Summary: AU. Oc-Centric. Darker tone. "Exploring space was definitely not on my top to-do list; if anything, I wanted to be the person inventing the spacecraft to help others do the exploring for me. Winding up in an alien castle, stuck in deep space, I decided the universe didn't really care about my preferences."
*I don't own Voltron or its characters: just using them for the time being*
Prologue
First Person POV
Hi. My name's Maggie Kaine, I'm seventeen years old, and I'm trapped on a flying red motorcycle at the moment.
Why was I on a flying red motorcycle you might ask? Simple, I was on the run from Garrison professors and military generals thanks to Lance having an idea and me thinking it was an even greater one to go along with it.
Debris was flying everywhere, my mouth locked shut to prevent any screams from escaping; Lance's right arm was latched onto my leg, Hunk's foot digging uncomfortably into my shoulder―all the while a boy I've never met was driving this contraption like a bat out of hell, while Pidge helped me hang onto an unconscious man with white fringe.
Not exactly the best scenario for a Friday night, but beggars can't be choosers.
"―Just shut up and trust me!" shouted the voice in front of me, the sentence lost on me as I realized he meant to vault over the cliff.
But, I realize I'm too far into the story―too many wondrous details have been left out. So, let me start over, exactly nine hours before I was in more trouble than I ever could imagine.
…
I stood stiffly in my uniform next to a dozen kids dressed exactly the same as me, my wavy hair pulled back tightly into a ponytail; my expression was that of boredom, but it's not like anyone could really blame me.
'I've been staring at the simulation plane for over twenty minutes now,' I griped mentally, heels aching from the boots I was required to wear, 'and it's dead silent in this room―I'm going mental.'
I wasn't exaggerating, either. Once cadets load into the simulation plane to display their skills, we were told to stay quiet so evaluators could, well, evaluate.
The silence was deafening, enough to make any sane person go crazy―good thing no one at the Garrison was sane, nor did they remain quiet for long.
"Roll out donkeys!" The commander shouted in an aggravated tone, causing me to jolt awake, shoulders a little more square. I cringed a bit as the failed cadets came walking out, their expressions conveying they were bracing for the worst.
'My friends are doomed.' I confirmed, watching with scrunched eyebrows as literal waves of irritation came pouring from the commander's body, his face turning to us with the world's biggest scowl.
"Well let's see if we can't use this complete failure as a learning lesson for the rest of you students; can anyone point out the mistakes these three so called 'cadets' made in the simulator?"
He had his hands on his hips at this point, his sole eye viewing Pidge, Hunk, and Lance like they were vermin, the vein throbbing on his forehead confirming he one-hundred percent believed it too.
Random students in the crowd I stood in shouted out multiple examples of why they failed, some more descriptive than the rest. I visibly saw how the trio wilted after each dig.
"―Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astro-explorers, but these kinds of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos mission!" The commander spit at them, disapproval etched deeply into his eyes.
I felt all the air in my lungs leave the second he mentioned that mission, eyes falling directly on the shortest in the group, who looked ready to kill.
"That's not true sir!" Pidge defied, hands clenched into fists, eyes deadset onto the much larger man's.
'God have mercy on their soul.' I prayed with a weary expression as the commander's head whirled to stare back with a vigor, sheer anger already pouring from his mouth..
"What was that?"
Lance caught my desperate look, his soon matching as he sprung into action and covered Pidge's mouth, already trying to diffuse the situation as soon as he could. "I'm sorry sir! I think he may have hit his head when he fell out of his chair, but point taken!" Lance ended with a smile, his right arm fighting to keep Pidge quiet.
Hunk spared me a glance, his nervous face telling me exactly how much they just narrowly escaped from death. Smiling a bit to encourage him, he faced the front once more as the commander stalked forwards, tone deadly and predatory.
"I hope that I don't need to remind you, you're only here because the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue, and flunked out. Don't follow in his footsteps. Next!"
He was directly in Lance's face at this point, words meaning to sting and wound. I had a hard time keeping my composure, as did Hunk and Pidge; but the looming threat of getting flunked out of the Garrison for discipline issues was enough incentive to keep our mouth shut.
