The last echoes of Coran's voice died away against the vaulted ceiling of the cavern, leaving behind a thunderous silence that filled every inch of the room. Everyone stood frozen as they tried to take in the meaning of what they'd just heard.

Kurogane gazed at the carvings in bewilderment. It was as though the world had suddenly tilted twenty degrees to the left and everything he thought he knew was suddenly altered completely when viewed from the new angle. He knew what he'd heard, and yet the pieces refused to fit together in his mind.

Everyone else seemed just as thrown as he was. He could hear Pidge muttering under her breath about coincidences and statistical improbabilities while she tugged at her hair in consternation. Coran had gone pale and grabbed at Allura's arm for support, and Shiro was just shaking his head slowly side to side, his expression one of utter disbelief. The others seemed rooted where they stood, as tongue-tied with shock as he was.

Not that he could blame them. They'd all come down here for old time's sake, thinking they'd find, at most, a recounting of the events of the war, and instead they'd found...what, exactly?

A revelation that nothing was what they thought it was. That Alfor and the surviving apprentices had known ten thousand years ago who would find the lions and take up the fight against Zarkon and Haggar. That they'd deliberately influenced the flow of events to make it happen. To return Shiro to Earth that night, to guide them to Blue, to bring Red to them at Arus. Those facts alone were so staggering his mind rebelled at them, unable to go further. It was like that moment in Blue all over again, when the distant stars had suddenly been replaced by metal walls and all thought had frozen up, leaving him unable to comprehend what had happened, unable to do anything but react on automatic to movement in the hallway outside the cockpit.

But just like back then, like always, Alejandro's mind was faster, didn't lock up, had probably already raced ahead through a thousand implications. He felt his partner's stiff muscles coiling tighter beside him a moment before he burst out with a particularly vicious Velkwin curse that drew all eyes to him.

Alejandro seemed unaware of their attention, his features twisted into an expression of pure fury that looked out of place on his usually smiling face. His gaze was locked on the carvings, fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. "They killed them." He said quietly, almost to himself, but his voice was clearly audible in the silence of the cave.

Kurogane stiffened, putting a hand on the other's shoulder, his partner's distress driving every other thought out of his head. "Killed who? What do you mean?" He asked in a low voice. He'd only seen Alejandro angry, truly, implacably furious, a handful of times, and it never ceased to be jarring. He could feel his own muscles tensing in response, ready for a fight.

"I mean that they," Alejandro's voice rose stridently as he waved a hand violently toward the message, and Kurogane realized he meant the previous paladins, or the ones who had survived, anyway, "killed our family! Everyone we cared about! Every single one of them died in the timeline they created!"

The echoes of his shout died away, leaving expressions of horror on every face. Allura in particular looked ashen, and Lance was white as a sheet. Alejandro didn't so much as glance at them, spinning out from under Kurogane's hand and striding toward the ropes that led back to the surface. Kurogane followed, his mind spinning. Of course they had. The timeline they'd left behind, the one lost to total domination by the Galra Empire, with Voltron dead and the Earth dead and the Blades dead and the paladins, his family, dead, was the unaltered future that followed the events Alfor and Fiorin and Marmora and Torlast had tried so hard to create, where Voltron was formed once more by paladins who would oppose Zarkon.

Fiorin had looked into the future to find those moments. But he hadn't looked far enough to see what came after them.

Alejandro had reached the ropes and activated the winch ahead of him, and by the time Kurogane reached the upper level, still lit by the soft blue glow of carvings that now seemed to mock him, his partner was a small figure by the entrance, sitting slumped in the thin layer of sand intruding onto the rock of the cave. Kurogane hesitated, unsure of what to do. He was still reeling himself. So he let his body guide him instead, moving to sit beside Alejandro and wrap an arm around his shoulders to pull him close.

He could feel the other shuddering against him and began to rock them both slowly. Silent comfort for when they both knew that words couldn't fix the pain.

Kurogane closed his eyes and leaned his head against Alejandro's, shutting out the desert sand and the soft blue glow of the carvings that had spelled out his family's fate long before any of them were born.

0000000

Horror and nausea curled in Lance's gut in the wake of Alejandro's departure.

