AN AHEAD . . .

oof its been quite some time hasn't it? i would sincerely apologize on behalf of laziness but i've had quite the writers block, and no detailed outline can get you out of that. i had half of this doc just sitting here and wanted to just post that but considering i already cut the first chapter in half i didn't want to make that a trend. this chapter definitely qualifies as my "i will finish this no matter how shitty it gets" statement and i am very apologetic about that. so without further a-due i present to you: this !

Lance screams, afraid, worried, confused. He finds himself calling out everyone's names, each rolling off his tongue with an increasing desperation until he finally reaches "Keith!". His mouth dries at the name reflexively swallowing back his tongue, his heart racing though his mind reminds him to stay calm. The thought receives an approving sound from Blue and Lance exhales, tightening his grip on the controls.

"What just happened?!" he hears Hunk yell over the comms, a mass of static interrupting his words though the point clear. Lance feels relief at the sound of his friend's voice.

"I dunno," he admits "but we gotta stay together!". Lance begins his attempt to move his lion closer to Hunk's before some kind of lightning springs out of the purple hue of the wormhole. Before he could react, the lightning hits them both, pushing the two out and back into the void of space.

Lance screams again, his lion unresponsive and falling straight into what seemed to be water. "Hunk!" Lance yells, receiving no response and causing his heart rate to spike back up. "Hunk you there?" not a cough nor gag was heard on the transmission except a splitting static, Lance close to calling his friends name again until a collision sets him off. The force pushes him backward into his seat, his hands still tightly wrapped around Blue's controls keeping him somewhat steady. He feels Blue in the back of his head reassuring him both he and Hunk will be safe, but the connection is weak, thin, like a promise made by a tired parent. Lance shakes off the worrying thought with another breath, his eyes squeezing tight to a shut as he focuses on resting his heart rate and assessing the situation at hand.

The team is gone, Hunk is here but unconscious, Blue is on a low charge, and you're currently sinking to the depths… The list may seem agitating to anyone, but to Lance, the designation of the now and how was comforting…ish. Lance exhaled again as he opens his eyes. Any longer and the tension would have left him with wrinkles above his head, and as his list vaguely explained this situation was just not worth it. After all, if he couldn't find the team they could likely find him—there has to be some sort of tracking device in the Lions, right? And Hunk will eventually regain consciousness so that puts a positive spin on that situation, right? Blue he could leave to rest while maybe exploring a bit, and the sinking…

Carefully Lance looks at the bottom edge of his Lions view, the darkness of the water infinite. The observation causes him to frown. He could count this as the first time he was ever dissatisfied with the look of water, hoping it to be his last though aware of the vastness of space. There's bound to be more oceans in the many galaxies he'll visit as a paladin, one of them has to be worse off than this.

Shaking him out of the thought, Lance feels a thud both around and beneath him. Waiting a few seconds to be sure he was stationary, he looks through Blue's eyes once more to see that both he and Hunk (really, Yellow) landed with nothing odd beneath them. The sand they disturbed whooshing around his window. Lance nearly giggles and quickly smiles. He wants to say something to Blue, thanks, or maybe just an off-putting comment, but just thinking about her reminds him of her fading presence. He loosens his grip on the controls and delicately runs his thumb against the ends of their handles.

"You'll be okay, too," he whispers with a soft smile before completely powering off the lion and leaving out of its mouth. His armors helmet luckily adapted for the situation, covering his entire head with enough breathing room and supplying a fair amount of oxygen for the time being. Needless to say, he was at a hundred percent, and with the rate he got excited Lance knew he should aim to be back at Blue before it could hit forty just to give him some leeway.

Forty… Lance nods to himself at the number, outstretching his arms and beginning his swim in the new depths.

His armor, thankfully, was airtight. The water around him a bit heavier than the oceans on earth yet he still moved like he was always part of the water, partially in thanks from his suits jetpack. Lance couldn't tell what direction he was headed other than forwards, silently hoping to himself he could find someone that would help him back to the Lions should he venture too far out. The thought of there being some odd underwater species comforted him for a second, but then he remembered the age-old tales of the Loch-ness monster and other creatures of the deep. As if the planet could feel his fear, the earth around him seemed to move and for a second he heard someone beyond his own breaths.

"Hunk…?" he questions hesitantly, though the likelihood of his fellow paladin venturing out into the water slimmer than most. He heard a rustling again and turned to see what looked like giant seaweed moving in all directions as if they were disturbed from their stillness. Lance sighed in relief, but only tensed again as he began to venture towards that very spot, mentally preparing himself for a possible attack without any physical suspicion.

The water was quiet again save for his own breaths and treading movements, his eyes peeled in every direction on alert for anything or anyone that decided they no longer wanted him on their planet. Could he even defend himself is someone came for him? Would his bayard work properly in water, or would it transform into something that would? The racing thoughts of all these questions comforted him as much as his earlier list of chaos, nonetheless they raced with an anxious energy, and if anyone looked upon his swimming figure now they would assume he was extremely paranoid.

