—
i. moving to a new house
—
The time was zero two hundred hours.
For those unfamiliar with military terms, that translated to about two in the morning, give or take the few precious minutes she could've spent still tucked and tangled in the threads of her blankets. No, she wasn't in the military, but Verena supposed being a part of an underground rebel group of aliens fighting against a tyrannical dictatorship made her a little bit involved.
Most teenagers spent two in the morning with late night snacks and Saturday morning cartoons, not deep space missions with the potential of death or worse. It started out as a simple scouting expedition to survey the area and then report back to base. In hindsight, though, she should've known they were doomed from the start.
The Galra Empire didn't spend ten thousand years conquering the universe just to be outsmarted by a rookie pilot and her keeper. As soon as the enemy radar spotted their ship, she realized they were outnumbered and outgunned, but it wasn't until the dust settled and she was finally alone did she allow herself to think damn, this sucks, because there was no time to lament.
Three days after their initial capture, she managed to get in contact with central command. Kolivan, the leader of their resistance, had given her and her partner specific instructions to follow through for their escape.
"Move on my signal," he said.
Verena was mildly embarrassed to admit that she spent the better half of her thirty-six hours in captivity pondering exactly what kind of signal it was supposed to be, especially considering the number of adventure movies she'd seen as a kid. It was obvious, really, and when the boom sounded, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that she missed the fireworks.
The guard keeping watch outside of the prison was visibly taken aback by the explosion, but he didn't move from his position until an alarm sounded throughout the spacecraft. Her eyes flickered towards the door and found that the impact had cut off the lines powering the lock. Taking that as her cue, she slipped out of her cell and into the hallway.
That was when she saw him.
His hair was mostly black and shaven into an undercut, but there was a tuft of white, snowy albeit tinged ivory under the dim lights, sweeping just below his angled brows. Apart from being distinctly human, the broad shoulders, sturdy build, and defiant frown on his lips told her all she needed to know. He didn't belong here.
For a moment, Verena thought about what to do with the stranger, disheveled and disoriented and kneeling on the ground a few feet away from her. There were more important things to worry about, like how she was going to get out of this corridor and out of this ship and out of this shithole galaxy, but despite the fact that she was short on time, she couldn't bring herself to be cruel. And so when he groaned and slumped forward, limply, lifelessly, she leapt forward.
"Please don't be dead," she muttered.
Her words didn't reflect the purpose of comforting someone who might've still been on the verge of dying, but she heard the finality in her voice and had a feeling he did as well, the promise hidden beneath the raspy stratums of her neglected vocal chords. He grunted in response, speech slurring as she slung his arm around her neck and staggered to her feet. The bits and pieces she managed to pick up made her stop right in her tracks.
"Ulaz said… find Blue…"
Of all the things she expected him to say, it was definitely not that. Don't fuck this up became a mantra of sorts as she quickened her pace, chest thrumming in a medley of panic, adrenaline, and resolve to get him out of there safe and sound. Blue could've meant a plethora of things, but she knew Ulaz, and if it had anything to do with the thought she had in mind, this man, whoever he was, just made their escape significantly more important.
The plane sent to rescue her was parked at the nearest airlock, furthest from where the bomb went off. It was an average cruiser with passable defenses, but it lacked any weapons, which meant they had to get out of there quickly and quietly or risk getting caught in a gunfight with no means of protection.
"Of course there's only one seat," Verena mumbled, shifting the weight dangling off her like an extra limb.
The man slammed his head against the hood of the vehicle when she hurriedly and haphazardly threw him inside. He groaned at the impact, prompting her to hash out a hasty apology, but it was only a matter of minutes before some very bad people she would've rather avoided realized that the sirens were a mere distraction, and that was if Lady Luck was on their side.
Her nimble fingers worked to buckle him up, and then she squeezed into the compartment to take manual command of the ship. In a matter of seconds, a plane identical to her own appeared, steadily trailing alongside them.
"What the hell were you thinking, picking up a stray pup?" came a seething question through the comm.
"More like an English Mastiff."
"Can you take this seriously, V? Ulaz went through a lot of trouble to get us out—"
"Don't bother with the lecture, Zephy," she interrupted, biting back a frown. "I'm not saying it wasn't stupid, but he was going to die in there. I couldn't just do nothing," her shoulders lifted into a small shrug though she knew he wouldn't be able to see it. "Besides, he knows Ulaz."
