Day Seven! Yay! This is pretty stupid but I tried.

Alfor

Keith sat on his bed in the Castle of Lions. His reflection was staring back up at him. The blade symbol glinted blue on the hilt. Keith sighed and shoved it under his pillow. He leaned back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Red has been talking to Keith almost all day. Connecting with him for no reason.

Their bond wasn't growing stronger, Red was just connecting with him for a certain amount of time. Keith rolled on his bed, staring at the the opposite wall. It was about four vargas after bedtime but something was keeping Keith up. He heard a growl in the back of his mind and sat up. "What is it, Red?" Keith asked to open space. Red didn't reply until five dobashes later. Keith got the strange feeling of an intruder in the castle.

Keith grabbed his blade and walked out his door. The hallways were softly glowing with blue. All the other rooms were silent, just snores coming from both Hunk and Coran's room.

Keith walked down the hall, and turned a corner. His knife securely in hand, he walked to the bridge. As he arrived in the bridge, he sat down in his seat and opened the cameras. He scrolled through the screens until he got to the red hangar. It was static, a reddish glow covering his vision. Keith squinted trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

The cameras were breaking up so much, Keith saw two Reds. One standing on its respective platform and the other was slightly blocking the camera. Keith shut off the screens, grabbing his knife and making his way down to the hangar. Why were there two Reds in the hangar? Maybe he should let Pidge check it out tomorrow.

He arrived in front of the doors and scanned his hand. The doors whizzed open and Keith was faced with the Red Lion. It was looking down at him but something was wrong. It's eyes... they were blue.

"Red?" Keith questioned as Red growled down at him. "What's the matter, Red? It's -" He choked on his words as his nightmare came back to the forefront of his mind. This was a dream, it was the only possible explanation. He was about to leave when someone caught his attention. Standing at the foot of the lion was an... altean?

He had shoulder length, white hair, a beard and blue eyes. Blueish-green markings at the corners of his eyes. He was wearing red paladin armor, the helmet secure under his right arm. His bayard was in the other. Keith drew his blade up and glared at the altean. It was probably just a disguise. But the altean seemed so familiar. "What are you doing here?" Keith growled.

"This is my castle!" the altean replied. "And you are trespassing." Red growled harder, sounding more like a roar. Keith glanced behind blue-eyed-red and froze. Red was looking at him, glowing yellow eyes and all. The altean seemed to follow his gaze, but snapped it back after it landed on the other lion. "What is this? Why have you brought it here?"

Keith turned his attention back to the altean. "I don't know who you are or how you got here -" he raised his blade. "-but you better leave. Now."

"I don't take commands in my own castle," the altean hissed back.

"Your castle!?" then it hit him. King Alfor. Keith has seen a portrait of him in Coran's room. This was King Alfor of Altea. But how? The A.I was corrupted and shut off. How was he here? "Your King Alfor?" Keith asked cautiously, stepping back. Part of his mind yelled at him that this was just a dream, but part of Keith knew this was real.

"Yes," Alfor replied, bringing up his weapon. "What do you intend to do in my castle? And why is this clone here?" he gestured toward the lion with yellow eyes.

Keith blinked at him. This couldn't be Alfor. "I'm Keith. Paladin of the Red Lion."

Alfor coked up an eyebrow, "Paladin? Of the Red Lion?" Behind him, Blue Eyes growled in curiosity. Keith was really disappointed that Original Red didn't do anything yet. "How's that possible?"

"What's impossible is you being here," Keith said. "You died 10,000 years ago."

Alfor finally lowered the broad sword, shrinking it back to the regular bayard. Keith lowered his blade to his side, gripping the hilt firmly. "What are you on about?"

"Altea was destroyed 10,000 years ago, how are you here?" Keith asked. Original Red finally decided to move, getting off the platform and growling at Alfor. Alfor looked back at Original Red while Blue Eyes kept his gaze on Keith.

Alfor looked down in confusion. "How... what... how is this possible? How has it been 10,000 years?"

Keith looked back up at Original Red and then back at Blue Eyes. "What happened? Before you got here? Can you remember?"

