Wow, that's quite the response to the first chapter! Can't say that I'm not flattered, so uh, thanks for that, I guess! Anyways, here's chapter two, hot of the presses! Who else is excited for season six? It's just around the corner!

Until next time!

maroon

chapter two

gravity

"You wished to see me, Haggar?"

Gaze flickering back behind her, the witch turned an assessing gaze towards the druid that had presented itself to her. Though she had much still to attend to, there was something that she felt needed clearing up.

She was still seething over the loss of the black paladin. He had been one of her favorite test subjects, and his escape the first time had fouled her mood considerably. She never could have imagined that her lost Champion would turn up again, and as a paladin of Voltron, no less- but fate, she knew, sometimes played a strange hand.

He had slipped through her grasp this time, but should she encounter him a second time, it would not happen again.

But for the time being, her thoughts were not on the black paladin, but rather, the red paladin.

The same one who had challenged her Lord Emperor to a match, either heedless of the consequences or merely ignorant of them. He had lasted longer than she would have thought, though if Champion had not intervened, he surely would have perished.

Oh how the Altean princess would have despaired, to lose her father's lion to the Galra once more. She may have stolen it out from under their noses once, but it too, they would get back- and the rest of Voltron along with it.

"You fought with the red paladin." It was more of an observation than a question. "I wish to know more."

The druid shifted, its eyeless gaze falling upon her. It would comply with anything she asked it, she knew. "What do you wish to know?"

"Everything." Haggar told it. "All that you know."

She had heard it once before, but now she desired to hear it again. She had felt something, she thought, as she lashed out with her magic, ripping the fabric of the wormhole that would have been their escape apart.

Perhaps now it would serve as their doom.

What she had sensed was something she had come to know well over time. The pull of a reazit, their gift calling out to her own magic.

A reazit that had escaped the empire's notice was worth noting- all the more so if it had found its way to become a paladin of Voltron. She could use this, she thought- it would be far easier to carve out a new being from the old one, than it would be to force the red lion to accept a new paladin.

The druid felt nothing at having to repeat a story that it had already told, any semblance of personality washed away long ago. All that was left was the faintest concept of self- that last drop that they had never managed to quite burn out. They would not question her.

"The red paladin was caught in an attempt to steal refined quintessence." The druid dutifully reported. "I clashed with him, but was unable to defeat him due to the interruption caused by the green paladin."

"Indeed." Haggar said. "You told me you sensed something from him."

"Yes." The druid told her. "A pull. I believe he could sense me as well."

"And he was of the same race as the Champion?" Haggar questioned.

"Yes."

Now that, she thought, was the truly curious part. Were there those of the Champion's race then, that could possess the same gifts the Galra did? If such a thing were true, then the race held more potential than she had first thought.

And yet... what she had felt was surely the pull of a reazit, though one of an older age than she usually found them. Her magic was strong, so while it was possible that she would be able to feel such a gift from any race, it was strange to her that it felt so familiar.

"Send word." Haggar told the druid. "That if the red paladin is found, he is to be brought to me."

"Yes, Haggar."

With a swooping bow, the druid left her presence.

He woke with a jolt.

It took him a long moment to place where he was, an even longer moment for him to place just how he had gotten there, and for a brief span, who he was. His head was not helping matters, throbbing in pain like he'd taken a physical hit.

Drawing in a long breath, he closed his eyes, willing the pain to recede. It took him a spell, but after a moment, it complied, dulling to a manageable throb, allowing him to think.

He was Kyix, of the Blade of Marmora, son of Krolia, grandson of Svatavi. He wore the skin of another race, but he was Galra.

He was also Keith Kogane, paladin of Voltron, pilot of the red lion. Keith Kogane was a lie.

He had been in battle- they had attacked Central Command in order to free Princess Allura- against his better judgement, some small part of him added- when things had gone awry. They had tried to escape by using a wormhole, but that wormhole had been corrupted, scattering the paladins across the universe.

