Keith's POV
The Red Lion was moving before I was entirely sure I'd asked him to.
That probably should have bothered me more than it did.
A few minutes ago, I'd been floating through space with a rapidly dwindling oxygen supply and the unpleasant certainty that I'd just made the last mistake of my life. Now I was sitting inside one of the most powerful machines in the universe, staring at controls I barely understood.
And somehow, I was supposed to fly it.
"Okay," I muttered, tightening my grip on the armrests. "Let's get something straight. I'm grateful you saved me, but Shiro and Pidge are still on that ship."
The Lion answered with a deep vibration.
I looked toward the illuminated control panel.
"Right. You already know that."
Another vibration.
I couldn't tell whether Red was agreeing with me or getting impatient.
He seemed like the impatient type.
The thought almost made me smile.
Almost.
My hands were still trembling.
I curled my fingers around the controls until the sensation became less noticeable.
There was no point pretending I hadn't been afraid. I'd been terrified. Anyone would have been, drifting helplessly through space while their suit informed them that their oxygen was running out.
But knowing that didn't make the memory any easier to swallow.
I'd opened that airlock myself.
I'd calculated the risk, decided it was worth taking, and nearly killed myself because I'd underestimated the force of the decompression.
Shiro would have something to say about that.
Assuming I managed to bring him back.
"All right," I said, forcing my attention onto the display. "Show me where they are."
The cockpit lights shifted.
A three-dimensional projection of the Galra ship appeared in front of me, along with a blinking marker near one of the lower hangars.
I leaned forward.
"Is that the Green Lion?"
The projection enlarged.
There was a small green energy signature inside the hangar, surrounded by several approaching enemy signals.
"Then that's where we're going."
The Red Lion accelerated.
I barely had time to brace myself.
"Oh, come on!"
The force pressed me against the seat as we swept along the ship's outer hull.
Red moved like he had absolutely no intention of slowing down for anything.
Not the protruding defensive platforms.
Not the armored structures.
And certainly not the Galra fighters scrambling to intercept us.
I pulled one of the controls instinctively.
Red banked sharply.
Too sharply.
A fighter shot past us, missing by a few meters.
"Okay! Okay, I get it!"
A feeling of fierce satisfaction flashed through the connection.
I stared at the console.
"You're enjoying this."
The Lion rumbled.
Of course he was.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could already hear Lance making a joke about us deserving each other.
I wasn't looking forward to that conversation.
The hangar came into view.
Several Galra sentries were firing toward an access corridor.
I recognized the Green Lion's silhouette beyond them.
And then I saw Shiro.
He was helping an injured prisoner through the doorway while Pidge covered the retreat with a stolen Galra weapon.
There were other prisoners behind them.
They were moving too slowly.
More soldiers were approaching.
My irritation disappeared.
"Red. Those are our people."
The response was immediate.
The Lion opened his jaws.
A concentrated blast struck the defensive platform beside the pursuing soldiers, tearing through its machinery and filling the passage with smoke and debris.
The sentries scattered.
I winced.
"Okay. Maybe a little excessive."
Red gave no indication that he agreed.
The Green Lion's cockpit illuminated.
My communicator crackled.
"Keith?"
Shiro.
I felt something in my chest loosen.
"Hey."
A pause.
"Keith, where are you?"
I looked around the enormous red cockpit.
"You're not going to believe this."
Another explosion shook the hangar.
Pidge's voice cut through the channel.
"Keith, please tell me that's you in the giant red robot lion!"
"Yeah."
"Oh, thank goodness!"
Shiro spoke again, his relief unmistakable.
"Can you keep the hangar clear?"
I looked at the approaching Galra fighters.
Red was practically vibrating with anticipation.
I smiled despite myself.
"Yeah. I think we can manage that."
Luan's POV
By the time I finished checking the water supplies in the second gallery, three different people had asked whether I intended to leave.
Apparently, rescuing an entire village came with the unexpected responsibility of convincing everyone I wasn't about to disappear the moment they stopped looking.
I understood their concern.
That didn't make it any easier to answer.
"NOVA, update."
"Three hundred and sixty inhabitants remain accounted for. No deaths confirmed. Four individuals require continued medical observation. Food supplies are sufficient for short-term shelter, although distribution will need to be controlled."
"And water?"
"Current reserves are inadequate for an extended occupation."
I looked at the containers stacked along the wall.
That problem, at least, was manageable.
The tunnels possessed several natural sources of moisture, and a narrow underground stream ran beneath part of the northern passage. I could probably redirect a portion of it toward a collection area without compromising the protective mineral formations.
But that required inspecting the terrain first.
I wasn't about to flood an underground shelter because I'd gotten overly enthusiastic about my own abilities.
"NOVA, add a survey of the underground water channels to the priority list."
