And here it is, the final chapter! The sequel, crimson, should be up sometime in March, so stay tuned for that! I've also got some other things in the works that should prove interesting- at least, I hope they will. For those of you who have stuck with me since burgundy, I thank you! And even those of you who have only discovered this series, with this, the final chapter of maroon, I thank you as well! It's been quite the ride, and it's not nearly over yet.

maroon

chapter twenty one

blackout

When they formed Voltron, Keith let his end of the paladin bond stay open. It was the first time, and the action didn't go without notice. He offered himself up to the bond, fully exposing everything that he had kept hidden in the battles they had fought before this, everything that he had been too afraid to show.

He was met with acceptance, not rejection. Even his bloodlust, a trait that was so markedly Galra in nature was brought into the fold without so much as the batting of an eye.

There were no words exchanged between them. There didn't need to be.

Instead, they focused on the task at hand. The virus would only disrupt the power on Zarkon's ship for twenty doboshes, so they needed to work fast. There were several targets that they would need to completely disable, effectively rendering Central Command beyond repair.

And with any luck, they'd take Zarkon out with it.

For the first time in his life, he actually thought that might be possible. That Zarkon could die.

He threw himself into the battle with everything he had. There was too much at stake for him to do any less.

Maybe it was because he was so focused, that he didn't notice it until it was too late. When he went over the chain of events in his head later, he could almost pinpoint the moment when he first felt that wave of darkness wash over him, but in the heat of the moment, he had dismissed it.

He wished he hadn't.

What he remembered was Shiro telling them to not lose focus. They had finished neutralizing the engine systems, and were moving on to attack the bridge. All he was thinking about was avenging Thace- him, Ulaz, and countless other Blades who had lost their lives for the cause. About righting the massive wrong that his people had inflicted on the universe.

That's when he felt- no, that's when he acknowledged it. He had felt it earlier, but he'd just ignored it, pushed it to the side.

He remembered Lance asking what it was. He remembered his laser focus being shaken, the foul, twisted feeling rushing in all at once. It was all he could do to reflexively close off his end of the paladin bond to protect the others, so that the chaos it induced in his own mind didn't impact them.

He didn't remember it hitting. He never would.

But the impact... the impact, he remembered. He would probably never forget. It was like his very essence was being violently torn out of him, stolen.

He didn't remember screaming. He just knew that he must have.

"I don't know. I just know that whatever it was that destroyed those planets, it couldn't have been anything natural."

He remembered the surety that had been in Kyix's voice as he said that.

He knew better than to doubt his reazit, though he often did not understand it. None did, really, Kyix included. It was too vague, too ill-defined for any of them to truly get a grasp on. He knew it was a source of frustration for the young Blade, who would occasionally lament that it got in the way of him being an asset to the Blade.

Kolivan had always believed that one day, it could become a strength.

Now? Now he could only watch in horror as the komar proved itself very real, in one of the worst ways he could think possible. Even if he couldn't sense its energy the way he knew Kyix likely could, he could still tell that it was foul- a creeping, inky blackness that was visible even against the near pitch black backdrop of space, draining the energy from Voltron. From the paladins.

From Kyix.

His screams reverberated down the length of his spine.

He could not sense it. But the princess could, even from this distance. And if her horrified cry was any indication, then whatever she could feel was likely far worse for someone who was so close to it- and furthermore had no control of their own gifts.

"Is that it?" Allura weakly inquired. "Is that the komar?"

Kolivan swallowed, forcing himself to remain composed. If he were to be truthful, it was more difficult than he wished to admit. "I am afraid so."

"It's... it's dreadful." Allura whispered, her eyes staring off into the distance with unmasked horror, before she snapped out of it, scrambling to her feet with the aid of her advisor. "The paladins. What about the paladins?"

He could not give her a response. The komar was designed to drain the quintessence from planets. There was no way of knowing what it may have done to Voltron- or its paladins.

"Paladins," Allura pleaded, "-Shiro. Please, come in. Are you there?"

There was a long pause- too long.

"Princess," Shiro finally responded, his voice weak, but audible, "-we're here."

"Oh, thank the ancients." Coran said, his relief as audible as it was visible. "Is Voltron operational?"

