Hello everyone, here's the latest update! I don't have too much to say this time around, but hopefully everyone enjoys the chapter! As always, thanks for reading- especially if you've stuck with me for all thirty-one chapters! That's a lot! There's more to come, of course- the story might be nearing a close, but it's not over yet!

cosmic dust

chapter thirty one

invasion of the castle of lions

He couldn't hide the way his hands shook as he made his way back to the bridge.

How could he? He'd just shot Shiro, like, right on. And sure, maybe he was the enemy right now, but the whole thing still didn't sit well with him. He was just being brainwashed, right? What if he'd really hurt him? He knew the Castle had like, magic healing machines or something, but right now those were offline.

Maybe it was for the best that Allura had sent him back to the bridge. He didn't know how much use he would actually be right now. He sure didn't feel very useful. Maybe... maybe the yellow lion had made a mistake after all. It had felt so right, when he was sitting in its cockpit, but now that he was out of it...

In the back of his mind, the yellow lion purred, as if trying to reassure him. He forced himself to take a deep breath, trying to believe in it.

He hadn't meant to hit Shiro. He'd just... he saw him advancing on Matt, and he hadn't even thought about it. He'd just been trying to fire a warning shot, not strike him head on. How did they actually manage to fight him? Shiro was their friend, right? And Keith... he was Keith's brother. Maybe not by blood, but still.

Okay. Calm down, Hunk. You did what you had to do. That's all.

Maybe if he kept telling himself that, he'd actually start to believe it.

Stopping in his tracks, he drew in a long breath, slowly letting it out. Little by little, his hands ceased their trembling, and he felt... he felt a little bit calmer. Not by a whole lot, there was still this whole situation to deal with, but a little. Enough to manage.

Right. The princess had told him to return to the bridge, to stay with Coran. Pleaded with him, actually. Which... yeah, he got. From the sound of it, she and Coran were the last Alteans alive. Her whole planet, her entire people were just... gone, just like that. He couldn't blame her for wanting to keep him safe.

He just wasn't sure he was the best choice to do that.

"Back already?" Coran looked up as he entered the bridge. "I thought you went to go help Allura."

"Yeah, well, she told me to come back here." Hunk told him. "So, uh... any developments?"

"Well, they haven't stopped shooting at us." Coran observed- and as if to illustrate his point, the ship shuddered, taking another shot. "But they seem to be avoiding anything vital. It feels more like they're just trying to keep us on our toes, rather than do any actual damage."

"Well, it's working." Hunk observed.

He just hoped Lance and Keith shut down that EMP weapon soon. Once they got the Castle back up and running, they could get the particle barrier up and like... fly out of here or something. He didn't know. The princess would probably want to fight the Galra, which... yeah, he guessed that was what they were supposed to do, but right now all he wanted to do was get off of Arus.

He wasn't exactly wild about that creepy space witch lady knowing where they were. Which she had to, since the Galra were here.

Or any part of this situation, really. The only thing keeping him calm at this point were his breathing exercises and even those could only do so much.

"So any luck with the crystal?" Hunk asked.

"Unfortunately, it's not just something you can reboot." Coran lamented. "I'm afraid it's going to be down until they can destroy that weapon."

Hunk grimaced. Having the Castle be so dark just worsened his anxiety. At least it was brighter on the bridge thanks to the massive windows, but the effect was kind of dampened by the swarm of fighters looming just outside. That'd give just about anyone a case of the nerves.

As if there wasn't enough for him to worry about already. Allura, Pidge, and Matt had all gone after brainwashed and crazy Shiro, which was bad enough, but Lance was on some Galra ship, trying to destroy a weapon that they didn't know anything about with someone they had only barely met. And Keith? Keith hadn't looked so good.

He'd looked pretty awful, actually. And he'd seen him when he'd come back from his mission to rescue Te-Osh and Shiro. He'd looked like hell then, but the way he had seen him last, paler than normal and barely able to breathe right... that was definitely way worse.

Heck, right now, he was pretty sure he was the safest out of all the paladins.

