Disclaimer: If you recognize the character, it isn't mine. Just playing in Dreamworks' sandbox.
Note: I'm on Twitter and Tumblr as avidbeader. Come say hi!
Colleen sat and scrolled on her tablet, watching as the hits to Katie's post kept climbing. It would crack two million views soon and there were over a hundred thousand comments on it. Greg had commandeered every intern at his station to comb through them, separating the trolls from what was useful, and track as the post was shared across social media and picked up by more news outlets.
Some of the comments included people with access to satellite information that showed the presence of both the lion-shaped craft and a massive spaceship above North America, trading fire before the former led the latter away. There was data from probes near Mars and Titan showing both ships going to the outer edges of the solar system at astonishing speeds. The last probe, one launched by the Kerberos team before their arrival on the moon, registered a brief glimpse of both ships, the appearance of an unidentified anomaly, and then the abrupt disappearance of the lion ship and the anomaly, closely followed by the large ship vanishing as well.
It was taking every ounce of willpower that Colleen had not to keep messaging Katie. She would answer when she could answer.
But she and the others had left to go find this Voltron, this blue lion. What if she had been on that ship when it disappeared?
Greg was working with a producer, setting up for a live broadcast that would include Doctor Hooper and the McClains. They were going to link in with the Shiroganes and the Garretts. The plan was to essentially recap the information, with an emphasis that they had all actually communicated with their children and that the Garrison was not to be trusted.
They intended to drive home the fact that the Garrison had been behind the attempt to break Shiro and Keith's bond. The existence of the soul bond was the one thing that all Terran societies prioritized, the one thing considered untouchable. It had taken millennia for those beliefs to spread across the globe, but they had been in place for over two hundred years now.
No one could ask for a bond to be broken without exceedingly compelling reasons, and rejection of the request was more often the result outside of extraordinary age gaps. The testimony of them seizing Keith and trying to break the bond against his will had the potential to sway public opinion of the Garrison in a very negative direction.
Ichiro Shirogane had already shared what he planned to say about the experience of losing one's soulmate and reading it had brought Colleen to tears. It cut like a knife to think about Keith being taken, restrained, and having that same hollowness of self forced on him. Thinking of Shiro hurt the same way, but for him there were the added weights of having that feeling descend upon him without warning, left abandoned on some distant world with no hope of escape, not knowing if Keith was alive. It was painful enough not knowing what had happened to Sam or Matt. To have had that connection and lose it… That was twisting the knife deeper.
Please, let them be together at least. She didn't know if that prayer was for her husband and son or for Shiro and Keith.
The sound of a door opening pulled her out of her thoughts. Colleen swiped at her eyes with one sleeve and stood as the McClains entered, followed by a dark-haired woman that must be Dr. Hooper.
The McClains had suitcases with wheels, rolling them easily. Dr. Hooper appeared to have shoved things haphazardly into a large duffel bag and was slumped between it and the weight of a tech bag on the other shoulder. Greg stepped forward, reaching for the duffel.
"Here, let me help—"
"Oh, I've got it—"
His hand closed over hers and they both froze. The bag slipped from their hands and the tech satchel slid from her shoulder to the floor. The McClains turned at the sudden silence and both leaped forward to steady them.
Colleen's eyes widened as she realized what she was witnessing. She moved to help Mrs. McClain lower the doctor to the floor as her legs gave out. The producer ran over to help, letting out a disbelieving laugh.
"Greg, you lucky bastard! Here, man. Deep breaths." He took their joined hands and repositioned them so the two could grasp the other more securely. "Just hang onto her. It'll clear up in a few minutes."
Greg shook his head and reached with his other hand. "Um…hello. I'm Greg. Greg Radcliff."
The doctor grasped the second hand and pulled herself to sitting. "Molly…sorry, Margaret Hooper." She shut her eyes and inhaled sharply. "Dear lord…and Keith was feeling this even with Shiro in another solar system?"
The producer clapped Greg on the shoulder. "Okay, we are on a schedule. Let's get you two sitting together and I'll finish the setup."
Colleen gave Dr. Hooper a squeeze as she and Mrs. McClain lifted her to her feet. One tiny good thing, at least, had come from all of this.
