Chapter 1
"You're still up?" Shiro stepped onto the bridge and Allura was startled at the sound of his voice. She quickly regained her composure.
"I could ask you the same thing." She didn't turn around from her terminal where she had various screens lit up around her.
Shiro didn't respond and joined her up on the pedestal. He scanned the screens, but they said the same thing they had been saying for months now. It didn't surprise him. And honestly, he was starting to doubt that they would ever say otherwise, even though it was slowly killing him inside.
[PALADIN NOT FOUND]
Lance was gone. Slipped out of the Castle in the middle of the night as they were passing through a star cluster. The Castle lost his signal before they even knew he was gone. They had all thought he just needed some space, some time to cope after the mission on planet Nepra. That Pidge would stop giving him the cold shoulder after what had happened. They all assumed he would be back with his easy smile and corny jokes and reassuring them that everything was going to be okay . . .
That wasn't what happened.
It's hard to look for one person in the vastness of the universe. So many planets, galaxies, asteroid outposts, space stations . . . He could be anywhere. There was also the possibility that the Galra had managed to capture him, but no amount of hacking their enemy's system or interrogating high ranking officials could confirmed this. It was hard to tell if that was a good thing or not, but they never stopped searching.
The Castle always seemed a little too quiet now-a-days.
"How are Pidge and Hunk faring?" Allura suddenly broke the silence.
Shiro grimaced. "They're still not talking to me."
Allura's gaze fell. "You can't blame them."
"I don't," Shiro said. "But I had to do what was best for the team. We're fighting a war and we still can't get in contact with Keith . . . we were down a Paladin."
"I know," Allura clenched her hands into fists at her side. "Egal is a good Paladin, but it still feels like we're just replacing Lance."
Shiro had nothing to say to that. He couldn't deny that he felt the same way, but Egal deserved better than that.
They had come across the plant-based warrior about a month ago at a trading hub planet. Egal was some sort of apprentice with one of the traders that they bought some rather large parts from. Coran had insisted they needed some do-hicky or other for something no one quite understood about the Castle, and the do-hickey ended up being multiple do-hickys that were quite large. It would take more than one trip to haul it all to the Castle and Egal agreed to help.
Long story short, there was a Galra attack, they were locked down and separated, and Egal got chased into the Red Lions hanger where Egal found the Red Bayard which transformed into a set of pistols with wicked blades that stretched out of the back. Egan then proceeded to take out just about every sentry single-handedly. That's when the Red Lion lowered her barrier. It was the first sign of life the Lion had showed ever since Lance left. The Red Lion had chosen another Paladin.
Suffice to say, the others hadn't taken it too well.
That wasn't to say that there wasn't a day that they weren't still actively looking for Lance. Every available scanner and processor had been rigged into the scan. Pidge had thrown herself fully into it. It was worse than when she was looking for her family . . . probably because she felt that it was her fault he left in the first place.
Shiro and Allura stood side by side, watching the search protocol flash by the screen far too fast for any person to actually read.
All at once the silence was shattered by the proximity alarm. The screens went red, flashing brightly and the alarm shrilling and echoing down the halls of the Castle. Shiro knew that sound all too well. Danger.
"What is it?" Shiro asked, the gloom shoved to the side in place of adrenaline. His eyes darted from screen to screen trying to piece together the threat.
"Something is approaching," Allura's hands flew across the console as she tried to isolate it. "It's small . . . and fast!" The search protocol was swiped away, pushed aside and she pulled up a visual. The expanse of space appeared on the screen, but there was no ship in sight.
"Are you sure there's something there?" Shiro shouted over the alarm. The radar flashed angrily, outlining what was almost less than a spec that was still approaching.
"Positive. It's incredibly small . . . I've never seen something this tiny traveling so fast before."
"Princess!" Coran barged in. "What's happening?! The alarms are going off."
"I noticed," Allura grimaced. "The sensors have picked up something heading straight for us, but—"
"By god," Coran's eyes went wide in recognition as he saw the readings. The tiny blip encroached upon the Castle. There was nothing they could do. It was too fast.
"It's right on top of us!" Shiro yelled, looking out the front window to see if he could catch sight of it.
"Brace for impact!" Allura yelled, gripping the console. Shiro braced. Coran gaped.
But nothing happened. The alarm cut off and the lights stopped flashing. For a moment everything was silent. Coran continued to stare out the window, which is why only he noticed the small flash of light that came through the reinforced plexiglass that made up the Castle's viewing port.
"By Alaara," he breathed as the light took the form of a young woman.
"What are we waiting for?" she whispered to him. Shiro and Allura jumped and spun to the new person who had appeared on the bridge.
Shiro was the first to react, lowering into a defensive crouch as his hand started to glow. "Who are you? How did you get in here!?" he demanded. The intruder looked like a young woman, humanoid in appearance with long, yellow hair and dressed elegant white robes. In all honesty, just paint some markings under her eyes and she could easily pass as Altean.
