“Where are we?” Lance asked timidly and Allura slowly opened her eyes. The Blue lion was just on Eioa, but after being drowned in Quintessence, had transported to somewhere completely foreign to Allura. The same must have happened to the others. The five lions were sitting in a circle on what looked to be a barren planet. Stars surrounded them and the very ground itself gave off a violet glow. It was beautiful, but something about it set Allura on edge. She secured her helmet before stepping outside; her first priority was getting to the Black Lion to be sure that Keith was safe.

Allura stepped down carefully on the ground, still unsure about what she thought of the strange place. The others followed her outside, and they stood outside of the Black Lion; Allura tried to calm her breathing, but the last thing she remembered was flying straight at the Black Lion as Keith begged Shiro for his life. She feared the worst.

The Black Lion stretched its head forward and opened its mouth.

“Should… we go inside?” Hunk asked, looking to Allura. Lance and Pidge already had their bayards at the ready, but Allura didn’t know what to do in that moment. Her ability to lead and keep a level head was wavering, and looking at the terror in the paladins’ eyes, she felt like a fraud. The thought of Shiro covered in Keith’s blood sent a new wave of grief over her, threatening to break her. She could do nothing but stare into the dark entrance of the Black Lion.

“Keith? Shiro?” Hunk called, mustering up the courage. In response, they were met with the dull sound of someone slowly pulling themself out of the lion. Allura held her breath as she saw a shadow emerge; Keith limped out to meet them, struggling to hold Shiro up as he walked. Shiro slumped onto Keith, and Lance and Hunk rushed to help them. They took Shiro from him, but nearly dropped him when they noticed the blood. Allura staggered away from them, her head swimming with crazed thoughts; she bit her lip to hold back a sob, breaking skin.

Keith looked at them, his skin sickly pale, with blood on his hands. Tears stained his cheeks and he shook his head slowly. “I didn’t mean…” he said, his voice cracking. Lance and Hunk carefully laid Shiro down on the ground and crouched around him.

“What happened?” Pidge asked Keith, her voice trembling as she joined Hunk and Lance.

“He… he attacked me,” Keith said quietly, looking at Allura. It was as if he were trying to justify himself to her. She turned away from him, not out of anger, but because she didn’t want him to see her tears.

Allura squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists, trying to force herself to regain her composure, but she shuddered as a sob escaped her lips. She felt a gentle hand on her and she turned to see Keith standing close.

“I… I’m sorry,” his voice broke. Allura nodded and pulled him into an embrace, feeling the guilt that he carried with him. She closed her eyes, trying to forget, even if for just a moment, that Shiro’s body wasn’t lying on the ground next to them.

“What do we do now?” Lance asked, finally breaking the silence. They all looked to Allura, but she couldn't pull her gaze from Shiro’s face. He seemed at peace, finally free from everything he had struggled with. Allura’s lip trembled and she averted her attention elsewhere. She longed to hold him, even if he was gone. She never had the chance to tell him how she felt, despite all the opportunities to do so. But telling him wouldn’t have made a difference. Regardless, he was never hers the moment he came back all those months ago. Maybe he never was… She felt foolish for thinking otherwise, and now it didn’t even matter.

“We need to give him a proper burial,” Pidge said. “And we need to figure out how to get back.”

“But why did the lions take us here in the first place?” Hunk asked. “It must have been with good reason… Do you think it has anything to do with Shiro…” his voice trailed off. “... what happened back at the Kafa? What happened to him?”

Allura took a deep, calming breath. “... When Shiro disappeared, the Galra… did something to him. They were using him as a tool to bring the Black Lion back to Zarkon.”

Lance stood up. “How do you know this?”

Allura swallowed a nervous lump in her throat and glanced at Keith before continuing. “Jira… Jira could sense something off about him, and eventually discovered what his true intentions were.”

“... You both knew about this?” Lance demanded, looking at Keith and Allura. “And you didn’t tell us?”

“Everything happened so suddenly,I-” Allura did her best to ignore the fresh tears falling from her face. “I wanted to believe that he was going to be alright, I never thought this would happen… I’m sorry.”

Lance’s expression softened and he took Allura by the arms. “We’re a team,” he said. Hunk came up behind them and pulled them into a gentle group hug. Allura noticed Keith linger off to the side, until Pidge grabbed him and pulled him into the hug as well.

Allura still fought back her tears, though sorrow and gratitude welled up inside of her. Through her tears, she could see the Black Lion directly in front of her, and for a moment, it looked as though it were smiling. Its eyes lit up and it slowly pulled itself to its feet.