Katie darted forward as the girl from the weird capsule grabbed Lance by the ear and arm and dropped him to his knees, hurling questions at them. Shiro caught her and hauled her back, trying to prevent the situation from escalating. "We don't know what you mean. Perhaps if you tell us your name, we can help?"
She released Lance, who got to his feet with a sulky expression and backed away from her. Katie placed herself next to him. Yes, Lance was dense and extremely annoying, but that didn't mean this girl with the white hair and pointy ears could just manhandle him.
The girl looked them over before speaking. "I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea. Now explain how you hold the Blue Lion! Its paladin was charged with taking it to a far location and guarding it."
"Um, we found the lion," Katie answered. "No guard of any kind. Or to be more specific, Keith found it." She jerked a thumb at him. "The lion was kind of calling to him for months and months. And then Hunk built a machine that would trace where the weird energy was and we found the lion."
The princess stared at her for a moment, then at Keith. "It…called you? You flew it here?"
"No, that was Lance. Doing the worst job of flying I have ever seen."
"Hey, I got us away from that warship!"
"No, the wormhole got us away from that warship!"
"Wait!" The princess held up her hands. She turned to Keith. "You could sense the Blue Lion's whereabouts. But you didn't fly it?" Keith nodded.
Whatever she was about to say was lost when the second capsule opened and a man with a very large mustache emerged in attack mode.
"Zarkon…" Allura growled out the name, wishing she could crush his very essence between her teeth. But he was gone, along with anyone else who might have supported the destruction of Altea.
Two of them visibly reacted at the name, the tallest one and the one they claimed had sensed the Blue Lion. The tall one echoed her in disbelief. "Zarkon?"
"Yes, why?"
He had paled and his breathing had picked up. The other young man moved closer and put a hand to his shoulder. "Easy, Shiro. It's over." He turned to look at Allura, keeping himself between them. "Shiro was a prisoner of Zarkon, of his kingdom, for close to a year."
"That's impossible! How could he still be alive after ten thousand years?"
He gave one sharp, sardonic laugh. "You're still alive, aren't you? Maybe he spent a few millennia sleeping in a capsule, too. Or maybe the name got passed down through generations of rulers. Anyway, I think we're all on the same side here. We agree that not getting captured by anyone associated with Zarkon is a priority, right?"
Allura stared at him a moment. While her father had never been as much of a stickler as Zarkon had been when it came to maintaining separation of classes, she had still grown up accustomed to a certain amount of deference. Whoever these people were, they obviously weren't used to interacting with a royal personage. It was up to her to show patience.
She cleared her throat, realizing she had been silent too long. "Yes...Keith, was it? Yes, we are all on the same side against Zarkon and the Galra."
Good girl. Trust them.
It took every bit of her training not to react to the voice in her head. It seemed to be coming from the one who had caught her, falling out of the cryo-pod, but his mouth was still set in a scowl. As she watched, a gentle blue aura appeared and swirled around him.
An aura that she had last seen with Blaytz, the Blue Paladin.
Look at them.
She looked, considering.
The smallest one showed green, running in lively pulses like a circuit board.
Pidge.
The large one with the headband shone yellow, sifting like sand in an hourglass.
Hunk.
The tall one glowed a pale purple, solid and steadfast.
Shiro.
Keith's aura danced like flame, red and flickering. She also noticed something else odd, how his natural quintessence seemed to vibrate exactly in time with Shiro's. But it probably only looked so because the two of them were standing so close.
It is time to return.
Allura agreed with the voice, but before she could start to explain, a proximity alarm blared and shattered any hope of careful planning.
Keith leaned against the wall, out of the way, as the two Alteans moved from console to console: keeping tabs on the wormhole passages, watching that enemy ship approach much faster than expected, and trying to track the Red Lion. He closed his eyes and watched through Shiro's view as he followed Katie through a beautiful tropical forest. He chuckled to himself as the sloth-like creature startled them, as Katie worked herself into a tizzy before Shiro reminded her of her father's words.
