The sudden arrival in the astral plane was met by a whole bunch of 'whoa's' from those who had never traveled there before. To the core Paladins it was same ol' same ol' except... It was off.

"Does this place seem weird to you?" asked Hunk.

"I can move here," said Krolia, twisting her spine for the first time in weeks.

"Because our bodies aren't actually here," said Pidge.

"It seems so real, but so different," marveled Acxa, looking around.

""Oh, Addy," gasped Veronica, pointing up ahead.

"Adam?" said Shiro, looking forward into the distance. Melenor was kneeling on the ground with Adam practically in her lap, sobbing.

"Honestly, Adam," said Melenor, her loud voice travelling across the empty space, "I know you're broken up about Shiro, but there are far worse consequences to the branch off than your alternate reality husband agreeing to a date."

"Worse consequences?" muttered Keith going to step forward at the same time Shiro did.

"Halt!" cried Bored, popping into existence in front of them in her android form. "Sorry, can't let you flesh bags through. Mel gave me specific instructions to prevent you at all costs and that included giving me permission to soul murder you."

"No, I did not!" yelled Melenor.

"Nevermind. Go ahead," said Bored, stepping aside.

"Yes, to stopping them, no to murdering them!" yelled Melenor.

"Not so fast," said Bored, blocking the moving Paladins once again.

"Bored, this is ridiculous," cried Allura.

"We're just looking for answers," said Keith. "What's happening in the other reality that caused ours to blink out? Maybe there's something we can do to help."

"Oh no," said Bored. "You don't not want to meet one of your alternate reality selves. I did it once and it end very badly. Besides..." Bored shrugged. "They're done over there. We're just doing damage control."

"Damage control?" asked Lotor. "What happened?"

"He knows," said Bored, pointing at Coran who was crying softly into Matt's shoulder. "Mel told him." This caused Coran to start sobbing again.

"Yes, and he's been blubbering into Matt's broad, muscular shoulders ever since," complained Lance.

"Why did you word it that way?" mumbled Keith.

"Go on, Uncle Mustache," coaxed Bored, "Tell them the sad story."

"Sad story?" repeated Pidge then she slapped her hand over her mouth and ducked behind Hunk.

"Oh hello, Knowledge Seeker," said Bored. "I hadn't noticed your soul hidden behind Builder."

"So Pidge," said Matt with a grin. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?"

"No, thank you," said Pidge, but Hunk scooped her out from behind him. She sighed. "I won't bother with your names because she's actually met all of you in your dreams, it's just you didn't know it was her, but everyone, this is Bored, Assistant to the Dream Guardian and soul of a thousand AI's."

"And one pinball machine," add Bored.

"Pinball machine?"

"It gained sentience after the realities reset," said Bored, looking at her nails like none of this was interesting. "Nothing really came back perfect. Irregularities across the board."

"And how did you two meet?" asked Matt, stretching out the last word.

"Besides in her dreams? Knowledge Seeker stumbled into my realm when searching for the astral plane. I tried to let her friend's imagination kill her, but she failed to die. Now she only dreams when she has a question for me. My consciousnesses that are capable of human emotion feel something about that. Not sure what..."

Hunk nudged Pidge in the side. "Dude, you are so in." Pidge was glad Bored could only see her soul and not her face because her cheeks were burning.

"This is fascinating," said Colleen. "Are you saying that you are the soul for humans as well as well as AIs or that some of your AIs have human emotion?"

"Both," said Bored. "Not the pinball machine. He's pure evil. But humans I'm connected with are neurodivergent and don't always emote the best."

"Like on the autism spectrum?" asked Colleen.

"Among other atypical brains."

"Fascinating," said Colleen.

"We're off topic here," said Keith. "Bored, let us through."

"No. Not going to do that." Bored shook her head and crossed her arms.

"I said, let us through." Keith activated his Bayard.

Bored groaned. "Ugh. Threats? Do you honestly think I'd be afraid of you?"

"Hey!" said Lance, pointing his pageant-mom a finger at Bored. "He is plenty scary! You should see him when you put your cold feet on the back of his bare calves when he's asleep. He will straight up murder you."