He winced. Oh man, he wished he hadn't thought that. That was a jinx if he'd ever heard one. At least he didn't say it out-

"I had heard that the new paladins were merely children," the cold edge to the voice sent a chill down Hunk's spine, even before he turned around to come face to face with what couldn't be anything else but a massive, hulking Galra, "-but it would seem that it is true."

Hunk paled. Oh no. He knew he'd jinxed something.

Even worse, the Galra wasn't alone- with him was another Galra wearing armor that resembled Shiro's, and several robots- sentries, he recalled. All of whom were armed to the teeth- which wasn't even touching on the fact that the massive Galra's arm itself appeared to be a weapon. And here he'd thought that Shiro's cyborg arm had been intimidating- it paled in comparison to the one this Galra was sporting.

Hunk swallowed, gritting his teeth, forcing back the tide of panic. Right now, he was the only paladin here. He had to protect both Coran and the bridge. Summoning his bayard cannon, he tried not to stumble under its weight, angling it at the massive Galra. He had to be the leader.

"Stay back," Hunk warned, trying to sound as brave and commanding as he possibly could under the circumstances, "-I don't want to have to use this."

The Galra merely scoffed and he instantly realized that was the wrong thing to say. "Why summon a weapon you have no intention of using? Is the Altean princess truly so desperate that she would recruit mere children?"

Hunk tried not to flinch. Tried very hard- but the fact was that there was only one of him, and several of them, and he was damn sure they were all light years better at combat than he was. Sure, he had Coran on his side, but the Altean was both unarmed and kind of old- not the greatest combination outside of outlandish martial arts movies.

Also, if the Galra were here, what had happened to everyone else?

And oh man, Lance and Keith- what if... what if this had all been one big trap? What if they knew that they were going to try sneaking on their ship? What if Lance was right, and the timing of the Blade's arrival really was suspect?

Oh man, this was bad. This was really bad.

"Who are you?" Coran demanded. "And how did you get into the Castle?"

"We walked in through the front door. Without your power source, your defenses are nothing." The looming Galra stated. "I am Commander Sendak, of the Galra Empire. And I am here to claim the Voltron lions."

Hunk swallowed, but braced himself, charging a shot. He didn't even get the chance to fire, Sendak's robot arm shooting past him. He heard a cry from behind him, forced to watch as Sendak dragged Coran towards him, the Altean's body looking particularly fragile in his massive robotic hand.

Sendak merely stared at him. "Hand over your bayard, or I cannot guarantee his fate."

"Hunk, no, you mustn't do what he says!" Coran pleaded, even as Sendak's fist clenched tighter around his form. "We can't allow the Galra to get their hands on the lions!"

Hunk barely even heard him, his heart pounding heavily in his ears. Maybe he could shoot past- but no. His hands trembled, recalling the way he had shot Shiro earlier. What if he just ended up shooting Coran instead?

He couldn't- he couldn't go through that again.

Gritting his teeth, Hunk sucked in a breath, before returning his bayard to its default form. The other Galra that was with Sendak strode forward, and with a lingering gaze towards Coran, he reluctantly handed him his bayard.

He couldn't put Coran's life at risk. Allura had sent him back here to protect him. And right now, the only way he could think to do that was to surrender.

He just had to hope the other paladins were safe.

"So... did it work?"

Exhaling, Allura withdrew her hands from Shiro's head. It remained where it was, cradled in her lap, the last vestiges of the energy that she had poured into him gradually starting to fade away.

"I believe so." Allura replied, looking up towards Matt. "But only time will tell for certain."

In truth, she hadn't done much- merely opened up a pathway for the black lion to access. It had done the rest, clearing away the foul energy that seemed to penetrate every inch of Shiro's mind. It was all she could do to keep it at bay, shuddering at the way it seemed to reach out towards her, as if it wished to take control of her too.

She shuddered to think what effects it could have.

Matt let out a loud whoop, before seemingly recalling that Ulaz was there, at which point he simply looked a bit sheepish. She looked up towards the Blade, a grateful smile on her lips. "Thank you. We might not have been able to stop him if it were not for you."

