Author's Note: Hello all! No spoilers here, but wow...Season 7 was an emotional rollercoaster and I loved it! But anyways, here's another chapter for you.

**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!


Mari was gone.

She was gone, she was gone, damn it all she was gone!

Keith's head was abuzz with this awful truth, his heart racing and his jaw clenched tightly as he stumbled towards the Green Lion's cockpit entrance. The horrible reality that had unfolded before him just moments ago replayed itself over and over again in his mind, that creature's ugly hands closing around Mari's neck and arm like a vise before dragging her into whatever spell that allowed it to teleport. She had disappeared right along with that hooded freak and now neither were anywhere to be found in the quintessence chamber.

His anger and increasing despair fueling him, Keith burst into the cockpit, causing Hunk and Lance to startle and earning him a concerned look from Pidge.

"Where's Mari?" she asked, glancing behind him only to see that he was alone. Her eyes slid down to the retractable staff that he was clutching in his hand and they widened in alarm before flicking back up to Keith's face, looking for an explanation.

"That thing took her," he briefed, struggling to keep the franticness out of his voice and keep it level. "He—He just grabbed her and disappeared with her."

"What?!" Lance shrilled, standing straighter and taking a step closer to Keith, panic contorting his usually relaxed features. "Where'd he take her? If she's still on the base we can't just leave her!"

"I know! I know!" Keith huffed as he brushed past Lance and hurried to stand behind the pilot's chair. "Pidge can you find her? Scan for her or something?"

"I'm already on it!" she relayed, her fingers flying over Green's control panels. "I'm tracking her helmet's signal right now!"

Behind them, Hunk had begun wringing his hands together anxiously, whimpering to himself, "Oh no, oh no. This is not good, man. Not good at all! Mari's gone to who knows where, and—oh holy crow, Shiro's gonna murder us all if we don't find her! I just know it!"

Shiro…Holy crow, that's right! They still had to extract him and Allura, Keith realized. But Mari…What about her? Lance was right, they couldn't just abandon her if she was still trapped somewhere inside the hub. But Shiro and Allura were waiting for them! They needed to get to that ship and help them escape before they were both captured or killed. And their team really couldn't afford to lose their Black Paladin nor their wormhole-making pilot of the Castle of Lions. Mari on the other hand was expendable, and a hot pool of guilt settled in Keith's stomach.

Shiro would be so disappointed in him if he ever shared that thought. According to their leader, they were all one big happy family that loved and protected each other equally. But no matter what Shiro said about everyone being cherished and treated the same, Mari was really the only one of them that was actually his blood kin and that automatically put her on a higher level of importance than the rest of them. As much as it pained Keith to admit it, she was Shiro's real family, not him or anyone else. And because of that, insuring Mari's well-being would always be Shiro's top priority. He would never abandon her, never even consider sacrificing her for the greater good.

"I found her location!" Pidge's voice abruptly yanked Keith out of his churning thoughts. "She's somewhere on the same ship as Shiro and Allura!"

"What are we waiting for then?" Lance exclaimed, gesturing madly towards the front window. "Let's go get them all in one fell swoop!"

The Green Lion leaped through the opening it had created in the roof just minutes beforehand and circled around the base towards the docked Galran ship. The cruiser's engines were glowing dimly as it powered up and prepared for departure via hyper-speed, and just before it shot forward into oblivion, an escape pod zipped out of one of the hangars. Even as it floated slowly towards the Green Lion, a lump formed in Keith's throat as he realized with dread that they were too late. Shiro and Allura had been able to escape, but Mari…there was no way that she would have been able to meet up with them in such a short amount of time. Shiro and Allura didn't even know that she had been captured and taken onto the ship. The highlighted dot that had been blinking on Pidge's screen just seconds ago, alerting them of Mari's location, had blipped out of existence as the signal was lost.

"No!" Pidge and Lance screamed in unison, and Pidge even slammed an angry fist down on her controls. Hunk looked terrified to the point of tears and Keith's grip on the retractable staff tightened until his knuckles turned white.

Mari was gone.

God, Shiro really was going to kill them.

As the Green Lion allowed the Galran escape pod to enter through the hatch in its underbelly, the tension grew thicker in the air and there was a building sense of dread as everyone waited for their two leaders to enter the cockpit only to see that one of their team was missing. The dull thump of a set of heavy footsteps sounded just outside of the doors and Keith swallowed thickly as they slid open and Shiro entered alone, looking tired and distraught. He shuffled towards the group, refusing to look at any one of them as he placed one hand on Pidge's headrest to steady himself. His eyes were closed and he was inhaling sharply as he tried to even out his breathing.

"Shiro?" Lance finally asked quietly, his tone hesitant and cautious. "Are you okay? Where's Allura?"

