"What?" Keith said as he stared at the white woman before. So far, Lady Selifae had not been what he was expecting. Instead of a kind, gentle maiden, she's a blunt, slightly rude, young woman. Who sounds more like one of those sarcastic teens who thinks she's better than everyone else around her, than a wise lady. Plus she seems a little on the violent side, if his cut earlier was any indication.

"What do you mean I'm going bad?" He asked.

"I mean it as I said it." The woman replied.

"What does that even mean "I'm going bad"? Are you saying I'm turning evil? Is it because I'm half-galra?" He asked, none of this made sense.

"That is not your problem." The lady rebuffed.

"Then what is my problem?! Seriously! I came for answers, but just got more questions! This whole thing is probably just a wild goose chase! Why would Zarc even send me to you! You're probably not even the real deal! Heck you probably just a child-!" Keith ranted.

"Silence!" Selifae shouts, her voice booming, with her eyes glowing menacingly. "It is not wise to anger one who have been graced by Zarc's power. I may look young, but I have lived for many centuries, and have honed my powers better than a newbie such as you." She said, Keith frozen in place.

"Now, are you ready to listen?" She asked, her voice no longer booming, but still stern. Keith just nodded timidly. No doubt she has power, power that could squash him. "Like you, Zarc also granted me power. As well as a dear friend, Eren. You two in fact have a lot in common, and that's the problem." She says.

"We are?" Keith asks timidly, trying not to anger.

"Oh, yes. Like Eren, you're stubborn, emotional, hotheaded, rash, reckless and so distrusting. Worst, you're so self-destructive, because you believe you're alone, and no one will miss you, but it's the exact opposite. Plus you're wrapped up in your own little world, you don't realize the effect you have on others." She says.

"What? I'm not like that!" Keith rebuffs.

"Yes, you are. You rely on raw instinct, instead of rational thinking. You believe your way, often the hard way, is the only way. Ignoring that the easy way is likely the better way, and you don't consider those around you. It was those things..." She trailed off. "That lead to Eren's death." She finished, looking slightly sadden while clenching a hand to her chest.

"But... but I'm not like that..." Keith said in disbelief. Selifae scoffed.

"Oh really? When you're given good advice, do you use it, or do you leave it? Let it just fly over your head and forget about it. How often do you criticize others, who actually have a better conception of the situation than you? When people try to talk to you, do you even give them the time of day? 

"Or are off in your own little world, in your head, surrounded by walls that you made, when people are trying to get to listen, for just five doboshes? And you do even consider how your actions, effect the other people around you?" She asks, and Keith couldn't reply back. Because... because she's actually right. He, he does do all that.

"Do you really believe, that you have no one but yourself to rely on? Because there are in fact a lot people who give a damn about you." She continues. "You want to know why Zarc sent you to me? This is why." She said and slapped him across the face. She was strong, it was defiantly going to leave a bruise.

"Cause you needed a good smack in the face, as it's the only way to get your attention and make you listen, to wake you up from you're little lonely delusion. You were going down a path that would have led to your destruction. Fire can be controlled, but through discipline and self-assurance, otherwise you burn. Along with burning other people as well." The woman states.

"You know, you're lucky." She added and sat down. "You think, you don't know who you are. You think you have nothing. You believe that your Galra side means you will never be accepted. In reality it's you who pushes people away, to the point they can't get close to you. Yet they still try, and if this was any later, it have been too late. Luckily, some people decided to get your awareness." She said.

"What? Who?" He asked. The woman rolled her eyes, and held out her hand. A glimmer of light shined and formed a circle, the circle showed the Red Lion, then Zarc. "Red, and Zarc?" He asked. The woman put down her hand.

"You know, they're really worried about you, and so are a lot of people around you. Despite what you may think." Selifae says and reclines back. "My advice, go home." She says. Keith blinks.

"Go all the way back to earth?" He asked. The woman sighed rolling her eyes.

"No! You idiot!" She yelled and Keith flinched. "To the Castle of Lions! That's home isn't it? Or do you think you can't be home there, despite the people there that see you like family?" She asked with an intense stare. "Just go." She said.