There was a beat of silence before a resigned sigh filled her ears. Zephyriel had been one of her closest friends since she first turned up in the middle of nowhere with nothing but her name and the clothes on her back. It was for that reason Verena knew perfectly well that his anger was a result of pent up worry and anxiety both for himself and her and didn't take his criticisms to heart.
"He's human, like you?"
"Yeah."
"And I'm guessing you want to help him get back home," a pause. "Wait, don't answer that."
Verena let out a huff. "You asked."
"No, I mean Ulaz just sent a message," Zephyriel said, his cerulean irises suddenly staring back at her as he switched on a visual feed. "He said to take the guy to Earth before returning to headquarters."
Teetering somewhere in a spectrum of chestnut and burnt umber were her own eyes, now glimmering curiously as she peered at the man. Upon their first meeting she'd assumed that the white in his hair was artificial, like a statement of some sort from when he was her age, but his features smoothed out after slumber and made it evident that the discoloration was a result of extreme stress.
An uncomfortable itch clawed at her skin when she noticed his right arm had been replaced with a metal prosthetic. Despite his current state, the man appeared strong, resilient, and it was apparent that Ulaz saw something in him to warrant aiding him in his escape. Those were all of the qualities a despot like Zarkon sought to smother and destroy.
And yet, he persisted.
It was such a cliché, but the whole not giving up thing was a lot harder than it looked. Verena could only imagine the horrors this stranger experienced in captivity and would've understood if the man crumbled under pressure. But then she recalled the few words he said to her when she first found him in that corridor and knew, somehow, that her belief in him had not been misplaced.
"Z, I think he knows where to find the Blue Lion," she murmured.
There was a painful pause before Zephyriel replied, and even then he sounded hesitant. "Are you sure?"
"His arm is blinking," Verena said, lips tilting into a small, hopeful smile when she recognized the numbers across the screen. "Those are definitely coordinates."
Her mind spun as she plugged in the digits and found that they did, in fact, lead to a location somewhere on her home planet. A sharp intake of breath told her Zephyriel had come to the same conclusions she did. In truth, the future was hazy and might be for a while, but after centuries of turmoil and suffering, it appeared that the stranger she happened to stumble across held the map leading to a brighter one.
I want to be here to see it.
Zephyriel sighed. "Guess we're going to Earth."
They left the strange man somewhere in the desert, not far from the coordinates programmed into his arm. Though he was still unconscious, Verena had no doubt he was undeniably safer than where he had been while in space. It felt almost bittersweet having to leave behind the one person who might very well alter their lives forever, but at the end of the day, he had his duty and they had theirs.
No more than twelve hours later, Verena ended up back on Sendak's ship with a proper mission to extract the remaining prisoners on board. Zephyriel had ceaselessly pointed out that it would be yet another stupid idea to return on site with the sting of her jailbreak still fresh in the minds of the Galran troops. The difference between then and now, she argued, was that this time she came on her own volition.
There was no way she could sit by and allow innocents to rot in cells after seeing firsthand what the Empire did to their captives. That said, the Galra ship was operating on technology she physically couldn't use, which was how she found herself stuck outside of the containment chamber with no way to get inside.
"Because I'm nice, I won't say I told you so," Zephyriel said, his voice crackling through her ear piece.
"I should just surrender now and save myself from your nagging."
"That's rich coming from someone who went back to the warship she was kept prisoner in for half a week. You pretty much handed yourself over on a silver platter."
Verena opened her mouth to respond, but snapped it shut when she heard the sound of footsteps fast approaching.
"Someone's coming."
"Nothing on radar. Must not be Galra."
"I'd rather not take any chances," she whispered, ducking behind a pillar. "Two guards, maybe, I can probably take them. Oh," a pause. "Shit."
"V? What happened?"
There was a part of her that knew or at least hoped she would meet the mysterious stranger again someday. It didn't occur to her that helping him get back to Earth in the first place meant she played a role in his story until her gut ached the same way it always did when something was amiss, nor did she think that they would see each other again so soon.
He had since changed into some type of armored suit, black and white, similar to his two toned hair, but it was unmistakably him. Unlike their first encounter, however, he was conscious and had a bit of color in his once pale face, and this time he wasn't alone.
By his side was a younger girl clad in a similar outfit, albeit green and far smaller in size, observing the wall separating them from the aliens inside.
