Author's Note: This chapter has been a long time coming. I have been looking forward to the first couple of segments since I was working on SLY - therefore, the reason I wanted to write a second book. One of the reasons, anyway.

I'd like to thank everyone who's still reading this story, as well as everyone who's checked out my latest one-shot, "This Isn't Everything You Are." My readers are the best!

To Cha - Thank you for your messages. I truly appreciate your comments and suggestions, and I take them to heart.

To bknbu - Allie & Romy are definitely two cousins who shouldn't be messed with, and their significant others are going to find that out in this book. As for Jeff...well, once the drunken stupor wears off, he'll find that an angry Keith is ALMOST as tough to deal with as Lotor and Wade.

To Sally On - Crankypants is working on it. He's working on it!

To Emie Mac - Poor drunken Jeff. (As long as WE know he's a good guy, right?) As for Sven being on Crydor, Keith has yet to mention that little fact to the rest of his friends and teammates, though Allura and Larmina know he's on stand-by.

To Wade Wells - Girl! Thank you for your feedback! I'm using one of your suggestions in this chapter. Expect to be hearing more from me soon.

Title Song: "Icicle" by Tori Amos (For those of you not familiar with this song, I suggest learning more about it. Yes, it sounds like it's about icicles, but there are a lot of metaphors that go way deeper than that.)

Angelie Nabors-Stensson had no idea why her daughter wanted to meet with her at the Russian Tea Room. Yes, they'd often get together for dinner, but never in a place so fancy unless there was a special occasion attached to it. And there was no such special occasion right now. It was too early to be celebrating Lenora's graduation from the Space Academy; there was still one month to go.

It was a Monday night, which made it just slightly easier to get a seat in the restaurant. The beautiful bar area was as busy as usual, and Angelie slid between patrons, garnering stares as she did. Though she was well into her forties, she did not look it; with her chestnut-brown hair swept back in a twist and her little black dress clinging to all of her curves, she could have easily passed for her daughter's older sister.

She noticed her daughter standing up from her seat at the booth. With her right hand, Lenora waved excitedly, dressed in a semi-formal strapless dress with a black bodice and a cream-colored tulle skirt. She smiled with her black-painted lips.

"Hello, my love," Angelie greeted her daughter with a hug and a kiss. Looking down at the booth, she discovered her daughter's boyfriend of nearly five years, Sven Holgersson, seated and looking slightly nervous. "And hello to you too, Sven."

He stood up quickly and leaned forward to accept a kiss from her. "Mrs. Stensson, it's very nice to see you again," he greeted her in his Norwegian accent. "Thank you for joining us this evening."

"Of course." Angelie sat down at the booth across from them. "I never turn down an opportunity to have dinner with my two favorite people." Truthfully, she liked Sven very much. Part of her fondness was due to the fact that he was a smart, respectable, and decent young man, but most of it was because he had truly helped Lenora recover from her father's murder. Angelie had been afraid that her daughter would never come back to her, but somehow Sven had gotten through to Lenora and brought her back to life.

As Angelie looked over the wine menu, she noticed that her daughter kept exchanging secretive glances with her boyfriend. "All right, out with it," she said warmly, a smile forming on her plush lips. "I know you want to tell me something. What is it?"

She watched as Sven squeezed her daughter's hand underneath the table, and Lenora's face lit up with joy. "Mom, Sven and I got engaged this afternoon."

Angelie's smile broadened. "I knew it. Congratulations, both of you." She leaned over to kiss both of them again. "Is there a ring?"

"Actually, there's two." As they brought their left hands onto the table, Angelie studied the matching platinum wedding bands. There was no diamond, but she supposed it didn't really matter. "Ah. Tiffany rings. You two have excellent taste."

The waitress came around that moment, and in celebration, Angelie ordered a bottle of Moët & Chandon 'Imperial' champagne. "So when can I expect this wedding?"

