Matt didn't get much sleep. He had spent most of the night talking with Y/N over the radio, and then the rest of it just thinking about her.

He was struggling to keep his head above the waves, though. Over the past while, he had been completely devoted and focused on the rebel forces. Now, he hardly had the vacant space in his mind to think about Voltron and how the safety of the universe was hanging on by a very thin thread. Part of Matt's mind was telling him to avoid and ignore Y/N all together, to stop her from being a distraction. But, deep down, he knew he couldn't do that. He'd just have to try to stop thinking about her when she wasn't around him.

When morning finally came, Matt groggily made his way to the kitchen. The first thing he wanted was to find Y/N. But, sure enough, the spots at the table surrounding her were taken. She laughed with Pidge and Hunk, all while tossing a bundled up napkin across the table with Keith. Lance tried his best to intercept each toss, but failed.

"Hey, Matt! Catch!" Y/N hollered. Suddenly, the small, harmless ball of napkin seemingly came careening towards Matt a million times faster than it actually was. He scrambled to catch it, but if fell through his hands and to the floor. Catching seemed to be among one of his many missing talents.

"Nice." Keith grumbled, rolling his eyes and turned back to Y/N and Lance.

Matt begrudgingly took a place at the end of the table beside Coran, who presented him with the typical food goo. Great. Just the best thing to be given this early in the morning, he thought. Down at the other end of the long table, Y/N was still being her carefree self.

Even with her slightly messy hair and sleepy eyes, Matt still found himself entranced. He'd never been the kind of person to care how others looked. It was their mind, their heart, their character that mattered to him. He cared more about the things they said and did over any physical trait. Besides, being the smart person he was, he knew nothing in the universe was perfect. No person, no equation, no part of the universe came without imperfection. For all he cared, the smallest features that someone might dislike about themselves only made them special.

"MATT!" Pidge screamed at the top of her lungs, finally catching the boys attention. Nearly jumping out of his skin, he dropped his spoon and looked around until he locked eyes with Pidge.

"Let's go, dumbo!" She demanded.

"Go where?"

"To the control room! It's an emergency!" She gave up on trying to explain and simply dragged Matt from his chair impatiently.

When the pair of siblings made it to the control room, the first thing that fell into Matt's vision was Y/N, cold faced, fists clenched. Her eyes were glassy as she stared blankly at the screen before her. Matt and Pidge fell in behind the rest of the group to witness what was being shown on the bright screen. The boys chest tightened at the sight of what was unfolding on the screen finally settled in. An entire planet, being drained of life, the Galra empire carelessly stealing all of the quintessence and reducing it to a barren, grey corpse. Not just any planet either, it was Aturdir. Y/N's home.

Not sure what else to do, Matt pushed through the small crowd and grabbed Y/N from behind, resting his chin on her head while holding her tight. Y/N released the tension in her balled firsts and grabbed Matt's arms which wrapped around her, letting out a sharp breath.

"How could they do that?!" Pidge snapped. "Aturdir is like the Balmera! It's living!"

"That'a just why Zarkon is taking its quintessence. It has so much energy to it, it's like draining three planets at once." Coran said quietly, his eyes unmoving from the image.

"Is there anything we can do?" Lance mumbled sadly.

"I'm afraid there isn't much we can do for the planet... But we can try to stop the Galra. The fleet is small." Allura said.

"Then lets go." Y/N pried Matt's arms off of her body and faced Allura.

"Y/N, take a minute to think about this..." Shiro reached out to his sister but she only gave it a short glance. The cold, dejected look in her eyes told Shiro that if the team didn't go into this fight together, she'd go alone anyways.

The black paladin lowered his head and released a deep breath. "Suit up everyone."

"Shiro!" Keith yelped. Even the red paladin knew this was a bad idea. They didn't even have a real reason to go to the planet. The Galra had already taken the Aturdirie aboard and were leaving the planet to die. "This is pointless!"

"Maybe. But we have a chance to take out some of Zarkon's fleet when they're not expecting it—we have to take the opportunity." He explained before departing towards the lions hangar.

All of the paladins left, Y/N, Matt, and Pidge finding their way to the green lion. They all sat in silence, awaiting Shiro's cue to depart the castle.

"Why would they attack Aturdir specifically?" Pidge asked. "It's not like it's the only living planet in the whole universe and surely wasn't the closet to their fleet."

Matt looked to Y/N for a response. He found her crumpled up in the chair, knees to her chest, helmet carelessly abandoned on the floor.