Three other cadets marched into the simulator as a dejected trio came stalking back to the group. Shoulders slumped and figure next to mine, Lance sighed under his breath, eyes set on the floor. From what I could see on my other side, Hunk was the same, but Pidge seemed more murderous than anything. Placing a hand on both Pidge and Lance's shoulder, I squeezed reassuringly, giving them all a smile.
"I'm sure you guys did better than what he gives you credit for," I whispered, smirking a bit as the commander turned his back, "and how can he even tell completely, one of his eyes doesn't even work."
Pidge snorted loudly, but as the commander whirled to yell at us, we were already standing straight with our faces blank, looking innocent as ever.
"Thanks, Maggie." They all chorused under their breaths as he turned back around, the room falling silent once more.
...
It was lights out, the hallways to the dorms completely dark as the order was given for everyone to head to bed. Only, I wasn't going to head to bed, nor was I going to listen to orders.
Instead, I was lurking in the hallways, a timid Hunk trailing behind me, and a determined Lance leading the way.
"Remind me on how you convinced me this was a good idea?" I murmured, a slight tone of haughtiness in my words as I directed the question at Lance.
"Well," he started, slinking along the walls as we avoided being seen, "I was all upset by the commander's words, and you couldn't resist saying no to my handsome, angsty pout."
Taking a deep breath, I rolled my eyes, too amused to outwardly be anything more than annoyed. "Are you hearing this nonsense, Hunk?" I teased, eyes trailing up to see his reaction.
"I heard it, but I'm more concerned with the fact that this is generally a bad idea," he whispered, looking like he was going to pass out from overthinking the situation, "does no one else think this is an incredibly bad idea?"
Lance waved him off, peeking around the corner as we paused, "You heard Commander Iverson, we need to bond as a team; we're gonna grab Pidge, hit the town, loosen up, and meet some nice girls―!"
"―Ok, ok; but I'm saying this here, so it's on the record, this is a bad idea." Hunk interrupted, also peeking around the corner now.
"For someone who is part of a 'space exploration' program, you don't have much of a sense of adventure."
Scandalized, Hunk furrowed his eyebrows, sarcasm rising in his tone, "Every one of your little 'adventures' lands me in the principal's office."
"I don't want to explore space, I want to build spacecraft," I replied, eyebrow raised as I waited for an explanation as to why I was included in this mess, "also, I'm not even technically a part of the team, so why am I doing 'team bonding'."
Running across the hall and sliding towards the open window of the office, we got on our hands and knees as we hurriedly made it out of sight.
Grinning back towards me with complete seriousness in his voice, Lance shrugged, "You're team mom, therefore part of the team."
Spluttering, I looked to Hunk for help, but found seriousness in his gaze as well. "You do keep most of us out of trouble, so I sadly have to agree."
"Why am I friends with you people." I deadpanned, staring directly into my hands.
"Because you love us," Lance answered, giving me a sultry look as he continued down the hallway, "but me most of all."
And then he proceeded to tell me to climb into a trashcan.
Cramped into a shared blue trashcan, it was then I realized I could get away with murder.
"L5 North, all clear." a guard spoke into his walkie as he patrolled down the hall, the sound of his footsteps continually getting quieter the farther he went.
Lance peeked out, making sure the coast was all clear before launching out of the blue deathtrap, carelessly leaving me to spill out with a disheveled Hunk right behind me.
"I'm fine." He spoke to no one in particular, hands raised before him with wide eyes. I picked a piece of trash out of my hair, shoving my hands irritatedly into my pockets as I glared after Lance.
Suddenly, I was grabbed by my shoulder, flung quickly to the side as a flash of light illuminated the hallway. A bit disoriented, I didn't realize what happened until I heard Lance mutter under his breath. "Where is he going?"
…
"If I'm team mom, I'm grounding you as soon as we get back." I spoke to Lance with annoyance in my tone, still a bit irritated about the trash cans, and even more so at the handful times we were almost caught by security in the past ten minutes trailing after Pidge.
