Hey everyone! Happy to finally be here, at the sequel to Close Encounters of the Gem Kind :D
I don't anticipate that this will be an overly long fic - at most, as long as Close Encounters was, hopefully less. It's a relatively simple story I want to tell, focused on Adora, Catra, and Allura (though of course featuring most of the extended cast of these shows). Also, much like its predecessor, I wanna use it to explore some gaps in the lore of all of these fandoms that could be filled in with fusion ideas! It's not meant to have the big emotional payoffs or huge battles of other fics in the series, but rather trying to expand the cosmic side of the Kryptonverse! I hope you enjoy it! Do be warned, though, if you're new here: I have a handful of ongoing stories, so it can take several weeks to update. Please be patient with me!
(The title is from a Hollow Knight lore entry! It has several meanings that apply to this fic, I'd love to hear your take on them in the comments/reviews!)
Adora's never seen the bones of a First One.
It's not a fun thing to realize, to be honest. She knows many of them fled Etheria before Mara translocated the planet into Despondos, but they couldn't all have escaped in time. She knows many of Etheria's planetary systems were automated and controlled by Light Hope, but surely there would've been maintenance technicians, construction workers, and all sorts of other tech-y people making sure the planet stayed in one piece, with its many alterations. There likely would've been all sorts of soldiers and guards put in place to keep the native Etherians in check – to keep the colony firmly in the First Ones' control. Even Mara's allies, sympathetic with her cause and left behind to die on Etheria for it, should've been found by now.
And yet, nothing.
She imagines there wouldn't be much of a difference, given Mara looked pretty much the same as most Etherians, and of course, given her own appearance, but...well, it would be something – some tangible link connecting her to her people, as conflicting as her feelings about them and their desperate, cruel ways may be. All she has so far are ancient, glitching holograms and abandoned ruins.
"Anything?" –she asks over the radio, kneeling down by the mummified remains of a Horde Clone, dead for centuries.
"Horde, Horde, and more Horde." –Catra retorts, sarcastic, somewhere above her. "Really living up to the name."
They're investigating what appears to have once been a First Ones listening post, which has been rebroadcasting transmissions from Etheria for a month past the end of the war. Glimmer and the other Princesses thought it harmless, but Adora's worried that the obsolete distress calls could garner the wrong kind of attention – some alien warlord looking to capitalize on Prime's defeat and Etheria's vulnerable state, for example – so she volunteered to render the place offline, and maybe find some clues about her heritage in the process.
Catra, of course, tagged along. She drops in through a hole in the ceiling, visibly uncomfortable in the pressurized space suit but no less lithe and agile. Her lover raises an eyebrow at the corpse she's knelt by. "Prime really threw a bunch of clones at his enemies and called it a day, huh?"
"Clones, robots, huge warships bombing planets from orbit..." –Adora trails off. "But yes, mostly clones. Guess he was already making a bunch in case his main body died out, so he figured he might as well put the bulk of them to work killing people for him."
"Mmm. Is it weird that I feel a little bit of vindictive satisfaction every time I see a dead clone?" –Catra ponders.
Adora hums. "Well, Prime definitely earned that sentiment from you." –she allows. "But y'know, maybe don't mention it around Entrapta, or either of the Hordaks."
Catra snorts. "Wrong Hordak, sure – he's too pure for this universe. Regular Hordak? Not so much." –she says, crossing her arms. "I know everyone's, like, good with him now, but we aren't exactly on the best of terms, last thing I knew."
"Come on, Catra." –Adora bumps her shoulder, offering a smile. "Be nice. Do it for Entrapta, at least."
She sighs, rolling her mismatched eyes. "Ugh, fine. But it's not because I like her or anything." –she says, giving into a fanged smirk. "Have you found anything besides a bunch of these?"
Adora points back at a nearby control panel. "That's the control center for the base's communication array. It's really beat up, so I couldn't deactivate it with any of the usual commands; Entrapta's working on a way to turn it off without having me smash it."
"We have way more First Ones tech than we need by now; is it really necessary to keep this one in one piece?" –Catra says.
"It couldn't hurt to have more. Etheria was so deeply transformed by the First Ones that it's practically one giant piece of tech, so we really need to understand it as best we can." –Adora argues. "We may have shut down the Heart of Etheria for good, but there could be any number of hidden surprises that we just don't know anything about."
Catra narrows her eyes. "You say that, but I'm pretty sure you just like enabling Entrapta."
