura," Pidge stated, adjusting her glasses and they all watched as the Guardians paled and looked between each other.

"Voltron travelled through realities before, can't you go in there and attack?" the white-haired Titan questioned.

"Allura's with him, we can't risk hurting her," Lance restated.

"Why are we even attacking?" Tarin questioned. "What did Lotor do this time?!"

"Lance is right, you did change," Shiro smiled and Keith looked over to him, flashing a softer grin of his own.

"Time's been a little different where I've been. Pit, if we didn't get lucky enough to bump into my old fireteam, I would've been gone for longer…maybe."

The Galran woman stepped forwards looking at the Black Paladin. "Shiro, I am Krolia, Keith has told me all about you," she greeted holding out a hand. "Thank you, for helping raise him to be the man he is today."

While a little confused, Shiro accepted, Keith hardly ever spoke about his personal life—though now he might've just figured out why—so why would he open up to a random Galra?

"Krolia is with the Blade of Marmora," Keith stated. "Also…she's my mother."

Shiro's eyes widened for a second, glancing between her and Keith he suddenly felt stupid. The resemblance was obvious, Keith was almost a copy of her. "It's an honor to meet you."

"WHAT?! THIS IS NUTS!" Lance exclaimed. "You come back here, wearing Guardian armor, with a bunch of Guardians, your Galra mom, a wolf, and an Altean?!"

"Yes, I'm still waiting to hear the story about the Alteans," Coran said motioning between the blonde one and the Guardian one.

"Well, I'm Wren, I'm a Kiin born and raised on Terra with a colony of other surviving Alteans under the protection of the Guardians," the hunter introduced himself.

"I'm Skylar Fenris, Kiin and human-Altean hybrid or a Maltiid," the white-haired Titan stated. "Laat Hiim was full of refugees of numerous races from across the known universe. Alteans just so happened to be one of the common species."

"Awoken like Jaz and I were also common," the Warlock said. "I'm Kol, by the way."

"Wait! So that's why you never told us anything?!" Pidge exclaimed whirling on Jaz. "You and Darvah lied to us?!"

"Alright, everyone just calm down," Shiro said trying to take a handle on the situation, "we can get this all sorted out when they return."

Getting to the bridge, they watched as the Guardians stretched out, the Warlock going to keep watch on the scanners as the others gathered around.

"What's going on? Why do we need to be attacking Lotor?" Hunk questioned.

"This is Romelle, and I think you'll like to hear the story she told us," Keith stated stepping aside from his defensive position and motioning her forwards.

Nodding, Romelle took a breath to calm herself down, "I come from a planet where there are thousands of Alteans, we have lived there since the war with Zarkon began."

"What, that's impossible, Altea was destroyed," Coran said. "Allura and I were the only survivors."

"On the contrary," Wren said. "Alteans were diplomats, colonists, and traders, so many were off world upon Altea's destruction. My own clan was working with the Fae, Hevnoan, Alasian, Awoken, and Wuldians in the Krein system when Altea was lost."

The yellow-skinned girl stepped forwards, nodding to Wren. "So when news of Altea's destruction reached us, we let the survivors hide among us since they could easily pass as Fae or Alasian, and sent evacuation teams to other known colonies, bringing them to my home system. However, even with our advanced methods, we couldn't find all of them, which is where Romelle's story comes into play."

"You see, every child on my world knows the story of how Lotor saved us from destruction. Many went into hiding for deca-pheobs, but those who were not found by the Fae, were instead found by Lotor, whom used his deep knowledge of Altean culture to track them down and he made them an offer they could not refuse. To keep the Altean's secure, Lotor developed a colony on a remote planet beyond the quantum abyss."

"So, Lotor saved Alteans?" Coran asked.

"Man, he's much nicer than we thought," Hunk commented.

"Wait, why didn't he go to Terra's Alteans?"

"Well, by time it was probably under the protection of the Guardians—if I remember my history correctly," Tarin stated tapping her chin.

"And ticking off the Light Wielders is the last thing anyone wants," Krolia smirked and the trader nodded.

"Not to mention he might not have known, the Fae greatly resemble Alteans, Lotor himself could pass as one if you added marks and wings," Tarin added. "However, even if this took place before their rise, Terra was an extremely dangerous planet, without a native the odds of dying in the first day were quite high."