“What the Quiznak?” Lance said as the lion stepped off to the side. On the ground behind the Black Lion, lay a man in a white and black suit and helmet. The group stood in shock for a moment before Keith broke away and approached him. He fell to his knees as soon as he reached him and started to remove his helmet.

“It’s-” Keith shook his head in disbelief. The rest of the paladins ran over to investigate, and Allura’s breath caught in her chest as she got closer. Shiro, in his paladin suit, laid in front of Keith; She whipped around to see the Shiro that Keith had killed still over by the Black Lion. This had to be some sort of trick. Her hands shook as she went down on her knees, a spark of hope playing at the back of her mind. She touched Shiro’s face softly, afraid that if she pressed too hard, he would disappear. Her fingers moved to his neck and she nearly cried when she felt a pulse. He didn’t stir when she touched him, but she could see his eyes moving rapidly beneath his eyelids and a faint purple light surrounded him.

“... Is anyone else freaking out right now?” Hunk asked, peering over Shiro. “If this is Shiro… and that is Shiro… who is the real Shiro?”

“He’s still wearing his paladin suit from when we fought Zarkon,” Pidge said. “Before he disappeared… What if the Black Lion didn’t send him to the Galra… What if it sent him here?”

“Yeah, wherever here is,” Lance said, looking around. “... Does, uh, anyone actually know where ‘here’ is?”

“That would make more sense,” Hunk said in response to Pidge. “It was always weird to think that the Black Lion would send him straight to the Galra. Maybe it really was protecting him and thought this was the best place.”

“So how do you explain the guy we’ve been living with the last few months,” Lance said, looking back at the other Shiro’s dead body.

“Simple,” Pidge shrugged. “A clone.”

“What?!”

“What? Come on, we fight space aliens on a nearly daily basis. A clone wouldn’t be a crazy theory. Especially if Shiro was a captive of the Glara before.”

“It wouldn’t be a surprise to me if Zarkon’s witch had done a number of terrible things to him,” Allura agreed. “She already took his arm, how do we know she didn’t do other things?”

“So what now?” Hunk asked. “Do we still take that Shiro back?” He pointed to the dead Shiro.

“Absolutely,” Keith said fiercely, but Allura could still see the guilt in his eyes. “He may not have been who we thought he was, but he was still Shiro… in a way. We need to pay our respects.”

“We’ll take both of them back,” Allura said and she scooped Shiro up into her arms. “Lance, Hunk, you take the other one. We need to find a way to get back to Eioa.”

She paused next to Keith once the other three had continued on. “No one blames you for what happened… Thank you for saving the Black Lion.”

Keith gave her a sad smile and looked at Shiro who was resting peacefully in Allura’s arms. “We still have a lot of unanswered questions,” he said.

“You’re right… But we’re going find the answers together, as a-” she paused. “... As a family.”

Keith smiled again, though this time it was more sincere. They walked back to their lions together, Allura taking Shiro back to the Blue Lion with her. She carefully set him down against her seat and laid his head back, her hands lingering on his face. She rested her forehead against his and finally allowed herself to break down, still afraid that he would slip away at any moment. She could have stayed there, happy with the lie that they were safe, but she knew that the lie wouldn’t last. There were too many uncertainties and she wasn’t sure if Shiro would actually wake up.

She caressed his cheek, wishing she had the power to snap him out of his sleeping state. Before today, she had never touched his face before and she felt guilty for doing it while he lay unconscious. “You’re safe now,” she whispered, though she was saying it mostly to reassure herself.

A soft, violet light fell on them, filling up the cockpit and growing steadily brighter until Allura could no longer see. She closed her eyes and held Shiro close to her as the Blue Lion was transported once again.

********

“Jira, wait!” Chalna called as Jira ran towards the castle. Sirens wailed overhead and people rushed to their stations to prepare for the worst. The signal went off soon after the lions disappeared from Eioa; the Hauhet was coming.

Jira held her shoulder as she sprinted, the smell of her burned flesh overloading her senses. Her eyes watered from the pain and smell, but also because everything had gone wrong so quickly. Shiro’s reaction to the Quintessence was far more drastic than she could have imagined, and once it had taken effect, she could instantly sense the malicious intent behind his actions He was going to take the Black Lion to Zarkon, and he wasn’t going to hesitate to kill anyone who got in his way. Her heart pounded at the thought of Keith being alone with him. After the lions triggered the Quintessence in the Kafa and disappeared, there was no way for her to know if he was going to be okay.

She hurried onto the bridge where she ran into Coran. He looked at her injured shoulder and his mustache twitched with surprise.

