**Shoutout to Ishval and BearFangDK for leaving reviews last chapter! Thank you so, so much for sharing your opinions and feedback! :D

**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!


Everything was enveloped in an inky blackness, the frigid air numbing her limbs. A pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared in front of her and they narrowed as they locked onto her presence, a ragged laugh echoing through the darkness as they did so. Those eyes belonged to someone that would bring her harm. They were the eyes of an enemy, of a true monster. She was afraid of those eyes, of the malevolent intent that was evident in their gaze. She had to get away from them. She had to run. But her body wasn't cooperating. It wouldn't move no matter how hard she tried.

The eyes were moving towards her now, piercing into her soul and setting it on fire as they began to close the gap between them. The chilling laughter grew louder, more chaotic, and her panic escalated. She knew she was going to die if those eyes reached her, and she cried out in desperation for help, for someone to get her away from those hostile golden orbs before they completely consumed her and turned her to ash.

Suddenly, the screeching laughter stopped and the eyes disappeared. The coldness that was hindering her movement was receding, and she could feel herself falling forward at an alarming rate. She braced herself for the inevitable collision with the hard surface of a floor, but instead, her face was buried in something soft and warm and smelling faintly of cinnamon. It was comforting and felt familiar and safe, until whatever had caught her began squeezing the air out of her.

"Mari! Oh my gosh, holy crow! Thank goodness you're okay!" a kind voice bellowed above her, his tone radiating relief and joy.

"H-Hunk…can't…breathe," she wheezed, and the pressure around her torso instantly disappeared, allowing her to suck in a deep breath.

"Heh heh, sorry about that," he apologized sheepishly. "I'm just so glad you're all right."

Mari cracked open her eyes and blinked several times to let her vision come into focus. Hunk was grinning widely and hovering over her, his large and gentle hands firmly holding her shoulders to keep her steady as feeling slowly returned to her legs. She glanced sluggishly around the room and noted that Allura, Coran, Pidge, and Lance were here as well, all dressed in their regular attire.

"Welcome back," the princess greeted, taking Mari's hands in her own and squeezing them lightly. She was smiling despite the anxious light in her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

Mari took a moment to assess herself before answering. Her headache was gone and her insides didn't feel like they were melting anymore, so that was good. The blistering burns that had previously wrapped around her wrists, ankles, and waist were not longer there and the fused fabric of her old suit had disappeared as well. It had all been replaced by brand new smooth and healthy skin. She was feeling perfectly fine, in no pain at all.

"I'm feeling great," she assured Allura, her voice a bit hoarse. She swallowed thickly and scratched at her throat. "Just a bit hungry…And thirsty."

Allura beamed. "Well, I'm sure we can fix that right away," she chuckled before turning to Coran expectantly. "How does she look, Coran? Is she all right to leave?"

"Her fever's broken and her vitals have returned to normal," the Altean advisor relayed as he scanned over the data from her cryo-pod's last readings on the center control panel. "She is all good to go, Princess!"

At that moment, Mari's stomach growled loudly and she felt her cheeks grow warm in embarrassment while the others exchanged knowing looks.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get you something to eat then!" Hunk grinned, gesturing towards the door.

Pidge sidled up next to Mari, latching onto her arm to escort the taller girl towards the exit. "Hunk managed to make something really close to lasagna," she pitched in excitedly. "It's not exactly the same, but it tastes amazing. You have to try it!"

"You were out for a while, so we have a lot of crazy stuff to tell you too," Lance added, and he lifted his fingers to start counting off events. "We escaped through this corrupted wormhole and all of us got separated in our lions, Allura and Coran were stuck in a time loop, Hunk and I were on this water planet with mermaids—"

"I was stuck on a trash nebula," Pidge provided, smiling wryly as she added, "And I basically saved all of us. No biggie."

"Ahem," Lance said, casting the Green Paladin a mildly annoyed look before continuing, "Yeah. Pidge was stuck there. And Shiro and Keith were on this dead moon, and Shiro would've been mauled by these giant lizard thingies if Keith hadn't piloted the Black Lion and saved him."

Time loops? Mermaids? Keith piloting the Black Lion? Exactly how long had she been out for all of this to have happened? And what was this about Shiro being…mauled by lizards?

"Whoa, whoa, hold up a sec," she said, bringing them to a halt in the doorway. "Where…where are Keith and Takashi?"

Lance's smile faltered and he looked past her back into the med bay. Pidge grimaced and she turned around, gently leading Mari to a cryo-pod that was currently in use. Behind the frosted blue glass, unconscious but healing, was Shiro.

