Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"When was the last time you saw Takashi Shirogane?"

The question seemed to come from miles away. Keith lifted his gaze from the carpet, but he couldn’t make eye contact with the two police officers seated across from him. Instead, he could only stare fixedly at the glinting badge of the officer who had spoken.

When he finally managed to answer, it came out a mumbled, stuttering mess. Two weeks ago. No. Maybe three. He couldn’t remember the exact date, but the memory of the day swelled in his mind, golden and hazy.

---

It had been a few days before classes started, right before Keith began his senior year at the Garrison. He and Shiro had gotten lunch together at the local diner. Keith had plucked the tomatoes off his hamburger and Shiro had teased him about being such a picky eater. It hadn’t offended him. If anyone was allowed to poke fun at him and not get punched, it was Shiro.

Afterward, they’d taken Shiro’s plane to the mountains and landed on a rocky plateau. Looking over the green peaks and the valleys swirling with mist, Keith had felt something unfamiliar stir in his chest––a sense that now, just maybe, things were finally going to be all right.

Shiro had clapped a hand on his shoulder, with such force that Keith had nearly stumbled. “I’m so proud of you, buddy.” He’d reminisced about how they’d met a year ago, and Keith remembered that day well.

He recalled sitting in the stuffy auditorium at the Garrison with several hundred other anxious teenagers, shifting in his seat and shuffling the information packets on his lap. He had just turned seventeen and was fresh out of the foster system, had scraped together enough money for his own dingy little apartment, and was in search of a new high school––since things hadn’t worked out so well with his last one, not to mention he lived in a new town now. He’d gone to a recruitment day at the Garrison kind of on a whim. It was probably a longshot to even apply, but he had decided he might as well take the chance.

As the droning lectures dragged on, though, he'd started to wonder why he was even here. But when Shiro––a graduate of the Garrison and a mentor at the school––had taken the stage, the atmosphere notably changed.

Out of nowhere came this pilot with one arm and a story that visibly enraptured his audience. A story of losing everything to a freak accident––his parents, his arm––and still never giving up his dreams of becoming a pilot and, he hoped one day, an astronaut. A story of having to fight for everything.

By the end of the speech, Keith wasn't the only one nearly falling out of his seat in fascination. As he'd joined the standing ovation––which Shiro only acknowledged with a humble nod––he'd known, suddenly, that he had made the right decision to come here after all. He would have to talk to this guy.

Although he wasn't typically one to initiate conversations, or to be social in general, Keith had practically sprinted to the stage after the event to say something to Shiro. He had to wait in a short line of other kids who wanted to ask questions, and hovered on the stairs as he watched Shiro's interaction with each curious student––his infectious smile, the warm and reassuring tone of his voice.

Even before they had a chance to speak, Keith felt an instant kinship with him. This was the adult he'd been seeking in his life, where so many others had failed him. This was someone who had lost everything and yet was still here, smiling and laughing.

He was everything Keith wanted to be. A fighter, a survivor. Someone who had faced the worst of times and won.

What their first conversation had been, Keith couldn’t remember, although he was sure he had stared at his feet and muttered through most of it. Somehow, though, he’d managed to thank Shiro and briefly explain his own situation––how he’d also lost his birth parents (although in Keith’s case, he couldn’t even remember them), and how he was also an aspiring pilot despite the odds.

One year later, standing on the mountaintop, Shiro said he’d also felt that immediate camaraderie with Keith. He’d seen something in him from that first encounter, “a certain fire” he’d called it. And he was amazed by how much Keith had matured since then. “You were just a lost kid,” he’d said. “And now, you’re a young man who knows where he’s going.”

---

"And how do you know Takashi? What is your relation to him?"

The officer's questions yanked Keith back into the present, into his cramped apartment where he sat fidgeting on the couch. His fingers plucked at the rough fabric beneath him, seeking out imperfections, loose threads, tears in the material.

He pondered how to answer, because no response seemed accurate enough. To say that Shiro was his best friend wasn't sufficient. He was more than that. A brother, a hero, a mentor. No word could capture exactly what Shiro meant to him or who he was.

Takashi Shirogane was a local hero, a well-known face and a familiar smile. Wherever he walked, he seemed to leave stars in his wake. Keith was only a small part of the galaxy that encompassed him, and he had always found himself struggling to understand exactly where he fit in.

They were close friends, yes, but there was always something about Shiro that seemed impossible to reach. Beneath that disarming smile and the voice that could effortlessly paint the sky with words, a darkness lingered.

By now Keith had seen it on multiple occasions––the dullness that would suddenly seep into his eyes, the trembling in his hand. He'd always reassured Keith that he was used to the flashbacks and the panic attacks, how they were horrific but manageable, but Keith had always felt so helpless in those situations. He hated to see Shiro like that, and he hated that his best friend could get ensnared in such a dark world, and Keith couldn't follow him into it and pull him out.

Shiro seemed immortal, and at the same time he seemed to have the mark of death upon him. He wore his own mortality like a second skin, something close and familiar that he could never escape. Despite the panic attacks, he often spoke of his own near-death experience with alarming ease––perhaps merely because he had shared the story so many times.

It seemed like an omen. And every once in awhile, an inexplicable dread would spring up and grasp Keith around the throat. For the past year, Shiro had been the anchor tethering him to reality. He had helped Keith claw his way out of a dark place and into the light. Without his help and encouragement, Keith didn’t know where he would be.

Yet, he had always feared that someday he would lose Shiro without any warning. Which is exactly what had happened.

---

“When did you realize he was missing?”

Now that was the question Keith had been dreading, the one he still didn’t know how to answer––because the truth was impossible.

He’d had a dream on the night Shiro and Matt disappeared. Not just a dream. A nightmare, a vision. He kept desperately trying to remember the details, but his memory of the dream only came in pieces, fleeting and jagged at the edges.

Keith had always had vivid dreams about unseen worlds. Ghosts and monsters and demons often wormed their way into his sleeping mind. Even when he was awake, he sometimes thought he saw inhuman shapes at the corners of his vision, and he would have to pinch the inside of his wrist to reassure himself that he wasn’t dreaming.

Something about this particular dream, though, had felt startlingly different. The images surfaced as if through a distorted lens, shifting in and out of focus in a dizzying display. Sometimes he thought he was physically there, other times he thought he was seeing through someone else’s eyes––Shiro’s, maybe––and other times he was a disembodied spectator.

He’d seen flashes of dark passageways, paved with crumbling stone. He’d seen Shiro being dragged down a corridor, blood streaming from a gash across his face. A pair of clawed, purple hands emerged from the sleeves of a black cloak. Shiro’s voice had called out, strained and desperate. “Matt? Matt!” And for a moment Keith had seen Matt, limp in the arms of a creature with glowing eyes, his face deathly pale and glasses cracked and askew.

Everything had gone dark then, and Keith found himself suspended in blackness, blind but still dreaming. He’d had the uncanny feeling that he was in an empty, cavernous space … and that he wasn’t alone.

His voice was trapped in his chest, aching to call out. “Shiro, are you there? Shiro!”

No one answered, and Keith wasn’t even sure if he had managed to speak.

Then, from the shadowy depths around him, he’d heard a deep, rumbling growl. It seemed to come from all directions at once. Even in his spectral form, Keith could’ve sworn he felt the sound vibrate through his entire body. He’d tried to back away, but he couldn’t move or even feel his limbs.

In front of him, the blackness had given way to a hint of light. And what he saw was something he still couldn't comprehend. He'd seen a creature that clearly wasn't of this world––what appeared to be a lion, but it was translucent and black as night.

Its eyes had fixed on Keith, who found himself trapped in its mesmerizing gaze. Its irises were unusually dark, and Keith could have sworn he saw miniature galaxies swirling in them, glittering with stars. He could have been staring into the lion's eyes for moments or hours; all sense of time seemed to slip away. Keith eased into a trance, an eerie calmness spreading over him.

But within an instant, it shattered. The lion's expression shifted, eyes narrowing and teeth flashing in a threatening snarl. With no warning, the creature leapt forward, straight at Keith, its claws outstretched and deadly––

And Keith had shot upright, awake and gasping for air. Even as he stared wide-eyed into the dimness of his bedroom, he could still see the hovering afterimage of the lion. He rubbed at his throat, half-expecting to find bleeding claw marks there, but there was nothing.

Minutes had passed before he could breathe normally again, but his racing heart still wouldn't slow down.

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Shiro.

What with his encounter with the lion, he had nearly forgotten. But now the images of Shiro and Matt––injured, captured by some kind of monsters––came rushing back at him. Already, the memory of the dream was starting to escape the clutches of his mind, and he tried to cling to whatever small details he could remember.

The dim, stone corridors. The clawed hands. Blood. Matt. Dead? Shiro ... Shiro.

It probably meant nothing––just a dream, just a dream––but he felt as if the breath was being choked out of him. He couldn't shake away the feeling that somehow, what he'd seen had been real.

Which was impossible.

---

He couldn't exactly tell the police the truth. A dream, no matter how vivid, couldn't be considered any form of evidence. If anything, telling them what had really happened might only raise their suspicions. Keith was being cryptic enough as it was.

Still fumbling over his words, he managed a half-truth that sounded believable: He hadn't seen Shiro in days. He'd tried calling him and hadn't gotten an answer. Shiro's car had been parked near the Garrison, but his plane had gone missing.

There was more to the story, though, than he dared to say aloud.

---

After he'd woken from the dream, he'd gotten up and paced his room, trying to decide what to do, if he could do anything at all. He kept picking up his cell phone, holding it for a moment, and then tossing it back onto his bed.

But at last, he'd taken a deep breath and opened up his contacts list, pressed a trembling thumb to Shiro's number. He stood next to the window, one hand holding the phone to his ear and the other clutching at the windowsill until his knuckles ached. Through the static, the feeble sound of ringing came through, one droning tone after another.

Shiro's voice finally answered, but Keith's momentary relief evaporated when he realized it was just the voicemail message. "Hi, this is Shiro. Sorry I missed you, but I'll get back to you as soon as I can ..." Keith drummed his finger on the windowsill as he waited for the beep, and then he took a deep breath.

"Hey, um. Shiro, hi. This is Keith. I'm sorry, this is stupid. I'm just ... worried about something, and ... this is stupid. Don't worry or anything, I'm fine. I'll, uh. I'll probably see you tomorrow. Okay. Bye."

When he hung up, his heartbeat was thundering in his ears. So, Shiro hadn't picked up his phone at––he glanced at the time––3:16 AM. That didn't mean anything. He was asleep. Keith would see him, or at least talk to him, in a day or two. There was no reason to lose his mind over this dream, as disturbing and vivid as it had been.

Rain had started to fall lightly, trailing down the glass. Keith watched, leaning with crossed arms against the window frame. His mind still raced at a thousand miles an hour, searching for reassurance in a storm of anxiety. He was used to bringing himself down from panics like these ones––that was one of the long-term effects of living a life of constant uncertainty. But this felt different, somehow.

He tried to lie back in bed again, still fiddling with his phone with one hand, half-hoping that Shiro would call him back. But after lying there restlessly for a while, he shot out of bed again and walked into the bathroom to put his contacts in. His face came into focus in the mirror, and Keith could see the haunted look in his own eyes. It was almost frightening.

Maybe he was about to do something reckless and stupid, but he didn't think he would be able to rest until he did it.

Within less than a minute, Keith was shrugging on his jacket and walking out his apartment door. The hallway passed him in a blur. His footsteps on the stairs were distant echoes.

Hardly anyone had been on the streets at that hour. The only sound had been the furious growl of Keith's motorcycle as he blazed through the night. The noise reminded him of the lion he'd seen in his dream, how its snarl had surrounded him, how its gaze had lured him in, how it had lunged for him. … The memory nearly caused Keith to veer off the road, and he had to remind himself to focus.

Rain had whipped the visor of his helmet as he leaned forward, speeding up. He was probably going over the speed limit at that point, but he no longer cared. All he could think about was getting to his destination.

The apartment complex where Shiro and Matt lived was on a hill, lined with winding paths and rows of condominiums. Besides the stark glow of an occasional street lamp, all the lights were out.

Keith pulled to the side of the road close to Shiro and Matt’s condo, switched off the gas and hopped off the motorcycle. He was halfway to the door before he even thought to take his helmet off, and he carelessly tossed it on the grass, focused only on the door ahead of him.

His legs shook as he ascended the concrete steps, and then he came to a swaying halt. A momentary sense of humiliation overtook him. Why had he come all this way at nearly 4 in the morning? He was an idiot. Shiro and Matt were fine.

He rang the doorbell anyway.

Nothing.

Ragged breaths scraped in and out of his chest, filling his lungs with fire. Again, he remembered the images from the nightmare.

Shiro with blood on his face. Matt in the clutches of some unseen monster.

A new determination fueled him, and he rang the doorbell again. When that evoked no response, he knocked––a quiet tap at first, and then rapidly and with more force, until he was sure his knuckles would bruise. At this point, he didn’t even care if he was disturbing the neighbors.

The rain was coming down in sheets now, soaking Keith’s jacket and plastering his hair to the back of his neck. Defeated, he leaned his arm against the wood, and then his forehead, closing his eyes. Cold water trickled down his face and dripped off the tip of his nose. His breathing had grown even more irregular, hitching in his chest as he tried not to cry.

Shiro, just answer. Please answer.

Shivering, he lifted his head and glanced at the driveway. Shiro’s car wasn’t there. The realization only worsened his panic.

With no more options, he tried the doorknob. Locked. Of course. He was already starting to scheme a way to pick the lock––he knew how, if given the proper materials––when he remembered that Shiro sometimes kept a spare key under a small rock next to the stairs.

Keith stumbled back down the steps, wiping his dripping hair out of his eyes as he searched the ground. A few stones were scattered in the mud, and he knelt down to lift one after the other, his fingers digging frantically in the dirt. After turning over three or four rocks, he finally saw the telltale glint of metal, and he nearly sobbed. Thank God.

His hands shook as he wiped the grit off the key and then inserted it into the lock. With a violent twist, he turned the doorknob and shouldered the door open. A gust of wind entered with him, rustling an array of papers that lay on the kitchen table.

“Shiro?”

By now, he had a horrible suspicion that he would get no answer … and he was right. He drifted past the kitchen like a ghost, only half-aware of how he was leaving a trail of mud and splatters of rainwater in his wake.

The door to Shiro’s room was a crack open, and Keith pushed it open. The room was softly illuminated by a street lamp from outside, painting stripes of gray light across the empty bed. The sheets were smooth and undisturbed, which seemed strange. Either Shiro had made his bed before disappearing into the night, or he had never gone to bed at all. Across the hallway, Matt’s room was messier but equally empty.

Keith stepped back and stood between the two doorways. “Shiro?” he called out one last time, but he knew it was hopeless. Dizzy, he leaned back against the wall and put his hands over his face …

---

“Do you know where he might have gone?”

Reeling from the memory of that night, Keith had nearly forgotten where he was. He sank back against the couch, shoulders hunched. He tried to generate an answer.

All he knew, though, was that for some reason Shiro and Matt had left without telling anyone where they were going. They had taken Shiro’s plane somewhere, and no one had been able to contact either of them for days. Keith had lost count of how many voice message he’d left for Shiro.

“Hi. Um, it’s me. Keith. Don’t be mad, but I went to your apartment and kind of … let myself in. You weren’t answering my calls, and … I don’t know. But you and Matt weren’t there, and I’m … I know you’re probably fine. But I’d really appreciate it if you called me back, okay? Bye.”

“Keith again. Okay, I’m starting to get worried now. You and Matt are okay, right? Please call me.”

“Well, your phone is going straight to voicemail now, so I’m hoping that means you just forgot to charge it. But … damn it, Shiro, it’s been two days and you’re still not home and you haven’t called me back, and … I’m really freaking out now.”

“Shiro … I called the police and reported you and Matt missing. Maybe I’m overreacting, but … I have a really bad feeling about this, and I felt like I didn’t have a choice. I’m sorry.”

“Please just come home, Shiro. I have no idea where you are, but …. come back. Please.”

Keith was finally able to look up, meeting both of the police officers’ gazes in turn as he gave his sincere answer. “I don’t know. I don’t know where he could have gone.”

One of the officers gave a solemn nod, as the other scratched down a few more notes on a small notepad.

“Thank you. We’ll let you know if we find anything.”

---

They didn’t find anything.

In the two weeks that followed, Keith barely left his apartment. A few times, he considered going back to Shiro and Matt's condo to see if he could find anything suspicious––but he knew police were probably hanging around the area, and he cursed himself for not having collected any sort of evidence when he'd gone that night.

Instead, he could only rely on what he had seen in his dream. It was ridiculous, and probably meant nothing, but it was all he had. Not only that, but he couldn't dismiss the feeling that it had to mean something. The vivid, terrifying snapshots kept flashing through his mind. At night, Keith almost hoped he would have the nightmare again, if only to refresh his memory of it. But he could hardly sleep at all since Shiro and Matt's disappearance, let alone dream.

With nowhere left to turn, he started researching. He spent hours on his laptop, searching for anything that might give him some kind of hint. The surface of his coffee table was soon piled with books he'd grabbed from the library down the street. Sticky notes lined his bedroom wall, where he'd been hanging up scraps of ideas and trying to connect them.

Searching for "black lion" anywhere was relatively fruitless. All Keith could find were some edited images online, which were often accompanied by debates over whether lions could naturally be black or not––and as far as he could tell, the answer was "not". Some people had apparently claimed to see black lions in the wild, but none of them seemed to have concrete evidence.

As for any stories of black lions that lived in castles full of clawed purple monsters, he couldn't find anything––not that he was surprised about that. He even started to delve into ancient mythology, looking for anything that might give him a clue what the black lion had meant. But most of what turned up didn't fit the image he'd seen. He came across illustrations of gods with lion heads, strange hybrid creatures with lions’ bodies, but no transparent black lions with galaxies in their eyes.

Keith became so involved in this research, the rest of the world faded into a noisy drone in the background. His heart leapt into his throat every time his cell phone rang, but it was never Shiro or Matt or anyone who had news for him. It was always school, or either of his two jobs––all of which he'd neglected to attend since Shiro and Matt had vanished. He never picked up. By now, he was certain he had a dozen voicemails and threatening emails, and he didn't dare to listen or look at any of them.

He was slipping, after he'd worked so hard to get this far, and he hated it. Hated himself for letting it happen. At the same time, he couldn't bring himself to care. If he somehow managed to find Shiro and Matt and bring them home, that was all that mattered.

After a couple weeks passed, Keith was knee-deep in conspiracies and fragments of evidence, but nothing was lining up yet. He sat bleary-eyed on his couch, papers and books carpeting the floor, various take-out containers littering the coffee table. His laptop sat next to him, its fan quietly humming, screen displaying his browser with approximately a thousand tabs open.

Groaning, he leaned against the cushions, took his glasses off––he'd been too tired lately to bother putting in his contacts––and ran a hand over his face. It was afternoon, and the glare of the sun made his eyes ache. He just wanted to sleep. Or he wanted to wake up and find out this was all over, that it had never happened at all. Or that Shiro would finally call him back.

The thought made his vision blur, and he furiously blinked to stop himself from breaking down. Not now. He had to focus ... had to do something. With a sigh, he reached for the remote and switched on the TV.

Lately, the local news stations had covered almost nothing besides Shiro and Matt's disappearance. In an area where crime was rare and nothing ever happened, the unexplained loss of local hero Takashi Shirogane and prodigy Matt Holt was particularly shocking. Every nearby news outlet was milking it for all its worth. Keith had even gotten a few messages asking for interviews, seeing as he was the one who’d reported Matt and Shiro missing, but he had refused to answer any of them.

It made him sick to watch this stuff, and yet he couldn't tear himself away. In fact, he almost felt obligated to sit through it––suffering the same loops over and over again. The photos of Shiro and Matt's smiling faces, footage of police cars lined up in front of their apartment, an interview with Shiro's teary-eyed grandparents. Maybe somewhere there was some kind of clue, something he hadn’t noticed before that would give him a hint.

“We still don’t know the whereabouts of these young men,” one reporter stated to the camera, rigidly holding a stack of papers in front of her, “but search parties have been sent out to look for Shirogane’s missing plane. There is increasing evidence that they may have crashed due to a piloting error.”

Keith gritted his teeth at the words. Piloting error, yeah right. Shiro was an incredible pilot, to the point where it was almost uncanny. Keith had been in the sky with him countless times, and the plane had never so much as wobbled.

“We now bring you a new and exclusive interview,” the reporter continued. “Earlier today, I had a chance to speak with Matthew Holt’s family …”

At that, Keith broke out of his angry stupor and leaned forward, adjusting his glasses. He had been watching the same news coverage and repetitive reports for days now, but he’d never seen any appearance of Matt’s family. This was at least something new.

The reporter finished her short explanation, and then the image on the screen shifted. A middle-aged couple sat on a sofa––Matt’s parents, Keith assumed. Between them sat a girl. Keith practically did a double-take, because she looked almost exactly like Matt––that is, if he’d been hit by a powerful shrink-ray. Her hair was choppy and light brown, sticking out at ridiculous angles around her head. A pair of round, wire-rimmed glasses took up about half her face. Her green sweatshirt looked about three sizes too big for her, with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows and the hem nearly reaching her bony knees.

It took a few moments before Keith realized he had been zoning out, and that Mrs. Holt was now speaking. He only vaguely heard what she was saying, since she was speaking quietly and tearfully, but he understood well enough: They missed Matt, they were scared, they had no idea where he had gone, he hadn't said a word about leaving. Her words eventually collapsed into sobs, and Mr. Holt put a comforting hand on her back, wiping his own tears with his free hand.

Keith suddenly felt like he was intruding on something private, and he didn't know if he could watch it anymore. But as he reached for the remote, he looked up and saw Matt's sister again, and something stopped him from switching the TV off.

The look on the girl's face was unexpected. Although tears glinted behind her glasses, her eyebrows were furrowed in an almost determined expression. She looked like she was fighting the urge to say something, and Keith was curious what it was.

At last, the camera focused on her and a caption scrolled across the bottom of the screen: "KATIE HOLT, sister."

"Matt is out there somewhere," the girl––Katie––said, voice surprisingly even. “I know he is. I don’t know where he is, but I know he wouldn’t just run off without telling us.” She glared at the floor, taking a deep breath before she lifted her chin and looked right at the camera––giving Keith the unsettling feeling that she was looking him right in the eye.

“Something weird is going on,” she said. “That’s all I can say. And I want to find out what it is.”

With that, the interview ended abruptly, giving way to another shot of the reporter at her desk.

“Oh, come on. What?” Keith blurted. He didn’t hear the rest of what the reporter said, because he was too busy fuming. After it was clear that the segment on the Holts was over, he huffed and turned the TV off.

Katie’s words rang in his head as he stood up and started to pace the cluttered room. Something weird, she had said. What did that mean? Yeah, of course it was weird that two guys had gone missing without a trace. But there had been something in the way she said it, something defiant in her face, that had sparked Keith’s curiosity.

More than that, though, he’d been overcome with an inexplicable feeling that Matt’s sister was an important part of all this. He didn’t know how, but he’d sensed it the moment she’d started to speak. It was similar, he realized, to the pull he’d felt towards Shiro when they first met––an instant sense of familiarity.

Keith didn’t waste another moment, and he dove for his laptop to do some searching.

He had to meet Katie Holt.

Chapter Text

According to the GPS on his phone, it would take Keith a little over half an hour to reach his destination. He considered trying to call ahead, but he was sure the Holts were already swamped with phone calls from prying news reporters, and he doubted they would pick up.

At every red light he stopped and hesitated, tapping his fingers on the handles of his motorcycle. This was probably a bad idea––most of his ideas were. He was aware of that.

But every time he considered turning around, an immediate sense of wrongness surged through his chest. He couldn't miss this chance to talk to Katie, and he had a feeling they would be able to help each other. The worst that could happen was that she––or her parents––would turn him away at the door.

Conflicting thoughts continued to run through his mind as he journeyed into the quiet suburbs. The roads became smoother and less crowded. Cramped buildings and shops gave way to evenly-spaced houses, interspersed with trees and green lawns.

When he reached the right street, Keith turned sharply onto it, holding his breath. Once more he wondered if he was doing the right thing, but at this point it seemed ridiculous to turn back. He'd already made it this far.

His eyes flashed over the golden numbers on the houses as he passed them. 20, 22, 24 ... He slowed his bike down, so the engine's roar petered to a dull growl. There it was. Number 26.

It was the kind of house Keith had always dreamed of as a kid. It was two stories high and painted olive green, with a wide porch and big windows. A stone path snaked up to the front steps, lined on either side with flowers and little statues of animals––frogs, birds, squirrels. Everything about it looked magical and inviting, not at all like any of the places Keith had grown up in.

Breaking out of his daze, he parked his motorcycle in the street. It was a quiet road, so he doubted anyone would mind. In fact, it was so silent in this neighborhood that it gave him an uneasy feeling, like judgmental eyes were watching him from every window. But he brushed the feeling off, hopped off his bike and left his helmet on the seat before starting up the stone path.

The wooden steps creaked under Keith’s boots as he ascended them to the front door. Somewhere from inside the house, a dog started barking––a large dog, judging by the sound’s low pitch. The noise gave Keith momentary pause; it made him all the more aware that this was really happening. He didn’t even know the Holts, and he was about to pry into something very personal and painful. But after a brief hesitation, he braced himself and rang the doorbell anyway.

The barking grew louder and closer, and was soon accompanied by the sound of paws eagerly scratching at the other side of the door. For almost a minute there was no other sound from inside. Keith was starting to wonder whether anyone was home at all. He hadn’t noticed any cars in the driveway, now that he thought about it. Still, he stood awkwardly on the porch with his hands in his jacket pockets, lingering just in case.

Just as he was about to give up and turn around, the sound of footsteps stomping downstairs echoed from inside the house. A muffled voice was saying something––to the dog, presumably––but Keith couldn't hear the words. He straightened and cleared his throat as the doorknob turned and the door opened a crack.

Katie Holt peered out at him from behind the screen door, through her round glasses and messy bangs. She was wearing the same green hoodie she'd been wearing on television, as well as a pair of gray shorts and striped socks that bunched around her ankles. Keith had noticed how small she looked on TV, but she looked even tinier in person; he had to almost physically tilt his head down to look at her.

Behind her, the dog––a large golden retriever––jumped up and down, barking excitedly. Without breaking her death glare at Keith, Katie reached back to put a hand on the dog's head. "Shh, Rover. What do you want?"

It took Keith a second to realize the second part had been addressed to him. "Um. ... Hi," he said very eloquently. "You're Katie, right? Katie Holt?"

Her brow furrowed even further, and she gripped the door with one hand. It occurred to Keith that he was probably coming off as super creepy. He couldn't blame her for being suspicious. After all, he was a random guy who had pulled up in front of her house on a motorcycle. His outfit was doing him no favors, since he was wearing a jacket with the collar pulled up almost to his ears, and his jeans were ragged in the knees.

"Yeah...?" Katie said slowly. "And who are you, exactly?"

"Oh, um. I'm Keith." He tried to think of what else to say, but he seemed to have forgotten how to participate in human conversation.

"Right, okay." Katie kept a hand on the door, her fingers tightening. She looked Keith up and down. "Listen, I don't know if you're some kind of reporter or something, but ..."

“I'm not,” Keith said. “I just want to talk to you. About your brother.”

At the mention of Matt, Katie went rigid. “What about him?”

“I want to help you find him.”

There was no sound for a few long seconds, except for Rover pacing behind Katie and panting loudly. Something flickered in Katie’s eyes––hope, maybe? Gratitude? Then it vanished.

She started to close the door.

“Wait,” Keith blurted. Apparently there was enough urgency in his voice that it stopped Katie from slamming the door in his face, although she still only kept it open a sliver––enough to peer out at him with one eye. “I’m … I’m a friend of Shiro’s.”

The door opened another inch. “What?” Katie said. “You’re that Keith? Shiro’s friend Keith?”

He was a little taken aback that she knew who he was, but he managed to nod.

“Oh, okay.” Her tone had lightened significantly, and she reached out to unlatch the screen door. “Why are you just standing there? Come in.”

Dazed, Keith stepped forward and walked inside. A huge golden ball of fur slammed into his legs, nearly knocking him over. Keith put his hands up in surrender as the Holts’ dog ran in a whirlwind around him, sniffing at his shoes.

“This is Rover,” Katie said, and smirked when she saw the alarmed expression on Keith’s face. “Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite.” Her smile fell. “I mean, unless you’re an axe murderer or something. Then he’ll definitely rip your face off.”

Keith was fairly certain she was joking, but he looked down at Rover just to be sure. Rover stared back up at him with shiny brown eyes and his tongue hanging out, wagging his tail. He let out another bark, making Keith jump.

"You can call me Pidge, by the way," Katie––Pidge––said, sticking out her hand.

Keith reached out to shake it. "Cool. Um, nice to meet you."

Pidge dropped his hand. "I'm going to the kitchen. This way." She nodded over her shoulder and started walking. Keith followed her.

The inside of the house felt as welcoming as the outside did. It appeared to be an old house, with wooden floorboards and floral wallpaper. They passed a tall cabinet with shelves full of little model boats, trains, planes, and rocket ships.

Framed paintings hung on the walls––quiet landscapes and forests, crafted with subtle colors and soft brushstrokes. Keith paused to look at one of them, a small watercolor depiction of the sun setting over the ocean.

“Nice, isn’t it?” Pidge said. “My mom’s an artist.”

“Yeah.” Keith’s voice came out hoarse, and he cleared his throat. “Really nice.” His eyes lingered on the painting for another moment. He’d never seen the ocean in real life before.

The doorway to the kitchen had a set of windchimes hanging down from the top, and Keith idly reached up to touch them as he passed through. Their quiet tinkling broke the silence, and Pidge looked up at Keith with a bemused expression. He lowered his hand, suddenly self-conscious.

Pidge maneuvered around the kitchen island, with Rover at her heels, as she went over to the refrigerator and opened it. “Leftover pizza?” she offered, hefting out a grease-stained box.

“Oh … No, thanks,” Keith said. “I’m lactose intolerant.”

Pidge shrugged. “So am I.” She bit into a large slice as Keith watched in silent awe. "Anyway, my parents aren't home right now, if you hadn't noticed. But I'm sure they'd be cool with you being here, since you're Shiro's friend and all."

"You know Shiro?"

"Yeah," Pidge said around a mouthful of pizza, and then chewed and swallowed. "He's like a ... friend of the family. Comes over to our house for dinner all the time and stuff." She wiped the back of her sleeve across her mouth, and suddenly looked down at the counter.

"He and Matt are really close––I mean, obviously. They live together." Her voice had gone a little shaky upon mentioning her brother. “Matt met him in college and they became best friends like, right away. Probably ‘cause they’re both huge astrophysics nerds and all.”

She managed a crooked, half-hearted smile. “My parents just love Shiro, of course. They’d probably adopt him if they could––if he were still a kid, that is.”

Despite the ache in his chest, Keith smiled back. It wasn’t hard to believe what Pidge had said. Shiro had that kind of instant charm that made everyone he met immediately love him.

Rover shuffled up behind Pidge, nudging her in the side with his nose. She frowned down at him. “You’re not getting any pizza, if that’s what you’re after.” As if to spite him, she took another bite. Then she looked up at Keith again. “Shiro has mentioned you a bunch of times.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh-huh. You’re the one he mentors at the Garrison, right? You’re training to be a pilot?”

Keith crossed his arms, shifting uncomfortably. He’d been trying to brush off thoughts about the Garrison since he still hadn’t answered any of their calls. He wasn’t even sure he’d ever be allowed back through their doors. In his obsession to find Shiro and Matt, he hadn’t been to class at all since the disappearance––and the school took its attendance policy very seriously.

“Yeah,” he said after a moment’s pause. “I am.”

“Cool.” Pidge tore off a bit of crust and chewed it. “And you … know Matt?”

"Not very well," Keith admitted. "We've met a few times."

Pidge finished off the end of the pizza crust. Frankly, Keith was astounded by how fast she'd consumed it.

"Hmm," she said, briefly turning around to stick the pizza box back in the fridge. When she turned to face Keith again, her scowl had returned. "So, why are you here? You said you wanted to help find Matt." Her tone had turned almost accusatory.

"I––I do. I meant that," Keith answered with as much sincerity as he could manage. But words suddenly failed him.

How was he supposed to explain to Pidge why he was here? Was he supposed to tell her he'd had some kind of prophetic dream? There was no way she would believe that.

Yet, he had a feeling she would.

"Listen," he said. "I'm here because I saw that interview with you and your parents."

Pidge had been leaning her elbows on the counter, but now she stood up straight.

"You said you thought something weird was going on," Keith continued. "And I guess ... I'm wondering what you meant by that. Because I think something weird is going on, too."

A moment passed before Pidge sighed and adjusted her glasses. "Let's sit down."

They moved to the small kitchen table, which sat next to the window. Outside, a tall oak tree swayed in the wind, shedding orange leaves. Keith and Pidge sat across from each other.

"You probably won't believe what I have to say," Pidge said.

"Well, that's another reason why I came here," Keith answered. "I have my own theory, but ... it's a little wild."

Behind the thick lenses of her glasses, Pidge's eyes widened. "Maybe you should go first."

"Um, okay. Well ..." Keith looked down, readjusting the strap on one of his fingerless gloves. "This is going to sound weird, but ... on the night Shiro and Matt disappeared, I had this dream. I can't remember every detail of it. But I saw them. Shiro and Matt."

"What?" Pidge leaned forward in her seat, gripping the edge of the table. "You saw them? Where were they?"

"I don't know. Nowhere I'd ever seen before. It was somewhere ... old. They were in this narrow hallway with stone floors. It looked like some kind of ruins, maybe. They were … "

He faltered, unsure of how to describe what he’d seen without scaring Pidge too much. But he also didn’t want to lie to her.

"They were what?" Pidge asked, her voice smaller than before. "What did you see?"

"Look," Keith sighed. "I don't know if it meant anything. I'm not saying it was real. But things didn't look good. They were both hurt." He tried not to wince, thinking of how pale and motionless Matt had been.

Across the table from him, Pidge drew her knees up into her chair and wrapped her short arms around them. She didn't say anything, but in the silence, Keith could hear her breathing growing shaky.

"I'm sorry." Keith briefly met her wide-eyed gaze, before he glared down at the table again. "I'm not trying to freak you out or anything. And there's no reason to believe it means anything at all. I mean, it was just a dream, and I––"

"What else?" Pidge cut off his rambling.

To Keith's surprise, she was staring intently at him, hanging onto his every word. Did she really believe what he was saying?

He swallowed. "Not much. But, they weren't alone. It looked like someone had captured them. These––I don't know what they were––creatures, I guess. I didn't see their faces, just their hands. Whatever they were, they weren’t human. They, um … had claws. And purple skin. "

It all sounded so absurd, and he hadn’t thought he would be able to tell anyone this. Somehow, though, telling Pidge felt so natural. She didn’t question him––only nodded slowly, her face pale. “Anything else?”

At any moment, Keith was sure she was going to drop this act and admit she didn’t really believe him. But on the off chance that she really did, he continued.

“Yeah, actually. There is one other thing.” He traced a finger over the surface of the table, circling a whorl in the wood. “At the end of the dream, I was alone in this dark place. I couldn’t see anything. Then, out of nowhere, this lion appeared …”

“Wait. Did you say ‘lion’?” Pidge blurted.

Her eyes had grown almost impossibly wide, and Keith stared back at her in shock. “Y-yeah. Why?”

“Nothing.” She stretched her legs under the table again, falling back in her seat like a physical weight had pushed her down. “I can explain later. Just … finish what you were saying.”

“Uh, okay. Well, this lion … I think it was some kind of ghost. It was black, and it was glowing. And it was kind of transparent––but I mean, it was really dark, so it was hard to tell. Weirder than that, though, its eyes had galaxies in them.”

“Galaxies?”

“Yeah. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but I swear that’s what I saw. It was looking right at me and I––I couldn’t look away. I was kind of hypnotized, I guess.” Keith paused, rubbing at the back of his neck. “And uh, then it tried to kill me, but I woke up.”

“Whoa.” Pidge’s voice came out almost a whisper. Her hand was visibly shaking as she reached up to straighten her glasses.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked, alarmed at how pale she looked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just trying to process all this.”

“So … you actually believe me? You think it means something?”

She nodded.

A momentary sense of weightlessness washed over Keith. To be able to tell someone this––and to have her actually believe him––was such a relief, he nearly teared up at the validation. These past few weeks had been torture, keeping this secret to himself until he’d felt like he was going to combust at any moment.

The feeling, though, was short-lived. “It’s impossible, though,” he muttered, slouching. “Isn’t it? Purple clawed monsters, giant ghost lions … They can’t be real.”

“What if they are, though?” Pidge said, pushing her chair away from the table.

Normally, Keith would have denied it. If he had been talking to anyone else, he would have claimed there was no way such things could exist. But first of all, Pidge wasn’t just anyone––he could tell that already. Secondly, although he rarely admitted it, he had always believed in the supernatural. Some things he had experienced in his life––his vivid dreams, the sensations of being haunted––couldn’t be explained by any natural means. There was something more out there. He knew it.

“But we can’t prove it,” he said.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Pidge jumped from her chair, standing to her full––albeit very short––height. She pointed a finger at Keith’s face, and he leaned back in surprise. “I, Katie ‘Pidge’ Holt, a real scientist and certified genius, believe in the paranormal. And I have proof that it’s involved in this.”

“You … do?” was all Keith could manage to say. He didn’t want to cling to false hope, but Pidge sure seemed confident.

“Follow me,” she said. “There’s something I need to show you.”

---

“I knew you were telling the truth, because everything you said matches up perfectly with my theory,” Pidge said over her shoulder, as they descended the steps into the basement. “There’s a few details I can’t explain yet, but we can figure that out later.”

Keith ducked to avoid the low-hanging ceiling near the bottom of the stairs. “And what is your theory, exactly?”

He followed Pidge past a washer and dryer, a ping-pong table, various piles of boxes, a dusty old TV set, and a tattered green couch, until they reached a table in the far corner. It was flanked by two workbenches on either side. An array of tools hung on the wall behind it. On the table itself, a chaotic mess of wires, metal, and gadgets sprawled like a war zone.

“Before I get to that,” Pidge said, finally answering Keith’s question, “there’s something I need to explain first.”

As she spoke, she flicked on the lamp that hung over the table. She started clearing some space, frowning at various objects as she picked them up and set them aside. Unsure of what to do with himself, Keith sat down on one of the benches.

“We’re not the only ones who believe in the supernatural,” Pidge said. “Matt does, too.”

“He does?”

“Yup.” Pidge found what she was looking for––a dark box about the size of a toaster, riddled with buttons and bristling with several antennae. She bent forward so her eyes were level with the contraption, her fingers effortlessly flicking levers and turning dials.

“Specifically, Matt is really fascinated with ghost towns, abandoned places, that kind of thing. But even more than that, he's interested in towns and civilizations that disappeared with no explanation."

"Like what, the Maya civilization?"

"Yeah, that kind of thing. Or like Roanoke––you know, that colonial town where everyone just vanished."

Pidge stood up straight again, tilting her head as she examined the small machine in front of her. A few lights had started blinking on it, and it was making a soft whirring sound.

"Okay," Keith said slowly. "But what does all that have to do with this?"

"Good question." Still examining the machine, Pidge sat down on the bench opposite Keith. "See, in all his research on this subject, Matt found out about a ghost town that used to be somewhere in this area. ... It was called Altea."

"Altea," Keith repeated. Something about the name made him feel strangely uneasy, like he'd heard it before but couldn't remember where. "What happened to it?"

"Well, that's what Matt was trying to find out. He was always looking at old maps of the area and stuff, and he noticed this one town––Altea––that totally disappeared off maps about a hundred years ago. He dug around for information, read like a million books trying to find out what had happened to it, and didn't come across very much.

"But not too long ago, he finally found a few things. I’m not even sure where he got his information, honestly. He works at this weird museum, and I think the owner helped him find some resources.

“Anyway, according to the information he found, Altea was this really mysterious town. It was located somewhere out in the mountains, and everyone there was, like, super isolated. They barely ever left the town boundaries or communicated with outsiders. There were rumors that they were all really into the occult or something––something about, I don’t know, satanic rituals and letting demons possess them or something.”

"Jeez," Keith breathed. "That's messed up."

"Yeah, well. Matt's not entirely sure whether those rumors were true or not––but he does think something weird was going on there. On top of that, the whole town just flat-out disappeared. Like I said, it used to be on maps and stuff, and then it just ... wasn't."

"What does that mean? Everyone just left? Or they all died?"

"That's the thing." Pidge stopped working on the machine temporarily to look at Keith across the table. The lenses of her glasses flashed in the glaring light from above. "It's not just that the people disappeared. It was the whole thing. The people, the houses ... There's no sign of them. According to legend, there’s not even any ruins. Nothing."

Keith propped an elbow on the table and rested his chin on his hand. "Weird. And there's no record of it being destroyed or anything?"

"Nope." Whatever Pidge had been trying to do with the little machine, she suddenly appeared to have accomplished it. A flicker of a satisfied smirk crossed her face. "Ah, there we go."

She put a hand on top of the object, tapping a finger against it. "So, Altea disappears, right? No information about it being destroyed, no ruins, no sign of anyone surviving or escaping. That's what Matt is so fascinated with. He wants to find out exactly what happened to the town and its people. And his theories are ... pretty out there."

"How so?"

"He thinks Altea is in a parallel universe."

"What?" Keith frowned. "A parallel universe? How?"

"He hasn't figured that out yet. But we were––are––trying to figure it out together. It may seem impossible, but there are a lot of pretty convincing theories about there being multiple universes, different layers of reality, et cetera."

"And you think Altea is in one of these ... alternate realities?"

"I'm not sure. But I'm going to find out."

With a dramatic flair, Pidge took the machine she'd been fiddling with and turned it around. Its face displayed rows of small rectangular lights, which appeared to be showing different levels of ... something. Whatever these levels were, they appeared extremely erratic––blinking and changing constantly.

As Keith stared in bewilderment, Pidge ducked under the table and pulled out something else––a slightly bulkier, gray machine with a set of large headphones attached to it, and an antenna that nearly touched the lamp hanging above the table.

“What is this stuff, anyway?” Keith asked, gesturing at the objects between them.

“I built them.” Smiling proudly, Pidge flipped a few switches on the machine she'd just pulled out. "Cool, huh?"

"Wow, yeah," Keith said, genuinely impressed. "But like ... what do they do?"

"Like I said, I've been helping Matt with all this Altea stuff. But I also built these because of my own interests––you know, aliens, ghosts, that kind of thing." She shrugged one shoulder casually. "I've been working on some devices that pick up on things we can't detect with our human senses. Changes in energy levels, sounds we can't hear. That's where these come in."

She patted the first machine. "This baby here is a ... well, it's kind of like an electromagnetic field meter, I guess. See, there are these theories that when you die, your conscious mind still leaves a sort of electric pulse behind––and that's what ghosts are, these leftover clusters of energy.

"Some people use EMF meters to track ghosts, but usually they have to carry them around and wait to see a spike in energy before they know a ghost is nearby. This is a little more complicated than that."

She pointed to the blinking lights on the front of the machine. "I rigged up this device so it picks up on energy spikes from long distances. It's not super helpful in terms of finding the exact location of a change in energy, but it does show me the levels of activity in a more widespread area."

Keith's mind buzzed as he tried to understand all this information. "How does that work?"

"Oh, it's really simple," Pidge said, and then proceeded to give an explanation that was not simple at all. "Make sense?" she asked at the end of it.

"Uh ... sure."

Pidge turned her attention back to the device. "As you can see, there's all kinds of weird activity going on somewhere in the nearby area. I've seen occasional spikes, but never anything like this. The past couple weeks, the levels have been consistently, ridiculously high." She looked up at Keith again. "Ever since the night Matt and Shiro disappeared."

It was all starting to come together. "Whoa."

"Yeah. That can't be a coincidence, can it? It's like ... on that night, some insane source of energy was awakened. I don't know how, but I think Matt and Shiro disappearing has something to do with it."

“What do you think could have caused something like that?”

At the question, a mischievous glint entered Pidge’s eyes. “Are you ready to have your mind blown?”

“I … guess so?” Keith said.

“I think Matt and Shiro are in Altea.”

That hadn’t been what Keith was expecting to hear. “You think they’re in Altea? But you said …”

“That Altea is in an alternate universe, I know. But here’s what I’ve been thinking. If some kind of portal opened up to that universe, maybe that’s what caused the giant surge in energy.”

Keith rubbed his temples, trying to piece this all together. “Okay, so you’re saying you think there’s some kind of … nearby portal that leads into another dimension. Into Altea. And Shiro and Matt opened it somehow?”

“I don’t know if they opened it themselves or they just stumbled into it, but … yeah, pretty much.”

This was a lot to take in, and Keith had to mull it over for a few long moments. Without thinking, he had started to fiddle with some of the small gadgets in front of him on the table, and only stopped when Pidge snapped, “Hey, careful with that stuff!”

"Sorry." Sheepishly, Keith stuck his hands under the table. "But, how do you know they're there? And what does this have to do with my weird dream and everything?"

"First of all, I don't know for sure," Pidge said. "It's just a wild guess, but it's all I've got.

"As for your dream ... it lines up with something Matt told me recently. He had just found out about this one particularly powerful family that lived in Altea. You know how I mentioned they might've had some kind of creepy cult thing going on? Well, there was this guy who was supposedly their leader, kind of––I forget his name. He had a daughter, too. Not sure about the mom, or other people in the family. But I do remember Matt telling me they lived in this huge mansion––which everyone in the town referred to as the Castle of Lions."

Another surreal sense of recognition sparked in Keith's brain, like he knew the name before Pidge had said it.

"The lion in my dream," he murmured. "That's why you freaked out when I mentioned it."

"I did not 'freak out'," Pidge said defensively. "But yeah, that's why I knew our theories were connected somehow. You said you saw Matt and Shiro in some kind of ruins, right? Like ... a castle, maybe? Or a really old mansion? And then, the lion ..."

“Holy shit,” Keith breathed, and then slapped a hand over his mouth. “Oops. I mean …”

“Keith, I’m fifteen,” Pidge said, rolling her eyes. She had turned her attention to her other machine, and was carefully untangling the cord to the attached headphones. “I’ve heard the word ‘shit’ before, trust me.”

“You’re fifteen?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Oh.” Keith shook his head. “It’s just … I’m sorry, I thought …”

“Yeah, yeah. I look like I’m twelve, I’m perfectly aware of that.” From the weary tone of her voice, it was obvious that a lot of strangers made the same mistake. "So, that's my theory. Somehow, Matt and Shiro got into Altea. And they're in the Castle of Lions ..."

"Being held captive by some demon-worshipping family and an evil ghost lion," Keith finished for her. "Got it."

"And in case you weren't convinced yet," Pidge said, handing the headphones across the table, "listen to this."

Keith accepted them, giving Pidge a sideways look as he did so. "Why? What is it?"

"Just listen."

Without further questioning, Keith put the headphones on. They were huge, totally engulfing his ears and muting the rest of the world to complete silence. At first, he didn't hear anything––just a low hum and faint crackling.

He closed his eyes, listening more closely. And then, he heard it––voices. It was difficult to pick them out from the ambient noise, but they were definitely there. Whispers filtered through the hissing static, uttering words that Keith couldn't quite understand.

Something tapped on his hand, and he jumped, his eyes flying open. Pidge snatched her hand away. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Keith said, removing the headphones. He stared down at them in curiosity, struggling to comprehend what he'd just heard.

"So, did you hear anything?"

"Yeah. There were these ... voices. But I couldn't understand what they were saying. What were they, radio stations or something?"

"I don't think so," said Pidge, reaching over to take the headphones back. "I designed this device to pick up on sounds that are normally undetectable by human ears. It could just be picking up on radio signals, but it's not supposed to––and judging by the patterns I've noted, I'm almost certain they're coming from Altea."

She inspected the machine, turning a few dials as she held one of the headphones up to her ear. "I've been listening for unusual sounds on this thing for months now, and I've heard the occasional strange noise. But just like with my other device, it's been picking up on a lot more activity ever since Matt and Shiro disappeared.

"Most of the time, it's too hard to tell what the voices are saying. If I mess around with the signal a bit, though, sometimes I can pick out a few words. And there's a few things that they keep saying over and over again. I keep hearing something about 'lions', and this other word … ‘paladin’.”

"What does that mean?"

"In this context? I'm not sure. I've done some research, and apparently it's some archaic word for 'knight' or something. And it's what the Roman emperor Charlemagne's warriors were called. What it has to do with this, though, I have no idea.

"But one time, I heard a voice say something like, 'The black paladin has arrived.' And that's the only complete phrase I've ever heard out of this thing. It came through super clear, too––scared the crap out of me."

"Black paladin ..." Keith paused, trailing off as he thought. "The lion I saw, it was black. Maybe the lion is one of these ... ‘paladin’ things?"

"I have no idea, but it's possible." Pidge set the headphones down with a sigh, and switched the machine off. "There's one other thing it keeps saying, but I can't understand exactly what it is. It sounds like it's saying 'Voltron'."

"Vol ... tron?" Keith said, sounding out the syllables.

"Yeah. Any idea what it means?"

"No clue."

Pidge slouched. "I didn't think you would, but it was worth a try."

They sat in contemplative silence for a moment.

"But anyway, what do you say?" Pidge said. "Do you want to help me find Altea?"

---

Keith stayed for another hour or so as they discussed plans. Right now, they still didn't have very much information to go on. The peculiar activity on Pidge's devices was definitely significant, but it couldn't point them in any particular direction.

"Matt had all these old maps of the area," Pidge said, "but I haven't been able to find them. He probably took them with him, if he and Shiro were looking for Altea."

They were now in the living room, and Pidge was pacing back and forth while Keith sat on the couch, elbows resting on his knees.

"And there's no way to track the signal or something?" Keith asked.

"I don't know. I haven't figured out a way to do that yet. Besides, I'm not sure it would work if we're trying to track signals from another dimension.”

Pidge stopped pacing in front of the TV. She chewed her nails and started to tap her foot. "Wait," she said. "I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"That museum where Matt worked ... it's this oddities museum. Stuff about Bigfoot and whatnot, you know? I think I mentioned it earlier." She had whipped her phone out of her pocket and was already frantically typing something.

At the mention of Bigfoot, Keith sat up straight. "That, um ... That sounds cool and all," he said, trying to sound only casually interested, "but how is that going to help us?"

"The guy who owns the museum ... he's this really, uh, eccentric dude. I've only met him a couple times. But like I was saying earlier, he helped Matt a bit with finding some information about Altea. Maybe he could help us, too."

Still typing, Pidge crossed the room and plopped herself down on the couch next to Keith. He noticed that her feet didn't even touch the floor when she was sitting down.

"Here it is." She pointed to the screen of her phone, which displayed several small photos of the museum. It looked like it wasn't much more than a run-down shack by the side of the road, with a wooden sculpture of Sasquatch himself standing out front and a crooked sign that read THE ABSURDATORY in red letters.

"Looks classy, I know," Pidge said. "Anyway, I'll text you the address. What's your number?"

Keith recited the digits, and felt his phone buzz in his pocket a moment later. It was pretty remarkable how fast Pidge could type.

"Great. So, we can meet up there tomorrow." She didn't even phrase it as a question. "I don't have school since it's Saturday, so ... I don't know, would around noon work for you?"

"I think so."

"Cool." Pidge held out her fist, and Keith raised his own to bump against hers. "Let's do this!"

---

Not long after that, Pidge's parents both returned from work. They both seemed wary of Keith's presence at first, but they warmed up to him immediately when Pidge explained he was Shiro's friend. He tried to seem as polite as possible, knowing that he didn't appear to be the most trustworthy or friendly person on the outside.

He wasn't the best at expressing condolences, but he told them he was sorry Matt was missing and that he hoped they would get some good news soon. They seemed grateful about that, and said the same thing about Shiro.

They even asked if he wanted to stay for dinner, but Keith was starting to feel awkward and just wanted to go home, so he gently declined. As he was heading out the front door, Pidge ran up to him. He was already standing on the porch, but he stopped and turned around when he heard her footsteps.

"Hey," she said. She stood with one hand on the door, a small silhouette against the warm light from inside the house. "Thanks. For coming here, I mean."

"Of course." He stuck his hands in his jacket pockets, clearing his throat. "Thanks, um ... for listening to me.”

"Back at you. I never thought anyone would believe me about this stuff."

"Me either."

They were both smiling.

Pidge glanced over her shoulder, before looking back at Keith again. "Shiro's really proud of you," she said. "You probably know that already. But, I can just tell. When he talks about you, it's like his whole face lights up. He cares a lot about you. I just ... thought you should know that."

The back of Keith's throat burned, and he had to blink to stop the stinging in his eyes. "Thanks," he said hoarsely. "It's good to know that."

He almost turned to leave, but lingered a moment longer. "We're going to find your brother," he said.

Pidge nodded, her smile unfaltering. "We're gonna find yours, too."

Chapter Text

When he returned from Pidge’s house, Keith was buzzing with an energy he had never felt before. The world had snapped into startling clarity.

Upon walking into his disastrous living room, he was actually compelled to pick up a few things and clear some trash off the coffee table––something he hadn’t bothered to do in weeks.

His eyes started to itch, so he went to the bathroom to swap his contacts for his glasses. Looking at himself in the mirror, he noticed the change in his own face. For once, he didn’t look like he’d crawled out of a grave. He felt fully awake for the first time in weeks. Without even realizing it, he'd been smiling.

There was still plenty to worry about: Shiro and Matt were in danger. They were possibly in another dimension, held captive by some evil creatures. Yet, he felt strangely optimistic. At the very least, this was a step further than he'd been a day ago. And now he had Pidge on his side.

After eating some leftover takeout for dinner, he was hit with a sudden wave of fatigue. When he fell into bed, he lay there trying to comprehend the extent of what he’d learned from Pidge, but the thoughts quickly exhausted him.

The light of dawn startled him awake, and he was shocked to realize he had actually slept through the entire night. He could barely remember the last time that had happened. Since Shiro and Matt had disappeared, Keith hadn’t even attempted to sleep most nights because he knew it would only result in failure. He’d grown used to staying up into the early hours of the morning, with nothing but the pale glow of his laptop keeping him awake.

Sitting up, he reached for his glasses and put them on. His room was completely silent and he had a surreal feeling, like yesterday must have been a dream. But when he picked up his phone and opened his texts, Pidge's messages were still there.

He still had a while before he had to go meet her, which gave him time to take a much-needed shower and eat some cereal. In the time remaining, he attempted to do some research.

It proved to be more challenging than anticipated, especially since he hadn’t taken any notes on what Pidge had told him. Some quick Internet searches for "Altea" brought back disappointing results. No matter how specific he tried to get, he couldn't find even the slightest clue that the town had ever existed. Similarly, some brief searching on the word "paladin" wasn't very helpful, either. As Pidge had said, it seemed to be some ancient word for a “knight” or “warrior”, but otherwise nothing interesting came up.

At last, he ran out of time and had to get ready to leave. He checked the directions on his phone one more time, threw on his jacket, and headed out the door.

On the way there, he mentally prepared himself for potential disappointment. After all, it was a stretch to depend on a random museum owner for critical information. Maybe this guy had given Matt a few hints on Altea's location, but that didn't mean he would have the information Keith and Pidge needed. Still, Keith allowed a flicker of hope to ignite in his chest.

The museum was located next to the highway, heralding passerby with its bold red sign. Cars zipped past it, without a single one stopping. It was just as well, since there were no more than three parking spaces out front. Only one of them was occupied by a car. Probably the owner's.

Pidge was waiting outside, dwarfed next to the large Bigfoot statue––which, Keith noticed, was even more glorious in person.

"Hey," Pidge said.

"Hey.” Keith took his helmet off, and left it on the seat of his motorcycle. “Sorry, am I late?"

"Nah, you're on time. I had to take the bus, so I got here a little early. Come on, let's go inside."

Keith only let his eyes linger on Bigfoot for a few moments longer, before he followed Pidge through the front door.

The smell hit him before anything else. It wasn't exactly a bad smell, just very strong. It reminded Keith of a musty old basement, tainted with the scent of mildew.

The inside of the museum was certainly something to look at. It was so crowded with items, Keith didn't know where to look first. From the outside, the building hadn’t looked much bigger than an average garage, so he was shocked to discover how much treasure it held.

Glass cases lined the room almost from wall to wall, displaying an array of unusual objects. From where he stood, Keith could make out various mutated animal skeletons and gruesome works of art. Unidentifiable specimen in jars sat on crowded shelves. Blurry photographs of cryptid creatures hung on the wall, accompanied by framed reports of sightings.

It was heaven. Why had he never heard about this place before?

"Hey, Keith. Earth to Keith."

"Huh?"

Pidge tugged at his wrist impatiently. "We have to find the owner. I think he might be downstairs."

"There's a downstairs?" Keith tried not to let too much eagerness slip into his voice.

As they crossed the room, he glanced at the displays on either side of them. There was a row of creepy dolls whose description claimed they were haunted, a rat skeleton with two heads, some really old medical tools ... They passed by too fast for Keith to get a good look at everything.

At the back of the room, a narrow staircase led downstairs. Pidge went first, with Keith following close behind. The old wood groaned under their feet as they descended.

The basement of the museum looked similar to the upstairs––more glass cases, strange art, and old photographs. However, it also hosted an unsettling collection of sculptures: something that resembled a cross between a man and a reptile, a terrifying clown, and a hyper-realistic wax statue of a woman with what appeared to be real hair, just to name a few.

"Hello?" Pidge called out, to no response. As crowded as the room was with humanoid figures, there didn't appear to be a single living soul on the premises.

Still, Pidge hopped off the last step and started to wander between the displays, turning her head left and right as she went. "Anybody here?"

Keith hesitated before he went after her. As ecstatic as he had initially been upon entering the museum, he was now starting to hesitate. Something about this place felt ... off. He walked past a row of statues, examining each carefully.

There was an odd antlered creature made out of spoons, a huge fish standing on human legs ... At the end of the row, there was another extremely realistic wax figure. It was of a man with bright red hair and the most ridiculous handlebar mustache Keith had ever seen. The statue was wearing a pastel blue pinstripe suit and matching bowtie, and stood with one white-gloved hand poised in the air as if the subject had been depicted in the midst of explaining something.

Something about this particular statue made Keith stop in his tracks. Perhaps it was just because it was so shockingly realistic, but he couldn't quite place what was so––

"Greetings!" the statue exclaimed, turning towards him.

Keith screamed and fell backwards against a nearby glass display.

"Oh, my––watch your footing there," said the statue-that-was-not-a-statue. "Are you quite all right, my boy?"

"Keith?" Pidge skidded around the corner of the glass case. "What happened? Are you okay?" She looked from Keith's shocked face to the mustached man, who chuckled.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to frighten you. Only thought it'd be fun to give you a bit of a surprise." He adjusted his bowtie and stepped forward, extending his hand. "I'm Coran," he said. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

He had a strong accent that Keith couldn't quite identify––British? Australian? New Zealand? Warily, Keith reached out to shake his hand. Coran had a firm grip, and shook with such ferocity that Keith felt it all the way in his shoulder.

"I'm Keith," he remembered to say, just as Coran let go of his hand.

"And I'm Pidge," said Pidge, who had stepped up to stand beside him. "You own this place, right?"

"That's correct," Coran said proudly. Keith had never seen anyone twirl their mustache in real life, but that's precisely what the man did as he spoke. "How may I be of assistance?"

"We wanted to ask you about something," said Pidge. "My brother works here. Or at least, he did until recently. Matt."

At the name, Coran’s smile fell. "Oh, that's right. We've met before, haven't we? I apologize." He put a hand on Pidge's shoulder. "I'm very sorry about Matthew. He's such a brilliant young man, your brother. I hope you receive some good news about him soon."

"Thanks." Pidge shrugged his hand off her shoulder. She pushed her glasses further up her nose. "That's why we're here, actually."

Coran stood up straight, looking between the two youths before him. "Oh? What do you mean?"

Pidge glanced at Keith, who gave her an encouraging nod.

"We think we might know where Matt is," she said.

Coran's brow furrowed. Evidently, those hadn't been the words he'd been expecting to hear.

"We don't know exactly where he is,” Keith tried to explain. “We just have an idea about where he might be. But ... it's complicated.”

“We thought you might be able to help us," Pidge cut in.

"Hmm," Coran said, still frowning. He moved past them and took a handkerchief out of his pocket, which he used to polish one of the nearby cases. "I'd certainly be happy to help in any way I can. But of course, I'm no detective."

"We want to know about Altea," said Pidge.

Very suddenly, Coran stopped cleaning the glass. He looked up at Pidge, his bushy eyebrows raised almost to his hairline. "Where have you heard that name?"

"Matt was looking for it," Pidge explained. "He's been researching it a lot in the past few months, and he told me you'd given him some information about it."

"I see." Coran straightened, wiping the handkerchief across his forehead. Keith might have imagined it, but it looked like his hands were trembling slightly. "Yes, I know Matthew was looking for it ... for Altea." His voice grew a bit softer when he said the name. "To be honest, I was shocked he had heard of it to begin with. The story of Altea is a great mystery indeed, one that has faded into almost complete obscurity––quite like the town itself."

"So, do you know anything about it?" Keith asked.

He and Pidge both stared at Coran, who shrunk back a step at their scrutiny. He twisted the handkerchief in his hands.

"Yes," he admitted after a brief hesitation. "I do know a thing or two about Altea. But it isn't very much."

"Anything at all would be helpful," Pidge said. "We're just trying to figure out where Matt might have gone if he was looking for it."

"I'm afraid he wouldn't find very much if he did. The entire town and everyone in it are long gone."

There was a heavy sorrow to his words now, and he looked away with a wistful expression. It only lasted for a moment before he turned back to them, as if he had woken up from a trance.

"We know," said Pidge. “We just wanted some information that might point us in the right direction. Is there any chance you know where Altea used to be? Could you point it out on a map or something?”

That seemed like quite a long shot––but to Keith’s surprise, Coran didn't immediately dismiss it. He scratched his chin and stroked his moustache again. “I might be able to provide some information.”

“Really?” Pidge and Keith both blurted at once.

Coran held up his hands as if he expected them to physically attack him. “Yes, yes. Although, as I said, it may not be much. And mind you, I’m not advising that you should go searching for it––especially considering what happened to Matthew and Takashi on their supposed search for it. Even if you did go to its former location, you most likely wouldn’t find anything.”

“Yeah, we get it,” Pidge said, and then worked some patience back into her voice. “I mean, we understand. We’d just like to see an old map of it or something, if you have it.”

“Of course. Right this way.”

As Coran turned around, Pidge shot Keith a crooked grin and a thumbs-up. He wasn't sure he felt quite as optimistic as she did, but he couldn't help but smile back.

They followed Coran through the maze of glass-enclosed displays and their disturbing contents, until they reached a door at the back of the room. It creaked on its hinges as Coran opened it, revealing the disastrous room beyond.

Keith had always considered himself to be a messy person; his apartment always looked like it had been hit by a tornado. But this was a whole new level of messiness. Parts of it looked almost familiar––especially the array of papers, notes, photos, and maps pinned to the walls, covering almost every inch of the plaster beneath. Like something out of a detective show, there were lines of string connecting different things on the wall, criss-crossing each other in chaotic, colorful spiderwebs.

This guy was a fellow conspiracy theorist if Keith had ever seen one.

“Now, now. Let’s see,” Coran muttered to himself as he shuffled through the mountain of papers and books on his desk. At least, Keith was pretty sure there was a desk underneath there somewhere.

Coran tossed various items over his shoulder––crumpled pieces of paper, weathered books, newspaper clippings. Watching in fascination, Keith and Pidge hovered in the doorway. Keith was afraid to even step into the room. As messy as it was, there seemed to be something almost organized about the disarray, and Keith didn't want to disturb any of it.

“Ah! Here we are.” Coran had been practically waist-deep in papers, and now he came bursting out with something folded in his hand.

“That’s the map to Altea?” Pidge exclaimed.

“What, this? Oh, no. This is the takeout menu for my favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Been looking for it for ages. But also, here’s the map.”

He pulled yet another item out of the heaping pile––what looked like an ancient scroll, rolled up and bound with a tattered blue ribbon.

The two teens both drew in their breath as they stepped into the room. Coran, meanwhile, was picking at the knot in the ribbon, squinting in concentration. After a few tries, he finally managed to loosen it.

The paper unfurled with a crackling noise. It was so old, it had turned almost brittle with age. Coran lowered it slightly, so Pidge and Keith could look at it over his shoulder.

Crooked lines sprawled across the page, forming the shapes of winding paths, mountains, and bodies of water. Faded text marked the names of all the locations. Keith’s eyes flitted over the words as he looked for any sign of Altea, but he found the cursive writing almost impossible to read.

“Here’s approximately where we are,” Coran said, a gloved finger running over the paper to rest on one spot. “It’s a bit difficult to determine, since the roads have changed in the past one hundred years. But it’s close enough, I believe. And this …” He slid his finger up and to the right, where it landed on a small area up in the mountains, “is where Altea was.”

Sure enough, Keith could just barely make out the name, surrounded by little symbols of trees and mountains. As Pidge had told him the day before, the town appeared to be extremely isolated from the rest of civilization.

Pidge had taken out her phone and was snapping pictures of the map. “Do you know anything about why it might have disappeared?”

“There are quite a lot of theories about that,” Coran answered, pinning the map to the wall. “And I’m not entirely sure what I believe.”

There was something odd about his tone of voice that made Keith frown. He had an itching sense that Coran was holding something back.

“There are two separate mysteries involved,” Coran continued, linking his hands behind his back as he studied the map. “One is the disappearance of the Alteans. The other is the disappearance of the town itself.

“As for why the Alteans vanished, it could be for a number of explicable reasons. They might have simply left the town––although whether they trickled out individually, or it was a simultaneous town-wide exodus, I couldn’t guess.

“They may have run out of resources, or perhaps they all succumbed to some horrible illness. Probably not the latter though, since as far as I know, no human remains have ever been discovered there.”

Again, he took out his handkerchief and hastily wiped at his brow. He turned away for a moment and Keith thought he saw Coran dab at his eyes as well.

“But what about the houses disappearing and everything?” Pidge asked, sliding her phone back into her pocket.

“That is much harder to explain.” Coran turned back towards them, and now his voice had gone quieter and his expression looked more pained. “How a beautiful civilization such as Altea could simply go missing … I don’t know. One would think that perhaps the town was destroyed in a fire or some other natural disaster. But as I’ve said, there are no ruins to speak of. At least, no one has ever found any.”

“Hmm.” Pidge frowned as she observed the array of papers tacked to the wall. “Coran … you believe in the paranormal, right?”

Keith had to stifle a gasp of incredulity. He hadn't expected Pidge to bring up the matter so casually––or to bring it up with Coran at all, really. But when he looked over at Coran, the museum owner was fiddling idly with his bow tie and didn't look surprised.

“I suppose it depends on what you mean by that. I do believe there are mysteries that can’t be explained by any natural means, that there are phenomena beyond human understanding. There’s a reason why I own this museum, after all.”

“Well … Did Matt ever explain his theories to you, about where he thinks Altea might have gone?”

“I’m afraid not. I know Matthew was fascinated with the town’s history, but I don't believe he ever told me any theories he had about its disappearance.”

Pidge made eye contact with Keith, who was still somewhat surprised that she was sharing this information with Coran, seeing as they barely knew him. But he did seem to know a lot about Altea. If this was the only way they might learn about Shiro and Matt’s whereabouts, telling him their ideas was worth the risk. At the very worst, he would think they were just a couple of kids with an outrageous conspiracy theory.

Realizing that Pidge was still waiting for some sign of approval, Keith gave a single nod.

“Matt thinks Altea could have been transported into another dimension somehow,” Pidge said. “We think he might be right.”

“Another dimension,” Coran repeated, not sounding as shocked as Keith had expected him to be. He scratched his chin. “Now, that is a theory.”

“We have proof,” Pidge went on. She rapidly explained the energy spikes she’d picked up. “... And Keith had a dream on that night, where he saw Matt and Shiro.”

She looked at Keith expectantly, and he realized she wanted him to explain the dream himself. “Oh … um, yeah.” He stuck his hands in his jacket pockets, staring down at his battered sneakers. “I don’t remember all the details. But I saw them being captured by these … monsters, I guess. I only saw their hands, but it looked like they were purple? And they had claws.”

His face was flushed by the time he finished speaking. It had been one thing to explain the dream to Pidge, who was younger than him. But it was strange to relay the story to an actual adult and expect to be believed.

Coran didn’t laugh at him, though. In fact, his face had gone quite pale, and he sat down heavily in a nearby chair. “My goodness.”

“What’s wrong?” Pidge asked. “Do you know what those creatures were?”

“I––I’m afraid I don’t,” Coran stammered, glancing to the side. “I wouldn’t say it’s a good sign, though.”

“Why? What do you think it means?” Pidge wrung the hem of her sweatshirt in her hands. “Do you think they’ve really been captured?”

“I can’t say. At this point, I don’t know if we have enough information to determine that.” Coran looked up at Keith. “Did you see anything else in this dream of yours?”

“Yeah, there was one other thing. I saw this lion––or at least, I think it was a lion. Except it was black, and sort of … glowing and transparent, and it looked like it had galaxies in its eyes. It tried to attack me, but I woke up.”

“A lion, you say? That’s … certainly interesting.” Coran stumbled over the words. He put his hands on his lap, tapping his fingers on his knees as if calculating something.

“Matt told me there was a place at the center of Altea called the Castle of Lions,” Pidge added. “Keith saw Matt and Shiro in an old place that looked like a castle, plus the lion … That can’t be a coincidence.”

She kept rambling, explaining to Coran about the voices they’d heard––the mentions of lions, paladins, something called Voltron. “Do you know what any of it could mean?”

Keith studied Coran’s face as Pidge spoke, and noticed how the man grew a shade paler at every word. A glassy, dazed look had settled into his eyes. At Pidge’s question, though, he sat up straight and suddenly seemed to come back to himself.

He coughed into his fist, pausing before he answered. “I’m sorry, I don't know.
I believe everything you two are saying, but I have no knowledge of what it could mean." He rose to his feet again. "I would also caution you against pursuing it much further."

"What?" Pidge blurted. "Why?"

Coran tugged at one of his gloves. "I'm sorry," he said again, and by the saddened look on his face, he meant it. "I know you're worried about your brother. But if you're correct that he somehow ended up in Altea––if Altea even still exists somehow––it may be impossible to find him. And even if it were, it would be incredibly dangerous."

“Dangerous how?” Keith asked. It suddenly felt like icy fingers were tracing up his spine.

“I’m not saying I’m an expert,” Coran answered carefully, “but from what I understand, getting involved with the paranormal can have some dire consequences. Ghosts, spirits, demons––they are powerful beings, many of them ancient and incredibly powerful.”

Something about those words struck a chord in Keith, as he recalled how it had felt to stand in front of the black lion. Even through the haze of sleep, he had sensed the enormous power of the creature, like an electric current had surged through his veins. Staring into its eyes, he had seen something almost beyond human comprehension––a knowingness that spanned thousands of years, a strength unmatched by any earthly being.

This was what they were going up against.

“Even if you were somehow able to enter this spirit realm,” Coran continued, “I shudder to think what might befall you there. I’m not saying that all its inhabitants are evil, but an encounter with even a single malevolent spirit could be … fatal, if I may be frank.”

Keith’s stomach dropped at the word fatal. That … wasn’t exactly promising.

“But Matt and Shiro are out there somewhere,” Pidge said firmly. “In this … ‘spirit world’ or whatever. Are you telling us to just leave them there?”

Coran sighed, looking from Pidge to Keith and back again. “I don’t know if there’s another option. How they managed to enter this other realm, I don’t have an answer. I also don’t know why a host of evil spirits would want to capture them in the first place. But the unfortunate truth is that there may not be a way to get them out, unless they find an escape themselves.”

Silence ensued, and it felt as if the temperature in the room had dropped by several degrees. Keith became aware of how hard he was shaking. Memories of his dream had resurfaced, unhelpfully reminding him how grim the situation was: Shiro and Matt were not only in captivity but both injured … or worse, at this point. He couldn’t even allow the thought.

Next to him, Pidge had clenched her hands into fists at her sides. “Somehow, Matt and Shiro found a way to get in,” she said. “If they could, so can we.”

Coran looked startled. “I wouldn’t advise––”

“I’m not going to let them die.”

Pidge’s outburst shocked the other two into silence. Keith could see tears welling up behind her glasses. He cautiously tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. “We’re leaving,” she announced. “Let’s go, Keith.”

She didn’t even wait for him before she stomped out of the room.

Keith started to follow, but he paused in the doorway to look back at Coran. The museum owner was wringing his hands and staring at the floor. The look on his face was strangely devastated, as if he had just made some horrible mistake.

“Hey … thanks for all your help,” Keith said.

“Oh! Of course.” Coran stood straight again, forcing a smile. “I apologize I couldn’t be of more assistance.”

“It’s okay, we knew it was a long shot. And uh … don’t worry about Pidge. I think she’s just a little upset.”

“Perfectly understandable. Although, I didn’t mean to imply anything too horrific. I do think there’s hope that Matthew and Takashi will return.”

Keith didn’t feel particularly hopeful after everything Coran had told them, but he nodded. “I hope you’re right.” He backed out of the doorway. “Cool museum, by the way.”

Coran's eyes lit up at the compliment. "I'm glad you think so! Feel free to return to the Absurdatory at any time."

"Thanks. Well ... I should follow Pidge. Bye."

Keith turned to leave before Coran could even return the farewell.

---

By the time he made it outside, Pidge was already there, standing in the parking lot and aggressively kicking a rock through the dust.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked her.

She didn't answer, only wiped the sleeve of her sweatshirt under her nose and sniffed loudly.

Oh, no. Keith was not prepared for this. “Hey … it’s all right,” he said stiffly. “Don’t cry.”

“I’m not,” Pidge snapped. She wiped the heel of her hand against her eye, pushing her glasses up onto her forehead in the process.

A short silence followed, interrupted only by the whooshing sound of cars speeding past on the nearby highway.

“Listen,” said Keith. “I know this wasn’t exactly as helpful as we thought it could be. But at least now we have the map, right? That’s something.”

“Yeah.” Pidge shoved her hands into the front pocket of her sweatshirt. “I’m just … frustrated. And scared. I want answers and I don’t know how to find them.”

“I know. Me, too.” Keith took a step forward, so there was less of a distance between them. But then he didn’t really know what to do besides stand there next to Pidge, staring at the dirt.

“Something seemed a bit ‘off’ about Coran,” he said. “I can’t really decide what it was. And maybe it’s just me. But, I got the sense he wasn’t telling us everything he knows.”

“It’s not just you. I think he’s hiding something.”

The two of them exchanged a questioning look.

Keith sighed. “I’m not sure we’re going to get any more answers out of him, though. So, I think there’s really only one thing we can do.”

“Which is what?”

“We have to follow the map.”

“You mean––”

Keith nodded. “We’re going to Altea.”

Chapter Text

Pidge had to wait about half an hour for the next bus, so Keith waited with her at the bus stop. They sat on the narrow metal bench as Pidge tapped away on her phone, swinging her short legs back and forth.

A light chill seeped into the midday air. Crumpled garbage and a few dead leaves skittered over the concrete. Keith zipped his jacket all the way up and buried his chin in the collar.

“Find anything?” he asked.

“I think so,” Pidge said without looking up. “The pictures I took of the map aren’t super clear, and the text is faded, but I think I can still read the coordinates. Plus, I recognize some of the landmarks around it. Looks like it’s a little to the northeast of Lake Arus.”

She held up her phone and pointed at the digital map on the screen. “I’m doing some guesswork here. But if Altea is where I think it is, it should take us a little over an hour to get there.”

“Okay. But how are we getting there?”

“That’s a good question.” Pidge lowered her phone, swiping her thumb over the screen. “The bad news is that it doesn’t look like there are many roads around it. It’s in a pretty isolated area, so it’s not very accessible. That’s probably why Matt and Shiro went out to find it in Shiro’s plane.

“As for us … I don’t know. No buses seem to go out there. And my parents don’t get home until pretty late––and I don’t think asking them to drive us out there would be a good idea, anyway. They probably wouldn’t be cool with what we’re doing. I’m assuming your parents wouldn’t like it, either.”

“Oh, uh.” Keith cleared his throat. “I don’t … have any. Parents, that is.”

He braced himself for the inevitable pitying look from Pidge. Sure enough, she nearly dropped her phone and looked at him with wide eyes. “What? Oh, I––I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said hurriedly. This situation was already stressful enough, and he didn’t want to bring his tragic backstory into it. “Anyway, we’ll find a way to get there.”

Still staring at him, Pidge nodded. Then she tilted her head. “What about your motorcycle?”

“What about it?”

“Will it fit two people?”

“Oh. I don’t know. I’ve … never tried that.” Keith rubbed the back of his neck. “Probably, though. Do you think that would be safe?”

“Do you think it’s safe to seek out an abandoned ghost town that might be full of monsters?” Pidge deadpanned.

She had a point.

“Okay, well, I think I have a spare helmet kicking around. I’ll just have to find it. When did you want to do this?”

“I don’t know. Tonight?”

“Tonight?” The single word came out a bit more violently than Keith had intended, and he lowered his voice. “I mean, I guess that works. It just doesn’t give us much time to plan.”

“There’s not much to plan,” Pidge said with a shrug, burying her phone in her sweatshirt pocket. “We have the map, and you can provide transportation. I probably have a few useful little gadgets I can bring with me. Otherwise, we don’t need much.”

Now that Keith thought about it, she was right. There wasn’t much else they could do besides go where the map led them and see what they could find.

“What time do you want to leave, then?”

Pidge pulled her hood on and crossed her arms against the cold. “We should probably leave before dark. I can bring a flashlight or two just in case, but I’m thinking we should shoot for the early evening. Maybe around 5?”

“That works. I can pick you up a little before then.”

“Sweet.” Pidge grinned that lopsided grin of hers. She held out her fist for a fist-bump, to which Keith complied. “See you then.”

---

Keith was jittery all afternoon, and it wasn’t just because of the three cups of black coffee he consumed when he got home––although that certainly didn’t help. He had a few hours to kill, and he felt like he should be preparing himself for this excursion. But after finding his spare motorcycle helmet at the back of his bedroom closet and eating a late lunch, he didn’t know what else to do.

It occurred to him to do some more research before departing, but he didn’t even know what to look up. How to find a magical portal to a ghost town?

Instead, he decided to do what he did best: lie on the couch and worry about what could go wrong.

At first, the prospect of finding Altea had seemed so exciting. But as the afternoon drifted by, the more daunting the impending journey became. Of course, there was a chance they would find nothing at all. They would spend hours stumbling through the cold woods until their feet ached and the light drained from the sky, and their efforts would be for nothing.

But worse than that: what if they did find Matt and Shiro … and it was too late?

He couldn't bear the thought for more than half a second without feeling physically ill. It wouldn't come to that, he tried to tell himself. After all, police had been swarming all over the mountains with helicopters lately and had found no sign of an accident. If entire teams of professional adults couldn't find Shiro and Matt, what were the odds that two teenagers––with nothing but a couple of flashlights and home-made gadgets––could?

Eventually, Keith dragged himself off the couch. Worrying wasn't accomplishing anything, and he had to get ready to leave. He didn't know exactly what to bring on a ghost-town-hunting trip, so he settled for sticking a Swiss Army knife in one jacket pocket and a couple of protein bars in the other. That was probably enough. He had left his spare helmet on the coffee table, and he remembered to grab it before he headed out the door.

When he arrived at Pidge’s house, she was already sitting on the front porch with a small backpack leaning on her side. She had been looking at something on her phone, but she lifted her head when Keith pulled up to the curb.

“Hey,” he said, hopping off his motorcycle. He pulled his helmet off and tucked it under his arm. “You ready to go?”

“Yep.” Pidge stood up, shrugging her backpack on as she descended the stairs. “I just texted you the directions, so we should be good to go.”

Keith checked his phone and brought up the map Pidge had sent him. He spent a minute studying it along with the accompanying GPS directions. Meanwhile, Pidge walked slowly around the motorcycle, bending down to inspect every inch of it.

“Sweet ride,” she commented.

“Uh, thanks.”

Keith inserted his phone into the small mount near the left handlebar, keeping the map onscreen so he could refer to it while driving. He unhooked the spare helmet from where it had been dangling from the rear seat and handed it to Pidge.

The helmet looked enormous in her small hands, and for a second Keith worried it wouldn’t even fit. She blinked at it for a second like she didn’t know how it worked, and then pulled it onto her head. It appeared to fit snugly, to Keith’s relief.

“Looking good,” he said, giving the top of her helmet a playful knock.

“Hey.” Her eyes narrowed behind the visor, but she smiled.

Keith returned the smile as he slipped his own helmet back on. "Ever been on a motorcycle before?"

"Nope. Any advice for a first-timer?"

"Uh ... hold on tight?"

"Wow, thanks. Real helpful."

Pidge was unsuccessfully trying to hoist herself onto the rear of the bike. Without thinking, Keith hooked his arms under her armpits and gave her the boost she needed. She made a little "oof" noise and glared up at Keith as soon as she was seated.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "I just ... You're just so ..."

"Don't say 'tiny.'"

"I was just gonna say 'small,' but okay."

Keith slung a leg over the seat and placed his hands on the handlebars. "Ready?"

He couldn't really hear Pidge's response over the revv of the engine, but he hoped it was an affirmative one. A pair of short arms flew around his torso and squeezed. Then, they were off.

The journey, as Pidge had estimated, took a little longer than an hour. As he always did, Keith lost himself in the thrill of the ride––the adrenaline rush every time he sped up, the wind whipping at his jacket. It was like flying.

He couldn't talk to Pidge over the noise, but he hoped she was doing okay. At first, her grip around his waist was so tight that it made his ribs ache, and he could feel her helmet pressing between his shoulder blades.

Eventually, though, the pressure around his middle eased, and he couldn't feel her head pressing into his back anymore, which probably meant she had finally gathered the courage to look around. There was certainly a lot to see, especially when they left the suburbs behind and made it onto the open highway.

The sky stretched above them, cloudless and infinite. Clusters of trees stood on either side of the road, bearing fire-colored leaves. There was some rush-hour traffic to navigate––but the further they drove from civilization, the fewer cars clogged their path. It wasn’t long before the peaks of mountains loomed on the horizon.

Out here, the phone reception ebbed away. Keith no longer had access to the GPS, but he had glanced at the map enough times to have a rough idea of where they were going. He also knew he wouldn't have an ideal place to pull over, seeing as they were going into the woods and all. But when he finally determined they were close enough to their destination and in a safe enough place to park, he steered the motorcycle to the side of the road.

The roar of the engine still rung in his ears as he jumped down from the bike and shook the stiffness out of his legs. He offered a hand to Pidge, who grasped it tightly as she hopped to the ground. She swayed for a second, regaining her balance.

"You okay?" Keith asked, removing his helmet.

"Yeah," said Pidge. As she pulled her own helmet off, she revealed her crooked grin. Her short hair stuck out in every direction. "That was pretty cool."

They both hooked their helmets on the rear seat. Keith took his phone off its dock and put it in his pocket.

Not far from where they stood, a long line of trees beckoned. Their branches swayed in the wind, and leaves whispered against each other in a secret language. It reminded Keith of the voices he’d heard through Pidge’s machine the day before. He didn’t even notice himself drifting into a daze, ears searching for words …

“Where are we, anyway?” Pidge asked.

Keith broke out of his stupor. He shrugged. “I don’t really know, honestly. I lost my GPS signal a while ago.”

“Ugh, me too.” Pidge had already whipped out her phone and was tapping at the screen in annoyance. “I figured that would be the case. Good thing I came prepared.”

She slipped her backpack off and unzipped it, rummaging inside. “Here.” Keith barely had time to react before Pidge threw a small object at him. When he caught it, he saw it was a compass. Meanwhile, Pidge had pulled out a handheld electronic device––something with a short antenna, a small LCD screen, and a row of small blinking lights along the bottom.

"What is that?"

"Oh, this? This is an EMF detector––you know, like the thing I told you about yesterday. Picks up on energy changes. This is a smaller one than the one I showed you. It doesn’t have a very wide range, but obviously it's easier to carry around."

As she spoke, Pidge adjusted the device in her small hands, pressing a few buttons. "There. Now, let's see ..." She tapped a finger against the screen, frowning at the numbers it displayed.

"Getting anything?" Keith asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm getting a pretty average reading right now, but if we start walking I can see if there are any changes."

She started walking up the slope, shrugging her backpack onto her shoulders. Keith hung back for a moment. He still had an odd feeling, like he could hear voices coming from ... somewhere. From the trees? From inside his head? He didn't have time to dwell on it. Besides, he was probably just being paranoid.

He followed after Pidge.

---

"Are we lost?" Keith asked about half an hour later. He had been holding the compass in front of him, but he hadn't really been paying attention to what direction they were going.

Pidge hadn't been helping much. She had been quiet this whole time, focused on the blinking device in her hands. At random intervals, she would stop in her tracks and turn sharply in another direction without explaining what she was doing.

“No, we’re not lost,” she answered, pausing in her tracks. She glanced at the EMF reader, then looked up above them like she was searching for something in the trees. “Don’t worry, I have a great sense of direction. Time to put those Girl Scout skills to use.”

“You’re a Girl Scout?”

“Used to be.”

They fell silent again. Pidge turned in a slow circle, squinting at the sky and occasionally looking down at the device in her hands.

Around them, the woods were so quiet that Keith's ears started to ring. The light was already fading. It would probably be dark within an hour, and the chances of making any progress at this rate seemed slim. He tried not to feel disappointed––after all, he’d known this mission would likely be fruitless.

"Well?" Keith said after a minute. "What are you thinking? Got any ideas?"

"I don't know." Pidge held up the detector, as if that would help it pick up another signal. "I'm not really getting anything yet. I’ve noticed a few little changes in energy but no huge spikes."

She went back to pacing the area, while Keith stood at the center of the clearing. He huffed out a breath that turned misty in the air before him. As he watched it dissipate, it occurred to him that it hadn’t been this cold just a few minutes earlier. Now he realized he was standing with his shoulders hunched and his hands buried in his jacket pockets. A sudden prickling sensation branched up his arms and into his fingers.

Without knowing why, he closed his eyes. He could still hear Pidge’s footsteps crunching on dead leaves, but the sound grew distant and echoey. The darkness behind his eyelids deepened.

A distant part of his mind panicked, wondering what on earth was happening. At the same time, a surreal calmness overcame him like a pleasant dream. Out of the darkness came a silver thread that twisted out before him like a winding path.

Then something seemed to tug at him––to literally grip his whole body and yank him forward––and he opened his eyes with a gasp. The shock of coming back to reality was so violent that his legs nearly gave out underneath him. He doubled over, spots dancing and vanishing across his vision.

“Keith!”

He realized that Pidge was standing right next to him, holding onto his sleeve. How long had she been there? As Keith’s vision cleared, he could see how worried she looked.

It took him a second to speak. He felt physically winded, like someone had kicked him in the stomach. “What the hell just happened?”

“You tell me. I’ve been trying to snap you out of it for like two minutes. Are you okay?”

“I … think so. I don’t know.” He stood up straight again, rubbing at his forehead. “You mean, you didn’t feel that?”

“Feel what?”

Without answering, Keith looked up. Again, he felt as if he were being pulled forward by some invisible rope. Unable to resist it, he stumbled forward. He barely realized how fast he’d started walking, until Pidge came running up beside him.

“Hey, slow down! My legs are a lot shorter than yours, you know,” she huffed.

Keith still said nothing. He was afraid he’d lose his concentration, that this guiding force would vanish if he didn’t pay close attention to it.

“Keith.” Pidge jumped in front of him, blocking his path. Her eyes frantically searched his face, her brow furrowed with worry. “Why aren’t you answering me? You’re freaking me out.”

A strong emotion boiled up inside him––an unfaltering determination that was almost inhuman, that nearly obliterated all sense of rationality. He had to hold himself back from shoving right past Pidge.

Something wasn’t right.

He managed to stand his ground, even though this strong magnetic power kept pulling at him. His limbs literally ached from the effort.

“I know where we’re supposed to go,” he said.

“What? How?”

“I can’t really explain it.” Keith started walking briskly again, with Pidge close at his heels. “It’s like something … some kind of energy … is telling me where to go. I know that sounds ridiculous, but you’re just going to have to trust me.”

They kept moving forward, with Keith in the lead. Their path through the woods was a natural maze, obstructed by underbrush, twisted roots, and steep slopes. At every obstacle, Keith only grew more determined. He became almost oblivious to the worsening cold, the sting of branches whipping at his face, the snag of thorns on his clothing.

Only every few minutes could he think clearly enough to look behind him, to make sure Pidge was still following. At first she had kept yelling at him to slow down, but at this point she had given up––either that or she was too out of breath to speak anymore.

In the back of his mind, Keith knew he should wait for her, and it made him guilty to see her stumbling after him. Yet he still found it impossible to resist the call of … whatever it was, this thing that propelled him onward. The further they traveled, the stronger the pull. An unearthly energy kept dragging him along, filling his head until his ears rang with it.

Soon, they came to a narrow stream. Stones jutted out of the rushing water, providing a crooked path across. Keith made it to the other side with little effort, leaping from one rock to another until his feet touched the ground again. Behind him, he heard a splash and a displeased screech from Pidge. He turned to see her stumbling onto the bank, shaking out one dripping wet sneaker.

"You okay?" He hadn't realized how winded he was until he spoke.

"Yeah." Pidge coughed and gasped for breath for a few seconds, bending over to put her hands on her knees. "Just ... tripped."

They both stood there, recovering from all the running they'd just done. Keith had barely felt anything this whole time––he'd been too driven by whatever power had overcome him––but now the physical toll hit him with an unforgiving blow. His throat burned from the breaths scraping raggedly in and out, his chest ached, his legs shook.

The sky had dimmed to a deep blue, turning gold at the edges as twilight approached. Keith had no idea how much time had passed. Somehow, it felt as if it could have been either a few minutes or a few hours.

"So," Pidge sighed at last. She still sounded out of breath, but she stood up straight again, wiping her sweaty bangs out of her eyes. “Do you still know where we’re supposed to go? Are we close?”

“I don’t know,” Keith admitted.

“What? You dragged us all the way out here and you don’t know?”

“Hey, I’m just as confused about this as you are.” Keith could still feel this unknown presence lingering around him, growing so intense that his head ached with it. “I––I don’t know exactly where it wants me to go,” he said, wincing, “but the feeling’s definitely getting stronger, so we must be nearby.”

“Whoa,” Pidge said. Keith realized she wasn’t even listening to him, but was staring down at her EMF detector again.

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure, but the numbers on this thing are going crazy." She held up the device. It was a little difficult to see in the dimness, but the little lights on its face were flickering rapidly, and the digits on the screen were changing so fast that they were almost impossible to read.

"And ... yeah, you're right," Pidge went on, scratching her head. "I don't know if I'm feeling this thing as strongly as you are, but something definitely feels ... off."

A moment passed, and then they both turned and looked in the same direction. As he stared at the woods in front of them, Keith tried to understand what he was looking at.

In the near distance, there was something shimmering in the air that he couldn't fully comprehend. It was like he was seeing double, and every time he blinked, the scene changed. One moment he could see the gleam of the sunset, and in the next moment the forest was pitch-black.

Entranced, he moved forward, and he was dimly aware that Pidge was walking next to him. Neither of them said a word.

Something in the air shifted. It was like a dream, where the scenery suddenly changes but it doesn't feel unnatural. The evening light disappeared under an unsettling darkness. Despite the blackening sky, Keith could still see where they were going. A silver glow illuminated the ground and trees, even though there was no moon to be seen.

Keith looked over his shoulder and nearly gasped at the sight. He could still see the forest they'd left behind, awash with the glow of the setting sun. But the sight of it was strange and disorienting, as if he were looking at it through a glossy film. When he turned again, the forest ahead was still dark as midnight.

"What the ... ?" Pidge said. She was also looking back and forth between the dark and the light. "What just happened?"

"I think ..." Keith hesitated, staring at the expanse of eerie, glowing forest ahead of them. "I think we're in the ghost world."

---

“You mean we just ... walked right into it?” Pidge stuttered, her voice high with panic. “How is that possible?” She looked at her EMF reader as if it could provide some kind of answer. "Damn it, I think my detector ran out of battery or something."

"Really? You're worried about that right now?"

"I guess it makes sense," Pidge continued, as if she hadn't heard Keith at all. "The rapid fluctuations in energy might have some kind of negative impact on technology ..."

"Pidge," Keith said. "Focus."

"Okay, okay." She crammed the detector into one of the side pockets of her backpack. "I'm just ... just a little nervous, okay? I mean, I can't believe we're … here? Is this really happening?"

Keith didn't know if he could give an honest answer. Of course he had hoped that they would find Altea, but he’d known it was highly unlikely. When he'd allowed himself to believe it would actually happen, this wasn't what he had pictured. Not that he'd known what to expect, but he'd thought it would be more ... dramatic? There was supposed to be a swirling portal hovering in the air, a blazing flash of light. He hadn't expected they would just be able to walk right into it.

This seemed too easy. Deceptively easy.

"What do we do now?" Pidge asked.

"I don't know. I guess we keep walking."

They started forward again, side-by-side this time. Pidge clung to Keith's arm, digging her fingers into his jacket sleeve, and he didn't protest. He was actually glad for the physical contact, to remind him that he was awake, that they were both here, that this was real.

The farther they walked, the more absolute the darkness became. Keith had glanced back a few times and had seen the light of the normal world slowly disappearing over the horizon until it vanished.

It only occurred to him now that he didn't know if they would be able to return. Maybe they’d been able to walk right into the ghost world, but what if they couldn’t walk out again?

“Keith,” Pidge said suddenly. She pulled on his arm, breaking off his grim train of thought. “Look.”

At first, he couldn't tell what she was pointing at. In front of them, the trees stood like ethereal paper cut-outs against the black sky. Keith squinted until he saw what had caught Pidge’s attention. In the near distance, a row of trees had been severely damaged. A few had been torn nearly in half––trunks splintered, silver branches scattered on the ground. It looked like some giant creature had stomped through the forest and swiped the tops off.

“What could’ve done something like that?” Pidge spoke almost in a whisper, like she was afraid someone might hear. “That lion you saw in your dream … it wasn't that big, was it?”

Keith shook his head, although he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising. He didn't know for certain what the black lion was capable of. Coran had said it might be some kind of ancient, incredibly powerful spirit. Was it possible such a spirit could grow to ten times its normal size? That didn’t seem out of the question.

“Should we check it out?” Pidge said quietly.

“I guess so. Just … stay close, okay?”

“I wasn’t exactly planning to run off on my own.”

Ignoring Pidge’s sarcastic comment, Keith crept forward. It didn't take long to reach the site of the damage. Up close, he could see just how badly the trees had been harmed. Entire boughs had snapped off, and something had gouged a scar across the trunks like a giant claw.

Lowering his gaze, Keith saw they were standing at the top of a slope. Not far from where they stood, something large and white gleamed among the fallen branches. It looked like––

He stopped dead in his tracks.

“Keith?” Pidge’s grip on his arm tightened. “What is it?”

He could hardly hear her through the sudden, intense ringing in his ears. “Oh, no,” he breathed. “No, no, no …”

He bolted down the hill. Pidge’s yells of protest were nothing but a faint echo in the back of his mind. His foot slipped and he fell hard on one knee, but he got up immediately and limped the rest of the way to the large object. Frantically, he swept an arm over the branches that covered its surface, and sucked in a sharp breath.

It was the wing of a plane. Dents and scorch marks mottled the white paint, and frayed wires bristled from where it had been torn free.

Dizzily, Keith reeled back and almost crashed into Pidge.

“What is … ?” she started to ask, but then gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth.

He didn’t want to look, but Keith turned around to see what lay at the bottom of the hill. A trail of debris formed a macabre trail to the wreckage. Bits of glass. Charred metal. A small wheel. And finally, the crumpled remains of the plane––hull ripped clean open like a metallic carcass, half a wing sticking in the air like a distress beacon.

“Oh, God,” Pidge choked out. “Is it … ?”

“Yeah.” Keith answered faintly. “It’s Shiro’s.”

---

Everything slowed to a standstill. Pidge made a panicked wheezing noise and lunged forward, but Keith caught her shoulder and held her back.

“M-Maybe you should stay here,” he stammered, his own fingers trembling. “I’ll go look.”

Pidge didn’t say anything––just kept breathing loudly and raggedly––but she managed to nod.

