The next morning, Keith opened his eyes and saw he was still in the infirmary. He had fallen asleep with his head resting against Arcadia's pod. The paladin said he was going to retire to his room, but it seems he fell asleep before doing so. He wiped the grogginess from his eyes and stood up, stretching his legs and arms. The door to the infirmary slid open, revealing Pidge and Shiro.

"Did you stay here the entire night?" Pidge asked.

"I didn't plan on it, but... yeah," the red paladin answered. "I ended up falling asleep by the pod."

Shiro chuckled as he saw how messy the boy's hair was. "Well, Arcadia will wake up soon and I'll be telling her."

Keith's eyes widened in fear. "Don't you dare tell her!"

The pod then opened with a hiss and the alchemist emerged. She latched onto the sides of the pod to keep herself from face-planting. "Tell me what?" Her groggy voice reaches the paladins' ears as all three faced her. She took another step out of the pod, her legs weak and shaky.

That one step was enough to send her falling to the floor, but Keith caught her before she could collapse. "Uh, there's nothing to tell you."

Shiro smiled, crossing his arms. "Yes, there is."

"What is it?" Arcadia eagerly questioned.

"Nothing!" The red paladin quipped.

"I'm gonna tell her," Pidge snickered. She inhaled deeply before yelling. "KEITH STAYED—!"

The sable-haired teen quickly covered Arcadia's pointy ears to make sure she couldn't hear Pidge. After the green paladin finished yelling, Keith unclasped his hands from the girl's ears with a sigh. "It's not important. How're you feeling?"

"Oh, amazing! A little weak, but that'll pass in a couple of hours." She kissed him on the cheek with a giggle. "Thank you for saving me. I knew you would."

"You're the reason why we were able to kill that thing. How did you know to destroy the core?" Keith inquired, his arms still wrapped around Arcadia's waist.

"It was just a guess. Before I lost consciousness inside the Xeonimph, I passed the core and the idea struck me."

"Wow, talk about a very lucky guess," Pidge commented, adjusting her glasses.

"And now the Xeonimph is no longer a threat," Shiro beamed at his companions. "It won't be able to destroy another planet."

"That's good to hear," Arcadia sighs in relief. "Glad I could be of some help during the mission."

"You're always a big help, Arcadia." Pidge pulled the draconian out of Keith's hold and gave her a hug. Due to her weak limbs, both girls fell on the floor. As they crashed on the cold floor, they both laughed. Arcadia returned the hug and held onto Pidge. Shiro and Keith smiled at the sight before their gazes were drawn to the door as it opened. Lance, Hunk, Allura, and Coran joined them, all four gasping as they saw Arcadia was out of the cryo-pod earlier than planned. Hunk dashed over and picked up the girls from the floor and gave them a bear hug. "You're awake!"

Allura wandered over alongside Coran and joined the group hug. Lance followed close behind while Shiro and Keith watched. The black paladin grabbed the younger boy's arm and pulled him over to the others. Coran grabbed the red paladin and dragged him into the hug. Shiro edges his way into the hug to complete it. Hunk was crying and wailing like a child. "We're all back together!"

Arcadia and Pidge were smushed together while the others surrounded the two girls. As the hug ended, the two girls broke apart and Lance smirked. He puckered his lips and tried to steal a kiss from the draconian. Keith saw this and immediately inserted himself between his girlfriend and his rival. The cuban boy ended up kissing the back of Keith's jacket and pulled away promptly when he realized it wasn't a pair of soft lips. "Gross!"

"It's just my jacket, moron," Keith hissed, glaring at Lance over his shoulder.

"That's why it's gross, mullethead! It was supposed to be a beautiful maiden's soft lips, not your disgusting jacket!" The blue-eyed boy snarled.

"You're not kissing her!"

"Says you!"

Shiro tugged Lance away from Keith as the red paladin had a protective grip on Arcadia. "Enough arguing! Right now, we need to figure out our next move."

"Shiro's right, and I think I know where we can start," Allura said. Everyone shuffled out of the infirmary and to the bridge. Pidge sat at the computer and typed away. "Somewhere inside Sendak's memories we should be able to find the inside information that gives us the key to take down Zarkon."

Coran peered at the princess disapprovingly. "I don't think your father would approve of searching through an enemy's memories."

