Chapter 44: The End is the Beginning(Keith's POV)

Keith watches as Honerva goes through the portal she opened.

"We have to follow her!" shouts Allura.

"Right, Voltron, Altas let's go!" Shiro responds.

They travel through the portal. And what he sees is stunning. White strands are all around them emitting from a single source. A big glowing white ball. A starry night covers the space surrounding the white strands and the big glowing white ball. Horrified, he watches as Honerva severs one of the strands, making it dissipate.

"She's destroying all realities…" murmurs Pidge in realization.

"Then we have to stop her!" Allura shouts, firm determination in her choice.

He voices his concerns, "We barely stopped her from destroying the Alternate Altea because of our clumsiness. How on Earth are we going to stop her from destroying all realities? Because I don't think using brute force is going to work."

"How about we push her into the white ball?" Lance suggests.

Hunk whimpers, fearful, "But we don't know what's in there."

"It's better than nothing!"

"Lance is right." Adrien says. "We have to stop her somehow."

"And how are we going to push her there, Adrien?" Zoe asks.

"By using our force and a lot of thrusters. We should be able to do it. Right Pidge?"

"Yeah. It is possible. We'll just have to grab her and push her towards it."

"So it's easy, peasy, lemon squeezy?" Hunk asks, still worried and afraid.

"Yep."

"Then let's not waste anymore time!" Shiro shouts.

They fly towards Honerva's mech and fly right in front of her. They then grab her and push her towards the white ball. Keith notices that only one strand is left. That was too close. Suddenly white light blinds him and when it fades, he's outside his lion, or whatever he was in their Voltron, Altas fusion. He then notices Adrien, Kuro, Zoe, Chole, Allura, Shiro, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk are all by his side. Then he notices Honerva. But he sees Gabriel's soul that is barely showing over Honerva's body. And a young looking Lotor by Honerva's side.

Walking forward, he demands, "Gabriel get out of Honerva's body."

Honerva stands up, "And why should I? So that Honerva can never have the happy ending she deserves?"

"Because destroying every reality won't bring back Emile. She wouldn't have wanted this. And neither does Adrien. Nor Honerva either."

"You pompous brat! Don't you think I don't know that! That's why I destroyed every reality! Because if me and her can't get what we want then no one can!"

The younger looking Lotor cries, "Get out of mommy's body you villain!"

Honerva scoffs, "Villain? I assure you I am not young man. Why….."

"Then why destroy my home? And mommy's home! And their homes! You are a villain." Young Lotor says, standing his ground.

"Why you….."

Keith steps in front of the kid and growls, "Don't you dare Gabriel!"

"Or what you'll….."

He slips his Voltron hand armor off of his right hand, revealing his panjea bracelet. Grinning he says, "Roaar paint my stripes!"

Now that he's in his superhero form he steps forward looking at his hand and nonchalantly says, "You do remember my power don't you? A super powerful punch that deals an insane amount of damage. I bet if I use it on you, it will be so powerful it will knock you out of Honerva's body."

He notices sweat trickling down Honerva's face. "Fine, fine. I'll let her go."

Instantly he notices Gabriel appear beside Honerva's body. Honerva immeadilty goes to to hug Lotor. "Mommy!" Lotor cries happily, fully embracing Honerva's hug.

The she releases Lotor from their embrace, and she walks over to him.

"So you're Keith."

"Yeah."

"So you can see him too?"

"Pretty much."

"Were you really going to punch the daylights out of me?"

He shrugs, "I knew Gabriel would be averse to wanting a powerful punch mine, considering how it can easily shatter buildings to pieces."

"Well thank you. And Gabriel I know you're angry but destroying all realities? Really?"

"I just wanted you to be happy, unlike me."

"Still that's no excuse!"

"But you deserve to have your family back! Just like I did. I wanted you to succeed where I failed. I figured this would work. But it didn't and….."

"And what?"

"I felt jealous of you being with your husband. But I shoved those feelings down because you deserved to be with your one true love. And your son." Gabriel gestures to Lotor.

"It felt wrong."

"What?!"

"It felt wrong kissing him. It felt wrong to be there. The only thing that felt right was Lotor and him being in my arms. Other than that I was uneasy and uncomfortable. He talked about our son as someone who was above others. He was having him study at such a young age when he should have been playing with boys his age. It just didn't feel right to be with him. He only saw our son as our dreams. When he is our son, not some druid!"