"Do your thing, Rover," she commanded.
A Galran drone shaped like a tiny pyramid hovered over to the control panel and Verena watched in amazement as it unlocked the door without hassle. The girl must have re-programmed it to use for herself, which was rather impressive considering Galra tech was some of the most advanced in the universe.
"Come on," the man said, beckoning at the prisoners inside of the cramped cubicle. "There's no time to stay idle, everyone, we still have to find the escape pods."
His movements slowed as one of the aliens spoke in hushed tones murmurs. Though she couldn't hear what had been said, Verena didn't miss the confusion seeping into the man's face and decided at that moment to step out of the shadows. Her dark hair appeared murky beneath the tinted lights as her own footsteps alerted them of her presence. The man whipped around immediately, but upon seeing her face, his expression quickly morphed into one of recognition.
"You're that girl," he said.
His companion raised a brow. "You know her?"
"I'm not sure," the man admitted, cradling his head in his fingers. "I remember bits and pieces, but I know for a fact she helped me get out of here and find my way back to Earth."
Verena wanted to protest, tell them it was all thanks to Ulaz and she only did the bare minimum any other decent human being would've done in her stead, but like the man said it was ill time for small talk. Her mission was to help the rest of the prisoners escape, and though she didn't do much to get them out of their cell, she had every mind to get them off the ship.
"My name is Verena," she said, turning on her heel. "I'm glad to see you made it out alright. The escape pods are this way," and then, as if just realizing the frantic screeching in her ear wasn't her subconscious, she coughed out a sheepish chuckle. "Sorry, Z, I'm fine. Just ran into an old friend."
"You don't have any friends," Zephyriel sneered through the comm link, huffing in annoyance and relief.
Verena scoffed, breaking into a sprint once the group started following her lead. "What happened to being nice?"
"Who're you talking to?" the other girl suddenly asked. Verena glanced at her from the corner of her eye. "I'm Pidge, by the way. Thanks for saving Shiro."
"Shiro?"
"That's me," the man said with a grin.
"Nice to finally put a name to the face," Verena told him with a smile of her own. "I guess there wasn't really a chance for introductions last time."
Zephyriel's voice sounded in her ear. "Turn left."
"And I'm talking to an acquaintance of mine," she added, tapping on her radio. "He's the one directing us to where we need to go."
"Real mature," Zephyriel said dryly. "Make a right, squid."
The group weaved through the hallways until they arrived in a hanger housing a handful of escape pods. There were no Galra soldiers on site, but Verena knew they wouldn't be gone for much longer. As the aliens climbed on board a spare craft, she felt the knot in her stomach tighten considerably, and the sinking feeling only intensified when she and the other two humans were all that remained on the ship.
"Incoming at your six o'clock!"
Verena looked up just in time to dodge an incoming laser beam. Without a second thought, she reached into a compartment beneath her belt, taking out a pair of crystalline blades in each hand.
"Go on, I've got this," she said.
Pidge shook her head, stubbornly rooted at her spot. "We're not leaving you here!"
"Pidge is right," Shiro nodded, his brows furrowing as he took a fighting stance beside her. "Do what you have to do, but we've got your back."
Before she could protest, the door slid open. A group of sentries charged at them, blasters blazing, and looks like I've brought a knife to a gunfight was itching to spill from her mouth. Verena almost groaned at herself.
Maybe I should cut back on the jokes.
And then she lunged.
Her movements were agile, a trait that had been drilled into her years ago and one she knew she shared with many of her opponents. Her right hand swung forward, lopping the head off one of the droids, while her left sliced another straight across its torso. Fighting sentries meant that there was no reason to hold back.
Verena heard a groan from somewhere behind her, but she kept herself from turning around, kicking an automaton in the shin and then jerking her knee into its head when it pitched forward. Then, out of nowhere, a glowing fist lodged into the metal chest of another sentry coming her way.
Shiro?
Though she had her suspicions, Verena was now certain that the man's prosthetic arm was composed of Galran tech. His attacks mimicked hers, quick and concise, almost unpredictable, and she knew this wasn't the first time he fought with the foreign appendage. In less than a minute, the small army of robots laid scattered across the floor.
"That was awesome!" Pidge exclaimed, beaming at them both before turning to her friend with raised brows. "Where'd you learn to fight like that, Shiro?"
Shiro smiled, a bit sheepish, but the uncertainty was obvious in his expression. "To be honest, I'm not really sure."
