*WILL BE EDITED LATER. EXCUSE ANY WEIRD/OUT-OF-PLACE WORDS, GRAMMATICAL ERRORS, AND SPELLING ERRORS*

A week after their encounter with the druid, the paladins were soaring through the empty void of space. While they are searching for a planet to restock their supplies, Arcadia was in the consciousness of the black lion. She was seated in the middle of Keith's bedroom with her legs crossed and the grimoire laying on her lap. Her body was hollow as her mind was inside the black lion, training with Master Proliux.

After he saw she mastered the element of darkness, he tested her on the elements she had mastered before moving on to earth, light, and ice. He shared with her various ice spells he learned that helped him master the element.

Over and over again, Arcadia casted spells to perfect them. Although it had only been a week since she started training with the grand master, she had learned many new spells but had yet to master another element.

Exhausted from today's training, Arcadia lowered her hands with a huff. "Even in this mindscape, it's easy to exhaust myself..."

Proliux nodded. "Indeed. The spells I have taught you so far are quite advance and require much mana. However, once you master these elements, the mana consumption will lessen and you will be able to cast them one after another without any repercussions. It is a good thing you mastered darkness already, or this training regiment would be extremely strenuous."

"Why's that?"

"Light and darkness are the two most difficult elements to master. If I were to train you in both elements, the training process would be much slower because of the immense level of stress it would put on your body. You would require more breaks between sessions."

"Regardless if I had mastered darkness or not, I really do appreciate you training me," she said with a grateful smile. "You could've said no, but you didn't."

"I know how much of a threat Zenio is to the universe," he confessed. "If given the chance, he would destroy planets and enslave other races just like the galra have. If left to his own vices for much longer, he would be the biggest threat to the universe. That is why I am willing to train the descendant of Aethios. He must be stopped and you are the only one who can end him. I also enjoy the company. I miss having Shiro to talk to."

The girl laughed. "I'll make sure to tell him just how much you miss him."

"Maybe you could bring him with you next time, or that leader of yours."

"I'll see what I can do."

"That is all for now. You are dismissed."

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

Arcadia returned to reality. The moment she was back in her body, she looked down on her back with a groan. "Maybe I should focus on one element for now instead of three..."

Grabbing the grimoire, she hopped to her feet and placed it on the bed. She left the room and headed to the cockpit. There, she found Kosmo sleeping on the floor. She walked up to the front of the cockpit and stood beside Keith. "Any luck finding another planet?"

"Not yet," Keith exhaustedly responded.

She looked at the black lion's sonars and examined them. She was shocked to see nothing was being detected. "Are we really this far our from any planet?" she muttered to herself.

She then heard Pidge's voice over the comms. "Allura, try the sonic wave."

"Okay, I'll try." Allura activated the blue lion's sonic wave detector. The lion illuminated for a few seconds before the light vanished. "It's still not working. And it probably won't work again until until our power cores are recharged."

"Roger that. Well, our long-range scanners still haven't detected any planets nearby. No star systems, nothing."

Lance groaned in annoyance. "How long have we been out here?"

"Going on four movements," Romelle dishearteningly replied. She too was exhausted.

"And how long is it gonna take us to get to earth at this speed?"

"I think Pidge said something like ten billion decaphoebes."

As Lance's eyes widened in shock, Pidge chimed in to clear up the misunderstanding. "I said one and a half earth years."

Romelle smiled embarrassingly at her mistake.

Hunk was the next to join the conversation. "Whoa, whoa. Wait, there's a big discrepancy between ten billion decaphoebes and one and a half earth years. Which one is it?"

Pidge snapped and yelled back. "It's one and a half earth years! We've gone over this several times though there may be a margin of error of about a month, depending on any time dilation we encounter."

"Look, we knew this wasn't going to be an easy or quick voyage, but replacing the Castle of Lions is our top priority," Shiro stated.

"We just have to stay sharp and maintain discipline," Keith added. "We knew when we started this journey that we'd be low on power. We didn't plan on going through the galactic void, but we'll get through it."

Lance folded his arms behind his head and leaned back in his seat. "Don't worry, guys. We'll run into something eventually that will turn this trip around."

"What makes you so sure?" Hunk asked.

"If my experience in space has taught me anything, it's that something always comes along to try to kill us."

"I'm...not sure if that was looking at the positive side or the negative side," Arcadia chimed in. "Maybe it was both."

"Definitely both," Pidge said.

The lions continue to drift through space. All was quiet except for the occasional beeping from the display. Arcadia glanced around at their surroundings and wondered what all was around them. There were stars, but she could tell they were far away from the faint light that radiated from them.

After an hour, Lance wondered why it was dark in the current sector they floated through. "Hey, Pidge, why is it so dark out here?"

"I can't be sure, but my theory is that this area is surrounded by some kind of nebula that blocks most of the light," the green paladin responded.

"Oh, yeah. Must be a patch of that dark matter I've heard about."

"That isn't what dark matter is," she said.