Bracing himself, Keith picked his way through the destruction. Glass crunched under his shoes, and his heartbeat pounded in his ears. He couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t think anything besides that he had to get to the plane.

When he reached it, he put a hand against the side to steady himself. Memories crashed over him in rapid flashes, nearly bringing him to his knees. This plane had meant everything to Shiro. It was a vital part of him––a source of joy and escapism that Keith couldn’t picture him without. He had always noticed the look on Shiro’s face whenever he was flying, or even just when he was standing beside this plane or doing maintenance on it: the gleam of pride in his eyes, the effortless smile.

It had meant so much to Keith, too. This was one of the first planes he had ever been in, and he could still recall the exhilaration of taking off in it for the first time––gazing out the window, feeling his stomach drop and watching the world grow small and insignificant beneath him. It had been one of the best moments of his life.

Looking at it now, reduced to pieces, Keith felt like his lungs had been torn out.

With a deep ache in his chest, he dragged himself forward until he reached the gaping hole in the plane’s side. The opening was lined with blackened metal, exposing the scorched interior of the cockpit.

Keith held his breath. He wanted to believe that Shiro and Matt couldn’t possibly be in there––he’d seen them in his dream, they’d made it out somehow––but he still felt a rush of panic at the thought that he could be wrong.

To his momentary relief, the inside of the plane was empty. As he took in the sight, though, his stomach clenched. The windshield had shattered completely, leaving bits of glass all over the two seats. Something dark was smeared across the controls, and Keith didn’t dare to identify what it was.

But perhaps worst of all was the familiar object dangling from the control panel: Shiro’s prosthetic. Keith recognized the metallic arm right away, and a cry escaped from him upon seeing it. It was a special attachment Shiro wore for flying; his normal prosthetic couldn’t handle the controls very well, and he had painstakingly designed the piloting arm himself. Now it hung uselessly from where it had melted to the controls, destroyed by the accident, metal parts warped almost beyond recognition.

Keith couldn’t look anymore. He staggered away from the ruined plane and bent over, retching. Nothing came up.

Through his blurred vision, he noticed that even the leaves on the ground had a dusty glow about them. All of a sudden, everything felt startlingly real: the luminescent forest, the black sky, the crashed plane.

When he felt confident enough that he wasn't going to vomit, Keith trudged back up the hill. Pidge stood where he had left her, watching him with both hands over her mouth.

"Did you ... ?" she started to ask when Keith was close enough, speaking through her fingers. "Were they––"

He shook his head before she could finish. "They weren't in there. They must have made it out." Whether they’d done so willingly, though, was the question. He didn’t want to voice the fear out loud.

Pidge dove forward and threw her arms around him, burying her face against his chest. Keith froze, his hands in the air. It wasn't until Pidge started sobbing that he returned her embrace. Right now, he was in too much shock to worry about it being awkward.

Tears filled his own eyes as he patted her on the back. He wanted to tell her everything was okay, but he knew it wasn't the truth. All he could do was hold her tight while she cried. He still felt numb, uncertain of what to feel––relieved that Shiro and Matt hadn't been in the plane, or scared of what this meant: that what he'd seen in his dream had probably been real.

Pidge's sobs eventually died down, although Keith could still feel her shaking. He put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her away to arms-length. She stared at the ground, her face blotchy and streaked with tears in the unearthly light.

“You alright?” he asked.

Pidge wiped her sleeve under her nose. “Yeah. It’s just, for a second, I thought …” She let out a shuddering sigh. “I don’t know. I got really scared.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Keith looked away, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. “What should we do? Do you want to turn back?”

“What? No,” Pidge said fiercely. “If this is where they crashed, they’ve gotta be somewhere nearby.”

Keith felt guilty for making the suggestion in the first place, but he also didn’t want to force Pidge to go onward if she thought it was too dangerous. This was starting to feel too real, and he didn’t want to get them into a situation where either––or both––of them could get hurt. Pidge hadn’t seen what he’d seen in his nightmare. She hadn’t seen the twisting corridors, the claws, the blood, the ferocious black lion.

But he knew he wouldn’t be able to change her mind now. It was too late for that. He could see in her eyes that she was dead-set on finding her brother. That was a feeling he could relate to.

“Okay,” he said at last. “You’re right. We’ll keep going.”

He turned to look at the wreckage of Shiro’s plane one more time, and a new determination flared inside him. This had been personal from the start, but it felt even more so now. If those clawed creatures had somehow been involved in the crash …

His hands clenched into fists at the thought.

He wanted to find the monsters who had done this. And he wanted to make them pay for it.

—

Keith still had a lingering sense that he knew where they were supposed to go, but it was weaker now. He still wasn't entirely sure where the sensation had initially come from or what it had been leading them to––the portal? The plane? But it still pulsed faintly in the back of his mind, like a built-in map showing him the way.

He had tried once again to explain it to Pidge, but it was difficult to put into words. Although she didn't seem to fully understand, she accepted it. He had gotten them here in the first place, after all, and it wasn't like they had anything else to guide them. Pidge’s EMF reader still wasn’t working, and neither of their phones would turn on.

"Where do you think it's taking us? To Altea? Are we in Altea already? Maybe it's taking us to the Castle of Lions?"

Pidge kept rambling, which Keith was quickly learning was a nervous habit of hers. And seeing as his own nervous habit was to fall completely silent, she had a lot of dead air to fill.

"I really don't know," Keith said, keeping his gaze fixed ahead.

They had made it to what looked like a narrow dirt path, lined here and there with boulders and shrubs. Like the rest of the forest, it glowed faintly against the stark blackness of the sky. Keith couldn't shake off the feeling that it was familiar, somehow. Maybe he had seen it in another dream, years ago.

“I thought you said this thing in your head was like a map.”

“It is. But it’s also … not.”

“Wow, specific.”

Keith rolled his eyes, although he was pretty sure Pidge didn’t see it. “It’s not that precise. It’s just like … this path stretching out in front of me. I can’t exactly see it, but I can feel it, you know?”

“I guess.” Pidge huffed. “How come you get some kind of magical GPS brain and I don’t?”

“Wish I could tell you.”

They walked in silence for a few more minutes, and Keith had an uncanny feeling they were getting closer to something important. The air grew colder around him, and he kept shuddering from the sensation.

“Whoa,” Pidge said suddenly, and Keith looked up to see what she was staring at.

In the near distance, a high stone wall reared up behind the trees. The path led up to a wrought iron gate at its center. Two lion statues were perched on either side of the entrance. Their mouths were frozen open in menacing snarls, exposing sharp canines. The gate had been crafted with swirling, intricate designs––but the large spikes that protruded from the top weren’t exactly welcoming.

It wasn’t long until they made it to the wall. Up close, the evidence of its age was more apparent. Yellow lichen crusted the stones and dark vines had twisted their way up the gate.

Keith was contemplating how they were going to climb over it; he had jumped a few walls and fences in his lifetime, so he wasn’t an amateur. But as they reached it, he realized it was already slightly ajar.

He reached out to touch the metal, which was cold under his fingertips. "Should we ... go in?" he asked, glancing at Pidge. He didn't know what she was thinking, but personally he was suspicious. This seemed ... too easy.

After hesitating for a moment, Pidge nodded.

Keith pushed at the gate, and when it didn't budge, he leaned forward with more force. With an echoing groan, it gave way.

When they made it through, they both stopped in their tracks.

"Holy shit," Keith said.

"Holy shit indeed," Pidge agreed.

They stood at the top of a hill, which tilted down into a wide valley. A web of stone-lined paths wove across it. Houses scattered the landscape––some nestled in the valley, others sitting on the hillsides, their slanted rooftops gleaming. Trees stood in open fields, glistening with unusual silver leaves. Against the sky, jagged mountaintops lined the horizon like teeth. Mist swirled over the scene––the only movement in the stillness.

One house in particular stood out amongst the others. On the far end of the valley, on the opposite slope from where Keith and Pidge stood, the mansion loomed over the town. It sprawled across an intimidating portion of land, its front entrance lined with pillars. A wide stone staircase led up to the doors. Like the gate, the stairs had two white lion statues standing regally on either side of them.

"That must be it," Keith said. "The Castle of Lions."

"You think?" Pidge muttered.

Apparently, neither of them had to say anything else. They both started down the hill at once, sticking to the widest path that led through the heart of the abandoned town. Everything was completely silent, but Keith couldn’t shake away the feeling that they weren’t alone. As they passed the empty houses, he stared at each dark window, expecting to see eyes looking back at him.

“Didn’t Coran say the town was destroyed?” he whispered when they were about halfway across the valley. He didn’t know why he bothered to be quiet, since no one was around to hear him.

Pidge was walking so close to him that her shoulder kept bumping into his arm. “Maybe no one ever found it?” she suggested, also keeping her voice low. “Or … I don’t know, the houses crossed over into the ghost world for some reason?”

Somehow, the second option seemed more plausible than the first. Keith couldn’t imagine how anyone could have overlooked this place––unless it was hidden somehow. And yet, the two of them had walked right into it. How was that possible?

At last, they stood at the foot of the slope. From below, the Castle of Lions looked even more frightening, and a spark raced up Keith’s spine. The lion statues on either side of the steps seemed to watch them with judgmental, stony eyes.

Pidge had started to walk up the hill, but Keith grabbed her backpack to stop her. She glared at him over her shoulder in a silent question.

“Um,” he said. “Are you sure we should be doing this?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Are you kidding? We came all this way and now you want to give up?"

"That's not what I'm saying."

"Then what are you saying?"

Keith ran a hand through his hair and let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't think we're prepared for this. You haven't seen what I've seen. These ... monsters, this giant ghost lion. If they're in there, we have nothing to defend ourselves with."

For about two seconds, Pidge didn’t answer. Then she shrugged. "I didn't come here just to turn around again and leave. If my brother's in there, nothing's gonna stop me from getting him out."

Except a bunch of purple monsters and a huge lion spirit, Keith thought, but he held the words back.

"Well?" Pidge said. "Are you with me or not?"

He couldn't exactly let her go in there by herself, and––as terrified as he was––he wanted to find Shiro and Matt as much as she did. He nodded. "I'm with you."

Every step towards the Castle felt like an eternity. Keith's heart thundered inside his ribs and he dug his nails into his palms. He didn't take his eyes off the lion statues; he met each of their gazes with a challenging glare.

As they finally started to ascend the stone steps, he noticed something that he hadn’t seen from far away.

“The doors are open.”

It was true. At the top of the stairs, the large front double doors stood slightly ajar, as if in some sinister invitation.

Keith had a bad feeling about this. First the gate had been open, and now the doors. It was almost like someone had gotten here before them. Either that, or someone had purposefully made it easy for them to enter … and what that purpose was, he was afraid to find out. But if there was a chance that Shiro and Matt were somewhere in there, he was willing to take the risk.

“Okay,” Keith said, squaring his shoulders. “We’re going in. Stay close.”

“Why do you keep saying that to me?” Pidge muttered. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere …”

Keith pushed the door open.

Like something out of a cheap horror movie, the hinges let out an ominous groan. The sound made goosebumps rise on Keith’s skin, but he took a determined step through the gap and into the mansion.

Pidge appeared at his side a moment later. “Whoa.”

They had walked into a spacious foyer. Beneath their feet, a circular mosaic decorated the polished floor. A glittering chandelier hung from the domed ceiling, which bore a faded painting of gold lions against a red background. Curved staircases flanked either side of the room. Like the forest, the interior of the Castle was illuminated by some invisible source.

Keith suddenly remembered he’d brought his Swiss Army knife with him, and he drew it out of his jacket pocket. It probably wasn’t much against whatever monsters they might face, but at least it was something.

As he eased one of the blades out, he slowly scanned the room for any sign of movement.

Nothing.

He looked at Pidge and motioned towards the stairs with his head. She shrugged, then nodded. The two of them crept towards the left staircase, with Keith holding the small knife out in front of him.

Just as he put his foot on the first step, Pidge caught his elbow. When he followed her gaze, though, he didn’t see anything. “What is it?”

“N-nothing. I thought I heard something. Voices?”

Keith listened intently, but all that met his ears was silence.

“Never mind,” Pidge said. “Let’s just go.”

They moved up the steps with caution, keeping an easy pace. Luckily the stairs were made of marble and not wood, so they barely made a sound. As they ascended, the nervous roar in Keith’s ears grew louder and his hand shook so hard he nearly dropped the knife.

Without any interference, they reached the top of the stairs. Still no signs of life. No movement at all. Ahead of them stood another set of double doors with large floral-patterned vases on either side of them. Dark corridors stretched out to the left and right. The floor was carpeted by a faded red rug.

"Which way?" Keith whispered.

"I don't know." Pidge glanced in both directions. "Forward?"

Keith had no argument against that, so he moved towards the doors in front of them. The wood was carved with an intricate pattern of twisting leaves and vines. Pidge stepped up close to inspect the designs, reaching out to carefully run a finger over them.

"All right. Here we go," Keith said, and he turned one of the door handles.

The room beyond was an enormous, empty hall. It gleamed as if lit by moonlight. Chandeliers hung from the high ceiling and shiny foil wallpaper covered the walls, but it was otherwise unfurnished. At a glance, Keith couldn’t determine what its purpose was. Maybe it was some kind of ballroom or just a very fancy hallway. In either case, there was a door along every wall leading elsewhere in the mansion.

Still half-expecting some kind of ambush, Keith gripped his knife and moved slowly across the room. Pidge was close behind. Underneath the carpet, the floorboards groaned.

“Anything look familiar?” Pidge asked.

Keith shook his head. The more he looked around the room, the more he had a gnawing sense of dread in his stomach. Although they’d only seen a small portion of the mansion, nothing about it matched the images he’d seen in his dream. He’d only caught glimpses of the place where Shiro and Matt were being held captive, but it had looked much more ancient than this house.

Maybe they'd been wrong, and this wasn't the Castle of Lions after all. Maybe this wasn't even Altea.

He stopped walking. Pidge, meanwhile, had kept going until she reached the door on the other side of the room. She reached out to touch the doorknob.

"Pidge," Keith hissed. "What are you doing?"

She glanced back at him. "Shouldn't we keep going?"

"I–I don't know. Something feels off about this place, and ... I don't think it's the same place I saw in my dream."

"How do you know? We've only seen, like, two rooms."

"It just doesn't look the same or ... feel the same."

"O-kay," Pidge said, drawing out the two syllables. "Well, I'm going to keep looking. You can stay here if you want."

"By myself? Uh, no. That sounds like a bad idea."

Apparently Pidge didn't want to argue about it anymore, because she opened the door.

Keith braced himself, afraid that some hideous monster would jump out. But besides the eerie creaking of the hinges, there was no sound. A narrow corridor stretched out in front of them, lined with paintings and more closed doors. Pidge stepped into the hallway, and Keith had no choice but to follow her.

As they made their way down the passage, Keith looked up at the paintings hanging on the walls. Some of them were landscapes––the sun rising over mountains and lakes, sunny hillsides. Others were old-fashioned portraits, maybe of the family that used to live here. Stern faces watched from the gilded frames.

Keith came to a stop in front of one painting in particular. It depicted three people––what appeared to be a married couple with their daughter sitting between them. It was their eyes that caught Keith’s attention first: the mother’s a dark shade of violet, the father’s a piercing blue. The daughter had inherited a mix of the two, her irises a bright indigo. Maybe it was the artist’s stylistic choice, but it looked as if there were stars dancing in her pupils.

Stranger than that, though, was that all three of them had snow-white hair––a startling contrast to their dark skin. The parents did not appear old enough for their hair to have turned, and the girl––although she looked serious and wise beyond her years––only looked to be about thirteen.

Something about the painting kept Keith glued in place, staring. He wondered if the white hair was just an odd choice of color, or maybe they were all wearing wigs. But he had a feeling there was something strange about this family. Something special and ... familiar?

He was about to call Pidge over to look at it, but just then a loud noise startled him. The sound of wood groaning and splintering echoed down the hall.

Alarmed, he turned around to see Pidge standing at the end of the corridor. She was looking at her feet, her eyes widening.

She quickly took a step back, but it was too late. The floorboards gave way underneath her, and she disappeared from view.

---

Pidge's shriek was cut off by a loud crashing sound. A dust cloud burst out of the new hole in the floor and quickly dissipated.

"Pidge!" Keith yelled, running towards the end of the hall. He skidded to a stop where the floorboards had broken. His initial thought was just to jump through the hole after Pidge, but he dismissed it immediately. If they both broke their legs, they would never get out of here.

He tried to see down through the jagged hole without getting too close, but all he could see was darkness. "Pidge?"

No answer.

"Hold on, I'm coming down there!"

Cursing, he turned around and sprinted back down the corridor and out the door. He ran through the ballroom––or whatever it was––with a worried knot forming in his chest. He shouldn't have let Pidge wander away from him. They shouldn't have even come here in the first place. Shiro and Matt probably weren't even here.

He burst through the door and––

His forehead smacked into something, and he reeled back with a yelp. The thing he had crashed into, to his surprise, also cried out in pain.

Keith stopped rubbing the sore spot on his head and froze. Right in front of him was a person, doubled over with a hand over their face. "What the hell, Hunk?" the person said, voice muffled. "I thought you were downstairs––"

The person stood up straight, and Keith saw it was a teenage boy––probably around his age and a couple inches taller. He screamed when he saw Keith and fell back, his hand flying from his mouth to grip the banister at the top of the stairs.

Keith's mind had initially rushed to the worst possibility: was this one of the monsters he'd seen in his dream? But even in the dimness, he could tell this boy was human. For one thing his skin was brown, not purple. His hands didn't have any claws––Keith quickly checked, just to be sure. He briefly wondered if the boy was one of the people from Altea––an Altean?––but his clothing looked too modern: jeans, a long olive-green jacket over a gray T-shirt. Plus he had some kind of electronic device in one hand.

"Please don't stab me," the boy said.

"What?" Keith realized he was still gripping his Swiss Army knife, and he put it behind his back. "Oh. This is ... I wasn't going to stab you."

"Well, you did headbutt me."

"I didn't headbutt you, you ran into me!"

The boy didn't seem to have a response to that. He lingered at the top of the stairs, frowning as he looked Keith up and down.

"Are you a ghost?" he asked.

"Am I a … ? No, I'm not a ghost."

"Oh." The boy’s shoulders sagged. He fiddled with the device in his hands, which Keith realized was a small camcorder. "Sorry. The mullet threw me off. I thought maybe you died in the seventies or something."

Keith’s face burned, and he instinctively reached up to touch his hair. “It’s not a mullet,” he started to argue, but then shook his head. “Why am I even talking to you? Who are you?”

The boy raised his eyebrows. “Who am I? Uh, the name’s Lance. You know, Lance McClain … as in Lance and Hunk? Ghost Patrol?”

“Am I supposed to know what any of that means?”

Lance gasped and dramatically clapped a hand to his chest. “Are you serious? We’re only the coolest, handsomest, most legit ghost hunters ever!” He flashed a grin and winked. “Of all time!” His smile faded as he squinted at Keith. “Hey, you’re not a ghost hunter too, are you? Because if you are, I’m declaring a rivalry right now––”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Keith cut him off, “but no, I’m not a ghost hunter and I’m not going to be your rival. Now get out of my––”

“Hey, Lance?” a voice called from downstairs.

Lance leaned over the banister. “Yeah?”

“Uh, a person fell through the ceiling? Can you come help me out?”

Keith’s eyes widened. “Pidge,” he said, shoving past Lance.

“What’d you just call me?” Lance shouted back. He was a few steps behind Keith, who was racing down the stairs as fast he could.

“I wasn’t talking to you!”

Keith skidded to a halt in the middle of the foyer, and Lance ran into him. Again. Fortunately, right now he was too worried to be annoyed.

“Pidge?” he called.

At the same time, Lance yelled, “Hunk?” He frowned at Keith. “What kind of a name is Pidge?”

“What kind of a name is Hunk?”

“Uh, a very fitting one, I’ll have you know––”

“We’re over here!” someone––Hunk, Keith assumed––shouted from another room.

“Okay!” Lance pushed ahead of Keith. “Be there in a second!”

The foyer opened up into a large sitting room, and the two of them maneuvered around the array of brocade chairs and side tables.

“You split up with your friend in an abandoned mansion?” Keith said. “Haven’t you seen, like, any horror movie ever?”

“Hey, we do it all the time! Gotta cover as much ground as possible. And anyway, you split up with your friend, too.”

“Uh, no I didn’t. We were together until she fell through the floor.”

They ran into a hallway with an open door at its end. Lance dashed toward it and Keith followed him, until they both burst into the room. It appeared to be a dining room, with a long wooden table stretching down the center. A white tablecloth was draped across it, and silver candlesticks stood in a neat row. The chairs were all pushed in. Something about it was deeply unsettling––like the room had never been touched.

“Lance, is that you?” a voice said from the corner.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Lance moved toward the source of the sound, with Keith in tow. “By the way, I found this guy. He’s not a ghost, I asked.”

They made it to the end of the table, and Keith saw a large figure kneeling in the corner of the room. The person turned around and looked up at them with warm brown eyes, thick eyebrows furrowed in concern. Next to him, Pidge was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest, her hands clasped tightly to her left shin.

"Pidge!" Keith ran to her and crouched down. "Oh, my God. Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," she managed to say, although her face looked unusually pale.

Keith looked down and saw blood seeping through her fingers. He hissed in his breath. "Oh, jeez ..."

“Really, I’m okay. I think I just skinned it.”

Pidge pried her fingers away with a wince, revealing the torn skin underneath. It was still bleeding, but Keith was relieved to see it didn't look very deep.

"There's some first aid stuff in my backpack," Pidge went on, slipping the bag off her shoulders.

"Wow," said Keith. "You really did come prepared for anything."

Pidge managed a smile. "Girl Scout, remember?" She produced a small white box from the backpack, opened it, and fished out a large band-aid and a pad of gauze.

“Need any help?”

“No, I got it.”

During this whole exchange, Keith had almost forgotten that the other two boys were there. But suddenly he became aware that they were both kneeling on the floor nearby, watching.

Lance cleared his throat. "Hey, sorry to interrupt. But ... who are you guys?"

Now seemed like a weird time to be making introductions. Then again, the whole situation was unexpected, so Keith went along with it.

"Well, uh, I'm Keith."

Lance's friend stuck out his hand. "Hunk. Nice to meet you."

Warily, Keith shook Hunk's hand, which was so large it nearly enveloped his own. Now that he wasn’t in such a panic, Keith actually got a good look at the guy. He had a smile so wide and friendly that despite the circumstances, Keith had to smile back. An orange headband wrapped across his forehead, and he wore a green vest over a long-sleeved yellow shirt, and brown cargo pants. The strap of a bulky backpack hung from one of his shoulders.

“I’m Pidge,” said Pidge, who had just finished bandaging her leg. She looked over at Hunk. “Sorry I almost fell on you.”

He shrugged, as if people fell from the ceiling onto him all the time. “It’s okay.”

“And I’m Lance,” Lance interjected. He had his arms crossed, drumming his right fingers on his left elbow. His gaze flitted from Keith to Pidge and back again. “So, if you guys aren’t ghosts, and you’re not ghost hunters … what are you doing here?” There was an edge to the words, like he thought they were encroaching on his territory.

Pidge and Keith exchanged a look. Keith couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but he still wasn’t sure they could trust these guys, as harmless as they seemed. He didn’t know anything about this ghost realm or its inhabitants, and he still suspected that there was a trap afoot.

Yet, he felt a familiar tug in his chest in the presence of Lance and Hunk. And as he sat there in contemplation, he became steadily more aware of the feeling. He didn't know if he believed in auras and all that stuff, but that's almost what it felt like––as if there was some tangible, unique quality emanating from both of them.

Hunk's was warm and bright, like sunlight seeping through a window and touching your skin. Lance's was harder to define: more distant, but not necessarily untrustworthy. Colder, but not in a bad way. It was like a jump into water––shocking at first, but then peaceful, weightless.

How he sensed these things, Keith didn't know. It was as mysterious as the unknown force that had drawn him towards Altea in the first place. What he did know, though, was that this was exactly like the feelings he'd had when he met Pidge, and when he'd met Shiro––like somehow, he was connected to each of them.

Like somehow, they were destined to meet.

Coming back to his senses, Keith realized he hadn't said anything yet, and Pidge was still watching him like she was waiting for him to speak first.

“We’re looking for Pidge’s brother,” he answered at last. “His name is Matt. And my friend, Shiro. They disappeared on the same night a few weeks ago, and we think they may have ended up here.”

At that, Hunk and Lance both sat up straighter, with startled expressions on their faces.

“Huh,” Hunk said. “That’s quite a coincidence.”

Pidge frowned. “What? Why?”

“Because,” said Lance, “we’re looking for Shiro and Matt, too.”

Chapter Text

“Hold on,” said Keith, struggling to process what he’d just heard. “You guys know Shiro and Matt?”

"Sort of," said Lance.

At the same time, Hunk said, "Not exactly."

Keith just stared at both of them quizzically.

"We don't really know Matt," Hunk went on, glancing at Pidge. "Sorry."

She looked down, her shoulders sagging.

"We don't really know Shiro, either." Hunk scratched the back of his head. "But like, everyone around here kind of knows him. The dude's a local legend."

"Seriously," Lance cut in. "That guy's my hero." He turned to Keith. "And you're friends with him?"

"Uh, yeah. Shiro ... he's kind of been a mentor for me this past year or so," Keith started to explain, and then he didn’t know how to continue. He could have gone on and on about how Shiro was the best friend he’d ever had, how much he’d taught Keith and changed his life. But it was difficult to put into words––especially considering the circumstances.

“No way,” Lance said. He sat back on his heels. “Like what, a piloting mentor? He works at the Garrison, right?”

Keith tried not to flinch at the mention of school. “Right.”

“Whoa, you’re a pilot?” said Hunk.

“Yes. I mean … no, not really. I’m still training.” Keith stared at the floorboards, his face burning. Something about Lance and Hunk both watching him was making him extremely self-conscious. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Why do you guys care about finding Shiro and Matt if you don’t even know them?”

The words came out a bit more hostile than he had thought they would, but neither Lance nor Hunk seemed offended.

“Like Lance said, Shiro’s a huge inspiration to us,” Hunk said. “He gave a talk at our school a couple years ago, and it kind of changed our lives.”

“Really,” Lance agreed with a nod. “I cared about space and stuff before, but … man, the way he talked about it made me even more excited. He made it seem more real, you know? Like the dream of being an astronaut or working for NASA isn’t that crazy. It’s part of why Hunk and I started the astronomy club.”

They smiled at each other and high-fived.

This all still felt so surreal to Keith. He couldn’t believe he was in some kind of ghost world, sitting on the floor in some huge––and probably haunted––mansion, and these two guys had appeared out of nowhere, somehow knew Shiro, and now they were talking about their astronomy club like that was a relevant topic of conversation right now.

“Wait, wait.” Pidge ran her hands over her hair, picking out little bits of debris that still stuck to it. “But how did you two even get here? How’d you know about Altea? How did you know to come looking for Shiro and Matt here? Why––”

“Pidge,” Keith cut her off. “Maybe you should ask one question at a time.”

She crossed her arms and pouted.

Hunk chuckled. "It's okay. Those are all good questions." He slid his backpack off his shoulder, resting it on the floor next to him. "We immediately got suspicious when we first heard about Shiro and Matt's disappearance. It was all over the news, as I'm sure you guys know. Something about it just seemed ... off."

“Yeah,” said Lance. “Two guys just disappear into the wilderness without a trace? Freaky.”

Freaky was one way to put it. Keith bit back a retort.

“We suspected something supernatural was involved,” Hunk continued. “I mean, we always do. We’ve been doing this ghost-hunting thing for years. And yeah, we’ve come across some unexplained stuff. But this was different. It was like … some kind of switch had flipped.”

Pidge frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’m saying, we’ve been tracking all kinds of strange occurrences in this area––but it’s not just that.” Hunk unzipped his backpack. “We’ve also been keeping an eye on energy changes. Shifts in the electromagnetic spectrum. That kinda thing.”

“What?” Pidge blurted. “No way. Me too!”

Hunk froze, his hand buried in his bag. “Really?”

“Yeah! It’s been all over the place, right? Ever since––”

“The disappearance,” Hunk finished, another smile lighting up his face. “Wow, yeah!”

Keith looked between them like he was watching a tennis match. Out of the corner of his vision, he noticed Lance was staring at him like he was waiting for Keith to give some kind of explanation.

Meanwhile, Hunk started rummaging through his backpack again, pulling out various electronic devices as he spoke. “Unfortunately none of our equipment has been working since we got here. Not sure why that is. Maybe all the crazy energy shifts?”

“Our stuff isn’t working, either,” Pidge said, pulling out her EMF reader and glowering at the screen.

“Yeah, I’m bummed.” Lance switched the power button on his video camera on and off, to no avail. He handed it to Hunk, who wordlessly put it in the backpack. “My video cut out just as we reached that weird dark part of the woods. I was hoping to get some good footage, but oh well. There go all our YouTube views.”

“Seriously?” Keith blurted. “That’s what you’re worried about? YouTube views?”

“Hey, now. We can’t disappoint our fans!”

“What fans?”

Lance lurched back like he’d been slapped. He lifted a finger, but Pidge interrupted before he could say anything.

“Guys, stop. Look, we’re all here for the same reason––”

Keith scoffed. “Yeah, but these two are here just to … what, stumble around filming a haunted house? We’re here because Shiro and Matt are actually important to us, not because of some stupid hobby.”

“Keith.” Pidge shot him a serious glare. “They found this place, just like we did. Maybe we can help each other out.”

She turned to Hunk again. "Anyway, you were explaining about the energy changes?"

Hunk was sitting with his shoulders hunched, looking at Keith out of the side of his eye. "Uh, right. Well, it wasn't just that." He pulled another object out of his bag––something that looked similar to one of Pidge's devices, a jumble of buttons and antennae that Keith could only guess the purpose of. "We had already been researching haunted places in the area, and we'd heard rumors about some town in the mountains that had disappeared."

"How'd you find out about that?" Pidge asked.

"Oh, you know. Old town records, maps, talking with locals and stuff. We heard about this ghost town from a few people, but none of them seemed to know much. Mostly these were older people who'd heard stories about it as kids. We thought it'd be an interesting thing to look into––"

"And then Shiro and Matt disappeared," Lance said. "We didn't know if it was connected or not, but ..." He shrugged. "We both had a feeling about it."

"What kind of feeling?" said Keith.

"I don't know. It's hard to explain." Lance paused, glancing in Hunk's direction. "We just felt really drawn to this ghost town for some reason. And then this mysterious, unexplained disappearance happens. It all seemed to add up, somehow.

“We started looking around in places where we thought Altea might’ve been. Exploring the woods and stuff. We didn’t really find anything, except some cold patches here and there.”

“Cold patches?”

“Yeah, you know––places where the barrier between our world and the ghost world is thinner, it can start to feel cold for no reason.”

"Huh," Keith murmured. He suddenly remembered that moment back in the woods, when he could've sworn the temperature dropped dramatically out of nowhere. It had happened right before his weird blackout, when he'd sensed the way to Altea for the first time.

"So, we were tracking these cold patches," Hunk picked up where Lance had left off, carefully placing his electronic device back in his backpack. "At first, it didn't seem too unusual. But we started to notice a pattern, that they all seemed to be clustered around a certain area. Not only that, but we picked up on some weird noises."

Pidge gasped. "What kind of noises?"

"Like, creepy voices. Whispering."

"Wait, really?" said Pidge. "You heard voices?"

"I know, it sounds crazy. But––"

"No, no. It's not crazy at all." A disbelieving grin had broken over Pidge's face. "I've been listening in on strange noises in the area, too. And I also heard some things. Keith heard some of it, too. He can back me up on this."

Keith nodded. "It's true."

"What'd you guys hear?" Pidge demanded, leaning forward eagerly.

Hunk and Lance both looked pretty shell-shocked, but Lance recovered first.

"We weren't sure it was anything important at first," he said. "It was just like, little snippets of things, so we figured it could have been radio signals interfering with the equipment. But we decided to take some recordings and analyze them, anyway. We tried slowing them down and stuff, and it was still hard to pick out any words. But they kept saying this one thing––"

"Voltron?" said Pidge.

Lance and Hunk both practically jumped in the air.

"How––How did you know that?" Hunk asked.

"Because the voices I kept hearing, they were saying the same thing."

"Whoa," said Lance. "Do you have any idea what it means?"

"No, sorry. I was hoping you guys would."

Lance shook his head. "No clue. Sounds like the name of a Transformer or something."

"There was this other thing I heard," Pidge continued. “Something about a ‘black paladin.’”

She looked at Hunk and Lance expectantly, but they only returned bewildered looks in response.

“Uh … sorry, I don’t think we heard anything about that,” Hunk said.

Pidge sighed. “Okay. Well, what else did you hear?”

“Not much. Besides that one phrase, we couldn’t figure out what any of the voices were saying. But we determined that they got more frequent in certain areas of the woods––around the same places where the cold patches were.

"We went out exploring a bunch of times and hadn't found what we were looking for, yet. No sign of this missing ghost town, or of Shiro and Matt. But we had a feeling we were onto something. And finally, when we were out in the woods today, we came across this ..." Hunk hesitated. "I don't know. This part of the woods that looked ... different?"

"Really dark, you mean?" said Pidge. "Even though it was still light outside?"

"Yeah, sort of. Except, it wasn't just that it was dark. It was like looking at something reflected in a window or something. Like, one world layered on top of another."

Now that Hunk described it that way, Keith realized that was exactly what it had been like. Seeing the ghost world was like standing in front of a window at night––the blurry reflection of light superimposed over the darkness.

“It really wasn’t what I expected,” Lance said. He had drawn his knees up to his chest and propped his chin on them. “Of course I’m psyched to have found the passage into the ghost world or whatever. I just thought it’d be more …” He trailed off.

“More what?” Pidge asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just … more.”

“Yeah,” Keith found himself saying. “I know what you mean.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “You do?”

“Yes … ? Like, you’d think a portal to another world would be more––I don’t know––obvious?”

“Like what, some big sparkly circle hovering in the air? Like in a sci-fi movie or something?”

“Hey, you’re the one who said you expected it to be more!”

“Guys,” Pidge stopped them. “Look, we all ended up here––at the same place, at the same time. That doesn’t seem like a coincidence. Plus, Keith and I …” She paused, taking a deep breath. “We––We found Shiro’s plane. In the woods.”

“What?” Lance exclaimed. Hunk clapped a hand over his mouth.

“There was nothing in it,” Keith said quickly. The image of the wreckage still burned in his mind, and he tried not to think too hard about it. “But it was pretty close to here. Which means they couldn’t have gone far, unless they were … taken somewhere.”

“Taken?” Lance said. “By who?”

Keith felt heat rise to his face again. He glared down at the floorboards, running a finger over the uneven wood. “I had this dream. Kind of a vision, I guess? It happened on the night Shiro and Matt disappeared. I saw these ... creatures. I didn't get a good look at them, I just saw their hands, and ... well, they definitely weren't human. They were dragging Shiro and Matt through some kind of ruins, like an old castle or something."

He came to a sudden stop, realizing just how much he had said at once. Hunk and Lance both stared at him intently. Keith had expected them to laugh, but they both had serious expressions on their faces.

"Wow," Hunk said. "Did you see anything else?"

"Yeah. There was this other part where I was in a dark room with this giant ghost lion. Then it tried to kill me, but I woke up."

"Ghost lion, huh?" Lance scratched his chin. "Never heard of anything like that."

"We talked to this museum owner about it," said Pidge. "A guy Matt worked with. He said something about how the lion could have been some kind of powerful spirit. But what that has to do with Matt and Shiro disappearing, we don't know."

"Hmm," Lance said, crossing his arms. His gaze shifted over to Keith again. “So you think this dream was prophetic or something? Are you like, psychic?”

He brought it up so casually, as if it was a question he was accustomed to asking people.

“I don’t know,” Keith admitted. “I’ve always had vivid dreams, but this felt different, somehow. I don’t know whether that means it was real, though––and if it is, I don’t know whether it’s something that already happened or something that’s going to happen. Or something that could happen.”

“Okay. So you’ve never had a psychic vision before?” Lance asked.

“Not that I know of. Although … there was also this weird thing that happened in the woods.” He glanced over at Pidge, hoping she might help him explain, but she was just watching him patiently. He took a deep breath before he continued.

“You know how you guys were talking about cold patches? I felt something like that––like I suddenly felt freezing cold. And then … I don’t really know what happened. I sort of blacked out? Apparently Pidge was trying to snap me out of it, but I couldn’t see or hear anything. But when I woke up, I somehow knew the way to Altea. Like something was leading us here.”

“Whoa,” Hunk said. “That’s weird.”

Keith felt a twinge of disappointment. “So, nothing like that happened to either of you guys?”

Hunk and Lance both shook their heads.

“Guess I’m just a freak, then,” Keith muttered.

“Hey, maybe you were possessed!” said Lance. The way his eyes lit up, apparently he thought that was a good thing.

“Um, I don’t think so. I was still me, it was just that I knew where to go. Almost like there was some kind of map in my head, except I couldn’t see the whole thing at once. It was more like … something was pulling me in the right direction.”

“It was intense,” Pidge added. “He took off like a lightning bolt. I could barely keep up with him.”

Keith winced. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. Got us here, didn’t it?”

“Yeah …” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I just wish I knew what it meant.”

“Okay, well, I don’t know what’s up with Super Mullet and his magical sense of direction,” Lance said. “But in any case, we all ended up here. That probably means something, right?”

“I don’t know,” said Keith. “I’d thought this … thing in my head, whatever it is, was leading us to where Shiro and Matt are. But this place doesn’t look anything like what I saw in the dream.”

“Then maybe that’s not what it was leading you to,” Hunk offered.

“Then what …” Keith started to ask, and then stopped short. It occurred to him: what if the invisible guide hadn’t been leading them to Altea? What if it had been leading them to Lance and Hunk?

He didn’t want to believe it. Even though he had an inexplicable sense that the two of them were important, another part of him recoiled in incredulity. Really? These guys?

“In any case, we’re all here,” Pidge said. “Maybe Matt and Shiro aren’t, but maybe we can find a clue somewhere.”

“Okay, Nancy Drew,” Lance said, and Pidge glared at him. He put up his hands defensively. “Hey, I’m serious. You’re right. We’re all here, so we might as well keep looking to see if we can find anything.”

Everyone nodded their agreement.

Keith offered Pidge his hand. “Are you okay standing up?”

“Yeah, I think so,” she said, but she took his hand anyway.

They both stood. Hunk and Lance were already on their feet.

“So, what do we do?” said Lance. “Maybe we should split up? Hunk and I could look downstairs and you guys look upstairs.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. We should all stick together,” Keith said.

Lance smirked at him. “Why, are you scared?”

“Uh, no. I’m just being reasonable. I’m the only one who’s actually seen the monsters we might be up against. If any of them are around, it’s probably better that we’re all there to face them together.”

“He kinda has a point, Lance,” said Hunk. “You know, strength in numbers and all that.”

“Ugh, fine,” Lance groaned. "It'll probably be slower that way, but whatever. Let's go."

--

Over the next half an hour or so, the four of them scoured the mansion. The house was a maze of narrow corridors, creaking staircases, and empty rooms. Every time one of them opened a new door, Keith tensed in preparation for whatever might be behind it––but so far, nothing sinister had appeared.

Not only that, but it almost looked like no one had ever lived here. The furniture was arranged neatly, the beds made, the curtains drawn. Keith had expected to find signs that the inhabitants had disappeared in some catastrophic event, but there was no evidence such a thing had occurred.

"Haven't we been down this hallway already?" Lance asked, as they made their way down another dim passage. "I can't even tell anymore. Everything looks the same."

"Yeah, I think you may be right," Pidge said. She was walking close to the wall, inspecting every inch of it.

Lance stopped walking, crossing his arms. "Great. The one time we find a haunted mansion in another dimension, it doesn't even have any ghosts in it."

"We should probably head home soon," said Hunk. "I'm not sure what time it is or how time works in the ghost world or whatever, but ... it's probably getting pretty late. I don't want my moms to worry."

“What? No, we can’t give up!”

“Lance, you just said it yourself––there’s nothing here. Maybe if we come back tomorrow …”

“Nuh-uh! How do we know the portal will even be here tomorrow? This could be our only chance to––”

“Guys,” Keith said, cutting off their argument. His head had started buzzing. At first he’d thought it was just from listening to Hunk and Lance bicker, but now the feeling grew suddenly intense, so much that it made him dizzy. He winced and rubbed at his temples.

“Hey, what’s happening to him?” he heard Lance ask through the ringing in his ears. “Oh my God, you guys. I think his mullet is eating his brain.”

“Shut up,” Pidge snapped. She appeared at Keith’s side, peering up at him with concern. “Keith, are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah, I think so.” He blinked a few times as his mind cleared. “I felt something.”

“Was it your magical brain map again?” Lance asked.

“Something like that. I just … have a feeling something is nearby.”

Pidge tilted her head. “What kind of something?”

“I don’t know.” Keith looked around, and his eyes fixed on the door at the end of the hallway. “This way.”

No one questioned him––which was good, because he had no explanation to give. It was almost exactly like what he’d felt in the woods: an unseen, magnetic force pulling him in the right direction.

He reached the door, which bore no special markings or decoration. The drone in his head escalated as he touched the doorknob and turned it.

On the other side, a set of stairs twisted down into darkness. Floating particles illuminated the air like glowing dust motes.

Lance scoffed. “Great. You found the basement.”

“Something’s down there,” Keith insisted, without taking his eyes away from the winding staircase. “Just shut up and trust me.”

Without waiting for anyone’s permission, he started down the steps.

Their journey downward was slow and quiet. Keith led the way, trailing his hand on the banister and testing each step before leaning his full weight on it. The old wood creaked underneath his footsteps, and the stairs behind him groaned as his three companions followed him.

Strange, silver particles hovered in the air like fireflies, moving into clusters and scattering again. Keith tried to reach out and touch one, but his fingers moved right through it.

At last, they reached the bottom of the long stairwell––and they all gasped at the sight.

They now stood in a cavernous hall with an arched ceiling. Tall pillars towered on either side of the room, leading the way to an enormous set of double doors. A symmetrical design of a lion’s head protruded from the wood, fangs bared as if to warn away intruders. Five more lion faces were depicted in the mosaic on the floor––one at the very center, the other four forming a square around it.

“They were really into this whole lion thing, huh?” Lance muttered.

“Whoa, hey. What's that?” Hunk pointed to the far end of the room.

A dull light had started to leak out from underneath the doors. The silver rays reached across the tiled floor like long fingers, fading in and out in an almost trance-inducing rhythm.

At the same time, something hummed deep inside Keith's head, urging him forward. By now, he knew better to ask if anyone else felt it––it was probably just him. He didn't even say anything before he started to walk across the room, gaze fixated on the double doors.

The doors had looked enormous from across the room, and up close their size was even more staggering. Keith felt miniscule in comparison. The lion face carved into the wood was so gigantic, he could probably have fit inside its gaping mouth.

"So, how do we get in?" Pidge asked, appearing by Keith's side. She pushed her glasses further up her nose, squinting as she looked the doors up and down. "I don't see any handles or anything."

"Maybe we're just supposed to push it?" Keith suggested. He put both hands on one door and made an attempt––but even putting all his weight into it, it didn't budge. "Jeez, it's really heavy."

"Stand back, I've got this," Hunk said. When Keith stepped aside, he rushed forward and drove one big shoulder into the door. It only resulted in a hollow thud that echoed through the hall, and he bounced back again, clutching at his arm. “Aw man, that usually works. Sorry, guys.”

“It’s okay, you gave it your best shot.” Lance patted Hunk on the back, then rubbed his hands together. “Okay … maybe if we all do it at once?”

"Can't hurt," Keith said with a shrug.

All four of them leaned against the door. But after several minutes of unsuccessful pushing, they all stepped back again.

"We could try knocking," Lance suggested.

Keith gave him a withering look. "Yeah, that'll work."

"Oh, and I guess you have a better plan."

"Wait a second," Hunk said before they could argue any further. He stood facing away from the doors, eyes searching over the mosaic on the floor. "I think I might have an idea."

"Well, what is it?" Pidge asked.

"Okay, this is going to sound a little weird. But you see this pattern on the floor? Maybe ... it means something. Or we're supposed to use it somehow."

“Use it how? You think it has some clue about how to open the door?”

Pidge crouched down, squinting at the lion pattern closest to her feet.

“I was thinking …” Hunk trailed off, as he walked to one of the lion designs and stepped onto it. “There are four of us, and … well, there’s five lions in this pattern. But maybe if each of us stands at one of the lions at the corners, something will happen?”

“Like what, the doors will magically open?” said Keith.

“Hey, it’s worth a try,” Lance said. “I mean, we’re in some kind of ghost dimension. Anything’s possible.”

As much as he wanted to argue, Keith could see Lance had a point. Besides, it wasn’t like he had any other ideas.

Coming to a silent agreement, everyone moved to one of the lions at the four corners of the pattern. Keith stared down at the lion underneath his sneakers––a lioness, rather, with a calm but powerful expression. Her yellow eyes gazed back up at him in a way that made a shudder go through him. In the corners of his vision, he could see everyone else was standing in position now.

A spark seemed to ignite in his chest. The air in the room felt different––more electric. As Keith continued to look down at the lion on the floor, he noticed that its eyes had started to glow.

His first instinct was to cry out or jump away, but something rooted him to the spot. He had a strong, uncanny feeling that if he moved at all, he would break some sort of spell.

The glow spread from the lion's eyes, winding between the cracks in the tiles. Blue light trickled over the pattern like a web, until it extended the perimeters of Keith's vision. He looked up to see the same thing was happening to the other three; everyone was staring down at the glowing pattern underneath them in silent awe.

A low rumble shook deep in the ground, like a giant beast awakening. The sound made Keith's heart jump, and he tensed in preparation for whatever they had unleashed. What if this was a mistake? What if they had just triggered some inescapable trap?

He almost expected the floor to fall out from underneath them, or the ceiling to collapse on their heads. Neither of those things occurred. But the roar grew louder, and the floor kept shaking––and at last, the doors started to open.

A line of silver light cut the lion's face in two. The doors slid to either side, the light at the center growing so bright that Keith had to shield his eyes. A sudden wind swept through the room like a tornado, whipping his hair and clothes, nearly driving him backward with its strength. He could distantly hear Hunk, Lance, and Pidge crying out, but the sound was barely audible through the deafening rush in his ears.

Then, all at once, it stopped.

The wind died down. The blinding light faded to its original dull, pulsing glow. Keith lowered his arm away from his eyes, blinking away the lingering afterimage.

"Whoa, I can't believe that worked," Pidge said faintly, breaking the silence.

"That was awesome!" Lance pointed at Hunk with a wide grin. "Hunk ... you're a genius and I love you."

"Aww, thanks Lance. Love you, too."

"Hey, I hate to break up your moment," said Keith, "but uh ... you may want to look up."

The doors had opened into another chamber, smaller than the one they were standing in. It was circular, a column that reared up into a high rotunda. More pillars circled its perimeter, with lion statues standing between them.

Even more remarkable than that, however, was the huge glowing sphere hovering in the air.

It appeared to be a giant cocoon––thousands of silver threads weaving together like spiderwebs. Some invisible force kept it suspended about ten feet off the floor, where it drifted in a soft glow. The light brightened and faded slowly. As it lit up once again, Keith could see something dark silhouetted at its center––something distinctly human-shaped.

“Oh, my God,” Lance said, apparently noticing it at the same time. “Is that a person?”

Instinctively, Keith reached for the Swiss Army knife in his jacket pocket. Lance, however, had already started sprinting towards the open doors.

"Lance, wait!" Hunk called after him.

"Someone's in there," Lance shouted back. "We've gotta help them!"

Knife in hand, Keith bolted after Lance. "Hold on, it could be some kind of trap!"

He skidded to a halt as he made it through the doorway. Lance was already standing underneath the glowing sphere, head tilted back with the silver light illuminating his face and reflecting in his wide eyes. A few seconds passed before Keith tore his gaze away from Lance and looked up.

Even this close, he still wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking at. Whatever this magical cocoon was made of, its casing was thick and tightly-woven. The strands looked almost alive, shimmering and vibrating. Through the web of fluctuating light, the human figure was barely visible––but Keith could just make out the shadow of floating limbs, billowing hair, a long skirt.

Pidge and Hunk came stumbling up next to them, both of them staring up at the mysterious floating figure.

“What are we supposed to do?” Pidge said, wringing her hands.

“We have to get up there somehow,” said Lance. “We can’t just leave that person in there.” He looked over at Pidge with a calculating look.

She crossed her arms. “If you’re thinking about throwing me up in the air, you can think again.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of you standing on my shoulders … or Hunk’s shoulders, maybe?”

“And then what, just … grab it?”

“I don’t know. Mullet Man has a knife, maybe we could use that to cut it open.”

“It’s not a mullet,” Keith told Lance again––although he was already getting a feeling this argument was a lost cause. “And are you sure that’s a good idea? We don’t know who this person is. We don’t know if it’s a person at all.”

“Well, uh, I think we’re about to find out,” Hunk said, pointing up. “Look, something’s happening.”

Sure enough, the light around the sphere was dimming. The glowing threads rapidly disintegrated, splitting apart and drifting into nothingness. Pieces of the makeshift cocoon scattered in all directions like ashes flying, until all that remained was the figure at its center.

For a moment the person remained hovering in the air. Then, without warning, they fell.

Lance reacted first, diving forward with a yelp. The person crashed into his outstretched arms, and they both tumbled to the floor.

"Lance!" Hunk exclaimed, and he and Pidge ran forward.

Keith hung back a moment, still gripping his knife at his side. He stared at the woman who was now sprawled across Lance’s legs––a woman with dark skin and a cloud of long, snow-white hair. She wore a lacy blue dress with long sleeves and buttons down the front. Her eyes were closed.

As Keith continued to stand there awkwardly, Hunk and Pidge crouched down next to Lance. He had just sat up, groaning and rubbing the back of his head.

"You okay, Lance?" Hunk asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Uh ... what about her, though?" He looked down at the woman in his lap, moving an arm under her shoulders to lift her into a more upright position. She remained limp, her head lolling back.

Hunk shrank away. "Oh, jeez. Is she ... dead?"

"I think she's breathing," Pidge said.

Lance placed two fingers against the woman's neck and his eyes widened. "Wow yeah, she's definitely alive. Doesn't seem to be waking up, though." His brow furrowed. “Hmm. Maybe it’s a Sleeping Beauty kind of thing––she’ll only wake up if one of us kisses her.”

For some reason he looked up at Keith as he said it, and Keith felt his face go red-hot. “I can’t, I’m gay,” he blurted.

Everyone stared at him, and an alarm blared inside his head. Why the hell did I say that?!

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Okay. So that eliminates Keith, I guess. Hunk has a girlfriend, and Pidge is like twelve years old.”

“I’m fifteen.”

“Whatever, still too young. Guess it’ll have to be me, then,” Lance said with a sigh.

"Hold on a second." Keith inched forward, still staring at the motionless woman. "I––I recognize her."

"You what?" Lance said. "Is this another one of your psychic things?"

"No, it's not. I saw a portrait of her in a hallway upstairs. At least, I think it was her."

"But that portrait must be like a century old," said Hunk. "You don't think ..."

Right then, the woman groaned and shifted in Lance's arms. They all gasped and Lance nearly dropped her, but he managed to tighten his arms around her just in time.

She slowly opened her eyes, which were an icy shade of blue. They remained foggy and unfocused for a few moments, and then she frowned as she emerged into full awareness.

"What ... what's happening?" she murmured. "Who are you?" Her voice, although slightly hoarse from misuse, still held an elegant but commanding tone even in her half-awake state. She also had some kind of accent––British, maybe.

The shock on Lance's face gave way to a sly smile. "Hello there. Name's Lance ..."

"Lance," Hunk said warningly. "Could you maybe ... not?"

"What? I was just introducing myself."

"I don't understand," the woman said, laying a hand over her forehead. She winced as she started to sit up, looking around the room as she did so.

When her gaze fell on Keith, he felt that shock of recognition again. She was definitely the same person he'd seen in the portrait upstairs, although she looked older now––about in her early twenties.

"Who are all of you?" she demanded. "You're not the paladins. Or ... are you?" Her indignant frown suddenly transformed into a wide-eyed, worried expression. "You couldn't be here if you weren't ... But there's only four of you. Where's the fifth?"

"What are you talking about?" Keith said.

"Wait, did you say 'paladins'?" Pidge exclaimed. "What is that? What does it mean?"

The woman turned to her, eyebrows raised. "You mean ... you don't know? Oh, no. Oh, no ..." She bent forwards with her hands planted on the floor, her head lowered.

"Hey, uh. Are you okay?" Lance asked, putting a tentative hand on her shoulder.

She whipped around and grabbed him by the wrist, making him cry out in surprise.

"Where's my father?" she cried, her voice shaking. "Alfor. Where is he?"

“I––I don’t know! We don’t know who that is!”

“Hey, calm down, lady,” Hunk said, lifting his hands defensively. “Let him go. None of us are gonna hurt you, we swear.” He glanced up at Keith. “Dude, put the knife away.”

Keith hadn’t even realized he was still holding it. He sheepishly folded the blade away and tucked it back in his pocket.

The woman’s shoulders drooped, and after a moment’s hesitation she let go of Lance. He rubbed at his wrist. “Dang, you’ll have to teach me that move. That hurts.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman said quietly, threading her fingers into her silver hair. “I …” She couldn’t seem to finish whatever she was about to say. Her irises moved rapidly back and forth, as if she was reading something written on the floor that no one else could see.

Keith cleared his throat. “So, uh … what’s your name?”

Everyone glared at him, and he realized it had been kind of a tactless question.

“What year is it?” the woman said instead of answering.

They all exchanged wary glances before Pidge spoke up. “It’s 2016. Why?”

The woman inhaled sharply, running her hands down her face.

“What? What’s wrong?” Lance asked.

A long silence ensued before she answered.

“My name is Allura,” she said. “And I’ve been asleep for a hundred years.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

“So, you slept for a hundred years, huh?” Lance said. “Talk about beauty sleep. I try to get eight hours minimum, but I still always have these dark circles under my eyes …”

“Lance,” Hunk cut him off, his tone weary. “This lady just suddenly woke up to find out a whole century has gone by. Maybe give her a second?”

“Right. Sorry.”

Allura didn't seem to hear their exchange. She had already gotten to her feet and was pacing around the circular room, stumbling every few steps. She muttered something to herself that Keith couldn't hear.

“Uh … are you okay?” Keith asked as she passed him. “Maybe you should sit down.”

“I’m fine.” She steadied herself against a nearby pillar with one hand, her other hand clasped to her chest. Her eyes shone with unshed tears, but she clenched her jaw firmly. “Father warned me that this might happen. I had just prayed it wouldn’t come to this.”

They were all standing now, watching Allura as she continued to lean against the pillar, deep in thought.

Pidge cleared her throat. “Can I ask how you were asleep for a hundred years? I know about cryogenics and all, but somehow I have the feeling that wasn’t involved here. What was that substance you were encased in?”

Allura blinked at Pidge as if she'd just spoken in a foreign language. "It was a protection spell my father cast. A magical barrier. It was meant to keep me safe in case … in case anything were to happen to him. He created it so that the barrier would only break down if the paladins were present."

"Wait," Pidge blurted. "You used that word again ... 'paladins.' What does that mean? And what was your father trying to protect you from, anyway?"

The barrage of questions seemed to have pushed Allura back like a physical weight, and she leaned heavily against the pillar as if pinned to it. "I ... I don't know where to begin," she admitted. "Perhaps you should tell me what you know, first."

Her eyes fell on Keith, like she expected him to be the one to explain. Now everyone else was staring at him and no one was saying anything. With his face burning, he tried to stutter out an answer.

"Sorry, we don't know much. We just know that Altea has been missing for like a hundred years. Then Pidge's brother Matt and my friend Shiro went looking for it and they disappeared, so we’re trying to find them ...”

He briefly explained the sounds and signals they’d picked up, and the others jumped in to add things here and there. Allura listened without saying a word, regarding each of them in turn with widening eyes.

She probably didn't understand half of what they were saying. If she had really been asleep for a hundred years, she had never heard of the technology they had used to find Altea in the first place. When Keith described his dream, though, a look of sudden understanding crossed her face. She stood up straight, stepping away from the pillar.

"So, you're saying you saw your friends––Matt and Shiro were their names?––being held captive by purple creatures."

Keith nodded, again embarrassed at how ridiculous that sounded.

"And you saw the spirit of a black lion, and it attacked you."

"Yeah. Do you know what any of that means?"

Allura didn't seem to have heard him. Her attention had turned towards Pidge. "And you ... before any of you had entered the spirit realm, you heard a voice say that the Black Paladin had arrived?"

Pidge gave a single nod. "That's right."

“Oh, dear …” She put her hands over her face.

By now the four teens were all gathered around her, keeping a slight distance like they were afraid she might explode.

“So … I’m getting the sense this situation is not good,” Hunk said at last.

“No. Not at all.” Allura’s hands dropped to her sides again––but now there was a fire in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. “I’m afraid something terrible has happened. And if it’s what I think it is … the fate of the world rests in our hands, now.”

---

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You can’t say something like that and then just run away,” Lance cried.

After delivering that ominous statement, Allura had dashed from the room as if pursued by an invisible demon. She was already running up the stairs, with everyone else stumbling to keep up with her.

“She sure is fast for someone who’s been asleep for a century,” Pidge wheezed, pausing for a second to grip the banister and grab the stitch in her side.

Keith stopped to wait for her, although he was anxious to follow the others up the winding steps. Allura had already disappeared around the corner, and Hunk and Lance were close behind her.

“Yeah, what’s this ‘fate of the world’ thing you mentioned?” Hunk was saying. “Is that, like, bad? What do we have to do with it? Also, is it gonna take a long time? I kinda told my moms I’d be home by nine …”

His voice faded out of earshot as he made it to the top of the stairs.

“You okay, Pidge?” Keith asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

They joined the other three, who had gathered in the foyer. Allura stood facing the front doors, as if waiting for something. Hunk and Lance stood slightly behind her, both watching in curiosity. They both turned towards Keith and Pidge as they entered the room. Keith looked back and forth between them questioningly but only received shrugs in response.

Allura drew in a breath and released it in a long sigh. Then she reached up to open the doors.

Outside, everything looked exactly as it had before––at least, as Keith remembered it. In the valley, the houses stood silently between the winding paths. Silver light hovered over the sleeping town, but the sky above remained black and starless.

At the sight, Allura reeled back with a gasp as if she'd been stabbed. She nearly crashed into Hunk, who put his hands up.

"Whoa, hey. Are you okay? What's happening?"

She didn't answer, only stood facing the open doorway with a hand pressed to her chest. Her breathing was loud and ragged in the ensuing silence, as the other four all stared at her in alarm.

"No," Allura said at last, shaking her head. "It's exactly as I feared."

"Which is ... what?" Keith asked.

Allura still provided no response. She only paced forward a few steps into the light, still staring at the landscape outside as if waiting for it to change. When she turned around, she was biting her bottom lip.

“It appears my father put the entire town under a protection spell,” she said, her voice faint. “That is … he transported it to a realm that could only be accessed by a chosen few.”

“Chosen few, huh?” said Lance. He crossed his arms, one side of his mouth turning up in a crooked smile. “Which includes us, apparently.”

"Precisely," Allura said without hesitation, which made Lance's smile vanish. "Because my father's spell would have made it impossible for anyone from outside Altea to enter besides the paladins."

"Wait a second," said Keith, as he started to process what Allura had said. "Are you saying we're––"

"Yes," Allura answered, before he could finish the question. "That must mean … you four are paladins of Voltron."

Pidge threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "Okay, can you please tell us what this thing 'paladins' means? And 'Voltron' ... what the heck is that?"

Allura looked taken aback for a moment, then she sighed and rubbed at her forehead. "There is much to explain," she said wearily. "And I suppose there isn't much time. Follow me."

---

Allura led them through a complicated maze of hallways, and up a tall, twisting staircase. By the time they reached the top, all five of them were practically gasping for breath.

As Keith ascended the last step, he looked around in wonder at the room they had entered. There was a disorienting moment where he thought they had stepped outside, before he realized the domed ceiling was made entirely of glass––hexagonal panes that interlocked with each other, revealing the black sky beyond.

It appeared to be some kind of observatory, the edges lined with various telescopes and maps of the sky pinned to the walls. Otherwise, the room was mostly empty.

At the center, an odd contraption emerged from the tiled floor. It was a pair of short, stone columns that rose to about waist-height. Each was topped with a glass ball. Inside the glass, glowing blue particles flitted madly about like fireflies. More of these drifting particles––the same kind that hovered throughout the whole mansion––were scattered in the air, many of them clustering around the twin spheres.

“Wow!” Pidge had already dashed to the center of the room and was walking in a circle around the glowing objects. “What are these things?”

Allura didn’t answer, but she approached the spheres and laid her hands on each of them. As she did so, Keith felt an electric spark in the air that made the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.

An instant later, the room darkened. The particles in the air spread away from Allura’s hands as if repelled by a magnetic force. They spaced themselves evenly throughout the air, almost in some kind of grid.

Hunk, Keith, and Lance all joined Allura and Pidge at the center of the room––all of them looking up in amazement.

“Whoa, how did you do that?” Hunk asked. “Are you doing, like, magic or something?”

“In a way,” said Allura. She shifted her hands over the surface of the spheres, and the particles in the air moved in response. “I’m channeling quintessence.”

“You’re channeling the what now?” said Lance.

“Quintessence. It’s the energy that binds everything together––something that lives in all of us, and that exists in every plane of existence.”

“So, it’s like the Force?” Pidge blurted out, and then her face fell. “Oh wait, I guess you didn’t have Star Wars a hundred years ago.”

Allura frowned, puzzled. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

“Nothing, it’s just a … famous story. Continue.”

“Well … as I was saying, quintessence is an intangible life force. It exists not only in physical beings, but in spirits as well. The more quintessence a being possesses, the more powerful it is––and the more abilities it has.

“Now, there are infinite realms of existence. Some are within reach of human comprehension, others that humans cannot reach on their own.”

“You mean, parallel universes?” said Pidge, her eyes widening.

“I suppose, yes, that’s one way to describe it. There are countless worlds that overlap with our own. However, we cannot see them without assistance.”

“Assistance?” Keith repeated. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that some spirits are willing to transport humans between realms. However, it can come with a price. First of all, not all spirits are trustworthy.”

Her expression darkened, and she glared down at her hands on the spheres. Shaking her head to compose herself, she continued.

“And even the more benevolent spirits often require some kind of tribute in exchange for crossing between worlds. Many times, the price they require is a host.”

“You mean possession?” Lance asked with disturbing enthusiasm.

“Yes, exactly. When a human requests access to the spirit realm, often the spirit requests access to the physical world in response––which oftentimes entails the possession of a human vessel.

“But such a ritual does not come without consequence. Spirits have an extremely high level of quintessence, which can be overwhelming to the human host. Some spirits even drain quintessence from their hosts in order to become more powerful.”

“Wait, okay,” Hunk said. “So, you’re saying spirits have the ability to mess around with this quintessence stuff. And a minute ago you said you were channeling quintessence. Does that mean you’re a spirit?”

Allura smiled at that, as if she found the question amusing. “Not quite. My people, the Alteans …” Her face fell at the mention of them, but she gathered herself and continued.

“We have a long history of binding with spirits. My ancestors came into contact with the spirit realm centuries ago and offered themselves as hosts to good-natured spirits, who provided them with guidance and access to other worlds. This continued for generations, to the point where many of my ancestors were bound to spirits for life––which resulted in them passing unusual traits onto their children.”

“Wow, that’s fascinating,” Pidge murmured. “I wonder what kind of impact that had on their DNA.” She shook her head. “But I guess you don’t even know what that is. What kind of traits are you talking about?”

Once again, Allura looked slightly baffled by what Pidge had said, but she continued regardless.

“Essentially, their offspring had higher levels of quintessence than the average human being––which caused them to have unique abilities. Mainly, the ability to create and utilize portals between worlds.

“There were several different groups of Alteans. Different bloodlines, that is––but all with similar powers. My parents both came from Altean families and possessed the ability to travel between realms. They passed that power on to me.”

Her voice grew quieter at the mention of her parents. She bit her lip.

“You mean, you can create portals to other worlds?” Lance exclaimed.

Breaking out of her thoughts, Allura nodded. “It’s something I’ve been able to do since I was very small. My parents and I often traveled between worlds together.” She smiled softly at the memory and then sobered once more.

“It’s not an ability to take lightly, however. Frequent travels between realms does have a permanent effect on us. It’s why my hair is like this.” She held up a lock of the white strands. “My parents’ was the same.”

Keith remembered the portrait he’d seen in the hallway––how Allura and her parents all had the same silver hair.

“Hmm.” Pidge tapped her chin in thought. “I guess you wouldn’t know why there’s a scientific explanation for that. Does it have something to do with this quintessence stuff?”

“I suppose it does,” Allura answered. “I never really questioned it. All I know is that it is a result of exposure to other worlds for extended periods of time.”

“Hey, I hate to be the one to bring it up,” Hunk cut in, “but uh, did something … happen to your parents? And to the rest of the Alteans?”

Allura’s hands went rigid against the glass spheres. “That’s what I need to find out. These crystals … they have the ability to hold tremendous amounts of information––but also messages from the past.”

“Oh, we have something kind of like that,” said Pidge. “It’s called the Internet.”

Keith smirked at that.

“I’m trying to determine whether my father left me any indication of what happened.”

Allura moved her hands over the crystals, and the glowing motes in the air skittered about in response. “He said that he would leave a message here in case he … wasn’t here when I awoke. Perhaps if I …”

She closed her eyes tightly, in deep concentration. Her hands gripped the crystals, which began to glow with a steady white light. Again, Keith felt some invisible surge in energy, so powerful that his head pounded with it.

All of a sudden, Allura gasped and her eyes flew open. At the same time, a shimmering form appeared in the air in front of her.

The figure materialized right between Lance and Pidge, who both screamed and jumped away. Lance practically leaped into Hunk’s arms and Pidge stumbled and nearly fell.

As the initial shock wore off, Keith realized the man standing before them was some kind of magical hologram. Although his features were hazy, Keith recognized him from the painting he’d seen before––although, like Allura, he appeared to have aged about a decade. There were now wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and he had grown a short beard.

Allura let out a shuddering breath. “Father …”

“Allura,” he said, and his voice sounded strained. “I hope you never have to receive this message. But as you know, circumstances are dire, and I must prepare for the worst.”

He sighed deeply and lowered his head. “It is with great sorrow I must tell you … besides myself and Zarkon, all the other paladins are gone. Your mother as well. And if you have to see this message ... I suppose I am, too.”

Allura clapped a hand over her mouth, whimpering as if in physical agony.

“As planned, I have told the lions to scatter and hide,” her father continued. “They will create powerful shields for themselves that cannot be broken unless their paladins are present––similar to the shield I created to protect you. But as for when the new paladins will find them … I do not know. It could be days from now, or it could be years.

“What I do know is that I have faith the new paladins will find their way to Altea––and find their way to you. If that is the case, you will be responsible for helping them find the lions. As the lions are tied to your life force, you will be the only one who can locate them. You must help the new paladins bind with their lions so that they can form Voltron again.”

He hesitated. “However, Zarkon is still bound to the Black Lion. I’m going to try to stop him––to defeat Zarkon and shatter that bond. If I succeed, I suppose you won’t have to see this message at all. But if I fail …” He took a deep breath. “If I fail, Zarkon will remain the Black Paladin. If there is a new Black Paladin, it will be up to them to break Zarkon’s bond with the lion and form another one. Otherwise, forming Voltron will be impossible, and Zarkon will continue his plot to help the Galra invade the physical world.”

Keith’s blood went cold at those words. He had no idea who this Zarkon person was, but this certainly didn’t sound good.

“I have faith in you,” Allura’s father continued. “As much as I wish I could take this burden from you, I trust you with it. With all my heart. You are so strong and capable and brave––so much like your mother.” His voice wavered on those words, and he wiped at his eye.

“The paladins will find you, and you will teach them everything they need to know. You will form Voltron again and stop the Galra. I know it.”

He glanced over his shoulder, as if hearing some ominous noise the rest of them couldn’t hear. When he spoke again, his voice was low.

“There’s so much more I wish I could say, but I’m afraid there’s no time. I love you, Allura. Goodbye.”

His form started to flicker and fade.

“No,” Allura choked out. She stumbled forward, reaching for her father, but her hands grasped at empty air. He was already gone, vanishing like dissipating smoke.

With a sob, Allura fell to her knees. She pressed her hands against the floor, lowering her head. Her long hair created a curtain around her face, but her body visibly shook as she wept.

Pidge moved first, crouching down to put a hand on Allura’s shoulder. She looked up at Keith with a helpless expression, like she was pleading for him to do something. But he was equally at a loss. How were they supposed to comfort someone who had just discovered she’d lost everything and everyone she loved?

Hunk and Lance appeared equally shocked, but soon they also wordlessly knelt down with Pidge and Allura, and Keith joined them.

No one said anything for a while––just sat there and allowed Allura to cry. Eventually, she sat up again and wiped a sleeve across her watering eyes.

“I––I’m very sorry,” she said hoarsely.

“Hey, don’t apologize,” said Hunk. “This must all be a huge shock to you. You’re allowed to cry.”

The other three nodded in agreement.

“Thank you. But … I must save my mourning for a later time.” She sniffed loudly and wiped at her eyes again. “As I said, Father warned me that things might turn out this way. My greatest responsibility now is to inform you of the task that lies ahead.”

She rose to her feet again, and the rest of them did the same.

Allura put her hands on the crystals again, with a new glint of determination in her eyes.

“It is now our quest to find the five lions and form Voltron,” she said.

“Uh … and what does that mean, exactly?” Lance asked.

“Voltron is an extremely powerful spirit.” Allura moved her hands as she spoke, and the spheres glowed under her fingers. “The Alteans have always had a strong alliance with him. It is his responsibility to keep the balance between all the different worlds and to prevent malevolent spirits from entering the physical realm.”

Throughout her explanation, a blurry form materialized in the air above them. As it came into focus, Keith tried to make sense of what he was seeing. It was a vaguely human shape, but with a lion’s head and with lion heads for hands and feet as well. Keith raised his eyebrows. He’d researched a lot of weird mythological creatures and cryptids and whatnot, but this was really something else.

Lance snorted. “That’s what Voltron is? A dude with lion hands?”

“Yes,” Allura said with complete seriousness. “As I said, he is very powerful––one of the most powerful beings across all universes. He possesses a staggering amount of quintessence.

“But there are several unique things about him. First of all, he has the ability to split into five spirit lions.”

As if to illustrate, the hovering image shifted. The arms and legs of Voltron split away from the torso, reforming into five separate beings. They morphed into the shape of lions––each of them glowing a different color: blue, yellow, green, red, and black.

Keith drew in his breath sharply at the sight of the black lion. It was exactly like the one he’d seen in his dream. Except, in this image, the lion didn’t have a malicious snarl on her face. She appeared calm and regal, watching as the other lion spirits leapt playfully around her.

“Each of the lions chooses a paladin––a human, with whom they share a deep connection.”

“Wait,” said Lance, as he stared up at the glowing forms of the lions. “Didn’t you say we’re the paladins? Are you saying … the lions chose us?”

“That is correct.” Allura drew her hands away from the crystals, and the lions disappeared. “You were able to enter Altea using a portal that my father made only accessible to the paladins. Plus you broke down the shield surrounding me, which had a similar spell cast over it. That can only mean one thing.”

“Okay, but I’ve never seen a giant lion spirit like that,” Hunk said. “I know Keith did, in his dream or whatever, but I don’t think the rest of us have. How can these lions have chosen us if we’ve never even met them?”

“The lions are all-seeing, in a way,” Allura explained. “Or all-knowing, I suppose. It is difficult to say, since their senses are radically different from ours. All I know is that they can see into various worlds at once.

“Exactly how the lions choose their paladins is somewhat of a mystery. But it seems they often choose those with more quintessence than the average human––in other words, people who have a stronger connection with the spirit world.”

Keith felt a spark of understanding at those words. He had always had an indescribable feeling that there was more than the physical world––that there were things beyond seeing, beyond understanding. Maybe that’s what Allura had described. Maybe this was why he had sensed Altea and why he’d sensed Allura’s location in the mansion.

But if that was the case, and they were all paladins, why had no one else felt it?

“Of course, there are other contributing factors, not just the quintessence. There is some special, undefinable quality that draws the lions to their paladins––but you may not know what it is until you’ve bonded with your lions.”

“Whoa, cool,” Lance said. He looked down at his hands, as if he expected to see some sign of extra quintessence there. “Are we like superheroes, then? Do we get powers and stuff?”

Allura probably didn’t know what “superheroes” meant, but she seemed to comprehend the gist of the question. “In a way, yes,” she said. “Each of the lions is associated with an element. Once you form a bond with your lion, you will develop abilities associated with that element.”

“Really? Sweet!” Lance fist-pumped the air. “I hope I get to shoot fireballs out of my hands.”

“These powers are not to be taken lightly, however,” Allura continued, frowning at him. “They are a gift granted to you by your lion, and they are to be treated with great responsibility. Additionally, they can only be used in the spirit world, and they are only to be used for the purpose of defending the balance between realms.”

“So we’re like, defenders of the multiverse?” Lance grinned at Hunk, who smiled back. “That’s got a nice ring to it.”

Keith crossed his arms. “But uh … what are we defending the multiverse from, exactly?”

Silence settled as everyone turned back to Allura, who was biting her lip.

“As I told you, not all spirits are benevolent ones,” she said quietly. “And of all the dangerous spirits, the worst are called the Galra.” She took a deep breath and let her hands hover over the crystals again.

Forms began to take shape around the room––hooded figures with glowing yellow eyes. Pidge yelped in surprise. Hunk gasped and grabbed Lance’s arm.

And Keith felt like he couldn’t breathe, because he recognized these creatures immediately. They were the ones he had seen in his dream, the ones who were holding Shiro and Matt captive.

“The Galra are a type of ghost,” Allura continued, her tone grave. “Ones who cannot let go of grievances from their past lives or who simply cannot accept their own deaths. They dwell in bitterness until it transforms them into monsters, thirsty for revenge. They cling to their hatred until they become shadows of themselves, reduced to embodiments of wickedness.

“More than anything, the Galra wish to invade the physical realm––to carry out their vengeance on those they resent or to possess human forms. But they cannot travel between realms the way the Alteans or the paladins can. They can see into the physical world to an extent, but they cannot enter it by themselves.”

“Phew,” said Hunk, letting out a sigh. “Well, that’s good.”

“Uh, except we’re in the spirit world right now,” Lance pointed out.

Hunk’s relieved expression fell immediately. “Oh, right.”

“But if they can’t enter the physical world, then what’s the problem?” Keith asked. “That just means they’re stuck in the spirit world, right?”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Allura answered. With a sweep of her hands, she made the images of the Galra vanish. “The Galra may not be able to enter the human world on their own, but they have always sought out means of doing so. If they were able to harness enough quintessence, they could be able to create their own portal.”

“That’s not like … actually possible, is it?” Hunk said nervously.

“On their own, it shouldn’t be. But with the help of someone who possesses a high level of quintessence, it might be possible. Unfortunately, that is precisely the case.”

“You think someone is helping them?” said Pidge. “But who?”

Allura glared at the floor, her eyes narrowing. “Zarkon.”

She spat the name out with such malice that it almost made Keith flinch.

“He was a paladin,” Allura continued. “Like my father. Like you four. For many years he was on the side of Voltron––a close friend of my father and his fellow paladins. He helped them all to keep peace and balance between the realms.

“But then …” Her voice started to tremble. “The power got to his head. He believed Voltron could do more than protect the realms. Instead, he wanted to use the great spirit as a weapon, as a means of dominating every universe in existence.

“Of course, the other paladins refused to join him, but Zarkon was determined. He turned to the Galra for help, urging them to wage war against the Alteans and the other paladins.

“He was human, like all of you are. As a paladin, he already had a high level of quintessence––but not as much as an Altean. Not enough to create portals on his own. From what I understand, he convinced the Galra that if they were able to help him gather enough quintessence, they could create a portal that could transport them into any universe.”

Allura paused, her hands curling into fists. “And so, he … he ordered the Galra to attack any Alteans that entered the spirit realms. Unknowing Alteans journeyed to the spirit world only for the Galra to descend on them and drain them of their quintessence. Our people started disappearing, and no one knew why at first. It was only when one Altean woman narrowly escaped the Galra that we found out the truth.

“My father knew immediately that Zarkon was involved. He urged our people to scatter and to stay out of the spirit world. Many fled. Others refused his orders and entered the spirit realms anyway, in attempts to battle the Galra––but even with our powers, we were outnumbered.”

She closed her eyes, no doubt haunted by the horrific memories.

“So … that’s it?” Pidge said quietly. “They won?”

Allura shook her head, opening her eyes again. “Not exactly. Even with the quintessence they drained from the Alteans––and combining that with Zarkon’s own quintessence––it wasn’t enough to create their portal. And now that the surviving Alteans had scattered, Zarkon sought out another source of power.”

“Voltron,” Keith said, suddenly understanding. He barely realized he’d said it out loud until he noticed everyone was staring at him.

Allura blinked. “Yes. With the massive power of Voltron, he would be able to create his portal and take over all the realms with the Galra at his side. As the Black Paladin, he already had one of the lions, but he would need the four others.”

“But––But that would mean killing the other paladins,” Pidge stuttered. “Wouldn’t it?”

At that, Allura winced. “That certainly seemed to be his plan. Unfortunately, I’m getting to the part of the story where I am a bit less knowledgeable.

“What with Altea falling apart and Zarkon’s attack imminent, my father and I had to plan for the worst. As you heard him say, my father’s plan was to tell the lions to scatter and hide themselves throughout the realms. That way they would be safe from the Galra’s hands, and it would provide time for my father and the other paladins to face Zarkon.

“But there was the risk that they would not succeed. And if Zarkon defeated them, he would probably target me next.”

“You? But why?” Pidge asked.

“Because I have a special connection with Voltron. I grew up among the paladins and therefore was very familiar with all the lions as well.

“When I was of age, all of Altea gathered in a ceremony to tie my life force to the lions. It was done as a … precaution, I suppose. That is, if anything were to happen to the paladins, I would have a means of locating the lions, and I would be able to train the next generation of paladins.

“So when Zarkon and the Galra began attacking, my father and I had to make a difficult decision. After a lot of deliberation, I agreed to go under a protection spell. One that would keep me asleep until the paladins awakened me––whether that meant my father and his fellow paladins, which would mean they had succeeded in their war against the Galra … or, a group of new paladins.”

Her gaze swept over each of them meaningfully.

“Okay, but it’s been a hundred years,” said Hunk. “That Zarkon guy’s gotta be dead by now.”

“I wouldn’t be so certain. This is a man––or more of a creature, really––who has dealt extensively with dark magic and evil spirits. It is possible these things have stripped him of his humanity and extended his lifetime. And from what you all have told me, I believe he may still be alive.”

She looked at Keith. “If what you saw in your dream is true … it seems that the Galra still have the Black Lion on their side––which means she must still be under Zarkon’s control. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have tried to attack you.”

“But that voice I heard … it said ‘the Black Paladin has arrived’,” Pidge cut in. “If Zarkon is already the Black Paladin …”

“Then I don’t think that’s whom the message was referring to,” said Allura. “I do not know whose voice you heard, or whether it was meant for you to hear. But I do think I understand what it was trying to convey.”

“Which is what, exactly?” Keith asked.

Allura hesitated before she gave her solemn answer.

“That either Shiro or Matt will be the next Black Paladin.”

Chapter Text

“Let me get this straight,” said Hunk. “So … this guy called Zarkon is trying to help these evil ghosts invade the human world. And he has the Black Lion. But either Shiro or Matt could be the Black Paladin … but Zarkon is also the Black Paladin. How is that possible?”

Allura paced around the perimeter of the room, glancing over the maps on the walls. “That’s what I’m uncertain of. I’ve never heard of a lion choosing more than one paladin at a time, but I don’t think it’s out of the question.”

“Okay, but the Black Lion tried to kill me,” Keith pointed out. “If it was on our side … if it had chosen Shiro or Matt as its paladin instead of Zarkon … why would it have done that?”

“I do not know. Perhaps she is only partially in control of herself. Or maybe Zarkon is keeping her under some kind of spell so she cannot turn against him.”

“So, what are we going to do?” Pidge asked anxiously. “If the Galra captured Matt and Shiro … do you think they’re still …”

Allura turned around, and the grim look on her face made Keith’s stomach clench.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know,” she said. “We can only hope Zarkon is keeping them alive for whatever reason. But even in that case, they are both in grave danger. He could be using them as bait for the rest of us, or draining their quintessence, or …” She stopped there, as if the other options were too horrible to even say out loud.

Pidge made a faint whimpering sound, and Keith put a hand on her shoulder. He wished he could think of something reassuring to say, but truthfully he was just as scared as she was.

“I mean, all we have to do is find the other lions, right?” said Lance. “We just gather them together, locate the Black Lion, form Voltron, and bam!” He punched his fist into the palm of his other hand. “Punch Zarkon in the face with our giant lion fists, bring Shiro and Matt home. Easy.”

Allura shook her head with a sigh. “I wish it were that simple. Unfortunately, the lions are still scattered throughout the spirit realms, and it may take a while to gather them all.”

“But I thought you said they were tied to your life force or whatever,” Hunk said. “And you can use that to sense their location, right?”

“Yes. But sensing the lions’ locations, as well as creating portals to whatever realms they’re in, will be a taxing process for me. Both will require a high amount of quintessence––and draining too much quintessence at once is extremely dangerous, possibly even fatal.”

“Oh.” Hunk’s shoulders drooped. “Well, okay. We don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“Thank you. I should be fine, as long as I only need to sense one lion and create one portal at a time. Besides, once you’ve connected with your lions, they will be able to guide you in and out of the spirit world––and in that case, I won’t always need to create a portal for you. But I still may need to rest between excursions.”

“That’s understandable and all, but what do you mean when you say it will take ‘a while’?” Pidge asked. “Does that mean like, weeks? Months?”

“To tell the truth, I am not certain. I’ve never dealt with such a situation on my own before.”

A storm of impatience and dread surged up in Keith’s chest. He thought of his dream again: the Galra dragging Shiro and Matt down the twisted corridors, both of them with blood on their faces. Combining that with all the information Allura had told them, he started to feel dizzy.

“I don’t know if we have that kind of time,” he said. “In my dream, Shiro and Matt both looked like they were hurt pretty bad.”

“Hey, you just heard what she said,” Lance snapped. “We can’t rush this. We all need to bond with our lions first, or whatever.”

“Easy for you to say,” Keith shot back. “It’s not your friend whose life is in danger.”

“I understand you’re worried,” Allura said, her tone calm but firm. “And I promise, I’ll do as much as I can. The first step is locating the lions.”

She approached the crystals at the center of the room again, and let her hands hover over them. Everyone was silent as they waited for something to happen.

Allura didn’t move for a few moments, as if she were trying to decide something. “Probably the Blue Lion will be the easiest to find,” she murmured. “Of all of them, she’s the friendliest and most trusting.” A faint smile turned up the corners of her mouth, and she closed her eyes.

The crystals glowed again, pulsing softly. But after a few moments, Allura’s hands dropped and she swayed on her feet.

“Are you okay?” Pidge asked.

Allura steadied herself without answering. Even from where he stood, Keith could see she was shaking violently.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said at last. “I tried to sense the Blue Lion, but I’m afraid I don’t have quite enough energy. My quintessence seems to have drained considerably.”

“So, now what do we do?” Keith demanded.

“I suppose we have to wait. I’m very sorry, but there’s nothing else I can do at the moment.”

“It’s okay,” said Hunk. “But how long do you think we’ll have to wait?”

“I don’t know. I’d think it shouldn’t take more than a day.”

Lance scratched his head. “So … does that mean we should just leave and come back tomorrow?”

“I think that may be our only choice, yes. I wouldn’t expect you to stay here until the morning.”

“But what about you?” Pidge asked. “We can’t just leave you here by yourself.”

“That’s very considerate, but I’ll be fine,” Allura said with a gentle smile. “I think I can manage to take care of myself.”

“Are you sure?” Lance raised an eyebrow. “Seems like it’d be pretty depressing to stay here alone.”

“Yeah, I’m sure we could find somewhere for you to stay,” said Pidge. She frowned in thought. “I mean, probably none of us can tell our parents about you or … there’d be a lot to explain. Hmmm. Oh!” Her eyes suddenly lit up. “It might be kind of a long shot, but maybe Coran would know––”

“What did you say?” Allura exclaimed, startling them all.

“Uh, I said we could probably find––”

“No, no. Did you … did you say Coran?” She rushed at Pidge without warning, grabbing her by the shoulders. “You know Coran?”

Pidge tensed up. “Y-Yeah. He’s this museum owner Matt worked with. He told us some stuff about Altea. … Wait a second. Are you saying you know him?”

“Yes, he … he’s my father’s advisor, a very close friend of our family. Or, he was.” Allura looked away, her expression darkening. “No, it can’t be possible. It’s been far too long. Unless …” She turned to Pidge again. “What does he look like?”

“Tall … bright red hair … huge handlebar mustache. Has some kind of accent?”

Allura’s eyes widened. “Yes, that’s him. But how?” She released Pidge’s shoulders and stumbled back, a hand pressed to her forehead.

Keith struggled to interpret what he was hearing. Allura was saying Coran had somehow been alive for over a hundred years? That didn’t make any sense. It was impossible, and Coran appeared to be maybe sixty at most.

On the other hand, bits of their interaction with Coran came flooding back, and everything started to piece together. He certainly had seemed to know a lot about Altea––and as Keith and Pidge had agreed, it had seemed like he knew even more than he’d told them.

Keith also remembered the few times he’d thought he’d seen Coran tearing up when talking about Altea, and how shaken he’d seemed at the mention of the Galra and the Black Lion. If he had a personal connection to all of this, those inexplicable moments suddenly made sense.

“Maybe it’s some kind of magic?” Pidge suggested. “Something was keeping you alive for these past hundred years. What if something similar happened to Coran?”

“Perhaps. But what?” Allura ran a shaky hand through her hair. “It was my father’s spell keeping me asleep for all this time. I suppose he could have done the same thing to Coran, but why?”

“Hold up,” said Lance, stepping forward. “Did I miss something? Because I have no idea what’s going on now.”

Pidge sighed. “It’s a long story. But basically, Matt worked at this museum with a guy called Coran, and I think he might’ve given Matt a lot of information about Altea. So, Keith and I also met up with him, and he gave us some information, too, which is how we ended up here.

“Now Allura is saying she knows him? I don’t know, I’m just as confused as you are, honestly.”

“Where is he?” Allura asked suddenly. “Can you take me to him?”

Pidge glanced at Keith, who shrugged.

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to contact him at this time of night,” said Pidge. “I can try to call him, but we’ll have to leave Altea. None of our technology works here. Also, I don’t have his phone number, just the number of the Absurdatory … but I guess we can try.”

It seemed they didn’t have any other options. Soon, the five of them were walking out of the mansion and into the night.

No one said a word as they traveled the snaking path through the town. Allura walked stiffly at the center of their group, looking around at the empty houses. Keith was walking behind her so he couldn’t really see her face––but a few times he caught a glimpse of her expression, the horror and pain written in her eyes.

He couldn’t imagine what she was feeling right now, having woken up to find everything she’d ever known had vanished. A century may have gone by, but to her it was as if it had happened in an instant.

They still hadn’t said anything by the time they reached the gates at the top of the hill.

It was Hunk who spoke first. “Hey, uh … someone remembers the way back to where the portal was, right?”

“Keith probably knows the way,” said Lance.

Keith looked up, startled. “What?”

“You know, you have that magical map in your brain,” Lance clarified, tapping his forehead.

“Oh, that.” Keith tried to concentrate for a second, but he didn’t feel anything. “Uh, I got nothing. I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Then how does it work?”

“Look, I literally never experienced it before today, so I have no idea,” Keith snapped. “But it seems like it could only lead me towards Altea, not away from it.”

“It’s okay. Calm down, everyone.” Pidge stepped between Keith and Lance, even though she only came to about the height of their elbows. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it.”

Keith blinked. “You do?”

“Yep. Excellent sense of direction. I think I remember the way.”

“Right,” said Keith. “Girl Scout powers.”

“Girl Scout powers,” Pidge agreed with a grin.

The gate was still hanging open, although the gap was only big enough that they could squeeze through one at a time––and it was too heavy and overgrown with vines for them to open it any further.

Allura was the last to go through. She hesitated, keeping one hand on the gate as she looked over her shoulder at the valley below.

Lance cleared his throat. “Hey, uh. Are you alright?”

It took a moment for her to answer, and her voice sounded choked. “Yes. It’s just … it’s been a hundred years. A hundred years.” She repeated it as if that would make it easier to comprehend. “I must admit, I’m afraid of what it will be like. How different it will be.”

“Hmm, yeah. I get that,” said Lance, and he smiled at her as she turned around again. “But hey, it’ll be okay! We’ll all be here to show you around. Plus like, there’s all kinds of cool new technology and stuff. I think you’ll like it.”

He offered a hand out to her. “You still coming with us?”

Hesitantly, she smiled back. “Yes. Thank you.” She took hold of his hand, and he helped her through the gap.

As everyone else started moving again, Keith stayed where he was, momentarily shell-shocked. No one else seemed surprised by what had just happened, but Keith couldn’t stop staring at the back of Lance’s head––Lance, who was already walking alongside Hunk and smiling at something he’d said.

“Huh,” Keith murmured to himself, frowning. He’d kind of assumed Lance was an asshole based on their first interaction, but this was an interesting development. He’d reached out to Allura and comforted her so naturally, without the slightest hint of hesitation ...

Keith didn’t realize he was still standing there, until he noticed Pidge had turned around and was waiting for him. “Keith?” She frowned. “What are you looking at?”

Immediately, Keith snapped out of it. “Oh, I uh … nothing. Let’s go.” He followed Pidge back to the group.

“So, does time work differently in the spirit world?” Pidge asked Allura, when they had caught up with the others. “Like … when we get out of here, you’re not gonna suddenly age a hundred years, are you?”

“No, I certainly hope not,” Allura answered. “I’ve never been in the spirit realm for this long, of course. But in my experience, time moves a lot faster in this universe than in the human world. You can spend many hours here and find that only a few seconds have gone by on the outside.”

“Whoa,” said Pidge. “So if a hundred years have gone by in our world, how long is that in spirit world time?”

“It is difficult to say. But … I imagine it would be somewhere around ten thousand years.”

“Ten thousand years?” Lance exclaimed. “Wow. That’s like, a thousand plus ten.”

“That’s times ten,” Keith corrected him.

“Whatever.” Lance waved his hand dismissively. “That’s still a lot of years.”

“Whoa, whoa, wait,” said Hunk. “No offense, but if you’re ten thousand years old, then why do you still look young? And like, why hasn’t Altea totally crumbled to ruins in that time?”

Allura looked down at her hands, as if she expected to see some trace of all the years that had passed.

“I suppose some of it is due to my father’s spell,” she said. “The magic kept me from aging, to an extent. As for Altea itself, maybe my father’s protection spell kept it from falling apart, somehow.

“But also, I don’t think the passage of time affects this realm the way it does our own. It’s not that time is nonexistent necessarily, but that it doesn’t affect things as physically as it does in the human world.”

“Hmm, so it’s like it exists in some kinda vacuum,” Pidge muttered. “That’s interesting.”

For the remainder of the journey, they all kept relatively quiet. Keith lost himself in thought, as the group wound their way between the glowing trees. He knew it was no use worrying, and yet he kept thinking back on everything Allura had told them until he started to get a headache.

The task in front of them seemed impossible. They were just four kids, plus Allura, up against an army of evil ancient ghosts. The odds didn’t seem good, and he was nervous that they were already running out of time––that even if they did somehow reach Shiro and Matt, it would be too late.

The trek out of Altea somehow felt a lot shorter than when they had arrived. All of a sudden, they reached the portal: the hazy part of the forest that was dizzying to look at, where one world bled into the next.

Pidge gasped. “There it is! See, I told you I knew the way.”

“Didn’t doubt you for a second,” Keith said, smiling at her.

Again, he felt the unsettling shift in the air as they all moved past the barrier, like an electric current running through his limbs. It was over in an instant, and then with a shock he was back in the normal world.

“Whoa, that felt super weird,” Hunk said.

Keith looked over his shoulder at the portal they’d just stepped through, and again experienced the uncanny sensation of seeing one world overlapping the other.

He turned around again to look at the woods in front of them, and as Allura had said, it felt like only several moments had passed. The sky looked the same as when they had left, the faded blue of twilight just starting to set in. In contrast to the endless black of the sky in Altea, it felt blinding.

Pidge took a few steps forward, gazing upward. “Wow, you were right. It’s like no time went by at all.” She took her phone out. “It’s only a little past 7. … Oh hey, my phone’s working again! But there’s still no reception out here. Hmm. Maybe once we get back down to the road.”

She led their way back through the woods, across the shallow creek, down the hill, over twisted roots and piles of dead leaves. It hadn’t seemed like such a tiring journey on their way towards the portal, but now every muscle in Keith’s body ached. He felt about ready to just sit down on the ground and give up.

But finally, the dark stripe of pavement was visible through the trees. By the time they reached the road, the sky was growing dark and the first stars were starting to appear.

Hunk let out a sigh of relief. “Whew, glad we all made it back in one piece.”

“Yeah, but now we have to figure out where I parked my mom’s car,” Lance groaned. “That’ll be fun.”

“Oh. … Well, it was somewhere near here. I think. It was near … a big rock or something?”

“And I need to find my motorcycle,” Keith said, looking around in the hopes it was somewhere nearby.

Lance raised an eyebrow. “You ride a motorcycle?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Uh … nothing.”

“Okay, before we deal with any of that, we need to figure out where Coran is,” Pidge cut into their conversation. She was frowning down at her phone. “Looks like I have one bar of service out here, but I doubt the phone reception is great.”

“That is a phone?” said Allura, her eyes widening. “But it’s so small. And it’s not even attached to a wall …”

Lance smiled. “Pretty cool, huh? Things have changed a little in the past century.”

“Anyway, like I said, I only have the number of the Absurdatory. I don’t know if Coran is even going to pick up,” Pidge said. She tapped at the number on the screen and held the phone up to her ear.

From where he stood, Keith could hear the faint trills of the phone ringing. The chill of night was starting to leak into the air, and he wrapped his arms around himself.

The tinny sound of Coran’s voice came through at last, but Keith couldn’t hear what he was saying––only that it was spoken with a lot of enthusiasm and lengthy words. From the disappointed look on Pidge’s face, it was just the answering machine.

“He didn’t pick up,” Pidge sighed. She turned to Allura. “I’m sorry, but we probably won’t be able to take you to Coran until tomorrow.”

“That’s all right,” Allura said, although her shoulders sagged. “I’m still just astounded that he’s alive in the first place. I can wait one more day to see him.”

“Yeah, but if we can’t take Allura to this Coran guy, where is she supposed to stay tonight?” Hunk asked. “We can’t just leave her out here.”

Everyone exchanged looks, undoubtedly all thinking the same thing––that it’d be a bit difficult to hide a woman in their homes under their parents’ noses. All of them except for Keith, that is, who had a sinking feeling in his stomach as the realization struck him.

“She can stay with me,” he blurted out, trying not to look anyone in the eye as they all stared at him.

“Okay, but how are you going to manage that?” Lance demanded. “Like, are your parents going to be cool with it? Or will you have to––”

“I don’t have any parents,” Keith said tersely, cutting him off. “I live by myself. So … it’s no problem.”

He only caught a glimpse of Lance’s face and saw the momentary shock there.

“Anyway, it’s getting dark. We should probably get going,” Keith said before anyone could react.

“Oh. Uh ... right,” Lance stammered, glancing at Keith one more time.

They quickly made a plan. Lance had driven his mom’s minivan out here, so he had enough room to take Pidge and Allura with him. Keith would lead the way to his apartment on his motorcycle, and Lance could drop Allura off there and then pick them up again in the morning so they could go to the Absurdatory.

It was nearly dark by the time they found their respective vehicles. Allura looked slightly reluctant to get into the van, but Pidge convinced her it would be perfectly safe.

It wasn’t too much longer until they were on the highway, and for the most part the roads were empty. Keith led the way, motorcycle headlights shedding glowing stripes across the pavement. They were still pretty far from civilization, so the stars were bright and visible over the mountains.