Meanwhile on Olkarion, Pidge had returned in the Green Lion, along with Matt. As the young Paladin stepped out of her lion, she was greeted by the Altean space mice, and the rest of her team. She chuckles as she picks up the smallest mouse and looks to her team.

"Hey, everybody. This is my brother, Matt." She introduces as Matt walks out of the lion behind her.

"Hey, everyone." He greets.

"Matt, this here is Hunk." She introduces the Yellow Paladin.

"Hey." The big guy says.

"Coran." She introduces the Altean man next.

"Pleasure." He greeted.

"Lance, and Princess Allura of Altea." She introduced the last two, and Matt is star struck when he sees them.

"It is so wonderful to finally meet you, Matt." Allura greeted.

"Yeah, nice to meet the brother we've heard so much about." Lance said with his signature grin.

"Whoa! Oh, my goodness! You two are gorgeous!" Matt exclaimed as he ran up to the two of them. "It is my honor to me you, Princess, Lance." He said with a wink. The two starred at him. "Ah!" Matt exclaimed when he was suddenly hit by small wave, pushing him away and dunking him on the ground.

"Uh..." Lance said, as he was the one to strike the guy. "Sorry... Just, not used to being on the receiving end of that." He said and turned to the princess. "Is that what I'm like?" He asked, pointing to the doused Matt on the ground.

"Not, nearly as extravagant." Allura replied as Pidge walked up to the two.

"Ah, he needed a "cold shower" anyway." Pidge says and starts snickering, but then is doused by water herself.

"Apparently, so did you." Lance said, not finding her "mature" joke funny.

"What's going on here? What's with all the water?" Everyone turned as a familiar someone arrived. Matt managed to shake off the water and get up when he saw the person come up to them.

"Shiro?" He said, getting the man's attention. "Shiro, it is you." He said and ran to the person. "Shiro!" he exclaimed as he threw his arms around the man. Only...

"Ah!" Shiro(?) shouted. "I-I'm not Shiro! You got the wrong person!" Actually it was Kuro, who proceeded to push Matt off him, and run behind the real Shiro as he came up to them.

"Huh? Shiro what's... Huh?!" Matt exclaimed when he saw not one, but two Shiros. "Uh... Katie, I think I might need my glasses back after all. Cause I'm pretty sure I'm seeing double here." He said.

"Trust me, you're not." Pidge replies.

"It's good to see you Matt." Shiro said, then looks at Kuro behind him. "It's a long story." Was all he said with a sigh.

"Anyway, Matt, this is the Castle of Lions." Pidge said as she presented the ship.

"Whoa. Awesome ship." Matt said, a little breathless.

"Let me take you on a tour." The girl said and started to drag her brother to and through the castle. While the others stare.

"Oh yeah, those two are related." Lance said as he watched the siblings.

Pidge proceeded to show Matt, from the bridge, where she showed him the Paladin seats, the zip-line shafts they use to board to their lions, and the control panel. To the training deck, the cow (AN: Yes, they actually have a cow. It's as confusing as it sounds. If you want more info, check out the space mall episode), the kitchen, where she squirted Matt in the face with food goo. They then proceeded to the armory, the med bay, Pidge's room and finally the lounge. The siblings sat down on the couch when Hunk came in.

"Hey, hey! I made celebratory milkshakes for you two!" He says as he walks in, handing each sibling a shake. "Just a little welcome gift to Matt from me and Kaltenecker. No big deal." He said then he sat down after giving Matt his shake.

"Fun fact about Alteans, they don't get brain freeze. Coran and Allura just totally hoovered up their shakes in one slurp. I had never seen anything like it before." The Yellow Paladin, and resident chef, added with a chuckle.

"So, like, what have you been doing since getting busted out of Galra prison." Hunk suddenly asked.

"I've been stationed at a listening outpost, monitoring Galra chatter." Matt answered.

"You serious?" Hunk said in disbelief. "Then you should totally check out the Galra finder Pidge built. We used it to track down a Galra fleet and save a planet." He added while fist bumping Pidge.

