Part One

"Come in, Black Lion," Allura said.

Across the black vacuum of space, Keith picked up her voice, clear as day, through his helmet. He turned on the visual comm and her blue eyes danced as she looked at him.

"Black Lion here...what's going on, Blue?"

"I was just getting tired of listening to nothing," she joked good-naturedly.

Keith smiled. Allura had changed so much since the first time they'd met. Back then, she was shy and quiet, but years of piloting Blue Lion and hanging around four men had changed her into a joking, open, and warm young woman. He hadn't noticed it so much when they were first together, but after they reformed Voltron and they began spending more time together again, he realized how different she had become. And he liked it.

"So you'd rather listen to your own voice?" he teased.

"Of course not," she replied easily. "I wanted to listen to yours."

"That's understandable."

She chuckled. "I have to make up for lost time, you know. You're absolutely notorious for not keeping up with correspondence."

He had the grace to look sheepish even though she couldn't see his face through his helmet. "I visited, Allura. Give a man a break."

"You visited? HA! You can't count those one hour pit stops as visits. Well, I suppose it was a good way to..."

She faded off, her cheeks heating up.

He waited for her to finish and she didn't, he prompted, "Good way to what?"

"Nothing. How's your shipment holding up?"

He glanced quickly at his readings. They were carrying loads of Cassanium Ore to bring back to Arus per Pidge's instructions. He needing it to build a something or other.

"Everything's fine. So what were you going to say?'

She sighed loudly, making static crackle on the speakers. "You never let up, do you?"

"Not if I can help it." He kept his gaze pinned on her, waiting.

"Your sporadic and short visits were a good way to make me miss you more. There. Are you happy?"

Keith stared at her, trying to see if she was sincere or not. She refused to meet his eyes and that was his answer.

"Yes," he replied smugly.

"Oh, so you planned it," she said, trying to regain some semblance of normality.

"Naturally. What man wouldn't want the Princess of Arus to miss him?"

They stared at each other, their eyes saying what they couldn't. Allura regarded her captain with a gleam in her blue eyes that matched the gleam in his. But before anything could be said, their proximity alarms started going off.

"What the..." Keith muttered. Then his eyes widened. "Allura...on your right!"

Allura let out a gasp and tried to manoeuver out of the way, but she wasn't fast enough. Blue Lion was hit with the full mass and extremely fast speed of an errant asteroid. And in the process, Blue Lion smashed into Black Lion. Keith heard the loud clashing of metal on metal and then the world went black.

Allura woke up with a splitting headache. She sat up slowly, blinking her eyes to clear her vision. She leaned back against her seat and removed her helmet. Surprised, she realized that she was planetside as the Blue was surrounded by trees and vaguely remembered that they were passing through the Diamond Quadrant before getting hit by the asteroid.

We must have crashed on Planet Kenaur, she thought. Better than some uninhabitable planet, I suppose.

She winced as she sat up and activated her communications array, putting her helmet back on. "Keith..." she said hoarsely. "Can you hear me?"

When there was no response, she forced a link and turned on the visuals. Keith was splayed, face down on the canopy of the cockpit as Black Lion had landed on its side. His left arm was at an unnatural angle and Allura had to take a deep breath to stop herself from panicking. A quick scan revealed that he was only a few meters away from her and when she turned to look, she could see one of Black Lion's paws in the air. After making sure she had no broken bones herself, she pushed a button and raised the hatch so she could go check on him, turning on the distress beacon as she left.

Hunk is going to kill us, she thought upon seeing Blue Lion. It almost hurt to look at it. It was on its belly, a trail of bits and pieces of electronics behind it. She guessed it must have slid into its current position, which was fortunate. One of its lasers was torn completely off and was probably amidst the debris; and the others were bent or broken.

She hobbled over to Black Lion, who had fared no better. Allura could see that it must have landed on its back then rolled onto its side. One of its red wings was bent and there were nasty marks all over its back. She made her way around the Lion and stopped underneath the cockpit which was too far from the ground for her liking. She was going to have to do some climbing, and it wouldn't be easy because her body felt like one big bruise. But when she pictured Keith's body possibly twisted and broken somewhere inside the cockpit she felt her resolve harden.

"It's going to be hard to get him out," she said to herself. "I'm going to need a few things."

She went back to the Blue and grabbed her booster rockets. She returned to the Black, fired up the rockets, and flew towards the cockpit. She landed on the Black's jaw and shut them off.