The trip home felt eternally long. Keith had to concentrate on making sure he didn’t lose sight of Lance’s car in his rearview mirror, especially when they got closer to town, where the streets became more crowded.

When they finally got close to his apartment building, he signaled for Lance to pull over. He parked his motorcycle by the curb. As he turned off the engine and stepped onto the sidewalk, the van rumbled to a stop behind him.

Keith took his helmet off and tucked it under one arm as he approached the car. It was an old teal minivan that looked like it was about twenty years old, with a prominent dent in the front bumper and a gray scratch along the side.

The window rolled down and Lance leaned out, one arm draped along the window frame. “This is where you live?” he asked, glancing up at the brick building.

“Yes,” Keith answered a bit defensively.

“Cool, cool,” said Lance. His gaze flicked to Keith’s face, and he snorted and laughed.

The tips of Keith’s ears burned. “What’s so funny?”

“You have really bad helmet hair, dude.”

Keith frowned and reached up to smooth his hair down. He wanted to feel annoyed, but something about Lance’s crooked smile distracted him.

The back door opened, and Pidge stuck her head out. “Okay, here we are,” she said over her shoulder. She scooted out of the car and reached in to grab Allura’s hand.

When Allura stepped onto the sidewalk, she swayed a little as if she’d just walked off a boat, and she gripped onto Pidge’s hand tightly for support. “That was … very fast,” she said after a moment, sounding dazed.

“How was the trip?” Keith asked Pidge.

“Pretty good,” she answered with a shrug, letting go of Allura’s hand. “I tried to fill everyone in a bit on all the stuff we hadn’t told them yet. There’s still a lot of things we should probably discuss, but I guess we can wait until tomorrow.”

As if to illustrate, she let out a long yawn. Keith felt pretty tired too, wanting nothing but to go inside and collapse on the couch and fall asleep right away. But now of course there was this whole thing where Allura was going to be in his apartment all night, and he wasn’t really sure how he was going to deal with that.

“Lance said he could give me a ride home, so I should probably get going,” Pidge said. “See you tomorrow?”

“Oh … okay. Yeah. See you, Pidge.”

She smiled at him and slid back into the car, shutting the door behind her.

Lance was still leaning out the window, drumming his fingers on the side of the car door. He looked between Keith and Allura, and from the uncertain look on his face, he probably realized what a weird situation this was.

“Well uh … I can come pick you guys up tomorrow morning so we can go see this Coran guy,” he said. “We might have to head out a bit early, ‘cause I still have a lot of homework to do tomorrow. Is around 9 okay?”

Keith shrugged. “Sure.”

“Cool. See you then!” Lance gave a kind of mock-salute and stuck the key in the ignition, starting up the car again.

Hunk leaned out from behind Lance, smiling widely. “See you guys tomorrow!” he yelled over the loud roar of the engine.

“Yeah, see you,” Keith said, smiling back.

The van pulled away from the curb and took off down the street. Keith watched the taillights receding in the darkness until they vanished around the corner.

Then he turned towards Allura, who was still standing tensely next to him. “So, uh …” He cleared his throat. “We should go inside, I guess.”

She looked up at the run-down building, which had a few bricks missing here and there and vines crawling up the walls.

“Sorry, I know it’s not as nice as what you’re used to,” said Keith.

Allura looked back at him, startled. “Oh … no, it’s lovely.” She smiled politely. “And thank you for allowing me to stay here.”

“Yeah, it’s … yeah. No problem.”

Keith started up the stone steps, hefting his motorcycle helmet under his arm as he fished the keys out of his pocket. He unlocked the door and held it open for Allura, who stepped cautiously inside.

As Keith led the way up several flights of stairs, it occurred to him that his apartment probably looked horrible right now. He had done a bit of cleaning the day before, but he still winced at the thought of Allura having to see it in its current state.

When he opened the door, though, she didn’t recoil in horror as he had expected. In fact, she didn’t make a single noise as she walked inside. Keith slowly closed the door behind him, watching as Allura moved around the living room as if she were in some kind of museum.

She looked so out of place, so ethereal in contrast to the mundane surroundings––the overdue library books on the coffee table, the crumpled pieces of paper littering the floor. Keith had to blink a few times to process that she was actually there.

He had never really had any visitors in his apartment at all besides Shiro … and those two police officers who’d been there to question him a few weeks ago. It was weird enough to see someone in his living room at all, and it was stranger still that it was some woman from another century. When he’d woken up this morning, this really wasn’t how he had expected the day to end.

Allura kept her hands folded in front of her, as if she were afraid to touch anything. She paused by the window, where a small cactus sat on the sill. She turned around, her white hair glowing against the light from the street lamp outside.

“So … this is where you live,” she said carefully.

There was no disdain in the statement, but there was some underlying tone to it that Keith couldn’t quite identify. Confusion? Pity?

“Uh, yeah,” he answered with a shrug.

“It’s very small,” Allura observed, glancing into the kitchen.

“Yeah, well … it’s cheap,” Keith said––and then had a moment of panic as he realized that he was probably fired from both his jobs by now, seeing as he hadn’t been to either of them since Shiro and Matt had disappeared. And his rent would be due again pretty soon …

He shook away those worries for now. “So, uh … you must be pretty hungry, since you haven’t eaten in a hundred years and all. Do you want some food?”

“Oh … yes, thank you. That’s very kind of you.”

“No problem. I haven’t eaten dinner yet, anyway.”

Keith paused, looking Allura up and down. The dress she was wearing didn’t look dirty or anything, but it also didn’t look particularly comfortable––especially if she had been wearing it for a hundred years.

“Do you also want a change of clothes, maybe?”

Allura stiffened and looked down, clutching at the fabric of her skirt with one hand. “I would appreciate that, if you have anything to spare. I suppose this isn’t the style of clothing everyone is wearing nowadays.”

Keith felt a pang of guilt because he hadn’t meant to insult her, but now he felt too awkward to apologize. “Right, well … I only have my own clothing, if that’s okay with you.”

“That is perfectly fine. Thank you.”

“Yeah, uh. You’re welcome.”

There wasn’t much else to say, so Keith walked into the kitchen to try to find some food. He cringed upon looking in the cupboard and the fridge, which were both pretty bare. But he did manage to find an unopened box of macaroni and cheese, which he figured was enough.

After putting some water on the stove to boil, he went to his bedroom to look for clothes. The first order of business was finding something that was actually clean, which was a challenge in itself. He hadn’t done any laundry in a while, and he wasn’t sure which of the items piled on the floor were washed or not.

He rummaged through his dresser, fishing out various items of clothing and trying to determine what would fit Allura. He’d judged that they were about the same height, at least. Finally, he managed to find a pair of black sweatpants and an old Arcade Fire T-shirt that looked reasonable enough, and he returned to the living room.

“Here.” He handed the rumpled items of clothing to Allura, who looked down at them curiously. “There’s a bathroom right over there if you want to change in there. And uh, let me know if the clothes don’t fit or anything.”

She thanked him again and went into the bathroom.

Keith let out a long breath and went to the kitchen to add the macaroni to the boiling water. He watched the bubbles rising to the surface and felt the warmth of steam against his face. “What the hell is going on?” he muttered to himself. This whole thing felt strangely normal, even though he knew how bizarre it was.

He stayed in the kitchen while he waited for the noodles to cook, leaning back against the counter with his arms crossed. Allura had been in the bathroom for a few minutes by now, and he hoped she was doing okay, but he figured he should leave her alone.

By the time she walked out again, Keith was just starting to scoop macaroni into two bowls. “Hey. Good timing.”

Allura didn’t say anything, but offered a weak smile. The clothes were a little baggy on her, but they seemed to fit her well enough. She’d pulled her hair into a high bun. Her eyes looked a little red, which worried Keith. Had she been crying?

“Here you go.” He stuck a fork into one of the bowls and handed it to her. “There’s a table here, or … I don’t know, I was probably just going to eat on the couch if you want to sit there.”

“Thank you.” Allura stood stiffly with the bowl in both hands, as if she didn’t know what to do.

“I’ll be right back,” said Keith.

His eyes had started to hurt, and he went into the bathroom to take his contacts out and put his glasses on. When he came out, he took off his jacket and dumped it on one of the kitchen chairs.

Allura had apparently decided to sit on the couch, so Keith took his own bowl of food and went to go join her.

He found, to his astonishment, that Allura had already eaten her entire bowl of macaroni. Then again, it wasn’t that surprising, considering she hadn’t eaten in literally a century.

“This food,” she said, her eyes wide. “It’s amazing.”

Keith couldn’t help but smile. “Pretty good stuff, right?”

Allura reached out to grab his wrist as he started to sit down. “Is there … more of it?”

It took a second for Keith to overcome his surprise, and then he smiled again and took her bowl back. “Yeah, plenty of it. I’ll get you some more.”

Something warm blossomed in his chest as Allura smiled gratefully back at him. He’d been intimidated by her at first, but she seemed really sweet. He hoped they could be friends.

Between the two of them, they finished the pot of macaroni pretty quickly. Keith washed out the bowls and put them away. When he returned to the living room, Allura was still sitting on the couch––her legs crossed and her eyes lowered. Maybe it was the baggy clothes, but she suddenly looked a lot younger. There was a hollow uncertainty to her expression, a worried furrow in her brow.

Keith wasn’t sure what to do, but he went to sit next to her again, although he kept a few feet of space between them. “Are you alright?”

She stiffened, as if she hadn’t noticed him there. “Yes. I––I’m fine. Thank you again for being so generous.”

“You’re welcome. It’s really no big deal.”

Keith scratched the back of his neck, searching for words. He felt like he should say something else, something comforting, but he didn’t know where to even begin.

“Look, uh … I understand what you’re going through. Kind of. I also lost my parents––although, I was so young I don’t actually remember them. But, um. I also moved around from home to home a lot as a kid, and I know it’s scary to feel like you don’t belong anywhere or that you’re totally alone.

“But you’re not. Alone, I mean. You have us and Coran and … yeah. We’ll all be here for you.”

He hadn’t looked up the whole time he’d spoken. He’d been staring down at his lap, acutely aware of how his face was burning. Probably none of what he’d said was comforting at all.

But when he dared to look up, he was surprised to see that Allura’s eyes were shining with tears.

She didn’t say anything. She just surged forward and hugged him.

Keith sat totally still, his arms pinned to his sides, not knowing how to react. But he managed to wiggle one hand free and pat Allura on the back.

After a few seconds, she pulled away again, wiping her arm across her eyes. “I’m sorry. I suppose that was not very proper of me.”

“What? No, no. It’s okay.” He felt like he should say something else, but he didn’t know what.

“I’m so sorry about your parents,” Allura continued quietly, “and that you live alone at such a young age. You’re very brave.”

That wasn’t the first word Keith would have used to describe himself, so he felt slightly taken aback. But he found himself smiling anyway. “Thanks. So are you.”

She smiled back. “You’re going to make a good paladin.”

At that, Keith’s smile faltered a bit in surprise. He still wasn’t sure about this whole saving-the-world business, but at least Allura seemed fairly confident about it.

She yawned, covering her mouth with one hand. “It must be getting late, isn’t it?”

“Oh … yeah, I guess it is.”

He nearly asked Allura how she could possibly be tired after sleeping for an entire century, but he held the question back. He couldn’t blame her for being exhausted, thinking about how much she had been through in the brief period of time she’d been awake.

“I can sleep on the couch,” Keith offered, “and you can use my bed if you want. Sorry my room’s a huge mess, though.”

Allura frowned. “Are you certain? That doesn’t seem very comfortable.”

“No really, it’s fine. I sleep on the couch pretty often, actually.”

After a moment of hesitation, Allura nodded. “All right. I’ll be headed off to bed, then. I will see you in the morning.” She gave him a soft smile. “And thank you again for everything.”

“Yeah, uh, you’re welcome. Good night!”

He directed her towards his room and she got up, pausing only to pat him on the shoulder before she walked down the hallway and out of sight. The door shut quietly behind her.

Keith sank back against the couch. Part of him wanted to lie down and fall asleep immediately, but another part of his mind was desperate to stay awake. There was just too much to think about.

His laptop was in a drawer under the coffee table, and he pulled it out and flipped it open. He blinked into the glaring light, pushing his glasses further up his nose. For a moment, his fingers hovered restlessly over the keyboard as he tried to decide what to look up.

Finally, he found himself opening a new browser window and opening YouTube.

Lance had mentioned something about him and Hunk having a ghost-hunting channel. What had it been called again? Ghost … something.

Oh, right. Ghost Patrol.

The two words didn’t bring up much, but when he typed in “ghost patrol” along with “lance and hunk,” their channel popped up immediately.

Keith scrolled through their page, which, to his surprise, actually did have quite a lot of fans as Lance had claimed. The thumbnails of the videos were pretty much what Keith had expected: Lance and Hunk crowding their faces into the camera with terrified expressions, accompanied by titles like “A GHOST PUSHED ME DOWN THE STAIRS!! CAUGHT ON CAMERA” and “OMG!! WE SAW A GHOST IN THE BATHROOM AT PIZZA HUT!!”

It looked like they uploaded at least once a week and had been doing this for at least the past couple years. Finally, Keith clicked on a video that had been uploaded about two months ago, which was called “WE WERE CHASED BY THE GHOST OF A MURDERER??!”

It started with a shot of Lance standing on an empty sidewalk at night, under a flickering street lamp. He was wearing a backwards baseball cap, cargo shorts, and a black T-shirt that said “HAN SHOT FIRST” in bold white letters.

He stood there for a second, laughing at something that had apparently been said before the recording started. “Wait, are you filming?”

“Yup,” Hunk’s voice said.

“Okay, sweet.” Lance clapped his hands together. He lowered his chin a little, raising an eyebrow at the camera. “Hello out there––it’s me, Lance. Sorry it’s been a while since our last video. I know you all missed my beautiful face.”

Keith rolled his eyes.

“And of course, I know you all missed this gorgeous specimen.”

Lance reached out his hands, and the video went shaky.

“Uh, Lance? What are you doing? Hey, careful––” The camera turned toward Hunk, who was wearing the same orange headband he’d been wearing today, along with a shirt with a faded “Ghostbusters” logo on it. “Oh … hey everyone!” he said, waving.

“Look at that smile!” Lance said, now from behind the camera. He turned it around, pointing it at himself again. His blurry face took up about half the screen as he winked. “They don’t call him ‘Hunk’ for nothing.”

“Aw, Lance,” Hunk said. “... Now give me my camera back.”

“Okay, okay.”

The video shook again until it focused on Lance standing in front of a run-down building. “Anyway, today we’re investigating this abandoned slaughterhouse.” He pointed at the boarded-up door.

“Not creepy at all,” Hunk muttered.

“Apparently some dude murdered a few people in this town a long time ago,” Lance went on. “He was a butcher who worked here. He was sentenced to death––but right before he was executed, he swore he would continue to haunt the slaughterhouse forever.”

He told the story with a dark glint in his eyes, gesturing a lot with his hands as he spoke. Keith found himself leaning slightly closer to the screen.

“No one believed him, of course. But just a few months after his death, two other men who worked in the slaughterhouse were found dead in the basement––no marks on them or anything, just the terrified looks frozen on their faces.”

He paused for dramatic effect and then shrugged. “So yeah, we’re gonna check it out. Ready, Hunk?”

“Y-Yeah, I guess.”

“That’s the spirit! Haha, get it? Spirit …” Lance looked into the camera. “Oh yeah––and Mom, if you’re watching this, I just wanted to let you know that this is definitely legal and we are definitely not trespassing.”

The video cut to the interior of the building, which was pitch black. The camera had switched to the gritty, green-tinted night vision mode.

“Okay, we’re rolling,” Hunk said, his voice hushed.

The dim light shone off a concrete wall, which was covered in dark stains.

“Hunk, why are you whispering?” Lance asked off-camera. “Who’s gonna hear us?”

“Uh, I don’t know, the ghost?”

“Dude, we want to find the ghost! That’s why we’re––whoa. Check this out.”

The camera shakily panned towards Lance, who was inspecting the wall with a small flashlight. He looked up, his pupils huge and reflective in the eerie lighting. “Come here, come here. We’ve gotta film this.”

Hunk’s shuffling footsteps were the only sound for a few seconds before the camera zoomed in on the wall, focusing on a cluster of faded splatters.

“Is that … blood?” Hunk asked faintly.

“Yeah, I think this is where they slaughtered the animals or whatever. But here, look.” Lance’s hand entered the frame, long fingers tracing over something on the wall. “This stain right here … Doesn’t it kinda look like a screaming face?”

Keith squinted at the screen, and admittedly he could see what Lance meant. There did seem to be the distinct shape of a pair of eyes and an open, screaming mouth.

“Whoa,” said Hunk.

“Look, there’s another one! And maybe this one too?”

The camera jumped to each of the face-like shapes as Lance pointed them out. Then he paused suddenly, tilting his head.

“Lance? What is it?”

“I think I hear something,” Lance whispered. “Shh, listen.”

A few seconds passed, in which there was no sound but the two of them breathing.

“Oh hey, I think I hear it too,” Hunk said. “It’s like this high-pitched … Oh, wait. Aw, come on. Lance!”

Lance cackled. “I can’t believe you fell for that again.”

“Dude, that smells so bad. Couldn’t you have held it in?”

Lance just laughed again in response, but then he stopped abruptly. “Whoa.”

“What is it?”

“Do you feel that?”

“Lance …”

“No, no. I’m serious this time. Doesn’t the air feel cold to you all of a sudden?”

“I don’t––oh, wait. Yeah. Huh, that’s weird.”

Hunk moved the camera around the room, although there wasn’t much to see in the darkness. It appeared to be mostly empty––just the stained walls and a dirty floor, with some kind of sewer in the middle of it.

“Oh, man. Look at this.” The camera angle swerved as Hunk held his arm up for the viewer to see. The dark hairs were standing up along his skin. “I’m getting crazy goosebumps.”

“Dude, me too,” said Lance. He stepped in front of the camera again, looking directly into it. “I wish you could all feel this, you guys. Like, two minutes ago I was sweating, and now I’m starting to wish I had a winter coat.”

He rubbed at his arms, narrowing his eyes as he looked around the room. “Yeah, there’s definitely a ghost around here.”

“R-right, just the ghost of a murderer … who supposedly killed two people even after he died,” Hunk stuttered.

“Yeah, that one. … Let’s provoke him.”

“Lance, don’t. Remember what happened the last time you tried to provoke a ghost?”

“Oh, come on. It was only one flight of stairs. And at least I didn’t fall on my face.” Lance winked at the camera.

“So yeah, anyway. I wanna see this ghost, so …” He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hey, ghost! Come on out! We’re not scared of you!”

“Uh … I’m a little scared of him, actually,” said Hunk.

There was a loud noise somewhere in the room, like something metallic hitting the floor with a clang. Hunk and Lance both jumped in surprise, and the screen went fuzzy for a second.

“What––what was that?” Hunk stammered. “That wasn’t you, was it?”

“Nope. That definitely came from the other side of the––oh, my God. Over there! Something moved …”

“Lance, look!” The camera zoomed in on the sewer grate in the floor, which was leaking some kind of dark liquid. “Is that …”

The view panned upward––and for a split second, it looked like there was a blurry humanoid shape hovering in the air.

Then everything went staticky as Hunk and Lance both screamed.

What followed was about two whole minutes of very shaky, blurry footage and a lot of screaming and swearing. It was pretty much impossible to tell what was happening.

Yet, Keith realized he was gripping the sides of his laptop in anticipation. He leaned back against the couch, trying to get a hold of himself. This was all probably staged somehow, even if Hunk and Lance had managed to make it seem pretty convincing.

Eventually the video cut out to show Lance standing out on the street again. He leaned over, hands on his knees, breathing hard. After a few seconds, he stood up straight, taking his baseball cap off to fan his face with it. “Oh man … that was a close one.”

“You okay, Lance?” Hunk asked from behind the camera.

“Yeah, how about you?”

“I’m good, I’m good. A little freaked out, but good.”

Lance laughed in incredulity. “Did you see that? Please tell me you got all that on camera.”

“I mean, I was concentrating pretty hard on not dying––but I think I caught most of it.”

“This is amazing!” Lance shoved his hat back on his head. “Man, I was just hoping to catch a few EVPs or something, but to get a ghost on camera? Unbelievable!”

He held up a hand, and Hunk’s hand appeared to high-five it.

Keith watched in disbelief. A minute ago these guys had been running for their lives from some evil ghost, and now they were just casually high-fiving like they did this kind of thing every day. Maybe they did.

He remembered what Allura had said about how the lions had chosen them all, how the fate of the world rested in their hands.

“Oh boy,” he muttered.

Meanwhile, the video had moved on to some portion where it showed the ghost footage at varying speeds. This was accompanied by slowed-down and enhanced audio clips, Hunk and Lance’s enthusiastic narration, captions, and red circles marking all the things they found particularly noteworthy.

Hunk had managed to capture a few good shots of the figure rising up out of the sewer. It was blurry, but it did appear to be a human shape with indistinct facial features. When the audio was slowed down, it also sounded like a muffled voice was saying, “Get out … get out …”

It was all probably bullshit, but Keith watched the whole thing anyway.

When it was over, he scrolled through the comments. These included essay-length analyses of how the video could have been faked, along with tedious comments lecturing about how ghosts are satanic and anyone who messes with them would go to hell, blah blah blah. Some of the comments were ones genuinely praising the video. And the rest were just comments pointing out how cute Hunk and Lance were––and, well, Keith had to admit they were all right about that. It wasn’t like he hadn’t noticed.

He went on to watch another video, and another, until he started to lose track of time. For the most part, it was the same thing over and over again: Hunk and Lance going to some creepy abandoned place, Hunk warning Lance not to provoke the ghosts, Lance doing it anyway, blurry figures appearing out of nowhere, a lot of panicked screaming, followed by some in-depth analysis of the whole ordeal. Some were more convincing than others, but regardless, they were all strangely addicting.

Before he knew it, a couple of hours had gone by, and his eyelids were starting to droop. It had gotten pretty late, and since he would have to get up early, Keith realized he should probably go to sleep now if he wanted to get any rest at all.

With a sigh, he closed up his laptop and slid it back onto the coffee table. He took his glasses off and placed them next to the computer. A blanket hung over the back of the couch, and he pulled it over himself before curling up and closing his eyes.

Keith doubted he would be able to sleep well, but he figured he might as well make an attempt. He watched the blurry shapes form and dissipate behind his eyelids as he tried to process everything that had happened. It felt like the day had been a whole week long, and it was strange to think that only this morning, he and Pidge had stepped into the Absurdatory for the first time.

All the events of the past twenty-four hours raced in circles through his mind until he felt detached from them, like they had happened to someone else. It all became so overwhelming that he found his thoughts drifting away, dissolving into oblivion.

—

When Keith opened his eyes, he was standing up.

He awoke violently, gasping as if he’d just emerged from deep water. His hand shot out in the darkness as he searched for something to steady himself with, and his fingers touched something solid and cold. Breathing raggedly, he traced over the rough surface. It felt like it was made of stone.

With a shock, he realized he was no longer in his apartment. So then … where the hell was he?

When he turned his head, he could see a faint purple-tinted light illuminating the mouth of some kind of tunnel. Stone steps twisted down towards the entrance.

It occurred to him, then, where he was. It was the same place he’d seen in his dream before. The place where Shiro and Matt were being held captive.

At the realization, he wasn’t sure whether to feel terrified or elated––but the rush of emotion seemed to throw everything off-balance. The image in front of him rippled. He was suddenly aware that he was in two places at once: his physical self was sleeping in his apartment, while this other-self walked between worlds.

Somehow, he was projecting himself into this realm, but he could feel his hold on it rapidly slipping away.

No, he thought in a sudden panic. He couldn’t wake up yet. If there was some chance he could find out what was happening to Shiro and Matt, he had to take it.

He inhaled deeply and tried to focus, channeling as much awareness as he could into his dream-self and severing his ties to the physical world. An eerie calmness overcame him.

Step by step, Keith descended towards the light. The farther he drifted down the stairs, the more he felt like he was sinking into his surroundings, like he was becoming a spectator in the dream rather than a participant. He faded into the light as he moved through the entryway.

Suddenly, he was in a room with jagged stone walls and a low ceiling. A row of glowing, purple bars ran through the center of the room, creating some kind of holographic prison cell. On the other side, huddled in the corner, were two figures.

Everything flickered as Keith’s excitement spiked, but he tried to concentrate and take control.

He inched forward until he was right in front of the bars, but he couldn’t go any further. A dark, threatening energy emanated from them––some enchantment to keep intruders out and to keep prisoners in.

But now that he was closer, Keith could see who was trapped on the other side.

A shock went through him, and the dream came more sharply into focus. He felt a tingling sensation course through his limbs, as his dream-self struggled to re-form.

“Shiro,” he tried to say, but he couldn’t find his voice.

Somehow, though, Shiro seemed to sense his presence. He was leaning against the wall with his head lowered, and now he looked up. His skin looked unusually pale in the violet light. A jagged scar ran horizontally across the bridge of his nose, crusted with dried blood.

Matt looked like he was in an even worse condition––he was curled up on his side, head resting on Shiro’s leg. His glasses were missing, and dark red stained the side of his face and bled into his hair. The sound of his rattling breaths was loud in the stillness. He was still alive, but he didn’t sound good.

Even though Shiro had lifted his head, he didn’t seem to see Keith. He gazed at the air right next to where Keith was standing, his eyes glassy.

Desperation swelled in Keith’s chest as he tried again. “Shiro? Can you see me?”

No answer. Shiro’s brow furrowed for a moment, as if he sensed something was different, but he didn’t say anything.

He looked down again, shifting slightly as he lifted his right hand …

Wait.

Keith didn’t comprehend what he was seeing at first, but when he realized, he stared in incredulity. Emerging from Shiro’s sleeve, where his prosthetic would normally be, was a glowing purple hand.

Once, Shiro had explained to Keith what having a “phantom limb sensation” was. Even though he’d lost his right arm, he said that sometimes he could still feel it: shooting pains and tingling in a limb that didn’t even exist anymore. Like a ghost of itself, still attached to him.

This was like that, except … well … he literally appeared to have a phantom limb.

It had taken a few moments for Keith to process this. Now he tried to decide what he should do––whether he should try calling out again or whether that would be pointless.

But before he could even make an attempt, something in the air shifted dramatically. It wasn’t that Keith could hear or see someone coming, but he could feel a new and ominous presence gliding into the room. A sudden urgency to hide overcame him, and he dissolved into the shadows.

Just as he shrank back, something hovered in the air close to where he had been standing only moments ago. A purple mist materialized and then condensed into a solid form: a cloaked figure, facing the prison cell.

Keith couldn’t see the person’s face from where he was, and he concentrated hard to shift the perspective of the dream. He managed to alter it slightly, just enough that he caught a glimpse of the face of the woman beneath the hood––purple skin lined with red markings, glowing yellow eyes.

Inside the cell, Shiro shrank back against the wall. His arm wrapped around Matt, who lay completely motionless.

“Who––who are you?” he demanded. “What is this place? Please …”

The cloaked woman laughed––a cold, heartless chuckle. “That is of no importance to you, mortal,” she said smoothly. “I’m not here to answer your questions. You’re here to answer mine.”

She began to pace in front of the glowing bars, in a motion so fluid it was like her feet weren’t touching the floor––and perhaps they weren’t.

“Where are the other paladins?” she asked.

Keith stifled a gasp.

Shiro only stared back at the woman for a moment before he quickly shook his head. “I don’t––I don’t know. I have no idea what you’re talking about or who you people are, but … listen. You have to let us go. I think there’s been some kind of mistake. We’re not here to harm anyone––”

“Do you truly expect me to believe that?” the woman spat, coming to a sudden stop. “You cannot lie to me. I know what you are.”

Shiro’s brow creased in confusion. “What do you mean? I––I’m just a human being.”

“Impossible. Humans cannot cross over into our realm––not without assistance. The other one, he’s human.” She glanced at Matt’s still form with a disgusted sneer. “But you. You brought him here––him and yourself. Which can only mean one thing.”

“What? No, no …” Shiro ran a hand over his hair. His ghost hand. He suddenly seemed to realize what he was doing, and he snatched it away and stared at it. “I didn’t … I couldn’t control it. I promise you, I’ve never done anything like that before. One second we were in the plane, and the next we were … I don’t know how it happened, but I swear I didn’t mean to––to enter your world on purpose. You have to believe me.”

The words came out of him in a panicked jumble, but the woman did not seem moved by his plea.

“You’ll have to be more convincing than that,” she said as she took one step closer, so that her nose nearly touched the bars. “I’m going to ask you one more time. Where are the other paladins?”

Now Shiro’s expression shifted from apologetic to enraged. “I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said slowly, although his voice shook.

“Hmm. Very well,” said the woman. She seemed deceptively calm, which gave Keith a bad feeling.

As she spoke, she pulled back one of her sleeves to reveal a clawed, purple hand. Sparks danced around her fingertips, crackling audibly. “If you’re going to be difficult, you leave me no other choice.”

No, Keith thought desperately. He wanted to cry out, to fling himself forward, to do something––but it seemed as if he was trapped behind a wall of glass, unable to fully enter the dream.

“Wait,” Shiro choked out, his eyes widening when he saw the woman’s glowing fingers. “No, don’t––” He flinched in preparation for the pain.

But it never came.

Instead, it was Matt who cried out. He writhed on the ground, curling up in a ball and clutching at his chest.

Shiro looked down at him in alarm. “Matt?” Then the realization seemed to dawn on him. He looked back up at the woman, who was smirking now as a ball of energy sparked in the cage of her fingers.

The fire returned to Shiro’s eyes then as he pulled Matt closer to him. “Stop it!” he shouted.

It only seemed to fuel the woman even further. Her smirk widened into a devious grin, and the light blazed brighter in her hand. Matt’s wails of agony escalated.

“Please, stop!” Shiro’s voice started to break. He wrapped his arms around Matt protectively, holding him against his chest. “If it’s me you want then fine, I’ll stay. You can hurt me all you want, but don’t––don’t hurt my friend. Please. Just let him go.”

The woman’s sneer faded, and she lowered her arm. The glow around her fingers died. At the same time, Matt’s screaming faded to a faint whimpering and then to silence. His eyelids fluttered and closed again before he went limp in Shiro’s arms.

“An interesting proposal,” the woman mused, folding her hands into her draping sleeves. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I will be able to fulfill it. I’m afraid you’re too valuable to kill. And even if you refuse to cooperate with me, at least you can serve as bait for the other paladins.”

Her gaze fell disdainfully on Matt again. “Your friend, on the other hand, is expendable. How convenient of you to bring him along. Now I have a way to get the information I need without harming a single hair on your head.”

“I don’t have any information!” Shiro cried. “Don’t you understand? Whoever these ‘paladin’ people are, I’m not one of them, and they’re not looking for me. And if you don’t let us out of here, my friend is going to die!”

“Now, now. Don’t lose hope,” the woman said with a mocking lilt. “I’m sure your friend can last a while longer.” Another smirk curled up the corner of her mouth. “… Of course, he won’t last as long if I don’t start getting answers soon.”

“I don’t––” Shiro started to protest again, but then the fight seemed to leave him all at once. He sagged back against the wall, despair crossing his features. There was nothing he could do.

The woman laughed quietly. “You may be a paladin, but you’re powerless as long as the Black Lion is still loyal to Zarkon. You’ll break soon, I’m sure.”

Zarkon. The sound of the name drove nails of panic up Keith’s spine. So he was involved in all of this, somehow.

“And if you don’t,” the woman continued, “I suppose we’ll just have to hope your other friends will come find you.” Her sly grin returned. “Zarkon will have quite the surprise waiting for them.”

Whatever that was supposed to mean, Keith didn’t like the sound of it.

“I will return soon,” said the woman, backing away. “Before then, you may want to rethink your strategy.”

With that, she vanished into the air in a cloud of violet smoke.

Silence ensued for several moments before Shiro let out a shuddering breath. Tears slid down his face, leaving tracks of grime and blood. Keith watched in helpless dismay. He’d seen Shiro go through panic attacks before, but to see him trapped and broken like this was too much. It made a fiery rage flare up inside him. Whoever that woman had been, Keith wanted nothing more than to track her down and fight her face-to-face.

But he knew that shouldn’t be his priority. If he could, the most important thing to do would be to send Shiro some kind of message. The question was, how?

He still felt as if he were trapped behind a screen, watching everything through an invisible barrier. But at the beginning of the dream he’d been physically there, able to reach out and touch the walls. Somehow, he’d lost hold of that lucidity.

Maybe, though, he could achieve it again.

With a new determination, he focused on projecting himself into the dream world. He took mental hold of his inner energy––maybe it was that “quintessence” stuff Allura had talked about––and imagined channeling it into a physical form, condensing it into a body, hands, feet, arms, legs, a face …

In his frantic state, he almost let it slip away a few times. But after several failed attempts, he began to feel a distinct tingling sensation in his limbs. Shocked, he looked down and could see his own hands in front of him––blurry and transparent, but visible.

Meanwhile, Shiro had lowered his head, his shoulders shaking. Matt lay unmoving in his lap, and his skin looked even paler than it had before.

Cautiously, Keith moved forward until he stood right outside the cell. He still couldn’t seem to move past the bars; there seemed to be some kind of forcefield around them.

He tried to speak again, praying that this time it would work.

“Shiro?”

It came out quiet and unsure, but Shiro’s head snapped up immediately, his eyes growing wide.

“Keith?”

A momentary sense of triumph washed over Keith, so strong that the room seemed to spin around him.

“Oh, my God.” He almost laughed in incredulity. “This is actually working? You can see me?”

“Y––Yeah,” Shiro stammered, wiping the back of his hand across his face. “Am I dreaming this?”

“No,” Keith answered. “I am.”

“What?” Shiro’s brow furrowed, and fear crept into his eyes. “You have to get out of here, Keith. I don’t know how you got here, but … it’s too dangerous. There are these––these creatures, and this woman, she––”

“I know. I saw everything,” Keith cut him off. “Listen,” he added before Shiro could ask any questions. “I’m not actually here. I mean, I am, but … I’m asleep right now, and projecting myself to where you are. Somehow. I don’t know, I’ve never done this before.”

Shiro just stared at him. “What? How––”

“I don’t think I have a lot of time.” Keith could already feel his hands and feet tingling again. “You need to tell me where you are.”

“I––I’m sorry. I don’t know,” Shiro stammered. “We were in my plane, and then there was this part of the sky that looked … different. I can’t really describe it, except that it was darker than everything else. And then we hit it, and the plane just stopped working. We––we started to go down.”

He took a deep breath, glaring down at the floor. His ghost hand curled into a fist. Keith could see sweat standing out on his forehead and the dampness of tears still lingering on his face, and he wished more than anything that there was no barrier between them and that he could hug his best friend. Shiro had already been through one horrible accident in his lifetime, and Keith couldn’t imagine what going through another crash must have felt like … or what it felt like to relive it now.

“I don’t remember what happened after that. I must’ve blacked out. But, next thing I knew I was waking up in this place, being dragged down a hallway by … I don’t know. I thought they were just people in cloaks at first, but then I realized they weren’t human.”

He shook his head. “Their eyes were glowing. And their skin was purple. I know it sounds ridiculous, but ...”

“Shiro, I’m literally astral-projecting right now,” Keith said. “I’m ready to believe just about anything. Besides, I’ve seen these creatures before. They’re a type of evil spirit called the Galra.”

“Galra?” Shiro repeated, frowning, as if he’d heard the word before. “How do you know that?”

“I don’t think I have enough time to tell you the whole story.”

Keith glanced down at his hands, which were starting to flicker and fade. Panicking, he tried to say as much as he could before he disappeared.

“I think I’m gonna wake up soon. But I wanted to let you know that we’re going to find you, okay? Me and the other paladins.”

“Paladins … wait, you’re a paladin?”

“Uh, yeah. Apparently. Me and Matt’s sister, Pidge, and these two guys named Lance and Hunk. And I guess you are, too.”

“Whoa, slow down. What does that even mean?”

“To be honest, I don’t really know,” Keith admitted. “Except I guess we can move between worlds or something. And uh … apparently we each have to bind with a giant spirit lion, whatever that means.

“Anyway, once we do that, we’re going to come rescue you. Okay? You just have to hold on for a while longer.”

He could see his own panic reflected on Shiro’s face as the world warped and blurred around him.

“Keith, wait!” Shiro blurted. “No, you––you can’t. You shouldn’t bring your friends here. I think it’s some kind of trap.”

Keith knew Shiro was probably right––but he saw his best friend sitting there with blood on his face and a ghost limb, saw Matt lying frighteningly still in his arms, and a newfound determination flared up in him.

“We don’t have a choice, Shiro,” he said. “I’ll see you again soon. I promise.”

The last thing he heard was Shiro shouting his name before the dream evaporated into nothingness.

Chapter Text

Keith woke up feeling like he’d been dragged out of the ocean––gasping for breath, his throat raw and chest aching.

Something touched his arm and he shot upright. The room pitched around him and he sank back onto the couch with a groan, holding a hand to his pounding forehead.

It took a second for him to realize that Allura was kneeling on the floor next to him, her eyebrows furrowed with worry. “Are you alright?” she inquired.

Keith swallowed, still feeling too winded to speak. His whole body hurt and his hands shook violently. He’d experienced sleep paralysis before––those moments after waking where he couldn't move no matter how much he wanted to. This felt kind of like that, except a thousand times worse.

“Yeah,” he finally managed to croak out. “I’m fine.”

Allura tilted her head. “Were you dreaming?”

“Yes. … No. I––I don’t know.” Keith tried to sit up again, more slowly this time. His head was still spinning and his mouth was dry. He wiped a hand across his eyes and was surprised when it came away damp.

“You were crying in your sleep,” Allura said.

Keith hastily looked away, rubbing the heels of his hands under his eyes. He reached for his glasses on the coffee table and shoved them onto his face.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Allura slowly rising from the floor and perching on the edge of the table.

“There’s no need to be sorry,” she said gently. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

Keith hesitated. He could only stare at his own trembling hands, as scattered images from the dream surfaced in horrifying clarity.

Matt twisting and screaming in agony. Tears running down Shiro’s face.

“It was about Shiro and Matt,” Keith said.

Allura went rigid, leaning forward. “You saw them again? Was it like your dream before? The one you had when they first disappeared?”

After hesitating for a moment, Keith nodded.

"Kind of. But this was a little different because I ... I wasn't just watching it, you know? I was there."

"What do you mean?"

"Like, somehow I sort of ... projected myself into the dream. I actually talked to Shiro."

"You did what?" Allura sat up straight, her frown giving way to wide-eyed shock.

"It was only for a minute, and––and I'm not sure how I did it,” Keith tried to explain. “But it was like I was really there. He actually saw and heard me. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true."

He felt out of breath by the time the words had rushed out of him, and Allura didn't say anything. Keith had been hoping she could provide some kind of explanation, but she looked just as baffled as he was.

"Is that some kind of power that comes with being a paladin?" he asked. "Being able to ... I don't know, dream-travel, or whatever it was?"

"I do not know. As far as I’m aware, none of the previous paladins possessed such an ability. Perhaps it is something unique to yourself. Have you ever done it before?"

"Not exactly," Keith answered. "I've always had vivid dreams, but I've never projected myself through a dream like that before. Not that strongly, anyway."

His hands were still shaking and he clenched his fingers. He was just starting to feel like he could breathe normally again, but he felt light-headed and strange like he’d been hit with a physical illness.

“What did you see?” Allura asked him. “You look … frightened.”

Keith struggled to piece together everything he'd seen in the dream––and as his initial shock wore off, the panic started to kick in.

"They're in danger," he managed to say. "Shiro and Matt ... they're in some kind of prison underground. I think it's in those same ruins I saw in my dream on the night they disappeared.

“And there––there's this ... woman. I don't think she's human. She was torturing Matt in front of Shiro."

Bile rose into his throat at the horrific memory and he swallowed hard.

"It was like she was hurting him with her mind. Like she was using some kind of dark magic."

Allura inhaled sharply. “A druid,” she murmured. The tremor in her voice wasn’t very reassuring. When Keith looked at her in confusion she hastily explained, “Druids are ghosts that were once Alteans, but who allied with the Galra in the afterlife. They are capable of very dangerous, powerful magic.”

She shook her head as if she'd just woken from a trance. "But I apologize, I interrupted you. Go on."

It took a moment for Keith to gather his thoughts together again, grasping at the fleeting memories of what he'd seen.

"This woman ... she knew about the paladins––about us. She said that Shiro ..." He frowned, rubbing at his forehead. "She said Shiro was a paladin. And something about Zarkon still being in control of the Black Lion."

"Zarkon?" Allura repeated, a hand flying to her chest. "Oh, no," she said more quietly. "So it's true ..."

Keith felt a sudden, overwhelming sense of urgency surge through him. "We have to do something," he said, lurching to his feet. The room spun around him and he gripped the arm of the couch.

Allura frowned in concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Keith insisted, righting himself again. Truthfully, he felt like his head was full of cement. But he began to pace the room anyway, fighting to ignore the trembling in his limbs.

"We have to get to them. Is there a way to do that? You said you could create some kind of portals, right?"

"Well, yes," Allura said, slowly rising to her feet. "However, it's not that simple. Even if I could create a portal straight to where Shiro and Matt are, it could very well be some kind of trap."

“That’s exactly what Shiro said,” Keith muttered. He stopped pacing next to the window, glaring out at the cars passing on the street below. “Now that I think about it, that woman––the druid––she said something about how Zarkon was expecting us, the rest of the paladins, to come looking for Shiro. And something about Zarkon having a ‘surprise’ for us, whatever that means.”

“This isn’t good,” Allura murmured. She paced behind Keith, footsteps creaking across the floorboards. “I hate to leave Shiro and Matt in the hands of Zarkon and his druids, but I’m afraid we are unprepared to rescue them yet. If Zarkon has something in store, we’re going to need the other four lions before we face him.”

Keith whirled around. “But didn’t you say that could take weeks? That’s going to take way too long. What if something happens before then? What if––” He choked off at the end of the sentence, as if voicing his fears would make them come true.

Allura faced him with her arms crossed, although her expression remained sympathetic.

“I know they’re your friends,” she said. “I am just as concerned for their wellbeing as you are. And I realize that we are under a significant time restraint. But if we go up against Zarkon without all of the lions, we will be crushed.”

Those words felt like a gigantic weight on Keith’s shoulders––so relentless that he feared it would pull him to the ground. Somehow he remained standing, jaw clenched to restrain himself from arguing.

As much as he wanted to go charging in and save Shiro and Matt right away, he had to take a step back and consider what Allura had said. He had seen only a glimpse of what they had to fight against, but he understood that without the aide of the other spirit lions there was no chance of winning.

“Our next course of action is to find the lions as soon as we can,” Allura continued. “But first, we must consult with Coran.” There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice as she said the name, as if she still couldn’t believe her friend was alive. “He may know some information that I am unaware of.”

In all his panic over his dream, Keith had nearly forgotten. “Right. That.” He froze, suddenly remembering that Lance was supposed to pick them up at … 8? 9? He couldn’t remember. He stumbled over to the coffee table to where his cell phone lay facedown, and he snatched it up to look at the time. It was already 9:02, and he had a missed call and a voicemail from Pidge.

Keith pressed a finger to the screen to bring up Pidge’s message.

“Keith, hey. It’s Pidge. Hope you’re already awake. Uhh, just wanted to let you know Lance and Hunk just picked me up. It’s like 8:30-ish now so I guess we’ll be there in … half an hour? We’ll call you when we get there. See ya.”

Trying not to curse, Keith shoved his phone back into his pocket. “The others are gonna be here any minute. I’ll, uh … I’ll be back in a second.”

Before Allura could ask any questions, he dashed into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Heaving out a long breath, he leaned back against the door. His pulse was still unnaturally high and his knees shook like he was about to collapse. The horrible images from his dream cycled through his head in a ceaseless loop, and he couldn't shake away the fear that seemed to grip him like physical claws.

But he had to get it together somehow. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were probably only a minute away. They would go find Coran. Maybe, by some miracle, he'd know what to do.

Trying to steady his erratic breathing, Keith marched to the sink. He almost cringed at his own ghoulish reflection––the stark paleness of his skin and the dark circles under his eyes. With a sigh, he took his glasses off and switched on the faucet. A few splashes of cold water on his face made him feel slightly more alert, although his hands still trembled.

He had just finished putting his contacts in when he felt a sudden buzz in his pocket. Keith nearly jumped out of his skin––jeez, he was really on edge––before he fished his phone out and blinked at the screen.

An unknown number was calling him. Frowning, he answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” a voice answered brightly. “We’re waiting outside your building. Stop combing your mullet and get out here.”

“I wasn’t combing my––” Keith started to say, and then stopped as he processed who he was talking to. “... Lance? How did you even get my number?”

“Pidge gave it to me. I figured we should all have each other’s numbers if we’re gonna be saving the world together or whatever. Also, you were totally just about to say ‘I wasn’t combing my mullet’, weren’t you? So you do admit you have a mullet! Ha!”

“I’m hanging up now,” Keith deadpanned.

“Not if I hang up first,” Lance said and hung up.

"You––" Keith started to say, and then realized it was pointless. With a short huff of frustration, he lowered his phone from his ear and just stared at it for a second. To his surprise, he didn't feel as annoyed as he should have. He felt almost ... amused. Weird.

"Everyone's waiting for us outside," he told Allura as he walked out of the bathroom. "You ready to go?"

After a moment's hesitation, she nodded.

The minivan was parked at the curb right outside the building. Lance leaned out the window, impatiently drumming his fingers on the side of the car. “Took you long enough,” he said, but then he suddenly paused as he looked Keith up and down. “God, you look, uh … really tired.”

“Morning to you, too,” Keith grumbled. Unlike himself, Lance looked surprisingly radiant for so early in the morning, his skin practically glowing in the golden light. Keith blinked a few times and forced himself to look away.

“Good morning,” Allura said, descending the steps to stand next to Keith.

“Hey there,” Lance started to say, and then did a double-take. “Where’d you get those clothes?”

Keith froze as he suddenly remembered that Allura was still wearing his T-shirt and sweatpants.

"Oh! Keith kindly allowed me to borrow these," Allura explained, fiddling with the hem of the shirt.

"Right. Okay," Lance said, glancing at Keith––who had a sudden urge to blurt out a reminder that he was, in fact, gay, but he saved himself the embarrassment. "Well, lookin' good!"

"Thank you," Allura said with a small smile.

Hunk leaned out from behind Lance. "Hey, uh. Are you guys ready to get going?"

"Oh ... uh, yeah. We're ready," Keith stammered.

He opened the back door. Pidge was already wedged into the back seat, tapping away at her phone. She glanced up as Keith slid in beside her, followed by Allura.

"Morning," Pidge greeted them. Judging by her half-hearted tone and messy hair, she was not really a morning person.

"Hey Pidge," Keith replied. His eyes still ached, and he rubbed at them fiercely.

"Whoa, you look exhausted," Pidge said. “You okay?”

Keith's instinctive response was to insist he was fine––but looking at Pidge's worried face, he felt a twist in his gut as he remembered the image of Matt writhing in agony in Shiro's arms. He wished he could lie about what he knew, what he'd seen, but the thought made him feel sick with guilt.

"Not really," he admitted, staring at the messy car floor. Around his feet were crumpled receipts, an empty styrofoam coffee cup, a balled-up pair of socks. "Something ... happened."

Lance had already started to pull away from the curb, but he immediately turned around in his seat at those words. "What do you mean?"

Keith's hands clenched on his knees. "I had another dream."

If everyone hadn't already been paying attention to him, they certainly were now. Hunk twisted around to stare at him. Pidge nearly dropped her phone as she stiffened with sudden alertness.

"You mean ... Was it like your other dream?" she choked out.

"Sort of." Keith scratched the back of his neck, still avoiding eye contact with Pidge, afraid he'd betray his worry. "This one was more vivid."

"Did you see Matt?" Pidge blurted. "And Shiro? Where are they? Are they okay? What––"

"Hey, maybe give him time to answer," Lance cut in. He raised an eyebrow at Keith. "Well? What did you see?"

"Eyes on the road, Lance," Hunk reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah."

By now they'd reached the end of the street, and Lance was about to pull the car out into traffic.

Keith hesitated over how honest he wanted to be about everything he'd seen in the nightmare. He didn't want to freak everyone out––especially Pidge––but then again, it was vital information.

"I have to warn you, it's not good."

Pidge bit her lower lip. "Is Matt ... ? Is he––"

"He's alive," Keith said. "So is Shiro. But they're both hurt, and they're trapped in some kind of prison."

"A prison? Where?"

"Wish I knew," Keith sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I tried to ask Shiro, but he doesn't remember how they ended up there. It looked like the same castle ruins I saw in my first dream, though."

"Wait a second," Hunk cut in. "You talked to Shiro?"

"Oh ... yeah. It's hard to explain, but towards the end of the dream I kind of ... astral-projected into the dream? I think? It wasn't for very long, but I managed to communicate with Shiro for a minute."

"Whoa, that's pretty wild," said Lance, glancing at Keith in the mirror. "You ever done something like that before?"

"Not really. I’ve had really vivid dreams, but I don't think I've ever communicated with someone through a dream like that."

"Red light, Lance," Hunk said.

"Yeah, I see it! Stop being a backseat driver, Hunk."

"Well, technically I'm in the front seat––"

"Guys, focus," Pidge snapped. "This is important." She turned to Keith again. "So, Shiro doesn't know where they are. But did he tell you anything else?"

“Not much. He told me that he and Matt had been in his plane, then they hit some part of the sky that looked weird and he doesn’t remember what happened after that. Just that when he woke up, they were in this castle. And there are these people––these creatures ..."

"The purple ones with the claws? The Galra?"

"Yeah, those. It's not just them, though. There's also this woman, a ... druid."

"Druid?" Pidge repeated.

"Yes," Allura chimed in, her expression grim. "As I explained to Keith, they're evil spirits that were once Alteans before they joined the Galra in the afterlife. They're capable of extremely powerful magic."

"And one of these druids is holding Matt and Shiro captive?" Pidge asked.

"Kind of. She ..." Keith trailed off before he managed to complete the sentence. "She's working for Zarkon."

A momentary silence ensued before Hunk was the first to react, turning around with a gasp. "Wait, did you say Zarkon? Like ... Zarkon Zarkon? The one Allura said was a really bad dude?"

"Yes," Allura said, staring furiously downward. "The man who betrayed my father."

"This woman––the druid––said that Zarkon is still in control of the black lion," Keith continued. "But apparently Shiro is supposed to be the black paladin."

"So, how does that work?" Pidge asked. "Can the lion have two paladins at once?"

Allura shook her head. "We don't know. If Zarkon is being aided by the druids, I imagine they're keeping the lion under some sort of spell."

"Well ... there must be a way to break it, right?"

"I am not certain. But I imagine being separated from the black lion weakens Shiro's connection to it. They must be imprisoning him to keep him from forming a bond with his lion."

"And to lure in the rest of us," Keith added grimly.

Pidge leaned back against the seat, letting out a shaking sigh.

Keith could sense how scared she was, and he was equally worried, but he tried to come up with some way to reassure her.

“I know this doesn’t look good.” He knew that was a huge understatement, but he also didn’t want to sugar-coat it. "But we're gonna get them back."

"And how are we going to do that, exactly?" Hunk asked nervously. "We don't even know where they are, and apparently they're being held captive by this super-evil Zarkon dude and some crazy-powerful spirits. How are we supposed to go up against that?"

"We need to find the lions," Allura replied with steady certainty. "I already knew the situation was urgent, but this new development has made that abundantly clear." She took a deep breath, gazing out at the road passing by out the window. "I just hope that Coran can provide some guidance."

Everyone was fairly quiet for the rest of the car ride. A tense silence filled the air, disrupted only by the continuous rumble of the engine. Keith spent most of the journey staring down at his lap, hands picking anxiously at the car seat underneath him. His four companions seemed just as uneasy, judging by their lack of conversation.

At last, they drew close to their destination. “It’s just up ahead,” Pidge announced, glaring at the screen of her phone. She craned her neck to look out the window. “It’s pretty much the only thing on the side of the road. Huge Bigfoot statue. You’ll know it when you see it.”

Along the bare stretch of highway, the distinct shape of the small building appeared on the horizon. It was just as odd and derelict as Keith remembered it––the red lettering on the sign a harsh contrast to its dusty exterior, the roof caving in slightly, the statue in front staring out at the passing traffic.

“I’m guessing that’s it?” Lance said. He didn’t wait for an answer before he pulled over, turning the van into the small parking lot.

Once he’d parked, Lance switched off the engine and shoved the keys into his pocket. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let's check it out!”

He was already opening the door as he spoke. Hunk followed, opening his own door to step outside. Pidge exited the car next, and Keith was about to follow her––when he suddenly noticed that Allura wasn’t moving at all, just staring at the Absurdatory.

“Hey,” Keith said. “You okay? I know it’s not exactly the nicest-looking place, but––”

“It’s not that,” Allura cut him off. “It’s … What if––What if it’s not him?”

The truth was, Keith was worried about the same thing. It seemed preposterous that this Coran was the same one Allura knew, and that somehow he had been alive for over a hundred years. But then again, in the past few days Keith had already seen countless things he never would have believed before.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But … I feel like there can’t be that many guys named Coran who know about Altea.”

“I suppose you are right. That would be quite coincidental if it were someone else. But I also fear it might be a trap.”

That hadn’t even occurred to Keith. He’d been so caught up in worrying about other things, he hadn’t stopped to consider that maybe this was all a complicated ruse––that the Coran he’d met was an imposter. After all, it did seem too good to be true.

“I get why you’re worried,” Keith said. “But I’ve met with this guy before, and he seems trustworthy. And if not … if it is some kind of trap … the rest of us will be right behind you, okay?”

Allura hesitated and then gave a solemn nod. “Alright. I suppose there’s no way of knowing until we go inside.”

She and Keith both stepped out of the car, where the other three were waiting.

“Everything okay?” Hunk asked.

Lance stood with his arms crossed, shooting a wary, narrow-eyed look at Keith. “Yeah, what were you two just talking about? Something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Keith answered. “Just, you know …”

“I apologize, I was being slightly hesitant,” Allura cut in. “But I’m sure it will be fine. It’s just a lot to take in.”

Hunk smiled at her reassuringly. “It’s okay, we understand. This all must be pretty overwhelming.”

Allura nodded, brushing a white strand of hair from her eyes. “It is.” She squared her shoulders. “But I’m ready.”

They approached the entrance to the museum––Pidge in the lead, Lance and Hunk right behind her, Keith and Allura hovering at the back of the group. Pidge pushed the door open. Warm air wafted out, heavy with a smell reminiscent of paperback books and old basements.

“Hello?” Pidge called out to the empty room. No one was standing at the front desk, and there was no answer.

All five of them trailed inside, awkwardly maneuvering between the display cases. Lance stopped in the middle of the room with his hands on his hips, surveying their odd surroundings. “Oh, this place is definitely haunted.”

Keith turned to Hunk, who was standing next to him. “Does he say that about every place he walks into?”

“Yep,” Hunk answered.

Meanwhile, Pidge had ventured further inside. She stopped and turned in a slow circle, as if she expected Coran to jump out of hiding––which wouldn’t have been so surprising, considering that was exactly what he had done the last time Pidge and Keith were here.

“Coran? Are you here?” Pidge tried again.

This time, there was a creak at the bottom of the stairs. “Yes! Hello? Who is it?” a voice called cheerfully back.

They all jumped and whirled around at the sound, as the footsteps continued to make their way up the stairs. Soon Coran emerged, one hand on the banister, a pile of books tucked under his other arm.

His face lit up when he saw Pidge. “Ah, if it isn’t young Pidge Holt! Oh, and … Keith, was it? And I see you’ve brought some friends …”

He trailed off, his smile fading as he looked at each of them in turn. “Is something wrong? It looks like you’ve all seen a––”

Then his words choked off, his eyes widening considerably in disbelief. The books slipped from under his arm and thudded against the wood floor, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Allura,” he said softly––and then said it again, a note of hesitation in the name, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Allura?”

Allura had moved forward a few stumbling, cautious steps. She kept one hand clasped against her chest. “It’s you,” she managed to say, voice rasping. “Oh, Coran. It’s really you!”

The tension shattered then, as both of them grasped the impossible reality that they had found each other.

Both Alteans dove forward at once, throwing their arms around each other in a tight embrace. Allura buried her face against Coran’s shoulder as he stroked her hair with a shaking hand, closing his eyes and murmuring comforting words to her.

Pidge took off her glasses, wiping at her eyes with the heel of her hand.

Next to Keith, Hunk sniffed loudly. “Oh, wow. I––I’m gonna cry.”

Lance patted Hunk’s arm. “Me too, big guy,” he said, his voice equally choked up.

Even Keith felt a fierce stinging in his eyes as he took in the touching sight of the reunion. Allura and Coran held onto each other like they would never let go, and Keith felt a strange ache in his chest upon watching them––something almost like envy.

He knew what it was like to lose someone, how no longer having that familiar presence felt like losing a limb. Right now, he would’ve given anything to have that back, to be reunited with the one person he considered family.

He was broken out of his train of thought as Allura and Coran finally stepped back from each other. Coran kept his hands on Allura’s shoulders, smiling in disbelief as he studied her face.

“How remarkable,” he said hoarsely. “You don’t look a day older than the last time I saw you.”

Allura laughed, wiping at her eyes. “Nor do you, Coran.”

He sniffled and let out a hearty chuckle. “That’s very kind of you, my dear.” His smile faltered a little, and he held a hand to his forehead. “My goodness, this is … I had desperately hoped we would meet again, but I––I can’t believe this is happening. And this means …”

His eyes scanned over the other four present, the realization dawning on his face.

“Yes,” Allura answered his unspoken question, smiling as she followed his gaze. “These four are the ones who found me, who were able to break my father’s spell. The new paladins.”

“But the fifth paladin …” Coran started to say, and then his brow furrowed with worry. “Oh, dear. It’s just as I suspected. Matthew and Takashi …”

“Yeah,” Keith cut him off, glaring at the floorboards. “It’s Shiro. He’s the Black Paladin.”

A tense silence followed.

Allura put her hand on Coran’s arm. “We should all probably sit down. There is much to discuss.”

—

There was a small, run-down porch at the back of the Absurdatory, overlooking a sloping field and the dark mountains in the distance.

Coran unfolded a set of tacky lawn chairs, coughing as they expelled clouds of dust. “You must excuse me. It’s been quite some time since I had any company,” he explained, setting down the last of the chairs. He wrung his hands. “Do any of you want tea?”

The teens exchanged questioning looks.

“Uh, I think we’re good,” Pidge said with a shrug. “But thanks.”

“Oh, good. I don’t have any tea, anyway,” said Coran.

Everyone sat down in the lawn chairs, moving them into a small semi-circle on the porch.

Coran straightened his bowtie and plopped his hands down on his knees. “So, where do we begin?”

Allura had drawn her chair up next to his, and she was staring at him like she still couldn’t believe he was right there in front of her. “I don’t know,” she answered. “There are so many things … I don’t know what to ask first.”

“Well, ask away! I understand there is much to process. And I have plenty questions for all of you as well.”

“Yeah, uh. I have a question,” Hunk blurted. “No offense Coran but like, how are you still alive?”

“Dude,” Lance said, elbowing him. “You can’t just ask people why they’re still alive.”

Coran chuckled, seemingly unoffended. “It’s alright. It's quite a reasonable question, and one I knew would be sure to arise."

Almost as soon as he'd said the words, the humor dulled from his eyes. Suddenly, the weight of years was more apparent in his expression.

"I'm afraid, though, that it is a rather tragic tale." He turned to Allura, grief etched in his features. "Are you prepared to hear of it? Of what happened after you underwent your father's spell?"

Allura took a moment to answer, biting her lip before she spoke. "Yes," she said at last. "I––I know it will be painful. But I must know everything. We all must."

Coran reached out to place a gentle hand over hers, where it rested on the arm of her chair. He took a moment to contemplate before he cleared his throat and spoke.

“As Allura must have told all of you already … her father, Alfor, put her in a magic-induced slumber about a hundred years ago. At the time, Zarkon and the other Galra were taking Altean lives one by one––draining our innocent people of quintessence in their quest to create a massive portal to travel between all of the spirit realms.”

He looked down, brow furrowing at the dark memories.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't long until our numbers began to dwindle. Many Galra had joined Zarkon's side. And for their own safety, the remaining Alteans were forced to flee.

"A few of us remained, including Alfor and the other paladins––the three besides Zarkon, that is––and myself. The paladins were the only ones left who had any chance against defeating Zarkon. With their combined elemental powers, they could potentially face Zarkon's army of evil spirits and win.

"But even so, there were only four of them––and without Zarkon, the fifth paladin, there was no way for them to form Voltron. Additionally, with their high levels of quintessence, they were prime targets for Zarkon’s plot. Facing him meant risking that they would be defeated, and in the process their quintessence would be drained to create the very thing they desperately needed to prevent.”

Keith leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed, processing Coran's words. He could see the terrible conundrum the previous paladins had found themselves in. Voltron was the only being powerful enough to stop Zarkon, but they had been unable to form Voltron without the Black Lion. Not only that, but they'd already been forced to hide the other lions to protect them from the Galra. Leading them into battle would have meant leaving them vulnerable to capture.

"So, what did they do?" Lance asked. "Did they have to surrender?"

Coran took a deep breath and released it in a shaking sigh. "I'm afraid they didn't," he said at last. "As Alfor's close friend and advisor, I urged him not to rush the paladins into battle. It was too great of a risk. But as much as I feared the worst, I could not think of an alternative. Zarkon had to be stopped. And Alfor was determined to face him head-on, even if it meant putting himself and the other paladins at risk."

He lifted his head, gazing sadly off into the distance as if he could see the past etched on the horizon.

"He knew that they could fail. But even if they did, the lions would at least be safe. At least, all of them except the Black Lion."

"And that's when he put Allura under the spell?" Pidge asked, trying to piece things together.

"Yes," Coran said, and Allura nodded silently. "I assume Allura has told you that part of the story. Alfor created a powerful protection spell that would keep Allura and all of Altea safe––a spell that could only be broken if all the paladins were present.

“So, if Alfor and the other paladins succeeded in their quest, Allura could be awoken by their presence. But if they failed, Allura could not wake up until the next paladins entered Altea and found her." He looked around at each of them. “... Which, it appears, would be you four.”

“Right, we’ve already figured out that much,” Pidge said, and then cleared her throat as she seemed to realize her rudeness. “But that still doesn’t explain how you’re still alive. Were you under some kind of spell, too?”

Coran blinked at her before quickly gathering his composure. “The short answer is yes,” he said. “But it’s a bit more complicated than that.”

He folded his hands in his lap, interlocking his shaking fingers.

“After Alfor put his protection spell over Allura, things took a turn for the worse. As I had feared, the paladins …” Coran closed his eyes as if remembering caused him physical pain. “They were defeated by Zarkon one by one.”

He didn't even have to go into detail to make Keith's blood turn cold. Just from Coran's grave tone of voice, it was clear that the previous paladins had met a terrible fate.

"Soon, there was only Alfor left. He had lost everything in the battle against Zarkon ... his home, his people, his fellow paladins, his wife. And now Allura, too, was under a spell where she would not awaken until the next paladins arrived in Altea.

"Alfor was devastated, of course, but he also was determined to fight Zarkon until the end. He had nothing left to lose. Nothing except his own life.

“I knew I couldn’t stop him, no matter how I tried, and I feared the worst. If Alfor … If he was going to lose his life, I couldn’t bear to think what that would mean for Allura. She would wake up years in the future––possibly decades, centuries, for all I knew––to find herself completely alone, with no one to guide her in training the new paladins.”

Allura gasped. “You mean … you …”

Coran smiled weakly at her. “Yes. I––I volunteered to undergo a spell similar to the one Alfor had cast over you, Allura. It just pained me too much to think of you being completely alone.

“So, I told Alfor I wanted him to place that same enchantment over me. I promised I would be there for Allura by the time she awakened.”

Allura placed a hand over her mouth, eyes glimmering. “You––You really did that for me?” she managed to say at last, the words muffled against her fingers. “Coran … But you shouldn’t have … You didn’t need to …”

“It was my choice, Allura,” he stopped her with a wistful smile. “You know you’ve always been like a daughter to me. And if anything was going to happen to Alfor, I couldn’t leave you on your own.”

Tears streamed from Allura’s eyes, and she hastily wiped them away. She was speechless, only able to offer a grateful smile in return.

“Okay, I hate to interrupt,” Hunk cut in. “But I’m a little confused. I know the spell with Allura … the paladins had to be present in order for her to wake up. But we didn’t have to be there for Coran to wake up. So in that case, what broke Coran’s spell?”

“I was wondering the same thing,” said Pidge. “And also Coran … how did you know you would wake up around the same time as Allura? ‘Cause you had no way of knowing when the next paladins would arrive and awaken her––and yet, I know you’ve already been awake for at least the past few years.”

Coran looked at both of them with a perplexed look, scratching his chin. “Ah, yes. I suppose I must explain that. You see, the spell Alfor cast on me was essentially the same as the one Allura had undergone, but it was … weaker.

“Alfor had already channeled a great deal of his quintessence into his protection spells for Allura and for all of Altea. I couldn’t ask him to use such complicated magic on me, for fear that he would not have enough power remaining to battle Zarkon.

“Thus, the spell I underwent was not as strong, and could be broken much more easily. It would also be broken by the new paladins’ presence, but the paladins would not need to be in my immediate vicinity for it to work––unlike Allura’s spell. They would only have to be in the general area.”

“But how’d you know we’d all end up in the same area?” Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. “Do the lions only, like, choose paladins who are all within a certain radius of each other?”

Allura and Coran exchanged a look before Allura gave her hesitant answer.

“Truthfully, that has always been a bit of a mystery. It was the same with the previous paladins––they all lived within the area surrounding Altea. And although the paladins could communicate with the lions to an extent, they still did not speak the same language, so the lions could not provide a clear answer as to how and why they chose their paladins.

“However, we often speculated that perhaps there is some source of spiritual energy radiating out of Altea, which is maybe what affected its people in the first place. That could also be why the lions were so drawn to it––and why their paladins are, too.”

“You mean, you think we all ended up in this area for a reason?” Keith said. Everyone looked at him in surprise, since he hadn’t said anything this entire time. “Like … some kinda magic energy lured us to this place?”

Now that he thought about it, he had found himself strangely drawn to this area for no explicable reason. There of course had been the appeal of the Garrison, but it had felt like something more than that––like somehow, it was where he was meant to be.

“Yes, perhaps that is a part of it,” Allura answered him. “But I suspect there may be more complexities to it than that. I’d imagine there are people with potential to be paladins all over the world, but the lions must make a decision based on five people they can bring together. Whether that is fate or coincidence, though, I suppose we’ll never know.”

She turned to Coran. “I’m sorry, we seem to have gotten distracted from your story, Coran. You were saying … ?”

“Ah, it’s quite alright,” he said, smiling. “Where was I? Right … so, the presence of all five paladins within the general vicinity is what woke me from my slumber. This was … oh, about five years ago I think.”

“Five years?” Allura repeated, aghast. “It’s been that long? I’m so sorry, Coran. All that time on your own …”

He patted her hand. “No need to fret, my dear. Yes, I must admit it was quite disorienting at first––as one would expect after sleeping for nearly a century. So much has changed! But it wasn’t long until things started to fall into place.

“It wasn’t long before I stumbled upon this little museum.” Coran gestured at the run-down building behind them. “I immediately admired its quaint charms, and was fascinated by its wares.

“At the time, it was owned by an elderly man. The two of us soon became friends, and he told me all sorts of stories about the strange goings-on in the valley. Sightings of odd creatures, disembodied voices, reports of ghosts and other various hauntings.”

Hunk and Lance exchanged a knowing smile at that.

“But what shocked me most was that this man had heard of Altea,” Coran went on. “He told me it was an obscure legend in the nearby area––the story of a town that vanished without a trace. There was no concrete evidence of it, he told me, but he had various old maps that showed where the town used to be.

“Since we had become good friends, I eventually admitted the truth to him: I was from Altea. Of course he was flabbergasted and extremely skeptical of course––but he was a man who had seen many inexplicable things in his lifetime, so he was willing to listen. By the time I told him the entire story of what had happened to Altea and my own connection to it, he believed me. Either I was telling the truth, he said, or I was a very dedicated actor.”

Coran chuckled a little at the memory.

“It was comforting to have that one person to confide in. He was the only person I ever told.” His smile faded. “However, at that point he was growing quite old and was ready to retire. In a very generous act of kindness, he offered to hand over ownership of the Absurdatory to me. Evidently, I was honored and agreed to take over his duties here at the museum. Sadly, he passed on not long after that.”

He took a handkerchief from the front pocket of his jacket and dabbed at his eyes.

“I’m so very sorry, Coran,” Allura said softly. “It must have been terrible to lose such a close friend.”

“It was. But ever since then, I have done my very best to take after the Absurdatory in his honor. And it has brought me many other good friends along the way. Your brother, for example.”

Coran nodded towards Pidge, who sat up straight at the mention of Matt.

“So,” Keith said, trying to work everything out in his head. “These past––five years, you said?––you’ve just been waiting for Allura to wake up? But you must have known the paladins were somewhere around here, or you wouldn't have woken up from the spell. So … were you trying to find us or anything?”

“Not exactly,” Coran answered with a hint of hesitation. “Unfortunately, there was no way for me to know exactly where the paladins were or how to locate them––or you, I suppose I should say. I simply had to rely on hope that you would all find each other and make your way to Altea.

“I also hoped that working here at the Absurdatory would help me to meet any potential paladins. After all, as you know, there is some information here about Altea. And I assumed that the paladins would somehow––by fate, by some unseen spiritual force––eventually be driven to seek out that information, and seek out Altea itself in turn.”

“And that’s why you gave Matt so much information about Altea,” Pidge said. “You thought he was a potential paladin?”

“Yes, I did consider the possibility that either he or his friend, Shiro, were paladins, seeing as how they were both so interested in Altea,” Coran replied. “And Keith, I know you stated earlier that Shiro is, in fact, the fifth paladin. How do you know this?”

“Well …” Keith fiddled with his hands, twining and untangling his fingers. “You know how I told you about that dream I had? The one about Shiro and Matt, on the night they disappeared? I had another one.”

He launched into summarizing the dream for the third time that morning, covering as many details as he could, although he glossed over just how grisly it had been. He didn’t look up as he spoke, too absorbed in the disturbing memory of what he had seen.

When Keith finished his explanation, Coran wiped at his brow with his handkerchief.

“Oh––Oh dear,” he stammered, which wasn’t exactly reassuring. He took a moment to speak again. “When you told me about your first dream, I suspected the Galra were involved––possibly Zarkon himself. This new dream of yours appears to confirm that.”

“Not only that, but the druids as well,” Allura added. “I had feared the worst, and it seems that’s what we’re about to face.”

A tense silence gripped the group.

“So … what are we going to do?” Pidge asked at last.

Coran and Allura exchanged a serious look, before Coran looked around at each of them with a sudden, determined gleam in his eyes.

“We must find the lions immediately.”

Chapter Text

“How ‘immediately’ do we need to find the lions, exactly?” Hunk asked. “Like, I get that the fate of the universe is at stake and all that. But also, like, we all have school. And homework. Lance and I have the astronomy club to run …”

He counted off the various responsibilities on his fingers.

“And I have swim practice,” Lance added. “Oh, and we both have college apps to work on.”

“Oh yeah, that too.”

“I also have a school trip to D.C. in a couple weeks,” Pidge chimed in.

Keith said nothing, the mention of school and other life responsibilities driving him to nervous silence. He slouched in his chair, arms crossed.

Meanwhile, the Alteans looked around at the paladins with increasing bewilderment.

“I understand you have other duties to attend to,” Allura said at last. “But I’m afraid this must take precedence. Forming Voltron is of the utmost importance. If we fail to do that, Zarkon may succeed in opening a portal that could give the Galra access to every dimension. And if that happens, life as you know it will cease to exist.”

“Oh,” Hunk said, shrinking back. “So like … no pressure or anything.”

“Yeah, you’re asking a lot from us here,” said Lance. “I know finding the lions is important, but you’re telling us we have to cast our whole lives aside to do it?”

Keith felt an involuntary flare-up in his chest. “Didn’t you hear what Allura just said? If we don’t do this, the Galra will take over––not only this world, but every plane of existence. Is that what you want?”

“No, of course I don’t want that,” Lance shot back. “I’m just saying––”

“There’s countless lives at stake here.” Keith was somehow on his feet now, glaring down at Lance, although he didn’t remember standing up. “My best friend is in danger. So is Pidge’s brother. They’re being imprisoned, tortured. Does that not mean anything to you?”

Lance stood up too, his eyes narrowing. “Whoa, when did I say that didn’t matter to me? All I’m saying is that we’re just a bunch of kids going up against some kind of ancient evil, and how do we know we’re prepared to do that? Something could happen to one of us, any of us. And how can we do that to our friends, our families––”

He cut off mid-sentence, obviously realizing his mistake the moment the words left his mouth. But it was too late, and Keith already felt a painful twinge behind his sternum at the mention of family. He knew Lance hadn’t meant it to hurt, but it still did.

At the same time, he realized he’d only been thinking of himself. Everyone else had people at home who cared about them. If anything happened to any of them, the people who loved them would be devastated.

Keith didn’t have that.

“Paladins,” Allura said sharply. She was on her feet now as well, stepping up to stand between Keith and Lance. “We mustn’t argue or lose sight of our mission when it’s barely begun. I understand your trepidation, but we must speak about this civilly. Please.”

Lance pouted but said nothing. After a moment he sat down with his arms crossed, gaze still burning into Keith’s before he tore his eyes away.

Keith felt an unexpected rush of guilt as he heeded Allura’s words. She was right. Apparently they were all supposed to be a team now––and if that was the case, he couldn’t get worked up over every little thing. Still, something about Lance already got under his skin in a way he didn’t quite understand. He could already tell this wasn’t going to be easy.

As Keith sunk back into his own chair, Allura remained standing. She stood with her hands clasped in front of her as she addressed the group.

“Now … I know I am asking you all to take on a huge responsibility. There will be great risks involved. However, I also want to make it clear that I am not asking you to give up everything else. You will still have time to take care of your daily responsibilities.

“I’d imagine finding the lions will only take a few hours each––and remember, we’ll be traveling into the spirit world where time passes differently, so each journey should only be several minutes in the human realm.”

That was something Keith hadn’t thought about yet. It seemed like a lot to ask of a group of teenagers to balance their everyday lives with finding a bunch of spirit lions and saving the multiverse. But while it was still going to be challenging, to put it lightly, at least their journeys into the spirit world wouldn’t take very long in real time.

Everyone else seemed to be considering this, judging by their silence. At last, Allura cleared her throat.

“So. Are you all with me?”

Keith spoke up first. “I’m in.”

“Me too,” said Pidge.

“Same here,” Hunk chimed in.

All eyes turned on Lance, who was still being oddly quiet. But after a moment, he gave a serious nod. “Count me in, too.”

“Wonderful,” Allura said, clapping her hands together. “So it’s settled, then.”

“Okay,” Hunk said hesitantly. “But where do we even begin? Are we going to start looking for the lions right now? How do we even do that?”

At that, Allura’s smile faltered.

“That is a good question, and one I am still attempting to determine the answer to. Unfortunately, I do not think my powers are quite strong enough yet to locate the lions, but I believe by tomorrow I should be ready.”

“Are you sure?” Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. “I know you said this kinda thing will be really taxing on you. … Are you going to be ready that soon?”

Allura smiled at him. “I appreciate your concern. But yes, I think I will be prepared.

“As I believe I told all of you yesterday, I plan to find the Blue Lion first. She is the most open and friendliest of the lions, and because of that, she should be the easiest to find.

“Next will be the Green and Yellow Lions, which should be slightly more difficult but still manageable. The Red Lion I’m a bit more worried about, since she is the most stubborn and temperamental––but perhaps it will be easier to find her with the guidance of the other lions, once we’ve found them.”

“And what about the Black Lion?” Pidge asked. “You said we could only stop Zarkon if we’re able to form Voltron … but how can we do that if the Black Lion is still bonded to Zarkon?”

“I can’t say I have a solution for that yet,” Allura admitted. “Somehow, we must locate the Black Lion and make sure she forms a bond with Shiro before we are able to form Voltron. How we are going to do that, though, I do not know.”

“Maybe Keith can find out,” Lance said, and everyone looked at him in surprise.

Keith glared at him, thinking at first that Lance was making fun of him, but his annoyance died down when he saw Lance was regarding him with curiosity rather than malice. He was being serious.

When he noticed everyone staring at him, Lance crossed his arms defensively. “Why are you all looking at me like I’m crazy? I mean, isn’t Keith the one who’s been able to somehow astral-project to wherever Shiro and Matt are? And to where the Black Lion is?”

He addressed Keith again. “Do you think you could learn to control it somehow? So we could get more information about where they are?”

The question was so blunt that it took Keith a second to process it. “I––I don’t know,” he stammered. “It’s only happened twice, and both times it wasn’t by choice. But …”

He trailed off as he looked down at his hands, turning his palms upward. All of a sudden, he recalled how he’d managed to physically manifest himself in his most recent dream, how he’d felt that surreal tingling through his limbs as if all his molecules were shifting between realms.

“I did have some control over it. Once I was aware of what was happening, I sort of … created a dream-self, I guess. I don’t know how else to describe it.”

“Well … do you think you could do that again?” Lance asked.

“It’s not that simple. I can’t force myself to have these dreams. They just happen.”

“That is an intriguing proposal, however,” Allura cut in. “Keith, I understand you cannot yet control these mysterious powers of yours. But perhaps with the proper practice and meditation, it could be possible. It’s certainly something we could use to our advantage.”

Keith didn’t want to make any promises, since he still had no clue why he had this ability or if he could even learn to control it. But he knew that Lance and Allura were both right––if they were going to find Shiro and Matt, as well as the Black Lion, it was probably the only way. He just didn’t know how he was going to do it.

“So,” Allura went on. “Setting that aside for now, I believe we have discussed what we need to discuss. The only matter of business is deciding when we will begin our search for the Blue Lion tomorrow.”

“Hmm, well … we all have school tomorrow, like I said before,” said Hunk. “Then Lance and I have astronomy club until 4.”

“And I have swim practice until 6,” Lance added.

“Right. What about you, Pidge?” Hunk asked.

“Nothing except school, really. And homework.”

“Keith?”

Keith froze as everyone’s attention turned on him. It was a simple enough question, but he felt unprepared to give a completely honest answer––that he had dropped out of school and had probably lost both his jobs, so yes, he was free tomorrow.

“Oh, uh. Yeah. I’m … free all evening,” he managed to say.

“Okay, cool,” Hunk said before turning back to Allura. “So, I guess we’ll all be around tomorrow night if that’s a good time to go lion-searching or whatever.”

“Yes, that’s perfect,” said Allura. “Perhaps you can all meet me back at the Castle of Lions. I can work on locating the Blue Lion before you arrive, so that I will be able to send you to her location as soon as you get there.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Pidge said with a nod. “Is there anything else we should do in the meantime?”

Everyone glanced around the circle, but no one seemed to have a suggestion.

Hunk cleared his throat. “Well … Lance and I were going to go thrift shopping after this. Maybe you guys could all come along?”

“I kinda meant stuff that was pertinent to our mission,” said Pidge.

Lance frowned. “Uh, it is pertinent to the mission. It’s team bonding.” He looked up at Allura. “You should come too, Allura. We could get you some new clothes––since, you know, you’ll probably need more than one outfit. And Keith probably wants his clothes back.”

Allura glanced down at the T-shirt she was wearing. “I suppose you’re right. Coran, shall we go with them?”

“I’m afraid I must be here to mind the museum,” Coran answered. “But I would be happy to lend you some money if you would like to go.”

Lance leapt to his feet. “Heck yeah, shopping spree! So is everyone coming, then?”

Pidge shrugged. “Yeah, why not?”

“What about you, Keith?” Hunk asked.

Keith hesitated, but quickly realized he didn’t really have another option. It wasn’t like he’d planned on doing anything else today. But also, it had been a long time since he’d just gotten to hang out with friends.

“Sure,” he said.

“Are you certain you don’t want to come along, Coran?” Allura asked her fellow Altean.

He smiled back at her. “Yes, I’m quite sure.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll bring her back before nightfall,” Lance said with a wink. “Uh … I’m assuming you’ll want to stay with Coran from now on?”

“Yes, I believe so. That is, if it’s alright with you, Coran.”

“Of course it is, my dear! I have a house right by the lake. It’s quite small, I must admit, but you are certainly welcome to stay with me there.”

With that settled, the group made their arrangements for the rest of the day. They would go out for the next few hours and then bring Allura back to the Absurdatory sometime in the afternoon before Coran’s shift ended.

As they headed out of the museum, Coran handed Allura some money with a wink. “Buy yourself something sparkly, my dear.”

She hugged him. “Thank you, Coran.” She smiled gratefully at him as she pulled away. “I will be back soon.”

He grinned at her. “Have a lovely time!”

The group began to shuffle out of the tiny building. Just as Keith was about to step out of the door, however, he came to a stop.

“Hey, I’m gonna hang back for a minute,” he said to Pidge. “Just wanted to ask Coran something. I’ll be there in a second, okay?”

Pidge gave him a confused look, but she nodded. “Okay.”

Keith ambled back into the room, where Coran was shuffling some papers at the front desk. He looked up in surprise as Keith approached him.

“Oh, hello! I didn’t know you were still here. Have you forgotten something?”

“Uh, no. I just wanted to ask you something,” Keith said, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Well, I was thinking … since Matt’s not here right now, you’ve been running the museum by yourself. And I’m kind of looking for a new job right now. So I was thinking, maybe, if you needed any help …”

“You’re asking me for a job?” Coran interrupted him.

Keith scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, I guess so. Even if it’s just a temporary thing, I just thought … yeah.”

“Splendid!” Coran exclaimed, to Keith’s surprise. “I could certainly use an extra pair of hands around this place. Although I must tell you, the pay is fairly … modest.”

“I’m okay with that,” Keith said, managing a smile. “Really, anything at all would help me right now.”

He immediately regretted the words, feeling like maybe he had revealed something without meaning to. The last thing he wanted was to seem like some kind of charity case.

But Coran’s smile was unfaltering. “Excellent! We can make arrangements shortly so you can begin your training. But for right now, the others are probably waiting for you, aren’t they?”

“Right.” Keith started to back away towards the door again. “Well … we can talk about it some other time, then. Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome!”

By the time Keith made it outside, everyone else was already waiting in the van. Keith opened the side door and slid in next to Pidge, who gave him a quizzical look.

“What was that all about?”

“Let me guess,” Lance said. “You and Coran were discussing mullet maintenance?”

“I––” Keith started to say, and then just pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned in frustration. “What is it with you and accusing everyone of having a mullet?”

“What is a mullet?” Allura asked.

“A horrible abomination to all of mankind,” said Lance.

“Anyway,” Keith said pointedly. “If anyone actually cares to know what we were talking about … I was asking Coran about getting a job.”

Pidge stared at him. “You mean, working at the Absurdatory?”

“Yeah,” Keith answered, and then quickly interpreted the shocked look on her face. “I mean, just––just as a temporary thing. I’m not trying to replace … It would just be until Matt gets back.”

“Right,” Pidge said, although there was still a hint of wariness in her voice.

“The thrift store isn’t too far from here,” Hunk cut into their conversation, pressing a few buttons on the GPS on the dashboard. “Oh man, you guys are gonna love it. It’s got a lot of cheap clothes and stuff, but I’ve also gotten some pretty neat gadgets from there.”

“Gadgets?” Pidge repeated, brightening considerably at the word.

“Yeah! People throw away all kinds of junk. I built a lot of our ghost-hunting supplies just from recycled materials.”

“Whoa, cool. I’ve played around using different materials, but it can be hard to build things from scratch using only odds and ends. You’ll have to show me some of your tech and how it works …”

Hunk and Pidge quickly fell into a conversation full of technical jargon that Keith barely understood, so he tuned out after a minute or two. Instead, he was content to just lean his head against the window and watch the scenery pass by––the trees and mountains in the far distance, houses perched on hills, little shops lining the streets as they ventured further into town.

They soon drove up to a strip mall which boasted an array of restaurants, department stores, and a supermarket. Nestled among these was the thrift store, hailing passersby with bold blue letters over the storefront.

Once Lance had parked the van and they filed inside, Keith found that the store was much larger than he expected. Fluorescent lights illuminated rows upon rows of used clothes, as well as sections for household appliances, books, movies, and a miscellaneous supply of other objects. A few other patrons were milling about, but despite the breadth of the store, there weren’t many people there.

“Whoa, this place is awesome,” Pidge said, turning in a slow circle. “I don’t even know where to start.”

Allura gasped. “Oh, my!” She rushed to a nearby display of sparkling costume jewelry and ran her fingers over the array of rhinestones and beads. “These are so lovely.”

“Pretty great, right?” Lance said with a grin, stepping up beside her. He casually looped an arm through hers. “How about I show you around?”

Allura allowed herself to be led away from the jewelry, smiling brightly. “That would be wonderful, thank you.”

Keith watched as they started to walk away with an inexplicable twist in his gut. He didn’t realize he’d just been standing and staring until he felt a light nudge against his arm.

He looked up to see Hunk standing next to him, giving him a concerned look. “You okay, dude?”

“What? Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“I don’t know, you just looked kinda …” Hunk shrugged. “Angry?”

“Well, I’m not.”

“Okay,” Hunk said slowly. He followed Keith’s gaze to where Lance and Allura were already looking through a row of colorful T-shirts. “You know, Lance does actually take this whole thing seriously.”

“When did I say that he didn’t?”

“You didn’t. I just meant … You guys kinda blew up at each other back there. At the museum.”

“Oh. Right.” Keith glared at the tiled floor. “Sorry about that.”

Hunk put a hand on his shoulder, which made Keith look up in surprise.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize. I know you’re going through a lot and you’re worried about your friends. But I just wanted to make sure you knew that you’re not the only one that cares. We all do.”

Keith still had some doubts about that, but he also knew his judgment was a bit clouded. He had his own personal reasons for being involved in this whole Voltron thing. So did Pidge. But that didn’t mean Hunk and Lance didn’t care, too. After all, they had volunteered to be a part of it, even if it meant risking their lives.

“I know,” Keith said. “I appreciate that.”

“No problem.” Hunk squeezed his shoulder and smiled before letting go. “Now how about we do some shopping?”

—

Admittedly, Keith appreciated the distraction. There were still, of course, a lot of worries storming at the back of his mind––his disturbing dream, not knowing whether Shiro and Matt were still alive, the whole daunting task of finding all the lions. But for now, it was easy to get lost in the rows of gaudy clothing and miscellaneous household items.

They were passing through the technology section––which mostly seemed to consist of ancient computer monitors, radios, and alarm clocks––when Pidge suddenly gasped and grabbed something off the shelf.

“No way! Space Blasters?”

Keith looked over her shoulder at the game cartridge she was holding, which depicted a robot with yellow laser eyes flying through space.

“What is that?”

Pidge turned it over in her hands, wiping the dust off with her sweatshirt sleeve.

“It’s a game where you’re a giant robot with a sword and you have to fight a bunch of evil purple aliens who are trying to take over the universe.”

“Huh,” Keith said. “Sounds pretty stupid.”

Pidge gasped and clutched the cartridge against her chest like she thought the game could hear Keith’s insults.

“It’s not! Well … maybe it’s a little stupid. But Matt and I loved it so much when we were little. We played it all the time.”

Her shoulders sagged a little upon mentioning her brother, but she brightened again when she noticed something else on the shelf.

“Whoa, they even have the console right here,” she said, picking up the boxy object and inspecting it. “Looks like it’s in pretty good condition, too. Even if it’s busted, I could probably fix it …”

“Whoa, is that Space Blasters?” Lance exclaimed, suddenly appearing at Keith’s side.

Pidge stared at him. “You’ve played it?”

“Uh, yeah. Only the best game ever! Hunk and I used to play it all the time.”

Hunk had been strolling along the aisle examining the shelves, and he looked up with a grin when Lance mentioned him.

“Yeah, Lance was awful at it. There was this one time in first grade I beat him at it like ten times in a row, and he didn’t speak to me for like three days.”

Lance scowled. “Hey! I was a really sensitive kid, okay?”

“Was?” Hunk muttered.

“I heard that!” Lance turned back to Pidge. “Anyway, we should all play sometime.”

“Yeah,” Pidge said with a smile. “That’d be awesome!”

Right then, Keith noticed they were missing one person from the group. “Guys? Where did Allura go?”

“Oh, she’s over there.” Lance gestured towards a nearby section of the store, where Allura was sorting through a rack of sundresses.

“I think I’ll go look at some clothes, too,” Pidge said, tucking the video game console under one arm.

Lance jerked his thumb over one shoulder. “I’m gonna go check out some of the weird stuff in the back. Wanna come with me, Hunk?”

“I think I’m gonna keep looking through the tech stuff for a bit. Maybe I’ll join you in a few minutes?”

“Okay.”

Lance shuffled away, hands jammed into his sweatshirt pockets.

Keith found himself standing in the middle of the technology aisle, not really knowing what to do. Hunk seemed engrossed in picking up random gadgets and inspecting them one by one, and Keith didn’t want to distract him.

He casually walked along the row of shelves, pretending to be interested in the display of electronics and tangled wires. But after a minute, despite his better judgment, he found himself wandering in the direction Lance had gone.

At the back of the store were several aisles of assorted, strange knick-knacks: creepy dolls, snow globes, little statues of animals … things that didn’t really fit in anywhere else.

Keith could hear someone humming nearby. Sure enough, when he followed the sound, he caught sight of Lance in the aisle opposite from him, the top of his head visible through the gap between the shelves.

Several moments passed as Keith just stood there, unsure of what to do with himself. Why had he even come over here? Maybe he could just back away without Lance noticing …

But right then, Lance’s humming came to an abrupt stop, and he made eye contact with Keith between the shelves.

“Jeez, how long have you been there?”

“I––uh,” Keith stuttered.

“Are you spying on me?”

“What? No, I was just––”

Lance smirked. “Hey, I’m just kidding,” he said, but then his smile fell. “Seriously though, did you … want something?”

“Uh.” Keith’s mouth suddenly felt super dry as Lance stared him down. Something in his head screamed at him to run, yet he stubbornly stayed glued to the spot. “Yeah, actually. I guess I wanted to apologize.”

Lance had been casually moving things around on the shelf, but now he came to a sudden stop. “Apologize? For what?”

“You know …” Keith scratched the back of his neck. “For how I yelled at you earlier.”

“Oh, that.” Lance picked up some kind of small, misshapen wooden object and held it up for Keith to see. “What kind of animal do you think this is supposed to be? I can’t tell if it’s a bird or an elephant.”

Keith blinked at him. He wasn’t sure whether Lance was trying to derail the conversation, or he just genuinely wasn’t mad.

“Looks kind of like a dog to me.”

“A dog?” Lance exclaimed, reexamining the tiny animal. “What the hell kind of dog looks like that?”

“I don’t know,” Keith said. He shook his head, trying to get back to what he wanted to say. “Anyway, listen. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that you didn’t care, because I know that’s not true. I kind of lost my temper, and I––”

“Keith,” Lance stopped him. And when Keith looked up in surprise, he saw Lance offering him a genuine smile. “Slow down. It’s okay, seriously.”

Lance maneuvered around the corner, so that they were now standing in the same aisle.

“I mean, I appreciate the apology. But also, I get it. You miss Shiro.”

Keith couldn’t deny that. He stared down at the floor with his arms crossed––until he suddenly felt Lance’s hand on his shoulder, startling him into looking up again.

“It’s alright, man,” Lance said, smiling crookedly again. “We’re gonna find them.”

It took a second for Keith to find his voice. “I know. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Lance cleared his throat and let go of Keith’s shoulder. In his other hand, he was still holding the odd little wooden statue, which he now frowned at again.

“Maybe it’s a horse?”

“Or a llama?” Keith suggested.

Lance shrugged. “No idea.”

He moved past Keith and continued walking slowly down the aisle, perusing the shelves. Keith watched him, his shoulder still tingling strangely from where Lance had been touching it moments ago.

“Hey, uh … I watched some of your ghost-hunting videos last night.”

Lance suddenly brightened. “You did? What’d you think?”

“I don’t know. They were pretty cool,” Keith said, picking up a small snow globe from a nearby shelf. It had a tiny replica of the Eiffel Tower inside it, surrounded by silver glitter.

“‘Pretty cool’?” Lance repeated as if it was the worst insult he’d ever heard. “I think you mean amazing, astounding, ground-breaking …” He counted off the adjectives on his fingers. “Those videos are totally legit, you know. We never fake any of that stuff.”

Keith scoffed. “Okay, okay. I believe you.”

“Well, it’d be kinda weird if you didn’t, seeing as we’ve literally been in the ghost world together.”

“True.”

They continued down the aisle in silence for a few moments. Keith put the snow globe back on a shelf and nudged it into place.

“How long have you been ghost-hunting?”

Lance shrugged. “Couple years. We used to just do it for fun––without filming anything, I mean. But then we saw all these other ghost videos on YouTube and we figured, after all the crazy stuff we’d seen, we should start doing our own videos.”

“And you think all those ghosts you’ve seen were real?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s like I just said,” Lance said. “None of that stuff is faked. I know there’s only so much we can capture on camera––the ghost energies kinda mess with technology sometimes, so that doesn’t help. But I’m telling you, man. It’s all real.”

He gestured enthusiastically with his hands as he spoke, taking a step forward so Keith was suddenly aware of their height difference, as minimal as it was.

“Hey, I didn’t say I didn’t believe you,” said Keith. “I was just curious. ‘Cause … I don’t know, I feel like I’ve always been followed around by some kinda weird energy.”

Lance stepped back again as if Keith had physically pushed him. “You too?”

“Why, do you also … feel like that?”

“Yeah.” Lance’s eyes were wide. “I always told myself it was just dumb luck that Hunk and I have run into so many ghosts and stuff, but now with this whole paladin thing …” He shook his head. “I feel like it’s something more than that. ‘Cause I think it started before Hunk and I started ghost-hunting. There were always like, weird little inexplicable things …”

He trailed off, like he was struggling to come up with an example.

Keith didn’t realize they were staring at each other until a few seconds went by, and then he quickly looked away.

“I know what you mean. I’ve always felt like unexplainable things happen to me, too.” He huffed out a laugh. “Except I always thought it was bad luck instead of good luck.”

“Well, at least we know there was a reason for all that, now,” Lance said. He’d gone back to walking down the aisle, fingers tracing the edge of the shelf. “I guess it was bringing us all here. To this Voltron thing.”

“Guess so.”

There were a lot more things Keith wanted to ask Lance, but he felt strangely guarded all of a sudden, like he had already said too much.

Lance gasped. “Whoa!” He pulled something off the shelf and held it up: some kind of small, terrifying clown doll with a maniacal expression. “How’d you get your face on this?”

It took a second for Keith to register the joke, and then he rolled his eyes. “Very funny.”

He was already searching the nearby shelf for some kind of ammunition to fire in return, and immediately picked up a ceramic statue of a bird with disturbingly wide eyes and its beak gawking open.

“Yeah, well … how’d you get your face on this?”

Lance’s grin dropped as if he hadn’t been the first one to make the insult. Keith almost felt bad for a second before Lance burst out laughing, which drew a surprised chuckle out of Keith in return.

Lance put the scary clown doll back on the shelf. “Man, I feel haunted just from touching that thing.” He wiped his hand on his sweatshirt.

He still kept the unidentified little wooden animal in his other hand, and observed it again with curiosity. “Might buy this one, though. Keep it as a good luck charm.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “You really think that thing is good luck?”

“Yeah,” Lance said with an oddly conspiratorial smile. “I think maybe it is.”

A moment of silence passed where Keith thought Lance might elaborate, but he didn’t. He just closed the object in his fist and started to move towards the end of the aisle.

“I’m gonna go find everyone else.”

“Oh. Okay,” Keith said, casually walking after him. “I’ll … go, too.”

Everyone in the group had somehow gravitated towards the middle of the store. Allura was still browsing through the clothing section, with several items draped over one arm, and she smiled in relief when she caught sight of the others approaching her.

“There you are! I was wondering where you’d all gone.”

“Just looking around,” said Lance, winking at her. “Don’t worry, we wouldn’t leave you behind.” He nodded towards the clothing on her arm. “What’ve you got there?”

“Oh, just a few things I found intriguing.” She held up a few items as she spoke. “I must say, I am fascinated by this modern fashion. It is quite unlike anything I am accustomed to.”

