"Phoenix, wait up! I can't run as fast as you!" A young boy called out, panting heavily as he tried to catch up with me.
I smiled and turned around slightly to see the boy I was being chased by. He was only a couple of inches taller than me and had raven black hair, his eyes a strange purple-gray that always had a happy glint to it.
"Am I too fast, or are you too slow, Keith?!" I shouted back, stopping for a moment to let him catch up. As soon as he caught up with me, he leaned forward, hands on his knees and took deep breaths.
"How... how can you run that fast?" He asked panting for breath.
I chuckled and patted his head playfully.
"Like I said, you're just too slow." I said beginning to run again, but I was quickly caught by a wavering hand.
I gasped when I was pulled to the ground and resting on top of Keith's stomach. I looked up and saw Keith's smiling face, trying to keep down his laughter and failing miserably.
"I caught you!" He said, releasing his laughter. I was confused at first, but when I saw his flame, I laughed along with him.
His eyes and his flame emitted a sense of immeasurable joy and happiness. And that somehow made me happy as well.
~~~~
-----Keith POV----
The Lions of Voltron were standing on an abandoned planet in some part of an asteroid belt. We sat in the Black Lion staring at our unconscious friends.
Shiro and Phoenix.
Shiro had his consciousness taken from the Black Lion and put inside his clone. Phoenix had helped, too, by taking his flame from the Black Lion and putting it inside of him as well.
And with the large wound on her side being reopened and her using her flames to the point of exhaustion, she was in critical condition like Shiro.
Everyone was silent. I sat next to Shiro and Phoenix in their pods, worried to death about their well being. I was scared that neither of them would wake up.
"Are-- are they gonna be okay?" Hunk asked.
Allura sighed, "Only time will tell if this body will accept Shiro's consciousness."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Lance asked.
"I've tried contacting the Voltron Coalition, but I can't get through to anyone. It doesn't make sense." Pidge said confused, "There might be some distortion in not picking up on. Maybe we need to get into the upper atmosphere for a better signal?"
"The lions aren't going anywhere without recharging their power cores." Hunk pointed out.
"The battle with Lotor severely depleted them." Allura said, "If we had the Castle of Lions we could recharge them, but..."
We all looked down in sadness as we remembered our lost home.
"Is there another way to recharge them?" Pidge asked.
"They can recharge naturally given enough time and ambient energy, but that might take phoebs." Coran said.
"There's gotta be something we can do." I said almost desperately.
Suddenly, Coran's eyes widened when he realized something.
"Well, we are on the Dalterian Belt, home to the element faunatonium." Coran explained.
"Faunatonium? How will that charge the power cores?" Lance asked.
"Well, you see, it involves field fluctuations--"
"You know what? Never mind. Magic or something? Sure." Lance said, not wanting to hear a long explanation.
"You're not too far off, Lance." Coran said, "We're going to use the element to expand the energy particles within the cores. But first, we going to need a yalmor."
"Wait, wait, wait, there are yalmors on this planet?" Hunk asked.
"Ha, how do you think we find the faunatonium? Yalmors have a nose for the stuff." Coran scoffed.
I nodded, "Okay. You guys find a talk of and get this faunatonium stuff. I'll stay with Shiro and Phoenix."
I felt my mom's hand on my shoulder as she stood beside me. I turned towards her and saw her gentle reassuring smile. It made me feel a little calm, but not e m.j high to make me not worry.
"I'll stay behind as well." Allura said, "I May have exhausted the limits of what I learned on Oriande, but I might be able to help as well."
"All right, then, we'll get started." Coran said as everyone turned around to leave.
"Wait," Romelle said stopping everyone in their tracks, "You just fought Lotor, defeated him, stopped an explosion that could have destroyed reality, took your friend's consciousness and, what was it, his flame, from the Black Lion of Voltron and put it inside his clone, and now we're simply moving on?"
Everyone stared blankly at the Altean woman.
"Trust me, I'm always saying the exact same thing, but these guys like to move on." Hunk said.
They turned away and left, with Romelle following close behind to join them.
"They're going to be okay, Keith." Allura said reassuringly.
"I hope so." I said, "You can't imagine what either of them had done for me. Shiro was there when I had no one. And Phoenix... she was more to me even before I knew what I felt towards her."
"What do you mean, Keith?" Allura asked.
My mom smiled and sighed, looking over Phoenix's unconscious form, "I remember this child very well." She said, "You and her were inseparable when you were just babies. I can't believe she was dragged into this war along with her father."
