Out of all the episode rewrites, this one is probably the most similar to how it was in the actual show.
The far reaches of the Paglium Quadrant was covered in ocean that almost seemed to touch the dark blue sky above, reflecting the dusk night and thin clouds to create a mirage of fog dusting across the surface of the water. The most activity that could be seen was the gentle rolling of waves, splashing against a lone Galra alert beacon that floated along with the tide. The tip of the beacon flashed a few times, transitioning between its normal purple color to yellow, but other than that, nothing was amiss.
This quickly changed as the roaring of an engine shook the entire surface of the water, illuminating the ocean in purple as a single Galra cruiser exited hyperdrive right above the beacon, and just like that, any sense of serenity the quadrant once seemed to have was immediately forfeited.
"This is Galra cruiser beta-nine. We are within range and requesting permission to dock."
The Galra commander was answered by a deeper voice from over his communications screen. A simple, "proceed" was all he needed before the cruiser began sinking into the water, disturbing the waves even more than before as the alert beacon continued sounding—for good reason.
Water rushed up around the sides of the cruiser as it descended into the shadowy depths, quickly revealing the secret behind this corner of the quadrant—a hidden underwater Galra base.
"A priority-one shipment is en route. Activate the docking station immediately." A loud voice boomed over the intercom of the base, immediately sending the group of armored common soldiers that occupied the base scurrying to their stations.
"I can't believe we're stuck here. This base predates the Zaipirium Siege." One soldier grunted, pulling down a lever to open the docking station for the incoming cruiser. "It's amazing this equipment still remains operational."
"We're lucky to have it since the rebels overran the Sigma-3 Quadrant; it's all we have left in this system." Another soldier pointed out.
Their conversation was cut short as they continued working with the primitive Galra tech, rotating a nearby wheel to allow the massive Galra cruiser up into the base through the water. Little did they know, the entire ordeal was being observed in close detail.
Three masked figures sat crouched together high above the docking area, uniforms clearly representative of the Blade of Marmora. The binocular-esque vision enhancements to the masks allowed them to take in every action taking place below, including the apparent transferring of large vials between the base and the cruiser.
"We destroyed the Komar. How are the Galra still producing such vast amounts of quintessence?" The middle Galra wondered out loud; one could imagine his eyes narrowing through his voice alone as he turned to his left. "Find out where it's coming from and where it's going."
The two on either side of him turned to carry out the mission, but before the Galra on the right could move much, the leader stopped him. "Remember, this is purely intelligence gathering. Do not engage."
The cautioned Galra nodded before darting off.
The first Blade who had gotten a head start was sliding down a tall orifice that seemed to be bottomless, stopping in front of a control panel and slicing through it by wielding the standard luxite knife with their tail. They then proceeded to input the information hard drive, tapping through the screen that popped up with their tail.
Luck was on their side; the Galra in charge of watching the base's intel database was snoozing on the job. There was no telling how frequent of an occurrence this was, but today was probably the single worst day to doze off on as the information quickly finished downloading—one half of the mission was a success.
The other Blade, who had been given a warning just earlier, easily snuck past the sentry that patrolled the hallway, rolling towards the mysterious vials, embodying the definition of stealth before holding out a scanner to said vials.
The information was quickly transmitted back to the leader of the mission, who was glancing at all the intel in disbelief. "Impossible. It's overloading my monitor! I've never seen these kinds of readings before. Regris, do you have the information on the hard drive?"
Before any of them could reply, the sentry made another round towards the vials, only to get a knife to the face as soon as the scanning Blade member had been spotted—but not before shooting several rounds of warning fire.
They'd been discovered.
Their leader was quick to flee the scene. "The op is compromised! Abort! Extraction point in two doboshes; this is a hard out!"
Each of them quickly began pocketing their devices as the Blade who had cost them their infiltration quickly fled down the hallway past the vials, grabbing his knife from the fallen sentry on the way. Alarms were blaring overhead, and if this were a more advanced Galra base, he probably would've been swarmed by soldiers in an instant. Luckily, the only resistance that got in his way were four archaic Galra sentries.
He slid past their shots, moving like a natural in the Blade uniform to dispatch them of their guns before slicing and stabbing through them to finish the job.