Ulaz merely shook his head. "You were the one who asked me to protect the black lion. It was your foresight that prevented the worst."

The worst. She bit her lip, trying not to dwell on it. She did not want to think that the black lion would have allowed Shiro to pilot it so long as his mind wasn't his own, but she could not be sure. While it had assisted her in banishing the outside influence from his mind, she still could not deny that it was a possibility.

"Oh man, Keith's going to be thrilled." Pidge beamed.

Allura allowed herself to smile at that. "I imagine he will be. Do you think you can contact him for me? I am afraid the process has left me a tad drained."

"Sure, no problem." Pidge told her. "Are you gonna be okay, though?"

"I should be." Allura told her.

She declined to mention that optimally, she would require a bit of rest to truly recover. The power was still out, and judging from the way the ship periodically shook, they were still under attack by the Galra. There was no time for rest, nor was there time for worry.

Besides, if there was anyone who they needed to worry about, it was Shiro, not her. They would need to get him into a healing pod as soon as the Castle regained power.

"Huh, that's weird." Pidge frowned. "I can't seem to get in contact with Keith."

"Maybe they're out of range?" Matt asked.

Allura shook her head. "I do not think so. Obviously there are limits to the coms in your paladin helmets, but they should be able to at least reach the Galra ship."

"You think maybe the EMP is interfering with long range communications?" Matt asked.

"It's possible." Allura admitted. "Ulaz, would it be possible for you to contact Thace? Perhaps you might have more luck."

Ulaz merely inclined his head. "Of course, princess."

"Thank you." Allura said, before turning her attention back down towards Shiro. He was starting to show signs of regaining consciousness, but he hadn't done so quite yet.

She hoped he had some memory of his time as the Champion, at the very least, enough to serve as a guide. Otherwise she imagined that this all would be rather hard to explain. She was unsure as to where she would even start- or even if she should. Perhaps any such explanations would be better left to Matt.

They knew each other, after all.

She bit her lip, her thoughts briefly turning towards Keith. He knew him too. Brothers, Keith had said. Their reunion should have been a happy thing, but even looking at it from the outside, she was aware of how complex it all was.

They had fought each other. And Keith's appearance...

"Strange," Ulaz spoke, breaking her out of her thoughts, "-I am unable to connect to Thace."

Looking up towards the Blade, Allura's lips set themselves in a tight frown. "Do you think it could be some kind of interference?"

Ulaz considered it. "It's possible."

"I can try and figure out a way to work around it." Pidge offered.

Allura nodded. "Do it. I do not like the idea of being unable to contact them."

Pidge gave her a curt nod. Pulling off her helmet, she sat down crosslegged, using her gauntlet to connect with it. She felt herself smile a bit at the sight- she'd picked up on the functions of the paladin armor rather quick. It hardly came as a surprise to her- she had proven adept with both Galra and Altean tech alike.

Truly, a perfect fit for the green paladin. She would have made Trigel proud.

Shiro groaned, drawing her attention back towards him. Realizing that he seemed to be regaining consciousness, she carefully removed his head from her lap. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed how Ulaz put some distance between himself and them- and she couldn't find it in herself to argue. None of them knew what to expect when Shiro regained consciousness, so perhaps it was for the best that one of the first faces he saw didn't belong to a Galra.

The thought felt... unpleasant, somehow.

For a few ticks, his eyes seemed to merely flicker, before they slowly opened. Though hazy with the lingering traces of unconsciousness, they did not seem anywhere near as cold as before.

"Shiro?" Matt cautiously asked.

Shiro groaned again, turning his in the direction of Matt's voice. "Matt?"

Matt's expression brightened. "You recognize me?"

"Recognize you...?" Shiro asked. "What kind of question is-?"

He stopped himself short, his eyes going wide. He sat up in a jolt, only to wince in pain, his hand darting to his side. His right hand, which caused him to freeze at the sight of it. Holding it up, he stared at it in unmasked horror, for which she could hardly blame him. It barely resembled a human hand, appearing far more Galra in make.