There was a grunt. "It's not working."

He recognized the voice as belonging to the yellow paladin. Hunk, Kyix had informed him.

"Was that," the blue paladin- Lance- spoke, sounding as if he were having trouble composing his words, "-was that it? Was that the komar?"

"I am afraid so." Allura told him. "You must get out of there. You may not survive another blast like that."

"I think... I think that's going to be a problem." The green paladin- Pidge- weakly replied. "My lion's not responding at all."

It was with a jolt that he realized that they had yet to hear from Kyix.

Antok picked up on his anxiety, for he stepped forward, his tail lashing behind him in a way that it only did when he was deeply concerned about something. "Kyix?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as it dawned on the Alteans that he had yet to check in. He did not need to see the faces of the other paladins to know that they were likely being hit with the same realization.

"Keith?" Shiro asked, using the name he had adopted on Earth. All the paladins seemed to. He had questioned it at first, but as it never seemed to bother him, he had simply let the issue lie. "Keith, are you there?"

"Keith, buddy?" Lance asked, his voice high pitched with concern.

"Maybe... maybe he's too out of it to respond to that." Hunk chimed in, unmistakably nervous, sounding doubtful of his own words even as he spoke. "Kyix? Kyix, come on buddy, you're really starting to freak us out here."

"Maybe he hit his head." Pidge reasoned, clearly trying to keep herself calm. "I could try leaving my lion to-"

"I'm fine."

A wave of relief crashed over him. Kyix's voice was weak, but still audible. He was alive.

"I'm fine," Kyix repeated, slightly more insistent this time, a slight whine underlining his words that he suspected the paladins were unable to hear, "-just- just took a lot out of me."

Shiro let out an audible sigh of relief. "Looks like we're all alive over here."

"Can't say the same for the lions." Kyix mumbled. "I can't feel Red at all. Or any of the other lions."

"Nor can I." Allura admitted. "But you must-"

"Wait," Lance cut her off, likely without meaning to, "-what's that?"

Kolivan didn't have to ask what he meant. He was already looking at it.

Zarkon.

With awareness came a sense of creeping dread.

At first, he thought it was just residual energy from the komar. The blast had knocked him flat, rendering him briefly unconscious. From the sound of it, it had knocked out the rest of the paladins too, but clearly he'd been out of it for longer. Truthfully, he was still having a rough time shaking the effects off- he felt drained, weak, like he could barely move. He was pretty sure the only reason he still could was due to the paladin bond.

Voltron might be inoperable, but it remained.

Breathing out, he cautiously opened up his end once more. The worst effects from the komar were gone, so it was probably safe.

The first thing he picked up on was a spike of anxiety from Lance. Turning his head, he tried to focus on what it was that they were seeing- and at once realized just what that sense of dread was.

It wasn't because of the komar.

It was Zarkon.

Zarkon was coming right at them, and Voltron still couldn't move.

He watched, helpless, as Allura charged the Castle at Zarkon's armor. When he redirected the Castle's own weapons back at it, he swore Allura screamed as if she had been shot through directly. Knowing how connected she was to the Castle of Lions, it was entirely possible she had been.

This was bad. He knew that. They had gone from having a chance to defeat Zarkon to putting everything at risk in what felt like only a few doboshes. All because he had been too distracted to notice the komar.

No, it wasn't because of that, he tried to convince himself. Even if he had, there was no guarantee that he could have protected them from its effects. Even if he could have, he couldn't afford to dwell on what he might have done- not when what he needed to be focusing on what he could do right now.

Shiro was right. They had to fight back. There was no way that Voltron could simply give in here, not after everything they had been through together. Not when the fate of the entire universe rested on the outcome of this mission.

Not when countless Blades had sacrificed their lives for this moment.

Drawing in a deep breath, he gripped Red's controls tightly. He could faintly feel her now, in the back of his mind. Briefly, he wondered if she had taken the brunt of the blast from the komar to protect him- if all the lions had.

If that was true, now it was his turn to pay back the favor.

Digging deep, he drew that faint sensation forward. The red lion purred, becoming stronger and stronger, until it was the only sound he could hear.

They hadn't lost yet.