"Whenever I return from Arus," Sven answered.

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Arus? The Azure quadrant of the Denubian Galaxy, no? Wasn't that planet razed by the Drules quite some time ago?"

Sven nodded. "It was."

"So why would the Garrison want to send you there on your first mission?"

Before he could answer, the waitress returned with the bottle of champagne and three champagne flutes. "Your Moët, Ma'am."

"Yes, thank you," Angelie replied.

After the waitress popped the cork and poured three glasses, Angelie lifted her champagne flute. "Cheers," she toasted, clinking her glass with Lenora's and Sven's. "To my daughter and her new fiancé. To your happiness, for now and forever."

"Aw, Mom." Lenora looked teary-eyed, but she didn't cry.

Angelie took a sip and revelled in the moment. Yes, she knew they were young - too young, actually, and if it had been anyone other than Sven Holgersson, she would have tried to talk her daughter out of getting engaged at the age of twenty-one - but she also knew that the two of them needed to be together. They were responsible, and they were making the right decision.

She was just worried about his mission to Arus. For some reason, she had a bad feeling about it.

They had barely made it to the underground tunnels as the last dregs of sunlight on Crydor were disappearing. Then, once they were safely underground, the girl burst into tears. She'd held it together for as long as she could, but once she knew she was finally safe, the emotions she'd held in check had finally gotten the best of her.

Sven had spent the better part of the night consoling Christiane. She didn't know who he was - she didn't even know his name - but she didn't care. He was better than the captors she'd spent the last horrendous hours of her life with. As she emptied herself of tears and horror without telling him anything of what transpired, her tired body crashed from exhaustion, and she fell asleep in his arms.

As Sven awoke in the morning, groggy but at least with the knowledge that he was safe in the tunnels, he noticed the woman in his arms. Briefly, he didn't remember who she was, he only knew that she had dark hair. His thoughts, as always, turned to his elskede. Oh, Lenora, he thought desperately, reaching out to stroke her porcelain skin with his bare hand.

"She is the blood that runs through your veins, Sven Holgersson," Christiane mumbled sleepily without opening her eyes.

As the girl spoke the words, he remembered who she was and what they were doing there. They were trying to survive until the Voltron Forces could come rescue them. He had no way to contact them - both ships' transmitters were destroyed in the crash landings. He also remembered that she had fallen asleep in his arms without even knowing who he was. So how did she know his name now?

"I am a seer, Sven. When you put your hand on my face, I was able to read you."

"Oh." Well, that explained it. Sort of. Stiffly, he sat up and stretched his arms overhead. "So you know about..."

"About you and the Space Marshal?" She picked herself up off the ground and dusted herself off. "Yes. I know about the two of you. I know too much about the two of you." She blinked at him with her turquoise eyes. "She still loves you."

"Please. I wish you hadn't said that." Sven shook his head.

"You don't know anything." Christiane patted his arm gently. "The two of you are supposed to be together. It's a beautiful thing when you meet The One."

"You know that?"

"Seers know lots of things. Like how you and Len are not married to The One, neither of you, though she's better off than you are. You two should be married to each other."

"Uh-huh." Nervously, he began to walk down the tunnel. "There should be some rations stored somewhere down this way. We should start walking."

"Good." Christiane followed him. "I could use some food. Blast it, the last thing I remember swallowing was that beer at Sullivan's Bar."

"Sullivan's is still around?"

"Mmm-hmm. According to my co-pilot Taye Benton, they have the best wings on the lower East Side. Too bad I didn't get to try any." She caught up to him and laced her arm through his. "So tell me, Sven Holgersson, do you know about the classified files?"

"Classified files? No, Christiane Kogane, I do not."

"It figures. When I told Lenora, she looked like she wanted to cry."

The thought of his elskede in tears made him draw a sharp breath. "Were the classified files that bad? And what classified files are you talking about, anyway?"