It was a reminder of who he had been. Haggar's Champion.

She said nothing, instead letting Matt take the lead. Pidge had halted her work, watching anxiously as her brother knelt down by Shiro's side, placing a careful hand on his shoulder- his organic shoulder, as his prosthetic seemed to extend all the way up to his shoulder joint. He seemed to flinch at the contact, but instead of pulling away from it, he forced himself to look at Matt.

"Hey," Matt said, "-it'll be okay."

"I-" Shiro stammered, stumbling over his own words. "I remember fighting you. And- and Katie. Why would I-?"

The color drained from Shiro's face, realization sinking in. "I was- I was working for them, wasn't I?"

"That wasn't you, Shiro." Matt told him. "None of that was you."

Shiro looked up at him, eyes searching for something. She didn't know what, only that she had seen Keith make a similar expression in the past. Strange- he had told her himself that they were not related by blood, and yet already, she could begin to see the similarities.

Both had been used harshly by the Galra Empire. Both had been altered, transformed into something- or someone, in Shiro's case- that they were never meant to be.

Both had Haggar to blame. An Altean.

It was her people who had done this. Not the Galra.

"I-" Shiro began, but Matt shook his head, cutting him off.

"I know this probably has to be hard to take." Matt told him, for a moment, sounding like he was the older one, not the younger. "But you need to calm down."

Shiro swallowed, slowly nodding his head. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to take deep breaths, slowly letting them out, repeating the process several times. It took him a few ticks, but he finally seemed to calm down somewhat. When he opened his eyes next, they looked a fair bit more collected than they had previously.

"I guess I should thank you." Shiro said. "All of you."

"Hey, we couldn't just leave you like that." Matt told him. "So... how much do you remember?"

Shiro shook his head, staring down at his hands- both human and machine. "Bits and pieces, mostly. It's starting to trickle back, but it's like watching someone else's memories. It might be awhile until I'm up to speed."

Matt and Pidge exchanged a look. She could almost read their silent communication- Pidge was questioning if he remembered fighting Keith or not, and Matt was silently conveying that he might not have put two and two together just yet, seeing as he hadn't said anything. Likely, he was right- if he had been that torn up about fighting Matt and Pidge, she could only imagine how devastated he would be to learn that he had fought his own brother.

Unless he simply didn't recognize him. The thought twisted at her gut.

She couldn't say what Keith had looked like as a human. She didn't know if the changes he had endured had made him unrecognizable or not. She hoped not. After everything he had been through, he at the very least deserved to be reunited with his family.

Her gaze darted towards Ulaz as she thought that. Keith had said something about his knife having been a gift from his mother, something she had left behind for him. More than likely, his mother had been a Blade.

"How much do you remember about what's going on right now?" Pidge asked.

Shiro frowned, considering it. "There was a power outage of some kind. I remember fighting you and Matt. I definitely don't remember how you got into space."

Pidge just snorted. "Pretty sure that's because you never knew."

"Ah," Shiro arched his brows, "-that's fair, I guess."

"Well, that's a start." Matt said, hauling himself to his feet. "Think you can stand?"

"I can probably manage." Shiro said after a tick.

Sure enough, he managed to haul himself to his feet. He was unsteady for a few ticks, likely unused to the extra weight of his right arm, but thankfully what his scattered memories lacked, his body more than made up for. Clenching and unclenching his fist, he stared down at the arm, a slight shudder running up the length of his spine, nearly undetectable.

He exhaled, dropping his arm by his side. Finally looking towards her, he managed a somewhat weak smile. "You're Princess Allura, right? I should probably thank you."

He extended his hand towards her- his left hand, she noticed. She smiled, recognizing the gesture as a handshake and responded accordingly, grasping his hand firmly with her own. "No thanks are necessary. All I did was assist. The black lion took care of the rest."

Shiro blinked. "The black lion? I thought the black lion had been destroyed."

"So you know about Voltron." Allura observed.

"I," Shiro began, his brow furrowing in thought, like he was trying to piece it all together, "-I guess I do. It's all pretty vague, though. I remember Zarkon was looking for it."

