"Stars," Violet groaned, "I really hate getting knocked out. But twice in the same hour? That's practically dancing with death."
She picked herself up off the floor. Allura and Coran were standing at the bridge, trying to get control of the castle. Rubbing her head, she limped over to them.
"I'm going to try and find out where we're headed," said Coran, typing onto his control pad. "Violet, see if you can do an energy scan so we'll know if the lions are nearby." He passed a holographic scanner over to her.
"On it," Violet replied, pulling up the screen. "Scanning."
"Coran, Violet! I can see the end of the wormhole," Allura exclaimed. "It's some kind of black void, and we're going to crash into it!"
"That's odd. The castle isn't registering the void. It's like there's nothing there," Coran reported.
"Scanning complete," Violet informed them. "Voltron is nowhere to be seen. They've been hurled to the edges of the galaxy."
"Get ready - we're about to make impact!" Allura warned.
There was a thud as the castle made contact with the black void, and the room shook; Violet was hurled against a wall, slamming into it. Her vision spluttered, pain slicing through her head.
She groaned, fighting to stay awake. After a second, the pain receded enough for her to struggle to her feet.
Violet realized there was something wrong with her eyes. Everything was black, but there were two bright bursts of light standing by her, and the room was glowing blue. One of the lights was orange, and the other was blue and pink.
"I'm going to try and find out where we're headed," Coran's voice said - only it was coming from the orange light. "Violet, see if you can do an energy scan so we'll know if the lions are nearby. Violet? What's wrong?"
"What's wrong with you?" she asked. "You just said that."
"You did," the pink and blue light said, concerned. "We just crashed into a black void. Remember?"
"Like the black void we're about to collide with now?" Coran's light said. "That's odd. The castle isn't registering the void. It's like there's nothing there!"
Allura gasped. "Coran, you're young!"
"What do you mean?" Violet asked. "I kind of can't see anything. Except the two of you. Mostly."
"You're blind?" Allura said. "This is bad. This is very, very bad. Get ready - we're about to hit it!"
There was a rumble and a crash. Violet braced herself as she was thrown into the wall. Again. This time she did black out, for a moment. When Violet came to, her vision was back, and she sighed with relief. The agony in her head, though, she could do without. As she got to her feet, she realized she felt different. Violet looked down at herself and almost screamed - she was Galra. Her skin was purple, her hair was darker than before, and her irises were yellow. Violet touched her face. Under her mask, her markings were gone.
"I'm going to try and find out where we're headed," Coran announced. He was now middle-aged, wearing a sleeveless shirt that showed off his biceps.
Allura blinked. "Coran, you're twenty again! I'd almost forgotten you were young once!"
"Every time we go through the void, time takes a day off," Violet said, her voice weak. "Coran gets younger and younger and I keep ... changing. You're the only one who's still normal, Allura." Allura turned to Violet and jumped back. "I know," Violet said before the princess could speak. "Hopefully, it'll disappear the next time we crash into the black void."
Coran said, "What is it, Prin - eek! Galra intruder!"
Violet rolled her eyes. "It's me, Coran. Allura, can you enter coordinates so we can escape?"
"I'm trying, but the castle won't accept an end point," the princess said.
"That's odd. The castle isn't registering the void," Coran noted, still regarding Violet with suspicion. "It's like there's-"
"Nothing there," Violet finished. "We know."
"And there's no way for us to wormhole out of here," said Allura.
"I'll make a wormhole with my bare hands!" Coran exclaimed, flexing his muscles dramatically. "Don't give up, Princess and Galra Violet!"
The castle hit the black void before Allura could warn them to brace themselves. Violet was hurled against the wall, but she twisted at the last second, hitting it with her arm rather than her head. She winced at the pain, but at least she wasn't knocked out. And - thank the stars - she wasn't Galra anymore, back to her half-Altean, half-human self.
No one was saying anything. Violet looked up to see Coran, now a moody teenager with a ponytail, grouching at Allura and waving his arms angrily. Except no words were coming out of his mouth. Violet turned her gaze to Allura, who was stomping her foot at Coran, saying something she couldn't hear.
She was deaf.