A man walking by gave them all a questioning look upon overhearing Allura, and Pidge forced a smile at him.

“Uh, our friend here is a method actress,” she said quickly. “Rehearsing for the role of an alien princess.”

Allura frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“She’s very dedicated. Never breaks character,” Pidge added, as the man gave them one more narrow-eyed stare before he walked away.

“Alien princess?” Keith muttered to Pidge.

“Shh! It was the first thing I could think of.”

“Well, did you want to try on some of that stuff?” Lance asked Allura, indicating the armful of clothing she was carrying. When she still looked confused, he pointed towards the changing booths at the back of the store.

“That does sound like a good idea,” Allura mused.

“Cool! We should all try on stuff,” said Lance.

Pidge grinned. “Whoever finds the most hideous article of clothing wins.”

“Oh it is so on.”

At the back of the store, Allura ducked into one of the changing stalls while the others searched through the rack of rejected clothing.

“Holy crap,” Pidge said. She hefted something off its hanger: a huge, fluffy blue coat that was nearly floor-length. “I wonder how many Muppets died in order for this abomination to be created.”

Lance snorted. “Pretty sure if you tried that thing on it’d eat you alive.”

“I’m already doing it.”

Pidge shrugged the coat on. The sleeves were about twice the length of her arms and flopped uselessly at her sides, while the hem dragged on the floor.

Hunk and Lance both laughed, and Keith smirked.

"Oh, man. That's amazing," said Hunk. He continued looking through the rack of clothes, and pulled out a bright purple shirt. "Oh, my God. Look at this." He held it up to reveal it had a very large picture of the Pillsbury Doughboy's face on it, his eyes enormous and vacant.

Lance shuddered. "That shirt is cursed, man."

"You think everything is cursed, Lance."

"Yeah, but especially that. I can sense the dark energy emanating from it."

Things continued in this manner for a while. Every few minutes, Allura would step out of the changing stall in a different outfit, to be heralded by the positive reactions from the rest of the group––coming from Lance, mostly.

A few times Lance enthusiastically dashed off to find something else for Allura to try on. But most of the time they all hung around in the changing area, pulling out increasingly bizarre articles of clothing from the nearby racks.

Pidge, Hunk, and Lance had all been taking turns trying on various hideous outfits. Keith hung in the background for a while, smiling occasionally at the others' laughter. Otherwise, he listlessly walked down the row of hanging clothes, fingers trailing over cheap and pilling fabrics.

"Hey, Keith," Hunk said at last. "You should try something on, too."

Keith broke out of his stupor. “Uh … okay. Like what?”

“Hold on, hold on,” said Lance, hands already diving back into the clothing rack. “I’m gonna find something good.”

It only took about ten seconds before he grabbed something. "Ah-ha! Oh, wow. This is perfect."

As Lance pulled the item out into the open, Keith could see it was an oddly short jacket. The leather was bright red, with white stripes down the sleeves and yellow panels on the chest.

"It's so ... short," Hunk said, frowning. "Are you sure that's not like, for a kid?"

"Uh, no. See how long the sleeves are? It's obviously a cropped jacket. Anyway, here. Try it on."

Lance held the jacket out towards Keith, who hesitated for a moment before he took it out of Lance's hands.

"Fine. Here goes nothing."

Keith shrugged off the jacket he was already wearing and pushed his arms through the sleeves of the red jacket. He adjusted the collar, which was so ridiculously high that it almost touched his ears.

He expected an outburst of laughter at how terrible it looked, but the others were oddly silent. When he glanced up, he found everyone was staring at him.

"That bad, huh?" he said, ready to immediately take the jacket off.

"No, it's uh ..." Lance said, and coughed into his fist when everyone turned to look at him. "You look ..."

“... Good?” Pidge offered.

“I was gonna say he looks like an emo anime character, actually.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” said Hunk.

Just out of curiosity, Keith turned around to look at himself in the mirror––and found that somehow, inexplicably, the jacket actually did kind of suit him.

“Huh,” he commented, adjusting the jacket a little more. “It is … kinda cool, actually.”

“Dude, you’ve gotta buy it. That jacket was, like, made for you,” said Hunk.

Pidge nodded her agreement. Lance was weirdly quiet, staring at Keith like he’d grown an extra pair of arms.

Starting to feel self-conscious, Keith slid the jacket off. “I don’t know, maybe.” The truth was he had barely anything left in his bank account. But when he dared to look at the price tag on the sleeve, he was pleasantly surprised at what he saw. “Whoa, it’s actually really cheap.”

“It’s destiny,” Pidge proclaimed, and Hunk gave a solemn nod.

Keith ran a hand over the smooth leather and found himself smiling. It had been a long time since he’d bought himself something just because he liked it and not out of necessity. Besides, he had just gotten himself a new job.

“Sure, what the heck,” he said with a shrug.

Soon afterward, everyone had made their final decisions of what they wanted to buy, and they filed to the front of the store to make their purchases.

Once they were out in the parking lot, Lance opened the trunk of the van so they could all pile their bags inside. Keith had only bought the jacket, which he held against his chest in a rumpled-up ball.

“This was delightful,” Allura said. “Thank you all so much for bringing me with you. I must say I enjoyed the distraction.”

“I think we all did,” said Pidge with a smile.

No one disagreed with that.

The mood on the car ride back was a little brighter than it had been on their journey there. Pidge was still very excited about the video game she’d found, and she, Hunk, and Lance fell into conversation about all the fond memories they had of playing the same game as kids. Allura, of course, didn’t understand what a video game was at all––and when she inquired about it, she was flabbergasted by the explanation she received.

“You should totally play with us sometime, Allura. I bet you’d love it!” said Lance.

“It does sound thrilling,” Allura said, although she sounded a bit hesitant. “There are so many advanced inventions that I have missed in the past one hundred years. It will take me a while to become accustomed to it.”

Hunk turned in his seat to look at her over his shoulder. “Yeah, it must be a lot to take in at once. I can’t imagine how overwhelming that must be.”

“It is,” Allura agreed, managing a small smile. “However, I am very grateful that you are all here to provide some guidance. You have all been so kind to me.”

“Hey, of course we have,” said Lance. “We’re all a team now, right? We’ve gotta have each other’s backs.”

Less than a day ago, Keith wasn’t sure he would have believed those words. But somehow, in the span of a few hours, he had felt a shift in the group’s dynamic. Maybe they really could pull it together.

They dropped Allura off at the Absurdatory first, where Coran greeted her warmly again. They all made brief plans for when they should meet up at the Castle of Lions the next day. As Lance pulled the van out of the parking lot, Keith could see Allura excitedly showing Coran the contents of the plastic bags she was holding.

After that, Keith’s apartment building was the closest, so the remaining group headed in that direction. The ride there was fairly quiet. Pidge dozed off with her head leaning against the window and started to snore. Her new video game console nearly slipped out of her hands, and Keith gently took it from her and placed it on the seat between them. In the front seat, Lance and Hunk were discussing plans for their astronomy club meeting the next day.

It was late afternoon by the time they pulled up to Keith's apartment. The sudden stop of the van made Pidge jolt awake, and she rubbed her eyes as she blearily took in her surroundings.

"Oh, damn. How long was I asleep?"

Keith chuckled. "Not long. Like twenty minutes, maybe? Anyway ... See you, Pidge."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow!"

With his new jacket still clutched to his chest, Keith slipped out of the car.

Lance leaned out the window. "I'm thinking I'll pick everyone up tomorrow again. It'll probably make things easier. See you a little after 6, I guess?"

"Okay," Keith said. "Uh ... thanks."

"No problem." Lance just looked at him for a second with an oddly mischievous glint to his eyes. "By the way, you might want to check your jacket pockets when you get inside. Never know what you might find."

Keith frowned. "What––"

"Bye!"

Lance was already pulling away from the curb.

"Bye, Keith!" Hunk called out the window as the van drove out of sight.

Keith remained standing on the curb, watching after the retreating vehicle in bewilderment. When he couldn’t hear the grumble of its engine anymore, he finally turned around and headed up the front steps of the building.

Once he’d set foot in his apartment, he headed straight for the couch and sat down heavily. While he’d appreciated hanging out with the others, socializing for several hours had left him feeling totally drained. Plus, he still kept worrying about all this new information they’d learned. And now the task of finding the lions was looming ever closer.

Keith sighed, draping his new red jacket over the arm of the couch before he leaned his head back and closed his aching eyes. His lack of sleep from the night before was starting to catch up to him.

But right then, he remembered Lance’s weird comment about checking his pockets. What the hell had that been about?

Cracking one eye open, he lifted his head again and patted his pants pockets experimentally. Both seemed to be empty. Maybe his jacket pockets … ?

In his right pocket, he found nothing but his ring of keys and a few old gum wrappers. But when he reached into his left pocket, his fingers brushed against a small, smooth, and oddly-shaped object.

Frowning, he pulled it out.

It took him a second to recognize what it was––and then realized it was the weird little wooden animal Lance had found at the thrift store.

Keith stood up, running a thumb over the tiny carved statue as he paced across the room. How … ?

All of a sudden, he recalled that Lance had bumped into him on their way out of the store. He’d said, “Sorry, man,” and winked, which had caught Keith off-guard––he was pretty sure he hadn’t even managed a coherent response. Keith hadn’t thought much of it until this moment, but now he realized that must have been when Lance had slipped the object into his pocket.

The question was, why? Was it meant to be some kind of joke? A peace offering?

Keith had no idea. But strangely, as he placed the little animal on the windowsill next to his cacti, he found that he couldn’t stop smiling.

—

The hours until the next evening seemed to stretch out for an eternity. Now that the race to find the lions had begun, Keith could barely concentrate on anything else. Without school or work to keep him distracted, all he really had to do was wander around and dwell in his own worried thoughts.

He actually slept well that night. No nightmares for once. But while he appreciated not being dragged unwillingly into the spirit world again, his dreamless sleep only left him with new fears. What if his dreams only kept happening because he had some kind of connection to Shiro––and somehow that connection had been severed? What if something bad had happened? What if …

Worrying and obsessing over it certainly didn’t change anything, but Keith kept fixating on it until he had to go outside to clear his head. He lost track of time walking down the street, stepping on fallen leaves on the sidewalk.

The closer it got to evening, the more restless Keith became. Back in his apartment, he wrote down his dreams in as much detail as he could remember them. He made some new sticky notes based on all the information Coran had provided the day before, and added those to his bedroom wall––which was now so covered in notes, they had started to overlap like scales.

Finally, as dusk started to fall, Keith heard the telltale sound of a growling engine growing closer to the building. He practically jumped off the couch, grabbing the red jacket as he did so. By the time Pidge texted him to say they were all waiting outside, Keith was already halfway down the stairs.

“Wow, that was fast,” Pidge commented when he slid into the car seat next to her.

“Oh … I, uh, saw the car out the window.”

Lance turned around in the front seat with one elbow resting against the steering wheel. Keith had a funny, nervous feeling in his chest like he was supposed to say something but he didn’t know what.

“So,” Lance said. “Any more weird dreams, Keith?”

That hadn’t been the question Keith was expecting.

“Uh, no. Sorry.”

He waited for Lance to say something about the little animal statue he’d put in Keith’s pocket, but neither of them said a word about it.

Lance turned around again as he steered the van away from the curb. “Oh well. Guess all we can do for now is concentrate on finding the Blue Lion or whatever.”

“Yeah, how are we even gonna do that?” Hunk asked. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve never caught a ghost lion before.”

“I don’t think any of us have,” said Lance. “The only one of us who’s even seen one of these things is Keith.”

“Right, and didn’t it try to kill him?” Hunk looked back at Keith questioningly.

“Kinda, yeah,” Keith admitted. “But I think that was only because it was possessed. The other lions aren’t going to hurt us … They chose us as their paladins or whatever, so I don’t think they want to kill us.”

“I guess you’re right. One other question, though. How big was this lion you saw, exactly? I don’t suppose it was like, cat-sized?”

Keith shrugged. “About the size of a regular lion. Maybe a little bigger.”

“Oh,” Hunk said faintly. “Good.”

Pidge was fidgeting with her hands in her lap. “What if Allura was wrong about us? Like, I know she thinks we’re the paladins––and Coran seems to think so, too––but what if we’re not? What if it’s some kind of mistake?”

“Whoa, you guys are really worked up about this, huh?” Lance said.

“I mean, yeah. We’re kind of being thrown into an inter-dimensional war that we know barely anything about,” said Hunk.

“I understand that. But really guys, I think we’ll be fine. We are the paladins. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t have been able to break Allura’s spell, or Coran’s. We wouldn’t have been able to enter Altea in the first place. And Allura said that the lions chose us for a reason, so … I’m gonna trust that we have a good chance at doing this.”

Keith was a little surprised by how cool-headed Lance could be at a time like this. But then again, what he’d said had been pretty rational. And despite the fact that he was a huge bundle of nerves right now, Keith found himself feeling a bit more hopeful at Lance’s words.

The drive into the mountains was pleasant. Twilight was just beginning to settle, casting a cinematic glow over the passing surroundings.

Hunk helped Lance study for some kind of physics quiz by reading to him from a stack of flashcards he’d brought along, and in return Lance helped Hunk correct his Spanish homework. Pidge slumped in her seat, one leg jiggling up and down as she tapped madly away at her phone. Keith was content to just sit there with his arms crossed, staring out at the golden mountain peaks as they passed by.

Once they were fairly close to the entrance to Altea, Lance parked the van by the side of the road and they all filed out.

“Uh, maybe we should have established this earlier, but … do any of you actually remember the way there?” Hunk asked, as they started their trek into the woods.

“I think I do,” said Pidge. “But in case I’m wrong … Keith, you can still sense which way we should go, right?”

“Oh, uh. I guess so.”

Keith didn’t feel that unnatural pull towards the portal yet, but then again they had only just entered the forest.

“Very reassuring,” Lance muttered, and Keith glared at him.

Pidge sighed. “It’s okay. We’ll find our way there one way or another.”

Even though he’d only been in these woods one time before, Keith felt an uncanny sense of familiarity as soon as the trees rose on either side of them. He walked at the back of the small group, but he kept having an inexplicable, unsettling sensation like there was something lurking behind him.

It wasn’t long until the feeling intensified, until something seemed to buzz at the back of his skull, throwing him off-balance.

He didn’t realize he’d stopped walking. Time seemed to lurch forward, and suddenly the others were all standing around him and staring with wide-eyed concern.

“You okay, man?” Lance asked.

He had a hand on Keith’s arm, and Keith quickly shook him off. “Y-Yeah. Fine.”

“Is it like what happened last time?” Pidge asked.

“Sort of. I don’t think it’s quite as intense as it was last time, but it’s still there.” As he spoke, the humming sensation in his head grew fiercer and he winced. “None of you feel that?”

The other three exchanged looks and then shook their heads.

“Seems like it’s just you,” said Pidge. “You want to lead the way again?”

It wasn’t like they really had another choice, so Keith moved to the front of the group and led then onward.

Maybe it was because he’d made the journey before, or because he was with more people this time, or just because this time he knew what to expect––but this time the path to Altea felt more straightforward, and Keith was surprised at how calm he felt.

They soon stepped across the shallow creek in the middle of the forest.

“Whoa, there it is,” Hunk said quietly.

Sure enough, right where it had been before, was the portal––the curtain of ethereal darkness that crossed in front of the trees.

“Everyone ready?” Pidge asked.

They all nodded and moved forward.

—

By the time they reached the Castle of Lions, it felt like an entire day had passed, even though Keith knew it couldn’t have been more than an hour or so. Altea was exactly as they had left it two days ago––nestled quietly between the mountains, the sky black and starless above it.

The doors to the mansion were open, and the paladins filed inside one by one.

“Hello?” Hunk called into the empty foyer. “Allura? Coran?”

“I think Allura said to meet them in the tower,” said Lance. “Does anyone remember how to get up there?”

“Yeah, I think it was this way,” Pidge answered, gesturing to their left. “Follow me.”

Luckily, Pidge seemed to remember the layout of the house, and it only took them a minute or two to find the spiraling stairs that led up to the tower.

When they ascended into the spacious, dome-shaped room, Allura and Coran were already there. Allura was once again positioned at the two columns at the center, her hands resting on the orbs as small glowing lights danced around her fingers. Coran stood a few feet away from her, his hands clasped behind his back.

As the paladins approached, both Alteans looked up and smiled.

“Oh, you’re here!” Allura exclaimed. “You’ve arrived just in time.”

“So I take it you’ve located the Blue Lion, then?” Pidge asked.

The group had clustered at the center of the room, where Allura stood with her hands still hovering over the crystals.

“Yes, I have,” she answered simply.

“Okay,” Hunk said. “So … where is it?”

"Well, I cannot specify an exact location," Allura answered after a brief hesitation. "I can sense the Blue Lion and I can send you to where she is, but it's not as if I'm reading a map. However, from what I understand, she's underwater ... under an ocean somewhere."

She closed her eyes as she spoke, frowning slightly like she was attempting to decipher a blurry image.

"Underwater?" Keith repeated. An uneasy feeling crept up his spine.

Allura opened her eyes again. "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just ... I've never been to the ocean before. And I'm not much of a swimmer."

"Yeah, um. I don't know about you guys, but I didn't bring my scuba gear," Lance cut in. "If the lion is underwater, how are we supposed to get to it?"

Suddenly seeming to understand, Allura smiled.

"Do not worry. I can cast a protective spell over all of you so that you will be able to dwell underwater for an extended period of time. However, I must warn you that my magic is not at its full power, and the spell will only have a temporary effect. You must find the Blue Lion and return through the portal as soon as you can."

Keith still didn't feel very reassured, but everyone else only nodded in response. Apparently the rest of them weren't very concerned about possibly drowning on this mission.

"So, what are we waiting for?" Lance asked. "Are we gonna go find this lion or what?"

"First I must create the portal for you," Allura explained. She rested her hands on the crystals, which began to shine brightly under her palms. "I will be staying here at the castle with Coran to make sure the portal remains stable while you are searching for the Blue Lion."

Hunk's eyes widened. "You're not coming with us? But what if we can't figure out what to do? What if we––"

"I'm certain you'll be able to find the lion on your own," Allura assured him with a smile. "And I will also have a telepathic link to all of you during your mission, so you can communicate with me if anything goes wrong.

"Now, we cannot afford to waste any more time. As soon as I create the portal, you must enter it. Are you ready, paladins?"

They all nodded at once.

"We're ready, Allura," said Lance.

Allura closed her eyes again in concentration.

Something in the air shifted, as if the air was thick with electricity. It made the hairs on the back of Keith's neck stand on end. There was a faint blue glow throughout the room that began to glow rapidly brighter. The temperature dropped and an invisible breeze swept through the tower.

The four paladins had unconsciously moved towards each other, huddling together until their shoulders touched. Allura seemed oblivious to what was happening, standing still as if carved out of stone, her eyes closed and her white hair billowing around her.

Just when Keith was starting to think nothing would happen, a shape began to form between Allura and the paladins. It was dark and transparent, like a hole cut straight out of thin air, its edges glimmering as if lined with stars. Keith squinted into it, but it was difficult to see what lay beyond––a hazy image, a deep shade of blue.

"What do we do?" Pidge whispered. "Do we just ... walk into it?"

Lance shrugged. "I guess."

"Maybe we should hold hands?" Hunk suggested.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know ... What if we get separated when we go through the portal?"

"Fine, fine. We can all hold hands."

Lance grabbed Hunk's hand and then Pidge's, and Pidge reached for Keith's hand and squeezed it. He could feel she was shaking anxiously.

"Well ... here goes nothing, I guess," said Lance.

Coran had been observing them this whole time, smiling brightly as if he wasn't worried at all. As they moved toward the portal, he waved at them. "Good luck, paladins!"

And just like that, they all stepped into the portal and everything went dark.

Chapter Text

As soon as they stepped through the portal, Keith felt as if his whole body had disintegrated and was scattered over countless planes of existence. He could no longer feel Pidge's hand in his or see the castle tower room around him. There was nothing but a blackness so infinite that Keith wondered for a moment if he had gone blind.

Then, he felt as if his body was forming again molecule by molecule. An intense, electric tingling coursed through his limbs. His senses returned gradually, but he still couldn’t see anything. All around him was cold. Darkness. No ground under his feet.

He kicked his legs in search of purchase, but there was nothing. His arms flailed out, but there was nothing there either, nothing to ground him. It occurred to him, suddenly, that he was surrounded by water.

Keith couldn't open his eyes, couldn't breathe. He clawed his way upward, fighting towards light, towards air. There was nothing but fluid emptiness. His chest started to ache from lack of oxygen, his head going light, and ...

“Whoa, whoa. Slow down, mullet!”

Firm hands grabbed his upper arms, steadying him. Keith remained frozen, eyes squeezed shut, feeling like his lungs were about to burst.

“Keith.” It was Lance’s voice. And it sounded strangely clear, despite the fact that they were underwater. “You’re okay. Just breathe.”

Keith distantly remembered Allura saying something about casting a spell on them––something that would make it possible for them to breathe under the ocean temporarily. He was still skeptical what with the heavy, cold feeling all around him. But despite his doubts, he drew in a deep breath.

It felt strange at first, like he was drawing a frozen substance into his lungs. After taking a few breaths, though, the tightness in his chest started to lessen.

He'd kept his eyes closed up until this point, but he finally managed to blink them open. He expected the water to sting, but it didn't. It was as if there was some kind of protective film over his vision, making everything crystal clear.

The first thing he saw was Lance, who was still holding onto his arms. He was ... floating. They both were, Keith realized.

Lance smiled crookedly at him. "See? Not so bad, right?"

"Uh ... yeah," Keith said faintly.

He blinked a few more times, trying to process what was happening and to determine where they were. They did, in fact, appear to be under the ocean.

Around them was an endless expanse of dark blue, so deep that when Keith looked up he couldn't see the surface of it. He looked down and saw their feet dangling far above the ocean floor, where rocks jutted out in all directions. Schools of silver fish darted in and out of the crevices.

Keith still felt strange and lightheaded, like all of this was an illusion. It was akin to the feeling he'd had when he'd projected himself into the dream world the other night, like he was existing in two places at once. The only thing to convince him it was real was the solid feeling of Lance's hands still gripping onto him.

"Keith? You okay?"

He looked up to see Lance staring back at him, his smile fading in concern. (Had their faces been this close before?)

"I ... yeah, I'm fine. It's just ... this is kinda weird, you know?"

He was still getting used to this disorienting feeling, how their voices managed to sound so clear, how it felt like they were flying.

Lance's smile returned. "Yeah, it is a little weird. But it's also super cool. Look at that."

He let go of Keith's arm to point at something in the near distance, and Keith turned to see that there were clusters of hovering lights dispersed throughout the water like tiny galaxies all around them. They looked like the same glowing lights that floated throughout the Castle of Lions.

"You think those are leading to where the Blue Lion is?" Lance asked.

"I don't know. I guess there's only one way to find out."

By now, Lance had released Keith's arms, and Keith felt strangely unsteady at the absence of his touch, like he was going to drift away.

"Lance? Keith?"

Hunk's voice came from somewhere below them, startling Keith out of his thoughts. He looked down to see Hunk and Pidge swimming towards them.

"Hey, there you guys are!" Lance exclaimed. "Where were you?"

"Not far from here," Pidge said, floating up next to Keith. "We must've gotten separated when we went through the portal."

Hunk grinned, spinning in a slow circle as he took in the scenery around them. “Is this cool or what?”

"I know, right?" Lance looked up into the ocean above, eyes alight with wonder. "I finally get to fulfill my lifelong dream of being a mermaid."

Hunk put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm happy for you, buddy. I know that's something you've wanted since you were a little kid."

"Aw ... thanks, Hunk."

"Not to ruin the moment," Pidge cut in, "but we really should concentrate on trying to find the Blue Lion. Didn't Allura say something about how we have a limited amount of time to find it?"

As if on cue, Allura's voice broke through the stillness.

"Paladins? Can you hear me?"

She sounded distant and echoey, and Keith couldn't tell if the sound was coming from all around them or whether she was speaking directly into their heads. Either way, it caused them all to jump in alarm.

"Allura?" Lance said. "Yeah, we can hear you. Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything is alright. I just wanted to be sure that you'd all found each other."

"Yeah, we're all together," Hunk told her. "So, what are we supposed to do now? How do we find the lion? Is it nearby? Where is it?"

"I cannot sense its exact location," said Allura. "But I know it is somewhere within your vicinity. I trust that somehow, you will be able to find it. Of course, remember that I am here to answer any questions you may have. And I don't mean to rush you, but as I said before, I can only hold the portal open for so long. That, and I can only temporarily maintain the spell that makes it possible for you to breathe underwater."

"Right, we've got it," Lance said with a nod.

The four paladins had gathered into a loose circle, floating in the middle of the water, and now they all looked around as if searching for some hint of where they should turn next.

"Keith and I were just looking at those glowy things over there," Lance explained to Hunk and Pidge. "We were thinking maybe we should follow those."

"Yeah, what are those things?" Pidge drifted a few feet closer to the glowing particles in question. "Hey, Allura? There are all these weird little lights in the water. They're kinda like the ones floating around the castle. What are they?"

"I assume you mean the sprites. They are benevolent spirits which form from the remnants of good-hearted souls, and they often dwell in places with high levels of quintessence."

"So, do you think they're leading us to the Blue Lion?"

"They could be. I don't know if they will form a clear path straight to the lion, but you may find that there are higher numbers of them the closer you travel to the lion."

"Well then, let's go!" said Lance, swimming past the others and towards the nearby clusters of glowing spirits.

No one else had a better suggestion, so they all followed after Lance. He led them towards the floating lights, and they all drifted silently between the glowing clusters. It felt a bit like being suspended in outer space, weightlessly flying past the stars.

Keith was still getting used to the sensation of breathing underwater, of being surrounded by the cold and endless darkness on all sides, but the presence of the sprites was oddly comforting. He even reached up to touch some of them as he passed. Some skittered away at his touch, but others danced between his fingers and he couldn't help but smile in delight.

Up ahead, Lance laughed as a school of fish swam around him, their silvery scales flashing as they darted past. "That kinda tickled," he said. "Hey, do you think we'll see any sharks?"

"God, I hope not," Hunk groaned.

Lance stopped where he was, turning to face the others. He floated in place idly, looking all around him while the sprites surrounded him like fireflies.

"You guys see anything yet?"

"Nope," said Pidge. She hovered in the water a few feet away from Keith, frowning as she surveyed their surroundings. "Maybe it's hidden somewhere, like ... underground? Or hidden in some big rock crevice?"

"How long has it been, anyway?" Hunk asked. "It's been kind of a while. I know Allura said we had a limited amount of time, but how much time did she mean exactly?"

The others chimed in with their responses and suggestions, but Keith suddenly fell silent. He felt like his friends' voices were coming from very far away, and an odd buzzing sensation started to spread through his limbs.

Oh, no.

He didn't realize he'd been spacing out until he blinked, and suddenly he noticed everyone was gathered around him and peering at him in concern.

"Keith? Are you okay?" Pidge asked. "What is it? Do you sense something?"

Keith winced a little as the feeling subsided––but even though it had faded, the sensation lingered like a pulsing beacon in his mind.

"I think so. It's kind of what it felt like when we were looking for Altea for the first time, like there's this ... invisible string or something, pulling me in a certain direction."

He turned slightly to the right. "I think it's telling me to go that way."

Everyone else looked at each other questioningly.

Pidge shrugged. "Okay. Anyone got any objections to that?"

No one argued with Keith's instinct, so they all headed in the direction he had pointed.

Keith took the lead this time, following his internal compass. The farther they traveled, the darker the water became, although there were still sprites clustering all around them and lighting their way. Underneath them, the rocky sea bed sloped downwards into an underwater valley.

Out of the corner of his eye, Keith spotted a dark object on the ground. "Do you guys see that?"

"Yeah," Pidge said. "I was wondering what that was. Doesn't look like a rock."

"Maybe we should check it out?" Lance suggested.

They all drifted downwards until their feet touched lightly down on the rocks. Tall strands of seaweed floated around their ankles.

Keith moved forward a few steps until he could clearly see the object wedged between two rocks.

"Huh, that's weird."

"What is it?" Lance shouldered past him to get a better look. "Looks like a piece of wood."

They both moved closer to it, and Keith grasped onto it and yanked it free. Sure enough, it appeared to be a large plank of wood. Judging by its darkened exterior and the softness of its rotted texture, it had been there a pretty long time. Keith wrinkled his nose as he brushed some algae off with the edge of his sleeve.

"Where do you think it came from?" Hunk asked.

"Good question." Pidge appeared at Keith's elbow. She ran a finger over the slimy surface of the wood and cringed at the texture. "Oh, gross. That's definitely been down here a while."

"Guys, look. I think there's more."

Hunk pointed down the slope, where a multitude of other objects were scattered––what looked like more pieces of wood and a few glinting scraps of metal.

Keith felt a strange rush in his head again, and he let go of the plank of wood he was holding. It slipped from his hands and sank towards the rocks.

"Keith?" Lance said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm okay. It's just ... I think we're really close. Maybe something crashed nearby."

"Whoa, like a sunken ship?" Lance said excitedly. "Dude, no way. How cool would that be?"

"You think it's 'cool' that a bunch of people might've drowned here?"

"Well, no, I didn't mean it like that ..."

"We probably don't have a lot of time," Pidge interrupted them. "Let's just follow the trail of debris and see where it takes us."

The paladins floated down the nearby slope, following the path of splintered wood, glass, and metal. A few other scattered objects littered the rocks––half of a porcelain plate, a broken mirror, a silver button.

Hunk whimpered. "Is anyone else freaking out? I'm kinda freaking out."

"Hey, it's okay, buddy," Lance consoled him, patting his arm. "It's gonna be––holy shit."

He froze in place, looking at something below them. Keith followed his gaze and couldn't stifle a gasp at what he saw there.

As Lance had predicted, there really was a sunken ship. It looked ancient, like it had been decaying on the ocean floor for a hundred years. Most of its hull had rotted away––or perhaps had been smashed to pieces when it crashed against the rocks. The bare masts were still standing, even though the sails were gone. But perhaps most remarkably, there were glittering sprites all over its surface, clinging to the wood along with the algae and barnacles that had taken residence there.

Everyone stared at it in a stupor for a second before Lance started to swim towards it.

"Lance, hold on," Hunk whispered loudly. "Are you sure we should go towards it? It could be some kind of trap."

Lance paused in the water a few feet away. "I don't know, it could be. But what if the Blue Lion is in there? We've gotta check it out."

Without waiting another moment, he turned around and dove towards the ship again. Keith couldn't help but notice how gracefully he moved through the water, like it was his natural habitat. He remembered Lance saying something about being on a swim team.

Keith didn't realize he'd been spacing out until he saw Hunk and Pidge swim past him, and he quickly followed after them.

By the time they caught up with Lance, he had already touched down on the deck of the ship. The other three joined him, the wood creaking under their feet as they landed. The planks were covered in a thick film of algae, and Keith cringed a little at the texture sliding under his shoes.

Lance had his hands on his hips, surveying their surroundings with a smile of wonder. "Whoa, this is pretty neat."

That wasn't quite the way Keith would have described it, but the sight of the old sunken ship definitely was fascinating. It seemed a lot bigger now that they were standing on it, with the remains of the masts towering over them. Off to one side, Keith could see what was left of a spoked steering wheel, although more than half of it had broken away.

"So, what do we do now?" Hunk asked. "Is this where the lion is supposed to be?"

"Maybe it's below deck," Pidge suggested.

No one seemed to have a better idea, but they all exchanged hesitant looks. It was clear that they were all thinking the same thing.

"Okay, but if we see a single skeleton, I'm bolting out of there," said Hunk.

Lance looked warily towards the nearby stairs that led underneath the deck. "I guess we have to be ready for that possibility. But I mean, it's also possible everyone managed to get off the ship before it sank. They probably had lifeboats." He turned towards Hunk. "But it's okay if you don't want to go down there, buddy. We could always split up if not everyone wants to go investigate."

"I don't know if that's a good plan," Keith cut in. "It could be dangerous to split up."

Lance looked like he was about to argue, but Hunk spoke first.

"Keith is probably right. We should all stick together. Don't worry, Lance. I'll be okay."

"Okay," Lance said with a nod. "Then I guess we're all going down there together."

He jumped towards the square opening in the deck of the ship, the buoyancy of the water propelling him forward. Hunk, Pidge, and Keith followed after him.

The stairs were so narrow that they had to maneuver down them in a single file. There wasn't much left of the steps but half-rotted slats of wood, so the paladins could only skim over them without really putting any weight on them for fear of them collapsing.

There was no light in the passageway except for a multitude of sprites hovering in the water around them. But as they reached the bottom of the stairway, Keith could see a faint blue glow starting to emerge from below like a gentle flame flickering to life. The soft light haloed Lance as he floated to the opening first, and he immediately froze at whatever he saw.

"What is that?" Hunk asked, moving to Lance's side. "Is it––oh, wow."

The awestruck note in Hunk's voice drew Keith and Pidge eagerly forward, and all four of the paladins crowded through the doorway into the hollow hull below.

The inside of the ship was completely gutted, leaving a huge and cavernous space. The walls and seabed beneath were a forest of seaweed and barnacles. If there were any kind of remains––human or inanimate––they seemed to have either been swept away or been too overgrown with undersea plants to be recognizable.

But none of the paladins were very aware of the space around them. Instead, all of their attentions were fixated on the enormous object floating at the center of the hollow: a translucent blue sphere pulsing with faint light.

At its center was the Blue Lion.

Even though Keith had seen one of the lions before in a dream, it was much different to see one in person. The very sight of it stole the air from his lungs and made him gape in complete awe.

The Blue Lion was a bit smaller than the Black Lion had been, but she was still larger than a normal lioness. As expected, her glimmering coat was a startling shade of blue that seemed to shift and change with the movements of the water around her. One moment she was the color of a clear summer sky, and the next she was dark like the deepest depths of the ocean.

But no matter the shade of her coat, she maintained a translucent and ethereal appearance like a hologram hovering before them. She sat peacefully inside her spherical prison, her eyes closed. Hundreds of tiny sprites danced across the surface of the orb as if they were desperate to get to her.

"Well ... that's a blue lion all right," Pidge said faintly.

"Yeah, but what are we supposed to do now?" Hunk said. "Are we supposed to wake it up? How do we do that? And like, is it going to know that we're the paladins or is it going to attack us?" As he rambled, Hunk drifted slightly behind Keith as if seeking protection.

Lance was oddly quiet, floating in front of the others, his eyes fixed on the lion.

"Hey, Lance?" Hunk said. When Lance didn't respond, Hunk grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back. "Lance!"

"Huh?" Lance shook his head quickly. "What––What just happened?"

"I don't know, dude. You started going towards the lion like you were hypnotized or something. You okay?"

Lance frowned. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel kind of ... I don't know." His brow furrowed as he laid a hand against his chest. "Do you all feel that?"

"Feel what?" Keith asked.

"I can't really describe it. It's like this kind of ... buzzing feeling."

The other three looked at each other questioningly, but no one spoke up to say they felt the same thing.

"Maybe we can try to contact Allura through the mind-meld thing," said Pidge. "She might know what we're supposed to do."

No one seemed to have an objection to that idea. But before anyone could try and get Allura's attention, Hunk suddenly gasped.

"Lance ... you're glowing."

Lance glared at him. "Uh, of course I am. You know I take my daily skincare routine very seriously, Hunk."

"No, I mean like, literally. Look."

He was right. Keith thought it was some weird trick of the light at first, but it became steadily more apparent that Lance was, in fact, glowing. A pale, blue-tinted light emanated from his skin. He looked down in shock, holding his hands out in front of him.

"Whoa, what on earth ... ?" he murmured, and then his eyes widened in panic. "Why is this happening? Why am I glowing? Why aren't you guys glowing?"

"Lance," Keith cut him off. Something had suddenly occurred to him. "Remember what Allura said? About how each of us has a special bond with one of the lions?"

"Yeah," Lance said slowly, and then the realization started to dawn on his face. "Wait, are you saying ..."

Keith nodded. "I think it's a sign, Lance. The Blue Lion is choosing you."

Lance just gazed at Keith for a second as if he had spoken a foreign language.

“Choosing me?” he repeated at last. “But why? I’m not …” He bit his lip, breaking off mid-sentence.

“I think Keith is right,” Pidge chimed in. “It seems like the only explanation.”

Lance didn't protest, but he looked warily over to where the Blue Lion was still floating inside the glowing sphere.

"Okay ... but what am I supposed to do? If she's choosing me or whatever, why is she still asleep?"

"Maybe you have to wake her up," said Pidge.

"How do I do that? There's some kinda force field around her."

Hunk put a hand on Lance's shoulder. "Maybe the shield will go down once you approach her––you know, kind of like what happened with Allura when we found her."

Lance kept staring at Blue, now with a determined frown on his face.

"Okay. I guess it's worth a shot."

"We'll be right here behind you, buddy," Hunk promised, giving him a thumbs-up.

With a heavy sigh, Lance squared his shoulders as he turned to face the lion.

"Alright. Here goes nothing."

He drifted through the water towards the sphere, which started to glow more fiercely at his approach. The sprites surrounding it scattered as if to make way for him.

Keith watched with an inexplicable knot of worry in his chest. What if he was wrong, and the Blue Lion wasn't choosing Lance after all? Or what if this was all some elaborate trap?

Lance swam right up to the force field and came to a stop in front of it, tilting his head upward. He looked so small in comparison to the enormity of the sphere and the lion spirit sleeping inside of it.

"Uh ... hello?" Lance called up to the lion. "Blue Lion? I'm Lance, and I––I guess I'm your paladin?"

No response.

"Hello?" Lance reached up to tentatively knock on the sphere, and glowing ripples pulsed across the surface at the impact.

Nothing happened for another moment, and Keith tensed in anticipation. He was just starting to believe that nothing was going to happen, when suddenly there was a deep rumble all around them. It seemed to come from all directions at once, trembling in the ground and shuddering in the walls of the rotting ship around them.

Then, the force field began to disintegrate.

It broke apart in winding threads of light that shot out like sunbeams, twirling through the water in entrancing patterns. The blaze of light was so blinding that Keith had to shield his eyes with one arm, and he could hear Hunk and Pidge crying out in alarm as well.

The glow started to fade, and Keith lowered his arm just enough to peer over it with narrowed eyes. He could see Lance still floating completely motionless in front of where the sphere had been moments ago.

But now it was gone, and the Blue Lion was free.

And her eyes were open.

Keith couldn't help but gasp at the sight. Even though he was at a slight distance, he could feel an immense and ancient power emanating from the lion. Her eyes glowed pale blue, and there was something both comforting and intimidating in that gaze. She lowered her head slowly so that she was looking right at Lance, who still hadn't moved.

Right then, Keith seemed to come to his senses. He had a sudden urge to rush forward and grab Lance by the arm, to call out to him, to do something. But Hunk grabbed the sleeve of his jacket as if he could sense what Keith was about to do, and shook his head minutely. Keith understood. Something important was happening, and he couldn’t risk interrupting it.

The Blue Lion continued to stare Lance down. Keith was still half-afraid that she was going to attack him—after all, his own encounter with the Black Lion had ended that way. But as he watched more carefully, he realized the lion’s gaze seemed to be more curious than malicious. After observing the boy frozen in front of her for several long moments, she opened her jaws and released an echoing roar.

The sound was so powerful that it seemed to reverberate through Keith’s bones. As frightened as he was by the noise, he couldn’t stop watching as waves of light began to swirl around the Blue Lion.

The flowing beams then traveled through the water and began to circle around Lance––slowly at first, and then so rapidly it was like a glowing tornado forming around him. Lance remained stock-still through this process as if he didn't even notice it happening.

Meanwhile, the threads of light started to separate from him again and weave together in the space between him and the Blue Lion. They formed a small orb that shone so brightly that Keith couldn't look at it directly without squinting.

Then, with no warning, the ball of light shot forward and hit Lance directly in the chest.

He'd been totally silent up until this point, but now Lance cried out––in pain or just surprise, Keith couldn't tell––and reeled backward several feet.

"Lance!" the other three paladins yelled at once, and they all surged towards him without wasting a moment.

Hunk grabbed Lance's left arm and Keith grabbed his right. Lance sagged between them for a moment, his eyes closed, and Keith felt like his heart was in his throat. But only a second later, Lance blinked his eyes open again with a groan.

"Oh, man. That felt really weird."

"Lance?" Hunk shook him by the shoulder. "Buddy? Oh, my God. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Stop shaking me!"

Hunk let out a relieved laugh. "Sorry, sorry. I was just scared there for a second."

In their worry, the paladins seemed to have all forgotten the Blue Lion was still there in front of them. But now they all turned towards her as if on cue, huddling together in the light of her impressive glow. She drifted a little closer to them, eyes wide and curious.

Keith could see now that her eyes had no pupils, and they seemed to shine with their own inner light. Now that she was closer, Keith could also see that there seemed to be shifting images in her eyes of ocean waves overlapping each other.

The paladins remained tense at her approach, but it soon became clear that the look on the lion's face was playful and friendly rather than angry. She almost looked like she was smiling, and the water around her vibrated as a deep rumbling sound emanated from her.

"Is she ... purring?" Keith said faintly.

Lance's face suddenly lit up, his shocked expression melting into one of utter joy as he looked up at his new lion companion.

"Hey, Blue. So, I ... I guess we're bonded now, huh?"

The Blue Lion didn't answer, at least not with words. But she immediately dove forward and buried her large head against Lance's chest in an affectionate nuzzle, as if she were greeting an old friend.

Lance laughed in surprise, scratching behind the lion's ear. "Oh, hey! Hey, girl. Wow ... you sure are pretty, you know that?"

The Blue Lion's purrs grew louder at the praise, her eyes narrowing in content.

The other paladins looked at each other with momentary confusion. But then they all smiled at once as they watched Lance and the lion. Keith found that there was an inexplicable ache in his chest at the sight, like this was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen––Lance grinning in wonder and continuing to run his hands over the Blue Lion's head as she rubbed her face against him.

"Okay, okay," Lance said at last. "I like you too, Blue."

Seeming to take the hint, the lion backed away a little and floated in front of them, paws treading idly at the water. Her attention had mostly been focused on Lance this whole time, but now she gazed in curiosity at each of the other paladins in turn. When she looked at Keith, he barely stifled a gasp. Looking her in the eyes was dizzying and strange; she radiated such immense and ancient power that Keith couldn't even begin to comprehend it.

"Wow, she's so amazing," Pidge breathed, drifting forward a little.

Blue made a quiet rumbling sound as she turned towards Pidge's voice, her head tilting to one side. She moved forward and Pidge put up a hand in instinct, and she gasped when Blue affectionately pressed her nose into Pidge's palm.

"And she's really soft, too!" Lance said.

"Whoa, you're right." Pidge's eyes widened as she patted Blue's head, running her fingers through the translucent fur.

Keith watched in fascination and only snapped out of his daze when Pidge spoke again.

"Keith, Hunk. You've gotta try this!"

"Oh ... uh, okay," Keith managed to say.

He swam forward until he was right next to Blue's head. She turned towards him with a curious chirruping noise, and Keith froze in trepidation. But when Blue showed no signs of attacking him, he cautiously reached out a hand and planted it on her forehead. Since she was transparent, he still half-expected his hand to pass right through her. So he was surprised at how real and solid she felt, how her fur was the softest texture he had ever felt. Warmth spread through Keith's chest as he scratched behind one of her ears, a smile of wonder creeping onto his face.

Meanwhile, Hunk was running his hands over Blue's back. "Wow, she really is soft. Oh, man. She's like a giant pillow." He rested his head against Blue's side, and the lion didn't seem to mind at all.

Lance chuckled with an almost proud grin on his face. "She loves you guys." His smile faltered a little all of a sudden, and he rubbed at his forehead. "It's weird, I can kind of ... feel what she's feeling. It's like our minds are connected or something."

"Really? That's incredible," Pidge exclaimed, backing away from Blue. "Is that gonna happen with all of us and our lions?"

Before anyone could speculate on the matter, there was a sudden disruption as Allura's voice spoke into all their heads again.

"Paladins? Are you there?"

"Yeah. We're here, Allura," Hunk answered. "What's up?"

"I wanted to make sure everything was alright. Have you found the Blue Lion?"

"Yeah, we sure have!" said Lance. "And, well ... I'm pretty sure I just bonded with her."

"Oh, that's wonderful news! I'm so happy for you, Lance."

Lance beamed. "Thanks, Allura."

"Truly, I am overjoyed to hear this," Allura went on, although her tone had shifted slightly––a note of anxiety entering her voice. "But the reason I contacted you was to tell you that you don't have much time left. I can only keep a portal open for so long, and time is starting to run out."

At this new development, the atmosphere seemed to darken, and all the paladins' smiles faded.

"Okay, got it," Lance said with a serious nod. "So, how do we get back to the Castle of Lions?"

"I can create another exiting portal in your general vicinity. I'm afraid I can't sense your precise location, but it should appear within a nearby radius. The Blue Lion can assist you in finding it."

When Allura mentioned her, the Blue Lion's ears flicked attentively. Keith wondered if she could hear Allura, too––and additionally, if she could understand Allura.

"Alright, we're on it," Hunk said. There was a sudden silence and he added hesitantly, "Allura? You still there?"

"Yes, I'm here," Allura answered, but now her voice sounded more distant, like something else had distracted her. "I apologize, I ... I thought that I sensed something."

"What kind of 'something'?" Pidge asked.

"I'm not sure. I could be mistaken, and it's difficult to tell from here, but ... I thought I sensed a dark energy."

The paladins all stiffened at that.

"Dark energy?" Lance repeated. "Like what? You don't mean ..."

He didn't say it, but Keith could feel the unspoken word like a heavy weight in his stomach.

Galra.

"As I said, I am uncertain. And above everything, you must concentrate on getting to the portal as quickly as you can. If there do happen to be any dark spirits present, the Blue Lion can help protect you. But please be careful!"

"We will be," Pidge said, and the other paladins nodded in agreement.

"Good. Now, I'm sorry but I must end our communication. I must channel my remaining energy into holding the portal open. I will see you back at the Castle."

Although there was no audible sign that Allura had broken communication with them, Keith could sense it somehow, like some special type of energy had suddenly vanished from the air.

"Well, you heard Allura," Lance said when it was clear they would receive no further instructions. "We've gotta go find the portal and get out of here."

Hunk wrung his hands together. "Uhh, okay. But didn't you hear that other thing she said about 'dark energy'? What if something's out there?"

"We'll be careful. Plus, we have Blue now. You can protect us ... right, girl?"

Blue made a triumphant noise in response, which Keith didn't understand, but at least it sounded like an affirmation.

"I don't know, Lance," Hunk said. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Lance patted his shoulder. "Hey, I know you're nervous. We all are. But unfortunately, we don't have another choice except to go back out there. If we don't get to the portal soon, it's going to close. And we’ll only be able to breathe underwater for so long until the spell wears off."

"It'll be okay. We'll stick together," Pidge added.

Hunk still looked hesitant, but he nodded. "Okay. I trust you guys."

They started to swim back out of the hull of the ship with Blue leading them. The huge lion spirit moved elegantly through the water with a flurry of sprites in her wake. Some of them landed on her fur and remained there like glittering stars.

She made it up onto the deck before the paladins did. When they all ascended through the opening, Blue was already sitting on the deck and licking at one of her paws as if she didn't have a care in the world.

Lance chuckled at the sight. "Listen, Blue. I care a lot about my beauty routine, too. But now's not really the time to take a bath. Do you think you can show us the way out of here?"

Blue tilted her head at the question, her wide eyes blinking slowly. Then, without warning, she shifted her back legs and leapt up from the deck.

"I guess that's a 'yes'?" Pidge said with a shrug.

"Hey, Blue! Wait up!" Lance jumped up and started to swim after her, with the other three paladins following after them.

Blue was already drifting away, turning graceful loops in the water. She paused every once in awhile as if she heard an odd noise, only to take off again. Lance remained close behind her, but the others struggled to keep up with the pace.

"Lance?" Hunk called after them. "You think you could get your lion to slow down a little?"

"I'm trying! But she doesn't seem to be listening to me. I think she's telling me the portal is pretty close, though."

Keith was relieved to hear those words, because he was pretty exhausted at this point. But just as he was starting to feel like everything was going to be fine, a sudden ominous feeling crept up on him out of nowhere. It was like a shock of cold through his limbs––a shuddering, violent feeling that made him freeze in terror.

It was similar to the feelings he'd experienced before when they were trying to find Altea, or earlier today when they had been searching for the Blue Lion. But instead of drawing him in, it seemed to repel him like two magnets turned against each other.

He suddenly knew what Allura had meant about dark energy.

Everyone else had continued on without him, not realizing he had stopped. Suddenly frantic, Keith struggled through the water after them.

"Guys! Wait up!"

Pidge and Hunk both turned around. Lance was still following after Blue at a slight distance ahead of them, although now Blue had stopped suddenly as if she sensed something was wrong.

"Keith, are you okay?" Pidge asked when Keith was close enough to hear. "You look kinda freaked out."

Keith could still feel that sinister energy like a physical prickling underneath his skin.

"Something's here," he managed to say. "Something––Something bad."

"What do you mean, 'something bad'?" said Hunk, his voice going high with worry.

Before Keith could answer, Blue let out a roar that reverberated through the water. Keith, Hunk, and Pidge all turned in alarm at the sound. Not far from where they were hovering, Blue was positioned in the water with Lance close by her side, staring down at something in horror. Behind them, a circular patch of water had started to shift and glow.

Pidge gasped. "The portal!"

"Why aren't they going into it, though?" Hunk asked.

No one needed to answer him, though, because at that moment they all noticed what the problem was.

In the seabed beneath them was a large outcropping of rocks. And between the hulking stones and the matted seaweed, dark shapes were beginning to emerge from the crevices. Dark, purple hands reached out with their clawed fingers scrabbling at whatever they could grasp.

"Galra," Keith whispered.

As the dark spirits crawled from their hiding places, he could see them more clearly now––more clearly than he'd seen them in his dream. They were transparent, but there was a foggy darkness lurking inside them like trapped smoke. Although they were humanoid in shape, they had a variety of frightening mutations––large pointed ears, skeletal hands, glowing yellow eyes, wide mouths and pointed teeth.

And they were all focused on Blue and Lance like predators cornering their prey.

Keith didn't waste a moment. Although he wasn't much of a swimmer, he kicked through the water as fast as he could.

"The portal!" he shouted. "It's right behind you!"

Lance just stared at him with wide eyes. "Keith!"

The warning shout came too late, and Keith felt something barrel into him from behind. Several pairs of clawed hands grasped him at once, digging into his jacket and attempting to pull him towards the ocean floor. He heard demonic snarls all around him and could feel a horrible, dark sensation consume him at the touch of the creatures––a feeling so gut-wrenching that he couldn't even cry out.

But before the darkness could consume him, Blue released another roar that seemed to send sonic waves blasting through the water. Keith’s ears rang with the sound, along with the screeches of the creatures around him as they detached themselves from him.

Someone grabbed him by the arm. Pidge, he realized. "Keith! Are you okay?" Her eyes were wide behind her glasses.

"Yeah, fine," he choked out. "We've gotta get to the portal."

He looked down as he spoke, and his stomach twisted at the sight. Although some of the Galra had scattered at Blue's roaring, there were still more dark shapes crawling out from underneath the rocks. Others were surging up through the water, headed right for where Blue and Lance were still floating in front of the portal.

Blue's eyes were ablaze, and she snarled before roaring loudly again. Glowing ripples radiated from her mouth at the sound, and any of the Galra in its path either disintegrated immediately or shrieked and swam away.

It was hard not to get distracted by the spectacle of the battle, and Keith was only pulled out of it when he heard Hunk yelling behind him.

"Guys, I think the portal's closing! Come on!"

Hunk was right. The edges of the portal were starting to crawl inward as it began to collapse on itself.

Keith, Hunk, and Pidge all swam towards it as the glowing circle grew rapidly smaller.

"Lance, tell Blue we need to get out of here!" Hunk cried as they grew closer.

Lance blinked and looked up at Hunk's voice as if he'd just been broken out of a trance. "Uh ... I think she's a little distracted at the moment."

"Well, now's not really the time for her to be blasting monsters to smithereens––as awesome as that is. The portal is gonna close."

Stiffening, Lance looked over his shoulder at the portal and then looked back at Blue with an anxious furrow to his brow. She was still preoccupied with shooting out sonic waves, destroying the hordes of Galra that were still attempting to swarm towards them.

"Blue says she needs to protect the portal," Lance shouted over the noise. "She can't let any of the Galra go through. You guys go first and I'll be right behind you, okay?"

"Lance––" Hunk started to protest.

"Just go! We don't have any time."

Hunk stared at him worriedly for a moment, but then he nodded. "Okay. Let's go, guys."

They managed to make it to the portal while Blue covered for them, making sure none of the Galra got anywhere near. The portal had already grown alarmingly small. Hunk glanced over his shoulder one more time at Lance and Blue before he quickly dove through the glowing opening. Keith nodded at Pidge to signal for her to go next––and although she looked hesitant, she followed after Hunk and disappeared.

Keith paused in front of the portal, which was starting to flicker and grow hazy before him. Something stopped him from going through. He turned to look down to where Blue was still fighting off the Galra with Lance floating tensely by her side.

"Lance!" he shouted. "We have to go through the portal right now! It's about to close!"

But Lance didn't seem to hear him. He looked down at his own hands, then over at Blue, and finally at the dark creatures barreling towards them.

Before Keith could call out to him again, Lance suddenly shot his hands out in front of him.

Nothing happened for a moment, and Keith could only stare, mystified. Then, without warning, Lance's palms blazed with fierce blue light.

At the same time, the ground beneath them rumbled and huge, crystalline spikes shot out from underneath the rocks.

Ice, Keith realized. It seemed to come from nowhere, encasing the remaining Galra. All the while, Lance kept his glowing hands outstretched.

Somehow, it was Lance doing this.

"How ... ?" Keith murmured out loud and then remembered what Allura had told them about how they would each gain a power associated with their lion's element. He shook his head in wonder. "No way."

He didn't have much time to dwell in shock, though, because the portal was about to close. Meanwhile, Lance's hands had fallen to his sides and his head drooped towards his chest in sudden exhaustion.

Keith took one look at the narrowing portal behind him and made a split-second decision. If he didn't do something now, they would be trapped here.

He wasn't sure how he managed to swim the distance, as small as it was, in such a short amount of time. But somehow, he managed to race over to Lance and grab him by the wrist, dragging him towards the portal. Blue was right behind them, and Keith heard her make a concerned noise in her throat, but he didn't even have time to check if Lance was okay because the outline of the portal was beginning to fade.

With all his strength, Keith dove into the portal and pulled Lance in behind him.

For a moment, there was nothing but darkness and a feeling of complete weightlessness. Keith almost wondered if it had even worked. He couldn't feel his fingers around Lance's wrist anymore and a fluttering sense of panic overtook him. But then a tingling sensation returned to his limbs, and a moment later he slammed face-first into something cold and hard.

Keith groaned, propping himself up on one elbow and lifting his head to see he had landed on a stone floor. A sudden chorus of cries surrounded him, all exclaiming in relief at once.

"Guys!" he heard Hunk cry out. "Oh, thank goodness. We were just about to ..." But he trailed off suddenly as if something was very wrong.

And Keith realized then that his other hand was still wrapped tightly around Lance's wrist, and when he turned to look he saw that Lance was lying facedown on the floor next to him and wasn't moving.

Keith's breath caught in his chest for a second, but he let it out when he saw Lance stir and groggily lift his head, blinking like he'd just woken up from a dream.

"Whoa, what happened? Where ... Are we back at the Castle?"

Until now, Keith hadn't even thought to observe their surroundings. But now he realized that they were, in fact, back in the castle tower. Hunk and Pidge were standing over them, with Allura behind them with her hands clasped to her chest while Coran hovered close to her side. A faint glow filled the space around them and Keith heard a soft rumbling noise behind him, which made him faintly realize that Blue had followed them through the portal, too.

All of that was at the back of Keith's mind, though, as he helped Lance sit up. His heart was still thundering in his ears.

"Lance, are you okay?"

Lance didn't respond for a moment, his head still lowered. But then, of all things, he laughed quietly and lifted his face to grin at Keith.

"Wow, we did it. I can't believe it."

Keith was momentarily shocked, but then he managed to smile back. "You did it."

He didn't realize until then that they were still holding hands.

Right then, though, Blue came barreling towards them and Lance let go of Keith to put his hands up in defense as his lion buried her head against his chest.

"Aww, it's okay, Blue," Lance said, patting her consolingly. "Don't worry, I'm okay."

Lance got to his feet, and Keith did the same as the others crowded around them.

A light hand touched Keith's arm and he looked down to see Pidge staring up at him. "Are you okay?"

He blinked in surprise. "Yeah, fine. Why?"

"Nothing. Just ... you guys took a long time to follow us. We were all scared you'd gotten hurt. What happened back there?"

"Well ..." Keith looked up at Lance, who was still scratching behind Blue's ears. "Blue was trying to hold off the Galra, but there was too many of them. And then Lance made ice shoot out of his hands ... ?"

Hunk's eyes widened. "Lance did what?"

At the same time, Allura gasped and turned towards Lance. "Is that true?"

"Hmm?" Lance looked up from petting Blue's head. "Oh, yeah. I guess that's a thing I can do now? Shooting ice beams out of my hands?"

"That is most impressive," said Allura, although she sounded wary. "I'm just surprised you managed to wield your new power so quickly."

Lance shrugged, looking down at one of his hands as if he expected to see some remnant of the power there.

"I mean, I couldn't really control it. It felt kind of like Blue was using the power through me, if that makes sense. I don't know, it was an instinct that just kicked in."

Allura nodded. "That's to be expected. It will be difficult to control at first, but as your bond with Blue grows stronger, it will become more natural to you.

"Although, as I've cautioned all of you before, you must be careful with these powers, especially upon first achieving them. They can be very draining on your quintessence."

"Man, I guess that's why I feel so tired," Lance said with a yawn.

Before Allura could say anything else, she became distracted as she focused on Blue. Until this moment, the lion hadn't seemed to take notice of her, but now the spirit's ears perked up in sudden recognition and she made a cheerful rumbling noise in her throat.

"Blue," Allura said softly, a fond smile lighting up her face. "Oh, I've missed you."

As if in agreement, Blue stepped forward as Allura reached out to wrap her arms around the lion, burying her face in the translucent fur. Blue continued to purr, her eyes narrowing happily.

Keith remembered what Allura had said about her life force being tied to the lions, and he realized how close she must have felt to all of them because of that––and how difficult it must have been for her to be separated from them for so long.

Allura stepped back again, still smiling up at Blue.

Coran chuckled next to her. "Blue has always had a particular fondness for you, hasn't she?"

"Yes," Allura agreed with a smile as she laid a hand against Blue's forehead. "And I for her."

She looked over at Lance again. "You're very fortunate, Lance."

Keith cleared his throat. “Hey, uh … not to sound impatient or anything. But what do we do now that we’ve found Blue? What about all the other lions?”

"Whoa, how about one thing at a time?" Lance said, crossing his arms. "I mean, I get that you're jealous that I have a badass lion companion and superpowers now, but––"

"What? I'm not jealous. I'm just thinking about our mission and––"

"Paladins," Allura stopped Keith from continuing the argument. "I know this is a lot to process, and you've just been through an unexpectedly harrowing mission, but we must remain calm.

"As for your question, Keith, I have yet to locate the other lions. I was hoping Blue could assist me in doing so, now that she has awakened."

Blue looked up at the mention of her name, her round eyes blinking.

"She cannot leave the spirit world anyway," Allura continued. "So, if she agrees, she can stay in Altea and assist me as I attempt to determine which lion we will pursue next."

"And how long is that going to take?" Keith asked.

"I am uncertain. Keeping that portal open required a lot of my quintessence, so I can't risk losing much more in the next day or so. Hopefully Blue can provide some of her own quintessence––although she might also be slightly weakened, having been asleep for so long. Even with both of our energies combined, it may take several days."

"Several days?" Keith repeated. He noticed everyone was glaring at him, and he tried not to lose his patience. "Okay," he said, keeping his voice more level this time. "So, what do we do until then?"

"There is still a lot you can do in the meantime to further our mission," Allura said. "Firstly, you can all continue to work on your bond with each other. That will be essential once we have found all the lions and need to form Voltron."

"So, how do we work on our bonds with each other, exactly?" Hunk asked. "Does that just mean like ... hang out with each other?"

Allura looked confused, and Coran explained, "'Hang out' is an expression the youths use nowadays meaning 'to spend time together.'" He looked very proud that he knew this.

"Ah, I see," said Allura. "Then, yes, it would be beneficial for you all to hang out together. The more you know and trust each other, the easier it will be for you to form Voltron when the time comes."

Her expression darkened. “Now more than ever, you must learn to trust each other. I was not expecting the Galra to catch onto us so quickly.”

“Yeah, how did they know where we were?” Pidge asked. “It was like they were waiting for us to get there.”

“I wish I knew the answer to that. Evidently, I did not anticipate their attack, and I am very sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Allura,” Lance reassured her. “There’s no way you could’ve known.”

“I appreciate that. But I still should have been more cautious, especially knowing that they have at least one druid on their side. Perhaps she is the one who can sense the lions’ locations, and she could have sent the Galra to await your arrival.”

“So, does this mean we’re gonna have to fight the Galra every time we go to find a lion?” Hunk asked.

“I’m afraid that might be the case. However, you now have Blue on your side, as well as Lance’s powers––and each of you will find your lion and achieve your own powers in turn, which will give you more ammunition against the Galra.

“In some cases, I may also be able to assist. We will just have to wait until Blue has regained some of her strength, and she should be able to create portals for us as well so I would not have to remain at the Castle during missions.”

"Whoa, the lions can create portals?" Lance exclaimed. "That's so cool! And it'd be awesome to have you along with us on missions."

Allura's smile returned. "Yes, I am looking forward to it. In the meantime, though, I must put my energies into finding the next lion. Will you be willing to assist me, Blue?"

Blue whipped her long tail from one side to the other and made a cheerful noise that seemed to signify consent.

"Wonderful! Thank you." Allura scratched the purring lion under the chin before turning back to the paladins. "We can begin searching straightaway, and we will be in contact with you once we find something."

"How are you going to contact us, though?" Pidge asked.

"Well, Blue and Lance have a telepathic link now. She should be able to let him know as soon as we determine the location of the next lion."

"Huh, kinda weird. But cool," said Lance.

“I also recently acquired a cellular telephone!” said Coran, pulling a flip phone from his breast pocket that looked like it had been manufactured about a decade ago. “Unfortunately it does not work within Altea’s perimeters, but I can use it to send you all messages from outside of Altea.”

“Sure, that’s a good idea. I can give you my cell number,” Pidge offered. She recited the digits as Coran pulled a pen from his pocket, rolled up his sleeve, and jotted the number down on his forearm.

“Excellent!” Coran exclaimed, capping the pen again. “Also, I haven’t forgotten my promise to you, Keith––about offering you a job, that is. Would you like to meet me at the Absurdatory tomorrow at, say, nine o’clock in the morning?”

Keith stood up straight. “Oh … yeah, that’d be great. Thanks, Coran.”

After that, it seemed there was not much left to discuss. Allura promised she would get right to work on finding the next lion, but hopefully would be able to see them all within the next few days.

"Bye, Blue," Lance said to the lion spirit, looking a little forlorn as he scratched behind her ear one more time. "We'll see each other again soon, okay?"

Blue made a small, sad noise almost like a whimper and gave her paladin one final affectionate headbutt on the arm.

The paladins said goodbye to Allura and Coran one more time before they descended the tower stairs.

Their journey back through the woods was quiet as they all reflected on what had just occurred. Keith found himself lost in thought, attempting to process it all. While he was relieved they had found Blue, their run-in with the Galra kept resurfacing in his mind.

He could still feel that horrible sensation when the dark spirits had grabbed him, how the darkness had almost completely consumed him in just a few short moments, and he shuddered at the memory. The thought of having to face them again made him feel dizzy. They still had a lot more obstacles to face, what with four lions left to save.

It was as surreal as always stepping out of Altea and back into the normal world. Even though it felt like an entire day had passed, outside the sun hadn't even set yet.

"So, how does it feel to have a telepathic connection to a giant ghost lion?" Hunk asked Lance as they walked side-by-side.

Lance hesitated, glancing over his shoulder as if he expected Blue to be behind him.

"I don't know. It's kind of weird," he said. "Not bad-weird, but it's gonna take some getting used to. It's like––like I know she's there, even if I can't see her.

“And I know this is gonna sound crazy, but ... when we bonded, I kind of felt like I already knew her somehow. It's like she's always been there or something, I just didn't know what the feeling was."

He stopped talking abruptly and huffed out a laugh. "Sorry, that probably makes no sense."

“It makes sense,” Keith said, and everyone looked at him in surprise. He thought about stopping there, but despite his aversion to being in the spotlight, he continued. “It’s kind of like what we talked about before––about feeling like there’s been some kind of energy following us around our whole lives. Maybe that’s what it was.”

He expected Lance to just give him a blank look, so he was shocked when Lance actually looked thoughtful at the suggestion. “Yeah,” he said. “Maybe you’re right.”

They were all quiet for a while after that. As they grew closer to the edge of the woods, Hunk and Pidge fell into some conversation about technology––something about electromagnetic fields and the best ways to measure them that Keith didn't really understand.

He trailed behind them for a few minutes, his hands shoved in his jacket pockets as he silently observed the autumn scenery. The sunset cast a warm orange glow over everything, and the shadows on the ground grew narrow and elongated in the slant of the light.

"Hey," a voice said next to Keith suddenly, and he realized then that Lance was walking next to him.

Keith regarded him with curiosity, caught off-guard by the sudden interaction, but also because there seemed to be something ... different about Lance all of a sudden, like there was a certain aura about him that hadn't been there before. Maybe it was a trick of the light, or Keith was imagining it altogether.

"Yeah?" he managed to say.

The expression on Lance's face was inscrutable, like he was trying to hide something. But Keith caught a flicker in his eyes that seemed almost nervous––or shy, possibly, but that didn't seem like an option for Lance.

"I realized I hadn't thanked you," Lance said, kicking absently at a small rock in his path as he spoke. "For, uh ... You kinda saved me back there. When you dragged me through the portal, I mean. So, thank you."

"Oh." There was a funny skip in Keith's chest and he could feel warmth rising to his face despite the chilly evening air. He hoped the collar of his jacket was high enough to obscure the blotchy redness he was sure was spreading to his cheeks. "I––I mean, you're welcome. It's not like I really had a choice. Since, you know, we're kind of teammates now, right?"

He realized he was rambling and stopped talking immediately, mentally scolding himself. But to his surprise, Lance smiled crookedly at him. He released a short, quiet laugh that turned to mist in the air.

"Yeah," Lance said, "I guess we are."

He punched Keith lightly on the arm and then jogged to catch up with Hunk and Pidge, but not without turning to grin at Keith over his shoulder one more time. The setting sun was right behind his head, haloing his face in an ethereal golden light.

Keith nearly stumbled at the sight. It wasn't until Lance turned around again that he realized he was smiling, too.

In more ways than one, he had a sudden feeling like things were only just beginning.

Chapter Text

In the days that followed, Keith started to feel more restless than ever. He kept trying to tell himself that he should be calmer now that they'd at least found one of the lions, but the harrowing experience of finding Blue had only made him worry about whether finding the other lions would be just as difficult.

At least he now had the job at the Absurdatory to keep his mind occupied. He'd started the day after they'd found Blue, and Coran had been quick to find numerous things for Keith to do around the small museum.

For such a tiny establishment, there were a surprising amount of tasks to take care of. Not only did he have to keep up with the constant dusting of the shelves and glass cases, but he also had to spend long hours going through files in Coran's office and attempting to sort all the newspaper articles and other clippings into a logical order. Keith had asked if Coran if he’d ever thought about having a computer instead and only received a blank look in return. He figured it was a lost cause.

Luckily, Keith didn't mind the work. He didn't have to interact with people much, and it helped to keep his mind off of things. Still, it was hard not to think about everything that had happened on their search for Blue. Or to worry about all the dangers that lay ahead.

It had now been a few days, and there had been no word from Allura on the location of the other lions. Keith kept asking how Allura was doing, and each time Coran's expression appeared more anxious than before. He’d told Keith that Allura was fine, but he was worried that she and Blue were working themselves to the point of exhaustion.

Keith didn’t quite understand how the process worked. From what Coran had told him, Allura had been going to Altea each day to work with Blue in an attempt to locate the other lions. They were both still gaining their energy back––Allura from locating Blue and holding the portal open, Blue from her battle with the Galra, and both of them from their century-long sleep.

But with their energies combined, they had been able to at least narrow their focus to several general locations. It was only a matter of finding the lions’ precise whereabouts, but as Allura had told the paladins, the others were not quite as open and friendly as Blue was.

In the meantime, the paladins had tried to keep up some degree of communication with each other, although Keith was now busy with work and the others were preoccupied with school and other activities.

Lance had started a group chat the day after they’d located Blue, which he’d titled “The Mystery Gang.”

keith: mystery gang?

lance: yeah u know, like in scooby doo!! i mean we drive around in a van and solve mysteries so...

hunk: Nice i like it :)

lance: thanks hunk i can always count on you

hunk: Okay but if we’re the mystery gang then which of us is which?

lance: well keith is scooby first of all

keith: what why

lance: pidge is velma obviously

pidge: jinkies
pidge: wait is this only because i have glasses

keith: why am i scooby?!

lance: hunk is fred bc he’s the handsome one ;)

hunk: Awww lance :’’)

keith: WHY AM I SCOOBY

pidge: hey i have a dog he could be scooby

lance: fine. keith can be daphne because…he has long hair

keith: it’s not THAT long

lance: jeez keith there’s just no pleasing you is there

Such conversations always seemed to devolve into a debate over something meaningless, but Keith enjoyed it nonetheless. He looked forward to the notifications on his phone and always smiled when he scrolled through the new messages.

Almost a week had passed, and Keith was helping Coran close up the Absurdatory one afternoon when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He took it out to glance at the notification and found that it wasn’t from the group chat but a private message from Pidge:

“hey do you think you could come over?”

After saying goodbye to Coran, Keith shrugged on his jacket and went outside to the parking lot before he texted back, “yeah sure. why, did something come up??”

Pidge took a minute to respond, and her answer didn’t appear until Keith had reached his motorcycle.

“not exactly. i’m just feeling kinda bad and could use some company. but it’s ok if you’re busy.”

Keith typed back immediately, “i’m not busy. i’ll be there in like 30 mins.”

He tried not to speed down the highway, as empty as it was, as he made his way to Pidge’s house. The mountains on either side of the road stood starkly against the afternoon sky, and the sun gleamed off Lake Arus as Keith sped past it.

It was nearing dusk by the time Keith pulled up to Pidge’s house and parked his motorcycle by the curb. As he walked along the front path, he felt a faint sentimental twinge in his chest as he remembered the first time he’d been here.

It hadn’t been that long ago, but it hit him suddenly how much that day had changed everything. If he hadn’t decided to show up at this house unannounced, he and Pidge might never have met and they wouldn’t have found their way to Altea.

He was still reminiscing about it by the time he rang the doorbell, but his smile immediately dropped when the door opened and he saw Pidge standing there.

She looked like a mess, her short hair even more disheveled than usual. Her eyes and the tip of her nose were tinged pink and it was clear she had been crying.

“Hey, Keith.” Her voice came out as barely more than a croak and she wouldn’t look him in the eyes. “Thanks for coming over. I hate to bother you, I’m just …” She sniffed loudly and rubbed her nose on the sleeve of her hoodie.

“Pidge?” Worried, Keith stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

She hesitated for a moment and then quickly shook her head, her eyes welling up.

Keith felt a wave of immediate panic. He was never really sure how to deal with other people’s emotions.

“Do you … want to talk about it?”

Another hesitant pause, and then Pidge nodded. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

They went down to the basement, where they sat down on the couch in front of the TV. Rover, having noticed Keith’s presence, excitedly followed them downstairs. But seeming to sense the somber mood, he curled up on the rug at Keith’s feet and heaved a sigh.

Pidge took a minute to speak. She had drawn her knees up to her chest and was tugging nervously at her long sweatshirt sleeves.

“Everything is hitting me at once, I guess. I was feeling so confident that we would find Matt and Shiro soon, but now I just––I don’t know. I think maybe it’s that the waiting is getting to me. I know we can’t find all the lions right away, but I can’t help feeling like I should be doing something, you know?”

Keith nodded, his stomach twisting at the thought of Shiro and Matt still in that prison, still suffering through torture for all he knew. He hadn’t seen any visions of them in the past few nights, which he desperately hoped wasn’t a bad sign.

“Yeah. I know what you mean.”

“And it’s so difficult with my parents, too,” Pidge went on. “Obviously I can’t tell them about what we’re doing, about Voltron and all that.”

She pushed her glasses up so she could wipe her sleeve over her eyes.

“I have to pretend like I don’t know anything, and it’s so painful. They seem to lose hope more and more every day, and I don’t know what to do. On one hand, I know that Matt’s still alive, and I wish I could tell them that. But then I’d have to explain where he is, and even if my parents believed me, the truth is so horrible it’d worry them even more.”

Pidge’s rambling came to a stop, and she chewed on her bottom lip.

“And … and I just really miss him,” she said quietly. “I want him to come home.”

Tears spilled freely from her eyes now. She crossed her arms over her knees and buried her face against them.

Keith sat frozen for a moment before he inched closer to her. “Pidge …” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it––it’s okay.”

She didn’t answer, and she started to shake with silent sobs.

“Do you … need a hug?” Keith asked.

Again, no answer. Pidge didn’t lift her face, but after a few seconds, the top of her head moved up and down in a little nod.

Keith carefully put an arm around her. Even though he’d hugged Pidge before, he was still a bit hesitant when it came to initiating physical contact and comforting other people, constantly worrying that he was doing it wrong or that he wasn’t being supportive enough.

But in this instance, it seemed to be the right thing to do. It wasn’t long before Pidge leaned against him, resting her head against his shoulder.

They sat for a few minutes with no sound in the basement around them––just Pidge’s sniffling and the occasional sob that escaped from her. Keith didn’t really know what to do besides sit there and pat her shoulder every once in a while to remind her he was still there.

Finally, Pidge lifted her head again with a loud sniff. “Sorry. Hope I didn’t get snot all over your shirt.”

“It’s okay. And no, you didn’t.”

Keith offered her a small smile. He noticed a box of tissues on the coffee table in front of them and grabbed a few to hand to Pidge.

Rover had stood up and was now facing them, large brown eyes fixated on Pidge while his tail waved back and forth in a questioning gesture.

“Yeah. I’m okay, buddy,” Pidge said, scratching behind the dog’s ears. She glanced in Keith’s direction, although she still avoided eye contact with him. Her whole face was blotchy from crying. “I’m sorry,” she said again.

“Don’t be sorry. You’re going through a lot, and I know you miss Matt.”

Pidge glared at the floor. “Yeah. I try to keep it together, but I get so worried.” She looked up at Keith. “It must be really hard for you, too.”

Keith blinked in surprise. He looked away, eyes fixing on a scratch on the coffee table. “Yeah. It is.”

He couldn’t find the words to fathom how difficult things had been without Shiro, and the visions he kept seeing only made things worse. The images always surfaced without warning, and out of nowhere he’d remember the horrible sight of Shiro and Matt in that dark dungeon, covered in blood and dirt.

“I know you’re really close with him,” Pidge said, breaking through Keith’s grim train of thought. “I think I’ve told you this before, but he used to come over here for dinner, and sometimes he’d talk about you. Said you were one of the smartest kids he knew and that you’d become like a little brother to him.”

Keith felt a small catch in his chest, and he smiled faintly despite the stinging in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Pidge blurted. “Maybe I shouldn’t have––”

“No, it’s okay,” Keith interrupted her. “I’m glad you told me that.”

He sagged back against the couch, drawing in a deep breath.

“I’ve always thought of Shiro as being like my brother, too. He was the first adult who ever really believed in me. Before I met him, I’d been through so many foster homes and schools and I never thought I’d find somewhere I belonged. No one ever made me feel like I would. And no one made me feel like I could ever succeed at anything, you know?

“But Shiro … when he started mentoring me at the Garrison, that was the first time anyone had told me that I had potential.” Keith paused for a moment, frowning as he picked at a loose thread in the couch cushion. “I feel like he sees himself in me, in a way. And sometimes I worry that I can’t live up to his expectations. But I mean, he’s more than just my mentor. He’s my best friend.”

Keith swallowed the lump that had grown in his throat. He wondered if maybe he was saying too much, but Pidge was still listening patiently––and honestly, it felt good to let it all out.

“I’ve never been that close with anyone. But I always felt like I could trust Shiro. He’s always gone out of his way to help me, to listen to me. When I flew a plane for the first time, he was sitting right next to me. He was the first person I came out to, too.”

“Yeah?” Pidge said, sitting up a bit straighter.

Keith nodded. “I never really trusted anyone else enough to tell them, but I knew I could trust Shiro. I figured he would kinda know what I was going through since he’s pretty open about being bi.”

Pidge suddenly seemed preoccupied with fiddling with her sweatshirt sleeves. Keith heard her inhale deeply like she was preparing herself to say something.

“Actually … I’ve kinda been meaning to ask you about that,” she said. “I mean, not about that specifically. Just about the whole, uh, gay thing.”

Keith raised an eyebrow at her. “The ‘whole gay thing’?” he repeated with a smirk.

“Yeah, you know. You. Being gay.”

Pidge’s face had turned completely red, but there was a certain earnesty to her expression when she looked up at him that Keith immediately stopped smiling.

“Oh. Okay. What about it?”

“I guess I was just wondering …” Pidge hugged her knees again. “When did you know?”

That hadn’t been the question Keith was expecting, and he remained silent as he contemplated what to say.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” Pidge added in a rush.

“No, no. It’s okay. I’m just thinking.” Keith rubbed his forehead. “It’s a little complicated, because there was never a moment when I just ‘knew.’ It was more like ... there were a lot of little things that added up over time until eventually it all made sense.”

“What kind of ‘little things’?” Pidge asked.

“I don’t know. I guess it was just … the way I heard other boys talk about girls, I never felt the same way they did. But at the time, I thought it was just that I hadn’t met the right girl or something. And in retrospect, I had a lot of crushes on boys as a kid but I always mistook them for other feelings, like admiration or jealousy or even just like, ‘oh, for some reason I really really want to be friends with that guy.’”

Keith stopped talking and looked over at Pidge to try and gauge whether she understood what he was saying. "Sorry, that probably didn't make much sense."

"No, it did," Pidge said quickly. "I get it."

"You do?"

Pidge rested her chin on her knees, suddenly looking self-conscious. "I mean ... maybe. I don't know. It's all super confusing. Not what you said, but, you know ... trying to figure out this stuff about yourself. Sometimes I think ..."

She took a deep breath. "Sometimes I think I might be gay, too. But other times, I’m not sure I like anyone romantically at all. Like, it can be confusing to tell sometimes whether I want to be friends with someone or whether I like them that way, like what you were just saying."

Keith was a little taken aback by Pidge’s confession, but it only took him a moment to recover.

“Yeah, exactly,” he said. “But you don’t have to make a decision about it right now. It’s okay to still be figuring things out. And even if you identify one way or another, it’s not like it’s set in stone. These things can be fluid, you know? It can always change.”

He stopped, letting out a short breath. “Sorry, I’m not used to giving life advice.”

To his surprise, though, Pidge had brightened considerably at what he’d said. Her eyes were still a little red, but she managed a crooked smile.

“No, that was great advice. It really means a lot to me. Thanks.” Her grin faltered. “Uh … I haven’t really talked to anyone about this before.”

“Oh, okay. Well, don’t worry. It’ll just be between the two of us.”

Pidge rubbed at her arm. “Thanks. I want to tell my parents eventually, and I think they’ll understand … I mean, they know Matt’s pan and they’re cool with that, and they’ve been totally supportive of me being trans.

“But coming out to them once was stressful enough, and even though it went well, I still never really know how to go about doing these things.”

“Yeah, I totally get that,” Keith said with a knowing nod. “That’s kind of why I never came out to anyone until pretty recently. Growing up, I was always moving from home to home and the thought of talking to anyone about it didn’t even occur to me. Just the thought of having to come out to new groups of people over and over again was too exhausting.”

“I’m sorry, Keith.”

“It’s okay. I’m just glad I have friends I can trust now. You and Shiro. Hunk, Lance, Allura … I’ve never really met anyone like you guys, and I’m really glad I did.”

“Aww, Keith! You’re gonna make me cry again,” Pidge said.

Keith’s eyes were stinging a bit too, but he managed a smile that Pidge gratefully returned.

They talked a bit more after that, just finding comfort in each other’s company. Rover had curled up on the rug at their feet again and started to snore loudly, which made them both laugh.

“Thanks again for coming here to hang out with me,” Pidge said after a brief silence. “I really needed it.”

“Hey, it’s no problem. Anytime you need someone to talk to, I’m here. Especially with everything going on. Finding the lions, Matt and Shiro being gone … I know it’s really hard.”

Pidge’s shoulders sagged a little at the mention of her brother. “Yeah. It is.” She took a shaking breath and let it out again. “Do you want to maybe watch a movie or something? Take our mind off things a bit?”

“Yeah, sounds like a good idea.”

They ended up watching some TV show Keith had never heard of that involved some guy and a couple of robot puppets making snarky commentary about terrible old sci-fi movies. The episode they watched was about a movie called “Giant Spider Invasion,” which was exactly what it sounded like.

Keith tried to focus on the television, although his thoughts kept wandering to the countless worries lurking at the back of his mind. Still, he managed to laugh at some jokes here and there. At the very least, having the TV as background noise was calming.

Pidge stretched out on her side on the couch, her socked foot brushing against Keith’s leg from time to time. She chuckled at a few things, but was mostly pretty quiet. Mid-way through the episode, Rover jumped up onto the couch and sat next to Keith, who scratched the dog behind his ears.

By the time the episode ended, it was starting to get late into the evening.

“Sorry for keeping you so long,” Pidge said. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. “I should finish my homework before my parents come home for dinner.”

Keith smiled. “Don’t apologize. I’m glad we got to hang out.”

They went back upstairs and said goodbye at the front door.

“See you soon,” Keith said.

“Yeah. See you, Keith.”

Pidge hugged him, which he wasn’t expecting, but Keith hugged her in return and gave her one more comforting pat on the back.

“Everything’s gonna work out,” he told her. “I promise.”

He hoped he was right.

—

Early the next morning, Keith woke up to the sound of his phone buzzing. He could feel it vibrating under the sheets somewhere near his feet, and he groggily sat up to feel around for it.

He managed to pick it up just in time, squinting at the screen to see the call was coming from Pidge. Keith swiped at the screen.

“Pidge?”

“Oh, good. You’re awake,” she answered, sounding a little breathless.

Keith blinked, still feeling like he was half-asleep. “Just barely. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Well, sort of. I got a call from Coran. Allura thinks she’s found the Green Lion.”

At that, Keith snapped awake. “She what?”

“I mean, I guess she doesn’t know for sure. But we’re all gonna meet up so we can make plans. Can you meet us at the Comet Diner in like fifteen minutes?”

Dazed, Keith glanced at the digital alarm clock next to his bed and saw it was a few minutes before 8 AM.

“Uh, I guess,” he said. “We’re meeting at a diner?”

“Coran suggested it. He said, ‘Everything’s better with breakfast.’ I guess he has a point. Pancakes are a pretty good incentive.”

“Can’t disagree with that.” Keith rubbed his eyes, reaching for the glasses on his nightstand. “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

After he hung up, Keith scrambled around his room to find some clean clothes. He pulled on a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and a red flannel. In the bathroom mirror, he gave his face a once-over and decided he was too lazy to put in his contacts and just kept his glasses on. His hair was kind of a mess, though, so he hastily pulled it back into a low ponytail.

Luckily, the diner wasn't far from his apartment, although the early morning traffic slowed Keith down a little. But he managed to make it there in less than twenty minutes, and he parked his motorcycle by the curb.

As soon as he walked inside, the warm air inside the diner engulfed him and he inhaled the smell of fried food. Booths ran along both sides of the seating area. Most of them were unoccupied, although there were a few small groups scattered around the room at different tables, and some people were sitting alone by the windows with their newspapers and coffee.

Keith's eyes were drawn immediately to a booth at the very back, which was significantly more crowded than the others. He could see the back of Coran and Allura's heads, and the other three paladins were sitting across from them. Pidge was wedged into the corner, with Hunk sitting in the middle, and Lance was in the aisle seat with his legs stretched out under the table. Hunk had just burst out laughing. It was probably because of something Lance had said, judging by the wicked grin on his face.

Keith ambled over. "Hey, guys."

Lance looked up first and did a double-take, his smile suddenly disappearing. “Keith?”

He had exclaimed loudly enough that a pair of women at a few tables over looked at them in alarm.

“Uh, yeah?” Keith said. “Did you not know I would be here?”

Lance still hadn’t stopped gawking at him, and it seemed to take him a moment to find his voice again. “What? No, I knew,” he stuttered. “I just didn’t recognize you for a sec, ‘cause you’re––you look …”

“More hipster-y than usual,” Hunk supplied.

“Yes, exactly. Thanks, Hunk.”

“Why, just because I’m wearing glasses?”

“That and the ponytail. And the flannel.”

At this point, Keith’s face had started to burn and he felt like everyone was staring at him. He slid into the booth next to Allura, right across from Lance.

“Anyway,” he said, trying to ignore the way Lance’s eyes had followed him, “I think there’s more important things to talk about than what I’m wearing.” He turned towards Allura. “Pidge told me you found another lion?”

Allura smiled when Keith addressed her, although he could see how tired she looked. She sat with her chin propped up on one hand like she was worried her head would droop without the support. Despite her obvious exhaustion, though, she managed to look very put-together. Her silver hair was pulled up into a high bun and a pair of small purple jeweled earrings dangled from her ears.

She sat up straight as everyone looked to her for an explanation, clearing her throat before she spoke.

"Yes, that is precisely why I wanted to meet with all of you."

"And also because you missed our beautiful faces," Lance said with a wink. "Mine in particular, I'm sure."

Keith glared at him across the table with an inexplicable twinge in his stomach, but the moment quickly passed.

Allura only blinked in response and continued. “Anyway … In the time we’ve been apart, I’ve been working very closely with Blue. She’s been traveling between realms in search of the other lions, although it’s difficult for her to pinpoint their locations––perhaps because they’re still dormant. She’s been returning to me with her findings, and I’ve been using my own quintessence to try and narrow down the areas where the other lions may be hidden.

“Of all of them, we’ve had the most success with locating the Green Lion. From what I can tell, she is located in a forest.”

“A forest?” Pidge repeated. “That doesn’t really narrow it down.”

“This isn’t a normal forest. I’ve seen visions of it while attempting to find the Green Lion, and even just from those visions, I can sense a powerful, otherworldly energy emanating from it. It seems to be located at a crossroad between worlds, a place where the barrier between the spirit and human realms is very thin.”

Lance sat up attentively as Allura spoke. “Whoa. So, what does this forest look like?”

“It’s highly unusual. The trees looked very odd, to put it lightly. Many of them were growing in a sort of spiral pattern. Others were very angular, shaped like …” Allura trailed off like she didn’t know how to describe it and traced a “Z” in the air.

“Like a zig-zag?” Pidge offered.

“Yes, I suppose that’s the word for it. There was something else strange, too. I saw a part of the forest where there was a very large, perfectly circular clearing …”

At that, Hunk and Lance both gasped and everyone at the table looked at them in alarm.

“Wait … you’re not talking about Hoia Baciu, are you?” said Hunk.

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Ho-ya what now?”

“Hoia Baciu. It’s, like, the most haunted forest in the world.”

“Yeah, probably every ghost hunter knows about it,” Lance added excitedly. “Oh, man. I’ve always really wanted to see it, but it’s on the other side of the world and all so I never thought I’d get to.”

Allura’s eyes widened. “You know where this forest is?”

“Yeah, it’s in Romania,” Hunk said. “Transylvania, to be exact.”

“Transylvania? Are you serious?” Keith scoffed. “What, like Dracula Transylvania?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. It sounds made up, but it’s a real place. There’s all kinds of legends about it …”

“Like this story about this shepherd dude who went into the forest with like two hundred sheep and none of them ever came out again,” Lance said.

“Ooh, or there’s one story that this little girl disappeared in the woods there for like ten years and then just walked out totally unchanged, wearing the same clothes and everything.”

“Oh, and I think there’ve been some UFO sightings there, too.”

Keith perked up a bit at that. “UFOs, huh?”

“Yup!” Lance grinned, looking like he was proud to be the source of information. “Apparently it attracts all kinds of dark energy. People who have been in the forest say they see all these strange shadowy figures and hear weird noises. And if you stay there too long, you start to feel all tired and nauseous.”

He waved his hands around animatedly as he spoke, enrapturing everyone at the table with the story.

“And this is the place where the Green Lion is?” Pidge said, a note of anxiety in her voice. “Are you sure?”

“I mean, it sounds like it from what Allura described. That big, circular clearing in the middle of it is, like, its signature thing, you know?” said Hunk. “Some people think it’s a portal to another dimension. Or that it unlocks the gates to Hell or something.”

Right then, someone cleared their throat next to the table and everyone looked up in surprise.

A girl stood there––presumably their waitress, judging by the notepad in her hand. She had large brown eyes with long lashes, a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, and her long blond hair hung in two loose braids.

“Hi,” she said with a small smile. “My name is Nyma and I’ll be serving you today. Sorry to interrupt your ghost story.”

Lance looked like he’d been hit over the head, staring at Nyma with a stunned expression before a slow smile spread across his face. He casually leaned an elbow on the table.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Sorry we didn’t notice you sooner. Hope you weren’t standing there too long.”

She smiled back at him. “It’s okay, it wasn’t long. Sounded like a scary story.”

“Oh, you know, we’re into that kinda stuff. Ghosts and all that … it’s kind of our thing.”

There was a boastful drawl to Lance’s voice and a certain slant to his smile that suddenly made Keith feel annoyed. He could tell what was happening in front of him and it was inexplicably upsetting.

Nyma’s eyes widened. “Whoa, wait a second. I recognize you guys. You’re Lance and Hunk, right? You have that ghost hunting video channel.”

Hunk and Lance both sat up straight at those words, and Lance’s smile broke into a bright grin.

“Yeah, that’s us!” said Hunk.

“That is so cool. I’ve seen a few of your videos and you guys are hysterical.”

“Well, we try,” Lance said with a shrug of one shoulder.

“Like that one where you face-planted down the stairs?” Nyma continued, addressing Lance again. “Hilarious.”

Lance’s grin wavered for a second before he recovered. “Uh … oh yeah. I do all my own stunts, you know.”

Nyma giggled before she lifted a pen to her notepad. “Anyway, I should probably take your orders, shouldn’t I? What’ll you be having?”

She turned her attention to Keith first, which caught him off-guard. He coughed and adjusted his glasses as he looked down at the laminated menu in front of him, managing to stutter out an order.

Nyma went around the table counter-clockwise, taking each of their orders one by one until Lance was the last one left.

He studied the menu a moment longer. “Hmm,” he said with an exaggerated air of hesitation. “Can I get the blueberry pancakes, please? Maybe with a side of … your number?” He winked at Nyma.

Keith barely suppressed a strangled noise and he saw Pidge slap a hand to her forehead in the corner. “Lance …” Hunk muttered, shrinking in his seat.

Nyma didn’t look very bothered, however. There was only a subtle change in her expression, her eyebrows rising in slight surprise before she huffed out a laugh. “Ordering off-menu?”

“Hey, just thought I’d ask,” Lance said without missing a beat.

“Well, we’ll see,” said Nyma. She collected their menus and walked away.

Lance watched after her for a second before glancing around the table. “So … I couldn’t tell, was that a yes or a no?”

“Was that really necessary?” Keith snapped.

It came out sounding a bit more hostile than he meant it to, and Lance looked at him in surprise.

“What?”

“Hitting on the waitress in front of all of us? Really?”

“He does this a lot,” Hunk said with a sigh.

“Aw come on, Hunk. You know I never pass up the opportunity to meet my soulmate.”

“I know, but you could dial it back just a little bit.”

“Easy for you to say, buddy. You already have a girlfriend.” Lance dramatically clasped a hand to his chest. “Alas, I have yet to meet the significant other of my dreams.”

Keith kept glaring at him, although he mentally filed away the information that A) Lance was single and B) he had said “significant other” and not “girlfriend.” Not that it mattered.

“I’m just saying, it was kinda rude to put her on the spot like that,” Keith said.

Lance blinked at him and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. “Oh … yeah, I guess you’re right.”

An awkward silence ensued before Pidge cleared her throat.

“Well … while we wait for the food to get here, maybe we should keep discussing plans.”

“An excellent idea!” Coran agreed cheerfully. “Although I believe I’ll be able to think better once I have a waffle in my stomach.” He patted his gut to illustrate the comment.

After that, the group fell back into conversation regarding the Green Lion and how they were going to locate it. Keith tried to concentrate on everything being said, but he found his attention kept wandering towards Lance, who was sitting with his arms crossed and being oddly quiet. He couldn’t help but feel an inkling of guilt for snapping at Lance the way he had.

He didn’t have long to dwell on it, though, since Nyma returned with their food not long after that. She still seemed cheerful as she handed out the plates, as if the earlier incident hadn’t happened. Keith snuck a glance at Lance and saw he was looking up at Nyma with a wary expression, like he was trying to decide something.

As soon as Nyma walked away, Lance stood up.

Hunk grabbed him by the arm. "Dude, please don't tell me you're gonna chase after her."

"What? No, I'm not chasing her," Lance protested, shaking Hunk off. "I just wanted to say something to her, that's all."

"Lance––"

Before anyone else could attempt to stop him, Lance had dashed away from the table. Hunk put his hands over his face and groaned.

Keith concentrated very hard on staring down at the omelette that had been placed before him, breaking it up into pieces with his fork. He definitely was not eavesdropping, but he could hear snatches of the conversation behind him––even though he couldn't quite make out what the words were––and heard Nyma let out a tinkling laugh.

"Keith? You okay buddy?" Hunk asked him.

"Huh? Yeah, why?"

"Nothing, you just look kinda ... ill."

“I’m fine,” Keith said. “Guess I just didn’t sleep very well.”

Luckily, he was saved from having to defend himself any further because Lance returned right then, sliding back into the booth across from Keith. He was smiling faintly.

Keith stabbed a piece of omelette with his fork. “Any luck?” he asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Lance blinked like he’d been startled out of a trance. “Huh? Oh … I guess so. I was just apologizing to her.”

That took Keith by surprise. “You were what?”

“I felt bad because, you know, I probably made everything super awkward and I didn’t mean to,” Lance continued. “So I told her I was sorry. And she accepted the apology and was really nice about it. So … yeah.”

He started to dig into the stack of pancakes in front of him, apparently not wanting to dwell on the subject any longer.

“Oh,” Keith said. “Well that’s … good.”

Hunk looked between the two of them like he was trying to decipher some kind of secret code. He cleared his throat. “That was cool of you, Lance.”

Lance just shrugged without looking up from his breakfast. “Oh, you know, just trying to do the right thing.”

A couple minutes passed quietly as they all continued eating, before they jumped back into their plans to find the next lion. Most importantly, they had to decide on a time to do so.

“I don’t really see any point in waiting,” Pidge said. “We have everything we need––we’re all here, we know the general location of the Green Lion … we could just go straight to Altea right after this.”

The rest of the group looked around at each other as if they were all waiting for someone to protest.

“I guess that works,” Lance said when no one else spoke. “I don’t really have any plans for the rest of the day, besides homework and working on college apps. How about the rest of you guys?”

Everyone else murmured their agreement.

Coran was the only one who looked slightly worried. “I have no quarrels with that suggestion. However, my one concern is that Allura still might need time to regain her strength. She has expended a lot of energy trying to locate the Green Lion.”

“I’m fine, Coran,” Allura said right away. “Although I appreciate your concern, I feel a lot stronger now. Besides, Blue can assist me in opening the portal, so I won’t have to exhaust myself the way I would if I were attempting it alone.”

Although he still looked hesitant, Coran nodded. “Alright, then. I trust your judgement.”

“So, is it settled then?” Pidge asked. “We’ll go to Altea right after this?”

No one protested, so it seemed they had come to an agreement.

There was a new, frenzied energy in the atmosphere as they all finished eating and prepared to leave. Nyma brought them their check, which they all split and paid in a pile of wrinkled bills. Then they headed outside, split up into their respective vehicles, and were soon on their way.