"I know, but we have to do everything we can to defeat Zarkon."

"Once we learn all his weaknesses, we can drive up to his front door and challenge him to a fight. Winner gets the universe," Lance smirks.

Shiro peered over the green paladin's shoulder. "Anything good yet, Pidge?"

"We were only able to salvage bits and pieces," she responded.

"We need something to work with. Right now, we don't even have a decent map of the empire," Keith pointed out.

"Who needs a map? After 10,000 years of conquering, I could probably fire my bayard at any random point in space and hit a galra ship," Lance exasperated.

Shiro crosses his arms, trying to think of a solid plan. "If we could just find troop locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run, then we could start to free planets one by one."

"Boring. I want the big kaboom," the cuban boy groans, rolling his eyes.

"Lance," Arcadia scolds the brown-haired boy. "Now's not the time to be careless with our plans."

"Arcadia's right. Zarkon's been building his empire for 10,000 years. We're not going to tear it down overnight with five inexperienced pilots, an alchemist, and one support ship. Hitting him where he lives would be a huge mistake," Shiro stated.

Pidge continued to type away on the computer until she found something useful. "Okay, I've cross-referenced Sendak's memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus. Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating, something called a "Universal Station.""

Hunk shoved his face in front of the screen and tried to read the strange symbols. "Universal Station? Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe?"

Pidge pushed the yellow paladin aside with a small glower. "Well, we are translating it from galra, so it could also be "Galactic Hub.""

"Or "Space Base"!" Lance chants, earning disapproving glances from everyone. "What?"

"I'm pulling up the location of your Universal Hub Station Base on our screens now." Coran projected the image on the main screens. Everyone stares at the image in confusion as they only saw two planets.

"So, where is it?" Lance asked the question everyone was thinking.

"I don't know. Our long-range sensors are unable to find anything at those coordinates." Coran checked again, but nothing new appeared.

"Maybe he remembered it wrong," Keith said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Or maybe we just stumbled across a top-secret base in Sendak's memories," Pidge suggested with a small glint of light bouncing off her glasses.

"It's just like Pidge said." Arcadia approached the screen and eyed the two planets on display. "It's possible we're not receiving a signal because of how these two planets are positioned. It's highly possible they're cloaking the signal of the hub."

"We won't find out for sure until we arrive and are able to scan the area entirely," Allura said.

"Yeah, you're right. Guess we know our next destination. Let's go!" Arcadia cheers.

<——————<<<<<<<

Hunk was in his seat, his feet reclined on the back of the chair as he snored loudly. Arcadia walked over to the sleeping boy and poked his cheek. His eyes flew wide open and he fell out of his chair. The girl giggled as she helped him up and to his feet.

Allura's gaze was glued to the screen as they arrived at their destination. "We should be close enough to get a good scan, but far enough away to avoid being noticed."

The castle picked up a signal, finding an outpost between the two planets. "There it is," Shiro said.

"Arcadia was right. It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the base off the deep space scanners," Coran said as a diagram appeared on the screen.

"So, you can only see it if you really know where to look," Pidge muttered.

"Though they're trying to take over the universe, they still like hiding things," Arcadia added with an amused grin plastered on her face.

"This place must handle shipments from all over the galra empire," Shiro said as he watched a ship undock and depart from the outpost.

"If this is some big airport where shipments come and go, why is it hidden?" Pidge asked

"There must be more to this than we're seeing," the black paladin replied.

"The galra may be expanding their reach, but the biggest empires have the dirtiest secrets," the draconian stated.

"Then, we'd better go down to take a look. We'll need to enter here: the central control building," the princess declared.

Keith analyzed her words closely and caught what she said. "I'm sorry, Princess, did you say "we"?"

The princess met the paladin's lavender gaze. "I'm going with you. I've traveled through the galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you."

"Princess, I'd rather you stay here," Coran suggested.

"I'm a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I'm going. Does anyone have a problem with that?" Allura glanced around the room, her heated azure eyes landing on Coran.

"Uh..." The advisor couldn't form a sentence under the princess' determined gaze.

Arcadia clapped her hands together, catching everyone's attention. "I think we should let Allura tag along. Once she sets her mind on something, it's difficult to change it. She's just that stubborn."

"Arcadia!" Allura gasped at her best friend. "I am not that stubborn."

