Archive of Our Own

Pidge loaded two girls into spherical shuttle with tears pricking at her eyes. One of them was teenager and one was an infant, only six months old. Fire flashed behind the three of them and loud crashes could be heard.

“Kora, find your dads. They can help. Give them this but don't say too much. Promise me.” Pidge said, stuffing an envelope into her hand.

“Pidge, I can't leave you guys behind. I can help fight!” Kora protested.

“It's too dangerous, Kora! Remember that we love you. Be safe.”

“I know Auntie Pidge, I love you guys too. I won't mess up too much,” Kora squeezed her hand.

Pidge didn't say anything. She sobbed and latched onto her honorary niece, for what she knew could be the last time. She pulled away and wiped her eyes. “Okay. You're probably gonna pass out and you might forget some of this so I've written you a note, it's in your pocket. You're also gonna feel really queasy, but thankfully you don't have any of Hunk’s tendencies but I did leave you a bag just in case. Whatever you do, do not open your eyes until you hear three beeps.”

Kora nodded and gulped. “We’ll miss you, kid.” Pidge smiled.

“I’m not a kid, I'm 15.” Kora scoffed and buckled herself in.

“That’s what I used to say.” Pidge shook her head.

“Kora? Pidge! We need Voltron now! Where are you?” Yelled a voice over the intercom. Pidge didn't respond, she just pressed a button on her suit to signal she was okay.

“Okay, good luck!” Pidge said and closed the door to the ship. Kora couldn't bring herself to say goodbye. She closed her eyes and covered the baby’s eyes. A few moments later she felt a large jolt. She was tempted to open her eyes but she knew the consequences if she did.

It felt like hours until the beeps started but Kora knew it had only been less than a minute.

One beep

‘Oh god,’ Kora thought. ‘I hope they're safe without me.’

Two beeps

‘Fuck, here comes nausea.’

Kora didn’t hear the third beep.

•••

Kora groaned. Her head hurt so much and it didn’t help that there was a baby crying. The baby! Kora looked down at the crying child. Phoebea had a tiny cut on her cheek. “Oh no… Your mom and dad are gonna be so mad…”

Kora unbuckled herself and put baby Phoebea in her seat as she tried to open the door. It seemed jammed. After a few minutes, Kora managed to loosen the door a bit and one thing lead to another, meaning Kora was falling out of the shuttle.

Kora looked up the see the Black lion looking down at her. “Hey girl.” She whispered. She clambered back into the shuttle to retrieve Phoebea. She bounced Phoebea up and down for a bit and she finally seemed to calm down. “Let’s go find everyone, shall we?”

Kora opened the Black Lion’s doors to the hall and they walked around aimlessly, trying to find someone. Kora knew something was off, she could tell, only she couldn't remember what.

Kora found herself walking to the kitchen, the place she always knew to be neutral in the castle.

“I’ve just been feeling really nauseous lately.” Someone said.

“So have I. Maybe it has to do with somewhere we went recently.”

“No, it's not. I told Shiro about it and he hasn't been feeling anything like that.”

“Maybe we’re the first to be affected?”

Kora opened the door to see Keith Kogane and Lance McClain. She took a sharp breath in. “Dad? Papa?” She ran to them and hugged Lance. When she turned to Keith, he was backing away, drawing his bayard.

“Who are you?” He said.

The letter in Kora’s pocket suddenly felt heavier. ‘Oh.’ she thought. ‘It worked.’

“I asked you a question. Who are you.” Keith repeated.

Kora backed away and clutched Phoebea tighter. Suddenly the alarms went off and a familiar voice was shouting over the sound system. “Paladins, come quick! We have two large unknown signs of life on the ship!”

Keith and Lance glared at Kora and Keith grabbed her by the arm and they went running down the hall. They reached the control room where five other people were standing around looking at a big screen. It showed nine heat signals. Seven were attached to names and two were bright red and flashed. Kora guessed those two were her and Phoebea.

The woman with white hair turned around. “Keith! Lance! We have-” She paused and her eyes landed on Kora. “Who are they?” Everyone else turned around and Kora could recognize each and every face. Allura, Pidge, Shiro, Hunk and Coran. Their faces looked younger. Less scars, less worry, more life. Kora had never seen them like this before. Pidge looked like she was close to Kora’s age rather than in her mid-thirties. Coran had a full head of red hair rather than the almost all gray she was used to. Everyone looked so different.

Kora called these people her family and they had no idea who she was.

Allura stepped forward and inspected her face. She looked down at the baby in Kora’s arms and her eyes widened. “She’s… the baby... Who are you? How do you have an -”

“Let me explain.” Kora interrupted. Everyone started coming towards her, surrounding her. “You might wanna sit down for this.”

“No. You don’t get to tell us what to do. Tell us what we need to hear now, or you’re gonna be flying out the airlock, baby and all.” Keith said.

“Wait, hear her out,” Hunk suggested.

“I’m with number one.” Coran agreed. “Look who she’s holding.”

“She has…” Lance trailed off.

“Altean markings.” Pidge interjected. “Allura… Is she?”

“You have to listen first. I promise I’ll tell you everything.” Kora sighed.

Shiro put his hand on Keith. “Let’s move to the dining room, it’s a more appropriate area to talk.”

By the time they got to the dining room, Keith was glaring at Kora and she felt like crying. Lance kept looking between her and Keith and Allura wouldn’t take her eyes off the baby.

Kora took a deep breath. “My name is Kora Kogane-McClain. This is Phoebea Shirogane.” Lance almost fell back in his chair and Keith stood up. Shiro looked to Allura and they had a silent conversation in seconds.

Kora looked to Lance and Keith. “Please don’t say anything, yet. There’s still a lot to go over.” Kora took in a another breath. “I’m 15 years old and Phoebea here is six months old. Phoebea is half Human and half Altean. I’m Agimen. I was found on a planet that was being evacuated by my parents.” She turned to Keith and Lance. “You two. If anything you guys have told me is true then that’s pretty hard to believe. I was sent here by my aunt Pidge, against your recommendations.”

Pidge looked around and in a very high voice, “I did nothing.”