"Oh, those odds are still the same," Wren smiled.

"No kidding."

Keith cleared his throat, seeing he got everyone's attention, he motioned for Romelle to continue. "You see, over time, the Alteans of my colony began to worship Lotor as their savior; and generations ago in order to increase the odds of our survival, Lotor abruptly announced he was establishing a second colony far from our own. However, in order to do so, each Altean in the colony was given a series of tests to see if they would survive the journey; being chosen was the highest honor," she continued. "Communication between the colonies was strictly forbidden, for fear that it could compromise the other's location. My little brother Bandor had always been faithful to our supposed messiah, I however, had always been skeptical. When he grew old enough to be assessed for the journey, Bandor was selected to leave immediately. I tried to stop him, but he insisted it was Lotor's will, and my deepest regret is not being able to stop him. I would've tried harder, had I known what was going to happen."

She took a calming breath, wiping away a small tear before continuing, "Before Bandor left, he gave me a communicator so we could call each other in secret, however, it never worked. Until one night…Bandor called me, his voice weak and frail, he told me I was right, before informing me of his crash site. I raced through the woods faster that night than I ever had in my life, and I found him, my little brother, lying there in the shattered cockpit of a ship. Bandor looked like death, he was malnourished and pale, his skin so drawn it resembled a skeleton. His last words to me were that the other colony Lotor had created was a lie. I escaped before the guards sent to handle the crash found me, and only I knew the truth—or at least part of it, but without proof no one in the colony would believe me. When Keith, Krolia, Wren, Skylar, Kol, and Silyna arrived, they were my last chance at finding it."

"Romelle explained her story to us, and we believed it was connected to the reason we were sent to investigate the quantum abyss," Kol stated. "Taking our ship, we went to the planet's moon, and we found this." The Awoken Warlock waved his hand, letting Gaaf appear. "Show the footage."

"Alright, be warned, this may be disturbing," his ghost said flashing the hologram to life, showing the mission.

The Paladins could see Keith in his armor moving ahead of them, as he ran towards a door with Skylar. Both Titans forced their hands between and forced the massive doors apart as the two Hunters aimed their weapons and motioned the group forwards into the dark halls. Going through another set of doors, they watched the party travel through a hall lined with pods before Romelle went up to one, before scrambling back, stifling a scream.

The camera moved wildly, before they all sucked air through their teeth, inside the pod, was a dark-skinned Altean man whose skin was so drawn he resembled a mummy, his eyes were glassy and lifeless.

The they could only make out the words Keith spoke in the video over their mixture of shock, disgust, and absolute horror. "Lotor's harvesting their quintessence."

The video cut out and the ghost vanished, leaving them all in shock.

"Oh. My. God," Lance breathed.

"All this time…" Tarin trailed off looking horrified covering her mouth with her hands.

"He was playing us," Hunk almost growled.

Jaz's eyes glowed, "I'm gonna kill him!"

"He's a monster," Keith hissed, "I can't believe I gave him the means to claim the Galra Empire's throne."

"A mistake we will rectify," Wren snarled loading his gun.

"Tarin," Hunk spoke up and they all looked to her. "He's your husband?"

Enraged tears ran down her face, her fists clenched by her side. "All this time. He never told me. I stood by his side for years! I defended him! And…and he…" she clenched her eyes shut, baring her fangs. Taking a breath to clam herself down, she glared up at where Lotor had vanished. "I won't stop you. If this is true, then he deserves a fate worse than death!"

The scanner began beeping and showed the sincline ship. "They're back," Coran stated.

"What are you waiting for? Open fire!" Romelle snapped.

"No! Princess Allura's with him," Lance protested.

"We're going to let him back on board?" Hunk whimpered.

"Unless you want Allura to die?" Jaz reminded.

"We can't do anything till the Princess is safe," Shiro agreed. "Once Allura is safe we will take Lotor down."

"Guys, over here," Keith said motioning to the sides of the doors, just out of immediate sight.

The other Titan along with the wolf, Romelle and Krolia joined them, each brandishing a weapon, preparing for an ambush. Silyna and Kol flew up, out of sight and Wren turned invisible.