“Jira, what’s going on?” He asked. “There are sirens sounding from the Kafa, and the paladins-”

“I don’t know where the paladins went,” Jira said, breathing heavily. She leaned forward on her knees and touched her shoulder gingerly. “But they set off the Quintessence and the Hauhet is coming-” she winced and a fresh set of tears came to her eyes.

“We need to get you to a healing pod, what happened?” Coran said, starting to lead her away from the bridge.

Jira shook her head. Everything was happening so suddenly and she couldn’t keep up. Her head spun at the thought of the Hauhet invading her home; the very creature that killed her dad. “No, we need to do something-”

“Jira, stop.” Chalna had reached the bridge and gave her daughter a sharp look. “You can’t do any good if you pass out from the pain.”

“Mom-” Jira wanted to protest, but her throat tightened with emotions, rendering her speechless. She knew her mom was right, but she couldn’t just sit and do nothing.

“Coran, go ahead and take her,” Chalna said firmly and Coran took Jira by the elbow. She reluctantly began following him when the door to the bridge opened again. Allura stepped through, carrying an unconscious Shiro, followed by Pidge and a bloody and bruised Keith. Jira pulled away from Coran, heart pounding in her chest.

“Where’s Hunk and Lance?” She asked them, her attention drawn to Keith. His gaze was fixed to her wound and he refused to look her in the eyes.

“They’re alright,” Allura said hastily. “We have a lot to explain, but now doesn’t seem to be the best time. What’s going on outside?”

“It’s the Hauhet,” Chalna said. “We don’t have much time before it gets here.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Allura said.

Pidge turned and ran towards the door. “I’ll tell Lance and Hunk!” she hollered.

Allura laid Shiro down in front of Jira and Coran. “Keep an eye on him?”

They nodded eagerly and Allura smiled at Jira. She could see relief on Allura’s face, despite the circumstances. Allura ran to join the others, but Keith hesitated, looking back at Jira before leaving the bridge.

“He shouldn't feel guilty,” Chalna said to Jira, watching Keith leave. She then looked down at Shiro and furrowed her brow. “He wasn’t wearing his suit earlier…”

“I noticed that too,” Jira said, bending down and resting on a knee. His breathing was stable and there was no sign that the Eioan Quintessence had taken any affect on him. She touched his forehead, hoping to fill in the gaps of what happened while the paladins were gone.

“Get anything?” Coran asked, peering over her.

“Just... “ Jira cocked her head, trying to make sense of what she was reading. “He just seems… at peace? I don’t know, it’s hard to read him. Maybe it’s hard because I’m hurt, I don’t-” she sighed in frustration. “It’s… different though, from when I read him before.”

“Before?” Coran looked puzzled. Jira shot her mother a worried look, remembering that Coran didn’t know anything about her reading Shiro last night.

“Uh... Maybe we should wait until everyone is back to explain.”

“Should we take Shiro to a healing pod?” Chalna interjected. Coran looked frustrated, but nodded. Jira stood to move out of the way so that Coran and her mom could pull Shiro up and felt a slight tremor in the ground when she did so.

“... Did you feel that?” She asked. The castle shook again, now more violently. Jira fell to her knees next to Shiro and looked out the window on the bridge.

Coran asked and he and Chalna rushed over to the windows. “... Quiznak,” Coran breathed, looking out at the Kafa. Jira pulled herself to her feet, and caught a brief glimpse of something yellow flicker over the roof of the Kafa before disappearing.

The green lion touched down between the Kafa and the castle, obscuring their view, but Jira could see a part of the Hauhet appear once again on the other side of Pidge. A long tail, covered in yellow fur with a stinger at the end flicked in the air, but the rest of its body was camouflaged into the surroundings, but it’s faint outline towered over the green lion.

“It’s bigger than the Black Lion,” Coran said in awe.

The yellow and red lion took position on either side of the Hauhet and slowly closed in, forcing it to either attack or retreat. The Hauhet revealed itself; a colossal creature with shaggy fur with ever changing colors. Jagged claws dug into the earth and it watched the lions warily with two pairs of glowing green eyes. It had a feline head with a short snout and a wide mouth that opened to reveal a snarl of fangs. Large ears perched at the top of its head, twitching at every sound around it. The creature crouched back on its hind legs and leapt over Pidge, landing on top of the castle.

*********

Lance stared at the Hauhet with a sense of both wonder and terror. “... It’s like a giant cat!” he yelled to the others over the communication system.

“Well spotted Lance,” Pidge mumbled.

“We need to get it away from the Kafa without harming it,” Allura said. “Keith?”