"Recorded."
A small hand tugged at my sleeve.
I looked down.
The little girl from the tunnel entrance was standing beside me, her bandaged knee peeking out beneath her clothing.
"I counted again," she announced.
"Did you?"
She nodded seriously.
"There are nine turns if you go all the way to the big room."
"Nine? Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
"Then I suppose you're officially our navigation expert."
She grinned.
I couldn't help smiling back.
At least someone was enjoying the tunnels.
"Are you going to tell Pihk?" she asked.
"Of course. He'll probably be very impressed."
That seemed to satisfy her.
Then she leaned closer.
"Can you make the water dance again?"
My smile faltered.
Only slightly.
But enough.
The girl looked up at me expectantly, apparently unaware that she'd just asked one of the most complicated questions I could receive.
Her mother had seen part of what happened at the stream.
Of course she'd told her daughter.
Or perhaps the child had noticed more than I'd realized.
I glanced toward the adults nearby.
Nobody appeared to be listening.
"Water usually dances perfectly well on its own," I replied, crouching beside her. "Have you ever watched a river flow around rocks?"
She nodded.
"That's how the Goddess tells it where to go."
I considered that.
It was a beautiful explanation.
Not scientifically accurate in the way I understood the phenomenon, but beautiful nevertheless.
"And what happens if somebody puts a stone in the river?"
"The water goes around it."
"Exactly."
The girl thought for a moment.
"Then you know how to ask it to go around things?"
I looked at her.
Well.
That was considerably closer to the truth than I'd expected.
"Something like that."
She smiled again.
"That's nice."
And with that, she ran back toward her mother.
I remained crouched for a moment.
That's nice.
I almost laughed.
I'd just spent a considerable amount of time worrying about the cultural consequences of water manipulation, and this little girl had decided it was simply a nice thing to be able to do.
Children were terrifyingly adaptable.
The adults were another matter.
The warrior elder had already mentioned that some villagers wanted to hold a ceremony of gratitude. Pihk's new standing among the younger hunters was producing its own complications, and at least one woman now seemed convinced that my abilities were direct evidence of divine intervention.
The System wanted me to preserve the community's cultural structures.
But it hadn't provided anything resembling an instruction manual.
Typical.
I stood and opened the communications channel.
"Allura, this is Luan. The inhabitants are sheltered. We're monitoring the entrances and organizing supplies."
The princess answered almost immediately.
"Excellent work, Luan. Coran has received your evacuation figures."
"There's something else."
"Go ahead."
I glanced toward the villagers.
"We need to be careful about how we interact with this community after the fighting ends."
A brief pause followed.
"Explain."
"They already have an established religious interpretation of the castle, the Lions, and your presence. They've built their own understanding around those things. If everyone starts correcting them, giving them advanced equipment, or making promises on behalf of their goddess, we could create problems that won't disappear when we leave."
Coran's voice came through the channel.
"Are they asking for technology?"
"Not yet. But some of them already think our arrival has religious significance. I'd rather we didn't encourage them to abandon their own leaders or traditions because they believe we're more important."
Allura remained silent for a moment.
"Understood. For now, maintain their safety. We can discuss the appropriate diplomatic approach afterward."
"Thank you, Princess."
I ended the transmission.
That was enough for the moment.
I wasn't going to launch into a lecture on Starfleet's Prime Directive in the middle of a battle.
Besides, the situation was far more complicated than the rules of an old science-fiction series.
The Galra had already interfered with this civilization.
The Castle of Lions had been part of its religious history long before my arrival.
And I'd made the decision to accept the role of a celestial guardian rather than challenge the villagers' beliefs when they were facing extermination.
We were already involved.
The question wasn't how to prevent contact.
It was how to avoid making the consequences worse.
I opened the tactical display.
Then I noticed the new energy signature approaching the castle.
Red.
I stopped breathing for a moment.
"Keith?"
"Red Lion signature confirmed," NOVA replied. "Returning from the Galra command ship."
I smiled.
You did it.
Or, more accurately, Red had finally decided to cooperate.
Knowing Keith, it had probably involved an argument.
My amusement faded when the rest of the battlefield appeared.
The Galra were regrouping.
Both major enemy vessels remained operational, and the larger ship was altering its trajectory.
Toward Arus.
Toward the castle.
"NOVA, projected target?"
"Castle of Lions. Possible orbital bombardment or direct atmospheric assault."
I stared at the display.
The refugees were underground.
The mineral formations could help conceal them.
But no amount of clever camouflage would save them if an enemy commander decided to devastate the surrounding region.
The evacuation wasn't the end of their danger.
It had only changed the kind of danger they faced.
Keith's POV
I found Shiro waiting near the Green Lion when we finally cleared the hangar.