"Hunk made the locator that led us to the first Voltron Lion, and we just built an upgraded version of it to track Lotor." The said Green Paladin says next.

"Wow, Pidge. Dad would be so proud if he could see you right now." Matt said to his little sister, who smiled at him. "Oh, yeah. Pidge told me about your guys' powers, and that they came from Zarc." He added.

"You know who Zarc is?" Hunk asked the older Holt sibling.

"I first heard about him back in the Galra prison. A few prisoners I shared a cell with from time to time, would talk about him, saying things like, "If we have hope the lord, Zarc, will save us". After I was broken out and went to work with the resistance, I heard more stories, but I always took him as a galactic legend. Never would've guessed he was real, or that he would grant superpowers to my little sister and her Paladin friends, yet, here we are." He finished explaining.

"Yeah, when we first met him, we had no idea he was some ancient powerful being. That was quite a shock, especially when we received these powers." Hunk said. "Man, it feels like just yesterday, but we've come so far in controlling them." He added as he looked at his hand.

"Speaking of... What can you do Hunk? I already know Pidge here can control plants, so what are your powers?" Matt asks the Yellow Paladin.

"Oh. I can control Earth, like rocks, dirt, sand and now even metal." Hunk answered. "You see, our powers are all based around the elements, particularly in relation to our individual Lion, which each has their own element." He explained.

"I see..." Matt said. "So, what are the Lions' elements?" he asked and it was Pidge who decided to answer.

"Well, from what Allura said, Green is Nature, or Forest, Yellow is of Earth, Blue is of Water, Red is of Fire, and Black is Sky/Air/Wind." The Green Paladin explained.

"Hmm... water, nature, earth, fire, air..." Matt listed off then his face seemed to light up. "You mean like Avatar: The Last Airbender?!" He asked excitedly.

"Yeah, pretty much." Hunk replied with a grin. Pidge grins as well.

Meanwhile, at Galra central command, Lotor was summoned by Haggar to come. While he was suspicious, he could never had anticipated that Haggar would lead him to his father, who was supposed to be at death's door, instead he sat before him on his throne, wearing new armor that pretty much covered his whole being. Lotor tried to shake, not wanting to show weakness before the Galra Emperor.

"Father, it gives me great pleasure to see that you have made a full recovery. You look stronger than I've ever--"

"Silence." The Emperor cut him off, Lotor barely withheld a flinch at his booming voice. "I did not bring you here to waste time with your flattery." He states. Lotor looks down, silent. "You are relieved of your position, effective immediately." He says. Lotor looks up at his father at that.

"Lord, I beg you, do not discard me. Let me stay by your side." He begs.

"Your short reign will be regarded as a black spot on the Galra Empire for years to come." Zarkon states, with absolute no emption in his voice.

"P-please father, I beg of you to reconsider. I-if you could teach me maybe..." Lotor stuttered.

"Do not stutter before me!" Zarkon roared out, and Lotor went silent. "I did not raise my only heir to be a weakling!" He seethed.

"You call that raising?" The Galran Prince muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" The Emperor asked, having heard it anyway.

"Nothing, my lord." Lotor replies, not looking up at the man.

"You are no longer needed. You are dismissed." Zarkon's word was final.

"Yes, my lord. As you wish." Lotor says and stands up, then walks out of the throne room. Once far enough, he lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and took a few deep breaths. Talking to his Father had always been a harrowing thing. When he caught his breath, he made his way back to his ship, when one of his generals was waiting, unaware of a tail trailing him.

Back on the Castle of Lions, after finishing their milkshakes, Pidge, Matt and Hunk all went down to Pidge's lab in the Green Lion's hanger boy. Where Pidge showed her brother the "Galra Finder".

"This is a pretty sweet algorithm for location Galra threats within a statically acceptable margin of error." Matt said impressed. "And I love that you color-coded it, because what are we, animals?" he added and the siblings started laughing together, while Hunk watched them from his chair behind.