--

Blue greeted them as soon as they reached the gates to Altea. She sat next to the stone wall as if she’d been expecting their arrival, glowing faintly in the darkness.

"Blue!" Lance exclaimed as soon as he saw her.

The lion made an affectionate rumbling noise as Lance sprinted towards her to throw his arms around her neck. She rubbed her chin over the top of his head, her eyes narrowing happily.

"I'm so happy to see you, girl," Lance said against her fur and then took a step back with a wide grin on his face. "You ready to help us find your buddy Green?"

Blue purred in response, which made Lance laugh as he scratched her behind the ear. "I guess that's a yes."

Even though it had still been morning in the normal world, in Altea it was just as pitch black as it always was, illuminated only by its own ethereal silver glow. This was the third time they'd been here, but Keith still found it mesmerizing and almost impossible to comprehend, like it was all a strange dream that he would wake up from at any given moment.

The interior of the Castle was as still and silent as always, and the paladins made little conversation on their way up to the tower. The halo of light surrounding Blue helped to illuminate their way as she treaded up the steps behind them.

Up in the observatory, the whole group gathered around the podium at the center. Allura placed her hands on the crystals, and the sprites floating around the room immediately hovered closer to her.

"Blue, I may need your assistance in channeling the quintessence."

Apparently understanding, Blue stepped forward to stand by Allura's side and closed her eyes in concentration.

The paladins remained hovering around the small podium.

"So, like, what's the plan?" Hunk asked. "Do we know how we’re gonna find the Green Lion or are we just winging it?"

"I don't know if there is much planning we can do in advance," said Allura. She frowned as she shifted her hands over the glowing orbs. "Right now, Blue and I must concentrate on forming the portal. Once we've traveled to our destination, Blue can assist us in navigating our way to Green."

"Wait, 'us'?" Lance said, as if something had suddenly dawned on him. "You mean ... you're coming with us, Allura?"

Coran stiffened. "Are you certain that's a good idea? You've already spent so much energy searching for the Green Lion these past few days."

Without removing her hands from the crystals, Allura turned to give Coran a soft, reassuring smile.

"I'll be fine, Coran. And yes, I'm certain. After what happened during the search for Blue, what with the Galra attacking ..." She bit her lip, looking around at the paladins with her brow furrowed. "I can't risk any of the paladins getting harmed. I want to be there to defend them in case anything goes wrong, and I don’t feel right waiting here helplessly at the Castle.”

“Plus, we’ll have Blue with us this time,” Lance added. “And I have my super-cool ice powers––no pun intended.”

Coran still wrung his hands worriedly, but he nodded after a moment of contemplation. “Very well. If you are all going together, that gives me more peace of mind. I can stay in the Castle to watch the portal from this side until you return.”

“Thank you, Coran,” said Allura. “Don’t fret about us. We’ll be back before you know it.”

Her expression sobered as she looked around at the paladins. “Now, are all of you prepared to depart?”

They all nodded.

“Then I shall create the portal. Blue?”

The lion still appeared to be in some kind of meditative state, but she opened her eyes at Allura’s voice as if to signal that everything was ready. With a firm nod, Allura grasped at the crystals and took a deep breath.

A nervous energy buzzed in the air, and an electric feeling permeated the atmosphere surrounding them, making the hair on the back of Keith's neck stand up. He watched in wonder as the sprites clustered closer to Allura, glowing brightly. At the same time, a shimmering circle began to form in the air in front of her, swirling with dark colors and undefinable shapes.

Once the portal was fully formed, Allura opened her eyes with a gasp and drew her hands away from the crystals. Even from where he stood, several feet away from her, Keith could see that she was trembling a bit––either from the physical taxation of the process or from trepidation of the journey that lay ahead of them, or maybe a combination of the two. In any case, she clenched her fists and faced the portal with a determined frown.

"Paladins, Blue. Let us go forth. Coran, we will be back as soon as possible."

"Good luck, all of you," Coran said. He managed a smile, although it looked a little strained.

Allura led the way, walking steadily into the portal without a moment's hesitation. Blue leapt in after her.

"Hey, wait up for me!" Lance called after his lion as he also jumped into the portal. Hunk was right behind him, flinching a little before he stepped into the vortex of light.

Keith was about to go next when he noticed Pidge was still standing nearby and staring wide-eyed at the portal.

"You ready, Pidge?" he asked.

She broke out of her daze to look at him, although her brow furrowed with worry.

"I––yeah, I guess so. I'm just kind of nervous, after what happened last time ..."

Keith couldn't really blame her. Sure, last time they'd managed to find Blue, but they hadn't really known what they would be up against. And after their first encounter with the Galra, Keith understood why Pidge was hesitant. He still hadn't shaken away the horror of what he'd felt when the Galra had grabbed him when they'd been trying to escape with Blue––the cold feeling of their clawed hands, how a horrible sense of darkness had nearly overcome him.

But for the sake of their mission, he knew they had to face it.

He took a deep breath and tried to give Pidge some semblance of reassurance. "It's okay, Pidge. We got one lion, and we're gonna get the rest of them. Plus, this time we'll have Blue and Allura on our side. We can do this."

It sounded somewhat forced to his own ears, but apparently it did the trick. Pidge looked from Keith to the portal and back again before she nodded resolutely.

"Okay. Let's do this," she said. "For our brothers."

Keith felt a small pang in his chest. "For our brothers," he agreed.

Then Pidge jumped through the portal and Keith followed after her.

--

Traveling through the portal was just as terrifying as it had been the first time, although at least now Keith knew what to expect. That didn't change the fact that it was an unpleasant sensation, like all the molecules in his body were being torn apart and re-arranged again ... until finally he could feel an intense tingling in his limbs, a rush of air around him and––

Keith hit the ground, landing on his back so hard that it knocked the wind out of him. Groaning, he sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

When he opened his eyes, he froze at the strange sight around him. Although Allura had described what the forest would look like, it was still shocking to see it in person. The surrounding trees were bare and clustered close together, their trunks warped into strange shapes like some giant hands had violently twisted them. A dense fog drifted between the trees, and there was a silvery haze over everything similar to the glow that surrounded Altea.

The silence was so absolute that Keith’s ears rang with it, and an uneasy sensation crept over him as he slowly rose to his feet. He turned in a slow circle, but he couldn't see or hear any of the other paladins.

"Guys?" he called out.

His voice sounded oddly flat in the stillness, not echoing back to him the way he’d expected it to, almost like something was muffling it. He tried again, trying to put a bit more volume behind it this time.

“Hello? Can anyone hear me?”

Again, the words didn’t come out as loudly as Keith had hoped they would, and he received no reply. The hairs on the back of his neck started to stand on end, and he clenched his hands into fists as he surveyed the forest around him.

All of a sudden, he thought he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye––a fleeting shadow that disappeared as soon as he turned to look at it. He could’ve sworn he heard whispers amongst the trees, indecipherable murmurs that rose and fell like the hush of the wind.

Keith breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, trying to calm the wild fluttering of his heart. Now was not the time to panic. He had to focus on finding the others.

They had to be somewhere close by … didn’t they? The last time they’d all gone through the portal, they hadn’t ended up very far from each other. Although he was reluctant to move from where he stood, Keith figured the best course of action would be to keep moving forward in hopes he would find at least one of his friends.

With a deep breath, he kept his fists at his sides and started to walk.

The ground felt strange under his feet, almost insubstantial like he was walking on nothing. His footsteps made no sound against the bare soil. Keith slowly progressed through the dense forest, observing his surroundings in wonder as he clambered over twisted roots.

He reached a part of the woods where the trees around him had formed into surreal J shapes. He tentatively reached out to touch one of the hooked trunks, fingers running along the unnatural curve. The bark was rough and stained green.

Keith stepped back again, lifting his head to look up. Criss-crossing branches formed a thick canopy overhead, nearly blocking out the gray sky beyond. He hadn’t noticed until now that there were glowing sprites floating above him, suspended in the air like stars, although they were more sparse than they were in the forest surrounding Altea.

Still preoccupied with staring upward, Keith took a few more steps backwards when suddenly he stumbled into something solid.

The object he’d run into––which, apparently, was a person––cried out in fear, causing Keith to whirl around. He went tense, preparing to run or fight or whatever was necessary, but then realized it was––

“Hunk?”

“Keith?” Hunk exclaimed at the exact same time. He had his fists clenched to his chest, but they loosened a bit as relief washed over his features. “Oh, thank goodness! I’ve been looking all over the place but couldn’t find anyone. God, I’m so happy to see you, buddy.”

He sounded almost tearful and immediately rushed forward to throw his arms around Keith in a crushing hug.

Keith wheezed a little at the unexpected embrace, but then settled gratefully into it. It was nice to feel a solid pair of arms around him, grounding him and reminding him he was really here and wasn't alone.

He patted Hunk on the back. "Nice to see you too, man."

Hunk stepped back again, wiping at one of his eyes and smiling weakly. "I'm just glad we found each other. This place is seriously freaking me out." His smile fell, like he'd suddenly remembered where they were.

"Me, too," Keith said. "Hopefully the others aren't too far away."

"Yeah. Gosh, I hope they're okay."

A note of anxiety had crept into Hunk's voice as he surveyed the forest surrounding them. Keith followed his gaze but couldn't see any signs of life––just the crooked trees and the haze of fog.

"Don't worry, we'll find them," Keith tried to reassure Hunk. "In the meantime, we'll stick together."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right," Hunk stammered, nodding quickly. "Let's go."

Side-by-side, they continued weaving their way between the trees. Although the woods were just as unsettling as they had been before, Keith at least felt a little more at peace knowing Hunk was there next to him.

However, that didn't detract from the fact that they were lost in the depths of one of the most haunted forests in the world, with no sign of their other friends in sight.

At one point, Keith thought he heard a rustling noise behind him, but when he turned around there was nothing to be seen.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Hunk asked, looking around nervously. "I––I don't see anything. This place is giving me the serious creeps, man."

"I thought you said you were excited to go here."

"Well, I was. Kinda. I've heard all sorts of crazy stories about Hoia Baciu and it sounds really cool in theory. But being here now it feels ... I don't know, weird. Do you feel weird?"

"Weird how?"

"Like, I don't know." Hunk rubbed a hand against his forehead. "I feel a little dizzy, or tired, or ... I can't describe it. But something feels really off."

"Do you want to sit down for a minute or something?"

"No, I'm okay. Besides, we've gotta find everyone else."

"Yeah, but for all we know we're just wandering farther and farther away from them."

Hunk seemed to ponder that, scratching the back of his neck. "You're right. But what if they decided to stay in one place and are waiting for us to come find them?"

Keith sighed in frustration. "Next time, we really need to plan this out better."

The words had barely left his mouth when a voice called out from nearby: "Hello?"

They both jumped in surprise, and Hunk dashed behind Keith as if seeking protection.

"What? Who said that? Who's there?"

"Hunk? Is that you?"

It was now clear it was Lance's voice, but the sound quality of it was strange, like the forest was swallowing it and making it impossible to determine which direction it was coming from.

“Yeah, it’s me! And Keith is here, too,” Hunk called back.

Keith remained warily silent, a bit nervous that maybe this was some kind of trick the forest was playing on them. But a few moments later, Lance emerged from between the nearby trees, his face lighting up with relief when he saw them. Blue was close behind him, her ever-present glow illuminating the surrounding woods. Pidge and Allura followed the lion, both of them also smiling brightly when they saw Hunk and Keith.

“Hey, glad we found you guys,” Lance said as he drew closer to them. “Where were you?”

“Uh … wandering around?” Keith answered, and Hunk didn’t have anything to add to that.

“Yeah, I guess going through the portal separated us again. Good thing we weren’t too far from each other.”

“And now we must focus on finding the Green Lion,” said Allura. “The portal will only stay open for so long.”

“How about that handy-dandy brain map of yours, Keith?” Lance asked, and Keith frowned as everyone’s attention suddenly turned towards him.

“I’ve told you before, that’s not really how it works. I can’t just turn it on and off, it just kinda … happens.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Well … is it happening right now?”

He hadn’t really attempted it yet, so Keith figured it was at least worth a shot––although as he’d said, it wasn’t something he could control willingly. But he tried to concentrate, attempting to decipher something from the odd buzzing inside his head.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “Something about this place is throwing me off, like … like the energy of it is super weird.”

“I get that vibe, too,” said Hunk. “Not that I have the same magical brain thing Keith has, but this place just gives me a weird feeling.”

Pidge nodded in agreement. “I think we all feel that. I keep getting this strange feeling like … I don’t know, like we’re being watched or something.” Her eyes darted around nervously as she spoke, her voice dropping to just above a whisper.

“Fortunately, Blue is here to help us,” Allura pointed out. “I believe she should be able to sense the location of Green. Do you feel anything, Blue?”

The lion tilted her head, her large ears shifting. She paced a bit around the area with her tail whipping back and forth before she seemed to fixate on a certain point up ahead. She raised her head in sudden alertness and then darted forward.

“Blue? Hey, wait up!” Lance shouted after her, already running to catch up with her. The rest of the group was close behind, stumbling after the lion and her paladin.

Blue continued to weave her way effortlessly between the trees, as fluid as her element. Her paws floated slightly above the ground like she was suspended in water. Although she kept getting far ahead of the humans following her, at least it was easy to keep track of her sparkling glow, like a beacon leading them onward.

After a short while, she slowed down a little, although she remained in the lead. Whatever Blue sensed, it seemed it was closer now, judging by the way she began to prowl between the trees as if hunting something.

The paladins managed to catch up with her, all of them out of breath from running.

"What's up with your lion, man?" Hunk asked Lance. "Don't you have that like telepathic link or whatever? What's she thinking?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. But I'm still getting used to this, you know," Lance said, frowning as he watched Blue pacing between the trees. "I can tell she senses ... something. I assume it's Green. But I don't really know the specifics. I mean, it's not like it's in English."

He'd barely finished the sentence when Blue's head suddenly snapped up. Her eyes widened for a moment and then narrowed very suddenly, her ears flattening as she crouched down and growled.

"Blue? What's wrong?" Allura asked her warily.

The lion seemed too distracted to answer, fixated on something behind the paladins.

They all turned around at once. Keith tensed, reaching for the Swiss army knife he usually kept in his pocket, only to realize he'd forgotten it. Not that it would protect him against any kind of evil spirit, probably.

In any case it didn't seem to matter, because there was nothing in the woods behind them. Keith's heart thundered in his ears as he looked for any sign of what had caught Blue's attention, but all he could see were the twisted trees and the dense fog.

The paladins had all instinctively moved closer to each other, gathered into a tight cluster. Hunk's arm brushed against Keith's shoulder as he shifted slightly.

"Uh, guys? What's––"

Hunk stopped mid-sentence and gasped loudly. At the same time, Keith felt a rush of air against his back and suddenly couldn't feel Hunk's arm touching his anymore. He turned in surprise as the rest of the group did the same, and all of them cried out in alarm.

Hunk was gone.

It didn't seem to sink in at first as they all looked around their surroundings for any sign of their friend, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Lance was the first to react, making a strangled noise as he stepped into the empty spot where Hunk had been only seconds ago. "Hunk?" he called. When there was no response, he stumbled a few more steps into the woods, voice rising with panic as he cried out again. "Hunk! Where are you?"

At the same time, Blue was still snarling, pacing around the group of humans as if trying to form a protective circle.

"What––What just happened? What's going on?" Pidge asked faintly.

"I'm not certain," Allura answered. "But we mustn't panic. We have to concentrate on finding Hunk."

"Oh, no. No, no, no." Lance was still frantically searching the nearby area, murmuring to himself. "Where is he? What are we gonna do?"

The rest of the group had caught up with him. Keith's gaze darted around them, but he couldn't see anything noteworthy. His heart started to race, but he knew Allura was right––panicking wasn't the solution.

"We'll find him, Lance," he managed to say. "He couldn’t have gone very far."

Lance looked over at him with momentary surprise, his eyes a bit teary. But then he bit his lip and nodded with a determined frown.

It took them a few minutes of searching, all of them spreading out without wandering too far from each other. Their calls of Hunk's name rang hollowly in the stillness, as if swallowed by the fog.

During this ordeal, Keith had started to feel a little strange––confused and dizzy, like he'd almost forgotten what they were doing or where they were. As he'd told the others, the energy in the forest felt highly unusual, and it was growing more apparent by the minute.

Finally, Pidge gasped behind him.

"Guys," she said urgently.

When Keith turned around, he saw she was pointing at something in the near distance––a shape huddled on the ground. They all rushed toward it with exclamations of worry, which only grew more dismayed as it became clear that it was Hunk lying face down in the dirt.

Lance pushed his way to the front of the group, falling down on his knees next to Hunk's motionless form. "Oh, my God. Hunk?" He grasped at his friend's shoulder, trying to turn him onto his back. "Can you hear me? Answer me, buddy."

After a few tense moments, Hunk finally stirred and rolled over, blinking blearily up at the sky. "Whoa, what ... what just happened?"

The group released a collective sigh of relief. Lance took hold of Hunk's arm and helped him sit up.

"Man, you really had us worried for a minute. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Fine, I think," Hunk responded, although he didn't sound so sure. His headband had gone slightly askew, and he reached up to adjust it. "Did I pass out? I can't remember anything." His eyes widened on those last words, like the realization had just hit him.

Lance looked up at the others questioningly, like he was expecting someone else to answer. When no one did, he cleared his throat and tried to explain. "That's a good question. We were all just standing around and Blue started freaking out. Then you just ... disappeared."

"I ... what?"

"You were just gone, man. It was scary."

"I disappeared? Like just, 'poof' disappeared?"

"Basically, yeah."

Hunk scrambled to his feet. Lance did the same, keeping a hand on his friend's arm.

"Whoa, dude. Maybe you shouldn't––"

"I'm fine, Lance," Hunk interjected, shaking him off. He looked around at the others as if seeking some kind of confirmation of what Lance had told him. "So ... what, I just vanished and then reappeared?"

"Kinda, yeah," Pidge said with a shrug. "You were there one second and then just ... not. We've been searching around for you for like––I don't know, ten minutes? Time feels really weird here. Anyway, then we found you lying here."

Hunk's frown of confusion started to give way to wide-eyed panic. "Whoa, what? I––I can't remember any of that. This is freaking me out, you guys."

"Yeah, I think we're all a little freaked out," said Keith.

"I believe there are sinister forces at work in these woods." Allura stepped forward, speaking up. Her face had settled into a grim expression. "I don't know what, exactly, but I don't think it's the Galra. It's some sort of invisible, all-encompassing power."

"You mean like ... the forest is alive?" Pidge asked faintly.

"In a sense, yes,” Allura answered. “And it's trying to separate us."

Keith shifted on his feet a little and noticed that everyone else moved a little closer together at those words.

"So, what do we do?" Lance asked. "Is there some way we can make sure we stick together?"

"I'm not sure. But perhaps I can create a shield around all of us, and that might prevent us from getting separated."

Hunk raised an eyebrow. "You can do that?"

“It’s been many years since I attempted it, so I can’t promise it will work. But I can try.”

Everyone shuffled a little closer together as Allura pressed her palms together and closed her eyes in concentration. Silence settled over them as they all waited for something to happen. Keith was acutely aware of the expanse of forest around them, the absolute stillness, the feeling that some ancient presence was watching them from all sides. He held his breath and tried not to give in to the paranoia.

At last, there was a subtle shift in the atmosphere around them. Keith didn’t know if anyone could feel it but him, but there was a definite change in energy, like the molecules of the air were humming with something electric and powerful. The sprites that had been dangling above them hovered closer, seemingly attracted to Allura’s magic like moths drawn to a flame.

The air surrounding the paladins flickered and blurred like a hologram, and then a translucent blue dome appeared around them.

Allura gasped as her eyes flew open. She held her hands out, fingers spread wide, holding the shield intact. From where he stood, Keith could see a bead of sweat forming on her temple.

“Whoa! Nice job, Allura,” Lance said with a grin. But when he looked over at her, his smile faltered. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she answered tightly. “This just takes a tremendous amount of concentration. Now, where’s Blue? She still has to lead us the rest of the way to Green.”

The paladins all stiffened at that, turning to look through the flickering shield around them. In their search for Hunk, they had lost track of where Blue had gone. But it was only a matter of moments before she was visible through the trees, bounding through the air towards them.

“Blue! There you are,” Lance exclaimed as the lion hovered right outside their shield. “Sorry we got separated, buddy. Have you figured out where Green is?”

Blue’s glowing eyes blinked. She made a cheerful noise in response and turned around again.

“I think she wants us to follow her,” said Lance. “Come on!”

This time, Blue seemed a little more assured of which direction they should go, staying on a fixated path through the trees. She took less sharp turns than she had before, instead leading them in an almost straight line forward. The whole time, Allura maintained the shield surrounding them so that they wouldn’t get separated.

Finally, there was a break in the trees up ahead. The closer they drew to it, the more Keith had a dizzying sensation that he couldn’t quite define––just that it felt like they were drawing closer to some insane source of energy.

“I think we’re getting close,” he said.

“How can you tell?” Lance asked, a note of suspicion in his voice.

“I don’t know, I just know.”

They had no more time to argue about it. Right then, they broke through the trees and out into the open.

Immediately, they all fell silent at the sight that lay before them. An enormous, perfectly round clearing stretched out in all directions, trees standing rigidly around its perimeter like fence posts. Above them, the expanse of sky was darkened by gray clouds.

“Whoa, this must be it,” Hunk said. “That one really famous part of the forest we were telling you guys about earlier.”

“The one you said was a portal to Hell or something?” Pidge asked nervously.

“Yeah, that one.”

Just then, the shield around them flickered and faded. Allura doubled over, placing her hands on her knees as she breathed heavily. The paladins all turned towards her in concern.

“Allura, are you okay?” Keith asked her.

“I––I don’t know. I feel like something is fighting against my magic. Like there’s some invisible force trying to drive us out.”

Now that she described it that way, Keith knew what she meant. He also felt something highly unusual, an unseen source of energy that seemed to be repelling him like two magnets turned against each other. It left him feeling a little light-headed, as if his mind was trying to disconnect from his body.

Blue seemed unbothered, though, as she floated towards the center of the clearing and came to a stop. Crouching low, she let out a resounding roar––a sound so mighty that it shook in the ground.

For a moment, it remained unclear what she was roaring at. But then, all of a sudden, a bright green circle appeared in the dirt at the heart of the clearing. A jet of light shot out of it like a beacon, forming a pillar that stretched all the way up into the clouds.

Keith shielded his eyes from the glare with his arm and then slowly lowered it to stare in awe. A violent wind had picked up, blowing his hair into his face and making his jacket flap in the current.

“Whoa,” Lance breathed out, voice barely audible over the rush of wind.

“What’s––” Pidge started to say, but her words were cut off by a sudden shriek.

Keith turned in alarm, just in time to see Pidge fly backwards and land on the ground, like an invisible force had physically shoved her.

“Pidge!” he cried out. But before he could move towards her, he felt a sudden painful impact at the center of his chest, and the force of it sent him reeling back, lifting his feet off the ground for a moment and then throwing him down again so hard that the air was knocked from his lungs.

Wheezing and gripping his side, Keith sat up again. His glasses had gone a bit crooked, and he quickly righted them as he looked around for the others. He saw that everyone else had also been knocked to the ground, all of them having been dispersed in different directions like there’d been an explosion at the center of their group.

“What was that?” Hunk shouted into the howling noise as he scrambled to his feet.

Allura was already standing, a look of fury on her face as she flung out her hands. Bolts of violet light burst from her palms, striking at something in the air.

“Uh, did we know Allura could do that?” Lance asked, staring in awe.

“It’s a power I only have within the spirit world,” Allura explained breathlessly, looking around at the air above her as if she could see something the paladins couldn’t. “There are some kind of invisible spirits here, and I’m trying to ward them off.”

She barely got the sentence out before she stumbled back as if something had hit her, crying out as she threw her hands forward again and released another blast of energy. Blue leapt in front of her protectively, letting out a roar that visibly rippled in the air and made Keith’s ears sing with pain. It was the same type of attack they’d seen Blue use against the Galra before.

“Paladins, you must get to the Green Lion!” Allura shouted, her hands still glowing with magic. “I believe that green light is some sort of portal that will lead you underground. Blue and I will cover for you.”

“What? No! We can’t leave you out here by yourself,” Lance protested.

“I’ll be alright. Now, go!”

As if to illustrate her point, Allura shot out another electric bolt into the air. This time, there was a resounding screech indicating she’d hit something.

“Guys, come on!” Pidge cried, turning towards the green portal. “That portal could close any second!”

She started sprinting towards it, and Hunk followed after her. Keith was about to do the same when he noticed Lance still hadn’t budged from where he stood.

“Lance, we need to hurry!”

But Lance still hesitated, biting his lip as he looked from the portal to where Allura and Blue were fighting off their invisible attackers.

“No, you guys go,” he said at last. “I’m gonna stay out here and help.”

“What?”

“I already have a lion, so I know Green’s not gonna pick me. Plus, I have those ice powers now. I’m staying here.”

Keith wanted to protest for a lot of reasons––it was too dangerous, and Lance barely knew how to use his powers yet. But then again, what Lance had said actually made sense. And it didn’t seem fair to leave Allura out here to defend them on her own.

“Fine,” Keith relented, starting to back away. “Just … be careful, okay?”

Lance looked a little surprised by that––and truthfully, Keith was also surprised by his own words––but then Lance’s look of shock gave way to a smile.

“You too, mullet,” he said and then turned to run towards Allura.

Keith stared after him for a second before snapping out of it. By now, Hunk and Pidge had already reached the portal. Just as Keith started running towards them, he saw them both leap into the green light and disappear. He sprinted to catch up until he stood right at the edge of the glowing circle.

It was a lot larger up close than it had appeared from a distance. Standing at its outer rim, Keith had a dizzying sensation like he was staring down into infinity. The light was almost too blinding to look into, swirling with undefinable shapes.

He held back for a moment, glancing over his shoulder one more time. Lance had already thrown himself into the fray, a fierce look of determination on his face as arcs of glowing ice shot from his hands. Allura was still busy fighting using her own beams of energy. And Blue paced around them protectively, roaring every few moments and slashing at the air with her claws. It seemed that, for now, they could all defend themselves while the others sought out the Green Lion.

With a deep breath, Keith turned around again and jumped into the light.

He felt weightless for a few moments, suspended in silence. Then the glow around him vanished very suddenly and he fell into darkness with a cry of alarm. He landed on something solid, and he blinked his eyes open as he carefully got to his feet.

Around him, the surroundings appeared to be some kind of underground cavern, with large roots hanging from above and twisting across the ground. Sprites hung in the air, flitting about as if startled by his presence.

“Keith!” Pidge exclaimed, running up to him.

Hunk was a few paces behind her, and he glanced over Keith’s shoulder. “Uh, where’s Lance? Wasn’t he right behind you?”

“He stayed up there,” Keith said and tried to explain before either of his companions could protest. “Allura needed some backup, and Lance knows Green won’t choose him anyway since he already has a lion.”

“Wait, so you mean Lance is up there fighting a bunch of invisible monsters?” Hunk looked up, like he was ready to jump back through the portal.

“He’ll be fine,” Keith insisted, hoping he was right about that. “Plus, Allura and Blue are out there fighting, too. But we need all three of us down here in case Green chooses one of us.”

Pidge and Hunk both looked nervous and Keith could empathize, but right now they didn’t have time to dwell in worry. The sooner they found Green, the sooner they could get back out there and help their friends.

“Okay,” Pidge said at last with a nod. She sounded a little reluctant and looked at the portal one last time, but then her face set into grim determination. “Let’s go.”

The cavern opened up into a narrow tunnel, which the three of them could barely fit into in single file. Pidge led the way, stumbling a little on the uneven ground. Keith followed her, trying to avoid the roots and ragged stones jutting out into the path, but it was hard to see. There wasn’t much of a light source, besides the sprites that clung to the tunnel walls.

“Hey, do you see that?” Hunk said behind Keith.

When Keith looked up, he immediately saw what Hunk was pointing at. At the mouth of the tunnel, something had started to glow a vibrant shade of green. It was a bit disorienting, because it almost looked like they were walking out into the daylight––it wasn’t a neon green, but like the soft green of sunlight shining through leaves.

"Whoa," Pidge said. "That's––"

Before she could finish whatever she was going to say, she suddenly tripped and fell back against Keith, toppling them both to the ground.

"Oh, man. Are you guys okay?" Hunk asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Keith said, starting to get up again. "How about you, Pidge?"

"I'm okay," she answered, but she sounded a little dazed. She lifted herself to her feet, dusting off her knees. "Felt a little weird and dizzy for a second, though."

Keith brushed some dirt off his jacket sleeve and then looked up again ... and froze.

"Uh ... Pidge?"

"Yeah?" She stared back up at him quizzically and stiffened a bit when she saw the shocked looks on Keith and Hunk's faces. "What? Is something wrong?"

"Not exactly," Keith said. "But, look. You're glowing."

He'd thought it was just a trick of the light at first, but it was now steadily more apparent that there was a halo of green light surrounding Pidge. She gasped and looked down at her own hands in disbelief.

"Me?" was all she could manage to say at last.

"Certainly seems so," Hunk said, grinning at her. "Awesome, dude. Looks like you've got yourself a lion!"

"Well, almost. We still have to actually get to it," Keith pointed out, gesturing towards the mouth of the tunnel. He smiled at Pidge. “Lead the way, Pidge.”

Pidge still looked shell-shocked, staring at her glowing palms for a few moments before she looked back up at Keith again. But then her flabbergasted expression slowly melted into a hesitant smile.

She turned around and led the rest of the way down the tunnel, the green glow surrounding her illuminating the walls around them.

They jumped through the opening, landing in a hollow cavern. At the very center of it was what looked like the base of an enormous tree, its roots twisting into a large spherical shape. Through the narrow gaps, beams of shifting green light shone softly, and the glow grew more intense as the three paladins approached it.

“So, what do I do?” Pidge asked, her voice soft with wonder.

Keith had to break out of his own awed daze to answer. He inspected the gigantic cage of roots, looking for an opening.

“I think you’re gonna have to crawl inside of there, Pidge. Hunk and I won’t be able to fit through any of those small gaps.”

“You mean, I have to go in there by myself? What if something happens? What if there are Galra hiding in there or something? Or what if Green doesn’t bond with me for some reason? What if I––”

Keith put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her nervous rambling.

“Green has already chosen you, Pidge. That much is pretty obvious,” he said, gesturing towards the green glow radiating from her. “And don’t worry. Hunk and I will be right here if anything happens.”

“Yeah, man,” Hunk chimed in. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Keith squeezed Pidge’s shoulder and gave her one more reassuring smile. “You’ve got this.”

She still chewed on her lip nervously, but then she nodded.

“Thanks, guys. Wish me luck.”

They both did. And with that, Pidge sprinted to the base of the tree. Keith and Hunk stayed where they were, watching as she clambered up into the tangle of roots. She stood at a narrow opening, stumbling a little, and then dove into the light.

A few long moments passed, and nothing happened.

“You really think she’ll be okay in there?” Hunk asked nervously. “What if she was right about Galra hiding in there or something? ‘Cause we’d kinda be defenseless in that case.”

Keith didn’t take his eyes off the gap where Pidge had disappeared. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I guess we’ll just have to hope that doesn’t happen. And if it does, hopefully the Green Lion will be able to help us.”

They both fell into silence again. The seconds seemed to drag out for hours, and Keith felt something tight forming at the center of his chest.

Come on, Pidge, he pleaded silently.

As if in answer to his prayer, the green light seeping through the roots suddenly began to intensify, growing brighter and brighter until Keith had to squint to look at it. He held his breath in anticipation.

Then there was a violent rumbling in the ground, nearly knocking him off-balance. Hunk stumbled next to him, exclaiming in surprise.

At the same time, a loud creaking and groaning echoed through the underground chamber. The roots began to shift and move, spreading and coiling outwards like giant snakes. The contained light burst outward, creating a bright and blinding flash.

As the glare died down, Keith blinked a few times as the spots cleared from his vision. He saw the shape hovering at the center of the cavern, exposed now that its prison of roots had broken down, and he gasped.

The Green Lion was just as breathtaking to behold as the Blue Lion, although she was a little smaller. Her coat shifted with colors, like leaves fluttering in the wind, and she had a slightly mischievous gleam to her eyes.

Pidge stood underneath the floating lion, holding her head high and grinning widely.

Keith found himself laughing, mostly just out of relief.

Next to him, Hunk whooped with joy. “Nice job, Pidge!”

“Thanks!” Pidge still looked a little dazed and giddy as she stumbled back towards them.

At the same time, Green dove forward through the air. She flew right over Hunk and Keith, and they both ducked and exclaimed in surprise. When they turned around, Green was floating in front of the mouth of the tunnel, her glowing eyes wide and expectant.

“I think she can sense that Blue is in trouble,” Pidge explained. “We have to get back up there.”

Immediately, the celebratory mood flickered out.

Keith nodded grimly. “Let’s go.”

This time, Green led the group back up through the tunnel. Pidge followed close behind her, with Keith and Hunk in their wake. As they all made their way through the passage, Keith noticed that the roots in their path moved aside as Green walked past them.

They quickly made it back to the cavern where they’d first entered, where the portal was still hovering in mid-air. Green didn’t even stop to look back at the paladins before she took a running leap and jumped into the light. Pidge was right behind her, letting out a yell as she threw herself into the portal. Keith went after her, hoping that Hunk would follow right behind him.

Again, he experienced the unusual sensation of being transported from one location to another––feeling weightless one moment before he returned to reality again, falling heavily on the ground.

Disoriented, Keith shook his head as he sat up and tried to process what was happening around him. The sky above him was swirling with dark clouds, as if in preparation for a giant storm. He could hear yelling from somewhere nearby, and he looked up in a desperate search for his friends.

Although it hadn’t felt like a long time since they’d gone underground, the clearing now looked like a battlefield. Large spikes of ice––presumably ones Lance had summoned––jutted from the ground in several places. Lance himself was kneeling on the opposite side of the clearing, bent over in exhaustion, and Hunk was running towards him to help him up.

Allura and Blue were still fighting invisible spirits with matching looks of fury on their faces, Allura with her hands sparking with magic and Blue roaring angrily.

Green had started to run towards her fellow lion, but she suddenly stopped mid-way. Pidge stumbled up next to her, placing a hand on her lion’s side.

Blue froze for a moment, noticing Green from a distance. But instead of running towards Green, she only stared intensely while Green stared back. Although neither of them moved or made a sound, Keith could almost sense their unspoken conversation––some exchange of powerful knowledge that was beyond human comprehension.

Pidge seemed to sense it, too, judging by the way she suddenly went rigid. Green turned to her paladin, who looked back at her questioningly. A few tense moments passed. Then, whatever Green was trying to convey, Pidge seemed to understand. She gave a single nod and then squeezed her eyes shut.

Keith could only watch in bewilderment, frantically trying to think of some way he could help. But moments later he saw that, apparently, that wouldn’t be necessary.

The first thing he noticed was the movement of the trees around the perimeter of the clearing. One second they’d been standing still, except for a slight rustling in the wind––but now their branches began to thrash violently, their gnarled trunks twisting and growing. It was as if the forest was coming to life.

If that wasn’t astounding enough, Keith then felt something rumbling in the earth under his feet. And all of a sudden, something green and glowing shot out of the ground mere inches from where he stood.

He leapt back with a yelp of surprise, staring in shock, and realized the glowing object was some kind of translucent spirit plant. It quickly towered over him, spreading branches that grew sharp and crooked like cracks in a window pane.

Glancing around, Keith saw that more of these ghost trees were springing up all over the clearing in thick clusters. At the center of it all, Pidge and Green stood boldly as an invisible wind swirled around them, stirring in Pidge’s hair and in Green’s fur. Keith had managed to realize that they were somehow causing this to happen, but he was still barely able to comprehend it as he watched the ethereal forest of glowing trees spring to life.

He noticed then that Blue, Lance, Hunk, and Allura were all running towards where Pidge and Green stood, maneuvering around the trees in their path. Snapping out of his daze, Keith did the same, sprinting to meet them.

The whole group gathered at the center of the clearing, all of them breathing heavily and staring up in awe at the spirit branches that had begun to block out the sky, almost like green tubes of glass.

The trees had started to grow so densely around them that Keith had begun to fear more of them would erupt from the ground under their feet. Fortunately, though, a circumference of open space remained, while the ghost trees formed a protective barrier around them almost like the shield Allura had created for them earlier.

Pidge seemed almost oblivious to it all, her eyes unfocused and one of her hands still clenched in Green’s fur. Then suddenly, the wind around them faded. With a sharp gasp, Pidge broke out of her trance. Her hand dropped from Green’s side and she fell to her knees.

Her friends all exclaimed in concern as they crowded around her. Keith knelt down, catching her by the shoulders when she started to sag forward.

“Pidge! Are you okay?”

Her head had drooped towards her chest, but now she raised it again as her eyes blinked rapidly behind her glasses.

“Whoa,” she murmured and then started to grin. “Yeah, I’m okay. That was pretty awesome.”

Keith let out a relieved laugh. “Yeah, it sure was.”

They both got to their feet again. The rest of the group gathered closer, everyone smiling tiredly.

“Dude, this is so cool!” Hunk exclaimed, looking around again at the transparent trees surrounding them. “How did you do that?”

“Well, it was mostly Green,” Pidge said with a modest shrug. “It’s hard to explain, but somehow our minds kinda connected and we both just knew what to do … ? From what I understand, these are ghosts of all the trees that have lived and died in this forest, and Green can control them––and, well, I guess I can sort of control them now, too.”

“It’s because she’s the guardian of the forest.” Allura stepped forward with a soft smile, reaching out to give Green an affectionate pat on the head. The lion purred and pressed her forehead into Allura’s palm. “She protects the forest, and in return it protects her––both the living forest and the forests of the past.”

Allura wrapped her arms around Green’s neck in a tight hug, and Green closed her eyes happily. “It’s so lovely to see you again, Green.”

When Allura stepped back again, Blue hopped forward to greet her fellow lion. They butted foreheads, and then Green dashed playfully around Blue. Even though they’d been apart for a century, they seemed to jump back into their familiar relationship as if nothing had changed. Perhaps to them, a hundred years made little difference.

The humans all smiled as they watched the lions, but then Allura politely cleared her throat.

"I don't wish to break up this reunion. But we really should be heading back to the portal so we can return to the Castle. It may not stay open for much longer, and I don't want Coran to worry."

"Right," Pidge said, and the rest of the paladins nodded in agreement. "Ready to go back to the Castle, Green?"

Green stopped pouncing around Blue, lifting her head at the sound of her name. Somehow she seemed to understand, and she padded towards Pidge.

"Okay, but how are we gonna get out of this ghost forest thing?" Hunk asked.

Pidge smiled, reaching up a hand to scratch Green behind the ear. "I think Green and I can take care of that."

Seeming to come to a silent understanding, Pidge and her lion walked forward until they had reached the line of translucent trees. Pidge closed her eyes. As everyone watched in astonishment, the trunks of the trees began to bend outwards at her will, their roots snaking aside to form a clear path. But the canopy of interlocking branches remained overhead, protecting them from any harmful spirits that might try to enter.

"Wow, awesome!" Lance exclaimed. He ruffled Pidge's hair. "And congrats, by the way. Welcome to the club. The ... 'I have a magical lion companion' club."

"We might need to come up with a name that's a little less ... wordy," Pidge said, grinning. "But thanks."

They started forward down the path, with Green leading the way. Pidge followed her lion, and Keith walked next to her.

The whole group walked in silence for several minutes, just admiring the incredible sight around them. The green spirit trees towered over them on all sides, the outside light barely shining through.

At last, Keith put a hand on Pidge's shoulder, startling her into looking up.

"I'm really proud of you, Pidge," he told her, smiling.

Pidge looked surprised for a moment before her expression melted into a returning smile. "Thanks, Keith."

"Matt would be really proud of you, too."

As soon as he'd said it, Keith wondered if it had been a bad idea to bring up her brother. But, although her smile faltered a bit, Pidge nodded.

"Thanks. I know he would."

Keith squeezed her shoulder and then let go, turning back to the path that lay ahead of them. It hadn't truly set in until now that they were a little closer to finding all the lions. A little closer to saving Shiro and Matt.

But that sense of triumph was shadowed by an inkling of dread.

Because it also meant they were getting closer and closer to facing Zarkon.

Chapter Text

“Okay, no. No way. The Loch Ness monster is not real,” Lance insisted, pointing a french fry at Keith’s face. “That’s where I draw the line.”

Keith scoffed. “Oh, so you believe in aliens, you believe in ghosts, but the existence of monsters is ridiculous?”

“Uh, yeah.” Lance angrily shoved the fry in his mouth and chewed before continuing. “First of all, we both know ghosts are real because, well, duh. And aliens obviously exist because there’s no way our planet is the only one in the entire freakin’ universe that can sustain life. But all these monsters and shit are just made up. There’s just no concrete evidence.”

“But there have been multiple sightings of––”

“Nope! I am not budging on this. Hunk, back me up here.”

Across the table from them, Hunk put his hands up in surrender. “What? No, I am not getting into this. You guys are getting too intense.” He glanced over his shoulder and leaned forward to stage-whisper, “Seriously, you’re being super loud and people are giving us weird looks.”

Keith had almost forgotten they were sitting in a crowded diner, and he shrunk in his seat a little when he realized that there were, in fact, people side-eyeing them from neighboring booths.

“Ugh, I can’t believe my own best friend would betray me like this,” Lance said, although he at least lowered his voice a little. He took a long sip from his milkshake. “Anyway, you know I’m right.”

“I’m ambivalent on the subject,” Hunk said. He looked down at his phone as if to illustrate, scrolling through his texts.

Huffing, Keith leaned back and crossed his arms. “Pidge would back me up on this. In fact, maybe I’ll text her right now.”

“Fine, but don’t come crying to me when she gives some long science-y explanation as to why you’re wrong,” Lance said.

Keith rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help but smirk a little. He tugged his phone out of his jacket pocket and opened up his chain of messages with Pidge.

keith: hey pidge the loch ness monster is real right??
keith: also are you gonna come meet us at comet?

Her reply came almost instantaneously; her typing skills and ability to respond at lightning-speed really were uncanny sometimes.

pidge: yes of course she’s real! what kinda stupid question is that?!
pidge: and sorry, can’t. :( swamped w homework and planning for my school trip next week & i’m really tired…..maybe tomorrow?

“Ha!” Keith exclaimed, holding his phone towards Lance so he could see Pidge’s texts. “About that first part, I mean. Not about her being swamped with homework. It’s too bad she’s so busy.”

He drew his phone back and frowned at the messages one more time. Truthfully, he’d been a little worried about Pidge. Their mission to find Green really seemed to have taken a toll on her, and on top of that she had a ton of schoolwork. Plus, of course, her brother was still missing.

In the past couple of weeks since they’d found Green, the gang had tried to stay in touch with each other and had met a few times at the Comet Diner. At first, Keith had suspected they kept meeting there because Lance wanted to see Nyma again. But, surprisingly, she and Lance seemed to have developed more of a friendly camaraderie than anything flirtatious since their first meeting.. Not that Keith was reading into their interactions or anything.

It was often their entire group there, including Coran and Allura, crammed into one small booth. But the past few days, Pidge had kept claiming she was too busy to hang out. And from what Keith had heard from Coran while working at the Absurdatory, Allura was preoccupied with locating the next lion.

Today it was just Keith, Lance, and Hunk sitting at a booth next to the window. Supposedly Hunk’s girlfriend was going to join them as well, but she hadn’t shown up yet.

Lance was now muttering bitterly about Pidge always taking Keith’s side, which Keith only half-listened to. He took a bite of his grilled cheese and chewed slowly as he looked at the street outside. The daylight was just starting to fade, and cars rumbled down the road.

“I bet Shay will agree with me when she gets here,” Lance said.

As if on cue, a tinkling bell sounded behind them as the door to the diner swung open. Hunk visibly perked up at the sight of whoever was walking through.

“Shay! Hey, we’re over here!” he called, waving.

Keith turned to see a girl approaching the table. She was very tall––probably around Hunk’s height, if not taller––and had short, dark hair. A pair of large silver hoops hung from her ears. As she walked towards them, a timid smile made its way to her face.

“Hello,” she said as she slid into the booth next to Hunk. Despite her intimidating height, she had a surprisingly soft voice.

She noticed Keith sitting across from her then, and her smile brightened even more. “Oh, I don’t think we’ve met before! I’m Shay.”

“Hey. I’m Keith,” he introduced himself.

“It’s nice to meet you, Keith.” Her gaze flitted between him and Lance sitting side-by-side and there was a flicker of curiosity in her brown eyes. “Are you Lance’s––”

“Friend,” Hunk blurted, cutting off the end of her question.

He chuckled, sounding a little nervous. Out of the corner of his eye, Keith could see that Lance was suddenly very preoccupied with slurping down the rest of his milkshake. Jeez, why were they both acting so weird all of a sudden?

“Yeah. Keith is, uh … He’s our friend,” Hunk reiterated. “I think I told you about him before, right?”

Shay’s eyes widened with sudden realization. “Oh, yes! I’m sorry, I forgot. You’re the one who’s been helping them out with their project.”

“Pro … ject?” Keith repeated slowly. He then realized Hunk and Lance were both staring at him with panicked looks on their faces, and he caught on. “I mean, right. Yeah. The project.”

“That’s great!” Shay exclaimed, sounding genuinely enthused. “I hope it’s going well?”

Lance cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah. We’re making a lot of progress.”

“Yep. It’s going fantastic,” Hunk cut in, the words rushed like he wanted nothing more than to change the subject. “Hey, I got you some curly fries by the way, ‘cause I know they’re your favorite.”

Shay gasped in delight. “Thank you. You’re the sweetest, Hunk.” She leaned over to kiss him on the cheek before reaching for the plate of fries.

The rest of their conversation continued pleasantly after that, although Keith detected a sense of tension underneath it. From what he’d gathered, Shay knew nothing about the whole Voltron thing, which he wasn’t necessarily surprised about. He wished Hunk and Lance had clued him in about it beforehand, though.

Nevertheless, Shay was nice to talk to. She told Keith a bit about herself––she was a year older than the rest of them and was studying geology at a nearby college.

She asked a few questions about Keith in return, and he tried not to look too uncomfortable when she inquired about school. He still hadn’t told anyone he’d dropped out, so he managed a few vague answers about attending the Garrison and wanting to be a pilot and prayed it sounded convincing.

Shay and Hunk sat very close together the whole time. Once in a while, Shay would lean her head against Hunk’s shoulder or he would wrap an arm around her. They seemed so in sync with each other, completing each other’s sentences and exchanging soft smiles at random intervals.

Even though this was the first time he’d seen them interact, Keith could tell how perfect they were for each other. There was just something so comfortable and familiar between them. He was kind of fascinated by it, unable to imagine himself ever being in a relationship like that, finding that kind of stability.

"Well," Lance said at last, after they'd all been talking for a while and all their plates were clear, "I should probably get going." There was something pointed about his tone, and he elbowed Keith under the table.

Startled, Keith sat up straight. "Uh ... me too." He wasn't sure why Lance was so fixated on both of them leaving all of a sudden, but he decided to go along with it.

"Aw, okay," said Hunk. "We were probably gonna chill here for a bit longer, but we can––"

He shifted as if he meant to stand up, but Lance held up a hand to stop him.

"No, no. You two enjoy some quality time together. I just have to get home and do some homework." He stood up, pulling a few dollars out of his pocket and placing them down on the table. "Here's my money for whenever the check comes, okay?"

Keith scooted out of the booth after him, reaching for his own wallet. As soon as he stood up, though, he unexpectedly found Lance's hand on his arm.

"Hey, don't worry about it, man. It's on me."

It took a second for the words to sink in, and then Keith stared at Lance in confusion. He didn't understand why Lance would offer to pay for him. Some wounded part of his pride worried that Lance saw him as some kind of charity case, but when Lance smiled warmly at him he lost the train of thought before he could protest. Silently, he put his wallet back in his jacket pocket.

"Oh ... thanks," he said.

"No problem." Lance turned towards Hunk and Shay. "See you guys around?"

"Yeah. See you, Lance," Hunk answered with a wave.

Shay beamed up at them. "Yes, I hope we see each other again soon. And it was nice meeting you, Keith!"

He smiled back at her. "You, too."

They said their goodbyes, and then Lance shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded towards the back door to indicate Keith should follow him. Keith complied, although he still wasn't entirely sure what was going on. He trailed after Lance as they both squeezed their way through the narrow spaces between tables.

Nyma was wiping down a table near the back and waved to them as they left.

"Hey, see you guys!"

"See you, Nyma," Lance called back to her and winked. "Don't worry, we'll be back soon. Try not to miss us too much."

She rolled her eyes but still smiled. "I'll try my hardest."

The little bell above the door rang as Lance pushed it open, and they both made their way outside. Darkness was just starting to fall, and several street lamps shed their pale fluorescent light over the small parking lot. There weren't many cars parked out back, besides Lance's teal minivan, Keith’s motorcycle, and a few other scattered vehicles.

“Sorry if it seemed like I was rushing you out of there or something,” Lance said. “I just figured Hunk and Shay would want some time alone, you know?”

Keith shrugged. “Yeah, it’s fine. I was done eating, anyway.”

A moment of silence passed as they started to walk across the parking lot.

"The days sure are getting a lot shorter, huh?" Lance commented, looking up at the sky. The first stars were just beginning to appear overhead.

Although he knew it was just a comment about the changing of the seasons, Keith felt a twinge of dread at the statement. With each passing day, he became more and more aware that they were running out of time, that Shiro and Matt were still in captivity, that soon they would have to face Zarkon, and––

"Keith?" Lance said.

He hadn't realized he'd been spacing out, and Keith's face burned as he suddenly looked up to find Lance staring at him in concern. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay? You looked kinda freaked out there for a second."

"Oh. No, yeah. I'm okay," Keith stammered, scratching the back of his head. "I was just ... thinking, I guess. Worrying about stuff." He hadn't really meant to admit that second part, but it was too late now.

They had been ambling in the direction of Lance's car––and come to think of it, Keith wasn’t sure why he was walking Lance all the way there when his motorcycle was on the opposite side of the parking lot––but now Lance stopped and turned to face Keith. "Worrying? About what?"

Keith huffed out a laugh that turned to mist in the chilly evening air. "Well, you know. Everything. We still have three more lions to find, and we barely survived finding the first two. Then we have Shiro and Matt to save, and who even knows what's happening to them right now––"

He'd been about to break down rambling, but he stopped short when he felt Lance's hand rest on his shoulder.

"Keith," Lance said. "Listen. You can't think like that, okay? Yeah, maybe it was super dangerous finding the first two lions. And heck, finding the next three will probably be dangerous, too. But if we survived the first couple times, we can do it again. And we'll find Shiro and Matt. It's all gonna work out, I promise."

Normally, Keith would have protested. But right now, what with the warm weight of Lance's hand on his shoulder and the reassuring tone of his voice, he felt more comforted than he might have expected. Plus, it was hard to think when Lance was staring him right in the eyes.

Suddenly looking down towards the pavement, Keith cleared his throat. "Thanks."

Lance gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze and then pulled his hand away again. “No problem, dude. That’s what teammates are for, right? We’ve gotta lift each other up.”

“Right,” Keith said when he managed to find his voice. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Anytime, man.”

They were still standing in the middle of the parking lot with the sound of rushing traffic in the distance. Keith had intended to just say goodbye and head towards his motorcycle, but Lance looked hesitant, like there was something else he wanted to say. He rocked back and forth on his heels, his hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets.

“Hey, uh. Keith?”

There was a sudden uncertainty in his voice that made Keith’s heart rate increase a little. “Yeah?”

“I was wondering …” Lance trailed off, looking away for a moment and biting his lip before he spoke again. “I mean, I just thought I’d ask you, um …” He stopped abruptly, letting a lengthy silence hover in the air.

At this point, the suspense was killing Keith. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but he felt like he was about to fall over.

Lance let out a short sigh.

“It’s not a big deal or anything. Just, there’s gonna be a meteor shower tomorrow night, and the astronomy club is hosting a little viewing party. Well, not really a ‘party’, we were just gonna hang out on the tennis court behind the school and watch for a while. You know, real casual.

“So, I was wondering if you want to go? You and the rest of the gang, that is. I’m gonna invite everyone. But, uh … yeah.”

He’d let out the entire explanation in a rush, hardly stopping to breathe. Keith waited to see if he would continue, but now Lance was just staring at him expectantly.

“Oh,” Keith said, his pulse slowing down a little. With all the nervous buildup, he’d almost thought Lance was about to––No. That was stupid. “Okay.”

Lance stood up straighter, his eyes brightening. “Yeah?”

“Sure. It sounds pretty cool.”

“I mean, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I understand if you’re too busy or if it sounds super boring, but––”

“Lance,” Keith cut him off. He offered the other boy a genuine smile. “Really, it sounds great. I’ll be there.”

It took a second for Lance to respond. He kept staring at Keith like he’d just spoken in a foreign language, and then all of a sudden he seemed to snap out of it.

“O-Okay, cool,” he stammered and returned the smile. “Awesome. I’ll text you the details?”

“Sounds good.”

“Great. See you tomorrow, then.”

“See you, Lance.”

They parted ways then, and Keith started to walk towards his motorcycle.

He didn’t realize until he was halfway home that he was still smiling.

––

Unfortunately, his good mood didn’t last long.

Even though Lance’s words of comfort had assuaged his doubt a little bit, Keith still couldn’t help but dwell in worry. Once he’d reached his apartment, he tried to distract himself by watching TV or looking a few things up on his laptop, but nothing was able to hold his interest.

He kept feeling like some unknown presence was lurking behind him. Every once in a while, he would turn around just to be sure––but every time, there was nothing there except for his empty apartment, illuminated by the flickering light of the television screen.

The feeling of paranoia followed him to bed, where he'd hoped to escape into sleep. Instead, he was gripped with insomnia and spent most of the night tossing and turning.

He had to wake up early the next morning to work at the Absurdatory, and he must have looked terrible because even Coran commented on how exhausted he looked.

"Are you feeling alright, my boy? You look as if you haven't slept in a week!"

Keith was busy dusting off one of the display cases in the back of the room, but had paused mid-cleaning to rub at his aching eyes.

"Hmm? Oh ... yeah," he said, snapping out of his daze. He stood up straighter, trying to appear more alert. "Didn't sleep well, that's all."

Coran had been standing behind the desk, poring over a pile of scattered paperwork. Now he casually walked around the counter, hands linked behind his back. Keith had hastily gone back to cleaning, but he could still sense Coran watching him with concern.

"You didn't have another dream, did you?" Coran asked at last.

Keith looked up in surprise, and then shook his head. "No. I haven't had any dreams since before we found the Blue Lion." He leaned a hand against the display case, biting his bottom lip. "I just hope that doesn't mean anything bad," he added quietly.

He heard Coran draw in a deep breath.

"Oh, dear. I apologize. I didn't mean to imply ..." Coran trailed off and cleared his throat. "I didn't mean to worry you. I was merely curious."

“I know,” Keith said. All he wanted to do right now was change the subject. “How about Allura? Has she made any progress finding the other lions?”

“That is a good question. From what I understand ... yes, she believes she is closer to finding another one.” Coran twirled his moustache pensively. He paused for several moments, drawing out the silence like he was holding something back.

“However, she has mentioned some difficulty that she can’t quite pinpoint. She keeps telling me she can sense a dark energy gathering in the spirit realms. Blue and Green have warned her that danger is afoot.”

Keith clenched his hand around the rag he'd been using to wipe off the glass cases. The phrase "dark energy" repeated itself in his head, and he wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that combination of words. After all, the last time Allura had sensed dark forces, they had been attacked by the Galra when they'd found Blue.

The alarm must have shown on his face, because Coran suddenly looked very worried again. He stood up straight and took a few cautious strides forward.

"Oh––Oh, I'm sorry. I've made it worse, haven't I?" he said as he paused a few feet away from Keith. "I didn't intend to frighten you, only to tell you what I have heard from Allura."

Keith looked down, starting to wipe at the glass again––although this time, his hands were shaking a little. "Yeah, I understand," he managed to say. It didn't sound convincing.

Coran continued to stand there, wringing his hands. He shifted on his feet and cleared his throat.

"You and the other paladins have already faced great danger," he said at last. "And every time, you have emerged victorious. Plus, with the help of Allura and the lions, you have an even greater chance of defeating Zarkon and rescuing Matthew and Takashi. I have every confidence that you will succeed."

It was obvious that he was only trying to be comforting after he'd revealed how dire the situation was, but Keith at least appreciated the sentiment.

He forced himself to look up again and smile. "Thanks, Coran."

As skeptical as he was, he tried to take those words to heart.

––

Keith had been so caught up in his increasing worries that he'd almost forgotten his promise to go to that astronomy club thing Lance had invited him to. He considered bailing, but he figured it might at least provide a well-needed distraction.

By the time he got home from work, he had a few more hours before he needed to leave. Which meant he had just enough time to throw something together to eat for dinner, shower, and read the texts Lance had sent him about a hundred times to make sure he had the time and address right.

He agonized a bit over what time to leave, afraid of showing up too early, which might be awkward, or too late, which would be rude. But when he thought he had figured out a time he could reasonably make it there by 9 o'clock on the dot, he shrugged on his jacket and headed out the door.

The school wasn't too far from his apartment, maybe around twenty minutes. The wide brick building sat at the top of a hill with a winding path leading up to it. Keith almost worried he was in the wrong place, but then he saw Lance's familiar teal minivan in the parking lot and he parked his motorcycle next to it.

As he jumped off his bike and took his helmet off, he saw that Lance was walking around the car to greet him, one hand resting in his jacket pocket and his phone dangling from his other hand.

"Hey, man. You made it!"

"Yeah, of course." Keith leaned a little to one side to look behind Lance, but he didn't see anyone there. "Did Hunk come with you? Or Pidge?"

Lance looked confused for a second and then shook his head. "No, sorry. Turns out Hunk can't make it 'cause he has other plans with Shay. Not sure about Pidge, but she mentioned being really busy with homework again. Maybe some other kids from the astronomy club will show up, though."

They waited in the parking lot for a few more minutes. Keith felt a bit weird at first, worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up a conversation with Lance. They hadn’t spent much time talking one-on-one before.

But Keith found that, surprisingly, it was pretty easy to talk to Lance, even if it was just small talk about how their days had been. Even the short silences between them didn’t feel as awkward as Keith might have expected.

After about ten minutes or so, Lance took one last look at his phone screen and let out a dejected sigh.

“Man, I get the feeling no one’s coming. I mean, I get it. It’s a pretty small group of people, and probably everyone has homework and stuff. Kind of a bummer, though.”

The little disappointed frown on Lance’s face did something unpleasant to Keith’s heart. He cleared his throat.

“Well … I’m here.”

Lance looked up from his phone, blinking in surprise.

Heat rose to Keith’s face. “I––I mean. I understand if you just wanna go home. But …”

“What? No way! I already made you come all the way out here. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to see the stars this well from my house, and there’s no way I’m missing this meteor shower, ‘cause it’s supposed to be amazing.”

“Oh … okay,” Keith said.

It occurred to him then that he was about to go stargazing with Lance. Just him and Lance. Nothing weird about that at all. Why would it be weird?

“Unless you don’t want to stay,” Lance added quickly, seeming to sense Keith’s hesitation. “I’m not trying to––”

“No, no,” Keith cut him off. “I mean, yeah. I want to stay.”

Lance was silent for a second, like he thought Keith would immediately take it back. But when he didn’t, Lance grinned crookedly.

“Okay, cool. We can start heading to the tennis court, then. I guess if anyone else shows up, they can meet us there.” He gestured with his head towards the nearby path. “C’mon, this way.”

The path led to a set of concrete steps that descended down to the tennis court, a small distance away from the rest of the school. Lance used the flashlight on his phone to guide their way, casting a pale glow over the stairs.

When they reached the gate, Lance unhooked it and gestured for Keith to go in first. “After you.” Maybe it was the dim lighting, but Keith could’ve sworn he winked as he said it.

“Uh … thanks.”

Keith walked onto the tennis court, raising his head to look up in wonder. There really was an amazing view of the stars from here. He usually couldn’t see them so well from his apartment, where the city lights drowned out the sky. But out here, where there were no street lamps nearby, hundreds of clusters of stars were visible against the darkness.

“Pretty cool, huh?”

Until then, Keith hadn’t realized he’d been spacing out. He jumped a little upon hearing Lance’s voice behind him, and turned to see the other boy standing a few feet away. Even though the moon was waning, its bright light was enough to just barely outline Lance’s features––his head tilted upwards to look at the stars, a faint smile on his face.

Quickly looking away, Keith cleared his throat. “Yeah, it is.” There was a brief silence in which he floundered for something to say. “So … when is this meteor shower supposed to happen?”

“Any minute now, really,” Lance answered, looking at the time on his phone again. “Want to sit down?”

Keith shrugged. “Sure.”

They both lowered themselves to the ground, sitting down on the pavement. Keith drew his knees up to his chest and clutched the collar of his jacket a little closer to his face. It was a fairly pleasant night for late autumn, but still chilly enough that the tip of his nose felt cold.

“If I’m looking at this right, the meteors should radiate from right around … there,” Lance said, referring to some kind of star map on his phone.

He leaned over to point at one area of the sky, his shoulder brushing against Keith’s when he moved. Keith tensed. It had suddenly occurred to him just how close Lance was sitting to him, and he thought about moving away, but something about Lance’s close proximity was … nice. Comforting, almost.

“I’ve never seen a meteor shower before,” he admitted. “What is it even supposed to look like?”

Lance gasped. “Oh man, you haven’t? You’re gonna love it, Keith. It’s like these little streaks of light across the sky. It’s what a lot of people call ‘shooting stars,’ you know? But they’re not really stars, they’re meteors.”

“Oh, cool.”

A smile rose to Keith’s face. He couldn’t help it. Lance’s voice was bright with sudden enthusiasm, and it was contagious.

“Well, we might be here for a little while.” Yawning, Lance leaned back and lay down on the tennis court with his hands propped behind his head.

Keith raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m lying down to get a better view. You should try it.”

After hesitating for a moment, Keith decided he had nothing to lose. It felt a little weird, but he eased himself down to the ground so his back was pressed to the cold pavement.

And … wow, Lance had been right. It really was a better view. Without the perimeter of the fence or the outlines of the trees blocking the way, there was nothing but an uninterrupted expanse of sky. The stars entirely filled Keith’s vision and he couldn’t stop staring, seeking out familiar constellations.

He didn’t know how long they lay there, with no sound but the wind rustling through the nearby forest and stirring the leaves on the ground.

“I always think about how most of the stars we see from here are already gone,” Lance said quietly. Keith turned his head to look at him, at the faint outline of his profile in the dimness. “Like, so many of the stars up there already exploded thousands of years ago, but their light is still traveling across space until it reaches our sky. It’s sad, but it’s also kinda cool.”

Keith kept staring at him, at the wonder and excitement in his eyes as he spoke, and something unexpected and warm flared up in his chest.

“You really care about this stuff, huh?” he said.

Lance stiffened and looked briefly over at him before looking away again. “Yeah. Sorry. If I’m being annoying, I’ll stop.”

There was a sudden shattered look on his face that made Keith feel like he’d been plunged into cold water.

“What? That’s not what I meant at all, Lance.” The words came out a bit more intensely than he had thought they would, and his face burned when Lance looked at him in surprise, but he couldn’t seem to stop talking. “I think it’s really cool that you care about stars and space and all that. And it’s interesting to hear you talk about it.”

It took a second before Lance seemed to recover, and then he shifted his arms underneath his head.

“Oh. Thanks.” He huffed out a quiet laugh. “People tell me I talk too much sometimes.”

He said it so nonchalantly, but Keith could hear a slight hint of pain beneath the words. A barely-masked insecurity, the worry that he was irritating and that others didn’t want to listen to him.

Keith suddenly felt like an asshole for having never seen it before. Sure, Lance had grated on his nerves from time to time, but he found himself infuriated by the idea that others would dismiss Lance so easily. Maybe Keith had only known him for about a month now, but he knew Lance was so much more than just some loudmouth. He was incredibly smart, brave, and fiercely protective of his friends. Anyone who couldn’t see that was an idiot.

“Well, fuck those people,” Keith blurted, and this time he didn’t even feel self-conscious about saying it. “Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for talking about the things you care about. Anyone who calls you annoying for talking about your interests isn’t worth your time.”

He’d let the words out in such an angry rush that he felt breathless when he finished. He hadn’t noticed until then that Lance was staring at him with wide eyes, like he was seeing Keith as an entirely new person.

“Thanks, man,” Lance said at last. His voice came out hoarse, and he cleared his throat. “I really appreciate that.”

Suddenly embarrassed, Keith turned his face up towards the stars again. “Yeah, uh. No problem.”

Another silence descended on them, more fraught with tension than the last one. For some reason, Keith’s heart wouldn’t stop pounding. He tilted his head back against the concrete.

“Hey, Lance? Can I ask you something?”

He thought he heard Lance inhale sharply next to him before he responded. “Yeah, shoot.”

“I guess I was just wondering …” Keith hesitated, fiddling with the zipper on his jacket. “How’d you get into all the ghost stuff? Especially ‘cause you’re really into science. I don’t know, I feel like most people believe in one or the other.”

Lance didn’t answer at first, and Keith worried that he’d asked a stupid question or that he’d inadvertently said something offensive. But then he heard Lance release a long breath.

“That’s kind of a big question.”

“So? I’m listening.” As soon as he said it, Keith wondered if it had sounded too demanding. “I mean, not that you have to answer,” he added quickly. “I was just––”

“It’s okay,” Lance cut him off with a quiet chuckle. “I was just taking a second to think about it.”

He paused again. In the meantime, Keith shifted so he could turn his head towards Lance. He probably should have been watching the sky, but instead found his gaze fixed on Lance’s face––the ethereal blue that dusted his features, the way his eyes searched the stars.

“I know it might sound corny. But I guess, in a way, I always knew,” Lance said at last. “Even before all this Voltron stuff, even before Hunk and I started ghost-hunting … It’s kind of like what we talked about a while ago. That feeling like there was some kind of special energy following me around, like there was something more.”

Keith had almost forgotten their conversation at the thrift store––it felt like forever ago, now––when they’d talked about how they’d both always felt that way, like there was some unseen entity haunting them. He nodded at the recollection, although Lance probably didn’t notice the gesture.

“I had a few experiences as a kid, too, that made me believe in ghosts,” Lance continued.

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Well, some of it was small things. Like, seeing things out of the corner of my eye and then there was nothing there. Sometimes I thought I heard voices, too.

“But there were things that were even harder to explain. Like … okay. For example, I had an uncle who died when I was about seven years old. My mom’s brother.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks. I mean, I didn’t know him very well, but still,” Lance said, and then took a moment before he continued.

“I went to his funeral with my family. And on the drive home, I had this sudden urge to draw something. My siblings and I had some paper and crayons in the back of the car, so I start drawing.

“It ended up being this picture of a big hawk flying with its wings outstretched right in front of the sun. Which was like, not the kinda thing I usually drew. Most of my drawings at the time were robots smashing up cities or something. Anyway, I pass the drawing up to my mom.

“And she just stares at it and stares at it, and she seems kinda freaked out for some reason but I don’t understand why. But later, she told me the drawing I’d done looked almost exactly like something my uncle had drawn for her when they were kids.”

“Whoa,” Keith breathed. He’d been so caught up in the story, in listening to the enthusiastic rise and fall of Lance’s voice, that the one syllable had seemed to slip out of its own accord. “So, then what happened?”

“Nothing, really. That’s pretty much the whole story. My mom found my uncle’s drawing years later when she was helping to clean out my grandparents’ basement––and the two drawings were eerily similar.

“Could’ve just been a coincidence, of course. But I always liked to believe it was something more than that. Like my uncle was trying to send my mom a message or something. I know that sounds ridiculous, but …”

“Lance, we’ve both gone into another dimension multiple times and you’re bonded to a giant ghost cat. Your uncle trying to contact your mom from the afterlife seems pretty plausible to me.”

Lance laughed. “Well, I guess when you put it into perspective that way … yeah, maybe it’s not so crazy.” His grin faded. “I just find all this stuff so hard to comprehend. Even after everything we’ve been through, it still feels like a dream sometimes. Like I’m gonna wake up one day and none of it will have ever happened––meeting you and Pidge, Allura and Coran. Bonding my soul to a ghost lion for eternity.”

“Yeah,” Keith said. “I know what you mean.”

He turned his attention back to the sky, to the hundreds of stars burning light years away.

“But you know, I always thought science and the paranormal could coexist,” Lance went on. “It’s like what you were asking earlier. A lot of people seem to think you have to believe in one or the other, but I’ve always believed in both.

“Like, yeah, science can explain a lot, but it can’t explain everything. Heck, most of the universe is made up of dark matter––all this energy that we know must be there, but there’s no way to measure it or know what it’s made out of. I feel like, knowing that, pretty much anything seems possible.”

He stopped abruptly. “Sorry. I’m rambling again.”

“What? No, it’s okay,” Keith said. “I think that’s really interesting. And I mean, I asked in the first place.”

“True, but that doesn’t mean you expected an essay. Anyway, I didn’t mean to take up the whole conversation. I should probably ask you some stuff, huh?”

He said it casually, but there was a hint of genuine, burning curiosity underneath it.

The thought of being interrogated made Keith squirm a little. Yet he found himself saying, “Okay. Like what?”

“Like … why are you into monsters and cryptids and shit?”

Keith huffed out a laugh. “Really? That’s your question?”

“Hey, you asked me why I believe in ghosts! It’s only fair.”

“Fine, I guess you’re right.”

The question wasn’t very personal on the surface. And yet, the more Keith considered his answer, the more he felt a painful knot in his chest.

“I don’t know,” he said at last. “I always fixated on that kinda stuff as a kid. Mythology. Stories about mysterious creatures hidden all over the world. I’m not sure what it was, but I think it was partly what you were describing before … how I always felt like there was some dark energy following me around, like there was something else out there.

“And maybe this will sound stupid, but I think I kind of … related to them, in a way. Mythical creatures, monsters, cryptids and all that. Or admired them, I guess. The idea of living alone in the woods somewhere was pretty appealing to me at the time.”

“What, so you wanted to be like a hermit living in a shack in the middle of nowhere or something?”

“Kind of, yeah. But it wasn’t just that.” Keith drew in a deep breath and let it out. “I know it’s clichéd or whatever, but I always felt different, you know? I was always changing homes, changing schools, never really making any friends. And so, when I was little, I liked to believe I was an alien or something ‘cause I didn’t know where I came from. And that was easier to accept than the fact that my parents had abandoned me.”

He came to a stop, overcome with humiliation when he realized what he’d just said. He’d never really told anyone that. Now the ground underneath him suddenly felt very cold, and the silence was heavy as his words settled in.

At last, he dared to turn his head just enough to look at Lance, who was being unsettlingly quiet. He was surprised to find that Lance was no longer lying on his back, but had turned over onto his side, propping his head up on one hand and staring at Keith with an attentive frown.

“I know, it’s stupid,” Keith said quickly.

“Hey, no it’s not.” Lance shifted closer to him, which made Keith’s heart rate kick up a few notches. “I mean, if anyone I know is secretly an alien, it’s you.”

Somehow, that actually made Keith laugh a little. Just a few weeks earlier it might have offended him, but by now there was something different about the way Lance poked fun at him. Something amiable and oddly comforting.

At first, Keith had thought that Lance didn’t take anything seriously. But he’d come to realize that it was quite the opposite. Lance did take everything seriously. He took everything to heart. And because of that, he always knew when to lighten the mood, to try and put a smile on his friends’ faces despite the odds. Keith really admired him for that.

Lance laughed too, softly, before he sobered again. “But also, I’m really sorry that happened to you, man. That’s so terrible.”

The warm feeling in Keith’s chest sputtered out and his smile faded. “It’s okay. Eventually, I just got used to it. Moving around all the time and stuff. Knowing my parents didn’t want me.”

He almost winced after he said it because it sounded so self-pitying. But Lance only continued to look at him with no sign of judgement on his face, only genuine sympathy.

“Well, that doesn’t mean it’s not painful,” he said at last. “You don’t have to say it’s okay if it isn’t.”

Those words hit Keith like a sledgehammer, and he stared at Lance in surprise.

“I––I mean, I don’t want to sound like I’m forcing you to talk about it,” Lance backpedaled. He scratched his ear nervously. “I just meant, like, if you do want to talk about it, it’s okay.”

Keith was silent. He could’ve just told Lance he appreciated it and left it at that, but some unexpected urge was gnawing its way through him. Very few people had ever wanted to hear his life story. Either that, or Keith had been too scared or self-conscious to say anything about it.

“No, you’re right,” he said at last, quietly. “I guess not talking about it doesn’t change it. And yeah, it still really hurts.”

Now that he’d admitted it, he felt a fissure opening inside him, and he couldn’t seem to stop the words from tumbling out.

“It’s just frustrating, because I’ve tried so hard to overcome all that. And a year ago, I thought I finally had everything figured out. I got into the Garrison, I met Shiro. I was going to be a pilot. I had the closest thing to a brother I’ve ever had, someone who actually cared about me and believed in me.

“Then Shiro went missing, and I just … I lost everything. Lost him. Dropped out of school. Things were finally coming together, and now––now I don’t have anything and I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Keith hadn’t meant to let so much panic slip into his voice, to admit so much in a single breath. Now he felt like his lungs were filling with ice water, and a painful lump had formed in his throat. He didn’t dare look at Lance, only glared up at the stars as they grew blurry in front of his eyes.

Then he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and he froze. Lance was looking down at him with wide, concerned eyes.

“Whoa, whoa. Wait. You dropped out of school? I didn’t know that. Did I know that?”

Oh. … Shit.

Very suddenly, Keith sat up. His heart hammered behind his sternum, and he wanted to do nothing more than just leap to his feet and take off. But something kept him there, glaring fiercely ahead of him, past the chain-link fence and into the dark void of the forest beyond.

He drew his knees up to his chest and crossed his arms over them, burying his face. “Shit,” he groaned. “Shit, shit.”

“Hey. Are you okay?”

Lance’s hand was on his shoulder again, and part of Keith wanted to pull away while another part of him wanted nothing more than to lean into Lance’s touch and just remain there––which was unexpected. He hadn’t realized just how much he’d been longing for some kind of physical comfort, especially from Lance of all people.

He raised his head again, taking a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just … I said that without thinking. I haven’t told anyone.”

It seemed to take Lance a second to process this information. “Really? Not anyone?” He shook his head quickly like he was trying to wake himself up. “Wait, when did this even happen?”

“Um …” Keith winced, fiddling with the cuff of his jacket sleeve. “I haven’t gone to school since Shiro disappeared.”

Lance’s eyes widened. “What? Are you telling me they expelled you because you were depressed about your best friend disappearing? That’s so fucked up, dude. Why would they––”

“I mean, I didn’t really get expelled,” Keith cut him off. “Or … well, not as far as I know. I’ve kinda been avoiding all the calls from the Garrison, because I figured they would be bad news.”

“Oh. So you don’t even know if you were expelled or not? Keith …” Lance let out a short sigh. “You probably don’t want to hear this, but maybe you should actually try talking to them. You don’t know that they kicked you out. They knew about Shiro’s disappearance … Maybe they were trying to contact you because they were worried about you, not because they wanted to expel you.”

“Worried about me? I doubt it.” Keith scoffed. “You don’t know what the Garrison is like. They’re pretty harsh when it comes to attendance and rules and all that.” Besides, no one ever worries about me.

“Okay, but they might make an exception in this case. I mean, your best friend went missing.”

He had a point. Until now, Keith had dismissed the possibility that the Garrison would still let him back in. But maybe Lance was right. Maybe, just maybe, there was a small possibility he still had a chance.

“I don’t know. It’s probably too late at this point. I waited too long.”

“Hey, you don’t know if you don’t try.” Lance kept staring at him, eyes searching Keith’s face. “You still want to be a pilot, don’t you?”

The simple question stole the air from Keith’s lungs. He had tried not to think about it, but now he couldn’t help but realize how much he missed flying––the drop in his stomach when the plane took off, the world growing small and distant outside the windshield, then nothing around him but the air, nothing but the sky.

“Yes,” he said, and it came out more hoarsely than he had expected.

“Then you will be,” Lance said. “You shouldn’t give up on your dream, man. I know it sounds corny, but seriously. I know you fought really hard to get where you are. You can’t stop now.”

Keith had a wrenching feeling in his gut, because suddenly Lance was saying all the things he’d needed to hear, but that no one had said to him in these past long weeks. He’d convinced himself that there was no hope, that he’d thrown away his one shot at getting what he’d always dreamed of. But maybe that wasn’t the case.

“I know there’s a lot going on right now, what with Shiro and Matt still being missing, and finding the lions and everything,” Lance continued. “And I’m not saying you have to try to pursue the whole piloting thing if it’s too much for you right now. But, you know, after this is all over and we get Shiro and Matt back, I really think you should take it up again. I can tell it means a lot to you.”

Honestly, Keith was surprised that Lance had even picked up on that. But then again, as he’d come to realize recently, Lance was very perceptive.

“Thanks,” he managed to say at last. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Um, of course I’m right. I always am,” Lance said with a smirk.

That eased the tension for a moment, making them both laugh.

“And you were wrong, you know,” Lance went on, more quietly. “When you said that you don’t have anything. You have all of us. Me, Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Coran. We’re all here for you. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” Keith said, but the words sounded empty.

Apparently it wasn’t fooling Lance, because he leaned forward a little to look Keith in the face. “Are you okay?” he asked after a moment of scrutiny. “You still look upset. Did I say something wrong?”

A note of genuine worry had crept into his voice, and Keith felt guilty that he couldn’t give a direct answer––not without saying anything too personal.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just …” Keith sighed. “Are we even gonna still be friends after all this? You and me and––and everyone else?”

He’d blurted out the question without even thinking about it, but now he looked up at Lance with sudden desperation, his chest tight as he waited for an answer.

Lance’s eyebrows rose and he leaned back a little like Keith had pushed him. “What?” he said, sounding completely bewildered. “Of course we’re still gonna be friends! What, did you think that after we find all the lions we’d all just ditch you?”

“I mean, I don’t know. Everyone else always has,” Keith said before he could stop himself.

He suddenly couldn’t look Lance in the eye anymore and he glared down at the pavement. Meanwhile, Lance had fallen completely silent.

Moments passed and Keith braced himself for the inevitable pity. But Lance still said nothing. Instead, he slid an arm around Keith’s shoulders––slow and tentative, like he thought Keith might pull away. He didn’t.

“Hey, we’re not gonna ditch you,” Lance said firmly.

Keith barely heard him. There were a thousand blaring alarms in his head because Lance’s arm was draped across his shoulders, Lance’s side was practically pressed against his, and Keith could feel the warmth radiating from him.

He lifted his head and felt like his heart had plunged into his stomach, because suddenly Lance’s face was so close to his that Keith almost had to go cross-eyed to look at him. Lance’s arm stiffened around Keith’s shoulders as they made eye contact, a dazed expression falling over his face.

Keith swallowed. “You mean it?” he murmured, voice rasping a little.

The blank look remained on Lance’s face for a second, like he’d forgotten what they were talking about. But then his mouth started to quirk up at one corner in an easy, crooked smile. When he laughed, Keith could feel the short huff of air against his face.

“Of course I mean it. You’re not gonna get rid of us, mullet. Promise.”

Despite the chill of the autumn air, Keith suddenly felt very warm all over. He couldn’t feel the cold ground underneath him, couldn’t hear the wind rustling in the trees, couldn’t see the dark sky wheeling overhead.

All he could think about was that he really, really wanted to kiss Lance right now.

The realization hit him like a lightning bolt, so sudden that it almost sent him reeling backwards. Yet, at the same time, it didn’t feel entirely unexpected. More like something he’d been running and running from until his lungs gave out, until he couldn’t escape from it anymore.

Sure, he’d noticed from the first time they’d met that Lance was cute. It wasn’t like he could deny it. But this whole time, Keith had been desperately seeking out some reason not to develop actual feelings, because … no. No way. He had no chance in Hell.

In fact, that was how it had always been with his crushes. He had always refused to pursue them because they would only result in heartbreak. Better not to take the risk, not to get too close, to find every reason not to indulge those emotions.

So of course, Lance just had to be exception, out of everyone in the world. The one who had surprised him at every turn, who kept proving Keith wrong every time he had a doubt.

Now it was impossible to ignore it, when Lance was sitting there with an arm wrapped around him under the glow of stars, still smiling at him. And God, Keith really wanted to just grab Lance by the collar of his jacket and pull him forward, to kiss that smile off his face.

Maybe he’d been staring too long, or too intently, because all of a sudden Lance’s grin started to fade. His brow furrowed in a small, questioning frown. They were sitting so close that Keith could hear him inhale slowly, like he was about to say something or do something or … Keith didn’t know what to expect anymore, because he couldn’t think through the rushing noise in his head.

But just then, Lance pulled away with a gasp. “Wait … Holy shit, did you see that?”

Keith couldn’t find his voice for a moment. He felt like someone had shaken him awake, like Lance’s close proximity and soft smile only seconds ago had been a dream. The only sign it had been real was the tingling feeling on his shoulder where Lance had been touching him and the way his heart was still pounding wildly.

He cleared his throat. “See what?”

Lance was looking up at the sky, pointing. The wide smile had returned to his face. “Look.”

It took some effort for Keith to look away from him, to follow Lance’s gaze to one of the distant constellations. When he did, though, he couldn’t help but gasp in wonder.

Because sure enough, there were bright streaks of light radiating across the sky above them. Each one only lasted a second, but they were beautiful regardless.

“Wow. I didn’t know we’d be able to see it so clearly from here,” Lance breathed.

Even though he no longer had an arm around Keith, they were still sitting so close together that their shoulders almost touched. Lance’s hand rested on the ground only inches from Keith’s, and he had a fleeting urge to just lay his own hand over it, but he resisted.

They sat in quiet awe as the heavens continued to blaze above them, the faraway flashes of light chasing each other across the darkness.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Lance said at last.

Keith tore his eyes away from the meteor shower just to look in Lance’s direction, at the outline of his face turned up to the stars.

“Yeah,” he said, his chest aching. “It really is.”

—

Keith felt … confused.

By the time he returned to his apartment, he still hadn’t shaken away the lingering feeling. It wasn’t like anything particularly interesting had happened after that whole unexpected wanting-to-kiss-Lance moment; they’d just watched the meteor shower for a while longer and then parted ways like everything was normal. Just the usual friendly wave goodbye, the promise to see each other soon.

But now that Keith was aware of his crush, he found himself analyzing every word, every smile. All their interactions up until this point suddenly had layers of meaning to unravel.

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it had all started, when he had begun to feel this way. Maybe there hadn’t been a single moment, but a series of small things that had finally led to this revelation.

It had all rushed through his head like a whirlwind as he’d made the short trek home on his motorcycle, as he’d trudged up the steps to his apartment and unlocked the door.

Now he sat on the couch, slumped back against the cushions. He ran a hand down his face.

I have a crush on Lance.

He tentatively tried the words out in his head, part of him hoping that he would feel some semblance of resistance to it. Instead, as the truth settled over him, it simultaneously felt like a heavy dread and also like the biggest rush of adrenaline he’d ever felt.

Wow, this was bad.

It was becoming more and more evident that it hadn’t been a fleeting thought, but a real feeling that he could no longer deny. As it dawned on him, he leaned forward and clutched his head in his hands.

Great. On top of his best friend being missing, and Keith and all the other paladins having to save the world from some evil ghost overlord, he had also somehow managed to develop feelings for someone who would never like him back. He had gotten used to messing everything up, but this was bad even for him.

He continued to agonize over it as he prepared for bed—going through the motions of taking out his contacts, brushing his teeth, pulling on his pajamas, and finally crawling under the covers.

Outside, he could hear the rush of traffic. A gray stripe of light streaked across his ceiling, coming from a streetlight outside the window, and his eyes fixed on it blearily as he tried to quiet his mind. It was next to impossible, though, when he kept imagining himself back under the stars with Lance. Wondering what might have happened if he’d had the courage to close the distance between them, whether it would have resulted in a painful rejection, or … He didn’t know. The alternative almost seemed more terrifying, somehow.

Such thoughts kept his aching eyes open for a while longer, but ultimately he told himself that dwelling on it wasn’t going to change it. Nothing had happened, and maybe that was a sign from the universe.

With a long sigh, he closed his eyes.

—

Of all the nights to have another dream, it had to be this one.

As always, it felt like a sudden drop into cold water. Keith gasped at the sensation, feeling as if he’d been grabbed by the throat and slammed through a wall. Violent tingling coursed through his limbs as he struggled to catch his breath.

He was in complete darkness, kneeling on a hard surface. His hands scrabbled on the ground underneath him, catching on what felt like ragged stones.

Okay. You’re dreaming. Don’t panic, he reminded himself. Then again, it was difficult not to panic considering how horrific his past few dreams had been.

As if on cue, there was a low growl behind him.

Oh, no.

Keith bolted to his feet, whirling around to face the source of the noise as his heart hammered in his chest.

The Black Lion.

He hadn’t seen her since that first dream, the one he’d had on the night when Shiro and Matt had disappeared. Even though he’d seen two of the other lions since then, Black was just as intimidating as that very first encounter—towering over Keith and snarling, her dark coat glimmering with a purple sheen that outlined her figure in the dimness, her eyes glowing with miniature galaxies.

This time, though, a barrier separated them. It took a moment for Keith to realize it; he’d been too busy panicking at the sight of the enormous creature. But now he saw that as Black lashed out a paw, she seemed to hit some kind of invisible force field that made a hollow thunking noise like glass.

Keith still flinched on impulse, but the Black Lion evidently couldn’t reach him. Crackling sparks erupted from the border where she’d stricken it, and she stumbled back with a pained whining noise. Even though she’d just been trying to kill him, Keith couldn’t help but frown in slight concern.

He took a hesitant step forward, his pulse still racing. The Black Lion had retreated, crouching low to the ground with her long tail lashing back and forth. She bared her fangs in another menacing growl.

Despite her threatening stance, Keith could detect an underlying sense of fear emanating from her––which was strange, coming from such an ancient and powerful creature. Yet here she was, trapped in this invisible prison in a dark room, suddenly cowering like … well, like a cornered animal. Which begged the question: who had managed to instill such fear and distrust in the Black Lion?

As if in answer to his silent question, Keith heard voices coming from behind him.

The first was deep and intimidating, echoing in a nearby passage.

“Impossible! You dare spout such lies in my presence?”

“It is not a lie,” a second voice hissed.

This one Keith recognized, and terror spiked through his veins at the sound of it. It was the woman he’d seen in his last dream, the one who’d been torturing Matt in front of Shiro.

The argument gave way to the sound of footsteps thundering up a flight of stairs.

“Sire––” the woman protested; she sounded much closer this time.

“Out of my way, witch. Let me witness it for myself.”

Now the pair of voices sounded like they were right around the corner, and Keith panicked. His first instinct was to wake up, but maybe that was the wrong choice. If he had a chance to gain more information, he had to take it. But he also couldn’t risk getting caught.

In the split second he had to make a decision, he willed himself to be incorporeal, to melt into the shadows. His limbs tingled again through the rapid process, which seemed to miraculously be working.

One moment he was standing in front of the Black Lion’s prison, and the next he was a disembodied entity. Somehow he was able to shift his focus to various angles of the room as he was no longer pinned to one spot. It was disorienting, and everything appeared slightly blurry, but at least it gave him somewhat of an advantage.

Apparently he’d figured it out at the exact right time, because just then a violet light appeared in the arched doorway on the far side of the room. It was accompanied by the sound of footsteps echoing through the chamber, and then a hulking figure barged its way through the entrance.

Keith wished his vision wasn’t so hazy, but at the same time he was almost grateful for its lack of clarity. From the brief glimpses he caught of the man––or creature?––he saw before him, he was terrified by the sight. He could just barely make out the sunken eyes, the slitted nostrils in a skeletal face, the thin slash of a mouth, the purple glow emanating from pale skin. Even through the separation of dream from reality, Keith could sense something very wrong about this creature, a sickening aura of darkness and decay.

And that’s when he realized who he must be looking at, and it took all his effort not to wake up from sheer horror.

Zarkon.

Right as the thought struck him, a second figure slid through the doorway. Although her hood shed a dark shadow over her face, Keith recognized her flowing robes and long white hair. The druid, as Coran had called her. Keith’s vision, as blurry as it already was, shifted and warped at the sight of her.

Zarkon, on the other hand, seemed to have completely forgotten she was there. A glowing purple ball of fire hung suspended in the air above his outstretched palm, as he lifted it to illuminate the room. The unearthly light bounced off of the cobbled stone floor and the crumbling walls.

The Black Lion snarled again at his approach, but there was something suddenly inconsistent and uncertain about her demeanor, like Zarkon’s presence confused her. One moment she was growling menacingly, and the next she stopped and shook her head as if hearing a strange noise. She paced her prison in a frenzy, shying away from the invisible barrier and then lunging at it again, claws lashing out.

Without even flinching, Zarkon stood before the Black Lion with his face twisted in disgust. “Foul creature,” he spat. “You are just like the former paladins. Treacherous and weak.”

Black hissed back at him, retreating into the corner.

“She has been like this for many days now,” the druid said, still hovering behind Zarkon. “She has been in a constant state of unrest, and even my most powerful magic cannot contain her.” She hesitated before adding, “I believe she is trying to reach her paladin.”

The light in Zarkon’s hand grew brighter as he whirled around. “I am her paladin.”

Seeming to realize her mistake, the druid took a step back before answering carefully. “Yes, and rightfully so. But as we both know, she is attempting to bind herself to another. To the human we imprisoned. I have tried time and time again to sever the bond with my magic, but nothing has worked.”

Zarkon was unsettlingly silent for a moment before he lashed out again. “Do you dare give up so easily, Haggar? You would let my bond with the Black Lion die so that she can bond with some pathetic human?”

"It is not my choice, my lord. The Lion's power exceeds even my own."

"So then, kill the human. Will that not sever their bond?"

No, Keith thought in a wild panic.

But luckily, the druid––Haggar, as her name apparently was––did not seem to agree with Zarkon's suggestion. After a lengthy pause, she gave her calculated response. "I do not know. I fear that such a process would damage the Lion's quintessence, or that it would send her into a rage even more uncontrollable than her current state."

Zarkon said nothing, only stood towering over Haggar and staring her down for several tense moments before he turned sharply again towards the Black Lion.

"I suppose it does not matter. Once we've gathered all the lions, we will have enough quintessence to open the portal." He gazed disdainfully at the Black Lion, who had begun to prowl around the perimeter of her prison again. "What of the other paladins?"

Once again, Haggar paused before giving her response. “They have found another lion, sire. The Green Lion.”

“What?” Zarkon snapped, turning to glare at her again. “How?”

“My druids inform me that Alfor’s daughter is assisting them.”

“Alfor’s daughter? Impossible. She should have died a century ago.”

“Presumably, yes. But I believe there are forces at work that may have kept her alive. There must be a reason why Alfor created such a strong magical barrier around Altea. Perhaps he was keeping her there, in some kind of unnatural slumber.”

Zarkon had begun to pace the room, mimicking the stalking movements of the imprisoned lion not far from where he stood. His dark cloak billowed behind him as he moved, and the glowing light in his hand cast erratic shadows over the walls.

“We may be able to use this to our advantage,” Haggar continued, when Zarkon remained silent. “Allow the paladins to find all the lions and bring them to us. Lead them into our clutches and then harness their power to create the portal.”

“Have you gone mad?” Zarkon abruptly stopped pacing. “We cannot allow them to find all the lions. The paladins must be destroyed, and all the lions brought to me.”

Destroyed? Keith didn’t like the sound of that.

“But sire, the quintessence of the lions––” Haggar started to protest.

“Are you defying my orders, witch?” Zarkon stalked towards her, towering over her menacingly.

She stood still, her hands folded into her robes, and bowed her head. “No, sire.”

“Then you will make certain that the paladins will be stopped, no matter the cost.”

“Yes, sire. I will send my druids to intercept them the next time they enter the spirit world.”

Fear spiked through Keith again upon hearing those words. They’d barely managed to survive facing the Galra and other malicious spirits when finding the other lions, but having to face druids that were just as powerful as Haggar …

His train of thought trailed off when he noticed Haggar had looked up suddenly, her glowing yellow eyes scanning the room.

“What is it?” Zarkon demanded. “Do you sense something?”

“Yes,” she answered in a rasp. “A strange presence in the room. Almost as if … we are being watched.”

She turned suddenly, violet magic crackling around her clawed fingertips.

Panicking, Keith urged himself to escape somehow, before she could figure out he was there. Wake up, his mind screamed at him. Wake up, wake up, wake up …

It seemed to be working, as the room blurred and disintegrated before him. Then, at last, it faded into blackness.

––

The relief only lasted a moment, though, before Keith found himself in another dark, enclosed space. Disoriented, he felt the floor underneath him and found that it was still made of stone, but there was no sign of Zarkon or Haggar, or the Black Lion.

He at least seemed to be back in his own body again, buzzing all over like an electric current had shocked through him, and with his heart beating at a furious pace.

Trying to determine where exactly he was, Keith slowly got to his feet and turned in a slow circle. And froze.

Not far from where he stood, two figures were slumped against the wall. Two very familiar figures. Keith lurched forward at the sight of them, already fearing that he wouldn't be able to speak to them before he woke up.

"Shiro?"

The taller of the two stirred and lifted his head, and Keith barely suppressed a gasp. What struck him first was that a part of Shiro's hair had gone shockingly white since the last time Keith had seen him. It had only been a few weeks since Keith had last communicated with him, but from Shiro's worn-down appearance it could have been years.

Maybe it was the dim purplish lighting, but his skin appeared a sickly pallor. The scar across the bridge of his nose looked a bit more faded than it had before, although it still made a furious dark slash across his face. Keith momentarily wondered how much time had gone by in the spirit world compared to the normal world, but he realized that was the least of his worries right now.

The glazed look in Shiro's eyes made him wonder if Shiro could see him at all, and Keith panicked that he'd missed his chance to say anything.

But right then a sudden alertness sparked in Shiro's gaze. "Keith?"

He shifted as if to stand, but Matt's head was slumped against his shoulder and he didn't seem to be moving.

"No, no. Don't get up," Keith said frantically.

He knelt down in front of Shiro, shooting an involuntary glance towards the glowing phantom arm where his prosthetic had once been. Then he looked back up at Shiro's disbelieving expression. Despite the dire circumstances, a warm feeling flooded through him just to know that Shiro was still alive, that he hadn't lost the first person who had ever felt like family to him.

But the sense of relief was immediately chased away by an aching sadness. It was agonizing, because Shiro was right there in front of him but Keith could still sense the distance separating them like a pane of glass. Still, he figured it couldn’t hurt to try and shatter it.

He surged forward and hugged Shiro.

It was an odd sensation, because Keith couldn’t really feel the embrace beyond a slight tingling in his arms. He felt like he was already starting to fade, like any minute now he would wake up. And although he knew he should be using this valuable time to tell Shiro what was going on, or to try to get some more information about his whereabouts, all he could do was silently hug him with all the force he could manage. His best friend. His brother.

“I miss you so much,” he said against Shiro’s shoulder, the words choked. He wondered if it was even possible for him to cry in dreams.

To his surprise, he felt a slight pressure against his back then––and realized that although he couldn’t feel the solidity of Shiro’s real arm, he could feel the ghost arm as it wrapped around him to return the embrace.

“I miss you too, Keith,” Shiro said, his phantom hand patting Keith on the back. His voice sounded equally rough with emotion. “Are you alright? What––What’s happening? Is this like last time?”

Keith pulled away again, trying to gather his thoughts into a coherent order. He had to focus on telling Shiro everything he could.

“Yeah,” he managed to say. “I’m not really here, just temporarily projecting myself here somehow. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. There’s some things I need to tell you and I don’t have a lot of time before I wake up.”

Shiro looked at him with concern, which was odd considering he was the one trapped in a prison in a haunted castle.

“I’m listening. Is everything okay?”

Keith almost laughed in disbelief, at the sheer irony that Shiro was the one asking him that question. But then again, it was just so Shiro that something about it was almost comforting.

“Well, yes and no. Me and all the other paladins are okay, and so are Allura and Coran––they’re all the people who I’m working together with to find you guys,” Keith explained in a rush. “We’ve found two of the lions already, Blue and Green. But we still need to find Yellow and Red. And then the Black Lion …”

He hesitated, thinking of the horrible scene he had just witnessed.

