The second Seren stepped through the mouth of the cave, the Blue Lion looked at her.
Not figuratively.
Not metaphorically.
Actually looked at her.
A wave of quintessence rolled over the rocky cavern like silent thunder—warm, ancient, curious. It skimmed over the Paladins with the boredom of someone flipping through channels.
Then it hit Seren.
Her lungs seized.
Her vision whited out.
Her soulbond flared in response—
Sendak snarled.
Kolivan stilled.
Lotor inhaled sharply, the sensation brushing her mind like warm fingers.
And the Blue Lion roared.
The Paladins all jumped, even Shiro. Dust shook from the cavern ceiling.
But Seren wasn't looking at them.
Because a massive, glowing lion head was inches from her face.
Seren couldn't breathe.
She felt the lion's voice—not with ears, not with language, but with memory older than the empire that would one day break her.
≪I know you.≫
The words resonated through her bones.
Her legs froze in place.
She managed a strangled, "That's impossible."
≪You are out of place. Out of time. Bound by forbidden threads.≫
"Yeah," Seren wheezed. "I'm… working on it."
Keith stared at her. "Are you talking to the lion?"
"Apparently!"
But Blue wasn't done.
The air shimmered as the Lion's quintessence wrapped around her like static-charged wind, tugging at her soulbond. Testing it.
And all three villains felt it.
Sendak reacted first—rage slashing across the bond like a blade drawn in a war room.
Kolivan's presence sharpened, focused, calculating.
Lotor sent a pulse of energy down the bond, bright and urgent—too close which was a huge concern.
Seren flinched.
Shiro caught her arm. "Seren? What's happening?"
She opened her mouth—
—and the cave wall exploded.
Shrapnel flew. Dust turned the air opaque. The ground trembled under the sonic shockwave.
Hunk yelped. Pidge ducked. Keith pulled out his knife.
Shiro moved to shield them all—
But Seren knew what this was before the dust even cleared.
Spatial. Sympathy.
Narrative. Pressure.
And one very determined, very soulbound Galra prince.
The dust parted.
Footsteps approached.
A tall silhouette emerged through smoke and blue quintessence light, cape fluttering like something out of a dramatic villain entrance sequence.
Silver hair.
Golden eyes.
Posture like a blade poised as if he didn't know whether to strike or kiss.
Prince.
Freaking.
Lotor.
Seren's stomach fell straight into the floor.
Keith hissed, "Everyone get behind me!"
Hunk whimpered, "This is bad. This is so, so bad…"
Shiro stepped forward—calm, unyielding. "Explain why you're here."
Lotor didn't even look at him.
His golden eyes locked onto Seren with the intensity of a gravitational collapse.
"…It's you."
Seren's mouth went dry. "Uh… hi?" Where was all her eloquence now...it had been a rough day.
He stepped closer.
Keith lunged to block him—only for Lotor to sidestep smoothly, gaze never leaving Seren.
"You," he repeated, voice low, dangerous, almost reverent. "You carry something that belongs to me."
Seren felt her pulse skyrocket. "Pretty sure that's not true—"
Lotor's head tilted.
He was close enough now that she could see the faint glow of quintessence tracing beneath his skin.
"I felt you halfway across the galaxy," he murmured. "A bond that should not exist. A magic that predates our records."
"Oh good," Seren muttered weakly. "Expostion."
Lotor stepped even closer—too close.
Shiro tried to intervene.
Lotor growled.
Keith raised his blade.
Pidge grabbed Hunk's sleeve.
And in the back of Seren's mind—
Kolivan went very still.
Sendak's rage spiked—
—and the System chimed:
[SOULBONDS CONVERGING.]
[Warning: Narrative collision imminent.]
Seren swallowed. "Narrative what now?"
But she never got the answer.
Because Blue Lion suddenly roared again—loud enough to shake the entire cavern—and a blinding surge of quintessence burst outward, engulfing Seren and Lotor both.
The Paladins shouted.
Lotor cursed in shock.
And Seren's body lifted from the ground as ancient cosmic power wrapped around her like a strange glowing blanket.
Three soulbonds snapped taut at once—
Sendak's fury.
Kolivan's focus.
Lotor's startled instinct to grab her.
The cavern spun.
Reality folded.
And the System whispered, almost smugly:
[Canon divergence: 100%.]
Then everything went white.