"Indeed you are, my dearest friend," she smiled. The alchemist then met Shiro's gaze. "But you're the leader, Shiro. I'll respect your decision."

The older boy was silent before finally speaking. "Fine. Suit up." Coran screams at Shiro's proclamation, his face showing horror. Arcadia walked over to him and patted him on the back. Everyone else was also shocked at the news of the princess tagging along. The black paladin ignored their expressions and devised a plan. "We'll go in low, fast, and hopefully undetected. Coming around the dark side of the nearest planet should keep them from getting a visual on us. Thanks to Pidge's modifications to the green lion, we'll have 30 seconds of cloaking."

Coran returned to the computer and typed away on the keyboard. "I can flood their short-range sensors with a radiation burst. That should buy you a minute or so, while they assume it's cosmic interference. But after that, it's up to you to be out of sight."

Shiro turned and faced Arcadia. "How nimble are you?"

"Very. What do you need me to do, Shiro?" The girl asked.

"I want you to dispose of the sentries in the main control room while we deal with the galra soldier."

Arcadia nodded. "I've gotcha covered."

<——————<<<<<<<<

Inside the main control room on the galra outpost, Arcadia separated from the group and targeted the sentries while Shiro dealt with the galra soldier on duty. She jumped on the back of a machine and delivered a shockwave through its metallic body. Smoke rose from the metal as the other sentries failed to notice her presence. She quietly placed its body on the ground before setting her attention on the remaining sentries.

Arcadia kicked one of sentries in the back, causing it to collide with another and land on the console. She placed her hand on the cold metal of the console, sending a shock through the system and the sentries. Their bodies jolted before powering down and falling to the floor.

The last sentry had heard its fellow machines collapse and spotted Arcadia. It tried to warn the entire outpost, but when it hit the alarm, nothing happened. She smirked at the sentry before opening her palm and forming a ball of fire. "Stupid machines." She threw the fireball and it impaled the sentry's chest, melting its software and hardware. Its body tipped over and crashed on the floor with a loud thump.

With all the sentries wiped out, Arcadia returned to the paladins and Allura. Keith didn't realize he was holding his breath until he saw she was uninjured. Shiro met the girl's golden gaze as she regrouped with them. "How's it looking out there?"

"No sentries left and I've fried the alarms," she answered as she came to a halt beside Keith.

"Good. Now we don't have to worry about the alarm system triggering. Pidge, how long until you get the information?"

"We'll have all the information we need in a few minutes," she answered, hacking into the outpost's systems. "Hunk and I have made some improvements since the last time I tried to download galra info. We should get a nice, clean translation immediately. Hunk had a great idea about how to do it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, do you guys remember when we studied algorithms at the Garrison, and Mr. York told us that joke about the ghost learning symbolic logic and innumerably infinite sets?" Hunk asked the others.

Arcadia was confused at the yellow paladin's words. Keith noticed and looked at her. "Never heard of it?"

"Oh, sweet Aethios, no. "Algorithms" is such a strange word. Though, it isn't as fun as piñata," she laughed. "I still want to see one of those!"

"They're not as fun as piñatas, either," Keith said.

"Boring!" Lance shouted at the mention of the lesson.

Hunk acknowledged Lance's retort, but chose to ignore it. "Right, yeah, totally, it was boring. Anyway, the joke goes..."

"Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt, but I think we got company," Keith said as a ship was docking. "Think we should get out of here?"

"We just need a few more seconds," Pidge said, staring at the screen eagerly and impatiently.

"Stay low. We need this intel." At Shiro's words, everyone crouched behind the console.

The computer's communication system activated, earning a gasp from everyone. "Get down!" Keith yelled as he grabbed Arcadia and hid under the console. The others followed close behind and were out of sight just as the connection established. A Galra soldier appeared on the screen and was confused as to why no one was there. "Huh?"

"He's still looking. I think he's waiting for a signal or something," Lance whispers to his teammates.

"I got it." Hunk crawled out from under the console but kept out of sight as he approached a lifeless sentry. He picks up the mechanical corpse and stands behind it as he waved its arm. The galra soldier nodded and saluted, falling for the yellow paladin's trick. The transmission ended and the sentry slipped from Hunk's grip. "Whew."

"Nicely done," Arcadia compliments the paladin.