Blue, he called mentally, did you really do this? He wanted to beg her to deny it, to tell him that she hadn't played a role in destroying everything his other self had cared about, no matter what that message left by his predecessor said.

A pause, then a soft touch, heavy with guilt and shame in response to his distress. She had, because it seemed like the only solution. She hadn't known any more than her Paladin had about where those actions would lead.

Blue nudged his memories and he let her, closing his eyes and tuning out the whispered conversations and the sound of the Icebringers moving away to give them all privacy. She pulled up a memory of Lance sitting on her paw, gazing up at her with sadness in his eyes.

"He said he can sense you, but he can't hear you. I can't even imagine how much that would hurt if it were me. Blue, they've already lost a whole lot. Do you think...I mean, we're basically the same person anyway, right? Do you think it's possible to connect to both of us at the same time? Give him at least that much back?"

She had, and felt Alejandro's joy and relief at the return of the connection. But as the bond strengthened and stabilized, she could see his memories, see agonizing loss after agonizing loss and layer upon layer of grief. With mounting horror she realized that those sorrows had followed from the moment of triumph Fiorin and Alfor had sought. The one she'd helped create.

Lance swallowed hard against the lump in his throat as Blue's sadness washed over him. So you really didn't know. Not until Alejandro and Kurogane arrived and told us what would have happened.

A quiet confirmation, and a momentary flash of an image, the burning sword of Voltron running Zarkon's armor straight through. Victory, they'd thought, and looked no further. Foolish assumption. Instead that path had led to total defeat.

It's not your fault, Blue. Lance could feel her denial of that statement, her guilt, and his own shock and horror gave way to sympathy. You were doing what you thought was right, in order to protect people like you were created to do. It's not your fault it turned out to be a mistake.

He could feel her reluctance to accept that statement, the guilt still twisting through her mind as she refused to relinquish the blame for actions whose consequences she couldn't possibly have known. Like Paladin, like Lion? Lance thought to himself, and couldn't help chuckling softly at the irony of him trying to give Blue a lecture about not blaming yourself for what wasn't your fault after getting much the same speech from his mom just a few days earlier. C'mon. It wasn't your fault, just bad luck. We thought he was dead too, remember? Don't make me do my Mami impression at you.

There was a slight pause, and then the knot of tension in her part of the bond eased just a little with the faintest ripple of amusement. Not total belief in his reassurances yet, but it was a start.

00000000

Coran stared at the carvings in shock and dismay. It couldn't be. He couldn't have just read what he thought he had.

Beside him, he could feel Allura trembling under his hand. "He knew?" She whispered, soft enough for his ears only. "Father knew?"

He felt her hurt and betrayal as keenly as his own. Waking up here, in this time, with everything and everyone they had known long returned to the stars, had been agonizing. Only sheer necessity had kept him moving forward, providing support to his daughter and to the new Paladins allowing him to push his shock and grief aside the time being. It had taken quite some time for him to somewhat come to terms with it, with the fact that his remaining life partner was gone, that his homeworld was gone, that his husband's plan had gone disastrously awry and allowed Zarkon ten thousand cycles to conquer and subjugate entirely unopposed.

Except that it seemed that had been the plan all along. Ten thousand cycles to ensure that a new set of paladins would deliver the Lions safely to Arus and rise up to defeat Zarkon once and for all. Ten thousand cycles for a victory Alfor had thought was secure, rather than a safety measure intended to last only a few.

Memories surged, unbidden. Alfor's frustration as he tried to convince Coran to go to Arus and enter cryostasis, unwilling and unable to tell him why or for how long. The desperation in the kiss they'd exchanged before Alfor left, like it might be the last time they did. The disconnect between Pidge's theory about the founding of the Blades and what Coran had known about the second Green Paladin, her personality and skills. The idle thought, seeming so long ago now although it had been only decarotations, that it was an incredible fluke of probability for an entire viable set of Paladins to stumble across one of the Lions together.

No fluke at all. It had been planned. It had all been planned, by Alfor, by Fiorin, by Marmora, by Torlast. They'd dedicated the remainder of their lives to ensuring it would happen. And casting Allura and Coran alone and unprepared into a war-torn future had been part of that plan all along.