Keith woke up to the sound of tapping. At first, he wondered where it was coming from. Then his memory came back. He opened his eyes and saw Allura's face peering at him through one of the Black's eyes. Her own eyes registered relief.

"Keith...the Black is on its side. We've landed on Kenaur. Both the Lions look pretty bad and so do we. Don't make any sudden movements because I think you've broken your arm."

Keith sat up slowly and had to bite back a yell when he jostled his arm.

"It is broken," he winced.

"I wasn't kidding," she returned dryly. "You can't stay in there forever though. Open up the hatch so I can get in there to secure your arm. Then, I'll pull you out."

"Uh, Princess...I think you're overestimating your strength."

Her blue eyes shot daggers at him. "Just open the hatch, Keith. Unless, of course, you'd rather stay in there."

"Alright, but if I fall, there will be serious repercussions for you to face."

"Don't worry about me. Just worry about yourself."

Keith got up, a little disoriented because he was standing on the cockpit's wall and found the button to open the hatch. It opened slowly with a painful mechanical sound that made shivers go up and down his spine. When it opened all the way, Allura swung in with surprising agility. She dug around underneath the pilot's seat and pulled out the medkit.

"Sit down," she ordered and held out two white pills. "Take these."

"Painkillers?"

"Yes. You'll feel better afterwards."

He tossed them back and she crouched next to him, a roll of tape in her hands. Carefully, the Princess wound tape around his torso and his arm, securing the arm in place. Keith felt his vision go black several times but managed to pull himself back to consciousness. Allura could feel beads of sweat drip down the sides of her face for she hadn't bothered to take off her helmet. When she was finished, she stood, her hands on her hips.

"This is not good," she muttered, eyeing his white face. "Can you hold up, Keith? Maybe we can just stay in here..."

"No. I can make it. What were you planning to do to get me out?"

She opened up a compartment along the wall and pulled out his booster rockets.

"Now why didn't I think of that?"

She strapped it on him and when she stepped back, he started them up. All they heard was a sputter of air and no fire. Allura's brow furrowed and she took the boosters off. As she did, they heard a rattling sound.

"Great...what do we do now?" he sighed.

She patted her hips where he noticed she had her booster rockets strapped on. He didn't look convinced.

"Aren't I a little heavy?"

She held up the roll of tape she'd used for his arm. "We'll use this to attach you to me so I won't have to carry you."

She held out her arms and he stepped into them, wrapping his good arm around her shoulders. Carefully avoiding his eyes and the feeling of his body pressed closely to hers, Allura wound the tape around and around until there was none left. She looked up at him, something in her blue eyes he couldn't decipher.

"Ready?" she asked, sounding breathless.

"Ready."

She fired up the rockets and grunted when his full weight was on her. But the tape did its job and moments later, their feet were on the ground. Allura hung on to him, trying to catching her breath. He began to unwind the tape and when he was done, he sat down, sweat beading his forehead. Allura noticed then how pale he looked.

"Do you want me to set your arm?" she asked.

"You know how to?" he said, eyebrows raised.

"Well, I've never done the actual setting, but I've seen it done."

"It's alright. I can manage."

"So..what do we do now?"

"We can try to call Arus from Blue Lion."

"Let's do that."

They made their way slowly to the Blue, helmets under their arms--in Keith's case, his good arm. It was a tight fit in the cockpit for the two of them, so Allura raised the hatch and Keith sat on Blue Lion's hull, leaving his legs hanging inside the cockpit. She turned on the long-range communications and her brow furrowed as it refused to activate.

"What's going on?" she asked. "There should be enough power in Blue Lion for communications."

Keith frowned and took a closer look. "I think the crash jostled something in the energy connectors," he said. "I'm going to have to crawl in..."

"I don't think so, Keith. Not with that arm. I'll do it."

"Crawling around inside the Lion is not something for amateurs," he said, shaking his head. "I wouldn't have even suggested it if we weren't in this much trouble."

"What choice do we have?"

"We can wait. I activated my distress beacon and the light went on so I'm sure the Black's power source is fine. I'll give them a call to make sure that they're out looking for us."

Keith took out a small control pad and keyed in a transmission code, but as he turned on the audio, all he got was static.

"This is not good," he said, turning it off. "We're getting jammed by something. Maybe some magnetic source somewhere."

"Will the beacon still work?"

"It should. Through thick and thin."

Allura sat back and crossed her arms. "So how long do you think it'll take for them to find us?"

"Not too long I hope," Keith said, eyeing the skies with trepidation.