By the time he reached the extraction point, he was out of breath, stopping to pant for air as the leader of the mission turned to him in acknowledgement. It was just them two—the other Blade member was missing.
"...he's not back?" He asked, breathy voice distorted through the mask.
"He's got thirty ticks," the leader informed.
There was no time to think about it. Despite being out of breath, he turned to leave his leader in the escape bay, running back into the Galra base, where only demise awaited.
The leader watched him forsake his own life, sighing before turning back to begin the preparations for takeoff.
As the bay doors threatened to close with him as the only survivor of the mission, the other two Blades came bursting through just before they were shut out, with one of them being carried above the other's head.
The escape pod took off through the water as the Blade who had played hero struggled to stand and catch their breath.
"Will he be alright?"
"You broke protocol," the leader scolded, glaring down at the other without answering his question.
"I had to!" The reprimanded Galra's mask faded to reveal not the face of a Galra, but Keith's face.
"You didn't consider that something could've happened to you! That would make two men down instead of one!" The mask faded from the leader to reveal an enraged Kolivan. "Every member of the Blade of Marmora understands that the mission is more important than the individual—that's our code of honor. This isn't Voltron."
Keith looked off to the side, a fire flashing in his eyes at the mention of Voltron. He could've let it go; instead, he reached for the hard drive in his suit.
"I understand that! In Voltron, we would've gone back in to save Regris—I went back to save the mission. Regris had the intel—getting him and it back on the ship was worth the risk." He stated, handing Kolivan the hard drive as he walked past him, not bothering to look back to meet the lead Blade's cold, frustrated glare.
Kolivan balled his hand into a fist, emitting a low growl at Keith from behind.
The Blade's escape pod rushed straight back to Voltron's base on planet Olkarion, where Keith made haste to the bridge of the Castle of Lions in his standard attire.
"Keith, good, you're back. The team's on a mission. You need to get to your lion and join them immediately," Shiro said. He was alone in the middle of the bridge, eyes scanning over miniature holograms of ships that were flying all around him—no doubt a model of the entire Dalterion Belt for him to keep track of.
"I will," Keith answered quickly, having not really heard Shiro. "but I think we just discovered a new form of quintessence. The readings are off the charts. Kolivan says it could be linked to Lotor."
This time, Shiro was the one who didn't seem to hear Keith, concentrating on the hologram cargo ships floating around him and moving them to suitable positions before crossing his arms. "Okay, we'll discuss it when you return. The team's escorting refugees out of the Fimm System."
"This is Lotor I'm talking about!" Keith exclaimed, stepping forward, eyebrows furrowing in hopes of getting Shiro's attention. "He hasn't been seen in months, this might be our chance to track him down!"
Shiro side-eyed Keith, eyes narrowed. "I said we'll discuss it later. Right now, I need you to focus on the mission at hand."
"But—"
"This isn't a request, Keith." Shiro turned to properly address him for the first time since he'd entered the room. "Get to the Fimm System—that's an order."
Keith's eyes ignited in much the same way they had earlier in his argument with Kolivan, but this time, Keith remained silent. After all, Shiro wasn't the same as Kolivan. He dipped his head in understanding.
The Green, Yellow, and Red Lions were securing the travels of several refugee ships, claws hooked into the roofs so they could personally fly them safely. Much to their unpleasant surprise, the Black Lion showed up to guide the remaining ships.
"Well look who decided to show up," Pidge commented, speaking more to the others as opposed to directly addressing Keith. Hunk followed her example, propping his chin up and just focusing on the mission rather than their 'teammate'.
"Are you even taking this seriously?" Lance huffed, glancing back at Keith's lion in doubt.
Keith shrunk back a little, head bowed in apology even if none of them were looking at him. "Sorry I'm late…"
Naturally, he got no response.
Once they made it back to Olkarion with the remainder of the refugee ships, Keith immediately made his way to Shiro as they overlooked the rest of the refugees and the paladins hard at work.
"Were you able to speak with Kolivan about the intel?" He asked, picking up right where they'd left off.
"I did," Shiro assured, "and we need to find out all we can about that quintessence. But more importantly…" He turned to Keith, brows furrowed in the physical embodiment of a sigh. "Voltron needs a strong leader."
Keith grimaced, briefly glancing at the Black Lion then back at Shiro. "I know they do...and it should be you."