Shiro exhaled shakily and his grip on the chair tightened. "No, I…Allura, she—she sacrificed herself to save me," he finally admitted quietly, his voice strained and low.

"So, she's still on that ship too?" Pidge questioned and Shiro's eyes cracked open.

"What do you mean 'too'?" he said, his frown deepening as he looked at her. Pidge immediately blanched and her lips pressed together into a thin line before she quickly faced forward, unwilling to meet his gaze as her eyes began to water.

"That ship that Allura's on—the one heading to Zarkon's Central Command right as we speak? Mari is…on it too," Hunk provided, his voice coming out small and timid, and he flinched as Shiro jerked upwards and stumbled backwards several steps.

"WHAT?" Their leader's eyes were wide as they frantically scanned the room, his lips mouthing the numbers one through four as he counted the others in the cockpit. Keith, Lance, Pidge, Hunk, all present and accounted for and staring at him with a mixture of fear, guilt, and pity in their eyes. Allura was gone. Mari was gone. Their team was two members short, and Shiro's heart clenched in terror.

"Right before we were boarding Green, someone—something took her," Keith hurriedly explained, his eyes just barely meeting Shiro's. "It grabbed her and, like, teleported or something with her onto the battleship."

"What, like magic?" Lance asked and Keith just shook his head unsurely, glaring at the ground angrily as his fists trembled.

The color from Shiro's face drained away in an instant. "It was one of them," he muttered, his head beginning to throb dully and his prosthetic aching where flesh met metal. "It was one of those bastards! Dammit! No, no…"

He gasped loudly as a sharp pain laced up his right shoulder and his vision swam. His head pounded intensely, like someone was hammering the inside of his skull. He felt himself drop to one knee and the others cried out their concerns as they hovered around him, trying to figure out how to help. But their voices went unheard as Shiro's ears rang and he squeezed his eyes shut, wishing desperately for the pain to go away. When he reopened them, the Green Lion's cockpit had melted away around him and he was in a chamber with dark gray walls and bright purple overhead lights shining down on him. His limbs were strapped tightly to a cold metal bed, rendering him completely immobile. On either side of him were two trolleys that held an array of surgical instruments and small vials containing multicolored liquids. They gleamed in the purple-tinged atmosphere and Shiro's heart nearly leapt into his throat just looking at them. He could smell the awful lingering scent of antiseptic in the air and the sudden taste of iron on his tongue made his stomach churn.

Holy crow, holy crow he was back, he realized vaguely. Back in those damn Galra labs. No, no, no, he couldn't be back!

His breath was coming in short gasps and Shiro tried thrashing desperately against his restraints, but they wouldn't give. His forehead was beaded with sweat and his eyes widened as those unnerving masked creatures hovered over him, their gnarled and cold hands holding him in place as the sound of a screeching power saw abruptly filled his ears. There was a sickening crunching noise and a mortified scream escaped his lips as the entire right side of his body flared with pain. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes, and a chillingly familiar laugh echoed off the walls of the room as he felt a hand gently card through his hair and caress his face.

Zarkon's wretched witch manifested over him, her narrowed yellow eyes glinting savagely and her grin showing off her sharp fangs. "My dear Champion," she purred fondly and he shuddered as she reached out to touch him again.

"—hiro! Shiro!"

Shiro gasped like a fish out of water, his breathing labored as Keith's voice suddenly cut through the flashback and pulled him back to reality. He was back in the Green Lion's cockpit, sitting hunched over on the floor with his head clutched in his hands, his right one glowing faintly as it gradually deactivated. Keith was kneeling down beside him, one hand on Shiro's back and the other on his bicep to help steady him. Keith's brow was furrowed and his blue-gray eyes shined with fear and concern as they stayed trained on their leader. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge wore similar expressions, each of them hesitantly hovering over him.

"Shiro," Keith said again, softer this time. "What wrong? Are you okay?"

Inhaling deeply to steel himself some, Shiro swallowed. "I-I'm fine," he stammered, his voice cracked and wavering. He cleared his throat and nodded, repeating more clearly this time, "I'm fine, just…I'm fine now."

The Black Paladin's helmet sat on the floor nearby, having been abandoned. Shiro couldn't recall for the life of him when he had yanked it off, and he mutely reached for it and placed it back on his dully throbbing head. He moved to stand up on slightly shaking legs, but Keith instantly pushed him back down to sit.

"Rest for a bit," he murmured. It wasn't an order but it wasn't a suggestion either. Sighing, Shiro chose not to argue and sat back against the wall as his nerves calmed. The others were silent as Pidge drove them closer and closer to the Castle, their morale low as they wondered how to proceed.

Finally, Lance voiced the question that was on all their minds. "So what's the plan for getting Allura and Mari back?"

