My vision was hazy as I opened them.
"Zurine? Zurine, wake up." I heard someone say.
I groaned as my vision returned to normal and the faces of my friends became clear.
"Guys, what happened?" I asked as I sat up, finally noticing that my wrists were cuffed behind my back.
"We were crushed by a gravity ray and knocked out cold. The next thing we knew, we were in here, cuffed and locked in." Keith answered.
I lifted my head and looked around at our confined space. From the dark atmosphere I could tell we were in a Galra cruiser holding area, otherwise knowm as the brig.
"What do we do know?" I asked.
"Don't worry, Zurine." Lance said as slid along the walls, "I'm gonna find a secret passage that will unlock this cell so we can escape."
"Is that what you've been doing for the past fifteen minutes?" Hunk asked as Lance kicked the wall near the door, which resulted in him wimpering in pain.
"Will someone shut him up?" Krolia asked from the front of the room, looking through the slot in the door.
"There's only one guard patrolling out there." She said, "If we can get this door open, we can overpower him."
Hunk looked around and noticed one person missing from our group.
"What happened to Coran?" He asked.
"He must be managed to hide when we were captured." Krolia said.
"At least we have one ally out there still able to fight for us." Allura said with hope and relief.
"Are uou saying our fate rests in Coran's hands?" Pidge asked.
Everyone slumped down.
"I will help you look for that passage."
I closed my eyes and relaxed, not much to do but wait for Coran. At least if I relax, I wouldn't be wound up for the upcoming fight against our captors.
I didn't move, and it looked like I wasn't even breathing. But unknownest to me, my body was outlined in a pale white light and my now shorter hair was slowly beginning to lose its gold highlights.
Shiro saw, from the corner of his eye and gasped at my slowly changing appearance.
"Guys, what's happening to Zurine?" He asked, drawing everyone's attention to me, resulting in their gasps of surprise and shock.
"What the?" Lance said speechlessly.
"What's with that light around her?" Pidge asked.
Allura stared at my suttle chanhes and gasped when she remembered her time in Oriande.
"This can't be..." She said.
"Allura, do you know what's happening to her?" Keith asked.
Allura nodded slowly, "I think so. When I was in Oriande, Zurine was there, but she looked and seemed very different."
"Different? How?" Hunk asked.
"Remember our battle with Lotor and shr had changed? She lokked like that when I saw her in Oriande. And her slow chanhes now are identical to back then."
"Okay, but why is this happening now?" Krolia asked.
"My guess is as good as yours. I can't say why this is happening, but all of her powers and abilities are strange and unknown to all of us." Allura said.
My eyes suddenly shot open and the glow around me disappeared when the doors creaked open.
Two guards came into the room with heavy guns and wearing suitd of armor. But they weren't alone.
They stood by the walls and let in their leaders. Two of the former generals of Lotor, Zethrid and Ezor, stood in front of us, surprising us all at their new appearances and sense of command.
"Look who's here. It's Voltron and their oh so powerful heart, the Child of Sun and Moon." Ezor said.
Zethrid smirked, punching her fist into her open hand and looking down upon us with an evil scowl.
"We're going to have a little talk." She said.
Lance leaned closer to get a better look at our captors, leaning back straight when he remembered who they were.
"Hey, you're the guys Lotor shot into space." Lance said.
"And the ones who were trying to kill us." Pidge added.
"Yeah, sure, but we're all friends now, right?" Hunk asked hope filling in his eyes, "I, for one, am glad you survived."
"As am I." I said, smiling softly, "However, I don't believe we left each other on good terms."
Ezor smiled and looked kindly at us, "I'm glad you survived, too. Especially you, little white princess. It's no fun torturing a dead person."
"Where have you been all this time? And what happened to Lotor?" Zethrid demanded answers.
"What are you talking about?" Shiro asked confused. I too was confused. All this time? We weren't gone that long. Were we?
"We're talkong about your little disappearing act." Ezor clarified.
"Answer the question! How did you survive that explosion?" Zethrid asked forcefully.
"Don't you know? You were there." Hunk said.
"I think there's a little confusion about how the... "we ask questions, you give us answer" scenario works." Ezor said.
"Enough of your games. Where is Lotor?"
I sighed, standing up and staring straight into Zethrid and Ezor's eyes.
"Due to Lotor's thrist for power, he died in the Quintessence field." I answered. Exor looked at me confused but stern.
"Yeah, that doesn't really add up. Why aren't you dead?"
"Because of the power of teamwork?" Hunk answered unsurely.