Lances paranoia, however, was justified. His swim in the darkness coming on a soft light in the distance. The idea of a possible helpful life made him quicken his strides towards the glow, but the color purple that reflected in the water around him made his stomach churn and his limbs freeze.

Beyond the still alien seaweed was a large metal structure, Galra in nature as signified by the glowing logo on both the top of the structure and the garb of the still guards standing around every corner. They looked bored just floating in the water, one of them bringing a hand to his mouth to complete what looked like a yawn. They looked human, they always did, but Lance had to remind himself that as long as they stood for Zarkon they stood against him and his team. It was an unfortunate bias but one he needed to survive. That's exactly why he remained behind the underwater vegetation in his observation, taking mental notes and keeping an eye on his oxygen gage.

Eighty… Okay, he could work with this, right? His first job had to be returning to the lions. Maybe the power down helped Blue regain some charge and she could fly him out of there, maybe Hunk was awake and freaking out and needed his friend to assure him it was all going to be okay. What Lance knew for sure was that he did not need to be anywhere near that Galra base no matter what comes in or out. He had to find everyone else, he had to get back to the castle, he had to—.

His rational stopped as Lance suddenly realized he was face to face with what looked like an actual mermaid. He narrows his eyes when the word pops into his head, rubbing the lid of his helmet as though he was cleaning out his own eyes. When they opened he was still face to face with the creature, feminine in design, brunette hair flowing in the water behind her. She was a her, right? Her figure seemed to agree with the earth dimensions, thin waist defining hips at a tail that was nearly bronze in the dark sea light. She seemed to giggle as Lance looked her over, latently assessing her colorful aura for any distinct purple markings. Before he could confirm, however, she turned to swim away, her tail nearly cutting through the water allowing her to move at a rate Lance could not compare.

"Woah, hey wait!" beginning to swim he called out to her with outstretched arms, kicking his legs as fast as he could and absolutely glad for their length, the only thing that allowed him to catch up to her aside from her abrupt stop in the water. Lance sighs of relief, and as she giggles again with a soft smile he feels heat rise into his cheeks. He opens his mouth to speak, smoothly or awkwardly he did not know as the minute his voice begins to work he instead cries out in pain, the sound of what seemed to be electricity and the feel of it reverberating throughout his body as he contorts in the water, the mermaids smile no longer soft as the ends curl into a cruel nature, and as a purple uniform comes into his peripheral vision it all falls black.

He didn't want to open his eyes. The noises around him, whether from a machine or a person, were excruciatingly loud. His teeth pressed tightly together as his body became accustomed to the room, the sound of his own pained winces mixing with the rest of the variant noises. When he was finally able to open his eyes he was met with a harsh bright white amidst a grey room.

Shiro quickly shut his eyes again. The shined slate in every corner looked too much like an operating room for his taste, the bright light nearly demeaning to his large stature. The idea made him wince again, but instead of falling into the fear he exhales, opening his eyes to take in the rest of the room. As he does he realizes it is in fact not an operating room at all, the white light merely from whatever light source was placed into the ceiling far above him and in the center of the room. He attempts to move to further investigate each corner but is reminded of the searing pain on his side, though when he looks down his earlier gnarly wound is no longer exposed but neatly bandaged, the only worrying aspect being the dark spots seeping through the opaque fabric; he was still bleeding.

He also notices he is no longer in his paladin armor; the black fabric beneath it still stuck to his skin at his legs, though the top half of his body is loosely covered by a large piece of black fabric tied around his arm, almost like a sash. The airy feel of it all comforting to him.

The comfort, unfortunately, doesn't last as Shiro is reminded he is in another alien environment—literally. As he prepared himself to stand from his still seated position, bracing for the pain of the womb, the sliding sound of a door reverberated in the cold room. Quickly he sat back down, though his muscles were tense and his arm at the ready for any attack. No wound would get in the way of him fighting for an escape from his captors if they were even that.

"Good, you're awake." a gruff voice sounds from where the room was opened, its familiarity causing Shiro to loosen his tense state and power down his arm. As they came closer he realized they were Galra, but the lack of the purple decorated armor associated with Zarkons men set him apart from the threat. And that voice, who was that voice? Shiro racked his brain for the memory. It almost sounded like—!

"Ulaz…" he mutters, the details of his aided escape coming back to him in small bursts. "Ulaz!" he repeats the name with a near smile, glad he was in the hands of an ally and not the enemy, though quickly the expression faded away as he winced with pain, his hand flying to his side as he couched into a cocooning position with his feet dangling from the floor. The Galra ahead of him kneeling down to remove his arm and uncurl his body, inspecting the bandages himself.

"It looks like we haven't stopped the bleeding… This base doesn't have any medical treatment, nor did the last, but we'll have to make do until we can find your people…"

My people… As he winced again Shiro shut his eyes, picturing these very people. The paladins, the kids. His minds track of responsibility began to race, a replay of their last battle coming along with it, but watching Ulaz rise to stand removed him from his head and brought back some of the more important questions for now. "The last base," he repeats, again aware of the prior events, his crash landing, him falling from the mouth of his Lion, not before he was able to make contact with Keith. "That last planet, I was there with one of my teammates, the Red Paladin, is he here too?" the question was nearly pleading, especially after he noticed the face in front of him fall.