Lance muttered something under his breath, not audible enough for me to make it out.
I knew it was a dig, and he's lucky I didn't hear it.
"I agree with Maggie; we almost got caught five times tonight." Hunk spoke as we made it to a metal door, noticing immediately that the lock was broken.
"Kiss-up." Lance threw back at him, just as he slowly opened the door and motioned us forward.
Sneaking on the pads of my feet, we edged closer to Pidge, who looked deep in thought as she twiddled away at her equipment. I was going to go for a more subtle approach to alerting her that we're here, but it turns out I didn't need to.
Lance went ahead and reached for the headphone resting on her ear, pulling it up quickly as he yelled directly in it, "You come up here to rock out?"
The loudest, shrillest yell I have ever heard in my life met my ears, a small laugh forming on my lips as the poor kid leapt three feet in the air.
"Oh, Lance, Hunk―Maggie―no, uhm, I'm just―looking at the stars?" Pidge tried to diffuse, hands placed tightly in her lap as she gazed upwards with sheepish eyes.
It wasn't convincing, but we paid it no mind―if Pidge wanted to tell us, she would.
"Man, where'd you get this stuff? It doesn't look like Garrison tech." Lance pointed out, and it was then my sights were set on the shiny stack of metal just before me.
I could physically feel the glint that was forming in my eyes. My 'kid in a candy store' gaze met with Hunk's, and I knew it was go time.
As Pidge explained that she made the tech herself, I was already hands deep into the amount of gear and buttons before me, Hunk tapping endlessly to the processor to my left. "You built all this?" he questioned with wonder.
Feeling a sharp smack to my hands and hearing the same being done to Hunk, I retreated instantly, rubbing them with a pout as she glared.
"With this thing I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system," she smirked, but I was already closing in on the equipment for a second time, practically drooling.
"That right," Lance mused, a knowing tone to his voice, "all the way to Kerberos?"
I was too busy scanning the material she used to build this to see her expression, but I knew she was a bit shocked.
"You go ballistic everytime the instructors bring it up. What's your deal?" Lance questioned, not really going for a tactful approach.
"Second warning Hunk!" she snapped, more angry at Lance's probing than she was at him. Continuing with my festival of strange new equipment, I went under the radar of her wrath, sending an evil smile to a sulking Hunk, knowing he thought the same.
"If we're going to bond as a team―!"
"―don't think I don't see you Maggie, knock it off―!"
"―ah, damn it―!"
"―we can't have any secrets!"
In the midst of that whirlwind of a conversation, Lance's statement struck a chord with Pidge, the whole atmosphere changing completely, sobering up almost.
Placing both my hands in my lap, deciding to behave myself, I watched in concern as Pidge's eyes darkened, her shoulders slumping in defeat. I knew my two boys saw the same thing I did.
"Fine," she spoke, looking disgruntled as she faced us, "the world as we know it is about to change; the Kerberos mission wasn't lost because of some 'malfunction' or crew mistake―stop touching my equipment―I've been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter."
My jaw drop practically dropped as Pidge finished her sentence, Hunk at the same time awakening from his depressive pout to put his shock into words.
"Ok," Lance spoke, causing me to glance up at him, "so you're insane, got it."
Biting my lip―because declaring there were aliens and that the aliens were actually real was a stretch―I twiddled nervously with my thumbs, glancing between an unamused Lance and a very much so defiant Pidge.
"I'm sure you have a valid reason for claiming that aliens are real," I spoke, noting how the hardness in her hazel eyes softened a bit at the chance I was giving her, "so maybe just break it down for us?"
"Team mom." Lance and Hunk coughed under their breath, and I sent them a nasty scowl.
"You're right, I do," she stated proudly, fumbling with her tech that I oh so wanted to learn everything about and began running numbers, lifting a sketch pad to our faces in the process. "They keep on repeating the same thing: one word, Voltron―and tonight, it's going crazier than I have ever heard it."
"How crazy?" Lance questioned, arms crossed and head tilted to the side.
It was then the universe decided to answer for him.