"Although, when it's this dark, I guess it doesn't matter, right, guys?" Hunk smiled at his own clever pun. No one reacted to his joke. His smile fell. "This is why no one rides with me anymore, isn't it?"

"Do you want a traveling buddy?" Arcadia asked.

"The company would be nice."

"How about I join you, then?"

Hunk's eyes glistened with excitement. "Really?!"

"Yeah, let me just—" Arcadia turned her attention to Kosmo, who was awake. She was about to ask him to take her to the yellow lion, but her wrist was grabbed and she was yanked away from the wolf. Before she knew it, she was sitting in Keith's lap.

"Nope. You're not going anywhere," he said, which had been picked up by the comms.

"Oh, come on!" Hunk wailed. "Why can't space dragon hang out with me?"

"Because I said so."

"Oh, yeah, totally a plausible reason," Lance sarcastically quipped. "You're just stingy when it comes to Arcadia."

"She's my girlfriend," Keith retorted.

"Okay, okay," Arcadia interrupted. "Hunk, I'll ride with you after we find another planet."

"Aw, yeah!" The yellow paladin chanted.

Keith was shocked at her decision. Eyes widening, he looked up at her with an expression that rivaled that of a puppy's. "Youre really gonna ride with Hunk instead of me?"

Arcadia doubted Keith realized what expression he was making. He was begging her with his eyes to stay with him in the black lion. She offered him a small smile, poking the tip of his nose. "Your jealousy is showing, darling." She pecked him on the cheek with a giggle. "Hunk could use some company."

"Then we'll send Kosmo," he said.

"Not that kind of company. Besides, you'll be fine without me for a short while. You were when we started this journey."

His cheeks turned a deep crimson as he looked away in embarrassment. "That was before I realized I sleep better with you around..."

"So I'm just a sleeping buddy?" She pouted playfully.

He glared feebly at her, knowing she was teasing him. "You know you're much more than that."

"I know," she sweetly smiled. "I just like to hear you say it. You've become more open with your feelings and I love how expressive you've gotten. Those two years in the quantum abyss really changed you. In a good way, that is."

"Guess I still was immature two years ago," he commented. "I thought I was mature and cool, but really I was a hothead who couldn't control my emotions and really couldn't convey anything..."

"You're still kinda a hothead, but I think that's just a little quirk of yours. I kinda like it, to be honest."

"And your quirk is being a goofy idiot," Keith remarked with an endearing smile. "But it's because of your weird, goofy nature I kinda fell for you. You were the one person who made me smile in a long time."

"And there's one reason why I fell in love with you—your honesty. Well, the less-brutal honesty. The kind where you're not insulting someone else, like Lance."

"We can hear you!" Lance shouted. "And if you're gonna make out, do us all a favor and mute yourselves! The rest of us don't wanna hear any of it!"

"Oh," Arcadia snickered. "Now Lance's jealousy is showing."

"I am not jealous! You two are just hanging all over each other and some of us bachelors and bachelorettes don't wanna watch!"

"Give them a break, Lance," Shiro said. "Keith was in the quantum abyss for two years. I think it's okay."

"Not the mention everything that happened with Lotor," Pidge added. "They really haven't had time to catch up until this trip."

Lance growled before sighing in defeat. "Fine! Just mute yourselves before you do anything dirty..."

"We're not—!" Keith groaned in defeat and saw no point in arguing. "Ugh, forget it..."

Arcadia, after a silence settled between her and Keith, analyzed their current position. "Can you really fly with me sitting in your lap?"

"If I say no, will you get up?"

"Yes."

"Then no."

She knew he was lying, especially with that question he asked. "Uh-huh, sure..." A devious smirk formed on her lips. Seeing she was in the perfect position to tease him, she leaned closer to his face. The tips of their noses were touching. "I agree with Lance. You're kinda greedy when it comes to me, but I don't mind." She pecked him on the lips and pulled away. She didn't make it far before his hand crept up her spine toward her neck and pulled her into a more heated kiss. She was taken off-guard by it but kissed back nonetheless.

After a minute, the kiss ended.

Keith's hand remained on the back of her neck, caressing her skin and a few baby hairs. His touch was gentle, causing her to melt against him. She slumped against him and rested her head on his shoulder. They remained silent for a couple of minutes before she lifted her head and glanced at the dashboard. "Oh, wow. You really did mute us."

"Yeah, well, it's hard enough to get some alone time together because of our circumstances. Maybe once we get back to earth and everything calms down..." Keith's voice trailed off.

"We could go on a real date? Like the one Pidge told me about?" She asked.

He nodded. "If that's what you want."

"Only if you want it too." She gazed lovingly into his eyes with a warm smile. "This relationship isn't just about me. It's about both of us. I want us to do something that we'll both enjoy."

Her words caused Keith's heart to skip a beat. Her kindness knew no bounds and he adored her because of it. She was selfless, charismatic, and goofy, and he loved it all. She is the polar opposite of him and is fully convinced opposites do attract. The arm he had around her waist tightened as he pulled her as close as possible to him. He buried his nose into the crook of her neck with a dreamy sigh. "I feel like you're wasted on me..."

