I apologize. I did not mean for an entire year to go by without updating this story, but work and life and so many other damn plot bunnies kept pushing this story on the back burner. But here's a chapter and with a little luck it won't be so long before the next one.

As always, huge thanks to Latart0903 for making it better.

The druids scattered before her, sensing the volatile anger in her quintessence. Haggar stalked to her meditation chamber with clenched fists, controlling her demeanor for any guards she passed. The chamber was the only safe place; its shielding meant Zarkon would not sense it when she let her fury loose.

Matthew Holt was gone. Freed from prison by rebels.

It didn't matter that Samuel Holt was where he should be, in a work camp on Lilorna. It didn't matter that she only needed one of the two who came from Champion's homeworld.

It was the principle of the thing.

No one escaped the Galra. No planet was beyond their reach. And yet two prisoners were gone. Champion was involved with the reemergence of Voltron and Matthew Holt had been free for phoebs, doing who knows what to help the rebels. Rebels who should not have existed in the first place. Had Holt taken them to his planet? Were they establishing a new stronghold, well away from Galra territory?

Finally, she arrived at her chamber and sealed it off. Once secure inside, she began screaming to let her rage loose. After nearly half a varga, she was able to calm down enough to think again, to plan.

First she needed more information. And Samuel Holt was the only source available to her.

He's dragged out from his cell by the hooded ones. He knows what it means when they are the ones to take him instead of the guards: they're going to her lair, not the arena.

He resists, knowing it's almost certainly hopeless but unable to simply accept being led to that place. In the arena he's able to fight. In her lair, he can't do anything at all.

His captors, tall and thin with malevolent yellow eyes glowing beneath the hoods, don't waste any time. They rake him with purple lightning, making his nerves seize up. That instant of immobility is enough for them to cuff his hands behind him. One of them claps the muzzle over his face, fastening it at the back of his head. He chokes briefly in panic, like he does every time, instinctively expecting his air to be cut off. The hard shell is fiendish: it can let in air but contain sound and has a function that will release toxins directly into the wearer's nose and mouth. He's seen them murder a fellow prisoner as an object lesson to the rest.

They take him to the lab. This time they put him in the chair, releasing the cuffs only long enough to shackle his wrists to its arms. Then his ankles are similarly bound and stiff bands wrap across his forehead and throat to immobilize his head. The table, as painful as it can be, is more bearable because the torture will be physical. She examines him on the table, taking samples and analyzing as many aspects of his physiology that she can think of. When the tests measure his pain threshold, the soul bond is there to siphon off the worst.

Being in the chair means that the torment will be mental. She forces up memories, studying them, looking for his greatest weaknesses. She's examined the memories of his parents, his childhood friends, his time before the Garrison. She's looking for something.

She knows that he has a soul bond. But she hasn't yet determined exactly what it means or who his soulmate is. If she finds him...if she finds a way to follow the bond back to Keith…

To Shiro? To Keith?

"You can't have him! You can't have either of us!" Keith shouts in rage—

Keith woke, muddled by a dream of something intimately familiar and yet something he had never experienced firsthand. His focus sharpened when he registered Shiro beside him in the bed, trembling and thrashing against invisible enemies in his sleep.

"Shiro! Wake up! It's a nightmare, you're safe!" Rather than try and physically restrain him, Keith sent comfort and calm along the bond to echo his words. He could feel Shiro's fear and pain and tried to draw them away.

Shiro bolted up, panting with wide eyes that couldn't yet see his surroundings.

Keith pushed harder. "Shiro, it's okay! We're in the castle, you and I are the only ones here." Feeling Shiro's terror start to loosen into confusion, Keith reached out. Shiro recoiled from him briefly, then his realization and relief flooded the bond.

Shiro fell into his arms, his breath tearing out of him in harsh gasps, and Keith held him close. There had been many times in their lost year that Keith had experienced Shiro's fear, his desperation to protect Keith from something. Was what he had seen the source of that fear? Had Shiro been afraid of that terrifying woman using him to get to Keith?