Pidge was helping the last of the prisoners aboard, carefully guiding an injured alien through the entrance.
The man looked exhausted.
All six of them did.
One had an arm wrapped in makeshift bandages. Another could barely stand without assistance.
Shiro was supporting the oldest prisoner.
He looked up when Red approached.
For a moment, he simply stared.
Then he smiled.
It was small.
Tired.
But real.
"You made it."
I felt an absurd amount of relief hearing those words.
"Yeah."
I wanted to say more.
Something about the airlock.
About the way I'd nearly died.
About Red coming for me when I had no way to save myself.
But Shiro was looking at the Lion with an expression I couldn't quite read, and the words disappeared.
"You okay?" he asked.
I nodded too quickly.
"Fine."
His eyes dropped briefly to my damaged armor.
Then to my hands.
I tightened them around the controls.
"Keith."
"I'm fine, Shiro."
He didn't argue.
That somehow made me feel worse.
A distant explosion shook the hangar.
Pidge's voice came over the channel.
"We need to leave! Right now!"
Shiro turned toward the Green Lion.
"Everyone aboard?"
"All six prisoners are secured."
"And you?"
"I'm coming!"
A Galra warning siren began to sound.
Shiro looked back at me.
"Keith, cover our exit. Don't engage anything you don't have to."
I almost protested.
Red was fast.
Powerful.
I could feel how eager he was to fight.
And after everything that had happened, part of me wanted to turn around and show the Galra exactly what they'd lost.
But there were people aboard Green who couldn't survive another battle.
And none of them were the people Pidge had hoped to find.
I remembered the moment inside the ship when he'd finally admitted that Commander Holt was his father and Matt was his brother.
The frustration in his voice hadn't been difficult to understand.
He'd helped us reach the prisoners, only to discover that his family wasn't among them.
Now he was helping six strangers escape anyway.
I forced myself to look at the evacuation route instead.
"Understood."
Red made an irritated sound.
I frowned.
"Don't start."
Another rumble.
"We're getting them out first."
For a moment, the Lion resisted the direction I wanted to take.
Not completely.
Just enough to make his disagreement obvious.
Then I felt something shift.
He wasn't rejecting the decision.
He was waiting for me to commit to it.
I gritted my teeth.
"We can fight them later."
Red accelerated.
The Green Lion followed.
We shot out of the hangar just as the outer defenses began firing.
A squadron of Galra fighters turned toward us.
I felt Red's eagerness flare.
"Yeah," I muttered. "Those we can deal with."
I banked toward the approaching ships.
The Red Lion moved like a blade.
We tore between two fighters before either could complete its attack run. One veered away. The second tried to turn.
Red fired.
The explosion illuminated our cockpit.
I grinned.
Then Shiro's voice came through the channel.
"Keith, don't pursue. We're clear."
I hesitated.
The surviving fighters were retreating.
We could catch them.
Red certainly wanted to.
But Shiro had given me an order.
And Green was already heading toward Arus.
I pulled back.
"Coming."
Red rumbled.
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
I glanced at the display.
For a moment, I remembered the feeling of weightlessness outside the Galra ship.
How quickly everything had gone wrong.
I wasn't eager to repeat it.
Not today.
Luan's POV
The first tremor shook dust loose from the tunnel ceiling.
It wasn't particularly strong.
A few loose particles drifted down between the roots, and one of the younger villagers looked up in alarm.
Then came a second vibration.
Stronger.
The warrior elder approached me immediately.
"Guardian, is the mountain collapsing?"
I checked the structural readings.
"No. The tunnels are stable."
Another tremor passed through the walls.
The children began looking toward the entrances.
I recognized that expression.
They'd escaped one danger only to discover that the world could still reach them underground.
The little girl with the bandaged knee was holding her mother's hand.
Her eyes were wide again.
I crouched beside her.
"Remember what we talked about?"
She nodded uncertainly.
"The tunnel is safe?"
"For now, yes. The people outside are working to keep it that way."
"Even the Great Blue Beast?"
"Especially the Great Blue Beast."
That seemed to help.
Not completely.
But enough for her to stop staring at the ceiling.
I turned toward the elder.
"Please keep everyone away from the entrances. If the bombardment becomes heavier, the first chambers will be the most exposed."
He frowned.
"The Goddess's Path has protected us for generations."
"I believe you. But I still want the children farther inside."
He considered the request.
Then gave an order to the hunters.
I watched him go.
It was becoming easier to work with him.
Not because he had suddenly abandoned his authority, but because we were finally beginning to understand what each of us could contribute.
He knew his people.
I knew something about the enemy.
Neither of us could do the other's job properly.
"NOVA, status of the Galra ships."
"The high-orbit command vessel is beginning atmospheric descent. The lower vessel has shifted to a supporting position."