“No, you didn’t, but my Pidge did. She told me that this would be the only way to save us all. The past couple of months we’ve been building something and we finally managed to get it working at the moment we needed it the most. I’m from the future. Shiro, Allura, could you come here?” Glances were exchanged but the two stood up and walked over. Kora held out her arms, handing over Phoebea. “This is your daughter. I thought you’d want to hold her.” Allura took the baby and a tear rolled down her cheek. “She’s… ours?” Shiro asked and Kora nodded. Shiro smiled and rubbed Phoebea’s head gently.

“You can’t actually believe her!” Keith shouted. “Some girl just shows up with an Altean looking baby and says its yours and you just… accept it?”

Lance raised his hand. “I’m with the Mullet for once.”

“For the last time, it isn’t a mullet.”

Kora walked to her fathers and opened her palms and held her hands out to them. She looked them both in the eyes and gave a small smile. They each grabbed one of her hands. “Now, everyone join hands to make a circle. Let your minds open up and close your eyes.” Everyone did what they were asked and she closed her eyes too.

Kora thought of her fifth birthday, where she headbutted her cake because she saw her auntie Pidge do it while fighting. She thought to when Lance first taught her how to shoot and Keith got mad. She thought to when Coran taught her who she was. She thought back to when Hunk taught her how to sew and Pidge made her a sewing machine for her thirteenth birthday. She thought back to when Allura and Shiro were in charge of watching Kora when she was three and she broke one of Pidge’s keyboards. She thought back to when she asked Keith why the didn't live on a planet like all of her friends or why they never stayed anywhere for long. She thought back to when she asked Coran why Daddy and Papa had to leave so often with everyone else.

She didn't just think about old memories she felt them as a whole. She relived them and she sent them to the people in the castle. The people connecting, coming together as one.

Her family.

She let go of Lance and Keith's hands but Lance enveloped her in a hug. It threw her off guard but she sobbed into his shoulder all the same. Keith sat back in his chair and held his head. She turned around and grabbed his hand. “It’s okay. I'm here and we need to fix everything.”

“But what do we need to fix?” Hunk asked.

“I… Don't know. All auntie Pidge told me was that I needed to come here, to where something started. In seventy-two hours a defining moment will happen that affects the future drastically, one thing will lead to another and it will snowball. I was told to give my parents this.” Kora reached into her pocket and pulled out the letter addressed to her dad's in Pidge messy handwriting. She gave it to Lance. “You and Dad have to read this. Not now, in private. I don't think I'm allowed to read it either. When Pidge was writing it, she was pretty adamant about not letting me see it.”

“How do we know that was real? She could be some really skilled Galra agent!” Keith said suddenly. “We can't trust her.”

Kora reached around her neck and unhooked a chain. She opened up her palm to reveal a ring. “Then trust this.”

Keith unhooked a necklace of his own and put it next to Kora’s necklace. In Keith's hand was a silver chain and on that chain, was a ring. It had a single sapphire on the top. Inside, To K was engraved. In Kora’s hand sat the same ring. “Impossible.” He breathed out.

“Keith, what is that?” Hunk asked.

“It's something that my dad gave me before he took off when I was 12. It was… well it was supposed to be…”

“His mother's engagement ring.” Kora finished.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it. I thought your mom was Galra?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, she was. At least, I think so. My dad was about to propose but she had to leave after I was born.”

“And twelve years later, his dad takes off go find his long, lost, love and almost thirty years later he tells the story behind the ring and gives it to his daughter: Me. But not before he gives it to someone else, Lance McClain. You proposed to Papa with that ring.”

Keith didn't say another word. Instead, he walked out of the room and Lance trailed behind keeping the letter close to his chest.

----

“Keith, wait up!” Lance called after Keith.

Keith stopped and turned around, eyes filling with small tears. “She has your nose.”

“And she has your eyes.” Lance smirked.

Keith let a single tear fall. “There’s a bit of your blue in them.”

“She looks like my sister.” Lance chuckled and he started tearing up.

“I thought she said she was adopted.”

“Well, she is an alien.”

“How the hell did our lives get like this?” Keith slid down the wall to the floor.

“Shiro crashed near the garrison?”

“It was rhetorical, Lance. How do we have a kid?”

Lance sighed and sat down next to Keith. “I guess I finally work up the courage to ask you out,”

“You? Courage and asking someone out? Wow, never thought those two things would come together to be about you.”

“So you're not surprised that I told you that I like you?”

“Well there's someone in there claiming to be our daughter, so I figured something would have to happen at some point between us.”

“I guess so. What about you?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you like me?”

Keith stood up and cleared his throat. “Let's just read the letter shall we?”

“Oh come on!” Lance got up and crossed his arms.

Keith looked away. “I'll tell you when I know.”

“Oh.” Lance gulped and opened up the envelope. He unfolded the letter and read aloud.

Dear Lance & Keith,
It's Pidge. Not your Pidge, because your Pidge is 15 and this Pidge is 34. If you're reading this, that means that Kora got to you. Kora is your daughter. Okay, go ahead and laugh, I know how you guys are right now. For you, in three years, we will be evacuating Planet Nayases and you two will be the last to get back to your lions. That's when you find Kora. You take her in and raise her and she becomes the most spoiled kid I've ever known. She is amazing. She's intelligent and a leader. She's the best damn archer in the known universe and we love her to death. But you can't keep her. You have to leave her on Nayases.

In three days, Lotor is make you an offer. You have to refuse. It creates a ripple that turns into a wave. Kora gets caught up in that wave somewhere along the way and contributes to the ocean that drowns us. I don’t know how much she contributes, I just know that she's there.

I'm looking at Kora right now and she's tinkering with her suit. I don't want her to leave, believe me. I love her to death but if you promise to not grab her in the first place, then we'll have never known her and we won't have any of the pain of losing her. It's for the best.

I can't explain everything else along the way but you only have three days to make your decision. Choose well. See you in nineteen years.

-Pidge

No one said anything. Lance looked up from the letter and Keith couldn't bring himself to meet Lance's eyes.

“How… how do we not take her in? We've already met her!” Lance said incredulously.