"Lance was right. You two are defiantly related." He said as he popped, what looks like green roll space chips into his mouth, as Matt turned to him, having stopped laughing.

"Hunk, using the Fraunhofer lines to track Voltron, and then the comet... I mean, that's genius." He complimented.

"Oh, well, yeah, I try." Hunk replies while trying, and failing, to toss a chip into his mouth. Instead hitting himself in the forehead.

"They say Fraunhofer was the greatest glassmaker in Europe, and that when he died, he took all his greatest recipes to the grave with him." Matt said.

"I want a Fraunhofer glass." Hunk said, as he attempted to toss a chip in his mouth again, and once again failing.

"So, check this out." Matt said as he pulled out some sort of flash drive. "This is all the relevant data from my time with the rebels. I think if we plug this info into the setup you guys have here, it might fill in the gaps. Then, we just might have the best anti-Galra intelligence mining operation in this or any other reality." He says.

"This one time, we went to another reality. It was pretty lame." Hunk revealed.

"Wait, you what?" Matt said surprised and turned to Pidge. "You, were in a different reality?" He asked.

"No big deal?" Pidge said as she swiped the drive from him and went to analyze it.

"My little sister." Matt said in disbelief and a bit of pride.

Meanwhile, Lance was in the bathroom of his room, having just finished filling his tub up with water. He sighs as he steps in, having on a pair of swim trunks, and slowly lowers into the tub, which was full of cold water. He breathed in and out as he lowers himself into the chilly water, the tubs in the castle were all pretty big, deep and long enough to be able to fit in, without any part of you sticking out.

Lance took a deep breath and lays back down into the water, submerging himself completely, as he held his breath. Growing up in Varadero, Cuba, he practically grew up in the ocean, he was a very good swimmer and could hold his breath for a very long time. He had actually being doing this for some time now, as a sort of training for his powers, getting used to the cold and water, so he might be able to connect with it. Least that was his theory, honestly, it was kind of relaxing as well.

Suddenly, while he was chilling, (And yes, pun totally intended. *Winks*), there was a knock on his door. It was muffled, so he couldn't really hear it, or the voices that accompanied. Another knock was heard, this time on the bathroom door, and Lance defiantly heard it this time. His head resurfaced, taking big gulps of air, as a voice came the other side of the door.

"Lance? Are you alright in there my boy?" Coran asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Did you need something?" The Blue Paladin asked.

"We were wondering if you could possibly assist us in getting a milkshake." Allura's voice said next.

"We tried to negotiate some on our own, but we've run into a bit of difficulty with Kaltenecker." Coran explained. Lance sighs.

"You should ask Hunk, he knows more about it than me. Besides, I'm kind of busy at the moment." The Blue Paladin replied.

"Alright. We'll do that." The Royal advisor said, and he heard the two. Lance took a breath again, and took another dunk into the cool water, before resurfacing and getting out of the tub.

Later, everyone met up in the dining room, Pidge had her laptop and was running a program, Kuro stuck close to Shiro, a little nervous of the new person on board, and Matt was just looking at the two. He honestly felt a little bad, it was clear he frightened the Shiro-look-a-like earlier when he mistook him for Shiro and hugged him. Hunk was currently getting Milkshakes for everyone, with Lance. Coran and Allura had asked the Yellow Paladin and he was more than glad to get them some.

"Alright." Hunk said as he came out of the Kitchen, Lance behind him. Oddly, the Blue Paladin wasn't wearing his green jacket like he usually was. Just as strange, Hunk set a tray of cups on the table, and something like a blender jar with the milkshake mix, but it wasn't even frozen.

"Hunk? Wha-?" Pidge cut off as Lance raised his hand and the milkshake liquid flew out of the jar and into the air. The contacts swirled in the air a bit before being distributed into the cups on the table. "Whoa! That's amazing Lance!" The Green Paladin exclaimed at the spectacle.

"Wait, there's more." Lance said and waved his hands over the cups again. A soft blue glow and cool mist appeared from the cups, that now had milkshakes, much to everyone's awe.