He reached out and drew his trembling daughter in to his arms, tucking his head under her chin and swallowing hard against the lump in his throat. "Yes, Allura." he whispered in a voice gone rough with fresh hurt and anger as she muffled a sob in his shoulder. "Yes, he knew."

0000000

Matt glanced over as Avenol started quietly shepherding the other Icebringers back toward the ropes to the upper level. The Altean caught his eye and gave a single grim nod. What had started out as an exciting trip to a long-unknown historical site had ended in painful revelations for the Paladins and the rest of their group, and the rest of the aliens unexpectedly found themselves intruding. They needed time and privacy to deal with the shock. And while undoubtedly the Pack Leaders and certain other wise elders like Malrento would be told, Matt didn't doubt for a second that his packmates would keep what had happened here to themselves until the paladins were ready to share.

He appreciated the respect. God knew there was anger bubbling in his gut. Everything, everything that had happened to the people he cared about was because of this, the chain reaction of events the previous paladins had started. If the Blades had never been formed by Marmora, Kovirak wouldn't have come to earth when she did, if at all, would never have fought Human soldiers to protect her child. Without that encounter, the Arizona Garrison wouldn't have been formed when and where it was. The Kerberos mission would have happened at a different time, in a different place, with different people on board.

His Dad would still be alive.

Matt forced himself to take a deep breath. Being angry was useless. What was done was done, and couldn't be altered. Concentrate on the now, deal with the situation at hand.

"Takashi." He murmured, stepping forward to place a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. The other startled, glancing up from his right arm to look at him. "Are you okay?"

Takashi took a slow breath and shrugged, folding his arms across his chest. "Maybe? I think so? It's just…"

"A shock?" Matt quirked an eyebrow. Understatement of the century.

His boyfriend nodded, swallowing hard as he glanced toward the wall of carvings again. "Yeah. Ulaz saved my life and while I never got the chance to really ask him why he did it, the thought that it wasn't only meant to happen, that it's the whole reason the Blades were created…" He trailed off.

"Not the whole reason. Keith wouldn't even exist without them." Matt jerked his head toward the red paladin, who was still staring at the carvings and looking completely gobsmacked. "They've helped in other ways too."

"True. All part of the plan, I guess." Takashi grimaced, his gaze flicking across his variously stunned or distressed friends. "We should get out of here." He said after a moment. "We know what the message says now, for better or for worse. We need to be heading back. Once it's had time to sink in for everyone, we can talk about."

Slipping back into leader mode in order to feel in control of things again. Typical Takashi, but he wasn't wrong, and Matt wasn't about to try to keep him from coping with this mess. "Right. I'll help you start rounding them up."

They split up, Takashi heading for the visibly-distressed pair of Alteans at the far side of the room. Matt watched him for a moment before turning and heading towards his sister, who had pulled up her wrist computer and was typing furiously while muttering under her breath. His hand landed on her shoulder and she jumped with a small shriek. "Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you. You okay?" He gave her an apologetic grin as she glared at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She huffed. "Just totally mindblown. I mean, can you believe this? They basically made chaos theory work in reverse by backtracking from the desired output to find the requisite initial conditions! Can you imagine how much work that must have taken? They would have basically had to have their entire lives choreographed for them to make sure they wouldn't contaminate the flow of the timeline! And it worked! Across ten thousand years! It's insane!"

"Guess that explains Marmora, too, then, huh?" He chuckled. As painful as the whole thing was, he did have to agree that as a concept, it was fascinating. Chaos theory was still at the leading edge of Earth science.

"Yeah. Coran was right about the Marmora who founded the Blades seeming very different from the one he knew." Katie turned back to her computer to resume her rapid note-taking. "She was literally not acting like herself. And she wouldn't even have been able to tell anyone, unless the script called for it."

"It must've been hard." Matt murmured. His gaze flicked back to the carvings, finding the line about Marmora and everything she'd done. "She was separated from anyone who could understand what she was going through." A familiar ache settled in his chest just thinking about it. Isolation. Not quite the same kind as what he went through, but intense isolation all the same.

The rattle of keys stopped and a moment later small fingers laced with his own. He glanced down and saw Katie looking up at him with a serious expression. "You're not alone anymore, Matt." She reminded him, voice soft.