"You knew Solaris and her family?" Allura asked.
Mom nodded, "Yes, but not for very long. I was only introduced to Solaris's family a few months after I arrived on Earth. Imagine my surprise when I saw that her father was a Solarian."
We stood in silence, listening to the beeping sounds of the pods. I remembered what I experienced in the quantum abyss. The memories that were revealed to me, and also the past that was unlocked to me, making me realize a lot of things between me and Phoenix.
~~~~Phoenix's POV ~~~
I didn't know what was happening, but my father had called me down from my tree to tell me some important news.
I walked into the house and followed my dad into the living room. I sat across from my parents as they held each other's hands with smiles on their faces.
"Phoenix, can you use your powers on your mother? We want you to see something." Dad asked. I was nervous. Was she sick? Was there something in her stomach?
I did as I was told and looked at my mother's stomach with my powers. I gasped when I saw two small flames flickering inside her. Something was alive was in there.
"Mom, what's in your tummy?" I asked.
My mom smiled and chuckled happily, "Phoenix, you're going to be a big sister, soon."
I was shocked for a second before laughing and jumping into my parents' arms, pressing my ear against my mother's stomach to hear my soon to-be younger siblings flames flickering with every beat of their small hearts.
~~~~
---Keith POV---
We stared at Shiro as his levels began to change.
"His levels are getting dangerously low." Allura said.
I leaned closer to the glass, "Fight." I begged, "I won't give up on you."
~~~~
We were in pilot training, flying virtual ships in a simulator.
"Bank right and maintain heading at 0.27 degrees." Shiro said over the speakers, "Increase throttle by 35 percent and bank left."
I yawned loudly as I completed the instruction, bored with the simple tasks while my mind was somewhere else.
"Increase elevation, 15 degrees."
I was irritated, so I decided to go off from instruction and flew away from the other cadets.
"Fall in line, cadet." Commander Iverson ordered.
"Sorry, just testing my controls. Stick's loose." I said halfheartedly.
"Keep this up, and you'll be stuck as a cargo pilot." I heard a kid say annoyed.
"Yeah, Keith, you're gonna get us in trouble." Another boy said.
I silently growled, but kept my cool for as long as I could.
"Decrease elevation by 22 degrees." Shiro instructed.
I reached my limit and flew on my own, disregarding what my commanders were telling me.
Almost immediately, all of us cadets were called out of the simulators and lined up in front of Commander Iverson.
"Hope you all like it in the simulator." He said, "You can thank Pilot Fancypants over there for the privilege of spending the next three weekends I'm here running drills!"
I didn't even flinch when Commander Iverson's face was close to mine. I didn't care. He walked away and the kid next to me glared harshly at me. Again, I didn't care.
"Thanks a lot." He said.
"My pleasure." I replied.
"We all know the only reason you're here is because of Shiro." He was getting on my nerves.
"I can outfly anyone in this building." I said.
"Oh, yeah?" He smirked, "Is that what Mommy and Daddy told you before--"
I cut him off with a left hook to the face. He could make fun of me all he wanted, but when someone spoke badly of my parents, that was crossing the line.
Before anyone knew it, it was a full out fight. Both me and the kid I was fighting were sent to the cadet office. After I was chastised for my behavior, Shiro told me that he would never give up on me. It was the first time on a long time that I felt calm like this.
~~~~
I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard harsh coughing behind me. We turned towards Phoenix's pod and saw piles of ash streaming down her chin and cheeks. Her breaths were irregular and her vitals were going down.
I quickly ran to her pod and almost cried at her pale cheeks now covered in black ash.
"Phoenxi, stay strong. Please, stay strong." I silently begged, not knowing if she was able to hear me. I clenched my fists tightly as I lay my head against the cold glass of her pod.
I was about to lose Shiro. I couldn't lose her, too. Not before I told her.
It felt just like the time I realized that Shiro wasn't completely healthy.
~~~~
We leaned back against our hover bikes after a good day of riding, the sun setting with a beautiful red and golden hue. Shiro and I had become close, close enough for me to think of him as my brother. I was amazed to see him make this awesome dive off of a cliff and fly right back up without any problems.
"All right." I chuckled, "You won this round, but I'll get you in the next race, old timer."
"I don't doubt it." He laughed.
"How'd you do that dive, anyway?"
"You liked that one, huh? It's all about timing. You pull up too soon, you won't have enough of the momentum needed to create lift. Pull up too late, and there won't be enough to avoid the crash."
"You think I'm ready to try that?" I asked.
