I'm in a groove now. Maybe expect a bit of a surge of these.
I own nothing
Chapter 12: Castle Saw
The castle was back in space not long after completing the mission on the Balmera. (Y/N), when she wasn't working on the White Lion in her hangar, spent most of her time training with the others, namely Keith and Shiro since her students were afraid of her kicking their butts in sparring. She had also made a habit of having tea with Allura on their way to the Balmera, but the rejuvenation ritual had taken a lot out of the Altean princess and Coran had mostly confined her to rest until she got her strength.
Currently, the Paladins and the older Altean were all gathered in containment, overlooking the unconscious Sendak. Coran was hooking up several devices to the Galra's pod which would help them retrieve information, the same devices used to allow Allura to speak to her deceased father.
"Okay guys, Sendak's almost all hooked up, but look, I have to warn you, this technology was used to keep Altean memories alive, not to interrogate prisoner,"
"Coran, we understand this isn't what the technology was meant for," Shiro insisted. "But if we can extract Sendak's memories, we may gain valuable intelligence on Zarkon's troop locations,"
"Yeah," Lance exclaimed as he knocked on Hunk's skull. "And then we can just be like, 'knock-knock," 'who's there?' 'The avenging fury of Voltron, son!'" Pidge ignored her fellow Paladin and examined the pod and the devices.
"Fascinating. So how exactly does this work?"
"As the memories are extracted, they're written bit by bit on individual molecules of the micro-storage strands," Coran explained as he began typing away.
"When I go, I want all the stuff in my brain stored in a giant ship," Lance dreamed out loud. Keith slid his eyes towards the Blue Paladin.
"The amount of information in your brain could be stored in a paper airplane," Lance glared at the castle's resident loner (attempted loner).
"Oh yeah? Well, the amount of information you have, Keith, could be..."
"Yeah?"
"Uh...it's less than what I have!
"Oh good one Lance!" Hunk falsely complimented. Shiro and (Y/N) looked over their shoulders at the feuding boys.
"Let's add 'making witty banter' to the things I should tutor him in," the female spoke, which made the Black Paladin crack a smile.
"This is how you incorporated King Alfor's memories into the Castle of Lions?" Pidge asked behind them as she jumped about, studying the machine.
"Precisely, but it's never been attempted before on an unwilling participant," Coran finished the coding and stepped back as the machine roared to life. A hatch opened up at the top of the pod as light poured through it.
"Uh, is this what's supposed to be happening?" Hunk asked the Altean.
"Let's give it some time," Shiro suggested while his girlfriend moved next to Coran, frowning.
"For the record, I'm still wholly against this,"
"(Y/N)," She looked back at their leader.
"I'm serious Shiro. Allura told me about the memory capture. The person maintains their personality, and I for one, have had enough bruised ribs from this guy, thank you very much,"
"No need to fear (Y/N)," Coran assured her. "The memory will be completely confined. He'll have no way to harm us,"
"Famous last words," the White Paladin whispered under breath. "And never say that about machines. There's always a way they can hurt you,"
For the longest time, the team waited in silence for anything to happen. When absolutely nothing happened and everyone was starting get tired, Keith was the first to abandon his post.
"Well, I can't wait around anymore. I'm going to hit the training deck," not long after, while Lance was trying to desperately break Shiro's concentration on the pod, Pidge also got up to leave.
"Okay, if anyone needs me, I'll be in the lab. Maybe I can pull some information from Sendak's Galra crystal," Hunk was the next to abandon ship.
"Time to feed the beast. I'm going to go make some breakfast," Coran followed after him with a stretch.
"Well, I'm afraid I can't wait here any longer, either. I have a million duties to attend to. Between that Galra crystal infecting our systems, fighting off all those ships, and performing the Balmeran rejuvenation ceremony, the old Castle of Lions has taken quite a beating. Every system needs to be recharged and repaired,"
"I'll give you a hand, Coran," (Y/N) offered as she got off her boyfriend. "I'm quite used to making repairs to aged machinery,"
"I'll stay," Shiro told them. "Somewhere in Sendak's mind is the information about Zarkon that we need," Lance let out a yawn.