Adora chuckles. "Well, maybe she deserves to be enabled, just a little bit. Let her enjoy victory the only way she knows how."
Her lover hums. "And what about you?"
Adora raises an eyebrow, a little defensive on reflex. "What about me?"
"We're past this song and dance, Adora." –Catra reminds her. "We talk about these things now, remember? You look...disappointed, by what we've found in this base." –she prompts.
The blonde sighs. "...you're right. I am disappointed. I'd hoped to find some kind of clue about what happened to the First Ones here, but so far, no luck. Nothing but old corpses and broken down tech."
Catra winces. "I mean...I hate to say it, but isn't it obvious? Prime destroyed the First Ones. He even said as much, didn't he?" –she says, trying to avoid recalling her time under his influence.
Adora nods. "He did, but...well, he also seemed a little bit surprised that I was one of them. And think about it: the First Ones turned Etheria into a superweapon to defeat Prime over a thousand years ago. Even if he spent centuries trying to destroy them, some of them must have survived for me to be born in the first place."
Catra crosses her arms. "I guess that makes sense." –she agrees. "But to be fair, it's also been more than twenty years since you were born. Prime could've found the survivors, or someone else could've finished them off. Are you prepared to search all of space looking for people who might not be alive anymore?"
"That's kinda mean." –the blonde points out, raising an eyebrow. "I know you don't like being out here, but I didn't know you wanted to return to Etheria that badly, Catra."
"There is that." –Catra admits. "But when I said I'd go with you to the ends of the universe, I meant it. I'm just worried that you'll find the answer you're looking for and break your heart in the process."
Adora sighs, leaning against a nearby wall. "I know. It's a possibility. Hell, it's probably what's gonna happen." –she says. "But I've been thinking about this ever since Shadow Weaver told me I was a First One and Light Hope confirmed it; the war kept me from digging too deep, but now that Prime's gone...well, let's just say I've had just as many sleepless nights in victory as I did before we defeated the Horde."
"...I wish you'd wake me up." –Catra says, pursing her lips. "You shouldn't have to stay up on your own."
Adora gives her a soft smile. "It's okay, Catra. You deserve your rest, too." –she says. "Besides, you look cute when you're asleep."
Catra knows a deflection when she sees one, but she can also tell that Adora isn't really in the right mind to discuss the topic any further, at least for the moment. And, not to be as horribly selfish as she used to be, but...she does enjoy the praise.
She leans on Adora, not bothering to quell her purring, felt even through the suits. "Flatterer." –she accuses.
"No. Just honest." –Adora says. They spend a couple of minutes holding each other, in the dimly lit control room, in the morbid company of the dead clone. It doesn't really matter to them – not after all they've been (and put each other, of course) through.
Melog pops into view, perhaps a bit jealous of their embrace. The couple separates, and together with their magical companion, they set about exploring the rest of the base; Catra suggests piling the bodies together to burn them in a pyre, but Adora points out that the atmosphere on this planetoid is probably too thin to support a fire like that. Catra promptly calls her a survivalist nerd. They don't touch the Horde robots; even centuries offline, they're bound to be dangerous, and though none of them seem to respond to their presence at all, they both mutely agree that it's best to play it safe.
A few minutes later, Entrapta pings their radios. "Hiii! I am happy to report that I have gained remote access to the base's sensors and communications array!" –she reports. "Darla seemed happy to have a new system to talk to."
Adora shakes her head, fondly. "Good to hear. Can you deactivate the transmission?"
"I can! In fact, I already have." –she says, off-handedly. "I should warn you, though, the sensor array is getting some fun readings from somewhere in high orbit above the gas giant in this solar system."
"The hell is a gas giant?" –Catra asks, confused. Adora mutters, 'later'.
"Anything we should be worried about, Entrapta?"
"Mmm, I don't know if I'd call a hitherto unknown form of Faster-Than-Light space travel 'worrying', per se. 'Thrilling' or 'exciting' seem like much more adequate descriptors."
Adora's only learned the basics of space travel – which Catra mostly slept through, hence the confusion about gas giants – but she does know about FTL travel. "Entrapta...doesn't that mean that someone's coming? Someone not from Etheria?"
"Considering Etheria has command of only one space-worthy vessel, your hypothesis is sound."
Entrapta sends a video feed of the phenomenon to their visors; it appears to be a two-dimensional disc of swirling blue energy, bound by a strangely ornate circular frame. From the center, a large, white vessel pops out, the portal closing behind them; the main fuselage is roughly pear-shaped, with four prong-like structures jutting out from its base, and towards the narrow section at its front. "Who are they?" –Adora wonders.