"What do you think?"
I looked away from him and smiled softly, "Maybe I should be patient and keep focusing on the basics first."
"You're learning." Shiro said, looking out at the desert rocks and formations below.
"So you grew up out here?" He asked.
"Yep. Just me and my pop." I said sadly, remembering the day he was gone.
"He was a fireman, right?"
"Yeah. He was a real hero. Hmm. Everyone told him not to run back into that building, you couldn't tell him anything."
"Sounds like someone I know."
"Yeah, me too."
Shiro looked at me confused, "There's someone else like that to you?"
I nodded, reaching into my pocket and pulling out a picture I always kept close. I gave it to Shiro and he stared curiously at the crossed out face.
"You seem really happy with this kid? Who is he or she?"
I sighed, "I don't remember. My dad knew the kids parents, but, he never really talked about the kid. I know for certain that I was friends with him or her when we were about five or six, but after that, it's all a big blur. I can't even remember their name."
"That's gotta be tough. Not remembering a friend that made you smile like that." Suddenly, there was a faint beeping in the air. Shiro quickly turned away and pulled down his sleeve, revealing strange devices on his wrists.
"What are those?" I asked. He tensed up.
"Oh... these are just some electro-stimulators to keep my muscles loose." He answered.
"What's wrong with your muscles?"
"Ah, nothing. This is just what happens when you get to be an "old-timer." Come on. We should get back to the base." Shiro hopped onto his hover bike and rode off to the base.
I stood there staring at his receding back, wondering what was wrong with him.
Little did I know that Shiro was suffering from a disease that would allow him to be in his peak physical condition for only a few more years. I realized that too late.
~~~~
And now, it was happening again. I was losing not only the only man who's ever truly believed in me, but also the girl who broke me from my shell completely. Showing what love could feel like.
Phoenix finally stopped coughing and her breathing evened out, but the steady rhythm of her breathing was too soft for me to feel comfortable with.
Then, things got worse.
"Keith." Allura said sadly, staring at Shiro's body, "I'm afraid the clone body is rejecting Shiro's consciousness." I turned around in pure panic.
"There must be some way you can help! I can't lose either Phoenix or Shiro." I shouted, pleading with Allura to try and help them.
But she only closed her eyes in despair.
"There's nothing I can do for Shiro." She looked up over at Phoenix and walked over beside me by her pod. She gasped when she saw the low vitals, tears pricking on the corners of her eyes.
"Solaris..." she whispered. I couldn't handle it. I stomped over to Shiro's pod and banged my fists against the glass.
"Shiro, please. Fight!" I begged between my sobs, "You can't do this to me again. Please. Phoenix is dying, if I lose her and you at the same time..."
Suddenly, the pod beeped and a faint coughing sound came from Shiro. I stood back straight and watched as the pod glass dissipated and Shiro regained consciousness.
"Shiro!" I said. He opened his eyes and looked at me.
"Keith....?" He whispered weakly, "I was dreaming. Keith, you saved me."
I smiled and gave him a hug, relieved by him being alive.
"We saved each other." I said. Just then, the others finally came back, smiling as Shiro sat up with my help.
"Shiro's looking better. All right!" Lance cheered.
"Where were you guys? We couldn't get ahold of you." I asked.
Before Lance could give us an answer, the other pod holding Phoenix began to beeped wildly. We panicked and quickly rushed to her pod and gasped, tearing up when we saw the vital readings.
They were low. Dangerously low. And the amount of ash coming from her was too much, enough to make us terrified for her. I quickly took the stone I wore around my neck and gasped in fear, holding my breath at the almost black color of the stone.
"What's going on?" Hunk asked.
"Her vitals are too low." Pidge said with tears in her eyes threatening to fall down her cheeks, "She's dying."
We were silent, except for our muffled sobs. I couldn't take it. For the first time in years, I broke down in tears, leaning against the glass and soaking it with my tears.
"Phoenix, please. Come back to me." I begged, "Don't leave us. Don't leave me. We can't go on without you. Please, live. Dont let your flame go out so soon."
From my closed eyes, I saw a small light. I opened my eyes and gasped as a small flame appeared in front of me. It was crimson red and it felt like it had so many emotions radiating from it.
"What's going on?" I heard Romelle ask.
I looked up away from the red flame and saw everyone expressing the same confusion as I was feeling.
But that wasn't what surprised me.
In front of all of us paladins, Allura, Romelle, and Coran had small flames in front of them, all different colors, but radiating a storm of emotions.