"Keith, we've discussed this before. Besides, we both know that the Black Lion has chosen you." He reminded, lips curling up in a smile.
That wasn't enough to convince Keith, though, as he took a step towards Shiro. "You only tried once! You had a connection with the Black Lion and I know it's still there! If you just give it another shot—"
"Keith, we all have a part to play—this is mine now," Shiro declared, stepping back from Keith. "I've come to terms with that already. Now, you need to, too."
Keith's teeth clenched together, and his body tightened as Shiro sighed.
"I support your decision to continue with your Marmora training—but not at the expense of the team. They need you, Keith. They need you to be their leader."
Keith pursed his lips at Shiro's words. His expression didn't change.
His stance didn't change. It couldn't. After all…
...Shiro was asking for the impossible.
In some distant, remote corner of the universe, a large base radiated with ancient energy, accompanied only by the ringing sounds of mechanics at work.
"Prince Lotor, it would appear the base in the Paglium Quadrant was infiltrated by the rebels. They no doubt have intel on the harvested quintessence by now." Acxa informed, crossing the cat walk behind Lotor as the prince himself gazed upon the work of dozens of sentries, all operating around the massive workings of a ship.
"As expected of Kolivan. Very well; set up a decoy cruiser in the rebel's quadrant. He won't be able to resist investigating an off-course ship in their territory."
Acxa bowed her head obediently, but when she stayed where she was, Lotor's eyes slitted slightly.
"Is there something else?"
She crossed her arm over her chest. "Yes, my Lord. News has it that Emperor Zarkon has awoken, and is nearing the end of the recovery process."
Lotor's ears perked at that, eyes falling shut as he exhaled deeply. Then, a sly grin slowly spread across his face. "That is news, indeed. It would seem the stage is finally set."
He turned abruptly, hair whipping about as he walked past Acxa with the comet work continuing behind them. "Contact Commander Oxal. Even the densest of Galra will understand that my father will not be pleased with any of them for showing me their support in his absence. His return spells trouble for many in the Empire," Lotor paused to glance at Acxa over his shoulder. "We shall strike against him first. Have the fleets begin the attack in the corners of the Dalterion Belt."
"The corners?" Acxa questioned, just for clarification.
Lotor smirked to himself. "Yes, that's right. That shall give my father a chance to respond to the attack. Only a coward who lacks a code of honor would ambush the heart of the empire without giving the enemy a chance to react." He looked up, eyes wide, as if he had been awaiting this moment for a long, long time. "We shall see who is truly fit to call himself 'Emperor'."
The paladins were all gathered at the bridge, standing together in a clumped v-formation as Coran addressed them like the head of a flock.
"Okay, everybody! Today, we'll be heading to Reiphod—a planet recently liberated from Galra forces!"
"This is embarrassing," Keith muttered, all eyes falling onto him, "we're basically the grand marshal of a parade."
"Not a parade! A show of arms!" Coran quickly corrected him, making up for his lack of enthusiasm tenfold.
"Whatever it is, this is the second one of these we've done just this week." Pidge pointed out, sharing Keith's skepticism for once.
"I know it's not exactly battling the Galra, but believe it or not, these shows help us boost morale and strengthen alliances," Allura assured.
Lance stepped forward to take the spotlight, waving them off. "Right, right, stronghold, blah-dy, blah-dy, blah. Now I say we go over our lion choreography one more time. I don't want a repeat of what happened last time, Hunk." He glared pointedly at the yellow paladin, who rose his arms up in defense.
"Hey, it isn't my fault Coran choreographed the Yellow Lion to do so many headspins! I'm telling you Coran, that stuff is way too overboard!"
"Shiro!" Their conversation was interrupted by Kolivan's voice as his face appeared on the large screen. "My apologies for interrupting, but this is an urgent matter. A Galra supply ship has been spotted passing through Quadrant Omega-Raylar-Six."
Shiro crossed his arms as they all turned to address the Blade leader. "What's it doing so far from the normal supply routes?"
"We can't be certain, but taken together with the fact that Lotor hasn't been seen in quite some time and the emergence of this new form of quintessence, we feel compelled to investigate. Normally, we would wait for better Intel, but I believe we should act on this while it's still within rebel territory."
"I'll send Voltron to intercept," Shiro offered.
