Chapter Five

Standing on a viewing platform before the robot, Keith gripped the railing as he stared up at Allura. She turned her head slowly to look back at him, her expression flat. There was an emptiness in her blue eyes that chilled his heart and he did not recognize the soul that was looking out of his wife's familiar blue eyes. Allura sat, surrounded by and attached to a number of thick cables and wires, in the cockpit of a Voltron that was like a dark twin of the original. To Keith, she looked like a marionette...and that observation wasnt too far off the mark.

"Mom," Alana called out, reaching out to Allura with her magic and instinctively recoiled when she sensed the darkness in her mother's mind.

"What are you doing here?" Allura asked, not moving and her voice dull.

"Saving you," Merla answered.

Keith and Alana turned to find the other woman with a knife at Archent's throat. Archent's gray eyes glittered dangerously, but he was not making any sudden movements, sure that Merla would not hesitate to end his life. However, he glowed with magic as a defensive measure and he forced Merla to draw out her own power just so she could keep close to him. Keith pushed Alana behind him, blocking her with his body, but she called on her power and he could feel the heat of it against his back. He almost looked behind him to see what was happening but he did not want to take his eyes off Merla, who was inching forward slowly.

"What have you done to my mother?" Alana demanded.

"Do you like Shadow Voltron? That's what I decided to to name my new toy," Merla answered, her yellow eyes sparkling with cruelty as she caught Keith's gaze. "And as every parent knows, new toys usually needs batteries."

"She is the Queen of Arus, not a battery," he said between clenched teeth.

"Who says she cannot be both?"

A muscle in Keith's cheek jumped and though his temper threatened to spike, he kept a firm hold on it. He would play this smart. He had to.

"I would have thought that you would want to play with your toy yourself," he said, arching his eyebrows curiously, tauntingly. "Or maybe you don't have the kind of power that is necessary to fuel your robot."

Merla visibly stiffened and Archent's fists clenched as he felt the blade of the knife brush against his skin.

"My power is formidable," she said, grabbing the reins of her self-control. "However, as I am not of Arus, it is more difficult for me to control its magic. Besides that, I am wise enough to know that the magic in the Core is unstable. I would rather not risk myself."

"I wouldn't call that wisdom; on the contrary, it's the exact opposite. If you are unable to even go to the Core to gather the magic yourself, how do you expect to control it and use it? You don't have even half the natural talent that my wife or my children have."

"Like knows like," Merla replied. "The Core will recognize that I am a powerful sorceress unlike any that have walked this planet and the power will come to me. I just need someone who will go down there and get it for me."

"Don't you hear yourself?" Keith spat. "You may have planned it all to this point, but once Allura is in the Core and she gathers this magic for you, you are just as ill-informed as we are as to what is going to happen next. You risk the destruction of this planet and everyone on it, including yourself, for your single-minded quest for the ultimate power. Zarkon failed, Lotor gave up, and you are deluded enough to think that you can find success where they could not."

Alana moved around him, the air around her pulsing with her power and she glowed dimly in the bright lights of the docking bay, but her blue eyes were steady and unafraid as she fixed her gaze on Merla's face. She brushed her power against Archent's, felt his support and tilted her chin just a little bit higher.

"Arus will reject you," she said, her voice serene. "My ancestors imprisoned that magic in the Core for a reason."

"These are arguments I've heard before and nothing will stop me from seeing this to the end...even if it becomes the very end."

Something passed between Archent and Alana. In one swift movement, Archent grabbed the hand holding the knife even as Alana was throwing one hand out to stop Merla from attacking Archent. But she wasn't prepared for Merla attacking her.

"DADDY!" she screamed as Merla's focused power was like a battering ram against her chest and she flipped over the railing.

Keith rushed forward, throwing himself on the steel bars with one hand stretched out as Alana's upturned face begged him to help her. He thought that his heart was going to explode out of his chest as his fingertips brushed against her wrist and he could not close his hand around it...

...then he blinked as he realized his hand was inches away from her face.

Looking up, he saw that Shadow Voltron had broken free from its scaffolding and supports and had one hand around the Princess' fragile body. Allura was standing up, straining against the cables she was attached to and there was such pain on her face that Keith could see it from where he was standing. She turned her gaze to him and he knew that he was looking at his wife. Somehow, Allura had fought her way back to the surface of her consciousness to save her youngest daughter, but it was hurting her. Keith wanted to leap up and go to her, to free her from whatever Merla imprisoned her with, but there just wasn't enough time...