Letting out a long breath, he finally opened his eyes. His thoughts felt more stable, grounded, than they had been before, and even if the dull pain in his head was still present, he could manage.

First he had to figure out where he was, and what the condition of the red lion was. Reaching out for their bond, he grit his teeth, getting nothing back.

He didn't know how long he had been out, but apparently not long enough for his lion to recover. Letting out a breath, he reached out, testing one of the controls, before slumping back in his chair.

"Okay, rest up." He told it, his voice soft. "We had a tough battle."

Getting to his feet, he peered out of Red's cockpit. He'd landed somewhere, hard, from the looks of the impact crater. Wherever he was, it didn't appear to be a planet.

Switching his helmet to enclosed mode, he slipped out of the cockpit. The first thing he noticed was that in spite of not being on a planet, there seemed to be something akin to gravity here. The next was that he'd apparently found himself inside of some kind of asteroid belt, judging by his surroundings.

Which just made the gravity all the more confusing.

Hopping down from red lion's head, he landed on the rocky ground of the asteroid. Even from his position, he could tell it was a large one- not nearly as large as the one that served as the Blade of Marmora's main base, but getting there.

This was bad. He had to get back into contact with the others, and as soon as possible. Who knew where that wormhole had sent all of them?

None of them knew the first thing about space- except Shiro, but his only exposure to it had been inside of one of Zarkon's cells, a time which he barely even remembered. There were so many dangerous parts of space, even without the Galra Empire, so the thought that they could have ended up anywhere was...

He was pacing, he realized, bringing himself to a halt.

It was enough to make him almost laugh. He never thought he would have been this worried about a bunch of humans.

And that's what he was, wasn't he? Worried? Now he did laugh, the idea so preposterous to him that he frankly couldn't help it.

He wanted to tell himself it was just because they were the paladins of Voltron, because they were important to the war effort, but he already knew that wasn't entirely true. He didn't even know how this had happened- Shiro was one thing, but the rest?

Maybe it was just because they were human. Humans were weak, fragile- and these were just human children. It was only natural to be concerned about something weaker than him.

Right. That was it. That was all.

Exhaling, Keith forced aside all such thoughts. He needed to focus- without the red lion, there was no way for him to get in touch with the Castle of Lions. Thankfully, that wasn't his only point of contact.

Reaching into where he had tucked away his transmitter, Keith grimaced. It must have broken sometime during the fight- he had been thrown around an awful lot. Switching it on regardless, his brows knit together as he tried and failed to send out a message.

Great. So that was a thing.

At least maybe it still sent out a signal, he hoped, tucking it back away again. It wouldn't be long until Thace contacted Kolivan with an update, and he would no doubt start looking for him.

And at that thought, he grimaced again. He hadn't thought about it at all at the time, but... Kolivan was going to kill him, wasn't he?

He had basically just challenged Zarkon to a one on one fight. In any other situation, that would have been a death match.

He'd stand by it though- he'd done what he'd had to do. He couldn't allow Zarkon to take control of the black lion, and not only had he awoken a new weapon for the red lion in the process, but he'd also bought enough time for Shiro to reclaim his lion. It all worked out in the end, so wasn't that what mattered the most?

Somehow he got the feeling Kolivan wouldn't see it that way. Unnecessary risks, he'd say.

Turning on his heel, he looked up towards the red lion, a tight frown on his lips. He had felt its anger towards Zarkon, something that hadn't left him, even now that it was offline. Resting a hand against its massive leg, Keith closed his eyes, leaning his head against it, his helmet making a faint click as it touched.

"We did good, Red."

With that, he drew away, deciding to fix his focus on what he could do now. Sitting around in empty space waiting to be rescued wasn't his style, and he was more than a little curious as to what was generating gravity around here.

Frowning, he stomped his foot against the ground, before kneeling down, rapping it with his knuckles. It sounded like a regular asteroid, he guessed, but with these stupid human ears of his, who the fuck knew?