"Just like it would have felt wrong after you made your wish to be with your perfect family if you ever achieved that goal. You can't just erase the past to get there. You hurt your son because you lived in the past. I can't ever forgive you for what you put us through and what I've seen. But you can't keep holding onto the past. Because it hurts, so, so very much." Keith adds. He still felt anger towards Gabriel, and for everything he's done.

But, after getting the Time incident off his chest, he wasn't as bothered by the past as he was. No nightmares about Christmas or that hellish future in which Gabriel killed them all which plagued him for weeks after they occurred and once the memories involuntarily resurfaced. He couldn't ever forgive the man, but he wasn't bothered by him anymore.

"I just wanted the love of my life back." He answers, "And there's nothing wrong with that. Hell I know, because I wanted my mom back for so long. When my dad died, I also wanted him back, but then I met Shiro and I moved on a bit from them. Then I met Voltron and I began to open up a bit, letting my past not affect me. Then Adrien came along like the little ball of sunshine that he is and opened up my world to the point where I wasn't affected by the past."

"So you understand?" Honerva asks him.

"Yeah."

"And you moved on, despite wanting them back?. And to perhaps rekindle your relationship with your mom?" Honerva pressed.

He nods.

"Then I should move on from….. You know who and put it behind me. I wanted Lotor back so badly that I let all of this happen. I am sorry. Being trapped in the past, and wanting to fix time is harmful." Honerva answers.

Gabriel then walks over to her, "It was not your fault. I pressured you to do this. I told you that to fix the hole in your heart you had to replace Lotor and your husband with another version of themselves. I just, I really wanted you to be happy. I wanted you to have your family, unlike me, who ended up with no family despite my best efforts to make my family whole again. I wanted my perfect family back….."

"But in the end it only hurt your relationships with how fixated you were on getting your 'perfect family' back?" Honerva asks.

"Yes." He then turns to Keith. Gabriel grabs his hands and sighs, "I know somehow I hurt you the worst. I know you nor Adrien nor anyone involved with me will ever forgive me for what I have done. I never meant to hurt my son, but in the end that's all I ever did."

"I know." Keith bluntly states. He adds, "I just wish you saw that when you were alive and defeated that obsessing over Emile was not healthy or good. So what changed?"

Gabriel looks at Honerva and says, "What changed is my time with Honerva and watching her with her husband. When you came and ruined it, Zarkon said Honerva wasn't his wife despite being completely willing to earlier accept her into his life despite the other Honerva being dead. And after my anger subsided and I pondered that moment again, I realized there will always be problems. Nothing will be the perfect fix. Zarkon certainly wasn't. He was ready to throw Honerva to the wolves as soon as he saw Voltron was involved. Blaming her for bringing the mech when she and I tried to stop you from pursuing us, and you followed us anyway."

Keith sighs, "So you finally realized the error of your ways in death? Seriously?"

"Yes."

Honerva then asks, "What did he do that was so terrible anyway."

He then nonchalantly lists off, "Oh, he didn't spend time with Adrien, punished him when he wasn't perfect by the extreme, was going to kick me out on Christmas night because Adrien ran away due to him not spending time with him and not being perfect because he ran away, put the blame on Santa Claus when he helped Adrien out, held him and me to ridiculous standards to the point of being overworked, being Hawkmoth and emotionally terrorizing Paris while fighting teenagers over magical jewelry, killed Adrien and all of Team Miraculous including me in an Alternate reality while being unfazed because Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous will undo it with his wish thus causing the end of the world and me having to fix it resulting in me having severe trauma over it."

Looking back at Adrien he asks, "Anything I missed?"

Adrien, too stunned to speak, stutters something out, "Uh, N….n….no…."

"Does that answer your question."

Honerva nods, "Yes, but why are you so calm about everything he's done?"

"Because I've gotten over it, and personally I'd rather not dwell on it for too long. As it's unpleasant. Besides after everything I'd been through, Lion mechs that combine into one, aliens and their planets, plus being sent to Earth during a trial for a blade that almost made me die, being given magical jewelry that turns you into a superhero, fighting akumas and amoks, whilst time traveling and more alien battles, after I've gotten over it, abusive daddy issues are the least of my trauma."

"Far enough. Though I did some pretty horrible stuff as well."

"I know. We were inside your mind."

"Oh yeah." Honerva nervously chuckles.

Lance suddenly says, "Okay, someone want to tell us what exactly is going on? And who are you talking to? And why Keith threatened to knock Honerva out? And who are you talking to!?"