"I think we're perfect together," she replied.

Just then, Pidge's voice interrupted them. "If you guys are done, Shiro's got something to share."

Reluctantly, Arcadia climbed off Keith's lap and unmuted the comms while he put his helmet back on. "What is it, Shiro?"

"I think I might have an idea on how to get the lions back to full power," he explained.

"And you're just now telling us this?" Lance inquired.

"Well, I'm sorry, Lance, but I guess having my consciousness transplanted from the infinity of Voltron's inner quintessence into the dead body of an evil clone of myself has left me a little out of sorts for the past few weeks."

"Oh, yeah..."

"What's your idea, Shiro?" Arcadia pondered.

Shiro began his explanation. "It's difficult to articulate, but remember when we were fighting Zarkon and we were hit with that beam that drained all of our quintessence?"

Allura recalled the memory as clear as day. "Yes, you were all completely incapacitated."

"That's right. We were able to regenerate enough power to keep fighting with help from Arcadia."

"Yeah. We repowered Voltron with Arcadia's quintessence," Keith said.

"I only gave you guys a boost. Repowering Voltron was really all your doing," Arcadia replied.

"Still, it helped us a lot," Shiro stated. "And I think that's how it's meant to work. Since I disappeared, you've been relying on the Castle's crystal to keep the lions charged. But if you were a team of fully-realized paladins, you wouldn't need that."

Allura hung her head in guilt. "I...I can't help but feel this must be my fault. You were able to recharge Voltron before, but since I joined..."

Shiro wouldn't allow the princess to blame herself. "It's no one's fault. Being a paladin of Voltron takes training. You just haven't had time to focus on working together to find your balance in this configuration."

Arcadia understood what he was implying. "And since we have the time now, you all can work on your connections."

The feeling of hope made Lance smile. "That's right. We've been down before, and we always come back."

Keith was more than grateful for Shiro's idea. He too smiled. "I'm glad you're here, Shiro. After all you went through, how did you find the strength to be the leader of Voltron?"

"I had help," Shiro said. "That's why there are five of you, to lift each other up."

"So, what should we do? Maybe some flight formation exercises?"

"What's that?" Pidge asked.

"You know, when you line up and..."

"No, no, no! That!" She shouted. "Dead ahead!"

Everyone looked ahead. They saw the faint yet strange flashes of light.

The green paladin examined her scanners and found nothing. "My scanners aren't picking anything up!"

Suddenly, the flashes of light became brighter. A large and bright void of whiteness opened and pushed the lions back. Arcadia quickly grabbed the back of the seat to prevent from flying everywhere when the black lion was sent rolling backward.

Lance grunts as he tries to stabilize the red lion. "What the quiznak is this?!"

"Whatever it is, we got to move!" Keith yelled.

The paladins tried to escape the electric storm treated by the void. Each lion suffered a shock as they tried to retreat.

"Break high!" He commanded after seeing it was fruitless to retreat.

The five lions soared above the storm to escape its grasp. It vanished for a second before reappearing. The void tore open a second and sent a blinding flash of light and lightning forward. The lions were caught in the blast. The remaining power left in their cores vanished, causing all the lions to go dark. The metallic felines aimless floated through space.

Arcadia, who had a death grip on the back of Keith's seat, felt the artificial gravity deactivate. Her body floated into the air, but her right grip on the seat kept her from floating too far away. She sighed in relief as Kosmo bumped into her.

"Is everyone all right?" Keith asked.

Pidge groaned as she recovered from the blast. "I'm here."

"Still alive," Lance grunts.

"That was crazy," Hunk said before he bumped his head on the top of the cockpit with a loud bang, which was picked up by the comms.

"You okay, Hunk?" Arcadia asked after hearing his painful groan.

"Yep," he rubbed his helmet. "I'm good."

"I'm fine," Allura replied.

Arcadia released the seat and floated towards Kosmo. She noticed something was off. "Um, Keith? I think there's something wrong with Kosmo."

Hearing her concerned voice, Keith used the seat to push himself to the rear of the cockpit. He saw the petrified state the wolf was in. "Hey, are you okay, buddy?"

From the golden bands on her horns, the draconian heard Pidge's voice. "Shiro seems to be frozen, but his vitals are strong."

Keith touched Kosmo's head and he didn't budge. "Same here."

"Copy that with Romelle," Lance reported. "What's going on?"

"Coran is frozen as well. Our paladin armor must have protected us from the shock," Allura replied.

"But Arcadia's not frozen," Hunk said matter-of-factly.

"It is possible her high level of quintessence protected her from the effects of the shockwave, or it could be due to her people being unaffected by spatial anomalies. It is because of that they found space travel easy." Allura checked the blue lion's dashboard and tried to reactivate it, but the display remains lifeless. "The blue lion is completely incapacitated."

