Chapter Nine

Jack landed the Black none too gracefully but neither him nor his father cared too much about it. The thought that Merla had murdered his mother had him gripping the controls so tightly that his hands bgan to ache. His father had not said a word since Ethan said Voltronia was in trouble but he didn't have to. Jack feared the worse, not only for himself, but for Lance. As far as Jack knew, his parents were each other's touchstones. It was a relationship he wanted for himself one day, but he saw now the drawback of that bond. Without Link, Lance would be an empty husk and vice versa. Jack would be torn without his mother, but his father...his father would be broken.

Lance leapt out of the cockpit and had his feet on the ground before Jack could even get out to the open air. The Yellow Lion was covering them, which they did not notice as they used the Black for cover against the fighters hovering overhead.

"If we blow the hatch, we risk hitting those nearby," Lance said.

"If things are happening down there, they'll take our comm calls," Jack said.

"Try it."

"Voltronia base, this is Jack Branegan...Voltronia base..."

"GET DOWN HERE."

The scream was so loud that it caused static and Jack's ear, which he'd been holding the communicator close to, began to ring.

"Open the door," he screamed back.

The entrance came up right in front of them, painfully slow, and Lance did not wait for it to go up all the way before he blew the doors open by firing at the keypad. He ran in to the sounds of keening wails and shouts, the sound making his blood run cold.

It was a massacre.

"Mom," Jack said, his throat tight. "We have to find her."

Lance could only nod as he pushed aside a woman who was holding her son in her arms, screaming for him to help her.

"Move faster, Jack," he said.

"Where's Mayor Branegan?" Jack asked, grabbing a young woman who looked lost.

"In the mess," she said faintly.

Lance and Jack pushed and shoved people out of their way as they ran full tilt down the corridors. Jack had never seen that expression on his father's face before and on top of his already present fear, it did not make things better. Lance could hardly breathe, not because of their exertions, but because a vise had slowly been tightening in his chest since the thought that his wife might be dead entered his mind. He barely saw the people he passed, was barely aware that Jack was right behind him, just how terrified as he was.

The mess hall was filled with people. There were bodies on tables and medical personnel going from person to person. It did not take long to find Link among them.

Lance was reaching for her even before he was close enough to touch her so when his fingertips brushed the material of her sleeve, he immediately gripped it and hauled her into his arms.

"Oh God...oh God..." was all he could murmur into her ear.

"Lance!" she exclaimed. "Jack! What are you two doing here?"

Lance would not let go of his wife to let Jack get to his mother, so Jack made do with taking her hand in his.

"We thought you were dead," he said, his gray eyes shining and his skin pale from fear. "God, Mom...we thought you were dead."

Link's arms tightened around Lance and she realized then that he was crying. Not weeping, but quiet tears of relief that fell onto her neck.

"I'm fine, my love," she said quietly, her fingers in his hair. "I'm right here. I'm fine."

It felt like hours until Keith burst through the doors, soldiers at his back. He saw Link standing between Lance and Jack, and his shoulders sagged in relief. He went to them and hugged her tight. He caught Lance's eyes from over her shoulder, saw that his friend had aged years since his run from central control in the other base. Jack still looked shaken and he kept closing his eyes for a few moments to compose himself.

"What happened?" he asked when Lance gave Link's hand a yank that had her tumbling back into his arms.

"They just started to drop," she said in a low voice. "It started this morning. The doctors, the ones that are left, didn't know what to make of it. There was no blood, no wounds, nothing indicating that there was any foul play. They just died."

"Did you notice any discernible pattern?"

"Those in the upper levels were hit the hardest. That's why we're all down here, where it's safe." She straightened and looked around her, at the huddled forms and covered bodies. "She could have done this in the beginning but she didn't. Was she saving it for a special day?"

"Crazy bitch," Jack muttered.

"Maybe, or she's finally decided we're no use to her after all," Keith said. "Cital...?"

"One of the first to die."

Keith didn't say anything. Instead, he turned his attention to the Arusians around them and thought of the ones he had just passed. None of them had paid him any attention when he passed them, partly because his helmet was pulled low over his eyes and they did not recognize him, and partly because they were lost in their anguish.

"We attack now," he said.

"We've been ready for days," Lance said. "We have Voltronia base now. How are Bethie and Ethan?"

"I don't know."

