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Daibazaal was actually a very pretty planet when it wasn't destroyed. As Keith and Lance peered out of the portholes in the cargo hold, it wasn't hard to recognize. It had the same smooth domed top and jagged bottom, and it was still the color of rust and copper, but now it looked significantly healthier. 

But, as the ship neared the base of the Galra, Keith felt a nervous kick in his chest. Something was definitely different in this reality, and whether it was good or not, he was yet to find out. 

Having not clarified who the Emperor of the Galra actually was, Keith and Lance were in the dark about where they were going and who they were meeting and if they needed to prepare themselves for a fight. But two Paladins against the whole Galra base...? The odds were certainly stacked against them. 

Still, Keith thought of all the situations that Voltron had somehow managed to dig themselves out of and showed as much courage as he could, if not for himself, then for Lance, who had an odd, sickly expression and was clutching his bayard with white knuckles. 

Keith braced himself as the battleship landed on the dust-covered planet, then helped Lance up as the soldiers around them moved forward, carefully herding the two Paladins out of the cargo hold, their feet sinking into the soft, powdery dirt of Daibazaal. 

As the soldiers marched forward, Keith observed the terrain. They had landed on the very top of the planet, the peak of the dome, and the flat, dry desert stretched as far as Keith could see. The land was otherwise dotted with small fields and he could see a few small mountains on the horizon, but it was mostly barren. 

One of the soldiers, a boy probably no older than Keith himself, nudged the Red Paladin discreetly. "You can take off your helmet. We can breathe here." Keith blinked. The soldier's eyes were pure yellow like regular Galra, but Keith saw a deeper emotion in the boy's eyes that he wasn't used to. Keith barely consulted his monitors before pulling off his helmet and breathing in deeply. 

The soldier nodded before melting back into the group of marching soldiers. The air wasn't hot and it actually had a nice, warm breeze that Keith enjoyed. Lance tentatively pulled off his own helmet and fussed with his flattened hair. 

Directly in front of them stood a towering, sprawling castle that the soldiers seemed to be leading them to. Battleship after battleship, cruiser after cruiser... ships lined the side of the castle by the thousands, identical to those which Keith was used to. 

He had to admit- he liked the feeling of the tiny, agile fighter jets that the Galra soldiers flew, and a squadron of them was doing air drills high above the desert floor to the left of the castle. 

The castle itself was so blatantly Galra that it almost made Keith laugh. It looked to be made out of obsidian, cut to reflect what little light fell through the grey cloud cover. Its sleek, slender spindles spiraled towards the sky and rivulets of purple energy streaked down the towers and across the walls in a haphazard manner. 

And yet, even when faced with this towering giant, imposing and impressive and threatening, Keith felt a sense of peacefulness fall over him like a blanket. He found his eyes tracing the graceful architecture and wondering with a thoughtless mind what the inside looked like. He wondered if it was the Galra blood that ran in his veins that was making him feel like this because Lance's face had drooped from slight illness to obvious discomfort. 

"What's wrong?" Keith asked him quietly.

"Bad memories," Lance said shortly.

"Of Daibazaal?"

"Of Zarkon."

Keith nodded. Lance was right- no matter how gorgeous the castle, this reality could very well hold the same Zarkon that Keith and Lance had so desperately fought to destroy, and even the person who managed to defeat the Emperor in the end- Lotor. Keith refused to acknowledge that Haggar could be here. He knew that Lance was trying his best to do the same. 

All too soon, the Commander of the fleet had led the soldiers and the Paladins to the castle walls. She reached out and pressed her hand firmly to the door, waited a few seconds, and then stepped forward as the doors opened. Keith and Lance had no choice but to follow her into the darkness. 

As the daylight abandoned them at the foot of the castle, Keith's Galra senses kicked in, and his eyes adjusted accordingly, allowing him to make out most of the inside of the cavernous hallway they were now descending into. He was reminded that Lance, however, couldn't see when the Blue Paladin reached out and tapped Keith's arm. 

Looking over, Keith watched Lance blinking rapidly, his eyes wide and nervous. Keith almost smiled as he took Lance's wrist gently, leading him forward with the rest of the group. 

The walls surrounding them were barren and dark, but smooth like glass. The floor was similar and the footfalls of the soldiers echoed through the long passageway. Before them, the hallway ended in a T-intersection, splitting to the right and the left, with a door in the center. As they reached the door, the soldiers split down the left and right hallways, leaving the Paladins with the stern Commander. 

She looked down at Keith with an odd look. "Half-breed," she murmured, more of an observation than anything. He looked at her evenly, anchored only by his grip around Lance's thin wrist. "The Emperor will see you now."

She pushed the doors open with a flourish. 

The sudden light momentarily blinded Keith's sensitive eyes, but as soon as they adjusted, he felt his jaw go slack. The giant room looked like the inside of an amethyst geode- its walls covered in a sheet of tiny, sparkling gems, the skylight in the ceiling letting light fall over the gems, sending shimmers of dark purple light over everything. The room was large and extremely tall and in the center of the room, there was a raised pedestal in which three thrones stood. 

Three figures sat patiently in the thrones. Keith recognized each of them. 

Zarkon looked completely different from how he had looked in his final battle. He wore what looked to be ceremonial armor- light and decorative, and his eyes were a stunningly normal yellow instead of the glowing purple that had come from his Quintessence addiction. He even had pupils now. Beside him sat a Galra woman with long, dark purple hair, her eyes sharp but neutral. 

Seated to his father's right, was the different, yet still recognizable, Prince Lotor. His lilac complexion was the same, but his hair was now the same shade as the Galran woman's beside him and it was cut short, cropped into a crew-cut that looked surprisingly good on him. 

And then, to Keith's immense surprise, Emperor Zarkon, feared Galra dictator, shameless killer or planets, destroyer of hope, pleasantly smiled at the Paladins. 

...

ahh hello! i'm feeling pretty inspired this weekend haha- i started a 'the greatest showman'/voltron crossover fic if youre interested- you can find it on my profile :) i also went to a convention today and gotta lotta voltron merch haha

qotd: unpopular opinion?

iloveyallsomuchyeehaw<33