"Nice Lance, seems you've been getting a good grip on your powers." Shiro praised.

"Hehe, thanks, I've training a lot recently." The Blue Paladin said as he and Hunk went to add whip cream and berry top.

"So that's why you wanted to help, and asked me not to complete it yet." The said Yellow Paladin added as they finished the shakes and started handing them out.

"Mmm... This is fantastic. Even better than the ones before." Allura compliments.

"Man, these are good." Pidge said, and Hunk agrees.

"Glad you guys like it." Lance said as he practically slurped his up.

"Whoa-what?" Hunk asked. "How are you able to not get brain freeze from that?" He asked his best friend.

"Oh, I've been getting used to the cold. Guess it helps to not get brain freeze." The Blue Paladin replied and downed the rest of his shake.

"Wow, Lance you really are amazing." Matt muttered to himself, with obvious stars eyes toward the Paladin.

"How have you've been "getting used" to the cold? It's not cold out here." Pidge asked, ignoring her brother.

"Pretty simple really. Just being chilling in a tub full of cold water." Lance answers.

"Oh, is that you were doing earlier then, my boy?" Coran asked.

"Yep, precisely." Lance answered. "I figured getting a better understanding and connection with water would help with my powers. Plus, adapting to the cold is pretty useful. It's also very relaxing." He added with a dazzling grin.

Matt still stared at the beautiful, and apparently just as skilled, Blue Paladin. His attention was then pulled over to the Shiro look-a-like, who was sitting at the table sipping at his milkshake. He decided to finally get some answers. He walked over to Shiro as he finished talking to Lance.

"Hey man." He greeted, and Shiro turns to him. "Hey, uh... So, who exactly is he anyway?" He asked, gesturing to Kuro. The Voltron leader sighed and began to explain to his friend about his literal clone. Needless to say, Matt was mortified to find out the man's backstory.

He himself had suffered under the Galra, and had come face to face with Haggar. It was one time, but that was edged into his brain as one of the scariest moments of his life. He couldn't even picture the hell Kuro went through as her creation, and a failed one according to her. It was clear she had no tolerance for failure, so he can guess that it was not the least pretty.

"Hey, it's done!" Pidge suddenly exclaimed when something beeped on her laptop.

"Huh? What's done Pidge?" Lance asked as everyone gathered around her.

"Well, with Matt's help we developed a sort of tracking system, that basically monitors all Galra fleets' movements, live." Hunk explained. "We then intercepted a coded message and Pidge has been trying to decrypt it." He added.

"Technically, it's actually a frequency. So I started running through a few programs to decrypt it, and had to wait for it to finish, and now it is." Pidge said as she pressed a few buttons. When she finished a transmission was heard.

"Members of the Seventh... 11th, 12th and 14th Fleet, assemble to rally point trox-lyte immediately. Engage targets at coordinates in next transmission by order of Emperor Zarkon." Everyone froze. No... it couldn't be. It just couldn't be!

"Zarkon... Is alive?" Hunk asked, the question on everyone's mind. Pidge then typed something else and a different image appeared on her screen.

"Guys... Look at this." She said and showed a screen depicting a space map with Galra symbols, presumably fleets, all heading towards a certain point.

"I've... Never seen a troop mobilization on this level before." Matt admits.

"What are they attacking?" Lance asked.

"That's just it, as far as I can tell, nothing." Pidge answered. "There are no planets, no rebel ships, no Blade of Marmora basses, nothing." She added.

"Everyone to the bridge!" Allura said and the others obeyed.

On the Bridge, the Paladins got suited up and were now in a meeting about the situation at hand.

"Whoever they are attacking, we must help." Allura stated.

"I understand Allura, but I have a bad feeling about this. I don't want us to rush in unaware. Especially, now that we know that Zarkon is alive. Not to mention that we're down one lion." Shiro stated.

"So the corruption was even worse than we thought." Lance muttered.

"We could go check it out." Pidge suggested.

"I think they'd notice us coming." Lance said.

"Not if we're cloaked." Pidge added. Much to her Brother's shock.