It was becoming apparent to Verena that he had developed a mild form of amnesia, which probably worried her more than it should have. If he barely remembered her and couldn't recall where he had learned to fight, then who or what else had he forgotten? There were other things to worry about (there was always something), but she filed the questions in the back of her mind to sift through later.
"Heads up," Zephyriel called out, his tone urgent. It was serious, too serious even for him, and she felt her muscles stiffen in trepidation. "Ulaz wants you to go with them."
… what?
"What?" she nearly gasped aloud.
"I don't know," her partner sighed, and Verena imagined him running his fingers through his silver locks the way he always did when he was feeling particularly stressed. "He just said 'consider it part of the mission.'"
"This doesn't make any sense," Verena said, furiously shaking her head. "I barely know them, and I'm not," the words caught in her throat as the panic began to seep into her veins. "I can't do this alone!"
"I don't like it either," he admitted. "But it sounds important, and I'm sure it's only temporary. We've survived this long trusting Ulaz, right? He knows what he's doing."
That was as close to a pep talk as she was going to get from him and they both knew it. To be fair, it helped calm her down a bit, though her brows remained furrowed and a deep frown had settled on her lips. It wasn't that she didn't trust them, but to do so out of the blue, for an indefinite amount of time, and reasons unbeknownst to both her and Zephyriel made her stomach coil. Pidge and Shiro seemed to notice the shift in her composure and looked over at her in concern.
"What's up?" Pidge asked.
Verena almost blanched. What could she tell them? I'm part of a secret rebel group of Galra fighting against the Galran Empire and one of my superiors, who actually saved your life, by the way, wants me to go with you without any explanation? The truth, at least not the whole truth, wasn't going to cut it.
"Do you mind if I stick around for a while?" she asked instead, her mind twisting in tune with her gut. "Something came up and I sort of need a place to stay."
The two of them glanced at each other and then at her, and if she was being honest, Verena was surprised to see them smiling, dare she say appear even welcoming. As if to prove her point, Shiro stepped forward and held out his prosthetic hand.
"That's the least we can do for your help," he said, his dark gray eyes appearing less stormy than the tumultuous tempest of emotions cast in her own. "I'm sure the others will agree."
The others?
Verena stared at the hand that had been offered to her for a second longer before she extended her own, giving it a solid shake. The stiffness in her muscles relaxed somewhat as she muttered a grateful thank you, but the voice in her ear, quiet yet firm, only increased her anxiety.
"You can't tell them about us, Verena. I'll contact you as often as I can, but unless the situation calls for it, from this point onward the Blade of Marmora, as far as you know, doesn't exist."
The Castle of Lions was beautiful.
More beautiful than Verena could ever hope to be, if she was being honest. According to Shiro, it served as both a palace and a ship equipped with formidable defenses, and after his stressing quite a few times that it was pretty much an impassable fortress, she realized his intentions. He was trying to make her feel at home, something akin to you'll be safe here laced in between his brief history lesson and the kind smile on his face.
Verena appreciated the sentiment the same way she enjoyed her conversations with Pidge and the company provided by the Galra bot following them around. There was a sense of ease there that had not been present before they arrived at the castle, and she couldn't help but wonder if the same could be said for the rest of their companions. Of course, there was nothing more astounding to her than their mode of transportation to get to the castle.
The legend of Voltron was like that of the gods in her world, a mythos few had experienced firsthand yet many whispered about. It relied entirely on faith and those who shared that faith to spread hope that the defender of the universe, a universe now shrouded in darkness, would return once more to bring forth the light. Verena liked to believe that was true, but she never thought she'd have the opportunity to meet them in her lifetime.
Evidently, she was wrong.
"This is unreal," she said, gaping at the three Lions tucked away inside the hanger. It was hard enough to grasp the fact that Pidge, who was currently in the midst of parking her own, was one of the five Paladins. "I can't believe I lived long enough to see Voltron with my own eyes!"
The first thing she had noticed upon landing were the three unfamiliar faces in the room. Two of the boys were peering at her curiously from a few feet away while the third stood further off, his expression somewhere in between indifference and disbelief. It was evident by the look he was giving her that he didn't like strangers, least of all those who came out of nowhere, and part of her felt bad for intruding in the first place.
Shiro gestured for Verena to exit ahead of him, but she shook her head and merely offered him a wry smile when he furrowed his brows in confusion. "I have a feeling your friends are going to want to talk to you first."