“No, because if we never save her then she will never have gone back in time with the letter.” Keith explained.

“But then we'll never know that we weren't supposed to save her meaning we'll save Kora anyways.”

Keith shook his head. “This is complicated.”

----

Kora stood in front of the Black Lion. “Hello beautiful.” She says the lion. “You don't know me yet, but in a few years we're gonna have so much fun. I can't wait to get home to you.”

Six months ago, Kora’s timeline

Shiro came out of the room. “I'm gonna be a dad.”

Keith laughed. “At least you got a warning.”

“I resent that, Dad.” Kora scoffed.

“But it was the best… non-warning we ever got.” Lance helped.

“Aw, thanks Papa. See, this is why he's my favorite.”

Hunk raised a finger. “I'm thought you said Keith was your favorite, like, three days ago.”

“Mm, nope, don't remember, didn't happen.” Kora crossed her arms and Keith rolled his eyes.

“So, how is Allura doing?” Pidge asked, adjusting her glasses.

“Well she's-” Shiro started but was interrupted by Coran opening up the door with a red face and Allura could be heard screaming: “SHIRO GET IN HERE NOW.”

“My boy, you are needed.” Coran huffed.

“That’s my cue.” and with that Shiro ran into the room and closed the door.

“Well, I guess that answered my question.” Pidge sighed.

“I feel bad for Allura,” Hunk sighed. “I've been doing some research and apparently it's common for Alteans to have three or more children in a single delivery.”

“Wow…” Pidge knotted her eyebrows together.

“Isn’t Allura an only child?” Lance inquired.

“It’s like how for up humans, it's rare of multiple kids to be of one pregnancy but not impossible. Think about it like that, only for one kid.”

Keith thought for a moment. “That… actually makes a lot of sense.”

Suddenly a large vibration went through the ship, knocking Pidge, Lance and Kora down.

“What the hell was that?” Kora demanded.

“Language!” Lance scolded.

Pidge tapped a few things on her watch and a hologram of a few external cameras feed jumped onto the wall.

There were dozens of Galra ships.

Hunk looked to the rest of them “We need to get to our lions.”

Everyone ran to their lion's hangars and Kora opened the door. “Shiro, we're under attack, get to the Black lion now. Coran we need you to control the castle.”

Coran nodded and squeezed Allura’s hand before taking off.

“I can't leave I have to stay here!”

Kora’s dad could be heard over the comms. “Don't worry about it, it’s just a few ships, we can take care of it. We probably won't need Voltron.” A loud bang could be heard and Keith's voice went a little staticy.

“Go help Coran.” Shiro waved her off and turned back to Allura who was still screaming in pain.

Instead of turning to go to the main room, Kora took off in the opposite direction towards Black's hangar.

She wasn't in any kind of gear and it would take too much time to change, so her regular clothes would have to do.

Kora climbed into the Lion's mouth and into the pilot's seat.

“I know I'm not Shiro or my dad, but my family needs help and I'm prepared to do what needs to be done.” Kora grabbed the handles and allowed herself to be cast into the Black Lion's spirit. Before she knew it, the Black lion was on all four legs. Kora smirked. “You ready girl? Let's do this.” and they flew into the battle field.

A few hours later

“Wow, did you see that Papa? It was awesome! I never knew that doing this could be so much fun. I mean, stressful all the same but it was amazing!”

Lance chuckled and hugged her. Keith walked up to Kora and Lance with his arms crossed.

“Kora, that was reckless, you could've gotten killed! Or worse!” Keith lectured, hysterical.

“But if I didn’t go out there then ‘the worst’ would have definitively happened.”

“Come on Keith, give her some credit, she saved our asses.” Lance reasoned.

“Come on? Lance, you know how dangerous it is out there! We could have lost our child!”

“Keith, take a breath,” Pidge told him. “we get what you're saying but it would have been really bad without her there. Plus, this may have opened up a new door for Voltron.”

“Shiro has been saying his bond with Black hasn't been that strong recently and now we know why. She was waiting for Kora.” Hunk smiled and patted Kora on the back.

Keith looked down and breathed in deeply. “We will talk about this later.”

“Let’s go check on Allura, shall we?” Kora suggested.

They all speed walked to Allura and Shiro’s room where shouts of agony could still be heard.

They all decided unanimously and silently to wait by the door. Hunk paced and Kora sat in the floor nervously playing with other loose thread on her jeans. Lance and Keith we talking quietly in the corner and Pidge was messing around with the cables in the wall making the lights change colors and dance.

An hour later, the yells had stooped and were replaced but sobbing.

Moments later, Shiro came out of the room, tears streaming down his face. “Allura gave birth to triplets.”

“That’s great!” Kora rejoiced. “So then… What's wrong?”

Shiro dropped to the floor and mumbled something incoherent.

Hunk glanced nervously at everyone. “What? What did he say?”

Shiro repeated himself and Keith bowed his head. “He says… Shiro said that only one survived, a girl.”

Kora was about to walk into the room but Shiro said: “No, she needs time.” Kora nodded and stood by Lance.

Shiro stood up and wiped his eyes. He grabbed something out of his pocket and presented it to Kora. “I believe this is yours now.”

“What?” Kora exclaimed. “No, I couldn't take this it was just a one time thing!”

“The Black Lion chose you and she's been inconsistent with me lately. Besides, I have a baby girl to raise now. I don't think it'd be right to fight and leave Allura alone.”

Kora took the Bayard and it sprung to life as a bow. A quiver appeared at her belt. “Wow…” she marveled.

Keith smiled and hugged her. “I’m proud of you, just… Be careful.”

“I will, dad.”

“Go put on the black armor, we wanna see how it fits,” Shiro urged her.

Kora grinned and jogged to the armory.

----

Kora was sitting on one of Black's paw when Shiro came in.

“Hey,” he said. Phoebea was in his arms, asleep. “I had no idea that babies would be so hard to put to sleep.”

“Where I’m from, Hunk is the one who can do it the fastest. He’s her favorite,”

“I'll make sure to ask him for help next time,” Shiro looked up at Black then back at Kora. “What's your connection to Black?”

Kora chuckled. “I grew up with the lions. Black’s my favorite.”

