Trouble creates a capacity to handle it.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Chapter One
Bethie and Allura's scream made Jack's blood run cold. He almost threw his helmet off, ready to jump out of the Black, but he remembered that they could not move out of the protection that the Lions provided. Slamming a hand on his control panel, he'd never felt more helpless. His friend was in trouble and he was afraid that the worst had happened.
"Ethan," he said. "Come in, Ethan. Answer me dammit!"
"He's not going to answer," Bethie said, tears in her voice. "He's gone, Jack."
"No," Jack said forcefully. "He's too strong for that. He's not gone..."
"He is," Allura said tightly, closing her eyes against the pain. "I need to get back in Shadow Voltron."
"Absolutely not," Jack said. "If Ethan's in trouble, it's because of that goddamn creation of Merla's. We're not risking you again, Aunt Allura. Especially if Merla is here. Where is she?"
"In the robot," Bethie answered.
That made Jack stop. He stared at Shadow Voltron, hating everything about it. Rage burned inside him and he wanted to destroy it right then and there, but Ethan was inside and whether or not he was alive, Jack was going to bring the Prince back to his family. Guilt settled somewhere in his gut. He'd had a bad feeling about Ethan getting into the robot and common sense should have stopped the Prince from trying it in the first place. Whatever that magic was that had him glowing had gotten to his brain, Jack was sure of it, but he wished he'd been more forceful. Anything to get Ethan back. He wanted to believe that Ethan was alive, but Bethie had sounded too sorrowful, Allura too sure. They would know. Not only did he lose a friend, he lost someone he was supposed to protect, someone he was supposed to lead.
"We're going to have to use Voltron to absorb the Core," he said, shaking free of his thoughts. "And we have to do it now."
"It's moving," Matt said.
"Ethan..." Jack started with a flicker of hope.
"No," Bethie said grimly. "It's Merla."
"Form up," Jack said.
They managed to form Voltron in the confined space they had and the instant Jack formed the head, he felt a surge of power flow through him.
"Is that you, Bethie?" he asked.
"No," she replied, sounding distracted. "It's the Core."
Drawn to the legendary robot, the magic concentrated in the Core immediately went to Voltron. But Jack watched as Shadow Voltron formed a sword and began to move towards them.
"We've got trouble," he said unnecessarily. "Form Blazing Sword."
Nothing happened.
"Bethie? Jordan?"
"My controls aren't working," Jordan said, sounding like she was on the edge of panic.
"Nothing here," Bethie said. "Oh, Riaru, here it comes..."
Jack saw the edge of Shadow Voltron's sword as it came flying straight for Voltron's head. His life flashed before his eyes and he thought that he should have tied up all the loose ends in his life before getting back into the Black's cockpit. He should have told Bethie how he felt before the end.
Then the end didn't come.
The sword made contact with Voltron, but did not pierce the armor, did not so much as make a dent. Had they seen Voltron from the outside, they would have seen that the robot was covered from head to toe in a faint pink light and on the spot where the other robot's sword touched, the pink had solidified to create a shield. Then, they heard the sound of metal rubbing against metal, the screeching sound making Jack's toes curl. Shadow Voltron had not moved so he had to wonder what was going on.
"Matty?" he prompted.
"Uh..."
"Spit it out, Matthew," Allura said shortly.
"The seams between each Lion, the places where the Lions attach to the Black...they're fusing together. Voltron's becoming one piece again."
Alana sat in Castle Control, her head in her hands and the rattling in her brain grew with frequency with each passing minute. Keith stood behind her, one hand at her back, his brow furrowed. Jason knelt at her knee, one hand gripping hers. Lance paced the room, having ordered his troops to secure the castle and the surrounding area, and he was talking to Pidge in irritated tones, trying to get a report on Voltron's whereabouts. The battle on the ground was theirs and they were expecting to see Sven any minute.