Deep breath in, deep breath out. "Yeah. I know." He managed a weak smile down at her. "Look, we're headed to the Marmora base after we leave, right? Maybe she left some records of what she did."

Katie perked up at that suggestion and she gave a vigorous nod. "Yeah, you're right! Think Kolivan will let me dig around in their files?" She grinned.

Matt snorted, thinking of the few communications from the dour Galra he'd heard so far. "I dunno. But you never know until you ask."

00000000

Ryou glanced over his shoulder, surveying the occupants of the speeder. The trip out to the cave had been noisy, excited chatter and theories flying every which way, but now a heavy quiet filled the crowded space.

Beside him, Allura's grip on the speeder's control's was white-knuckled, and her mouth was set in a thin line. The computer was retracing their route back to the Castleship, and judging by her distant gaze he wasn't sure her attention was on the rocks and sand around them at all.

Directly behind him, Katie and Hunk were talking in muted whispers. Katie was the only one who seemed the least bit happy about what they'd discovered, at least for the scientific value, but even she was subdued in the face of everyone else's reactions. Hunk looked strained even as he read her notes over her shoulder, and Ryou could only imagine what was going through the boy's head. He'd already fought with his family about the necessity of returning to battle. Ryou couldn't see him being eager to admit to them that apparently he'd never really had a choice to start with.

In the other seat, Kovirak was staring out at the blur of passing rock walls with narrowed eyes. She hadn't said a single word since the cavern as far as he'd noticed, but there was an obvious tension in the way she carried herself, a definite anger about something she'd learned. To do with the Blades? Or because of her son being put on the front lines?

Through the open door of the little storage space, he could just see Kurogane and Alejandro. The lanky former blue paladin was curled up in his partner's lap, held close in a protective embrace. The fury from earlier was gone, as was the misery both had worn when the rest of the group emerged from the lower level. Hunk and Lance had taken one look at them before pulling them into a tight, wordless embrace that seemed to startle them both before they accepted the comfort. Within moments everyone had joined the large group hug, and it was minutes before anyone pulled back, all drawing silent comfort from each other. Now, sitting in the back of the speeder, the two of them just looked tired, and Ryou ached for them. Bad enough to have lost everyone you cared about without finding out it was because someone had been playing games with your lives.

He turned to face forward again as the little craft broke away from the last of the canyons, streaking across more open space between columns of rock. In the distance, the Icebringer ships were looming hulks and the Castle of Lions a cluster of slim spires. All too soon they'd be back there, and preparing to take off back into space, heading back to battle against the far-flung Galra Empire.

He wished these kids had more time to come to terms with this new blow before then.

00000000

Hunk flopped down on his bed and curled up, clutching anxiously at the tablet in his hands. Once they'd reached the Castle Coran had solemnly told them that they could go take a few minutes to contact their families and let them know they were about to take off while he and Allura made last minute preparations for launch and confirmed the readiness of the other ships. Hunk hadn't needed to be told twice, jogging off down the hallway with his head still spinning from everything they'd learned.

Now his fingers trembled with anxiety and he had to force himself to take a calming breath before he keyed in the contact information for the communicator he'd left with his parents. They must have been keeping it close by because they picked up before the first ring had ended and he found himself laughing in spite of himself as he saw his Mom and Mama's faces squished together in the middle of the frame to make sure he could see them both. "Hunk, sweetheart!" Mama's smile was teary, but genuine, and he couldn't help but return it weakly.

"Hi Mom, hi Mama." He shifted on the bed, sitting up and resting the tablet on his knees so he could see it properly. "We're going to be leaving shortly, so I thought I better call and let you know."

His Mom sighed, giving a small nod. "Alright." He could still hear the reluctance in her voice, see it in her face. Even after the fight they'd had, she still wasn't happy about him going, even if she realized the necessity. "Thank you, baby. And remember, I expect you to call us regularly now, okay?"

"I know. I will, promise." He gave a small chuckle. "I miss you guys already and I haven't even left yet."

"That goes double for us. You're sure you can't stay?" One last, hopeful plea.

Hunk sighed and shook his head. "No, Mom. I really can't. You know that."