I enlarged the display.
The larger ship was enormous.
Even on the holographic projection, the scale was difficult to process.
A heavily armored Galra warship, carrying enough weaponry to threaten the castle and much of the surrounding region.
And somewhere aboard that ship was the commander responsible for this operation.
I knew the name from the original story.
Sendak.
But names in a television series and real military intelligence weren't the same thing.
"NOVA, have we identified the commanding officer?"
"Partial transmission intercepted. Designation: Commander Sendak."
My mouth went dry.
So it really was him.
I studied the vessel's weapons.
There.
A massive forward-mounted cannon.
The same threat I'd been expecting.
The ion cannon.
A weapon that could put enormous pressure on the castle's defenses.
In the original sequence, the paladins had needed Voltron to stop it.
Now there were three hundred and sixty people hiding beneath the ground, a second Galra vessel still operational, and a host of changes I'd introduced simply by being here.
I couldn't assume the outcome would be identical.
The System had made that painfully clear.
"NOVA, open a private channel to Lance."
"Connected."
"Lance."
"Lu?"
"How close are you to the castle?"
"Almost there. Keith got Red. Shiro and Pidge are bringing the prisoners back."
"Good."
I glanced at the enemy ship's trajectory.
"Listen carefully. That Galra command vessel is moving into firing position. As long as it can attack the planet, these people aren't safe."
"I know. I'm coming down to—"
"No."
He stopped.
"Luan?"
"Don't come down here."
"Are you serious?"
"Completely."
There was a sharp breath on the other end.
"Lu, you've been dealing with Galra troops while trying to evacuate an entire village. I'm not leaving you there if—"
"Lance."
"What?"
"Get your head back in the cockpit."
Silence.
I continued before he could argue.
"I have the villagers accounted for. The tunnels are holding. There are guards at the entrances, NOVA is monitoring the enemy, and I have enough supplies to manage the immediate situation."
"That doesn't mean you're safe!"
"Exactly."
He fell quiet again.
"I'm not safe while that ship is above us. Neither are the villagers. Neither are you, Hunk, or anyone in the castle."
I took a breath.
"I need you to deal with the thing that can kill all of us. Not come down here because you're worried about me."
He made a frustrated sound.
I could almost picture him gripping the controls too tightly.
"You're really asking me not to worry?"
"No. I'm asking you to do your job while you're worried."
That earned a long silence.
Then, unexpectedly, he laughed.
A little.
"Wow. You sound like Mom."
I smiled.
"Someone has to."
"Lapis is going to agree with you, isn't she?"
A low, unmistakable vibration came through the channel.
I couldn't help laughing.
"Apparently."
"Traitor," Lance muttered affectionately.
The warmth in his voice didn't erase the tension beneath it.
I knew what I was asking.
He knew too.
We'd spent our lives looking after each other.
Now I was asking him to leave me somewhere dangerous and trust that I could manage.
It wasn't easy for either of us.
"Lance."
"Yeah?"
"Come back."
He took a breath.
"You too, sis."
The channel closed.
I let my eyes rest on the darkened display for a moment.
Then turned back toward the tunnel.
There were people here who still needed me.
And people above the planet who needed my brother.
For once, the best thing I could do was stay exactly where I was.
Keith's POV
I knew something had changed the moment Red approached the Castle of Lions.
Four Lions were converging on the same position.
Blue arrived first, followed by Yellow. Green descended through the atmosphere with Shiro, Pidge, and the rescued prisoners.
Red slowed as we approached the landing platforms.
The castle's structures began to illuminate.
Long lines of blue-white energy traveled across its surface, gathering around an enormous central section.
I stared.
"What's happening?"
Allura's voice came over the channel.
"The four Lions are together. My father's seal can finally be released."
A deep vibration passed through the castle.
The central platform began to move.
Something enormous rose from within.
Black armor.
Massive paws.
A head unlike the others, powerful and unmistakably commanding.
The Black Lion.
For a moment, even Red seemed to fall quiet.
I felt the difference immediately.
Not fear.
Something closer to recognition.
The Black Lion was the center of Voltron.
The one the others were meant to follow.
I glanced toward Green as it landed.
Shiro emerged a short while later, leaving the rescued prisoners in the care of the castle's medical systems and Coran's arrangements.
He stopped at the sight of Black.
I couldn't see his expression clearly through the distance, but I recognized the way his shoulders changed.
He looked like someone who had been given a responsibility he hadn't expected to survive long enough to receive.
Allura approached him on the platform.
They exchanged a few words.
Then Shiro placed his hand against the Lion.
The Black Lion lowered its head.
A moment later, its cockpit opened.
I swallowed.
"Guess we're really doing this."
Red gave a low rumble.
