Keith screamed, afraid, worried, confused. For a second he thought he could hear a voice call his name, Lances perhaps, and desperately he called out after it but the static overtook the communication line too soon. With a small curse, he shut his eyes, feeling the weightlessness of being forced through a wormhole before grabbing tightly onto Red's controls. When he opened his eyes, he was still falling; screaming now internal and fear masked with a worry for survival. Confusion he had no time for, frantically tugging on the controls in his hands while whispering useless affirmations under his breath. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!"

It wasn't enough, and with a smack to the ground, he was left with black.

In the back of his head, he could feel the warm pressure of Red managing to keep him there, but Keith was beginning to enjoy the darkness, ignoring the warmth and for once opting for a frigid cold. He would have stayed there if it weren't for a sound in his comms.

"Keith…" Shiro? "Keith I'm h—," the voice tampered off into static again, and Keith wasn't sure if he could confirm that it would sound again. With a few gargled sounds he awoke from the darkness, eyes opening to the pale, rocky world ahead of him with a harsh exhale. Red… He felt the warmth again in the back of his mind but it was dull now, and looking at the falling lights of the controls he could figure why.

"You okay, Red?" the warmth pulsed, but barely. Keith, glad for the response, sighed in relief. "It's okay, we'll fix you up…" with another exchange of words he finally let go of his tight grip onto the controls and brought his hands to his face, rubbing his eyes beneath the small glass of his helmet. There was a lot to think about beyond his crash landing onto what seemed like a desolate planet. The team's first interaction with Zarkon was, of course, at the top of the list, but there was more in that single interaction he cared to consider beneath the layers of concerns he's had since becoming a man of space.

For instance, Lance. Pidge, Hunk, the princess, and Coran were all things at the top of his list of concerns; where he was comforted in the fact that he was able to be separated in the same desolate region as Shiro he was also worried by the fact that everyone else was somewhere unknown. Each a piece that was crucial together for the sake of Voltron now lost in the many galaxies. At least Shiro was here to keep them together, to guide them in their next moves…

Shiro… Keith thought back to the static on his comms. With a frown, he furrowed his eyebrows, opening the hatch at the top of Red and carefully climbing out. He had to find Shiro if he was going to make it, if they were going to make it. Only Shiro could make sure the two of them got out of there alive.

The static continued. Keith dropped his head and sighed, realizing they could only make it out alive together if they lived long enough to find one another. How he would do that, he wasn't sure, scanning the sky for the smallest of hints as to what direction he may have been from the wormhole they popped out of. The luck, however, was lost; the sky filled with smog as the atmosphere of the planet could clearly be seen covered with all types of debris, holes here and there from where things fell through—.

Fell through. Keith looked up, seeing a gaping hole where the Red Lion had fallen from above, scanning for anything similar in size no matter the distance. Beyond large scraps of metal and other space things, he could see something that could have possibly been where the Black Lion fell through well ahead of him. Keith kneeled back down onto Red, placing a covered hand on her back. "I'll find him." he promised in a whisper. In seconds he jumped, and when he got his bearings he began to run.

"Shiro, come in!" he called out with heavy breaths as he began to make his way across the rocky terrain. "Shiro, please!" minute after minute all Keith was met with static yet he tried and tried, grunting through climbs over large rocks, through the times he spent holding his breath crossing the darkest of pits on land larger than his own feet. He yelled, ignoring all signs of possible danger like giant footprints etched into the planet surface and a lack of life otherwise.

