The day finally came when Allura and Lotor would travel to the field of quintessence.
Team Voltron stood on the bridge, watching as the two prepared the ship for launch.
"Beginning system check." said Lotor. "Front and rear stabilizers."
"Front and rear stabilizers are go." replied Allura.
"Quintessence collection array."
"Quintessence collection array is go."
"Infracells"
"Infracells up."
"Dynotherms."
"Dynotherms connected."
"Switching on mega-thrusters."
"Mega-thrusters are go."
"Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?" asked Kanna.
"I do! But that doesn't say much because I have a bad feeling about everything..." said Hunk.
"I agree." said Coran. "This plan is a foolhardy and unnecessary risk."
"I don't know." said Pidge. "We've traveled through the quintessence field to another reality. This isn't just theoretical physics. Mathematically, we know it's possible."
"Well, it is hard to argue with math." said Coran. "Believe me, I've tried."
"But even if they do reach the quintessence field, then what? The last time anyone got in there, it turned Zarkon evil." said Lance.
"Lance makes a fine point! Take that, math!" said Coran.
"Zarkon fell prey to his own evil instincts." said Shiro. "The quintessence field didn't create them, it revealed them."
Kanna wanted to tell Allura to be careful, but at this point she knew that trying to get through the princess' thick skull was pointless.
The hangar doors then opened, and the ship launched.
Kanna noticed Lance's worry, and tried to ease his mind.
"Hey, don't worry." she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Allura can fend for herself. She will be fine."
"I hope so." said Lance.
Suddenly, the ship's alarms started going off, and the controls indicated an approaching vessel.
"What is that?" asked Hunk.
"I've got an incoming craft." said Coran.
"Shields up." commanded Shiro. "And pull it up on-screen."
Once the team could see the ship, Coran's eyes widened with shock.
"That- That can't be." he said. "It's an Altean pod! A really old one!"
"What's it doin' out here?" asked Lance.
"Let's find out." said Shiro. "Attention, Altean pod, identify yourself."
Then, Keith's image appeared on the screen.
"Shiro, its Keith."
"Keith? Are you okay?" asked Kanna.
"Where have you been?" asked Pidge.
"How did you get your hands on that pod?" asked Coran.
"Does he look bigger to you guys?" asked Lance.
"I'm okay. I'll explain everything inside." said Keith.
Once the Altean pod landed on the castle, Keith descended, followed by a young girl, a Galra woman and a space wolf.
'He does look bigger' thought Kanna.
"Hold on, how do we know you're the real Keith, not his bigger, cooler, grizzled older brother?" asked Lance.
"I don't have time for this, Lance." responded Keith, grumpily.
"Oh yeah, its him for sure." said Lance.
Keith ignored Lance and looked at Kanna. He was overcome by emotions.
Kanna didn't know it, but he had been in a place where time went by differently. For her, it had only been about a month since she'd last seen him. For him, it had been two years.
Keith remembered the urgency of the situation and snapped back to reality.
"We need to stop Lotor. He's been lying all along." he said.
"Lying about what?" asked Shiro.
"Everything!" said the girl with blonde hair.
"What happened? Who are these people?" asked Pidge.
"She's Altean!" said Coran, referring to the young girl.
"Where did you come from? Is that a wolf? " asked Hunk.
"I promise I'll explain everything once we get to Lotor." said Keith.
"We can't get to him. He just entered the quintessence field with Allura." said Kanna.
"Can't we attack if we use Voltron?" asked Keith.
"Woah, wait a minute. Why would we want to attack?" asked Hunk.
"We can't attack, Allura is in there!" said Lance.
"Calm down everyone. We will wait until they return to sort this out." said Shiro.
---
The group made their way to the castle's bridge.
"Lance is right, you have changed." said Shiro, looking at Keith.
"Time is different where I've been."
"Shiro, I am Krolia. Keith had told me all about you." said the Galra woman, approaching Shiro. "Thank you for raising him to be the man he is today."
"Krolia is with the blade of marmora. Also... she's my mother." said Keith, shocking everyone in the room.
"Its an honour to meet you." said Shiro, surprised.
"WHAT?" said Lance, freaking out.
Now that Kanna looked at them side by side, the resemblance was uncanny.
"You look just like her." she said, smiling.
Krolia then looked at Kanna and smiled.
"You must be Kanna. I have heard a lot about you as well."
Kanna blushed.
"Okay but who's the Altean?" asked Coran.
"This is Romelle, and I think she should tell her own story." said Keith.
And so she did.
She told them about how Lotor rescued thousands of Alteans, making false promises of a safe land for them to live, only to use them to extract their quintessence.
"He killed so many of us... including my brother." said Romelle.
Kanna thought she might pass out.
All the time she was with Lotor, he was doing all of those monstrosities and she had no idea.
"He- I can't believe this" she said.
Kanna knew he was evil, but she had no idea he was this evil.
"That's horrifying." said Coran.
"All this time I can't believe he fooled us." said Lance.
"He's a monster." said Keith.
"We need to stop him. We need to wait until he returns with Allura to make sure no harm comes to her. Then we attack." said Shiro.
