Chapter 47: Razor's Edge

At Base: Xanthium, Komar set the jar of the powerful Quintessence from Xanthia inside the siphon and set it on a timer as the device began ticking down as he placed himself in front of the path where the beam was to hit before it struck him, causing him to groan in pain before the bolt ceased. Afterwards, he looked at himself in the mirror to see that there was little change on his face, the fact that his scarred and shriveled face no longer had wrinkles being evident in itself just as Vantiv became curious.

"What exactly are you doing, Doctor?"

"After Vaxel's failed attempt to seize the weapon, I noticed trace amounts of this rare breed of Quintessence and extracted what was left of it into the jar. If one tiny sample of it worked, a while vat of it will reduce my damaged appearance to be but ancient history."

"Oh, so you're doing cosmetic work. In that case, I'll leave that to you."

With that, Vantiv simply walked away unimpressed, something that Komar took great offense to as he snarled to himself.

"Just you wait... when I'm done here, you'll regret turning your back on me."

Meanwhile, in the ship, Keith and Sandra widened their eyes before they spoke.

"You're our... mother?"

"How? How did you get to Earth? How— How did you meet our father?! How are you so sure?!"

Krolia only spoke calmly to her children.

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

Sandra felt otherwise as she spoke with tears in her eyes.

"What?! You don't just drop a bomb like this and tell us you'll explain later, Mom. That's not how it works!"

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

That obviously didn't sit well with Sandra as she snapped.

"I thought you left us! I thought you hated us! I WANT ANSWERS NOW!"

However, as a consequence of her outburst, Xanthia suddenly startled itself awake before suddenly grabbing Lapis by her head, worrying Adea as she spoke.

"Lapis!"

Suddenly, Lapis' struggled attempts to feee herself instantly ceased as her eyes flowed dark purple before she spoke monotonously.

"Who... are all of you?"

Adea grew fearful of what became of her before she got her luxite Blade our and tried to hack at Xanthia.

"Let go of her!"

When she tried, however, Xarnas stopped her.

"Wait. Xanthia is communicating through her. She was barely able to speak before."

Then, Xanthia spoke again through Lapis.

"Who are you?"

Adea, nervous as she was, tried her best to reply.

"I'm... uh, I'm Adea. And I'm Galra?"

That comment only made Xanthia yell out in anger as she lunged at Adea and slammed her to the ground before she spoke again.

"You're Galra?!"

"Ah! Yes! No! Uh, I don't know! Stop hitting me!"

Xarnas, realizing what could happen if she didn't calm herself, the most likely event being the destruction of the Violet Lion and its passengers, tried to bring her to her senses.

"Xanthia, stop!"

At that moment, Xanthia gazed at him and began to recognize him.

"Father? Is that you?"

"Yes, Xanthia. Leave them alone. They're Galra, yes, but they're fighting against the tyranny of their own kind, just as I've told you before. Come to your senses and think."

At that moment, Sandra, Keith, and Krolia before the former of the three spoke up.

"Guys, are you okay?"

Suddenly, Xanthia dropped Lapis as she looked up before Adea went to her and checked up on her.

"Lapis! Are you okay?"

"Yeah... but it still... wasn't pleasant."

Xarnas explained the reason for her side effect.

"It's normal to have that reaction. After all, you were forcibly used as a speaker for Xanthia. Back at the base, she could barely form a word or two."

"So, until she learns to communicate, I'm just gonna be her microphone?"

"Unless someone can actually decipher what she's trying to say, yes."

Lapis groaned at the very idea before Luzria spoke to Krolia.

"So, barring any unforeseen events, what do we do now?"

"We're going after the enriched Quintessence that mutated Xanthia into Ranveig's super weapon."

This made the whole group, sans Xarnas, surprised.

"What?"

"Sandy, Kolivan, Lapis, and I have been searching for that Quintessence for a long time."

"Yeah. But we didn't find anything."

This made Adea speak up next as she stood by Xanthia.

"How are you so sure we can find it?"

Krolia explained as she went down to the hangar bay with the others.

"I was with Ranveig when an unmarked cargo ship passed into his region. When we checked it out, there was no crew aboard. The ship has been nearly torn to pieces, but inside, a single vat of Quintessence remained. It was unlike any other Quintessence we'd seen."

Atchiam herself began to grow curious as she spoke.

"Were there any navigation records aboard?"

"No, but I analyzed the ship personally. The radiation signature indicated it had passed through the quantum abyss."

Upon hearing this, Keith felt it to be familiar.

"Quantum abyss? You mean where we fought Zarkon and Kaecilius before?"

"Yes."

This made Xanthia confused as it let out a strange chirp before Adea figures it out as she spoke.

"I... don't think Xanthia knows what the quantum abyss is."

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

"And that's where we're heading?"

"Yes."

This made Xanthia begin to tremble a bit before Xarnas and Adea looked at her as the latter spoke.

"Something tells me she's not gonna like it."

"No one would, Adea. She's had her share of being alone. If we're not careful, it can happen again."