"Take her, Keith," Allura said, her words terse, but it was a voice that he recognized. "I don't know how much longer I can hold on."

Alana stared up at him, no longer glowing, and she looked like a little girl.

"Hang on, baby," he soothed, grasping her wrist and pulling her up easily. "I have you."

Alana was trembling when she clung to her father. Keith released a breath and held her tightly, but his eyes were on Allura. She managed a small smile for him before her face slackened and she sat back down in her seat, her shoulders drooping. He could see that she was giving up control again and rage lit up his dark eyes as he turned to look at Merla, being held at bay by Archent. Without letting go of Alana, Keith pulled out his communicator.

"GO!" he yelled.

The Lions were in the air in moments. Jack was still putting his helmet on even as the Black sped forward, its nose pointed straight at the Castle of Lions. His heart was pounding in his chest in anticipation for what he was sure would be the last battle of this war. He could feel it in his bones and could smell it in the air; this was the end. He wished suddenly that he'd hugged his mother one last time, shared on last joke with his father, and grabbed his brother in a headlock. He was never more aware of his mortality in that moment and whatever was left of the boy he had been melted away.

Mouth set in a stubborn line, he focused on the task at hand.

"Keith isn't answering my hails," Lance transmitted to his son. "We're gonna have to assume that they've been captured."

"That goes without saying, Dad. Should we attempt to infiltrate the castle?" Jack asked.

"I don't want any of you leaving those Lions," Lance said.

Jack was looking at the viewscreen when he saw the explosion erupt from somewhere behind the castle. His hands tightened on the controls.

"Matt...!" he barked before he could even process what was happening.

"It looks like the docking bay," Matt answered. "My sensors are telling me that the ceiling was blown out..."

Matt's words faded as they all saw the dark Voltron emerge from the cloud of smoke and fire.

In the Blue Lion, Ethan straightened and his blue eyes narrowed. A second later, his sister did the same in the Red.

"Merla," Ethan said.

"No kidding," Jack snorted. "Are you getting a read on that bad boy?"

"There's something familiar..." Bethie said vaguely. "There's something in it that I recognize."

"Keep working at it. In the meantime, form up," Jack said.

The five Lions flew upwards and in moments, formed Voltron, ready to face their new foe.

"I was wondering when you were going to join the party," Merla purred, cutting into their communications. "I'd like you to meet Shadow Voltron. I believe that he will prove to be a greater challenge than my ro-beasts as I've done my best to match him to you in every single way...oh, and one other thing: the Queen is flying him."

Before Jack or any of them could respond, Merla closed the link. Shadow Voltron fired a quick barrage of laserbolts and though Jack was able to evade most of them, one hit the mark and they all felt it. Voltron fell heavily and the ground shook beneath its feet. Shadow Voltron landed nearby, sword at ready.

"I want weapons at half power," Jack said, as he readied Voltron for what was coming. "The Queen of Arus is in there and I don't want her to get hurt."

Allura clearly did not feel the same way they did. Shadow Voltron came right at them, Blazing Sword in hand. Jack just managed to bring out the shield to block the blow and Voltron's feet left deep gouges in the earth as it was pushed backwards from the sheer force of it.

"A little help here, Ethan, Bethie," Jack said, blinking the sweat from his eyes.

Bethie relaxed her hands on her controls and found calm in herself as her brother did the exact opposite. Fury blazed inside him as he thought about his mother, imprisoned inside the robot and being used as nothing more than an energy supply. Voltron shone brightly with their efforts and when Jack fired eyebeams, this time it was Shadow Voltron that staggered back.

"We need to get her out of there," Jack said. "Where's the cockpit, Matty?"

"Behind the crest," Matt answered. "The robot's design is imperfect and there are structural weaknesses on either side of where she is. If we hit the robot there, we should be able to get her out safely. We just need to have the tractor beam ready."

"Alright," Jack said. "Form Blazing Sword."

The two robots met in the middle, their swords clashing loudly. Maneuvering Voltron, Jack managed to push Shadow Voltron a few paces back and he swung the Blazing Sword up and back. But when the sword should have made contact with Shadow Voltron's chest, the other robot disappeared and the sword cut through air.

"I thought we were done with this!" Jack exclaimed angrily, slamming his fist on his control panel.

"I can still sense it," Ethan said distractedly.

"And I've got it on radar," Matt said. "It's beneath us."

"Matty, transmit those coordinates. Green, Red, give me some wind and fire. We've got some digging to do," Jack said.