AN: Hi everyone! I'm back from vacation and ready to write some more! Sorry I was gone for so long, my family's been renovating the house and that included the place where I write. After the outbreak, we had to put it on hold, but we're now back in the swing of things and I'm ready to update.

P.S. Both this song and movie are awesome, check it out. It's a masterpiece.

The paladins made their way back to the castle of lions. Pidge flew Green into her hanger, and they quickly exited the lion and head straight up to the bridge. Hunk helping Lana as she was still a little out of it from that quintessence spray earlier.

"Pidge, scan the data downloaded from the ship. Find out where Zarkon's central command is." Shiro orders the Green Paladin as soon as they enter the bridge.

"On it!" The girl replies, opening her computer station.

"What happened? Where's Allura?" Coran asked concerned.

"She and Blade were captured. They sacrificed themselves to save me and make sure we got the information. I didn't have a choice." Shiro answers him.

"How is that possible?" The orange haired man questioned.

"And what happened to you, princess?" Amue asked when she saw Lana's state. Hunk had passed her to Keith to go help Pidge.

"I was sprayed by some of the quintessence they were harvesting." Lana replies to Amue's question. The altean handmaiden quickly takes her and sat her down in her station to check her over.

"Coran, I'm so sorry things didn't go as planned, but we can't focus on what went wrong right now. We need to find them. Pidge, do you have anything?" The Black Paladin apologies then asks the younger girl.

"Yeah, take a look at this." She replies and transfers the image on her small screen to the main one. The holo-image displayed a castle sized and shaped ship, most likely Galra central.

"Look at the size of it." Coran says with wide eyes.

"Okay, so Blade wasn't exaggerating." Keith admits.

"You think? He wasn't kidding when he said it was a fortress!" Hunk says. Lana and Amue both walk over to them.

"I think we should go in right away. Every minute that we waste gives Zarkon time to prepare for us." Pidge suggests.

"I agree. We need to go in as soon as possible, rescue Allura and Blade, then get out just as fast." Lana says next.

"But, what about your condition Princess? There's no telling what that quintessence did to you." Amue says.

"Amue might be right. Do you guys remember the Balmera? We could barely take out one fleet and this thing probably has thousands!" Hunk states. He has a point.

"Maybe we shouldn't go on this mission then." Keith speaks and everything turns their attention to him. "Think about it. We'd be delivering the universe's only hope to the hands of its greatest enemy. This time, we don't stand a chance here. Especially with our most experienced pilot down." He states.

"Keith, that's cold, even for you. What if it was one of us? What if it was me? You wouldn't leave me, would you?" Hunk says then asks.

"I can still fly thank you." Lana said annoyed.

"And the only reason Lana's like this is because you wouldn't listen to orders and went ahead by yourself. Like always. Blade warned us it was too dangerous, but you were so stubborn you ignored him." Pidge adds with an angry look.

"Hey! I'm not saying I like it! I'm just thinking like a paladin." Keith says back.

"A paladin is someone who defends. A paladin is someone who protects others. A paladin is someone who doesn't leave their teammates behind and runs the other way just to save their own skin." Lana said intensely as she approaches the boy.

"I don't get why Red chose you, because as far as I see it, you're not thinking like a real Paladin, you're just thinking of yourself. Like a spoiled brat." She tells him. Keith looks taken aback by her words. Did she, did she actually mean that?

"I don't care about your hang-ups. My sister, my last family, is on that ship, and so is a person who's been helping us. Despite your personal bias towards him." The altean princess adds on.

"Well, how did he know all those things? The only explanation is that he's part of the empire. That's the only way!" Keith retorts back.

"Yes, Keith. He was a part of the empire. He said so himself, but he also defected from the galra. He's a deserter, a traitor in their ranks." Shiro responds back.

"Wait a tick, if he's a traitor then, he might be in more danger than Allura!" Pidge suddenly exclaims and everyone turns to her confused. "Think about it! Zarkon is defiantly someone who doesn't tolerate anyone who goes against him. Allura's a valuable hostage, but Blade, who knows what Zarkon will do to him. Torture him, throw him into the arena to be killed like Matt and Shiro, or--"

"Or publically execute him as a warning to others!" Hunk cut her off, voicing his own suggestion.

