Author's Note

This chapter was fun to make, even though it took some time.

Gruesomeness warning!

Program 0.

Program 0.

I couldn't control my body. I couldn't speak. I couldn't resist. I couldn't stop.

I could only watch.

Watch as my friends died. One. By. One. By my own actions. Voltron wouldn't listen to me. Nothing I said did anything. He was being controlled. I could feel it now. The virus.

0.

It was controlling Voltron. Stopping me. Killing my friends with my own body. I did everything I could to try to fight back against it. I struggled, kicked, fought, screamed, cursed, yelled, punched, clawed, anguished.

Nothing.

Nothing worked. I had no control anymore. I could only watch. I couldn't scream out, no-one heard me. I couldn't fight back, I had no control. I could cry but no-one could hear me. I couldn't. I…

I hid. I did the only thing that mattered. I hid myself away. Away from the pain. Away from the anguish. Into the dark. The nothing. It was all that was left.

And all I could do was cry.

Diego stood before Shining with empty white eyes.

"-Diego, kill him." Lotor had ordered. Diego changed his Bayard to a new form, letting it swell and grow. Shiningwasn’t impressed, he rushed forward appearing in front of Diego slamming his fist into Diego’schest. Diego caught his fist with his free hand, pointing his fully formed Compensator at Shining's face.

Shiningducked under the blast, swinging his sword at Diego’s arm, the cut causing Diego to let go of Shining’s hand. Shiningbacked away, holding up his sword. Diego aimed again, firing at Shining. Shiningstarted dodging the blast, his movements slightly faster than before. Diego unformed his Compensator, seeing it was too slow to hit Shining. As Shining approached, Diego raised his hand to shoot at him.

Shiningbarely dodged the blast, before resuming his approach. Diego rushed at him, swinging his halberd at him at supersonic speed. Shining saw an opportunity, he barely avoided the halberd. He then slammed his fist into Diego’s bayard port. Diego staggered backwards. Diego flinched from the pain.

"~~-Shi-~~" Diego's voice glitched through for less than a moment, it sounded pained. Diego stood straight, holding his halberd in both hands. Holding it in a thrusting position, Diego charged at Shining like a jouster. Shining dodged out of the way, notably faster than the last time. He thrusted his sword into Diego’s bayard port, cutting into it. Diego didn't flinch. His pain had been turned off.

Diego grabbed at Shining's arm, lifting his halberd at the same time. Shining fired a powerful burst of magic, slamming into the halberd, knocking it out of Diego’s hand.

Divide.

Diego's hand popped off, grabbing Shining and pulling him closer. Diego held his fingers open, his Bayard reappearing in his hand. It formed as his Thaum pistol. Shining’s hand glowed brightly as he slammed his hand into Diego’s chest. The force of the punch sent the two of them flying out of the castle and slamming into the courtyard.

Diego aimed at Shining's head as they were falling, pressing the rectangular barrel against his forehead, next to his horn. He pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. Shining used this moment to push off of Diego. He focused every last bit of his energy remaining into one final barrage. He rushed forward, slashing at Diego with as many cuts as he could.

Diego fell to the ground in pieces. Shining rolled as he landed on the marble ground. Standing up, he walked to the pieces of his friend, looming over them. He saw the severed head of Diego. A memory stirred.

"Why did you take off your own head?" He heard Hammer Strike's voice. His eyes widened.

Divide.

Diego's pieces all jumped to life, firing lasers at Shining. Shining took a deep breath, this wasn’t exactly good. He had used most of his energy up with that last attack, still Diego had used quite a bit of power himself. He knew he just needed to hold out until Diego’s power failed. He turned around, dodging the blasts and bolting toward the nearest part of Diego.

Diego's pieces started recombining, one by one. Diego held his one attached hand up, quintessence emitter glowing and facing Shining. Shining preemptively dodged. The blast fired. Shining saw that he wasn't fast enough. The blast was coming straight for him and it was going to go through his shoulder. Everything slowed down as Shining watched the blast move closer in slow motion.

Creep closer.

Crawl closer.

It was about to hit him.