Lance tried the same thing and wound up with the same result. "Yeah, Red is out too."

Hunk began to list the negatives of their current situation. "So, we're all alone in space, no power, no way to call for help, nothing within several thousand light-years..." He started to nervously sweat.

"What do we do?" Lance questioned.

"Pidge, is there any way to get the lions back up and running?" Keith asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Maybe, but I don't know how long it'll take," the green paladin answered. "And I don't know if you've noticed, but we're all drifting in opposite directions after that blast."

Hunk's voice was laced with panic. "If we don't get the power back on, we might lose each other."

"I'll go out and make sure the lions don't drift too far apart," Arcadia replied.

"Hold on," Keith stopped her. "You'll need something to tether the lions together."

A spark of inspiration came to Allura. "I think I have an idea of how we can do it."

"How?" Lance wondered. "Some magical powers that you learned on Oriande? Or is Arcadia gonna wiggle her fingers and cast one of her fancy spells?"

"No, I have some leftover zip line in my hull."

"Oh."

"We're getting out of our lions to do this?" Hunk asked. "We don't even know what that energy pulse was."

"It's the only way to stay together," Keith stated. "Allura, grab that zipline. Let's get moving."

Arcadia followed Keith out of the black lion. They exited the ajar mouth and she transformed. Keith latched onto one of her horns. "Everyone, stay sharp and hang on."

"Ugh..." Hunk groaned, looking around at the lifeless lions. "So many lions, all spinning." He felt his stomach churn and quickly closed his mouth when the urhe to throw up bubbled in his stomach.

"Come on, Hunk," Lance chided. "You've been through worse than this."

"Don't you dare puke," Arcadia said. "We have no way of cleaning your armor if you do."

"Yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay. Let me just..." Hunk's stomach churned again. "No good. Oh, don't barf in the space helmet, Hunk. Don't do it."

"Arcadia," Allura called out. "Push the lions to my location. Otherwise, there won't be enough cord to attach us together."

"Understood." Arcadia moved to the yellow lion with Keith still attached to her horn. The other paladins met her there to help her move the lion towards the blue one. She placed her front paws on the snout of the yellow lion while the others pushed by putting their hands on the side of the metal feline's cheek.

Combining their efforts, they began to push the yellow lion.

They didn't make it far before they heard Lance gasp. "Oh, no!"

"What?" Hunk looked in the direction Lance was staring. The other paladins and Arcadia followed suit. In the distance, they saw the same flashing lights. Another blast was incoming.

"Everyone, hold on!" Keith shouted.

The paladins latch on to the side of the yellow lion's face while Arcadia braced herself against its muzzle. The void reopened and another shockwave pulsed outward. The powerful force threatened to blow them all away. The dragon growled in frustration, wishing she could help the paladins more when she heard their screams. Pidge was the first to slip. She screamed as she was blown back. Hunk was the next to lose his grip. His body slammed into Allura, Keith, and Lance, causing them to lose their grips as well. They all screamed as they were flung away from the lions.

Arcadia still had a firm grip on the yellow lion, but she needed to help the paladins. Using the blast to her advantage, she spread her wings and flew straight for them. One by one, she gathered them. Lance and Hunk latched on to her tail, Pidge and Allura gripped her neck, and Keith was holding on to her horn. Once having all the paladins, she erected a light barrier around them to protect everyone from the blast.

When the white void vanished and everyone was steady, the paladins regrouped new the base of Arcadia's neck.

Hunk wailed as he held on to the beast. "Oh, thank you, space dragon!"

"Does anyone have eyes on the lions?" Lance asked as the light barrier faded.

Pidge looked around the emptiness surrounding them. "I can't see them."

"Neither can I," Allura said.

"At this point, I don't even know which direction they're in," Hunk stated.

Keith eyed his friends. "Okay, let's run through our checklist. Does anyone have any supplies?"

Lance was the first to respond. "Nope."

Followed by Pidge. "Mm-mm. Nothing."

Next was Hunk. "No food. No water."

"Can't Arcadia make water for us?" Lance pondered. "I mean, she can create ice whenever she wants to. She could melt it and turn it into water with her fire."

"The ice I create is not meant for consumption," Arcadia explained. "Sorry, guys."

"Don't worry about it," Keith told her. "Our suits will recycle enough moisture to keep us hydrated for a little while. We just need to hang tight. We have each other."

Lance smiled in the yellow paladin's direction. "Don't worry, Hunk. Something else will be along to kill us any minute now." His smile faltered, eyes trailing away. "Any minute."

Nothing.

"Any minute," Lance drawled out.

Arcadia kept her body still as best she could. She felt the paladins slump against her neck as time slowly ticked by. Although she couldn't provide them with much, she was happy to give them warmth. She just hoped they would be okay.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

Time began to blur.

Arcadia made sure the paladins were hanging on to her every few minutes. She heard the familiar feeling coming from Keith's helmet. It was time for roll call again. "Everyone sound off," he tiredly said.

