Coran watched the Lions and their allies rip through the Queen's militia as if it was nothing. He was too wary to celebrate a victory just yet. He'd seen this enemy open a rift to their reality to bring in more troops enough times now. He wasn't going to relax until Nayni and Lance were standing next to him again on this bridge. The Castle shook as the particle barrier took another hit. Coran braced himself on the main control panel. The star system looked like it had been overrun with chaos. Explosions and lasers of every conceivable color and origin flooded the battlefield.

He was poised and ready to make the jump out of here as soon as they could. He watched the Lions flying amidst the raging battle. Coran could barely focus on operating the Castle's defenses. He kept fixating on Allura and Nayni. They were on that cursed vessel with Lance. Until he heard the Princess's voice come over the communication channels he would not be at ease. Everything was being put on the line. Everything he held dear was at risk.

Coran typed into the control panel and set up his targeting parameters once again. All he wanted to do was tear the Other Castle in half. He wanted to rip it to shreds but that wasn't their goal today. He was letting his connection to Nayni overwhelm his logic. He didn't regret what had happened on the Terrapin shores. He never would. It was a struggle to fight that unrelenting need to protect her but he had to do it. He couldn't cave to those powerful emotions and throw caution to the wind.

Nayni had lost that battle. That's the only reason he could come up with for her running off like she did. It had been devastating and terrifying but he couldn't be angry with her. He just wanted her back. He waved his hand across the control panel. The Castle's defenses fired off their blue lasers. Clusters of the Queen's drones went up in flames.

When the Red and Blue Lion flew into view, Coran thought his heart stopped for a tik. He couldn't help but laugh. The relief of seeing them felt so good he could cry. He stared at the communications monitor with great anticipation. His listened to the muffled sounds of the explosions from the battle going on around him. The silence on the bridge only made the wait that much more torturous. The Blue Lion swooped around one of the Queen's dreadnoughts and fired off its ice beam.

"Coran! We made!" Allura's voice crackled over the transmitter. "-but we're short one person."

Coran felt a twinge of panic. Allura didn't hesitate to explain herself. The Princess was wise enough to know his anxiety would be through the roof right now.

"Tomyko didn't make it," Allura said over the transmitter.

Coran's ears drooped. That Tomyko hadn't been Nayni's real wife but he imagined his lover would still be distraught right now. Tomyko had been their only ally from that other reality. Now she was gone. Her time with them had been brief and it hadn't exactly been pleasant but Coran still mourned her. That woman had fought as ferociously as they all had for freedom. She'd given her life for it.

He started working the controls in order to prep the Teludav for a jump. They'd have to open a pretty massive wormhole to get all of their troops out safely. He leaned over to the communications panel and hit the transmit button.

"Everyone, get ready to retreat, we've secured the payload," Coran said.

He watched their ships starting to pull back. They couldn't wait around. They needed to make this jump as soon as possible. They didn't want to deal with a rift opening up amidst all of this destruction. The Lions started rushing back to the Castle. Coran adjusted the various dials and switches on the control panel. He could already hear the familiar hum of the Teludav powering up. The forces of the Coalition started to gather around the Castle. He kept his gaze fixated on the screen that was monitoring the status of the hangar.

He was bracing himself for a rift to open. He was waiting for the Other Castle to do anything. They continued to fire off their minimal defenses. It didn't seem right. It didn't seem like them. They had been so thirsty for blood before. Why would they hold back now? He could hear the sound of the Teludav powering up. Coran glanced over at the monitor and saw all the Lions had returned to the hangar. He gripped onto the control panel as he watched the massive blue beam fire off into the battlefield and rip open a wormhole.

Coran watched all of their allied forces dive into the wormhole before he pushed forward on the Castle's throttle. He dove the sleek white vessel into the portal. As he steered the Castle through the violet tunnel, he felt his doubt fading away. They'd done it. They'd pieced back together their family. Their enemy had seen what they were capable of now. The violet lightning lashed out from the wall of the portal and danced across the surface of the Castle.

