Chapter Text
Team Voltron had never felt more jubilant. As the distant stars, blurred from speed, flashed by their viewports, Lance’s loud whoops were heard clearly from the speakers inside the team’s helmets. “Yeaaahhh!” the paladin cried, his fingers wrapped tightly around Blue’s pilot sticks. “Did you see that, guys? Did you see that?! I can’t believe we won!”
Behind him, the blistering remains of a Galra fleet winked on and off with brief explosions, marking the freedom of a planet newly liberated from the empire’s clutches.
For the first time since coming together, the Voltron paladins had been forced to completely separate. Five planets, under Galra attack, had required five paladins to come and help out, alone. Shiro, Keith, Hunk, Pidge, and Lance had each taken one, with the reluctant approval of Allura. It had been obvious that she wasn’t comfortable with the paladins shouldering such a dangerous task by themselves-- and to be honest, none of them had gone to battle with a smile on their face. But in the end, after hours of grueling fighting, they had been victorious. Shiro would never forget Lance’s high-pitched yell of triumph, followed right after by Hunk’s enthusiastic, “Guys! I actually won!”
Shiro grinned. Just a few hours ago, he’d been gripped with more fear than he had felt ever since the fall of the Castle of Lions, when the entire team had had to rely on Pidge alone to keep Zarkon from getting his hands on Voltron. He didn’t like going into battle terrified that one of his teammates would not be able to handle the task set in front of them. They’d all had to defend entire planets by themselves. It hadn’t been easy, but the loud shouts and joyful tears of the aliens that he had saved almost made it worth it. That was definitely one of the perks of being a paladin.
Shiro connected to Allura, watching her face appear on the screen in front of him. “Open the wormholes, Allura. We’re coming back.”
“I’m so glad.” Allura smiled, a warm, relieved smile, her eyes crinkling at the edges. She turned to place her hands on the castle’s controls. “This mission was reckless, separating you all. But now five more planets can be free from Zarkon’s threat, if at least for a little while. I am proud of you all. You did well today.”
Shiro settled back, watching as a wormhole spread out in the open space in front of his Lion. He directed Black into the circle of glowing blue, feeling the familiar force tugging him trillions of miles forward, all in the span of a few seconds. It wasn’t long before he emerged, watching as Hunk, Lance, and Keith soon appeared from their own wormholes. Joining the others, he winced as Lance yelled into the speakers again.
“That was awesome!! I swear guys, we’re never going to do anything that cool again!”
“Well, we better,” Keith said, breathing out a chuckle. “Otherwise we’ll never defeat Zarkon.”
“I defended a planet.” Hunk almost sounded like he was in tears. “That was… great. I never really thought I’d protect an entire race by myself. But let’s not do that again!”
Shiro laughed. “Agreed.” Turning his head, he directed his gaze to the fifth wormhole, where he expected to see the Green Lion appear any second. Pidge couldn’t be that much further behind them.
Except… she wasn’t emerging. The wormhole stayed in place, radiating a bright cyan, but nothing shot out through the middle. Frowning, Shiro hushed his teammates, feeling sweat pool in his hands as he asked, “Have any of you seen Pidge?”
A tense silence followed as each of the paladins craned their necks, trying to catch a glimpse of Green. The Lion was nowhere to be found. Hunk shrugged, his voice tinged with worry as he muttered uncertainly, “Uh… no. I don’t see her, Shiro. Did something… happen?”
“Yeah,” said Keith. “Wasn’t she supposed to be here by now?”
Shiro frowned, forcing down the apprehension that was threatening to close off his throat. “Let’s call Allura. She may know what’s going on.”
“Paladins.” Allura’s worried scowl suddenly appeared on their screens. “I can’t hold the wormhole open for Pidge much longer! Where is she? She needs to come back now.”
“I… I don’t know.” Shiro felt ice crawl in his veins as he called for Pidge through his comms, hoping that she would answer. “Pidge? Can you hear me? We need you to head back-- Allura can’t hold your wormhole open for long.”
Silence.
Shiro tried again. “Pidge! Do you copy? Where are you?”
Again, nothing. Shiro was about to try again when Allura’s frustrated grunt echoed in his helmet. A second later, the wormhole vanished, leaving behind nothing but a black background dotted with stars. He jerked forward, feeling his panic rising. Pidge’s only way back had just dissipated!
“What the heck, Allura?” Lance sounded incredulous. “Pidge still needs to get back. What are you doing?”
“I couldn’t hold it,” Allura said, her voice strained with exhaustion and worry. “Something’s happened to her-- why hasn’t she contacted any of you?”
“What’s happened to Pidge?” Hunk’s voice rose as he demanded, “She’s still coming, right?”
“No.” Keith’s voice was taut with realization. “If Pidge was coming, she would have been here by now. And if she needed help defeating the Galra, she would have called for one of us.” Her silence could only mean one thing. Shiro dreaded hearing the words that followed Keith’s pause.
“Guys, she’s been captured.”