Remaining in that position, he cast his gaze in front of him, brows knit together in thought. This couldn't be natural, he decided- which left only one option.

Artificial gravity.

But out here? In the middle of space? On an asteroid?

Rising to his feet, he scanned the horizon. Nobody was coming out and attacking him, which was a good thing. If there was someone here, they were probably hiding- which meant this probably wasn't some kind of hidden empire base. They weren't exactly known for being subtle.

Hidden base... frowning, that sparked something within his memory.

Ulaz had once said that there was no such thing in this universe as a coincidence- that when things happened, they usually had some kind of reason behind them. He'd never been totally on board with that, but maybe he was on to something.

He didn't like the thought of leaving Red out in the open like this, but he didn't have much of a choice. If he wanted to investigate any further, he would have to- and if there was some kind of hidden base on this rock, then it might give him a way to contact the others. The faster he could get back to the Castle of Lions, the better.

If Red came back online, he'd know.

The longer he stayed here, the more he got the feeling he knew this place. The impression was faint, but he couldn't shake it. It was only when he uncovered the hidden entrance, revealing a long, dark corridor leading downward, that it clicked.

This was an old Marmora base.

Pausing to glance behind him, Keith slipped in. Resting one hand against the wall, he summoned his bayard with the other, his shoulders taut. The door slid shut behind him, plunging the abandoned base into near darkness.

Thankfully, his night vision was still good enough to allow him to navigate with ease. If he could locate the control room, then maybe he could boot up the base's emergency power. He'd be able to send Kolivan a signal from there.

(He wasn't going to send the Castle of Lions a signal from an abandoned Blade of Marmora base. He wasn't stupid.)

Navigating the darkened halls made him certain of one thing though- he'd been here before. It wasn't much more than a faint impression, nothing he could even really call a memory, but he was almost certain that this was not his first time in this place.

It was only when his feet came to a halt in front of a room that was very much not the control room, that he realized why that was. Of course he knew this place, he thought, gaze frozen on what he recognized almost instantly as a nursery- he'd been born here.

He'd also, he thought, breath hitching in his throat- he'd also nearly died here.

A faint flash of memory, a purple form hovering over him, rough hands. Liquid, a sickly sweet scent.

His throat burned, and he had to tell himself that it wasn't real.

Drawing in a shaky breath, he forced himself away from the nursery. He didn't want to stay here any longer than he had to.

Making his way to the control room, he forced back the taste of bile. This should have been a good place for him, but it wasn't, not after what happened. He forced himself to think only of the task at hand, nothing else. He had dealt with the memories once before, during his trial, and that had been enough. He didn't care to repeat it.

(He'd understood, keenly, the human saying of ignorance is bliss the first time he'd heard it.)

The control room was barren, its systems stripped. Even if he didn't know what happened here, it was clear that the place had been abandoned in a hurry.

Finding the main power console, he switched it on, letting out a breath of relief as the base flickered to life around him. With oxygen flowing, he took off his helmet, resting it on an abandoned console. Anything that could have compromised the Blade had been wiped clean, but it looked like some of the systems still worked.

That was when he realized he was not alone.

Tensing, his bayard flashed, extending into a sword. Pivoting on his heel, he braced himself, the faint scent he'd caught before growing stronger as it drew closer.

And then all at once he relaxed, the sight of familiar armor putting him at ease. His signal must have gotten out after all.

"Ulaz."

The Blade's mask flickered, and Keith felt himself relax fully at the familiar face. Lowering his bayard, it returned to it's default state, before he let it vanish back into his armor entirely.

"Kyix," there was mirth in that voice, and suddenly he couldn't taste bile anymore, "-you seem to have changed since I saw you last. Did you grow taller?"

Glaring at the Blade, Keith folded his arms in front of his chest. "Very funny."