"Lance here," the red paladin responded.

The green paladin was next. "Pidge here."

The third was the blue paladin. "Allura here."

When Hunk didn't say anything, Arcadia turned her head to check on him. "Hunk?" Unlike the paladins, she didn't need to sound off since she was the one they were connected to.

"I'm hiding," he blandly replied.

"I need you to sound off, Hunk," Keith said. "It's important to maintain discipline and mental acuity in these situations. These techniques helped my mom and I through the quantum abyss."

"Keith is right," Allure chimed in. "Being lost in space has been known to drive one mad. Too much time contemplating infinity is not good for the mind."

"I like to keep busy calculating pi out as far as I can," Pidge confessed.

"Pie?" Arcadia parroted. "Doesn't Hunk usually make that in the kitchen? How can you calculate it? Or are you trying to calculate how many you can make?"

This earned a weak chuckle from the green paladin. "That's a food. I'm talking about the number. The record is four quadrillion, but that's using the Hadoop parallelization framework. I'm just using my brain."

Hunk giggled at the word. "Hadoop."

Lance has been starting off in the distance when he saw something. His eyes widen. "Wait. Guys! Look! Lights!"

"Told you Lance would go crazy first."

Pidge glanced in the direction the red paladin was pointing in. "No, no, no, no! I see them! There really are lights!"

Hope was reignited for the paladins and Arcadia.

"Perhaps it's a ship," Allura excitedly stated.

"Oh, yes! Yes! We're rescued!" Hunk cheered.

Arcadia suspiciously eyed the approaching light. As it got closer, she saw it was a flock of creatures. They illuminated the darkness of space with the intricate designs on their bodies. The flock flew towards them and brushed against their bodies. The dragon watched in awe at them.

"Amazing," Pidge smiled.

"They're beautiful," Allura breathlessly gaped.

The flock swirled around them. The wariness Arcadia sensed vanished when she realized they weren't hurting them. The creatures were simply dancing around them and showing off their beauty.

"We should follow them," Hunk suggested.

"What?" Keith asked.

"Yeah. They must be heading somewhere. Like a hive or something. Wherever that is, it must be better than floating around here just, like, starving to death."

The black paladin thought of their very limited options and came to a decision. "Hunk's right. Let's follow them. Everyone, stay together." He held on to the dragon tighter. "Arcadia, keep them in your sight."

"Got it." Arcadia spread her wings to fly after the creatures, but they scattered the moment she tried to pursue them. Her slit eyes widen in shock as the paladins gasped.

Lance looked around frantically. "Where'd they go?"

"Were they even real?" Allura wondered.

"I guess they could've been a hallucination," Pidge responded. "But that usually only happens when you're going mad."

Arcadia felt the paladins reattach themselves to her neck. She could tell they were all disappointed. She felt their hope slipping and tried to think of something to help them. When nothing came to mind, she lowered her head with a growl and focused on keeping them together.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

No one knew how long it'd been since they were separated from the lions. As Keith's helmet beeped, everyone knew what was next--roll call. Exhausted, the black paladin commanded his teammates to sound off. "Everyone..." He exhales. "Everyone sound off."

"Allura here."

"Lance here."

"Pidge here."

Hearing no response from Hunk, Keith scolded him. "Hunk, sound off immediately!"

Allura wasn't fond of the tone their leader was using. "Keith, you don't have to—"

"It's okay, Allura," Hunk interrupted. "It's okay. I was just kind of, you know, lost in this fantasy that we'd get to earth and, you know, the garrison would throw us a parade and all that stuff, and them, you know, maybe I'd meet some hotshot pilot who wanted to check out the yellow lion, and then maybe the yellow lion would take a shine to her, obviously, and if be like, "Whoa. Whoa. I can't stand in between you two. The bond is strong here"."

Arcadia listened to the yellow paladin and tried to make sense of what he was saying. "Wait, you want Yellow to pick another paladin so you can quit?"

"No, no, no, no, not quitting. No. Just, you know, being the bigger man. Just stepping aside to pass the baton down to a younger generation."

"Wait a second..."

"Am I quite wrong or is Hunk still very young by earth standards?" Allura asked.

"He is," Arcadia huffed out.

"No, I think time is different for me, like I'm on dog years or something," Hunk said.

"What in Aethios' name are dog years...?"

"You've heard of dogs, right?" Hunk asked. "Well, they kinda—"

Suddenly, Keith broke away with a battle cry. He swung his bayard around wildly and started to float off. The other paladins created a chain and grabbed him before he could drift too far away. "My bayard won't work. We don't know where the lions are." Keith raised his bayard as if ready to knock someone out with it. "We're being attacked by things we can't even see."

Arcadia glanced down at her boyfriend, wondering what he was talking about. She saw the bags under his eyes and the disoriented look in his eyes. "Keith, nothing's attacking us. We're all alone."

"She's right," Lance said. "It's just us."