Keith tightened his embrace, his mind still full of the ghastly images. He didn't understand how he had actually seen Shiro's dream. Sense what his soulmate might be dreaming about through emotion? Yes, that was a common experience for soulbound pairs after they had been bonded for a few years. See what was happening to his soulmate through his own dreams? That had been happening since early in Shiro's captivity. But to actually be in the other's dream as if it were his own? Keith had a sudden and profound wish for Dr. Hooper, to tell her about it and hear her theories.

Shiro's breathing was growing steadier. Keith lowered them both back among the pillows and kissed Shiro's forehead. "It's okay. We're okay. Just a nightmare."

Shiro burrowed into the covers, sliding down enough to lay his head on Keith's chest to take in the heartbeat. As his fear faded, remorse flooded in. "Sorry I woke you."

Keith ran a hand through Shiro's hair. "Don't do that. You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm here. I'll always be here for you."

Shiro stayed silent, but Keith could sense the conflict within him: the impulse to conceal his fear and trauma, to shield Keith from it, against a desperate need to sink into the protective circle of Keith's arms and hide there until he could face the world again. The first was the same pattern that they had fallen into at the Garrison, thanks to the gap in their ages. Shiro had looked to defend Keith from growing attention and criticism as he broke record after record in the simulators, to be a shelter when Keith needed it. Keith had had to push and persist when he sensed Shiro burying his own problems, striving to make their partnership one of equals.

When Shiro didn't speak, Keith put a hand to his head and began threading fingers into his hair again.

"If you wanted to keep your problems to yourself, you shouldn't have found a soulmate," Keith said wryly. "You know I'm not gonna let you hide from me. Not how this works."

"You didn't ask for this, though."

"Shiro, neither of us asked for you to be kidnapped by hostiles and held prisoner for a year! This is not your fault and it's never been your fault."

Shiro shifted in his grip and the denial seeped into their bond.

Keith twisted, rolling them until Shiro was under him and they could look into each other's eyes. Echoing his words with ferocious pulses of love through the bond, Keith growled, "Not. Your. Fault. Nothing that has happened to us since you landed on Kerberos is your fault."

"But—"

"No buts. Case closed. End of chapter." Keith lowered his head, giving Shiro a firm kiss. He relaxed as he sensed his conviction was getting through, their bond calming as Shiro's guilt began to abate. Keith strove to keep his own desire in check as he continued to try and soothe Shiro back to sleep. But lips curved into a smile under his own and Keith knew he hadn't fooled his soulmate one bit.

The amusement echoed between them, growing until they were both chuckling at the other's attempt to hide something. Shiro put his hands to Keith's head, holding him in place just to drink in the sight of him again.

"I love you, Shiro."

Shiro's smile widened, then he blinked in realization. "That's...that's the first time either of us has said it out loud, isn't it?"

"I think so. Dr. Hooper said something about it once, that research shows that soulmates don't often say it aloud because they can feel it all the time."

"Yeah, but it's amazing to hear it in your voice." Shiro ran his human hand through Keith's hair, brushing it away from his face. "And, just for the record, I love you, too."

Keith leaned down for another kiss. "Think you could sleep again? I know you haven't had enough rest."

Shiro nodded. "I'll try."

Keith let Shiro arrange them, resting his head on Keith's chest once more. Keith began combing Shiro's hair with his fingers in a steady rhythm, focusing on calm to help him fall asleep once more.

Shiro's breathing had evened out in sleep and Keith was just about to join him, when a siren blasted through the halls outside.

"Everybody up! Zarkon's attacking! The Castle's about to be destroyed!"

The alarm blared, making Katie jerk awake. Her computer slid from her lap to clatter on the floor of the Green Lion's cockpit and brought her to full awareness. As she scrubbed her eyes under the non-prescription lenses, Allura's voice echoed from a loudspeaker system.

"Everybody up! Zarkon's attacking! The Castle's about to be destroyed!"

"Oh, fuck!" Katie scrambled to her feet, trying to estimate how long it would take her to find the armory, get into uniform, and back to Green. Rover darted into her field of vision, beeping energetically.

