After the announcment at SDCC of Shiro's ex-fiance Adam, I've been wracked with indecision over how to handle it in the story. Should I have Adashi be endgame the way I and much of the fandom felt it was going to be on the show? Or did I stick to my guns with the Shiro/Tactus pairing? Eventually, I came to a decision: I'm not going to ignore Adam's existence, but I'm going to embrace the fact that this is an AU fic and tweak the backstory a bit. Instead of being engaged, Adam could be Shiro's first boyfriend, who he broke up with amicably years before Kerberos. That way, I can include him in Shiro's backstory without feeling like I'm erasing their canon relationship in favor of my own pairings.

EDIT 12/21/18: I've completely reworked my plans for Lotor (especially because I'm not happy with how Season 8 handled Present Day him (Baby Lotor in every reality was adorable), so I had to make some adjustments based on my own personal theories that S8 did nothing to disprove.

Chapter 28: Operation Kuron:

Hyperion

Luna

March 24th, 2841

Operation Kuron.

That was what Allura had said Haggar's plan had been called. Shiro didn't care about the irony that the project's purpose was right in the name, or question how the Galra had even learned enough Japanese to use it. He imagined Haggar had seen his memories while they were being copied, but he didn't care to think about the details of what had been done to him. Words didn't begin to cover how violated he felt knowing that the Galra Empire had cloned him. It felt like they had stolen a piece of his soul, ripped a chunk out of him that he could never get back. They had cloned him.

Suddenly all his and Keith's questions and confusion regarding the timeline of his return to the team had been answered. All the contradictions in behavior made sense. He had never returned to the team at all. His clone wouldn't have the memories of his time in this era. The fact that Shiro could rest easy knowing nothing had happened to Tactus and he hadn't deliberately driven Keith away just to complete the time loop was comforting but was drowned out in the face of his own tumultuous thoughts.

Despite the anger he felt towards the empire, he couldn't find it in himself to hate his clone. While it was true that the clone had been subconsciously programmed to sew discord among the team, he still had all of Shiro's memories, and until Shiro and Keith returned from the past nobody, not even the clone himself, had noticed anything suspicious that couldn't be explained by the trauma of waking up back in the hands of the empire after their fight with Zarkon with no memory of what happened in between. The fact that the empire had taken a piece of his dna and copied it enough to grow a duplicate of him unnerved Shiro to his core, but he couldn't bring himself to hate his doppelganger.

Knowing that he and Keith would make it back had opened emotional wounds he'd thought had healed over a long time ago, forcing him to think about things he'd been trying to avoid thinking about ever since he'd first been captured. He'd locked up all those thoughts in a metaphorical box at the back of his mind, then tightened those metaphorical locks when he'd found himself stranded on Luna in this time. But now, hearing confirmation form Allura herself that he would make it back tore the locks open and left everything storming through his mind like a hurricane.

The implications of a time loop, that no matter the outcome of their war against the Galra Empire, the paladins of Voltron would be unable to prevent the rise of the Hiearchy of Color even if they managed to return to Earth incognito…

The impact he and his fellow Paladins had made on Earth's history…

His own personal turmoil aside, today had been a good day. All fifty-six capital ships of the Classis Plutus were now under the control of the Rising. Allura and the Voltron Coalition had promised to lend their support to the Solar Republic. The Rim-bound rebel fleet had reached Jupiter's orbit, and the Arcos family had reclaimed control of their estate on Europa, using their family castle to conquer the rest of the ocean moon. The Norvo fleet was continuing outward towards Triton, and rebel forces had gained control of communication satellites across the Rim, enabling rebel forces on the Jovian moons to coordinate their strikes. Sons of Ares forces on Triton, led by Sevro's aunt, Rhianna, had taken control of Triton's northern hemisphere and were waging war among the moons of Neptune.

After six months of slow-moving Society warships, it would take some time for Shiro to readjust to the high speeds of Altean technology again. He and Allura had left the Classis Plutus back in the Kuiper belt under the joint command of Tactus and the Sons of Ares, and after a five-minute flight, they were already approaching the Rubicon beacons, a sphere of transponders each floating one million kilometers beyond Earth's core. He'd prefer to be out in the field planning their liberation of the Rim, but to solidify a formal alliance between the Solar Republic and the Voltron Coalition, he and Keith needed to be there in person to vouch for Allura's intentions.

Keith and Tactus remained in the Kuiper belt consolidating their ships as Romelle and a team of engineers provided repairs, maintenance, and upgrades to the newly acquired hybrid fleet. He'd been able to establish contact with Mustang and the rest of their band of rebels on Luna and bring them up to speed on the latest development. Unfortunately, Sevro had been out of contact on the front lines at Endymion with Darrow, so Shiro had asked Mustang to relay the message to the new Ares that his mother was alive. When she heard her husband's fate, and that her son was one of the leaders of the rebellion, Bryn had insisting on returning to Luna with them so she could reunite with the only family she had left.

"What else do I need to know?" Shiro asked as the Altean Princess sat with him in the pod's storage area. Bryn sat awkwardly to the side, aware of the history the two shared but not sure whether she should be a part of the conversation. Allura offered Shiro a sad smile, understanding what he was thinking. According to the princess, he and Keith returned from the future right after the Battle of Naxzela, with Tactus, Cassius, and Lysander in tow. They'd exposed the existence of Operation Kuron, but other than Allura's vague comments about secrets they wouldn't have discovered otherwise,

"I can't tell you everything," she answered. "As much as I want to, there are some things that we need to discover on our own in order to preserve the time stream."