Bored was just looking between Keith and Lance with confusion. "Honestly, I still can't tell you two apart. Just one soul backing itself up."

"Perfect metaphor for our relationship," said Lance with intensity still in his voice.

"No, it's not," said Keith.

"No it's not!" agreed Lance, still just as intense.

"Nonsense," said Bored with a shake of her head.

"We need another strategy," said Keith, directly this to the others.

"We need another strategy!" Lance yelled at Bored.

"Stop repeating yourself!" Bored yelled back.

"Lance!" snapped Keith. "Paladin huddle."

"Oh, right," muttered Lance, turning to join the other physical reality people as they converged.

The main six formed a circle in the middle while the rest made a second layer on the outside, which included a sniffing Coran. "Wow," said Keith, "Much larger crowd than usual. Okay, so obviously asking nicely and threatening her is not getting us past Bored. Should we just all rush her? She can't kill all of us."

"Oh!" said Romelle, shooting her hand up. "Let me give it a go. Coran has been teaching me diplomacy."

"I don't know..."

"Please, you trusted me with your Lion."

"Alright," agreed Keith. "Romelle, you take the lead on this. Everybody, break."

"Secret received!" said Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Allura, and Shiro. Keith and everyone else stared at them, confused.

"Inside joke," said Pidge.

"And Shiro's in on it?" asked Keith, skeptical.

"You missed a lot while you were space whalin' it up," said Lance. "Romelle, you're up."

The huddle broke apart and the rest hung back as Romelle approached Bored. "So um...," began Romelle in a casual tone. "We're going to take off."

"What?!" gasped Lance. Keith slapped a hand over Lance's mouth.

"We don't really see anything interesting happening here." Romelle turned to the others and mouthed, 'Act casual.' Everyone immediately turned away and pretended to become really interested in the ground and the sky.

"That's not true," countered Bored. "You haven't even experienced any of the realm quakes."

"Realm quakes you say?" repeated Romelle, the tiniest bit of interest hiding in her voice the she switched back to a neutral tone. "Those sound dull." Just then a distant rumble travelled towards them, growing ever louder until it shook the very ground they stood on. For a moment everyone was unsteady and grabbing on to each other. Romelle lost her cool and her footing, but as soon as the shaking was past, she stood up and went back to acting aloof. "Hmm yes. Dull as I suspected." Everyone else followed her lead and went from looking freaked out to disinterested. "But if we did get to talk to Mel, we could make it worth your while. Say an autograph from the Blue Paladin? They're very popular."

"Don't try to lowball me," said Bored. "If we do this, we do this right. I want the souls of your first born children to do with as a wish."

"We'll give you an Altean poem written in iambic pentameter," countered Romelle, speaking rapidly.

"You will let me give you night terrors every night so bad you sweat until you dehydrate and die," Bored shot back.

"We'll give you a 10% of the cut on merch at the next Voltron Musical," countered Romelle.

"You will let me give you weekly sexy dream encounters with your fourth grade teacher."

"We'll allow you to give us each one dream a phoebe where we're falling and never hit the ground."

"I want to trap your souls in a pocket dimension, shrink it down, and wear it around my neck," spat Bored.

"We'll give you the naming rights of the IGF-Atlas."

Bored smiled. "Throw in the Knowledge Seeker going back to sleeping full nights and you've got a deal."

"Deal," said Colleen, jumping in and shaking Bored's hand. "She'll be getting a solid seven vargas a night if I have anything to say about it."

"Mom!" groaned Pidge.

"Excellent," said Bored then she turned to look directly at Shiro. "You're now the Captain of the SS Kink Bot." Shiro groaned. "I will now show you to the realm guardian. Right this way." Bored turned and glided forward towards Mel who'd given up on comforting Adam and had just left him on the floor. Adam stood up when he saw people approaching.

"Oh no," said Mel as they approached. "Look at you all. Did you leave any crew members back on the Atlas?"

"You mean the Kink Bot?" said Bored.

"Addy!" said Veronica, bursting past the group so she could run at him.