Sirens went off immediately, jolting us from our previous conversation; the warning lights flashed as a voice from a commander blared over the loudspeaker, letting every student know that this wasn't a drill, and we needed to hide.
"You just had to ask." I sighed, launching to my feet as Hunk glanced around in worry, freezing as he looked into the sky.
"Is that a meteor?" He questioned in a higher pitch, sounding more frazzled and nervous than usual, "a very, very big meteor?"
I turned to see what he was pointing at immediately, dread curling in my gut as I realized it was heading towards us. "It's a ship!" I heard pidge call from my left, Lance immediately following after her as he snatched away the goggles, stating that it wasn't anything human.
"So wait, there really are aliens out there?" Hunk choked out, eyes so wide it looked painful.
Watching as the meteor's descent picked up a bit in speed, I scrambled backwards as I tried to prepare for the inevitable.
"It's gonna crash―brace yourself!" I called, feeling the rooftop rumble as a bright light went off into the distance. Losing my balance a bit, I steadied my stance and pushed my hair from my face, glancing back to confirm that I wasn't dreaming and they were seeing this too.
Garrison rovers and other high-tech mobiles started exiting from the garage beneath us, causing me to scoot back a bit so I wouldn't be seen. Despite the incredible worry that something was very wrong, I felt the buzz of excitement fester at my side, causing me to look down into the starry gaze of a shaking Pidge Gunderson.
She was already strapped into her backpack and ready to go, awe-filled eyes wide behind her circular dorky glasses. "We have to go see that ship!"
Taking off just as quickly as she spoke her sentence, she and Lance sprinted across the platform, not really taking no for an answer. "Maggie, Hunk, let's go!"
"This is the worst team-building exercise ever." Hunk grumbled to me as we took off running ourselves, a bit more hesitant than the duo racing a few feet ahead.
We didn't stop running until a mile later, propped up and tucked away neatly on the surface of a very high rock. It was a perfect hiding space, and a perfect stake-out view to whatever was going on down below.
Resting on my stomach, head propped in my hands, I glanced over Pidge's leg to see the monitor she was working on, completely fascinated with how advanced it was.
'Self-note: ask Pidge later how she got away with building this undetected.'
"Woah," Lance gasped, causing me to focus on the large, unidentified spacecraft he was staring at through the binoculars, "what the heck is that thing?" I saw him turn a bit, his posture leaning more forwards as an odd dorky grin appeared on his face, "And who the heck is she?"
"Idiot." I sighed as Pidge smacked him upside the head, wondering why I even decided to listen to him about coming out here in the first place.
"Ow!" he called, rubbing at his head as he moved the binoculars closer to the main target, relaxing his posture, "ah, right, alien ship―man, we'll never get past those guards to get a look."
A part of me wasn't relieved by his words―I was interested, though I wasn't going to admit it out loud, especially not to Lance. Right below me was advanced technology that earth had never seen before, tech the earth didn't even have the resources to create. I was dying to go have a look, go investigate and learn about everything I possibly could―but that would require fighting with guards, and, well, getting expelled.
A part of me didn't even care in the slightest, and it scared me.
"Ah man," I heard Hunk feigning disappointment to my right, casting his gaze downwards as he sat up with one knee, "guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?"
The poor guy was already walking away when I spotted something on Pidge's screen, something big enough for her to mention out loud. "Wait, they set up a camera in there and I grabbed it's feed―look."
A small video popped onto the screen, enlarged and now clear in its focus. A man was strapped to the table, looking worse for wear as he struggled in his bonds, white fringe covering a bit of his face as he pushed and pulled.
His voice was frantic, but the men around him were trying to calm him down, naming him by name―Shiro―as they tried to diffuse the situation.
"You have to listen to me!" He interrupted, voice pleading and scared, "they destroy worlds―aliens are coming!"
Lance recognized the man, but I wasn't really paying attention to the conversation. I was too zoned in on the camera feed, mind repeating the frantic and fearful words over and over in my head. I continued watching as he struggled, continually relaying the fact that we needed to prepare, they were coming, they were going to destroy us.
"―he said Voltron!"