He smiled as Shiro watched her climb the pyramid that housed the Green Lion, sending fondness over memories of similar gentle but effective pep talks he had given to Keith before Kerberos. Shiro sent back his own pleasure of watching Keith absorb and apply the messages, and their bond hummed.
"Coran! Coran, help me!"
Keith jolted back into awareness to find the princess standing in front of him with a look of horror on her face. "Ah, what's the matter?"
She reached for him, seizing his wrist and pulling him toward the doorway. He was surprised at her strength, but was able to jerk his arm free. "Tell me what's going on."
"Your quintessence! It's overloaded! We need to siphon it off before it damages you!" She made to grab his arm again and he backed away from her.
She huffed. "It's for your own good!"
It's for your own good.
He could feel the straps holding him down, the tourniquet tightening on his arm...
It's for the best.
"Don't! Don't touch me!"
"Please! We need to get you into a cryo-pod!"
He was already teetering on the edge of a flashback; her words melding into Iverson's voice, trying to convince him to cooperate as they severed the bond. The thought of being locked away in one of those standing coffins, cut off from everything—from Shiro—sent him into panic. When the man moved to help the girl corner him, he charged between them, diving under their hands into a controlled tumble before regaining his feet, and raced out of the control room. He heard the princess shout, "Go after him!" as he turned a corner.
Shiro was reaching out to him frantically, trying to understand what was happening, but Keith's flight instincts had taken over. He ran down hallways, turning at random, trying to find a hiding place or an escape…
The sheltering presence called and he responded without thinking. The Blue Lion. She would protect him, wouldn't she? She had helped before.
Keith turned again, homing in on the presence in his mind that wasn't Shiro.
Shiro was headed back to the pod while Katie soared in the Green Lion, almost frolicking as she learned the controls. He was grinning from ear to ear, filled with a delight that he didn't think was coming from the soul bond. Suddenly terror flooded him and he stumbled to one knee.
Keith! What's wrong?
All he could feel in return was blind panic.
Keith!
He got to his feet and ran for the pod, throwing himself in and activating the ignition sequence. As the pod rose into the air, he pulled up the comm screen. "What's going on? Is the castle under attack?"
Princess Allura's face appeared on the screen. "No, it's Keith!"
"What happened? He's terrified about something, running from an enemy! Are you sure no one else has gotten into the castle?"
She paused at that. "How…?" Then she gave one sharp shake of her head. "No, there's definitely no one else in the castle. But Keith's quintessence spiked to a dangerous level! We've got to do something to drain it—"
"Quintessence?" Shiro remembered that word being tossed around by the druids.
There was a burst of static, then Katie's face popped up on a second screen. "Found it! Communications are online!"
"Princess, what is quintessence?" Shiro repeated.
"All living things carry a life force. It can fluctuate with the being's state of health and magic makes it possible to transfer it and use it in healing."
Or to torture… An image of glowing purple being fed into his newly-implanted mechanical arm, burning into his nerves, leapt into his mind.
"Without warning, Keith's quintessence level rose to a dangerous degree, almost double what it should be for an Altean—"
"Um, princess?" Katie interrupted.
"What? We have to help him!"
"Not arguing that if it's really necessary, but…not Altean?" She adjusted her glasses.
"What?"
"Not Altean," Katie repeated. "We're Terran. Different physiology. Was he showing any damage from what you saw?"
"N-no… I don't think so?"
"Then let us get back to the castle first. You can look us over for this quint-stuff and you'll have a better idea of whether Keith's actually in danger or not."
Allura nodded. "You're right. I can't believe I forgot you all were a different species. Coran! Coran, break off! Stop chasing him!"
Shiro's worry swerved into anger. "So he was being chased! It's lucky for you I can let him know he's safe! We're on our way back!" Shiro cut his comm screen before he could say anything else out of fury and guided the pod toward the open wormhole.
He turned his focus toward Keith, trying to send reassurance. It was a misunderstanding. You're safe. I'm on my way back. You can stop running.
Keith turned another corner and found himself at a dead end. He started to double back, but heard footsteps in the distance. He ducked behind the lighted pilaster closest to the dead end and pulled his knife from its sheath.