"Oh, I know who you are," the young woman smiled knowingly. "You must be the Black Paladin. So up tight. Loosen up."
"Wha. . ." Shiro was speechless, completely thrown off by this regal-looking woman with the casual words and wasn't sure if he was being complimented or insulted.
"It is you!" Coran said in awe.
"Coran?" Allura asked, not taking her eyes off the intruder. "You know this person?"
"Well I'd hardly call her a person," Coran sputtered. "And if she's here it can't mean anything good."
"Oh, I remember you too!" The young woman smiled knowingly at Coran. "Interesting that you're still around."
"Yes, well," Coran cleared his throat and looked away, "a lot has happened these last ten thousand deba-pheobs."
"As it usually does," she nodded.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Allura stepped forward, "but I think some introductions are in order."
"Ah, yes, my apologies," Coran stumbled over his words and whisked a hand out to the strange woman. "Princess, Shiro, this is Lux. The universes Guardian of Light."
Shiro's eyebrows rose comically. "The what now?"
Oo-oO
Pidge sat in front of her computer, trying to configure her processors and compress the influx of information in order to filter through more data that seemed to be endless in the search. She'd been working on this for vargas and she was overdue for a break, but that would entail getting up and walking somewhere and she . . . wasn't quite up for that yet.
She massaged her thigh and cracked her neck before leaning back in her seat and staring up at the ceiling. Her mind inevitably began wandering to unpleasant things until she felt the sting of tears prick her eyes. She wiped at them angrily and swore under her breath.
She had the most reason to be mad at the idiot. And she was mad at him. No one could blame her for that. But it made her even madder when just he up and peaced out like that, as if that would solve anything, and he hadn't even had the nerve to stay in contact!
There's no way anything bad happened to that happy-go-lucky idiot. It was impossible. Anything he got into was probably his own fault—not that he was getting into anything to begin with. Because Lance is an idiot. But god damnit, he should be here and since he's not that means that something did happen . . . or he's just being more stubborn than usual.
And then Keith had to go AWOL too on some dumbass Blade mission that they wouldn't tell them anything about other than it's 'Top Secret' and that Keith'll be gone for an 'undetermined amount of time'.
"Quiznack," she dragged her hands down her face.
The team was falling apart.
Then Shiro decided to try and fix things.
But it only made them worse.
The so-called new Paladin had been with them just under a month now and while Pidge could admit that he—no not he—they? It—was a decent fighter, able to hold their own and a half decent pilot at that, she refused to acknowledge them as part of the team. Like hell. What will Lance say when he comes back? If he finds out they replaced him he probably won't come back. And that scares her even more. How was she supposed to yell at him if he never came back?
"Quiznack!" She sniffed loudly and rubbed at the tears in her eyes again.
Then to top everything off, the proximity alert started blaring and her a headache flared up again. She groaned and let her forehead slam onto the desk in frustration. She slid the chair back and almost stood up before changing her mind and clenching her fist into her pant leg in frustration.
The alarm shut off just as she opened a video channel with the bridge. The holo-screen popped up and she saw Allura and Shiro there along with Coran and . . . who's that.
"What's going on?" she asked, drawing everyone's attention.
The stranger cocked her head as she gazed at her through the monitor.
"Pidge," Shiro said, glancing at the woman uncertainly who stared intently at Pidge. "I think we may have a new mission. Get up here as quickly as you can."
"Uh, right," Pidge acknowledged Shiro and gave the woman a weird look before hanging up and grumbling as she slowly lifted herself up onto her feet.
By the time she'd made her way all the way to the bridge everyone else was already up there, even the new Paladin. Egal stood near the door, well out of the way and already wearing the Red Paladin armour. Keith's armour. She grit her teeth and held back her comment as she did every time the plant-based alien wore it. Instead she gave her 'team-mate' a wide birth and managed to settle into her station, waving off Hunk's helping hand and spinning to face everyone.
"Alright," she said once she'd settled. "What's this all about? And who is that? And how did they get on board?" To looked to the woman in white.
"I am known as Lux," the young woman introduced herself. "To many I am the Guardian of Light."
"And to the rest?" Pidge raised an eyebrow.
"The rest don't know me," Lux smirked.
"Really?" Pidge said dully.
"Moving on," Shiro tried steering the conversation back on track.
"Right!" Coran spoke up. "I suppose I should start by explaining how I know of Lux."
"Wait, you know her?" Hunk questioned.
"Yes," Coran twisted his moustache and smiled proudly. "It was back in King Alfor's time. One of the enemies that the Paladins of old went up against was seeking to unlock the power of dark energy."
"Umbra," Lux chimed in, a darker undertone lingering in her voice.
"Yes, that was the chaps name," Coran nodded.
"Umbra seeks to control the darkness. While I am the Guardian of Light, there is a Guardian of Darkness, known as Tenebris," Lux waved her hand and the light in the room seemed to warp. She guided the light and painted illusions of Light and Darkness, two being of opposite natures existing side-by-side. "Together we keep the balance between these two elements throughout the universe. Light cannot exist without darkness and the darkness means nothing if there is no light."