"An infiltration mission makes more sense. We can hack the database and find out where it's been and where it's headed, but with all the Galra activity lately, my agents are spread thin."
"Not anymore. Count me in," Keith said confidently, directing all eyes back to him. Lance in particular looked upset as he stomped forward.
"Hey, what about our performance?! We can't razzle-dazzle the crowd with just four lions!"
"This mission is more important than a 'show of arms'. Shiro?"
They all turned to Shiro, who turned to Kolivan. "How long will it take?"
"Not long, but we must act fast before the ship can jump to hyperspace."
Shiro hesitated for as long as he could before turning to Keith. "Go. But when you're done, meet us on Reiphod."
Keith nodded as Lance stared at Shiro in disbelief.
"Citizens of Reiphod!" Coran announced, microphone held far too close to his face as he extended an arm out to address the massive crowd that had shown up for the event. "On this day, we honor you for your perseverance—your refusal to bow down in the face of such adversity is a testament to the fighting spirit of your people! You've put aside your differences and united to dispel the oppressive Galra regime, bringing freedom to all!"
The crowd went wild for Coran's enthusiastic hype-work as Shiro stood off to Coran's side, watching the man go wild with arm gestures.
"We thank you for joining the coalition and continuing the fight against the Galra, that began with the reemergence of the five lions of Voltron!" He rose his arm skyward as four lions flew overhead, trailing their colors in glittering lights.
Coran looked about ready to carry on with the speech, but the sight of the four lions performing parallel choreography without a center had him sweating. "Right, uh, four lions!" He laughed nervously.
Lance growled from inside the Red Lion, lines straining beneath his eyes. "I thought Keith said he was gonna be here. He's going to ruin our show!"
"Lance, this isn't just about putting on a good show. It's about uniting people and bringing them to the coalition to help in the fight against Zarkon." Allura reminded.
He looked up as she talked, clearly not happy with her logical response as he grumbled with extra sass. "...fine. I don't even know why I try." He snapped his mouth shut as the lions continued their choreography for the crowd—just the four of them.
Meanwhile, the Galra supply ship in Quadrant Omega-Raylar-Six had just been spotted by Keith, Kolivan, and Regris, who were all diving from their ship from above in full Blade uniform.
"Triangulate positions around the ship," Kolivan ordered, heading straight forward while Keith and Regris used the suit's jetpacks to collapse on separate sides.
Keith immediately attached his biorhythm detector against the ship as soon as he landed against it, watching the screen that appeared closely. "...I'm not detecting any biorhythms."
"Could be a crew of sentries," Kolivan suggested. "Let's get in and find out."
They scanned the inside on foot in a hurry before quickly meeting up in the center of the ship.
"I completed the sentry scan—there are none on board," Regris reported.
"The entire place is empty. Have you ever seen this before?" Keith asked.
Kolivan seemed to take a moment to think to himself. "...something's not right here. We should leave."
"We came all this way! We should at least hack into the database and find out this ship's route!" Keith argued, unwilling to leave without making some sort of progress from this mission.
They didn't have time to hesitate as Kolivan gave a curt yet hesitant nod. "Fine. Let's make it quick."
They rushed to the ship's database, where Regris immediately ran ahead.
"I'll check the logs."
Keith followed suit. "Planting the tracker."
Regris quickly brought up the database, but after just a few touches to the keyboard, the entire room went red, and the door they'd entered through shut on them.
"I'm locked out of the system!" He hissed.
Kolivan immediately pulled out his blade, slashing against the cracks in the door. "It's rigged to blow! This ships a decoy—everyone out!"
Keith was immediately at the leader's side, jamming their knives into the cracks to try and pry the door open as Regris typed at the database hastily.
"Attempting to override."
The doors began parting open as Keith grunted with effort, turning to watch Regris, who refused to move from the database.
"There's not enough time! Come on!" He shouted as the doors opened just enough for them to fit through. Still, Regris stood by the database in hyperfocus.
"Just a few more ticks…!"
Keith rushed forward to pull Regris out, just as he had before, but Kolivan grabbed him and dashed through the exit, leaving the tailed-Galra behind.
Adrenaline burst through Keith's body as he reached forward, voice straining in desperation as he reached out with both arms. "Regris, no!"
He saw the explosion before he heard it; he saw the white flames envelop Regris.