"Shiro!" after what seemed like hours of running he looked at the sky again, the hole where the Black Lion supposedly fell nearly on top of him yet as he looked around he couldn't see a single sign of her. Keith dropped his head, shutting his eyes as he clenched his fists by his side. "Shiro…" he whispered, less into the comms that clearly were not working and more to himself as a mantra to calm him down. "Please…"

It was in that instant he heard a growl, robotic and reverberating throughout his body and, somewhere oddly enough, his mind. A strength entered the back of his mind, not warm like Red nor cool like the darkness of unconsciousness, but slate of all feeling. Black. He thought, taking a near fearful breath and opening his eyes to see the world through a nearly purple haze, images rippling in and out of his vision. Unlike the wormhole, however, this color was not dangerous, instead concerned like a mother of her child. As the picture in his head became clearer he could see Shiro, grunting in pain while holding a hand to his side—a wound. Hurt, I'm hurt… Keith finished the cut-off sentence as his heart began to pound. Why would Black show him this? What happened to him that she now entrusted him with her presence? The strength of her hold felt odd to him yet he let her run the course; in seconds Shiro's weak body visible as he pushed himself out of Black only to collapse onto the floor. Keith panicked, and from there the memories were hazier than before. Another figure approached the lion, perhaps a group of figures yet they walked away, all the while the image getting worse and worse until it just looked like water. When she finally released Keith he gasped, falling to his knees and grabbing a rock on the ground to keep himself steady. Black was nothing like Red, yet she entered his head just as easily. The thought scared him to his core.

But he couldn't concern himself with lion politics right now, remembering Shiro's limp body as he fell onto the rocky ground beneath his lion. The figures featured after still covered by a ripple effect in his thoughts. Were they friendly? No, Keith decided, definitely not. Anyone who would just pick up a paladin of Voltron and separate him from his lion was definitely a threat—if not, ignorant, which made them even worse in the matter of trust. He took a deep breath. There was no way they would have disappeared from the planet yet, he would have seen or heard a ship fly out. His plan of action? Follow them. Didn't know where they went? That's okay.

Standing from his kneeled position, Keith broke into a full-on sprint. First, he had to find Black, see if he could get her to share any other information and if not see if she was even running. Then he would look for tracks; Shiro was hurt, there had to be something the open wound left behind, right? It was a space wound, and being aware of how oddly they can heal as well as damage Keith wasn't so sure his latter theory would work. He didn't care of course. He had to do anything to find Shiro, to bring him back, to make sure they both managed to go home.

"Shiro," Keith called as he continued in the direction of Black. "I'm coming for you, okay, just hold—," with the lion coming into view he stopped in his tracks, seeing a small figure at the base where her mouth was opened wide. "Shiro…?" he muttered, taking slow steps ahead to let the figure come into view. "Shiro!" now yelling, Keith continued his run towards the lion. As the figure grew in his vision, they turned, lo and behold Shiro himself standing upright in his paladin uniform, no part undamaged and not a surface scratched.

Keith, of course, could not care about these details, his only concern the fact that Shiro was alive and well, not captured, not hurt. The images Black showed him likely false, or old, something of a rouse to get him to just keep on trekking.

As he was feet away he began to slow his pace, dropping his arms to his side and falling into a sort of slouch. "Shiro," he spoke, stretching out a hand to his fellow paladin, about to follow with a simple, "You're okay!", before finally taking in the Shiro before him.

It looked like Shiro, but his face wasn't calm as he normally was, instead something of a mix of fear and mistrust, eyes falling all around Keith as though he were taking him in for the first time. His stance, too, was not unguarded rather the opposite; one hand clenched into a fist at his side while the other was well hidden behind his back.

Keith dropped his hand and took another step. "Shiro… Are you o—?" before he could finish the thought, Shiro's fist came colliding with the side of his face, sending Keith back a few steps out of both pure shock and part fear for the roughness of the blow. His cheek, he thought, was already bruising, his jaw adjusting itself to the pain as he turned back his attacker.

His attacker who was not Shiro. His attacker who was suddenly overcome with a soft golden glow as the paladin uniform was stripped away along with the frame of Shiro and down to a final hair. His attacker who, with all due respect, turned out to be a girl, now visible with wild eyes and hair tied back so tight it almost looked like an extension of her own skin.