"Dear universe, please shut up!" Shining heard the voice. Heard the command. And everything listened. Nothing moved. Shining saw Diego frozen in place. Saw rays of the sun standing still. Everything was quiet.

"This is a right mess now." Shining heard the voice again. It was coming from behind him. He heard padded footsteps. "It wasn't supposed to be this way at all. I mean, seriously? Diego going evil? The captains? It's all messed up." The owner of the voice moved around him, looking at Diego.

He looked like a human. He was wearing a puffy pink hoodie. He also had a colourful cap on backwards. His white sneakers crunched on the cracked ground. He turned to face Shining. His skin was whiter than chalk and he was thin. Skeletally thin. He also had rimmed glasses on, with letters on the glasses. YO and LO.

"Hi Shining. Yes I know your name and I know you can hear me. No, you can't move or speak right now so just listen." He said. "This… this is all wrong. None of this was meant to happen. It was supposed to be, you'd beat Zarkon, then you'd beat Sendak and then you'd go out into the fimverse and meet new people. Not… not this. This is completely wrong." The stranger turned and faced Diego. He sighed in annoyance.

"Welp, can't change it now. But I can rectify it." The stranger turned around again, walking up to bend down in front of Shining's face. "Okay Shining, listen and listen well. You can't win this. You might think you can with this new form but you're only delaying the inevitable. Soon, Diego will adapt to you and kill you and I can't have that. So, it's been decided that you will receive a gift. Both to help you save Diego and to help you in the future." The stranger said.

He reached into the pocket of his hoodie, pulling out a round metallic orb. Shining was afraid. He didn't know what the orb was or where it came from but he was afraid of it. It started to spin and twist itself.

"I'm giving you an edge against Diego, use it well. But be careful. Don't lose your weapon or else you'll crash and burn. Alright?" The stranger asked. Shining understood. "Good. Now, set things right, captain Armour. Or, as right as they can be." The stranger finished as the orb in his hand split down the middle. Purple light covered the area. Inside the orb was something. Shining could barely see it because of the purple shine. But he knew one thing.

It was dangerous.

The stranger removed the purple object from the halves of the orb. It was a stone. A gem. A radiant purple gem.

"Brace yourself, Shining. This is gonna hurt." The stranger said. Shining readied himself. The stranger pressed the gem into his awakened blade. It sunk into it like quicksand. "Integrating…" The stranger stated. Shining's blade began pulsing, purple veins growing outwards from its guard until they covered the whole blade.

The veins grew up his arm.

His mind screamed in agony as his mouth stayed silent. The veins dimmed, vanishing a second later though it felt like an eternity.

"Done. Integration complete." The stranger announced. "You should now have the power to challenge Diego head on. This isn't an instant win but it should help you close the gap. Are you ready?" The stranger asked him.

Shining thought. He thought of his friends. His sister. His love. His princesses. His nation. He thought of Diego before this crisis. He knew what he had to do. He was ready.

"Good. Time continues onward." The stranger declared. Time began moving again, slowly returning to normal. "You better move, captain. You're not in the safest position right now." The stranger suggested before he vanished into thin air. Shining continued his movement, barely avoiding the laser.

He wasn't tired anymore. He wasn't tired at all. He was full of energy. More energy than he had ever felt before. Time resumed at its normal pace. Diego pieced himself back together again, standing ominously. Shining clutched his sharp blade tightly. This was going to be difficult. He knew that. But he was ready.

He was going to get his friend back.

Shining charged forward. He swung his sword towards Diego’s head.

Divide.

Diego's head popped off again, his mouth guard opening to allow his facial laser to extend. Shining took the opportunity, attempting to grab the head before it could fire. Diego's Bayard glowed in his hand as he fired melting heat from his mouth. Shining dodged backwards, barely avoiding the attack. He needed to be more careful, Diego was a tricky opponent to fight.

Diego's Bayard transformed, sending his taser cable straight at Shining. Shining dodged to the side, before charging forward, preparing to attack. Diego reacted, forming his energy shield between them. Shining started moving around Diego, trying to find an opening.