“The Black Lion is here in the castle,” he said at last, lowering his voice as if someone might hear him. “I think, at least. But she’s trapped. Haggar––the druid, the witch, whatever she is––has some kind of magic force field around her. Zarkon is trying to keep his bond with her, but she’s trying to escape. She’s trying to get to you.”

Shiro didn't answer at first. The only sign he had heard Keith at all was the small furrow in his brow as he processed the words. "I don't understand. How do you even know all this?"

"Uh ... I was kind of just spying on Zarkon and Haggar."

"Keith. You shouldn't have done that. You––You have no idea what they're capable of."

Normally, Keith would have been impatient with Shiro for chastising him at a time like this. But the genuinely terrified––almost pained––look on Shiro's face only made him feel sick with worry. He'd already seen what Haggar had done to Matt the last time he'd dreamed of this terrible place. She'd probably done countless other cruel things to both of them since then, and Keith couldn't tolerate the thought for more than a moment without wanting to punch a wall.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't control it," he said. "When I started dreaming, I just ... ended up there. Like it was something I was supposed to see." He shook his head. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. The point is, you're the rightful Black Paladin. You're going to have to form a bond with the Black Lion somehow, but first we're going to get you out of here."

The scene around him had started to grow hazy at the edges, and Keith fought to hold onto it with all the remaining energy he had.

“Keith––” Shiro started to protest.

“I know what you’re going to say, and yes I know it’s dangerous. But we’re the only ones who can stop Zarkon from forming the portal to the mortal world. There’s no other choice.”

As his vision continued to blur, he took in the sight of Shiro’s weary face, of Matt’s unmoving form slouched against his side with only his rattling breaths to show he was even still alive.

Shiro let out a shuddering sigh. “I thought you’d say something like that.”

There was a hint of warm familiarity in the words that made Keith feel hopeful despite the odds.

He reached out on instinct, his hand extended, and Shiro clasped it without a second thought. It was something they’d always done throughout their friendship––a gesture of mutual support during times of distress, or in a moment of shared triumph. In this case, it felt a little like both.

Shiro had reached out with his ghost hand, and Keith tensed for a moment before he realized how unexpectedly real Shiro’s fingers felt wrapped around his, which were already starting to turn translucent as the world darkened around him.

Still, he could barely make out the faint smile on Shiro’s face. “Just be safe, okay?”

“You too,” Keith said. “Keep holding on. We’re getting closer and closer to saving you and Matt.”

There were so many other things he wanted to say, so many things he wanted ask, but the dream had other plans for him. He could no longer feel Shiro’s hand gripping his, and before he could speak again, the darkness had already consumed him.

Chapter Text

Just like the last time he’d dream-walked, Keith woke up feeling like he was drowning. He gasped as the afterimages of the dream hovered and disintegrated before him until he could see nothing but the ceiling of his bedroom.

He took a few more heaving breaths, his body still rigid with distress as he tried to bring himself down from the shock. It took him several minutes to feel relatively oriented again.

It was very early in the morning, judging by the faint grayish light seeping in through the window. When he finally willed himself to move, Keith turned his head just enough to squint at his bedside alarm clock and saw that it was only about 5 AM.

Once Keith finally felt like the room wasn't spinning around him, he raised himself into a sitting position. His entire body ached with exhaustion, and he was still shaking with adrenaline left over from the stress of the dream. He could so clearly see those last fleeting images, could still feel the solidity of Shiro hugging him ... but it had all evaporated in a moment, leaving him hollow and devastated.

Keith's eyes stung as he drew his knees up to his chest. He hadn't allowed himself to cry much in the past few weeks, not since that first terrible night when Shiro and Matt had disappeared. But now he could barely hold back the tears as they started to well up, his chest shuddering to suppress a sob.

It was just so much to handle at once. Too much. Seeing the Black Lion trapped in the tower, overhearing Zarkon and Haggar's plans, seeing Shiro and Matt trapped in their dismal cell––plus the overwhelming knowledge that they still had two lions to find and the Black Lion to save before they could form Voltron. Keith couldn't see how they would manage to accomplish it all before it was too late.

Too late to save Shiro and Matt. Too late to save the world.

He rubbed his fists against his eyes, trying to get himself under control. Crying wasn't going to solve anything.

After taking a few deep breaths, he reached for his bedside table and picked up his phone. Maybe there wasn't much he could do for the time being, but he didn't have to deal with it alone.

His thumb hovered over the message icon for a moment. It was so early in the morning, he doubted anyone would respond if he texted them. Not to mention, he felt guilty burdening his friends with his worries. But then again, this wasn't just about him, it was about their mission.

With a determined sigh, he brought up his messages and tapped on the Mystery Gang group chat.

keith: hey i know it's super early and probably none of you are awake
keith: but i had another dream and saw some important stuff

He winced at his own vague wording, but he didn't want to worry everyone too much. Now that he read it again, though, he thought maybe it needed to sound a little more urgent.

keith: i'm kinda freaking out, you guys. i saw zarkon....he has the black lion trapped in a tower somewhere. and it sounded like haggar was gonna try to stop us from finding the yellow and red lions.

As much as he hated admitting he was scared, Keith felt like he needed to say it. He only hesitated for a moment before hitting "send," then chewed at his bottom lip as he struggled for something else to say.

Before he could think of anything, though, he saw––to his surprise––that Hunk had started typing.

hunk: whoa what?! you saw ZARKON??? what'd he look like? ugly i bet
hunk: you know what never mind, that's probably the last thing we need to worry about
hunk: anyway i'm actually up early cuz i had to study for a spanish test but forget that
hunk: do you want me to come over??

Keith blinked at the words on the screen, a little shocked at Hunk's offer. But once he managed to recover, he hesitantly typed back.

keith: yeah actually if you don't mind

He hoped it sounded casual enough that Hunk didn't feel pressured to come racing over, but he also really wanted some company right now.

In less than a minute, Hunk's response popped up.

hunk: ok i'll be there soon
hunk: hope you're ok keith

Despite the circumstances, Keith felt a small flicker of warmth in his chest. He could barely comprehend that Hunk would come over to talk to him at such an ungodly hour, and he found himself so moved by it that he almost felt like crying again. But he didn't want to shed any more tears right now, not when his face probably looked horrible and blotchy enough as it was.

Trying to pull himself together, he reached for his glasses and shoved them onto his face. He briefly considered getting dressed, but he decided he didn't care if Hunk saw him in his pajamas. It wasn't like it was much different from what he usually wore, anyway––just a pair of sweatpants and a faded Killers T-shirt he'd had since middle school.

Keith managed to drag himself out of bed and into the living room. He switched on the lamp next to the couch and stood there, unsure of what to do with himself. Absently fiddling with his phone, he paced the room a few times, sat down on the edge of the couch, then stood up to pace again.

This continued in a frantic pattern until his phone vibrated in his hand.

hunk: hey i'm outside can you buzz me in?

Wow, that had been fast. Or maybe Keith had been so caught up in his worrying that he'd entirely lost track of time. Somehow, the latter seemed more likely.

Keith shuffled over to the button by the door and pressed it, then walked out into the hall to meet Hunk as he came up the stairs.

Hunk's face brightened when he saw Keith on the landing. "Keith!" he exclaimed, then he sobered again as he probably realized that the people in surrounding apartments were still sleeping. He lowered his voice. "Hey. What's up, man?"

Keith could only shrug in response. "Oh, you know. Scary prophetic dreams. End of the world."

"So, the usual?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Anyway, you can come in,” Keith said, holding the door to his apartment open.

As soon as they were both inside, Hunk turned towards Keith and his smile immediately fell.

"Whoa, dude. You look awful. You okay?"

Normally Keith might've been insulted by the comment, but right now he was too stressed out to care. Hunk was probably right, anyway. Keith was sure his hair was a mess and that he probably had huge dark circles under his eyes.

"Not really," he admitted.

Hunk frowned in concern. "Do you need a hug?"

That hadn't really been the response Keith was expecting, and he stiffened in surprise.

"I––I mean, you don't have to ... uh," Hunk stammered. "I'm sorry. I just thought I'd offer."

"No, it's okay. That'd ... That would be great, actually," Keith said stiffly.

Apparently that was good enough for Hunk, because he stepped forward to wrap his arms around Keith. Right away, Keith settled into the embrace, all the muscles in his body relaxing a bit at the contact. His arms were pinned tight to his sides, and his face was crushed against Hunk's chest so that his glasses pushed uncomfortably against the bridge of his nose, but he didn't even care. A shuddering breath escaped from him as he leaned into the hug.

"Hey, it's okay," Hunk consoled him, patting Keith on the back. "I bet that dream was really scary, huh?"

Keith nodded against Hunk's chest. He couldn't manage to give a reply out loud. His throat suddenly felt tight, and he feared he would start crying again if he tried to speak.

"Do you wanna sit down and talk about it?" Hunk asked.

After a moment of hesitation, Keith nodded again. Hunk's arms loosened around him, and Keith took a small step back, his eyes fixed on the floor.

"Yeah. Maybe in the kitchen?" Keith managed to say.

"Sounds good."

Keith led the way into the small kitchen with Hunk following closely after him. He flicked on the lightswitch as they entered, and the overhead lamp flickered to life.

"You look like you need coffee," Hunk commented. "Also, I need coffee. I'll make coffee. If you have any, that is. And I could make us breakfast if you want?"

He tapped his index fingers together nervously like he thought he was being rude, and Keith huffed out a small laugh of incredulity.

"Wow. You don't have to do all that, Hunk."

"Okay, but I want to. You should sit down."

As much as he didn't want to seem like a rude host, Keith couldn't disagree with Hunk's suggestion. He still felt pretty shaky and exhausted. After a moment of hesitation, he pulled out a chair next to the kitchen table and slowly sat down.

Hunk had already found the coffee, and he frowned as he continued to poke around in Keith's cabinet. "Hmm ... Oh!" He pulled out a box of pancake mix that was already torn open. "I could make pancakes ... ?"

Keith shrugged one shoulder. "Pancakes are good."

"Can't argue with that. Do you have eggs?"

"I think so. Somewhere in the fridge."

A few moments later, Hunk emerged from the fridge victorious with a carton of eggs in hand. "Got 'em!"

It wasn't long until coffee was brewing and Hunk was busily stirring the pancake mix together in a large bowl. Even though Keith was still on edge, running the horrific images from his dream through his head over and over, the sudden warm atmosphere in the kitchen calmed his nerves a little bit.

"This is really nice of you, Hunk," he said at last. "Seriously. Thank you."

"Aw, it's no problem." Hunk turned from the counter, shooting Keith a genuine grin as he continued to mix the ingredients. Keith couldn't help but smile back.

Not long after, Hunk sat down at the table across from Keith, sliding him a plate of pancakes and a mug of coffee.

"So ... do you want to talk about it?" he asked cautiously. When Keith hesitated he added, "It's okay if you don't want to. Or, uh, I should probably let you eat first. Sorry."

"It's okay, Hunk. I was just taking a second to think."

"Oh, okay. Well, take your time," Hunk stammered.

Keith fiddled with his fork for a few moments before stabbing it into one of the pancakes and taking a chunk out of it. He chewed and swallowed, then took a long sip of coffee before he began to speak.

He tried to tell Hunk everything he could remember, although it came in bits and pieces. The Black Lion trapped behind the invisible barrier. Zarkon and Haggar's plotting. Matt and Shiro, still trapped in the dark dungeon. He re-lived all of it again, and each terrifying image only intensified the deep, hollow sense of helplessness in his chest.

"Whoa," Hunk said when Keith had finished the whole story. He slumped back in his chair, his hands tight around his steaming coffee mug. "Well ... this isn't good news."

"Yeah, no kidding," Keith muttered. With a sigh, he propped his chin up with one hand while he used his other hand to spear another biteful of pancake. "These are really good, by the way."

"Aw, thanks! I mean, I just used the mix. Usually I prefer to make pancakes from scratch, but ... Wait, why am I even talking about this? So yeah, your dream. Sounds like Haggar's sending her evil minions to find the other lions before we can?"

"That's what it sounded like." Keith took another swig of coffee and put the cup down. "She said something about sending other druids."

"Druids?"

"It's what she is. Haggar, I mean. Coran explained it to us a while ago. They're basically the corrupted ghosts of Alteans who joined the Galra in the afterlife. They're super powerful."

"Oh, right," Hunk said, his eyes widening. "And Haggar is the one who––" He stopped himself, wincing.

Keith glared down at the table. "The one I saw torturing Matt, yeah," he said tightly. "Shiro told me that we can't underestimate how powerful she is. And I mean, she has the Black Lion trapped using some kind of magic. If all druids are that powerful, how are we gonna stand a chance?"

It took a few long moments for Hunk to respond, and then he leaned forward to rest his elbows on the edge of the table. He put his coffee mug down with a quiet but decisive thunk.

"Keith ... I know I'm maybe not the best person to give advice in this situation. You know me, I worry about absolutely everything. But hey, our team is pretty strong, too. Maybe we're not some kind of ancient powerful witches like the druids are, but we're not totally helpless.

"We already have the Blue and Green Lions on our side, and you've seen what awesome things Lance and Pidge can do with their powers now that they're connected to their lions. Allura has really powerful magic, too. I'm sure with all of them combined, we can take those druids down."

Bringing his rambling to a stop, Hunk looked up at Keith expectantly. Keith ran a finger around the rim of his coffee cup.

"You're right," he said at last. "It's just ... I guess I feel a little helpless, you know? On these last couple missions, I feel like I've barely even done anything. And I know it's just that I haven't found my lion yet, but ..." He shook his head. "Never mind, it's stupid."

"What? No it isn't," Hunk exclaimed. "In fact, I feel the exact same way. I mean, we're the only two left who don't have our lions yet."

Keith hadn't really thought about it that way, but it was true. And now he felt bad, because in his own inner turmoil he hadn't stopped to think that maybe Hunk was worried about the same thing.

"Yeah, I know.” He managed a half-hearted smirk. "Feels like getting picked last for the soccer team in gym class."

"Ugh, you're right," Hunk agreed, smiling a little at the comparison. "That's the suckiest feeling." All of a sudden, the full impact of the emotion seemed to hit him. His smile fell and his shoulders sagged.

“Is it just me, or do you worry that––I don’t know, that there’s been some kinda mistake?”

Keith tilted his head inquisitively. “What do you mean?”

“I just mean … I get nervous that I’m not even meant to be a paladin,” Hunk said quietly, looking away. “You know? I know that supposedly I couldn’t go into the spirit world if I wasn’t … but then again, Matt’s not a paladin but he was able to get into the spirit world because he was with Shiro. So, like, what if it’s like that with me and the rest of you guys?”

Even though he’d suspected what Hunk was going to say, Keith was still a bit taken aback. He blinked, trying to come up with some way to provide reassurance. “Hunk––”

“I almost feel like I’m not deserving of it,” Hunk cut him off. “Like, out of everyone in the world, why me? I’m not super brave or anything.”

As he spoke, Hunk had shrunk in on himself, shoulders hunched and eyes downcast. It made a sudden rush of emotions course through Keith’s veins––an almost painful ache of empathy, but a sense of fierce protectiveness as well.

He reached across the small table to put a comforting hand on Hunk’s forearm, causing him to look up in surprise. Although he didn’t consider himself adept at consoling others, Keith offered the most reassuring smile he could muster.

“Hunk, of course you deserve to be a paladin. It’s not just all about bravery––although, you are brave, so I don’t know what you’re talking about. But you’re also really, really smart. And you’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I mean, you came over here at like 5 AM to check on me and make me breakfast. Not many people would’ve done that.”

Hunk's eyes started to well up. "Aw, Keith," he said. He put his hand over Keith's and gave it a firm squeeze.

"Hey, I mean it. I'm sure one of the lions will see all those good qualities in you."

"Man, you're gonna make me cry." Hunk wiped the edge of his sleeve across his eyes and sniffled. "Oh, no. Too late, I'm already crying. Sorry, I'm a big sap."

Normally Keith felt uncomfortable when people cried around him, but somehow with Hunk it wasn't so bad. Maybe it was because his own emotions were running so high right now.

"Thanks, Keith." Through his tears, Hunk smiled gratefully. "I really needed to hear that. ... Ugh, I'm sorry. I was the one who was supposed to be comforting you, not the other way around."

Keith chuckled a little at that. "It's alright. We both have a lot of things to worry about right now and not a lot of people to talk about it with."

"Ugh, tell me about it," Hunk sighed. "It's been so hard not to tell my moms anything. Or Shay. I feel bad for not telling any of them the truth. But I also don't want to freak them out, you know?"

Keith nodded, although he couldn't really relate. After all, pretty much his only friends were the other paladins, as well as Coran and Allura. But he could imagine how difficult it was to keep all the Voltron stuff a secret from loved ones. He remembered Pidge had said the exact same thing about keeping the truth from her parents.

"Anyway, I guess I got us a bit sidetracked," Hunk went on, shaking his head. "So, what are we gonna do?"

"I don't know." Keith sank back in his chair, crossing his arms as he stared at the half-eaten stack of pancakes on his plate. "I guess there's not much we can do until everyone else responds to my messages. Probably Coran and Allura would be the best people to talk to about this, but they're not always super easy to contact."

"True. God, I can't believe Coran still has a flip phone in this day and age. Anyway, maybe we should all just go to the Absurdatory after school?"

As always, Keith flinched inwardly at the word "school." He considered telling Hunk the truth about how he'd dropped out––after all, he'd already spilled the beans to Lance––but he immediately chickened out.

"Yeah, good idea. I'll be there anyway since I'm working this afternoon."

"Okay, I'll let Lance and Pidge know." Hunk had already gotten his phone out and started texting. Keith heard his phone buzz on the coffee table in the living room as an alert went out to the group chat.

"There, done," Hunk said, shoving his phone back in his pocket. "Hopefully they'll both be able to make it."

"Hope so."

There didn't seem to be much else to discuss for the time being, so they both went back to quietly eating. Somehow the silence felt comfortable rather than forced, and Keith appreciated that.

"So," Keith said, after they had both finished breakfast. He searched for something to say. "Did you catch any of the meteor shower last night? I know Lance said you were busy, but ..."

"Oh, yeah." Hunk perked up. "Shay and I saw a bit of it. It was really cool! Why, did you get to see any of it?"

Keith nodded, swirling the dregs in his coffee mug absently. "Yeah, Lance and I watched it." His face heated up as he said it, and he tried to get a hold of himself.

At that, Hunk sat up straighter. "What, like, together?"

Something about the way Hunk emphasized the word made Keith's face even hotter with embarrassment, and he prayed he wasn't turning beet-red. "Yeah," he said, forcing a casual shrug. "Lance invited me to that astronomy club thing."

"Astronomy club thing ... ?" Hunk started to say, and then blinked and seemed to recover. "Oh, I mean ... right, right. Astronomy club thing. Which I couldn't go to, because I was busy. That thing. Uh, how was it?"

He leaned an elbow on the table, propping his chin on one hand and staring at Keith with an almost unnerving expectancy.

"It was ... fine," Keith said, bewildered by how invested Hunk seemed in his answer. "I mean, no one else showed up, so ..." He trailed off, suddenly wishing he'd kept his mouth shut.

"So," Hunk drawled, "you mean, it was just you and Lance?"

If there had been any chance Keith could hide his blushing, he was pretty sure it was a lost cause now. He hoped, somehow, that glaring down at the table would make it less obvious. Or that Hunk wouldn't be able to guess what it meant.

"Yeah," he said. "So?" It came out a bit more defensive than he meant it to.

Hunk put his hands up in surrender. "Hey, I'm just a little surprised, that's all. You and Lance don't really hang out one-on-one very much. That I know of, anyway."

"Well, we didn't really plan on it," said Keith.

"I know, but still." Hunk chuckled. "I'm just glad you two are getting along now."

As bristly as he'd been moments earlier, Keith's walls went down a bit at those words. Hunk didn't sound like he was teasing him, more that he was genuinely happy.

"Yeah," he said at last, quietly. "I'm glad, too."

––

A flood of text messages bombarded Keith's phone a few hours later, a while after Hunk had helped him clean up all the dishes before he had to leave for school. After Keith took a shower, he walked into the living room to find that the group chat had exploded with notifications.

lance: whoa whoa whoa wait wait
lance: what
lance: you saw zarkon????? holy shit

hunk: lance aren't you in class right now

lance: um aren't YOU in class right now

hunk: ffffft i'm in chemistry...i already know this stuff, i don't need to pay attention

lance: alright mr smarty pants!!
lance: anyway on a more important note....i've been feeling kinda weird since i woke up this morning

pidge: weird how??

hunk: yeah what do you mean?

lance: i don't know, it's hard to describe. feels like blue is trying to contact me through the spirit world or smth??? but it's hard to understand her cuz it's all in magic lion language

pidge: oh....that's interesting
pidge: bc i was gonna say i've been getting a weird feeling too. almost like that feeling like someone's standing behind you but no one's there.
pidge: maybe that's green trying to contact me? i don't know. maybe you and blue have a stronger connection than me and green do, lance.

lance: um yeah blue and i are best buds for life!! for real!
lance: but seriously i do think she's trying to tell me something....like something bad is going down in the spirit world
lance: i'm wondering if this has something to do with your dream, keith

No one had responded since that last message, which had been sent about four minutes ago. Clutching his phone in his hands, Keith sank down onto the couch and started typing.

keith: maybe. haggar said she was sending her druids to stop us. i wonder if the lions can sense that somehow.
keith: but i don't think we can really come up with a good plan until we all meet at the absurdatory later. i'll see all you guys there later right?

lance: yep!

pidge: yeah

hunk: we'll be there!

Keith couldn't help but smile a little at their immediate responses.

keith: ok. i'll see you guys later then. pidge and lance, let us know if your lions tell you anything else.

lance: roger that.

The messages stopped after that. But as Keith went to close the group chat, he noticed there was still a notification on his phone. When he pulled up his texts, he saw it wasn't from the group chat but ... a private message from Lance.

Keith felt an embarrassing flutter in his chest as his thumb hovered over the message. He braced himself, took a deep breath, and opened it.

lance: hey man... i just wanted to check if you were ok?? that dream sounds like it was really intense dude

It hadn't quite been what Keith was expecting––but then again, what had he expected? He blinked at the words and read them over several times like there was some sort of hidden meaning in them. Finally, he started to type back.

keith: yeah i'm ok. thanks. hunk came over this morning and we talked about it and i feel a little better.

lance: yeah he told me. aw that was so nice of him. hunk is the best!!

Keith could practically hear Lance's enthusiasm through the text, and it made him smile. It was sweet how much he loved gushing about his friends. One of the many reasons why Keith had developed this big, stupid crush on him. Damn it.

keith: yeah he really is

His fingers hovered over the phone screen as the smile faded from his face. Now seemed to be the perfect opportunity to keep the conversation going, to say something about how it was cool to hang out with Lance last night ... no, "cool" sounded lame. It had been ... fun? Nice? Every adjective that crossed his mind made him cringe.

Before he could select something passable, Keith saw that Lance had started typing again and he awaited the response with his heart lodged in his throat.

lance: sorry man i gotta get to my next class but i'll see you later?

Keith's shoulders sagged and he sank back against the couch cushions. Again, he didn't know what he'd expected Lance to say, but he couldn't help but feel a flicker of disappointment that he hadn't brought up last night at all. Maybe it hadn't really meant much to him. Why would it?

With a deep sigh, Keith typed one more time.

keith: ok....yeah see you lance

Part of him hoped that maybe Lance was still there. But after waiting a minute and receiving nothing in reply, it seemed that wasn't the case.

Keith pushed his glasses back up onto his forehead and groaned in frustration as he ran a hand down his face. God, he needed to get a grip. Now was not the time to be pursuing a––most likely unrequited––crush. They had giant spirit lions to save and a horde of evil ghosts to stop from destroying the world. That didn't leave much room for relationships. And, well, Lance probably didn't feel that way about Keith, anyway. So it didn't matter.

And yet he found himself mentally returning to it again and again as he got dressed and prepared for the rest of the day. Even though he had much more important things to worry about, he kept remembering what it had felt like to have his shoulder pressed up against Lance's, kept remembering that odd moment where Lance had looked at him so intently almost like he'd been about to––

Yeah, right. Keith was not doing this again. Lance hadn't said a word about anything that had happened. It clearly hadn't been significant to him, and Keith just had to accept it. Him and Lance? Not happening. No way.

He took those lingering emotions and shoved them deep down in his chest where no one would ever see them. They still stung a little, still tried to claw their way out, but Keith had convinced himself not to indulge them any longer.

––

Keith explained everything to Coran as soon as he got to the Absurdatory, conveying as much of the dream as he could without freaking Coran out too much––although, well, maybe that was necessary in this particular scenario.

Coran listened intently, elbows propped on the front desk and fingers templed in front of him. When Keith finished the story, he released a deep and lengthy sigh.

“This is troubling news, and I’m sorry you had to experience all that. It does explain a few things, however.”

Keith frowned. “Like what?”

“Allura has been experiencing some strange feelings in the past few days,” Coran explained, skirting around the edge of the desk. “It seems that the Blue and Green Lions have been attempting to contact her, warning her of danger.”

“Yeah, Lance and Pidge said they’d been feeling something like that, too. Makes sense, knowing that Haggar is sending the druids out to find the lions. What do you think we should do?”

Coran leaned one hand against the desk while he stroked at his moustache with his other hand, deep in thought.

“I suppose there isn’t very much we can do until the other paladins arrive here. Then I believe the best course of action would be to convene at my home, since Allura is there already. We can discuss matters there.”

Although the thought of being in Coran’s house was a bit odd, it also instilled a burning curiosity in Keith as he wondered what kind of strange abode Coran lived in. He also didn’t have a better alternative to offer, so he agreed that it was probably their best choice. He conveyed this new information to the group chat and then went about his work day.

The next few hours went by slowly, even as Keith tried to keep himself occupied with miscellaneous tasks around the museum––dusting off cases, cataloguing items, trying to organize Coran’s chaotic file cabinets. It was difficult to concentrate, though, when more pressing matters kept creeping into his mind.

His only source of distraction was the periodic buzz in his pocket alerting him of new texts from the group chat. He kept sneaking out his phone to look at the messages.

hunk: wait, we’re going to coran’s HOUSE? man that’s gonna be weird
hunk: i’m trying to imagine what his house looks like….i’m picturing like a big fancy mansion with a fountain out front

pidge: interesting. i feel like it’s gonna be some small hovel in the middle of the woods.

lance: for some reason i picture him living in a giant shoe

hunk: what the fuck lance

lance: you know like that nursery rhyme that’s like “there was an old woman who lived in a shoe” that’s coran

pidge: that’s very strange and oddly specific

hunk: well i’m still putting my bets on fancy mansion

lance: i’m putting my bets on giant shoe
lance: keith…..thoughts?

Keith smirked before typing his response.

keith: i don’t know guys, giant shoe sounds pretty legit

lance: HA! thank you keith!!

hunk: keith of all the things for you to agree with lance about… why this

This conversation continued back and forth, although there were sometimes long breaks between messages since Hunk, Pidge, and Lance were all still in school and Keith was busy working.

Finally, when it got to be the late afternoon, Lance texted the group to say that he and Hunk were going to drive over to Pidge’s school to pick her up and then head over to the Absurdatory.

Keith had just wrapped up his duties for the day when the bell over the museum’s front door chimed. Lance strolled in first, hands crammed into the pockets of his jacket, and smiled brightly when he saw Keith walking up the stairs.

“Hey, man!”

The mere sight of him made Keith stumble a little on the last step, but he managed to right himself before he could fall flat on his face.

“Oh … hey, Lance.” He forced himself to say it as casually as possible.

Lance’s smile faltered a little as he looked Keith up and down. “You okay, dude?”

Suddenly self-conscious under Lance’s scrutiny, Keith crossed his arms. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He cleared his throat, glancing over Lance’s shoulder. “Where are Hunk and Pidge?”

“Oh, they’ll be in here in a minute. They got caught up in some conversation about robotics.”

Lance draped an arm over the nearest display case, leaning against it. With his other hand, he scratched the back of his neck.

“Uh … hey, listen,” he said after a brief pause. “I wanted to ask you someth––”

Before he could finish, the bell above the door jingled again. Hunk and Pidge walked in, engaged in some conversation that Keith couldn’t hear from across the room, but it involved Pidge gesturing wildly with her hands and Hunk emphatically shaking his head.

Whatever it was they were discussing, they seemed to forget it as they drew closer to Lance and Keith.

“Hey, Keith.” Hunk reached out his fist and Keith bumped his own against it. “How’s the rest of your day been?”

Keith shrugged. “Pretty okay. How are you guys?”

He received three half-hearted responses of “good” and “fine.”

Pidge leaned to one side to glance around the front desk. “Where’s Coran?”

“Down in his office, I think,” Keith answered. He was just about to go downstairs to investigate when the sound of creaking floorboards became audible at the bottom of the steps.

“Ah, you’re all here!” Coran exclaimed as he ascended the stairs to join the group. “Splendid. Perhaps Keith conveyed this information to you already, but I believe it would be best to go to my house since Allura is already there, and we can all discuss matters together. Does that seem like a suitable plan?”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Coran brightened.

“Wonderful! You can follow me in my automobile. Any of you are free to catch a ride with me, if you are so inclined.”

Apparently everyone had the same the same thought as Keith––which was that Coran’s driving habits were probably a bit hair-raising––because no one took him up on the offer.

“That’s okay, Coran,” Lance said. “I can fit everyone in my car.”

Coran clapped his hands together. “Alright. Well then, if there are no further questions, perhaps we should be on our way!”

As it turned out, Coran’s driving was just as … creative as they had all expected it to be. On the road ahead of them, Coran’s run-down car made alarming screeching and grumbling noises as it swerved haphazardly, belching black smoke from its tailpipe.

Lance seemed to be enjoying the wild chase, judging by his wicked grin that Keith kept catching glimpses of in the rearview mirror. He leaned forward against the steering wheel, whooping as he stepped on the gas.

Admittedly, Keith enjoyed the rush of it too. Hunk and Pidge, however, didn’t seem to be having as much fun.

“Lance, are you trying to get us all killed?” Pidge yelled over the growl of the engine and the wind blowing through the open windows. She hung for dear life to the back of Hunk’s seat.

Hunk had shrunk back in his chair as far as he could go, grimacing at every sharp turn.

“Seriously, Lance! You gotta slow down, man.”

“What? No way!” Lance exclaimed. “If I slow down I’ll lose track of Coran. Besides, this is fun!”

“My definition of ‘fun’ usually doesn’t involve dying or hurling out the window, both things I’m pretty sure I’m about to do,” Hunk yelled back.

Keith just laughed, brushing some loose strands of hair out of his eyes as the wind blew them into his face.

The sound caused Lance to look up into the mirror, catching Keith’s eye for a fraction of a second. Right then, the car jolted over a large bump in the pavement.

Hunk grabbed the armrest of his seat, his head almost hitting the dashboard. “Agh, Lance!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Lance said quickly, and then turned his focus back to the road. Maybe Keith had imagined it, but he could’ve sworn he’d seen a slight tinge of redness on Lance’s face that hadn’t been there before.

Luckily, Lance managed to keep up with Coran for the rest of the short journey. It wasn’t long before the black car ahead of them turned onto a narrow dirt road, and Lance followed.

At this point Coran slowed down a little, and Lance did the same. Dead leaves and sticks crunched under the tires of the car as they made their careful way through the woods.

Keith leaned his head out the window to get a better look ahead of them. Sure enough, not far in the distance, a small white house sat nestled among the trees.

“Ha, I knew it’d be a hovel in the woods!” said Pidge.

Lance scoffed. “That’s not a hovel.”

“Well, it’s not a shoe, Lance.”

Apparently Lance had nothing to say to that. He parked his car next to Coran’s in the gravel driveway and everyone stepped outside, looking around in curiosity.

The house was located in a quiet spot––isolated but pleasant, and very picturesque. Tall trees surrounded them, fluttering with bright orange and yellow leaves. But most notable was that, straight ahead of them, the trees opened up to reveal a beautiful view of Lake Arus sparkling in the afternoon sunlight.

“Whoa,” Hunk murmured. “This is where you live, Coran? It’s so cool.”

“Why, thank you!” Coran said proudly, twirling his car keys in the air before sticking them in the front pocket of his suit. “I am quite fond of it. Lovely view, isn’t it?”

They all took another few moments to linger and admire the sight before Coran began to walk towards the house. The four teens trailed after him.

When Coran opened the front door, a somewhat musty smell wafted out––a scent reminiscent of an attic or an old library. As they all crowded through the entryway, Keith observed their surroundings. He tried to keep a fixed, nonchalant look on his face, although he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows a little.

The interior of Coran's house looked a bit like it was comprised of overflow from the Absurdatory, with odd little statues and figurines on just about every surface. But there was a certain elegance underneath the layer of chaos. Framed paintings hung on the walls, depicting landscapes and forests. The living room was furnished with several upholstered armchairs and couches, although they were a bit mismatched and faded. There was also a large fireplace, flanked by bookshelves stacked with leather-bound volumes.

"Make yourselves comfortable," Coran said, gesturing towards the empty room. "I will go and fetch Allura!" Without waiting for a response, he turned around and headed for the nearby stairwell.

No one seemed to want to step into the living room first. They all exchanged hesitant looks, before Lance finally shrugged and stepped forward. The other three followed him.

Pidge went to go sit down in a large red armchair, her short legs dangling off the edge. Hunk sat down on one of the small couches across from her.

"Is this weird? This is weird," Hunk said, keeping his voice low like he was afraid Coran would overhear him.

"I guess a little," Pidge said with a shrug, slouching back in the chair and putting her hands on the armrests. "This pretty much what I pictured Coran's house would look like."

Keith was still standing stiffly close to the doorway. His eyes trailed after Lance, who had drifted across the room to stand in front of one of the bookshelves. With a sudden nervous pounding in his chest, Keith walked up to stand next to him.

He cleared his throat. “Hey.”

Lance looked up in surprise, one of his hands hovering near the row of books in front of him. “Oh. Hey, Keith.” It sounded casual, but he tacked a gentle smile to the end of it that made Keith completely forget what he’d been about to say.

By the time he remembered, Lance had looked away again and was running his fingers over the gold lettering on the spine of one of the books.

Keith shifted on his feet and glanced over his shoulder at Hunk and Pidge, who seemed to be engaged in their own conversation.

“So,” Keith said, turning back to Lance. He could feel heat rising to his face, but he forced himself to keep speaking. “Um … what were you going to ask me earlier? Back at the Absurdatory, I mean.”

“Hmm?” Lance looked up, resting his hand against the edge of the bookshelf. He made eye contact with Keith for a second and then quickly looked away again. “Oh … don't worry about it. It was nothing important."

There was something forced and hasty about his tone that made Keith frown in suspicion. But before he could question Lance any further, he heard the sound of creaking footsteps and hushed voices entering the room.

Coran walked through the doorway with Allura in tow. She was dressed casually in a baggy pink sweater and dark gray leggings, with her hair tied up in a bun. Although she offered a small smile at the paladins in greeting, Keith could see the dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept properly in days.

"Hello, everyone. I am happy to see you all again, although I wish it was under better circumstances. And please excuse my appearance," she added, smoothing down some loose strands of hair. "I was not expecting your arrival."

"Hey, don't apologize. You look amazing," Lance said with a smile, and Keith felt a small but painful twinge in his chest.

"Thank you, Lance." Allura returned the smile, but it faded only a moment later. "Anyway, we must not waste any more time. Keith, I understand that you've had another dream."

Snapping out of his daze, Keith nodded.

"Coran told me a little bit just now," Allura continued, "but it is probably best if you describe it to all of us in detail. And in addition to that, we have another important matter to discuss. I have had a few important revelations of my own."

Hunk raised an eyebrow, sitting up straight on the couch. "Meaning what, exactly?"

"Meaning," Allura said, "that I believe I have located the Yellow Lion."

––

The whole group gathered at the center of Coran's living room, situating themselves on the various chairs and couches. Once they had all settled, Keith began to tell his story for the third time that day.

It was a little easier this time around, now that he'd had more time to process it and had already explained it twice. Even so, it was difficult to talk about the terrifying things he'd seen, and dread weighed heavy in his gut at the thought of what it all meant––that they were all in terrible danger.

When Keith finished speaking, he couldn't look up right away. He could feel everyone's eyes burning into him, could hear them all shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

At last, Keith caught a movement out of the corner of his eye as Allura rose to her feet.

Everyone looked up at her expectantly, but she didn't say anything––just stood there with her fists at her sides, glaring down at the carpet.

"Allura, are you alright?" Coran asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," she answered, although her voice wavered slightly. She started to wring her hands together. "This is most disturbing, although I can't say I'm surprised. I suspected that sooner or later, Haggar would track us down. I had just hoped that it wouldn't come to this."

A weighty silence descended on the group as they all exchanged nervous glances.

"So, what are we going to do?" Pidge asked. "I mean, we still have to find the other lions, right?"

Allura nodded. "We must. It is our only choice, and the only way we can save the world from what Zarkon has in store. The question is whether we will be able to so."

"When you say that, you don't mean we could actually like ... die, do you?" Hunk said nervously.

The lengthy pause before Allura answered wasn't very reassuring.

"Do not give up hope just yet. Yes, the druids are powerful. But we already have the Green and Blue Lions, who will be able to assist us. Additionally, I have my own magic."

"Yeah! And I can shoot those awesome ice beams from my hands," Lance added.

"And I can do that ... ghost tree ... thing," said Pidge.

Allura smiled a little before she sobered again. "I'm hoping that the odds are in our favor. But we need a plan."

"Well, you said you located the Yellow Lion, right?" Hunk said. "That seems like it'd be a good place to start. Do you know where it is?"

Allura bit her lip before answering cautiously, "Yes, I believe so. I've been attempting to reach out into the spirit world, and Blue and Green have been searching as well. But there seems to be some sort of ... interference that there wasn't before. I suspect that the awakening of the lions has alerted dark spirits to our presence. They're trying to drive us away.

"But despite the odds, I think I have sensed where Yellow is. I am uncertain of the exact location––just that he is somewhere underground. Someplace very dark with a lot of tunnels, and some sort of tracks in the ground ..."

"Whoa," Lance said, eyes widening. "Sounds like some kinda abandoned mine or something."

Hunk shuddered. "Oh boy. I do not deal well with dark, enclosed spaces."

"We will have to be at our most cautious," said Allura. She had put on a firm tone again, although her voice still wavered slightly. "I do not know what lies ahead, or what sort of trap Haggar might have in store for us. But no matter what, we must stick together and find the Yellow Lion at all costs before he falls into the wrong hands."

Keith flinched inwardly at those words. It was already bad enough that Zarkon had ahold of the Black Lion. He hated to think of the Galra taking any of the other lions.

"So, what do we do?" Hunk asked at last. "Are we going to go find the Yellow Lion like ... right now?"

After a brief hesitation, Allura nodded. "I believe that would be the best course of action. We must not waste any time."

Coran jumped to his feet. "Allura, are you certain that is a good idea?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You've already been through so much, trying to locate this lion. I worry that if you must face any druids, using your magic to fight them may dangerously drain your quintessence."

"I will be fine," she assured him, although her tone remained grim. "I am aware of my own limits, and I shall be careful."

"But it may be too much for you," Coran persisted anxiously. "I don’t doubt your abilities, but you haven’t been properly trained––"

"Coran. We have no other choice."

Her words silenced him. Allura took a deep breath and released it in a shaky sigh.

"Now, unless anyone has anything further to say, we must go to Altea."

––

Traveling through the portal was just as disorienting as always. One moment he was standing in the Castle tower, and the next Keith found himself suspended in nothingness before he was deposited unceremoniously on the ground.

He tried to prepare himself for the landing for once, but to no avail. Even when he tried to land on his feet, the impact still came before he was ready, and it sent him sprawling face-first in the dirt.

Keith barely managed to catch himself, hands braced against the ground. Wheezing and cursing, he lifted himself up and rose to his feet.

As he started to regain his bearings, he found that he was standing in a long, dark tunnel. The earthen ceiling hung low, only a few feet above his head. Below him, a set of crumbling wooden tracks wound into the darkness.

The only thing lighting the way were the glowing sprites hovering in the air. Keith looked around at the orbs of light, hoping that maybe the tiny spirits would provide him with some kind of guidance, but none of them seemed to be pointing him in any particular direction.

Keith turned in a slow circle, but he couldn’t see anything except for the tunnel branching off into blackness on either side of him.

“Hello? Guys?” he called out, his voice echoing through the narrow space.

There was no response at first, but then he heard, “Keith, is that you?”

A moment later, Allura emerged from the darkness at the end of the tunnel. She kept one hand against the dirt wall and the other hand in an anxious fist against her chest.

“Oh, hey,” Keith said, a warm relief rushing through him that they’d found each other so quickly. “Seen any of the others yet?”

Allura smiled briefly but then shook her head. “Not yet. But I believe I sense the presence of Blue and Green somewhere nearby. Assuming they are with their paladins, hopefully we will be able to find them.”

The two of them began to make their way through the twisting tunnel, which was so narrow that they could barely walk side by side. The sprites followed them, some of them sticking to the walls and others floating on ahead to illuminate the dark passages.

Keith couldn’t tell exactly how old the abandoned mine was, but it appeared that it hadn’t been used in many decades. Parts of the ceiling were caving in, and some of the passageways were blocked up by boards or fallen rocks. The tracks underneath them were mostly obscured by dirt, but what remained of them were crumbling from neglect.

The tunnel dipped down slightly at the mouth of a small cavern. Just as they stepped into it, there was a sudden noise of wings flapping and a group of bats detached themselves from the ceiling to swarm over Keith and Allura’s heads.

They both ducked down, startled, and Allura grabbed on to Keith’s jacket sleeve with a gasp.

Once the surprise wore off, Keith stood up straight again and turned to see the bats fluttering away into the dark tunnel behind them. He chuckled a little.

“Don’t worry,” he said to Allura. “They’re harmless.”

She frowned, letting go of his sleeve. “I know that. They only took me by surprise.”

“Me, too.” They started walking again, down an adjacent passage. “When I lived in Texas, there were bats everywhere. There was this one place in Austin where swarms of like a million bats flew out from under this big bridge every day at sunset. It was really cool.”

Some of the stiffness eased from Allura’s shoulders. “That does sound quite fascinating.” She paused, tilting her head. “Do you miss it there?”

Keith stumbled a little mid-step, taken aback by the question, but he quickly recovered. “Yeah, a little,” he admitted. “I’ve lived all over the place since I was really little. Not always in the best places, but I liked it there for the most part.”

"Oh ... I am very sorry," Allura said quietly. "That you didn't always live in the best of places, I mean."

"Thanks. It's okay. Things have been a lot better the past couple years."

Allura smiled. "I am glad to hear that."

Keith smiled back before they fell back into a comfortable silence. Allura didn’t seem insistent on asking about his life story, which Keith was grateful for.

A few minutes passed with no sign of their friends in sight. Every once in a while Allura would pause as if hearing a strange sound, and would motion for Keith to follow her in one direction or another.

It didn’t take long until the sound of nearby voices echoed down the tunnel, and Keith and Allura both turned to see a shimmering blue glow dance off the adjacent passageway.

A moment later, Blue came prancing around the corner and made an excited chirruping noise when she saw them. She looked over her shoulder as if to gesture to the others to follow her, and then she came bounding down the tunnel.

It only took about two seconds for her to reach them, and she happily headbutted Allura in the chest. Allura let out a surprised laugh and touched her forehead to the lion’s as she scratched Blue behind the ears.

“Oh, Blue. I’m glad you found us, too!” Allura stepped back again, looking down the passage with an inquisitive frown. “Where are the others?”

As if in answer to her question, the Green Lion appeared just then with Pidge walking beside her, one hand resting on Green’s back.

Pidge’s face lit up when she saw her friends. “Keith! Allura! We’ve been looking all over for you guys.”

“Hey.” Keith smiled, starting to walk towards her. “We’ve been looking for you, too. Where are Hunk and Lance?”

“Right behind us,” Pidge said, although her smile wavered. “Hunk’s not doing super well, though.”

“What do you mean?” Keith asked, suddenly worried. “What happened? Is he hurt?”

“No, no, nothing like that. He’s just super claustrophobic, I think. Lance is trying to calm him down.”

As relieved as he was to hear that Hunk was physically unharmed, Keith still felt a pang of concern upon hearing this news. He remembered now that Hunk had mentioned he didn’t like dark and enclosed spaces, and he had seemed a bit on edge during their journey to the Castle, but Keith hadn’t realized how bad his fear was.

Just then, Keith heard Lance’s voice around the corner, although he was speaking too quietly for Keith to make out the words. He appeared a second later at the mouth of the tunnel, with Hunk clinging to his arm.

Keith could see now that Pidge hadn’t been exaggerating––Hunk really did look like he was on the verge of panic, an almost pained expression on his face and his shoulders hunched as he took small steps forward.

Lance looked up as they approached the rest of the group, managing a weak smile. “Oh. Hey, everyone.”

“Hey, guys,” said Keith, and then turned towards Hunk. “You doing okay?”

“Huh?” Hunk looked at Keith suddenly as if he hadn’t even realized Keith was standing there. He swallowed. “Oh. H-Hey. Not really. Kind of panicking.”

He let out a shuddering breath, and Keith could see now that his eyes looked watery.

“I-I’m sorry, guys,” he stammered, running a hand down his face. “I’m just really––”

“Hey, no. Don’t apologize,” Lance stopped him, patting his arm. “It’s okay. If you need a second, we get it.”

“Yes, it is alright,” Allura chimed in gently. “We all understand.”

Hunk sniffed loudly. He still held tightly to Lance’s arm, as Lance patted his hand reassuringly. He kept staring at the ground, avoiding everyone’s gazes.

“Thanks,” he managed to say, with another shaky sigh. “I … It’s just … I-I don’t think I can––”

He put a hand against the wall next to him, squeezing his eyes shut.

Keith stood a few feet away from him, feeling helpless and wishing there was something he could do. Nothing occurred to him at first––but then he stepped towards Hunk with newfound determination.

“Hey,” he said gently, which was at least enough to get Hunk to open his eyes in curiosity. “It’s gonna be okay, Hunk. Just … take a deep breath. Like this.”

He demonstrated inhaling slowly through his nose. After a moment’s hesitation, Hunk did the same.

“Okay, now hold it.”

Hunk obeyed, giving a little nod to indicate he’d heard Keith’s instructions.

“Now just let it out really slow through your mouth.”

With another nod, Hunk shakily let out the breath he’d been holding in.

“Good, you’ve got it,” Keith said, offering him a small smile. “Do it a few more times.”

Everyone waited patiently, giving Hunk some room as he continued to take deep breaths, hold them, and let them out again. Each time, his exhales came out a little less shaky than they had before. At the very least, the breathing exercise seemed to provide a distraction from his panic, and the glazed look in his eyes gradually grew brighter and more focused.

Finally, he stood up straight again. Although he still looked nervous, he managed to give Keith a trembling smile.

“Thanks, Keith.”

“No problem. It’s something Shiro taught me to help with panic attacks and stuff,” Keith said, and his smile immediately faltered.

He could feel the somber mood that immediately fell over the group, and he felt a little regretful he'd brought up Shiro. But somehow, instead of the usual painful twinge that came with mentioning him, Keith felt an unexpected flare of determination. Even though there were still many obstacles ahead, they were getting closer and closer to saving Shiro and Matt. They couldn't give up now.

Hunk was finally the one to break the silence. "Well, it really helped. Thank you." He managed another smile, although it was a bit sad this time.

"Are you feeling alright now, Hunk?" Allura asked.

"A little better, yeah." Hunk looked around at the narrow tunnel surrounding them. "Still not my favorite type of place in the world, but I'll be okay."

"Yeah, and we've got your back, man," Lance said, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

Hunk sniffed. “Thanks, guys. That means a lot.” He squared his shoulders. “Okay, I think I’m ready to keep going.”

Lance patted his arm. “Alright, buddy. Just let us know if you need to stop again, okay?”

The group began to venture further into the mine, guided mostly by Blue and Green. The pair of lions leapt on ahead, both of them shedding a soft light on the tunnel walls that converged into a teal hue. They stopped once in a while to glance behind them at the humans, but for the most part they bounded so quickly forward that the group struggled to keep up with them.

They all knew from experience that the lions didn’t tend to slow down on command, having minds of their own, so everyone just jogged to keep up until they were running out of breath.

“How much further do we need to go?” Pidge wheezed. “I’m trying to get through to Green but she’s not saying much to me. Seems to be really focused on something.”

“Same with Blue,” Lance chimed in. “I’m getting the same vibe I got from her this morning, like she senses some kind of danger.”

Keith didn’t like the sound of that. It also didn’t help that the deeper they traveled through the underground maze, the more he started to feel a familiar ache in his head––and this time it was accompanied by a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, like something was horribly wrong.

It started to become so overwhelming that he stumbled to a halt all of a sudden, bracing one hand against the side of the tunnel.

Everyone else kept moving forward until they all seemed to realize he had stopped, and then they all turned around to stare at him in concern.

“You okay, Keith?” Lance asked, a little worried furrow forming in his brow.

“Yeah … I mean, I don’t know,” Keith managed to say. His voice came out shakier than he expected, and he winced as another wave of strange energy passed over him.

Pidge’s eyes widened behind her glasses. “Do you sense something again?”

“Maybe. I’m not sure.” Keith lifted a trembling hand to his forehead, brushing some strands of hair out of his face. “I just know something feels like … super wrong.”

“I sense something as well,” said Allura with a slight frown. “It feels similar to how I felt back in the forest when we were searching for Green.”

Silence swept over the group at those words––because, well, their expedition to save Green hadn’t exactly gone smoothly. And when Allura had sensed something in those woods, it had been those invisible spirits that had tried to kill them.

“Well … that’s not a good sign,” Lance said, speaking aloud their collective worry.

Hunk let out an anxious, shuddering sigh. “Oh, boy.”

“But hey, we’ve got two lions this time,” Lance pointed out. “We can do this. Whatever is guarding the Yellow Lion … we can face it together.”

There was something a little forced behind his words, like he wasn’t sure what else to say. Nevertheless, he had a good point.

“You’re right,” Keith said. “We need to keep following Blue and Green. Uh … where are they, by the way?”

It appeared that the lions hadn’t waited for the humans to follow them, and had disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel.

Lance smacked a hand against his forehead. “Crap, we lost them. Well, I can sense that Blue is at least still somewhere nearby. C’mon, let’s go.”

They all took off running again, winding through the narrow underground space. Sprites danced frantically in the air around them like fireflies, illuminating the path.

Lance pulled out ahead of the others, with Keith close behind him and the others following. After several minutes of running, though, they still hadn’t caught up with Blue and Green. The lions’ light wasn’t even visible in the pitch darkness ahead.

“Guys, wait up!” Pidge’s voice echoed down the tunnel.

Everyone else came to a stop, turning around to face her. She had fallen far behind and was scrambling to keep up, finally stumbling to a halt when she reached the rest of the group.

“Can we––stop for a second?” she wheezed, bending over and placing her hands on her knees. “Some of us have really short legs. And asthma.”

“Right. Sorry, Pidge,” Keith said with a sympathetic wince. He was a little winded himself, taking a few moments to catch his breath.

“I don’t mind stopping or anything, but I’m afraid we’re gonna lose Blue and Green,” said Lance. “I’m getting some kinda signal from Blue. It feels like … I don’t know, like she thinks they’re close to finding Yellow.”

“I don’t mind staying behind with Pidge for a minute or so,” Allura offered. “You can all move on ahead and we can join you as soon as we can.”

Lance made a hesitant humming sound. “I don’t know, I don’t like the idea of splitting up.”

“I realize that. But I’m sure you will be able to find the lions nearby. And it is important that you get to the Yellow Lion before it falls into the wrong hands.”

There was a grim note to Allura’s words that seemed to change Lance’s mind in an instant.

“Okay, you’re right. Hunk and Keith, you ready to go?”

They both nodded in response.

“We’ll see you guys soon, okay?” Keith said to Pidge and Allura.

“Yeah,” Pidge managed to say, clutching at the stitch in her side. “See you soon.” Despite the discomfort she was obviously in, she managed a weak smile, which Keith returned.

Then he turned to follow Hunk and Lance as they led the way deeper into the mines.

––

They hadn’t been running for long before an odd, squarish shape was visible in the near distance, resting on the tracks.

“You guys see that?” Hunk said, pointing.

“Yeah, what is it?”

Lance sprinted towards the object in question, with Keith and Hunk stumbling after him.

“Oh, dude. No way. It’s a minecart!” Lance exclaimed.

Now that they had caught up with Lance, Keith could see that it was in fact a small cart sitting in the center of the tracks. It looked as if no one had touched it in years; its wooden exterior was worn and faded, and it tilted slightly to one side.

“Oh, no,” Hunk said admonishingly. “I know what you’re thinking, Lance, and it’s a bad idea.”

“Oh, come on. When am I gonna get another chance to ride in a minecart, Hunk? Plus, it might help us get to Blue and Green faster.”

“Well, I’m not getting into that death trap. Besides, I don’t think all three of us will fit in there.”

“Okay, suit yourself.” Lance had already swung a long leg over the side of the cart. It creaked noisily under his weight as he hopped into it and turned to look over his shoulder. “How about you, Keith?”

“Uh …” Keith hesitated. Truthfully, he was kind of tempted to crawl into the cart after Lance, but something held him back. “I don’t know. I don’t want to just leave Hunk behind …”

“Oh, good point,” Lance said, his shoulders sagging. “Okay, we don’t have to––”

“No, it’s okay,” Hunk cut him off. There was something strange about the way he blurted the words out, how he suddenly was looking between Lance and Keith like he was trying to solve a puzzle. “I won’t be too far behind. And I’m doing a lot better than I was earlier. Honest.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Hunk shot him a reassuring smile, and then turned towards Keith. “You should go with him, Keith. Make sure he doesn’t get himself killed.”

“Hey! I can look after myself, thank you very much,” Lance protested with a pout.

Keith couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. “Okay, I’ll go.”

Lance’s features brightened at that. “Yeah? Okay, cool. Hop on in.”

Still a little hesitant, Keith gave Hunk one last questioning look. Hunk gave him an encouraging little nod and then a subtle wink that made Keith freeze to the spot. Oh, no. Had Hunk figured out––?

“Keith!” Lance’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Come on, man. Or I’m gonna take off without you.”

“Okay, okay.”

Keith jogged around the side of the cart, pausing for a second before he grabbed the side of it and vaulted himself into it behind Lance.

The protesting creak of the cart underneath them was a little unnerving. Also, Keith quickly realized just how little space was between them. He hoped it was dark enough in the tunnel that Lance couldn’t see the redness that was probably spreading to his face.

“Ready?” Lance asked.

Keith was suddenly questioning this whole decision. “Yep,” he said, and then cleared his throat. “Hope you know how to steer this thing.”

“I don’t!” Lance answered cheerfully, and then looked around like he was searching for something. “Now, how do we––oh.” He reached for a lever on the side of the cart. “Maybe this … ?”

He had barely touched the lever when the cart lurched forward. Keith yelped and gripped the sides of it, bracing himself as the cart started to hurtle down the tracks at an alarming speed.

"See you guys!" Hunk called after them. His voice already sounded like it was a mile away.

The minecart continued its wild descent down the slope of the tracks, rattling and jolting at random intervals that made Keith grit his teeth. He hadn't let go from the sides of the cart, and they were going so fast that wind blew through his hair and there was a loud rushing sound in his ears.

"Maybe this was a bad idea!" he shouted over the noise.

Lance just laughed in response, and let out an excited whoop as they careened around a curve in the tracks.

At the noise, Keith couldn’t help but smirk in amusement and feel a twinge of fondness in his chest. And, well, now that the initial terror was wearing off, he realized that this was kind of fun. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as the cart continued its rattling journey over the tracks. It felt almost like when he was driving his motorcycle at full speed.

The excitement was short-lived, however, when he caught sight of a sudden dip in the tracks coming up ahead of them, opening up to a gaping mouth of a cavern. A large stone jutted out of the ground, and they were careening straight towards it.

“Lance, look out!” Keith shouted over the rumbling of the wheels over the tracks.

“I can’t stop this thing!” Lance yelled back.

Keith grabbed the sides of the cart again, debating whether it would be safer to just jump out of the cart or maybe try to throw it off the tracks somehow. Before he could make a decision, they hit the rock at full speed.

They both cried out in alarm as the impact sent them flying through the air and sailing through the mouth of the cavern. Keith hit the ground hard, landing on his shoulder and rolling a few feet down the slope until he managed to catch himself.

Groaning, he sat up and rubbed at the aching spot on his arm where he’d fallen. At least from what he could tell he hadn’t broken anything, so that was good. But he became a little less concerned with his own wellbeing when he looked up and saw Lance sprawled facedown on the ground amidst the scattered wooden debris of the broken cart.

“Lance! Are you okay?”

Keith started to crawl towards him, just as Lance turned over onto his back and started laughing.

“That … was awesome.”

It took Keith a moment to fully process that Lance wasn’t hurt––well, except maybe he’d hit his head––but then he huffed out his own disbelieving laugh in return.

“Yeah, guess it was pretty cool.”

Lance sat up suddenly, shooting Keith a frown that looked almost offended. “Pretty cool? Keith, we just rode a cart through an abandoned mine like something out of a cool old Western movie, and you think it was just ‘pretty cool’?”

“Fine, fine. It was really cool. Happy now?”

Although he only scoffed in response, Lance still smiled crookedly to show he wasn’t really mad. Keith felt a small flutter behind his sternum at the sight.

He also couldn’t help but notice, in the dim light of the cavern, that there was a dark smudge of dirt across Lance’s cheekbone––probably from where he’d fallen on his face. Without thinking, Keith leaned forward to brush the pad of his thumb over it to wipe it away.

He didn’t quite realize what he’d done until he saw Lance’s smile immediately drop, felt the way Lance tensed and leaned back in surprise––or repulsion, maybe––and Keith’s face started to burn with total mortification as he snatched his hand away.

“I’m––You just had some, uh …” he stammered, and then couldn’t complete the sentence. He couldn’t stop looking at Lance, who kept staring at him with wide and questioning eyes in a way that stirred up a thousand confused emotions in Keith’s chest.

But before either of them could say anything else, a loud roar echoed through the hollow space.

The two boys jumped apart from each other, looking up in alarm. Keith hadn’t even fully registered their surroundings until now, but now he saw that they’d tumbled into a massive cavern. Long stalactites hung from the towering ceiling, and large rocks jutted from the ground like crooked teeth. Hundreds of sprites hovered in the air, illuminating the darkness with an ethereal glow.

“Blue?” Lance called out, his voice echoing through the hollow space as he scrambled to his feet. He started to stumble down the rest of the steep slope, while Keith followed after him.

Blue leapt out from behind a jagged rock not far from where they stood, her eyes wide and bright.

“Hey, girl!” Lance exclaimed upon seeing her, but he slowed his pace as he approached like he was afraid he would startle the lion into running away again. “Are you okay? Where’s Green?”

As if on cue, another roar––not quite as loud as Blue’s––sounded from up ahead. Blue made a small rumbling noise, her ears perking up as she turned around. She dashed between two nearby rocks and disappeared from sight.

“Whoa, wait up!”

The two paladins sprinted after her.

“You ever feel like the lions are trying to ditch us on purpose?” Keith huffed as they maneuvered between the narrow spaces after Blue.

Lance laughed. “Yeah, sometimes it feels that way. I think they just get excited.”

They continued their winding path between the crowded rocks, with Blue just up ahead of them. The further they traveled, the more Keith started to feel an intense buzzing through his whole body, like they were approaching some massive source of energy. A soft golden light became visible up ahead, shining out from behind the rocks in dusty beams.

“Whoa, do you see that?” Keith said, slightly out of breath from running.

At first he’d thought that the glow was sunlight, but now he was getting the sense it was something much more unearthly than that.

“Yeah,” Lance answered from beside him. “That must be––”

He didn’t even finish the question as they skirted around another large rock and both gasped in wonder.

They now stood in a wide open space, the ceiling of the cave arching high above them. The ground dipped down slightly, where a shallow pool of glimmering water surrounded a small island at the center. And hovering over that island was an enormous, glowing yellow orb.

The bright light was almost painful to look at after being in the darkness for so long. Keith lifted a hand to shield his eyes as he squinted against it, his vision adjusting until he was finally able to see the magnificent creature that floated at the center of the sphere.

Although of course he’d seen the other Voltron lions before, the Yellow Lion was still a breathtaking sight to behold. He drifted peacefully at the center of the light, eyes closed and mane billowing softly as if stirred by a faint breeze. A sense of calmness and warmth seemed to radiate from him, beckoning the paladins forward.

“Wow,” Lance breathed. He took a step down the slope––but just then, Blue and Green jumped in front of them.

Something was wrong. Keith could see it right away in both lions’ expressions, in the way their ears flattened against their heads, how they crouched low to the ground in an almost threatening stance, both of them making low growling noises.

Keith hadn’t seen them like this before, and it made him take a cautious step backwards as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. It was easy to forget sometimes just how ancient and powerful the lions were, but now he felt the intensity of it like a searing heat crackling in the air.

“Uh … Blue? Green?” Lance said. He backed up, his elbow brushing against Keith’s. “What’s going on?”

The lions only stood their ground, eyes blazing and tails lashing. For a moment Keith wondered if they were possessed by some malevolent spirit. But as he kept staring at them in shock, he sensed something under their fury that felt more like a warning than a threat.

“There must be something near the Yellow Lion,” Keith murmured. “Something bad.”

He felt Lance shudder next to him. “Like what? Those invisible spirit things again? More Galra?”

“I don’t know.” Keith’s gaze swept over the area, eyeing the large stalactites and hulking stones that crowded the cavern.

“Well, we can’t just stand here forever. We have to get to Yellow. You could be his paladin, for all we know.”

Right. Somehow, Keith had almost forgotten about that possibility. Even as he considered it, though, he felt a flicker of doubt––an inexplicable knowing that he didn’t feel drawn to Yellow. Not any more than he felt to Blue or Green, anyway.

He examined his hands just to be sure, and saw no telltale glow to indicate that Yellow had chosen him.

“We need to get closer,” Lance insisted, trying to move past Blue again.

This time she reluctantly complied, although she stayed close to his side and continued to growl threateningly at whatever dark energy she sensed.

“Lance, wait.” Keith stumbled after him. Green followed, prowling around them in a protective circle. “Maybe we should wait for––”

They’d already reached the bottom of the slope and waded into the shallow water. Keith winced as it soaked into his sneakers and started to seep into his jeans. But he kept going, following after Lance and the two lions.

The light surrounding Yellow flickered over the water like sparks. Despite the danger they were possibly in, Keith couldn’t help but stop to marvel at the sight for a moment, gazing in awe at the reflection in the shimmering pool.

They stopped when they were about halfway to the lion, the water rippling around their ankles. Blue and Green floated on either side of the paladins, their paws barely skimming the surface.

Keith lifted his head to look up at the Yellow Lion again, and felt a blossom of warmth in his chest––some indescribable fusion of reverence and calmness and fear.

After a moment, he felt Lance’s elbow nudge him in the arm. Startled, Keith looked over at him.

He temporarily forgot how to think, distracted by the way the golden light illuminated Lance’s features and practically created stars in his eyes.

“So,” Lance said, “do you think this might be your lion?”

It took a second for Keith to register the question Lance had just asked him, and then he looked back up at Yellow with a curious tilt to his head. He kept staring at the giant spirit and waiting to feel something.

Nothing happened.

“I––” he started to say.

But before he could finish, Blue and Green both suddenly leapt forward with loud snarls. At the same time, several figures materialized in the air in front of the Yellow Lion’s barrier.

Keith only had a moment to interpret what was in front of him––and when he did, he saw it in a terrifying flash: A shadowy humanoid shape. A dark, billowing robe. An expressionless white mask with only faint indentations where the eyes would be. A pair of clawed hands rising, crackling with violet energy––

The bolt of light sped towards him before he could even gasp in shock. And then it slammed right into his chest.

The sensation was unlike anything Keith had ever felt. The pain was so great, so all-encompassing as it burned through every inch of him that he could barely comprehend it. He felt, for a moment, like he'd been temporarily dislodged from his own body and was only distantly aware of the agony that possessed his limbs and a horrible cry ringing through the air that he wasn't sure was his own or someone else's.

The world plunged into darkness for what might have been seconds or hours. All Keith knew was that he was suddenly staring up at the sharp points of the stalactites dangling from the cavern ceiling, like enormous daggers poised to fall at any moment. He felt numb all over except for the last remnants of dark energy still prickling in his extremities.

Loud noises echoed through the cave around him––vicious roars and some kind of droning electric buzz. And somewhere in the midst of that, someone yelling his name.

He drew in a sharp breath, ears ringing and chest aching as he shakily started to lift himself up. As full awareness returned he realized that he had fallen backwards into the shallow water, that now his clothes were soaked and his hair was dripping and his teeth were chattering.

But that was the least of his worries, because as he looked up he caught sight again of the creature that had attacked him––which he’d now come to realize was most likely a druid. One of Haggar’s minions. And there were two others flanking it, hands ablaze with purple lightning.

Blue and Green were already trying to hold them off, with beams of energy jetting from their roaring mouths. The druids blocked the attacks with eerie silence, their masked faces showing no emotion as their outstretched hands seemed to create invisible barriers between themselves and the lions.

Yet another druid appeared in the air, flickering into being like a hologram. It hovered for a moment, its mask turning right towards Keith as it tilted its head––an unsettling gesture, like it was observing him with morbid curiosity. Then it dove forward.

Finally gathering his wits, Keith scrambled backwards with a fearful cry. He tried to get up but he felt like his limbs were frozen and there was nowhere to run and––

The water around him shifted suddenly, and there was a blinding blaze of blue light as a huge wall of ice shot up in front of him. A figure appeared next to him with hands raised, as yet more beams of ice spiked up from the water all around them and above them, creating a protective dome.

“Lance,” Keith said in half-relief, half-wonder. He couldn’t seem to say anything else.

Lance knelt down next to him, eyes wide with concern. His labored breaths came out in clouds of mist in the cold surrounding them.

“Keith!” He put his hands on Keith’s shoulders. “Oh, my God. Are you okay?” He looked Keith up and down with frantic urgency, seeking out any sign of injury.

Keith was speechless for a moment before he found his voice. “I––yeah. I’m fine,” he said, although truthfully he felt a little dizzy. He wasn’t sure if that was because of being hit with evil magic or because of Lance’s close proximity, though. “Uh, thanks,” he managed to add, gesturing vaguely at the shield of ice Lance had created around them.

Lance’s grasp on Keith’s shoulders loosened. He still looked a little shaken for a second before a brief and disbelieving smile crossed his face, and he huffed out a relieved laugh. He looked like he was just about to say something else, but just then there was a huge thunk from outside the barrier.

Both of them shouted in alarm, looking up to see one of the druids with its hands pressed against the ice, with violet light blazing around its spindly fingers. The shield started to give way underneath its touch, cracking and splintering. More hollow thunking sounds reverberated through the ice as yet more druids attached themselves to the outside, breaking down the glowing blue structure with their dark energy.

Keith’s blood pounded in his ears as he took in the horrific sight, counting the druids––three, four, five … And there were yet more outside, battling against Blue and Green as the lions fought to protect them. But Keith had a sudden sinking feeling that it wasn’t enough.

He suddenly realized that Lance had huddled closer to him, wrapping a protective arm around Keith like that would somehow save them both from the druids’ powerful magic. His face was suddenly very close to Keith’s, pinched with fear and concentration.

“I don’t know how long I can keep the barrier up,” he said, stopping to take a shuddering breath. “I’m trying, but …”

There was another loud snapping noise as a jagged crack ran through the ice.

Lance squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

“It’s … what?” Despite the ice shield crumbling around them, and the very real possibility they were about to be killed by the druids, Keith still managed to feel a flare of sudden concern in his chest that Lance was blaming himself for this. “What are you talking about?”

“We should’ve waited for everyone else. I––I made you go in the minecart with me,” Lance said, stumbling over the words.

Keith stared at him. He might have laughed out of incredulity if it wasn’t for the dire circumstances.

“What? You didn’t make me do anything, Lance. I went with you because I wanted to.”

That seemed to catch Lance’s attention. He looked up at Keith in surprise, dark eyes widening in the faint glow.

Normally, Keith would have felt humiliated by the words that had just come out of his mouth. But right now he was too caught up in the odd, desperate thrumming in his chest––the realization that maybe this was really it, that maybe he wouldn’t have another chance to say all the things he wanted to say.

As if to drive the point home, the dome of ice around them shuddered violently. Chunks of it rained down, splashing into the water around them.

Keith held his breath. He didn’t want this to be the end, didn’t want to even consider the possibility.

“We’re gonna make it out of this,” he said. He wasn’t quite sure if he was trying to reassure Lance or himself. Or both.

“But what if we don’t?”

Lance’s voice was suddenly so quiet, so scared, that Keith could barely hear it. A hard knot formed in his chest at the look on Lance’s face, the desperation written in his eyes.

His hand still held tightly to Keith’s shoulder. Maybe Keith was imagining it, but he could have sworn that Lance had pulled him a little closer, because now their faces were only inches apart and their shallow breaths crystallized into a single cloud between them and––

Everything seemed to fall away for a moment, and Keith couldn’t feel the chill of the air around them or his damp clothes clinging to his skin, couldn’t hear the ice cracking or the lions roaring outside. He was gripped by the sudden impulse to close that distance, to just have this one good thing before the world quite literally crumbled around them.

But he hesitated a moment too long. And right then, the barrier shattered.

They both cried out as bits of ice rained down and pelted them from all directions. Lance grabbed Keith and yanked him forward, tucking Keith’s head against his chest to shield him from the worst of it.

The falling ice was the least of their worries, though. Because now there was nothing separating them from the druids.

Keith braced himself for the inevitable agony, clinging to Lance and not even caring anymore because this was probably the end. He dared to look up just in time to see the swarm of robed figures flying towards them––

But the impact never came.

There was a loud humming noise in the air around them, and a translucent purple force field appeared in front of them. The druids slammed into it, screeching in frustration.

“Keith! Lance!” a voice cried from behind them.

They both turned in surprise to see Allura standing at a slight distance, her hands raised in the air as she held up the barrier. Pidge stood close behind her, and she gasped and ran forward at the sight of the other two paladins.

“Are you guys okay?”

Keith realized then that Lance was still kind of curled around him––and Lance seemed to notice at the same time, pulling back quickly and wiping his hands on his hoodie as he stood up.

“Oh … yeah. Never been better,” he said, although it came out a little shaky. “Druids tried to attack us, but I kept them back with an ice wall … thing. Also Keith got hit with some kinda dark magic.”

“He what?” Pidge exclaimed.

“I’m fine,” said Keith, also rising to his feet. He felt a little woozy, but he managed to maintain his balance. “Only hurt a little.”

Pidge looked skeptical, but she didn’t question them further. She only looked between Lance and Keith with a sudden confused frown.

“Where’s Hunk?”

“Uh …” Lance shot Keith a nervous look. “We might have left him behind a little because we wanted to take a joyride in a minecart.”

It took a second before the words seemed to sink in, and then Pidge smacked a hand against her forehead. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“Hey, he said it’d be okay and he was right behind us! I’m sure he’ll catch up in a minute.”

“Well, I certainly hope he does,” Allura said, wincing as the druids began to pelt at her force field with their magic. “Because it appears that he must be the Yellow Paladin.”

In all the chaos, Keith hadn’t fully comprehended this fact––but now that Allura said it, it hit him.

“I can’t keep the shield up much longer.” Allura’s hands were shaking, and a bead of sweat had formed on her forehead.

On the other side of the barrier, Blue and Green were standing protectively in front of Yellow, shooting out beams of energy at any druids that drew near. But about half the druids were preoccupied trying to break down Allura’s force field, lightning jetting from their fingers into the transparent purple surface. It was already beginning to flicker and fade.

Keith came to a split-second decision.

“I’m gonna go find Hunk. Will you guys be okay holding off the druids?”

They all stared at him in surprise for a second before sobering again. Lance looked like he was going to protest, but then clenched his hands into fists and gave a serious nod.

“Yeah, we’ve got this. Pidge and I have our powers, plus Allura has her … magic lightning thing. And Blue and Green are helping, too. I think we can hold our own for a minute before Hunk gets here. What do you guys think?”

Pidge and Allura exchanged a wary look, but then they both nodded in agreement.

“Go,” Allura told Keith encouragingly. She let the shield down.

As soon as there was nothing standing in his way, Keith took off running.

He only spared a fleeting glance over his shoulder as he watched his friends jump into the fray––translucent vines shooting from the ground around Pidge, Lance’s hands glowing blue, Allura yelling as she sent beams of energy shooting from her palms. As much as it pained Keith to turn his back on them, he knew he couldn’t do anything for them. All he could do was trust that they could protect themselves while he found Hunk.

Keith soon made it back up the slope, breathing heavily, his soaked clothes dripping everywhere. He didn’t stop running, dodging through the maze of rocks that crowded the cavern.

“Hunk?” he called out once he’d made it closer to the mouth of the tunnel where he and Lance had entered. Maybe it was a long shot to think that Hunk could actually hear him, but––

“Keith? Is that you?”

A shadow appeared at the opening, and a moment later Hunk stepped into view. Despite the circumstances, Keith almost laughed out of sheer relief as he ran towards him.

By the time he reached the entrance, Hunk had already started to pick his way down the slight incline, stepping around the remnants of the mine cart that Keith and Lance had inadvertently destroyed.

“Sorry it took me a minute to catch up,” Hunk said. “I think I took a wrong turn somewhere and got kinda lost. Man, I’m glad I finally found you.”

He grinned, but his smile immediately dropped when he saw the look on Keith’s face. “Wait a second. Where’s Lance? And are Pidge and Allura with you guys? Also, why are your clothes all wet?”

“Long story,” Keith panted out. “And everyone’s here, but they’re in trouble. They need you.”

Hunk just stared at him. “Need … me?” He pointed to himself questioningly, like he thought Keith must be referring to someone else.

“Yes, you. A bunch of druids attacked,” Keith explained in a rush. “And we need to get you to the Yellow Lion right now.”

“But why––” Hunk started to say, and then he froze. “You mean … ?”

“Yeah,” Keith said. And as scared as he was, he managed to give Hunk a small smile. “You’re the Yellow Paladin, Hunk.”

The words didn’t seem to sink in at first, and then Hunk swayed on his feet a bit. “Oh, man. Really?”

“Yeah, really. Which is why we need to get you to where everyone else is so we can save Yellow.”

“Okay, okay, gotcha,” Hunk stammered. He took a deep breath. “Lead the way.”

Keith turned around and took off at a sprint again, this time with Hunk right behind him. Together, they navigated their way between the rocks, towards the noise of the nearby battle––cries and screeches and roars that echoed off the distant walls. An inkling of fear crawled up Keith’s spine at the sound, although at least the sounds of everyone crying out meant they were still alive.

They were drawing closer now, and Keith could hear Hunk’s breathing growing shallow.

“Oh, man. I don’t know if I can do this. Are you sure it’s me? Did you, like, even get close to the Yellow Lion?”

“Trust me, Hunk. It’s not me. It’s you,” Keith assured him. “And you can do this. Yellow chose you for a reason.”

“But I’m––” Hunk started to protest, and then stopped abruptly. “Whoa.”

Keith turned to look at him just as Hunk skidded to a stop. And even though he’d known it would happen, Keith still stared in awe.

Because Hunk was glowing.

The golden haze surrounded him like soft sunlight, seeming to emanate from his very skin. Hunk held his hands out in front of him, eyes widening at the sight.

As soon as the initial surprise wore off, Keith couldn’t help but smirk. “Believe me now?”

“Yeah,” Hunk said faintly, a disbelieving grin starting to spread across his face. “Wow.”

Just then, a loud roar resounded through the cavern, which snapped them both out of it.

“We’ve gotta go help the others,” said Keith.

Hunk’s smile gave way to a serious frown, and he nodded. Side by side, the two of them dashed between the remaining rocks in their path to get to their friends.

They broke out into the open moments later, pausing at the top of the slope. Below them, the scene had grown so chaotic that Keith could barely make sense of it.

Huge spikes of ice jutted from random places in the water. Translucent green vines hung from the ceiling and sprouted from the ground, some of them ensnaring struggling druids. Pidge and Lance were both dodging between the diversions, hands glowing as they continued to call upon their powers.

Blue was snarling and pinning one druid to the ground, and leaned down to bite its throat with a vicious snap of her jaws. The evil spirit let out a horrible shriek and dissolved into smoke.

Meanwhile, Allura was standing at the center of the cave shooting bolts of violet energy from her palms, repelling the attacks of any druids that swarmed near her.

But even though everyone seemed unharmed, Keith could tell they were outnumbered. When he’d left the scene only minutes ago, he could’ve sworn there’d only been about a dozen druids. Their numbers seem to have doubled in that short span of time, and there were more of them still materializing in the air every few seconds.

“Oh, jeez,” Hunk breathed.

Keith turned towards him, giving him an encouraging pat on the arm. “It’s all you, buddy.”

That seemed to actually spark some confidence in Hunk, and he stood up a little taller. “Thanks, Keith,” he said with a brief smile. “Remind me to hug you later when I don’t have to go save everyone.”

“You bet I will. Now go get that lion.”

Hunk nodded, squared his shoulders, and took off running down the slope. As he ran, the glow around him started to intensify until the bright yellow shone like a beacon.

Lance looked up then, just as he’d blasted a druid with a beam of ice and sent it hurtling to the ground. He smiled in relief and wonder at the sight of his best friend. “Hunk!”

But Hunk didn’t seem to hear him. He was running through the shallow water now, which rippled and sparkled in his wake. His eyes were fixed on the Yellow Lion like it was the only thing he could see in the center of the chaos. The orb of light around the lion had started to shine brighter and brighter until beams of it spread out in all directions, shooting between the hanging stalactites and reflecting intensely off the surface of the water.

Keith held up an arm to shield his eyes as he sprinted to the bottom of the slope, and even then he had to squint against the glare. He came stumbling to a halt right as he reached the edge of the water, just as the light exploded.

Time seemed to stop for a moment as the world was enveloped in the burning-white brightness, before it slowly began to dull down again.

As the afterimages faded from Keith’s vision in hazy patches, he looked up in awe. Hunk was now standing on the small island at the center of the water. And standing right behind him was the Yellow Lion.

The lion had looked imposing enough when he was asleep, but now looked even more so as he stood tall with glowing eyes open, his mane drifting around his head like the rays of the sun.

Hunk was silhouetted against the glow, his back turned on Yellow as if he hadn’t even noticed the lion was there. He was too focused on facing the battle that still raged in front of him, a sudden fury sparking in his eyes as the druids continued to swarm the air.

“Hey!” he shouted so loudly that it echoed through the cavern. “Leave my friends alone!”

And as he raised his hands, they started to blaze with golden light.

The effect was almost instantaneous. Transparent yellow shapes began to form around him in a circle on the ground, like he was pulling the very essence out of the earth. As Hunk lifted his hands higher, the shapes rose up into the air and Keith could see now that they were shaped like enormous boulders.

Without wasting a moment, Hunk shot one of his palms forward in a pushing motion, letting out an angry yell. One of the boulders went flying, crashing into one druid and crushing it against a stalactite. The spirit let out a blood-curdling screech as it dissolved into smoke.

Another boulder had already risen from the ground to take the first one’s place, and Hunk started to march forward with the ghost-rocks orbiting around him, flinging them at any oncoming druids. Yellow leapt into action beside him, joining Blue and Green as they continued to blast the evil spirits from the air.

Pidge and Lance had joined forces nearby, as Pidge trapped several druids with her vines while Lance encased them in spirit-ice.

Allura still stood on her own in the middle of the water, sending out a beam of light from one hand and felling another druid. But she was starting to look fatigued, swaying slightly on her feet.

Even though he doubted he could do anything to help, Keith ran to her side. “Allura, are you okay?”

She looked over at him with a somewhat glazed look in her eyes and sweat gleaming on her face.

“Keith?” she said faintly, like she’d forgotten he was there at all, and then she suddenly seemed to shake herself awake. “I … yes, I’m alright. But I fear we’re outnumbered.”

Although she was evidently trying to keep a brave face, Keith could hear the tremor of fear in her voice. And as he looked around them, his stomach dropped with dread as it hit him just how hopeless the situation was.

The druids seemed intent on targeting the lions now, swarming around them and descending with clawed hands outstretched. Blue, Yellow, and Green frantically threw the spirits left and right with violent swipes of their paws and furious roars, while the paladins kept trying to hold them off. But no matter how many they felled, there seemed to be more appearing in the air at every moment.

“Why don’t we just make a run for it?” Keith suggested, but Allura shook her head.

“They’ll only chase us through the tunnels, and then I fear they’d try to follow us through the portal.”

“Then what do we do?”

Allura chewed her bottom lip as she surveyed the scene one more time, and then her expression settled into a determined frown.

"There is one last thing I can try."

There was a certain finality to those words that made Keith uneasy. But before he could question Allura any further, he saw a blur of movement out of the corner of his eye. When he whirled around to look at it, he saw a druid flying straight towards them with lightning crackling between its fingers.

"Keith, get back!" Allura shouted.

Although he didn't want to leave Allura on her own, Keith didn't want to stand in the way of whatever she was about to do. The urgency in her tone convinced him to dash out of the way, turning at the last second just as the druid sent an enormous beam of violet energy hurtling towards Allura.

Keith yelled her name just as the bolt of light struck home, his heart plummeting into his stomach because it was too late––

Except ... it wasn't. Because somehow, Allura was still standing in the exact same spot, her head ducked down and her arms held up in front of her in a cross. And she was glowing.

A pale lavender haze surrounded her, pulsing with unearthly light. Keith couldn't quite understand what she had done, but it seemed she had somehow absorbed the druid's powerful magic. Now she slowly lifted her head, staring at her own glowing hands in wonder. The druid seemed equally shocked, recoiling with sudden terror.

It only seemed to take a moment, though, before the determination returned to Allura's face. She stood up straight again, shoulders rising and falling as she took a deep breath. Then she closed her eyes and pressed her palms together.

The air suddenly felt tense and electric. A low humming noise filled the cavern––or maybe it was just in Keith's head––growing louder and louder until Keith felt dizzy from it. Not only that, but he had an odd tugging feeling in his chest like some invisible energy was being sapped out of him, pulled into the aura surrounding Allura as if by magnetic force.

But before he could even begin to make sense of it, a dome of bright purple light formed around Allura and exploded outwards like an atomic shockwave.

Keth gasped and closed his eyes as it washed over him ... but then realized it felt like nothing more than a slight tingling across his skin. When he looked up, though, he saw that the druids were not so fortunate.

Whatever magic Allura had cast, it began to destroy the remaining druids in a single blow. As the violet light spread, every druid it touched screamed in agony and disintegrated, snuffing out like candle flames. Some of them attempted to flee, but none made it far before the light consumed them and reduced them to smoke.

There was such a cacophony of screeches from above that Keith's ears rang from it. He took a staggering step backwards, equal parts amazed and terrified at the spectacle. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other paladins stumble up beside him, all of them staring upwards in shock.

The explosion of magical energy filled the cavern with a final blinding flash, and then faded away.

A sudden, eerie stillness settled over the hollow space––a jarring contrast to the battle that had been taking place only minutes ago. The druids’ screeches still rang in Keith’s ears, and he felt strangely dizzy and lightheaded as the last traces of the powerful magic dissipated. Now there was nothing left but the three lions and five humans, and the evil spirits were nowhere in sight.

Finally snapping out of his daze, Keith looked over at Allura.

There was still a hazy glow surrounding her, but it was starting to fade. She opened her eyes with a sharp gasp as if she’d just awoken from a dream, her hands falling to her sides. For a few moments she just stared upwards with wide eyes, like she couldn’t comprehend what she had just done.

Then she fell to her knees.

Keith rushed over to her, with the other paladins in tow, splashing through the shallow water. They all knelt down around Allura, who had bent over with a hand pressed to her forehead.

Cautiously, Keith put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, are you alright?”

She didn’t answer for a moment and then slowly rose up again. Her eyes still looked slightly unfocused. “Yes, I’m––” she started to say, but then her eyelids fluttered and she started to sway backwards.

The paladins all exclaimed in concern, crowding closer to her. Keith managed to clumsily throw an arm around her shoulders to stop her fall, while Pidge caught her by the arm at the same time. The three lions gathered around them, making worried rumbling noises.

“Allura?” Keith said. She had sagged against him, head drooping towards her chest, and she didn’t answer.

Keith looked up at the others, but they looked just as panicked as he felt.

“Oh no, oh no,” Hunk murmured. “Is she okay? What do we do?”

Everyone looked at Keith like they expected him to call the shots for some reason, and he took a deep breath as he tried to find some semblance of rationality in his frantic rush of thoughts.

“We need to get back to the portal,” he said firmly. “I don’t know exactly what Allura did, but I think she absorbed one of the druids’ magic and used it against them somehow. Whatever it was, I think it was super draining. Maybe Coran will know what to do.”

No one else seemed to have a better suggestion, and they all nodded with solemn agreement.

Right then, Allura shifted a little against Keith’s side and murmured something indecipherable. The paladins let out a collective sigh of relief as she lifted her head, her eyes blinking open.

“Allura, are you okay?” Lance asked her.

She hesitated before nodding. “Yes,” she said, although it came out hoarsely. “Just … very tired. I’m afraid I massively drained my quintessence.” She looked around at all of them and bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I did not mean to worry all of you.”

“Hey, you don’t need to apologize,” said Hunk. “You saved all of us.”

“I did what I could. You all played a part in battling the druids.” She smiled weakly. “And Hunk, I’m so happy for you that you’ve bonded with the Yellow Lion.”

As if on cue, Yellow stepped up beside Hunk and lowered his head to rub it affectionately against Hunk’s face, purring loudly.

“Oh, hey,” Hunk exclaimed, chuckling as he reached up to bury a hand in Yellow’s mane. “Yeah, guess I’ve got myself a magic lion companion now!”

“You were awesome out there, dude,” Lance said with a grin, clapping a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “Taking out those druids with your giant ghost rocks! That was so badass. I’m so proud of you.”

“Aw, thanks Lance.” Hunk smiled briefly but then sobered again. “Anyway, we should probably get back to the portal, huh?” His eyes flicked nervously towards Allura, who was starting to look like she was on the verge of passing out again.

“Yeah, we really should,” Keith agreed. “But uh, how are we gonna … ?” He trailed off, not knowing how to politely phrase the question. They were pretty far from where they’d first entered the mine, and Allura didn’t seem like she was in any condition to be walking.

As if in response, Blue stepped forward with a little chirruping noise and knelt down in front of them. Allura reached up to rest a hand against Blue’s neck, offering a tired smile. Blue slitted her glowing eyes, and a sudden surprised expression crossed Allura’s face.

“Are you sure, Blue?”

Blue purred as if in affirmation to Allura’s question.

The paladins looked between them in confusion, but Allura offered no explanation. Instead she took a deep breath and started to rise to her feet.

The others stood up at the same time, hovering around Allura as she swayed a little. She didn’t seem to notice their concern. She simply walked to Blue’s side, then reached up to bury her hand in Blue’s fur and use it as leverage to pull herself up onto Blue’s back.

The lion rose up again, with Allura wrapping her arms around Blue’s neck to stay securely in place.

“Thank you, Blue,” she said quietly.

“Hey, she’s never let me do that!” Lance exclaimed. Everyone shot him a withering look, including Blue. “Okay, okay,” he sighed. “Some other time, I guess.”

“Okay, everyone ready to go?” Keith asked, and everyone nodded in confirmation.

“Yeah, let’s get the heck out of this place,” Hunk said with a shudder.

Not long after, they were back in the twisting tunnels of the mine, following the glow of sprites leading the way back to the portal. Blue walked up ahead, still carrying Allura, who was now draped limply across the lion’s neck—she appeared to have fallen asleep. Lance walked close beside them, like he was prepared to catch Allura if she slid off. Pidge and Green followed right behind, with Keith and Hunk at the back of the group and the Yellow Lion trailing after them.

Keith was still pretty shaken from their whole ordeal, and he was worried about Allura, but he tried not to give way to panic. He took in a deep breath and let it out shakily.

“You doing okay, Keith?” Hunk asked.

“Hmm?” Keith snapped out of his thoughts to look up at Hunk, who was watching him with a furrowed brow. “Yeah, I’m alright. Just … uh, that was a lot.”

“It sure was,” Hunk agreed. “But hey, we did it. And we’re gonna get back to the normal world and it’s all gonna be okay.”

He sounded a little hesitant, and like maybe he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to reassure Keith, but Keith appreciated the sentiment.

“Yeah,” Keith said after a second. “And a lot of that is thanks to you, man. You did really amazing back there. I told you that you were worthy of being a paladin.”

“Thanks, Keith,” Hunk said quietly, giving him a friendly squeeze on the shoulder.

“No problem. How does it feel? Being bonded to Yellow, I mean.”

Hunk glanced over his shoulder at Yellow, grinning when the lion made an affectionate rumbling noise in his direction.

“It’s pretty cool, man. Also kinda weird, though. I finally get what Pidge and Lance are talking about with their lions … like there’d been this piece of me missing that I didn’t even know about. And I have these crazy powers …”

He trailed off suddenly, his smile falling. “Oh, sorry. I hope I’m not making you feel bad or anything.”

Keith frowned. “Feel bad? Why?”

“‘Cause you don’t have your own lion yet.”

“Oh.” What with everything that had happened, Keith hadn’t really stopped to think about how he was the only one left who hadn’t bonded with his lion. “It’s okay. You weren’t making me feel bad.”

“Oh, good,” Hunk said with a sigh. “But hey man, that’s really exciting that you’ll be getting your lion next.”

Keith turned forward again, a mix of excitement and trepidation stirring in his chest at the notion. “Yeah,” he murmured.

Everything was starting to click together in his head: they’d already found Blue, Green, and Yellow, and Black was trapped in the abandoned castle where Shiro was. There was only one lion left, which meant—

“I guess this means I’m gonna be the Red Paladin.”

Chapter Text

It had been almost a week since they’d found the Yellow Lion, and there was still no sign of Red.

Of course, it didn’t help that Allura was still out of commission and couldn’t seek out the Red Lion––she was still recovering from her fight against the druids, and Coran had cautioned her against expending her magic.

There wasn’t much they could do for now, but that didn’t stop Keith from feeling antsy. With each passing day, his anxiety increased like a physical itch underneath his skin. He would be the next one to bond with his lion, and the anticipation of it had him both thrilled and terrified.

For now, he tried to keep himself busy with working at the Absurdatory, reading, watching TV, going for walks … anything to occupy his mind and avoid his worries. It also helped to have the other paladins around, and they managed to find some time to hang out together in the days after finding Yellow.

But this weekend, both Pidge and Hunk were out of town––Pidge had gone on her school trip to D.C. and Hunk was going hiking with his family. They kept in touch via their group chat, but Keith still felt a little empty because of his friends’ absence, not to mention paranoid that something would happen while they were gone.

“How’s the trip going?” Keith asked Pidge the day after her departure. He lay sprawled across his bed, staring up at the ceiling as he held his phone to his ear.

“Oh, you know. It’s going. Our flight was delayed, so we didn’t get in ’til pretty late last night. And we had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn this morning and now they’ve been dragging us around all day.”

“I’m sorry. I hope you’ve at least gotten to see some cool stuff.”

“Sure. Museums and monuments and all that. It’s interesting I guess, but … It’s just hard to enjoy it with everything that’s going on. And I know it’s only been a day, but I miss you guys.”

Keith sat up, still cradling the phone to his ear. “We miss you too, Pidge. And yeah, I get that. But don’t worry, you’ll be back in like two days, right? The odds of anything happening in that time––”

“Don’t jinx it,” Pidge said, and then swore under her breath. “I gotta go. I kinda snuck off from the group ‘cause we’re not supposed to be on our phones, and now I think I’ve lost track of everyone.”

“Okay. Don’t get stranded in D.C.”

“I’ll try not to. See ya, Keith. Text me if anything happens.”

“I will. Bye.”

Almost as soon as Keith lowered the phone from his ear, it vibrated and the screen lit up with a text message. Keith thought maybe it was Pidge again, and he nearly dropped his phone in surprise when he saw who it was actually from.

lance: hey man. what’re u up to??

Holding his breath, Keith opened the text and read those six simple words over and over again like they were written in a foreign language. His thumbs hovered over the screen before he began to text back.

keith: nothing really. just talked to pidge. she made it to dc.

Lance wrote back a short “oh good!” in response and then started typing something else. Keith’s heart rate picked up to an embarrassingly fast pace as he watched the three little dots march across the screen repeatedly. When his phone buzzed, he nearly jumped at the sound.

lance: hey i was thinking…..if ur not doing anything tonight we could hang out maybe?? cuz i’m not doing anything either. but if ur busy that’s fine.

Keith blinked at the message as if it might disappear, but it still remained. So, Lance was offering to hang out with him. And it would just be the two of them, since Hunk and Pidge weren’t around. Okay. No big deal.

He bit his lip and started to type back.

keith: sure i’d be down. what’d you want to do?

The suspense almost killed Keith as he watched Lance start and stop typing several times.

lance: i was thinking maybe a movie or smth? i could pick you up…would around 8 work for you??

Keith almost choked, and then skimmed the message again in case he’d misread it. Because there was no way Lance was asking him to a movie. That sounded almost like a … No. No way. He was reading way too much into this. Friends went to movies together all the time, right?

He realized he’d been staring at Lance’s question for too long now––or maybe that was a good thing, because he didn’t want to seem too eager. Hesitantly, he typed out a reply and hit “send” before he could chicken out.

keith: ok sounds good

Lance’s response was almost immediate.

lance: sweet!!!!! See you then dude

Keith waited to see if there would be more, but after waiting for a minute he realized that was probably the end of the conversation. He smacked a hand against his forehead and groaned. He really needed to get a grip.

As the mortification started to fade, the panic started to set in. He was going out … with Lance. Well, not going out going out, but still. What was he going to wear? What if he made things super awkward? What if Lance only wanted to hang out with him because no one else was around and––

He stopped that train of thought, not wanting to go down a maddening spiral. Okay, relax. You’re making a big deal out of nothing. This was just going to be a casual thing, and there was no need to freak out about it.

That didn’t stop him from feeling anxious, though. During the next couple of hours, he tried to channel his nervous energy into preparing––showering, getting dressed, eating some leftovers for dinner.

Finally, the hour rolled around and Keith’s phone buzzed at almost 8 on the dot.

lance: heeyyyyy i’m outside

The message was followed by a long string of sunglasses and peace sign emojis, and Keith smirked a little at that.

keith: ok, i’ll be right there

He shoved his arms through his jacket sleeves and headed out the door.

Sure enough, Lance was parked outside the apartment building in his minivan, leaning one arm out the window. He sat up straight as soon as he saw Keith, a crooked grin lighting up his face.

“Hey, man. Hop in!”

Keith was momentarily distracted by Lance’s smile and almost forgot how to use his legs, but he managed to walk around to the other side of the car and open the door. He slipped into the passenger seat. “Hey.”

Lance started the engine and pulled away from the curb. As they made it to the end of the street, he drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he waited to turn. “So … what’s up?”

“Not much,” Keith answered. He filled Lance in on the conversation he’d had with Pidge earlier, and a bit about what he’d heard from Coran regarding Allura’s current state––she was still drained from their last battle, but recovering.

“Well, I’m glad to hear she’s okay, at least,” Lance said, continuing down the narrow road. He tapped at the steering wheel again. “Anyway, I thought it’d be good for us to just chill for tonight, you know? Get our mind off things.”

“Good plan. Any idea what movie you want to see?”

“Don’t know, but preferably something as mindless as possible. Something with a lot of explosions. What do you think?”

“Sounds good.”

Lance looked away from the road to smile at Keith for a moment before he faced forward again. Keith’s gaze lingered on his profile, how it was illuminated by stripes of light as they passed under the streetlights, how a slight dimple was visible at the corner of his mouth.

“Hey, Lance?” Keith blurted before he could stop himself.

“Yeah?”

Keith’s mouth felt dry and his heart started to pound. Just ask him. “I was wondering … us going to this movie together … Is this—”

Before he could finish the question, Lance gasped sharply and the car veered towards the middle of the road. Someone honked loudly behind them, and Lance just barely managed to steer them within their lane again before they could run headlong into another vehicle.

Keith swore, his head hitting the back of the seat. He quickly righted himself, his heart racing for a new reason now. “What was that? You okay, Lance?”

“Y-Yeah.” Lance let out a shaky breath. “Hold on. I need to pull over for a sec.”

Keith didn’t question him, waiting until Lance had steered the car over to the side of the road and brought it to a stop.

