Defenders of the Universe - SU/VLD (Adopted by jorge.Fuentes18)

Chapter 22: The Astral Plane

The Castle of Lions was quiet and full of somber. The Paladins and Crystal Gems may have been reunited after a battle that scattered them across the universe, but they lost someone in the process. A dear friend, who is irreplaceable. Anger, betrayal, sadness; various emotions swirled inside all the Paladins and Gems. Keith revealed to the rest of the Voltron Force that the reason Zarkon was able to take control of the Black Lion during his attack was that he had the Black Bayard and was her former Paladin. What made this revelation even more painful was that after some understandable anger and pressuring from Keith, Allura revealed that she and the other Alteans knew. The people everyone onboard placed so much trust in had been hiding this from them since the beginning. No one wanted to believe that this was true; not even Keith.

Allura explained that Lance and Coran wanted to tell the others the truth from the beginning, but she begged them not to. For the first time in 10,000 years; those who were worthy of piloting the Lions of Voltron had been discovered. A new hope for the universe was discovered. The Princess did not want to deceive any of them, but she was afraid that if they knew the Black Paladins darkest secret... then that hope would be lost.

This did not help, all it did was sew further distrust; up to the point where Keith lost his temper with Allura and nearly started a fight with Lance. Fortunately, Shiro was able to diffuse the situation; but he demanded the entire truth. Allura, Lance, and Coran didn't know the whole story; but they were able to tell the Crystal Gems and Paladins about the meteorite that was used to create Voltron, the discovery of the Quintessence Field, the battle against the Diamond Authority, the death of Honerva and Zarkon's warpath. While Shiro and the others thanked the Alteans for telling the truth; mistrust was still in the air, and it would take time before any form of trust could be regained.

Pearl, Amethyst, Peridot, and Connie were all equally affected by Garnets demise. The latter two did not know Garnet for as long as the former Crystal Gems did, but Peridot and Connie were taking it just as hard as Pearl and Amethyst were. Pearl has lost so much; her friends from the war, Rose, and now Garnet; the only other Gem who understood her and helped her through these losses. Both Rose and Garnet were like mothers to Amethyst; Garnet continued that role for the Earth-born Gem long after Rose left them, now... all Amethyst feels is that same pain again.

For Peridot, Garnet showed the once proud Homeworld loyalist the concept of love and comradery; something Gems of her type never have the chance to experience in their existence; opening the tiny green Gem's eyes to things she thought were impossible for her to comprehend. As for Connie, Garnet gave the young teenaged girl confidence in herself; the courage to not be afraid of the person she wanted to be. Aside from Pearl and Steven, the Fusion served as emotional support, and let Connie open-up about things she believed her parents wouldn't understand.

However, out of all of them, Steven was devastated the most. The young Half-Gem never knew his mother, and so, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl took on the responsibility of raising him along with his dad. Amethyst served as the irresponsible yet caring big sister. Pearl served as the kind, yet overly protective mother. However, Garnet... all she wanted to do was make Steven happy; give him a past he could look back at with fondness, a present he would enjoy living in, and a future he couldn't wait to look forward to. Now... all of that was in question.

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A Few Days Later.

Matthew, Coran, Thace, Pearl, Peridot, Pidge and a now recovered Ulaz were all worked on repairing the castle to the best of their ability. Even though they tried keeping their emotions in check; tensions were still high with the Alteans. While they understood that Coran and Lance kept this hidden out of respect for Allura; it didn't make things easier for any of them.