The paladins quickly got to their lions and formed Voltron, setting off in the pursuit of Shiro.
To their surprise, however, they saw Shiro's pod flying into a wormhole.
"Is that..?" asked Kanna.
"A wormhole?" said Lance.
"They're trying to escape!" said Keith.
"How is this possible?" asked Pidge.
"Haggar." said Allura. "It has to be Haggar. She must have gained the ability. But how?
"We can't worry about that." said Keith. "We have to make sure we get Shiro back."
"But Shiro's not Shiro anymore." said Hunk.
"I know, but something is wrong with him. The Galra or Lotor have to be behind it." said Keith. "You all know he would never give up on us. We can't give up on him."
"Guys, the wormhole is about to close! We're not gonna make it!" said Hunk.
"Hunk, Allura, we need thrusters!" said Keith.
"We're trying!" said Allura.
Voltron was flying at max speed, but the wormhole was almost completely shut.
"We need to dismantle." said Keith.
"What?" asked the paladins, in unison.
"The energy from disconnecting might create enough thrust to propel me through the wormhole. Kanna, you need to help me with your lion's wings." said Keith.
"But then only the two of you will get through!" said Hunk.
"DOT IT!" said Keith.
The separation force shot Kanna and Keith forwards, since they made up the torso and shoulders. Kanna activated her lion's wings, propelling them forward even faster.
Luckily, the two were able to make it just before the wormhole closed.
---
When the two paladins made it out of the wormhole, they arrived in the middle of a massive Galra fleet.
"Alright Kanna, we have play this smart." said Keith.
"Right." agreed Kanna.
The two lions flew through the Galra ships, evading shots but not engaging in attacks.
That's when they saw Shiro's pod leaving a Galra battle cruiser and flying away.
"Keith! That's Shiro's ship!" pointed out Kanna.
"Let's go after him."
The two paladins followed after the pod, and attempted to contact Shiro through the radio.
"Shiro, come on." said Keith. "I know you're there! I don't know what's wrong, but I know we can fix this."
"We can help you!" said Kanna.
But there was no response
Shiro's trail lead them to what looked like and abandoned Galra base.
Everything about the place screamed ambush, but Kanna knew they had no choice.
They landed their lion's on the planet's surface and followed footprints through the terrain, until their reached a tower-like building.
Climbing to the top, Keith and Kanna arrived a massive platform.
On it, was a long file of cylinder - shaped containers filled with liquid.
Kanna approached of the cylinders to see what it contained, when suddenly the lights went on.
The paladins were completely taken aback by what they saw.
All of the containers had Shiro inside.
"Are these... clones? Of Shiro?" asked Keith, dumbfounded.
Then they heard the black paladin's voice.
"Hello you two." said Shiro.
They quickly turned around to see the him standing at the end of the corridor. But something was very off about him.
"Shiro, it's gonna be okay." said Keith.
"Yes, I know." replied the black paladin.
"We just have to get back to the Castle." said Kanna.
"We're not going anywhere!" said Shiro, attacking Keith at full force.
Kanna activated her swords to help, but before she could react, the cylinders containing the clones began to open.
"What the-" she said, as five Shiros began to make their way towards her.
As they approached, Kanna noticed that there was something wrong with each of the clones. They looked like scientific experiments gone wrong.
One was missing a leg, the other an arm; some barely looked human. They seemed to have no life force either, acting like puppets being controlled by strings.
'Failed cloning attempts', thought Kanna.
She saw Keith and Shiro fighting in the distance, and Keith looked like he was being quickly overwhelmed, but she had her own problems at that moment.
The clones' malformations certainly didn't make them weak, and Kanna was struggling to fight them all at once.
One of the clones ran towards her, so she jumped up spinning and kicked it in the face.
While he fell, another came at her with a sword projected from his arm. Kanna grabbed his arm and and twisted it, flipping her back towards him.
She then elbowed the clone in the face and broke his robot arm over her shoulder.
Once the arm broke off, the clone seemed to down.
'Breaking the robotic arm is making them stop' she thought.
The next two attacked at once. She blocked each clone's attack with a sword. With a twist of the wrists, she flipped their swords away from her.
Kanna spun the sword in one of her hands, making it point down. She used the hilt to give one of the clones an upper cut, making him fall back. She then used the flipped sword like a hook to slice off his robot arm.
The second clone managed to make a cut to her side. She hissed, turned to him and attacked. However, the fifth clone joined in and kicked her leg, making her fall to the floor.
Both clones attempted to slash her face, but she made an 'x' shape with her swords and blocked the attacks.
Kanna swung her legs sideways, bringing a clone down. As he fell, she jumped up and kneed him on the face. She then used both swords to cut off his arm.
For the final clone, she turned her bayard into a single sword.
She parried him for a while, but finally she deflected his swing and used her free hand to punch his elbow from below, breaking the robot arm in two.
Breathing heavily, Kanna looked over at Keith and Shiro.
Shiro had Keith pinned down at the edge of the platform.
Kanna panicked and began to run towards them.
Shiro was pressing his sword down, and it made a big cut to Keith's cheek, who then screamed in pain.
"KEITH! THE ARM! CUT IT OFF!" shouted Kanna, in desperation.
What she saw then scared her.
Keith's face changed. His eyes turned yellow and purple, and his teeth became fangs.
His dagger grew into a massive broad sword, and he managed to cut off Shiro's arm.
Shiro instantly fell over, unconscious.
Kanna ran to them, but when she saw Keith, she was scared to approach.
He didn't look like himself. His eyes looked blood-thirsty, and his fangs were exposed.
"Keith?" she asked, in a hushed tone, as she took slow steps towards him. "Are you okay?"
He didn't respond. Instead, he let out a terrifying growl.
Kanna took a step back in fear.
She took a deep breath and continued walking towards him.
"Keith, its me. Please. It's all over now. We can go home."
But suddenly, Keith launched towards her to attack.
Kanna didn't know what to do.
When he approached, instead of defending herself, Kanna wrapped her arms around him.
Keith struggled in her grasp, and his sword made a massive cut to her arm.
Kanna ignored the pain and held tightly to him.
"Its okay. Its okay. Its me." she said, as tears streamed down her face. "Keith, its me. I love you."
Once she said those words, Keith's eyes widened and he froze.
His arms began to lower, as his blade retracted back to a dagger.
Keith's eyes then turned back to normal and his fangs retracted into teeth.
As he returned to his senses, he wrapped his arms around Kanna and held her tighter than ever.
"Kanna." he whispered. "I- I'm so sorry."
Kanna looked up and him and began to move away, when he pulled her back towards his chest.
"Please, hold on to me a little longer." he said. "Just a little longer."
Kanna nodded and buried her face on his chest as more tears began to form.
Suddenly, a massive rumble sounded through the area.
Keith and Kanna let go of each other as they turned to look around.
Explosions were going off throughout the building, causing it to break down.
"Shiro!" screamed Kanna.
Keith then ran towards the black paladin, who still lay unconscious.
But as he knelt down to pick him up, the base of the platform exploded.
The platform began to turn sideways, and Kanna grabbed on to a metal beam to keep from sliding down.
She looked down and saw Keith, hanging on to the ledge, while holding Shiro with one arm.
"KEITH!" she screamed. "HOLD ON!"
He looked up at her and his eyes were full of sadness.
'No.' she thought, as she read the expression on his face.
"I'm sorry Kanna." he said.
Kanna's eyes widened in fear.
"No, Keith, don't! " she screamed, in desperation.
His hands then gave in he fell.
"NOOOOOOO!" cried Kanna, as she saw Keith and Shiro fall into nothingness.