Green in her mind-sister guise rolled her eyes, then shook her head with a grin. Katie hesitated, then groaned. "Really? We have had a grand total of one day working as a team and she pulls this?"

Green bit her lip and concentrated. Katie felt a wave of fear and desperation that she knew didn't come from either of them. She considered and nodded. "I can understand that, I guess. Waking up to your entire world being gone for eons…"

She picked up her computer and looked at the progress of her program, evaluating as it converted the Altean code to something that would let the two machines talk to one another. Then, in theory, she would be able to send a message back to Earth. "This is going to take a while longer. Might as well get breakfast. Can you let the others know that it's a false alarm?"

Green winked and saluted. Already done.

Shiro's eyes flew open as the warning shrieked, trying to orient himself. Keith was alert all at once, hovering over him with a knife drawn defensively. But before either of them could rise from the bed, twin streams of calm flowed into them. The Black Lion rose in his thoughts, sprawled out and lazily flicking his tail in a display of complete calm and a little disdain.

Nothing is happening.

Apparently Red had shared the same thing, because Keith rolled to his feet and shifted the knife in his hand. "Oh, I am going to kill them!"

Allura winced as Coran took over the comm, wailing hysterically about her being dead. She had wanted a simple surprise drill, to see how quickly these new paladins could muster, and the longer it was taking the more worried she got. It occurred to her that having them in the ambassadorial wing instead of the barracks put them farther away from the armory as well as the bridge.

The more she thought about it, the worse she felt. Perhaps she should have thought about this for a little longer.

Coran broke off his histrionics as Keith stormed onto the bridge, holding a rather frightening dagger, followed closely by Shiro. They were both still in their pajamas.

"What the hell is this? What made you think this was a good idea?"

The fury-filled accusation jolted her into defensiveness. "This was a test, of course! And you all have failed! You're the only two, three—" she corrected herself as Pidge ran in, dressed in her casual clothes, the repurposed Galra drone hovering after her, "—that have arrived and none of you are in your uniform! Where are your bayards? Where are Lance and Hunk?"

"Why would you do this the very first morning we arrived?" Pidge snapped back. "We don't know the most efficient paths to the armory, we haven't established any habits for keeping our bayards with us or with the armor, and we haven't had any chance to even begin training as a team! All this did was set us up to fail!"

Her observations were a perfect echo of Allura's own train of thought, which made her even angrier. "Then I suppose the answer is to spend today fixing those problems so that next time you'll be prepared!"

"Oh, wow, a sensible plan! Who would have thought!" Pidge's tone showed that sarcasm was a universal concept. Allura was ready to yell at her again when Shiro put one hand on Pidge's shoulder and held the other hand up, palm facing her.

"Stop, stop, both of you. This isn't accomplishing anything."

Allura found herself responding to the authority in his voice and saw Pidge release the tension in her posture immediately.

"I agree that today needs to be one of preparation. We need to learn the layout of the castle, or at least the vital parts. We need to set up where our armor and equipment should be. We need to establish a training schedule, both with the bayards and with the lions. We need to bring the prisoners of war out of stasis and sort what to do about them. And we need some time to trade information. You and Coran know the history and background of the Galra. I have some current knowledge of the situation."

Keith moved a step closer to Shiro, visibly backing his plan. "Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone and talk about that with some breakfast?"

Allura frowned but Coran was the one to ask, "We don't need to kill any birds! The kitchens can provide plenty of sustenance without the need to go hunting."

For some reason that made Shiro and Pidge chuckle, while Keith shook his head, smiling. "I only meant we could save some time if we combined those two things."

"Oh!" Coran considered, then nodded. "I see now. Interesting way to put it! I'll go set things up."

"I'll check Lance and Hunk's room. I'm not sure how they managed to sleep through all this, but I'll get them up." Pidge looked at Allura as she spoke.

Allura recognized the peace offering and returned it. "That would be very helpful. Thank you."