"Okay, well, while you guys do that, I think I'm gonna get my chill on. Maybe kick back with a lemonade or space juice. Something," Coran put his hands on his hip.
"Hold on there, space juice. You're going to come and help me and (Y/N),"
"What? Why? Why me? (Y/N) is like three mechanics in one," Coran strut past him.
"Because you're the last one here, it isn't fair (Y/N) has to help me by herself, and because your activity isn't very important,"
"Wait, did I say 'chill with a good lemonade'? I meant I gotta do homework,"
"We're in space Lance," (Y/N) pointed out. He dropped his head and frown.
"Fine. Let us know if anything happens," As Lance followed Coran, (Y/N) gave Shiro a big kiss on his cheek.
"Try not to ruin your eyes by looking at his ugly mug for too long," Shiro snorted and gave her a kiss on the head.
"I'll try not to," one hug later, the White Paladin ran after her student and the Altean.
(Timeskip)
Lance groaned as he and (Y/N) cleaned out the healing pods.
"Since when did 'you sleep in it, you clean it,' become a Voltron rule?" The Cuban boy complained loudly. His mentor rolled her eyes she finished up her pod and walked over to help Coran, Owlen at her heels.
"Come on Lance, it's not that bad,"
"Also, how is it these pods have the ability to heal a human from near death, but don't have the ability to clean themselves?" Coran laughed.
"Self-cleaning pods. Now, that's a good one!"
"Believe me, I would've come up with a self-cleaning motorcycle a long time ago," (Y/N) jeered as she scratched at her pet's ear and Lance finished up.
"This kind of reminds me of my time as a young cadet," Coran reminisced as he started cleaning another pod, with the female Paladin's help. "I had just enlisted in the Altean space squad, aeronautics sub-tech nano-weaponry unit, and I was sent off to boot camp," (Y/N) shuddered.
"Ugh, boot camp. I remember that,"
"Precisely! Our sergeant had us cleaning cryo-pods day and night. I got so good at it, I earned my first set of stripes!"
"You should've seen my sergeant the first time I was on cleaning duty. Man had no idea I was already skilled in the art of vehicle cleaning," (Y/N) laughed, neither noticing the other cryo-pod closing on Lance. Owlen did and immediately freaked and began scratching at the pod. This got Lance attention as he screamed and pounded on it to get their attention to no avail. The pod sunk down in the floor as Coran finished the story.
"Anyways, you keep up the good work and maybe someday you'll earn some cleaning stripes, too," he turned only to see Owlen intently jumping up and down on the pod hatch.
"Lance? Lance!" (Y/N) peaked out from behind the pod.
"He ditched us, didn't he?" Coran shrugged.
"Ah, Paladins,"
"Hey, I'm a Paladin!" The Altean mulled over his words a bit before smiling nervously.
"Um, young Paladins," she gave him an unamused look. "Well, um, why don't you head off    (Y/N), I've got everything else under control!" She dropped the clean gear.
"Good idea," She picked up Owlen on her way out, not noticing her pet struggling and point his tail and paws at the pod hatch.
(Timeskip)
(Y/N) decided to join Keith in the training hall, thinking some exercise would be good for her. She passed by the kitchen for a bit, seeing it in complete shambles. She rolled her eyes.
"Really Hunk? Not cleaning up your mess? I expect more of you!" She sighed, about to walk in, when she heard Pidge calling her,
"(Y/N)?"
"Pidge?" It sounded like the Green Paladin, but the voice was off somehow.
"I'm in the bathroom. I could use a little help with my hair,"
"Your hair?" (Y/N) asked as she stepped into the restroom. "Pidge, you immediately shaved your locks when I told you you were going to be disguised as a boy, when did you-Pidge?" The bathroom was completely empty, much to her confusion. She looked at Owlen. "You heard her too right?" The creature squeaked in agreement before the doors shut close behind them. "What the-!?" The water immediately began to run and flood the room at an alarming rate. The paplion squealed angrily before climbing up his owner and perch on her shoulder. (Y/N) gritted her teeth.