"Just for the record," Pidge chimed in, "-I'm one of the paladins."

"She sure is!" Matt beamed, ruffling his sister's hair, entirely ignoring her squawk of protest. "And as her brother, I couldn't be more proud."

Shiro managed a smile, stronger this time. Still, it didn't quite seem to reach his eyes. "You always did say she was something special."

"I'm not about to argue with that." Pidge said. "But it's not just me. You're a paladin too, Shiro."

Shiro merely appeared dumbfounded. "Me?"

Allura nodded. "Yes. The black lion chose you. It was how I managed to get rid of Haggar's influence over you."

Tilting his head, Shiro turned on his heel, gazing towards the black lion's hangar. It was sealed, of course. "Huh. I guess I should probably thank this black lion too, then."

Allura merely smiled. "I am quite certain it already knows."

Their bond likely wouldn't be finalized until Shiro sat behind the lion's controls for himself, but unfortunately, there was no way to do that at the moment. She suspected it had gone back into slumber, and would not truly wake until the other four lions were gathered. And with Lance and Keith gone, and the Castle without power, that would not be happening for awhile.

And yet, she couldn't help but feel her heart sing in joy. Not only did they have all five lions, but they now had all five paladins as well. With this, they could finally form Voltron and turn the tide of this war.

Allura blinked. She had somehow nearly forgotten that they still had the Galra to deal with. Turning on her heel, Allura looked down towards Pidge. "Have you been able to get into contact with," she stopped herself just short of saying Keith, "-Lance?"

Pidge blinked. "Oh! Right. Yeah, just give me a second. There does seem to be some kind of interference, so if I can just get past that, I can-"

Before she could even finish that sentence, the Castle's lights flickered back on. It was enough to cause her to blink- her eyes had somewhat adjusted to the darkness. That said, she seemed to deal with the return of the Castle's power a tad better than Shiro, who winced, shielding his eyes with his left hand.

She recalled the unfailing way he had managed to find them even in the darkness. Haggar had likely made alterations to his eyes, she concluded. Galra ships could be quite dark, so it made sense that she would want to increase his night vision, possibly at the cost of his daytime vision.

Still, after a tick, any issue that Shiro seemed to have with Castle's lights cleared. He seemed to notice the peculiarity of it as well, a tight frown set on his lips before he seemingly decided not to dwell on it- or at least, not until later.

"Huh," Pidge blinked, "-guess Thace did it."

Shiro turned towards her, his brow creasing. "Thace? That's a Galra name, isn't it?"

Biting her lip, Pidge nodded. She could understand her hesitance- speaking of Thace skirted very close to speaking of Keith, whom Shiro had as of yet, not seemed to remember. "Yeah. He's a member of the Blade of Marmora. Turns out Zarkon doesn't exactly have an iron grip on his own kind."

"Huh," Shiro frowned, "-I guess that explains why I remember being so angry at Ulaz."

"Is that all you remember?" Ulaz questioned.

Shiro pivoted on his heel, for a split second almost seeming to prepare an attack- before he slowly lowered his right arm, blinking at the sight of Ulaz. He squinted, peering at him, as if he somehow expected his face to change if he just looked hard enough. "Ulaz?"

Ulaz didn't even so much as flinch. But she supposed Blades were trained for composure. It was a useful skill to have as a spy. "So you remember me."

"I-" Shiro scanned his face, looking as if he were trying to sort his thoughts, "-I remember you did something to my arm. You-"

He stopped himself short, his body growing stiff. Allura swallowed. Had he...?

She opened her mouth to say something, only to snap it shut. A booming voice came over the Castle's intercom system, one that very much did not belong to either Coran nor Hunk. In fact, she swore she recognized it.

All at once, her blood ran cold. Because she did.

"If you do not comply, I will be forced to destroy your ship."

Sendak.

"Princess Allura," Sendak spoke, his tone just as commanding as she remembered it, "-the yellow paladin and your fellow Altean are currently in my custody. If you wish to see their lives are spared, I advise you and the paladins to turn yourselves in to me. If not..."