Not willing to see her tremble in fear, Adea walked up to the beast before hugging her and speaking softly to her.

"Don't worry. If we do get lost, at least you'll have me with you."

Xanthia only backed up before looking away, confusing Adea as Xarnas knew the reason for it.

"I don't think she's quite used to you yet. The Galra have done... unforgivable things. She needs some time."

Seeing how Xanthia crouched, waiting to be left alone, Adea somehow got the picture as she looked at the poor creature.

"I understand."

At the Central Command, Lotor spoke with Alphus, Jenny, and Allura as they worked on the ship.

"Your brother, King Alfor was a gifted alchemist whose unique ability to infuse the Voltron ore with Altean energy, granting it and the Paladins access to the Quintessence Field. Now you, Jennifer, and Allura possess that same gift."

Upon hearing this, Allura smiled before she ceased her work for now to take the time to speak to Lotor.

"Our visit to Oriande has taught us more than I ever thought possible. Thank you."

"No, thank you, Princess. With your help, we can finally supply the empire with Quintessence. You and your friends are the key to bringing peace to the universe."

Hearing this, Alphus began to get nostalgic, as did Allura.

"Peace. My brother and I wanted the same thing when we built the lions. Look how far we've come since then."

"It is an honor to follow in his footsteps and continue his work. And... to do so alongside you."

"Like the days of long ago, our royal alliance will inspire others."

As Lotor took her hands, Allura closed her eyes and felt the embrace before Jenny turned to see it and widened her eyes before Pidge, Hunk, and Lance spoke up.

"You guys starting without us?"

"Yeah, you didn't think to maybe call the engineers before you began building your inter-reality Quintessence field magical Altean alchemy super ship?"

"Right. You didn't think to call the engineers... and me?"

As Lance leaned on the table, he accidentally made the table of tools fall before he tried to grab onto the wrench, only to lose his grip on it as it clattered, making Jenny smile before giggling to herself while Lance grew confused as Allura and Alphus spoke.

"What?"

"We appreciate that you want to help. Unfortunately, there's not a lot for you to do."

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

Pidge and Hunk knew the reason for it as they spoke.

"Magic."

Allura then spoke to the group as she looked at them.

"We'll certainly call you if we're in need of assistance."

Hearing this, Hunk didn't see any reason to stay.

"Hmm. Oh, well. More time to integrate those Galra shields with our Altean tech. There's gotta he a way to do it."

Then, Lance looked up at the two, feeling worried about being left out.

"You sure you don't need a... fifth wheel for help?"

Nobody seemed to respond as Lotor checked on the statistics of the ship with Allura as Lance asked again.

"No?"

When he received no answer again, Lance began to walk away before Jenny took notice of it and felt bad for him. At that moment, Jenny turned to Lotor before she spoke.

"Hey, Lotor? Can I take a break? You guys seem to have this taken care of."

Lotor looked to her and assumed it was because she was still trying to accept that the White Lion doesn't belong to her and didn't want to impede their progress, which was understandable as he nodded.

"I believe it should be fine. But be sure to come back when we need you."

"Okay, then."

Meanwhile, Sendak's cruiser floated throughout space as he began to ponder his next move as his lieutenant was with him.

"So, Voltron survived the Omega Shield fiasco. And the citizens?"

"Yes, Sendak. That would appear to be the case."

"Hmm... perhaps I haven't hammered it down enough..."

Suddenly, an alarm went off as Sendak looked to his lieutenant for an answer.

"What is going on?!"

"I'll check the systems, sir."

As he did, however, he noticed multiple breaches popping up like a swarm of cockroaches.

"There's a breach in Sector 6! Now in Sector 5! And 4! 3! 2! The intruder's right on top of us!"

At that moment, Sendak prepared for the worst as he held his arm at the ready and braved for the inevitable explosion before a bolt of Dark Quintessence burst through the door and Sendak was met with none other than Komar.

"Sendak of the Fire of Purification. You have a debt to pay."

With that, he fired a bolt at Sendak, knocking his other arm away before imprisoning the orb between his new arm and his body before firing a second bolt to knock him unconscious as he walked toward him before placing his hand on him and vanishing in a dark mist.

Meanwhile, the Violet Lion was headed towards the quantum abyss towards a black hole at the center as Lapis piloted it alongside Sandra, Atchiam, and Luzria before the leader spoke to Krolia.

"I think we're here."

"Bring us in. Stay alert."

As they got closer, Keith remembered when Omegus' influence made it give way to dark rays and when they rescued Alphus before Keith spoke to her next.

"Are you sure we should go in there?"

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

"Where does that path go?"

"We never found out. The probes were all destroyed."

This made Adea concerned as she spoke next.

"By what?"

"I'm not sure. Keep sharp."

As the Violet Lion went towards the hole, Lapis noticed a creature in the shape of a flying eyeball with tentacles behind it as she spoke.

"Huh? What is that?"