Countless explosions rang out through the stadium as the lions displayed their tricks over the crowd by shooting lasers through hologram diamonds, sparkles and confetti flying everywhere as the crowd cheered and Coran spoke with enthusiasm.
"By joining the Voltron Alliance, you are joining up with the Defenders of the Universe, who will do whatever it takes to spread peace and freedom to every galaxy!"
Reiphod roared with excitement as the lions spun in formation into the sky.
Keith's ears roared with the rush of his own blood as he spun into the endless void of space, ship debris flanking him from every side as he desperately fought to stay conscious.
"Hello? Kolivan? Anyone?!" He shouted, straining his ears against the static of his broken communicator.
The sound of air hissing brought his attention to a tear in his suit, which he quickly covered with his hand to stop space's atmosphere from destroying his skin.
With only one hand left to work with, he grabbed his knife and threw it with a grunt, pulling against the string attached to the handle as it connected to a piece of debris to drag himself forward.
He could feel himself losing air despite blocking the opening in his suit, desperation at an all time high as he clumsily wrapped his arm around a piece of nearby debris to stabilize his landing; his body had little control over itself as he floated through space.
The lion's were in perfect control and sync as they swerved into the air, still trailing that colorful glitter that made the citizens of Reiphod roar in excitement. None matched Lance's own excitement though as he leaned back in Red's cockpit with a wide grin.
"They're loving us! Razzle-dazzle!"
The lions continued flying in perfect unity, side by side in formation, leaving not a single one on its own.
Keith was completely on his own, scanning through all the debris around him for some semblance of hope. His strained panting was the most he could focus on, and his vision was getting blurry, but somehow he managed to spot the ship they'd arrived in just a few yards to the left.
His heart leapt into his throat as he glanced down at the hand covering the tear in his suit. Then, mind made up, he pushed off the debris he was holding onto with all his might, flinging himself forward towards the ship as air hissed through his exposed suit.
He latched onto debris after debris, using each as a launching platform in an attempt to reach the ship before it could take off—or before his suit failed him.
He managed to jump off of a few pieces of debris before his body lost control, tumbling clumsily into broken ship pieces as he grunted and gasped and fluctuated between hope and despair until—
The doors to the ship closed.
Keith just barely slipped inside.
As soon as he had the oxygen provided in the ship, air stopped hissing from his torn suit, and his mask faded to reveal his panicked face, gasping, coughing, and sputtering for air as sweat dripped down his forehead like rain.
He looked up at Kolivan, wide-eyed, before foolishly glancing around the ship for Regris.
Kolivan stared at him pointedly, eyes taking the form of daggers even with the mask still on.
Keith let his face fall, eyes screwed shut as the ship took off with one less Galra than it had started out with.
Confetti of four different colors was scattered all throughout the stadium now as Coran rose his arms animatedly on stage to mirror the cheers of the crowd.
"And just as Voltron has shown what can be done when five individuals combine their powers together, so too can we combine our powers with those on Planet Reiphod and grow ever stronger! For it is the individual willing to take up arms that strengthens the whole—and with that strength, we will be unstoppable!"
The Reiphod citizens cheered even louder at the end of his speech as Coran beamed, lowering the microphone and preparing to take a bow. "Now cue Voltron with sword, and…"
...all noise died down as the four lions floated in mid-air in front of them with no choreography left to follow.
Shiro's smile which had been growing throughout the performance immediately faded as Coran flinched back, sweating.
"Ah, quiznak! Only four lions...I keep forgetting that…" He cleared his throat. "Uh, well, when he's together, he's like a big man! Like this!" He tried imitating robot lion arms and legs, walking around on the stage like a robot man would. "But you have to imagine it with a sword and a big laser cannon! Hya! Hya! Bweew!" He mimicked sword and laser gun sounds, pausing for a moment. "Uh, well, it doesn't exactly sound like that, but um…"
Coran trailed off as the Reiphod citizens just stared at him and the lions as if they had been totally tricked, and even the mustached advisor seemed to understand when the tides had turned.
"...quiznak." He groaned to himself.
Meanwhile, Shiro's neutral face just grew more and more tense as he stared up at the four lions.
The crowd was clearly unimpressed; Shiro could relate.