"Size and energy output are consistent with the capital ship classification the Horde once called a 'battlecruiser'. Doesn't look like the ship's profile matches any on record on the Horde's database. Ooo, wait a sec...it looks like the white battlecruiser isn't alone!"
The feed zooms out, and it becomes apparent that the newcomer isn't here for them – rather, it's chasing after a trio of slightly larger purple ships, roughly shaped like a barbed arrow tip, previously hidden in the shadow of the gas giant. The warships begin trading shots, firing bright blue and violet beams at each other, enormous light barriers blocking the blasts that would otherwise burn into their hulls.
"That could be really good, or really bad." –Catra notes. "Knowing our luck, it's probably the latter."
All around them, the Horde robots suddenly come to life; even damaged from whatever battle took place here, and pockmarked and brittle from the cosmic radiation that blasts the now-unshielded base, the drones still whine with power, centuries after they were deployed.
The timing is too suspicious not to assume that they've reactivated in response to the visitors.
"Bad luck it is." –Adora sighs. "Entrapta, keep us updated on the ships' movements. We'll fight our way back to you."
"Okay!"
Catra curses under her breath. "Ugh. I hate fighting in this thing." –she says, gesturing at her gloved hands. "Can't use my claws at all."
Adora smirks, holding her hand up and summoning the Sword of Protection, letting the power of She-Ra flow through her. In a flash of golden light, she now towers above her partner, as the chosen champion of planet Etheria. "Feel free to get behind me, Kit-Cat." –she teases.
She-Ra surges forward, cleaving through a trio of Horde drones before they can even raise their weapons. The others turn, shooting emerald bolts at the warrior goddess, which she easily deflects with the flat of the blade. Catra's not far behind, using the wall to She-Ra's right to vault onto and tackle down a drone, ripping off its head with a sharp yank and a defiant roar.
Technically, there isn't anything in the base that can truly threaten She-Ra, but she'd still rather err on the side of caution; the champion of Etheria may be able to shrug off the drones' weapons and exist in the near-vacuum unaided, but regular Adora – and more importantly, Catra – doesn't have that luxury. She-Ra devotes herself to drawing the attention of as many drones as possible, leaving Catra to pick off the few that escape the Sword of Protection's reach, disappearing into Melog's magical invisibility field whenever she starts to get in over her head.
The mad dash is successful; the trio blazes a path to Mara's starship, looming in the distance, just a hundred yards or so away from the base's entrance, parked on the ruins of what was once a landing platform built onto the planetoid's surface. The cargo bay is closed; She-Ra nearly frowns at this development, before quickly figuring out that there's a very good reason for it – a couple dozen drones have started trying to claw or blast their way into the First Ones vessel, fortunately without success.
"We need to clear them off the ship as much as we can." –She-Ra says, lashing out with a ribbon of blazing, rainbow-colored energy from the tip of her blade, carving into a handful of drones. "Grab one of their blasters."
"Damn it, you know I'm a terrible shot." –Catra groans, but reaches for the torn arm of one of the drones anyway. "Where's my whip when I need it?"
She-Ra blinks, blasting a couple of drones with searing energy from the Runestone on her sword's crossguard. "You still have that thing?" –she wonders.
Catra sighs, missing two out of three shots. "No, Sparkles incinerated it in one of our fights." –she says, mournfully. "Not that I begrudge her or anything, but...I really liked that whip."
The blonde demigoddess backhands a drone, sending it careening into a crumpled heap of brittle metal and crumpled electronics, swiftly climbed over by its fellow robots. "I'll get you a new whip when we get home, I promise."
"As long as it isn't pink and covered in glitter, sure." –Catra retorts, sarcastically.
She-Ra rolls her eyes. "I'm sure Huntara'll know where to find a nice, subtle replacement."
The loading bay is clear, for the moment, so Entrapta finally opens it for them. They race inside, making their way to the bridge of the starship, where the purple-haired inventor is giggling away. "Oh good, you made it!" –Entrapta says, off-handed.
"Are you okay? Is the ship?" –Adora asks, shedding the transformation and stepping out of her space suit.
"Fine, fine!" –Entrapta reassures them. The ship lurches forward, then up and away from the base. The engineer then frowns, staring at projection of the space around them. "...okay, maybe not that fine."
Catra scowls. "What is it now?"
"The battlecruiser just adopted an intercept course." –Entrapta reports. "Its energy levels suggest it's preparing to jump!"