“Is everything alright?” Keith’s mind was already racing through the possibilities of what was wrong.

“It’s Blue,” Lance said. He gripped the steering wheel, his brow furrowing in concentration. “I––I think she’s trying to tell me something.”

“Oh.” In some ways, that was a relief compared to all the things Keith had feared Lance was about to say. But then it started to sink in, and a sudden feeling of dread swept through him. “What is she saying?”

“I don’t know. Just give me a second.”

Keith fell silent, not wanting to interrupt whatever silent conversation Lance and Blue were having. Lance sat very still with his eyes closed, head bowed. The moments stretched on until it had been almost a full minute, and Keith anxiously drummed his fingers against the sides of his seat and stared at the glowing digital clock on the dashboard. The only sound was the hum of the engine and the rushing noise of an occasional car driving past them.

Finally, Lance raised his head and opened his eyes. “Oh, no,” he said. Which was about the last thing Keith wanted to hear.

“What’s wrong?”

Lance chewed his lower lip, looking over at Keith and then back at the steering wheel.

“She knows where Red is.”

Keith’s eyes widened as the weight of the words hit him. “She does?”

“Yeah, and she’s in trouble. Red, that is. It’s hard to tell exactly what kind of trouble––the Galra? More druids? Or … I don’t know. But Blue’s telling me we have to go find her right away. We can’t waste any time.”

Lance was already starting to pull away from the curb, steering them back onto the road and stepping on the gas.

“Whoa, whoa. Wait,” Keith blurted. He lay a hand on the door handle next to him like that would slow the car down. “Where are we going?”

“To Altea. Blue can meet us there and open up a portal.”

“What? We can’t do that! Pidge and Hunk aren’t even here, and Allura’s still recovering so she can’t––”

“I know. I don’t like it, either. But trust me, I’ve never felt Blue this worried before.” Lance kept his eyes fixed on the road, the slight tremor in his voice betraying his fear. “I really don’t think it can wait. If we don’t go now, Red could fall into the wrong hands.”

Keith’s mind was still racing to catch up with what was happening. One second they’d been going to a movie, and the next they were rushing towards Altea to meet up with Blue and go save Red. By themselves.

“Lance, this is a terrible idea. We don’t even know what we’re up against. What if it’s like last time? We can’t fight a bunch of druids by ourselves.”

“We won’t be by ourselves. We’ll have Blue to back us up.”

It seemed like Lance had already made up his mind. And truthfully, maybe he was right. If this was as big of an emergency as Blue was telling Lance, they couldn’t wait it out until the rest of the team was back. And the thought of anything bad happening to the Red Lion, Keith’s lion …

Running a shaking hand through his hair, Keith let out a defeated sigh. “Okay. I guess we don’t have a choice. Should we at least try to contact Allura?”

Lance hesitated, biting his lip. “We probably shouldn’t. If she finds out where we’re going, she’ll insist on coming with us even though she hasn’t fully recovered. And I don’t want her draining her magic energy more than she already has.”

Although he suspected Allura would not be happy about this––to put it mildly––Keith knew Lance had a point.

“Guess you’re right.” He looked out the window, watching the trees pass along the side of the road. The sky had grown dark, and the full moon hung low, peeking out from behind the branches. Then he faced the dashboard, gaze fixing on the road ahead with newfound determination. “Okay. Let’s go save Red.”

—

Blue met up with them at the edge of Altea, bounding between the trees and heading straight towards Lance.

“Blue, there you are!”

Lance rushed up to meet her, throwing his arms around the lion’s neck as she bent down to rub her head against his.

The moment was short-lived, though, as Blue stepped back again. She turned back towards the forest, looking over her shoulder to indicate that the paladins should follow her, and dove between the trees. Keith and Lance sprinted after her.

The faint glow surrounding Blue was the only illumination in the dark forest of Altea. Like a beacon, it led them through the woods until they reached a small clearing and Blue came to a stop. She lifted her head, ears twisting back and forth. A growl rose from her throat as she paced in a circle.

“Blue? What is it?” Lance asked.

The lion showed no sign she had heard him. Instead, she sat down on her haunches and closed her eyes.

“Uh … what is she doing?” Keith whispered. “Is she napping?”

“She’s not napping,” Lance said, elbowing Keith in the arm. “She’s trying to summon the portal! Give her a second.”

Keith fell quiet, not wanting to disrupt Blue’s concentration. Around them, the forest was so completely devoid of life or noise that Keith’s ears rang with the silence. Then he felt a distinct, familiar prickling sensation at the back of his neck––the sense that he was in the presence of an ancient, powerful energy.

A shimmering circle appeared in front of Blue. The portal swirled with mist, its edges blending into the air around it. On the other side of the translucent circle, Blue opened her glowing eyes.

Keith felt drawn to the portal as if pulled by a magnetic force, but another part of him wanted to turn around and run the other way. He still had a heavy feeling of dread in his stomach warning him that this was a very, very bad idea.

He was broken from his trance by Lance nudging his arm. “You okay, dude?”

“Huh? Y-Yeah,” Keith stammered. “Just a little … you know. Nervous.”

“Yeah, me too,” said Lance. He put a hand on Keith’s shoulder and offered him a lopsided grin. “But don’t worry, man. We’ve got this.”

Keith wasn’t so sure, but it was hard not to feel at least a little reassured by Lance’s smile and the weight of his hand on Keith’s shoulder. He managed a weak smile back, then gave a small nod to indicate he was ready to go.

Seeming to interpret that as a signal, Lance turned back towards the portal. “Okay, Blue. We’re going in. See you both on the other side.”

He gave Keith’s shoulder one more squeeze and then strode towards the light. He only held back a moment longer before he stepped through the portal, the mist enveloping him until he disappeared.

The sudden lack of Lance’s presence at his side made the forest seem a hundred times darker and bigger around Keith. His hands knotted into fists at his sides as he took a cautious step forward.

Blue watched him with her steady, unfaltering gaze and he couldn’t tell whether she was challenging him or just waiting for him patiently. Either way, Keith narrowed his focus to the portal in front of him. He had no idea what awaited him on the other side, except for that somehow––hopefully––it would lead him to his lion.

He stepped into the light.

––

Keith fell onto solid ground, knees landing in the dirt. As the disorientation of portal-traveling faded, he rose to his feet and dusted off his jeans, taking in his surroundings.

He was standing at the top of a hill overlooking a wide valley. Small houses and clusters of trees dotted the slopes, but otherwise the landscape was almost completely barren. Rubble was strewn across the ground, and the roads winding through the abandoned town were cracked and overgrown with weeds.

What was most noticeable, though, were the thick clouds of white mist rolling across the valley, silver and ethereal in the faint moonlight. At first, Keith thought it was a dense fog, but then he realized there were several places where the clouds appeared to be billowing directly up from the ground.

“Keith!”

He turned around to see Lance jogging towards him with Blue in tow.

“Hey! Glad the portal jump didn’t separate us too badly this time,” Lance said, then paused to catch his breath as he surveyed the landscape. “Whoa, look at this place.”

“Yeah. What do you think it is? Some kinda ghost town?”

“Guess so. But what’s with all the––” Before he could finish the question, Lance gasped and grabbed Keith by the shoulders. “Oh, my God. Keith, I know where we are.”

Keith’s mind blanked out at the sensation of Lance’s hands on his shoulders and the close proximity of his face. “You … do?”

“Yeah! Dude, we’re in Centralia. I recognize it from photos I’ve seen.” When Keith gave him a blank look, Lance sighed and continued, “It’s a famous ghost town in Pennsylvania. Super duper haunted. It was evacuated like … I don’t know, fifty years ago? Basically people were illegally burning a bunch of trash and it started this huge fire in an abandoned mine underground. It’s just been burning ever since then.”

“Whoa, what? For fifty years?”

“Yeah, and it’s supposed to keep burning for like two hundred more.” Lance’s hands dropped from Keith’s shoulders as he turned to look out at the valley again. “Makes sense that the Red Lion would be here, since––y’know, the whole place is on fire underground.”

“Guess so.” Keith followed Lance’s gaze down to where the smoke was billowing across the ghost town. He scoffed. “You know about every famous ghost town in the world, huh?”

Lance shrugged. “Pretty much. Anyway, your lion’s not gonna find itself. And I think Blue’s getting a little impatient.”

As if to illustrate, Blue bounded past them right then and started leaping down the uneven slope. She turned to look at the two paladins before continuing her rapid descent.

“Okay, okay. We’re coming!” Lance called after her.

As usual, Blue didn’t seem to wait for her human followers; she was too focused on navigating her way down the side of the hill, pausing every few steps to raise her head and swivel her ears. She led them down into the valley and onto the road winding through the town. The paladins followed her, jogging to keep up.

Keith looked down at the cracked pavement, observing the layers of faded graffiti that almost completely obscured its surface. Deep crevices scarred the path, spewing out gray smoke. Along the sides of the road, dark trees stood starkly against the sky.

The farther they traveled, the more Keith began to sense a familiar tingling at the back of his mind––the indication that some great source of energy was nearby. It only grew stronger as they kept running.

"We're getting close," he told Lance as they skirted around a smoking hole in the ground. “I can feel it.”

Another wave of strange energy swept over him and Keith’s heart raced even faster. He stumbled a little from the odd sensation that had overtaken him, coming to a sudden stop.

Lance almost ran into him, but managed to stop himself and grab Keith by the jacket sleeve. “Whoa. You okay, man?”

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Keith managed to say, a little breathless from running. “Just … it’s kind of overwhelming.” Another spike in energy came from somewhere ahead of them––and Keith simultaneously wanted to run towards it and to get as far away from it as possible. “We still don’t know what we’re going up against.”

“I know what you mean,” Lance said quietly. He looked up at the road again, biting his lip. “Blue seems really on edge, huh?”

Not far from where they stood, Blue had slowed her pace and was prowling in a slow circle, ears flattened and tail lashing back and forth. She seemed to have almost forgotten the paladins were there, her glowing eyes surveying the scenery with intense precision.

“Is she telling you anything?” Keith asked.

“Not really,” said Lance, watching his lion. “She’s too focused on trying to find Red. But she can sense something’s … wrong. She feels scared.”

“Probably not a good sign,” Keith said, feeling a bit lightheaded.

“Probably not.”

Until then, Keith hadn’t realized that Lance was still holding onto his sleeve. They remained like that, huddled in the middle of the road together, as they continued to watch Blue pace across the smoky path.

Finally, Blue lifted her head as her ears perked up. She turned to the left, her haunches shifting before she dashed off the road and between the trees.

Lance gasped and tugged on Keith’s sleeve. “Come on!”

They rushed after Blue, her glow beckoning them through the sparse forest. Keith hardly felt the ground under his feet or the branches that whipped at his face and arms as they crashed through the underbrush. All he could feel was the adrenaline pulsing through his veins, and the magnetic force pulling him closer and closer to their destination.

At last, a glimpse of white was visible through the trees, and Blue ran straight towards it. The paladins followed her, bursting out into the open.

Both panting for breath, they came to a stop. They had run into a clearing, occupied by a small hill with a lone building standing on it––a church, judging by the large stained glass windows and the cross atop its pointed roof.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Lance muttered. “A spooky abandoned church? I mean, cool but kinda clichéd, don’t you think?”

“A little,” Keith agreed, although his response came out faint. His eyes fixed on the imposing church tower in front of them, the dark cross standing out against the sky.

Blue had already run to the front steps, pausing when she reached them to turn and look at the paladins expectantly. She still seemed tense, her luminescent fur standing slightly on end. But she also seemed impatient for the humans to follow, glancing from them to the church doors and back again.

“You ready?” Lance asked.

Keith swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. “Guess so.”

Every inch between them and the church steps felt like a mile. As the distance narrowed, the building seemed to grow ten times larger. The whole time, Keith kept his eyes fixed on the white double doors at the top of the stairs, their paint chipped and peeling with age.

When they finally reached Blue, she growled at them.

“What’s she saying?” Keith whispered.

“She’s warning us,” Lance answered, voice low and hoarse. “She––She senses something dangerous in there.”

Keith let out a shaky breath. “Okay. Well … here we go.”

Before he could move forward, he felt something brush against his sleeve and looked over to see Lance offering a hand out to him.

“Uh,” Lance said, and cleared his throat. “Do you want to … ?”

Keith stared at him blankly before he realized that Lance was offering to hold hands with him. Warmth rose into his face. His first instinct was to argue that he wasn’t scared, but the anxious glimmer in Lance’s eyes stopped him.

Without saying anything, Keith took hold of Lance’s hand in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture. Lance squeezed his hand back. Then, together, they walked up the steps.

By the time they reached the doors, Keith felt like every molecule in his body was humming with an indescribable energy. He knew that on the other side of that door was something that was going to change his life forever, and he wasn’t sure he was prepared to face it.

He took a deep breath and released it in a long sigh. “Okay,” he said. “I’m ready.” He reached out and placed a hand on the door.

At first, it didn’t budge. But as Keith leaned more of his weight against it, the heavy door began to open with a low creak. As it swung inwards, a faint red light crept through the gap. Keith paused at the sight of it, his pulse racing, as he pushed the door the rest of the way open and shouldered his way into the church.

He froze.

A long aisle stretched in front of him, lined with empty wooden pews. The ceiling arched high above. But Keith was only distantly aware of those details, as his eye was drawn immediately to the sight of the enormous red sphere floating over the dais at the far end of the room.

He had tried to imagine, over and over again, what it would be like to see his lion for the first time. But nothing could have prepared him for the wave of emotion that crashed over him at the sight of the Red Lion floating there in her translucent prison, head bowed and eyes closed.

When he was a little kid, he used to imagine what it would be like to meet his birth parents, to find out they were alive and hadn’t abandoned him. Somehow, this felt similar to that feeling he’d always envisioned––an initial shock followed by a deluge of conflicting and bittersweet feelings: relief and overwhelming joy that he’d finally found what he was looking for, but also a deep sorrow that it had been missing for so long.

“Wow,” was all he could manage to say, so softly that he could hardly hear his own voice.

He’d forgotten that Lance was still holding his hand, until he felt a firm pressure around his fingers. Startled from his reverie, he looked up to find Lance grinning back at him.

“What’re you waiting for? Let’s go get her!”

Keith’s instinct was to comply, but something stopped him as the rational part of his brain flickered back to life.

“Okay, but we have to be careful,” he said. “Blue must’ve warned us for a reason. … There could be evil spirits in here. Something we can’t see.”

As soon as he said it, Keith could have sworn he felt a chill in the air––although maybe that was just a draft breezing through the cavernous room. Blue seemed to sense it too, letting out a low growl behind the paladins.

“Right,” said Lance, frowning as he examined their surroundings. “Don’t worry. I’ll stay right next to you.”

They started walking down the church aisle, still clutching each other’s hands. Keith was distantly aware that he was shaking and that Lance could probably feel it, but right now he didn’t care.

The crimson glow surrounding Red saturated the abandoned church with ominous light, the empty pews casting long black shadows in its wake. The lion hovered in place at the center of her glowing sphere. Although her eyes were closed, Keith could sense a crackling energy radiating from her––something much different than what he’d felt from the other lions. There was more of an edge to it, a wildness that made adrenaline burst through Keith’s veins.

But all of a sudden, something gave him pause. He lifted his free hand to look at it and––

Keith stopped in his tracks, grabbing Lance’s arm. “Wait.”

“What is it?” Lance asked, giving him a quizzical look.

“Lance, I’m not––” Keith held up his hand for Lance to see. “I’m not glowing.”

“Huh?”

“When the rest of you guys bonded with your lions, you started glowing as soon as you got near them, but I’m not …”

The words tumbled out of Keith, and he had to stop for a second to take a breath. He looked down at his hand again as if staring at it long enough would make a difference. But besides the faint red light filling the church, his skin remained its usual tone.

“Oh, no,” he murmured, turning his hand over to look at his palm. “What––What if it’s some kinda mistake? What if I’m not––”

“Keith,” Lance cut him off, putting a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “It’s not a mistake. Red is your lion. I mean, you can feel that, can’t you? I knew as soon as I saw Blue that we were connected.”

"I ... yes," Keith managed to say, although it was difficult to string words together right now for a multitude of reasons. Despite the hesitation he could hear in his own voice, he meant it. He did feel a strong connection to Red––something deep and unshakable pulling him towards the dais. "I do," he said with a bit more confidence. "I feel it."

"Then, come on." Lance gestured towards the floating sphere. "Trust me. It’s gonna be fine."

There was such heartfelt sincerity in the words that any other protests died in Keith's throat. Silently, he nodded.

They walked the rest of the way to the front of the church. Blue maneuvered around them, her glow combining with Red's to create a violet haze on the floor. She made a concerned rumbling noise as she leapt up the steps of the platform, stopping outside the force field surrounding Red.

Keith's breath caught in his throat as he took the first step upwards after Blue, his hand slipping out of Lance's. He took another step, and another ... and then he was standing right in front of the sphere, gazing up at the Red Lion in awe. He could feel a spark of something, like an electric current running from him to Red and back again.

But her eyes remained closed as she floated in midair behind the barrier. She showed no sign of awakening.

"I––I don't understand," Keith said. He looked down at his hands again to find that they still weren't glowing. No matter how he tried to quell his panic, he could feel it spreading like poison. "Why isn't anything happening? Why isn't she ... ?"

He couldn't even get the question out. Too many thoughts rushed through his head in a violent frenzy. Was he not a paladin after all? Was something wrong with Red?

"Hmm," Lance said, stepping up next to Keith. He frowned, scratching at his chin as he looked up at the sleeping lion. "I don't know. Maybe just try ... knocking or something?"

Normally Keith would've dismissed the idea, but right now he was willing to try just about anything. He reached a hand up and rapped his knuckles against the surface of the sphere. It made a hollow thunking noise, and ripples of light radiated from the point of impact. But still, nothing.

"Uh ... hello?" he tried. When Red still didn't wake up, he raised his voice a little. "Hey, Red Lion? It's me, Keith. I'm your paladin."

It sounded awkward and desperate to his own ears, but at this point Keith didn't know if he had any better options. Nothing seemed to be getting through to Red. Nearby, Blue whined and jumped up to put her front paws against the glowing barrier before jumping back down again––but that seemed to have no effect either.

Keith was starting to get a sick, sinking feeling. He’d worried about this moment for ages, but this was worse than he’d imagined. His vision swam, and he lowered his head. Of course. He’d spent all this time believing he was really a paladin, only to have it ripped out from under him at the last second.

“Keith,” Lance said quietly, but then he didn’t seem to have any words of comfort to provide. Not this time. Keith couldn’t even look at him.

He was trying to think of what to do––whether to keep desperately trying to break down Red’s barrier or to tell Lance that maybe they should leave … but right then, a cold and ominous sensation crawled up his spine.

That’s when a low and sinister laugh echoed from somewhere in the darkness behind them.

Both gasping, Keith and Lance whirled around to face the source of the noise. At first, Keith saw nothing but the rows of pews illuminated in red light. But then, from the dark shadows at the end of the aisle, a glowing figure emerged.

Even before she lifted her head, Keith immediately recognized the long robe, the silvery hair dangling out from underneath her large hood. Then, the pair of glowing yellow eyes as she looked up.

Keith’s hands clenched into fists at his sides. “Haggar,” he growled.

Lance sucked in a sharp breath. “Wait, that’s … ? Oh. Oh, no.”

Haggar stopped about halfway down the aisle, hands folded into her draping sleeves. She laughed again––a cold, drawling sound that made goosebumps rise on Keith’s skin. Although he’d seen her in his dreams before, it was another thing to see her face-to-face, knowing that there was no escape; he couldn’t open his eyes and wake up this time.

“Not so easy waking the Red Lion as you had hoped, I see,” she said, voice rasping. Her thin mouth turned up at one corner in a cruel grin. “I suppose you grew confident after freeing the other lions. Seems no one told you that the Red Lion is much more difficult to awaken. What a pity.”

She slowly drew her hands out of her sleeves, revealing the bolts of violet electricity dancing between her fingers.

Keith’s vision flickered with panic at the sight, remembering how agonizing it had felt the last time he’d been hit with a druid’s magic. Instinctively, he reached out to grab Lance by the wrist, pulling him behind himself.

“Stay back,” he snapped, and he wasn’t even sure whether he was talking to Lance or Haggar. Blue stepped up beside him with a protective growl.

Haggar didn’t seem at all fazed. She continued to float closer to them, her robe skimming the wooden floor. “You really made it too simple,” she mused. “Coming here on your own with only one lion to protect you.”

An invisible wind picked up around her, stirring her long white hair and making her robes billow. She raised her hands higher as a crackling ball of energy formed between her palms.

“I will give you one chance to surrender. Step aside, paladins. The Red Lion is mine.”

A burning rage flared up inside Keith at the demand. “Never,” he spat.

“Then you give me no choice,” Haggar said, and she threw her arms forward.

Keith cringed as he braced himself for the painful impact. He tightened his grip on Lance’s wrist and felt Lance tense behind him, his hand grabbing at Keith’s shoulder and––

Blue leapt in front of them at the last moment, roaring so loudly that the noise echoed through the church’s rafters. A beam of energy shot from her mouth, disintegrating Haggar’s magic in midair. The druid snarled in frustration, rising higher off the ground as dark lightning formed around her gnarled hands.

Lance was still gripping Keith’s shoulder, and turned Keith around to face him. “Keith, you’ve gotta focus on trying to get Red to wake up. I’ll help Blue.”

“What? No.” Keith grabbed Lance’s jacket sleeve. “Listen, you don’t know what Haggar is capable of. She’ll––”

The words caught in his throat. He couldn’t even voice his worst fears of what Haggar might do. He remembered his first nightmare about her, the total lack of emotion on her face as she’d tortured Matt even as he twisted and screamed in agony. The thought of her hurting Lance that way, or worse …

“I have to,” Lance insisted.

Blue roared at the foot of the steps. She lunged towards Haggar, who vanished into thin air with a cackle and reappeared behind Blue a moment later and shot forth another bolt of violet lightning. Blue whirled around and dodged the attack, her tail lashing as she growled in fury.

“I’ll be okay,” Lance said, grabbing Keith’s attention again. “Focus on bonding with Red.”

Before Keith could protest, Lance let go of his shoulders and turned to leap down the steps, hands already ablaze with blue light.

As much as it pained him to turn away, Keith knew Lance was right and that the most important thing was that he concentrated on waking up Red. With newfound determination, he faced the translucent barrier.

He lifted his head up towards Red, who continued to float peacefully inside her prison. Ripples of light pulsated across her glowing fur as if there was fire underneath it.

“Red, it’s me,” Keith said, more firmly than the first time he had spoken to her. “I’m here. I’m your paladin.”

Behind him, he could hear the battle picking up pace––Lance letting out an angry cry, Blue roaring, the electric sound of magic clashing in the air.

Red still didn’t respond. Keith pressed his palm against the barrier, squeezing his eyes shut in concentration. He fixated on the invisible thread of energy connecting him to Red, trying to reach into her consciousness and search for some sign that she could hear him. But it was like running straight into a brick wall, and all he felt was a firm and unbreakable resistance.

Please, Red.

Another cry from Lance shattered his focus––particularly because it sounded more fearful than angry this time. Keith’s eyes snapped open. He turned to see that now there were large spikes of ice jutting from the church floor and ceiling, but Haggar was easily dodging them. She thrust her palms forward, lightning flying from her hands and shattering the ice blocking her way. Lance managed to duck and roll out of the way just in time, narrowly escaping the attack. Blue jumped protectively in front of him, shooting another beam of energy from her mouth to absorb the next wave of dark magic.

With a growl of frustration, Keith turned back and pounded his fist against the barrier again, more desperately this time.

“C’mon, wake up! They need us!”

His pleas were only met with silence. Keith rapped against the force field several more times, with such force that his knuckles ached, but it was to no avail.

Keith stumbled back as if he’d been pushed. His eyes stung and his throat was starting to ache as he realized the complete hopelessness of the situation. He waited several more moments, hoping for some kind of miracle, but Red still didn’t move.

Turning away was almost physically painful, but Keith didn’t know what else to do. He stumbled down the steps to where Lance was standing with his palms facing outward, summoning another pointed beam of ice to block Haggar’s way.

“Lance, we need to get out of here!”

Still holding his glowing hands out, Lance turned to look at Keith with his eyebrows raised. He looked from Keith to Red and back again, his brow furrowing. “What? What about Red?”

Keith’s vision blurred. He shook his head. “It’s no use. She’s not responding to me.”

“Keith––”

“I said, let’s go.” Keith didn’t like how harshly the words came out, but he didn’t know how else to get it across how desperately he wanted to leave.

Lance seemed to take the hint, his eyes flitting over Keith’s face before he nodded grimly.

They sprinted down the aisle, maneuvering around the spikes of ice protruding from the floor. Up ahead of them, Blue was facing off against Haggar, a beam of light jetting from her roaring mouth and hitting the druid square in the chest. Haggar let out an ear-piercing shriek, the attack sending her flying backward and landing in a heap in front of the doors.

The two paladins came to a stumbling stop not far from where she lay. “Come on,” Keith said, grabbing Lance by the wrist. “Before she––”

But they’d already missed their chance. Haggar had lifted her head and was slowly rising to her feet. “Giving up so easily?” she hissed. “What a shame. I’d only just begun.”

She launched herself straight towards them.

The next second went by in slow-motion. Lance yelled something that Keith couldn’t comprehend––he had frozen in place as he saw Haggar’s blurred form hurtling forward. Before Keith knew what was happening, Lance had pushed him out of the way.

Keith stumbled and fell to one side, nearly knocking his head against one of the pews. Dizzily, he raised himself up on his elbows just in time to see Lance caught in the center of the aisle as Haggar flew right towards him.

“Lance!” he yelled.

But he could only watch helplessly as the horrific scene unfolded before his eyes––as Haggar barreled into Lance and there was a bright flash of violet light. Lance let out a pained cry and stumbled backwards, falling to his knees.

Keith called out to him again, lurching to his feet. He rushed forward, intending to help Lance up … but something stopped him in his tracks.

Haggar was nowhere to be seen.

There was a deafening silence as Keith looked around warily for any sign of her, but all he could see was the rows of pews lining the aisle and the empty rafters arching above him. Lance was still kneeling on the ground with his head bowed. An unnatural shudder went through him, and Keith took a step back in sudden alarm, a knot of dread in his stomach.

“Lance?” The name came out weak and rasping, but that was all Keith could manage in his panicked state. He started to take another tentative step forward, when Lance lifted his head.

His eyes were glowing yellow.

It took a moment for Keith to fully process what he was seeing––and when he did, a visceral fear ripped through him. He scrambled backwards with a gasp, one hand reaching out to grip at a nearby pew.

Lance’s name hovered on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it––because this person, this thing, kneeling in front of him may have taken Lance’s form but Keith knew to the core of his being that this was not Lance. If the glowing eyes weren’t already a giveaway, Keith could sense a cold and malevolent energy radiating from him, the usual warmth and familiarity snuffed out like a candle flame.

Blue seemed to sense it too, crouching low to the ground and backing away with her ears flattened, letting out a low whine that turned into a growl.

At the same time, Lance rose to his feet, stumbling and then straightening again, the movements stiff and jerky. An uncharacteristic smirk turned up the corner of his mouth as his glowing eyes fixed on Keith.

A low laugh escaped him then, a dry and harsh sound that made Keith’s stomach turn. “It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a human form,” Lance said––or, rather, his mouth shaped the words. But the voice that came out was an unsettling combination of his own and Haggar’s.

That’s when Keith started to fully comprehend what had happened, and his vision went hazy at the edges.

"Let him go!" he yelled.

But Haggar seemed to have no intention of doing so. Lance held his hands out in front of him and examined them, as a blue glow formed around his fingertips.

"An interesting proposal," Haggar mused, speaking through Lance. "Unfortunately, I have other plans."

Lance lifted his head, yellow eyes alight and mouth stretching into a crooked grin. Then his arms jerked forward as if pulled by an invisible string, and beams of ice shot from his palms.

Keith narrowly dodged the attack, ducking out of the way as the sharp daggers of ice missed him by inches. He backed up, his heart racing. At the same time, Lance whirled towards him with a snarl. Haggar's dark violet magic sparked around him, gathering at his fingertips to join the blue glow.

Keith could only stare in horror, his mind frantically rushing to come up with a plan––anything to snap Lance out of it, to free him from Haggar's clutches somehow.

"Lance," he said, as he continued to take careful steps backward. "I––I know you can hear me." He had hoped it would come out with more certainty, but it sounded wavering and terrified to his own ears.

That only caused Haggar to laugh harshly again. “Oh, he can hear you. It’s just that he can’t answer.”

Lance stalked towards Keith. Blue remained several feet away, unmoving except for the lashing of her tail. She kept making a low, uncertain noise in her throat and Keith understood why she was conflicted. She couldn’t fight Haggar when she had possessed Lance’s body. She couldn’t hurt her paladin.

Keith knew, then, that it was up to him.

Just as the realization struck him, Lance raised his hands. Ice sprung from the floor like enormous thorns around Keith, and he jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the deadly spikes. The electricity of Haggar’s magic crackled around the outside of the ice, and Keith was close enough that it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He ducked between the nearest row of pews as more ice beams flew overhead and shattered against the far wall.

Keith huddled on the floor, breathing hard and trying to think through his panic. Lance’s footsteps approached, creaking against the old floorboards. Haggar seemed to be taking her time, making Lance move forward at a slow pace. Either she was getting some sick enjoyment out of this torture and was dragging it out as long as possible, or she was losing control over Lance’s actions. Keith prayed it was the latter.

“Trying to hide?” Haggar let out another unnerving chuckle. “Such cowardice from someone who had aspired to be Red Paladin. It’s no wonder why the Red Lion didn’t want to bond with you.”

Keith’s jaw clenched. He knew Haggar was just trying to get to him, but the words still stung. And hearing them in that strange combination of her voice and Lance’s was so sickening and wrong that it made Keith feel ill.

He didn’t have much time to dwell on it, though, because right then more projectiles flew through the air above him. One cracked against the back of the pew directly over Keith’s head and he gasped as tiny pieces of ice rained down on him. He scrambled away, crawling a few feet before he realized this was probably hopeless.

Unsteadily, Keith got up and vaulted over the pew to the other side, just as more spikes of electrified ice sprang to life around him. He caught his jacket sleeve on one jagged point, but he managed to yank himself free and sprint further down the aisle.

When he dared to look over his shoulder, he saw Lance standing there with his head bowed, clutching at one of his arms and pinning it to his side. Even though he knew it might be a trap, Keith stopped in his tracks.

“Lance?”

Lance looked up. His eyes were still glowing yellow, but they had grown wide with sudden fear. Their unnatural radiance flickered and then sprang back to life. Lance’s momentary, frightened expression was twisted back into a cruel sneer as he stood up straight.

He let out a yell and flung his hands forward––but this time, he turned suddenly to one side as the ice jetted from his fingers, missing Keith by a longshot.

Keith knew he should probably run, but he remained glued to the spot as Lance lurched towards him. A sudden determination drowned out his fear, and his hands clenched into fists.

“I know you’re fighting it, Lance!” he yelled across the distance between them. “Just––Just keep listening to my voice, okay? I know you don’t want to hurt me.”

The words seemed to have little effect, besides that Lance seemed to become a little unsteady on his feet. He gripped at a nearby pew to hold himself back, before he wrenched his hand free and kept moving forward.

A low scoff escaped from him. “Your friend here has a strong will, I’ll give him that,” Haggar said through Lance. “And you’re right, you know. He really doesn’t want to hurt you. It’s a shame that he won’t have a choice.”

The blue glow surrounded his fingers, accompanied by the crackling sparks of dark magic, growing dangerously brighter by the second.

Keith stumbled back and tripped over something––the steps leading up to the dais. He fell back, catching himself on his hands. He looked up in time to see Lance standing a few feet away from him, illuminated by Red’s dark crimson light. He raised his hands as they glowed brighter with sinister energy and––

Keith wasn’t sure exactly what came over him. He knew he should have felt terrified, should have realized that if he didn’t move he’d be killed in the next two seconds. But he remained where he was, sprawled on the steps of the dais as Lance loomed over him. Some inexplicable instinct took over, and Keith squeezed his eyes shut.

Time came to a standstill as he mentally reached out, grasping desperately at the sources of energy surrounding him. He could feel Red’s warmth at his back, ancient and powerful. He felt the cold darkness of Haggar’s presence, like a void opening up in front of him. And underneath that …

Lance.

It was a flicker of blue in the blackness––that vibrant, comforting presence that he had grown so used to. He could feel it warring against Haggar’s clutches, struggling to be freed, reaching towards Keith like a hand outstretched.

Keith mentally latched onto it, refusing to let it go. The rest of the world faded to nothingness as his focus narrowed to that one dying spark and tried to breathe life back into it, using his own energy––sharp, red, furious––to undo the stitches binding Lance’s essence to Haggar’s.

The spell shattered.

Something felt like it had snapped inside Keith’s chest, and he opened his eyes with a gasp. At the same time, Lance cried out as the glow around his hands flickered and faded. Haggar’s form detached from his and went flying backwards with an enraged shriek.

Keith didn’t know what he had done or how he had done it. Numb with disbelief, he staggered to his feet. His breath heaved in and out, and sweat broke out across his forehead like he’d run a mile.

Lance, meanwhile, was just standing there. He swayed, staring at Keith in shock.

“Keith?” he said faintly.

Then his eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the floor.

“Lance!”

The temporary relief Keith had felt was drowned out by ice-cold fear as he rushed forward. He fell onto his knees next to Lance and reached out to grab him by the shoulder, turning him over onto his back. He remained completely limp, head lolling to one side.

“Oh, no. No, no.” Keith heard his own voice as if it were coming from a mile away, muffled by the harsh ringing in his ears. “Lance, can you hear me? Lance.”

Lance didn’t respond, lying still with his eyes closed.

In his frantic state, Keith had almost forgotten that Haggar was there at all––but he was reminded by the movement ahead of him as she rose from where she'd landed on the floor. Keith tensed and looked up to find the druid staring back at him, her yellow eyes uncharacteristically wide.

Almost as soon as the expression crossed her face, it vanished and gave way to a snarl. “No,” she hissed. “Impossible …” Violet sparks crackled around her long fingers.

The edges of Keith’s vision flickered. He barely felt himself rise to his feet but somehow he was standing up, stepping around Lance's prone form to stand protectively between him and Haggar.

"Don't you dare come any closer!" he yelled. "If you get anywhere near him again, I'll––I'll ..."

He faltered, realizing he didn't have any ammunition against her. All he could think about was that somehow, he had to stop Haggar from hurting Lance––even though he had no powers, nothing to defend himself.

His jaw clenched as he came to a grim resolution: If he had to throw himself in front of an electric bolt of druid magic, then so be it. Maybe there was no way out of this, but there was no way he was going down without a fight.

An eerie sense of calmness overtook him as he accepted his fate, closing his eyes and opening them again. Time slowed to a crawl as he released a long breath, as he watched Haggar raise her hands, and––

Right then, something indescribable sparked in his veins. He instinctively dismissed it as a fleeting emotion, something white-hot and relentless––anger, fear. But then the edges of his vision started to grow strangely bright. And at the same time, he noticed that Haggar’s furious expression had fallen to one of disbelieving bewilderment, her hands lowering.

What the … ? Keith only had about half a second to question it, before the sensation multiplied tenfold. It was like a fire coursing through him, almost sending him reeling backward with its dizzying power. Crimson light saturated the interior of the church, growing brighter and brighter.

"No!" Haggar shrieked.

It wasn't until then that Keith felt an unnatural warmth in his palms. Startled, he looked down at his hands––and he gasped.

He was glowing red.

It took a second for him to process what was happening, and then Keith whirled around to look over his shoulder, squinting into the light. Sure enough, the barrier around the Red Lion was disintegrating. Beams of energy shot out in all directions, dancing dramatically over the pews and the high rafters before the blinding glare flickered and died.

Red stood tall at the center of the dais. Her eyes leveled directly on Keith, and he felt her gaze like a physical weight crashing into him. Warmth spread to the tips of his fingers and he felt an overwhelming energy spike through him unlike anything he had ever felt.

And at the center of that roaring flame was something solid and reassuring, tethering him to the ground. Protectiveness. Acceptance. He could feel the emotions radiating from Red in fierce pulses, and it was so overwhelming that it made his eyes sting.

He huffed out a disbelieving sound––a laugh, maybe. He couldn’t take his eyes off Red as she blinked at him across the room. She paced forward and gave a slight nod of her head, as if silently reminding him what he needed to do.

Keith turned back around to find Haggar with lightning crackling all around her, as she glared at him with incredulous fury. He didn’t know why she was holding back––maybe out of sheer shock––but he didn’t bother to question it as he summoned a burning power from deep within himself.

“What are you?” Haggar demanded. Despite her sharp tone, there was a wavering uncertainty to it that took Keith by surprise. That, and the question itself was wholly unexpected, but Keith would have to analyze it later.

Right now, he could only tell her the truth he had just discovered, as it coursed through him with resounding certainty.

“I’m a paladin of Voltron.”

He held his hands up, and fire shot from his palms.

The sensation somehow felt both unreal and completely natural at once. On one hand, it wasn't exactly something Keith had ever expected to do––but for some reason, it felt like something he'd done hundreds of times before. The instinct rose up from somewhere deep in his soul, flaring into his chest and down the length of his arms until it exploded from his fingertips. He yelled as the phantom flames erupted from his hands, translucent and burning bright.

The column of fire spiraled towards Haggar. She let out her own cry of fury as twin bolts of light sprung from her fingertips. The two waves of magic crashed into each other with such force that Keith felt like he’d hit a wall, and he stumbled backward with a grunt. He dug his heels into the ground, sweat breaking across his forehead as he kept his hands raised, the flames still jetting from his palms.

The ball of fire and veins of lightning merged into a flickering sphere between them, so bright that Keith’s eyes stung. His arms shook with the effort of holding off Haggar’s attack and he was forced another step back.

His momentary panic was washed out by determination, and he cried out as he drove his arms forward again with a yell. The flames brightened, incinerating Haggar’s violet lighting bolts and driving her backwards until she hit the wall with a scream.

Keith stood in place for a moment, trembling and breathing hard as he stared at the fallen druid in shock. He looked down at his glowing hands, marveling at the transparent flames dancing around them. But the triumph was only temporary as Haggar started to rise up again, gathering sparks of violet energy around her fingertips.

Just then, a large shape sprang up next to Keith––Red, he quickly realized. She stood by his side, opening her mouth in a roar that reverberated through the floorboards and up through Keith's entire body. He could feel her power and energy even more strongly now, like she was channeling it directly into him.

Keith cried out with the sheer force of it as he dashed forward, releasing more arcs of fire in Haggar's direction. She dodged them by transporting herself from one spot to another, until a ball of flame hit her in the chest and sent her reeling.

Haggar recovered quickly, flying forward then coming to a stop. She sneered, her hands blazing, and Keith braced himself––but then Haggar pivoted and directed her attack at something behind Keith.

Keith’s heart lurched as he realized what she was about to do, and a strangled cry of “No!” escaped from his throat. His vision tunnelled as he saw that it was too late for him to stop the trajectory of the lightning bolt as it hurtled across the room … right towards where Lance still lay unmoving on the floor.

But right then, another roar resounded and Blue leapt in front of her paladin, growling viciously. Her mouth opened in a roar, a beam of energy shooting out and destroying Haggar’s attack in mid-air. Red appeared by Blue’s side a moment later, and both lions stalked forward.

Haggar backed away, but she didn’t even have time to put up her hands in defense before she was pelted with several more beams of light. She hit the double doors and slid to the floor, her head sagging towards her chest.

The lions showed no hesitation as they leapt between Keith and Haggar, both of them snarling menacingly. Keith felt his own rage double in magnitude. He gathered more flames around his hands, ready to rush right back into battle alongside Red and Blue.

But right then, Haggar’s transparent form flickered. She raised her head with a frustrated growl, her hands sparking––but just as quickly, the violet magic sputtered and faded. “No,” she spat, rising again, but she was growing hazier by the second.

Red and Blue prowled towards her, tails lashing and growls low in their throats. They both glowed brighter, crouching low to the ground as if preparing to pounce.

Haggar remained in the same spot, lifting her hands one more time––only for her magic to fail again, dancing weakly around her fingertips for a moment before evaporating.

She looked between the two lions with narrowed eyes, before her gaze finally rested on Keith. “Don’t think this is the end, paladin,” she hissed. “You’ll never stand a chance against Zarkon. And the Black Lion will never be yours.”

The two lions roared and leapt forward at the last moment, but it was too late. As soon as she’d uttered those ominous parting words, Haggar let out an angry yell and vanished. All that remained was a swirling cloud of violet smoke where she had stood, and that too quickly dissipated. The lions paced around the spot where she had been moments earlier, growling and snapping at the air until the dark mist had evaporated.

Keith stood there numbly, hands still outstretched and glowing with phantom flames. He remained tense for several long moments, not daring to let his guard down yet in case Haggar reappeared. When she didn’t, he lowered his arms and stared at the fire gathering around his palms before it quickly dispersed.

As the adrenaline from the battle ebbed away, a tremendous wave of exhaustion hit him. Keith hadn’t realized until then how hard he was breathing and how he was trembling all over. It felt as if the floor was heaving under his feet, and he nearly fell when he tried to take a step forward.

Luckily, Red was there in an instant. Keith stumbled into her, instinctively throwing his arms around her neck for support. She made a low rumbling noise that vibrated through Keith’s body, and he could feel the warmth of her emotions folding around him like an embrace––relief that her paladin had not been hurt, but also a questioning concern.

Now that he felt like he could stand without falling over, Keith took a step back, although he kept his hands on either side of his lion’s large head. He couldn’t help but inhale sharply as their gazes met and he could see the mesmerizing flames dancing inside Red’s eyes.

“Thanks, Red. I’m okay,” he reassured her. “But what about––”

He didn’t even get the full question out before he turned around and saw exactly what he'd feared he would see: Lance was still lying on the floor where Keith had left him, completely motionless.

“Oh, no,” Keith breathed out. “Please, no …”

He felt sick and dizzy as he rushed forward, kneeling next to Lance. Saying his name several times heeded no result. Not knowing what else to do, Keith clumsily maneuvered an arm under Lance’s shoulders and tried to lift him up, but he remained limp and Keith had to gather Lance into his arms to keep him from dropping to the floor again.

“Lance? C’mon, please wake up.”

His eyes flitted over Lance's face, faintly illuminated by the lions' glow. He didn't see any sign of movement. Keith drew in his breath, trying not to panic as he pressed two fingers to Lance's neck. A shock of dread went through him because Lance's skin was freezing, but he was flooded with relief a moment later when he felt a pulse there––although it felt a little slow and uneven.

The glow surrounding them grew brighter as Blue approached, making a concerned whining noise in her throat. She stood over Keith with her head tilted, gaze fixed on her paladin lying still in Keith's arms.

"Well ... he's alive," Keith said. He let out a shaking sigh. "But he won't wake up. I don't know what to do, Blue."

The lion blinked slowly, and Keith started to doubt she could understand him. But after a moment, she closed her eyes in concentration. She lifted one of her large, translucent paws and rested it against Lance's chest. Nothing seemed to happen at first. Then, very suddenly, a flash of blue light coursed over Lance’s body. He jerked in Keith’s arms and gasped like he’d been pulled out of deep water, his eyes fluttering open.

Blue stepped back again. Keith didn’t know exactly what kind of lion magic she had done but she seemed pleased with herself, her eyes narrowing to happy slits.

“Keith?” Lance murmured. He blinked a few times, gaze focusing on Keith’s face.

A warm relief flooded through Keith just to hear Lance speaking in his own voice again, to see that his eyes had returned to their normal hue.

“Lance! Are you okay?”

“I … yeah. I think so.” He shifted and then sank back into Keith’s arms with a groan. “Whoa, what happened?”

“You, uh, kinda got possessed. And then you passed out,” Keith said. He figured there wasn’t really a way to sugarcoat it.

“I––what?” Lance started to sit up, wincing and rubbing the back of his head. “Ugh, I feel really weird.”

“Weird how?”

"I don't know. My whole body hurts, man. Like I ran a marathon and then bench-pressed five hundred pounds.” He pressed a hand against his chest. “Huh, and my heart feels kinda weird––like it’s beating really slow? Also jeez, it’s really cold in here all of a sudden.”

“It’s … not that cold,” Keith said. He remembered how icy Lance’s skin had felt to the touch and frowned in concern.

“Really? I’m freezing.” Lance shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself. “And did you say I got possessed? I don’t …” He trailed off, and then his eyes flew wide. “Haggar … Wait, shit. I––I remember now.”

He grabbed Keith by the jacket collar. “Oh, my God. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” The words spilled out of him as he looked Keith over with sudden urgency.

“What? No. Lance, I’m fine,” Keith managed to say when he found his voice. He reached up to wrap his fingers around Lance’s wrist, wincing a little at how cold his skin felt. “Just … take it easy, okay?”

He still had a supportive arm wrapped around Lance’s shoulders and could feel how badly he was shaking. Lance was just looking at him, one trembling hand still clenched in the fabric of Keith’s jacket.

“I––I was trying to hurt you,” he said, and there was a slight hesitation to it like he was trying to recall the hazy details of a dream. Keith could practically see the memories flooding back into his mind as Lance’s eyes widened. “I almost …” He made a choked noise and surged forward, throwing his arms around Keith and burying his face against Keith’s shoulder.

The force of it almost knocked Keith backwards but he quickly righted himself, returning the embrace. “Oh … hey. It’s okay,” he said softly, his arm tightening around Lance. “You’re okay. I’m here.” The words came out like he was throwing darts at a board, trying to find anything that would comfort Lance somehow.

Lance’s breath shuddered out of him. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice muffled against Keith’s shoulder. “Keith, I’m so sorry.”

“What? Hey, no.” Keith shifted his arms to gently push Lance away from him, just enough to look him in the face. “You don’t need to apologize. It wasn’t you, Lance. It was Haggar.”

Lance winced, not looking Keith in the eye. “I know. I just … I really thought she was going to make me hurt you, or––or worse.”

“But you didn’t,” Keith said insistently. “And I know you wouldn’t have. Ever. I could see you fighting against it the whole time. And considering how powerful Haggar is, that’s pretty amazing.”

The words came out in a rush, and it wasn’t until he’d finished speaking that Keith realized Lance was staring at him. Their faces were mere inches apart, and in the dimness Keith could just barely make out the surprised look on Lance’s face before it melted into a weak smile.

“Thanks, Keith,” he said quietly.

Keith’s breath caught in his throat, and anything he had been about to say died on his tongue. He was suddenly very aware that Lance was still basically curled up in his lap, that he still had an arm wrapped around Lance’s shoulders and Lance was still holding onto his sleeve. If he just leaned a little closer …

“Wait, holy shit,” Lance blurted. “Is that––?” He sat up straight all of a sudden, staring wide-eyed at something over Keith’s shoulder.

Keith had a moment of panic where he thought maybe Haggar had appeared again. But then, as he followed Lance’s gaze, he realized it was Red he was gaping at. She had walked up next to them and padded over to stand next to Blue, tilting her head as she blinked at the paladins in curiosity.

“Oh … right,” Keith said. “Lance … this is Red. Red, Lance.”

Lance squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again as if he expected Red to disappear. "Wait, wait. You bonded with Red and I missed it? Jeez, how long was I out? Did I miss anything else?"

Keith scratched the back of his head. “Well, I kinda made fire shoot out of my hands … ? And then we fought off Haggar––after, you know, she stopped possessing you. She’s not like, totally gone or anything, she kinda just surrendered and then disappeared. But … yeah.”

“You made fire shoot out of your hands?” Lance exclaimed, his eyes suddenly alight with excitement.

His enthusiastic outburst was unfairly endearing, and Keith couldn’t help but laugh a little. “That’s the only thing you got out of that?”

“Uh, yeah, because that’s freakin’ badass! Ugh, I wish I could’ve seen it.” His smile fell and his shoulders sagged. “I … I wish I could’ve been fighting next to you. You shouldn’t have had to battle Haggar by yourself. That must’ve been scary.”

“It was,” Keith admitted. “But it’s not your fault. Besides, if anything I was more scared for you.” When Lance gave him a bewildered look he scrambled to explain, “When you got possessed, I mean. I thought …” Thought I’d lost you. “I didn’t know if you’d come back.”

He bit his lip, unable to look Lance in the face all of a sudden. “And then when Haggar let go of you, when you just collapsed like that …” His throat felt tight and he couldn’t seem to even finish the sentence.

When he met Lance’s gaze again, he found that Lance was looking at him with a worried furrow in his brow––which was ironic, considering he was the one who had suffered the most. But that was just like Lance, wasn’t it? Always so much more concerned with others’ well-being than his own. Keith’s chest ached at the thought.

“I’m sorry,” Lance said softly. Before Keith could protest he continued, “I know you said I don’t need to apologize, but … I’m sorry for worrying you. And that you had to go through all that.”

Keith’s traitorous heart fluttered at his gentle tone, and he tried to compose himself as quickly as possible. “Hey, it’s alright. Really,” he said, forcing a smile. “We both went through a lot tonight.”

Lance just stared at him for a moment but then weakly returned the smile. “Yeah, guess you’re right.”

A brief silence hung over them, and then they both seemed to realize they were still clinging to each other. They quickly separated, inching apart so there was about a foot of space between them. Keith looked away before he could see the expression on Lance's face.

Luckily Red provided a distraction right then, stepping closer to Keith and lowering her large head to look right at him. Another wave of emotion hit Keith as he stared into the flames stirring in his lion’s eyes. He could feel her presence in his mind––bright and burning, warm and familiar. An unspoken question hovered in the air between them, and although Red wasn't exactly saying it in words, Keith understood.

She was trying to convey to him that she was sorry she hadn’t awakened sooner, but that she had been waiting for the right moment, for Keith to realize his own ability and prove himself a true paladin––and he had done that when he risked his life to save his friend. She had known all along that he would.

Keith’s face felt a little warm, because he sensed something very knowing in Red’s mindscape regarding how he felt about Lance. He supposed that was only to be expected, seeing as he and Red were bonded now. But it would still take some getting used to.

He managed a smile. “Thanks, Red.”

He reached up a tentative hand to rest it against her forehead. Red tensed for a moment but then purred contently. She sent a wave of positive, accepting emotions flowing towards Keith that was so overwhelming that he nearly fell over. And then he almost really did fall over, because Red had surged forward to give him an affectionate headbutt in the chest.

"Whoa, whoa. Okay." Keith laughed, scratching behind Red's ears. "Hey ... Uh, I like you, too."

Apparently content with that, Red stepped back again. Blue was still standing right behind her, her tail waving back and forth. As soon as the two lions made eye contact, they pounced towards each other, and Keith had a moment of panic where he thought they were fighting––but he quickly realized it was ... quite the opposite. Red and Blue were rubbing their heads together, purring so loudly that it vibrated through the floorboards.

"Wow," Lance said. "Our lions seem to really like each other, huh?"

Something about their lions’ open display of affection––and Lance pointing it out––made Keith's face burn so badly he thought he might literally burst into flames again. He coughed into his fist. "Y-Yeah. Anyway, we really should go."

He got to his feet and offered a hand down to Lance, who reached up to grab hold of it. Almost as soon as he stood up, though, he swayed to one side and Keith grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just a little ... woozy."

Lance tried to stand up straight, but his knees buckled and Keith threw an arm around his waist to keep him from toppling over.

“Whoa … you sure you’re okay? Can you stand?”

"Um ..." Lance shifted his weight, putting an arm around Keith's shoulders to steady himself. "I don't know. Standing seems okay. Walking I'm not so sure about."

Blue stepped up to them right then, tilting her head. After blinking at him slowly, she knelt down.

Lance gasped. "Whoa, you're finally letting me ride on your back?" he exclaimed. "Thanks, girl. You're the best."

Keith guided him over to Blue. Lance slipped his arm from around Keith's shoulders and swung a leg over Blue's back, settling against her with his arms wrapped around her neck.

Once Lance was comfortably in place, Keith turned towards Red. “Uh …”

Red gave him a blank look.

"Could I ... ?" Keith gestured towards her back. When his lion remained completely aloof, Keith let out a short sigh. "Look, I don't think I can keep up with Blue on foot. So ..."

Finally seeming to understand, Red made a small rumbling noise and knelt down next to him. Keith hesitated before stepping forward, reaching out to place his hand against Red's back. He almost expected his fingers to pass right through her translucent fur, so it was almost startling how soft it felt.

He slid a leg over Red’s back, holding onto the fur at the base of her neck to keep himself in place. He had barely mounted all the way when Red leapt to her feet, and Keith had to throw his arms around her neck to stop himself from falling off. "Hey! I wasn't ready yet." Red made a trilling noise in response that sounded half apologetic and half teasing.

Next to them, Lance laughed. "I think I really like your lion, Keith."

Keith might've been embarrassed, but he was too distracted by the sight of Lance's crooked grin. He couldn't help but smile back before he patted Red on the neck. "Yeah. She's pretty cool, huh?"

Red purred at the compliment, and the sound vibrated through Keith's whole body.

When they made it out of the church, Keith breathed in the air like he hadn't been outside in months. It certainly felt that way––like they'd been trapped in there for an eternity. Keith hadn't even thought they would make it out alive, so it was a relief just to see the open night sky.

The two lions took off as soon as they'd leapt down the steps, and they sprinted towards the woods. Keith leaned in close to Red's neck, holding on as tightly as he could to prevent himself from flying backwards. He felt like the air had been knocked from his lungs by the breakneck speed his lion was traveling, and it took him a moment to orient himself.

He finally managed to lift his head, although he had to duck a bit to avoid the low branches of the trees Red was dodging between. Her pace was slightly alarming, but Keith felt a rush of adrenaline as soon as the initial anxiety wore off. He couldn't even feel Red's feet against the ground as she maneuvered through the maze of trees. It felt like he was being carried on the wind, and it was ten times more exhilarating than the fastest speed he'd ever gone on his motorcycle.

The thrill was multiplied even more by Red's emotions coursing through him––the unbridled joy at finally being free after a century of slumber, the relief that her paladin had found her, the childlike wonder radiating from her as she took in the sights and smells and sounds of the night surrounding them.

They made it down to the road and Red came to a stop, as if she'd suddenly remembered that Blue and Lance were behind them. Truthfully, Keith had almost forgotten, too. Now he turned at the same time Red did to look back into the woods, just as the glowing shape of Blue's form came bounding out of the forest and into the open.

Lance was still clinging tightly to his lion's back, and he shot Keith a giddy smile. "Wow, is this awesome or what?"

Keith smiled back, still reeling from their flight through the woods and the fiery adrenaline still rushing through his veins. "Yeah, it really is."

"Red is super fast, huh? Blue can barely keep up."

Blue made a disgruntled noise in agreement, and Keith laughed a little.

"I think Red is just really excited."

"Yeah, guess I can't blame her. I'd be excited to escape from that creepy church after a hundred years, too," Lance said. Then his grin started to fade. He swayed on Blue's back and sagged forward.

"Lance?" said Keith, suddenly alarmed.

Lance waved him off. "I'm okay. Just got a little dizzy for a second."

The excitement Keith had felt moments earlier was suddenly gone. He had a creeping suspicion that something was wrong, and that Lance hadn’t fully recovered from the aftereffects of being possessed.

"Okay," he said, trying to keep a level head. "Let's just get you home, alright?"

Lance's shoulders were still drooping forward with exhaustion, but he managed a nod.

The returning journey to the portal was a lot faster on the lions' backs. Red and Blue kept up a rapid pace, traveling the length of the road in graceful leaps. There were times Keith was pretty sure they were floating, their paws barely skimming the pavement. Everything felt surreal and dreamlike, especially with the strange landscape around them––the cracked cement where smoke was pouring out, the abandoned houses sagging on the hilltops.

By the time they made it through the portal and back into the woods of Altea, Keith was starting to feel a deep ache of exhaustion in his bones. Red came to a stop, crouching down so Keith could dismount. His legs felt a little stiff as his feet landed on the ground, but he managed a grateful smile.

"Thanks, Red."

He turned towards Blue, and his smile dropped when he saw Lance slumped on her back, arms hanging limply around her neck. Blue shuffled forward, making a small whimpering noise as if asking for help.

"Lance?" Keith reached up to gently shake him by the shoulder. "Hey, are you awake?"

Lance shifted and raised his head, blinking. "Huh? Yeah, I'm awake," he mumbled, the words slurring together. He rubbed the heel of his hand against one eye. “Shit, did I fall asleep? Where are we?”

“Back in Altea. I don’t think the lions can take us any further, ‘cause … you know, this is pretty close to where the spirit world ends.”

“Right.” Lance raised himself up with a groan, giving Blue a firm pat on the back. “Thanks for the ride, Blue.”

His lion purred in response, kneeling so he could climb off her back. Lance swung his legs over her side and planted his feet on the ground––and immediately stumbled and pitched forward. Keith only had about half a second to comprehend what was happening before he threw his arms around Lance's torso to stop his fall. At the same time, Lance grabbed Keith's shoulders, letting out a small "oof" before managing to right himself.

They stayed like that for a second, Keith with his hands at Lance's waist and Lance gripping onto Keith's upper arms. Keith felt dizzy, as if he was the one who had almost fallen over, and he was painfully aware that they were standing almost chest-to-chest, and there was just enough of a height difference between them that Keith had to tilt his head up a little to look Lance in the face and ... oh, that was a big mistake, because Lance was looking back down at him with a dazed expression that sent a shock of electricity through Keith's entire body.

Lance cleared his throat. “Uh … thanks.”

It took a second for Keith’s brain to catch up, and then the warmth of humiliation rose to his face as he realized he’d probably been staring at Lance like a total weirdo. “You––You’re welcome,” he said stiffly, letting go of Lance and taking a step back.

Something nudged him in the back, and Keith turned around to see Red standing behind him, blinking her large glowing eyes. She headbutted him again in the arm, making him stumble to the side.

Keith wasn't sure what she was trying to convey––maybe that she just wanted attention. He reached up to scratch her behind the ear, and she started to purr.

"Sorry, Red. We've really gotta go."

Red had slitted her eyes with pleasure, and now they rounded again at Keith's words. He was taken aback once again by her mesmerizing gaze, by the faint outlines of sparks and flames that danced inside her eyes. He could feel the reluctance radiating from her; she didn't want him to go when they had only just met. Keith felt a twin ache in his chest at the thought.

"I know, I know. But we'll see each other again soon. And I mean, we're always kind of together in a way, right? I don't really know how this whole thing works, but uh ... don’t we have that mind connection thing?"

Red blinked at him and Keith winced in embarrassment. She probably had no idea what he was talking about. But a moment later, Red stepped forward to bury her large head against his chest. The warm affection blossoming from her made Keith feel like he was glowing from the inside out, and he laughed quietly as he patted her.

"See you soon, Red. I promise."

Once Red seemed satisfied with those parting words, Keith stepped away from her. He turned to find that Lance was saying goodnight to Blue as well, hugging her around the neck before he stepped back.

They said one more goodbye to the lions and then started to make their way through the woods, back to where the division ended between the mortal world and the spirit world.

Keith looked over his shoulder as they walked away. He felt as if there was a string connecting him and Red, and the farther he walked, the more it felt like that string was being pulled taut until it was close to breaking. Something about the sensation was so gut-wrenching that it took all of Keith's willpower not to run right back. It didn't help that Red was watching him forlornly, lifting a paw and then putting it down again like she was considering running after him.

"Bye, Red," Keith said quietly, and somehow he knew she could hear him over the growing distance.

"It's always hard to walk away," Lance said.

"Huh?" Keith looked over at him, tearing his eyes away from Red and Blue.

"Walking away from your lion, I mean. It kinda hurts, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, a bit." Keith held a hand to his chest, like that would quell the sudden hollow feeling growing inside his ribcage. "It's weird. I haven't been bonded to Red for very long, but it kinda feels like she's always been there in a way. Like I've known her forever. I know it sounds crazy, but ..."

"It doesn't," Lance cut him off, and there was a reassuring certainty to the pair of words that made Keith fall silent. "I felt the exact same way when I bonded with Blue."

He was quiet for a moment as they continued through the forest. "It's like we talked about a while back ... that feeling we talked about, where we've always felt like there was something more out there. Bonding with your lion ... it's like finding that piece that was missing."

He fumbled over the words a little, like he didn't know quite how to describe what he meant. But Keith understood him perfectly.

It wasn't long until they came to the middle of the forest, where the spirit world faded back into the normal world. As always, the transition left Keith feeling dizzy and disoriented, like a switch had suddenly been turned off. He had already felt the growing separation between him and Red as they walked away, but now it felt even more absolute, a solid barrier cutting off that current of comforting energy. Keith felt strangely empty and devastated without it, but he drew in a deep breath and kept moving forward.

They had almost made it out of the woods, but Keith could already sense Lance’s energy dwindling. His pace had slowed down and he kept stumbling like he was about to topple over from exhaustion.

“You okay, Lance?”

“Huh? Yeah. I just … need a second.” Lance stopped by a nearby tree, leaning a hand against it. He took a deep breath and let it out again. “Okay, I think I’m—whoa.”

He stopped mid-sentence, swaying on his feet and almost falling against the tree. Keith grabbed him by the wrist.

"You sure you're alright? We can stop for a minute if you––"

"No, no. I'm okay, really," Lance insisted, stepping away from the tree he'd been leaning against. Keith could barely make out the features of his face in the moonlight, but it was enough that he could see the slight furrow in Lance's brow and the grim set of his mouth, like he was forcing himself to stand upright.

Keith sighed. "We're not too far from the road. Here, just ..." He was still holding Lance's wrist, and he slung Lance's arm over his shoulders in one swift movement. "Hopefully it won't take too long. You can lean on me if you need to."

"Oh," Lance said, voice strangely flat. He cleared his throat, shifting against Keith's side. "Okay. Thanks, man."

"Yeah, uh ... no problem."

They made their way down the slope, weaving between the trees. Lance kept his arm looped around Keith's shoulders, leaning on him for support. Even through the layers of clothing between them, Keith could feel an alarmingly cold feeling radiating from Lance.

Luckily, the dark stripe of the road was visible through the trees below them. Soon they had reached it, and walked along its length until they found Lance's car.

"Oh, phew," Lance exhaled as soon as the vehicle was in sight. "I was worried I'd totally forgotten where I parked."

He slipped his arm from around Keith's shoulders, reaching into the pocket of his jacket.

Without thinking, Keith reached out his hand. Lance paused, staring at Keith's outstretched palm and then looking up at his face with a bewildered frown.

"I ... You should probably let me drive," Keith said.

"What? Why? I told you, I'm––"

"You're not fine, Lance. You can barely walk in a straight line and you look like you're about to fall over. Let me just––" Keith stopped himself, realizing he'd spoken a little more sharply than he'd intended. "Please," he said, more calmly this time. "I would just ... feel better if I was the one driving."

After a moment of hesitation, Lance nodded. "Okay." He pulled the keys out and dropped them into Keith's hand.

They parted ways to walk to their respective sides of the minivan. Keith made his way around to the driver's side, silently scolding himself for making things awkward.

He didn’t realize how badly he was shaking until he’d slid into the front seat and placed his hands on the steering wheel. He was still coming down from the huge adrenaline rush, from everything that had happened—Lance getting possessed, almost being killed by Haggar, bonding with Red … Even though they had survived somehow, he felt like some dark phantom was still chasing after him.

“Here.” Lance put his phone on a mount on the dashboard. A map was displayed on the bright screen. “Already put in the address for my house. Of course, I’m here if you need any help with directions. But, uh, I feel like I might fall asleep.” He yawned, stretching his arms over his head and then slumping back into the passenger seat.

“That’s fine,” Keith said, putting the key in the ignition and starting the engine. “You should rest.”

“You sure? I feel bad, ‘cause I know you’re probably super tired too, but—”

“Lance, really. It’s okay.” Keith turned to give Lance a small, reassuring smile as he pulled the car onto the road.

It was hard to see Lance’s face in the dimness, but Keith could have sworn Lance’s gaze lingered on his face for a few extra seconds before he looked away.

“Thanks, Keith,” he said, voice soft in a way that made Keith’s pulse speed up a little.

But the moment was gone in an instant, as Lance sighed and leaned his head against the window and fell silent.

It wasn’t long until they’d made it onto the long, empty stretch of highway. Keith tried to focus on driving, but it was difficult not to shoot worried glances in Lance’s direction every ten seconds. Lance was being uncharacteristically quiet, his arms wrapped tightly around himself as he gazed blankly out the window. After a little while he appeared to have fallen asleep, his eyes closed and his head drooping towards his chest.

Keith tried to ignore his gnawing sense of worry, but it was hard to ignore when it was growing stronger by the minute. He concentrated on the road ahead of him, gazing at the twin stripes of light from the headlights illuminating the pavement. The only sound was the ongoing hum of the engine and the occasional reminder from the GPS to make a turn.

Keith had almost successfully calmed down when a buzz in his jacket pocket made him jump in his seat. When the vibrating continued, he clumsily reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out, glancing at the screen as he tried not to take his eyes off the road. He frowned in bewilderment at the contact that came up.

He swiped at the screen and held the phone to his ear. "Coran?"

"Hello?" Coran's voice answered, so loudly that Keith had to hold the phone away. "Keith, is that you?"

“Yeah, it’s me,” Keith said, and then paused as he tried to figure out how to politely phrase all the questions springing to mind. Mainly, Why are you calling me right now?

“Oh, thank goodness! We’ve been trying to reach you.”

“Oh … Sorry, my phone doesn’t get such good reception in the, uh …” In the spirit world. “Woods.” He winced. That wasn’t much better. “Wait, why were you trying to reach me?”

He heard a muffled exchange in the background, a scuffling noise, and then Allura’s voice coming through even more loudly than Coran’s.

“Hello? Keith, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I can hear you,” Keith said, holding the phone away slightly from his ear again. He had a feeling Coran and Allura didn’t understand much about how modern telephones worked. “Are you okay, Allura? What’s going on?”

“I’m fine, but I believe I should be the one asking you that question. Are you alright? Where’s Lance?”

Keith peeked at Lance out of the corner of his eye. He still appeared to be fast asleep, his head leaning against the car window.

“Yeah, I’m fine. And Lance is with me. He’s okay, but …” Keith trailed off, struggling to figure out how he was going to explain this one. On one hand he didn’t want to admit that he and Lance had recklessly gone into the spirit world by themselves, but Allura would need to know that they’d found Red sooner or later.

“Blue has been contacting me from the spirit world,” Allura said before Keith could think of an explanation. “It’s a bit difficult to understand what she’s telling me, but it seems she’s saying you found Red? And Haggar was there? What happened?”

Keith took a moment to answer, a bit blindsided that Allura had already found out the truth. In some ways it came as a relief, though, especially since she seemed more concerned than angry.

Finally, he took a deep breath and tried to get out as much of the story as possible. Allura remained quiet as she listened, besides interrupting once in a while to ask a question, or gasping at the more intense intervals.

“So … yeah,” Keith said haltingly, bringing the story to an end. “The good news is that we’re safe now and I bonded with Red. But I’m really sorry we worried you, and I understand if you’re mad.”

He braced himself for Allura’s response, holding his breath during the short silence before she spoke.

“I’m not angry,” she said at last. “Although yes, I was very worried when Blue first contacted me. What you did was extremely dangerous.”

Keith winced. “I know. I’m sorry, Allura. We should have told you what we were doing, but … we figured you were still recovering from fighting the druids. And Blue was really in a hurry to find Red.”

"I suppose I'm not surprised about that,” Allura said. She laughed quietly, a sound that was half-relieved and half-amused. “Blue and Red have always had a … special connection."

"They have?" Keith felt heat rise to his face, remembering the affectionate way Red and Blue had greeted each other. He was tempted to ask what kind of connection Allura was referring to, but she changed the subject before he could inquire about it.

“At any rate, I'm happy you’ve bonded with the Red Lion. I apologize I didn’t get to warn you in advance that she's a bit stubborn. And temperamental. Definitely not the easiest lion to bond with."

"It's okay. You had a lot of other stuff to worry about."

"Still ... I wish I'd been able to give you a proper warning. And that I'd been there to help ward off Haggar."

Keith could hear the guilt starting to seep into her voice, and he struggled to find something to say to reassure her.

"It's okay, Allura,” he said. “It's not your fault."

"I know, but I––" Allura drew in a long breath and let it out. "She's a very powerful being. I'm relieved that somehow she released Lance from her possession, but ... I don’t understand how it was possible. How did you manage it?"

Keith hesitated, mentally running through the events––but everything had happened in such a rush and none of it made sense. He replayed the moment where he'd somehow detached Haggar's spirit from Lance's body, how he'd latched onto Lance's essence and pulled it free. And then Haggar's strange question: What are you?

"I don't know," he said at last. "I guess we were just lucky."

"Hmm," Allura murmured. "That is very strange, as Haggar is not one to show mercy. But I'm very glad that both of you are unharmed. I know it must have been a harrowing task." She paused before she spoke again. "We must all reconvene as soon as Hunk and Pidge return. Now that we have all of the lions besides the Black Lion ..."

Keith's blood ran cold as he realized what she was implying. If they only had the Black Lion left to find ... that meant that their next step was facing Zarkon.

"But I suppose those plans can wait," Allura said. "Right now, you should both focus on resting. Especially Lance. Does he seem alright?"

"Well ..." Keith looked over at Lance, who was still slumped over with his head against the window and his eyes closed. "I don't know," he admitted, lowering his voice. "He's sleeping right now, but … I’m kind of worried, honestly. He passed out for a few minutes after he was possessed, and then he could barely walk on the way to the car. Plus he feels super cold and he mentioned something about his heartbeat feeling weird ... ? Is that bad?"

Allura’s hesitant silence before she answered wasn't very reassuring. "That isn't a good sign, although I suppose it's to be expected. The effects of being possessed by a powerful spirit can be persistent, even for several hours afterwards."

"Several hours?" Keith repeated. "What do we do? Is he going to be okay?"

"He should be fine. The important part is that the harmful spirit has been banished from his body, but even so it can be physically taxing. It’s essentially like having a brush with death.”

Keith’s hand clenched on the steering wheel. He really didn’t like the implication of Lance and death having anything to do with each other.

“I would advise keeping an eye on him,” Allura continued. “You can always reach Coran and I if anything seems amiss."

Keith chewed his lower lip, continuing to steer the car with one hand. His eyes fell on the GPS on Lance's phone, and he noticed they were only a few minutes from their destination.

"Okay," he said. “I should probably go, but I’ll call if anything happens. And I’ll make sure Lance is alright.”

“Thank you, Keith. We will speak again soon. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Keith heard a slight rustling on the other end and then a soft beep from his phone, signaling that the call had ended.

“Hmm … were you talking to someone?”

Keith had been in the process of wedging his phone back into his jacket pocket, and he nearly dropped it in surprise at the sound of Lance’s voice. He glanced over to see that Lance had groggily lifted his head and was rubbing at his eyes.

"Yeah, it was Allura," Keith answered. "She found out what happened. Apparently your lion snitched on us."

"Oh." Lance sank back against his seat with a guilty wince. "Sorry. Blue can be kind of a chatterbox."

"I can see why you and her get along."

"Hey," Lance protested, but his mouth turned up at one corner in an amused smirk. The expression was gone a moment later, though, and he wrapped his arms around himself and shuddered.

Keith’s stomach knotted in concern. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm alright. I think,” said Lance. “Still feel super cold, though. And really tired."

"Yeah. Allura mentioned that's a common thing after being possessed. She said it might last a few hours."

"Ugh, really?" Lance groaned, his shoulders slouching. "This sucks, man. It feels like I'm outside in the middle of January without a coat or something."

Keith winced in sympathy. "I know, I'm sorry. At least we're only a minute away from your house."

As if on cue, the voice on the GPS spoke up to inform Keith to make a right turn. He turned accordingly, driving onto a narrow side street.

"It's this one up ahead on the left," said Lance, pointing out the window at a small white house. Keith pulled into the driveway.

As soon as he turned the engine off, he and Lance both stepped out of the car and walked around to the front of it, where Keith handed Lance his keys.

"Hey, thanks for driving," Lance said as he shoved the keys into his jacket pocket. "Sorry I dozed off."

"It's alright. You needed it."

“Guess so.” Lance folded his arms around himself, another shiver running through him. He bit his lip, looking at Keith like there was something else he wanted to say. Then suddenly his eyes widened. "Wait ... shit."

"What?"

"You don't really have a way to get home, do you?"

"I ... oh," Keith said. So much else had been on his mind that it hadn't occurred to him, but Lance had a point. If Lance wasn't in a condition to be driving and Keith didn't have any other means of transportation ... "I guess not. I mean, I could take a bus, or––"

"There's not a lot of bus stops nearby. Plus it's getting pretty late. You could just … You know."

"Just what?"

"Stay over," Lance said, then quickly added, "I––I mean. If you want. You don't have to. Just thought I'd do the polite thing and offer."

"Oh," Keith said again. His mouth suddenly felt very dry, and he hoped it was too dark for Lance to see the color that was inevitably rising to his face. "I mean, it's okay, I could––"

"Keith," Lance cut him off, and there was a sudden serious note to his voice that made Keith immediately fall silent. Lance let out a short breath, which misted in the cold night air and evaporated. He shoved his hands deep in his jacket pockets, looking away as he rocked back on his heels. "I also just really … I don't want to be alone right now, okay?" he said quietly.

Oh.

"Okay," Keith said.

A moment ago Lance had looked almost pained, like he was bracing himself for ridicule. But now the pinched expression melted away, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah? Well … okay,” he stammered, sobering again. “Thanks. For understanding.”

“Of course,” Keith said. It sounded strangely stiff to his own ears. “Allura said I should probably keep an eye on you anyway, so …” He trailed off, mentally yelling at himself to shut up.

“She did? Why?”

"Uh ... you know. Just because ..." Keith scrambled for words. "She said you'd be okay, but ..."

"Just in case?" Lance supplied.

"Y-Yeah. Just in case."

Luckily, Lance didn’t question him further. "Okay,” he said with a shrug. “Well ... we should probably head inside then, huh?"

"Yeah, uh ... guess so."

As they walked up the driveway, Keith looked up at the house in curiosity. He noticed that all of the windows were dark.

"My parents are probably asleep already," Lance said, lowering his voice to a stage whisper. "But they probably won't mind you staying over. I can just tell them we got back late and crashed. Which is pretty close to the truth, besides all the ghost stuff.”

He fished his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the front door. It stuck a little and Lance gave it a small kick to open it. He gestured for Keith to go inside. "After you."

"Thanks," Keith said, brushing past him.

The only illumination was from a lone street lamp outside, so it was hard to make out the details of the living room in the dark. But Keith could see the hazy shapes of a couch, a couple of armchairs, and a fireplace with a row of framed photographs lining its mantelpiece.

Lance stepped in behind him, quietly closing the door. "This way." He tugged on Keith's jacket sleeve.

With Lance in the lead, they maneuvered their way through the dark living room, the floorboards creaking under their feet. They walked into a short hall, where Lance gestured towards a door at the end. "Sorry in advance. It's kind of a mess," he said, turning the doorknob and nudging the door open.

He flicked the light switch on. Keith blinked as his eyes adjusted, taking in the sight of the room. It was a little messy, but no more chaotic than Keith's own room was. A bed was pushed into one corner with a small bedside table next to it. To their right was a desk piled with textbooks and scattered papers. Movie posters lined the walls, and across from them was a closet and a dresser both with clothes spilling out of them.

"I think there's a sleeping bag somewhere in the closet in the hall," Lance said. "Be right back." He ducked out into the hallway.

Hesitantly, Keith paced forward to the center of the room. He kept his hands shoved into his jacket pockets, like he was standing in a museum and wasn't allowed to touch anything. As he waited for Lance to come back, he turned around in a slow circle as he observed his surroundings.

His gaze wandered over the items hanging on the walls––a combination of sci-fi and action movie posters, a large star map. A guitar leaned against the wall in one corner. To his right, Keith noticed a shelf lined with a parade of swim trophies, some of them draped with medals. There were also a few picture frames, and Keith’s eyes lingered on one photo of Lance as a little kid at the beach, standing between an older boy and girl who Keith assumed were his siblings––all of them laughing as they stood next to the ocean with their arms around each other.

Keith smiled to himself, a warm feeling wrapping around him. Even though he’d never been in Lance’s room before, something about it felt so familiar and welcoming.

"Found it!"

Keith hadn’t heard Lance enter the room, and he jumped and whirled around.

“Whoa,” Lance said. “Sorry, dude. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay. I mean, you didn’t,” Keith stammered. “I’m just a little …” Keith gestured vaguely.

“Jumpy? Yeah, same here. I keep feeling like something’s following me,” Lance said with a shudder. He closed the door behind him.

He was now holding a rolled-up sleeping bag against his chest, and he promptly unfurled it across the floor next to the bed. Keith stepped towards it, but Lance waved him off.

“You can take the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“What?” Keith said. “No, you don’t have to—”

“Keith.” Lance put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a tired but reassuring smile. “Seriously. You’re the guest, you take the bed. Also my floor is super comfortable, promise.”

“I …” Keith started to protest, but he felt all the fight leave him in an instant. It was impossible to argue with Lance when he had that warm look in his eyes. Plus, it was starting to hit Keith just how exhausted he was. “Okay. Thanks.”

He took a step backwards and tentatively sat down on the bed. Then he just sat there, watching as Lance turned around and approached the dresser in the corner.

“You want to borrow some pajamas or something?”

"Uh ... no, thanks. I'm good."

Lance tugged open one of the dresser drawers, turning to look at Keith over his shoulder. "Okay, suit yourself." He raised an eyebrow. "You're gonna sleep with your shoes on?"

"I ... no," Keith said. Suddenly self-conscious, he drew his feet up onto the bed and started to unlace his sneakers.

Lance, meanwhile, was humming as he rummaged through his dresser. He shrugged his jacket off and tossed it onto the chair next to the desk. Then, with no warning, he grasped at the hem of his shirt and started to pull that off, too.

Keith's mind went blank for about half a second before he registered that Lance was casually changing in front of him. His fingers got tangled in his shoelaces and he looked down quickly, focusing very hard on untying his shoes, and definitely not on the brief glimpse he’d seen of Lance’s bare back and defined shoulders.

By the time Keith had tugged his shoes off and thrown his balled-up jacket to the foot of the bed, Lance had turned around again––now dressed in a faded NASA T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants with a swim team logo on the side of one leg.

“Hey, can you toss me one of those pillows?”

“Huh?” Keith blinked, unable to look Lance in the eyes and hoping his face wasn’t as red as it felt. “Oh. Y-Yeah.” He took one of the pillows from the bed and held it out to Lance, who took it with a grateful smile.

“Thanks, man.” Lance’s smile faltered then as he looked back at Keith, an almost confused expression crossing his face. But it was gone an instant later, and he cleared his throat and dropped the pillow on the floor at the head of the sleeping bag. “You wanna hit the light?”

“Oh … sure.” Keith waited until Lance had lowered himself to the floor and wiggled his way into the sleeping bag. Then he reached for the lamp on the bedside table and flicked it off.

"Well, uh ... good night," Lance said.

"G'night."

Keith slid under the blanket, trying to make himself comfortable as he rested his head on the pillow. But after lying there for about a minute, he could tell that sleep was going to be next to impossible. As tired as he was, he could feel a fiery adrenaline rushing through his body, making his head spin and his heart race.

He turned onto his side, facing the wall. Taking a deep breath, he tried to steady his rapid pulse and the torrent of thoughts crowding his mind, but it was no use. The night's events kept replaying themselves in a dizzying rush, each image seared to the inside of his eyelids.

It didn't help that he could hear Lance's every movement. It sounded like he was as restless as Keith was, the sleeping bag rustling as he tossed and turned. His breathing also sounded shallow and shuddering in a way that made a knot of concern form in Keith's chest.

He turned over again, facing the darkness. Only the barest hint of light seeped through the window, so all he could see of Lance was a shapeless form curled on the floor. The distance between them suddenly felt like miles.

"Lance?" Keith said before he could stop himself.

There was no response at first. Then a muffled "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yep, f-fine," Lance answered, although the shakiness of his voice said otherwise.

"Are you sure? I can practically hear your teeth chattering from here."

"Oh. S-Sorry," Lance said. "I just still feel super weird and cold, you know? But it's okay. I––"

"Come up here," said Keith, and then felt the heat of mortification rise to his face as he realized what he had just said. "I––I mean. If you want to. It would ... be okay."

"Huh? No, no. I told you that you could have the bed. It's fine."

"No, I meant––" Keith stopped himself, trying to heed the warnings of the alarms blaring in his head. Now that he had spoken, he felt like it was too late to turn back. "I meant we would both ... um."

"Oh." There was a sudden flat note to Lance's voice as he caught on. "Would that ... be okay?"

"Yeah, of course. That's why I offered," Keith said, trying to make it sound as casual as possible.

"Okay. Well, uh ... okay."

Lance sounded hesitant, but Keith could still hear him shifting around as he maneuvered out of the sleeping bag. His silhouette rose up from the floor and stepped towards the bed. Keith moved closer to the wall, trying to ignore the frantic pounding in his chest.

The mattress gave slightly under Lance's weight before he stretched out next to Keith and pulled the blanket over himself. There were still a few inches of space between them, and even with that small distance Keith could feel the cold radiating from him.

"Lance?"

"Yeah?"

"If it'll help you get warmer, we could ... you know."

"We could ... ?" Lance trailed off questioningly.

Suddenly feeling bold, Keith inched a little closer to him. “Here, I’ll––” He slid an arm around Lance’s waist, his pulse skipping at the sound of Lance’s surprised inhale. “Is that better?”

“Y-Yeah,” Lance said hoarsely, then cleared his throat. “That’s … yeah.”

They lay there for a minute, Keith still with his arm draped across Lance’s torso. He remained tense, expecting Lance to push him away at any moment.

Instead, after a minute, Lance shifted and turned onto his side so he was facing Keith. His bare foot brushed up against Keith's ankle, and Keith hissed in his breath at how freezing Lance's skin felt.

"Sorry," Lance mumbled. Keith could feel how violently he was shivering.

"It's okay. It’s just ... jeez, you're really cold."

"Well, you're really warm," Lance said, like he meant it to be a comeback.

He moved a little closer, and Keith was dizzyingly aware of the mere inches between their faces. If that wasn't bad enough, right then he felt Lance's arm slip around his waist, gently tugging him forward. He let out a small, involuntary gasp which he prayed Lance hadn't heard––but apparently he had, judging by the way he started to pull his arm back.

“Sorry. I should’ve … Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s––it’s fine,” Keith managed to say.

A lengthy silence ensued. They both lay still, each with an arm wrapped loosely around the other. Lance still felt cold and tense to the touch, shuddering every few moments.

"Are you really okay, Lance?" Keith asked at last.

"Huh? Yeah, I––I'm fine."

Keith knew he could easily let it go, but he couldn't shake the worries from his mind. Couldn't stop reliving those horrible moments back in the church––Lance's eyes glowing yellow, the empty and sinister expression on his face, the way he'd collapsed so suddenly as soon as Haggar had detached from him. All those moments where Keith had thought Lance was gone.

"You know, you don't have to say it's okay if it isn't," Keith said.

The words came out of their own accord, and Keith felt a momentary confusion at their familiarity. Then he remembered they were the exact words Lance had said to him not too long ago, when they were stargazing on the tennis court.

If Lance noticed the similarity, he didn’t comment on it. He drew in a deep breath, and Keith could feel the way Lance’s rib cage expanded with the shaky inhale.

“I can’t stop thinking about it,” Lance said, his voice wavering. “About what happened. What I almost did.”

The confession came out in a panicked rush, and it took a moment for Keith to process it. Then his arm tightened around Lance’s waist.

“Lance––”

“I know what you’re going to say, and yeah I––I know it wasn’t really me doing those things. Saying those things,” Lance stammered. “But, God … I can’t even describe it. It was like, I was still there, but I was completely helpless.”

“You weren’t completely helpless. You were fighting against it.”

“I mean, yeah, I was trying, but––” Lance’s breath shuddered out of him. “I was so terrified that I’d lose control, that I wouldn’t be able to stop her. That you were going to get hurt, and it would’ve been my fault.”

Before Keith could protest, Lance went on, “I just can’t stop blaming myself for it, you know? Not even for the stuff Haggar did but just … for the fact that I got possessed by her in the first place. Like it only happened because I was too weak, or––or––I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I know it’s stupid.”

His voice had grown hoarse and choked like he was about to cry, and Keith felt something frantic flutter beneath his sternum––a desperate need to say anything to chase Lance’s fears away.

“It’s not stupid,” he said firmly. “And it’s not your fault.”

“But I––”

“Lance, listen. You didn’t get possessed because you were weak. Haggar attacked you because you pushed me out of the way. You––You saved me,” Keith blurted. He felt Lance go still, his shudders coming to a momentary stop. “You didn’t have to do that, but you did.”

Lance was silent for a moment before shifting forward a little more. When he let out a short breath, Keith felt it against his face.

“Of course I had to,” Lance said. “You would’ve done the same thing for me.”

It was too dark for Keith to see his expression, but he kept his eyes open anyway––searching the space in front of him, trying to shape Lance’s face from the darkness. Wondering if Lance’s eyes were open too.

Lance was trembling again, and his hand clenched against the back of Keith’s T-shirt.

“But I was so scared, Keith,” he whispered, voice almost breaking on the words. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

The sudden vulnerability made Keith feel like a shock had run through him, and then an aching concern settled deep in his chest––multiplying tenfold when Lance shuddered with what he suspected was a suppressed sob.

“Hey,” Keith said softly, his hand pressing between Lance’s shoulder blades. “It’s okay.”

It sounded lame to his own ears, and he frantically tried to think of something more comforting to say. But all coherent thoughts left his mind right then, because Lance had suddenly crowded against him, burying his face against Keith’s chest.

Keith nearly rolled onto his back at the impact, his arm instinctively tightening around Lance’s waist. Lance’s whole body was shaking and he made a broken, muffled noise that made an invisible dagger drive between Keith’s ribs. His grip loosened as he settled into the new position, his hand rubbing small circles against Lance’s back.

“Lance, it’s alright. I was really scared, too,” he said. “But it––it’s okay. We’re safe now.”

Lance kept shaking silently in his arms, and Keith didn’t know if he was crying or if it was from how cold he felt. Either way, it made Keith want to hold him tighter, made him wish he were courageous enough to brush the tears from Lance’s face, to press a kiss to his forehead …

Right then, Lance turned his head, the side of it resting against Keith’s chest––and Keith willed his heart to stop pounding so violently in fear that Lance would hear it. He could feel the frigid temperature of Lance’s skin through his shirt, and kept his arm securely wrapped around him, hoping that his own warmth would help.

“I’m just worried it’ll happen again,” Lance said hoarsely. “That the next time we face Haggar, she’ll try to make one of us hurt the others.” He drew in a shaky breath. “And I can’t go through that again, Keith. I––I just can’t …”

“I won’t let it happen again,” Keith said, and he was almost surprised at the certainty in his tone. “None of us will. The next time we face Haggar––when we go to save the Black Lion––we’re all going to be there. Us and all of the lions. I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but … we’ll have your back, Lance. Always.”

Maybe he imagined it, but it felt like Lance had stopped shaking so hard. He settled more comfortably against Keith’s chest, sniffling.

“Thanks, Keith.”

“You’re welcome.” Keith paused, hyper-aware of everything: Lance’s solid weight against him, the smell of crisp autumn air lingering in his hair, the soft fabric of Lance’s shirt, the way his ribs expanded and contracted beneath Keith’s hand with every breath. “And, Lance?” he added quietly. “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

Lance tensed and then relaxed again, letting out a short huff that might’ve been a soft laugh. “I’m glad you’re okay, too,” he said. “Sorry I got possessed and almost killed you. Wasn’t exactly the fun evening I had in mind.”

Keith couldn’t help but smile a little. Leave it to Lance to try and make light of the situation, no matter how dark it was.

“It’s okay. Like I said, it wasn’t your fault.”

“I know, I know.” Lance yawned, nuzzling his face against Keith’s shoulder––and Keith nearly choked in surprise, but somehow managed not to make any embarrassing noises. “Mm … gosh, you really are super warm,” Lance said, the words slurring together. “You’re like a furnace.”

“Uh, okay … ?”

“Hey, it’s a compliment. It’s … nice.”

“Oh. Well … thanks, I guess.”

Lance was silent for a few long moments, and Keith thought maybe he’d fallen asleep. But then––

“I’d still like to go to a movie with you sometime,” Lance said. “I mean, if you want to.”

It took a second for Keith to remember how to speak. He cleared his throat. “I––yeah. I would like that.”

“Me, too,” Lance murmured. And then he didn’t say anything else.

Keith waited, holding his breath, but Lance had fallen completely still. He thought about asking Lance if he was still awake, but he didn't want to wake him up if he'd already fallen asleep.

After staring at the dark ceiling for a few minutes, Keith sighed and closed his eyes. He kept his arm draped around Lance's waist, allowing himself to relax––to take comfort in the weight of Lance's head on his chest, in the sound of his steady breathing. Lance still felt very cold and Keith shuddered at the chilling temperature, but at least it seemed to be ebbing away, absorbed in his own warmth.

Even with all the terrifying things they'd been through tonight and despite the daunting tasks that lay ahead of them, for the time being Keith felt as if they were safe in their own warm, secure sphere. He watched the blurry shapes behind his eyelids and let his mind drift, until darkness welcomed him and he fell into a surprisingly blissful sleep.

––

Keith woke up in a disoriented haze. A faint, golden light blinded him as he blinked several times and saw an unfamiliar room before him––an open closet, a dresser with clothes spilling out of it, a faded poster for an action movie he'd never seen. His mind scrambled to process where he was, and also––ow, his eyes really hurt and he could see perfectly, which meant he'd fallen asleep with his contacts in for some reason.

With a faint groan he shifted a little ... only to find that he couldn't move because something warm and solid was pressed against his back. At the same time, he realized that what he'd thought was a pillow under his head was gently rising and falling and ... Oh, right. All the pieces came flying together as he remembered everything and processed where he was.

He realized then that he was still in Lance’s bed and had been crowded up against the wall. His head rested on Lance’s chest and his arm was draped across Lance’s stomach. Lance was lying on top of his other arm, which was tingling with pins and needles, and their legs were tangled together in the twisted blankets.

Keith didn’t dare to move, a selfish part of him not wanting to wake Lance in fear that it would shatter the moment. But his left arm––the one crushed under Lance’s body––was starting to hurt pretty badly. He started to wriggle it out from underneath Lance, as gently as he could …

He heard a hitch in Lance’s breathing, and Keith froze. As he finally tugged his arm free, he raised his head a little and––oh, no. Lance’s eyes were blinking open, fixing on Keith’s face hovering over him.

Keith knew he should probably move, but he remained frozen in place, staring down at Lance and marveling at how unfairly good he looked for someone who had just woken up––his hair slightly tousled, the early morning light highlighting his skin with gold and glittering in his dark eyes. His sleepy, half-lidded expression was endearing in a way that made something tight squeeze around Keith's heart––and it only grew more noticeable as Lance smiled at him crookedly, not seeming at all bothered by their close proximity.

"Morning," Lance said, a gentle rasp in his voice.

Keith was abruptly pulled out of his catatonic state. It occurred to him that he still had his arm draped across Lance's torso and he quickly snatched it away. He rolled onto his side, nearly knocking into the wall. "I ... hi. Hey. Good morning," he stammered, and then felt as if his soul had detached from his body. Had he really just said hi?

Lance, meanwhile, had propped himself up on one elbow and was still staring at Keith with a dazed expression. "You okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, I––I'm fine," Keith said. He rubbed at his left hand, which was still tingling. "How about you?"

"I'm ... good," Lance answered, although there was a note of hesitation to it. "I don't know about you, but I slept like a rock." He rubbed at his eyes and then froze suddenly, his brow furrowing.

"What is it?" Keith asked.

"Nothing, I just ..." Lance paused, gazing at Keith as clarity crept into his eyes. “Blue showed me something while I was sleeping. A vision, sort of. Of everything that happened back in the church, while I was … you know, passed out on the floor.”

Keith blinked, not knowing what to say. “Oh … ?”

“Yeah. I saw how you battled against Haggar and everything. Made flames shoot out of your hands. Man, I’m still really sorry I missed that.”

Keith smiled a little. “It was pretty cool,” he admitted.

Lance was smiling too, but then the expression faded as if he had been hit with a sudden revelation.

“You––You stood up to Haggar before you’d even bonded with Red. You tried to protect me from her, and you didn’t even have any powers yet.” He said it carefully, like he was trying to determine whether it was true.

Keith looked down, scratching the back of his neck. “Well … yeah,” he said, and then remembered what Lance had told him the night before. “You would’ve done the same thing for me.”

Lance fell very quiet at that, and Keith’s gaze flicked up to find that Lance was staring at him, chewing his lower lip.

“There’s one other thing,” Lance said. “It was all kinda foggy at first, but I’m starting to remember everything that happened, and … right before I blacked out, I––I felt something. Like something was pulling me free from Haggar. Saving me.” He paused again, his eyes searching Keith’s face. “That was you, wasn’t it?”

The question caught Keith off-guard. “I …” he started to say, and then wasn’t sure how to continue. One of his fingers absently traced a circle in the sheets. “Yes,” he said at last, quietly. “But I don’t know how I did it. It was like I … sensed you somehow, and I––I don’t know. I was sort of able to … pull you out of it.”

That was probably the worst explanation in existence, but Lance seemed content with it. One side of his mouth quirked up in a smile and he huffed out a disbelieving laugh. “Wow. You really are something, Keith.”

There was such a quiet fondness to it that Keith felt like he’d been kicked in the chest. It took a second before he managed to smile back.

“Thanks, I guess,” he said. Lance was still staring at him, and he cleared his throat. “How are you feeling, by the way? Do you still feel cold?”

Lance blinked like he hadn’t understood the question, and then his brow furrowed. “Hmm … now that you mention it, I don’t think so. Do I?”

Without warning, he rested his hand over Keith’s where it lay between them on the mattress. Keith stiffened at the touch, momentarily speechless before he remembered Lance was waiting for him to answer.

“Not really,” he said. “Well, that’s good.”

Even after he’d delivered this verdict, Lance still didn’t pull his hand away. His thumb traced idly over Keith’s knuckles, and Keith looked up in surprise to see Lance staring back at him with a quiet admiration that stole the air from Keith’s lungs.

Keith somehow found his voice again. “You said something last night about your heart feeling weird, too. Does it feel okay now?”

Lance contemplated the question, frowning slightly before his expression softened again. “I don’t know,” he said. “You tell me.”

Without breaking eye contact, he took hold of Keith’s hand and lifted it, pressing it to his chest. Keith froze, his mind shorting out before he returned to the present, to the grounding sensation of his palm resting right over Lance’s heart. He could feel its pulses growing more rapid, echoing the pounding rhythm in his own chest.

“It feels … kind of fast,” he commented.

“Yeah,” Lance said faintly, his eyes never leaving Keith’s. “I guess it does.”

They both held still, facing each other in the soft morning light. And then Keith felt a spark of something ignite behind his sternum––a sudden, aching desperation to close that small distance between them. Something he had felt many times before but never with such certainty.

The slow drag of air into his lungs seemed to last a lifetime as he finally came to a decision. His fingers clenched into the fabric of Lance’s shirt and pulled him gently forward, his heart stuttering as Lance willingly leaned towards him.

Keith rolled onto his back, and Lance hovered over him with his elbows propped on the mattress on either side of Keith’s head. Only a breath of space remained between them and Lance suddenly looked very vulnerable, glancing down at Keith’s mouth and back up at his eyes in a silent question.

In answer, Keith slid his hand up Lance’s chest and around the back of his neck, pulling him down slowly until their lips met.

The kiss was a little stiff and awkward at first, both of them tense with hesitation. Then Keith felt Lance’s mouth move against his, soft and tentative––pulling away for one heart-stopping moment and then returning again. Keith’s eyes drifted closed as his mind finally caught up with his body, every nerve alight with sensation.

Their movements started out slow and uncertain, but soon grew more insistent with each gentle slide of their lips. Keith’s hands found their way upwards to cradle Lance’s face, fingers tracing his jawline and coaxing him into a better angle.

They kissed until Keith started to feel a little dizzy from lack of air––and then suddenly Lance was pulling back, propping himself up on his forearms. Keith’s eyes blinked open, his heart racing and his mouth tingling where Lance’s had been moments earlier.

Lance gazed down at him, his skin glowing in the light and his eyes sparking with something new and wondrous. Keith realized that his hands were still cupping Lance’s face and he let them slide downwards, brushing the sides of Lance’s neck and resting on his shoulders. All he could think about was how much he wanted to pull Lance down and kiss him again, but he somehow managed to control himself.