“You really are Keith's daughter; you're terrible at lying. There's something more. What is it?”

Kora looked away. “I can't tell you. I'm a time traveller now. I'm huge part of your history and I can't tell you much. To do so would have major consequences.”

Shiro came closer to Kora. “Aren’t your parents wondering where you are?”

“Oh it's no big deal. They barely know me yet.”

“Not this Keith and Lance, your dads. How did they feel about you coming back here?”

“Oh,” Kora realized. “They didn't know. Well, they suspected what was gonna happen and lectured Pidge and I. Pidge sent me back without telling anyone. We were supposed to be out there fighting but Pidge and I ran to the time shuttle.”

“I wonder how everyone else took the information.”

“Guess you'll know in approximately twenty years.”

“Really? That's how long I have to wait for Phoebea?”

Kora looked at Phoebea. “Yeah, about.” Shiro and Kora sit in silence for awhile until Kora stands up. She walks to the shuttle that she arrived in and pulled out a black duffel bag. She swung it over shoulder. “I’m gonna hit the training deck. Let me know if I'm needed.”

“Will do.”

Kora didn't hit the training deck directly. First she headed to her room. Surely, it wouldn't be occupied yet.

She placed the bag onto the bed and dumped out the contents: The black bayard, her laptop, an extra change of clothes and a few loose hair ties. Hopefully, she wouldn't need anything else.

Just three days and she can go home if it went the right way.

She grabbed the clothes, walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

She unbuttoned a her long black cloak that covered her entire body to reveal black and white armor. She shouldn't have worn it. Shiro would need it if he is to pilot Black in her absence.

Kora sighed and tied up her hair. Unstrapping the armor, she thought of things she could change to the suit. It had been three years since she had first redesigned the paladin armor. She hadn’t done anything major since then but it would be nice to improve the suits once she gets back.

Once she had changed into her normal clothes, she stepped out to see someone looking through her bag.

“Dad! What the hell? We talked about this! Privacy?”

Keith dropped the bag. “Sorry, I thought someone left this in my room for me.”

It hit Kora for at least the second time that day. This wasn’t them. This was supposed to be Pre-Kora.

“Oh, I forgot,” Kora slapped her head. “Wait, what do you mean ‘your room?’ I thought no one used it yet?”

“I guess I gave you my old room huh?”

“Ew, lame. I don't do hand me downs.”

Keith flushed red. “Sorry I can get out of your way.”

Kora shook her head. “Guess some things never change. That, my friend, was sarcasm.”

“Oh, whoops. And I thought I was your dad.”

Kora raised an eyebrow.

“Right, sarcasm. Gotta work on that.”

“Well if you do, maybe you'll get sarcasm by the time I roll around.”

“According to Lance, I'll never get that stuff.”

“If there's anything you've taught me, it's that you should succeed out of spite. But you've taught me lots of things.”

“That does sound like me.” Keith chortled.

Kora shuffled next to her dad and grabbed the bayard, trying to hide it from him. She made it to the door when Keith said: “By they way, I've already seen the Bayard. Why do you have it?”

Kora groaned in defeat. “Curse you and your hawk eyes.”

“It's not that, I literally just went through your bag.”

Kora turned around. “You'll find out eventually. Now, I have to go train, see ya later dad.”

•••

“End of Simulator level 16, intermediate. Progress to level 17?” Said an electronic voice. A blue screen appeared two buttons: Next Level or End Session.

Instead, Kora said: “Display Session Stats,”

Another blue screen popped up, this time showing graphs.

Kora had completed two levels of training in an hour and a half and had missed twenty-two targets out of one hundred and twenty. That time travel must have really taken something out of her.

She was about to instruct the simulator to repeat level 16 when someone spoke.

“Keith is in here a lot too but I guess you got the shooting skills from Lance.”

It was Pidge and she was leaning up against the doorway.

“Heh, my papa taught me everything.” Kora shrugged. “He says I'm better than him but how can you surpass your teacher?”

Pidge walked over to Kora and handed her a water bottle. “By taking what you know, make it your own and build.”

“My papa would not have missed one if those. I missed a good sixth of all the targets.” Kora sighed.

“The Lance I know would have missed just as much as you.”

“Yeah but he's at the beginning of all.”

“So are you. Give yourself a break, you deserve it.” She patted Kora on the back.

Kora pursed her lips.

“You travelled through fricking time!” Pidge got stars in her eyes. “That is amazing.”

Kora smiled and hugged Pidge. “You’re my favorite aunt.”

“Don’t let Allura hear you.”

“Oh she doesn’t care, and she knows.”

Pidge laughed.

Two years and four months ago, Kora’s timeline

Kora walked out of the room and into the main hall. She had just finished making her first outfit using the sewing machine Pidge made her.

Kora’s shirt was a black tank and had a sheer fabric flowing off of the bottom of it. Her pants were black leggings with purple leather-like sides.

“Those sewing lessons really paid off!” Hunk squealed.

Pidge looked Kora up and down. She fingered the sheer fabric hanging off of Kora’s back. “I guess making that sewing machine really was the best idea.”

“It looks great, Kora!” Allura praised.

Coran twirled his mustache. “Well, the Agimen are known for their ability to pick skills up well.”

Shiro put a finger on his chin. “Won’t that get in the way of fighting?”

“She won't be fighting!” Keith screeched while Lance argued, “It's aesthetic!” Keith glared at his husband.

“I can fight, Papa's been teaching me how to shoot.” Kora shrugged.

“You fucking what?” Keith turned on his heel to face Lance, arms crossed.

“I prefer the bow over the gun.”

“You think she's going to be fighting?” Keith waved his hands around.

“She needs to know how to defend herself!” Lance reasoned.

“I can protect her!” Keith pointed to himself.

Kora put her hands up between her parents. “Chill, I'm 13, dads.”

“That's way too young!”

“I was just with a Voltron when I was 14 almost 15.” Pidge noted.

“Yeah but you…” Keith tried to come up with an argument.

“I what?” Pidge raised an eyebrow. “None of us had experience and we had to learn, it's her turn now.”