"Hang tight buddy, I'll get us out," She ran at the door, pounding at it, trying to get someone's attention. By the time she realized she was on her own, the water was at her chest. "Okay, let's try this!" Pulling out her bayard, she jammed the tip of the scythe into the edge of the door and began pushing to force it open. The water quickly reached over her head. She swam upward to get her breath before peaking back down.
"Alright Owlen, take a deep breath!" She dove back down and anchored herself on the wall before pushing her scythe with her feet, eventually, the door flew open and the water rushed out in a wave. (Y/N) grabbed hold of her fox as they were washed away before she was knocked into someone. She coughed desperately, trying to catch her breath as she felt someone trying to help her.
"(Y/N)!?" It was Keith, who also looked flustered and out of breath. The Red Paladin helped her to her feet. "What happened!?"
"The castle just tried to drown us!" She yelled as she began squeezing the excess water from her hair and Owlen jumped down to shake it out of his fur. "Something's wrong!" Keith nodded.
"You're telling me! A gladiator just tried to kill me!" (Y/N) looked down the hall and saw the gladiator racing at them.
"Still is! Run!" The two took off, the machine, hot on their tails. (Y/N) blocked most of the attacks, being more used to the higher level settings than Keith, but the gladiator was determined. Eventually, as they rounded a corner, they heard a countdown nearby.
"Twelve, eleven, ten..." as they got closer, they also heard muffled yelling.
"Help! Help! Help!" At first, (Y/N) thought it was just another trick of the castle, so she focused on the enemy trying to skewer them. The gladiator swung its blade down at them. (Y/N) blocked it, but the machine shoved Keith at the airlock, where Lance was desperately trying to get their attention.
"Keith!" He screamed.
"What are you doing in there?" Lance quickly warned the boy about the gladiator, who had shoved both (Y/N) and Owlen away, and he was able to dodge a sword strike.
"I need help! Because if you don't get me out of here right now, I'm going to be suck out into space!" The countdown ended right as he said this as the doors opened. Lance took cover. "I'm getting sucked out into space!" Keith was force to move away as he parried the gladiator's attacks. As it tried to push his away, Keith saw (Y/N) run towards the panel for the airlock, having seen what was going on.
"Keith, get it over here!"
Recognizing the plan, the Red Paladin shoved the gladiator towards the door. Before it could move away, (Y/N) opened the lock and pulled Keith towards the edge so he wouldn't get sucked out. As the gladiator flew into space, Owlen anchored the two Paladins with ice as they took hold of Lance and pulled him to safety before shutting the doors. They all heaved for air and slumped to the ground, the ice quickly melting. Keith turned his head to yell at Lance.
"What were you doing out there?!" Lance yelled back.
"Who was that guy!?"
"He was trying to kill me!"
"Well, is he the castle, because that's who's trying to kill me! Also, thanks for getting me out of the cryo-pod, (Y/N)! Really appreciated that!" She hissed at him, causing him to remember how formidable the female was.
"I was nearly drowned in the bathroom and almost stabbed by a gladiator, Lance! Not in the mood!" Both boys realized that castle had made an attempt on all of their lives and immediately began screaming and running away. "Stay together you two! We don't know what else could happen!"
(Y/N) followed after the guys, Owlen clinging to her as he didn't want to run any more. Eventually, they came across Coran.
"Now, now, no need to run about!" Keith screamed in his face.
"Coran, the castle is trying to kill us!"
"Oh come now Keith, you've let Lance worry you like that?" (Y/N) caught up to them.
"Coran, it's not paranoia. Lance was almost sucked out of the airlock, Keith nearly got kabobed by a gladiator, and Owlen and I were almost drowned in the bathroom! The castle is glitching badly and it's going to become fatal if we don't stop it," The Altean put on a much more serious face, much to the annoyance of the teenaged boys who realized he trusted the White Paladin's logic over both of their's combined.
"That does sound serious,"
"Wait," (Y/N) interjected. "We should get the others, they could be in danger too," the males nodded in agreement as they took off for the Green Lion's hanger. Opening the door, they saw Pidge and Hunk immediately drop from the air.
"How can you guys be taking a nap while the castle is trying to kill us?" Lance asked annoyed. (Y/N), by contrast, raced to them worriedly.