"I have been known for my humor." Ulaz observed. "It is good to see you again, Kyix. It has been far too long."

Extending his arm, Keith grasped his forearm, Ulaz likewise returning the gesture. "How did you find me here?"

"Kolivan picked up the signal from your transmitter." Ulaz told him. "When he was unable to contact you, he sent me to check on you."

"Did Thace tell you about the wormhole?" Keith asked, releasing his forearm.

"He did." Ulaz told him. "He also informed us that Commander Prorok is being held on charges of treason, and that he has been promoted in his place."

Letting out a faint snort, he couldn't help but be amused at that turn of events. A fitting end to old caterpillar brows.

"He also," and now Ulaz leveled his gaze with his, every ounce the stern mentor he knew he could be, "-informed us that you challenged Zarkon."

Keith flinched at that, all too certain it was far more visible on his human face than it would have been otherwise. "He was going to take the black lion."

Ulaz held his gaze for a moment longer- before resting a hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "I am not saying that you did not make the right choice. Just that hearing the news nearly made my heart stop."

Exhaling, Keith gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry."

"Now," Ulaz said, "-why don't we get you out of this place?"

"That would be... that would be nice." Keith admitted. "It's- I'm not wrong, am I?"

He didn't need to specify. Ulaz knew what he meant. He'd been there on base that day, he'd learned much later, when Krolia's ship had all but screamed its way into the hangar, clutching her infant son in her arms, desperate.

"It is." Ulaz told him. "To think that the wormhole would deposit you here, of all places."

"Just a coincidence." Keith muttered.

"Ah, but you know-" Ulaz began, and he cut him off.

"There's no such thing. I know." Keith said, rolling his eyes. It was a habit he'd picked up on Earth- he'd never done it before, since it didn't really work.

Ulaz took note of it, peering down to study him. To his credit, Keith didn't even flinch.

"You have your mother's eyes." He observed. "Nearly. This is the first time I have witnessed one of Svatavi's devices at work. How does it make you feel?"

"Don't get me started." Keith groaned. "Human senses are pathetic."

Letting out a faint chuckle at that, Ulaz patted him on the shoulder once more, before making his way to the main power console. Scooping up his helmet, he tossed it towards him, Keith catching it from the air and tucking it back on.

Switching it back into enclosed mode, he watched as Ulaz once more cut power to the base, plunging it back into darkness. The mask and chest plate of his Marmora armor illuminated the darkness, something Keith found reassuring.

The paladins would likely just find it creepy, part of him thought.

"Come," Ulaz spoke, his voice distorted by his mask, though he swore he could make out the faint note of pride in it, "-let us see what we can do about your lion."

Your lion.

Something about hearing that phrase from Ulaz's lips... he liked it, he thought.

With Ulaz's company, the darkened halls of the base did not seem as oppressive as they once were. The memories were still there, but not as prominent, becoming something he was able to manage.

He hadn't realized how much he had missed home until this moment.

"So," Ulaz began, "-should I be expecting a visit from the paladins of Voltron soon?"

Blinking at the question, it took him a moment to place what he meant. He hadn't forgotten that Ulaz had enabled Shiro's escape, but it may have slipped his mind that he had loaded coordinates into his arm.

"Can't say." Keith told him. "Shiro doesn't remember much about how he escaped, or about his time as Zarkon's prisoner."

"Ah." Clicking his tongue, Ulaz opened the doors to the base, depositing them back on the asteroid's surface. "I hope he will recall soon. It would be far better if he were to come to us, than we to him."

"Kolivan didn't seem to think that an alliance was a good idea." Keith observed. "You really think he'd go for it?"

"Kolivan can be stubborn." Ulaz noted. "But so can I."

Letting out a snort, Keith couldn't help but agree. "I'm not sure the princess would be in favor of it. I'm pretty sure she'd shoot me out the nearest airlock if she found out I was Galra."