"What are these?" Lance asked.
"Are these flames?" Hunk asked.
"Yes." Another voice answered, startling us. We looked around the room for the source of the voice and Phoenix's pendant glowing.
It was a bright scarlet that flickered with barely any life as it changed to gold and fiery orange. The bright glow engulfed the room and blinded us for a moment.
When the light died down, we looked up and saw a flame. It was just as bright as the flames we held in our hands, but this was a warmer flame. A flame that held more than just emotions. It held so much life
The flame grew, forming the shapes of a Lion and a girl.
We recognized the girl right away.
It was Phoenix.
"Phoenix!" We shouted. The flaming girl smiled and walked in the air towards me. She gently knelt down and caressed the flame. Immediately I felt much calmer and felt so much love.
"The child is weak." The lion said, "The girl of fire you see here is only a representation of Solaris."
"Then, are you...?" I asked.
The lion nodded, as if knowing what I was about to ask, "My name is Agnimitra, the Solarian Lion of Voltron."
"Tell us, is there any way to save her? We can't go on without Phoenix." Pidge begged, her tears never ceasing to fall.
"There is." Agnimitra said, "The flames you hold are very small pieces of the flame inside all of you. It is a small piece that could save Solaris."
"But how is this happening? How are our flames out right now?"
"You called them." We all looked at Agnimitra confused, "Just as Solaris can call her into existence, your desire for Solaris to be healed has called your flames to help heal her."
"So, what do we do with our flames?" Shiro asked.
"Simply let them go. I shall take them into Solaris and it stabilize her."
The flame that took on Phoenix's form took my hands in her's, and gently took the flame from my hands. She stood up and walked around the room, doing the same to the others, taking their flames and combining them.
In the end, all of our flames turned white in her hands. She smiled and walked back to Agnimitra.
"Take care of her, Paladins." Agnimitra said before turning back into a normal flame along with Phoenix, and returning to the pendant.
In an instant, the room was once again engulfed in light. But, through the light, I heard something. Harsh coughing.
Finally when the light diminished again, tears fell from everyone's eyes at the sight.
Phoenix was sitting up in the pod, her skin pale and her body frail, with her cough being harsh, but she was alive. She was okay.
I acted quickly, rubbing her back to ease her coughs at least by a little bit. It took a few minutes for her to stop coughing, and when she did, she gasped for air.
"Deep breaths, Phoenix. Deep breaths." I said. She followed my pattern and took deep breaths while calming down. When she calmed completely calmed down, she was exhausted, leaning against my chest as she looked up at all of us.
"Keith..." She whispered softly, "Everyone. Thank you."
"Heh, after all the stuff you've done for us, giving a piece of our flames was the least we could do." I said smiling. Phoenix smiled back at me.
Pidge, having tears already streaming down her cheeks, quickly ran up to Phoenix and hugged her tightly.
Quickly, everyone gathered around for a group hug. And Phoenix fell back to sleep, a smile on her face.
~~~~Phoenix POV ~~~~
I was in darkness for a while, but then I felt several flames combine with mine. Next thing I knew, I was in someone's arms. I had never felt more at ease in Keith's arms than that moment.
Everyone was alive and well. Even Shiro had woken up and was at full health. However, for me, it would take a little longer and a lot more rest for me to reignite my flame to it's full strength.
As I slept, I had one final memory pass through my mind.
It was night, the beautiful leaves in the tree above me changing colors with the galaxy sky and lit up by the shining full moon.
A younger me was standing in a pier white dress with small red gems littering the collar. Next to me was a young boy with raven black hair. He wore a white shirt, black jeans and a black jacket. Around his neck was a small tie.
"Its beautiful, isn't it?" I asked. The boy next to me smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen." He said.
"Dad says that this tree is special since it changes color like that."
"I think he's right."
I turned towards the boy and he turned to me, smiling as he stretched out his hand. All of a sudden, we aged and the young boy, turned to a young man.
My attire had even changed, I was wearing a black dress that faded into magenta with black heels on my feet.
The young man in front of me still had his hand stretched towards me, smiling with so much love in his eyes.
"I didn't know for a long time, but, I can say this now." He said, "I really do love you. I always have."
I was filled with an emotion I didn't understand, but still, something within me told me to take his hand. So I did as I thought was right.
I took his hand and he brought me closer to him, letting my body press against his and my head rest on his chest. I listened to his beating heart, feeling more at peace than before.
But this wasn't a memory.
It was a vision of the future.
A vision of me and Keith.