"Then we can't waste any time. We need to head in as soon as possible, before Zarkon has a chance to prepare for us." Shiro states. "Let's focus here, how do get both Allura and Blade, back?" He says next.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Meanwhile, across the universe, the battle cruiser that Allura and Blade were on arrived at the main ship. Both were waiting in their cells, before Haggar, the witch herself, came in and began leading them down the hall and into the central ship.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Back with the Paladins, they were all working to find a way to get into Zarkon's central command. Unfortunately, they seemed to be no way in. The entire ship was heavily fortified and there didn't seem to be any way in, or even out.

"I'm sorry." Shiro said to Lana, who looked worried. The young girl stood with her fellow alteans looking at the image of Zarkon's main ship.

"I know it wasn't your fault. Allura always does this... Putting herself in front of others... Hehe..." The girl replies with a weak laugh and looking on the verge of tears. "We lost so much, she's all we have left." She sniffs.

"I'm worried about her too. We all are." Shiro tells her while placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll find a way to get her back." He promises. "I just wish we at least had a way to get in without being seen..." He adds.

"Wait a dobosh... Maybe there is!" Coran suddenly exclaims and taps frantically.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Back on Zarkon's central command, Allura and Blade were led by Haggar and her druids through the ship to the throne room. Where Zarkon was waiting for them.

"Princess Allura..." The man greeted as he turned to them.

"You monster! You destroyed Altea!" Allura shouts in outrage and charges at him. Blade attempted to grab her, but missed. While Haggar caught the girl using her magic, levitating her in the air for a tick, before dropping her to the floor. Blade quickly rushes to her side to check if she was hurt.

"Voltron, is going to put an end to your empire!" Allura yells at the Emperor.

"No, it will only make me stronger. Your father knew that as well as I. That's why he made me believe he destroyed it, 10,000 deca-phoebs ago. Now, your new paladins will come to recue you, and they deliver Voltron to me, and with it, the key to unimaginable power." Zarkon claims.

"As if we'd let something like Voltron ever fall into your hands, you tyrant!" Blade spat. Zarkon looks at him with narrowed eyes. He suddenly reached and grabbed the masked man by his throat.

"That defying tone... I'd recognize it anywhere." The galran emperor said darkly.

He proceeds to rip off the man's hood, the mask suddenly disappearing, revealing Blade's face. Lilac purple skin, pointed ears, long white hair, with his bangs slicked out of his face, safe for a single strand that hangs in front of his eyes and a part of it tied in a braid on the left side.

"So, the traitorous prince himself returns, huh Lotor." The galra man says. Allura watches in shock, Blade, or Lotor, apparently wasn't just Galra, but from Zarkon's words, was also the Emperor's son.

For a moment, Allura felt anger rising within her. It looked like Keith was right, he was a spy of the empire all along, but her thoughts grind to a halt when she sees Lotor spit into the emperor's face. Zarkon remained stoic, then raises his arm and smacks the purple man across the face, then let's go, dropping him to the floor.

"Still the defiant little brat as ever. How someone like you could ever be my flesh and blood, I will never understand." Zarkon hissed through his teeth and stomps on the fallen man. Who hisses in response. It looks like his arm might have been broken, but Zarkon continued to beat him.

"Stop it!" Allura yells and thrusts herself over the bruised galran prince, shielding him, and Zarkon stopped his assault. The altean princess looks up at the emperor with a furious look in her eyes. "How can you strike your own son like that?!" She demands an answer, with tears forming. Zarkon just laughs at her, low and dark.

"My son? He is nothing, but a disgrace! A pathetic little half-breed! It makes sense that you would care for him, considering he's one of the last in the universe with altean blood running through his veins!" The galra man jabs. Allura looks at him with wide eyes, then down at Lotor. Altean blood? Does he mean that Lotor...?

"Take the prisoners to a cell. Maybe you should keep the "lovebirds" together." Zarkon commands while also insultingly insinuating. The druids come back and grab both Allura and Lotor, then proceed to drag them away.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Back on the Castle of lions, the Paladins and Alteans began devising a plan to rescue Allura and their friend "Blade".

"Okay everyone, eyes front." Shiro calls. "We've got a plan to get Allura and Blade back." He says and looks to Coran, who turns to the screen as it pops up.