“Y-yeah…” Keith sounded distracted. Lance had noticed he was still shaken up over Shiro. He couldn’t blame him. Keith thought he had killed him… maybe he did, they still didn’t know enough about the situation to make any hard conclusions, but Lance wanted to hope that the Shiro they had rescued was the real one.

“Get into contact with Coran,” Keith said, finding his voice. “And try to do the same with the Kafa, Pidge.”

“I’m on it!”

The particle barrier activated on the castle, knocking the Hauhet off and sending it back amongst the lions. It was quick on its feet, however, and steadied itself; green eyes gleaming with fury. With a quick qhip of its tail, it wrapped around the green lion and began pulling it towards it. She fought against it, but it dug its stinger into the neck of the lion, sending an electrical shock through it.

“Hang in there, Pidge!” Lance looked around frantically, though he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. Normally he could just shoot an enemy and be done with it. With the Hauhet, he couldn’t be so straightforward. His hands gripped around the controls and he shot off a blast right above the Hauhet’s head, drawing its attention to him. His breath caught in his throat when its eyes flickered and it bore its fangs; a forked tongue licking its chops. “Ah ha… good kitty.”

“Lance…” Keith warned.

“It’s all good,” Lance lied, but he hadn’t given much thought as to what he was going to do once he drew it away from pidge. The Hauhet jumped straight at him, swiping at the red lion’s chest and sending it and Lance tumbling off to the side. Lance fell out of his chair and slammed against the ground. He pulled himself up in a daze and looked out to see the Hauhet digging its claws into the lion’s head.

Scrambling back into his seat, Lance grabbed the controls and tried to pull himself out from under the creature. “Little help, please!”

“Why’d you just shoot at it?” Keith demanded angrily.

“Enough, you two,” Allura said. “Lance, give us a warning next time, but you may be onto something.”

She steered the blue lion up into the air and shot down next to the Hauhet and the red lion. It whipped its head and focused on her next. It snarled and extended its tail out, catching a leg of the blue lion and bringing it crashing to the ground.

“It’s fast,” Allura muttered. “And strong… we may not be able to lure it away so easily.”

“Well we can’t just let it run wild until it tires itself out,” Keith said.

“Maybe if we just ask it nicely, it will go away,” Hunk piped up.

“What if we shot something off into the distance? Pidge asked. “Distracted it enough to send it away… it kinda messed up the wiring in here…”

“Are you alright, Pidge?” Allura asked her.

“Yeah, I’m good. What about you?”

“Good for now.”

The Hauhet panted and looked at the lions uneasily; its hair standing on its end. Despite how angry it looked, Lance could see how frightened it was. It was a scared animal, protecting its home and the lions must have looked like the biggest threats to it; no wonder it was eager to attack them. Lance racked his brain and tried to think of a different solution. The Hauhet attacked after he and Allura shot at it, but it also attacked Pidge and she hadn’t done anything… Lance looked up, an idea slowly forming. Pidge was right in front of the castle when the particle barrier went up, it may have thought that she was the one to do that since she was the closest to the castle. It attacked when someone or something made a sudden movement.

“Wait-” Lance said, grinning to himself. “Wait, I got it.” His thoughts went back to when he was Viltri on the scouting mission. She had warned him about the Zeloo and how they attacked when they felt threatened. He had learned his lesson quickly, but if they were lucky, the Hauhet would react in a similar fashion. He slowly lowered his lion down onto the ground and bent its head down, the Hauhet eyeing him suspiciously as he did so.

“Um... What are you doing?” Hunk asked.

“Just gimme a sec,” Lance said, hoping his gamble wouldn’t result in the Hauhet attacking again. He painstakingly took his time in laying his lion on its belly and resting its head on the ground. The Hauhet crept towards him and laid a rough paw on the lion’s neck, running its sharp claws along the metal. Lance covered his ears and cringed as the metal creaked underneath the Hauhet’s weight. It brought its face up next to the lion’s and sniffed it thoroughly while growling softly. The paladins waited silently while the Hauhet walked around each of the lions and inspected them.

“Pidge, did you get in touch with the Kafa?” Keith asked quietly, as if he feared the Hauhet would hear him.

“... Yeah.”

“Tell them not to attack… I think we got this.”

“Dude,” Hunk said to Lance. “Smart move.”

“This just might work,” Allura said with relief as the Hauhet continued to stalked around them, but its body language implied that it felt more relaxed. “Good work, Lance.”

“Thanks,” Lance smiled. “Can’t say this was all my idea though.”