"It's too late to go after that ship," Shiro admitted grimly, sitting up straighter and his expression rigid as he addressed the team as a whole. "We're going to have to attack the Galran Central Command."

"What?" Hunk squeaked, his complexion paling.

"That's way too dangerous!" Pidge pitched in.

"It doesn't matter how dangerous it is," Shiro stated firmly. "We can't leave them with Zarkon."

"But you said going there would be a huge mistake," Hunk protested. "You said for us to attack that place head-on would be the dumbest possible thing we could ever do."

Shiro's hands clenched into fists as he struggled to remain calm. Allura, Voltron's princess and essential heart of the team, and Mari, his sister and a human ally of the Voltron Paladins…both girls differed in rank, but they were still so dear to Shiro. They were both special and just as important to him as the other wonderfully gifted individuals on their team. And now they were in the hands of those monsters, of the bitch that had stolen his arm and inflicted a years worth of torture and agony upon him. Who knows what she and the rest of Zarkon's minions could do—would do to Allura and Mari in the time that it would take the rest of them to figure out a plan of attack.

A flash of white-hot anger surged through Shiro's veins at the thought of it all, and he grit his teeth as he pulled himself to his feet. "I know," he almost growled in response to Hunk's points. "But now we don't have any other choice."


Returning to the realm of consciousness, a soft moan escaped Mari's lips as she pried open her eyes. Her entire body felt heavy, and as she weakly lifted herself up off the floor into a sitting position, pins and needles prickled her numb limbs. She blinked twice at the chunky metal cuffs that had been placed around her wrists before carefully taking in her surroundings, her head still a bit fuzzy on what had happened and what was currently going on.

The room she was in was dark save for the dimply glowing lamps embedded high in the wall. There was one door with a slit at the top on one side of the room, but other than that there were no windows and no furniture whatsoever in the enclosed area. She was pretty sure there were no rooms in the Castle of Lions that resembled the one she was now trapped in, and her breath caught in her throat as the last hour came rushing back to her.

She had gone to stop Keith from wandering around the Galran hub alone, only to end up accompanying him as he trailed the magic-using, masked creep in the robes. There had been fighting, a lot of purple lighting and smoke, and then just as Pidge came to their rescue, the hooded guy had grabbed her and whisked her away to who knows where.

Mari's heart beat sped up and her breathing was on the verge of becoming panicked gasps. Her hands flew to her hips to grasp her weapon for reassurance, but her fingers only closed around empty air. That's right, Keith had picked up her staff before boarding Green. Dammit.

Okay, calm down, Mariko, she tried to console herself, moving to sit cross-legged and tucking her bound hands in her lap. You won't gain anything from having a freak out. Patience yields focus, right? Take a deep breath and assess your situation.

She glanced around the empty room again and pursed her lips together. The lack of furnishings and door panels suggested that she was in a cell of some sort, definitely of Galran design. But was she on a ship or was she still stuck in the hub? She had no way of knowing with how long she had been out.

Whatever. That doesn't really matter now, she told herself, impatiently beginning to drum her fingers against her shins. What really matters is how to get out.

Someone was bound to come for her at some point, she was sure. Even without a weapon, Mari figured she could take down a sentry or two barehanded even if her hands had been tied. She could tackle them and wretch their blasters away, right? But if there was more than a couple of those or if one of those robed guys ended up being on the other side of the cell door, she knew running let alone pulling off a successful escape would be impossible.

Okay, so what else could she do? Her helmet was still on her person, maybe she could send a transmission out to the Castle? She activated her visor and it flickered to life, casting a gentle teal blue glow over her body.

"Castle of Lions, come in," she barely uttered into the mics, but her demand was met with scrambled static and a red error sign popped up on screen to indicate that she had no signal.

"Dammit!" she hissed, unable to hold her flaring temper back and slapping her palms furiously against the floor. The sound echoed dully around the room and she let out a loud sigh as she leaned back against the wall.

"…Mari? Is—Is that you?"

Mari bolted upright at the sound of the princess's voice coming from directly behind her, and she spun around to gape at the wall. "Allura?" she whispered incredulously, knocking twice on the chunk of metal separating them. "What are you doing here?"

"I could be asking you the same thing," she replied bitterly from her own cell. "I was captured trying to depart the Galran ship Shiro and I snuck aboard."

"So that's where we are right now? On the ship heading for Zarkon's HQ?"

"I'm afraid so."

Mari's heart froze. "Wait, what about my brother? Is he here too?"

"Shiro's safe, I promise," Allura assured her. "I threw him on an escape pod. It was either him or me and there was no way I was allowing both of us to be caught, so…I chose him."

An involuntary sigh of relief escaped Mari's lips. At least all of the paladins had escaped, meaning forming Voltron was still a possibility.