The Castle emerged from the other end of the wormhole and the portal closed behind them. The Terrapin vessels were already puttering around the empty sector when the Castle emerged. The boxy rebel ships were regrouping and the Blades ships were lingering on the backlines. The system was quiet and empty. It was only occupied by a small planet without sentient life and it's two tiny moons. Twinkling stars dotted the inky abyss that surrounded them.

He couldn't wait any longer. Now that his job was done, Coran couldn't be stopped. He abandoned his post and headed for the hangar. He didn't want to think about what his loved ones had gone through on that vessel. He couldn't imagine what horrors they'd seen. Coran just hoped that they were okay. He wasn't just concerned about their physical well being. They'd already been through so much. Lance had nearly died once before and acted as if it hadn't bothered him but Coran knew that memory still scarred him.

He believed Nayni was strong but he'd watched her grief consume her for years. As tough as that woman was, she would stuff down her emotions and let them slowly eat away at her. He couldn't let that happen to her again. He wouldn't allow it. The journey to the hangar felt like it was the most arduous and long trek that Coran had ever endured. He kept fidgeting on the elevator. His heart was racing. He just wanted to see them. He just wanted to hold them.

Coran practically clawed his way out of the elevator when it finally got to the hangar. The Lions were all where they were meant to be. Everything was as it should be. The Paladins had already gathered around. Lance was already being engulfed in a massive group hug. Hunk was ruffling Lance's brown hair. It looked like the slender Blue Paladin was trying to fight back tears. Allura was clutching his hand and it didn't appear that she would be letting go anytime soon. Matt was eyeing Lotor suspiciously as the Galra Prince exited the Red Lion.

Nayni was stumbling away from the Blue Lion. She looked as if she'd been tossed into a black hole and emerged from the other end. Her eyes flickered over to him. She was about to lose it. He could sense it. Coran rushed to her side. He scooped her up in his arms. Coran buried his face in her tangled hair and relished her scent. She smelled absolutely dreadful but he didn't care. It didn't take long for the rest of the Paladins to pile on too. The weight of them all was crushing the two of them but Coran was so overwhelmed with happiness that it didn't matter.

He could feel Nayni trembling. She wasn't even trying to hide the fact that she was crying. It was so unlike her. Lotor rolled his eyes and scoffed with disgust.

"Enjoy your nauseating reunion," Lotor sighed. "I desperately require a shower."

The Paladins started peeling off as Lotor made his exit. Shiro cleared his throat and folded his arms across his chest. Nayni held up her hand in protest before he could even speak.

"No, I won't have a peep out of you," Nayni said.

She sounded so exhausted. She kept clinging to Coran. He felt like he was the only thing that was keeping her on her feet.

"I'm going to need a bit of rest before we get back to business, Shiro," Nayni pleaded.

The Black Paladin just smiled. He looked over everyone's faces and nodded.

"I think we all need to recover from this one," Shiro began. "-but we shouldn't wait around for this debriefing."

Lance groaned. Some weird red substance was making his hair stick out in every direction.

"Dude, you can wait to hear about the Devil Castle after I've had a shower and a solid twelve hours of sleep," Lance said.

Coran could feel that Nayni was still shaking. Now that he'd seen them, now that he'd felt them again, he just wanted to whisk her away. He wanted to take all her pain away again. There were a hundred other things he'd need to attend to now but all of it would have to wait. He wanted some kind of explanation from her but she looked so exhausted. She looked so drained. And there was the matter of Tomyko. He knew she'd need to talk about that.

He leaned over and brushed some of her frizzy hair away from her face. When she looked up at him, Coran thought she was going to cry again. They watched the Paladins splitting off. Their chatter wasn't the excited type. They seemed weary from the battle but curious to find out the full scope of what they'd all just been through. Allura managed to catch his attention. The Princess just gave him a nod. She'd brought Nayni back to him. That girl was still performing miracles, just like her father had.