"People can change." Ulaz told him, reaching into his pouch, retrieving a transmitter. "Here. A replacement."

Taking it from him, Keith fished out the one concealed in his armor, switching it off. "Here," he said, handing Ulaz the broken one, "-garbage."

"Just what I have always wanted." Ulaz told him, taking the broken transmitter and tucking it away. "Do you intend to tell them?"

"No." Keith said, making sure the new transmitter was switched off, before concealing it in his armor. "I don't think it would go over well."

Ulaz merely let out a low hum. He had landed his ship by the red lion, which, from the look of it, was still very much offline. "Let us see if we can't restore your lion's communications."

"You don't intend to be here when the Castle shows up, do you?" Keith asked. "Pretty sure it'd be kind of hard to explain what I'm doing with a Galra."

Not to mention they'd already seen Marmora armor before, thanks to his earlier mistake. At worst, they'd make the connection.

In his defense, he'd never been trained for deep cover missions.

"Rest assured, I intend to be long gone by the time your fellow paladins arrive." Ulaz told him. "How are you blending in?"

"Well?" Keith frowned. He actually had no idea, he hadn't ever stopped to give it any thought. "I guess?"

Ulaz let out a low hum, and Keith gave him a glower. Okay, so maybe his impression of a human wasn't as good as it could be, but it wasn't like he had a whole lot of study material to go off of. What the Blade of Marmora had known about Earth was limited to what their drones had picked up- beyond that, he had been on his own.

His first time in a human town had been... interesting.

The less said about that, the better. Ulaz did not need to know that he had mistaken a cat for a speech capable being. Nobody needed to know that.

"You've spoken to a human." Keith said. "You now how they are."

"I will admit, I did not expect Shiro to trust me that easily." Ulaz told him. "Is that a human trait?"

"I mean, I guess?" Keith shrugged. "They're... complicated."

"Complicated." Ulaz observed. "Yes, I find most sentient beings are."

Shooting him a look, Keith shook his head, instead choosing to approach the red lion. Resting his hand on its leg, he closed his eyes, reaching out with their bond. This time he thought he could felt something, though it was still faint- a sign that it was recovering.

"I never thought I'd live to see the day the lions of Voltron returned." Ulaz told him. "I was told many tales in my youth, but nothing compares to seeing the real thing. May I?"

Nodding his head, Keith stepped back to allow Ulaz a closer look. The Blade hesitated for the span of a moment, before he rested a hand against the lion's leg.

"Truly remarkable."

"She's something pretty special, alright." Keith told him, folding his arms in front of him.

"Thace included in his report that you managed to wake one of the red lion's weapons." Ulaz remarked. "He seemed quite proud."

"Well he is the one that taught me to fly." Keith pointed out. "I felt... connected to Red, like I hadn't been before. Turns out she really hates Zarkon too."

"I would imagine." Ulaz observed, removing his hand. "Now come. We have much work to do. The sooner you return to the Castle of Lions, the better."

Nodding his head, Keith couldn't agree more.

(Even if part of him just wanted to go back home.)

He didn't expect Hunk to nearly fling himself at him.

He had barely exited the red lion when the yellow paladin sprung himself on him, and it took every ounce of self control he had not to lash out defensively. Out of the corner of his eye, he took note that he was not alone in the hangar- in fact, the only person who was missing was Shiro.

"Keith!" The yellow paladin cried out, throwing his arms around him in jubilant relief. "Oh man, you don't know how worried we were about you, buddy!'

Not knowing what to say, Keith simply stood there, frozen solid under Hunk's embrace. Seriously, what was it with humans and hugging?

Seeming to realize his discomfort, Hunk hurriedly pulled away. "Oh, uh, sorry Keith, it's just nice to see that you're not, you know-"

"-screaming bloody murder?" Lance finished.

"Yeah. That."

"Why would I be...?" Brows furrowing, it took him a moment to connect the dots. "Oh."

So he had been screaming then.