"Don't worry about them," Pidge said, smirking. "Lance and Hunk will definitely like you, and if it comes down to a vote, it'll be four against one."
"Pidge," Shiro sighed.
"What? Keith barely tolerates us. Well, except you, which means ideally you're in charge of damage control, but like I said it should be fine."
"Is Keith the dude with a mullet?" Verena asked, her voice dropping down to something like a conspiratorial whisper.
Pidge quirked a brow. "How'd you guess?"
"He's glaring at me," she said, her eyes evenly matching a pair of dark byzantium. "Don't worry, I'm not offended," a pause, then an impish grin. "Yet."
As the trio descended the steps of the lion, Verena redirected her gaze to the two boys approaching them, first glancing at the taller one and then at the brunette inching toward her with a sly smirk.
"Who might you be, pretty lady?"
"This is Verena," Shiro said, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder. "It was thanks to her that I managed to get off Sendak's ship and find my way back to Earth."
"Why is she here?" Keith asked bluntly, his arms crossed as he regarded her with sharp, calculating eyes. Verena recognized the almost begrudging respect that flickered through them when he heard she had helped in saving his friend, but it lasted barely a second before he turned to the man standing between them.
"Verena helped us release the prisoners on board," Shiro said, clapping him on the back with his other hand. "She needs a place to stay for a little while—"
Keith cut him off, barely concealing his bubbling irritation. "We're taking in strays now?"
His words reminded Verena far too much of Zephyriel and his reaction to her saving Shiro all those hours ago. It was a strange parallel that gave her an unexpected sense of familiarity, but finding the similarities between the boy with the mullet and her prickly friend gave her some semblance of hope that maybe he wouldn't hate her guts the whole time she was here.
"I don't mean to cause any trouble," she said. "I'm just here because I have nowhere else to go at the moment."
"What about before you ended up on Sendak's ship?" Keith pressed.
"I was sort of just drifting around," Verena said. More truths, but not the whole truth. "All I can do to prove I'm not secretly here to kill you is," she paused. "Uh, I'm not actually sure, but I swear I'm clean!"
The tallest of the boys leaned down to whisper into the brunette's ear. "That's exactly what a serial killer would say."
"You're first," Verena mouthed. No-name cringed, visibly taken aback, but he matched the grin on her face with a hesitant one of his own after realizing she meant it as a joke.
Probably shouldn't freak out the people currently deciding whether or not to ditch me in the middle of space.
"I say we take a vote," Pidge said, adjusting her glasses. "Those in favor of Verena staying, say aye."
"Yeah."
"Ditto."
"Same," the brunette nodded, his brows wriggling. "I'm Lance, by the way."
"Close enough," Pidge rolled her eyes, turning to grin at the other girl. "What'd I tell you? Four against one."
"Don't you think we should ask Allura and Coran about this, too?" Keith cut in, a deep set frown on his lips. "This is their castle, after all."
"That's still four against three," Lance pointed out, crossing his arms. "You know, assuming they're heartless like you."
"I'm not heartless!"
"Then let her stay!"
"Fine!"
Keith spun on his heel and promptly stalked off, but not before sparing Verena a final glance. Though the annoyance that had been simmering in his eyes now reflected an unconcealed sort of anger, she could tell it wasn't meant for her personally so much as it was a result of how easily his friends seemed to disregard his suspicions.
It caused her stomach to churn with a guilt that she was only familiar with because she and Zephyriel had been through their own share of arguments, a handful of which ended uncannily similar to the current situation. Because of that, she knew she couldn't let Keith walk away while things were still up in the air.
"I'm sorry," Verena called out, taking a tentative step forward. "I promise I'll leave as soon as I find somewhere safe to go, but for now, Keith, will you please let me stay?"
The boy in question halted in his tracks, likely at the use of his name, but he didn't bother turning around. For a moment, she felt her heart sink with the weight of mild regret and acute disappointment. Thoughts like I knew I couldn't do this alone and Zephy is going to kill me jumbled around in her brain, and then slowly, surely, she heard his drawn out sigh.
"I said fine, didn't I?" Keith muttered. "I'm going to tell Allura and Coran."
Verena let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. It was then did she realize that although his trust would likely be the most difficult to gain, Keith was fiercely loyal to those he cared about. A small part of her wondered if she could be on that short list of people someday, but she brushed off the thought as quickly as it came. There was no point in getting attached when she was going to be leaving eventually.