Coran started to lead Nayni back towards the elevator. She was dragging her feet. She remained silent until they got back to the elevator. He watched the sleek metallic doors close. The blue lights of the elevator's interior illuminated and the platform began to rise. She squeezed his hand even more tightly. Her bottom lip was already trembling. Coran just pulled her closer to him. She buried her face in his chest and sobbed. He cupped her face with his hand. He took in a deep breath.

The palms of his hands began to radiate with the blue glow of his quintessence. He let out a gasp as he took in some of her pain. The sudden rush of agony and sorrow flooded through him and he felt as if he couldn't breathe. Coran didn't know what she'd seen yet but he could feel its effects. It was like someone was holding a knife to his throat. The blue lights of the elevator shaft flashed by as they ascended through the Castle. He felt the tips of his fingers tingle with warmth as he poured as much comfort and love into her as he possibly could. He would never let her part ways with him ever again. He never wanted her to experience such agony for the rest of their days.

She stood before the hatch to the airlock. Nayni looked out through the thick glass of the window at the orange and pink nebula. It had been Tomyko's favorite. Nayni had just guessed that this was where she'd want to be. She stared at the powder pink urn that she was clutching in her hands. She still couldn't believe it. This was all that was left of her wife. She could still taste her last kiss on her lips. She could still smell Tomyko's perfume. She could still feel the warmth of her hands. Things had been going so well. There had been so much hope for the future.

Tomyko's little brother, Tomio, cleared his throat. Nayni could barely understand how they were actually related. He was so unlike his sister. He was still an adolescent so he was very awkward. He was a lanky redhead and was just on the cusp of manhood. Tomyko's parents were hovering behind him. They hadn't been able to look Nayni in the eye since the news had broken. They'd given her a hug at the funeral but that had been it.

Nayni's own parents were by her side. Her mother was already sobbing again and dabbing at her cheek with a handkerchief. Her father just stood there, cold and stoic, with his thick strong hand on her shoulder. He had been the first person she'd contacted. It had been just dobashes after Fragnar had visited her in person at her tiny apartment. Nayni had felt so numb. She'd sat on their living room couch, surrounded by their photos. Images of the two of them smiling and exploring the universe together were plastered all over the walls. Those smiling images of her wife became too much to bear. Nayni had tossed them all into a box. That box was still sitting in her closet.

She'd called her father on the telecoms like a child. She'd stared at the orange display waiting for him to answer her. When Nayni had heard his gruff voice on the other end all she could do was weakly stammer Papa. She was soaking up his strength like a sponge now. The funeral had been hard but this was so much worse. This was supposed to be the actual goodbye. There was so much more finality to this. She was going to release Tomyko's ashes out to this nebula and that would be that. All Nayni would have left of her wife was memories.

Tomyko's father, Tomatsu, sighed. His golden hair was so pale it was almost white.

"Take your time," Tomatsu reassured. "If you need a dobash, we can step out."

He'd always been very kind to her. He'd gotten rather drunk at their wedding and had gone on and on about how beautiful they looked together. Nayni's mother just broke down sobbing even more hysterically.

"Moreya, please," Nayni's father said.

Mother had always been this way. She cried at every Nameday party, she cried at weddings, she cried at bad teledramas. Her response to everything was tears. Kyo crept over to Mother. She looked so much like her daughter, it was a bit jarring to see now. Nayni had found it to be rather sweet when she'd first met Tomyko's parents. Now, she could barely look at that woman's face. Her resemblance to Tomyko was just too much to handle. Nayni took after her father. She'd run around that rural town and everyone knew she was Nacio's girl. Kyo whispered something to Mother and Nayni watched the two of them slink away out of the room.

Now that she didn't have Mother's sobbing to listen to, the silence of the room was overwhelming. She was just standing in her uniform with that silken pink sash and staring at the urn that held her wife's remains. Father had cried twice in Nayni's entire life. He'd cried the day she'd left for bootcamp and he cried when she told him that Tomyko was gone. You're too young to be a widow, my sweetbean. Everyone had been telling Nayni how she should be feeling. It's all anyone would say to her. They'd give her their condolences and then try to give her some shallow piece of advice. None of it helped.