Alfor looked down in concentration. "The other Paladins and I... we were in the middle of a battle. We were forming Voltron when... I arrived here." He looked at Keith with a quizzical look. "That's it. Nothing logical about it."

"Your like... from the past?" Keith asked, subconsciously sheathing his blade. "But that's…" Keith looked up at Blue Eyes. "Maybe it has something to do with the comet."

Alfor looked up at Blue Eyes. He yelped in surprise, "What - What happened to Red's eyes?"

"You mean you didn't notice earlier?" Keith asked. "It's pretty clear."

Alfor shook his head, "I just got out of the lion when you showed up. There… could've been some sort of mix up with the red lion but... it could fly you 10,000 years into the future? This is just insane." Realisation crossed his features and he spun around. "What happened to Allura? And Mellanor?"

"Mellanor?" Keith asked, he yelped slightly when the doors closed behind him. He straightened up and continued. "Who now?"

"Mellanor, my wife. And Allura -"

Keith waved him off. "I know who Princess Allura is. And Coran. But I don't know a Mellanor."

Alfor nodded, "She... She must've died during the events of Altea. And Allura? Where is she?"

Keith pointed vaguely behind him, "She's somewhere in the castle. Sleeping. She's okay though. She's a diplomat, saving the universe against Zarkon."

Alfor's eyes widened. "A-against... Zarkon? What do you mean 'saving the universe against Zarkon'?"

Keith crossed his arms, "Well... I don't exactly know what happened. I just know that Zarkon became bad and is now conquering the known universe. He's after quintessence. And the black lion, it seems." Alfor looked back at Blue Eyes, who purred affectionately down at him. Keith knew this was a different Red from a different time, but he couldn't help glowering at the exchange. He looked at Original Red for comfort.

"So, he was driven mad with quintessence," Alfor finally spoke up. "I knew this would happen. He just wouldn't listen to me when I told him to close up the rift."

Keith didn't know what he was talking about but nodded in understanding anyway. "We better get you back to your time. Do you know anything magicy you can do to shoot yourself back 10,000 years? Back into your battle?"

Alfor looked up thoughtfully, "I can try something. It might work. I don't know if it will." He looked back up at Keith. "It's worth a shot."

XXX

Keith felt dizzy and he was not in the mood to fight this monster anymore. As it turned out, Alfor's plan did work, but now he was back 10,000 years as well. The plan was to get into their Red Lion and connect with them. They had to focus on the energy of the lions. It actually worked, but with a cost. Voltron couldn't take the beast down and apparently, neither could an extra lion.

When he got too close, the beast would swing its tail and bounce him into a wall. Voltron would take action and the beast would dodge their attacks.

"Keith, are you alright?" Alfor called over the comms.

Keith coughed and pushed his hair out of his face. "I'm fine. How do we beat this thing?"

Zarkon, who Keith wasn't comfortable around and who was still very confused by the extra lion, spoke over the comms. "Voltron and Keith can't take this thing down. But we can't leave the citizens to die. Alfor, do you have any call on what to do?"

"I'm not sure," Alfor replied. "Red isn't responding and six unstoppable lions can't take it down. And before you say anything Blaytz, alchemy might not help in this matter."

"Maybe there's something Alfor and I could do," Keith spoke over the comms. "This creature has used a lot of water in its methods, if we can just distract it enough, maybe we could get a clear shot at its mouth." He pulled the pedals back as the creature shot another column of water at him.

"Alright," Zarkon replied. "I'll trust you on this, disband!"

Keith watched as Voltron scattered and Alfor joined Keith's side. Blue Eyes looked a lot more like Original Red, so his new name was now Past Red. Keith didn't make the rules. "Okay, let's do this!"

Past Red sped up behind the creature and used his lasers to the back of its head. Keith pulled Red to face the creature from the front. He took a risky shot for its face, but it easily hid itself with a barrier. The other lions gathered in the sky as covering fire.

"I have an idea!" Alfor called over the comms. "It uses his mouth for the barrier. If you can shoot long enough, maybe I can come in from the side."

"Alright," Keith called over the comms, pulling away from the creature's strike. "Zarkon, Trigel, Blaytz and…"

"Gyrgan," the yellow paladin replied.