"Can you translate for those of us who didn't pay attention to Bow's seminar?" –Catra asks, sarcastically.
The bridge's view of the stars is suddenly replaced with purple metal and violet lights, the massive battlecruiser having warped right in front of them. "...never mind." –Catra says, sarcastic.
"Get us out of here, Entrapta!" –Adora commands.
The engineer gets to work, the kick of their thrusters almost knocking them to the floor. Moments later, though, they all but stop moving, suddenly surrounded by pink energy. Entrapta stammers, trying and failing to get them going again. "It's no good, we're suspended in some kind of inertial dampening field! Thrusters are maxed out and we're not going anywhere!" –she reports.
"Well, shoot them or something!" –Catra says.
"The weapons on this ship are meant to clear out medium-sized asteroids and smaller craft; their yield is too low to penetrate the warship's shields!" –Entrapta explains.
Entrapta mutters to herself, trying to figure out a way out of their predicament. "They're not just shooting us, so we can assume they'd rather capture us." –Adora reasons. "Catra and I can board the ship and disable whatever is keeping us from escaping."
Catra all but bursts out of her space suit, unsheathing her claws. "Best idea I've heard all day." –she drawls, narrowing her eyes in satisfaction.
Adora summons the Sword of Protection again, but she's interrupted; Mara's ship is suddenly released from the warship's hold, and a quick glance at the viewport reveals why.
"Are those...giant robot cats?" –Adora wonders, blinking and turning to Catra and Melog in confusion.
Her partner snorts, laying her hand on Melog's head. "Don't look at us, Adora."
Indeed they are; a quartet of mechanical entities about as large as their starship, all of them bearing a distinctly feline profile and bold, primary colors, have taken it upon themselves to blast beams of searing white energy at the purple warship, burning through the violet shielding and carving into the metallic hull below. Explosions now wrack the massive ship, and one of them has apparently disabled whatever was keeping them in place.
Catra turns to Entrapta. "What are you waiting for, get us out of here!" –she yells.
"I would, but Darla doesn't wanna go." –Entrapta shrugs. "And given those Lions are marked in the Horde's database as 'enemy vessels', neither do I."
Adora tilts her head. "What the heck is a 'lion'?"
A massive red-white snout peers at them through the viewport, the purple warship limping away, pursued by the others. Entrapta points at their savior with her hair. "That's a Lion." –she says. The console pulses twice. "And that's the Lion wanting to talk to us."
Adora purses her lips. "Well...I guess we owe them a 'thank you'. Open communications."
The viewport is overlayed with a rectangular hologram, which displays two people, both in polarized helmets and wearing primarily white armors. The person at the pilot's seat has red accents, while the one standing at their right has pink and blue details and a more distinctly feminine figure.
"Greetings." –the standing one says. "I am Princess Allura, de facto leader of the Voltron Coalition. We received your distress call; unfortunately, so did the scouting Galra fleet that almost captured your ship. We'd like to offer to help in any way we can."
Adora frowns. "Distress call?" –she mutters to herself. The woman has an interesting accent; it almost sounds to the blonde like Angela's.
"You can understand everything she's saying?" –Catra asks, raising an eyebrow.
"You can't?" –Adora wonders. She shakes her head – it's an odd development, but that's par for the course in her experience – and turns to the one who spoke. "My name is Adora. I'll speak on behalf of the people of Etheria." –she announces. "Are you talking about the distress call this listening post was broadcasting? Because it's...kinda out of date."
"Like, a month out of date." –Catra says, sarcastic.
Allura takes off her helmet, revealing a truly beautiful young woman – almost divine in her features, in fact; her snow-white hair nicely contrasts her dark skin, and her wide blue eyes seem to transition into violet towards the pupil. Adora can immediately tell that she isn't quite like an Etherian, however, or even a First One; the self-described princess's ears are long and pointed outwards, like Double Trouble's, and two small, chevron-shaped pink markings adorn the skin above her cheekbones, each pointing roughly towards her shoulders.
Adora blushes, despite herself. So does Catra, though the fuzz on her cheeks almost hides it. Entrapta has already lost interest, instead analyzing the ship's telemetry on the Lions.
"Outdated? ...I see." –Princess Allura says. "Regardless, the Paladins of Voltron stand ready to assist." –she pledges. Allura seems to hesitate, somewhat, before her next words. "Pardon my impatience, but...have you perhaps heard of Altea?"