The return to planet Olkarion was bittersweet for Keith as he entered the Castle of Lions. The hood of his Marmora uniform was up—a reminder of his failure today as he headed towards his room. As soon as the doors to the hallway slid open for him, however, he came face to face with Allura herself.
She'd been waiting for him, knowing he'd go directly to his room—that was the only explanation. He immediately knew what he was in for, sighing.
"Allura, I know you're mad at me, but I'm not in the mood for a lecture."
The princess's face remained neutral, but she let her arms relax at her sides. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I heard what happened on your mission."
"...thanks." He stared her down warily.
She took a deep breath, steeling herself. "I know how important the work you've been doing with the Blades is. They are incredible allies, and have been instrumental in our victories over the Galra. And while the news of a new quintessence supply line is deeply troubling, I cannot help but feel—"
"I said, I didn't want a lecture," Keith interrupted, discarding of his hood. He didn't need to hear what he already knew.
Allura's eyes narrowed. "...Keith. Since our battle with Zarkon, we've been able to bolster our forces by uniting those previously ruled by the Galra under a common symbol; Voltron. It's so much more than a weapon. It's become a symbol of freedom and hope for the oppressed to rally around."
He avoided eye contact, keeping silent for Allura's sake as she continued.
"I suppose what I'm trying to say is, the Marmora can go on without you—they have for thousands of years. Voltron cannot." She walked past him with a wistful tone to her voice, fists tight. "We cannot."
Her footsteps echoed into the distance, and Keith just waited for her to be gone, eyes falling shut with a sigh. She and Shiro were right; Voltron needed a leader. They needed a real leader.
Keith understood that better than any of them.
Days dragged on as Voltron continued reaching out to refugee forces across the universe; 'Voltron' being the four lions. The additional supplies along with the natural affinity for building that the Olkari possessed meant that progress occurred at an accelerated rate, and within days the rebel headquarters was ten times as massive as before, with hospitals and safehouses dotting the planet.
But while the lions focused on escort missions, Keith and the Blade of Marmora, along with the rebel's leader Captain Olia, studied the puzzling routes of the Galra quintessence shipments, infiltrating and setting explosives and doing whatever they could to thwart the enemy supply lines while gaining information.
One mission after the other, explosion after explosion; there was no such thing as 'rest' for Keith as he worked ceaselessly to be useful to the universe.
The paladins were expanding their base on Olkarion just fine without him; he was helping the universe more through these missions. At least, that's what he told himself, and that was the most he spent thinking about it. Voltron was pushed to the back of his mind as he focused on the missions given to him by Kolivan.
Whenever he wasn't on a mission, however, he did let his mind wander to the only thing worth thinking about in his free time. Sometimes, he even went to visit them before a mission. He was never the superstitious type, but getting to see them before each mission helped to keep the fire inside him going; so long as they never saw him back. As far as he was concerned, they never did.
It was always the same thing: Shiro would be standing at the head of the other paladins, shouting orders and delivering all the speeches in all the right ways like only he could. Naturally, the other paladins fell into line with him immediately, passing food and medical supplies out to the eager refugees now inhabiting planet Olkarion.
It was a team effort, and watching them work together helped cement in Keith's heart that 'the loner' wasn't supposed to be there. It was comforting, in a way.
He donned his mask and faded into the crowd, not noticing Allura looking on after him in worry. It wouldn't have made a difference either way. He already understood his place, and he knew Shiro had been visiting the Black Lion recently out of frustration. That made Keith...
One paladin too many.
While disaster brewed in Keith's head, it struck the castle just as hard in the form of blaring alarms, immediately bringing the paladins to the bridge.
"What's going on?" Allura questioned.
Coran was hunched over the castle's receiver, typing at the screen frantically. "We received a distress signal! One of our convoys has been ambushed by a squadron of Galra cruisers!"
"Our supply ships…" Shiro clenched his fists, looking up. "We can't let the Galra get those ships."
"Voltron can keep those cruisers occupied long enough for the supply ships to make their escape," Allura suggested, only for Pidge to quickly interject.
"Actually, Voltron can't. Keith is gone."
"They must be on a mission. I knew this would happen sooner or later…" Shiro grumbled, fists tightening harder as he looked down in thought. "You'll have to go without Keith. The convoy needs you immediately; I'll send him as soon as I find him. Go." Shiro gave his command as the other four ran off with distress ridden upon their faces.