The draconian, unlike the paladins, felt fine. She wasn't surprised to see Keith's mind was playing tricks on him. It was expected considering how long they'd been drifting through space now. She wondered if her healing alchemy would help soothe his weary mind. "How about a quick healing session? Maybe it'll help clear—"

"Don't even bother," he snapped.

She wasn't shocked at his snippy tone, but that didn't mean she wasn't hurt by it. She decides to keep her mouth shut. Unbeknownst to her, Allura, Pidge, and Lance we're glaring at Keith.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

Time no longer concerned them. The paladins remained hooked around Arcadia's neck. From time to time, they would break away to rest on her back for a short while before returning to the others. A beeping noise, which almost haunted them, came from Keith's helmet. The boy said nothing and ignored it.

"Keith," Lance shattered the silence. "Shouldn't we sound off?"

"What's the point?" Keith weakly remarked.

That didn't stop the red paladin from starting the sound off. "Lance here."

"Pidge here."

"Allura here."

"I am Hunk."

"I am space dragon," Arcadia mocked the desolate tone of the yellow paladin.

"I wonder how my dad and Matt are doing," Pidge pondered.

"Better than us, hopefully," Keith muttered.

"My father had something he always said in dire situations," Allura chimed in.

"Give up?" Keith guessed blankly.

The princess was utterly shocked at his words. Eyes wide, she glanced at him in disbelief. "Sorry?"

"It just doesn't seem like he was a real fighter when the chips were down."

"Keith," Arcadia hissed angrily. Even if it was due to their current situation, she wouldn't allow him to slander King Alfor. He was like a father to her. "Don't you dare talk about King Alfor like that."

Allura also made her anger known. "You have a lot of nerve questioning someone's leadership seeing how you left us!"

Now it was getting out of hand. Arcadia knew an argument was unavoidable at this point and braced herself.

"Allura, please," Hunk begged, wishing for his friends not to get into a heated argument.

But it was too late.

Keith snapped back at the princess. "As I recall, you were the one who got us all cozied up to Lotor."

Lance lowered at the black paladin. "Keith, you ran away. Maybe you should have just stayed away."

"This is getting ridiculous..." Arcadia growled lowly.

Hunk took it upon himself to try and end the argument. "Lance, Keith, everyone, stop! Look, guys, I understand what's happening here. You're all brave heroes who don't know how to react to being scared and it's causing you to attack one another. That, or you're all going space mad. Hopefully, you're just scared."

"Or it's a mix of both," Arcadia stated.

"That too," Hunk replied. "I'm scared all the time. I can talk you through it."

Keith glared at the yellow paladin. "Sorry, Hunk, I guess I just don't know how to be a coward."

Hunk had missed the insult. "Right. That's what I'm saying."

On the other hand, Lance knew exactly what Keith was implying and scowled at him. "Why don't you leave him alone, Keith? Just drift off by yourself, Mr. Lone Wolf."

"Wait, guys—" Arcadia tried to interrupt.

"Fine." Keith let go of the dragon and activated his jetpack.

"No, don't!" Hunk attempted to stop him.

Arcadia couldn't stand the arguing any longer and reverted back. The paladins drifted in a circle with her at the center. She maneuvered herself to block the direction Keith was floating in while Hunk grabbed his ankle.

"We have to stay together!" Hunk hollered.

"Why, Hunk?" Keith eyed him coldly. "Are we really even friends? Is there anything holding us together besides some messed-up series of coincidences? I mean, what are we? Some chosen saviors? Do you really believe that? What are we even doing out here?!"

The paladins and Arcadia were shocked at Keith's outburst. Hunk, however, remained calm and didn't let his words shake his resolve. "We're doing what we have to."

Keith couldn't stand it any longer and tried to shake free from the yellow paladin's grip. "Let me go!" He managed to free himself but didn't make it far due to being grabbed by Arcadia.

She had both of his wrists tightly gripped in her hands. She stared into his eyes to see the mix of emotions he was going through. "I know we are all on edge due to losing the lions, but this is not how we should be acting. We shouldn't be snapping at one another and wandering off. We should be relying on each other and trying to find a way out of this."

"Oh, really?" He scoffed.

Arcadia braced herself for the hurtful words he was going to throw her way. She dropped his wrists tighter. "Go on, say it. Say what's on your mind. Just be prepared for the consequences, Keith."

Blinded by anger and fright, Keith let loose. "For someone who talks about finding a way out, you haven't done anything since we got lost. You're supposed to be this great alchemist, but you've haven't done anything to help us! And what about the lions? Can't you sense them? I'm sure if you could, you would have flown us to them by now. You really are useless!"

Each word was like a dagger to her heart. She lowered her head as a few tears trailed down her cheeks. They didn't make it far before drifting off her face into small droplets. She was aware Keith wasn't right in the head at the moment, but that didn't make the pain from his words any less. Slowly, she released his wrists and slowly started to drift away from the paladins. Her wings retracted as she tried to dry her tears. "I see..."

Allura could see the tears floating around her best friend and snapped. "How dare you?!"