He trailed off, and all she could hear were screams. A chill ran up her spine as she recognized one of the voice's as Coran's. It took all of her willpower not to clamp her hands over her ears so as to drown the sound out. She had left him on the bridge to protect him, but now it turned out that she had only put him in harm's way.

"...then there are no guarantees." Sendak finished. "You have twenty doboshes to make up your mind."

The intercom went dead. Allura remained rooted to the spot, Coran's screams still ringing in her ears. That was something that she never wanted to hear again.

It was only Matt's voice that snapped her out of it. "Allura...?"

Shaking her head, Allura drew in a sharp breath. "I had a feeling that there was some other plan at work, but..."

To take hostages, and on her own ship no less? How could she have been so careless?

"That was Sendak," Shiro spoke, shaking off whatever momentary daze he had been in, "-I remember him. Even among Zarkon's top commanders, he's considered especially ruthless."

"We know." Pidge said. "We've met."

Shiro winced. "I... might have been the one to send him after you. That's starting to come back to me too."

Matt shook his head. "It wasn't you. It was the Champion."

"It still doesn't change the fact that I-"

"It does not matter who sent him, now or in the past." Allura interjected. "What matters is how we deal with him now. We cannot let him harm Coran and Hunk."

Further, she mentally added.

"Allura's right." Pidge said. "But we can't just turn ourselves over either."

"Do we try to spring an attack?" Matt suggested.

"Unwise." Ulaz noted. "The bridge of this ship appears to have been designed to thwart any such attempts."

Allura nodded. "I am afraid Ulaz is correct."

"Plus, even if we try to storm the bridge, Sendak will know we're coming." Pidge pointed out. "We need to think up some kind of plan."

"What about this... Thace?" Shiro asked, still seeming a little distracted. "Could he help?"

Allura frowned, bringing up a screen with the wave of her hand. If she could just check on the status of the Castle, maybe she could use some of the internal defenses against Sendak. "Possibly. He went with two of the paladins to destroy the EMP weapon that caused the Castle to lose power. We may be able to-"

Her screen flickered and faded out, causing her to pause mid-sentence. She tried to bring it back up again, but to no avail. "Quiznak. Sendak must have forced Coran to lock me out of the system."

"Wait," Matt said, "-I think I might have an idea. Shiro, did you say you know Sendak?"

"It's all still coming together, but-"

"Okay. Okay, that's good." Matt cut him off. "That means Sendak knows you."

Shiro blinked, before the meaning of his words dawned on him. "You want to use me to get Sendak to drop his guard."

Matt nodded. "Sendak doesn't know we've freed you from Haggar's brainwashing."

"It's a start. But it is still just one person." Allura said. "If Sendak has captured Hunk, then we have to assume he's taken his bayard from him."

"Plus, we can't assume he's alone." Pidge pointed out. "Also we kind of beat up Shiro up a bit. Or well... a lot, actually. Which... now that I think about it, we should probably apologize for."

Shiro just gave her a weak smile. "Can't exactly blame you under the circumstances. But you're right, I'm not exactly in peak condition right now. And from what I remember of Sendak, he's a vicious fighter. I'm not sure if I can handle him alone."

"Then you will not have to." Allura told him. "I will go with you."

Granted, her condition was not exactly at its best either. She was still drained from the process of saving Shiro. But she was also the only one among them with the physical strength to stand up to a Galra unarmed. Besides, she had endured worse.

Pidge just stared up at her. "Uh, Allura? No offense, but didn't we all just agree that we can't turn ourselves in?"

"I never said I would be turning myself in." Allura said. "Simply that I would be accompanying Shiro."

Shiro looked at her in consideration. "You want me to pretend I've taken you prisoner."

She could sense the disapproval in his tone, and merely leveled her gaze with his. "Do you have any better ideas?"

"No, but if we just take some time to think this through-"

"We do not have that kind of time." Allura said, her voice firm. "If we do not respond in some way within twenty doboshes, then we can assume Sendak will kill the hostages."

"I hate to say it Shiro, but I think Allura is right." Matt said.

