x

As Color Fades Away

Chapter Sixty-One

"You are certain this will work?" Theodek tried to keep the skepticism from his voice. This plan of the witch's just seemed too… straightforward for a group that had to be as on guard as the Paladins of Voltron.

"You underestimate them," Haggar sneered, floating next to him in the great expanse of space, robe billowing in the currents from his jetpack. "They are soft-hearted fools. They will take the bait."

The Galran commander held his tongue, merely watching his battle cruiser float further and further away. It rankled him that such a piece of technology was about to be blown to bits, but if that was to be the cost of revenge he would gladly pay it.

The witch's idea was simple in execution, but Theodek did admire the lengths to which she had gone in crafting the detail and her level of violence was something to be commended indeed. He had arrived in the hangar at the appointed time and was more than surprised to see a pair of slaves; large ones that nearly reached his own height and girth and skin covered in what looked like shimmering red stones tethered outside the door. Tloáns. He had never seen one in person before as they tended to hide deep deep in their mountains.

Haggar had emerged then from the ship and inclined her head for him to join her. He'd been shocked to find explosives rigged all over the interior of his cruiser, set to go off from a remote signal, and then cloaked with magic to make it appear as though they did not exist at all. The two Tloáns outside – a mother and her adolescent son taken from one of the work camps – had been promised their freedom and return to their home planet if they played their part in Haggar's charade. Otherwise only death awaited.

A dark smile had pulled on the witch's face then and Theodek joined her. Death awaited these chosen souls regardless and he delighted in the false hope she had brought them.

The witch was capable of opening up wormholes using stolen quintessence and Balmeran crystals and they had catapulted into the expanse of space shortly thereafter. Things only got more interesting as they popped out of the wormhole about a twenty minute jaunt to where Haggar had tracked the quintessence.

Without any sort of warning Haggar had driven a magic-infused hand into the male slave's body, shattering crystals and spraying the interior of the cabin with black blood as she wrenched it up and through his chest while the mother screamed silently and strained against the restraints holding her back. He'd collapsed in a silent, unmoving heap.

"He has little time left," Haggar had told her, wiping at the blood that had splattered her purple skin. "Consider this insurance. I will save him if you do as instructed, but otherwise his death is on your hands." Her smile had sharpened. "You do wish to save him, don't you?"

The mother had sobbed silently and bobbed her head and only then had Haggar returned her speech. Theodek admired the choice. A mother's love was more potent, more desperate, than nearly any in the world. She would do anything to save her son, even if that meant condemning the universe.

He loved it.

He and the witch had exited the cruiser then, which was set on autopilot to bypass the planet the Paladins had anchored themselves in the shadow of; close enough to set off likely proximity alarms but not too close as though to indicate they were aware of the Altean castle.

The cruiser would lure at least two Paladins away, Haggar assured, as they would be unable to ignore a cry for help, but would not send someone without backup nor would they abandon the castle. With that logic two Paladins and the princess would be left aboard the castle along with his target.

He and the Druid would move simultaneously to opposite ends of the ship once the cruiser blew up, hopefully taking two Paladins out with it, and then enter. He was given free rein to do whatever he wished to any enemy he came across, including his brother's murderer, so long as he did not kill the boy until Haggar stripped him of his quintessence.

They were both equipped with the highest cloaking technology the Galra Empire possessed and enhanced with Druid magic making them invisible at their size to reach the castle. Theodek had on a rocket pack to propel him while the witch seemed capable of moving as easily through space as she did upon the floor. It unnerved Theodek just a bit.

Haggar had a hologram screen shining in front of her showing the interior of the cruiser. The alien had been warned that if she were to veer off course that Haggar would not hesitate to end it immediately and the creature had been too scared to ask how. Then again, Theodek shuddered, even had the cruiser not been rigged to explode he had no doubts the Druid was capable of doing something even from this distance.

The Tloán was with her son on the floor, holding him in her arms and openly sobbing, small crystals forming and running down her face to clink to the floor. She was well within range of the console though for when the Paladins reached out to the ship.