"When I picked him and Keith up, he was in bad shape," Pidge admitted, frowning sadly as she looked up at their leader. "He wasn't on the brink of death or anything, but still…Those creatures really gave him hell."

"And he was still injured from fighting Haggar," Mari murmured.

The witch's chilling laughter whispered in her ear, and she could still see those golden eyes, gleaming manically and full of crazed hostility. She could feel the woman caressing her face, treating her like she was some kind of pet. The whine of the examination bed before it zapped its victim and the burning sensation of that poison ran through Mari's mind. She screwed her eyes shut as the painful memories came flooding back to her, but she just couldn't get that lab out of her head. She could still feel rough hands touching her, hurting her. Her breathing grew shallow and she would've been swallowed up by fear and panic if Pidge hadn't grounded her.

The smaller girl was hugging her tightly now and looking up at her through worried eyes, enlarged by her round spectacles. Pidge was the smartest out of all of them and full of so much sass and wit. Mari always forgot that she only fifteen, the youngest out of all of them. But the way she looked right now, so anxious and uncertain, she looked so much younger than that. So un-Pidge like.

"It wasn't your fault," she said softly, her voice never wavering. "You're both safe now."

Mari let out a huff of bitter laughter. "Am I that easy to read?" she wondered and the smaller girl nodded as she returned to holding Mari's arm.

"He'll be all right, Mari. He'll be as good as new come tomorrow morning," Allura chimed in, her tone optimistic as she placed a reassuring hand on the human's shoulder. "But for now, just worry about yourself. You need to eat and rest."

"Yeah," Pidge agreed, looking up at her pleadingly. "Hunk's lasagna…"

"You're really adamant on me having some of it, huh?" Mari mused and Pidge nodded eagerly. Sighing, she gave Shiro one last look before turning away from him. "Okay. Let me get dressed first and then you guys can fill me in on everything I missed while I try the lasagna."


While Coran stayed behind to monitor Shiro's vitals, Allura, Pidge, and Lance prepared the dining hall for dinner and Hunk warmed up his lasagna, leaving Mari to get changed out of her cryo-suit. She tugged on her regular attire in silence in her bedroom, the pristine white walls and blue lights calming her nerves some. She found them so soothing after having spent hours in the dimly lit gray interiors of Galra facilities.

Mari stood in front of the mirror as she tugged her shirt over her head, pausing as she took in the left side of her face. The wound Macidus had given her hadn't scarred, thank goodness, and she placed her hand on her cheek, running her fingers over the soft new skin. She was light years away from him now, but even the thought of him made her heart leap into her throat. She could still feel his invasive touch lingering, his fingers ghosting over her body longingly. She wondered what he would've done to her if he hadn't had to go to the Komar, and a shiver racked her body at the thought of it.

"You're fine, you're fine," she whispered to herself, her voice cracking. She folded her arms over her chest for comfort and began to pace back and forth fretfully in front of the mirror. It was like Haggar's cruel smile and Macidus's mask were plastered to the back of her eyelids, taunting her relentlessly. "You're okay, you're okay. You're safe now. You're—!"

She yelped and jumped nearly a foot in the air as someone suddenly knocked loudly on her door. Her heart beating rapidly inside her chest, she stammered out a weak, "W-What? You can come in."

The door slid open and Keith stood there in the entrance, his brow furrowed and his lips curled into a slight frown. She hadn't seen him since she'd been kidnapped, she realized. He hadn't even been there when she had woken up. Mari straightened, flattening the creases in her shirt as she stared at him.

"Oh…Hi," she said, unsure of what to say as the air between them grew awkward. "You—You scared me there for a second."

"Oh, uh…sorry about that," he muttered. He glanced around the inside of her room for a moment, and Mari shuffled uncomfortably from foot-to-foot where she stood. This was the first time anyone else besides Shiro had seen her bedroom on the Castle of Lions, and it felt a bit weird for Keith of all people to be the first one to see it. She said nothing though as he hesitantly stepped inside and the door shut soundlessly behind him.

"Coran told us the extent of your injuries," he finally said, breaking the silence between them. "How are you feeling?" His tone was nonchalant, but his eyes were brimming with something Mari seldom saw directed towards her from him: concern.

"I'm okay. Just a bit frazzled, " she admitted quietly, rubbing some warmth back into her arms. She waited a moment before continuing lamely, "I heard you fought Zarkon. And piloted the Black Lion."

Keith stiffened and his gaze trailed to the floor as he crossed his arms defensively over his chest. "Yeah," he answered curtly. "It wasn't a big deal."