"We'll wormhole there, and hide the castle here. Inside one of the gas planets surrounding Zarkon's." The man explains, pulling up an image of the said planet. "The gas is so dense, it will keep us hidden for their detection. From there, we'll scan the ship to find Allura's life signs, hopefully Blade will be nearby." He adds.

"Once we locate them, we'll attack Zarkon before he knows what hit him." Shiro picks up. "And we're not leaving, without either of them." He then declares.

"Hang on, how do we get in though? I thought we needed Allura to wormhole jump." Pidge questions. That... was a good point.

"While that's true, we might have enough of Allura's stored energy to make a single jump." Coran replies, then a beeping was heard and he looks down at the computer console. "Oh..." He says as he reads the results.

"What does "Oh" mean, Coran?" Amue asked worriedly.

"We do have some Allura's energy leftover..." He replies.

"I'm sensing a "but" there." Shiro says.

"But we don't enough for a big enough jump to Zarkon's ship." Coran admits. Oh.

"Great, now what do we do?" Keith groans.

"I can do it." Everyone turns to Lana as she spoke. "Father connected my life force to the castle as well. I can generate a wormhole to the Zarkon's ship and into the gas planet." She says.

"Princess that might not be such a good idea. You're still recovering from, from whatever that quintessence did to you. Who knows what might happen if you push yourself." Amue disagrees.

"I am a Paladin of Voltron, and my sister, the last family I have left, is on that ship. If it's the only way, I'm going to get us there." The altean girl declares.

"Well said, Princess #2." Coran says.

"Spoken like a true Paladin." Shiro complements.

Keith looks at her as the girl walks over to the platform Allura usually stands on. She places her hands on the two pedestals like her sister does. A light from the crystal shines down on her, and the pedestals light up. Before them, a wormhole appears. Only, it seemed a little brighter blue than usual.

"Let's go team. There's no time to waste." Shiro says and they all get to their stations then fly through the wormhole.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Back on Zarkon's ship, Allura groaned as she and Lotor were thrown into a private cell. Her soldier armor disguise had been taken away, leaving her in her battle bodysuit. Lotor was quiet, he barely made a sound. Allura lifted her head to glare daggers at Haggar.

"You sure make the perfect bait for the paladins. Finally, the greatest weapon in the universe will belong to his majesty." The old crone says in a taunting manner.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Allura declared.

"What can you do? You're nothing but a prisoner." The witch rebuffs.

"The Paladins won't come. You'll be stuck with me." The princess says back.

"Why would I want the daughter of a weak queen who died after giving birth to her equally weak daughter?" The hag scoffs and Allura was shocked. "No, I'll have the blood daughter of Queen Fala, the greatest altean alchemist ever known." She says. "Enjoy your stay, neither of you will be needed for long." With that, she left.

"Haggard old witch..." Lotor growls then looks to the princess, who had froze at the witch's words. "Princess? Are you alright?" He asked worriedly.

"How... How can she have known?" The girl asked out loud, then turns to Lotor. "And how are you Zarkon's son?! I thought you said you left the empire! That Zarkon destroyed your home!" She yells with tears in her eyes. The purple prince didn't look fazed, he just sighs.

"I did leave, and that monster had destroyed the place I once called home." He replies with a flat tone.

"Do you mean, Altea?" Allura asked, remembering what Zarkon said earlier.

"No, but I will answer your question. Zarkon is my father, my mother was his wife, Honerva. She died when I was a baby, so I have no memory of her. As such, I am half altean, something my father and the rest of the empire consider a weakness. I see it more as a strength." Lotor explains.

"If you don't mean Altea, what planet do you mean?" Allura asked.

"At one point, that monster assigned me to a planet. I was supposed to conquer it and take its quintessence. Instead, I began living with them and began exploring a more peaceful solution. The planet prospered for a time, I had help from one of the planet locals, Ven'tar. She was by my side through it all." He says with a smile.

"But, when Zarkon found out what I was doing, he came to planet. He proceeded to kill Ven'tar in front of me, then went and destroyed the planet as a whole. To "teach me a lesson", as he said. Afterwards, I was exiled from the Empire.

"From there, I began wandering the universe, eventually I joined an organization who aim to over-throw Zarkon and the empire. Like me, they wanted to stop that man as well. I was on the Balmera because we heard a lion of Voltron was spotted there, and I went to confirm if it was true." He finished. Allura was shocked, she couldn't believe that Zarkon was such a monster. Even to his own son.