Violet staggered over to the Alteans, clutching the princess's arm. Allura turned to her and said something, but Violet spoke over her. "I can't hear, princess." Her words sounded garbled and strange, like she was underwater.
The princess' face was lined with concern. She said something that looked like what? or how?, but Violet shook her head and pointed to her ears. Allura nodded reassuringly, and turned to Coran.
They were speaking quickly, but Violet tried to read their lips, without much success. Coran was sulking. Allura was frantically entering coordinates, presumably trying to get out of their predicament.
The black void was approaching. Violet turned towards the wall, bracing herself, and palmed one of her daggers. The castle began to rumble as it entered the void, but Violet was ready. As the floor heaved, she jumped towards the wall, using the added momentum to spin and pull her legs up to her chest. Violet hit the wall feet-fist, springing off it and landing nimbly in a crouch next to Coran, who was now a small child.
"I'm going to try and find out where we're headed," Small Coran said. He paused, scratching his head. "Can I take a nap first?"
Allura turned to Violet, distraught. "All of my attempts have failed," she cried. "If we go through the void another time, Coran will be wiped out until all that remains is his mustache! How can we - by the ancients, Violet! You're white! Why are you white?"
"Oh my god, Allura," Small Coran whined. "You can't just ask people why they're white."
Violet looked down at herself and gasped. Her skin was as pale as the moon. Her hair was silver, and she was betting that her eyes were white as well. Violet had been entirely washed of color - even her markings were light gray.
"How are we going to get out of this?" she asked Allura desperately.
"Just make the void go boom!" said Small Coran, clapping his hands together. He spun around in a circle, making cheerful explosion noises.
The girls exchanged a look. "It could work," Violet said hesitantly. "Do the ship's defense systems work on black voids?"
"There's only one way to find out," Allura said, and started firing into the void. However, the shots simply rebounded off the void. "It's reflecting the attack!" the princess exclaimed.
One of the blasts shot straight for the castle. "Pretty," said Coran, and blew a raspberry. And then the blast hit, and Violet was thrown off her feet, only given a second to shift her body as she slammed into the wall.
"Imma find where we're headed," a toddler said with bright orange hair. His stomach rumbled. "Actually, I don't wanna. I gonna eat instead."
Violet picked herself up off the floor, wincing. Every part of her body ached. You could only get thrown into a wall so many times before you cracked. She stood and limped over to Allura, who was trying to stop Coran the toddler from stomping on the control panel. "Don't play with that!" Allura scolded him. "You could - AAAH!"
"What now?" Violet asked impatiently, looking down at herself. She blinked. She was wearing a blue dress, and she could feel her hair brushing her lower back, and there were pink earrings dangling from her ears. She...
"Violet," Allura managed to get out, "You're me."
It was true. The wormhole had changed Violet into a duplicate of the princess, complete with the Altean accent and markings. Allura looked like she'd been given quite a fright. "Violet," the princess said, "Does my hair always look that unkempt? It's hideous."
"Focus, princess," Violet snapped, flipping her new hair over her shoulder. "We need to think - I refuse to get turned into a duplicate of Coran the next time we got through this thing. What if we stopped the castle? We could slow our descent into the wormhole."
"That might work!" Allura exclaimed, shutting down the thrusters. "I've paused all power - but we're still being sucked in! This is hopeless!"
"I wanna EEEAT!" Coran wailed.
The castle hit the black void, tossing Violet into the air. She winced as her head slammed against the wall, pain splitting through her temples. Luckily the huge mount of white hair on her head cushioned her skull. No wonder Allura preferred it in a bun - how could anyone deal with that much hair?
Violet blacked out, and when she came to, Allura was holding a baby Coran in her arms, cooing softly. Violet struggled to rise as Allura called, "Violet, I need you! We've got to fly out of here, or Coran will cease to exist!"
"Loora," baby Coran gurgled. "Ah-loora." He turned to Violet and made grabby hands at her. "Vylet."
Violet managed to make it to her feet, hobbling over to the princess. "What can I do?" she rasped. We have to save Coran. Can we still try to find coordinates?"
"I'll do one last search. Take the baby," Allura replied, handing Baby Coran over. She pulled up the screen, her expression mirroring Violet's. This was their last chance.