Fetuilelagi grimaced. "It was worth a try." She hesitated, seeming to look him up and down through the computer screen. "...Is everything alright? You seem upset about something." Beside her, La'ei straightened, expression rapidly shifting to one of concern.

He bit his lip, then shook his head. "It's...kinda complicated? And I don't really know how I feel about it yet." He admitted. Pidge's notes on the implications for accepted chaos theory models had been a welcome distraction from his own mixed-up emotions on the ride back from the cave..

"Tell us about it?" His Mama invited gently. "It might help you sort through your feelings."

She wasn't wrong, it was a tactic they'd used many times before to help him adjust to situations he struggled with. Even after befriending Lance, the Garrison had been a strange and confusing experience and it had taken a long time and a lot of talking to his parents before he'd managed to decide that yes, he did want to keep going and see this through, no matter how nerve-wracking it was. But they were always there for him when he needed to talk about his problems, big or small.

"Yeah. Okay." He managed another small smile, shifting to get more comfortable. "So...we ended up having a few extra hours to kill this morning, because of some last-minute repairs to one of the other ships. I know I sent you a message about that last night. So we decided to all go look at the cave nearby where we found Blue. Mrs. Holt and Shiro's brother found a bunch of carvings there while they were trying to figure out what happened to us, and we never really got a chance to look at them last time, for obvious reasons." He chuckled weakly.

Mom snorted in agreement. "Yes, Colleen mentioned those. I take it you found something interesting?"

Humming, he nodded. "Basically, it was a message from Blue's previous Paladin, Fiorin. The one who brought her to Earth and hid her here." He took a deep breath. Here came the hard part. "And it turns out he and the others basically...they looked into the future? And figured out what they'd need to do to make a set of viable paladins get control of Voltron before Zarkon could get his hands on any of the Lions?"

Fetuilelagi frowned and La'ei gave him an uncertain look. "Hunk, baby, what exactly are you saying?"

He pressed a hand over his face, trying to ignore the way it shook. "Basically, it was all planned. Kerberos, us finding Blue, Red being brought to Arus, the Blades, and a whole bunch of other stuff too. Fiorin and the others made it all happen by finding out what starting point would lead to it happening." He swallowed against the lump in his throat. Just listing off everything they'd done was almost overwhelming. "They chose us to be their successors because they thought we would successfully defeat Zarkon when we fought him a few months ago."

The fury on his Mom's face made him falter from speaking more, and even his Mama looked angry. Abruptly, Fetuilelagi spun away from the conversation and grabbed a couch cushion to scream into it while La'ei closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath. Hunk chewed his lip anxiously as he watched their reactions.

Finally it was La'ei who spoke, and when she did her tone had a sharpness he couldn't remember ever hearing from her in all his eighteen years. "This Fiorin...since he hid the Blue Lion, I'm going to have to assume he's long dead?"

"...As far as we know, yeah." But at this point, with everything else suddenly turned on its head, he wouldn't put it past the universe to throw them another curve ball, so he couldn't be entirely certain.

"Fortunate for him." She grumbled darkly, then sighed. "This doesn't change anything, does it. I know it's a shock, but it doesn't change the fact that you still need to fight, still need to take down Zarkon, regardless of how you ended up with that task."

A knot in his chest seemed to loosen slightly. She was right. It didn't change things. It was okay to just put his feelings aside and come back to them when he felt better able to sort through them. "No." He shook his head sadly. "I still gotta go. Accident or pre-selection, I'm still the only Yellow Paladin we have, y'know? But thanks, Mama. That helps. It really felt like the world was standing on its head after what we found out, but you're right, it doesn't change anything. Just hurts."

La'ei heaved another sigh, wrapping her arm around Fetuilelagi's waist as she finally rejoined her, still scowling. "You're welcome, sweetheart. I'm glad we were able to help make things a little easier. Give your friends hugs for us, will you? I imagine this must be just as hard on all of them. Especially those two... the time-travellers?"

"Alejandro and Kurogane. Yeah. It hit them really hard, especially because their timeline was the one that was originally created from what Fiorin and the others did..." He winced in sympathy as he remembered the raw pain in Alejandro's voice as he declared exactly what had happened, how their predecessors' meddling with time had resulted in a world where the universe's last hope was utterly destroyed, until the only chance they had left was to deliberately sacrifice the last Lion in order to go back and alter the course of history once more.