Archent was sitting near the Princess, looking just as uncomfortable as she was feeling, but his soldier's pride stopped him from hiding his face behind his hands like he wanted to do. Alana had made a gross understatement by saying that 'something' had happened. It was bigger than that. This was the fight for Arus and there was nothing any of them on the surface could do about it.
"Communications have been down since they disappeared," Lance told Keith. "Our computers were able to track them for a while but then they just disappeared. Pidge says that the last time they were on the radar was when they were about two kilometers underground and going after Shadow Voltron and Allura."
"Alana, do you have any idea what's going on?" Keith asked gently.
"Something's wrong," she said, her eyes filled with unshed tears. "I can't really tell, Daddy, but I think...I think that something happened to one of them."
"The Voltron Force?" Lance asked.
"No...Mom, Ethan, or Bethie," Alana said. "One of them..."
Keith had to work past the lump that had formed in his throat.
"Is one of them dead, Lana?"
"I think so."
He looked at Archent, saw the agreement on the other man's face. If not for Lance's strong grip on his arm, Keith would have fallen to the ground. He suddenly felt very old. He could not imagine losing any of his children or his wife and when he tried, it brought a pain to his heart that he'd never felt before. To have fought this hard only to lose someone so close to him was an injustice he was not sure he could live with--and he would spend the rest of his life trying. Lance helped him to a seat just as Sven, Romelle, and Ian came through the doors.
"Keith?" Sven said, frowning.
"Thank you for coming, Sven," Keith said. "But you'll have to forgive me if I don't get up."
"Keith, he did what he could to get them here," Romelle said, bristling.
"Not now," Lance warned her.
"It's alright," Sven said at the same time. "I'm sorry it took me so long..."
"No, she's right," Keith said tiredly. "Thank you for doing what you could, Sven."
"Wait...have we heard from Voltron?" Romelle said, her eyes going from Alana's bent head to Keith's slumped shoulders and she thought of her daughter. ""Where are they?"
"We lost contact," Lance answered. "They went underground to save Allura and we haven't heard from them since."
"They're in the Core," Romelle said. "They have to be. Oh my...is that Merla?"
Sven was already standing next to the corpse of the Drule. They had not touched it since she fell and no one made any move to do so.
"She's not dead," Alana said, her lip curling with disgust. "I only killed her body. She freed her spirit and she killed one of them. I know it was her."
"You killed her?" Jason said quietly.
Alana gazed down at him, her eyes flat and emotionless.
"I had to," she said.
The hand he had on her knee slid away and he straightened. She looked up at him, a humorless smile on her face.
"I don't suppose you're going to kiss me anymore."
He looked sharply at her, ignoring the interested glance of both their fathers.
"Don't jump to conclusions," he said.
Archent stood and went to where Sven was standing. He got down on his haunches next to Merla's body and immediately felt a twinge inside him. Frowning thoughtfully, he put a hand on her shoulder and felt a sizzle of electricity shoot up his arm. He let go but he had echoes in his mind of thoughts that were not his own. It did not take much for him to guess that they were hers. He stood again, crossing his arms and losing himself in his thoughts.
"So what we're assuming here is that Merla is down with Voltron and Shadow Voltron in the Core, fighting for control of this magic that Arus has been hiding," Sven said, one dark eyebrow arched.
"Sounds like a bad movie," Lance muttered. "But yeah, that's it."
"Can we send in fighters after them?"
"No," Alana said, standing. "They'll be destroyed. This has to be between them and her."
"What can we do?" Sven asked, frustrated.
"Wait," Keith said, dark eyes flashing.
Archent walked to where Alana sat and he held out a hand. Puzzled, she took it and let him lead her back to Merla. She visibly tensed at the sight but she did not run away like she wanted to do. What Archent had felt by touching Merla, she now felt by just standing there. He could see it in her face.
"We might be able to do a bit more," he said. "But I don't have the kind of control you do."
"You better know what you're doing, Archent," Keith warned.
"He does," Alana said, nodding at him.
She took a deep breath and opened herself up, sharing her magic with him.