"Yeah. I know."
I looked toward the four Lions.
Lance.
Hunk.
Pidge.
Shiro.
We'd been scattered across the planet and through enemy ships only minutes before.
Now we were supposed to become a team capable of fighting an empire that had existed for thousands of years.
I couldn't decide whether the idea was inspiring or completely insane.
Probably both.
The communicators activated.
"All paladins, return to your Lions," Allura ordered. "Sendak's command vessel is descending into the atmosphere."
The tactical display appeared.
The ship was moving toward the castle.
Its forward cannon was charging.
I stared at the size of the weapon.
That thing could destroy entire sections of the planet.
Coran's voice followed.
"The castle's particle barrier is operational, but the enemy's ion cannon has substantially greater output than our defensive systems were designed to sustain indefinitely."
Hunk made a distressed noise.
"That's not something I wanted to hear."
"How long can we hold?" Shiro asked.
"Not long enough for a leisurely discussion!"
I almost smiled.
Coran had a talent for making terrible news sound like a personal inconvenience.
Shiro's voice remained steady.
"Then we don't waste time."
The Black Lion lifted its head.
"Everyone, get ready."
Luan's POV
The first beam struck the castle's particle barrier.
Even from underground, I felt the impact.
The tunnel walls trembled.
A low, distant sound rolled through the stone, followed by a pressure wave that made the hanging roots sway.
Several villagers cried out.
NOVA projected the castle's defensive readings.
[Particle barrier: active.]
[Enemy ion cannon: confirmed.]
[Repeated impacts may compromise defensive integrity.]
I stared at the numbers.
The castle was shielding itself.
It wasn't shielding the entire planet.
The distinction mattered.
If Sendak decided the fortress was too difficult to destroy directly, the surrounding region could become a target.
And the Galra had already demonstrated that they were willing to attack civilian settlements.
The warrior elder approached.
"Guardian, what is happening?"
"The enemy is attacking the celestial temple," I answered, using the term his people recognized.
His expression hardened.
"The servants of darkness."
I nodded.
I wasn't going to argue over terminology now.
"The temple has defenses, but we need everyone to remain sheltered until the battle ends."
A healer stepped forward.
"Should we gather the people for prayer?"
The elder looked at me.
I could have forbidden it.
I had enough influence at the moment that they might actually have obeyed.
But what authority did I have to tell them how to practice their religion?
"Keep the paths clear, and don't interrupt the care of the injured," I replied. "As long as everyone remains safe, your people can follow their customs."
The healer bowed.
I watched him return to the others.
Some villagers began murmuring prayers.
Others remained silent.
A few children clung to their parents.
The little girl with the bandaged knee was sitting near a cluster of roots, trying to reassure another child who looked even more frightened than she did.
I caught myself smiling.
She was still scared.
Of course she was.
But now she had something useful to do.
I knew the feeling.
"NOVA, show me the Lions."
Five energy signatures appeared above the castle.
Black.
Red.
Green.
Yellow.
Blue.
My breath caught.
All five.
I'd known this moment was coming.
I'd watched it on a screen in another life.
Back then, it had been exciting.
Beautiful, even.
A group of young people discovering they were capable of something extraordinary.
Now I understood what the original story had never been able to make me feel quite this intensely.
The weight of waiting.
The knowledge that one failed maneuver could mean hundreds of deaths.
The terrifying helplessness of knowing that my brother was up there while I was down here.
I reached toward the communication controls.
Then stopped.
Lance was where he needed to be.
I had already told him that.
Calling again would only distract him.
Instead, I opened NOVA's tactical analysis.
"Can we assist the castle's defense from here?"
"Your current vessel lacks the firepower required to affect the Galra command ship."
I nodded.
Expected.
"Electronic interference?"
"Unlikely to penetrate the ship's military encryption without close-range access."
"Could we disrupt the ground units?"
"Limited operations remain possible."
I looked toward the villagers.
Then at the five Lions on the screen.
There were things I could do.
Important things.
But I couldn't make their connection for them.
And I couldn't turn the battle into an excuse to force myself into a position that wasn't mine.
Lance was Blue's pilot.
Shiro was Black's.
Keith had just earned Red's trust.
Pidge and Hunk had their own places.
I had a different responsibility.
It didn't make me less useful.
I just had to remember that.
Keith's POV
The first attempt to form Voltron was a disaster.
Not a spectacular disaster.
Not even the kind you could blame on enemy fire.
We simply couldn't make it happen.
All five Lions were flying in formation, their energy signatures linked on our displays. The castle had confirmed that every required pilot was in position.
According to Allura, we had everything we needed.
Apparently, that didn't include instructions.
"All right," Shiro said over the communicator. "Let's try bringing the Lions closer together."