“What is it?” he asked hoarsely, when Lance continued to stare at him. “Is something wrong?”

Lance blinked like he’d forgotten where he was. “What? No, no. Nothing’s wrong. I just …” His fingers grazed the side of Keith’s face, brushing some strands of hair out of the way. “You look really cute right now.”

He stated it so matter-of-factly that it caught Keith off-guard, and his head reeled as he floundered for something to say in return.

“Oh, yeah?” he stammered. “Well … you look really cute all the time.”

Lance raised his eyebrows and Keith worried he’d said the wrong thing. But then Lance laughed, his shoulders shaking under Keith’s hands.

“Did you just––I flirt with you, and you try to make a comeback?”

Keith was pretty sure he’d turned bright red, and he slapped a hand over his face and groaned. Oh, God. He’d already messed everything up. “I––I don’t know. I’m sorry, I’m not good at this stuff.”

“Whoa, hey. That’s not what I meant.” Lance gripped Keith by the wrist and pulled his hand away from his face. “It’s okay. I thought it was sweet.” He paused, his thumb tracing Keith’s palm. “I really like you, Keith,” he said at last, voice barely above a murmur.

Keith’s heart skipped a beat before he managed to respond, his confession just as soft as Lance’s had been. “I really like you, too.”

If it was possible, Lance’s face lit up even more. “Yeah?” he said, sounding just as dazed as Keith felt. His smile faltered, a hint of shyness tracing his expression. “Can I … kiss you again?”

Keith’s mouth quirked up at one corner. A breathless laugh escaped him as his hand curved around the back of Lance’s neck. “Thought you’d never ask.”

He pulled Lance down until their foreheads touched, absorbing the moment as their shallow breathing mingled. Then Lance tilted his head a little, closing that miniscule distance and pressing a long kiss to Keith’s mouth.

Just like the first time, the contact sparked something electric in Keith’s chest––a rush of adrenaline that coursed all the way to his extremities and burned underneath his skin. His eyes fluttered shut, fingers clenching in the collar of Lance’s shirt to pull him closer. They melted into it more easily than before, mouths slotting together and moving in unison, seeking out a comfortable rhythm. Keith sank down against the mattress, heart pounding and lips yielding to Lance’s tender ministrations.

Finally, Lance pulled back again, breath shivering against Keith’s mouth. Keith murmured something incoherent in protest––at this point too beyond human speech or any rational thought––only for the sound to be cut short when he felt a light kiss at the corner of his mouth, his cheekbone, his jaw.

Keith’s breath hitched as Lance moved lower, lips trailing beneath his jawline to brush against his neck. Lance paused. “Is this okay?” he asked quietly.

The feeling of Lance’s breath against his skin made Keith feel as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room, but he managed to gather his wits enough to answer, “Y-Yeah.” He’d meant it to sound casual and was somewhat mortified at how wrecked his voice sounded, hoarse and a little desperate around the edges.

But he didn’t have time to dwell on it, because Lance was kissing his throat. Keith inhaled sharply, his hand sliding upwards of its own accord until his fingers buried themselves in Lance’s hair. He tilted his head back to allow Lance easier access, letting out a faint whimpering noise that he might have been embarrassed about otherwise––but right now it was impossible to think past the sensation of Lance’s lips trailing light kisses down the side of his neck, lingering near his collarbone to part right against his fluttering pulse.

Keith only remembered how to breathe when Lance rose up again, smiling down at him sheepishly as he shifted his position a little.

“Sorry, my arms are kind of falling asleep.”

“Oh.” Keith took a second to orient himself in the real world again, although it proved to be difficult when the room felt like it was spinning around him and his heart was racing so fast it was practically buzzing. He struggled to prop himself up on his elbows. “I mean, I could …”

“You could what?” Lance asked, although there was a teasing lilt to it that implied he knew the answer.

A wicked smirk crept up onto Keith’s face. In response, he grabbed Lance around the middle and flipped him over, tackling him to the mattress and straddling his waist.

All trace of confidence disappeared from Lance’s expression in an instant, his eyes widening as he took in the sight of Keith above him. “Oh,” he said faintly. “Okay.”

Keith hesitated, worrying that he had been too bold or that they were moving too fast. But then he saw the way Lance’s gaze flickered downwards, staring at his mouth in a way that was so openly wanting and … oh.

He needed a second to breathe, to absorb the moment, to believe that this was really happening––that the feelings he’d harbored for so long were mutual, that every moment between them had mattered as much to Lance as it had to him, and it hadn’t just been his own wishful thinking. Keith felt a sudden rush of determination to make up for all of that lost time, to make Lance feel as alive as Lance made him feel.

And so he took his time to exhale, expelling the air from his lungs in a shuddering sigh and lowering himself down. Lance’s mouth went pliant underneath his, lips parting willingly as Keith kissed him slow and deep. Their tongues brushed and Lance made a low noise in his throat, hands sliding down Keith’s back to his waist, to his hips. One of his thumbs grazed just underneath the hem of Keith’s shirt and Keith shivered at the touch, a tremor racing up his spine.

When they finally parted they stared at each other with almost shocked expressions, faces flushed and chests heaving. Then Lance smiled, radiant in the early daylight. With a soft chuckle, he reached up to gingerly tuck a few strands of hair behind Keith's ear.

"Guess you've been wanting to do that as long as I have, huh?"

Keith took a second to catch his breath and then huffed, rolling off of Lance and onto his side. He kept an arm draped across Lance's chest, hand resting over his pounding heart.

"Depends," he said. "How long has it been for you?"

Lance didn't answer right away. He turned his head so he could look Keith in the eyes, steady and calculating.

"Not to sound horribly cheesy, but ... probably since I first saw you."

Keith’s breath caught. "Really? You mean when you almost barreled into me at the top of the stairs in the Castle? And you thought I was a ghost?"

"A very cute ghost," Lance said defensively. "Also you ran into me first, just saying. Anyway ... Hunk actually called it like a day after we met you and I told him he was nuts, but ... turns out he was right, as usual. God, he's been insufferable since I finally admitted to him that I liked you."

Keith was somehow not surprised, judging by the way Hunk had been acting around the two of them lately, but he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that this had been going on for a while now––that Lance's crush on him had originated when they first met, way before Keith had even realized his own crush.

“What about you?” Lance asked.

“Huh?” Keith blinked. “Oh. I––I don’t know. I’m not sure exactly when it started. But, uh … on the tennis court, when we were watching the meteor shower. I think that’s when I really realized it.” He chewed his lower lip, feeling oddly bashful all of a sudden despite that he’d been making out with Lance about two minutes ago. “I really wanted to kiss you then.”

“Really? Oh, my God.” Lance laughed and ran a hand down his face. “I really wanted to kiss you that night, too. I mean, I’ve wanted to kiss you a lot of times but … that night especially was like a whole elaborate scheme so I could tell you how I felt, but I totally chickened out.”

Keith opened his mouth to respond––but right then something occurred to him. “What do you mean, ‘scheme’?” He raised himself up on one elbow as the realization struck him. “Wait … there was no astronomy club meeting, was there?”

Lance’s guilty silence said it all.

“Lance.”

“Okay okay, I admit it! I made up the whole thing as an excuse to get you to watch the meteor shower with me,” Lance blurted. “And then I was gonna confess to you under the stars and it was gonna be super romantic and stuff, but I just … I don’t know. I got too nervous. I’m sorry.”

His rambling came to a stop and he peered up at Keith anxiously, like he was expecting Keith to be mad. Instead Keith just started laughing, the sound bubbling out of him uncontrollably as he buried his face against Lance’s shoulder.

“Don’t apologize,” he said at last. “That’s … That’s really cute, actually.”

“Yeah?” Lance laughed too, turning to wrap his arm around Keith. “Well, I’m glad you think so. Gosh, I was really kicking myself after that.”

“It’s okay.” Keith raised his forehead from Lance’s shoulder, tilting his chin up a little so they were lying face-to-face, their noses almost touching. “We have plenty of time to make up for it, right?”

In reply, Lance shifted forward to press a kiss to Keith’s forehead. “Right,” he said quietly.

Keith’s eyes closed as they embraced, arms around each other and chests pressed together, legs tangling on top of the sheets. Even with all the danger that lay ahead of them, he felt at peace for this one blissful moment, absorbing Lance’s warmth and reveling in the feeling of strength that surged through his veins.

Maybe they still had the last lion to find, more foes to face, their friends to save.

But right now, Keith felt about ready to take on anything.

Chapter Text

Keith’s head was still reeling by the time Lance drove him back home. The entire car ride, he kept replaying everything in his head until he felt dizzy from it. It was almost too much to comprehend: He had bonded with his lion, he was a paladin.

He could feel Red’s presence at the back of his mind—a light tug, like she was reminding him she was there. He had heard the other paladins describe the sensation before, but it was different to experience it himself. Not that it was unpleasant, just that it was something he would need some getting used to. So far, though, Red seemed to have been pretty quiet since she’d bonded with Keith. He didn’t know whether that was a good sign or a bad sign.

But, perhaps even more surprising than that... Lance had kissed him. He had kissed Lance back. And he would probably get to do so again—and again and again. Assuming this was a thing now. Was it a thing?

Pressing questions kept rising to Keith’s mind, but he resisted the urge to blurt them out, as badly as he wanted to know the answers. Instead, he settled for sneaking looks at Lance, who was driving and enthusiastically describing some action movie at length. Keith didn’t mind. He could have listened all day to the sound of Lance’s voice, and watched his animated expressions as he talked excitedly.

“Anyway, I’ve probably seen it like twenty times,” Lance concluded, as he turned onto Keith’s street. “But yeah, you should totally see it. Maybe we could... watch it together sometime? If you want?”

There was a sudden hint of hesitation to his tone, and he glanced shyly at Keith.

There was a fluttery feeling in Keith’s stomach. He wasn’t sure how to navigate the whole potentially-dating thing. A thing he didn’t have a whole lot of experience with. But judging by Lance’s awkwardness, it was new to him, too—so it was comforting to know they’d be figuring it out together, at least.

“I’d like that,” Keith said, with a sincere smile.

“Yeah?” Lance pulled up to the curb outside Keith’s apartment building, and turned to grin crookedly at him. “Well… yeah, we should do that. And, uh...” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe we can also… kiss some more?”

There was a forced casualness to the question, but the hint of genuine worry underneath it made fondness bloom in Keith’s chest. He laughed softly. “Yeah,” he said, “we can do that, too.”

“Good,” said Lance. “I mean, cool. Cool, cool. Um…” He glanced over Keith’s shoulder towards his apartment.

In his daze, Keith had almost forgotten where they were. “I should probably—”

“Right. Yeah, yeah.”

“Thanks for the ride.”

“No problem.”

Keith started to undo his seatbelt. “See you soon?”

“Yeah, see you,” Lance said. A flash of indecision crossed his face, then he leaned over to kiss Keith on the cheek.

The gesture caught Keith off-guard, and the kiss landed closer to his jaw. Heat rose to his face as he stared at Lance in surprise.

Lance’s eyes went wide. “I—sorry,” he stammered. “Was that… okay?”

Keith blinked, then smiled easily. By way of answering, he reached over to curl his fingers in the fabric of Lance’s hoodie, tugging him forward to plant a kiss against his mouth.

He’d intended it to be brief—just a quick, casual peck before saying goodbye. But when he tried to pull away, he couldn’t resist the urge to lean back in again. Lance made a soft noise of surprise against his lips before kissing him back. Keith’s eyes closed, his hand sliding to the back of Lance’s neck.

When he pulled away, Lance blinked back at him like he’d just woken up from a dream. A warm, satisfied feeling rolled through Keith—knowing that he had made Lance look like that, and that he could continue to do so over and over.

“Yeah,” he said a little roughly, unable to stop the smirk that rose to his face. “Definitely okay.”

—

When he entered his apartment, Keith shut the door behind him and leaned against it. He smiled to himself, feeling like a cliché out of some corny teen romance movie, but he was too far gone to care. It took all his control not to literally fist-pump the air.

He only allowed himself to dwell on it for a few moments. Okay, focus. Although it was nearly impossible to drag his mind away from this morning’s events, Keith had things to do. For one, he really needed a shower and a change of clothes. Also, he’d been wearing his contacts for an absurd amount of time and his eyes were killing him.

Everything felt hazy and surreal as he made his way across his apartment. He hadn’t been there since yesterday evening, and it felt like a decade had passed. He was still processing the past twenty-four hours by the time he stepped out of the shower, changed into clean clothes, and put his glasses on.

His phone buzzed faintly on his bedside table as he stepped into his bedroom. Keith picked it up and scrolled through the notifications: three missed calls from Pidge, as well as a series of frantic texts.

pidge: hey keith i think green is trying to tell me something. i’m not sure exactly what it is...but if i’m understanding correctly i think she’s saying you found red?! what’s going on??

pidge: heyyyyy why aren’t you picking up???? can you let me know when you get my messages? thx

pidge: ok i’m freaking out a little bit here bc it’s been a while and i still haven’t heard from you. are you ok???

Keith winced. He hoped he hadn’t freaked out Pidge too much. Sitting down on the edge of his bed, he pulled her name up in his contacts and tapped on it.

The first ring was cut off midway. “Keith?”

“Pidge, hey. Yeah, it’s me.”

“Oh, phew.” She let out a heavy exhale. “God, I was scared something bad had happened. Green has been talking into my head all morning, saying something about you finding Red. Is that true?”

“I... yeah. It’s true. Kind of a long story.”

“Can you give me the SparkNotes version? I’m lurking around in the hotel lobby and we’re all leaving for the airport in like thirty minutes.”

“Um, I can try.” Keith sucked in a breath. “So, Red was in an abandoned church in this ghost town that’s been on fire underground for half a century. Lance and I went to go save her because Haggar had found her, too, and we needed to stop her. Lance got possessed—but don’t worry, he’s fine. I bonded with Red and made fire shoot out of my hands. Then we drove Haggar away and came back home, and... yeah.”

“Whoa, whoa. Wait,” Pidge said. “What? So, not only did you figure out where Red was, but you found her and bonded with her already? That’s… I mean, I’m really happy for you. But also, why didn’t you guys wait for me and Hunk to get back? You could’ve gotten really hurt.”

Keith winced and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, jostling his glasses.

“I know,” he said. “I’m sorry. We would’ve waited for you guys, but Blue was freaking out and telling Lance it was an emergency. If we hadn’t gotten there fast enough, Haggar might’ve captured Red.”

There was no sound from the other end besides the background chatter in the hotel lobby. Then Pidge let out a sigh. “Yeah, I guess that’s understandable. I’m just glad everything worked out and that you’re alright. But wait, what was that you said about Lance getting possessed? Is he okay?”

“Right, that.” Keith’s hand curled into a fist on his lap. “Haggar possessed him. It was scary, but... I snapped him out of it somehow. I can explain more later. Anyway, yeah, he’s fine.” He cleared his throat, his face heating up. “Also, there was one other thing that happened.”

“Oh, no. What is it?”

Keith hesitated. Maybe this was something that was best conveyed in person. But, well, he was kind of dying to tell someone.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad,” he said. “It’s just that, Lance and I... we kind of, uh... kissed.”

“You what?” Pidge exclaimed so loudly that Keith held his phone away from his ear. “Oops. A bunch of people just gave me weird looks. Sorry, sorry. I just... wow. Okay. Actually, now that I think about it, I should have seen that coming. That’s cool. I’m happy for you guys!” She paused. “Wait. That didn’t happen while he was possessed, right?”

“What? No.”

“Okay, okay. Just making sure!” Pidge said defensively. “Anyway, I should go before everyone leaves without me. You’ll have to tell me the whole story later. But seriously, I’m really happy for you. For the lion thing. And the kissing-Lance thing. Okay, bye!”

Keith chuckled. “Bye, Pidge.” He hung up, still smiling to himself.

—

A few days later—after Pidge and Hunk had returned from their trips, and Allura had made a full recovery from her battle against the druids—everyone gathered at Coran’s house to discuss plans.

While it was reassuring to have everyone back together, there was a distinctly different sense in the atmosphere. As they all sat in a circle in the arm chairs and sofas in Coran’s eccentric living room, Keith noticed that everyone seemed a bit more on edge, fidgeting and sneaking looks at each other like they were all waiting for someone else to speak first.

His one source of comfort was Lance’s presence next to him as they sat side-by-side on one of the sofas, their knees nearly touching. Keith kept feeling the urge to reach out and hold Lance’s hand—but he resisted it, unsure of how Lance felt about public displays of affection.

They’d gone to the diner the evening before, walked through the park holding hands, then watched a terrible movie at Keith’s apartment… and kissed. A lot. Keith was fine with keeping things casual for now, especially in the midst of so much chaos. But he also wasn’t sure how much Lance wanted to tell their friends right now. Although, judging by how Hunk had given them a very knowing look across the room—a badly-concealed smirk and painfully obvious wiggle of his eyebrows—Lance had probably told him everything.

As soon as everyone was settled, Allura rose from her chair to address the group. She looked much healthier than the last time Keith had seen her, with a bit more of a glow to her face and her hair pulled back in a neat updo.

“Thank you all for coming.” She clasped her hands in front of her. “It is wonderful to see all of you again.”

“You too, Allura,” said Hunk. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thank you.” She offered a brief, reassuring smile, then sobered. “But we have several significant matters to discuss.”

The grave tone of her voice seemed to make the temperature in the room drop by a few degrees. Dread hardened at the pit of Keith’s stomach. He had known, of course, that they would inevitably need to discuss their next mission—but he still wasn’t ready to face the enormity of it.

“Before we discuss plans for our... next steps,” Allura said carefully, “I suppose the first thing we should talk about is the acquisition of the Red Lion.”

All eyes turned on Keith, and heat rose to his face. He looked down at the carpet, scratching the back of his head. “Oh... yeah,” he said. “So, I... found Red. Or, well, Lance and I both found her.”

Allura sat back down in her chair, propping her chin on her hand and tilting her head expectantly. “Can you tell us everything that happened?”

Keith hesitated. He knew it was important to debrief the team on the mission, and he was pretty sure everyone in the room had heard at least parts of the story already. But he still struggled for words.

He looked instinctively at Lance, who gave him an encouraging nod. It was a small gesture, but it made Keith feel a bit more secure as he took a breath and launched into the story.

It took him a few minutes to get through the whole thing—not sharing every detail, but explaining as many of the events as he could. Lance helped, of course, jumping in every once in a while to provide his own insights.

When they finished explaining how Keith had bonded with Red and how they’d chased Haggar away, the room fell quiet.

“And, uh… yeah,” Keith said, like he was awkwardly ending a school presentation.

The rest of the group had been listening in rapt attention, hanging on to every word. Hunk was sitting cross-legged on the armchair across from them, hugging a large cushion to his chest.

“Whoa,” he said. “I can’t believe you guys fought off Haggar on your own like that.”

“Oh, you know, no big deal,” said Lance. He slipped an arm around Keith in a casual gesture, as if he didn’t even realize he was doing it. “Although, being able to shoot fireballs out of your hands sure helps.” He winked at Keith.

Blushing, Keith looked down at his lap and scratched at the back of his neck. “I mean, it definitely could’ve gone more smoothly. And we wouldn’t have been able to get out of there without Red and Blue’s help.”

“Wait a second.” Pidge sat on the very edge of the couch, elbows resting on her knees and chin supported on her hands. One of her legs jiggled up and down. “I don’t understand how you managed to snap Lance out of it when Haggar possessed him. Isn’t she, like, super powerful? And you just... concentrated really hard and it worked somehow?”

“Well…” Keith looked towards Lance as if in search of some guidance, but Lance looked equally bewildered.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” Keith said, fiddling with one of the strings on his hoodie. “It was like I could just… sense Lance there, and I was able to pull him out of it—which drove Haggar out at the same time. I know it doesn’t really make any sense.”

He brought his rambling to a stop, his face warm. Conveying all of this felt oddly personal, but maybe that was because he was the only one who knew what it had felt like—like there’d been an unbreakable thread between Lance and himself.

Allura shifted in her seat, crossing one leg over the other. “Actually,” she said after a pause, “I think it makes perfect sense.”

Everyone looked at her in surprise.

“It… does?” Keith said.

Allura folded her hands in her lap. “Yes, but… it’s a bit complicated. There is something Coran and I have been discussing which might explain things—although we are not completely certain.”

The paladins all exchanged wary glances with each other.

“So, what is it?” Lance asked.

Allura bit her lip, looking towards Coran like she was waiting for him to give an explanation—but he only gave her an encouraging nod. Her gaze turned towards Keith, focusing on him with sudden intensity.

“Keith,” she said, “we think it could be possible… that you have Altean ancestry.”

Keith wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting to hear, but it certainly wasn’t that. He tensed, unable to process what Allura had just said. Lance drew in a sharp breath and his arm stiffened around Keith’s shoulders. Hunk and Pidge both stared at him with wide eyes.

Keith’s mind raced to catch up and his pulse thundered in his ears. “Wait… what?” he stammered. “What do you mean, Altean ancestry? How would that… Is that even possible?”

“Why, it’s certainly possible!” Coran said enthusiastically, not seeming to notice the paladins’ absolute shock. “There were many citizens who fled from Altea before Alfor sealed it off for protection. I imagine they must have scattered all across the globe to raise their families.”

Now that the initial surprise was wearing off, Keith began to consider it—and although it still didn’t quite feel real, maybe it did make sense. He ran a shaking hand through his hair as he contemplated it, as all the pieces started to fit together.

“I—I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know anything about my biological family, so it—it could be possible. But what makes you think I’m … ?” He couldn’t even bring himself to finish the question. The very thought of it seemed too preposterous.

“I’m not saying I know for certain,” Allura answered carefully. “But it’s something I’ve considered for quite some time now. There are a few abilities you possess that I always thought seemed unusual, even for a paladin. Most notably, I’ve seen how you can sense changes in energy—that you are able to seek out powerful sources of quintessence.”

When she described it that way, Keith suddenly began to understand. He remembered the first time he and Pidge had gone looking for Altea—how he had gone into a trance out of nowhere, how he’d felt an invisible force pulling him in the direction of the abandoned town.

He thought of all the journeys they’d been on to find the lions, and how whenever a powerful being had been nearby—the Galra, the druids, one of the lions—he had sensed it, like electricity humming in the air. The others had always said they couldn’t feel such things, and Keith had wondered about it many times. But this hadn’t exactly been the explanation he was expecting.

“I... I think it makes sense,” he said at last, staring at the carpet as he tried to wrap his head around all of this. “Or it would explain a lot, anyway. Why I was so drawn to this area in the first place. Those weird senses of energy that I get...”

He had to stop for a moment, taking a deep breath to calm the dizziness creeping over him.

A hand rested lightly against his back. He looked up to see Lance staring back at him with a concerned frown. “Are you okay?”

Keith managed a weak smile. “Yeah, I’m just—just trying to understand it all, I guess.”

He didn’t think he could articulate it, but a strange feeling had come over him all of a sudden—and it wasn’t a bad feeling. Just an unexpected one. As overwhelming as it was to have this news dropped on him out of nowhere, it was comforting to finally know something about where he’d come from—even if it was only the beginning of an explanation.

“I apologize,” Allura said, her brow furrowing. “I had hoped to speak with you about it privately first instead of bringing up the subject in front of everyone. But... so much else was happening and I was never completely certain that my theory was correct.

“But when we went to find the Yellow Lion, and you were hit with a druid’s magic and seemed relatively unscathed by it... and now knowing what happened with Haggar, and how you were able to break her spell when she was possessing Lance... I can’t think of any other explanation. The only people I’ve ever known who could withstand and manipulate energy to that degree were Altean.”

“However, your powers seem to be a bit... unusual,” Coran chimed in. “Perhaps because you only have partial Altean heritage. While Alteans possess an ability to create portals to the spirit world, it seems you have a... reduced version of that power. That is, you can project your soul into the spirit realm for limited periods of time.”

“What? Project my soul? What do you—” Keith’s head reeled. Then, he suddenly understood. “Wait... you mean my dreams?”

Allura nodded emphatically. “Yes, precisely. In fact, the way you described your dreams is what made me have my suspicions in the first place. They didn’t seem to be prophetic exactly, but more like you were entering the spirit world.”

“Whoa,” Pidge said, sitting up straight. “So Keith can, like, astral project?” She looked towards him with interest as if she expected him to confirm.

“I—I guess,” he said. “It just happens, though. I can’t really control it.”

“But perhaps with some assistance, you could,” Allura said.

Everyone looked at her in bewilderment—with the exception of Coran, who looked to one side and fiddled with his mustache, like he was nervous about the subject.

“What do you mean?” Hunk asked.

Allura tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “What I mean is, I’ve been thinking... if Keith and I combine our powers, perhaps that can be used to our advantage. I’ve been attempting to use my own abilities to sense the Black Lion’s location—but although my life force is tied to the lions and I can sense their energies, I do not have the ability to see directly into the spirit world.

“If we could use the Black Lion’s energy as a channel directly to where Zarkon is located, and Keith was able to use that to project himself to their location at will... we might be able to gather some information about where exactly Zarkon is and what he’s planning.”

Keith gave her a blank look, not comprehending. Judging by the silence around him, it seemed that everyone else was equally wary.

“I don’t know,” Lance said, gaze shifting nervously between Keith and Allura. “That sounds kinda dangerous.”

“Admittedly, it could be,” Allura said. “It is not something I have attempted before. And I don’t know for certain if it would work. But it may be the only way to locate the Black Lion.”

Although Keith’s stomach was tying into knots, he processed what Allura was saying and knew she had a point. If this was the best way to find the Black Lion as soon as possible, it was worth the risk.

He glared at the floor as his hands clenched on his knees. He thought of the horrible visions he’d seen, thought of Shiro and Matt locked away in a dark prison cell, thought of everyone in this room and what might befall them all if they were to fail. And it didn’t take long for him to come to a decision.

“I’ll do it.”

The words cut through the air like a knife. Keith could practically feel everyone in the room take a sharp breath.

Allura bit her lip. “Are you certain, Keith? I don’t want you to feel as if I’m forcing you to do this. If you don’t want—”

“I do. I want to.” Keith looked up at her with a sudden flare of determination. “If it will get us to the Black Lion—if it will help us save Shiro and Matt sooner—we need to at least try.”

“Keith.” Lance’s hand tightened on Keith’s shoulder. “I don’t know if this is a good idea. You’ve never done this kinda thing before. And projecting yourself right to where Zarkon is ...” He didn’t complete the sentence, but Keith could tell from the look in his eyes just how much the thought terrified him.

He had a good point, and his evident fear gave Keith pause. But after holding Lance’s gaze for another moment, he knew he had to go with the feeling in his gut.

“I know,” he said. “But I have to. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

Although Lance still looked skeptical—a flash of indecision crossing his features—he relented with a nod, letting his hand drop from Keith’s shoulder. There was a hollow feeling in the pit of Keith’s stomach. He wanted nothing more than to lean over and kiss Lance’s cheek in reassurance or something—but he felt too self-conscious to do it in front of the whole group.

He turned back to Allura. “So, what do we need to do?”

She hesitated, looking between Keith and Lance with a puzzled look like she sensed she was missing some context. But after a moment, she got to her feet.

“I think it will work best if we sit on the floor.” She gestured to a spot across the room. “Perhaps next to the fireplace.”

Keith felt lightheaded as he stood up and followed Allura. They sat down cross-legged on the carpet, facing each other. The others wandered over to gather around them, maintaining a slight distance.

Coran cleared his throat. “Allura, I don’t mean to intrude. But I must admit, I’m a bit nervous about this plan.”

“I understand,” Allura said, “and I appreciate your concern, Coran. But I think it is in our best interest to at least make an attempt. If I sense anything that feels wrong, I will stop immediately. I promise.”

Coran wrung his hands together anxiously—but after a few more seconds of hesitation, he gave a small nod and stepped back to give them space.

Allura drew in a deep breath, eyes focusing intensely on Keith. He took a long inhale of his own, trying to center himself as he focused on the feeling of air filling his lungs. As Allura breathed out again, she laid out her hands with her palms facing upward. Keith glanced down at them in confusion—and then hesitantly reached out to lay his hands over hers, their palms just barely touching.

Already, Keith could feel a buzz of energy between their fingers, like an invisible electricity passing between them. He concentrated on the sensation, blocking out his surroundings—the tense silence around them, their friends gathered nearby and watching them with baited breath.

Allura closed her eyes. Keith did the same. He took another deep breath, trying to calm the shaking in his hands and the rushing sound in his ears. Abstract shapes appeared and dissipated beneath his eyelids, and he focused on them, watching the flickering movements until his mind quieted.

The energy built steadily, like it was flowing from Allura’s palms and channeling into him. It was a bit startling at first—a sensation that somehow felt completely alien and familiar at the same time. It reminded him of the first time he and Pidge had found Altea, how he’d felt as if a long string was winding through his consciousness and guiding him in the right direction.

He was distantly aware of the feeling of Allura grasping his hands then, fingers smooth and firm around his.

And then, very suddenly, he was pulled all the way under.

—

It was a scary, jolting feeling, like he’d stepped off the edge of a cliff. Keith couldn’t feel or see or hear anything. Just a deep, fathomless blackness like he’d plunged to the deepest depths of the ocean. His instinct was to cry out in fear, but he didn’t have any physical form with which to do so.

Then, after several moments of panic, he felt it again: the thread of energy tugging him forward. He could almost see its faint outline in the darkness, like a silvery path guiding him through space and time. It felt like a beacon guiding him onward through the emptiness, and he willingly followed it.

Time fell away as he moved across the endless expanse—sometimes by choice, sometimes as if some invisible hand had grasped him by the wrist and was pulling him sharply this way and that.

After what felt like an eternity, he could feel a familiar tingling in his extremities. It felt similar to the other times he’d traveled in his dreams—what he now knew was projecting himself into the spirit world—but it felt different now that he had chosen to do it. The other times, it had felt like he’d been dropped onto cement from a tall height. But now, he eased into it slowly, like he was drifting to the ground.

He felt something solid underneath his feet, stumbled, then righted himself. His eyes blinked open, and he gasped as he regained the ability to breathe. The scene before him remained blurry at first, but gradually shifted into focus as if he was looking at it through a new lens.

He was standing outside, under a sky full of stars. A full moon shone overhead, casting a surreal and silvery glow over the landscape. The dark outlines of mountains stood against the horizon.

Keith could only stand there, feeling strange and dizzy. While he had been projected into the spirit world before, there was something distinctly different about this time. In his dreams, everything had felt hazy and disorienting, like he was viewing it through glass. But the scenery around him now felt sharp and clear. And there was a certain sense of wrongness to it that he’d never felt before—a dark energy permeating the air.

Until now, Keith hadn’t noticed the looming shadow sprawling across the bare ground. When he turned to see its source, he sucked in a sharp breath. Above him towered the ruins of a castle. Tall spires stood out starkly against the sky, and the stone walls crumbled in some places. Keith immediately knew what he was looking at, even though he had never seen it from the outside before. But he had seen its narrow passageways and dark depths in his nightmares.

This was where Shiro and Matt were imprisoned. Where the Black Lion was being held.

Keith ran towards it... but something stopped him in his tracks. He couldn’t say what it was at first, just that he had a strange inkling of the feeling that he was going in the wrong direction. A gigantic source of energy was pulling at him from behind.

He looked over his shoulder... and saw a strange shape forming in the sky.

At first, it had no distinct outline—just hazy patches blotting out the stars. But then it condensed, transforming into a large circle. Its outline still remained blurry and it flickered in and out of sight.

Keith felt a strange pull towards it. At the same time, he wanted to run as far away from it as possible.

He remained frozen as the dark circle spread across the sky. It was probably dangerous to go closer—but Keith needed to know what was happening. That was why he was here, after all.

Steeling himself, he moved cautiously forward.

The ground sloped upward to a wide ridge, lined with large boulders. As Keith drew closer, he saw a lone figure standing near the edge—hands raised and robes fluttering. Even though they were turned away from him, Keith immediately recognized them. His blood turned to ice. Haggar.

He ducked behind one of the boulders, even though he was fairly certain that Haggar couldn’t see him when he was projecting himself into the spirit world. Just to be safe, he remained in the shadows.

Up in the sky, hazy black patches continued to form and dissipate against the stars. Sinister energy radiated from the growing darkness, and Keith could practically hear it like a low hum filling his skull.

Haggar’s arms shook as she strained her hands upwards. Dark magic crackled around her fingers. But after several moments, she let her hands drop to her sides with a shriek of frustration. The dark splotches dissolved against the backdrop of the stars. Haggar stood still, clutching her arm to her side and breathing raggedly.

“Haggar.”

The deep voice startled Keith, and he barely suppressed a gasp as he inched further behind the rock. From his obscured viewpoint, he could just barely make out the outline of a second figure ascending the slope, long cape billowing in the wind.

Haggar turned, yellow eyes glowing under the shadow of her hood. “Yes, sire?”

“I came to inquire about your progress. Is the portal almost prepared?”

Haggar regarded Zarkon with a stony look. It was difficult to see her expression in the dimness, but Keith could just make out the tight set of her mouth, like she was holding back a bitter retort.

“Not yet, my lord,” she answered, her tone clipped. “I am still working on creating its barriers, but it will not be fully functional until we have the source of quintessence.”

Zarkon’s shoulders tensed and his hands curled into fists. “My patience is wearing thin, witch. If you’d captured the lions by now, we would have already completed the portal.”

Haggar’s glowing eyes narrowed. Her mouth turned up in a snarl. “I am not to blame for that. First the Galra spirits failed me, and then the druids. And when I went to capture the Red Lion myself, I...” She hesitated, looking sharply away. “You don’t understand. One of the paladins seems to be... not entirely human. He possesses a strange power. One that rivals my own.”

Keith’s heart thudded hard in his chest. Haggar was talking about him. He felt a bit lightheaded, remembering how it had felt to fight back against Haggar’s power, like it was going to tear him apart at the seams.

“You were defeated by a mere mortal?” Zarkon scoffed.

“It wasn’t—” Haggar started to say, then seemed to think better of it. “It does not matter. We still possess the Black Lion and its paladin. The others will come to find them, along with their lions, and we’ll have the source of quintessence we need.”

A tense silence passed, where there was no sound except for the wind whistling through the valley below. Then Zarkon whirled around, cape sweeping out behind him.

“I hope you’re right,” he said, “because I will only wait for three more days. If the other paladins and their lions have not arrived by then... we will find an alternate source of quintessence.”

Keith didn’t know exactly what Zarkon was implying, but his blood ran cold at the words. Apparently it had the same effect on Haggar, judging by how her composure dropped and her yellow eyes widened.

“Sire—” she began to protest, but Zarkon was already marching towards the castle ruins.

As he passed, Keith ducked behind the rock, breathing heavily and feeling like his heart was about to burst out of his chest. Once Zarkon was out of sight, some of the tension eased from Keith’s limbs. He dared to peek out from behind the rock again, and saw Haggar standing in the same spot, shoulders hunched and posture tense like she was holding back a scream of rage. Then, letting out a frustrated huff, she started to turn back around, and—

She stopped. A shudder went through her and her body went rigid… and her piercing gaze snapped directly towards him.

Keith froze, his head reeling. Haggar couldn’t actually see him. She couldn’t. Could she… ?

Her eyes narrowed and her clawed hands curled menacingly. “You...” she hissed. And the single word sent absolute terror rushing through Keith’s veins.

He stumbled backwards, nearly losing his footing on the rocky terrain. Neither fight nor flight seemed like an option. All he could do was watch in horror as Haggar lifted her hands, electric bolts of violet magic sparking around her fingers as she shrieked in fury and rushed down the slope.

Keith frantically searched for the lifeline back to the real world, squeezing his eyes shut and finding the invisible thread leading him back. Please, he cried out in his mind, Get me out of here! Allura! Someone—

A blaze of purple light built behind his eyelids. He opened his eyes to see Haggar racing right towards him, dark magic crackling from her palms and her long robes flying haphazardly around her. She let out a furious cry, raising her clawed hands over her head, and—

Something snapped inside Keith—a painful, wrenching feeling that seized his entire body.

Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, the world around him plunged into blackness.

Chapter Text

Keith was lost in a fathomless darkness for what could have been seconds or hours. There was no sense of time, no light or sound, no sign that he even had a physical form.

The world came back in pieces. He could feel a strong tingling in his extremities as sensation returned to his body, could feel that he was slumped heavily against something—or someone, rather, as he became aware of an arm wrapped around him and shaking him.

Voices leaked through the high-pitched ringing in his ears, panicked and urgent.

“... Oh, my God. Is he okay?”

“I knew this was a bad idea—”

“Wait, wait, stop. I think he’s waking up.”

“Keith? Can you hear us?”

The voices were all overlapping each other, and it was difficult for Keith to decipher the words or who was speaking. But he determined that the last voice he’d heard was Allura’s, cutting through the fogginess in his head with sharp clarity.

His eyes blinked open, adjusting to the light. He was back in Coran’s living room. His friends were gathered closely around him, watching him with wide-eyed concern. They collectively sighed with relief when they saw Keith was awake.

“Keith?” It was Lance’s voice this time. His arm tightened around Keith’s shoulders. “Are you alright?”

Keith still felt slightly detached from the real world. He became aware that he had slumped against Lance’s side, and his face warmed as he sat up. Lance kept a steadying hand against his back, a pinch of worry in his brow.

“I—I’m okay,” Keith managed to say. Now that he was fully back in his physical body, he realized how badly he was shaking. He looked around the circle as if to reassure himself that all of his friends were really there.

“Did it... work?” Pidge asked warily.

A hard knot formed in Keith’s stomach. He gave a short nod. Everyone shifted uneasily as they waited for him to say more, but he didn’t know how to even describe the horrible things he’d seen and heard.

“You saw the Black Lion?” said Allura.

Keith shook his head. His throat suddenly felt very dry, and he swallowed. “No,” he said. “But I saw Haggar. And Zarkon.”

He was still recovering from the shock of it, trying to calm the frantic pounding in his chest. As the adrenaline wore off, he at least managed to convey what he had seen—Haggar trying and failing to create the portal, Zarkon telling her she only had three days before he found an alternate source of quintessence.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Hunk asked. “Is he planning to sacrifice Haggar? The Galra? Or...” He didn’t complete the thought, but the tense silence indicated that they all feared the same thing.

“I don’t think he’s planning to sacrifice Shiro and Matt,” Allura said, although her voice was tight with worry. She bit her lip and clenched a hand against her chest. “If they were able to provide enough quintessence to create the portal, he would have done so already.”

She stared down at the carpet, eyes searching over the patterns, then let out a short and frustrated sigh. “I wish we had more answers. But we know that Zarkon plans to take action soon. Which means we need to do the same.”

A heavy silence fell over the group. Keith’s head spun as he remembered everything he’d seen—the enormous dark splotches drowning out the sky, the sinister magic pouring from Haggar’s hands. And that was only the beginning stages of the portal.

“And... what exactly are we going to do?” Lance asked nervously.

Allura didn’t answer for several long moments, before she lifted her gaze and looked at each of them in turn with determination. “We’re going to do what we’ve set out to do from the beginning,” she said. “We’re going to find Shiro and Matt, find the Black Lion, and form Voltron. It’s the only way we can stop Zarkon and Haggar from completing the portal.”

“But what if it’s a trap?” Keith cut in. Everyone looked at him in surprise. He gathered his scattered wits as he attempted to explain. “I heard what Zarkon and Haggar were saying. They want us all to show up, so they can use the lions’ quintessence to create the portal. We’d be doing exactly what they want us to do.”

Pidge’s eyes sparked with defiance. “What else are we supposed to do? We can’t just leave Matt and Shiro there.”

“Or, you know, let Zarkon and Haggar open a portal to the living world and let all the evil spirits loose,” Hunk added.

“Keith does make a fair point,” said Coran. He got to his feet and stood next to the empty fireplace, stroking his mustache. “It may be dangerous to go straight into the spirit world to face Zarkon without a solid plan. You wouldn’t want to play directly into his hands.”

Allura stared down at her lap, frowning. “I understand your concerns,” she said evenly, although Keith noticed the way her hands clenched against her legs, “but ultimately, we must stand against Zarkon. Or it could mean the destruction of this world as we know it.”

They all went silent at those ominous words, exchanging wary looks.

Keith’s instinct was to protest again, but he knew it was fruitless. Besides, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to stop Zarkon, to save Shiro and Matt—of course he did—but the thought of the risk involved made him feel physically ill.

“That said,” Allura continued, “we must be prepared before we move forward.

“When I was helping Keith project into the spirit world, I was able to get a better sense of where the Black Lion is located—but it still may take me a bit more effort and some help from the other lions to determine exactly where it is. However, we at least have a starting point.”

Keith felt as if he was listening from very far away as the conversation continued, mostly led by Allura. Although he could tell that she was trying to take charge and sound confident, he could detect the hint of worry in her voice. He could see the same anxiety reflected on the faces of his friends, could hear it in their voices whenever one of them spoke up to ask a question or contribute a comment.

Throughout it all, he kept getting pulled back into the memory of standing at the foot of the castle ruins, watching Haggar cast her sinister dark magic across the heavens. He couldn’t shake away the sickening feeling it had left behind. Even though he’d only been present in spirit, he’d sensed the malevolent energy radiating from the portal...

“Keith?”

He looked up, startled, to see Lance watching him warily. “Are you okay?”

“What? Yeah, I... I’m fine.” Keith’s voice sounded weak to his own ears, and he realized his hands were trembling. He curled them into fists and hoped no one else had noticed.

“Are you sure, dude?” Hunk asked, frowning in concern. “You haven’t been saying anything. And you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Everyone’s eyes were on him now, and Keith’s face burned as he glared down at the carpet. “Really, I’m okay. I was just... thinking about everything, I guess.”

He knew the explanation wasn’t much, but no one pried further.

Allura released a long sigh. “I know that projecting into the spirit world must have been draining on your quintessence, Keith, so I don’t want to keep you here for much longer,” she said. She looked around the circle. “And I want all of you to spend some time to rest and prepare yourselves before we go on our journey to face Zarkon.”

A chill traveled up Keith’s spine. He knew what they were up against, knew they would need to face Zarkon, find the Black Lion, and save Shiro and Matt within the next few days. But the thought was too terrifying, too dizzying to even comprehend.

“We can reconvene tomorrow evening to discuss further plans,” Allura continued, when no one else spoke. “In the meantime, if anyone hears anything significant from your lion, please notify all of us.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Very well. I will set to work in attempting to narrow down the Black Lion’s location. Coran or I will contact you all tomorrow to arrange the best time to meet again.”

No one seemed to have any protests or questions, and the group dispersed. The four paladins were all quiet as they exited Coran’s house and made their way outside again. Keith felt as if he was in a trance as he blinked into the late afternoon sunlight, which gleamed on the bright autumn leaves on all of the surrounding trees. It seemed strange that it was still daytime, after his journey into the darkness of the spirit world.

Lance had given them all a ride there, and now they all climbed back into the minivan so they could head back home. No one spoke a word as they all got settled and Lance started up the engine.

Keith stared out the window, at the fire-colored leaves standing out in stark contrast against the blue of the sky. He was trying to ground himself in reality again, but he still felt as if he were dreaming. He wasn’t sure how long he remained silent, watching the trees pass by, before he felt a light hand on his arm.

He turned to see Pidge watching him with a worried furrow in her brow. “Are you really sure you’re okay, Keith?”

Although pretty much everyone had asked him that question by now, he appreciated her concern. He offered her a weak—but hopefully reassuring—smile. “Yeah, I’m okay. It’s just a lot to take in, you know? The whole being-part-Altean thing. And that on top of having to face Zarkon...”

Pidge’s fingers tensed on his forearm before she drew her hand away. “I know,” she said quietly, and then fell silent as the car rumbled along the bumpy, narrow road. “What you saw in the spirit world... it must’ve been really intense.” She bit her lip, peering at him sideways. “And you only saw Zarkon and Haggar? No sign of Matt and Shiro?”

Something cold clenched in Keith’s stomach. He glared down at his lap with a short shake of his head. “No. I was outside the castle, and they’re still probably...” He couldn’t even complete the sentence, too disturbed by the thought of Shiro and Matt still trapped in the dark underground prison.

Fortunately, Pidge seemed to understand. She took in a deep breath and let it out shakily. “I just hope they’re alright.”

She looked so small and vulnerable right then, her eyes a bit watery, and Keith felt a spark of protectiveness deep in his chest—and also a hint of guilt. He’d been so wrapped up in his own thoughts, he hadn’t been thinking about how much Pidge was going through, too. It had been weeks since she’d seen her brother, and there was no telling if he was even still alive. Keith knew how terrifying and gut-wrenching that feeling was, because he’d felt the exact same way ever since Shiro’s disappearance.

There wasn’t much he could do, but he reached out to rest a comforting hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “We’re so close to finding them,” he said. In a sense, it was true—they were much closer to saving Shiro and Matt than they’d ever been before. He just didn’t want to think about the dangers they still had yet to face... but he didn’t need to voice those fears right now.

For the time being, his reassurance seemed to comfort Pidge. She managed a shaky smile in return, and gave a single nod in thanks.

They were all quiet for a while after that, as the car wound through the woods and then back out onto the open road. The sun was starting to sink towards the peaks of the distant mountains.

Hunk finally broke the silence. “Hey, I was thinking you guys could come over to my place for a bit? If you want, that is. I’m sure my moms wouldn’t mind.” He scratched the side of his neck, turning around to look at Pidge and Keith in the backseat. “I think with everything going on, maybe it would be a good idea to just hang out for a bit? Try to take our mind off things?”

Although it only detracted a little from the enormity of the situation they were about to face, the suggestion made warmth bloom in Keith’s chest. The thought of spending a few more hours with his friends was much more appealing than going back to his apartment and being alone with his turmoil of restless thoughts.

“That sounds great,” he said. “Thanks, Hunk.”

“Yeah, I’m down,” Pidge agreed.

“Works for me,” said Lance. “Setting a course for your house, Hunk.”

There was the usual chipper note to his voice, but Keith detected something off about it—something a bit forced, like Lance was trying to hold back some other emotion. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet ever since they’d left Coran’s house, and he kept looking in Keith’s direction with a worried glimmer in his eye. In fact he was doing it right now, briefly meeting Keith’s gaze in the rearview mirror.

Keith gave him a questioning look. But Lance had turned his focus back to the road, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.

It wasn’t long before they were winding through a quiet neighborhood, and pulled up to a small yellow house with shrubbery surrounding it. Lance parked in the driveway and they all climbed out of the minivan. Hunk led the way up to the front door, taking a key out of his jacket pocket to let them all inside.

The warm atmosphere enveloped Keith as soon as he walked in to the small foyer. A narrow staircase stood in front of them, and there was a spacious living room to their right and a bright kitchen to their left. There was one woman sitting on the couch in the living room reading a book, and another woman at the kitchen sink doing dishes and humming—Hunk’s moms, Keith assumed.

His assumption was proven correct moments later as Hunk greeted both of them, and both immediately dropped what they were doing to flock over to welcome Hunk and his friends. They both seemed particularly thrilled to see Lance, exclaiming and hugging him as if he was their second son. Keith was surprised to receive hugs as well, while Hunk’s moms told him they had heard so much about him.

Although he felt a bit awkward through the whole exchange, warmth flickered through Kein’s veins and he couldn’t help but smile. It was easy to see where Hunk had gotten his friendly and caring personality from.

Hunk led Keith, Lance, and Pidge down the hallway to the door leading into the basement. They all ambled down the carpeted stairs, and Hunk flicked on the lights to reveal a cozy-looking space with a large sectional couch and a couple of large beanbag chairs.

They decided to watch a movie because it seemed like the best way to distract themselves. This turned into a lengthy discussion about what they should watch—with Hunk browsing through the options on Netflix while Pidge and Lance scoured through the dusty DVD collection on the shelf next to the TV. After some deliberation, they narrowed it down to Star Wars, but this soon led to a debate about which one was the best of the franchise—or, well, it was mainly a debate between Lance and Pidge, with Pidge insisting it was The Empire Strikes Back and Lance favoring The Force Awakens. Keith and Hunk were indifferent. They decided to just watch both.

They went back upstairs briefly to make some microwaved popcorn and hot chocolate, before going back down to the basement. They arranged a nest on the floor made up of blankets, pillows, and the two beanbag chairs, then dimmed the lights and put the first movie on.

For the next few hours, Keith actually found that the distraction seemed to work. Although he kept thinking about what he’d seen in the spirit world, kept feeling the hint of panic creeping up his spine at random moments, he was always pulled back in and grounded by the warmth surrounding him. There was something calming about the glow of the television screen flickering over the darkened room, the dramatic music and sound effects of explosions and laser beams.

He and Lance sat side-by-side on the floor with their shoulders pressed together and a blanket wrapped around both of them. Whenever Lance laughed or made a comment, Keith could feel the subtle vibration of it run down his arm. Instinctively, he kept sneaking glances around at his friends—at Lance’s profile outlined in the dim light, at Hunk cocooned in a blanket and clutching his mug in his hands, at Pidge sinking into her beanbag chair so much that it was practically swallowing her whole.

It hit Keith, out of nowhere, how much he loved all of them.

It was such a staggering revelation, one that wound itself into a hard fist and punched him in the gut. He’d never really had a group of friends before, had never allowed himself to care so deeply for other people when he’d always been moving from place to place.

And with that powerful realization came the surge of fear—because within a few days, this could all be torn away from him. They were just sitting here like they weren’t about to try and prevent the end of the world, like one of them couldn’t get hurt or worse. The more he thought about it, the more Keith felt like the terror was ripping a hole through his chest.

But he tried not to drown in his fears. Tried to believe that they would all somehow make it through this. Tried to fully immerse himself in the moment and to commit every last detail to memory.

After several hours, the movies had ended and they all sat in a circle on the floor. The pillows and blankets had all been strewn about in disarray, scattered with an occasional popcorn kernel. Hunk and Lance told embarrassing stories about each other from middle school, and at some point they all ended up throwing marshmallows at each other and laughing.

Keith sprawled on the floor on his stomach, his ribs aching. But even though he’d managed to have fun for a little while, he couldn’t chase away the dark feeling lurking over him.

Apparently he wasn’t the only one, judging by the sudden lapse in their joking and laughter. It seemed to hit them all at once, their voices dying down and smiles fading. They all sat in silence, in the dark room with only the stark blue light of the television illuminating them.

“So,” Pidge said at last, a little hoarsely. “Three days, huh?”

The words seemed to make the temperature of the room drop. Pidge had said it almost like she was waiting for someone to deny it was true. No one did.

Hunk sighed and leaned back on his hands. “Yeah… Three days.” He paused, glaring at the floor and scratching the side of his neck. “It just doesn’t feel real, you know? Like, I knew this whole time we’d have to face Zarkon in the end. But, it always seemed like that was so far away. Or like we’d be more prepared for it.”

Lance put a hand on his shoulder. “I know what you mean, buddy.” He took a deep breath, then let it out in a lengthy sigh. “But, listen. Maybe it doesn’t seem like it, but I think we are prepared. We’ve already saved four other lions. And once we have the Black Lion, we’ll be able to form Voltron and stop Zarkon.”

Keith appreciated Lance’s words of encouragement, but it did little to lessen the tight knot in his chest. Sure, Lance had a point—they’d managed to save all the other lions. But those had all been dangerous missions, and they’d barely made it out alive every time. And Keith was the only one who’d truly seen what they were up against now… and that it would be the deadliest mission of all.

He glared down at the blanket he was lying on, picking at a loose thread. “How do we even form Voltron, anyway?” he wondered out loud. “I mean, I know that once we have all the lions they can form this big all-powerful spirit and all that. But do they just do that on their own?”

The others exchanged questioning looks.

“No idea,” Lance said. “I always figured it’s something that’ll just come naturally, you know? Like when we’re all together and have all the lions, we’ll know what to do.”

It wasn’t the most solid plan in the world, but Keith couldn’t exactly argue with it. It wasn’t like he had any better ideas of how this whole thing was supposed to work. Besides, he had a feeling Lance was right. Based on how strong their connections were with the lions, surely the lions would be able to telepathically communicate what they needed to do. Still, Keith wished they weren’t going in completely blind.

They all sat in tense silence.

“It’s just… I’m really scared,” Pidge admitted, voice trembling. She rubbed her arm as she looked around at all of them, eyes shining. “There’s just so many things that could go wrong. I don’t want anything to happen to any of you guys.”

Keith sat up, a sudden hollow feeling in his chest. Part of him felt relieved, in a way, that he wasn’t the only one who was worried. But of course, that was met with an equal sense of dread. He feared the exact thing that Pidge had voiced aloud.

“Aw, Pidge,” Hunk said, reaching over to pat her on the back. “I know what you mean. I’m worried, too.” He paused, biting his lip. “But at least this time, we’ll all be there and we’ll have all the lions on our side. It’s scary, but I think we have a pretty good chance.”

He looked between Lance and Keith like he was waiting for them to back him up, and they both nodded in agreement. Even so, Keith couldn’t banish the anxiety crawling under his skin.

“Hunk is right,” Lance said. “We have the lions—and once we form Voltron, we’ll have a super-powerful spirit on our side. But more importantly than that, we have each other.” He reached out to squeeze Pidge’s wrist as he spoke, giving her a reassuring smile.

Hunk sniffed loudly. “Okay, I think a group hug is in order.”

“Definitely,” Lance agreed.

Hunk, Lance, and Pidge moved forward first, easily throwing their arms around each other. Keith hung back—but it was only a moment before Hunk grabbed him by the arm and pulled him in, too. Keith tensed but quickly found himself melting into it, closing his eyes. Hunk was kind of crushing one of his arms against his side, but he managed to maneuver it enough to wrap it around Hunk’s shoulders. His other arm slipped around Lance’s waist.

Time fell away as they all sat there holding onto each other. Keith temporarily forgot everything except for the pleasant darkness of the room and the security of his friends’ embrace. The telltale prickle of tears gathered behind his eyelids, and he fought to hold them back.

It was strange to think that not too long ago, he hadn’t even known these people. And now he had grown to care so deeply about all of them, had fought alongside them... and in less than three days, they would be saving the world together.

Keith could have stayed like that forever, enveloped in the safety and warmth. But it wasn’t long until they broke apart, all a bit sniffly and teary-eyed.

“Okay,” Lance sighed. “It’s getting pretty late, and I need to drive Pidge and Keith home.”

“Right.” Hunk’s shoulders sagged, but he didn’t protest. “We should all probably get some rest, huh? Well, thank you guys for coming over.”

“Thanks for inviting us,” Pidge said with a small smile. “I think we all really needed it.”

No one disagreed with that.

They were all reluctant to split up—but after exchanging a few more hugs and goodbyes, they headed upstairs. Hunk walked the others to the door, and they left with promises that they would all see each other the next day.

Lance, Keith, and Pidge piled into the minivan and Lance started to drive them home. They didn’t speak much on the way, but for the most part the silence felt comfortable rather than awkward.

Pidge got dropped off first, and then it didn’t take long for them to get to Keith’s apartment building.

Lance brought the minivan to a slow stop and turned off the engine. He paused for a moment, then cleared his throat. “I’ll walk you to the door?”

Keith blinked. He’d been so lost in thought that he had barely registered where they were. “Yeah, that—that’d be great.”

They both got out of the car and walked up the short pathway to the building, pausing at the bottom of the steps. Keith turned to face Lance, shooting him a smile. “Well,” he said, “good night.”

Even as the words left his mouth, he could sense something wasn’t right. His smile fell when he saw the expression on Lance’s face—the small furrow in his brow as he examined Keith like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

“Is something wrong?” Keith asked.

Lance opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again. His gaze turned towards the ground, and he let out a deep sigh. When he finally spoke, the words came out soft and hesitant.

“I don’t know. I guess it’s just... we don’t know what’s going to happen when we face Zarkon. And the thought of anything happening to any of us, the thought of anything happening to you—”

He stopped short, looking sharply away. Keith stared at him, at Lance’s face illuminated faintly under the golden streetlights, and something clenched in his chest. He was a little taken aback by Lance’s sudden expression of vulnerability—he had seemed much more confident earlier—but now, Keith realized, he had probably been trying to keep a brave face for everyone else.

“Lance,” he said. He reached out to take Lance by the hand. “Look at me.”

Lance did, dark eyes shifting over Keith’s face like he was trying to commit every detail to memory. Keith found it a bit difficult to breathe all of a sudden, let alone speak.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, either,” he managed to say. “And trust me, I’m scared as hell. But it’s like you said before—we have the lions, we have Voltron. And we’re all gonna stand against Zarkon together. We can do this.”

He put as much confidence into the words as he could, trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince Lance. And somehow, despite the crippling fear threatening to overtake him, he found that it did instill a spark of hope.

Lance’s expression softened. He drew in a shaky inhale and released it. “I know,” he said, weaving his fingers together with Keith’s. “I’m trying to believe that. But it’s so hard not to worry. And I don’t want to lose this. I don’t want to lose...”

He didn’t complete the sentence, but Keith felt the weight of the unspoken word like a blow to the stomach. He could see the hollow, terrified look deep in Lance’s eyes and it suddenly hit him how unfair all of this was. He couldn’t help but think about how different it would have been if they’d met under normal circumstances, if they’d just been two normal teenage boys and didn’t have the fate of the world resting on their shoulders.

If someone were to walk by right now, they’d probably think they were passing a new couple awkwardly saying good night after a first date—not that Keith and Lance were about to fight an evil spirit and were both terrified they would die within the next few days. The whole thing was so ridiculous that Keith almost could have laughed out of spite.

He squeezed Lance’s hand and took a step closer to him. “You won’t,” he said firmly. He knew it was bold to make such a promise, but would have said anything to banish the worried expression from Lance’s face.

Lance kept staring back at him, eyes widening slightly at the declaration before returning to normal. “You promise?” he said, his voice hoarse.

“I promise.” Keith’s pulse picked up as he took another step forward, closing the small distance between them. “I’m not going anywhere. Not when I have something to fight for.”

He leaned in, hearing Lance inhale in anticipation right before their lips made contact.

They had kissed a number of times by now, but Keith could tell right away that this one felt different. It began with a few gentle brushes that left a smoldering feeling in Keith’s chest—a pleasant warmth, but also a longing for more. Lance seemed to be feeling the same thing, judging by the way he pulled Keith in and wrapped an arm firmly around his waist. Keith’s eyes drifted shut and his hands slid upward to cup Lance’s face, thumbs tracing his jawline.

This was the first time they’d kissed out in the open this way, and Keith might have expected to feel more self-conscious about it—but all thoughts quickly escaped his mind as their lips moved together with more urgency, at once gentle but insistent. There was a chill in the late autumn air, but Keith hardly felt it thanks to the fire spreading through his veins, as he pressed closer to Lance and absorbed his warmth.

Keith had no idea how long they’d been kissing—except for that he was starting to feel lightheaded, so it had probably been a while. He was reluctant to pull away but he did so anyway, which earned a small whine of disappointment from Lance. He tilted Keith’s chin up with one hand, chasing his lips with one last, brief kiss—so gentle that it made Keith’s chest ache—then pulled back, resting their foreheads together.

They stayed that way, warm breaths mingling. Keith tried to temporarily push everything else from his mind, grounding himself in this secure sphere they had created for themselves.

He selfishly wished that he could keep Lance here forever. But as he started to come back down to earth, he knew—with a heavy, sinking feeling—that he couldn’t. That didn’t stop him from holding on as long as he could, hands resting on Lance’s shoulders, his cold fingers digging into the fabric of Lance’s jacket.

Finally, he let out a shaky sigh. “Guess I should head inside.”

Lance pulled away, blinking as if he’d just woken up from a dream. He gave Keith a fleeting, questioning look—eyes darting towards the entrance to the apartment building and then back to Keith’s face.

But as much as Keith wished he could take Lance with him, he knew it wasn’t right. He slowly unclenched his fingers from Lance’s jacket, hands sliding down to rest against his chest. “You should go home. Be with your family.”

A small frown crossed Lance’s face before he released a sigh of acceptance. “You’re right,” he said, although it sounded like the words physically pained him. He reached up to grip Keith by the wrists, gently pulling his hands away and squeezing them.

He took a deep breath like he was about to say something else, then seemed to think better of it. Instead he just leaned forward to brush Keith’s bangs aside and kiss him on the forehead. “See you tomorrow?”

The small gesture of affection left Keith feeling flustered, but he managed a nod. “Yeah. I’ll see you.”

He couldn’t bring himself to say anything more than that, afraid to acknowledge the dangerous fate looming over them like a shadow. He smiled weakly, trying to convey that things would be okay, and hoped it was convincing enough.

Lance’s demeanor softened a little as he smiled back. “Good night, Keith,” he said.

“Good night,” Keith echoed.

As Lance let go of his hands, he tried to chase away the cold feeling that overtook him. But he could feel an unpleasant lurch in his stomach as he watched Lance turn and walk away.

He couldn’t help but fear that they would never get to have a moment like that again, and with a dizzying panic he realized just how much he still wanted to say. But by now, Lance had already gotten back into his car.

All Keith could do was stand there at the foot of the steps, hands clenched into fists, until Lance had driven into the darkness and out of sight.

Keith couldn’t sleep.

He couldn’t even make an attempt, really, what with everything occupying his mind. It had been bad enough throughout the evening, but it had steadily worsened once he was alone in his apartment.

Although he had tried to go about his usual routine—eating dinner, showering, sitting on the couch and looking at his phone for a while—he couldn’t ignore the restlessness gripping his entire body. Every nerve, muscle, and bone seemed to course with electricity. He needed to do something. But what?

The scene he’d witnessed in the spirit world kept resurfacing to his mind. It had been hours ago, but every detail appeared with even sharper clarity every time he remembered it. Each time, he felt increasingly sick with dread—thinking about the enormous dark portal forming in the sky, of the looming castle ruins, of Zarkon’s ominous threats. From what he’d overheard, at least Shiro and Matt were still alive... but that could change at any moment.

He thought about texting his friends to talk about everything on his mind—he was certain they were all just as scared as he was, after all—but he didn’t want to bother them when they were all probably spending as much time with their families as they could.

The thought left a cold, heavy feeling in Keith’s stomach. It only worsened with the passing minutes as he sat alone in his apartment, engulfed in the deafening silence.

Eventually he stood up and walked to the window, leaning against the frame and staring down at the empty street. On occasion a car would pass, its headlights casting stark beams of light across the ground, but otherwise the night was dark and still. The longer he stood there, the more Keith felt like he was the only person in the world.

It occurred to him that, of everyone else in the group, he was the only one spending this night alone. The other paladins had their families, and Coran and Allura had each other, but he had... no one. And the thought was like a knife between his ribs, growing more and more painful.

He returned to the couch, and sat down heavily with his head in his hands. He didn’t know how long he sat there, dwelling in his dark thoughts, but it wasn’t long before one realization started to work its way to the surface.

Everyone else had so much more to lose.

As soon he’d latched onto the thought, he couldn’t let it go. The other paladins had families who would be devastated if anything happened to them. They had bright futures ahead. And yes, Keith had friends, he had people who cared about him, but he was just... Keith. Keith, who had been tossed from home to home for his entire childhood. Keith, who had dropped out of school. Keith, who had never had a real family.

In the grand scheme of things, the world probably didn’t need him as much as it needed the others.

Once that dark seed of a thought had been planted, Keith couldn’t seem to banish it. It kept growing like a dark vine that twisted deep into his subconscious, taking root and refusing to let go.

He thought back to that moment in Hunk’s basement when he’d looked around at all of his friends and realized how much they all meant to him. Now that train of thought returned with a vengeance twice as fierce. He thought of each of them one by one, how they had come crashing into his life and changed everything.

He thought of Pidge and her basement full of half-finished inventions, the excited gleam in her eyes whenever she had an idea, her steadfast determination to find her brother. He thought of Hunk and his unwavering caring nature, his warm hugs, that time he’d come over to cook Keith pancakes at the crack of dawn, how he’d found bravery in the face of danger again and again no matter how scared he was. He thought of Allura, how she’d lost everything but still managed to stay strong, how tirelessly she’d worked to help them find the lions, the immensity of the power she’d used to fight against the druids; but also how she’d giggled as she tried on clothes with them all at the thrift store, and how she was always there to offer encouraging words and a reassuring smile.

Lastly, he thought of Lance. Lance, who had sparked something unexpected in Keith from the very beginning—something he’d mistaken for rivalry, before he’d realized it was something very different from that. He thought of the way Lance always gestured enthusiastically with his hands when he was talking about something that excited him, how he got a little furrow in his brow when he was worried or thinking hard, of the warm tone in his voice whenever he talked about his family, how he always willing to throw himself in danger for the people he loved. He thought of his hand resting over Lance’s heart, of Lance’s lips soft and warm against his.

The thought of losing any of them was unbearable, like a physical weight crushing the air from Keith’s lungs. After all they had been through together, every peril they had faced, every bond they had formed, the possibility of it ending in tragedy was too terrible to comprehend.

Keith lifted his head from his hands, a sudden sense of resolve coming over him. He stared down at the carpet, fingers clenching on his knees.

He knew what he had to do.

Keith barely allowed himself to think as he shrugged his jacket on and headed out the door. If he stopped to reconsider, he would change his mind and chicken out. And he’d already decided there was no turning back.

At least the growl of his motorcycle’s engine was enough to drown out his thoughts for the most part, as he kicked away from the curb and sped down the empty street. There weren’t many cars on the road at this time of night, so there wasn’t much standing in his way as he turned the street corners and navigated his way onto the highway.

At this point, the route had become so natural to him that Keith barely had to think about it—and he didn’t know whether that was because he’d been to Altea many times by now, or that there was some kind of magical instinct guiding him.

Either way, the ride seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. One moment, there was nothing but the dark stretch of highway looming before him. The next, he was pulling his motorcycle to the side of the road next to a familiar patch of forest.

It didn’t fully hit him until then that he’d really come all this way by himself in the dead of night. His own heartbeat thundered in his ears as he swung his leg over the side of the motorcycle and jumped to the ground. His fingers shook as he unlatched his helmet and shoved it into the compartment on the back of the bike. Then, taking a deep breath, he headed into the woods.

He was pulled forward by the same magnetic energy that had always drawn him towards Altea—what he now realized was a pull towards the source of his ancestry, a place brimming with the same magic that ran through his blood. Although he was still struggling to comprehend it, at least having some understanding of it made it easier to trust his instincts.

The familiar buzzing sensation in his head grew stronger with each step he took through the forest, navigating his way between the trees and over the uneven terrain... until finally, he reached the barrier between the forest and the spirit world.

A shudder ran through him as soon as he crossed the threshold, and Keith blinked a few times to banish the disorienting sensation. As his vision adjusted, he saw the mirror version of the woods before him, the trees illuminated with a silvery glow.

“Red?” he called out.

No answer.

He took a cautious step forward, turning in a slow circle and scanning the forest around him for any sign of his lion. But there was nothing except for the utter stillness, the pale tree trunks, and the absolute blackness of the sky above.

Keith took a long, shaky breath and let it out again. How was he supposed to do this? He was still getting accustomed to his connection with Red, and it was shaky at best. He’d seen the way the other paladins interacted with their lions—the natural bond, the unwavering loyalty—and wondered how they had reached that point so quickly. Maybe it was that his bond with Red was so newly formed, but he already had the sense that their relationship was a bit more... chaotic, unpredictable. Although Red cared for him deeply, she also preferred not to be tethered down, and to do everything of her own free will.

Keith tried to keep that in mind as he sighed and closed his eyes, reaching out with his mind for any sign of his lion. He could sense her presence at the edges of his consciousness and tried to latch onto it. As he attempted to send her some kind of signal, he tried to convey to her that he wasn’t demanding that she come and find him—rather that he was asking her from the depths of his soul, because he had nowhere else to turn.

Red, please. I need your help.

The shift in the atmosphere around him was almost immediate. A sudden flare of energy ran through the darkness of the forest, like a bright flame flickering to life, and the sensation sent a burst of adrenaline through Keith’s veins. His eyes flew open. He looked around, searching for the source. But he saw nothing except for the eerie silver glow of the forest around him, silent and still.

His shoulders sagged and he let out a sigh of defeat. Maybe this was hopeless after all, and he’d come all this way for nothing.

He was just about to give up hope, when he suddenly had the unnerving feeling that something was right behind him and he whirled around with a sharp gasp.

Sure enough, Red stood right in front of him, tilting her head.

Keith’s hand flew to his chest. “Jeez, Red. Give me a warning next time.”

Even as the chastising words left him, he felt a surge of relief at the sight of his lion. She rushed forward and head-butted him in the chest so aggressively that it almost knocked the wind out of his lungs, and he stumbled backward.

“Whoa, whoa, okay,” Keith wheezed, but he couldn’t help but smile as he reached up to place his hands on either side of Red’s large head, scratching behind her ears. She began to purr, the sound rumbling so loudly that Keith swore he could feel the ground trembling under his feet.

Their happy reunion didn’t last long, though, as Keith remembered the reason he’d come here.

The smile fell from his face, and his hands stilled before dropping to his sides. Red’s eyes had been narrowed with pleasure, but now they grew round and inquisitive as soon as Keith stopped petting her. Keith could feel the waves of concern emanating from her, asking if he was alright.

“I don’t know, Red,” he answered quietly. He stared at the ground, at Red’s crimson light illuminating his sneakers in the dimness. “There’s just so much going on in my head. I don’t know how to explain it.”

His hesitation didn’t seem to bother Red in the least; in fact, she made a sympathetic rumbling noise in her throat to indicate she understood. She inched a step forward, keeping her head low so that she could look Keith right in the face.

He didn’t understand at first, until he felt an inviting warmth spread through him. Suddenly, he knew what Red was trying to convey to him—that if he didn’t know how to put his thoughts into words, he could show her.

“Oh.” Keith blinked. Right... their minds were connected. He kept forgetting.

Even knowing that, Keith wasn’t sure exactly how to control it—whether he had any control over it at all. It was one thing to know that he and Red shared a mental and emotional bond, but it was another thing to try and bend that power to his will.

He took a deep breath, looking deep into Red’s eyes and the faint phantom flames that lurked behind them.

“How do I—” he started to ask.

He didn’t even get the full question out before he sensed Red’s immediate response. As always, her thoughts were more a series of feelings and images instead of words, so it took Keith a few moments to unravel it all. But at the heart of it, the meaning was clear.

He didn’t need to say anything. He just needed to feel.

Keith nodded, a shuddering breath escaping him. “Okay,” he said hoarsely, and he reached out to lay his palm against Red’s forehead. They both closed their eyes.

The sensation that came over Keith was so powerful that it nearly brought him to his knees. But somehow he remained standing, steadied against Red’s comforting presence. Everything he’d been holding inside—every sorrow and hope and fear—flooded out of him in uncontrollable waves.

He allowed Red to feel it all, every vulnerable part of himself that he’d always been too terrified to show to anyone. He showed her his grief over his lost childhood—years of getting shuffled from home to home without ever feeling like he belonged anywhere, all the nights he’d spent crying and alone and feeling like not a single person cared about him. He showed her every ugly scrape and scar and bruise, every punch he’d thrown just to feel something.

Through the darkness came the pinpricks of light—moving here on his own, attending the Garrison, meeting Shiro—although those were soon drowned out by the dark memories of Matt and Shiro’s disappearance, followed by the days of restlessness and grief as he’d refused to believe they were gone forever, but how much he’d feared it to be true.

And then of course there was the wild, tumultuous journey he’d been through in the weeks since then. Meeting the other paladins, going on the quests to find all the lions—the unexpected friendships he’d formed, the perils they had all faced together and somehow managed to survive.

Every moment of it seemed to transpire again all at once, in a sensation so overwhelming that it felt like a physical blow to Keith’s chest. When his eyes blinked open, they were stinging fiercely.

Red’s eyes had opened again too, and Keith somehow managed to meet her steady gaze even though his vision was blurring. He let out a shaky breath, hand clenching against Red’s fur.

“I just... I can’t stop thinking about it all,” he said, despite the lump in his throat. “About everything we’ve been through. About my friends. And the thought of any of them getting hurt, I... I can’t do it, Red. I can’t let that happen.”

His lion stared back at him patiently, questioningly, waiting for him to complete the thought. It took Keith a moment longer to work his way up to it, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out.

“And that’s why... I think I have to do this on my own,” he managed to say. “I have to save Shiro and Matt, find the Black Lion. I—I don’t know exactly how I’m going to do it, but I’ve made up my mind. I can’t put the others in danger again.”

Keith brought his rambling to a stop, anxiously meeting Red’s gaze. He was surprised by the emotions he could feel radiating from her. While he’d expected her to be more resistant to the suggestion, he felt a deep sense of understanding flowing from her consciousness into his.

She saw how much he cared for his friends, and empathized with his desperation to keep them all safe. After all, it was the same way she felt about the other lions. It was the same way she felt about him.

But underneath that, there was a strong sense of warning. Although she saw the reasoning behind Keith’s decision, Red cautioned him that this would be an extremely dangerous quest to tackle on his own. She would be there to help protect him no matter what, but the two of them up against Zarkon might not be enough. It could have dire consequences. Potentially fatal ones.

Keith’s throat felt dry, but he swallowed and managed to speak again. “I understand that,” he said, trying and failing to keep his voice from shaking. “I know what the risks are. I’ve thought about it, and... and I think this is for the best.”

His hands slipped from where they’d been resting on Red’s head and dropped to his sides. He stood before her—as open and vulnerable as he’d been at their first encounter, when he’d begged for her barriers to break down for him.

“So... what do you say, Red? Will you take me to where Black is?”

Red didn’t answer right away. She stood to her full height, head lowered slightly to look down at Keith in silent judgment. Although he knew that his lion would never hurt him, Keith couldn’t suppress the shudder that ran through him as he stood in her intimidating presence and awaited her final verdict.

She closed her eyes in contemplation. Keith waited with his heart in his throat, gently reaching out with his mind to see if he could decipher anything that Red was feeling—but she seemed temporarily closed off from him, sequestered in her own consciousness.

After what felt like an eternity, her eyes snapped open. She regarded Keith in silence for a moment more, then gave a subtle nod of her large head.

Keith couldn’t comprehend it at first, a bit shocked that Red had agreed. He had wanted her to say yes, but had at least expected more of a fight from her. Then again, they shared the same reckless spirit—a literal fire inside that was growing stronger by the moment, raging to be released.

“Are you sure?” Keith asked softly.

Red gave no direct response, but Keith could feel a surge of certainty and determination from her, resounding in his soul like echoes bouncing off the walls of a cave. Before Keith could ask anything else, Red made a small rumbling noise in her throat and turned around.

“Red?”

His lion only dashed towards the trees, pausing to look back to make sure Keith was following. He could only stare after her, letting out a disbelieving huff. But she only waited for a moment before she dashed away into the dark forest without looking back.

“Okay, okay—I’m coming!”

Keith sprinted after her, but then stumbled to a stop as an icy cold feeling gripped his heart. He was overcome with the urge to turn around, to take one last look at the path behind him.

If he followed Red, there was a very real chance that there was no going back, ever. There was no returning from the spirit world back to reality, to his messy apartment, to the quiet days working at the Absurdatory. There was a chance that he would never see his friends’ faces again, would never sit with them in the crowded booth of a diner or rummage through the clothing racks at the thrift store or build blanket forts in the basement.

If he didn’t make it, if he failed, he would never even get to say goodbye.

The thought kept Keith frozen to the spot, his hands shaking at his sides and his heart thumping madly in his chest. Red had already gotten far ahead of him, her crimson light bouncing off the trees. Keith only had moments to spare before he lost track of her, so he had to make a choice fast.

He breathed deeply—in, out. He felt torn between two worlds, as the spirit world beckoned him forward with its irresistible pull, while the waking world kept trying to draw him back like an anchor tethering him down.

In the end, it was the former that won him over. He set his jaw in determination, severed all ties with reality, and went running after the Red Lion.

Chapter Text

Keith had never liked traveling through portals, but experiencing it alone was even worse. At least all the times he’d been on quests with the other paladins, he had known they would meet on the other side. This time, he knew that there was nothing but a staggeringly dangerous quest waiting for him—one that he had to face by himself.

Red had found a secluded clearing in the forest and created the portal for them. It wasn’t until the shimmering circle hovered before him that Keith had truly felt the weight of what he was about to do. But at that point, he had convinced himself it was too late to give up. Bracing himself, he had closed his eyes and walked into the light.

Now came the unpleasant sensation of being suspended in nothingness, separated from his body. It seemed to last an eternity and also to pass in half a second, before he felt a violent tingling in his limbs and felt himself falling. He didn’t even have time to cry out before he landed on a hard surface, barely managing to catch himself on his hands and knees.

Spots danced in front of Keith’s vision as he gained his bearings. The first thing he became aware of was how dark it was—to the point where he briefly wondered if there’d been a mistake, and he’d landed in the middle of some endless void. But when he lifted his head, he caught sight of a weak source of light in the near distance—the outline of a doorway, pulsing with a faint purple glow.

Keith shakily got to his feet, dusting his stinging palms off on his jeans. His ears rang loudly as he kept his gaze fixed on the glowing exit at the end of the tunnel. He was so absorbed in staring at it that he barely noticed the crimson glow spilling around his feet. There was a light shuffling noise behind him, and he nearly leapt a foot into the air.

He whirled around. Red stood before him, her bright eyes flickering between him and the doorway at the end of the corridor.

“Jeez, Red. Don’t sneak up on me like that.” Keith tried to calm the wild pounding in his chest. He kept his voice low, but winced at how loud it sounded in the absolute stillness.

Red only blinked and tilted her head, before skirting around Keith and looking at him expectantly. He could feel a certain sense of urgency radiating from her, leading him forward with both encouragement and impatience.

Keith couldn’t get himself to move right away. He was frozen to the spot, pulse quickening as he looked past Red and towards the glowing entryway. Now that the disorientation of traveling through the portal was beginning to fade, it occurred to him that he had been here before. He recognized the glowing doorway, the narrow passage, the cobblestone floor.

He had seen it in his dreams.

The realization sent a rush of adrenaline through him, and he couldn’t suppress a sharp gasp. “Is this—” His voice choked off before he could complete the question.

Red provided no answer, only continued to watch Keith with her unfaltering gaze.

Keith’s trembling fingers curled into fists. His breathing went shallow. He was really here—in Zarkon’s lair, just steps away from the dungeon he had seen in his nightmares.

The dungeon where Shiro and Matt were being kept.

Keith lurched forward a step, then stopped again as an icy fear coursed over him. He didn’t know what he would find when he walked through that doorway. What if Shiro and Matt weren’t there anymore? Or what if they were, but it was too late?

Red’s impatience ebbed away. She sent a wave of reassurance towards Keith, reminding him that she would be at his side no matter what happened. Even though it was a small gesture, it eased some of the tension from Keith’s shoulders. Unable to speak, he gave her a small nod of thanks. Taking a deep breath, he strode forward.

Each step down the long hallway seemed to last an eternity. Keith’s ears rang and he could barely feel the floor underneath his feet, but he kept walking towards the faint light at the end of the passage. As she had promised, Red stayed close by his side, her ethereal glow bouncing off the crumbling stone walls.

Finally, they reached the short set of steps that wound down towards the entryway. Hardly daring to breathe, Keith took one step down and then another, before he stumbled through the opening.

Everything felt distant and surreal as he took in the sight of his surroundings, gripped by an eerie sense of déjà vu. It all looked exactly as he’d seen it in his dreams before—the low ceiling, the dim purple glow. Except this time, the ground felt more solid beneath his feet, and when he inhaled he nearly choked on the dank scent of the air. Both dread and anticipation curled in his gut as he slowly turned around towards the source of the light…

He saw exactly what he’d seen in his dreams: the row of glowing purple bars separating him from a dark prison cell, where two figures were slumped against the back wall.

Keith couldn’t hold back a gasp, feeling like a knife had been driven between his ribs. His eyes stung as he stumbled forward—hands outstretched like he meant to grab at the bars, then letting them fall to his sides when he realized touching them might be dangerous.

Helplessly, he stood outside the prison cell. He was dimly aware of Red stepping up behind him, making a low grumbling noise of concern. The sound seemed to come from very far away. It was impossible to focus on anything besides the sight of the two people trapped in the dungeon. The two people he and his friends had been searching for all along.

“Shiro? Matt?” he said softly.

It came out barely more than a whisper, but Keith’s throat was so tight with emotion and panic that he didn’t know if he could manage anything louder. His knees felt weak as he managed another step forward, his skin prickling from the dark energy radiating from the prison bars.

Between the flickering beams of energy, he could see Shiro and Matt both huddled at the back of the cell. Matt was slumped in the corner, the side of his head resting against the wall. Shiro sat a bit more upright, but was still leaning heavily against the stones behind him with his chin drooping towards his chest.

Neither of them had shown any acknowledgement of Keith or Red. Keith had spoken so quietly, he wasn’t sure if either of them had heard him. But just as he was drawing in a shaky breath to try again, Shiro shifted ever so slightly. Then, he started to raise his head.

Although he had seen Shiro in his recent dreams, it felt entirely different to finally be standing right in front of him—in real life—after all this time of separation. The differences in Shiro’s appearance felt even more striking—the shock of white hair, the scar across his nose, his missing arm replaced with a translucent ghost arm. But despite the wrenching feeling in Keith’s stomach at the sight of Shiro so worn down, it was quickly replaced by an overwhelming relief. His eyes stung and he could hardly see through his blurry vision.

Shiro and Matt were right there. They were alive.

Shiro suddenly sat upright, gaping in disbelief. “Keith?” His voice came out raspy and weak, like he hadn’t spoken in days.

But it was enough to wake Matt from his slumber; he immediately stirred and sat up, rubbing at his eyes. “What’s—” He squinted up at Keith and Red and gasped sharply.

Keith could only look back and forth between the two of them, almost expecting them to disappear at any second. “Shiro. Matt,” he managed to say at last, his voice choked.

“Keith, are you—” Shiro started to say.

He got unsteadily to his feet, wincing and putting a hand against the wall for support, before he lurched forward a few steps. He stopped right in front of the glowing bars that separated them, lifting a hand and then lowering it again. The violet light reflected in his dark eyes, and he stared at Keith in bewilderment.

“Is this… like before? Are you just projecting yourself here, or… ?”

Keith was too caught up in his turmoil of emotions at first to understand the question, but then remembered the last time he’d been able to communicate with Shiro through his dream. He let out a shaky breath that was almost a laugh.

“No, no, it’s not like before. I’m really here this time.”

Shiro inhaled sharply, his eyes shining, and Keith could feel tears pricking at the corners of his own eyes. Conflicted emotions tangled at the center of his chest—a mix of overwhelming relief and a painful desperation to get his friends out of here. Although he had seen Shiro and Matt in his dreams before, it was another thing to see them in person—their clothes torn and covered in dark patches of dried blood.

Keith wanted nothing more than to rush forward and break those prison bars apart with his bare hands, but he needed a more realistic plan. As if reading his mind, Red stepped up next to him with an inquisitive rumbling noise in her throat. Shiro and Matt both gawked at her, shrinking back in alarm.

“Oh, right,” Keith stammered. “This is Red. Don’t worry, she’s a friend.” He lifted a hand and rested it against the side of Red’s neck. A thread of warmth traveled up his arm as she sent a wave of reassurance in his direction.

Shiro looked back and forth between the two of them. Keith could practically see a hundred questions spinning around in his head.

“There’s not much time to explain,” Keith said, glancing over his shoulder at the dark stairway. “But you know how I told you that my friends and I had to find a bunch of lion spirits and bond with them? Well, Red is my lion. And now we need to get you out of here and find your lion before it’s too late.”

Even as he said the words, Keith realized the plan sounded ridiculous—if you could even call it a plan. He’d been so fixated on finding Shiro and Matt that he hadn’t thought through what they would do next. The only thing he knew was that they had to find Black before Zarkon could use her as part of his scheme.

“My lion?” Shiro repeated faintly, then shook his head. “Right. The last time I saw you, you said something about the Black Lion. But what does that even mean? How do we find it?”

Keith bit his lip and exchanged a questioning glance with Red. She looked back at him steadily, her glowing eyes round and unblinking, and tilted her head. Not exactly the clear answer Keith had hoped for.

“I—I’m not sure yet,” he admitted. “But I know that Zarkon and Haggar are keeping the Black Lion in a tower somewhere. Trying to keep her separated from you. If we can just get to her somehow...”

He stopped, searching his brain for any semblance of a plan. But he didn’t have much to go on, besides that hopefully either he or Red would be able to sense Black’s energy once they got out of the prison.

While he was frantically thinking, he noticed a movement at the back corner of the cell. Matt was getting unsteadily to his feet. “Wait, what—what’s going on?” he said, voice worn and rasping.

His eyes looked glazed as he stumbled forward, squinting a little. It occurred to Keith that without his glasses, he probably couldn’t see very well.

Shiro caught him by the arm. “Matt! You probably shouldn’t—”

“I’m fine,” Matt insisted, prying his wrist out of Shiro’s grip—but almost as soon as he did so, he swayed a little on his feet and let out a wracking cough that made Keith’s chest hurt in sympathy. “Keith... Shiro told me you and Pidge had been trying to find us. Is she okay? Is she here?”

A hint of desperation had seeped into his tone. Keith offered a weak smile of reassurance. “Don’t worry, Pidge is okay. She’s a paladin, like me and Shiro, and she bonded with the Green Lion. But… she’s not here. I came here by myself.”

He said the last words hastily, avoiding Shiro’s gaze—but now that he’d admitted it, he was certain there was no escaping an inevitable scolding.

Shiro stiffened. “What? You came here alone?”

“I’m not alone. I have Red.” Keith gestured towards the lion in question, who raised her head proudly at the acknowledgement. “Anyway, I don’t have time to explain. But trust me, it was best that I—”

“What about your friends—the other paladins?” Shiro cut him off. “Weren’t you all supposed to come here together?”

Keith tried not to wince. He knew Shiro meant well, and he sounded more concerned than angry, but the words felt like a punch to the gut.

“I mean, yes, but—”

“You shouldn’t have come here by yourself, Keith.” Shiro looked over Keith’s shoulder like he expected enemies to arrive at any moment. “It’s too dangerous. You don’t know what these people—these things—are capable of.”

A flare of defiance rose in Keith’s chest. “I do know what they’re capable of,” he said, hands clenching into fists. “That’s exactly why I came here alone.”

“What do you—”

“I couldn’t see them get hurt, okay?” Keith blurted. “The other paladins, my friends... I couldn’t—”

He stopped, caught off-guard by the sudden tightness in his throat and the haziness at the edges of his vision. His whole body had gone tense and he released a shaky breath, trying to regain control of himself.

“Trust me, Shiro. I’ve been through a lot since we last saw each other, and—and I’ve faced a lot of dangerous things. I had to literally fight Haggar to save Red.”

Shiro looked like he was about to say something, but Keith kept going.

“I’m capable of a lot more than you think I am. And there’s no way I’m going back and leaving the two of you behind. One way or another, I’m getting you out of here.”

The words came out a bit more vehemently than he expected them to, and Keith stopped to catch his breath. On the other side of the bars, Matt and Shiro both watched him with wide eyes as if they didn’t recognize him. Then, unexpectedly, Shiro huffed out a sound that sounded almost like a laugh.

Keith blinked. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Shiro said. “It’s just... it seems like you’ve grown up a lot since I last saw you.”

Keith’s breath hitched in his chest. The persistent stinging in his eyes grew more apparent, and he wiped a hand across them. It really did feel like an entire lifetime had passed since he and Shiro had last seen each other in person. So much had changed, and things would probably never be quite the same again.

“Hey, I hate to break up the moment,” Matt said anxiously, “but I have a question. How exactly do we get out of here?”

He gestured towards the glowing purple bars. As if on cue, they crackled with sinister energy, and Keith flinched.

“That’s... a good question.” He scratched the back of his neck. He looked up and down, searching for any visible weaknesses in the barrier, but he couldn’t see anything.

Red made a faint grumbling noise. Keith turned to find her crouching down, her long tail whipping back and forth. Her yellow eyes, narrowed in concentration, fixed on the bars.

“Uh... you guys might want to move out of the way,” Keith cautioned.

Without questioning, Shiro and Matt both moved aside. Red crouched even lower to the ground, her haunches rising. The growl in her throat built into a snarl, and the crimson aura surrounding her grew brighter. The slow buildup of energy in the air made the hairs on Keith’s arms stand on end.

Red’s mouth opened in a roar, and a long beam of energy shot out.

Shiro and Matt both cried out in alarm and leapt even further out of the way. The blaze of light was so bright that Keith shielded his eyes from it. A few tense moments passed where he didn’t dare to move. Then he slowly lowered his arm, blinking as the afterimage flickered out of his vision.

The glowing bars were still there.

Keith, Shiro, and Matt all exchanged questioning glances, as if they were waiting to see if anything would happen. When nothing changed, the sense of disappointment in the air was palpable.

“So much for that plan,” Keith sighed.

Red straightened up with an apologetic whine. Keith patted her side. “It’s okay, Red. It’s not your fault.” He turned to look at the barrier of glowing beams again, frowning. “But I wonder why that didn’t...”

He trailed off as something occurred to him. The bars seemed to be made of some kind of dark magic, which meant they’d probably been created by Haggar. Then he remembered what Allura had explained long ago, about how the druids were previous Alteans who had gone over to the side of the Galra. Which meant, technically, the magic they used was Altean. If that was the case...

Keith lifted one of his hands and looked down at it, gaze skimming over the lines on his palm as if trying to read an answer written there.

He had an inkling of an idea. It was crazy, maybe—but at this point, he had no other options.

“Okay,” he said with a short sigh. “Keep standing back. I’m gonna try something.”

He raised his hand, closed his eyes, and turned his palm towards the prison bars.

He felt power radiating from them. A burning heat, like Keith was holding his hand too close to an open flame. Still, he refused to pull away, keeping his hand as steady as he could as he concentrated on the aura of dark magic.

There was almost a sense of familiarity to it—like the times he’d felt the unearthly energy leading him to Altea, or when he’d detached Haggar’s spirit from Lance when he was possessed. Like all those times before, he narrowed his focus in on it. Then, as he gradually pushed more effort in, was able to manipulate it.

He could feel a strange shift in the air, like the magic was bending to his will. Cautiously, he blinked his eyes open—and gasped at what he saw.

In front of his outstretched palm, a gap was forming between the bars. It was barely noticeable at first—just the beams leaning slightly apart—but it became more apparent as they continued to bend away from each other, as if they were being pried open by a pair of large invisible hands.

Keith’s concentration slipped and the gap began to narrow. But he gathered his wits, gritted his teeth, and regained his focus—his fingers shaking and beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

The bars kept bending until there was a hole large enough for a person to slip through. But Keith could feel a strong resistance, like he was pulling back a rubber band that could snap at any moment.

“Hurry,” he said breathlessly. “I—I don’t know how long I can hold it.”

The words seemed to shake Shiro and Matt out of their shock. They both moved forward at once. The gap was only large enough for one of them to fit through at a time, and Shiro stepped back to let Matt through first. Matt turned sideways to slip through, wincing as he stepped between the bars and then cautiously blinked his eyes open once he was on the other side. Shiro followed him, stumbling through the gap right before it closed.

Keith gasped, letting his hand fall to his side again. His vision moved in and out of focus. He didn’t realize he was swaying on his feet until Red sidled up next to him to keep him from falling over. “Thanks, Red,” he said hoarsely, leaning against her for support.

A hand landed on his shoulder. “Keith! Are you okay?”

He looked up to find Shiro standing right in front of him—and Keith barely even processed the question, because Shiro was alive and here and none of this felt real.

“Yeah,” he said at last, standing up straight. “I’m okay.”

Shiro still had a concerned furrow in his brow, glancing from Keith to the glowing purple bars and back again. “How did you do that?”

“Long story. I’ll explain later,” Keith said. “Are you guys alright?”

Shiro and Matt exchanged a questioning glance.

“I—yeah, I think we’re okay,” Shiro said. He didn’t sound entirely certain. “Still recovering from the plane crash, and from...” He stopped, wincing, but Keith knew he was referring to Haggar’s torture and his blood boiled at the thought.

“But hey, we’re alive,” said Matt. “And we’re finally out of there.” He gestured towards the now-empty prison cell and smiled at Keith. “Thanks to you.”

Keith listened as if Shiro and Matt’s voices were coming from miles away, looking between the two of them. They were really standing right in front of him—not separated from the barrier of the dream world or by sinister beams of magic. He could feel the solidity of Shiro’s hand still resting on his shoulder, and it grounded him back in reality.

Letting out a shuddering breath, he surged forward and threw his arms around Shiro and Matt.

They both inhaled sharply in surprise. Keith realized that he probably should have been more careful, what with Shiro and Matt’s injuries. But neither of them seemed to mind, and they both embraced him in return, their arms squeezing tightly around his torso.

Keith wasn’t sure how long they clung to each other. He only let go when Red lightly butted her head against his arm to get his attention. Hastily blinking the blurriness from his vision, Keith rested his hand against his lion’s forehead.

“What is it, Red?”

She turned her gaze towards the open entryway, her golden eyes wide. Her ears flicked back and forth.

“What’s going on?” Matt asked warily. “Is she—”

“Wait,” Keith said. “Everyone be quiet.”

Shiro and Matt both fell silent. Keith took a cautious step towards the doorway and held his breath. His heart hammered against his ribs. He listened carefully, trying to detect whatever sound Red was picking up. An odd mix of emotions radiated from her that Keith couldn’t quite decipher—a nervous energy, but not exactly fear. In fact, it was almost like she was eager to follow the sound.

“I think ... I think there’s something out there,” Keith said at last, keeping his voice low. “Something Red wants us to follow. Maybe something that’ll lead us to the Black Lion.”

He turned towards Shiro and Matt, looking over their disheveled and exhausted appearance, and felt a twinge of concern. “Can you both walk okay? You can ride on Red’s back if you need to.”

Red gave a slight nod of her head in agreement, but Shiro and Matt both looked hesitant. Not that Keith could blame them. As he knew from experience, it wasn’t exactly easy to get used to the presence of a giant lion spirit.

Matt experimentally shifted his weight from one foot to the other. A flicker of pain crossed his features, but he quickly composed himself. “I mean, walking doesn’t feel great. But I think I can manage.”

Shiro nodded. “Same here.”

“Okay.” Keith took a deep breath, shifting his focus towards the exit. “Red and I can take the lead. Stay close behind us.”

“Keith—” Shiro started to protest.

“Trust me, Red and I have got you covered. And you’re both injured and exhausted. But we’ll get you out of here, I promise.”

Keith squared his shoulders and inched carefully forward. Red stayed close by his side, prowling low to the ground. The fur on her back stood on end in a long ridge.

They reached the bottom of the stairway. Keith stayed as close to the wall as he could, and listened for any sound of nearby movement. But the voices he thought he’d heard seemed to have stopped.

He wondered if he’d imagined it. But when they reached the doorway, there was a shift in Red’s demeanor. She had seemed almost hostile a moment earlier, but now her ears perked up and she raised her head. Without waiting for Keith, she bounded up the steps.

“Red,” Keith hissed. She paid him no attention.

Keith threw a helpless glance over his shoulder. To his surprise, he found that Shiro was smirking. “Are you laughing?”

“No, no,” Shiro said, although there was an undertone of amusement to it. “It’s just, it doesn’t surprise me that you bonded with a lion who doesn’t listen to directions. Kinda reminds me of someone.”

“Very funny,” Keith deadpanned. But at the same time, relief bloomed in his chest. The fact that Shiro was still poking fun at him, even at a moment like this, reminded him that maybe some things never changed.

Just as quickly, he sobered again. “We’d better follow Red. Come on.”

He led the way up the stairs, following Red’s crimson glow as it bounced off the stone walls. She had already reached the top of the steps and was staring down the narrow corridor. Her tail swished back and forth impatiently.

“Red, what is it?” Keith asked quietly, wincing at how loud his voice sounded in the stillness. Oh, wait. He could communicate with Red telepathically. He tried to mentally convey the question to her, but it didn’t seem to work. She was concentrating very hard on something, her ears moving back and forth as she listened intently.

A prickling sensation crept down the back of Keith’s neck and traveled down along his arms, all the way to the tips of his fingers. He recognized the feeling. There was a significant source of energy nearby. Or... several sources? He didn’t understand what was happening, but he could sense that the energy was divided among several different beings.

Almost like...

“No,” he whispered. His blood ran cold with the sudden realization. “It can’t be...”

“Keith?” Shiro said warily. “What’s wrong?”

Light flickered at the far end of the corridor. As it grew closer and more vibrant, bouncing off the walls, Keith could no longer deny it. It was distinctly—

“Blue,” he breathed.