"Nice job, Hunk," Lance said, giving Hunk a high-five. The cuban boy ended up giving a high-five to the disembodied sentry hand Hunk still had ahold of.

"Thanks," Hunk said.

Pidge's brown eyes relaxed when she saw her computer screen light up with a familiar indicator. "Okay, download complete."

Keith emerged from under the console with Arcadia. "What's it say?" He peered at the computer screen and huffed. "Nothing. This place doesn't have any useful information. Just a schedule of the ships coming in and out."

"Well, I guess this mission was a bust," Lance grumbled.

Shiro sighed, "Let's get back to the castle."

"Hold on," Allura said, stopping everyone in their tracks. "Pidge, do you know where that ship is headed?"

"Um," the petite girl muttered as she checked the shipment schedule. "It's scheduled to be here for about a half an hour, then head off to central command."

"That's where they have the information we need, and I'm going to sneak aboard that ship and get it for us."

"What? No way!" Lance protests, shouting at the princess.

"How are you going to get in?" Keith curiously questioned the princess.

"I'm going to walk right through the front." Allura takes her helmet off and closes her eyes. Her body begins to grow taller, her skin slowly turning purple. Everyone except Arcadia was shocked at Allura's ability to transform.

Hunk's jaw hung open in fascination. "How the heck did you do that?"

"Alteans are a chameleon-like people who can blend in with the local populations. It's the ability that's made us great explorers and diplomats throughout our history."

"So, can you turn into, like, a balloon?" Lance asked, leaning in closer to the princess.

Pidge nudged the cuban boy aside and met Allura's crystalline gaze. "How many different colors can you be at once?"

The next one to interject was Hunk. "Aren't you afraid you'll rip your pants?"

Allura wasn't flustered at the barrage of questions and answered them calmly. "No, just one at a time, and I will need a change of costume. I can use his uniform as a disguise." She nodded toward the unconscious galra soldier a few feet away.

"I can't let you go in there alone," Shiro declares as he stared up at Allura.

The princess was slightly offended by Shiro's protective nature. "Excuse me? I do not need your permission."

"It's too dangerous. I'm going in with you."

"You will stick out like a shoferiak's nose," Allura retorts.

"You're going to need that nose, Princess. Shiro's hand is made from galra tech." Pidge grabs the black paladin's prosthetic arm and waves it back and forth. "It's the only thing we have that will allow us to interface with their systems and gather intel. I can monitor the download remotely from here."

"She's right, Allura. You need someone with you and Shiro is your best option. No one else here can access the computers in a quick amount of time," Arcadia said.

Allura sighs and gives in. "Fine, you can come."

"Uh, you guys better hurry up if you want to get on and off before the ship leaves for Zarkon central," Hunk said as minutes ticked by.

"How are you going to get Shiro onboard?" Keith asked.

"I have a way," Arcadia said. Allura, Shiro, and Keith glanced her way as she disappeared down the corridor and returned with a crate. "Allura, you can pretend to deliver cargo to the ship while Shiro hides inside. Wait 'til you're on the ship and ta-da! You've snuck Shiro onboard."

"Brilliant idea, Arcadia!" Allura cheered.

"Don't thank me until you actually make it onboard without your cover being blown," the alchemist smiled.

"This... might actually work," Shiro expressed his thoughts.

He climbed into the box and Arcadia sealed the lid. "You'll be cramped in there for a little while, Shiro. Sorry I couldn't find a bigger box."

"This'll do just fine, Arcadia," the older boy's muffled voice was heard through the metal crate.

"We'll be watching you from here to make sure you make it safely onboard the ship."

"Alright. Let's infiltrate that ship!" Allura left the control room with the box and headed to the docking bay. The remaining paladins and Arcadia watched as the princess reached the ship and was stopped by a soldier. The draconian inhaled sharply, wondering if their cover had already been blown. When she saw two other containers leaving the ship, she connected the pieces and sighed in relief. The soldier allowed Allura onboard and Arcadia shouted victoriously in her mind.

"They're in," Lance sighed in relief.

Instead of watching Allura, Keith had his eyes set on the glowing, yellow containers that were entering the outpost. "What do you think they have in all those giant containers?"