Adrien nods, "Yeah I would like to know as well. It's been weird following your conservation. I don't understand any of it except my father is somehow involved."

"Yes, an explanation for the rest of us would be appreciated." Allura demands, her arms crossed.

"Oh Gabriel is a ghost and only me and Honerva can see him because….."

"Because we are kindred spirits to him. Having lost much and wanting more than anything to have what we lost back. Though Keith did not do what me and Gabriel did which was actually go through with that want." Honerva explains.

He nods.

"So now that's explained, how are we going to fix all the realities?" Hunk asks, worried. "Because Gabriel kind of destroyed all of them except one…."

Honerva sighs, "I trained at Oriande and in order to heal what has been done a great sacrifice must be made. Something that has enough Quintessence to bring back what was lost."

"And where are we going to find something like that."

"The lions…" murmurs Shiro.

"But the lions are a part of us. We are bonded to them! We can't just sacrifice them!" Hunk cries.

"But the lions are made from the comet ore and great Quintessence, right Allura?"

"Yes my father infused them with lots of Quintessence. And the Comet Ore also has great Quintessence in it as well."

"We can also sacrifice Lotor's mech. The Lions might not be enough but if the two mechs were sacrificed then it could work." Honerva suggests.

"But…But….. Without the lions how can we accomplish what we set out to do.

"By using the skills we learned by being a part of is a part of us, yes. But we also make up Voltron. Voltron is us. It's all of us. We are all one unit thanks to Voltron. We are synchronized together. We are bonded to each other. The Lions just helped us along." Keith says, in realization.

Pidge adds, "Like the Olkari said, we are all made up of the same cosmic dust." Shiro nods, "Yeah. Voltron helped shape us to be the people we are today. Though it might be scary not having our lions present while we continue to build peace, I know we can do it. Like Keith said we are all bonded to one another. Besides, the ancient Paladins were just a regular team with no lions before the comet came. I know we can be just as good as them when they were without their lions. We are a team."

"Yeah!" Lance shouts, outstretching his hand. Keith joins his hand and other paladins join him as well. Then they all lift their arms up shouting, "Team Voltron!"

They all chuckle together.

Kuro asks, "Are you sure about this?"

Shiro nods, "Yeah. Besides, we still have miraculous. And if we need to we can always make more mechs like the Atlas to defend the universe."

"Then it's settled." Honerva says.

"Yeah! The Lions will save the universe!" Young Lotor cheers.

"More like the multiverse." Adrien comments.

Suddenly the Lions appear behind Honerva. The Black Lion speaks, "Paladins, it was nice having you pilot us. Shiro, you are a wise and stoic leader. I trust you will lead your team well in our absence. And tell Marinette she was a good paladin of mine. I will miss you both. Your leadership styles were different yet effective."

Red then goes next, "I am glad that I got to fly with you one last time before I go, Keith. I will miss you. I am sad that our time got caught short. I will always hold you dear in my heart, my cub. Just remember to trust your instincts. They will serve you well."

"Pidge my dear paladin. I will miss your genius mind. You are a great inventor and I know you will invent something spectacular. Remember to be observant of your surroundings and stay connected to nature. You might find inspiration in the most unexpected of places." Green says.

Yellow purrs, "Hunk you are kind and shy. But are brave when fighting for what you hold dear and for what you believe in. Your kindness is your greatest attribute as it will bring people from all walks of life together. Continue to be kind, compassionate, and unmovable like a rock."

"Lance, you have been a great paladin of mine. I will miss your jokes and funny nature. Never forget that even if you seem to have a minor role, you are still important and are loved by others." Blue speaks. She then turns to Allura, "Allura you were my paladin for a short time. But I hope it taught you well in learning how to work with others and not always be the head of the pride. You are a great leader and I know you will make your people proud as Queen."

They then shimmer away and a bright light washes over all of them. When it fades they are back in their reality. They are all on the bridge of the Atlas. The lions and Honerva's mech are nowhere to be found. Then he notices something. Something that wasn't there before. A planet.

"Altea?" Allura gasps.

Coran comments, "The Lions sacrifice must have restored it."

"Then we can rebuild Altea." Allura says excitedly.

Lotor walks up to her, "And Daibazzal as well. If it has also been restored."

"That means your people have somewhere to call home."

"Indeed." Lotor remarks.

Keith smiles, they did it. They saved all realities and they owe it all to the Lions of Voltron.