"Are you alright, princess?"

Her eyes fluttered open, for a brief moment not understanding why she felt as if she were weightless. As she looked into Coran's eyes, laced with concern, the memories trickled back.

"I'm fine." Allura assured him, though in truth she felt nearly as weak as she had after she had restored the Balmera. But the situation was simply too dire for her to rest. "How badly is the Castle damaged?"

The picture Coran painted was grim- without any defenses in place, the blast from the Castle's own weapons had decimated their power levels. Every ounce of power they had was being diverted to either keeping the teleduv stable, or life support- they did not even have the leftover power to send any kind of transmission.

The Castle of Lions was out of the fight.

But the fight was still going. It heartened her to see that Voltron was back in the thick of it, having recovered from the blast that it had taken from the komar. She had nearly been afraid that it wouldn't, but it would seem that not all hope was lost.

Still, if they did not do something about it, then there was still a chance that all of this could have been for naught. Another blast like that...

She tried to shake off the thought, not daring to dwell on it. It had been too close as it was already.

They had to do something about the komar.

She had to do something about the komar.

"Kolivan," turning towards the Blade, she locked eyes with him, "-can you get me to the komar?"

There was something unspoken between the two of them in that moment. A connection that she was not even previously aware was there. In hindsight, she felt like a fool for not realizing it- she knew that to Kyix, the Blade of Marmora was like a family, and that Ulaz's loss had devastated him. It was why she had apologized for tainting his sacrifice.

But somehow it had not occurred to her that the Blade also thought of Kyix as their family- as their youngling- but she did now. She had seen the nursery with her own eyes, seen the care with which Ilun had cradled her own youngling, and the clear way that Yugdul and Taiche had adored Kyix as if he were their own older sibling. She had watched the way he interacted with them, with a gentle fondness that reminded her so painfully of how things were before the war, before Zarkon's betrayal.

She had also noticed that there were no others Kyix's age.

And the look in his eyes when she had inquired about the location of the nursery... no. She could not afford to think about that now.

Kolivan seemed to understand. He was as concerned for Kyix as she was the rest of the paladins- Kyix included, of course. It was not simply because they were the universe's best chance of obtaining freedom, but because during the time they had spent together, she had grown close to them. Closer than she ever thought possible.

She could not stand the thought of something happening to one of them, much less to all of them.

"It will be dangerous." Kolivan told her. "But I know a way."

"Good." Allura said. "You and Antok come with me. We will have to attack them directly if we hope to stop it."

Right now, the paladins were risking their lives to fight Zarkon. There was no way that she could sit here and do nothing as they did so.

Altea might be gone, but she was still its princess. For the sake of those who had been lost, and for the sake of those who were still fighting, she would fight to her last breath if necessary.

They would prevail.

And he thought Zarkon had been powerful before.

That had been back when he was armed with nothing more than his bayard. Now that he had his own suit of robot armor? It felt like just holding him off was all they could manage, and even that was proving difficult.

It didn't help that this was a battle on two fronts. They couldn't risk ignoring the komar. Allura was right- if it hit them again, they'd be finished.

Unfortunately, that also meant keeping his attention divided when he really needed to keep it focused fully on Zarkon. But he was the only one who could sense the energy from the komar, and therefore, was the only one who could warn them before it struck.

Unfortunately, he couldn't say the same thing about Zarkon.

The only silver lining was that he wasn't getting the same noxious sensation from this armor that he had gotten from the robeasts. Maybe it was because the method used to create it was different. Or maybe it was just because he still couldn't sense a single thing from Zarkon.

It didn't really matter, he guessed. Not when he was still kicking their asses.

Grunting, Keith gripped the controls of the red lion tight. Just when he thought they had gotten in a good blow with the sword, Zarkon had turned the tables on them. Now they were split up back into lions. Even worse, Shiro wasn't responding to the coms.

Guess he was right about Zarkon still trying to gain control of the black lion.

This was the second time he and the red lion had stood in Zarkon's way, keeping him from the black lion. The only difference was that this time, he wasn't alone.

He just didn't know if it would be enough.

There was something to be said for the element of surprise.