"Can you at least tell me what you can share?" he asked again. "The things you find out from Keith and I, at least?"

"Lotor is half-Altean," she began. "The son of Zarkon and Honerva. A century or so after the fall of Altea, he sought out the survivors. The Alteans who had been off-world when our planet was destroyed. He created a refuge for them, where they could hide from the Empire, and from his father. While he did the best he could, his efforts to protect our people as a whole resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent Alteans. We were all horrified to learn of that at first, but the direction of the war soon forced me to realize that he'd been in a position where he had no choice that wouldn't leave blood on his hands. It took until we left for Oriande for you and Keith to convince him to tell us about the colony and come clean about what he'd done."

"I'll keep that in mind," Shiro commented. "What else can you tell me?"

"You and your friends from this era managed to rescue Pidge and Matt's father.

"What about the lion swapping?" he asked.

"That was complicated for a while," Allura said. "Ryou was more than willing to step down and return the Black Lion to you, but for the first few movements, you chose to strike out with your Gold friends to target specific installations based on the information I give you before you go back, taking advantage of the fact that you could be in two places at once to confuse the Empire's intelligence." Shiro had to chuckle at that.

"Keith went back to the Blade of Marmora for a mission to extract his mother from her undercover assignment on the Empire's borders. After my journey to Oriande and the Alteans' exodus from the hidden colony, the flight roster reverted back to how it was when we first met. I stepped back from piloting to concentrate on leading my people, coordinating with the Coalition, and practicing the alchemical knowledge I'd gained. Ryou stepped away from piloting the Black Lion and joined your friends on their combat missions while you returned to the Black Lion. After Keith and his mother returned to the castle with Romelle, he returned to the Red Lion, and Lance stepped back into Blue."

Shiro nodded in acknowledgement, still processing his thoughts on that. On the one hand, he missed the feeling of sitting in the Black Lion's cockpit. But on the other hand, the team had grown so much without him there, and he felt bad about forcing Allura out of a role she'd grown used to over many months.

"I'm sorry you had to step away from being a Paladin," he said. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't be," Allura replied. "It had been my choice…" Her voice trailed off sadly, and it took Shiro a second to realize that it wasn't because of the Lion situation.

"Of course," she went on sadly. "I did become the Blue Paladin again after Lance passed away." Shiro was on the verge of demanding to know who had killed him when he realized that Allura's word choice didn't indicate their friend had been killed in combat. It was funny how easily he forgot that the Princess was close to a thousand years old by now. She would outlive all the human paladins, whether they died in battle or from old age. "It's humbling to know that for a species so quick to grow old, you all selflessly help brighten the universe for the brief moment you shine," she finished. And after a statement like that, Shiro couldn't stop himself from giving the alien princess a hug.

As he lay back in the cargo bay, he found himself thinking of his first boyfriend, Adam. They had broken up years before Kerberos, but like the old saying went, one never forget their first love. Despite their breakup, he and Adam still cared about each other, maintaining a friendship they'd built up from flying together for years. What he had with Tactus was different from what he'd had with Adam – and not just because his and Tactus' relationship was steeped in the insanity of this entire rebellion – but he could imagine spending the rest of his life with the Rath scion. If they ever returned to Earth, Shiro would have to see about brining Adam and his husband with them. Shiro and Adam had promised years ago to be Best Men at each other's weddings, and since Shiro had done so for Adam, the Black Paladin had a feeling it would be Adam's turn eventually.

"Princess, we're being hailed," the Altean pilot announced over the intercom. Shiro could imagine every ship in Luna's orbit locking their guns on the alien spaceship until they determined what it was and if it was a threat. Allura patched him into the coms in time to hear a ripWing patrol demand that they identify themselves.

"This is Commander Terranova of the Rising," he answered, taking the lead to ensure that they would have landing clearance. For added measure, he opened the channel to display their message visually, ignoring the questioning glance Allura shot him at the continued use of his Aureate alias. His gauntlet displayed the corresponding image of the Blue currently aiming its guns at their ship. "I'm coming with an extraterrestrial delegation to negotiate terms of an alliance with the Republic." The woman's eyes widened

"What can never die?" she asked. Shiro immediately recognized the code phrase. It was lewd for his taste, but it was an effective in joke that only the people who were supposed to know it would understand.

"The fungus under Ares' sack," he answered with an embarrassed grin.

"Welcome back to Luna sir," the Blue replied with a smile. "Sorry about the verification code. Just needed to make sure it was really you."

"No need to apologize," Shiro said. "I understand completely. Could you please let the Sovereign know I've arrived? She should be expecting me by now."

"Yes sir!" the woman recited before signing off. A minute later, another transmission came through with landing clearance and directions to a landing pad on the grounds of the Citadel. Alright, he thought to himself as he felt the ship shudder from the landing. Time to go be a diplomat.

I will try to get back to my usual schedule of updating every Saturday and Monday this weekend. The next chapter will be focused on Mustang reflecting on her relationship with her brother while she visits him in prison, followed by a Darrow chapter.