By the time the lions reached the scene of the ambush, the supply ships were already under fire, with tractor beams sucking them in for the weapons aboard the cargo ships.
"We gotta get that ship out of the tractor beam! Hunk!" Lance yelled, hanging back a bit as the Yellow Lion surged forward.
"I'll try to ram it out!" He agreed, eyes zeroed in on the ship in the tractor beam, only for a nervous shout to escape him as countless Galra fighter ships suddenly launched from the cruiser. "Never mind! There's too many! I can't ram that many!"
He maneuvered in a loop-de-loop through the air to reconvene with the other lions, only for several more Galra cruisers to suddenly exit hyperspace and block off their path. Hunk's shouting continued.
"There's too many! Someone must've called for backup!"
The ships began shooting at the lions, and from there it was all a mess of gunfire and static and desperate voices as Shiro and Coran watched from the castle ship, completely helpless as the sheer number of Galra forces overwhelmed the supply ships and the poor four lions.
Both sideliners had looks of pure horror on their faces, but Shiro was quick to bite his lower lip in frustration. He'd been waiting for this, simply because he'd known it would happen sooner or later.
"What're you doing?" Coran managed to raise his eyebrow despite the one-sided carnage displayed on screen as Shiro walked past him, shoulders stiff and eyes strained.
"Whatever I can."
He marched straight into the Black Lion's hangar, black paladin suit and helmet fully equipped. Her particle barrier was down—proof that she wasn't actively shutting him out.
Several deep breaths wracked through his body from both the adrenaline of the dire situation and his own frustration as he made his way inside through her underbelly and slid into the cockpit. The familiar controls were all there in front of him, but Black was lifeless.
He admittedly didn't have high hopes—she'd rejected him every time he'd tried, after all—but desperation was powering his muscles as he reached for the controls, eyes shut in focus.
No matter how much he tried focusing on connecting with the lion, however, he could only focus on the panicked cries of his teammates through the helmet, teeth gritting together harder as they grew more desperate.
"I take out one but two more replace it!"
"The supply ship is almost captured! Do the rebels have a shot?"
"I have a visual on them—they're dead in the water!"
"We can't do this without Voltron!"
"Where is Keith?!"
Shiro squeezed the controls, eyes shut tightly, at a loss for what to do.
"Please…people's lives are at stake…!"
The paladins' screams and cries continued sounding from his helmet.
"You trusted me once…" They needed him. They needed Voltron. "Trust me again…"
His chest began clogging up in defeat...only for the controls to suddenly start revving to life, purple lighting filling up the cockpit as Shiro looked all around him in disbelief. The screens flickered a few times before coming online, and Black's eyes lit up before she gave a mighty roar for Shiro...for her fellow lions.
The battlefield was utter chaos; the lions were all but separated amidst all the fighter ships and Galra cruisers, and it was impossible to focus on protecting themselves and the supply ships at the same time.
Hunk groaned as the Yellow Lion took a blast that cause his cockpit to shake despite his lion's heavy armor. "There's no way we can beat all these fighters with only four lions!"
A light in the distance came zooming towards them—Shiro himself.
"You won't have to!"
The other paladins all chorused his name in pleasant shock, watching in awe and admiration as their leader sliced past a massive fleet of ships that had been chasing Hunk. There wasn't time to just gawk right now though as the Black Lion circled back towards them.
"Converge on me! It's time to form Voltron!"
They did exactly as told, circling up around the Black Lion as Voltron formed, fitting in Lance and Pidge as Shiro's arms and Allura and Hunk as his legs; a new Voltron formation.
They wasted no time, coming down from the sky just to crash through multiple Galra cruisers, tearing holes through the hulls and effortlessly plowing through ship after ship, each explosion grander than the last.
For the first time in a long time, the lions and the paladins felt unstoppable as one-third of the fleet went down without fight, and when Shiro ordered Hunk to pull the shoulder cannon out, the 'fight' was over, left as nothing more than a demonstration of Voltron's power.
"Rebel craft! You're safe now!" Shiro announced as Voltron flew just beside the main supply ship, accompanied by whatever other ships still remained. "We'll escort you the rest of the way to Olkarion!"