The wait was agonizing, but eventually Allura and Lotor walked in, side-by-side. "What's going on?" Allura questioned seeing her advisor and fellow Paladins standing in a firm line with dark looks on their faces and Jaz and Tarin looked downright murderous.

The sound of weapons being brandished came from behind, and Allura's eyes widened as she saw Keith standing in his Guardian armor, brandishing the same sword he used to help Lotor kill Zarkon.

Lotor meanwhile stood frozen, staring in shock at the Guardians surrounding him. The former-Paladin in particular was a shock, he'd stood toe-to-toe with the man, and never once would he have guessed that…he narrowed his eyes, it couldn't be…

"Rukaan—He's a Yolosian Mountain Drake—he'll grow that big, maybe bigger—my Wyvern is still being trained—I didn't know there were house-cats in space—Keith! Cayde's waiting for us…"

Captain Allen Kogane's son, he fought the next Captain of the Rein Fireteam; the only reason he escaped with his life was because the boy had been holding back all this time. Looking at the others, Lotor paled, they all were next-gen Rein, all except the Faen girl. There was Lieutenant Ari's daughter, the Sunsinger's son, the Hunter's son; he was with all four of their children.

And they all were pointing their weapons at him.

"Allura, step away from Lotor," Lance commanded joining the Guardians and aiming his rifle at Lotor.

"I will do no such thing, tell me what is happening here!"

"Lotor is a monster and has been harvesting Altean quintessence for generations!" Romelle exclaimed coming out from behind Krolia.

"An Altean," Allura breathed in shock as Lotor paled.

"YOU LIED TO ME!" Tarin screamed grabbing Lotor's collar. "All this time…all this time I comforted you and stayed close to you, trying to help make sure you didn't feel alone in the universe! I loved you Lotor and you lied to me! You claimed to me you wanted peace! BUT HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT? YOU HAVE THE BLOOD OF THOUSANDS OF INNOCENTS ON YOUR HANDS!"

"Tarin I—"

Romelle interrupted, "You killed my brother and thousands of others!"

"Lotor has been lying to us the whole time," Pidge snarled. "He's a murderer, just like his father!"

"You know nothing about what you speak!"

"Really?" Kol asked pulling the video up on the Castle's monitors.

"Lotor…what is this? Is this true?!" Allura exclaimed whirling on him.

"It's all true Allura," Jaz snarled her fists glowing with light. "He betrayed our people."

"And he's betrayed our trust."

"Allura listen to me, I've dedicated my life to preserving Altean culture. Now that we've unlocked the quintessence field, all of your people who would've been hunted down long ago can live in peace due to my intervention," he implored. "Were some lives lost in the process? Yes. But they were martyrs to a noble cause. I sacrificed a few to preserve the future for millions! Allura, do not let this ruin everything we've worked for! Think of what we experienced in the quintessence field."

"Martyrs?!" Tarin gasped. "You once told me that even one life lost was too many!"

Lotor stepped forwards, taking his wife's hand. "Tarin, please. I'm trying to do what is best for the universe."

"Best for the universe? Or best for yourself?" she growled ripping her hand out.

"Please," he said grabbing her arms. "I want the same things you do. Peace throughout the universe for our races."

She took his hand, and Lotor perked up, failing to notice her eyes harden. "If you wanted that, you wouldn't have turned your back on your morals." Turning around, Tarin flung him over her shoulder, slamming him to the ground hard enough he bounced across the floor and slammed into the wall. "What will you do with him?"

"Take him back for trial, he will be charged with treason to Light and crimes against sentient beings," Sil hissed walking over to cuff him.

The alarm sounded and the image of intruders in the hangar appeared. "The hangar's been breached!"

"It's Lotor's troops!" Hunk exclaimed. "They're stealing the ships!"

"Wren! Sky! Guard the engine room! We don't know if they could be planting bombs," Keith ordered and the two Guardians took off. "Sil, Kol, and I will attempt to stop them in the hangar, the rest of you should—!"

The Black Paladin cried out falling to his knees and holding his head crying out in pain.

"Shiro!"

"What's happening to him?" Coran asked.

"Allura and I will secure Lotor, Hunk help Shiro, everyone else needs to get down to the hangar and stop those guys from taking the ships," Lance said getting nods from the others as they raced out of the room and Tarin teleported out.