Suddenly, it snarled as it bared its tentacles before lunging towards the Violet Lion and attaching itself onto the head before it was accompanied by other flying creatures just like it. And to make matters worse, the same creatures that once arrived via quantum abyss appeared as well and swarmed the Violet Lion as Lapis spoke.

"Krolia, we've got a problem!"

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

As the Violet Lion became swarmed, one of the eyeball creatures phased into its underbelly and popped up where Keith, Krolia, Xarnas, and Xanthia were before it snarled, Irving Xanthia to open her mouth as a dark beam of Quintessence seemed to emerge from it, making Adea worried about her shooting at them.

"No, wait!"

However, when she fired, it only struck the creature, blowing it up before Adea smiled as Krolia spoke to Lapis.

"Thanks."

"Lapis, what's our status?"

With the creatures swarming around them, Lapis easily gave her the bad news.

"Violet's been damaged and her thrusters are gone! I can't hold her!"

Remembering what Xanthia did to the creature, Adea had an idea as she activated her helmet and spoke to Lapis via communicator link.

"Lapis, open the cargo bay!"

"What? But why?"

"Just do it!"

With that, Lapis opened the hangar bay before they were met with the dark creatures and Adea turned to Xanthia and nodded before Xanthia began firing at the creatures both dark and eyeball-like as they cut through the dark barrier before Adea spoke up to Lapis.

"Now do a barrel roll!"

"What?! But you guys would be tossed out!"

"Not as long as we hang on!"

"Okay, but don't fall off on me!"

With that, Lapis began spinning the Violet Lion around, making Xanthia's beam cut through the dark barrier before it dissipated, leaving Lapis to close the bay doors before it went to a sizable meteor before it could get sucked in. With the danger eliminated, Adea took a deep breath and turned to Xanthia.

"Man. That Quintessence really went all-out on you, huh?"

In response to that, Xanthia picked Adea up from her back before dropping her to the floor, making her yelp before she spoke.

"Right. Not comfortable yet."

With the worst appearing to be over, Keith spoke to Krolia.

"What were those things?"

"I don't know, but they're gone now."

Then, Lapis gave them the bad news.

"So is Vi. Those creatures managed to drain her Quintessence during that stunt. And it had the coordinates to guide us through the quantum abyss, so we're lost, too."

Xarnas then spoke up as he got out of the hangar with Adea, Xanthia, and the others.

"Then, we'll have to travel on foot and navigate through this space ourselves. We'll also have to manually move the Violet Lion somewhere where it won't be pulled in."

This made Adea have doubts considering its size.

"But how are we gonna move it?"

"Xanthia's mutation gave her a decent boost in strength as well. If we can push it along with us, it won't get pulled in. And as long as we stay within the borders of the space-time drop-offs, we should be safe."

"So, basically, stay close so that we're not drawn in and stretched into nothingness. Is that it, Xarnas?"

"Precisely. Come on."

With that, Adea looked to Xanthia as she spoke.

"Xanthia, can you help us push the Violet Lion with us, please?"

Xanthia didn't seem to care as she only sat down. Not knowing what to make of the situation, mostly due to her not having eyes or eyebrows, Lapis tried to get her attention.

"Xanthia. Are you asleep? Xanthia..."

Xarnas realized that she still wasn't comfortable before he spoke to her.

"Oh, right. Xanthia, would you be a dear and help us push the Violet Lion?"

In response, Xanthia got up and jumped up toward the Violet Lion before pushing it, surprising Adea as she looked at Xarnas.

"I wouldn't force it if I were you."

As Adea gave him a stank face, they felt a tremor coming on as the meteor practically shook like an earthquake as Keith and Sandra turned to Krolia.

"Huh?"

"What's going on?"

Suddenly, the black hole in the center began to go supernova as Krolia covered Keith while Adea used Xanthia for shelter before Keith found himself alone in a white background before he tried to look for anyone that was left.

"Hello?"

Meanwhile, Adea did the same thing as she found herself alone.

"What? Lapis? Atchiam? Xanthia? Luzria? Keith? Sandra? Krolia?"

Suddenly, she heard two babies crying from far away before seeing Krolia and who she'd guess is her husband as they each carried one baby: one a boy, and the other a girl as they spoke.

"We'll name them 'Yorak' and 'Dorma'."

The father, however, had better ideas.

"How about 'Keith' and 'Sandra?'"

"'Keith.' 'Sandra.' I like them."

This made Adea smile before she suddenly changed into Sandra who heard a sinister voice behind her.

"So you do have a voice..."

Sandra then looked behind her to see a Galra chief with a blind left eye, evident by the white background, and a scar down his right eye before he suddenly changed into Shiro who spoke to Keith.

"Hello, Keith."

"Huh?"

At that moment, Keith's face changed to Adea's face before it changed to Sandra's as their voices along with Shiro's and the presently unknown figure's overlap as they saw the Galra cruisers arrive at Altea before showing the unknown Galra shouting at the top of his lungs as the lightning flashed on him in the rain.

"Yes, I know."

"It's gonna be okay."

"This war..."

"Let go!"

"...is nearly over."

"We just have to get back to the Castle."