No matter what anyone did or said, Nayni just felt so numb. She'd put all this work in. She'd worked so hard to become a better person for Tomyko. All of that hard work had finally been paying off. They were arguing less. Tomyko had been smiling more. Nayni could see that smile in her head. That smile could light up an entire room. Nayni ran her thumb over the smooth curve of the urn. It felt so cold.

Nayni took a deep breath and stepped forward. She set the tiny urn down on the floor. She walked back to the control panel. She pulled the lever and the interior door of the airlock closed. She looked through the peephole and saw Tomyko's urn just sitting in the middle of the airlock. It looked so small and lonely. Tomio shifted on his feet.

"Do you-uh-want to say something?" Tomio asked.

Nayni shrugged. She'd given her eulogy at the funeral. She'd made that entire speech without batting an eye but the entire room was sniffling and sobbing by the end of it. Nayni hadn't been able to find it within herself to cry. Nayni's hand hovered over the control panel. As soon as she touched this button, the airlock would open and that urn would be sucked out into space. It would be so quick. Tomatsu patted Nayni on the back.

"It's okay to cry," Tomatsu said. "We're all family here."

She'd heard that line dozens of times now. She wanted to cry. She really did but it just wouldn't come. Nayni could feel that agony. She felt like her heart had been ripped out but she couldn't cry. It still all felt so unreal. She walked around during the day and things seemed normal. People still went to work, they still played with their children, they still went home at night and had pleasant dreams. Nayni would go home to her bed. She'd look over to the spot where Tomyko would sleep when she was on leave. Nayni hadn't washed the sheets. There were still stray strands of Tomyko's long red hair clinging to her pillow.

Nayni pressed the button on the control panel. The exterior door swung open. Nayni watched Tomyko's urn fly out into space. It jettisoned out into the vacuum. Nayni watched the pink ceramic urn tumble through space. For a moment she felt her bottom lip starting to tremble. She felt like maybe the tears would finally come but they didn't. Her eyes remained dry and she still felt such numbness. Tomio buried his face in his hands. His shoulders shuddered as he sobbed quietly. Tomatsu fought back his tears as he ushered his son out of the room.

It was just Father with her now. Nayni watched the shape of the urn grow smaller and smaller as it drifted farther away from the ship. In a few tiks, she wouldn't be able to see it anymore. She watched it float away until it looked like nothing but a small pink orb. It wasn't long after that when she couldn't tell what was the urn or what was a far-off star. Nayni tore her gaze away from that quiznacking nebula. She looked at the over polished tips of her boots.

Father wrapped his arm around her. He wasn't much taller than her but he felt so much stronger. He stroked her hair like he did when she was a little girl. Father planted little kisses on the side of her head and Nayni felt the sorrow come over her like a thick blanket. Her shoulders drooped and she started shaking her head.

"Papa," Nayni said.

He wrapped his thick arms around her. He still smelled like the farm. He smelled like the rich black soil and the dried yellow hay that he fed to the bovidaes. Nacio had shown Tomyko around the homestead when Nayni had finally brought her to meet her parents. Tomyko had been very particular about keeping her clothes clean but she'd trudged through the thick mud and petted the soft snouts of the plump bovidae anyway. She'd been so excited. She'd gotten mud all over her favorite pair of trousers but she hadn't seemed to care.

Father kept holding her more tightly. It was as if he was trying to squeeze the pain and grief out of her. She rested her head against his. She could hear the sound of him wheezing. She thought he might start crying too.

"Listen to me, sweetbean," Nacio whispered.

Her father's grip on her was very firm. He'd held her like this when she was a child and she'd done something bad and he was about to explain to her what she'd done wrong. He always gave her that firm grip on the shoulders when he was about to give her a little piece of wisdom. He furrowed his brow and the deep-set wrinkles branched out across his forehead.

"Everybody has been telling you how to feel, yes?" Nacio asked.

Nayni just nodded.

"Quiznack them," Nacio said.

Nayni actual snorted. It felt wrong to laugh. It felt completely wrong to feel anything at all.