"How close?" Hunk asked.
"Close enough for the connection to activate."
"That is not a measurement!"
I moved Red toward Black.
Lance approached from the opposite side.
For a moment, I felt something shift through the cockpit.
An awareness of the other Lions.
Like several distant presences suddenly becoming visible.
Then Lance made a sharp correction.
Red reacted immediately.
The connection vanished.
"Watch it!" I snapped.
"Me? You practically rammed into me!"
"I was maintaining my position!"
"You were coming straight at Blue!"
"Because you moved!"
"Guys," Shiro interrupted.
Lance made an exasperated noise.
"What?"
"We're not helping."
I gritted my teeth.
He was right.
Which was irritating.
A second impact struck the castle's barrier.
The shockwave rippled across our displays.
Pidge spoke quickly.
"Allura, are there schematics? Some kind of assembly program? Anything?"
"The Lions aren't ordinary machines, Pidge. Their union depends on the quintessence of their paladins."
"That doesn't tell me what to press!"
"Perhaps there isn't anything to press," Shiro said.
I stared at the controls.
That sounded uncomfortably plausible.
Red had refused to respond when I'd tried to force him.
He hadn't opened his cockpit until I was already drifting through space.
And now, even though I could feel his presence, there were things he wasn't willing to do simply because I demanded them.
I glanced toward the Black Lion.
Shiro was supposed to lead us.
But no one had given him time to learn how.
A sudden transmission interrupted the discussion.
"Castle barrier sustaining another direct hit," Coran reported. "The enemy's cannon is charging again!"
Hunk swore.
"We can't just sit here!"
"Then stop arguing and move!" I snapped.
I accelerated.
Red responded eagerly.
For a moment, it felt right.
Fast.
Focused.
Simple.
Then the Black Lion shifted to compensate for my movement, and the others scrambled to maintain formation.
The connection collapsed again.
"Keith!" Shiro called.
I pulled back, furious.
"What?"
"Stay with the team!"
"The enemy isn't going to wait for us!"
"I know!"
His voice was sharper than usual.
The channel fell silent.
I stared at Black.
Shiro almost never sounded like that.
Not unless something had gone very wrong.
A second later, he spoke again.
"Sorry."
I swallowed.
There were too many things I wanted to say.
That I wasn't trying to undermine him.
That I knew what was at stake.
That I was terrified of watching him die because I'd been too slow to act.
Instead, I said, "It's fine."
It wasn't.
But we didn't have time.
Another warning appeared.
The Galra command ship was activating a tractor beam.
"Uh, guys?" Lance said. "We have a new problem."
The beam caught Blue first.
Then Yellow.
Green struggled to escape, but the enemy's field widened.
Red jolted as the force reached us.
I pulled against it.
For a moment, the engines resisted.
Then we were all being dragged toward the Galra ship.
Hunk's voice rose sharply.
"I really, really don't like this!"
"Neither do I!" Pidge replied.
A second warning appeared.
[Enemy ion cannon charging.]
The castle's particle barrier flickered.
And then it failed.
Luan's POV
NOVA's tactical display turned red.
[Castle particle barrier: offline.]
I stared at the warning.
For a second, my mind refused to accept it.
The barrier had failed.
The Galra ship was still in firing position.
And the five Lions were trapped in a tractor beam.
My hands tightened around the edge of the console.
No.
I knew what was supposed to happen.
The original story had reached this point.
The five Lions would unite.
Voltron would rise.
The cannon would be stopped.
But that was a memory.
Not a guarantee.
I'd seen enough differences in this universe to understand that I couldn't simply sit back and trust a sequence of events because I'd watched it happen years ago.
The System had already given me a mission that didn't exist in the original story.
Three hundred and sixty lives now depended on the outcome.
And my brother was caught directly in the enemy's attack.
I opened the private channel.
"Lance."
Static.
"Lance, can you hear me?"
His voice came through, strained.
"Lu? Kind of busy!"
I could hear alarms in the background.
"Are you trapped?"
"Yeah! And apparently giant robot cats don't come with a convenient instruction manual!"
I almost laughed.
Almost.
"Listen to me."
"I'm listening!"
"You need to focus."
"I am focused!"
"No, you're worried about me."
He didn't answer.
I continued.
"And I know you're worried about the castle. And Hunk. And everything else. But you're not going to keep any of us safe by trying to be everywhere at once."
A sharp breath came through the channel.
"Luan—"
"I need you to trust the others."
Silence.
Then, more quietly:
"I do."
"Then let them help."
I looked at the five energy signatures.
"Lapis knows you. She knows the other Lions. You don't need to tell her what kind of pilot you want to be. She already knows."
There was another pause.
The distant alarms continued.
"And Lu?"
"Yes?"
"What if we can't do it?"