"We..."

"Shiro!"

"Why are you doing this?!"

"Are not going anywhere!"

As his scream faded, Keith, Adea, and Sandra were brought back to reality as he spoke to his mother while his sister tried to process this.

"What was that? Were those visions real?"

"I've never seen that Galra before... and he was... hurting me."

"He didn't. Not yet. Time collapses this close to dark stars. Going through the light triggers glimpses of the past and the future."

This made Adea widen her eyes from overhearing this before looking to Xanthia.

"If you won't be comfortable enough to tell me who you were back then, it wouldn't matter, okay? Because all I want is to get to know you. To understand how hurt you've been. To-to get along. Like it or not, you owe me that."

Xanthia only held her head closer to Adea, making her nervous before she rubbed her head on her chest, asking for her reassurance. One look at her was enough for Adea to know that she'd be crying if she could. So, she hugged her back as she caressed the rough shell on her forehead.

"I mean it, you know. I want to know you. Please..."

At the Castle, Pidge and Hunk were working while Lance was sitting by himself at the desk.

"It's amazing how the Galran subroutines translate almost one-to-one with the Altean axiom inhibitors."

"Okay, Lance, let's test this puppy."

However, no response came from Lance as he still pondered what Allura could be doing as Hunk figured it out.

"Oh, I think lover boy Lance is a little distracted not thinking about the princess."

Pidge saw her cue to fire a small hole at Lance with a flick, hitting him on the head before he sat up straight and felt the bump.

"Ow! What the heck?"

When he turned around, Hunk spoke in a somewhat British accent as he spoke to Lance.

"Oh, Lance, could you stop daydreaming about me and test the connection?"

Lance didn't like that one bit.

"Ha ha. Not funny. And I'm not daydreaming about you. I mean her. I chose Jenny, remember?"

Pidge then spoke up to him.

"That's good. Because it seems like Allura's got a thing with Lotor anyway."

This got Lance's heart skipping a beat as he spoke in panic before Hunk worsened it.

"A thing?!"

"Yeah, a thing. They're probably gonna get married, you know, have babies with beautiful, glowing, white alien hair. All that stuff."

Pidge joined in with Hunk's idea before they began acting.

"He's probably proposing right now. Princess Allura, will you marry me?"

"Oh, Lotor. You bad boy, of course I will."

This got Lance groaning in anger before he heard the doors open and saw Jenny outside the door, making him drop his temper instantly before Jenny saw how Pidge and Hunk were laughing before she cleared her throat. Once she did, the two stopped their teasing and looked at Jenny in surprise before Pidge spoke and she explained in a bitter tone.

"Jenny! We, uh, thought you were busy."

"Lotor said I could take a break. I was going to help you guys, but then, I saw you making fun of Lance. And for a stupid reason, too. He doesn't have a thing with Allura, you guys. He's just concerned about whether or not we should take Lotor's word at face value, not that you cared."

This made Hunk embarrassed before he spoke.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Too bad. Because you can forget any help from me now. C'mon, Lance."

This got Lance confused as he spoke.

"Huh? Seriously?"

"Yeah. I needed to have a break with you, Lance. Come on."

With that, Jenny took Lance by his hand and walked outside with him as Pidge and Hunk were left alone before the latter spoke.

"Remind me not to get on her bad side."

"Agreed."

At Base: Xanthium, Sendak was strapped to the chair with scorch marks on his armor and found difficulty in removing himself from it as he demanded answers out of the doctor.

"You! What is the meaning of this?!"

"Simple. I intend to restore my youth that was robbed of me back on Earth. As such, your pure Galran life force will be instrumental in achieving my goal to repair my damaged cells. Consider yourself lucky."

"You traitorous scoundrel! When I get free, I'll see to it that you'll regret it dearly!"

Komar only gave him a dark smile as he replied.

"I think not..."

With that, the siphon activated, firing a dark purple and black bolt of Dark Quintessence at Sendak as he screamed upon impact.

In the quantum abyss, Keith, Sandra, Krolia, Lapis, Adea, Xanthia, and the others were hopping from meteor to meteor before the ground of the meteor suddenly broke apart as Krolia spoke to Adea, who'd unfortunately let go of Xanthia as a result.

"Adea, you're getting too close to the gravity wells. Use your thrusters."

"I'm trying! Don't you think I'm trying?"

As Adea was getting sucked in, Xanthia had a look of concern over her grotesque face before she leaped to another meteor as Adea tossed her luxite blade in a tow line towards the meteor close to it before she pulled on it, launching Adea close to her before the girl hugged her.

"Oh, my gosh! Thank you so much... I was so scared..."

Right about that moment, a solar flare appeared again as Adea looked into the light, as did Keith and Sandra.

Not long after, they ended up seeing Earth, as well as two Galra ships near it as Krolia was piloting it before another soldier spoke up to her.

"Is it possible? The signature is nearly identical to that of the Red Lion's."

"We should obtain visual confirmation before we call it in."