"You have cloaking? Who are you?" Matt asked.

"I'm not sure it's safe for just the Green Lion." Shiro says.

"I can a cloaking field around all of us, so we could all go. As long we stay close to one another." Pidge said. Lance bumped her with his elbow.

"Were you just waiting for your big bro to get here so you can just roll that one out?" He asked.

"It's something I've been working on for a while." She admitted. "I can't pilot the Green Lion and operate the cloaking device at the same time, but if I had a co-pilot..." She added with a suggestive look towards her Brother.

"Absolutely!" Matt said excitedly and the two joined hands.

"Alright, let's get to the Lions." Shiro commanded, and everyone went to board their respective ships.

The Paladins flew off towards the location, Matt riding in Green along with Pidge. As they neared the battle zone, Matt activated the cloaking field, the Lions all close enough together to all be covered. It was hard to tell who the Galra were attacking, though it appeared to be other Galra. What was going on?

Unknown to them, it was Lotor and his Generals that were being attacked.

"Divert all power to defenses. Hold the attack off until we're away. Then scuttle--" Lotor ordered the sentries, but cut off as another blast rocked the ship.

"How did they find us?" The blue skinned woman asked.

"We must have been tracked." Another, bigger, beefier woman said.

Lotor seemed to be thinking. When he had returned after confronting his father, he had made sure to destroy all trackers that had been planted on his ship by the witch. How did they track them? The only person that was with him then was... He turned to look at a particularly strange woman, she was lizard like, but had no eyes, not even eye-sockets and a tail. On her shoulder, sat a weird cat-like alien creature with intense eyes.

Lotor than realized what was going on, and was about to take out his blade and strike her, when a stream of energy came from nowhere and struck her instead. Lotor paused, and looked to the source of the strike. A strange hooded figure with their scaled glowing arm aimed at the eye-less woman. The figure seemed to notice Lotor and promptly disappeared, like literally disappeared. Lotor decided to focus on other things and went to the woman's side.

"Narti! Narti!" He called. The woman, Narti, shifted and seemed to awake, hard to tell without eyes. She took the Prince's hand and spelled something on it. Just as he suspected, Haggar had made Narti his puppet in order to track them, but it seems that beam broke the link. He turned to the others.

"Get aboard the Sincline ships now! We're leaving!" He stated and proceeded to carry the Galran woman, the little cat following, to said ships. The five then flew the ships out of the bay, heading away from the zone, not going unnoticed by the Paladins.

"Whose ships are those?" Pidge asked.

"It's Lotor." Shiro said. "He and Zarkon must be fighting for control of the Empire." He theorized, if only it were that simple, just as the ship flew past and between them, disrupting their cloaking.

"Uh-oh. The trails from Lotor's ship drives messed with our cloaking spectrum." Matt informed as said shields were now down.

"Can you find a work around?" Pidge asked.

"It's too late our cover's been blown. We may have to engage." Shiro said, just as he said the Galra fleets spotted them and began shooting, causing the Lions to have to scatter and attack back, which wasn't going so well.

"Dammit! Without Voltron we don't stand against this many fleets!" Pidge cursed. Suddenly Lance stopped in front of them.

"What the-?! Lance, buddy, what are you doing?! Get out of there!" Hunk shouts, but Lance didn't move.

The Blue Paladin faced the Fleets, including the fighters. He closed his eyes taking a deep breath and began concentrating. The inside of the Blue Lion began to drop in temperature, to the point his breath became visible. The Lion began to glow a bright, ethereal, crystal blue and had cool mist emanating off of the ship. Lance's eyes then snapped open revealing the same colored, whited-out eyes as the aura around the Lion.

The Blue Lion then let out a mighty roar as spears of ice formed around it. Lance then brought back both his hands, then thrust them forward, sending the sharp pieces of ice at the Galra fighters, tearing through the metal ships, causing them to blow up. His eyes stopped glowing at this point and the temperature was rising back up.

"Whoa! Awesome man!" Hunk complimented.

"Looks like that training is paying off." Shiro comments.