"Unfortunately you were the only one we could uncover, and as the planet was not hospitable for intelligent life our team didn't have the resources to stay too long. We were already searching for someone so you could imagine our excitement when we found not only the Black Paladin of Voltron but…" Ulaz trailed off, though his fallen face was once more soft, even if for a second.

"Truthfully," the Galran begins, his expression a bit grim though his muscles clearly relieved, "I never excepted to see you again, Champion."

The name sent Shiro's mind into a whirl, the sound of the word as unpleasant as when it was said by the freed prisoner on Arus but with a greater weight as he now held the true memory. It wasn't that he regretted being vicious, Shiro knew he had to do what it took to survive, but the aftershock of the pain. The poor man was always in pain, he realized, but that too wasn't his main priority.

"It's Shiro," the paladin decides to properly introduce himself, "please, call me Shiro." he flashes a delicate smile despite the now exposed wound as Ulaz tends to the bandages. In the action, he nods.

"Well Shiro, it's good to see you, especially in these new conditions." the conditions Shiro assumes to be his paladin status, his revival of the mighty team that serves as the universes only hope in the fight against Zarkon. Good conditions, yes, but something a bit wary as he is reminded of his estranged team, even more so on account of Ulaz's note that their prior planet was not suitable for life. He opens his mouth to further pry at this issue, though the Galra in front of him holds up a hand already expecting the return in conversation.

"I do intend to ask that we return to the planet seeing as we were forced to leave your lion, but for now please rest. We need to find a way to heal your wound before it spreads any further.

"Spreads?"

It is now when Shiro looks down at the removed bandages, seeing that his magical space wound indeed grew from its initial impact—whether that was from movement or if it was part of whatever festered within the wound, he could not say, but the way the scarred tissue now stretched across his abdomen was alarming, deserving the top spot on his list of issues. Ulaz quickly covers it from edge to edge with bandages again and Shiro winces, but the worry for the wound is still there, partially dangling off the fact that he said they had left the Black Lion.

"The Castle of Lions, they have healing pods, they can fix this." he vocalizes, also counting on their possible locational system to find both his and Keith's lion on the prior planet, but Ulaz mentions they have been unsuccessful in their search for the Altean beacon. "It seems you've been searching for a lot of things lately," he jokes, referencing the earlier comment that he was on the planet searching for someone else; the alien in front of him hums as what he hopes was some sort of amused response.

"We had reason to believe an escapee from one of Zarkons ships was living there, but the planet proved to be larger than any of our specs and unfortunately more dangerous."

"This escapee, were they human?" Shiro couldn't help but consider his fellow paladin's dilemma, family lost in space with no real traces in any system they could find.

"No, not human, though they may seem familiar to those on Earth." Shiro raises an eyebrow, not sure if he could remember any point in history where his home planet came into context with an alien species. "Grecian." Ulaz says, as though they were different from a human civilization. Instead of questioning him, however, Shiro merely sighs. Of course the Greeks were aliens.

A large thud sounds in the distance, like a knock, soft but loud enough to startle Hunk from his blacked out state. He calls after the sound, thinking it was his mother at his bedroom door before the bed he was so snuggled in in his head turns out to be the cool metal floor of his lion's cockpit. It was still comforting to his laid position, but a second thud made Yellow shake a bit and Hunk rolls over, a third thud being his head as it smacks against the downside of his pilot's chair.

He groans again, a mush of words falling out of his mouth as his eyes open and he sits up. Things begin to come back, like the tampered wormhole and his and Lance screams as they were whipped out of the castle and into the wherever they are now. That's all Hunk could really remember, any other collapse likely sending him into enough shock to shut down entirely, derailing from his normal vomit reflex. Whether that was a good or bad thing he couldn't say, but he was able to stand and that seemed pretty okay—up until the point where he was face to face with a Galra cruiser.

The sight of purple made him quickly duck again, hoping to not have been seen. Seconds went by with no active response but Hunk allowed just a few more to roll on, unsure of where to go next. If he managed to start up the Lion he would definitely be noticed, if he stood up again in his all Yellow gear that would also be sure to attract the Galra eyes. He decided to settle on a small peep then, inching back up to allow his own eyes to peer out of one of the larger on the Lion.

The cruiser came into view again, but instead of reacting the same as before, Hunk takes its position into view; the front not towards him but rather next to him. He takes the lack of attention on his Lion to stand, peering further out of the open eyes to further find that the focus of the Galra cruiser was not only not on his lion but the lion next to him, Blue. He would have called out for Lance on the spot as some kind of warning, but the open mouth gave him the small assurance his friend was not in his Lion and hopefully far from the Galra's hands.

Again, Hunk crouches down in his lion, catching his breath amidst his running mind playing worried thoughts. This… He finally grasps from the mess of his head; this is not good.