"Yeah, oh." Pidge said. "You really freaked us out there Keith. You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." Keith told her, pulling off his helmet. The last thing he wanted to do was to make a big deal out of it. He could rationalize why he had been worried about them, but he still couldn't grasp why they'd be worried about him. "Where's Shiro?"

"Healing pod." Pidge supplied.

Narrowing his eyes, Keith felt something in him clench. "What happened?"

"Uh, I'm not exactly sure on the details, but he got into some kind of fight with this scary lady." Hunk told him.

"Scary lady?" Keith asked.

"Zarkon's witch." Allura supplied- and Keith felt his heart seize at that, knowing who she meant. "He should be in the healing pod for the next two quintants."

"But he'll be alright, right?" Keith asked.

Nothing he had heard about Zarkon's witch was very good, so to think that Shiro had encountered her... he was just glad it hadn't come to that.

"Oh, he should be just fine, Number Four!" Coran supplied. "No need to worry."

Exhaling, Keith felt his shoulders slump. "Okay. That's good."

"Maybe you should head down to the infirmary too?" Hunk ventured. "Get a check up, make sure everything's okay?"

"Don't bother, Hunk." Lance rolled his eyes. "He's probably just going to say he needs to sleep it off again."

"Yeah?" Keith blinked. "I'm fine, I mean it."

"You said the same thing about the Balmera, and then you kind of passed out." Lance pointed out. "Remember that? Huh?"

It took Keith a second, but once it dawned on him... oh.

Right. They were worried about him. It was so surreal, he kept forgetting.

"No, I'm-" he began, before stopping short, "-I promise I'm fine."

"You sure?" Hunk asked. "You don't feel like you're going to pass out again or anything, right?"

"I'm not going to pass out, I promise." Keith assured him, watching as the yellow paladin's shoulders slumped in relief. "But I do want to check on Shiro."

"Of course, Number Four!" Coran said. "How about I walk you down to the-"

"No need, Coran." Allura cut him off. "I can escort Keith to the med bay."

Okay. He wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. Watching Allura with a wary gaze, he tried to assess her motives.

She must have caught it, for she leveled her gaze with his. "...unless there is some reason Keith minds?"

Well now she had him cornered. "No."

"Good, it's settled then." Allura smiled- and he couldn't shake the feeling that it was one of her more diplomatic ones. Gaze flickering over towards Coran, the man merely offered him a weak smile in return.

Not reassuring, but not a cause for panic either.

"Now then, let us not waste time." Allura said, taking a pointed step forward. "I am sure that you would like the chance to rest as soon as possible."

"I- yeah." Frowning, Keith spared a glance back towards the other paladins, before his gaze flickered back towards Allura. They seemed to be acting normally, and he had hard time believing the princess would keep it to herself if she learned he was Galra. "Bit tired."

Allura said nothing, leaving him to trail behind in her wake. The silence was a heavy one, the tension thick.

Had he done something wrong? Racking his brain, he tried to think of what it was that she wanted him alone for- if she'd figured out he was a spy, she surely would have confronted him about it in front of everyone else.

He was so lost in thought, that he didn't even notice when they turned down the wrong hall. It took him until the next wrong turn to pick up on it.

"Uh, Allura?" Fighting the urge to come to a complete halt, Keith's brows furrowed. "This isn't the way to the med bay."

"I know." Allura told him. "Because we are not going to the med bay."

She made no attempt to say where they were going, nor did she halt her pace in the least. Caught between the urge to make a break for it, and the desire to know, Keith chewed his lip, before eventually deciding on the latter.

(Knowledge or death.)

When they came to a halt outside of the training deck, he couldn't have been more confused. "Allura?"

She gave him no answer, merely expected him to follow her inside. Which he did, after a moment's hesitation.

"Keith," Allura finally spoke her tone serious, though not accusatory, "-what do you know about quintessence?"

Hm. Maybe he should have run.