Catra and Adora look at each other, slightly confused. Allura notices, pursing her lips. "It's just...your language, it appears to be some kind of dialect descended from Altean." –she supplies. "And the ship you're currently piloting bears a similar design philosophy to some ancient Altean prototypes."
"This ship was built by the First Ones." –Adora retorts, uncertain. "They were...colonists, from the planet Eternia. They came to Etheria thousands of years ago, claiming the planet for themselves."
"How many thousands of years ago?" –the pilot in red armor asks. A male, by the sounds of it.
Adora shrugs, frustrated at her own lack of knowledge. "Hard to say. We don't know the specifics, just that they all but took over the planet, then fled a little over a thousand years ago."
Allura seems to ponder this for a moment. "Would you be willing to board the Castle of Lions? I am not entirely sure, but I believe your 'First Ones' and my people, the Alteans, may be connected in some way." –she says, rather cryptically.
It's hard to say what emotion climbs up Adora's throat at that statement; is it anticipation at the prospect of potentially learning about her people, or dread at discovering anything potentially worse about them than she already knows?
Or is it hope, that this Princess Allura could indeed be one of the First Ones, or at least connected to them?
"We've had some...bad experiences with foreign starships." –Catra answers in her stead. Adora notes that Catra now fully understands the princess – she must be translating now, probably having heard Catra's earlier comment. Adora herself can't tell the difference in Allura's speech. "But you could board our ship."
Allura agrees to meeting on their turf far more easily than Adora would've expected. "We accept your terms."
The feed cuts and the Red Lion moves out of view, floating over to the back of the ship. Adora looks at Catra. "Thanks." –she whispers, taking one of Catra's hands in hers.
Catra shrugs. "You froze up." –she says. "Understandable, though."
"Do you really think her Alteans are related to the First Ones?" –Adora wonders.
Her partner purses her lips. "No idea; her warship doesn't really look like Mara's to me, aside from having lots of blue and white lights all over. But even if they aren't, these people obviously know their way around space better than we do. I don't trust them, but they're probably your best bet at finding the answers you're looking for."
Adora raises an eyebrow. "You don't trust them? I thought they made a good first impression."
Catra snorts. "Adora, I love you, and I love how easily you trust people, but I'm never gonna be like that." –she says. "You bring your lovely, diplomatic self, and I'll bring a healthy dose of skepticism."
"And I'll bring several hundred questions about their incredibly advanced, cat-shaped technology!" –Entrapta says, grabbing both of their hands with her hair and pulling them out of the bridge and towards the cargo bay. A short walk and elevator ride down later, they're on the other side of the vacuum-sealed door to the bay, currently locked as it's open to space for their guests to float over from the Lion's open maw. Adora notes that Allura is significantly taller than the pilot, and only half a head or so shorter than She-Ra herself.
Once inside, the cargo hold seals and pressurizes. The Etherian trio walk through the door once the process is finished, Adora leading the way. Their new friends remove their helmets; the pilot has fair skin and a shaggy mullet of black hair, messily framing his pale, blue-gray eyes. He seems wary, where Allura appears all too earnest, almost mirroring Catra and Adora's own attitudes.
Adora steps forward, and so does Allura. They meet in the middle, nodding at each other in a seemingly universal gesture of approval and friendship. "Princess." –Adora greets. "Thank you for the rescue."
"It's no trouble." –she says. "We simply fulfilled our duty as Paladins of Voltron."
"You keep saying that word." –Catra notes. "'Voltron'. I can understand you now, but that word still doesn't translate."
"It's a name." –the Paladin in red-accented armor says, oddly reluctant. "The Lions we pilot, they can come together and fuse to form a massive, armored warrior – the most powerful in the entire universe."
Catra narrows her eyes before snorting. "Of course they do."
"The people who tried to abduct us, you called them 'Galra'?" –Adora asks.
"Indeed." –Allura says. "They form an Empire that has ruled with an iron fist over much of the known universe for the past ten-thousand years. They eradicated my people, and they've conquered untold numbers since."
Adora's expression sours. "Sounds familiar."
"I thought Prime was the Emperor of the Known Universe, or whatever?" –Catra mutters.
Adora hums. "Well, he sure thought very highly of himself. Maybe too highly." –she retorts, turning to Allura. "I don't suppose you've heard of Horde Prime and his clone army?"
Keith blinks. "Isn't that from Star Wars or something?" –he asks Allura.
"I'm sorry, no." –the princess says, shooting Keith a tiny glare. "But the universe is massive, and this galaxy is far from its center; the Galra's reach here is very faint, and other empires and warlords typically spring to fill in the void in such places."