"Well, I suspect that it's sporks." Hunk received questionable glances from everyone. He came back to defend his standpoint. "What? This is an advanced race we're talking about here. Surely they've learned that it's foolish to have forks and spoons when one tool will efficiently do the job."

Pidge eyed the sentry she had hooked up to her computer. "Maybe this guy will tell us. What is coming in and out of this station?"

The sentry's visor illuminated at the green paladin's question. "Interrogation detected. Initiating lockdown."

"Not talking, eh?" The brown-haired girl typed faster than ever on her keyboard, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth and showing how hard she was concentrating.

While Pidge was typing away, Keith spotted a robed figure by the containers. "Whoa. Check out this guy. Whatever's happening here that requires the base to be kept secret must have something to do with that scary dude. I'm going to go check it out."

"How about we just lay low and you don't blow our cover?" Lance asked with annoyance, but Keith ignored him and headed to the door. "Keith, think about what you're doing. Don't walk through that door!"

Arcadia placed a gentle hand on Lance's shoulder. "I'll go with him."

"Wha—not you, too!"

Just like Keith, Arcadia ignored Lance's shouting and left the control room. She caught up to Keith just as a patrol of sentries spotted him. The girl kneeled and placed her hands on the floor, sending a current of electricity toward the machines. The metal of their bodies provided an excellent conductor and attracted the lightning, frying them to a crisp. They collapsed and revealed Arcadia to Keith. She smiled as if nothing had happened and placed her hands on her hips. "You really think I'm gonna let you wander around here by yourself?"

"Well..." Keith trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished.

""Well" nothing! Now, let's go find out what's in those containers," Arcadia beamed at her boyfriend.

"Y'know, you're the one who's supposed to stop bad behavior, not influence it," Keith stated as they walked down the hallway side-by-side.

"Wait, am I supposed to be the goody two-shoes in this relationship? That's how that Earth saying goes, right?" She asked innocently with a slight tilt of her head.

Keith couldn't stop the smile that crept into his face. "Not necessarily and yeah, you're using it correctly."

"Oh, good! I heard it on the street when I saw a couple arguing. Quite a feud it was, indeed."

Keith knew their relationship wasn't perfect, especially with the war they were both dragged into. There was so much more he wanted to do with Arcadia, but he couldn't do it due to their circumstances. Around her, he was more calm and level-headed than anyone else, including Shiro. Her calming and cheerful aura always brought a wave of serenity over him and he couldn't ask to be any other place in the universe than Arcadia's side. He hoped she would never leave his side for anyone else.

The duo followed the containers as they were placed on a conveyer belt and delivered to another room in the outpost. Keith and Arcadia entered a large area that held numerous of containers with the same strange liquid. Their eyes widened at the large amount and wondered why the galra empire needed so much of this foreign essence. As they were about to examine one of the containers, the hooded figure appeared out of nowhere.

Keith and Arcadia dove behind cover and peered over, watching the mysterious individual create a purple liquid using magic. The alchemist's eyes widened as she recognized the unnatural purple electricity. "A Druid..."

"Coran, you need to see this." Keith contacted the royal advisor and sent him and the other three paladins a live video feed, showing them the strange room.

Coran gasped as he watched the feed. "I've never seen anything like it."

"What is that?" Pidge questioned as she eyed the containers, her voice being picked up by her communicator.

The sentry plugged into the girl's computer beeped as it registered her question, its voice carrying over the link. "The material is quintessence, the substance with the highest known energy per unit volume in the universe."

Lance smiled at the sight of the talking sentry and he could be heard over the comms. "Hey, nice job, Pidge! You made him work for us."

"What? Impossible," Coran said.

The robot spoke again. "Raw quintessence material is transported here from throughout the galaxy and refined into standardized galra fuel requirements."

"Did you guys hear that?" Pidge inquired.

"I can't believe it! They've found a new way to acquire quintessence!" Coran shrieked.

"Guys, I'm going to steal some of this quint-whatever." Keith muted his comms and eyed the cylinder that was slowly making its way toward him and Arcadia.

"You sure this is a good idea, Keith?" The girl asked as the cylinder was in their reach.

"Honestly, no." Keith leapt toward the cylinder and grabbed it quickly before going back into hiding. Arcadia glances back up at the Druid and saw they were no longer there.

"Uh, Keith? We should go," she muttered.