“You guys aren't thinking like parents!” Keith pointed at Lance and Pidge.

Shiro and Allura looked to each other and Shiro held up a finger. “Well, you two won't be the only parents soon.”

Pidge and Lance gasped. Keith patted Shiro on the back. Kora ran to hug Allura. Hunk burst into tears. “I'm gonna be an uncle!” he cried.

Keith chuckled, “We still have Kora.”

“Yeah, but we get to relive the experience!” Hunk pointed out, happy tears still streaming down his face.

Lance looked to Keith and smirked. “That's right! And we don't get the brunt of it anymore! No more three AM crying sessions…”

“Kora actually slept pretty well as a baby.” said Pidge

“One, soundproof walls,” Keith reminded them. “and two, Lance was talking about himself.” Kora giggled at that.

Lance scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I was not.”

“Mmm, mhm.” Keith nodded sarcastically.

•••

“So you're the black paladin?” Pidge asked, in disbelief of what Kora had told her.

“Yeah, I couldn't believe at first either. I think Shiro is still disappointed that he can't pilot Black anymore. Don't tell anyone else, I don't wanna spoil too much.”

“Do what are we like in the future?” Pidge inquired.

“Well, you guys are… You?”

Pidge cocked her head. “What?”

“Well I mean you guys are just as I know you. I've never known anything else. I don't know you guys now so I can't make an accurate comparison.”

Coran walked into to lounge. “What are you two ladies talking about?”

“Girl stuff,” Kora shrugged.

“You’re talking about the future aren't you?”

Kora and Pidge turned to each other. “Nope, that's definitely not what we're doing,”

“Doing that can ruin your timeline,” Coran warned.

“I think just be being here everything has changed,” Kora sighed.

“Be careful about sharing too much. You can develop Skrablost.” Coran informed.

“What the hell is that?” Pidge crossed her arms.

“It’s mainly Altean theory. If you time travel and change too much your body will reject it and you'll find yourself stuck between timelines and realities.”

“Coran, what exactly happens?” Kora gulped.

“Well, it happened before my father’s time. A scientist unlocked the secret to time travel and discovered her death. She tried to prevent it by making subtle changes to her past but she ended up in an asylum. She never came back to her own reality, instead for the rest of her life she kept seeing every possible way she could have lived and died,” Coran twirled his mustache.

“Brutal,” Pidge winced.

“It could have just been herself trying to compensate for what she did and try to ‘fix’ it. We don't know for sure, hence it mainly being theory,”

----

Lance was in his room staring at the ceiling when someone knocked on the door. Lance groaned and reluctantly got up to answer it.

Lance was not surprised when it was Keith, holding the letter.

Keith jumped right to talking and his room without a word from Lance.

“I’ve looked at this things dozens of times, what the hell would Kora do to hurt us?”

“Keith, give a man a warning,” Lance huffed.

“I mean, if she's our daughter and is willing to go back in time to save us, she can't be evil right?”

“Keith stop over thinking this. It must be overwhelming for your brain as it hardly ever does any thinking at all.”

“I’m being serious, Lance.”

Lance let out a breath and sat down on his bed. Keith followed. “Well, we rescued her on a planet right? Maybe that made us late and something happened to some plan or us.”

“I don't think so, she would have slipped up by now. Wait, Kora had the black bayard, she might pilot Black now. Maybe that changed the group dynamic too much?”

“No, that wouldn’t work ‘cause we changed half the team a couple months ago and we were fine. What if she messed up on a mission a while ago and it fucked us over to hard?”

“Should we just ask her?” Keith suggested, tired of random guesses.

“She’d never tell us.”

“It’s a start.”

“But do we really want to know how this goes down? Have you watched a time travel movie before? Finding out your future is the worst thing you can do.”

Keith was silent for a moment. Lance spoke up. “So, since she's our kid, that means we get together sometime in the future. Instead of the future, wanna make it the present?”

“Wow, you are a cheesy sap.” Keith scoffed.

“Hey! Rude! But did it work?”

Keith blushed and looked away. “In that case, my cheesy sappy stuff does the trick.”

----

A few more days passed and nothing really happened. No attacks, no missions, no excitement. Everyone pestered Kora about the future and she did her best not to say anything but occasionally she'd slip up.

Kora tried to train but to no avail, they were behind on a lot of the stuff she was used to and had worked into her daily routine. Lance had a beauty routine and Kora had a training one. Lance made fun of her a couple days in but Keith raised an eyebrow and Kora crossed her arms and turned her head away so Lance laid off.

Four days after Kora’s arrival, the Castle of Lions received a message.

“Paladins, this is Lotor. I want to make a pact and help your cause. I fear my father has gone too far and I cannot even pretend to follow him anymore. Let me and my generals aboard, we need to talk.”

"We can't possibly let that prick in!” Pidge stomped.

“Allura, we received a warning from future us, we have to take that warning seriously.” Shiro advised.

“If I may,” Kora interjected. “if you agree to this, it might prolong the war and invalidate much of the work you've already done. You can't let him get anywhere near you guys.”

“Kora, we get it but we could just see what he wants, ” Lance shrugged.

“No, there are three sides to this war. The rebels and Voltron, Zarkon and then Lotor. He isn't working for his father but rather his own intentions and needs. That makes him that much more dangerous.”

“What happens if we go along with his plan?” Keith asked.

“I can't tell you that, it's something you have to face by yourselves if you make the wrong choice.”

“Kora,” Hunk said timidly. “when we choose, what do you do?”

Kora stood up and straightened her back. “I know my fate, it's time you chose yours.” without another word, she left the room.

“I say we let them in and know what they want but deny them anyways.” Keith stated.

“Are you sure that's the best option?” Coran prompted.

“If we let them in we can possibly get a chance to observe their weaknesses by letting them do the talking.” Allura suggested.

Pidge looked away, shaking her head. Shiro sighed and Lance looked to Keith and he nodded.

“Princess, let's do this.” he confirmed.

Allura spoke into the mic. “Lotor and company, please proceed to the hangar that will be opening up.” she pressed a couple buttons and a few moments later, Lotor was parking.