Pidge's voice broke me out of my small trance, causing me to refocus on my surroundings, and the video a bit more clearly. One of the hazmat suit guards ordered the other to put Shiro under, leaving my stomach in knots and my face pale as they stuck him with a sedative.
"That was a little―too much, don't you think?" I murmured, not liking the oddly pained expression on the now sedated Shiro.
"We have to get him out." Pidge demanded, glancing between the other three of us as she stared intensely at the site below.
"I'm on board." Lance stated, rising to his feet, just as I reluctantly did the same.
All three of us now stared at Hunk, who literally looked like a fish out of water. "Hi, yea, hate to be the voice of reason here, truly―but weren't we just watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?"
Crossing my arms over my chest, I glanced at spacecraft below us, noting there were a plentiful amount of guards.
"That was before we were properly motivated." Lance spoke, hand resting on his chin as he studied the situation, "we just gotta think―could we tunnel in?"
"Maybe we could find some hazmat suits and sneak in like med-techs." Pidge enthusiastically spoke, looking really accomplished with her idea.
Hunk didn't share in her enthusiasm. "Or, we could dress up like cooks and head back to the dorm, sneaking into the kitchen―bam, little late night snack."
I laughed, especially when Pidge and Lance sent him an unimpressed look.
"We use a distraction." I stated out of the blue, causing everyone to turn their attention to me, the glint in my eye shining as the incoming disturbance I saw came closer.
"What kind of distraction?" Pidge mused, looking as if she wasn't too sure about my plan either.
Just as she finished her sentence, multiple explosions went off below; it was powerful, enough to send shockwaves through the rock. If I hadn't seen any of it coming, I probably would've been in the same boat as the trio surrounding me, their faces paler than a ghost's.
"That one." I pointed, a smirk resting on my lips as I placed my free hand on my hip.
My comment fell on deaf ears, the trio now collectively panicking as Hunk shouted 'aliens' in a frenzied mantra. Sighing, I smacked Hunk's shoulder to get him to come back to his senses, gesturing for Pidge to take a closer look.
"It's not aliens―it's a distraction, but not for us," she pointed, eyes narrowed at the speeding figure racing across the desert dust, "it's for him! The Garrison's heading for the blast, and he's sneaking in from the other side!"
As outraged as she was, Pidge still had a tone of praise in her small rant.
Quickly snatching the binoculars from Lance's grasp, I leaned a bit forward, trying to catch a better angle of what exactly we had just witnessed. Breath catching in my throat, I felt the odd and concerned stares I was receiving from the group.
"The motorcycle he's driving hasn't even been issued yet!" I exclaimed, zoomed into what would be considered the wrong target in this situation, mind too focused on the large hunk of beauty that was that unidentified red gift of god, "as far as I know, that isn't even being manufactured in the United States!"
Feeling the binoculars now being ripped from my grasp, I blinked as Lance tore them away once more, a resounding look of resignation on his face.
"You're useless," he grumbled, positioning the lenses on his eyes as I smiled sheepishly, rubbing my shoulder in embarrassment.
"Hey, wait a second―oh, he is not going to beat us in there!" Lance defied, pulling the binoculars down to reveal his eyebrow raised in challenge, "that guys always trying to one-up me! Let's go, now!"
Swiftly casting the binoculars aside, he began jogging down the hill, slipping and sliding in the loose gravel. Sharing a confused look with Pidge, Hunk cupped his hands around his mouth, tone uncertain, "Wait! Who is it?"
Not taking any time to stop, Lance kept rushing ahead, completely zoned, "Keith!" he hollered back, annoyance clear as he spat out the name.
"Uh, who?" I questioned, glancing back and forth between a confused Pidge, a shocked Hunk, and the retreating back of a fired up Lance.
"Wait, are you sure?" Hunk yelled as he began jogging too, obviously knowing the person Lance was so furious about.
"Oh, I'd recognize that mullet anywhere!" Lance nagged sarcastically, now a bit out of sight from the distance he gained.
Taking a breath, I shouldered some of Pidge's equipment, helping her to pack away the rest as we were now practically forced to follow after our two crazy friends.