"Take that back!" Lance hollered angrily.

"Can I punch him?" Pidge asked. "I'm gonna punch him!"

Keith wasn't bothered by their rage. He glanced back at the paladins with a sneer before looking back towards Arcadia. As he saw her drifting further away with tears in her eyes, his eyes widen as the vision he saw of the future flashed through his. He was spending his future with her on earth and was the happiest he's ever been. Then, in the blink of an eye, she vanishes and he's left all alone. His happiness disappeared with her and he couldn't bear it.

Witnessing the image that haunted his mind cleared some of the fog in Keith's head. He realized the harsh words he spoke and desperately tried to reconcile. "W-Wait...!" He reached out to her in hopes she would meet him halfway. She didn't. The tears made his heart ache. He activated his jetpack and flew to her. He didn't stop until he flung his arms around her and crushed her in a hug. His body protectively curled around her smaller frame. He wouldn't let anything take her away, not even the space madness. "I'm sorry for what I said. I-I don't even know why I said it. My mind is just..."

Arcadia patted his back. "K-Keith...too tight..."

Hearing her, Keith kept her in his arms but slackened his hold. "I..."

She couldn't deny his words hurt her, but he didn't blame him entirely. Anybody would go crazy and spew nonsense if they were in the same situation. Still, she was really he was taking responsibility. She rested her palms on the back of his armor and sighed, her tears finally drying. "What you said did hurt, but...I forgive you. This whole situation has all of us saying things we never would."

Keith sighed in relief. He pulled away slightly and pressed his helmet against her forehead. "I seriously am losing my mind..."

Just then, Pidge grabbed their attention. "Uh, guys?"

The couple turned to see a bright light in the distance. Lance, Hunk, and Allura followed suit and gazed at the light.

"Is it more of those creatures?" Lance wondered.

"No," Allura answered. "It appears to be a single source. It looks like a planet."

"No way," Lance gasped as the light dissipated to reveal a planet.

Keith was in awe at the sight. "It's...earth."

Pidge smiled. "That wave must have knocked us all the way across the universe!"

"We're home!" The red paladin cheered as he activated his jetpack and soared towards the planet. "We're gonna make it, guys!"

The others followed after him.

Keith held Arcadia's wrist as he used his jetpack to fly them to the planet. She was confused and wary of the situation. As they got closer, these emotions only grew. "Why does this feel wrong?"

Hunk was the only other person who shared the same feeling. "Because there's no sun. And where's the other planets? Or the moon?"

Arcadia looked around for her other celestial bodies in the milky way, but there were none. It was only Earth. Hunk was right and she tried to stop the others. "Wait! Something's wrong!" She shouted, but she was ignored.

"Stop!" Hunk bellowed. "This is too good to be true. Stop. Everybody, stop!" He flew in front of the group and held out his hands. He successfully stopped them. Arcadia sighed in relief to see the yellow paladin had yet to fall victim to space madness.

Allura did not take too kindly to the fact Hunk stopped them. "Hunk, what are you doing?"

Neither did Lance. "Stop it, Hunk!"

"Listen to him!" Arcadia shouted. She tried to break free from Keith's grasp, but he refused to let go. "Look around you! Like Hunk said, there are no other celestial bodies! Doesn't your solar system have a sun, moon, and other planets?"

"It does!" Hunk answered, knowing the others were still blinded by the illusion. "Something is wrong!"

"Hunk, you and Arcadia are hallucinating!" Pidge yelled. "You guys are going space mad! Just let us
take you both home!" She, Lance, and Allura grabbed the yellow paladin and started to drag him towards the illusion.

Keith, on the other hand, kept am iron grip on Arcadia even as she tried to pry his hand off her wrist. "You four are the ones who have gone space mad!" She hollered. "Let me go, Keith!"

"No!" He shouted back. "Hunk's put these ideas in your head because he's gone space mad!"

"We're the only two same people at the moment!" She glared at Keith, feeling the temptation to shock him. "Snap out of it!"

Hunk struggled against his friends and activated his jetpack to push back against them. "Listen to us! You're letting all of this get the better of you. There's no way that can be Earth."

"Just trust us, Hunk," Allura said, unconvinced. "You and Arcadia will thank us when we get there."

Arcadia snapped. She sent a small jolt through Keith's body, which was just enough for him to release her. She transformed and knocked Hunk free. He went spinning while she encased the other paladins in golden spears of light to prevent them from going any further.

Lance pounded on the barrier. "Let us go, Arcadia! You and Hunk have lost it!"

She didn't listen to the four paladins trapped in her spell as they started to demand her to release them. She called out to the yellow paladin. "Hunk!"

"I've got this!" Hunk shouted. He summoned his bayard and tried to activate it. Or flickered before transforming into a cannon. With a battle cry, he fires the cannon and targets the illusion. His shot hit the fake planet and the illusion dissolved to reveal an enormous creature.