It had enabled them to take out two of Haggar's druids nearly at once, and deal damage to the komar while they were at it. Not nearly enough to destroy it, but at the very least, to remove it from the picture for the time being. If nothing else, the paladins could now devote their sole attention to fighting Zarkon.

That just left the two remaining druids- and Haggar.

They were just as foul as she remembered them. Knowing what she knew about them now, that they were reazit that had been changed, altered in some unknown fashion, only made them worse. The knowledge that they had been stripped of their free will, transformed, likely while they were still younglings- it horrified her.

That Zarkon could do such a thing to his own kind, and to mere younglings at that... he truly had fallen far from the man he had once been.

Yet there was nothing she could do about it now. Tragic though their circumstances were, she could not afford to spare the druids any mercy because of it. Kolivan and Antok most certainly were not.

It was with Kolivan's aid that she defeated the first of the two remaining druids. They were far more powerful than she had anticipated, nothing like the reazit she had once known.

And there was still Haggar.

In that instant, she suddenly realized that she had lost track of Zarkon's witch. Frantically searching for her, she spotted her half a tick too late, watching helplessly as she struck Antok with a powerful blast of lightning. He cried out in pain, the sound of it already sending Kolivan forward in a surge of motion, but deep in her heart, she knew that he would be unable to reach him in time.

She was about to witness one of her paladins' family members be slaughtered right in front of her. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Except... the fatal blow never came.

The druid struck with the intent to kill, but in that instant, something strange occurred. It happened too quickly for her to fully grasp what, but as she would recall it later, it was as if his left arm had glowed, vivid white against the darkness. It was only much later that she would learn that it was not the arm itself, but rather, a mark that had been inscribed upon it- but whatever it was, it served to protect him.

For a tick, she simply stood there, stunned.

Then she realized she was not alone in that. Turning her gaze towards Haggar, she gripped her staff tight. Just as Antok quickly regained his own senses, and turned the tide against the druid he fought, she too made use of this second, unexpected element of surprise to strike against Haggar.

Her staff connected, knocking the vile witch back. She was poised to strike again, even as Haggar collected herself, lifting her head, the hood of her robe falling back to reveal...

No. It was impossible.

"You're," she half-whispered in clear disbelief, "-you're Altean."

With a horrifying sense of clarity, it clicked into place.

Honerva.

Groaning, Shiro slowly returned to consciousness. His right arm trembled with the phantom of a pain that he knew wasn't actually there, the sound of his fellow paladin's voices dragging him out of the depths. He had no time to collect himself, to try and fully grasp his surroundings- not when what he heard was their screams, and what he saw was them struggling just to stay in the fight.

In the back of his mind, the black lion purred.

During his fight with Zarkon on the astral plane, he had come to understand the black lion better. He had sensed, for the first time, its overwhelming sorrow, saw just how deep its feelings of regret ran. It had watched the man it had once chosen as its paladin change before its very eyes, and had been powerless to stop him.

Now, stopping him was all it wished to do.

He thought he had understood that then. But now, watching his team cry out as they struggled to fight, to protect him... he understood it even clearer now. This was his team. He was their leader. He couldn't just sit back and allow himself to be protected. No matter what the cost was, he had to get in there and fight.

They had been protecting him. Now it was his turn to protect them.

The black lion responded to that desire with a roar. If that was his wish, then it knew a way. He had watched as the paladins connected with their lions on a deeper level, unlocking powers that they hadn't known of before.

Now it was his turn.

He didn't fully understand what had happened until he held Zarkon's bayard- his bayard, Keith had corrected- in his hands. He watched as it changed shape, transforming from something that had become so twisted, into the shape it was meant to be in.

He felt the black lion's deep regret that the same could never be done for Zarkon himself.

The tide of the battle had changed. He could feel it. Even as Zarkon doubled his efforts, furious at the loss of his bayard, he could sense that this all was about to end, once and for all.

He just didn't realize that included him.

Keith ran.

He wasn't entirely sure where he was drawing the energy to do so from, but he must have found it somewhere. The blast from the komar, the battle with Zarkon... both had left him substantially drained, to the point where he felt like he could sleep for several phoebs and still not be fully recovered.