"Your hurt, are you alright?" She asked as went to touch a forming bruise on his face. He winces, then gently pushes her hand away.

"I'm fine. It's not like I'm not used to it." He said. That sounded wrong.

"What are you talking about? Are you saying he's done this to you before?" She asked, Lotor remained quiet. "How low can that monster sink?" She thought with gritted teeth.

"I was never good enough for him." The purple prince finally spoke, in a broken tone. "For the longest time, all I wanted was to make him proud of me, but when I realized what kind of a man he truly was, that desire no longer mattered. Because it became clear to me, it would never be enough." He says, looking like he was holding back tears.

"Lotor..." Allura thought feeling tears gathering in her own eyes, again. She moves forward a bit, and proceeds to wrap her arms around. She felt him flinch slightly.

"Y-You don't have to. It's nothing I can't handle." He tells her, but she keep her hold on him. She feels him quiver a little and can tears streaming down his face, despite him clearly trying to hold himself together. It wasn't working.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Back with team Voltron, they had just exited the wormhole, right into the large gas planet, effectively hiding them from the Galra's scanners while also being in their perimeter.

"We're here. Well done, Alaina." Shiro says then praises the altean girl.

"The Castle is picking up on Allura's energy signature on the main ship. Along with another signature, could be Blade's. However, from this distance the signal's fairly weak, so it's hard to pin-point." Coran reports.

"It's enough to give us a starting point." Keith says.

"If we can get closer, we could narrow down the location where they're being held." The orange mustache man adds.

"Okay, guys, as Voltron, we're going to come in fast and without warning. We'll smash our way into Zarkon's ship and grab both Allura and Blade. Before they know what hit them, we'll have them back and be on our way." The Leader says, and they began making their way to their pillars, when Lana is stopped.

"Princess, are you sure you should do this. You're still recovering." Amue says, again. Lana knew she was concerned, but the routine was getting old.

"I'm not just a princess Amue, I'm a paladin of Voltron. The quintessence was a bit of a shock, but I can power through it and rescues my sister." She says and takes her arm from the handmaiden's grip.

The Paladins then all head down to the lions' hangers and board their said lions. They then fly out the hangers and proceed to combine into Voltron, then attack. At that moment, a strange purple energy field surrounds the entire fleet, and them, encasing the whole thing in a large sphere.

https://youtu.be/1uBPOu3si5w

(AN: The music is for the action coming up.)

"What's is that?" Hunk asks.

"I have no idea." Pidge responds.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't look good." Green says.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get out once we get the Princess and Blade back." Blue decides to add.

"They're getting ready to fire!" The green paladin then alerts and the cruisers all begin firing at them.

In response, they attack right back. They form their sword and proceed to slice and take out the first few cruisers. As more approach, they then use the shoulder cannon and blast them to smithereens. Next was Zarkon, who they fly straight for. As they approach the main ship, Voltron suddenly stopped, freezing mid-action.

"What's going on? Yellow?" Hunk asked, not receiving a response from his lion.

"We lost the sword! Something's malfunctioning!" Keith shouts.

"What's happening?" Coran asked over the coms.

"I don't know. Voltron just suddenly froze." Lana replied, trying to move, then it looked like something hit her. "Oh no... It couldn't be... Shiro! What's happening on your end?!" She asks frantically.

"Argh! I can't hold it!" Shiro replies. It seems the main problem was in fact with the Black Lion, the literal head of Voltron. At that moment, Voltron was separated back into their individual lions.

"What just happened? We just literally got torn apart!" Hunk panics.

"That's... Never happened before." Yellow says.

"Yeah, what was that?" Red questions.

"This is bad... Shiro! You have to get Black out of here, now! We'll get Allura and Blade! You need to Black as far away as possible!" Alaina tells the older man.

"What? Why?" The black paladin asked confused. Why did he have to leave?

"There's no time! I'll explain later, I promise! I knew we should have told you!" The altean girl says then mutters to herself, but she was heard.

"Told us what?!" Keith demanded.

"Like I said, later, because we have an armada of cruisers coming at us and we need to focus on the battle right now!" The white haired girl replied.

"Why do I get the feeling they knew we were coming?" The red paladin says as they see a whole fleet coming for them, along with fighters being launched.

"Cause they were. This whole thing was a trap, and we fell for it!" Red growls.