"Roni!" cried Adam, accepting her into a giant hug. "And Colleen!" he said as Colleen strode up and hugged both of them from the side. "I can't both believe my Earth Ride or Dies are here."

"Adam," said Shiro, stepping forward.

"No, uh uh, no," said Adam. "I literally can't right now, Takashi." Then he turned to Mel. "I can't be near him right now."

"How is that my problem?" asked Mel. "Just do the thing I showed you and go off on your own."

Adam reached his arm forward and seemed to grab a piece of the sky behind him then wrapped it across himself, Veronica, and Colleen and then they were gone.

"I taught him that veil trick," said Mel. "Now why am I needing to deal with all of you when I already have my hands full? I wish you hadn't figured out that shortcut here. I'd killed the pooch if I didn't love him so quiznaking much. Come here, ----" Mel said a string of sounds that sounded like a series of hums and wooshes. Kosmo wagged his tail and trotted on over to receive affection and ear scratches from the soul of the former Queen of Altea. Keith attempted to repeat the sounds he'd just heard, testing it out in his mouth. "You're butchering it," said Mel frankly.

Keith's shoulders slumped. "Melenor, I'm sorry we keep showing up like this, but we stopped existing for twelve minutes and we need an explanation. I know you gave Coran one to pass back to us, but it seemed to break him... Plus Bored mentioned you're working on damage control after whatever happened in the branch off reality. Maybe we can help with that."

Melenor sighed. "Introduce me to the extras you've brought. Who is the rugged one?"

"That's Keith," said Lance, pointing at the man who was already in conversation with Mel. "You know Keith."

"I meant the one cradling Coran in his arms."

"Bonding moment...," muttered Keith.

"That's my brother, Matt," said Pidge.

"It's an honour to meet you, my lady," said Matt. "I see where Allura gets her good looks."

"Keep it in your pants, Matt," said Pidge.

"That wasn't flirting," protested Matt.

"That's disappointing," said Mel. "Who else?"

"Our mom, Colleen, and Lance's sister, Veronica, are off with Adam," said Pidge.

"Yes, I've heard a lot about them from Adam."

"This is Acxa, my sister and Krolia, my mom," said Keith, gesturing to the Galra branch of his family.

"And this is –" began Allura, but she was cut off.

"Lotor," said Mel, giving him a nod.

"Melenor," said Lotor, dropping to one knee. "It is an honour to meet you. I have heard many stories of your greatness."

"And I of yours," said Melenor. "Your mother was... She was a very dear friend of mine. I deeply regret that her corruption robbed our families of their bond... Let us heal it together with those of us who still can." Melenor offered out her hand.

Lotor stood and strode forward, a bit of his old certainty and grace reemerging in each step. He clasped her hand and shook it firmly. "Your gesture means the world to me."

"Lastly," said Allura, "We have -"

"Romelle," said Mel, dropping Lotor's hand. She swooped over and scooped Romelle up into a hug.

"Whoa," said Hunk. "Mel is hugging someone. I didn't know Mel gave out hugs."

"For a daughter of Altea, I do," said Mel, pulling out of the hug, but keeping her hands on Romelle's shoulders so she could gaze at her. "One who followed in my footsteps and piloted the Black Lion. And one of only two who didn't die on the job."

"It is truly an honour to meet you," said Romelle. "I always wanted to fly the Black Lion, but thought it was a silly dream. When Allura told me how you had done it, it made me believe it was possible."

"More than possible," agreed Melenor.

"Yeah, but she only flew it for like two hours," said Keith, clearly jealous. First time he met Mel, he was the one being treated special for being her former Lion's Paladin.

"That is plenty of time," Mel shot at him.

"Perhaps I never mentioned this," said Allura to Keith in a whisper, "but my mother was only Black's Paladin for a couple hours before Zarkon lured her into a battle in the astral plane and murdered her."

"Oh crap," said Keith, hiding his face behind his hand.

"Annnnnd, you insulted the boss," said Lance, slapping a hand on Keith's shoulder. "That's really gonna help us get the info we need."