"And you said it yourself, we've got the all powerful Child of Sun and Moon who can I think control the universe?" Pidge added.
Zethrid growled at the answers we gave her, "I'm going to ask you one more time, and then we're going to have to take a more extreme approach."
"The fun part."
"What happened to Lotor and where have you been all this time?"
We stayed silent, not knowing what answers to tell Zethrid and Ezor.
Zethrid sighed, "If you insist in maintaining this charade of ignorance, you leave us no choice but to apply pressure."
"Finally. Who's our first victim?" Ezor asked excitedly. She scanned over all of us and landed her eyes on me and Pidge.
Zethrid smiled at their choice, "You two." Zethrid said, "I'd bet half my fleet this group of heroes has a soft spot for the small one and the Child of Sun and Moon."
Ezor took a few steps forward.
"Dont you touch them!" Keith and Lance shouted, charging towards the multicolored woman.
Ezor jumped up and dodged, then used her momentum to swing her leg into the back of their heads, slamming them into the farther wall.
When they landed om the floor, they were about to get when the guards aimed their guns at them, forcing the two biys to stay out.
"Your defiance is adorable and so very misguided." Zethrid scoffed.
"Leave us alone." Pidge said.
Ezor quickly swung her tentacle-like hair towards Pidge, but i took action first, throwing myself in front of the small girl and getting my cuffed wrists wrapped by her hair.
"Zurine!" Pidge shouted in worry. Ezor held the collar of my suit tightly. I groaned at the sudden pressure being put against me.
"Let her go!" Keith shouted.
As Ezor stared at me with a gleam in her eyes, I made no move of resistance. I simply stared into her eyes, rivling her happy gleam with my strong sense of will.
"Ezor, you have a choice not to do this." I said, "Join the good side and fight to rid the universe of the remains of the Galra Empire."
Ezor chuckled at my words, "Now, why would I do that? Fight on your side, please, that wouldn't be as fun as torturing you."
"You have greats skills, use them for the greater good." I said.
Ezor stared at me, her eyes filled with confusion and conflict as she oushed me against the wall.
"Answers." She said sternly.
"We told you, he's-" Keith was interrupted when a loud boom erupted from outside and the alarms began to blare loudly.
"Hull breach in hangar one. Lockdown sequence initiated.." A computerized voice announced.
Zethrid and the guards quickly rushed out, Ezor letting me go to follow.
The doors closed knce they left, but once they were out of sight, we all stood up and shuffled our way to the door.
"This is it." Krolia said, "The next time that door opens, overwhelm the guard.
We took out places against the side of the cell and readied ourselves to fight. But our time to fight didn't come.
Ourside the door, we could hear clanging metal, thudding bodies and the guard groaning in surprise and pain.
Just then, when the noises faded, the door slid open and revealed our rescuers: the mice.
They squeaked and waved happily as they sat on the guards unconscious back.
Allura and I smiled as we knelt in front of them.
"Hello, little friends." Allura said relieved at our release.
"Thank for freeing us." I said. They squeaked, but only Allura and I were able to understand them.
"What?" I asked confused.
"Where?" Allura asked.
"Where? What are they saying?" Hunk asked.
"Coran's trying to rescue us." Allura said.
"And he's got help." I added, "Acxa."
"What?" Keith asked in disbelief.
"No time for questions, we need to hurry." I said. The mice ran up our arms and unlocked out restraints.
We wasted no time running down the halls and finding our friend, who was currently failing at fighting a large man in heavy armor.
Allura smiled and shot her laser at the man's back, letting him fall to the floor.
Coran graoned as he returned to his normal color. Keith and Lance quickly rushed ti his side and held him up as he slumoed to the floor.
"See? You got lucky." Coran said weakly and disoriented.
"Coran, where's Acxa?" Keith asked.
"I don't know. Where am I?" Coran asked.
"Are you okay?" Shiro asked.
I sighed as Coran mumbled.
"Keith, Lance, hold him up straight, I can heal while we run." I said, everyone nodded as I took my place behind Ciran, healing him with my powers.
We ran down to the hangars and rushed to the room where our helmets and bayards were.
They were being guarded by only two men who were fiddling with them.
"They have weapons and we don't." Any suggestions?" Lance asked.
"Unhand those bayards, you scallywags!" Coran shouted. Lance's hand flew over his mouth to keep Coran silent, but it was too late.
The pirates heard Coran and powered up their guns.
"So much for the element of surprise." Pidge said.
"Don't worry, everyone. I've got this." I saidn smiling as my blue necklace turned me invisible, "Keith, reach out to your bayard. Call it forward. I'll get the others."