Sil spread her wings and began flying before turning invisible as Kol flew beside her. Racing into the hangars, the doors opened just as one of the ships took off and Tarin slammed into a wall as she was blasted back by the other ship.

"Follow them!" Keith ordered as the Warlock and Hunter raced forwards. Jumping in the air, their ghosts materialized their ships around them and they flew out into space.

"Tarin?" Krolia questioned helping her up.

"I'm fine! Stop them!" she snarled.

Hearing the second ship, Keith looked over and saw Lotor's red general activating the one Lotor had arrived in with a dark smirk. Seeing her turn the ship towards them, he threw up a shield as she opened fired, the blasts bouncing off the light barrier before whipping around and blasting off.

"Guys, there's a second ship joining y'all!" Keith warned.

/We see it/ Silyna hissed.

/Sil, you handle the one you're tailing, I'll take the space-legs!/ Kol ordered.

/Got it!/

Shiro raced past them, carrying Lotor on his back as he raced for a pod. "Shiro's gone mad!" Allura called over the intercoms. "He's escaping with Lotor! Stop him before he leaves the ship!"

Pidge was the first to pull out of her shock, running forwards, she pulled out her bayard and froze.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself fire it at Shiro, he was her family, her brother-in-arms; Katie couldn't hit him. His glowing eyes looked at her for a split second before the pod's hood dropped and it flew off into space, pulling her out of her shock.

/Keith! Is that you giving chase in the white pod?/ Kol asked.

"No, it's Shiro, something's wrong with him," Keith warned.

/We'll try and keep him from leaving the area/

"What do we do?!" Pidge asked turning to Keith.

"We have to stay focused. Lance, Hunk, Allura, think you can still pilot your lions?"

/Yea, I'll manage/ Hunk growled.

/We've got this/ Lance replied firmly.

"Then let's move, Kol and Sil won't be able to hold off Lotor's ships forever, we'll need Voltron."

"We'll hold them off for now," Jaz said as she and Tarin raced back up to the bridge.

"Shiro's gone, who'll pilot the Black Lion?" Pidge questioned as Keith turned away.

"I will," Keith stated before breaking into a sprint, his heavier Titan armor changing into the lighter Paladin.

The lion's eyes glowed as he raced towards it, roaring loudly before letting him enter and swing into the pilot's seat and shooting out of the hangar. He could see the three ships dodging the two Guardian crafts, barely escaping as a pillar of almost white-orange light shot from the orange and violet ship Kol was flying. As the other ship shot a series of shots from its cannons, knocking one of the ships back.

"You guys help Silyna and Kol, I'll get Shiro," Keith ordered flying past the ships towards the white Altean pod.

/Got it!/ Allura responded.

"Shiro! It's Keith!" he called, biting his lip when he didn't get a response. "Shiro, listen to me, it's going to be ok. We just have to find out…" he stopped seeing that Shiro had closed the comm-link between them.

/I can't shake them!/

/Keith!/

"Sil, Kol, I want you to fall back and stay on Shiro! Jaz if you see a chance to use that heavy blast again to Lotor's ships, I want you to open fire," Keith ordered.

/Rodger that/ Silyna said as the two ships pulled away from the battle and shot after the pod as Keith whipped Black around to help his other team.

/Understood/

Red and Yellow ducked out of the way as two blasts came from the Sincline ships, one hitting Hunk, making Lance turn around and fire a blast, only to be hit by the third ship before it flew off as Allura fired at it.

Keith spotted Green about to take a blast, activating Black's blaster, he fired intercepting the shot before it could hit Pidge. "Guys, we're no match for them in our lions, Jaz, how much longer till you're fully charged?"

/Almost there/

"Good, we'll need you to cover us. Now, form Voltron!" Keith ordered as the grouped.

Inside the bridge Jaz and Tarin grinned watching the mighty warrior of legend form. "Awesome," she said before a malicious smirk formed on her face as they saw the three ships forming up for a direct attack. "Right where I need you."

A ball of light formed in her hands as Jaz performed the Awoken magic, watching the attack orbs form using Tarin's magic to bolster her attacks.

"Kiss this bitches," they sneered thrusting their arms forwards and all five orbs shot forwards towards the three Sincline ships.