"Shiro! Get out of here now!" Lana says and they attack. Unfortunately, before the black paladin could attempt to get away, a tracker beam from the main ship caught him and began pulling him in.

"No!" Lana said and attempted to get to him but was stopped by a bunch of fighters blocking her path and firing at her.

"Oh come on, these guys just keep coming!" Pidge groans as she was hit. At that moment, the Castle of Lions came flying in and began shooting.

"Coran attack! I've waited then thousand deca-phoebs for this!" Coran says.

"Coran, please be careful!" Amue tells him from the background.

Meanwhile, Shiro was having trouble as Black was still being pulled into Zarkon's central command, and he couldn't get out of it.

"Shiro? What's going on? Are you okay?" Keith asked worriedly.

"I don't know! Something's overriding the controls! Black isn't responding!" The paladin leader replies, then yells as something surges through the lion.

"Shiro's in trouble! I'm going in!" The red paladin says and flies in.

"Be careful!" Lana warns over the coms, but is cut off by another attack. While Shiro was still struggling.

"You cannot fight it. Your connection is weak." He suddenly heard. He knew that voice... but, that was impossible. Shiro then watched in horror as Black's systems were all getting rewritten, a galra symbol appearing on the screen.

"Wh-what's happening?!" He asked himself. The cockpit then lit up bright purple and Shiro was blinded. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a strange violet colored nebula like place. "Where in the world...?" He thought, shocked. He then hears a grunt and turns around, only to let out a gasp.

A few feet away from him, was a crouching figure. The figure appeared as a light purple colored silhouette, with thick hair and two things poking out the top of his head. The person, or what it was, looked like it was chained and crying. Suddenly, the silhouette looked up, their eyes covered by their hair.

"Shiro... I'm sorry!" The being said, in a familiar voice, and thrusts out their hand, and Shiro felt himself being thrown.

He then found himself back in the battle, and being ejected from the Black Lion. Sent flying through space, he attempts to use his jetpack to get back to his lion, but he bangs against the main ship and ends up damaging it. He grabs on before he ends up floating away, watching in horror as Black was still being pulled in.

"What do we do now guys? Our plan isn't really going as... Well, planned." Hunk asks over the com link.

"I'm going for Black. You guys get Allura and Blade, now!" Shiro replies.

"I managed to pin down Allura's exact location on the ship, along with Blade. I'm uploading the coordinates to you now. In the meantime, we'll be providing cover fire from out here. Alone, against an entire fleet." Coran says.

"I'm not helping! I don't even know have half this stuff works!" Amue states.

"So yeah, do you mind hurrying it up a bit?" The royal advisor adds.

"Guys, my jetpack's been damaged. I'm gonna have to go through the ship." Shiro says and uses his metal arm to cut a hole into the ship's side, then slips through.

"You guys go on and get the princess without me." Keith suddenly says.

"What? We need to stay together, what are you doing?" Lana questions.

"Whatever I can. Besides, someone needs to get the Black Lion before Zarkon does." He replies and reasons.

"Alright, but try to at least be careful." The altean girl complies, and Keith and Red quickly knock Black out of the tracker beam and away from the emperor. The lion is sent flying and ends up crashing into the ship wall and Keith goes after it, when something flies past him. He searches and sees a galra man land next to the lion.

"Whoa! Who is that?" The red paladin asks, then hears his lion start to growl. He then transmit an image of the galra to the Castle, only to hear Coran gasp.

"It's Zarkon!" The Altean man exclaims, and Amue herself let out a gasp. "Keith, hurry and get out of there! He's way too powerful!" Coran demands, but Keith wasn't listening, he was focused on the Galran Emperor.

"That's him... He's the guy that took Shiro from me! The man who destroyed Lana's family, her people... her home!" Keith thought, feeling angrier then he had ever been before. "This is my chance to put an end to the Galra Empire! I have to take it!" He declares, clearly not thinking straight.

"That monster! He's the one who murdered my first paladin!" Red growls, not thinking either, and the two dive down and straight for the Galran man.

"No! Keith, don't! It's suicide!" Coran tries to talk him out of it, but Keith didn't listen and just cut communications all together. He and Red fire a laser at him, which hits, but as the smoke clears, Zarkon was revealed to be unarmed.