Keith put off entering the bridge of the castle for as long as he could, trying to prepare himself for what was coming. There was no way he could've prepared himself for what he got, though, as he walked in, expecting them to just ignore him.
"Guys, I…"
Contrary to his expectations, they weren't ignoring him; they were staring at him. Glowering at him. Judging him.
"...I heard what happened…" He avoided meeting their eyes—the only way he could make words come out. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to help—"
"You keep saying you're sorry but your actions say otherwise. Do you realize that your absence put the team in jeopardy?" Allura reprimanded, yanking Keith's attention back to them with wide eyes as Lance took a step forward.
"And not just the team, the refugees as well!"
"As a matter of fact, the entire quadrant was in danger." Pidge elaborated, rubbing salt into the wound as Keith quickly dropped his gaze to the floor again. They were just glaring at him, waiting for him to try and excuse himself.
"...this is not the way I wanted this to happen, but...if there's a bright side to any of this, it's that my absence allowed Shiro to reestablish his bond with the Black Lion. He can finally be the leader I was unable to be."
The team's eyes began widening as Keith's voice neared the point of shaking; he kept it under control though as he looked up at Shiro. "I'm not meant to pilot the Black Lion…"
"Is that why you've been pulling away?" Allura asked, dropping her crossed arms with softer eyes.
Keith's face just drooped more. "...yeah. I suppose that's part of it."
There was a small wave of silence as the team tried to piece together everything he was saying. Hunk was the one who pushed for more info first.
"'Part of it'? What's the other part?"
Keith bit down on his tongue, pushing away the memory of them looking at him with eyes of pure rejection just seconds earlier, and thus pushing the truth away along with it. An excuse would have to do.
"...the Blades have been making headway tracking the source of this new quintessence. They've been able to piece together a large network of hidden supply lines that have been secretly transporting it for...who knows how long. And there's good reason to believe it could lead us directly to Lotor. A mission is being planned to infiltrate the supply line. It could take weeks...maybe months to pull off, but…if there is a chance, we have—!" The others were all looking down, already knowing where this was going as Keith clenched his fists. "I have to take it. I need to be on that mission."
In contrast to their earlier glares, everyone was frowning now much the same as Keith had been, and it only weighed down on his heart too—but he had to do this.
"Shiro. You are the rightful leader of this team, and you proved it today by reconnecting with the Black Lion. It was always meant to be yours…"
His eyes fell again, only for him to perk up in surprise when Shiro walked forward to place a hand on his shoulder.
"Keith. If this is what you feel is right...then we won't try to stop you," he assured, giving a slight nod to show that his earlier frustration was gone. "Just know that we're here for you whenever you need us."
Shock stiffened Keith's body; he couldn't believe how quickly his decision to leave was accepted. He couldn't discern how to feel. He smiled anyways—for Shiro.
"I know you are...and I can't tell you how much that means to me." They clasped hands before pulling each other into a tight hug.
It took about two seconds before tears began flooding from Hunk's eyes just from watching their exchange, the yellow paladin expressing the feelings of everyone else in the room for them as per usual.
"I can't be left out of this!" He declared, and one after the other, they all rushed forward after Hunk to join Keith and Shiro's hug until they were one huge clump.
Keith's smile spread wider until it was genuine, and even though he was suddenly being squished by six other bodies, he'd never been more thankful for an uncomfortable amount of physical affection as they each cried in some way, be it through physical tears or forced smiles.
"We're really gonna miss you!" Pidge insisted, voice strained with tears in her eyes just like Hunk.
Lance ruffled Keith's hair with a half-hearted snicker. "Yeah. Who am I gonna make fun of?"
"I know you'll make us proud," Allura said confidently.
Keith's heart throbbed and numbed with every word from each of them as they held the messy hug for a good ten seconds, none of them willing to let Keith go until Shiro made them.
The sliding door opened for him as he glanced over his shoulder at his family one last time—Coran was wiping his snot, Pidge and Allura watching from the background as Shiro nodded to him, and Lance held a crying Hunk.
He managed to keep his smile just by looking at them...but it disappeared as soon as he was facing the door.
Then, without another word, Keith left the bridge and the paladins of Voltron behind him.
They each cried in some way.
Keith was no exception.
I didn't change too much, but there'll still be an analysis of what I did change and what the reasons were. You don't have to read those, though.
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