"Can you be any cooler~!?" Matt said with star eyes, while Pidge groaned.

"That won't hold them off forever though." Lance said while panting a little.

"Lance is right, we need to get out of here." Shiro said, everyone agreed and began to make their way back to the Castle of Lions. On their way, something beeped in the Green Lion.

"Guys we intercepted another transmission." Pidge informed.

"Play it." Shiro ordered, and Pidge and Matt obliged. The Alteans had started to contact them when the Galran transmission began.

"Attention, citizens of the Galra Empire. From this day forward, my son Lotor is to be regarded as a fugitive criminal of the empire. All citizens are authorized to use deadly force to stop him or any of his soldiers. I repeat, Prince Lotor is an enemy of the state. Engage with extreme prejudice. Kill on sight."

As the announcement finished, the Paladins, Alteans, Matt and Kuro were all frozen in place. There was no doubt, that was Zarkon. He was alive, and he had just declared, Lotor, his own son, as Galran enemy number one.

Meanwhile, back on Ara, Keith was walking back to Kolivan and the ship, when a figure appeared before him.

"Zarc?" Keith asked.

"Yep." The being replied.

"So, this is what this was about?" He asked and the other nodded. "So what, I'm supposed to be a goody-to-shoes or something?" He asked.

"No." The tomato-haired boy said.

"What the quiznack do you want then?!" Keith yelled.

"I want you to be better. I don't want you to end up like Eren. I want to realize you're not alone, and to accept people who want to be close to you." He replied. "What is it that makes you think you're all alone? Why do you push people away, even when they clearly care?" He asked. Keith thought for a moment.

"I guess, cause my mom left me, I push people away so I don't get rejected?" He said it more like a question than an answer.

"Well, that's not good enough. You can't let your "mommy issues" continue to weigh on you like this." Zarc said bluntly. "I mean, look at me, look at Selifae. My dad disappeared, and Eren, who I remind you was her dear friend, died. Yeah, it hurts, but you got to live with that pain, and by actually carrying it, not letting it weigh you down." He said rather direct.

"You know, I've had to contact you the most out of everyone, so that you don't get hurt, or worse, end up getting yourself killed, because of your rash actions. See where I'm going?" He said and Keith nodded. "I sent you to Selifae to get the point across. You need to open up, be open to others, and tear down the walls you built around your heart. Appreciate what you have, instead pinning for things you don't. You can still find out who you are, just not so recklessly." He said.

"I... I think I get it." Keith said. "I think, I'm ready to head back now." He added.

"Good. You better get going, it's getting bad out there." Zarc said confusing Keith.

"What?" The Red Paladin asked.

"They need you. Get going." He explained and then disappeared. Keith starred at the spot the being was just a tick ago, and continued to head back to the ship. He arrived to see Kolivan waiting for him.

Keith was about to speak when he found himself being enveloped by a pair of large, strong arms. Keith was stunned, Kolivan was actually hugging him. Hugging. Him. He never thought he'd see the day, but here he was. Kolivan let go and backed away, looking down at Keith with an expressing the young hybrid never thought he'd ever see on the Galra's face, worry, concern and so much more. He finally realized how not alone he was. He took a deep breath and spoke.

"I'm ready to go back now. I finally understand." He said and the two proceeded to board the ship and take off, flying away from planet of Ara.

AN: Woo-we, this took a long time, not to mention a lot of rearranging and editing to get it right, but I think it came out okay. Also yes, I did make Matt bisexual in this. It just felt right, and hey it's my story after all.
And, if you're wondering what the cold water thing was about, I actually took inspiration from The Ice-Man. No, not the mixed-martial-arts champion, though I do mean an athlete. I'm talking about Wim Hof, a Dutch athlete who is known for his ability to withstand extremely cold temperatures. The guy is literately a super human. If you want more information, then check out the video below.

https://youtu.be/VF8dkjEdKNo

(Edit):Hey you guys like the extra scene I added in. Sorry if it feels shoed-in, I just wanted to add something to my story, and Lotor's character.