Which could be ten dobashes or forty. Theodek twitched, readjusting his grip on his sword.

"We wait," Haggar said in answer to his movement. "It will not be long now."

"And if they do not bite?"

"They will." She sounded so sure of that and Theodek gave a curt nod.

"Patience, Commander," she smiled darkly. "All good things to those who wait."

xxx

The quiet peace of the lounge was shattered by a shrill alarm that had Allura surging to her feet and Coran unconsciously stuffing the rune circle the princess had been showing him into his robe pocket and retrieving his tablet in the same motion, while Hunk and Pidge drew their bayards. Lance moaned at the pitch, ravaging his headache even more.

"It's the proximity alarm," Coran said, flipping his tablet around and shutting off the sound although a single teal light still pulsed in the corner. "The farthest setting."

"Galra?" Allura demanded, coming to view the display for herself.

"Unable to determine yet," Coran said. "We need to get to the bridge for a visual. It's moving in our direction, but slowly. Not actively firing upon us, at least."

"At least," Pidge muttered, wishing she had her own tablet but she'd left it behind in her room. Her fingers twitched in both frustration and a bit of fear as this could be it. She looked to Lance, who had pulled himself to sitting. He looked scared, she thought, and in pain. But his gaze was narrowed with determination and the sight of it bolstered her.

They could do this.

"What should we do?" Hunk asked, kneeling next to the couch and holding Lance's left hand in his own, as much to comfort Lance as himself. His stomach was tying itself into knots and he was trying desperately not to puke at the looming unknown.

"Suit up," Allura decided, voice sharp but with an undercurrent of concern and fear. "Stay together. Meet us on the bridge."

She was already striding out of the room and Coran tailed behind her, expecting her orders to be obeyed without question.

"You okay to walk?" Hunk asked, turning his focus back to Lance. He knew Lance had been measuring things in steps and now it was his turn. Get Lance up, get to rooms, get dressed, get to bridge. Figure everything else out then. It provided a small sense of calm amongst the brewing storm.

He dearly hoped that it was nothing. An extra large space rock. A random ship just passing by – this was space after all. But they weren't that lucky. The universe had been against them from the beginning and Hunk didn't expect it to cut them a break now.

"Yeah," Lance nodded, although he winced at the action.

He pushed back the blankets with a shiver and carefully maneuvered himself to standing. He would have fallen though as black spots rushed to his eyes had Hunk not been prepared and caught him around one side. Pidge hurried to his other and helped brace him up.

"Yeah, that would be a 'no'," Pidge grunted.

"Sorry," Lance whispered, head hanging. He'd honestly thought he'd be all right, but clearly not. The sudden ache though was dulling again as vertigo faded away.

"Stop saying sorry."

"Lo siento."

Pidge growled at that, but at Lance's low laugh she found herself grinning.

"Seriously though, stop apologizing for stuff like this. It's not your fault."

"Can you walk if I support you?" Hunk cut into their little debate. "Or would you prefer if I carried you?"

"I can walk," and there was a stubborn note in the words. It made Hunk smile despite his own fears.

Pidge relinquished her hold and instead kept her bayard drawn, katar ready to strike at a moment's notice, as they made their way out of the room and back to their rooms.

Her room was first and while Lance and Hunk waited in the hall outside Pidge scampered in and retrieved a set of under armor as well as her actual armor (which she forced some upon Hunk to carry) and Matt's glasses. They made their way then to Hunk's room, which unlike Pidge's was clear of clutter and Hunk helped Lance settle on the box spring on his bed frame.

"No looking," Pidge warned them, retreating to change inside Hunk's closet after giving the Yellow Paladin his own suit, earning a huff from Lance and a more sincere, 'I promise' from Hunk. Hunk himself stripped out of his pajamas in the main room and set about pulling on his under armor. He could feel his hands trembling as he buckled on his leg braces and was surprised no one had called him out on his heartbeat.

When he looked up from his braces though he caught Lance's eyes, which were dark with regret.

"Lance?"

"This is my fault," he whispered.

"Lance, no. We went over this, remember?"

"You're shaking," Lance observed, voice small.