"Negative. We've never received another reading like this before. There's a Voltron Lion on this planet. I'm sure of it. Call it in immediately. That's an order."

There was a moment of silence before Krolia was told to do so again.

"I said call it in."

"Vrepit Sa."

Suddenly, she veered her ship backwards before firing on the other ship as he began to speak against Krolia.

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

"I'm not looking for glory."

With that, she continued firing on the soldier before her ship took the hit and forced her to go closer to him before firing lasers at him, decimating him along with his ship. However, her ship was still headed towards Earth as the hit damaged its engine while Krolia tried to get a precise landing point as she groaned from the speed of descent. While she had difficulty managing, her ship came crashing down onto the Earth, near where a house resided. Moments after the house's lights flickered on, the owner of said House used an axe to break the ship open and find Krolia inside as she tried to recover.

After the flashback, Keith and Sandra gasped in surprise before the children spoke to her.

"That's how you and Dad met."

"How did you know to look for the Blue Lion on Earth?"

"We didn't. After Kaecilius found the Red Lion on the ruins of Altea, the Galra, particularly Komar, engineered a way to pick up on the lions' signatures from close range. Zarkon had thousands of scouts searching for them. The Blade of Marmora made sure to embed agents in as many of those scout teams as possible, in an effort to prevent the Galra from obtaining any more lions. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

Suddenly, another solar flare cane their way before Krolia spoke to them.

"It's coming again!"

With that, Keith and Sandra stood ready to face whatever the flare has to show them next as they held hands.

After the flare died down, Rogue Thrust, Xarnas, Xanthia, Keith, and Sandra found themselves standing before the Blue Lion, Krolia, and their father, now known as Mark as she spoke.

"I never thought I'd see another lion in my lifetime."

"You've been telling me about this ship for months, but this is beyond words. Are you sure you don't want me to contact the Garrison? They could help."

"We've discussed this. It could put your entire civilization in jeopardy."

"Does this mean you're gonna contact your people and continue your mission?"

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

With that, Mark took her hand in his before he smiled at her.

"I want to help."

This made Krolia smile at him before the flashback faded away.

When the flash died down, Keith and Sandra looked at her in surprise.

"You were stuck on Earth."

"Why didn't you want to go back?"

"There was no better place I could be."

At the Castle, Jenny and Lance stood by the White Lion as they gazed at it. By the way she looked at it, Lance could tell Jenny was upset at how things happened and questioned whether or not she actually needed to bring him into this. All the same, he needed to be sure she's coping with it.

"Not for nothing, Jenny, but... how are you feeling?"

"Empty. Like a part of me just drifted away. Without me ever knowing if... if it'll ever come back."

Lance only sighed sadly at her before he spoke.

"Okay."

Hearing the solemness in his voice, Jenny began to feel bad for Lance as she spoke to him.

"Uh, how about you? How are you feeling?"

"I feel pathetic."

Then, remembering his own words from when he had real talk with Laika back at Beta Traz, Lance gave her a reminder.

"I talked about it with Laika, back when I thought he was Slav, but... I used to make fun of people who would get their hearts broken. Heck, I was the one breaking hearts!"

As she remembered him saying these words before, Jenny's memory began to click.

"Now that you mention it, it does sound familiar. But if you wanna talk pathetic, try talking to me about it. Everyone's working really hard ever since Oriande. Me? I'm just kinda useless. It's like, I've only been able to get as far as I have because I had White by my side. But without her, I... I just feel like I'm reduced to being normal again. Even with those powers I got. Powers I still don't know how to use. Heck, I couldn't even use them to save you when you pushed us away to take the hit. If it wasn't for Allura..."

Jenny began to shed sad tears at what could've happened if she didn't help as she tried to speak clearly.

"I... I would've killed myself anyway. I never would've forgiven myself for having you do that for me. What would've been the point in sticking around if I couldn't even save you?"

Hearing the sadness in her voice, Lance hugged her before he spoke.

"Hey. You don't need to do that. I should know. I felt that way every single time you put your life on the line for us and got hurt."

"Yeah. I know... Why did payback have to hurt so much?"

"What? No. I didn't do it for payback; I did it for you. Because I love you. Because I love all of you. If anything ever happened I... I would've done the same thing."

As she listened to him saying those words, Jenny widened her eyes and began to blush as she leaned closer to him before he sobbed on her and she spoke softly, trying to cheer him up again.

"Hey, Lance. Don't do that, okay. Don't even say it. Who else am I gonna hang with?"

"But that's exactly what you... would've done..."

Realizing that their actions would always be the same, no matter who goes, the two looked at each other before they chuckled a bit, soon turning into an uproar of joyful laughter before it died down softly and Jenny looked to the ground as she pondered something.

"What kind of a pair are we to do this to each other?"

Hearing her question, Lance replied just as softly as he caressed her hair.

"I guess... we're a really good and selfless kind of people that can't stand to lose anyone they love."

"Yeah... but there's a lot more to us than that, isn't there?"

This made Lance look at her in confusion before Jenny sighed, afraid it wasn't getting through to him.