----

Kora pulled up the dining hall’s feed on her laptop and scoffed in disbelief when she saw five new faces sitting across from her family. Knowing full well what was about to happen, she wanted to wring Lotor’s neck and hang on a clothes line to be forgotten in the sun.

“What the hell are they doing? Are they idiots?” She hissed.

“We want to join Voltron in the effort to beat back the emperor.” Axca said.

“We think Voltron is doing a great job and the only way to do what we need is to team up with you.” Ezor noted

“And what exactly is it that you want?” Allura raised an eyebrow.

“To destroy my father and tyrannical reign he brought.” Lotor nodded, as if it were obvious.

“There’s something else you're not telling us.” Hunk eyed him.

“You dare question-” Zethrid started.

“Simmer down Zethrid,” Lotor patted her on the back. “I want to put an end to my father's legacy but not the empire. I want to rule it in a peaceful way, the way it was prior to myself and Voltron.”

Kora rolled her eyes. Kora noticed that the general, Narti was missing something.

Her cat.

She flipped through a few cameras, until she saw it. It was slinking through the halls. Kora followed it through the camera feed. It stopped in the control room and hopped onto Coran’s dashboard.

Innocent enough, so far at least.

“What are you doing little guy?” she whispered to herself.

The cat crawled under the control panel and was gone. A few seconds later the castle emergency lights in her room went off and and camera feed was just static.

“No,” she breathed out.

Kora quickly pulled on her shoes and jumped out of bed.

She pressed her hand to the panel but the door didn't open automatically like she was used to. A real sense of panic set in as she tried to pry the doors open with her bare hands.

“No,” Kora said again.

She ripped out the scanner and fiddled with the wires.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Kora yelled.

She pounded on the door even with the knowledge that no one would hear her.

----

“Lotor, how would you help us if you were to join?” Coran asked.

“I know the ins and outs of the empire and I have a few spies on the inside to keep us updated.” he replied coolly.

“Why should we trust you?” Keith demanded.

Lotor sighed and leaned forward in his chair. “I am running from my father. He knows I am disloyal to him and plans to squash me to prevent me taking his place.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. He heard a couple faint noises far away and perked up. He looked to Pidge who seemed unbothered, despite her glare towards Lotor and his generals. He looked to Shiro who was listening to Allura speaking. He looked to Keith who wasn't paying attention at all and seemed to be distracted in his thoughts. Keith looked up and met Lance’s eyes, concern rooted deep within them.

He mouthed to Lance: “What was that?” Lance shrugged.

“Hey,” Lance interrupted. “I gotta go take care if something, I'll be back.”

“Lance, is this really the time?” Allura asked as he stood up.

“It’s an emergency, I'll be back soon.” He assured them all before taking off.

“The human bladder doesn't have much tolerance.” Coran shook his head.

Lance sped off down the castle halls trying to remember where Kora had taken up residency. It took him awhile but he remembered that it was Keith's room.

He pounded on the door. “Kora? You in there?”

“Yeah! The damn cat did something and it wiped out the camera feed and locked me in here,” she said, panic clear in her voice.

“Okay, stand back I'm gonna do something,”

“Oh this is not gonna be good.”

A few seconds later, the outside panel had been shot and Lance and Kora were prying apart the door. Kora tumbled onto her father.

“Now that that ordeal is done, let's go figure out what the hell happened before Lotor and friends figures out that we're onto them.”

Once the pair made it to the control room, the cat was gone. The checked under the seats to find wires had been cut and the castles cameras were all down.

“I am no longer a cat person,” Kora mumbled.

“ A cat person?” Lance cried in disbelief. “Are you sure you're my daughter?”

“Says the one who piloted a giant metal cat off his home world without hesitation.” Kora chuckled.

“Touché,”

Kora was about to say something when she felt something buzzing at the back of her mind.

“We have to get to the black lion.” She said suddenly.

“What, why?”

“She’s in trouble,” Kora replied and started running.

“How do you know?” Lance called while following her.

“Not important,”

----

“The blue paladin has been a while.” Axca pointed out.

“Oh, it's no worry,” Allura brushed off.

“I think it is.” Zethrid huffed.

Coran brought his hands up and down. “Calm down ladies, there's no need to be alarmed.”

They all heard Lance say something. “Kora, stop! You'll ruin it!”

Kora came marching out of the doorway and headed straight for Lotor. She stood right in front if him and grabbed his chin. A couple of his general’s lunged forward but he put up hands to tell them to stop.

“How dare you?” Kora asked with force behind her words. “How dare you come here and ruin this? I know who you are, I know what you do. You ruin things and I will make you pay for destroying my family.”

“I destroy a lot of families, they get in my way. I'm sure yours was no different.”

“Oh they were different. This time I’m going to stop you from doing it.”

Kora let Lotor go and swung her fist around. “Bring the lions back. Now.”

“Kora, what the hell do you mean bring the lions back?” Shiro asked.

“We sent the kitties away.” Ezor smirked.

“What?” Hunk screeched.

----

Lotor escaped with his generals and it took the team two days to recover the lions. In that time, four planets who had joined the Voltron force, fell back into the hands of the galra. One to Zarkon, three to Lotor.

“We didn't make a deal with him, how did he manage to still screw us over, Keith?” Lance whined.

Lance and Keith were sitting on Lance’s floor. Well, Lance was flopped face down on the floor and Keith was sitting, is more accurate.

“We let him in. That's how.”

“But how to did the possibility of us making a deal even happen if he was planning on fucking shit up before anything?”

“Kora is making subtle changes but those changes are influencing what we do which impacts the world around us, Lotor included. She's been here six days already. Who knows what else is gonna happen?”

Lance sat up. “This is confusing.”

“I mean, the future usually is if our present is already looking like crap.” Pidge scoffed.

----

“Wanna know the most confusing part? How the hell did I manage to get you to say yes to going out with me, much less say yes to my proposal?” Lance rantex

“I’m pretty sure I’m the one who proposed to you.”

“You never answered me the other day,” Lance prompted.

“To you asking me out?” Keith tangled his eyebrows.

“Yeah,” Lance confirmed.

“Well,” Keith trailed.