---
It would be a while until Allura and Lotor returned, so the team had to wait.
Shiro was asking Keith about his time in the time warp.
"So, for us its been a month, but you haven't seen any of us in two years? " asked Shiro.
"Yeah..." he responded, looking at Kanna, who was playing with the space wolf across the room.
Shiro noticed the direction of his gaze and said:
"You still love her, huh?"
"I can't imagine the day I won't." said Keith.
Shiro smiled. He was glad Keith had come to terms with his feelings.
"Nothing like two years in a space-time warp to give you some perspective." said Shiro.
Keith smiled.
"She changed my life, all by herself." he said. "Not having her around made me realize how much I cared."
"Then I hope you don't waste any more time." said Shiro, smirking.
Keith looked down to the floor.
"Yeah. But its not so simple. I screwed things up before. Even if she ever had any feelings for me before she probably doesn't anymore."
Shiro put a hand on Keith's shoulder and chuckled.
"I wouldn't worry about that, buddy. Kanna doesn't give up so easy. She is a lot tougher than you." joked Shiro.
Keith smiled.
"Yeah, she definitely is." he said, looking over at Kanna who had the wolf on top of her, licking her face.
---
Keith walked over to Kanna and the space wolf.
She was kneeling down and running her hands through his fur, as he wagged his tail happily.
"He really likes you, huh?" he said, approaching.
"I like him too." said Kanna, looking up and smiling.
Keith's heart was beating incredibly fast. He wanted to just come out and tell Kanna everything he was feeling. But as he stood there before her, his tongue felt like it was taped down in place.
Kanna could sense his nervousness, though she was unsure why he felt that way.
"So, two years on a time warp? Must have been crazy." she said, trying to ease the tension.
Keith chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah, its kind of weird being back and seeing that nothing has changed."
"But you have." said Kanna, standing up.
Keith paused and looked down to the floor.
"I guess I have."
He wanted to tell her that yes, he had changed, but that the best part of him hadn't. The part that he left behind with her when he left.
The part that belonged to her and only her, and it had since the first time he saw her.
He wanted to say he hated himself for being so afraid of loving her.
But alas, he was too scared to.
"I know the ending of the story." said Kanna, breaking the silence between the two.
"What?" asked Keith, confused.
"I finished the book. You asked me to tell you how the story ended, remember?"
Keith then remembered the note he had left in the book. It had been more than two years but he still remembered what it said.
"What happened?" he asked. "Did she wait for him?"
Kanna smiled.
"Yeah. She did."
"And did he come back?"
"He always does."
---
When Lotor and Allura returned to the castle, they were greeted by a very angry looking crew, and some new faces.
As soon as the two stepped through the door, guns were pointed at them.
"What is going on here?" asked Allura.
"Allura, step away from Lotor." said Lance.
"I will do no such thing! Someone explain to me what is going on!" she said, standing in front of Lotor in a protective manner.
"He has been lying to you." said Keith.
"Lotor is a monster and has been harvesting Altean quintessence for generations! He killed my brother!" said Romelle.
"An Altean?!" said Allura, in disbelief.
"Lotor has been lying to us the whole time." said Kanna.
"He's a murderer, just like his father!" said Pidge.
"You know nothing about what you speak!" said Lotor.
"What are they talking about?" asked Allura, turning towards him.
"All of you, I only ever had the best interest of Alteans in mind! I've dedicated my life to preserving Altean culture. Now that we have unlocked the quintessence field, all Alteans who would have been hunted down long ago had it not been for my intervention, can live in peace." said Lotor. "Were some lives lost in the process? Yes. But they were martyrs to a noble cause. I sacrificed a few to preserve the future for millions.The casualties were necessary to save thousands more!"
He was barely able to finish his sentence, when Allura grabbed him by the arm and threw him across the room.
Kanna wished she could press replay on that moment eternally.
Lance whispered to Kanna:
"We could all just walk over to him and kinda kick his ass, would that be wrong?"
"Though call." she answered.
Before anyone else could do anything, Shiro grabbed his head and started screaming.
"Shiro! What's wrong?" asked Keith.
Kanna ran over to him, but before she could touch him, he threw her across the room with his robotic arm.
The white paladin hit the wall and fell to the ground unconscious.
"KANNA!" said Keith, as he began running to her.
But Shiro blocked his path and hit him in the stomach, sending him flying in the other direction.
Shiro punched his way through the room, leaving the whole crew motionless on the ground.
The black paladin then grabbed the unconscious Lotor and ran towards the hangar.
Before anyone could interfere, he escaped in a pod.
---
As the members of team Voltron began returning to their senses, they realized what had just happened.
"Did Shiro just turn evil?" asked Hunk, rubbing the back of his head.
Keith went over to Kanna and helped her up.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah I'm fine. But he is not himself, we need to go after him." said Kanna.
Keith nodded.
"We need to go after Shiro, and we need Voltron to do it. Get to your lions, everyone."
"Who's gonna pilot the black lion?" asked Pidge.
"I will." said Keith.