"Never mind. Forget I said anything."

As she began to walk away, though, Lance held onto her hand.

"Wait, don't go anywhere."

"Huh?"

"I wanted to ask you something. Just for tonight. Can I... sleep with you?"

This earned Jenny's blush before recalling what he said before and smiled as she spoke.

"Well, sure. What are we waiting for?"

Suddenly, she heard a squeak from afar and saw the mice below them before smiling as she spoke.

"Uh, before we do, I think they might need some cleaning."

"Oh, yeah. Sure."

As he nodded, Jenny noticed Lance was still having a sad look before she spoke.

"What's up? I thought we took care of that problem with... us."

"It's not about us. It's just... I'm really worried about Allura. I mean... what if Lotor—?"

Before he could go on, Jenny put her finger over his mouth.

"Hold it! Look, Allura's clearly got feelings for Lotor and he's got feelings for her, just like the two of us have feelings for each other."

"So?"

"So, don't you want her to be happy? After all, we've got each other, right?"

Lance then looked to Jenny with a small smile before he nodded.

"You know what? You're right."

At Base: Xanthium, Komar injected the Quintessence drained from Sendak into an empty beaker and installed it inside the siphon before placing himself in its path waiting for the countdown to end as he grinned. Once it ended, a bolt of Sendak's Quintessence shot at Komar, intensifying his body as he groaned from the strenuous process as within his body, the damaged cells began to sustain themselves as they glowed light purple before the jar was empty. With the Quintessence of Zarkon's late Commander, Komar took his breath before standing up on his legs and gazing at himself in the mirror, still seeing his damaged face.

"What? It failed...? But how?"

As he stood up, Komar noticed that he didn't need his siphon to help him up before he came to a conclusion.

"Of course. It didn't work in restoring my damaged cells, but it did help to restart them. I knew Sendak's Quintessence wouldn't disappoint. Now for phase two. And then... Lotor, Haggar, Krolia. They will all pay dearly for what they did to me..."

In the quantum abyss, Lapis, Atchiam, Luzria, Adea, and Xarnas were on top of Xanthia as they pushed the Violet Lion wherever Keith, Sandra, and Krolia leapt while the son grew tired.

"The rate we're going, it's gonna take a lifetime to reach the end."

Krolia, however, felt it best to press on.

"We have to keep moving, however long it takes."

"Without food and water, we're never gonna make it."

"Keith's right, Mom. We have to come up with another plan."

As if on cue, two giant creatures emerged from below and rose up, catching Sandra's attention as she spoke.

"What the—? What are those things?"

"I don't know. But whatever they are, these creatures seem to know their way through the quantum abyss without being drawn into the space-time drop-offs."

"No way..."

Seeing the opportunity, Xanthia began pushing the Violet Lion towards one of them, making Adea surprised.

"Hey! What're you doing?"

Upon seeing the direction she turned, Xarnas figured it out as he spoke.

"She's trying to drive the lion onto the creature to save us a lot of time."

Lapis then looked down to Krolia and her children before she turned to Atchiam.

"Atchiam, send them a line!"

"Got it."

With that, Atchiam chucked her luxite blade towards the meteor that they stood on before she spoke.

"You're welcome to come aboard."

With that, the group climbed up and got onto the Violet Lion before Xanthia managed to land it on top of one of the creatures just as another flare came toward them as Krolia spoke.

"Here it comes. Brace yourselves!"

As they did, Keith and Sandra suddenly realized that they were in their cabin with their parents holding their children as they were being fed milk just as her luxite blade's symbol flower before Krolia looked outside and deduced what the lights on the sky were.

"They're scouts. They must've picked up the Blue Lion's signal. We need to stop them before they report back to their command."

"What's the plan?"

Krolia explained as she got out the charges and a button with which to activate them.

"I have explosives. They aren't powerful enough to destroy a fighter. But if we detonate them in the intake valves, thy could stop them from taking off. When they're set, use this to detonate the charges and take out the ships."

"What will you be doing?"

"I'm gonna find out what the scouts know and get rid of them."

Later, Krolia and Mark found the ships that landed and the latter initiated the plan to set the charges and make a dash for it as he took off. Unfortunately, he was in the sights of a Galran scout before he fired his rifle, taking him out before he fell to the ground in pain as the bullet pierced him, petrifying Adea who watched the scene as Lapis tensed her hand angrily and turned her head away with Luzria, Xarnas, and Atchiam in shock before Xanthia went over to Adea and held her close to comfort her.

Inside the cave, the scouts set up electrical devices to surround the barrier as one of them spoke to a familiar face.

"Doctor, these devices of yours. Are you sure they can pierce through its barrier?"

"We're not here to destroy its barrier. We're here to reclaim the Blue Lion. Whether or not its barrier is functional makes no difference."

Suddenly, a luxite blade landed on the computer near the doctor and the scout before the former turned to the latter.

"Shoot down the intruder."