"I am," Hunk said, coming to sit next to Lance and putting an un-armored arm around him. "I'm scared, true. But that is in no way your fault."

Pidge poked out of the closet, hauling her breastplate out with her. "What he said." Her voice softened. "We're a team, Lance. We're in this together. Remember what Shiro said?"

"Which thing?" Lance asked, although there was a hint of a smile in the words.

"He does say a lot of wise things," Hunk chuckled.

Pidge inclined her head in acknowledgement. "The one about us being a team and if Haggar comes after one of us she comes after all of us."

"That was a pretty good one," Hunk said. "You know, we really need to write these down. Shiro-isms. It'd be a bestseller for sure."

Lance lightly cleared his throat, torn between wanting to contribute to the conversation but at the same time feeling a little embarrassed. But as Pidge and Hunk turned his eyes to him he said, "Do you remember those 'what would Jesus do?' bracelets? I… when I was with the… the Galra I asked myself a lot what would Shiro do. Thought maybe when it was over I should make a bracelet ."

"That's brilliant," Pidge cackled and Hunk snorted out a laugh too.

"You know though," Hunk said, coming down from his mirth. "I think there's a better bracelet instead. Not that Shiro isn't beyond amazing and all, but I think we all should have a 'what would Lance do?' one."

Lance felt his cheeks heat up. "What?"

"I agree," Pidge smiled, plunking onto the bed on Lance's side.

"Wh-why?" Lance stuttered, face growing redder. He didn't think they were teasing him, but…

"Because you," Hunk squeezed his shoulder, "remind all of us of what's good in the world. Your compassion and hope and love and trust... that is what we should always remember and live by. And that is what is going to get us through this."

"Although leadership and tactical skills are a good plus too," Pidge laughed. "But from what I remember of our good old Garrison days we had a pretty good leader there too, didn't we Hunk?"

"Yeah, even if he did call himself 'the tailor'."

Lance was not sure how his face hadn't burst into flames yet and he pressed it against Hunk's shoulder to hide it. "You guys," he mumbled into the rough shirt.

"Nothing but the truth, hermano," Hunk said gently.

"Gracias," he sniffled, pulling his face free.

"Just give me a minute to finish and we'll go to your room," Hunk said, standing up to pull on his chest plate. "Your bayard is still on your bed and you could use a pair of shoes."

"Shoes?"

Lance glanced down at his sock-clad feet.

"Yeah, just in case. You won't slip so easily that way."

Pidge raised a hand. "I attest to that. It is not fun. Rather painful, actually, if you hit a wall."

True to his word Hunk finished in under a minute and then carefully helped Lance to standing. His hold wasn't as comfortable this time with armor digging into Lance's side, but upon trying to take a step on his own power his legs wavered and his head pounded so it was Hunk's way or he wasn't moving.

"We'll find out what's going on and then get you something to eat," Hunk said, pausing in front of Lance's room as Pidge hit the open button. "That should help with the dizziness. And don't say sorry," he cut in as he felt Lance's jaw open. "You just had a bunch of Lions bouncing around inside your head. It's pretty amazing these are all the symptoms you're showing."

"What was it like?" Pidge asked as Hunk once more helped Lance sit on a bed and he retreated to his closet to grab sneakers. "Could you understand all of them? Did you see their colors? You were glowing, you know. Did—"

"Pidge," Hunk cut in with an exasperated sigh.

"Sorry, sorry," she held her hands up.

"It was… busy," Lance frowned. "Like… like being in an elevator with a bunch of people and everyone is yelling what floor they want all at the same time."

"That's pretty specific," Hunk commented.

"Blame Green," Lance muttered. "She only spoke in numbers."

"Yeah, binary," Pidge nodded. "She'll press it on in calculations sometimes, but we don't really 'talk.' Not like you and Blue." A sad expression crossed her face at that, as she honestly doubted she ever would be capable of speaking to Green like Lance and Blue did. Her and Green had a great relationship but it had nothing on what Blue meant to Lance and vice-versa. She wasn't jealous though. She was so happy that Lance had that. That Blue had him. "So," she coughed lightly, "you heard Green? And the others?"