"Yeah! You pin its tail down as long as you can," Keith finished off.

"On it!" Trigel called, speeding down with Green.

"Woohoo!" Blaytz called as he pulled Blue in a nosedive.

"Let's do this!" Gyrgan called as he spun down in Yellow.

Zarkon wordlessly pulled down in Black. On cue, they shot at the large serpent's tail. Before it could turn to them, Keith shot a column of fire at the serpent's head. It opened its mouth on instinct, building up a wall of water. Its tail was stuck under the heavy fire, making it stay on the ground. Alfor jumped off the ground and went to the side of it's head. Opening Red's jaw, fire shot into the serpent's mouth.

The creature dropped the barrier and roared. Smoke coiled from its mouth and its scales started heating up with a yellow glow. "I think that's our signal to get out of here!" Trigel called over the comms. Keith followed the other paladins away from the chaos.

As soon as they were far enough, they heard the creature combust with one last shriek. The lions turned around and saw no remnants remained behind.

"We did it!" Blaytz called in victory after a moment's silence. After their cheers of victory was over, even Keith couldn't help the laugh that escaped his mouth, Alfor turned the conversation serious again.

"Our mission isn't over yet. Once we tell the planet's occupants that they are safe from harm's way, we have to get Keith back to his own time."

"How do we do that?" Trigel asked.

"This might be simpler actually," Alfor said. "We can go back to Altea and find out what to do there. Or maybe Honerva might know."

There was silence for a while before Zarkon replied, "Perhaps. Let's finish what we need to do here and go to Daibazaal. Honerva might be the best choice now."

XXX

The paladins were definitely confused about Keith's appearance. He couldn't blame them. They haven't discovered humans yet. They arrived on Daibazaal after a cheerful celebration from the Arusions, and came into a sort of study.

An altean with grey hair and red markings stood in front of a monitor. She turned around at the sound of the door and froze. "Who is this?" she asked, regarding Keith. After a quick introduction and explanation about Keith, Honerva regarded him with a curious look. "I have an idea what you can do. Who is your bond the strongest with, back in your time."

"Shiro," Keith said. "He's the leader."

Honerva nodded. Something about her was very familiar. "Alright, if this doesn't work, the others will report to me. Once you are in your lion, bond through the lion to the black lion from your time. To make your point across of which one, think of this man you call Shiro."

"Will that work?" Blaytz asked.

"I don't know, but we should try," Honerva said.

Keith nodded. "Okay. I have to get back to the other paladins right now. So we need to hurry."

They left the study and before Keith entered Red, he hesitated and turned to Alfor. "I wish Allura could've met you again. She and Coran are the only alteans left in the future. She shut off your A.I a while ago, but she's still grieving. It would've been great for her to see you again."

Alfor nodded. "She seemed to have come a long way. A diplomat. Keeping the universe safe. No matter what she does, she always will make me proud. Try and tell her that. Without sounding suspicious about all of this."

Keith chuckled, "Yeah. I will. Now I need to hurry. If Shiro doesn't find me in the castle, he might just tear up the entire universe looking for me."

Alfor laughed, "I hope this works."

"Me too," Keith walked up into the lion. He sat down in the cockpit seat and touched the pedals. He closed his eyes and focused on the connection again. As soon as he was able to get deep enough into Red's mind, he concentrated on the Black Lion. The future black lion. As instructed, he thought of Shiro, waiting in the black hangar.

When he opened his eyes, he was back in the Red hangar. He heard a door open somewhere outside the lion and saw Shiro run in.

"Keith! Keith, where are you!?" He called, looking around the hangar. Keith jumped out of the chair and ran out of the red lion. As soon as Shiro saw him, he visibly relaxed. "There you are. We tried calling you over the comms, checking the cameras and we were looking everywhere! Where have you been?"

Keith waved vaguely. "Just out for a flight. Calm down, it's not like I went battling unstoppable creatures." Only one, Keith thought.

Shiro nodded, "Okay, okay. I... thought you might've taken Red out for a bit, but I wasn't sure. C'mon, training is about to start."

Keith groaned, "I should've slept inside the lion."