Keith met Arcadia's golden gaze, but he felt a presence behind him. The Druid appeared directly behind the paladin and kicked him, forcing the boy to drop the cylinder. "Okay, plan B!"

"I didn't know we had a plan A!" The draconian shouted as the Druid chased after Keith. Arcadia sprung into action and shot her own spell at the masked menace. Her spell clashed with theirs, but hers was more powerful. The Druid was blasted away, crashing through a container and slamming into the wall behind it. It wasn't enough to keep the spellcaster down and Keith summoned his bayard, swinging it at the enemy. The Druid recovered quickly and dodged every strike from the red paladin. Arcadia saw the Druid flex their fingers and she knew exactly what was next.

The snowy-haired girl rushed over to Keith and stood in front of him, holding out both of her hands and placing a protective barrier around them just in the nick of time. The lightning bounced off the barrier, shattering a few containers in the process. "Didn't know you could do that," Keith commented.

"I've been practicing in my spare time. I've learned quite a few more tricks." Arcadia conjured up a fireball and threw it at the Druid. It dodged the spell and immediately released another lightning spell. "Geez, do you Druids know anymore spells?" The girl casted her own electrical spell and countered the Druid's spell once again.

Keith contacted Pidge while Arcadia kept the enemy busy. "Pidge, we need an extraction now! Hurry!" The boy heard Arcadia scream out in pain as she was thrown across the room. Keith's eyes widened in fear as she collided with a container and it shattered. Anger overtook his body and he ran toward the Druid with his sword raised, letting out a battle cry. The enemy dodged and did the same to him as they did to Arcadia. Keith ended up slipping onto a conveyer belt as he tried to recover from the attack. When the Druid was nowhere to be seen, the boy searched the area where Arcadia was thrown. "Arcadia?!"

The girl groaned in pain as she recovered, shaking shards of glass off her back. "I-I'm fine..." Just then, the Druid appeared by her side and grabbed her by the throat, hoisting her body into the air. Keith gritted his teeth in anger and glared at the spellcaster. "Let her go!"

The Druid did as Keith wished, releasing Arcadia and causing her to fall from the top level. The paladin activated his jetpack and flew to her rescue, catching her in his arms before her body slammed into the floor.

Suddenly, the green lion bursted through the ceiling and landed in the middle of the room with its mouth open. "Get in! We've got to get Shiro and Allura!" Pidge shouted from the comms.

Before heading into the lion, Keith searches for the Druid but saw the spellcaster was gone. "Huh?"

"C'mon, Keith!" Lance shouted.

The red paladin turned and headed into the lion's mouth. In the cockpit with Pidge, Hunk, and Lance, Keith sets Arcadia down and lifts her long, snowy locks to examine her back. She shivered at the sensation before asking what he was doing. "What're you doing, Keith?"

"Making sure you're not injured. I don't see any cuts, but does your back hurt?" He asked.

"Only a little bit. It's nothing major or life-threatening." Arcadia rolled her shoulders as soon as Keith released her hair. He was relieved to hear she wasn't injured and was only experiencing a small amount of pain.

Pidge flew the lion to the warship Shiro and Allura were on, searching for them. The five watch as an escape pod was launched before the ship went into hyperspace. The green paladin maneuvered her lion to the pod and allowed those on board to enter the mechanical beast. When Shiro was the only one to arrive at the cockpit, Keith realized the princess wasn't with him. "Where's Allura?"

Shiro didn't answer as he casted his melancholic expression to the floor. Lance was confused at the older boy's silence. "Shiro?"

"She sacrificed herself to save me," Shiro finally answered.

Pidge couldn't believe her ears. "So, she's still on that ship?"

"The ship that's headed to Zarkon's central command?" Hunk added.

"The place that's way too dangerous for us to attack?" Keith inquired.

"It doesn't matter how dangerous it is. We can't let Zarkon get Allura," Shiro said.

Arcadia sank to her knees, her golden eyes wide as saucers. Her hands rested between her legs on the cold floor of the cockpit as no words came to mind.

"But you said going there would be a huge mistake. You said for us to attack that place head-on would be the dumbest possible thing we could ever do," the yellow paladin said.

Shiro saw the state Arcadia was in and placed and a hand on her back. "I know, but now we don't have a choice." He glanced down at the silent girl. "We'll get her back, Arcadia. I promise."