The question hurt more than I expected.
Lance didn't usually admit things like that so plainly.
Not when he was afraid.
Especially not to me.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
I don't know.
That was the truth.
I didn't know whether the others would form Voltron in time.
I didn't know whether the cannon would fire.
I didn't know whether this version of the story would follow the one I remembered.
But I knew my brother.
And I knew Lapis.
"You've already done things nobody thought were possible," I replied. "Now you need to stop trying to do this alone."
His breathing steadied.
"Right."
Another pause.
"Okay."
A low vibration traveled through the channel.
Lapis-Lazuli.
I recognized it immediately.
She sounded almost pleased.
I smiled.
"Good girl."
Lance snorted.
"Don't encourage her!"
The channel closed.
I remained staring at the display.
There was nothing else I could say.
Not without becoming another voice demanding his attention.
I lowered my hand.
Come on, Lance.
Come on, all of you.
Keith's POV
The tractor beam wasn't letting go.
Red fought against it, engines roaring, but every movement pulled us farther from the others.
I could feel his frustration.
It matched mine.
The Galra ship's cannon was charging again.
And without the castle's barrier, there was nothing between that weapon and everything below it.
"Shiro!" Pidge called. "What do we do?"
For a moment, no one answered.
I watched the Black Lion struggle against the beam.
Something was wrong.
Not with the machine.
With Shiro.
I knew the signs.
The stiffness in his responses.
The way he'd gone silent after the alarms began.
The sudden hesitation that sometimes appeared when something reminded him of the Galra.
He'd spent a year in their hands.
A year none of us truly understood.
And now we were caught in a Galra weapon's field while an enormous cannon charged directly ahead of us.
"Shiro?"
His reply came a second later.
"I'm here."
It was only two words.
But I could hear the effort behind them.
I wanted to tell him to pull back.
To let me handle it.
To stop trying to carry the entire team when he'd barely had time to recover from captivity.
But he was our leader.
And he was still fighting.
"Tell us what you need," I said.
The channel went quiet.
Then Shiro spoke.
"I need everyone to stop trying to solve this separately."
I looked toward the other Lions.
"We're all reacting to different problems," he continued. "Keith is trying to attack. Lance is trying to protect the ground team. Pidge is looking for a technical solution. Hunk is trying to keep us from getting hit."
Hunk made a distressed sound.
"Which is a pretty reasonable thing to want!"
"It is," Shiro agreed.
There was something different in his voice now.
Still strained.
But steadier.
"None of you are wrong. But we can't become Voltron if we're pulling in five different directions."
I tightened my grip on the controls.
Red wanted to fight.
I wanted to fight.
I wanted to rip that cannon off the enemy ship and make sure it never fired again.
But wanting something wasn't enough.
I'd just learned that lesson the hard way.
I looked at Black.
"What do you want us to do?"
"Trust each other."
Lance exhaled.
"Okay, that sounds great, but how?"
"We start by moving together."
Pidge spoke next.
"The Lions are responding to each other's energy signatures. The more we fight their corrections, the more unstable the link becomes."
I frowned.
So that was it.
Every time Red shifted toward another Lion, I'd tried to correct his movement because it hadn't been the direction I wanted.
Lance had probably done the same.
All of us had.
We'd been trying to control the connection instead of allowing it to form.
"Red," I murmured.
The Lion responded.
I took a breath.
"All right. Your turn."
I loosened my grip.
Not completely.
I wasn't about to surrender control in the middle of a battle.
But I stopped resisting the subtle movements Red was making toward Black.
The change was immediate.
A pulse moved through the cockpit.
Another answered from somewhere to my left.
Blue.
Then Yellow.
Green.
I felt the other Lions more clearly than before.
Not as separate machines.
As presences connected through something I couldn't name.
"Shiro," I said.
"I feel it."
His voice was quiet.
Almost disbelieving.
The Black Lion's energy signature intensified.
A new set of lines appeared across my controls.
They weren't ordinary flight instructions.
They looked like pathways.
Connections.
I followed one.
Red moved closer to Black.
This time, I didn't fight the adjustment.
The tractor beam strained against us.
The ion cannon's charging indicator climbed.
The castle was directly below.
I thought of Shiro floating helplessly somewhere out there if we failed.
Of Pidge searching for his father and brother, even after helping six strangers escape from a Galra prison.
Of Hunk trying to keep everyone alive.
Of Lance, who annoyed me more than anyone I'd ever met and who was somehow exactly the person I trusted to keep Blue moving when things got ugly.
And Luan.
Still on the planet, surrounded by people we'd promised to protect.
For once, I wasn't thinking about proving I deserved the Red Lion.
I was thinking about getting everyone home.
The connection strengthened.
"Keith?" Shiro asked.