"You're not Shiro." Keith was dumbfounded. With no response, the girl cried out and struck again.

Plans were not something Leda came up with often. Most of what she did was on the fly and in a rush for the sake of survival. If she did take the time to think, it was mostly minutes, and when the time came to take action, they were found to be poor thoughts. Aware of this shortcoming of hers, Leda considered taking the time to make a new plan, maybe wait to see if anyone comes to retrieve the ships or follow—to actually see if they were Galra or Galra threats that in the long run would not benefit her survival.

Just because you get to leave doesn't mean you're better off leaving… The thought crept into her head as her breathless sprint began to fall into slower steps. If she was captured by Galra again there's no assurance she could make it out, nor that she could survive another hundred of cycles in solitude.

Solitude. Oh how she wished the newcomers were friendly, dumb a bit but friendly nonetheless. Shaking her head of all negative thoughts, Leda lightly slapped her cheeks to bring her headspace back to what it needed for the task at hand. Find the ship. Take the ship. Leave the planet.

Easy?

Not easy.

When Leda finally cleared the rocky valleys she noticed a peculiar thing ahead of her; instead of an actual ship, or what she could consider a ship to be, she faced a giant mechanical animal almost like a lion of sorts. The color chipped at all ends though clearly black with accents here and there. If she weren't so desperate to leave the planet, she would have immediately turned to run back to her landed cruiser and waited for the next possible falling ships. But, she thought with an uncomfortable swallow, I need to leave.

At the very thought, she felt herself grow light-headed—though not weak as a presence in the back of her head took control of all fears leaving her with definitive thoughts: take the ship, find its crew, leave the planet unscathed. The list was short enough though for a second she grew concerned at the simplicity, even more so at the fact that she considered the welfare of the possible crew. Deep down, however, Leda knew she had such little piloting and mechanical experience to handle the robeast in front of her, that instead, she would have to go out of her comfort zone and rely on others, that she would have to trust others in order to make it off of the planet unscathed.

She scowled at the thought, beginning her descent down the mountain and muttering to herself about the lies in the power of teamwork, trying to convince the sudden presence in her head that they were wrong and she was right. Her agitation only made them push harder, and while she could see the appeal she was still simply not into it.

Leda's complaints didn't last long once she finally came closer to the lion, the large mass of metal nearly watching her as she made her way closer. Though it was fallen, sprawled against the ground and mouth agape, it looked anything but weak; the eyes, though empty, reminding Leda of her new task list to survive. A final step in front of the open mouth and she realized the presence was not her subconscious suddenly active but the Lion itself. For a second, she thought it nodded in agreement with her thoughts. Compelled to speak, she whispered a quiet "Weird…" before finding her hand outstretched and coming into contact with the cold white metal of the open mouth. The presence seemed joyed by the touch, though suddenly Leda felt her vision blur out and the pressure in her head was no longer directive but full of concern. The lion roared, but she couldn't be sure if that was in her head.

Slowly her eyes were filled with a purple hue, the color nearly making her let go of her hold, though the lion's presence continued to beckon her to hold on, to see something—.

To see her home.

Perhaps she was latching onto her dreams or projecting an old image but Leda suddenly felt surrounded by the warmth of her home planet. The littered sky of her current stranded situation replaced with one that was a clear blue, nearby moons visible in their distinctive colors: one red, one yellow, one blue, and one so far but so brightly white. At her feet, there were no rocks, just dirt, wet soil soaking into her toes the way they would if dancing on a submerged sponge. The thought made her hum, made her wiggle her toes in excitement at what was beneath her, but she was suddenly reminded of the fact that it was all in her head; her toes meeting fashioned straps of fabric instead of the rich earth she felt she could see.

But she could see the rich earth, her people walking among it with pride under their wings, a smile that truly glowed against their pale grey skin. Her pale grey skin, she was reminded by the lion's presence. They were her people, safe on her planet, and it was her job to get back to them.

Yes, she had to. She must or else—.