Her eye was caught by the way Shiro and Keith turned to one another, Keith raising his free hand to Shiro's face in a wordless question. All she could see was Shiro closing his eyes briefly, but it was enough of an answer for Keith to lead him off the bridge. It was a reminder that she still had to figure out how much of a vulnerability this bond of theirs was.

Hunk bent over a bush full of purple leaves and large white berries. With his hands inside safety gloves, he broke off several berry-laden sprigs and dropped them in the large stewpot he was using to gather possibilities. He stood and stretched his back, looking around at the pretty countryside glowing in the early-morning sun. He already had close to two dozen samples and made a mental note to ask Coran about a lab in the castle where he could test them all for toxicity before moving on to taste-testing.

Mind-Melo surfaced, shaking with silent laughter.

"What happened?"

Mind-Melo shared a chaotic blend of emotions: anxiety, fear, and surprise shifting to annoyance and outright fury. That ought to worry Hunk, but there was also the obvious mirth coming from Mind-Melo.

"Should I go back? Do they need us?"

The response almost felt like a pat on the head. Mind-Melo wanted him to keep at his task.

"Okay, if you're sure." Hunk scanned the area to search for the next possibility.

He was headed for a spread of leaves that might indicate tubers under the surface when he spotted something moving in his peripheral vision. He jumped and turned, alarmed at the shaking of the berry bush he had just left.

"Who's there?" Hunk grabbed the only thing that might even come close to a weapon, the trowel he hand brought for digging. He started mentally kicking himself for not even thinking of bringing his bayard with him. This being a defender of the universe was a big mental adjustment…

The bush rustled again and yep, that was a sword. That was definitely a sword. Hunk leaped back with a yell, nearly falling on his backside, and a...something leaped out with a yell, brandishing its weapon.

It wasn't even half Hunk's size. It was cute.

"Oh my gosh! Hi there!" Hunk beamed at the little alien, who reared back in confusion at his reaction.

Greg offered his home as a base of operations. It was in Phoenix and therefore close enough to the Garrison without being in immediate reach. It was a roomy four-bedroom house inherited from his parents, which meant there was space for Colleen and any potential visitors, especially when Molly simply dropped her luggage in the master bedroom next to Greg's bags.

Colleen was hugely grateful when Greg suggested it. She needed to stay close to the Garrison and keep watch for Katie, but absolutely did not want to stay in the apartment on-base, as the Holts had done for several years. Until they knew exactly who they were dealing with in this infowar, she did not want to put herself too close to the potential enemy. The house was an excellent answer and she wasted no time checking out of the Plaht City hotel where she had been staying since the news first broke of "Pidge Gunderson" and the other cadets disappearing.

The three of them converted Greg's den into their center of operations. They each had a desk and a computer. They turned the space between the door and fireplace into a crazy wall, tacking up pictures and information to create a visual organizer. A chart listed the contact information and relevant time zones for the Shiroganes, the Garretts, and the McClains.

Greg had also asked a friend of his, one who did tech work for him from time to time when he needed to keep his sources anonymous, to use Colleen's tablet and trace Katie's location. The analyst had arrived, bringing pizza for everyone, and sat down with the tablet, shoving things around on the screen without hesitation. He paused after some twenty minutes, looking up with a glare.

"What kind of joke is this, Greg? Why are you wasting my time?"

"No joke, Raj. Have you got any chance of locating Katie's tablet?"

"Depends. Is she currently—" he glanced down at the screen and back up "—seventy-five thousand light years from here?"

Greg and Molly stared at him in shock. Colleen frowned, then gave a little scream of delight. She jumped up and snatched the tablet from him. "There's a connection! Katie did it!"

Thank you as always for reading!

An organizational note - I have gotten to the point where I really, really don't like FFN's structure anymore. I will continue posting the works in progress that I have here: "The Perils of Innocence" (HP), "Regrouping" (Sense8), "Skydancer" and "The Quintessential Bond" (VLD). If you want to see what else I've been writing (all VLD at this point), please check my page under the same author name on the big archive that belongs to us.