"I'm still not sure if I like this." Shiro said. "You just freed me from Haggar's influence. How can we be sure there aren't any other nasty surprises floating around in my head?"

"That is just a risk we will have to take." Allura said.

"Look, the longer we discuss this, the faster those twenty doboshes go by." Pidge pointed out. "Whatever we decide to do, we have to decide fast."

Shiro closed his eyes, letting out a long sigh. She could understand his reluctance- it was only a few doboshes ago that he was under Haggar's control, swearing allegiance to the Galra Empire. The black lion may have given him back control of his own mind, but she could not say for certain that there was no influence from Haggar left.

But she also knew that she could not forgive herself if anything happened to Coran- or Hunk, for that matter. He may be the yellow paladin, but the only reason he was out here in the first place was because of her. Altea may be no more, but she had a duty as its princess and as the owner of this Castle to protect them both. She would not fail them.

She refused to fail them.

"Alright," Shiro finally said, "-you're right."

Allura nodded, glancing down towards Pidge. "Pidge, you stay here. Keep trying to contact the others."

Pidge gave her a curt nod. "Got it."

"Matt, you try and see if you can access any of the Castle's systems." Allura said. "You may be able to get in while Shiro and I distract Sendak."

"You can count on me." He told her.

"I know I can." Allura smiled, before turning towards Ulaz. "Do you think I could ask you for another favor?"

"We are allies now." Ulaz simply stated. "I would hope that you would feel that you could ask anything of me."

"Please protect them." Allura said. "Should anything goes wrong, we may at least be able to salvage at least three of the lions. The last thing we need is for Zarkon to get his hands on all of them."

Ulaz nodded. "I understand."

Drawing in a long breath, she squared her shoulders. Turning towards Shiro, she lifted her chin, holding her head up high. "Let's go."

The tension in the air was thick. He knew it was because of him.

Nervously glancing down towards the Altean princess, Shiro attempted to focus his thoughts. Maybe it was just because he had broken free from a year's worth of brainwashing, but they were scrambled, coming and going in inconsistent bursts just the same as his memories. His time as the Champion- he was confident that it was all there, but it was proving difficult to access the same way he would any of his other memories.

Part of him considered it a mercy.

The rest of him... not so much. He hadn't exactly had a lot of time to dwell on it all. It was a lot to take in.

The last thing he clearly remembered was being taken from the gladiator pits to Haggar's lair. After that... things came in bits and pieces.

What he remembered was already too much.

He remembered fighting in the name of the Galra Empire. Swearing his allegiance to Zarkon, and taking pride in it. He had been Haggar's Champion, and she had made use of him without hesitation. Although their faces blurred together, he knew instinctively that he had also killed in the name of the Galra Empire- and had done so without hesitation. Even if he hadn't been in control of his own actions, he didn't think he deserved forgiveness for that.

He remembered the sensation of being the Champion. He may have been Haggar's puppet, but he couldn't have functioned without some degree of free will. But even that was an illusion, his actions strictly controlled by Haggar. It was like he had been a robot, and she had programmed him.

The Champion did not hesitate, nor did he lose. Victory or death.

He clearly remembered fighting against Matt and Katie- who was apparently going by Pidge now. He still didn't know how she had ended up this far out in space, but at the same time, somehow it didn't really surprise him.

But she wasn't the only one.

"Shiro, please. It's Keith."

He shut his eyes, an action he quickly regretted. Doing so only sharpened the memories, bringing them into focus. It wasn't until he had started thinking about Ulaz that they had begun to come back to him, but now they just wouldn't stop.

Keith was here. Keith was here, and he had fought him. Hurt him.

Fighting Matt and Pidge was bad enough, but Keith?

Keith was his brother. His family. Maybe not by blood, but ever since he'd seen the way his foster father at the time treated him, he had vowed to protect him. He'd fought to get Keith out of that situation, and had continued to fight for him years later, when he suddenly disappeared without a trace, leaving everyone else to say that he was dead.

He'd refused to believe it. Refused to give up. Not until they showed him proof.