"Wait, I still don't understand!" Pidge yelled as we took charge towards a steep hill, sliding down one by one, "who the heck is Keith!"
Launching off the side of the steep hill as we continued to race forward―because we didn't have much time left, and explosions only distract people for so long―I wiped excess dirt and dust that had blown into my face, scanning the scene before us with caution.
All the guards that had once maintained their posts outside had now abandoned them, probably ordered to go investigate this 'Keith' person's distraction. "I'd say we have about ten minutes before Garrison military security comes back!" I shouted the group, still never taking my eyes off the area to spot any dangers.
"Got it!" They all chorused in unison, feet pounding onto the metal ramp that led inside to the quarantined room Shiro was locked in. Every fiber of my being knew that breaking into this place was wrong, that breaking this 'Shiro' person out was wrong―my general of a father would ground me for the rest of my life if he had found out.
Yet, I wanted to go through with this anyway.
I never really realized the effect this decision would truly have.
I slowed my footsteps as we reached the end of a long hallway, causing the other three behind me to halt a bit as well. Carefully walking through the doorway, I connected eyes with that of a boy with black hair and wide eyes, a sluggish Shiro hanging from his shoulder.
Lance pushed past me instantly, wagging his finger in the air as he marched forward. "No, no―nope―not happening―I'm saving Shiro, not you."
Watching in blatant amusement as Lance practically pushed the medical gurnee out of the way and grabbed onto Shiro as well, my enjoyment only increased as Keith gave him a strange look.
"Who even are you?" he questioned, thick eyebrows furrowed as he stared at Lance. I snickered into my hand, having to turn away so I couldn't see Lance's glare.
"Shut up Maggie," he snapped, turning his attention directly back to a completely bewildered Keith, "who am I? Uh, the name's Lance―we were in the same class at the Garrison?"
"Really?" Keith asked, tone a bit harsh as he realized this conversation was wasting time, "are you an engineer?"
"No―I'm a pilot! We were like rivals―Lance and Keith, neck and neck."
"Oh, wait―I remember you," Keith stated, disdain cleary etched into his posture, "you're a cargo pilot."
Scoffing, Lance gave him a classic look of irritation, eyes a bit narrowed as he adjusted his hold on Shiro, "Not anymore―I'm fighter class now, thanks to you washing out."
Crossing my arms over my chest, I glanced down the hallway and then back towards their little 'fight', thinking that now was really not the time for this. By the way Pidge and Hunk nodded a bit in my direction with a bored look on their face, I knew they thought the same.
"Well, congratulations." Keith snapped, beginning to haul Shiro forward and out towards the door, effectively ending the conversation and dragging Lance with him.
Jogging down the hallway, I took note of the unconscious and strewn out on the floor guards in hazmat suits, wondering just exactly how that boy had managed breaking in alone in the first place.
"Our ten minutes are up," Hunk spoke over his shoulder, elbows propped up with the binoculars to see out into the distance near the explosion sight, "we gotta go!"
Trailing right behind Pidge as we neared the hovercraft motorcycle of my dreams, I launched myself to sit directly on the left half of the vehicle, helping pull Shiro onto the seat as well.
"You don't mind if we catch a ride with you, do you?" Hunk exclaimed as he jumped onto the rear, effectively knocking us, and the bike, backwards.
I didn't have to see Keith's face to know he was irritated.
"Is this thing gonna be big enough for all of us?" Pidge asked in worry, wide eyes looking from me, to Shiro, and then Keith.
Revving the engine just as a Garrison cruiser came hurling into sight, Keith threw back a sarcastic 'No' as we jetted off into the desert.
I was slammed back into Hunk's foot, Shiro's shoulder jutting into my ribs―with a groan I wrapped one free hand around his, the other securely latched into the side of the metal.
"Why do me and Maggie have to hold him!" Pidge complained, sending a dirty look to both Lance and Hunk for not taking the brunt of the weight. Her look became sharper as they both pretended not to hear her.
"At least we all fit?" Hunk shouted over the roar of the wind, barely audible enough for me to hear from where I was seated. Feeling the engine vibrate beneath was the only thing reminding me that this was, once again, not a dream―and I was, for the second time, realizing this was a horrible idea in the first place.
