Dedicated to bunnychocolate and asmolpidgeon

"God, Katie would love this." Matt laughed. There wasn't even a twinge of pain in his voice, and Shiro smiled. He was healing; they all were.

"You can tell her all about it in about half an hour." Lance said as they approached Arus. He nudged Hunk's shoulder. "Wake up, buddy."

"Who? What? When?!" Hunk shouted suddenly, drool dripping down his bottom lip. He rubbed his eyes. "You're mean, Lance."

"Thanks." Lance grinned.

"Cut it out." Keith said with a smile. Matt landed them on the bridge area that the castle once stood by.

"Should I activate the cloaking?" He asked. Shiro nodded.

"Two of us should stay here so Haggar can't escape." He said.

"Hunk and I can stay. That way she won't get inside your mind." Matt volunteered.

"Fine by me." Hunk shrugged as Shiro looked at him.

°•°

"It's just over this hill here." Lance assured the black and red paladins.

"Race you." Keith challenged. Lance grinned.

"You're on." The blue and red paladins raced over the familiar terrain together, Shiro smiling as they left him in the dust. He made a split second decision and ran after them, racing by them in a matter of seconds.

"On your left!" He shouted, and Lance groaned.

"I got that reference." Keith yelled back with a grin on his face.

"Weebs!" Lance shouted. Keith and Shiro started cracking up. Lance took the opportunity and slid down the hill, beating the red and black paladins to the mouth of a cave.

"Cheater!" Keith laughed as he and Shiro finally got the the mouth of the cave. Lance smirked at them.

"You can't cheat if there aren't any rules." The blue paladin teased. Keith rolled his eyes, his pale cheeks turning a light (and barely noticeable) pink.

"Whatever, dropout." Keith quoted.

"Remember, boys, we have a mission." Shiro smiled. He knew all too well what they were both trying to hide.

"Roger that." Lance said, reaching the mouth of the cave. He peered in and grinned. "It's here. How much do you think we'll need?"

"Let's take one container, that should be enough." Keith remembered when his hand was healed by the quintessence, how little it took to do so much. He could hardly believe that they would be getting Katie back. He had missed her so much - she was like a sister to him, part of his only family. He was glad that he wouldn't lose anyone else.

°•°

When the three paladins reached the green lion, they found Hunk and Haggar waiting for them.

"What took you so long?" The witch asked bitterly. Shiro ignored her and walked towards Hunk.

"Bring her out." He said. Hunk nodded and ran into the green lion, bringing out Pidge a moment later. She looked as if she was sleeping - she had a tendency to fall asleep in random places. One of the paladins would always have to find her and bring her to her room.

"How do we do this?" Lance asked.

"Just let Haggar do her thing." Keith said. "Haggar, we broke you out of prison when we could have left you for dead. You'll help us, right?"

"If I must." Haggar spat, staring angrily at the ground. Shiro's stomach was doing backflips as Hunk set Katie on the soft grass. He was so close - he would see her again. They all would.

Haggar raised her arms and closed her eyes. After a moment, black and purple lightning formed at her fingertips. It spiraled beautifully and terribly towards the quintessence.

As the lightning made contact with the bottle of life, it drained into nothingness and a portal appeared over Katie's head. From it came a ghostly song, a disturbing yet captivating melody. Shiro wanted to plug his ears, to run away and never come back, but he stood his ground through the terror.

"What have you done?!" Hunk was yelling, trying to pull Haggar's hands down.

"Why couldn't you leave me?!" A familiar voice yelled. Everyone looked up in horror to see a pale, blue, transparent Katie reaching out from the portal.

"K-katie!" Shiro gasped.

"You don't know what you've done!" She wailed. "You're playing with forces you can never understand! You have to forget about me!"

"Please, just come with us!" Matt yelled, tears in his eyes. His little sister looked at him with pity and regret shining in her ghastly eyes.

"I can't. If I did..." Katie shook her head, as if dismissing a horrible thought. "You have to leave me."

"We can't!" Lance yelled. "You're the whole reason we're here! We're alive because of you - you saved us, and we need to return the favor!" Lance took a step forward and reached towards her.

"You don't understand!" Katie yelped, pulling her transparent arm back into the portal. She began to flicker, and the portal song grew louder, almost at a deafening volume now.

"Just let us help you!" Lance reached towards her and brushed his solid fingers against her ghostly ones. She jerked her hand back - the contact had been brief, but it had been enough. Lance screamed in pain, and the ghostly song of the portal began to receed.

"Lance, no!" Keith screamed, running towards the fallen paladin. Shiro, Matt and Hunk were frozen to the spot by shock - but they all saw the second form flickering into view from behind Katie.

"G-guys?" Lance asked quietly. Keith stared up at him in horror before his transparent form was whisked away into the portal. Keith let out a terrified and animalistic cry of pain, but there was nothing he could do.

"Close it!" Katie screamed. "Close the portal!" Keith didn't move, but Matt did. With teary eyes, he tackled Haggar, bringing down both her and the portal. The grassy meadow fell immediately silent.

The only indication of the presence of the portal were the tears on the faces of Keith, Matt, Lance, Shiro, Hunk and Katie.

The remaining paladins looked as if they'd seen a ghost.