"Don't let anybody tell you when it's going to feel better," Nacio said. "They don't know you the way that you do. You know whats right for you. Only you can know that. You cry when you want to cry. You don't even have to cry if you don't feel like it."

He cupped her round face in his hands. His hands were rough and callused from the years he'd spent farming.

"Whatever you want to do, whatever you need to do—I'm here for you," Nacio said.

He was the only one that made her feel even remotely hopeful. Nayni looked back out at the nebula. It was so breathtaking. The mixture of pink and orange hues floating together with the sparkling stars was so ethereal and beautiful. She knew exactly why Tomyko loved the sight of it.

"I don't know what to do, Papa," Nayni confessed. "I don't know how I'm supposed to keep living."

He squeezed her tightly again. If she was still a little girl, she knew he'd just scoop her up in his arms and carry her over his shoulder like she was a sack of grain.

"It's okay not to know, sweetbean," Nacio said. "You'll figure out how to go about it eventually. It won't be easy. Life is messy. Life is complicated. But I believe in you."

Tomyko had been everything to Nayni. Her entire existence had revolved around this woman and now she was just some ashes floating around in space. Any goals she'd set for herself all dealt with Tomyko. All of her hopes for the future were tied up with that glamorous, powerful woman. She didn't even know where to begin without that now. She had no direction. She didn't have the slightest inkling of what to do. Everything just hurt.

She thought about what Tomyko would've wanted. The redhead would've turned to her and told her to go out tonight and hit on the most attractive person in the room. Nayni couldn't do that. She couldn't imagine doing that ever again. The idea of even finding someone else attractive seemed so impossible. Tomyko would've wanted Nayni to traverse the universe and see thousands of foreign worlds. She would've wanted her to go out and taste every exotic food she possibly could.

Nayni wasn't brave enough to do such things by herself. Tomyko had opened Nayni up to a whole new world of possibilities. She didn't know how to discover these things by herself anymore. She didn't even think she'd be able to function on a day to day basis anymore. The universe was huge and it was brimming with endless opportunities and possibilities but she couldn't think of a single one that appealed to her. But Tomyko wouldn't want Nayni to just lie down and give up. So all Nayni could do was just keep going forward even if she didn't have the slightest idea where that would get her.

They had been lying in bed for a varga or two. Neither of them could sleep. Coran had put on a lighthearted teledrama on the monitor above their bed but the footage was so dilapidated that it was barely watchable. Nayni had just been clinging to him like a scared child. She hadn't uttered a word yet. She'd just been lying here with her head on his chest and relishing the feeling of his warmth. She hadn't known what to feel after she left Tomyko in The Advisor's chambers.

She'd huddled on the Blue Lion with Allura and hadn't uttered a word then either. Leaving Tomyko like that, to face her death, dug up such old ugly feelings for Nayni. That woman had never been her wife. She was nothing like her but seeing her face had been hard. Witnessing the sorrow in her eyes and the calm acceptance of her fate was heart-wrenching. They may not have gotten along very well but they shared a connection. They'd both lost their spouse and it had changed them forever.

Nayni finally sat up. She could feel Coran's gentle touch on her arm. Nayni reached for the downturned photo of her and Tomyko. She stared at the smiling faces on the glossy piece of paper. After all these years, it felt as if Nayni had barely spent a dobash with that woman. It had been a short cluster of years that had carried so much weight for her. The love that they'd shared had stuck with Nayni forever. Her Tomyko had been gone for thousands of years. She was such a distant memory. Her ghost was so far away but after everything that had just happened, all of that pain had come rushing back to the surface.

Nayni propped the photo back up. She leaned back against Coran's firm body. She felt him nuzzle his face next to hers. He was such a polar opposite to The Advisor. He was so warm and gentle. He wasn't twisted, cold and cruel. He wasn't going to push her to talk. She knew he wouldn't. He'd drawn the emotions from her on the elevator. Coran knew exactly the conflict within her but he didn't know exactly what had come to pass.

Nayni wanted to share it with him. She knew this would all come up during the briefing. She wanted the first time he heard it to be in private. She could see such love in his eyes and she knew there was nothing to fear with him.