He froze. His Mom was saying something, but his mind was elsewhere.

Meddling with time. Fiorin and Alejandro had both done it, but in doing so, Alejandro had killed the Blue Lion while Fiorin hadn't. Definitely hadn't, because if he had there'd have been no Blue Lion for them to find, let alone form Voltron with. Why? Kurogane had also used the metaphysical aspect of his quintessence and it had killed Red, too, so what had Fiorin done differently?

"Sorry Mom, Mama, I really gotta go. I love you, I'll talk to you again soon!" Hunk blurted. He barely heard their confused responses as he disconnected the call and tossed the tablet aside. His mind was racing and his feet could barely keep up as he dashed out of the room and sprinted down the corridors to the bridge. Coran's queries went unheard as he burst through the doors, raced across the room, and slapped his hand down on the control panel, sounding an emergency meeting alert throughout the Castle.

He was all but dancing on the spot from agitation by the time everyone arrived, their expressions ones of varying bewilderment. The last of them was barely in the door when he couldn't hold the question back any longer. "Why did using the Chaos aspect kill Blue for Alejandro but not for Fiorin?"

The others froze, staring at him in shock. Alejandro gaped at him, horror in his eyes, and then he wrapped shaking arms around himself. "I don't...you're right. Why? It makes no sense..." He trailed off, visibly rattled. "...You mean she didn't have to die?"

Hunk's heart nearly broke at the plaintiveness in the question. He shouldn't have dropped that on them like that, but he'd been so frazzled by the additional realization on top of everything else that all he could think of was that the others needed to know. It was an important question, and while instinct was more Keith's thing, he couldn't help feeling like it was one they really needed an answer to. "I don't know." He said quietly. "Maybe?"

Alejandro made a strangled sound and Kurogane and Colleen quickly stepped forward, each putting an arm around him. He jumped slightly, glancing over at the woman, but didn't pull away. She shot him a reassuring smile before looking back at Hunk. "How much do we know about these metaphysical aspects?"

"Not much." Kurogane admitted, glancing at her as he put a hand on his partner's shoulder. "Only the names of four of them, and descriptions of two of them in action."

"And the fact that using them killed our Lions." Alejandro's voice was barely a whisper. His eyes were closed, the strain of the day showing in his face.

Shiro frowned thoughtfully, crossing his arms. "Kurogane." The former red paladin's gaze snapped to the black paladin. "Didn't you two tell us that you learned about them from your timeline's Pidge? Holt?"

Kurogane nodded, frowning deeply. "Yes. She'd gone to Sh'raa H'ressnol looking for information that might help us. She sent us a message just as the planet came under attack. It got cut off before she could tell us anything more..." He trailed off, swallowing hard.

"So we need to go to Sh'raa H'ressnol, then. Find the same things she found." It was an obvious solution, and Hunk could only blame his frazzled nerves for letting him forget about Holt's final message. He really needed to go do some deep breathing exercises, even if right now he was so keyed up he felt like he was turning into Lance.

"Yes." This time it was Allura who spoke, her expression grim. "Fiorin's message stated that he and my father regrouped at Sh'raa H'ressnol after hiding their Lions. Clearly there is more there than any of us were previously aware of, and as important as this war is, these answers are also necessary. If there is a way to use the metaphysical aspects without causing harm to the Lions, we may be able to use them to give us an edge against the Galra Empire." Her hands were clasped tightly in front of her, but Hunk could see them shaking slightly as Coran rested a hand on her shoulder. She hesitated. Her eyes went to Kurogane, just for a moment. Then she added, "...If we have the time, I would also like to discover exactly what became of my father. What he did, and when he died." Behind her, her father's expression was grim, with a tightness to his eyes that Hunk had never seen him wear before.

"Of course. I think we all deserve some answers after all this, Princess." Matt shook his head, glancing at each of them in turn. "Once we're done at the Blades of Marmora, we'll go to Sh'raa H'ressnol. If we're going to find them anywhere, it looks like that's where they'll be."