"Graham's classified files on the Arusian expedition. It was how Stebbins and Brown chose the members for the mission and, unintentionally, for the Voltron Force." She pursed her lips together. "It was originally supposed to be my brother, you, Lance, Hunk, and Lenora."

At those words, he felt as though an icicle had stabbed him in the heart. His mouth dropped open, but no sound was able to come out.

When Ginger awoke the next morning - with a man in her bed, no less - she panicked. She didn't recognize where she was, and she had no idea who was in bed with her. Blast it, she thought, trying to cover herself up with the sheet. I didn't even drink last night. Seven hells, if that's Shannon in bed with me, I am giving up on life.

"Relax, Gin."

As soon as she heard his voice, she felt better. "Lance. Thank God. For a moment there, I thought..."

"Shh. It doesn't matter." He rolled over towards her and wrapped his arm around her. "You do realize the scrutiny we're gonna face when we go down there together, right?"

"Lance McClain. After all these years, you really want to go out there together?"

He smirked behind her. "Well, I figure it's been long enough. I mean, how much longer do you want to hide this from everybody?"

She turned to face him. "Um...I think everybody figured it out almost eleven years ago on Senior Night, Hon." She lifted an eyebrow at him. "Besides, I can't believe that the great Lance McClain is ready to tell the world that he wants to be half of a relationship."

"It's you. That's different." He shot her his dazzling Lance McClain smile, and she snorted with laughter.

"So what are you saying, Lance?"

"I don't want to be with anybody but you. Not now, not ever."

"Truth?"

"Truth."

"Wow. Whoever would've thought?" She nuzzled into him, knowing that they had to get up very soon, but wanting to enjoy just a few more minutes. Who knew when they would be like this again? "All seven hells must be frozen over right now."

He knew it had to be a bad morning if black coffee and the perimeter scan weren't helping.

Keith stood in front of the computer in Castle Control, watching the images come up onscreen. He got no joy out of it. There was too much going on, inside the castle and out, for him to even focus properly. If Lotor and Wade had been lurking in the garden with a gigantic robeast, he would have missed it.

He felt like he had no control over his life anymore - the last time he'd felt so helpless and desperate was when Wade disbanded the Voltron Forces and impounded the lions, and he'd gone on a manhunt for Black. Now, he had his sister, his girlfriend, and his ex-girlfriend to worry about. And not just worry about them as people, he had to worry about his relationships with them and, worse, their relationships with each other. He made a lousy ex-boyfriend, a worse boyfriend, and the worst brother of all time. He felt like he could lead the failure pride parade.

"Just put me on a float," he muttered darkly.

He needed to kill time until they left for Crydor. Moments passed with him staring blankly at the images on the screen. Nothing. He saw nothing, he heard nothing. He should have felt nothing, too. But he didn't. He felt her instead. He felt her presence in the room without any fanfare to announce her arrival, without any words or sounds coming from her direction.

Noiselessly, she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso, laying the side of her face on his upper back. She didn't say a word, she just laid her head there, closed her eyes, and breathed against him. It was possibly more intimate than their lovemaking.

"Keith, you didn't come to bed last night."

He shook his head. "How could I? There was so much going on last night, and let's face it..." He let his voice trail off, unable to say the words and express his emotions. As usual, that was his biggest problem.

Her emerald eyes urged him to go onwards. "And?"

He sighed. "Let's face it, Allura, I've put you through seven hells since Len's transmission on Pollux. You deserve better than that. You deserve better than me. I am just the worst. The worst boyfriend, the worst brother, the worst everything."

"You're getting better," she replied slowly, sensing a breakthrough. "The fact that you could admit that gives me hope."

"And besides, Keith," a new voice shot out, "you're not the worst. You know what the worst is? Closing the deal with your best friend's sister and not telling him about it."

Jeff.