"Thanks," she told them sincerely.
Pidge let out a cheer and Shiro gave her another welcoming smile, though something about this one felt a little more official, like she was now part of the team or at least something far more important than herself. Despite her initial qualms about taking up such an absurdly random mission, the thought of being on a ship with the legendary defenders of the universe made her insides tingle with excitement and anticipation for what was to come.
If the Castle of Lions was beautiful, then the princess who evidently spent the last ten thousand years living in it was all the more stunning. Allura, as she had introduced herself, maintained a charming smile that contrasted the furrowed brows of the man beside her. It unnerved Verena quite a bit since he was apparently one of the two people who actually had the right to dump her at the next planet, but at least he didn't look as put off as Keith did when they first met.
"Thank you for allowing me to stay here," Verena said, bowing at her waist. "I hope we get along well."
Coran gave her a once over with scrutinizing eyes, squinting and then squirming when she met his gaze straight on. Her own irises were relatively normal, if not boring in her own honest opinion, but there was something about them that tended to make others uncomfortable. Maybe it was the fact that she didn't shy away from eye contact, or maybe she just wasn't meant to be a people person. All that mattered to Verena was that they gave her a chance to prove otherwise.
"You wouldn't happen to be any good at cooking, eh?" he asked, twirling the salmon tips of his mustache.
Verena let out a thoughtful hum. "Haven't had to cook for other people, but I'm not dead yet."
"I can work with that," Coran nodded, folding his arms across his chest. "Since you're not a Paladin, you're going to have to pull your weight around here somehow. Kitchen duty seems fair."
"Coran, she isn't here to be our maid," Shiro said, shaking his head in protest. "I don't think—"
"Don't worry about it," Verena interrupted. "It's the least I can do to pay you back for letting me stay."
"We're more than happy to have you," Allura assured her, hands clasped together in earnest. Verena felt a particular set of eyes drilling into the back of her head and doubted that we meant everyone, but she'd take what she could get. "Now that you're all here, however, there are a few matters we must attend to urgently."
"That's right," Pidge chirped, hitting her fist against an open palm. "We can finally access the Black Lion!"
"The Black Lion?" Verena echoed.
Hunk nodded. "Head of Voltron."
"Like, the leader?"
"No," he said, then paused. "Well, yes, but it's also literally the head."
"You'll see what he means once Shiro unlocks it," Lance grinned, discreetly sliding his fingers through his hair in a slick attempt to tame it. Verena pretended not to notice, but it proved easier said than done, and in the end she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from snickering out loud.
"We don't know what he means either," Keith retorted, his mouth curved into a seemingly permanent frown. "This is the first time we'll be seeing it in person."
"I don't think I was talking to you," the brunette snipped.
Keith crossed his arms. "You are now."
"No, you are!"
"You—"
"Why don't we go now?" Verena asked, stepping in between them. Lance leaned forward and Keith inched back. "Well, I mean, if I'm allowed to come. Is there some sort of ceremony to decide whether or not I'm worthy or something?"
"You're more than welcome to come along," Allura said, her eyes twinkling in bemusement. "As the future Black Paladin, Shiro is the one who will be put to the test."
Shiro winced, and the action didn't go unnoticed. To her mild surprise, Keith placed a hand on his shoulder in an sincere attempt to comfort him, and the sight had Verena struggling to stifle a smile. Pidge's words from earlier rang through her mind.
Keith barely tolerates us—
"You'll be fine, Shiro."
Except you.
There must've been dozens of possible reasons why Keith was as closed off as he was to everyone, but it looked like there were as many, if not more, explaining why Shiro wasn't included in that blacklist. In the short amount of time she'd known them, Verena could tell they might as well have been brothers, and that was enough to give her some semblance of reassurance that the former might eventually stop trying to whittle her away into nothing with his glares.
"Yeah," she agreed, decidedly ignoring the steely gaze that instantly pinned her down. "What could go wrong?"
Why did I have to jinx it?
Hours later, Sendak located the planet they had escaped to and launched an unadulterated attack on both the castle and the unprotected inhabitants of that world. There was little she could do against such a large scale assault so in the safety of the castle walls alongside Princess Allura and Coran, Verena pondered her role in all of this and how it might affect the endgame.