"Well, that and our planet spent a thousand years stuck in an empty alternate dimension." –Entrapta supplies.
Allura raises an eyebrow. "That sounds like a rather incredible story."
"We'd be willing to tell it." –Adora says. "But first...this possible link between the First Ones and your Alteans...how would we know for sure?"
"Do you know any?" –Allura asks. "A simple bio-scan should suffice. Otherwise, we'd have to perform several comparative diagnostics between this ship and ancient Altean technology."
"That sounds like fun, I'm in!" –Entrapta says, all too eager, but stops bouncing in place when Catra places a hand on her shoulder for Adora to speak.
Adora sighs. "I, uh...I'm a First One." –she admits.
The Paladins look at each other, their interest piqued. Allura makes a fist, and holds up her arm towards her. A horizontal wall of cyan light projects from her gauntlet and washes over her form, top to bottom, and the data gathered is displayed on a hologram above her wrist. The princess reads through the results, her eyes visibly widening as she goes.
"If you're a First One..." –Allura says, anticipation plain in her tone. "Then the First Ones weren't merely linked to my people."
An image of her next to an image of Allura herself appears, a sort of linked spiral getting derived from each of their bodies and compared, matching bit by bit, with only very few differences marked in red. A label with the number '99.47%' appears under them.
Adora's not entirely sure what it means, but she does have an inkling.
"Adora." –Allura says, clearly excited. "I...believe I may have once shared a world with your ancestors, over ten-thousand years ago. It would appear that the First Ones were, at some point, Alteans themselves."
No sense beating around the bush, here: though there's quite a bit more to it to explore than what's presented here, the First Ones are indeed descended from the ancient Alteans. It was not exactly a natural evolution, and there's very clearly some differences between the two - as immediately exemplified by Adora and Allura - which will be explained later! My original plan was to have this reveal in chapter 2, but I think I'd rather have fewer and longer chapters with this one. It also emulates Close Encounters in having this big intro chapter that could be its own one-shot with a cliffhanger, so that's neat!
Some trivia for y'all:
-This first chapter is something of a reversal of Close Encounters' first; there, we follow the Paladins arriving at the site of battle between the Gems and Galra, while here, we start at the ground level with the Etherians coming under attack by the Galra before Voltron arrives to save the day.
-This Galra scout flotilla is really out of place, considering the Galra Empire has never established a presence in the Milky Way; why do you think they're here?
-It was interesting, trying to strike a balance that makes it clear that while the Etherians are by no means primitive, they do lack a lot of the knowledge of a modern (let alone futuristic) society. They obviously know babies inherit traits from their parents, for example, but they haven't discovered DNA, hence Adora's confusion. Another example, Catra knows what a moon is (Etheria has a ton, lol), but she has no idea what a gas giant is. She'd probably picture a literal giant made of gas.
-We'll learn more about this, but First Ones and Altean tech aren't exactly the same. They share many similarities (they both use crystals and hard light projection for example), but there's also a lot of differences, starting with the obvious visual disparity.
-By necessity of making post S5 content, I have to take a bit away from the sheer joy of defeating the Horde by pointing out a few loose ends (like Catra still hating Hordak, for example), but I promise I'll do my best to respect the victory and earned happiness. This is much more a personal story than a grand adventure.
-Can't remember if I clarified this in Close Encounters, but timeline wise this is somewhere in the middle of a very hazy alternate S3 of Voltron. Shiro remains missing, and Voltron can't form at the moment. No one has tried to pilot the Black Lion and, spoiler alert, I'm not gonna swap Paladins around. Huge bug bear for me, I feel like it really diminishes the bond between a Paladin and their Lion.
-As mentioned at the top, the title of the fic "Eternity in Promise...and Charge in Progeny Cursed" (technically the full thing but I leave it at "eternity in promise" so it's short and easy to reference in conversation) comes from a line in a Hollow Knight lore tablet. Thanks to my buddy ZR Stein (fellow HK superfan, even more so than me) for helping me get there, because I could NOT figure out a title for this fic for the life of me. Maybe I should figure out a way to write Hollow Knight into the Kryptonverse someday...
-As for the Kryptonverse timeline, this takes place late 2013-early 2014!
That's all I have for you today! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you're looking forward to more. If you have any questions or comments/review, please feel free to leave them here or reach out to my ask box over on Tumblr (darthkvznblogs), which is open to all! Until next time!