Immediately, the scout opened fire as Krolia dodged the blasts before kicking the scout away and retrieving her luxite blade. When she tried to attack, her luxite was blocked by his siphon as it clashed against her weapon before the hood of the doctor was removed to show him with raven hair, yellow sclerae, and silver irises before he spoke.

"I'd drop my weapon if I were you, traitor."

On cue more scouts appeared before one of them spoke.

"Komar, I spotted her sneaking in."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"She was with a primitive who was setting explosives on our ships."

"And?"

"He's been neutralized."

"No!"

Hearing a mournful reaction from Krolia, Komar looked at her and smirked.

"So you do know fear... Excellent. That means you know the time to drop your weapon. And it's now. Unless you don't mind being drained like a leech."

To demonstrate what he meant, Komar activated his siphon on one of his scouts, sending a dark blast of Dark Quintessence on him as he began to wither while screaming before he ceased, petrifying Krolia as he smirked.

"Shocked, I'm sure. It's one of my new weapons I've created. And I always save the best for last. Now. Drop your weapon."

Krolia only flipped her luxite dagger in her hand before tensing her hand at this. After which, she appeared to have realized the futility of her situation before she conceded and dropped her weapon, much to the pleasure of Komar before she opened her eyes and he prepared to drain her Quintessence before she kicked her luxite blade towards his siphon, causing it to chain its aim at himself, making him scream before he felt himself being drained and yelled out as he smashed his own weapon, leaving his body in a withered state and with a scar and wrinkles

over his face before he was forced to teleport in a dark mist while Krolia went after the one scout who got away to the outside of the cave. As he did, he managed to get on a ship and retreat just as Krolia was only able to see it take off. Not long after, it blew up with Mark lying on the ground as he groaned.

The next morning, Krolia looked out the window as young Keith and Sandra were sleeping next to each other before she spoke to Mark, who now had a cast and a bandage around his right arm.

"I must go."

"I thought you'd seen enough war."

"If they found the Blue Lion once, they'll find it again. I need to report back to the Blades and stop the Galra from the inside. I'm sorry. But this is the best way for me to keep you both safe."

Krolia then looked to her children and planted a kiss on both of their cheeks, making Sandra stir a bit before she reached her hand out for her, making Krolia keep her attention on Sandra as she began to speak for the first time.

"Mma... mmm... momma."

Upon hearing her say that word at such a young age, Krolia began to shed tears of joy before she smiled and leaned down to her again.

"Don't worry... I hope we can meet again someday. I really do. With that, Krolia gave her another kiss on the cheek, allowing her to sleep more easily before she looked to Mark and gave him two luxite daggers before she spoke to him.

"These are for Keith and Sandra."

"You had an extra?"

"Just in case. They might need them someday."

As Keith and Sandra watched Mark accept the blades, Sandra saw herself sleeping beside her brother and began to shed tears of joy as she leaned on her brother, who hugged her to reassure her that it was all true.

In the present time, Sandra spoke to Krolia as she tried to get her voice back.

"Mom... I... I understand why you left now. You left to complete the mission for our sake."

"That's not true. I left to protect the people I most love. You two."

This made Sandra shed tears again before she hugged her and she tried to speak.

"I am so sorry I doubted you! Ever since Dad told us you left, I hated you, cursed you! You didn't deserve that after what you did for us, and I'm so sorry!"

As Sandra sobbed on her mother, she gave her a hug to help calm her down as Sandra smiled underneath her mask before Adea smiled at the scene and turned to Xanthia.

"See, Xanthia? These people care so much about each other. So much that they would do anything to protect them. Anything... just like your dad. But what I can't understand... is why you'd hate us even after everything we've done together so far. Please... tell me. I'm tired of not knowing what to do with you... I hate it."

As she pleaded to her, Adea ran to her and hugged her as she clarified her desire for a response.

"Please... tell me..."

As the Blade grew disheartened by her silence, Xanthia hugged Adea in a warm embrace as she snuggled closer to the beast before Xarnas spoke to her.

"I'll admit it's bizarre that we haven't seen my daughter's memory yet. But... I don't think you'll need to worry anymore."

As she heard his words, Adea realized what Xanthia was doing and looked up at her with a hopeful smile.

"Does this mean... we're good?"

Xanthia then put her head down and opened her mouth before licking her in the face, making her feel grossed out as she tried to wipe off the saliva while Xarnas spoke as Atchiam, Adea, and Lapis smiled.

"Ew..."

"It would appear so."

Then, Lapis turned to Xarnas as the creature they resided on made its way to the dark star.

"So, does this thing really know the way around this quantum abyss?"

"Considering that neither one of us has been sucked up into nothingness thus far, I'd say we're safer with them than by ourselves."

Later, the same creature they boarded gushed air from out of its gills, giving the plants on top of it sustenance as they began to grow and flourish, giving Krolia a clue about what's going on.

"It's creating its own atmosphere."

With that, everyone took off their helmets before Krolia spoke to Keith and Sandra.

"Keith, Sandra, I'm sorry for leaving you two alone. Especially with Zarkon's daughter."

Hearing the change in tone from apologetic to one with identifiable venom, Keith spoke up to her about his friend.

