Night on the Castle of Lions was an abyss. Dimmed, artificial light littered the floor and ceiling, the centre of each hallway a streak of blackness. The twilight was pure silence, not even the low hum of the Altean engines reaching the ears of those dwelling in cabins.

Allura had finally decided to turn in for the night, her eyelids weighing heavily on her drowsy mind.
She'd already checked Pidge a few hours ago. Nothing.
She'd scanned for any form of known infection, organ failure, even minor inconveniences on the body, and everything was perfectly fine.
Pidge even had the soft sparkle in her eye back.
But the dead quiet of the ship gave no time to reminisce.

Hunk's tell-tale snoring was nowhere to be seen.
It used to echo through every wall of the Castle of Lions, but there was just the stillness.
The gentle scurrying of the mice, too, had gone silent.
The holo-meters of the bridge hummed no longer.
There was nothing but the silence.

The squeaks of the mice were long gone.
There was only the silence.
The engines were dead.
There was only the silence.
Hunk's breathing had stopped.
There was only the silence.
Nothingness.
The abyss.

Lance stumbled into Hunk's room, his tan face slick with hidden tears.
There'd been no signs of anything alive for ten minutes now.
The future-tech lights were shattered, pulsing light a broken mess on the floor.
Every gradual pulse seemed to reveal more and more fragments.
Hunk's large, messy bedsheets, painted a shade of deep, sudden red.
His colourless face, staring blankly into the abyss.
The gaping hole punched through his chest, viscera painting the barely-lit walls.
And above all else, the break in the wall where whatever had burst out fled through.

Lance screamed out, his shaking hands resting against Hunk's cold cheeks, his lifeless head shaking with him. There could be no words.
Lance held his friend closer, slender arms gripping Hunk's heavy-built shoulders as tightly as he possibly could.

Allura simply stood there in shock. One single word jolted through her mind, a bolt of abject horror.
Pidge.

Lance wouldn't move. He couldn't budge an inch. He lied there, amidst the dead glitter of a thousand broken lights, arms clutching a remnant of life.

Pidge.
We need to help her.
We can't let this happen again.

Allura rushed down the hallway in a fit of panic.
Whatever strange creature now lurked in the depths could be anywhere on the ship.
Every loud clack of a footstep could be the last.
It could draw the creature at any moment, yet…
Still they ran.

They couldn't lose another Paladin. Not now.
After fighting titans. Living planets. Worlds of infinite light.
After fighting the leader of a galaxy-spanning empire.
They couldn't lose to a parasite.

Yet still, they ran.

Distress was worn on their faces, a mask of terror that spread like wildflame. There'd barely even been time to process what had happened to Hunk, let alone understand how to counter it.
Pidge was already out cold, a sedative taken as a last-minute precaution.
Shiro knew what had happened. He could see the way death imprinted itself on their faces.
He'd seen it before, in the Galra prisons.

"We need to find a way to stop it."
"To stop what?"
Pieces of equipment were hurled around the room.
Allura and Coran frantically scrambled for something, medical tools scattered across the bay constantly.
The sterilised smell of the medbay gave way to sudden panic. Cluttered bangs sounded over and over.
Shiro and Keith joined in, drawers shoved open.
"Uhh… What in the hell are we looking for?"
Allura was hyperventilating as she looked through.
It was aimless, pointless.
"I… don't know. We need… something, a laser scalpel, or… or… I don't know."
"What in the hell is happening, Allura?"
She looked up at Keith, her glassy eyes hiding tears.
"Keith… Hunk is… he's dead."
Keith's calm visage gave way to shock, to horror, to fear.
Hunk.
Pidge was next.
They had to do something.

The surgical equipment came down from above in a sterilised blur of whirring engines.
Lasers aimed down, eagerly awaiting Allura's motions.
She's still under.
It could work.

It has to.

And as they scrambled for something that might work, Pidge's voice, quiet and groggy, started.
"G… Guys… What's happening?"
She wiped at her left eye through her broken glasses, shuffling forward in place.
"Is… Is everything alright?"
Shiro looked back.
"You're gonna be just fine. We've just got something to check through, alright?"
Allura looked to Coran. His gentle face was marred with fear.
"We're gonna have to cut it out. There's no other way, is there?"
There has to be something.
There has to be something.
There has to be.

"Ngh…
I don't… feel…"
It was subtle at first, a gentle wince, a quiet cracking.
Pidge clutched at her front, one hand over the other. Her breathing was short, raspy.
"He-help… me…"
There was the sound of a crack, a heavy break. It crunched like tearing metal.
Pidge doubled over, her whole body shaking. She could barely move.
Screams of splintered bone erupted from her chest.
Pidge was forced back, writhing in pure agony as cartilage crunched from the inside.
Each Paladin recoiled in shock.

"Oh god… Somebody, hold her down or… something, I don't know… We need to cut it out…
We need to…"
There was another crunch, louder still.
Another. Louder, louder.
One last push.
Life.

Pidge's screams stopped.
Her wide eyes looked forward into the blank void.
And in a shower of viscera and shards of bone, new life was born.