"I saw myself on that Castle," Nayni said.

Coran took her hand in his. She could tell he was in a mild state of shock. He would be the only one to hear this part. She wanted to keep her promise to Tomyko in some capacity. Coran furrowed his brow.

"But Tomyko said she was dead," Coran said.

Nayni just nodded. Nayni traced her thumb along the surface of his knuckles.

"That was the only part she wasn't honest about," Nayni explained. "Everything else she told us was the truth."

Nayni rested her head on his chest. She felt him nestle his chin atop her head. She felt like they fit together like a puzzle piece. Though she was a significantly shorter and chubbier puzzle piece.

"The Advisor showed me what happened," Nayni said. "I didn't see everything but I saw enough."

The other Nayni's memories were dancing through her head again. She wanted to tear them from her mind. They were too confusing to hold onto. Her life had been filled with violence and cruelty but it had also been filled with such passion. It was a contradiction that was hard for Nayni to process. As painful as they were, they held a great deal of information. They would need that moving forward.

Coran wrapped his arms around her. It was like being snuggled up in a warm blanket. She felt like the monsters couldn't get to her now. She wanted to tell him but it was so difficult. She took a moment to collect her thoughts.

"He was just an ordinary man," Nayni said. "That's what was the most frightening part of it all. He was just a quiet man with the same concerns and hopes as the average person. They both were."

Coran let out a sigh. It was as if he'd had this conversation a thousand times before. She understood why. Zarkon and Honerva had seemed so ordinary. Yes, Honerva had been a brilliant Alchemist and Zarkon had been the first Black Paladin but, they had started off with the same good intentions. And then they too had been transformed into something so unnatural and monstrous. Coran tilted his head. He looked like the familiar scenario was just a regrettable trivial fact. He didn't' seem disturbed in the slightest.

"We like to pretend that the universe operates in simple terms of black and white," Coran said. "But you and I know better than anyone that it's not true. Alfor was the evil one in Zarkon's eyes. But they were both just leaders trying to protect their people. They were both men just trying to protect the ones they loved."

Nayni thought about the image of The Advisor carrying his Allura into the rift. It was such an eerily similar scenario but the faces had been so much more familiar.

"All it takes is just one incident," Nayni said. "Any wrong turn, any random twist of fate and we could become someone like that."

Coran shook his head. Nayni shifted so she could look him in the eye. He was actually smiling. They were having such a grim talk and he was radiating with such light. His eyes seemed to be sparkling.

"That's not true," Coran said. "We all can make a choice."

He truly believed what he was saying. The Advisor had shaken Nayni. He'd toyed with her emotions and she didn't know what was true and real. But listening to Coran, hearing his sincerity, it was bringing back all of her hope.

"Allura could've given up. We could've sent the Paladins on their way and spent the rest of our lives hiding," Coran said. "But she chose to keep fighting. Zarkon had taken over almost the entire universe but even that wasn't going to stop her. It wasn't going to stop us. We had to restore peace. We had to bring back balance to the universe."

Nayni felt like she was going to cry again. That girl had been thrust into a world of darkness and loss. This group of teenagers had come together under her leadership and they'd made such a difference. They'd freed countless people from Zarkon's grasp. They were chipping away at his empire built on the backs of slaves and bloodshed. They had accomplished all of this and they were just children in Nayni's eyes. Voltron was just a tool for them to use. They had done this all out of their own selflessness. They'd sacrificed everything for this cause.

She held Coran's face in her hands. They'd kept one of the most precious things in the universe safe. They'd kept Coran alive so she could get back to him. They'd pulled her from that sleep chamber and given her another chance with him.

"You're right," Nayni stammered.

She hesitated before she spoke again. The words she wanted to say had held such sinister context when she'd heard them before. But they were true and they mirrored exactly the lesson he'd taught her. She wanted them to possess a new meaning too. She wanted them to be associated with something good instead of something cruel.

"There will be no more fear for us," Nayni said. "There will only be hope."