"I'm with you."
A second later, Pidge answered.
"Me too."
Hunk drew a deep breath.
"Yeah. Okay. I'm in."
Lance's voice followed.
"Let's do this."
The Black Lion roared.
And the universe changed.
Luan's POV
At first, the five energy signatures simply moved closer together.
I watched the display, barely breathing.
Then their separate readings began to overlap.
Blue.
Red.
Green.
Yellow.
Black.
NOVA attempted to identify the resulting energy pattern.
[Multiple quintessence signatures converging.]
[Structural transformation detected.]
[Energy synchronization exceeding established parameters.]
I stood so abruptly that my chair scraped against the stone.
The warrior elder turned toward me.
"Guardian?"
I didn't answer immediately.
I couldn't.
The display showed five enormous machines joining into one structure.
Limbs shifted.
Armor locked into place.
Energy flowed through the connections.
A new silhouette emerged above the castle.
Something I'd known for years.
Something that had always belonged to a screen, a story, a universe I could only observe.
And now it was real.
Voltron.
I felt my breath catch.
NOVA's voice sounded distant.
"Composite construct identified. Energy output increasing."
The tunnel trembled again.
Several villagers looked toward the entrance.
The elder stepped closer.
"Is the Great Beast coming?"
I swallowed.
"No."
He frowned.
I looked at the enormous shape on my display.
"Something much bigger."
Outside, an immense roar shook the sky.
The sound carried through the ground and into the tunnels, making the air itself seem to vibrate.
Some villagers dropped to their knees.
Others began praying.
I watched their reactions with a strange mixture of awe and dread.
This is going to change everything.
They'd already interpreted the Castle of Lions as a sacred temple.
They'd called Blue a divine beast.
Now five celestial creatures had united into one giant warrior above their world.
There was no possibility that such a sight would leave their religion untouched.
And I couldn't even blame them.
I knew what Voltron was.
I'd known for years.
And I still felt like falling to my knees.
The little girl approached me.
"Guardian?"
I looked down.
Her mother stood behind her.
"What is that sound?"
I hesitated.
Then smiled gently.
"Our friends are trying to protect us."
She looked toward the tunnel entrance.
"Will they win?"
I glanced at the display.
The Galra cannon was almost fully charged.
"I hope so."
For the first time, I didn't try to sound more certain than I was.
Keith's POV
I couldn't feel my hands.
Not because they'd gone numb.
Because I wasn't entirely sure where my body ended anymore.
The Red Lion was still there.
I could feel him beneath me.
Around me.
But there was something else now.
A much larger presence.
Five sets of movements.
Five streams of energy.
One enormous structure.
Voltron.
I stared through the cockpit display.
My perspective had changed.
I wasn't looking at the universe from inside a Lion anymore.
I was looking out through something much larger.
The Red Lion had become part of an arm.
I could feel the tension in the entire structure as it resisted the Galra tractor beam.
"Guys?" Hunk said faintly.
Nobody answered.
"Guys, I think we did it."
Pidge let out an incredulous laugh.
"I can't believe that worked."
Lance made a noise that sounded halfway between a cheer and a scream.
"WE'RE VOLTRON!"
I almost laughed.
Then the ion cannon fired.
The warning appeared across all our displays.
[INCOMING ION DISCHARGE]
The beam tore toward the castle.
Shiro reacted first.
"Move!"
I felt Black shift.
Voltron moved with him.
Not instantly.
Not perfectly.
For a fraction of a second, the motion was awkward, as though five different instincts were trying to determine which direction our shared body should take.
Then the others adjusted.
I felt it.
Blue compensating.
Yellow supporting.
Green stabilizing.
Red surging forward.
There was no spoken agreement.
No time for one.
I saw the cannon ahead of us.
Its enormous barrel was still glowing from the discharge.
The beam was cutting toward the unshielded castle.
And I suddenly knew what Red wanted to do.
Hit it.
Of course.
I almost grinned.
"Shiro!"
"I see it!"
The Black Lion's response came through the connection.
Not an order.
An opening.
A moment in which every part of Voltron seemed to understand the same thing.
The arm began to move.
My arm.
Red's arm.
Voltron's arm.
I felt Lance adjusting our balance on the opposite side.
Hunk and Pidge held the lower structure steady as the immense body surged forward.
The tractor beam struggled to contain us.
The Galra cannon continued cycling its remaining energy.
I thought of Shiro.
Of the prisoners we'd rescued.
Of the people hiding beneath Arus.
Of everything that could disappear if we failed.
Then I pushed.
Not ahead of the others.
With them.
Voltron's fist drove forward.
The full weight of five Lions, five pilots, and a connection none of us completely understood converged on a single point.
The Galra cannon filled our display.
And our first punch struck.