As much as she liked the Paladins and would do everything in her power to help them in their quest to stop Zarkon, her own loyalties remained with the Blade of Marmora. In the event that she had to choose between the two, she knew it wasn't going to be much of a decision where she stood, but for now, she stood with them.
"The past few years have been hard, but I had hope for some kind of a tomorrow," she said, talking into a mic that transmitted her words to the Paladins situated inside their Lions. Sendak was one attack away from blowing them into smithereens; if there was ever a time for a pep talk, it was probably now. "It didn't have to be better or worse. All it had to do was come."
The first time Verena met Kolivan, she was fifteen and three quarters. Her sixteenth birthday was spent learning how to properly incapacitate a Galra soldier. By eighteen, she was well versed in fighting and immersed in a war that started before she was even born, but despite all of that, she had no complaints. Expressing a dissatisfaction or grievance about something out of her hands did little to improve the situation, and so she took matters into her own, pledging allegiance to the Blade of Marmora as soon as she was deemed worthy enough to join.
It was always somewhere in the back of her mind that she didn't belong with them, a human girl in the midst of such brave and dedicated heroes. The fact that she was even alive was more than she could've asked for—Zarkon could've found her that day, not Kolivan, and that was only one of an endless number of reasons why she was grateful they decided to take her in. Helping out on missions was all she had to offer in return, and her recent blunder made her question whether or not she was still needed.
But she'd seen the damage firsthand, the impact of Zarkon's rule in worlds apart from her own. Verena was one person out of trillions in all the galaxy, and in the current state of the universe, she was much better off than most. How could she give up on herself if she could do something, anything to help make someone else's life better? The answer was simple.
I can't.
"And it did," she continued. "Tomorrow came, and then you appeared. We can't stop fighting for all the rest of them just because today is a little hard. That's why you're here now, right?"
Verena couldn't remember the last time she felt this strongly about something. It had been years since she woke up in the middle of space scared and by herself, and though fear surged through her at that very moment, the panic was accompanied by a sense of comfort knowing this time, she wasn't alone. No, she hadn't been alone for a while—Zephyriel and Kolivan, Ulaz and the rest of the Blades, they watched her back, and it was time she used what they taught her to look out for the new defenders of the universe in the same way.
"You heard her," Shiro said, his voice thick with emotion. "The entire universe is relying on us. We can't give up now! If we work together, we can't fail. We won't fail!"
There was a pause, and then all at once, the Paladins let out a united shout. Her heart thumped in her chest both in anticipation and awe as she watched the five Lions form a single entity, one she couldn't have imagined even in her dreams. Beside her, the Princess gasped, and Verena was glad to know she wasn't the only one feeling overwhelmed. The blinding light that followed made everything worth it.
For the next few days, Verena went about minding her own business, idly roaming the castle and making small talk with the members of Team Voltron willing to speak to her. This included everyone but Keith, who, despite having kept the searing looks to a minimum after their first life and death situation together, didn't exactly go out of his way to start any conversations.
That said, questions were another thing entirely; one of the first things she learned about him was that he was surprisingly good at asking them, or maybe not so surprisingly considering they all felt like interrogations. It started out with a simple where are you from to which she replied with a simple nowhere in particular and the withering glare the Red Paladin had given her in return spoke even louder than he did.
"I was born in California," she clarified. "But I don't remember how I ended up here. In space, I mean. It's been a few years. I wouldn't even know if I have a family anymore," Verena paused, then gave him an apologetic grin. "Sorry, I'm rambling."
Keith had the decency to look uncomfortable at her response after having realized she had given him more information than he asked for, not to mention such personal facts at that. He looked like he would've rather crawled into a hole than stay in the room, but his curiosity seemed to have gotten the best of him, and it wasn't long before this, whatever this was, became a sort of routine.
The two of them sat on opposite ends of the couch after a long day of practice. It seemed that the new generation of Paladins were as much strangers as she was and that meant their teamwork left a lot to be desired. Keith and Lance were particularly snippy with each other and, to their dismay, had been placed on time out in an effort to cool off before attempting to form Voltron again.
Verena was already sprawled on the sofa when the door slid open to reveal the mullet haired boy. Keith had been startled to see her and considered retreating back into his room, but in the end he decided that her company wasn't as bad as the trek back and wordlessly took a seat a few feet away from where she was lying down.