Slowly, Keith and Allura turned to face the doorway. Jeff stood there in his Air Team uniform, looking not the least bit hungover, with Morgan by his side, gripping his hand. Keith knew they were putting on a united front for him. At the end of the day, Morgan would always choose her friendship with Jeff over her relationship - whatever that was - with Keith. "Princess Allura, I must apologize for my drunken state last night. I was obviously not myself."

"Aki." Keith drew in a deep breath as he looked at his old roommate. "I should really beat the seven hells out of you. I mean, how could you start dating my sister? I trusted you to watch out for Christy and take care of her, and you stabbed me in the blasted back!"

Instead of being angry or upset, Jeff exchanged a glance with Morgan, and they both smiled. It only irritated Keith more, the two of them laughing at him. It was only further proof that he'd made the right decision when he left them both behind. "Dude. Did you just say seven hells?"

The question made Keith pause. "Yeah. Why?"

Morgan laughed hysterically while Jeff tried not to grin. "Where did you hear that phrase?"

"I bummed it off of Len when she visited Arus."

"Dude, you can't be mad at me when you say that phrase."

Feeling Allura tighten her hold on his hand, he replied, "And why not?"

Jeff finally succumbed to his laughter. "Because," he answered in between peals, "that's David's catchphrase. We've all swiped the term seven hells from him at one point or another. You, my friend, are quoting your ex-girlfriend's husband."

Even Allura let out a little giggle at the irony. Keith felt his blood boiling, humiliated by the way these three people - the three people who were, at one point or another, the most important people in his life - were laughing. Without thinking, he lashed out at the one person he was used to hurting the most.

"I'm glad you find it so funny, Morgan. It's a real laugh. You know, I just should've forgotten about you after that incident with Andrew during our first year at the Academy."

The laughter stopped.

There was nothing but silence in the Castle Control. Keith stared them down, the pain evident in his eyes, as Jeff and Morgan exchanged a glance. Finally, Morgan left her friend's side and walked over to Keith, ignoring Allura in the process. The princess backed away in equal parts resentment and curiosity.

"Andrew?"

"Yeah." Turquoise eyes burned into violet ones. "Do you remember that incident during our first year?"

She looked hurt as she revisited the memory. "Of course I remember. It's kind of humiliating to be dumped when you did nothing wrong, with all of your friends on the floor as witnesses. What's even more humiliating is that...oh, never mind." She dismissed the thought, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter now."

"I had to dump you, Morgan. I really thought you were going to leave me for him."

Morgan looked back over at Jeff, who shrugged. Then she returned her gaze to her ex-boyfriend. "Why would you have even thought that, Keith?" Softly, she touched the side of his face. Keith closed his eyes, savoring the feel of her touch; Allura recoiled internally. "I loved you, and I never cheated on you. I was going to sleep with Andrew immediately after you dumped me that time, but I couldn't do it."

Without opening his eyes, he answered, "Everyone I love leaves me, Morgan. Everyone. My parents, Christy...everyone." He opened his eyes again. "You know how I loved you guys on the floor as my family. Imagine how I felt after Sven was hurt, and then we didn't know if he'd live or not. Everyone I have ever loved or cared about has left me at the end. So of course I thought you'd leave me for Andrew."

"Oh, Keith." She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. In response, he dropped his head onto her shoulder. Allura felt like she had been stabbed in the heart, but at the same time, she understood her boyfriend a little better. His parents' death, coupled with the loss of his sister, had left him emotionally stunted and unable to trust in love. Sven's near-loss had only reinforced that idea. "Keith, despite everything we went through together at the Academy, the only reason we broke up for good was because you went to Arus. I like to think that we would have been married for a long time now if you hadn't become the captain of the Voltron Force."

"You were my 'one who got away,' Morgan. I always thought that."

"I feel the same way."

"Blech," Jeff retorted.

"Shut UP, Amigo."

Cradling his face in her hands, Morgan looked at Keith intently. "Come on," she whispered. "We have to go get our sister back."