"Are you talking about Ayame? She's not really a bad person, Mom. The whole time she's even with us, she's always been there for us. She's always been there for me."

This made Krolia look at him in wonder as she spoke.

"She... was there for you?"

"Yeah. She's my best friend."

Hearing this, Krolia smiled at him before she spoke.

"When we get back, perhaps you can introduce me."

"Maybe I will."

Even later afterward, the group pressed on while leaving the Violet Lion where it landed as they shouted for any food or water when a blue comet landed in front of them. When they inspected it, they noticed a small blue cosmic wolf trying to stand up before it was surrounded by giant tick-like aliens and Keith, Sandra, and Krolia stacked them to defend the wolf.

At a campfire following the rescue, Keith fed the wolf some food as Adea and Krolia watched with a smile. As Keith laid down next to the wolf while Adea slept on top of Xanthia, Krolia opened her eyes as a solar flare cane toward them. When it passed her, it showed her a flashback where Keith and Sandra stood alone in front of their father's grave before Krolia began to feel saddened by it.

As time passed, Keith was teaching his wolf how to fetch, only to receive confusion before Xanthia instead went after the stick and dragged Adea along with her as she rode on her back and exclaimed with joy with Lapis and Xarnas smiling at the two while Atchiam and Luzria quickly loved our of the way to avoid being trampled.

"Yahoo!"

Later, the group sat by the campfire with Xanthia looking at the wolf in curiosity and when she tried to pet it, the wolf growled at her before Adea reassured her with a pet on her hand from her own as she smiled. The next morning, Keith and Adea cane back before the wolf suddenly teleported and landed on top of Keith, sending him tumbling back before Adea laughed, only to be squeezed by Xanthia's bear hug as Krolia smiled.

Later on, they got close to their destination as Krolia spoke to the group.

"Everyone... I think we've made it."

With that, Keith, Sandra, and Lapis looked to the horizon.

"It's been two years."

"Who would've thought we'd count that many?"

"It doesn't matter now. We can finally finish our mission."

At the central command, Alphus and Allura were using their powers to infuse the ship before Allura suddenly fell from exhaustion before she and Lptor helped her up.

"Are you okay, Allura?"

"You and Alphus have done much today, Princess. You need your rest. We'll continue tomorrow."

"There's still a long way to go, but I'm proud of why eve accomplished together."

With that, Lotor took Allura by her hands before he spoke.

"None of this would be possible... without you."

Later, Allura walked in her bedroom before she noticed the mice on her counter before she spoke.

"Oh, hello, there. You guys look cleaner than usual. Did someone give you a bath?"

Two of the mice pretended to be Jenny and Lance before she spoke.

"Oh. Jenny and Lance washed you. That's strange. Are you friends now?"

One of the mice squeaked his answer before she spoke.

"How did this happen all of a sudden?"

As if to answer, the two mice used their tails to form a heart symbol before she spoke.

"Really? They said that?"

Realizing how Jenny must've felt prior to taking a break, Allura spoke again.

"Do you know where they are?"

In his room, Jenny and Lance were both in their pajamas, Jenny's being a white robe similar to Lance's save for the slippers before she spoke to him.

"Are you sure you're not gonna freeze?"

"C'mon, Jen. You know me. I never freeze."

Just then, Allura knocked and Jenny looked to the door before she spoke.

"Come in."

When Allura came in, she noticed Lance and Jenny standing together in their pajamas before she quickly became embarrassed.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't realize I came at a bad—"

"No, Allura. It's okay. Really. In fact, Lance and I wanted to talk with you."

"Oh. I see."

With that, Jenny nudged the frozen Lance before he spoke.

"Well, Allura. I know you've got feelings for Lotor, and... if you really want to be with him, I understand."

"You do?"

"Yeah. I mean, you guys look after each other and you both want the same thing. And you also care about what's important to each other. In a way, you're just like Jenny and me. I wouldn't want to ruin that. So, what I want to say is... I really hope he can make you happy the way Jenny does for me."

This made Allura smile at Lance before she spoke.

"Oh. Thank you."

Allura then looked to Jenny before she spoke with a smile.

"Now go take care of yourself, Princess."

As Allura nodded to her and walked out, Jenny looked to Lance who sighed before he spoke.

"Well, there she goes."

"But at least she'll be happy, right?"

"Yeah. As long as she's happy, we're happy."

This earned Jenny's giggle as she laid her head on Lance's chest before she sighed in peace.

Meanwhile, at Base: Xanthium, Komar began walking toward Vantiv before she noticed him and smirked.

"Well, well. Looks like the doctor can walk by himself aga—"

Before she could finish, Komar instantly gripped her by the throat, ceasing her voice to speak as he began crushing her neck while speaking with venom as she looked at him with fear in her eyes.

"Silence. I told you that you would regret turning your back on me. As someone who's endured much suffering, I should kill you right now. But... I think I have a better idea on what to do with you. You will help me regenerate my cells and restore my body to its former glory. Is... that... clear?"