The vision nearly fell static, instead replaced with a picture of a man clad in armor. Small yet tall, the white and black spotted suit was ripped, bumped, damaged and torn at the side. For a second Leda was shown his face, wincing in pain, possibly crying out because of it, but the only cries she could hear were a name over and over.

"Shiro…?" it was low and she nearly missed it if it had not been for the loud repeat of the same name. Realizing the sound was no longer part of what was being shown to her, Leda immediately removed her hand from the metal surface to see where the voice was actually coming from. In the corner of her eye, a speck of a figure began to grow as they came closer, red armor similar to the one she saw in her vision. Coming closer, they called the name again, and on instinct, she felt herself change.

Physically she was no longer herself, instead replaced by the man shown in the purple-hued dreams. Grabbing what she could from his tall stature to a complete and cleaner version of his suit, Leda was replaced by someone she had never met and truly never seen; the faintest of images all she needed to become…

"Shiro, you're okay!"

Leda grit her teeth as the figure stepped closer, now visible as a boy likely the same age as herself. Though she knew she was not herself to anyone around her she always hated the way they would still assume, the way that others were afforded the luxury to only know one surrounding, the way that everyone was able to hold onto some sort of truth. She watched as he dropped his guard, his arms lowered and his person lacking any sort of weaponry. He thought he was safe, and she could only twitch an eye at the mere word: safe.

Her muscles began to tense, and to the eye of the boy in front of her, she clenched her fist. The same second he began to question the identity in front of him she found herself striking, bone against bone as her knuckles collided with his poorly thin skin. As he stumbled back, so did she, her rising anger causing her to lose control of her change as the falsely made armor fell along with the height and every other component making this Shiro "Shiro". Instead, she was left with her own pale grey skin and torn fabrics clothing a height substantially below her earlier projected one. Leda now Leda again, though one clearly upset.

The boy in front of her now stood from his recoil, attempting to speak though she wouldn't give him the chance with another lunge and a throw of her fist. This time, however, it did not come into contact with limp skin, instead colliding with a hard translucent surface popping from the suit of the boy in front of her. What the—? Leda couldn't believe her eyes, quickly stepping back as a weapon, a large red sword of sorts, suddenly appeared in his other hand.

Confused, of course, Leda continued to jump back with every one of his blows. "Who are you?" he demanded, "Wheres Shiro?" with another strike Leda finally removed her hand from behind her back, revealing a stick the size of her palm, though upon her own mental instruction it soon grew to match her height. The red one stepped back, his precaution allowing her the time to strike directly to his wrist. He grunted in pain at the contact, dropping his blade allowing Leda the chance to make one more hit, one she hoped would be across his head, but behind her, a growl was heard and the two turned to face the robeast she was so calmly touching not minutes ago.

Suddenly the space between Leda and her foe was separated by a large purple barrier, protruding from the back of the lion and expanding around her entire body. The moment the barrier began to fall the red boy broke into a run to make it to the other side, but too soon it hit the ground with a small thud, and he nearly smacked into it. For a second, the two shared at each other with narrowed eyes, each planning their attack once the barrier fell. Leda even picked her staff back up to poke at the barrier but the shocks off of it and the return of the presence in her head said a curt no.

"No? What do you mean, no?" Leda taunted the lion as she turned to face its shape in the now quarantined space, missing the shocked expression of the boys face on the other side. Suddenly she felt her mind overcome with the lions presence once more, her eyes closed as she could see visions of a Red Lion not different from the Black one itself, soon after images of the red boy she was so bent on fighting seconds ago whether in the heat of battle or with the care of a simple high five after to a corresponding blue teammate. Keith, the lion said letting go of Leda's mind as she opened her eyes again. Her frown, however, remained, turning back towards the boy on the other side of the particle barrier.

"Keith?" he nearly jumped at the sound of his name, though frowning immediately after as Leda scoffed. "What an ugly name…"