Seeing that he had thrown off Shining's attack, Diego deformed his shield, firing another beam at Shining, a freeze ray this time, as his Bayard transformed again. Shining dodged out of the way, his form blurring slightly as he did so. Diego formed his halberd, his body glowing as quintessence raced through his circuits. He spun around, ready to bisect Shining with one swipe. Shining dodged backwards, the blur slightly more obvious. He readied his blade.

Diego stopped moving. His body as still as a statue. He slowly keeled backwards, falling to the ground like a mannequin.

~~Shi-ng. I -naged to -op my bo- -m movi-. I can't ke- -is up forev-. Hit me in- chest, as ha- -s you can. Quickl-!~~

Shining nodded, focusing all of his power into his blade. Thrusting it at full force towards Diego’s chest. I shouted in pain as the blade struck. My chest burned with agony.

WARNING: UNKNOWN VIRUS DETECTED IN MAINFRAME. EXECUTING FIREWALLS AND CODEBREAKERS.
Now he does it. How in the world did we miss this?

NOTICE: VIRUS SUCCESSFULLY FIREWALLED. NOW ELIMINATING.
How could I let this happen? Why didn't I notice?

…The virus was made to be undetectable. Neither of us realized the effect it was having.
And now, because of it… two of my friends are dead. And one of them is missing an arm. Oh kaltenecker, Lotor! Immediately turning on the spot, I looked up at the hole Shining threw me out of. Lotor was standing there, the unconscious princess Celestia held by her neck at his side.

"Diego, I told you to kill him, why are you just standing there?" Lotor called down to me.

Notice: The virus has been 100% eliminated. Systems are secure.
Good to know. I thought.

Flying up to the hole in the wall, I landed in the throne room, Lotor backing away slowly.

"Diego, respond. Activate program 0." Lotor tried to order.

"Program 0 not found, please try again never." I responded hatefully. Lotor backed away again, holding Celestia up in between us, an energy blade held at her throat.

(Gruesomeness warning)

"I'm warning you. Take one more step and I'll-" Lotor's hand fell away from her neck as his arm fell to the ground. He screamed in pain, clutching the stump of his arm as Celestia fell to the ground.

"That was for Spitfire." I declared as I flicked his blood off of my Halberd. I then grabbed him by the head, hoisting him up to my eye level. My Bayard changed into its taser form. Holding him in place as he flailed uselessly, I slowly raised the taser up to his face and pressed it into his eyes.

"This is for Hammer Strike." I declared as he screamed again. Finally, I turned to face the hole in the wall, having Lotor face away from it. I held my Bayard at my side as it changed into my energy cannon. I pressed the barrel into his chest.

"And this is for Spell Blade." I finally said, firing straight through Lotor and out the hole in the wall, letting the beam harmlessly travel away. I dropped Lotor's dying body to the floor, not even looking at him as he breathed his last.

(Gruesomeness ending)

"…Raaaaaah!" I punched the ground in frustration and fury. I fell to my knees a moment later. I continued hitting the floor, cracking it. I noticed Shining, now mostly back to normal, levitate himself into the throne room. He still had Galran cheek marks but everything else was back to normal. I didn't pay any more attention to him, even as he walked up to my side.

"It wasn't your-"

"No!" I cut him off. "If I had just noticed, if I had seen what was… they'd still be alive! And now, because of me, they're dead!" I shouted. I could hear groaning around me. The people I had knocked out were starting to regain consciousness. A group of guards stormed into the room, checking on everyone after a moment of surprise.Shining looked me in the eyes.

“If you truly feel responsible then train with me but no holding back. I was improving slowly as we fought, very slowly but I was. We have depended on you for so long, that we never wondered, what if you weren’t here to help. Should this ever happen again, I want to be strong enough to stop you without the need for help. You can’t change the past but you can prevent it from repeating.”

"I… I'm sorry, Shining, but I don't think I can do that. Not right now. I… I have to go." I stood from the cracked floor, moving towards the hole in the wall.

"Diego, wai-" I flew out, blowing a big gust of wind through the throne room. I couldn't stand to be there anymore.