"You alright?"
"We're fine," Hunk answered her. "And taking a nap? We've been floating around in Zero G! You know how scary that is?"
"That's not scary!" The Blue Paladin shouted back. "That's fun! I was almost ejected into space!"
"Well I got attacked by killer food, and that's the most horrifying thing you can imagine! The stuff of nightmares! It'll haunt me to my grave!"
"Well I had a robot trying to kill me!" Keith challenged. (Y/N) whistled loudly.
"Alright enough!" The Paladins back down at the sound of the second in command as she looked at Coran. "Coran, while I trust your judgement, the castle has clearly gone haywire!" The Altean capitulated in agreement, looking at the Galra crystal groaning.
"Perhaps the infection from Sendak's Galra crystal is worse than we thought,"
"Well let's get rid of it," Hunk suggested as they all turned to face the rock. Coran shook his head.
"It's too late. When Sendak plugged it into the ship, it corrupted the entire system,"
"Sendak?" Keith muttered when (Y/N)'s eyes widened in horror.
"Shiro! He's still down there with that maniac!" The White Paladin took off for containment as Keith yelled at her.
"(Y/N)! We have to stay together!" (Y/N) didn't hear, focused solely on making sure her partner was safe, not even noticing Owlen squeaking in protest and digging his claws into her shoulder to hang on. Plunging through the doors, she saw the black and white haired male leaning on one of the pods, clutching his head. Sendak was gone.
"Takashi!" She ran him and grabbed his arms, trying to see if he was hurt. "Are you okay?" Shiro gasped.
"(Y-Y/N)?" The others ran in.
"Where's Sendak?" Keith asked the Black Paladin.
"I...I had to get him out of here. I was hearing his voice! (Y/N) was right! He...he can't be trusted in this ship!"
"It is the ship!" Lance informed him. "I got stuck in a cryo-pod, then, in an airlock, Keith got attacked by a robot, Hunk and Pidge got attack by food, and (Y/N) and Owlen almost drowned in a bathroom! It's been a weird morning!" Shiro's eyes widened.
"What?! Are you alright!?" It was meant for everyone, but his eyes were trained on his girlfriend, and his hands clutched her shoulders. She nodded.
"We're fine, for now at least,"
Suddenly, a computer began beeping furiously and flashing red.
"What? How is that possible?" Coran rhetorically asked. Keith looked at him wearily.
"What is it?"
"The ship is starting a wormhole jump!"
"Allura!" (Y/N) realized. "We forgot about her!"
Everyone bolted to the control room and found Allura at the controls right as the ship jumped.
"Allura, what's going on?" Shiro demanded. She turned back with a very worrying serene look on her face, as if she were hypnotized.
"We're going to Altea. We're going home. My father is taking us,"
The group ran at Allura to try and pull her away, but a force field stopped her in her tracks as a man, probably Alfor, appeared on all three screens to yell at them.
"Stay away from my daughter!" Hunk clutched at (Y/N) as she pleaded with her friend.
"Allura snap out of it! That isn't your father! It's trying to kill us!"
"The crystal must have corrupted King Alfor's artificial intelligence," Coran realized as the screens went black and Alfor appeared next to Allura. "It's taking over!"
The castle finished its jump and the group saw where the corrupted AI was taking them.
"We're headed straight for a star and it's about to explode!" Pidge yelped scared. Allura was clearly being manipulated as she didn't see the ball of fiery death before them.
"Father, I can see Altea,"
"Allura!" Coran begged, "Allura, wake up! What you're seeing isn't real," The princess seemed to somewhat hear them, but was too distracted by the AI. Coran continued.
"Allura please! You've got to listen to me!"
"Is this real?" She asked.
"Of course this is real, daughter," Alfor lied. "That flower your holding is real, is it not,"
"But where is the fragrance of the sweet juniberries?" Coran challenged the AI. Allura seemed to snap out it at this and widened her eyes at the dying star.
"That's not Altea,"
"When that star goes supernova, it will destroy the entire system," Pidge warned them. (Y/N) stepped up.