"Chances are, someone from Aturdir or The Blade was captured and Zarkon found out I was the one behind that infiltration a few months ago." Y/N explained. "And he has reason to be after me, seeing as how close he was to obtaining Voltron that day. I'm the one thing between him and Voltron and he wants me gone."

"Well, he's not going to take you." Matt seethed in anger.

"I hate to break it to you, Matt, but with the entire Galra empire after me, we don't have much of a choice. That's why—" She faltered.

"Wait—" Pidge's expression sank entirely. "Is that why we're going? So you can give yourself up?!"

If Matt wasn't fuming before, he was now. He was furious, terrified, and confused. Three things he hated feeling.

Though Pidge tried to hold back her lion from jolting forwards on Shiro's command, she couldn't stop it. It was like the lion had an agreement with Y/N to take her to the planet, letting nothing get in the way.

"Just think about it!" Y/N cried. "If I go to them, you guys aren't in danger. If I don't do this now, he'll find out where I am eventually and come after all of us. And right now you need time to prepare against Zarkon, not always be running from him because of me."

"Y/N sto—" Matt began but Y/N shushed him.

"I trust you guys," She looked Matt dead in the eyes. He could still see that same honesty and truth he admired so deeply and it killed him. "And I know that once you're able, you'll get me out. It'll all be ok."

Neither Matt or Pidge spoke. "I don't want to go. And I don't want to do this to you. But if it means getting one step closer to defeating Zarkon..."

"Y/N..." Matt furrowed his brows and tried to swallow, but his mouth was dry. "You have a home here now. With m—with us. Why are you letting that go?"

"I'm not letting it go. I'll be back." Y/N smiled softly and stretched her arms out. Within seconds Matt and Pidge were both hugging her tightly, wishing they never had to let go.

The group of lions made their way down to the planet. Last bits of colour were leaning the surface and heading straight up for the massive Glara cruiser overhead. It was a true crime, seeing as how beautiful the planet once was.

"So what's the plan?" Lance finally asked, making everyone take their attention away from the dying planet.

"We have one. Just, please, trust us." Y/N's voice quavered as she spoke the last words she would for quite a while through the comms. For one quick moment, she opened up one of the larger screens revealing each of the faces of her fellow paladins. She whispered a quiet goodbye before shutting it off and heading for the hatch door.

"See you soon, Holt." Y/N flashed a quick smile. She was strong. There was no denying that. But as she passed him, Matt could see the distraught in her eyes. She was just as scared as him.

Matt fell into a daze, and wasn't sure how long had passed. Next thing he knew, though, Y/N was standing ready at the hatch door. "Alright, Pidge! Let me down!"

"Y/N your helmet!" Matt shouted.

"Keep it! Make sure no one steals my colour while I'm gone!" Y/N called out.

"Hold on!" Matt yet again made one last attempt to draw her back, but the wind which gusted into the ship as Pidge lowered the door overpowered his voice. He couldn't believe this was happening. He couldn't believe he just let this happen.

Moving to the front of the ship with Pidge, Matt could see Y/N walking across the grey land so that she came into the view of one of the Galra ships. Everyone was screaming and crying over the coms, but Matt and Pidge didn't respond.

"It's me you want!" Y/N's voice could be picked up by each of the lions sensors. "But if you take me aboard, you leave my friends alone or so help you."

Even with a ship a million times her size hovering just a few hundred feet before her, Y/N still stood strong. Apparently the Galra had agreed to her terms because a beam of light, just like the one from Kerberos mission, began to tear up the ground at Y/N's feet. Matt's mind flickered between memory and reality, remembering what it had been like to be swept up by that incandescent light and what is was like to see Y/N being taken up by it right now.

Everyone watched in silence until Y/N's figure couldn't be seen anymore and the Galra fleet stopped their attack on Aturdir. Though, it didn't matter, because the planet was far beyond repair anyways. While most of the paladins hovered in their lions, completely stunned and silent, Shiro's raucous cries made everyone sick. Just like that day Y/N had her leg shot, the screams through the coms were the utmost unbearable. Everyone would be hurting until they had Y/N back, and the worst part was, they didn't know how long she would be in the hands of the Galra for. It was the worst for Shiro and Matt because they'd already experienced the hell Y/N just walked into. 

"I thought you guys said you had a plan?!" Lance blabbered.

Pidge took in a deep, dejected breath. "That was the plan."