Allura gasped. "Coordinates! It looks like we haven't lost just yet, Violet. This is going to get bumpy!"
A second before the castle hit the black void, a wormhole opened next to it. Violet cried out as she was hurled around, clutching Baby Coran for dear life. Allura, somehow, was able to keep steady, channeling her concentration to make the jump. Violet only caught a glimpse of what they arrived at - a wasteland with the green lion proudly sending up a beam of energy - before she was thrown into the wall, protecting Coran with her body. There was a crack, and bright, hot pain, and Violet plummeted into unconsciousness like a stone.
-
"You rescued us, Pidge!" Allura said happily. "We were stuck in the wormhole! Coran was a surprisingly adorable baby and Violet - oh, no. Violet!"
The girl was crumpled in a heap at the side of the wall, curled protectively over Coran, who was fully grown and no longer a newborn. She looked bad - but of course, getting tossed around, going blind, deaf, almost drowning, getting leached of color and shape-shifting yourself could do that to a person.
"She needs to get to a cryo-pod," Allura ordered. "Coran, make sure there's nothing broken. Pidge, get to the castle. We must find the other paladins."
Coran checked Violet for injuries. "Seems like she broke one of her ribs, but some time in the healing pods will have her good as new," he informed them.
Allura found Keith and Shiro, who'd crashed on a desolated planet, first. Shiro had been clawed by a monster, and had to be healed as well, but Keith was fine. Next, they wormholed to Lance and Hunk, who had saved an underwater city from a narcotic plant.
They all gathered at the healing pods, telling each other of their adventures. Keith stood apart, watching over Violet and Shiro. He was worried for her, not just because of the bruises. He'd insisted to Allura for her mask to remain on while she healed, even if it stifled her breathing. Violet was going to have to come clean about her identity soon - and he didn't know if anyone else would take it as well as he had.
Lance walked up and stood next to Keith, staring at Violet's pod. Keith raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Eventually, the rest of the paladins filtered out of the room. Only when they were alone did Lance say, "She's Altean, right?"
Keith masked his surprise. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Lance glared at him. "Come on, Mullet. What do you think I am, an idiot?"
"...yeah," Keith said. "That's exactly what I thought. You caught me red-handed."
Lance smirked. "Told you I - wait. Did you just-?"
"Yep."
The boy groaned. "Look, I wasn't entirely knocked out when we were fighting those bots in the hangar on the Balmera. I saw her mask fly off. And I caught a glimpse of the photo of her family before she grabbed it. At first I thought the bottom half of her face was just gold and sparkly, but I pieced it together. Vi has Altean markings ... but her ears aren't pointed. And I heard King Alfor's corrupted AI call her a half-breed. So ... half-Altean, right? I'm guessing it was her mom?"
Keith blew out a breath. "Yeah. That's how she was able to perform the ceremony on the Balmera; she had enough energy to fill in the gaps Allura left."
Lance was quiet for a moment. Then he said softly, "Why hasn't she told us?"
"She's been hiding her face her whole life. And she's been away from her family for seven years, abducted by the Galra. Violet hasn't shaken off the reflex to conceal herself yet. But she will, because we're her friends."
"Right. I still don't know why she decided to tell you first, though."
Keith sighed. "Because unlike some people, I can keep a secret."
"That's it?" Lance asked, smirking. "Nothing ... else?"
Keith chose to ignore that. Instead, he said, "Why haven't you flirted with her?"
That shut him up. "What?"
Keith met Lance's eyes. "You haven't - not with Violet. Why?"
"Do you want me to flirt with her?" Lance asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively. Keith glared at him. Lance sighed and conceded, "You know I'm bisexual, right?"
He did. "How could I not?" Keith answered. "You flirt with everything that has a pulse."
Lance grinned. "I can't even deny that. But ... I've never had any romantic feelings at all for Vi. I just want to be friends." He shrugged. "I can't say the same for her, though. Don't get jealous if she has a crush."
"On you? She'd never," Keith shot back, ignoring the pang that went through him at the paladin's words. Does Violet like Lance?
Lance smirked. "Keep telling yourself that. Later, Mullet." He strode from the room arrogantly, leaving Keith behind to watch over Violet and Shiro.