Watching as Lance glanced back behind us, I felt fear curl in my gut at the face he made.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" He spoke, a hint of fear in his voice, causing me to shift upwards and turn around.
"They're getting too close!" I yelled, fighting to keep myself from falling off, letting go of Shiro, and having my hair consume me all at once.
"We could get rid of some non-essential weight." Keith offered, red racing jacket billowing in the sharp wind.
I glared at the back of his head, using my foot to kick him in the shoulder as the meaning of Keith's words went directly over Lance's head.
"Wait, there isn't―oh, wait, that was an insult; I get it."
I watched as Keith checked the side mirrors quickly, not sparring back a glance to Hunk as he barked out orders a second later. "Big man, lean left!"
Feeling my body practically turn sideways within seconds was enough to make me feel nauseous; I was downright ready to die as it happened again turning sharply in the other direction.
"I'm going to die on a beautiful red hover motorcycle, surrounded by idiots." I mumbled out loud, eyes squeezed shut as the cruisers behind us crashed into one another.
Pidge and Lance protested my statement with a squawk, but the overall noise was soon replaced by the sound of everyone's screaming as we drifted along the side of a cliff.
"Guys―guys, is that a cliff up ahead?" hunk questioned, causing me to blink my eyes open and widen them in horror, "please tell me that isn't a cliff up ahead."
I realized the most curious thing as Hunk revealed that one-hundred percent true statement, and it was this sole fact that shook me to my core: Keith knew there was a cliff ahead, and Keith wasn't slowing down one bit.
"Don't you dare do it!" I screamed, wavy hair whipping around me like a hurricane, ponytail long forgotten by now, "I swear to god don't you even think about it"
This, my friends, is where we catch up to the present.
"I'm going to do it." Keith spoke, his confident grin visible to me through his side mirror. LAtching both my hands heavily onto whatever solid thing I could hold, I shut my eyes once more, heart racing a mile a minute as the feeling of weightlessness hit.
I was too scared to even breathe, let alone scream―but that wasn't the case for Hunk, Lance, or Pidge; their screams were enough to shatter glass.
"What are you doing!" Lance shouted, his hand wrapped tightly around my leg, "you're gonna kill us all!"
Hunk's foot was lodged into my shoulder, Shiro's shoulder still digging into my ribcage, and I'm sure my hand had a death grip on Pidge's wrist.
I still refused to open my eyes.
"Shut up and trust me!" Keith ground out, tone harsh but words clear and focused.
I immediately felt the vibration of the engine pick up, the grinding of the gears below where I sat whirring ridiculously fast in response to whatever Keith had planned.
The weightlessness stopped, replaced with cold, harsh gravity that picked me up in my seat and then dropped me. I didn't even have the time to complain as we began racing forward once more, this time at a speed that was sure not to blow my face off.
Peeking my eyes open, I stared into the endless desert with a strange sort of relief, and a tiny sense of thrill―we had just survived launching off a cliff, at top speeds; I was allowed to feel a little giddy that we had pulled that off.
Able to finally breathe, I glanced around to make sure everyone else was ok, noticing they all had them same look on their faces. Wrapping my arm a little tighter around Shiro's arm, I slumped in my seat, letting out a long-winded breath to calm my nerves.
'At this rate, my hair is gonna go gray.' I thought, glancing upwards towards the sky, 'what happened to letting others go on the adventure for me?'
Watching as the sun began to rise, the looming shape of a run-down shack coming closer into view, I realized something―the universe didn't really care for my preferences.
I was already roped into an adventure without even realizing it.
Great.
…
Haven't really seen any stories like this yet? And decided to give it a try?
This is kinda a test run―if people like it, I'll continue with it. If not, well, you know―I won't.
To clarify, Maggie is aware Pidge is a girl―hence the reason I used the girl pronouns in the story; the reason for her knowing will be revealed later on in the chapters, but it isn't anything exciting.
Any comments, questions, or concerns? Let me know! Review!
Thanks for reading!