Seeing the illusion was shattered, Arcadia freed the paladins from her spell. She then focused her attention on the creature. "That's a big eyeball..."

"What the quiznak is that thing?" Lance asked.

"Hunk and Arcadia were right," Pidge gaped in shock.

"They saved us," Allura said as the fog in her mind cleared a little.

Hunk regrouped with the other paladins. "Here it comes!"

The large creature flew towards them and opened its mouth to reveal rows of sharp teeth. The paladins screamed and desperately used their jetpack to maneuver to safety.

Arcadia, being much faster than their jetpacks, swooped in and grabbed them before they could be eaten. She felt them latch on tightly to her scales as the immense creature circled around to attack again.

"Guys, that thing is hunting us," Lance observed. "It's gonna get us all unless we do something."

"Like what?" Allura asked. "We can't even use our bayards, and this creature is much larger than Arcadia."

"How did you manifest yours, Hunk?" Pidge inquired.

"I don't know. I just knew that I needed to," Hunk answered.

"What are we gonna do?" Lance was starting to panic. "We don't stand a chance!"

Hunk, with determination in his eyes, activated his jetpack and flew towards the monster with his cannon at the ready. "Get out of here. I'll buy you some time. Go!"

The paladins shouted after him to stop him.

"Grab him," Arcadia demanded. "I'll blind the creature for a short time."

She heard the paladins screaming her name, but she ignored them. She flew past Hunk, who was firing his cannon, and focused a light spell in front of the creature's large eye. A crystal of light formed and once the monster was close enough, it shattered. The bright light blinded it. It screeched and flew away. From its flight pattern, she knew it would be back very soon. She flew back to the paladins and was immediately grabbed by them. She felt their hands latch on to the side of her face.

Hunk was confused as to why the paladins stopped him and Arcadia's intervention. "What are you guys doing? I told you to escape!"

"Why would we ever do that without you?" Lance asked in shock.

"Yeah," Pidge said. "You can't expect us to just leave you."

"We're a team, Hunk. We have to stick together like you said," Allura stated.

Keith, seeing this as a perfect moment, apologized. "I'm sorry I said those hurtful things earlier. I was wrong. This series of messed-up coincidences did happen for a reason. They brought us together as paladins. But more importantly, they brought us together as friends."

With those words, the paladins found their connection. They summoned their bayards and were ready to fight. Letting go of Arcadia, they faced off against the monster. The blonding spell the draconian had casted worn off and it was coming back towards them.

"All right, team," Keith spoke up. "We have to attack this thing with magic and our bayards from every side possible. That way it can't target us all at once."

"Yeah!" The paladins chanted in unison.

Splitting up, Arcadia swooped underneath the creature to target its underbelly. She casted a combination of ice and fire spells to deal some damage. She managed to wound it, but not severely. As she went to cast another spell, she heard screaming. Looking up, she saw Pidge being flung through space. She rammed into Lance and pushed them back.

The dragon saw the paladins had regrouped, but she kept her focus on the monster. She released more spells and eventually caused it to shriek in pain. It rolled away and tried to put some distance between her and it. She heard the paladins cheering. Nonetheless, she wouldn't be able to defeat this thing on her own. It was too big and she still was recovering from her training with Proliux.

As the creature circled around to attack again, Arcadia sensed a familiar level of quintessence.
She heard the roars of the lions and looked up to see them fly overhead. She was bewildered to see them as they attacked the monster with their lasers. She then felt herself mentally smile. "They did it."

The monster shrieked and made a quick retreat.

"Yeah, you better run!" Lance confidently shouted.

Pidge turned around to see the familiar flashes of another shockwave incoming. "I think he might actually be running from that."

"Again?!" Hunk wailed as he saw the lightning-like flashes.

"We know we can't outrun it," Allura said.

"We're not running this time," Keith declared.

Arcadia returned to the black lion with Keith.

Once all the paladins had returned to their lions, Voltron was formed. The mighty defender surged forward as the shockwaves surged outward. It was knocked back time and time again from the power of the shockwave, but the paladins used their bayards to strengthen it. Flying through the center of the white void, the shockwave was gone and all was calm.

Hearing a whimper, Arcadia and Keith turn around. They saw Kosmo was unfrozen.

"Guess that means Coran, Shiro, and Romelle are back with us, too," she deduced.

"Yeah, but..." Keith looked around. "Where are we?"

Allura typed away on the blue lion's console. "It looks like that nebula carried us thousands of light-years away."

Pidge was busy using the green lion to scan their current location. She gasped. "That looks like... I recognize these constellations! This is Earth's solar system! It's the Milky Way!"

Hunk felt joy blossoming in him. "Home."

"We made it," Lance smiled.

"We're finally here," Shiro mumbled.

Keith grinned. "Well, what are we waiting for?" He pushed the controls. Voltron surged forward and towards the galaxy.

Although Earth wasn't her home, Arcadia felt happy--happy that the paladins were finally home. She couldn't return to hers, but she was overjoyed the paladins could. "To Earth we go!"