******

A sharp jolt shook the ground, rustling Shiro from a deep sleep. He struggled to open his eyes and his body felt like it was pinned down by his own weight; he tensed up with fear and panic, trying make sense of his surroundings. If only he could open his eyes, or move, he could figure out a way to escape, but his thoughts were muddled. He tried to open his mouth, but he felt separated from his body; without control.

He breathed in deeply; his face twitched and he fought to gain control over himself. He needed to focus. Why couldn’t he just focus? Shiro slowly cracked his eyes open enough to sense that he was in a well lit room. It felt familiar to him in a way, but the light hurt his eyes and he was tempted to close his eyes and fall back into his peaceful sleep. He rolled his head to the side in an attempt to stay awake. He needed to knew where he was so he could escape. He shouldn’t be here, he should be somewhere else… but where was that? Thinking back on it, Shiro couldn’t actually remember where he was before falling asleep.

“Shiro?” A muffled female voice called out to him. The voice didn’t sound familiar so he forced his eyes open. A Galra woman with dark hair was leaning over him with a surprised look on her face. Adrenaline shot through Shiro, giving him enough strength to push himself up and away from her. His heavy limbs weighed him down, but he managed rolled over and distanced himself from the woman; panic started to overwhelm him. He was on the bridge in the castle, but why was there a Galra here?

The woman reached out to him, which only made him more wary. He clenched his hand, ready to activate his arm. He pushed her arms away and tried to stand in vain, and fell back onto the floor. The sound of hurried footsteps came towards him and from the corner of his eye, he could see two more people approach him. He clenched his jaw and made another attempt to stand.

“It’s okay,” Said another, younger female voice. She held his shoulders and Shiro whipped around to fight her off. He was met with a young woman with similar dark hair, but her skin was more blue than purple and she didn’t have the tall physique of a Galra. She gave him a warm smile and a reassuring squeeze on his shoulders. “You’re okay.”

He looked her over, spotting the glaring burn on her shoulder that had ruined her shirt and seared into her skin. He relaxed his hands, suddenly feeling exhausted.

“Did I-” His voice was weak and throat parched. “Did I do that to you?” He asked, fearing the woman’s answer. Her eyes darted away for a just a moment and she smiled and shook her head, but Shiro knew the truth. He had hurt her and he had absolutely no memory of it.

He gained control of his breathing and looked from both of the women to a familiar face. Coran stood next to them, his mustache twitching excitedly.

“Good to see you up and about,” Coran beamed. To be perfectly honest, I don’t have any idea why you were passed out or why you’re in your suit, but we have bigger problems at the moment.”

The castle rumbled again and they all turned to see the lions just outside, surrounding a strange creature that was circling among them. The lions were all lying down on the ground as the the creature rubbed its tail along all of them, pawing one occasionally before moving on. But if he was in the castle, then who was piloting the Black Lion? He immediately thought of Keith since he had used the lion before to save Shiro, but did that mean Allura was piloting the red lion? His head spun and began to ache from trying to force his memories to come back. Beyond the lions, nothing was familiar to him. They were on a beautiful, green planet, stationed on what looked like a military base. It was foreign to him, but he had an odd suspicion that he should already know where he was. He focused his breathing once more to remain calm. He needed answers, but Coran and the two women seemed preoccupied by what was going on outside.

The creature had finally stopped moving amongst the lions and let out a deafening roar. It crouched down and leapt over the Black lion and took off towards the jungle. Its bright yellow fur coat transformed to green then it disappeared completely into its surroundings.

Shiro pulled himself to his knees, Coran helping him up. His body still felt weak and he leaned on him for support. “What was that thing?” He asked.

“That was the Hauhet,” the older woman said, looking out to the jungle. “I’ve never seen it act that way before… It usually strikes fast and leaves quickly after causing damage, but this… it actually interacted with the lions. That was amazing.”

They watched as the lions retreated back into the castle. After several moments, the door to the bridge opened and the paladins and Allura filed in.

“Shiro!” Lance yelled and he, Hunk, and Pidge ran at him and yanked him into a hug, almost knocking him over. Shiro looked over Hunk’s head to see Keith, battered and bruised, and Allura. Keith hesitated before joining the group hug, but Allura hung back, staring at Shiro with wide eyes. She looked vulnerable; something he didn’t see often. She attempted a smile, but caught herself, clearly trying to suppress her emotions. Shiro hated to see her like that and it made him question even more why everyone was acting so strange.

“Does anyone want to tell me what’s going on?” He asked, nearly strangled by the tangle of arms.

Pidge popped her head up and gave him a nervous grin. “Uh… we’ve got a lot to explain.”