"PALADINS!" I shout as the castle begins to shake.

I quickly scurry to the front deck, slipping and falling with the mice close behind.

"Allura!"

"The lions are gone!" She shouted.

No no no no no! I was too late! I thought. "What are we going to do?" I yelled in panic.

In the back of my head, I knew everything that was going on. Shirt being in pain, Keith searching for him. Pidge stuck on a trash nebula of some kind, lance and hunk stuck on an ocean planet. And there was nothing I could do to help.

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this wormhole is taking us," Coran yelled frantically. REPM.

"Look! There appears to be something on the other end," Allura points out. "We're heading right toward it!"

"Scanners show that there's no exit. It's just nothingness. Find an exit before we run smack into the void!" Coran says sweating with panic.

Allura and I try to calculate possible exits, hoping there's a way.

"I can't! I've lost control of  the Castle," Allura says.

"Brace yourselves! We're about to hit it!" Coran informs us.

Why can't I remember how to fix it! Think, Kiona, think!

We were back to where we were at the beginning of the chapter, but Coran was aging backwards.

Allura blinks in confusion, "Coran, Kiona, we're okay!" She cheers.

"What are you talking about?" Coran snips back, "We've lost all the lions!"

"We've just smashed into a black void. Don't you remember? Hmm?"Allura asks, alarmed, noticing that the mice have changed forms. I look over at her in answers since my mind was still clouded on what to do.

She gasps, "What happened to the mice? They've transformed," she points out.

"And Coran looks younger than he was before!" I add, seeming to forget what happens next. My memory of the future turning to mush.

The Castel shook, "Scanners show that there's no exit. It's just nothingness!" Coran says, unknowing of what was going on.

"You said that already!" The princess and I say in unison.

"Find an exit before we run smack into the void!" Coran continues, ignoring us. 

"I'm entering coordinates to get us out of here. The Castle won't except an end point," Allura tells him.

"Just enter any coordinates!" He shouts back

"I tried but the system is locked. I can't get a signal out or receive a signal in," she says, gasping at the fact we're going to hit the void again.

"Allura!" Coran shouts.

And we've looped again. What's going on? I think frantically, things becoming fuzzy of what I already know if the situation.

Coran is definitely younger this time.

"Oh, no! You're even younger now!" Allura sighs.

"What the matter? You look confused," Coran says. "Don't worry, Princess, I'll get us out of here," he says, being all dazzling. I roll my eyes.

The mice have transformed again and scare Allura, causing her to scream.

"We appear to be in some sort of time loop that's affecting everyone but us two," Allura states looking at me as she is swarmed by the "mice". But I begged to differ. Something was wrong with me and I don't know what or why. But my connection with the castle seemed to be stronger.

My ears... the feel weird on my head. Everything sounds better, too. I reach to the sides of my head. I screech in realization. They've become full altean ears!

"What is it?!" Allura shorts over the mice that are trampling her.

"N-nothing!" I say frantically, trying to cover my Altean ears.

We run into the void again—

Shiro and Keith are struggling to find one another, Pidge is looking for a way to reach someone, and Lance and Hunk were exploring the underwater alien planet.

"Let's check the —[blah blah blah blah blah]" I've heard it too many times. And I was starting to look more altean by the second! My freckles were morfing into altean marks and beginning to glow along side the marks. As I was trying to find a way to hide them, Allura was trying to problem solve our loop.

She begins to try to locate the lions, which doesn't seem to work. And Coran plays loud opera music which turns Allura into a true space mom.

"Coran, if you don't turn that down, I swear I'll turn this Castle around and—" Allura snaps, infuriated.

"And what? We're just gonna run into this void that's coming up here. I hate everybody!" Coran shouts before we run into it again.

Coran was now a small child and we were running out of ideas. And if we continued down this just even a few more trips, Coran would seize to exist!

We try to blow our way out, but the rays just come back at us like we were shooting at ourselves.

My hair had turned into a more vibrant gold color and my markings were quite bold, but my freckles had luckily stopped glowing. I needed to stop worrying and try to help, even if I couldn't remember how to do it.

"Where's Voltron?" small Coran asks before we loop again.

Katie was problem solving all on her own with her new fluffy alien friends. She was building a large satellite to try and find us. What a smart cookie.

Keith was trying to get to Shiro before the alien monsters (that sort of look like Mewtew) got to him first.

"Let's check the Rift Exit Positioning Monitor to see where this worm goes," toddler Coran says, his stomach growing right after. "I hungry," he informs before throwing a temper tantrum and smashing his work station.

"Coran, no! That is not a toy," Allura says, trying to get out of the giant levitating balls that are the mice. "You're going to break the Castle and everything will stop!" She says grabbing him. "Wait a second. Perhaps we can simply stop the Castle from moving," Allura realizes.

Coran being a little mister pulls on Allura's ears and bites her arm, mad that she's at his station. She powers through and shuts the Castle down.

"We've shut down all the power. Why are we still moving towards the void?" I ask, not even realizing that's what she was a bout to say, exactly.

Coran begins to cry, "my control panel!"

And we're back and Coran is just an itty bitty baby and begins to cry.

"I know, I know. Who wants to check the [REPM] to see where this wormhole is taking us?" She coos, rocking him. "You do, that who."

"We have to get out of  this loop before the only thing left if him is his mustache," I tell her, worried.

We share a concerned look.

Coran spits out his pacifier and says, "Poopies," causing Allura to groan.

Keith had saved Shiro by driving Black and Katie had gotten the satellite to work.

"What are we going to do? If we hit the end of the tunnel again, you'll cease to exist," Allura says. "I'm sorry. You were like a second father to me," Allura whispers to Coran.

I hug her as she cradles Coran before we hit the void once again.

But out of no where we get a signal from the green lion!

"Look! The Castle has locked onto a coordinate. Come on. Come on!" Allura says, frantically getting us to wormhole.

"We made it!" Allura and I shout. Her still cradling, a now very large and adult, Coran.

"Mm? Mom?" He says, waking up. And then she drops him to the floor, not giving a quiznack.

"You saved us, Pidge. We were stuck in a time loop," Allura informs number 6.

"You got us out with this giant trash pile," Coran says, moved to tears.

"It's a make-shift Communication link that sends out the Green Lion energy. It's similar to the energy that guided the Blue Lion home," Katie explains.

"Pidge, you're a genius!" Coran shouts.

"You really are," I smile brightly at her.

"I know. Besides, it wasn't just me. They helped," she points the fluffy aliens behind her.

"Hmm...," Coran says, scratching his numb on his head.

"Let's go get the rest of the paladins," Allura says with a smile.

"Explain to me how you let Voltron escape," Zarkon growled.

"Perhaps it was a mechanical failure, sure," Prorok tires to explain. "Haggar boosted the solar barrier's power beyond its normal limits."

"This was no mechanical failure," she hisses. "The two sentries that we're guarding the barrier control were found destroyed. This was clearly a sabotage," Haggar continues.

"Lord Zarkon, I will start an investigation immediately—" Prorok tries to save his hide.

I stopped listening. I was beginning to regain my memory of the future and already knew what was to happen. Prorok would be Blaine's and be rid of and Thace would be recruited to be in charge of the investigation. Yatta yatta yatta.

Let's hope these marks go away...