"Yeah. Well, heard their feelings and the like. Some stronger than others." He shuddered at the reminder, for as altruistic as the Lions intent was and how grateful he was to them for what they had done, it had hurt. It was a different kind of pain than what Haggar and Theodek had put him through, but that didn't mean it was less. At least this one was done with good intentions and that was ultimately what got him through it, especially when Black's gasping space and stars had nearly swallowed him whole.

Hunk was pulling his shoes on then and patted his foot gently. "You okay?"

Lance sighed. "Yeah. It's still just a lot to process. And my head really hurts."

"I know," Hunk said sympathetically.

"Do you think it worked?" Lance asked quietly.

"Hopefully we won't have to find out," Pidge said seriously. "But yes, I do. I can't believe we didn't think of them in the first place, really."

"I'm not," Hunk said, tying up Lance's last shoe. "Just because they have power doesn't mean they'd know all of that delicate stuff."

"Black only found out because Blue told her," Lance said, accepting a navy zip-up Hunk held up form his closet that had deeper pockets than his normal jacket; perfect for his bayard. "So if she hadn't said anything..."

"Glad she did," Hunk smiled. It fell a second later though. "All of the Lions are out of commission now though, right? They used up all of their power and need to recharge."

"Not good," Pidge muttered. "Not your fault," she said, heading off Lance as she sensed the apology coming.

"Come on, let's find out what's going on," Hunk said, offering Lance a hand up and then putting a protective, steadying arm about his lower back. "Hopefully this is all nothing."

When they reached the bridge Shiro and Keith were already there, also in armor. There was also a tray of bowls and spoons with a pot of space oatmeal and sides of raisins and sugar and a pitcher of water that Keith was digging into. Coran too had a bowl in hand while he conversed with Allura and Shiro over the screen.

Hunk steered Lance to the food and helped him to sit down on the floor. To his relief Lance reached out to serve himself and gave a small nod of thanks as Keith pushed the solo steaming mug in his direction, as they had all observed that hot beverages seemed to be best for now.

"One bowl," Hunk cautioned as Lance ladled the concoction. He got a small nod of acknowledgement.

"What's happening?" Pidge asked. She normally wouldn't have an issue with interrupting the adults of their group, but this wasn't some typical mission and she did not want to break them from their concentration.

"They're still figuring it out," Keith said, swallowing his last bite. "It's definitely some type of spacecraft but it is the only one out there and it isn't actually coming towards the castle."

"Well, that's good," Hunk said. "Right?"

"It's not outright attacking at least," Keith acknowledged. "Doesn't mean it won't."

"Have we established communication?" Pidge asked and Keith shook his head.

"Not yet. They aren't broadcasting a signal and we aren't responding since we're cloaked."

"I've got a visual coming up," Coran announced then and a tick later the vast expanse of space was projected on the main screen and in it was the small form of a cruiser.

Lance felt his stomach bottom out. That was a Galran ship. His spoon clattered on the floor, sharp ringing startling them all out of their stunned silence.

"Fuck," Pidge cursed, stepping in for a closer look and Shiro didn't even reprimand her.

"Could it be a scout?" Allura asked, hands clenching around one another.

"Wrong type of ship," Shiro muttered. "That's a battle cruiser."

"But on its own?" Pidge sounded skeptical.

A new beep blared on the bridge and Coran hurried to shut off the sound even as he said, "They have a communication beacon activated. It's coded as a call for help."

"A call for help?" Allura repeated.

"This seems like a trap," Keith growled, arms crossed.

"What do you want to do, Princess?" Coran asked. "They're going to be outside our range in three dobashes unless we hail them."

"It is odd that they would leave if they were trying to attack," Shiro mused. "We're hidden here. We could easily ignore it and they'd be none the wiser."

"What… what if someone really needs help?" Lance asked quietly. He knew it could be a trap. It could be Haggar. But… it didn't feel right to ignore a call for assistance. If they started now then would this be how they treated ever distress beacon going forward? They couldn't do that; not if they wanted to save the universe.