There was rumbling coming from somewhere on the other side of the wall.
Wait, why did I think I sensed the Blue Lion? Lance and Hunk took it.
He put his hand to the wall and whispered, "Who are you?"
The rumble increased. I am the center, the heart and the mind. And you are quite an interesting creature, to be able to hold two quintessences. Able to connect with more than one of us before the choosing. I see why my sister took an interest in you.
"You're the Black Lion?"
The assent was overlaid with Shiro's presence, assuring Keith that he was safe. Keith wasn't quite ready to believe that and stayed where he was.
Why are you afraid?
"The princess, she said she wanted to drain our bond. I can't lose my connection with Shiro, it would kill me to lose it."
I see now. My sister tried to explain, but it is a new thing. We have never seen a species before that can weave two quintessences together. Is this something all…Terrans…have?
"We think so. Not everyone meets their soulmate, but those who do are joined forever, able to feel what the other feels."
Fascinating. It sounds similar to our bonds with our paladins.
Keith smiled a little at that. "The Blue Lion…she helped me back on Terra."
And yet, she did not choose you. She thought you would be a better match for our sister of Fire.
A mental image of another ship rose up, smaller than the Blue Lion but sleek and agile. Keith felt a deep and sudden desire to fly her, to help her dance among the stars.
You will need to persuade her. She has suffered.
Well, Keith knew suffering, didn't he? A year separated from Shiro, having to witness his pain without being able to do much about it was pretty bad.
Imagine if he had died at the hands of someone who had once been a trusted friend.
That stopped Keith cold. Shiro dying was unthinkable. But he also caught the edges of something in the Black Lion's thoughts. Whoever the friend was, he had been more than trusted. He had been…
"There you are!"
Keith whirled, his knife out, and the one named Coran stepped back immediately, his hands up and his mustache twitching. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We really did think you were in danger. We forgot you're not Altean."
"No trying to drain anything? No capsule?"
"Cryo-pod," Coran corrected him automatically. "And no. The princess would like to apologize as well."
Keith lowered his knife and put it away. Coran held out a hand, gesturing back to the entrance. Keith glanced up, wishing he could see through the wall.
The presence rumbled once more and Keith felt a mental push. Go on.
Lost in his own thoughts, Keith missed the odd look Coran gave him.
It had taken vargas, possibly quintants, but Haggar had found the faintest traces of Champion. His aura was incredibly distant at first. Then an unexpected rush of energy nearly threw her out of her meditative state. As she re-centered herself, she discovered that Champion was suddenly within Galra space, much closer and stronger…
...even stronger than when he had escaped.
How is this possible? Who is this alien?
She continued to follow, gradually getting a better sense of his location. But just as she was about to break off and summon her druids to help map the physical coordinates, a new presence threw her fully out of her trance. Haggar picked herself up from the floor, her mind reeling at what she had stumbled across.
Alteans! Champion has found Alteans!
Now she did summon her druids, directing them to support her as she fought for enough calm to reestablish her spells.
As she verified that the Alteans and Champion's locations were the same, she got a third surprise. The Blue Lion was active. Champion had somehow awakened one of the lions.
She must notify Zarkon of this. The joining of such forces would only spell trouble for the Empire.
But before she could emerge from the spells, Champion's presence changed. It seemed to stretch thin, one part remaining in the Alteans' location and the other taking off...through a wormhole. Of course. If Alteans had resurfaced after millennia, they would be using their teludavs for transportation.
But how can Champion be in two places at-
And then she remembered. The second quintessence. Whoever Champion's anchor was, they were here now.
Within reach.
So, I have become a sponsor for Cryopcds/goodtohaveyouback on Tumblr, who does the amazing animation effects with Shiro and Keith that tell little stories. One of my perks is being able to make requests, and I requested her take on the point where Shiro and Keith first touch and wake their bond. This is the result: goodtohaveyouback dot tumblr dot com / post/166978715456/quintessence-is-the-source-of-life-for-all-things (add the h and t and t and p stuff to the front and remove the spaces and fix the "dot"s for the full URL...stupid fan fiction dot net for not letting us link things). Go shower her with love and attention!