"Allura, you have to reset the course and get us out of here!" Allura quickly ran to the control gears but was immediately shocked by them, tossing her out. Shiro and (Y/N) daughter her as she fell and the former king appeared before them.
"Father, please, I beg you to turn this ship around!" She pleaded with the AI. "If you don't do it soon, we will all perish!"
"I know," he said chillingly. "That is my intention"
"What? Why?"
"Don't you see, dear daughter? Zarkon can never be defeated. He's been ruling for ten thousand years,"
"But we must continue to fight!" Allura insisted.
"Fight for what? It is all over for Altea. You don't have to live a lifetime of war. You can be with me and the rest of your people,"
"That's not your decision!" (Y/N) growled. "Maybe Altea's gone, but the rest of the universe isn't done yet! And we're not giving up either, especially not now!"
"Father, please! The Paladins and I can still stop Zarkon! Somewhere in there, you must want that to happen," the hologram began glitching as Alfor suddenly began to contradict himself.
"Allura, my AI has been corrupted. You must disconnect my power source!" He glitched again, going back to the homicidal persona. "We can stroll across the Blossom Canyon every morning, just like we used to. Remember how much you loved that?"
"I remember. I'll see you soon, Father," She turned to the group. "I've got to get into the AI chamber to disconnect my father's power source manually,"
"But that means losing King Alfor forever!" Coran said. Allura stood firm.
"Paladins, get to your Lions! I need you to slow the castle's descent into the star," She ran past them as Coran turned to the controls.
"I can try to override the system to open the hangars,"
The Paladins raced for the Lions and bolted into space. They headed to the front of the ship and began to push, trying to slow the castle as much as they could.
"Hurry Allura!" (Y/N) said through gritted teeth. Her prayers were immediately answered by Allura appearing on the monitors.
"Paladins, get to your hangars. We're getting out of here!"
They followed with out questions and flew back to the hangars. Once they were inside, the castle opened another wormhole and jumped through right as the star exploded. Once everything had settled, everyone headed to the control room to comfort the princess.
"I'm so sorry about your father, Princess," Shiro apologized.
"We all are," Hunk added. Allura smiled sadly.
"Thank you. But that was not my father," she stood up. "The real King Alfor was a great man, and a great father. He may not be here with us anymore, but his dream lives on through all of us, and his legacy is Voltron,"
(Timeskip)
Allura was in her room with the mice, still somber. She may have put on a brave face for everyone, but that didn't mean she wasn't hurt. She heard a knock on her door.
"Come in," she invited. (Y/N) walked in with two cups of hot liquid and Owlen. The mice chased after the fox, leaving them alone. The White Paladin sat on the edge of the bed and handed the cup to the princess.
"I thought you could use this after what happened today," the princess took it gratefully.
"Thank you. I'm surprised you're not resting with Shiro, what with you almost dying today,"
"He's sleeping off the trauma, I'll join him in a minute. I just wanted to check up on you," Allura smiled.
"Thank you, (Y/N), but as I said-," (Y/N) cut her off.
"I know, but that doesn't mean you can't be sad," Allura frowned, her facade breaking and her eyes starting to water. The human female sighed before casting a glance. "You know, he's not really gone so long as you and Coran remember him. Memories, they're what really keep us alive,"
"How would you know that?" Allura asked, her voice depressed.
"I don't remember anything really about my own parents," the princess looked at her in surprise. (Y/N) had mentioned many times about her family on Earth: her older brother, her adopted brothers, her old caretaker, her friends, but never her parents. It didn't really take Allura long to put together that they were dead. "They died when I was still a baby, mom giving birth to me, and dad saving me and my brother. I...can't remember their faces, but Yusei did. He says we're carbon copies of them. Martha too. So whenever I imagine them, I picture my own reflection or my brother talking, but sometimes, when I'm angry, or scared, or confused, I can almost hear these voices, their voices I think, telling me it's going to be okay, that I'll get through it," she turned to her friend. "Whatever happens, whatever we go through, no one can take away our memories of those we love, there always there, so in a way, they're always there," Allura smiled genuinely and wiped a tear from her eye.
"Thank you (Y/N). I needed to hear that," the White Paladin smiled and hugged her.