"No way... It can't be possible." Keith says when he sees why. A shield, from a Bayard, the Black Bayard.

"You may have a lion, but in a fledging's hands like yours, its power is weakened." The emperor says and the bayard turns into a sword. He attacks, knocking Keith and Red off-balance. "You cannot stop me. The Black Lion will finally be returned to its rightful paladin." He states.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Meanwhile, Shiro made his way through the large ship, but managed to get down to the fighter ship hanger bay. The door suddenly closed, startling him, and then he hears a haunting cackle. One that he was all too familiar with, especially in his darkest nightmares.

"So, the Champions returns." Haggar, the witch, says.

"You!" The Black Paladin growled, activating his arm and charging right at her. As he was about to make contact, the witch disappears then reappears in a different spot, laughing. He tries to attack her again, but she does the same trick. However, this time, a bunch of Haggar copies appear too, all cackling as they surround him.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Back with the others, they themselves were surrounded by a battalion of fighters. They weren't hard to destroy, but they just kept on coming and coming, with their numbers increasing each time.

"This is it! Allura and Blade should both be right here!" Hunk tells his teammates.

"How do we get in?" Lana asked and shoots an incoming fighter.

"Maybe I can try hacking into one of their cargo bays." Pidge suggests.

"There's no time for that!" The yellow paladin intervenes.

"Got a better idea?" The glasses girl asks.

"Actually, yes, we do!" The big guy replies and the yellow duo charge.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Meanwhile, in the cell, Allura and Lotor had heard the commotion going on, and the galra prince quickly took a hold of the altean princess and held her close. The girl returning the favor as she held onto him as well.

Suddenly, the Yellow Lion busts through the ship wall and Hunk came out with his mini-canyon. He shoots the two sentries, then blasts the door to the cell. Allura and Lotor watch, seeing the Yellow Paladin approach them. The two let go of each other, with Lotor quickly pulling his hood back up, reforming his mask.

"Allura, Blade, thank god. We gotta go, get out of here." The big guy said, de-activing his weapon as he walks up to them.

"Hunk... Wait, what are you doing here?" Allura asks, confused and worried. "Tell me you didn't bring Voltron straight to Zarkon's central command!" She exclaims, then gasps.

"Where's the Black Lion?" She asks next, then hears Shiro's distressed voice over the com link and stands up. "We have to save Shiro!" She exclaims and dashes down the corridor, right past Hunk.

"Hunk, what's going on? Do you find them?" Lana asks over the coms. She and Pidge were busy covering the Yellow Lion from the outside.

"Yeah, I found them both, but there's a change in plans." Hunk replies.

"No time to waste. We need to move!" Lotor suddenly says, his mask back on, and runs past the Yellow Paladin after Allura.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Back down in the fighter bay, Shiro was struggling as a whole barrage of Haggar illusions were surrounding him. Even as he attempted to attack, he kept getting the illusions instead of the real thing.

"I made you strong and this is how repay me?" One taunted. Shiro attacks, but while she was the real one, she instead knocks him back with her magic. Sending him flying, landing hard on the floor. "You could have been our greatest weapon." She says, sending another bolt of magic at him.

Shiro manages to get out of the way in time. The illusions begin disappearing as the witch seemed to be gathering energy in her hand. Shiro then charges at her again, but she conceals herself in a strange shadowy cloud and the Black Paladin is caught in it.

A glowing hand suddenly shoots out from the cloud, grabbing him by the throat. The shadow dissipates revealing, himself! Dressed in his old prison garb and his eyes were completely yellow... Like a galra's, and Haggar's.

"Now, I will destroy you." The yellow-eyed version of him says in a distorted voice and darkness began surrounding and engulfing him.

Shiro screams as he falls into the shadows, groaning as he hit the ground with a loud thump. He hears laughter and sits up to see two glowing yellow eyes, looking at him. From the dark, Haggar snarled as she came at him.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Meanwhile, Keith and Red were still engaged in battle with Zarkon, and weren't doing so hot. Despite Coran's urgings, Keith and Red refused to back away and keep attempting to destroy the emperor, but the galra's multi-weapon Bayard was posing a serious problem. Nothing they did fazed him.

During the fight, Keith did manage to activate a canyon function that managed to take out a large portion of the ship, but Zarkon again wasn't fazed at all. Just what was this guy made of? Keith continued his attacks, but then the man disappeared.