Keith nodded, closing his eyes and concentrating on his bayard.
Meanwhile, I snuck around the pirates and made my way to the other helmets and weapons.
Keith made quick work of the pirates, slashing away at them with his sword.
When he was done with them, I lowered my invisibility and grabbed my helmet and bayard.
"Lance, lead the way. Keep the team together." Keith said, grabbing his helmet and rushing towards the door.
"Wait, where are you going?" Lamce asked.
"Acxa saved our skin. I'm not gonna leave her behind." Keith said turning and exiting the room, "I'll meet up with you guys soon."
We suited up, Coran and Romelle finding some extra space suits and we rushed out to find our lions.
We came across a large hatch and opened to doors, releasing ourselves into space.
But we were followed, sudden shots of lasers whizzed past us. Lance shot his own gun back at the pirates and and Hunk followed with his blaster.
I protected Romelle by covering us in a sphere created by my moon powers. We quickly hovered over to my lion and entered, taking our stations whrn Keith's voice rang through the cockpit.
"Guys! Zero in on my location and fire on the ship." He said.
"Are you sure?" Allura asked.
"Just do it!" We did as told by our leader, firing our shots at Keith's location. The Black flew towards the ship as it exploded, grabbing Keith and Acxa and flying away with all of us intact.
We eventually flew away to a deserted planet and made camp for a while.
Hunk came back into our cave with a pile of firewood.
"Uh, I just looked at the Lions and they're in worse shape than ever." He said.
"We should probably give then some time to recharge before we head back on our way." Shiro suggested.
"Wow, a lot things have really changed over the past few weeks." Lance said, Acxa's eyes widened in confusion bybthe sudden timeframe.
"Weeks? What are you talking about?" She asked.
"The last time we saw you. You were fighting us alongside Lotor." Allura said.
"That was three deca-phoebs ago." Acxa clarified, "No one has seen you since your fight with Lotor."
"That's impossible." Keith said.
"It's true. After Lotor jettisoned us, we managed to make it cover on a meteoroid. There we saw both Voltron and Lotor disappear. Eventually Voltron emerged... alone. But then there was an explosion, and after that.... nothing. That was three deca-phoebs ago."
I stared wide eyed at the news Acxa gave us. Three deca-phoebs? We've been missing for three deca-phoebs?
"So, as far as everyone else in the universe is concerned, Voltron has been gone for three deca-phoebs?" Allura asked.
We were all shocked. The only sounds that coupd be heard were the sticks falling out of Hunk's arms and the fire crackling.
"That explains the discrepancies in the star charts in our Lions." Pidge said, pulling up her stats and charts, "I thought they were off because of our inter-dimensional jumping, which I guess they were, in a way. Because when you think about it, that must have been the cause of the time slippage between our experience and that of the rest of the universe."
"So how did you end up here, helping us?" Keith asked Acxa.
Acxa looked dowm into the fire as she explained, "Zethrid, Ezor and I were marooned on the meteoroid for days. Finally, a Galra ship came to investigate Lotor's last known whereabouts. We took it over. With Lotor gone, it was clear that there was a power vacuum in the Galra Empire. Zethrid and Ezor wanted to exploit that for their own gain... but I knew I had to find my own path. And it led me to you."
"Thank you... for saving us." Keith said gratefully.
Ezor smiled and looked off to the side, "I hope that this makes up, in some way, for the wrong I've done. I realize now thst Lotor wasn't the man I thought he was. He preached unity, but in the and, he sought only power."
Allura looked down, understanding what Acxa felt.
"Understand how you feel. I fell for Lotor's lies as well." She said.
"I'll do everything I can out here to help the Voltron Coalition."
"Wow," Hunk finally spoke, "So Everyone that was helping us thinks we're dead."
"Not all of you." Acxa said, "For some reason, each member of the Coalition had a crystal in the shape of a crest, when yoy all disappeared, it began to glow and pulsate, like a heartbeat."
I gasped, "My crystals." I whispered, "I gave a crystal with my family's crest on it to each member of the Coalition. But, why would they do that?"
"I don't know, Zurine." Acxa said, "Your powers are legendary and contain many secrets."
"Wait." Pidge suddenly said, "I haven't been able to get ahold of my dad on Earth or Matt and the Rebels. What's happened to them in the last three years?"
"And if Ezor and Zethrid became warlords in that time... what else has changed?" Allura asked.
I sat there in silence as nothing made a sound but the flickering fire in front of us, thinking about what had changed during these past years.