Keith opened a link to the base and got Pidge on the line. He got the information quickly.

"They recovered nicely," he said. "So, you want to get this ball rolling then?"

"Get them in their Lions and when they're out there, tell them to report to me. You and Gwen need to stay in the base. I need you two to be the hub of communication, just like we planned."

"Aye."

"Keith," Link said, grabbing his arm just when he was about to stride off. "You have to say something to them."

Keith blinked. The thought had not even occurred to him. Between him and Allura, he was usually the one who paid attention to the more humanitarian aspects to their rule, but there did not seem to be room for that here. Even surrounded by death and sorrow, all he could think about was that he had to destroy Merla and get his wife back.

"Yes...I should," he said.

Link led him back to the communication room where they had contacted Lance. He turned on a system wide channel and began to speak.

"People of Arus, this is your king. I have not forgotten you. Today will be remembered for two things: the day Merla massacred us and the day we fought back. I am going to lead our soldiers back out into the battlefield and with Voltron on our side, we will strike a blow to Merla and her forces. Arus is our land; we will not let her have it anymore."

Whirling on his heel, Keith marched back out into the corridors, to the admiring eyes and strengthened resolve of the people, and readied his laser rifle.

Bethie cracked her knuckles before launching the Red into the air. It felt like days since she had last been inside her Lion and she found that she'd missed it. Here things made sense and even though she had awesome destructive power at her fingertips, she felt at peace in the pilot's seat. She felt cool as she followed her brother to the battlefield, already apparent by the circling fighters and approaching ro-beasts from the above. The excitement she usually felt when she flew her Lion was gone and there was no burning heat of revenge in her heart, just the cold knowledge that what she was going to do today needed to be done.

And just like that, she felt like she was looking out through her Lion's eyes.

"Whoa."

She was aware of her body, but also aware of the air rushing outside the hull of the Red. She could feel the laser cannons at its shoulders, knew that the ion knife would appear without her having to do anything. It was like having two bodies being controlled by one mind. Hers.

"Uh...Bethie..."

"What is it, Ethan?"

"Your Lion's glowing."

Bethie turned her head...or maybe it was the Red's sensors...and she saw that the Blue was flying alongside her.

"I'm glowing, little bro."

"How did you do that?"

There was only one word to describe it.

"Peace."

With a burst of speed, Bethie flew the Red into the burgeoning battle.

"Where the hell is she going?" Jack barked from inside the Black.

"I'm getting some weird readings from the Red," Matt added.

"Who cares," Jordan retorted. "We've got incoming from all sides."

"Let's get to work," Ethan said, struggling to find his own 'peace'.

But they all watched, aghast, as Bethie's Red ripped through the Lotorian's forces with a speed that their eyes could not track. Matt stared at his sensors to try and gauge what was happening but he found that his instruments were going haywire when he pointed them at the Red Lion.

"Seriously...what the hell is going on?" Jack said. "Bethie, answer me dammit!"

"Shut up, Jack...I'm working," she replied, her voice calm and low.

Jack gaped.

"Alright. Team, let's clean up after her. Not much we need to do now."

The first ro-beast reached them in moments but the Red flew circles around it, its hits making visible marks on the ro-beast's scaly outer shell. The glow surrounding the Red only seemed to become brighter with each hit, no hint of it weakening, but Bethie sensed that defeating this ro-beast could be done the old-fashioned way.

"Form Voltron," Bethie said to Jack.

"You got it," Jack said, biting back his initial response to argue with her.

The Red broke away from the ro-beast to form up with the rest of the lions. The second they attached, the other three pilots felt the cool breeze of Bethie's magic wash over them...but when it touched Ethan, it was like an explosion, a wave of heat mingling with the cold. Strange that heat would be coming from the blue and cool from the red, but together, they powered Voltron until the giant robot began to glow waves of red and blue.

"Holy Lions," Jack breathed as he felt the power from his head to his toes.

On the ground, Keith, Lance and the soldiers paused to look up at the sky when they heard the boom of connecting energy and Voltron lit up the sky.

"What...?" Keith started.

But they could only watch when Voltron whirled on the ro-beast and without forming the Blazing Sword, destroyed the ro-beast by gripping its arms with the Red and Green Lions, ripping it in half. It was brutal but effective.

In the Castle of Lions, Merla screamed.