“Oh come on give me an actual answer!” Lance grunted

Keith smirked and jumped forward, lips landing on Lance’s.

The door opened. “Hey papa, I-” it was Kora and she was bright red. “I’m sorry, I'll go.” she turned around and left.

“Well at least that didn't happen during something else.” Lance shrugged and Keith punched his shoulder.

----

“So what is your species like?” Pidge asked. Kora and Pidge were sitting in the kitchen eating cookies Hunk made.

“Yeah, ‘cause you're not human but you're not galra or altean.” Hunk added.

“Well, in a way I am human because of my species.” Kora said.

“Explain.” Pidge inquired.

“Well, I’m Agimen which is an orphan race. They take on physical traits of the people who made a lasting effect on them as a child who is usually whoever took them them in and raised them.”

“What happens if no one takes you in?” Hunk asked.

“We die. The biological father leaves us somewhere and the infant has two days before it withers away.”

“Oh.” Pidge squeaks.

“But enough of the emotional stuff! So I look mainly human but I do have a few Altean traits.” Kora pulled back her wavy brown hair to reveal pointy ears. Altean ears. “Cool right? When I was little I had the under eye markings but they went away when I was about 12.”

“Wow that's fascinating.” Pidge marvelled.

“That sounds awesome.” Hunk added.

Kora smiled and grabbed another cookie. She was about to take a bite but then Keith ran in.

“Lotor is drawing us out to Nayases and threatening to destroy it if we don't come to him.”

“Nayases? That's the Agimen hone world!” Kora exclaimed.

“Come on we gotta go!”

Hunk took off his apron and Pidge and Kora jumped down from the stools.

Kora ran to her room and threw in her armor and grabbed her bayard. She sped down the hall to the control room. Only Lance, Shiro, Allura and Coran were there, ready for battle. Allura was opening up a wormhole, Coran was typing something, Shiro was in his seat and Lance was staring at her.

“So, you are the black paladin.” He breathed out.

Shiro and Allura turned to look at her. “I knew it.” Allura whispered loud enough for her to hear.

Kora heard a few giggles and turned around. Phoebea was in a cradle in the corner.

Pidge came next with Hunk not too far behind. Keith was last. “Late as always dad.” Kora scoffed.

“My Bayard was missing. Found it though.” he excused

“Lets see what Lotor is up to.” Coran said and they went through the wormhole.

----

The first thing they laid eyes on was fire. Lotor’s ships were shooting other ships as well as the planet below.

“We have to get down there!” Kora panicked.

“And we will. Paladins, get to your lions!” Allura called to the others.

Kora was about to run to her lion when she remembered. She's not her’s yet. All she could do was wait and do nothing as she watched her birth planet get slaughtered.

“Wait,” Kora said, realizing. “I could go down there and deal with the communication bases! That way they’re basically blind up there and they won't be able to call for backup!”

“Kora, that's an excellent idea!”

“Give me access to a shuttle and I'll be down there in a second.”

“Hitch a ride with me.” Keith suggested into the comms.

“Perfect.”

----

“I’m going to drop you down in a few seconds. Be ready.”

“Ready for anything.” Kora confirmed

The hatch opened and Kora dropped down.

She landed on top of a building and kicked open a service door, dropping into the hall.

There weren't any sentries nor Galra soldiers around which seemed odd.

Kora opened up a layout of the Galra ships that Pidge sent her.

“So if I'm here,” Kora whispered to herself while pointing to the map. “and the communications section is here, that means I have only two option routes. Well, gotta make due.” She took a quick look of the map again and ran down the left hall.

After four minutes and six wrong turns, Kora had made it the main communications room.

In those four minutes and six wrong turns, she hadn’t run into any Galra which was very suspicious. She kept her bow notched the entire time regardless.

Busting the scanner, she walked inside to find a single person inside.

“Hello Kora. It took me a while to figure out who you were, but once I did, you couldn't believe my surprise.”

The figure turned around.

Lotor.

----

The battle was over and the Galra had retreated. It almost seemed a little too easy.

“This doesn’t seem right.” Shiro stated.

“Who cares? We won!” Pidge shouted excitedly.

“No, victory or death is the way of the Galra.” Allura pointed out gravely.

“I say we grab Kora, grab some grub and just chill for a while.” Lance laughed.

“Where is Kora?” Hunk asked.

“She hasn't checked in for a while.” Keith recalled.

“My scans of the Galra station say that the communication lines are still functioning.” Coran informed.

“Oh no.” Lance realized.

“If Kora didn't get the job done, what happened to her?” Keith asked.

----

Running through the galra station, Lance was in full panic mode. Keith seemed fairly calm.

“Keith, how can you act so... So… Indifferent?!” Lance screeched

“I'm not!” Keith argued and stopped running.

Lance stopped running too. “Then act like it!”

“I don't know how! I feel like I can't breathe, Lance! But I know if I don't stay calm then it'll all fall apart!”

“Keith,” Lance started

“God, we should've just kept her on the ship. Who knows what happened now?”

“There's only one way to find out.” Lance said. Keith took a deep breath and they took off down the hall again.

Once they got to the room, the scanner was broken and the door was just open. Lance walked in and almost fell to his knees.

Kora was sat up against the control panel clutching her side. Her head was thrown back, eyes closed.

“Kora?” Keith gasped.

“Hey dad,” she coughed. “hey papa.”

Lance dropped to her side and carefully removed her hand. It looked like someone had just blow off most of her waist.

“Oh my god, we gotta get you to a healing pod.” Keith gulped.

“No, this is what’s supposed to happen.” Kota assured.

“No it’s not!” Lance sobbed.

“I figured it out a while ago. Once I started piloting Black, she showed me things that i wasn’t supposed to see to try and get me to stay. I didn’t listen and I went.” in between ragged breaths, she coughed.

“But, your dads will never see you again!” Keith clutched her face.

“Well, Phoebea's gotta get home and she sure as hell can't get home by herself.”

“Kora no, you'll make the trip back.” Keith picked her up and turned to Lance. “We need to get to red. she’s the fastest.”

Lance nodded and they sprinted

They got outside and were surrounded by flowers.