Hunk squeezed his shoulders and Lance leaned back into the touch. He felt like a jumble of knots but he knew they couldn't avoid this. They were the Paladins of Voltron, the defenders of the universe. If they didn't help then who would?

"We are fully hidden," Pidge said carefully. "Invisible to outside eyes, the shields are hiding any infrared signatures and our communications are completely down. There's no physical way they could have tracked us."

"Black is offline too," Shiro put in. "And even before that she told me she's severed her connection with Zarkon. He isn't tracking us through her anymore."

"Which could mean this ship is just happening to pass thorough here, randomly, no coincidence whatsoever," Coran said, although there was heavy doubt in his voice. He could see another ship but a Galra cruiser?

"Can we hear their emergency transmission without giving our position away?" Allura asked, biting her lip. For it went against her nature to avoid helping others, but she would not, could not, endanger her family.

"I can do it," Pidge said, already heading to the console. "Just give me a dobash."

Her hands flew over the keys while everyone remained respectfully silent. Hunk tried to press the mug of tea on Lance, who weakly shook his head. He felt like he was going to throw up.

"Okay, done," Pidge hit another keystroke. "Ready?"

"Please," Allura inclined her head and Pidge accepted the emergency broadcast.

"—please, my s-son… oh, please, is anyone there?" Sobbing sounded then and an odd plinking noise. "Pl-please. Can anyone hear this?"

Pidge lowered the volume then, keeping the distressed sounding alien on in the background.

"That is not a Galran," Allura said quietly. "That sounds like a mother. In pain." She looked around at each member of the team, landing lastly on Lance. "What are your thoughts?"

"I don't like it," Keith said, eyes narrowed. "It's too much of a coincidence. And trying to play on our emotions like that?" He shook his head. "No."

"We need to help her," Lance countered, heart in his throat at the declaration. "We… we can't abandon her. Not if she really needs help."

"I'm with Lance," Hunk said, earning a grateful if nauseated looking smile.

"I don't know," Pidge whispered, hugging herself. "The Galra shouldn't have been able to track us to attempt a trick like this but… what if they did? What if this is a trap? But then…" She glanced to Lance, recalling their earlier conversation. "If someone really is in trouble and hurt…"

"If we were to hail them," Shiro said slowly, "can we pull up a video connection? See what their situation really is?"

Coran nodded. "Yes, Number One. We will be announcing our presence then but we can still remain cloaked and Number Five's program can redistribute our signal so they can't pinpoint us exactly. However, we can only receive video once the other party has accepted our audio signal."

"I do agree with Keith in that I do not care for this situation at all," Allura said. "That said, I cannot ignore a plea for help. I will further add that the castle has recharged and I can wormhole us immediately away should this be revealed as anything what it appears. So… are we all in accord with extending a transmission?"

"Do it," Shiro said as he received nods about the room and Keith inclined his ever so slightly, mollified with the wormhole exit strategy.

Coran typed in a few lines and then pressed a button, lighting the outgoing transmission line in green for live.

Allura swallowed thickly and then held her head high. This was either going to help one of the many universe inhabitants she had sworn to protect… or she was going to put her entire family in danger.

"Hello," she called. "We have received your emergency signal. How might we assist you?"

And outside the castle in the endless expanse of space two pairs of yellow eyes lit up with dark joy.

xxx

Author's Notes:

Whoops. They fell right into that one. Good job, Haggar. She knows they can't resist a call of help. Also, for those who have picked it up, Haggar seems to channel Mother Gothel throughout this story. What can I say; I adore them both. Also, got that WWSD bracelet back in there with a cute little twist. Can I get an "awww?"

I apologize to those whom I did not respond to logged in reviews for last chapter. I've been super sick all week. Lo siento. Please know though that I greatly appreciate them and reading them has been a highlight of my week.

Thank you to all of those who left a comment last chapter. I truly appreciate them and your support of both myself and this fic. Even just a small comment about what you liked about the chapter or a favorite part or a note of encouragement can really brighten up an author's day. So please do leave one below before you head out. Thank you very much!