Daniel lay on a pile of snow in an ice cave while Maahox and Lotor stood watch. It was clear that Daniel was in trouble; he was struggling to breathe and had lost almost all his color.

"Shouldn't be much longer now, my king." Said Maahox. His bionic eye scanned the boy. "Wade was a fool to think he could control him."

"And you're certain he'll be our puppet once he dies?" asked Lotor. He sounded skeptical, but he knew regardless of whether Maahox's plan was successful or (as they had been in the past) not this would be a moral blow to the Voltron Force.

"He should; Wade did have some control, but the boy's will got in the way. Once that problem is no more, he's your little haggarium puppet." Answered Maahox. Daniel groaned. "The perfect bait to lead the Voltron Force to you."

"Or just let him be the trap. Take a lion from Ariel and fuse it with the boy with haggarium, let the Voltron Force find him in his human form and take him back to their castle to be nursed back to health, but just as their guard is lowered their poor injured teammate morphs into a man-lion robeast to rip the castle of lions apart from the inside out!" replied Lotor with an evil smile as Daniel stopped breathing.

"NO!" screamed Keith as he bolted up in bed. He was gasping for air as he got his bearings; he was in his room, which considering the climate control was broken might as well have been an ice cave. Keith went to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. It had been nearly a week since Daniel had disappeared and sleep hadn't come easy for Keith. The two new cadets hadn't helped much.

Will, Hunk's nephew, shared his family's legacy of size. He was a wrestler and a football star before coming to Arus and his fighting style reflected that. Heather, on the other hand was an ex-ballerina who happened to be Commander Barton's youngest daughter. She got magical powers from her mom's side of the family, some remote planet that danced between being allies and enemies to the Alliance. Heather's powers seemed to be a wedge between her and Vince (partly because he was trying to teach her to use powers she already knew how to use and another from when she nearly cut Vince in half testing her Voltcom battle fans the first time).

Keith went back to his room, but instead of flopping down on his bed turned to his desk. He picked up the list of what Daniel had taken with him: A tent, a sleeping bag, some blankets, some clothing (including a parka, snow boots and . . . swim trunks?), some cooking supplies, rope, a first aid kit, and a bunch of other camping supplies. There was also the hover bike Daniel had been work on with Hunk. Keith turned to Daniel's letter, but by now he had it memorized:

"Dear Voltron Force,

I'm sorry for everything, especially what happened to Keith. Until I can be cured, I think it would be for the best if I stay away from everyone. I can't trust myself until then and since you guys don't want to lock me up, it will keep you safe. You're the best friends anyone could ever ask for.

Your Friend Always,

Daniel

PS Don't worry about me—I'll find somewhere to chill and come back for the cure if you still want me to."

Keith sighed. Daniel was their friend and team mate; even if he was sick, they wanted him here with them. It was just like Sven all over again . . .

Sven! Keith remembered the mission on Krydor. Sven had told them that the cold helped control haggarium. Daniel was with them there. "I'll find somewhere to chill . . ." The snow boots and parka! Where ever Daniel was heading, it was cold (hopefully the swim trunks meant it had a hot spring).

All ships leaving Arus had been thoroughly searched and the hover bike Daniel had taken wasn't capable of space travel. There was no way he had left the planet, which meant . . .

A space mouse on Keith's desk squeaked. Keith looked at it and said, "Yeah, I should've seen this days ago."

Keith quickly got dressed and started to the control room. It was three in the morning, but quickly his movement caught the attention of the others. Allura was the first to approach him.

"Keith, where are you going?" she asked.

"I think I know where Daniel is." He answered.

"And you're going alone? In the middle of the night?" She said.

"I have to. If anyone can find him, it's me." Replied Keith. "Besides, Daniel thinks he hurt me. That's why he left and I think he won't come back until he knows I'm fine."

"Well, at least give us some time to get supplies for you." Answered Allura. "He's probably starving and freezing with all the rain we've had lately."

"I need to leave as soon as possible." Said Keith. Lance, Larmina, and Will appeared and each handed something to Keith.

"That's Daniel's favorite microwave pizza. One sniff of that and he'll be all over you." Said Larmina.

"The kid forgot to pack a spare uniform." Laughed Lance. "At the very least, he might appreciate some dry clothes."

"Well, . . . hope you don't need it but a first aid kit is always good to keep around." Said Will.

"How did you . . . ?" started Keith, but as a space mouse ran up each of their arms he knew the answer.

Allura handed Keith some blankets and said "Be careful and back by noon or we will have to search for you too."

Heather sheepishly walked up to them and handed a strange necklace to Keith. "I can't do much, but an aura compass should help. Think of who or what you want to find and just follow the arrow."

"Couldn't you have given this to us days ago? I mean you've known we were looking for Daniel basically since you got here." Said Lance.

"Vince took my back pack after the incident on day one. I just now got it back. Which reminds me, if Vince has any weird appendages or something I didn't do anything to him—he poked around my bag." She said.

Keith took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. "Lance, take care of that. I need to grab Daniel's Voltcom and go."

Author's comments: Sorry this took so long. These last few months have been kind of bad in my corner of the universe. I lost two people who were very close to me and haven't felt much like writing since.