"Please, Melenor," said Romelle, taking Mel's hand. "We can be of service to you if you just let us in."

"Very well," said Mel with a sigh. "I don't have a long time to explain because of the realm quakes so I'll just give you the broad strokes. You were correct in assuming your alternate reality selves were to blame for your reality being severed and reset. They failed to stop Honerva before she pierced through realities. What's worse, because her plan to find a reality where she could be happy failed, she sought to seek revenge by destroying every reality in existence." The Paladins reacted with gasps and astonishment. "And she nearly succeeded. She destroyed all but her own reality at which point your alternate selves were able to talk her down and Allura..." Melenor took a deep breath. "Their Allura convinced Honerva they both needed to sacrifice themselves in order to use their combined quintessence to bring the other realities back."

"No," gasped Shiro.

"Allura?" whimpered Lance, looking to his best friend for confirmation.

Allura looked scared, but then resigned. "I would... likely do that. If those were the stakes."

"So the other Allura...," said Hunk, tearing up. Coran let out another loud sob.

Lotor gazed at the ground. "I feel so much like this is my fault."

"It's not," said Melenor. "It's mine."

Everyone looked up at her, surprised. "How?" asked Shiro.

"The realities branching off," said Mel. "I must've caused it to happen. When I brought you all here through that unconventional gate, it must've torn reality itself in two."

"But you didn't bring us here," said Lance.

"We decided to come on our own," agreed Shiro. "After I had those dreams about Adam."

"Adam was able to contact you with my permission," said Mel. "I didn't care why you came. I wanted you here so I could push Allura into challenging me for the crown and ascending to her full potential. Adam was the bait."

"I was the gay bait," said Adam, pulling back his veil so they all could see him, Veronica, and Colleen again (who were giving Shiro disapproving looks.) "I knew I was, but I didn't care. Mel and I made a deal and I didn't care what there rest of you had to face as long as it meant I'd got to see Takashi again." Adam spoke to the ground as he said this. Shiro watched him speak with the saddest look. Everyone looked so down trodden. "Mel, didn't even tell you the worst part," said Adam.

"There isn't a worse part than the other version of my daughter dying," said Mel.

"There is because the B team reality became the reality without happy endings."

"What does that mean?" asked Acxa.

"It means that Takashi never came here and married me so when some rando named Citrus asked him out, he said yes."

"Adam...," began Shiro.

"It also means that when Allura sacrificed herself, she'd been dating Lance."

"What?" gasped Keith.

"I told you that in confidence," said Mel, rubbing her temples like she had a headache.

"And right before she sacrificed herself," continued Adam, "they promised to always love each other."

"WHAT?!" yelled Keith.

"Ick," said Allura. "Weird."

"I don't..." began Lance, slowly, looking deeply confused.

Keith spun on him. "You're in love with Allura in another reality?!"

"Well, I don't mean to be!" said Lance, throwing his hands up. "I can't speak for myself, but I'm sure... I'm not... happy?" He looked to Mel for help and she just shook her head.

"Lance, how could you?"

"Mmhmm," agreed Adam. "Sing it, sister!"

"I don't know how I could," said Lance. "Because I literally didn't."

"I –" began Keith. He stopped himself and looked around at everyone staring at him. "I can't do this." He turned and started marching away.

"Yep, me too," agreed Adam. "Welcome to the rejects club." He followed right behind Keith's footsteps.

"Adam, wait!" said Shiro at the same time Lance said, "Keith, babe, c'mon!"

"You better go talk to him," said Veronica.

"I know!" said Shiro and Lance in unison. They looked at each other in surprise then both turned and stalked after their soul mates.

"Jokes on you, Keith!" yelled Lance. "Because our connected soul just tugs me right along after you in this realm!"

"I feel so bad," muttered Allura, turning to Lotor. "I can't even imagine telling Lance I love him. We're beasties. We're not in love."

Lotor, however, held no sympathy. "So... You dated Lance immediately after me?"

"Uh..." Allura began to sweat.

"You were dead," said Bored, popping in beside Lotor.

"That makes it worse," argued Lotor.