Going head-to-head with their biggest enemy and piloting the most powerful Voltron lion wasn't a 'big deal' to him? Mari couldn't tell if he was just being modest or really thought that way.

"You saved Takashi," she said. "Again. It's a big deal to me. So…thank you."

Her gratitude seemed to catch him off guard and his eyes widened as he gaped at her. "…What? Wait—Why are you—You're not supposed to be thanking me," he grimaced, not even bothering to try and hide the annoyance in his tone. "I came here to apologize and you're just…"

His voice trailed off and a huff of frustration escaped him as he placed one hand on his hip and carded the other through his hair in distress. Mari tilted her head slightly to one side and raised an eyebrow at him, confusion lining her features.

"Why would you need to apologize?" she mumbled, shifting slightly so that she was looking at herself in the mirror again. She grabbed a hairband from the top of the dresser and proceeded to pull her dark locks out of her face, Keith watching her incredulously all the while.

"Why would I—You could have died because of me!" he exclaimed, making her flinch. "If I had listened to you back on the Galra base, then you wouldn't have gotten kidnapped and you wouldn't have been tortured!"

Haggar's glare, Macidus's hands, the lab, the torment—it was all creeping up on her again. She couldn't seem to shake the memories away, the feeling of her mind and body being violated, and it was unbelievably infuriating. But she couldn't blame Keith for everything that had happened to her. Not when she had chosen to follow him back at the Galra hub. Not when Haggar had been the one to inflict the mental and physical damage.

Taking in a shaky breath, Mari swiped angrily at the tears threatening to spill from the corners of her eyes before letting her hands fall heavily to her sides. She shook her head helplessly as she faced him wordlessly, fearing that she'd start crying if she spoke. The Red Paladin seemed to have understood though, and he blinked at her in surprise before guilty averting his gaze the floor. The two were cast in silence once more, both of them unsure of what to do or say next.

"…I'm sorry," Keith finally whispered, his eyes never leaving the floor.

He was slouching, wilting really, caving in on himself as self-blame ate away at his conscience. What had happened to her hadn't been any of his fault, but he was still holding himself responsible for this whole fiasco. Seeing him like this, so regretful and mad at himself, made irritation blossom inside of Mari, and she sniffled and rolled her drying eyes. Snatching up her jacket from the bed and tugging it on, she took several steps forward and closed the distance between them. Then without a word, she gifted him a flick on the tip of his nose.

As expected, the action instantly snapped Keith out of it and he reeled back, a hand flying up to his face. His eyes sparked with that familiar irritation he always cast her way, and his lips twitched into a snarl.

"Ow! What the hell?" he growled, rubbing his nose, and she patted him lightly on the shoulder.

"Stop beating yourself up about this," she chided. "You look even stupider than usual when you're full of self-pity."

Keith scowled at her and his arms naturally folded over his chest again. "I wasn't beating myself up," he grumbled stubbornly.

"You were. You're so easy to read sometimes," she countered with a dry smile and he bristled indignantly. "Look, it was my choice to go with you. It's my own fault that I got taken."

"But if I hadn't—"

Irritation taking over once more, Mari's eyes narrowed and she abruptly cut him off by smushing a finger over his lips. Keith looked even madder now, his personal space being violated by her for the third time within the span of a few minutes. But before he could swat her hand away, she sighed and removed her finger on her own.

"Just like I wasn't responsible for Shiro's kidnapping from Kerberos, you're not responsible for my kidnapping from the base," she said quietly, her steely gaze never wavering from his as she looked him dead in the eyes, sparkling gray boring into a shimmering bluish gray. "All that torture was Haggar's fault, not yours. I don't blame you for anything that happened, Keith. But if you still insist on apologizing…then I forgive you, okay?"

The Red Paladin was silent for a moment and his brow furrowed as he mulled over this. He seemed torn between quietly accepting what she'd said or just continuing to flat out argue against her. Finally, he gave in and simply nodded at her in confirmation despite his lips pressing into a thin and mildly frustrated line.

Nevertheless, Mari was satisfied with his answer. She brushed past him and opened the door, stepping out of the room and pausing in the hallway to wait for him. "I'm sure dinner's almost ready," she said, her voice light and casual as she nodded down the corridor. "We're having Hunk's make-shift lasagna. Pidge is insistent that I try it."

Keith turned and blinked at her twice, staring at her contemplatively for a moment before his hands slowly fell to his sides. A small smirk formed on his face and he joined her in the hall, allowing her bedroom door to shut once he had left.