In hindsight, it had probably made him look a little crazy. But he couldn't even take smug satisfaction in the fact that he had been right- not when their reunion had involved him trying to kill the same person he had swore to protect.

He didn't understand why Keith looked so Galra, and his memories were still too fragmented to be of much help. It didn't matter.

Because what he did remember were his cries of pain, they way he had pleaded with him. Keith never pleaded. He was stubborn to a fault, that kid, and he knew instinctively that whatever he had endured at the hands of the Galra, that hadn't changed. Maybe he didn't know what it was that had caused his sudden image change, but he did seem to remember the fact that Keith was apparently a space pirate- and a notorious one to boot.

Given that their first interaction had involved him stealing his car, he was willing to believe it.

"Shiro?" Allura spoke up. "Is everything alright?"

"Just fine." Shiro lied. Now wasn't the time for internal turmoil. "Are you sure those cuffs aren't too tight?"

He had found a pair after digging around in his armor. Allura had insisted that he use them, in order to complete the illusion that he had taken her prisoner. He'd been against it, but as he quickly discovered, winning an argument against the Altean princess wasn't an easy feat. She was just as stubborn as Keith- if not more so.

The thought should have filled him with a melancholy fondness, but all it brought him was a twinge of pain. All he could think about was the sound, the feeling, of Keith's wrist snapping underneath his foot, of him crying out in pain. His memories might be scattered and disorientated in other places, but that was one thing he remembered with almost crystal clarity.

"They are a tad tight." Allura admitted. "But any less, and we risk letting Sendak know something is wrong. Our only advantage right now is the fact that he does not yet know that you have been freed from Haggar's control."

She was right, and he knew it.

That still didn't mean he liked it. He wasn't sure if he could step back into the role of Champion now that he was free. If he could be that callous, that cruel.

No. It wasn't that he was worried if he could be. He knew he could. He was just worried about how easily it might come back to him. What if Haggar had changed more than just his body?

Allura looked up at him. For a second, it felt as if she was looking right through him. It made him shudder, forcing him to remember that she had been inside his mind.

The Champion's mind. He wondered what she had seen there.

"You know," Allura began, "-you have been spoken of very highly."

Shiro blinked. He didn't neglect to notice the fact that she was avoiding saying by who, but somehow, he already knew. "Yeah?"

Allura nodded. "They were willing to risk life and limb just to save you. As far as I am concerned, that is the highest form of praise one can receive."

If he wasn't sure she was talking about Keith before, he was now. Still, the last time he had seen Keith was when he was fourteen, and that was a long time ago now. Things could have changed. He could have changed. Why would he still be willing to go so far for him?

"How did," Shiro began, struggling for a moment to find his voice, "-how did they know I wasn't doing this by choice? I could have been."

"Sometimes you simply know people."

She made it sound so simple. And maybe it was.

Maybe he had just spent so long lost in the head of a monster, that it was hard for him to see the good in himself anymore. But there must have been something there, even when he had been the Champion. Otherwise he didn't think the black lion would have ever called out to him.

He could still feel its presence in his mind, filling up the gaps where Haggar's influence had once been. He didn't know how he knew it was the black lion, he just did.

"Now," Allura said, holding out her cuffed wrists, "-if we are going to fool Sendak, we're going to have to be a tad more convincing than this."

For a long moment, all Shiro did was stare at her. His ribs still ached where they had been cracked, and his left wrist still stung, but for the moment, he ignored the pain. He had done worse to someone who even after all this time, trusted him implicitly.

He didn't know the full story- not of what had happened to Keith, nor how he had met up with any of these people. He suspected there were pieces of it within his own memories that he just didn't recall yet, but there was probably an even larger part of the story that was unknown even to the Champion. All he knew was that somehow, these people were Keith's allies- maybe even his friends.

And that was enough for him.

Keith had thrown himself in harm's way to save him. It was only fitting that he return the favor.

"Well," Shiro said, finding his resolve, "-don't blame me if things get a little rough."

"I think I can more than handle that." Allura simply said.

Somehow, he didn't doubt that.