"You fight like a Galra solider, but not for long!" The Galran emperor says as he jumps into view, his Bayard turning into a giant mace-like weapon and proceeds to strike down the Red duo.

"Keith! Keith!" Coran calls from the Castle.

"Coran? What's wrong? What's going on?" Lana asked worriedly, having heard the man over the coms.

"Keith is fighting against Zarkon!" Amue exclaims before the orange-haired man could reply.

"What?! Oh no! That idiot's gonna get himself killed!" The alien princess exclaims. "Pidge! Continue guarding Yellow! I gotta go save that hothead before he ends up dyeing!" The girl says and flies toward the Red pair, while cutting the com link.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Back inside the ship, Shiro was once again surrounded by multiple Haggars, this time in total darkness. He was so disoriented, trying to find the real one, and the illusions she was using to trick him, he didn't notice her come up to him until it was too late and she slashed his side with her magic.

"And now, Champion, your time is over! Ahh!" Haggar declares, then screams as she is struck by something. She falls to the floor and looks up to see Allura, Lotor and Hunk. Next to her was a short sword with blood on the blade. Lotor's sword.

"Don't even think about it, Witch!" Lotor says. The Haggar illusions disappear, and Shiro takes advantage of her and tries to attack. She's able to dodge and vanishes. Missing, Shiro falls to the ground, clutching his side. The three rush to his side.

"We've got to get out of here!" Allura says as she helps Shiro up.

"Where's the scary lady?" Hunk asks while looking around.

"Forget about her! She won't be appearing again until she's healed!" Lotor says, picking up his blade, and they quickly exit the hanger.

~Alaina of Voltron~

Meanwhile, Keith was in a pickle. Zarkon had knocked him and Red down, and in the process, Red was put offline. The Emperor now had a large sword and charges at him to finish them both off.

"Dammit! Come on! Come on!" The Red Paladin fruitlessly tries to revive Red. Just as Zarkon was about to strike, Blue came in, blasting him with the lion's ice beam, driving him back. Black then came flying in.

"I got you!" Shiro says as Black picks up Red and they fly towards the castle. Blue then joins them after freezing Zarkon.

"Hothead! What were you thinking?! Oh wait, you clearly weren't!" Lana scolds.

"Zarkon was right there! I had to take a chance!" Keith reasons.

"Are you stupid?! That monster has been alive for over 10,000 deca-phoebs! He didn't just conquer worlds through his armies alone!" Lotor said over the coms.

"Keith, that was very reckless. We're having a serious talk about this later... Ah..." Shiro scolds then hisses from his wound. They arrive at the castle, with Allura and Lotor quickly rushing up the bridge, and the paladin remained in their lions.

"All right, Paladins, time to get out of here!" Allura says as she prepares to open a wormhole to get them out of central command. However, no wormhole appears.

"Hello? What's going on? I don't see any wormhole." Hunk says on screen.

"Oh no, the Galra barrier is jamming our ability to create one!" Coran says.

"This whole thing was a trap, and we were the bait." Lotor seethes, as they are being surround. Suddenly, the said barrier fell.

"What just happened?" Pidge asked.

"Who cares? Wormhole!" Hunk dismisses and insists. Allura complies and this time the wormhole appeared and went through it.

However, unbeknownst to them, Haggar had returned to her station and shoots her magic at the wormhole as they disappear through it. Inside, the turbulence went nuts and they were being thrown around like a sake of potatoes.

"Coran, what's happening?" Shiro asks.

"The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised. It's breaking down!" Exclaims the royal advisor.

"What do you mean?" Lana asked.

"It means we have no control over where we're heading!" Coran replies.

"Haggar... This must be her doing. Only she could have the power to do this." Lotor hisses. The paladins then yell as they are flung out of their hangers and into the corrupted vortex.

"Allura! Ah!" Lana exclaims as Hunk and Yellow knock into her and Blue, right into the unstable wormhole's wall.

"No! Alaina!" The older princess scream in horror as her sister, along with the rest of the Paladins all disappear into the unknown.

AN: Man... This took me forever, but finally, I've finished season one. Though I might be taking a break from this fic to work on my other projects. What did you guys think about that little twist there? That's right, Blade was Lotor the whole time. I decided to do something different with his character then I had before. So here we are. More of him next time though. See ya!