“Wait, I've never seen Nayases. Can we just stay here?”

Lance looked at Keith. He held up vital chart from his suit. It said she had forty-three seconds left.

“Sure thing peanut.” Keith whimpered.

“You haven't called me that for years.” Kora sighed, her breath almost gone.

Thirty-nine seconds

“Hey papa,”

“Yeah?” Lance replied. He removed her helmet and started wiping away her tears.

"Tell me a story, like the ones you used to tell me as a kid.”

Thirty-five seconds

“Oh well, once there was a girl who was the bravest in the galaxy. One day she went on an adventure to save the world and her family.”

“Did she do it? Did she succeed?”

Thirty-one seconds

“Uh, yeah, yes she did. She was so smart that she outwitted the evilest of people and saved her family. Her family was so proud of her especially her dad and papa. They were so happy for her that they gave her all the flowers in the world so she was happy too.”

Twenty-five seconds

“And was she happy?”

“Of course she was.” Keith inserted. “All her dads wanted for was to be happy and they hoped that she was.”

Twenty-two seconds.

“Was her family happy?” She asked

“I-” Lance paused. “Yes, they couldn't be happier with their daughter.”

“What happened next?”

“Her parents threw a party for a her so she'd be at peace but warned her to never try anything risky again. They were proud but very scared.” Keith said.

Fourteen seconds

“What kind of flowers did they give her?”

“What, peanut?” Keith questioned.

“Which kind of flowers did she get?” Kora repeated.

“Oh all kinds! Lilies, roses, daisies, snapdragons, sunflowers and all kinds.” Lance answered

Eight seconds

“Did they get her Myanakhans? Those are her favorite.”

“Yes, of course. Her parents could never forget her favorite flower.”

Four seconds

“Were-” Kora coughed. “were the flowers pretty?”

“Of course. Only the prettiest for their beautiful daughter.”

One second

“Good. I like pretty flowers.”

Zero.

“Kora?” Keith asked meekly. “Kora?” he asked a little stronger.

Keith pulled her closer and put his forehead to hers. Tears were streaming down his face and Lance’s wails could be heard around Nayases.

----

Keith climbed into the time shuttle, cradling Pheobea. Lance carefully laid down Kora in the back with her stuff.

“Okay, so if the stuff future me left with Kora is correct, then this should be enough to get you back.” Pidge informed.

Keith nodded solemnly, not really paying attention.

No one looked him in the eye when Lance leant down and kissed Keith on his tear-stained cheek.

“Stay safe.” was all Lance said. Lance’s eyes were red from crying.

“I will.”

“Okay Keith,” Pidge launched into an explanation. “close your eyes and only open them after three beeps. I dunno what happens if you do but just keep your eyes shut.”

Keith nodded again and Hunk closed the shuttle.

After that, Keith felt a few jolts and three beeps but he didn't open his eyes until he felt the shuttle door open.

“Keith?”

Keith opened his eyes to be greeted with Lance’s eyes.

“What are you doing here?”

“Wait, I was supposed to go to the future did it not work?” Keith asked looking around.

“Oh, I see. You're Keith from the past. Wait a minute, where's Kora?”

Keith handed over Pheobe and climbed out of the shuttle. He was in the black Lion's hangar and everyone was trickling in.

He spotted himself. “What’s he doing here?” Older Keith demanded. “And where is my baby girl?”

Lance walked over to him. “Keith, baby it's fine. I think.” Lance handed phoebe to Allura and Allura and Shiro smiled.

Keith couldn't look anyone in the eye out of shame. Hr waved older Keith and Lance over and walked to the back of the shuttle.

Before opening the back Keith apologized. “I’m really sorry.”

The back popped open and Lance’s breath caught.

“No- no that can't be her.”

Older Keith grabbed Keith by the collar. “You were supposed to protect her!” He slammed him against the shuttle. Keith didn't fight back. “How could you let this happen! You irresponsible prick! You let this happen!”

“Keith stop!” Lance yelled and pulled him back.

“No! Because of him, our daughter is dead!”

“Keith Kogane! Whoever killed her, it’s their fault! Not his! Not yours!”

Older Keith took a deep breath in and stepped away. “Who did it?”

“We- we think it might have been Lotor. We don't know for sure.” Keith gulped.

“That fucker.”

----

A few years later

“Keith, come on! We gotta go!” Lance yelled. The planet was crumbling under their feet.

“Wait, Lance I… I can hear something.” Keith was looking up into the canopy.

“Keith, baby, come on! I swear, if you don't come here I will leave your ass and you'll have to find the way to Red by yourself.”

“Okay, just come here for a second.”

Lance threw his hands up and stomped away.

Keith could hear a baby crying. There was no way he could just leave an innocent, helpless child on a dying planet. So he climbed. He climbed to the top of a tree to find a tiny baby cradled in a leaf.

“How the fuck does that work?” he whispered to himself. Keith grabbed the baby and memories came flooding back. Memories he'd been able to block out for a while now. Memories of a daughter come to save him. Kora.

Keith shook his head and scaled down the tree.

Keith felt a huge rumble and saw a mountain collapse a few mountains away.

He'd never make it in time. Keith whistled to Red and a moment later she was in front of him, mouth wide open.

Keith jumped into Red and off they flew.

----

“Keith what the hell were you thinking!” Lance yelled.

“It’s Kora!” Keith yelled back.

“That's exactly the problem! You know what happens next! We experienced it, Pidge warned us years ago!”

“It’s her and that’s what matters. Maybe we can change it this time! I lost her already I won't lose her again!”

“Don’t you see what you did?” Lance sighed. “By saving her- by finding her, we are already destined to lose her.”

Lance sat down the bed head in hands and Keith left the room, Kora still tucked away in his arms.

“Don’t worry, peanut. I will always protect you. Nothing will ever happen to you, I swear.”

----

Lance left his room to go find Coran and Pidge.

“Pidge, Coran, I need a favor.”

“Yes my boy?” Coran inquired.

“Remember when Kora travelled back? I need you to erase those memories from everyone here.”

“Why?” Pidge asked, her full attention on Lance.

“It’s the only way to save her.”