Another thing Verena picked up about him was that Keith never minded these sorts of talks so long as he didn't have to initiate the discussion. As per usual, they sat in silence until she spoke up with a casual how's the weather today? He replied with a shrug and a listless okay. The seconds passed, and after approximately seven, Keith asked his question.
"Can you fight?"
"Of course I can fight," Verena said, almost smugly, teasingly. "I've probably been at it longer than you."
It was either the correct thing to say or a very dire mistake on her part because his brows shot up to his fringe and then suddenly Keith was on his feet, standing in front of her with his signature frown. Verena didn't falter in the slightest. This was the one question she'd been waiting for since Coran told them about the ship's advanced training system on the second day, and if the expression on Keith's face was any indication of his actions—and it was, ninety-nine percent of the time—Verena knew exactly what he was going to say.
"Let's spar," he suggested, though it sounded more like a demand. "No weapons."
The practice deck was straight out of her dreams and perhaps his nightmares considering the number of bruises he sustained from the team building exercises he had been roped into lately. They stood at the center of the field and stared at each other, waiting, calculating, and though Verena remained still, he was nowhere near as patient. Keith shot forward, fist reared and aimed at her face. She ducked and kicked her leg out without delay, but he was faster than her and caught the foot flying toward him before it could land a direct hit.
Verena squirmed in his hold for a second and then pushed off the ground, swinging her other leg at his head. Keith couldn't dodge unless he let go of her and so she toppled to the ground with a thud, but suddenly he was in front of her again, his fingers gripping the collar of her shirt as he shoved her against the wall.
"Gotcha," he said.
"Almost."
And then Keith was on the floor, arms pinned behind his back and her sitting on his back. He groaned in irritation and tried shoving her off, but Verena let her victory literally sink in for a second before obliging.
"You lost because you weren't taking me seriously," she said not unkindly, holding out her hand. "I know I'm fast, but you're definitely something else."
"I guess," Keith muttered, carefully eyeing the outstretched limb before begrudgingly taking it. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"
The Blade of Marmora, as far as you know, doesn't exist.
"You have to know how to fight if you want to survive out there," Verena said, telling the truth but, for the umpteenth time, not the whole truth. "A friend of a friend taught me the basics. I've met a lot of people since I ended up in the middle of nowhere, some less friendly than others. I didn't really have a choice but to improve."
Keith frowned. "You don't look much older than me."
"I'm eighteen," she offered.
"Same."
"Month?"
"October."
Verena grinned. "January."
"Eighteen," Keith repeated, crossing his arms. There was something buried beneath his expression, an emotion of some sort that she couldn't quite name. "You shouldn't have to fend for yourself."
"You're younger than me," she pointed out, and Keith rolled his eyes. "No, I mean, you're younger than me and have way more responsibilities than I ever did when I was your age—"
"We're exactly the same age—"
"Things don't always work out the way we want them to," Verena continued, her tone sobering into something a bit thoughtful. "But we probably wouldn't be here if they did, and here isn't so bad."
Keith stared at her, eyes burning with that something she couldn't place. It bothered her that she didn't know what is was, but she decided at that moment to make it her own mission to find out. After a couple of seconds, he averted his gaze and sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets as his feet dragged him to the door.
"I'm going to train," he mumbled.
"We're in the training deck."
"… Right."
Red flags of warning started flailing in the back of her mind. The reminder of home made her all the more determined to save it, but getting attached wasn't a part of the plan—not that she had much of one in the first place—and yet as she watched the Red Paladin start another simulation, it was slowly becoming apparent that was going to be easier said than done. These people were humans, like her, and to a certain extent, they probably understood her better than anyone else in this side of the galaxy.
Verena mustered a rueful smile.
This could be trouble.
postscript
Hello! I don't think I'm in any position to be starting another story, but I've had Verena and her world in the back of my mind for a while now. Though updates will likely remain quite sporadic, I'll do my best to be consistent for the next few weeks, especially since I still have a bit of time to kill before summer ends and tons of new content to work with. This is more or less a personal project that I desperately needed to get out of my system so I'm not too concerned with making it perfect so much as I wanted to just have it written out.
Full transparency, I've been disappointed by the show multiple times now, too many to even count at this point, and I suppose writing a story of my own is my way of coping with that. Please let me know what you think so far! I know there's not much to judge yet, but if you have any comments or suggestions about the things you've read so far, feel free to drop it in a review. Thanks for your patience, and thank you so much for reading!