"Classic Ying and Yang," Shiro chimed in.
"Oh, I know that one," Lux said. "That's one of those human religions, right?"
"You know what humans are?" Pidge asked.
"I know a great number of things," Lux waved her arms about. "Where the light touches, I see. Where the light learns, so I know. The same applies to Tenebris. The Dark is his domain. But the darkness isn't as evil as people make it out to be."
Lux brought the Dark body toward her, cradling it delicately as the Light dissipated.
"You see," she continued. "The dark is quite innocent if you stop to think about it. It accepts anyone and everything into its embrace. It's not the Dark's fault that some seek to use its shadows to hide and commit terrible acts. It's scoffed and scorned, judged and betrayed. The darkness has done nothing wrong but will still accept anyone who seeks its shelter."
"Well that's . . . one way of looking at it," Hunk said with a raised eyebrow.
"One such villain who takes advantage of the Dark is Umbra," Lux's voice turned cold and a shiver brushed through the room. Lux let the Dark being go as a red ooze faded into existence and started surrounding the Dark, suffocating the Dark, but the Dark sheltered the ooze. "Tenebris, like the darkness, is like a naïve child, willing to accept anyone. He revealed many secrets, too many, to this villain, and now Umbra has the knowledge to steal the dark away from Tenebris."
The Darkness took the ooze in, and the ooze shattered the Darkness, stealing its power for itself until the ooze had its own form with specs of black coursing through it.
"Um, that's a bad thing, right? That sounds like a bad thing," Hunk babbled.
"It is very bad," Coran stepped in. "It started ten thousand years ago when Umbra tried to perform the ritual that would bind Tenebris and direct his power to Umbra. In order to perform this ritual, five Relics of pure quintessence are needed and with the help of Voltron, the Paladins of old were able to hide all the Relics in secret locations throughout the universe. Then in a final epic battle, they banished Umbra to a pocket dimension."
Lux's light illusions depicted the event. The darkened red ooze warping into the form of a tall figure wrapped in a dark cloak with a skull for a face. The figure then stood before twin alters and five balls of coloured light spun around them, depicting the ritual. Suddenly the Lions flew in, disrupting the cloaked figure. The red ooze spilled from under the cloak. Voltron was formed and the ooze was banished into a wormhole in space.
"And what a great day that was," Lux tilted her head and stared into the distance. The Lions split off and danced around the room. The red ooze nothing more than a bad dream. "The only thing I regret was not being able to free Tenebris from Umbra's complete control. Even now, Tenebris sleeps, still weakened even after ten thousand deca-pheobs."
"And the fact that you're back now?" Shiro asked, already knowing the answer.
"Where the light shines, I see," Lux repeated. "Where the light learns, I know. And I know that Umbra has broken free of his prison and seeks to restart the ritual."
"Do you know where he is now?" Allura asked.
"Umbra is a shadow, traveling in the darkness, hiding like a coward behind an Apprentice. I cannot see into the dark."
"So that's a no," Shiro sighed. "And I suppose that if this Umbra character manages to pull off this, uh, ritual that bad stuff will happen?"
"He will destroy the balance of Light and Darkness in the universe," Lux stated. "And without balance, the darkness will infect everything like a virus until all life has been wiped out."
The Lions continued to fly around the room, coming to rest next to their designated Paladins. Hunk tried poking at the Yellow Lion, but it was only an illusion created by light. Pidge also passed her hand through the Green Lion, watching as the light cast shadows over her hand.
Shiro rubbed his brow. "Then I guess our next move should be in securing these relics and making sure Umbra can never get to them."
"If I remember correctly," Coran turned to the console and tapped away for a tick before activating the holographic map of the universe. A few more key-strokes and five coloured points appeared on the map. "Yes, the coordinates where the Paladins of old hid all the Relics were retained within the Castle of Lions."
"Colour coded," Pidge noted. "Nice."
"Alright," Shiro nodded and turned back to Lux who was playing with the Blue Lion. "Do you know a way of sealing these Relics for good? Or even destroying them?"
"They are not mere objects that can be destroyed," Lux said, meeting his eye. The Blue Lion flew off to rest on Allura's shoulder. "They are symbols of power capable of containing even the gods themselves."
"Oh," Shiro squeaked weakly, then cleared his voice. "Alright then, what do you propose we do then?"
"The best way to stop the ritual from happening is to destroy the one who seeks to perform it," Lux said with a steely voice. Simultaneously, all of Lux's illusions blinked out of existence. Hunk let out a disappointed 'aw' and pouted at the loss of his little friend. "But since we cannot locate him, if we seek out the Relics, we are bound to come across him. When he reveals himself to the light, then I will personally stop him."
"Then let's not waste any time," Allura stepped onto her platform. "Coran, plot a course for the nearest Relic. Paladins, suit up."