"It's the best lasagna I've ever had," he vouched for Hunk's culinary skills, and she grinned as they walked together towards their destination. Keith was standing up straighter and seemed more relaxed with each step they took, and Mari had the feeling that everything was going to be all right between them.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Keith suddenly came to a halt in front of the dining room and reached around behind him, unhooking something from the back of his belt. "Here, this is yours."

He held out a sleek metal rod to her and Mari's eyes lit up in recognition at the item. "That's—That's my staff!" she exclaimed, her heart fluttering with excitement at the sight of her trusted weapon.

"I've been holding onto it ever since we left the base," Keith explained as she took the staff in her hands, his expression one of awkward embarrassment as she gleefully examined it.

The smooth yet grippable metal felt sturdy and reassuring, and she sighed in relief at having it back in her possession. She clipped it to the side of her belt, hanging it at its rightful spot on her waist. It felt good having it rest against her thigh again. It grounded her, reminded her that she wasn't completely incapable.

"Thank you so much, Keith," she beamed widely at him, and she would've hugged him if he didn't get so uncomfortable about that kind of stuff. Besides, she had invaded his space enough for one day. "I thought I'd lost it for good."

Keith shrugged indifferently, but the corners of his lips pulled up ever so slightly. "No problem," he said curtly before leading the way into the dining room where the others were waiting for them at the table.

Dinner that evening was lively as everyone ate Hunk's lasagna—which, as promised, was absolutely delicious—and shared their experiences from after they had escaped the Galran HQ. After the Castle had traveled into a corrupted wormhole and the lions had gotten scattered, Allura and Coran had become stuck in a time loop that reverted Coran's age and the space mice's biological composition. Pidge had landed in a trash nebula and befriended these cute puffball-like creatures before she'd built a homing beacon that pulled the Castle of Lions out of the time-loop. Meanwhile, Shiro and Keith had gotten separated on a rocky moon, and Keith had rescued Shiro from being killed by giant space lizards by piloting the Black Lion. And Lance and Hunk had saved a race of brainwashed merfolk from an underwater serpent.

Everyone's stories were crazy and riveting, producing smiles and laughter all around and making Mari's thoughts of Haggar and her time spent on Zarkon's ship gradually subside. Everyone looked so happy and at peace, and watching them made her heart swell with joy and reassurance. It couldn't have been more than a day or two since she had last been together with them like this, but it felt like that had been such a long, long time ago.

Deep down, she had been afraid she'd never get to see any of them again, that she'd die from Haggar's torturing eventually. But as always, the paladins had come through for their friends in need and they had saved her and Allura. They were all a little tired and Shiro was still healing, but at least they were all finally out of harm's way and reunited as a family.

"Oh! That's right!" Coran exclaimed, abruptly pulling her out of her thoughts. "Mari, you mentioned meeting a kind Galra, didn't you?"

Everyone's eyes widened and their attention zeroed in on her as they expectantly waited to hear that story. Allura scoffed and her eyes narrowed in dismay as she said, "A kind Galra? I doubt one even exists."

Mari squirmed uncomfortably in her seat and her brow furrowed as she poked a stray lasagna scrap on her plate with her fork. "He really does exist though," she promised them, that sorrowful face of his as he provided her with water and medicine coming back to mind. "He seemed genuinely worried about me."

"If he had truly cared about you, he would have freed you and helped you escape," Allura insisted, her frown only deepening.

"He mentioned that he couldn't risk doing that. Besides, Voltron had arrived and he said one of you guys would definitely save me. He had enough faith and trust in Voltron to leave me alone in the lab. He…He believed that you would succeed in rescuing me and Allura."

Mari sighed, sitting back in her chair tiredly as she struggled to piece together exactly who this Galra was: a neutral individual who was just being kind, or a supporter of Voltron and their goal. The more she thought about him and what he had said, the more she began to believe that he was the latter. She really wished she had gotten his name.

"'Allies of Voltron still exist within the empire, even amongst the Galra'. That's what he told me before he left," she hesitantly shared aloud. "I think…we just have to find them."


A/n: Oof I started this particular story in February and now it's finally wrapped up in October lol. And I still have 7 more seasons to get through XD I'll try to crank out as many chapters as I can before December 14th, but even after the Voltron series comes to a close, I'll still be continuing this fic until the very end.

Thank you so so SOOOO much to everyone who has been sticking with me and with Mari. And thank you for leaving reviews! Hearing from you makes my day so much better and it really does make me want to drop what I'm doing and write another chapter. Story number 4 in this series, Scarlett and the Blades, will be coming out soon, so I hope you'll look forward to it!

**Please feel free to leave a comment/review down below! They are much appreciated & encourage me to keep writing this fic :D

**Feel free to check out my tumblr too, which is pufftheninja.