"But what about you? How and why the quiznak are you here?" Allura demanded, not even bothering to hide the anger in her voice.

"Keith…kinda split up from the group to investigate and I kinda followed him. And long story short, some creep in a mask and robe took me," Mari mumbled guilty and Allura groaned.

"No…Mari—"

"But hey! On the bright side, we found out what that base was being used for," she quickly added. "They're storing and converting a ton of quintessence there."

"That is not good," Allura murmured grimly. "I knew there was something more to that place."

There was the slight sound of shifting armor and shuffling footsteps as Allura sat down and leaned against the wall of her cell. A tired sigh escaped her lips, and Mari fumbled over what to say next.

"I tried to contact the Castle but my comms can't get a signal," she finally said, resting her head back until it touched the hard metal between them.

"As are mine. Our signals are being purposely blocked, no doubt," Allura surmised. "But even if we could reach the Castle, what good would that do us? I'm sure the paladins have already figured out where you are and they know exactly where we are headed."

"Do you think they'll come for us?" Mari wondered aloud despite already knowing the answer. "Even though it's going to be crazy dangerous attacking the Galran HQ head on?"

"If they know what's good for them, then they won't," Allura huffed a little harsher than intended. "The fate of the universe rests in Voltron's hands. The paladins would be fools to bring it straight to Zarkon."

Mari hesitated, bringing her knees up to her chest and hugging them tightly as she mulled over the princess's words. The logical side of her agreed with Allura: it would be incredibly stupid of their team to challenge the emperor himself and at his home base, no less. Even with all their training, the paladins were still inexperienced in their fights, and the Castle of Lions could only provide so much support before its defensive systems started to shut down. But the thought of her and Allura being forever stuck in Zarkon's possession, at the mercy of the Galra and subjected to endless torture, made Mari's heart clench in fear and tears sting in her eyes. She didn't want to be a prisoner abandoned by her comrades, by her newfound friends, by her own brother, and she was sure as hell Allura didn't want that either.

"Is it really foolish to want to save your friends? To want to save your family?" Mari murmured quietly, but before Allura could respond the entire ship shuttered as it came to a halt. They had reached the heart of the Galra Empire, Zarkon's Central Command.

A series of heavy footsteps resounded in the halls, growing louder and louder as whoever—or whatever—was outside approached their cell doors. Allura let out a miffed if not mildly panicked "quiznak" and the two hurriedly scrambled to their feet as the footfalls stopped in front of the princess's chamber. Through the walls, Mari could hear the soft beeping and whoosh of the door as it unlocked and slid open, followed by a raspy female voice ordering coldly, "Come with me."

Allura said nothing in reply and Mari assumed she was complying for now. There were more footsteps as the princess was guided out of her cell and Mari froze in place as a figure suddenly blocked the light entering through the slit in her door. There was a long pause as whoever was peering in at her observed her, making her blood boil and her skin crawl in a combination of anger and fear.

"Who is this human you brought?" the same scratchy female voice demanded of another individual that had accompanied her to help escort the princess. "A paladin of one of the Voltron lions?"

"No, High Priestess, Haggar," a male replied, his tone just as chilling and eerie sounding. "She was fighting alongside the Red Paladin, but she seems to be just a mere ally of theirs."

"Then why did you bring her?" the woman—Haggar— spat in dismay. "I have no interest or use for such a pathetic and weak creature. Dispose of her!"

"Her quintessence is like the Champion's," he intervened cooly. "It is almost identical to his."

The High Priestess was silent for several ticks and Mari swallowed nervously, waiting with bated breath for her to respond. Finally, the locking mechanism on her cell door clicked and green-tinted light poured into the room as it opened. Standing there blocking the way of escape were three of the mask-wearing creatures along with Allura trapped between them. Her skin had returned to its normal color but she was still wearing the rather large uniform of the Galran officer. Her brow was furrowed and her bright blue eyes glanced nervously between Mari and Haggar, who was stepping deeper into the cell towards the human girl.

Unlike the other masked beings, the High Priestess was much shorter and her robe was fairly different in design. She still had a hood draped over her head, but she wore no mask, allowing Mari to see her long white hair, bluish skin, and the two red vertical markings that ran from her glowing yellow eyes all the way down to her chin. The aura she gave off was dangerous and unnerving and Mari reflexively took a cautious step back from the woman. This seemed to amuse Haggar to some degree as the corners of her mouth twitched upwards for a second.

She looked the human up and down contemplatively for a moment, her sharp eyes practically piercing Mari's soul before they came to a stop on her face. Narrowed gold bored into unsteady gray and a hint of shocked recognition flashed across the priestess's features. But she quickly recovered, her frown returning as she repeated what she had said to Allura.

"Come with me."


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