He didn't even know if they had truly won or not. The last blow they had struck against Zarkon had been decisive, but he was a ten thousand year old monster fueled by quintessence. It just felt like it would take a little more than a flaming sword to truly take him out. With the power to Central Command restored, there hadn't been a chance to confirm it- they'd had no choice but to retreat.

That was when he had noticed something was wrong with Shiro.

With the black lion, to be more precise. It hadn't moved, floating dead in space. He'd had to tow it back onto the Castle with Pidge.

Right before they had unlocked the flaming sword, he had sensed Zarkon trying to force his way into the black lion. It had rejected him, but they had all heard Shiro's grunts of pain. Those alone would have been enough to send him hurrying to the black lion's hangar, but it wasn't that, that found him drawing on energy he hadn't known was there.

It was what he had felt after.

He couldn't explain it. It was like... like something was there, and then it wasn't.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one who'd had the same idea. By the time he got to the hangar, Allura was already waiting with Coran just outside the black lion. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were all right behind him, each somewhat out of breath. It hadn't moved since they had towed it back, still lying crumpled in a heap on the ground.

It was a far cry from the noble beast it usually was.

It unnerved him.

"I sent Kolivan ahead to the med bay." Allura informed them, and for just a tick, her gaze lingered on him, looking at him a bit strangely. He didn't think much of it- he was too exhausted to, too worried about Shiro. "Antok took some damage in our fight with the druids, but he should recover. In the meantime, I asked him to prepare a pod for Shiro."

He tensed at that. They had fought the druids? Antok had gotten hurt?

He wanted to ask, but he bit it back. Antok was going to be fine. He didn't think Allura would tell him something like that unless she actually meant it.

"Does anyone know what happened?" Pidge asked.

"I don't know. All I know is that Zarkon was fighting him for control." Keith said.

"Do you think he...?" Hunk trailed off.

Keith shook his head. "No. I don't think so."

"Okay, okay, that's good." Hunk said. "But why isn't the black lion working?"

"And why isn't Shiro coming out?" Lance asked.

"I do not know." Allura shook her head. "But let us hurry."

He didn't have the energy to dispute her, even if he wanted to- and he didn't. Together, they made their way into the black lion. He couldn't sense anything from it- it was downright eerie. It reminded him too much of right after the komar had hit, and he didn't like it.

Something was wrong.

That much became clear when they made their way into the cockpit. The black bayard was still fixed in its port, right where Shiro had left it, but Shiro, he...

...he was gone.

Power may have been restored to Central Command, but Voltron's assault had left it severely damaged. The paladins had been able to successfully disable the engine systems before she had attacked them with the komar, rendering them unable to pursue the Castle of Lions as it fled.

It did not matter. She had more pressing priorities.

They had been able to recover the lord's armor. It had been severely damaged, but it would take far more than that to actually kill the lord emperor. Still, the battle with Voltron had left him drained, and using the untested armor had further robbed him of valuable quintessence. They would have to use a substantial amount just to restore him to full health, and even then, his fate was uncertain.

As it stood, he was unresponsive.

Seeing her emperor in such a weakened state... something stirred within her. She could not say what- just that was old, and deeply buried.

Whatever it was, she had no time to dwell on it. There was much to be done.

The damage to the komar was extreme- it was unlikely that they would be able to repair it. The damage to Central Command was currently being assessed, but initial reports indicated that it would be some time before they would be able to have it back up and running at full capacity.

She had no time to dwell on what had happened with the Altean princess either- nor did she have time to dwell on the strange energy that had protected one of the mutinous Galra who had arrived with her.

In time, she would. But right now, she only had one focus.

Several of Zarkon's top commanders were already waiting outside his quarters when she left. She was not sure if they were there in support of their Emperor, or if they were circling like scavenger birds, hoping to take advantage of this moment of weakness.

That she could not allow.

It was distasteful, but if she was to protect her lord's reign until his health was fully restored, then she must resort to certain measures she would otherwise not consider. She could not risk having a Kral Zera called. Her loyalty was to Emperor Zarkon, and to no other. Better then, to have one who shared his blood to sit on the throne, rather than one of these scavengers who would pick at his bones.

"Summon Prince Lotor."