A little girl of the tender age of 10 cried as she fled from enemy warriors. Her rust colored hair whipped her face and her wide violet eyes were wide with fear. Her raggedy clothing burned at her skin, lasers being shot from her pursuers guns and nicking her arms and legs. The landscape around her was smoldering, remnants of a wildfire evident.

She sobbed and cried out as she tripped on a loose rock and crashed to the ground. She clenched her fists and closed her eyes, summoning power from deep within her. Her skin glittered with almost crystal-like luminescent scales before they disappeared in a flurry of particles.

"Mama!" She wailed, tears streaming down her face.

"Mama where are you?! Why did you leave me!" She cried out as she covered her head and neck with her arms. Her body was pelted by bullets, her power doing little for protection.

There was running footsteps and a yell before the shooting stopped, there was the sound of a sword slicing through the air. There was several sounds of grunts and then thuds before it went silent. A hand was placed on her shoulder and she screamed, scrambling away before turning to see those who had touched her.

There were two people, both weird looking and both staring at her. The only remotely human looking one had darker skin and blue eyes with white hair. He crouched in front of her. He had strange markings under his eyes and his hair was pulled back. He wielded a sword in one hand and his other was extended to her.

The other was another male with purple skin and yellow eyes. He wielded a glowing mace and was covered in deep red armor. He looked more reptilian, almost like a turtle.

"D-don't hurt me! Please!" The girl cried out in fear, recoiling from the shorter man's hand. He smiled warmly,

"We won't harm you little one. We are here to help." He said quietly and she slowly stopped shaking, looking up through the tears in her eyes.

"My name is Alfor, king of the planet Altea. This is my comrade Emperor Zarkon of planet Daibazaal." He gestured first to himself then he large purple man.

"What is your name small one?" Zarkon asked, his voice

"M-Mae To-Topaz…" she mumbled and rubbed at her face, wiping away her tears.

"What are you doing here Mae? This place is supposed to be evacuated and abandoned." Alfor asked gently and reached his hand out again, this time she took it.

"I-I- I was looking for my mama….. she disappeared and left me…" Mae whimpered and followed Alfor, sticking close and holding onto his cape and hand.

"What does she look like? Perhaps we could find her." Alfor offered and she shook her head.

"Umm… she's really big, and covered in crystal scales, she has really big wings and lots of sharp teeth. Oh! And she has really sharp horns!" She said, remembering what her mother looked like. She was a dragon, a Crystal Dragon to be exact.

Alfor and Zarkon both looked slightly confused.

"I'm sorry?"

"She's a Crystal Dragon! We were supposed to be training when she just disappeared." Mae's bottom lip trembled and she looked around with wide eyes.

"Small one, perhaps you hit your head? Dragons do not exist-"

"But she does exist! She trained me!" Mae stomped on the ground in frustration and a pillar of crystal exploded from the ground, soaring to 10 feet tall and 7 feet wide and coming to a sharp point.

The two men jumped back in shock and she herself jumped. She hadn't been expecting that, her magic must have been on the flux. She refused to look at them, cowering under their gaze.

"Was that you?" Alfor asked gently and she nodded hesitantly.

"My Mama taught me Dragon Slaying Magic. She said she had to teach me to keep me safe." She mumbled and tugged on her hair. Alfor seemed curious, Zarkon looked skeptical. But Alfor offered to take her in, to raise her as best he could until they found her mother.

"I have a daughter of my own, her name is Allura. She's only 4 years old and I'm sure she'll love you." He said, taking her aboard his ship, a massive red lion robot.

She sniffled and nodded, they could help her right? In the meantime she would get to know this Allura. She liked little kids and she was almost positive she would be able to get along. It would be easy, right?

….

*timeskip*

Mae was totally wrong, Allura absolutely despised her. From their first meeting, Allura seemed to quickly detest the older girl. She would pick fights and argue as much as possible as she got older. She had heard the young princess talking with her mother one night, asking why Mae was there, asking why she couldn't go back to her own parents, and so on.

It was hard, getting over the fact that her mother Almas had disappeared and left her on her own. She coped by distancing herself from everyone. She would really only associate herself with Alfor (she liked him the best) and occasionally the other Paladins.

At 17 years old she was already an accomplished Mage and warrior. At her and Alfor's insistence, she was put through extensive training to test the limits of her magic. She grew to have mastery over her Crystal Dragon Slaying Magic, using it to become well admired amongst Altea and even some other planets.

She supposed that was another reason why Allura hated her. She was reserved and didn't talk much yet she was well-liked among many. When Mae was younger, Allura would pick on her, the jealous princess taking her anger out on the timid girl.

Alfor didn't know until the two of them were much older, Mae hiding the fact as she was convinced she would be called a crybaby for being bullied by someone 6 years younger. She didn't want Alfor to get mad at Allura and make her hate Mae more. But when Alfor did find out, he sat them both down, explaining that they were sisters, that they should love each other. Though later his talk did nothing to lessen Allura's hate, though Mae tried her hardest.

Their relationship didn't get better, even when Mae lost her left leg at the knee down and her right arm from the shoulder down from a horrible accident. Allura refused to help her whatsoever, but she didn't bully her so it was a small step forward. But when Mae received her prosthetics, she ignored her completely. It seemed as if she would

….

Explosions rocked the castle, Mae held onto the wall to make sure she didn't fall to the ground. She stumbled to where she knew her adopted father was.

"-we must form Voltron!" Came Allura's voice. Mae nearly fell over into the room just in time to see Alfor catch an unconscious Allura.

"Dad? What are you doing?" She asked nervously but nonetheless, assisted her adopted father in moving the unconscious princess to a cryopod.

"I must put you both in cryopods. It is for your own safety. Mae I need you to understand, Zarkon will overrun the castle. We cannot form Voltron any longer, I've sent the lions far away out of his reach." Alfor explained and readied the next pod for her. She spotted Coran sinking into the floor in his own cryopod.

"But-"

"Mae we don't have much time. Please understand that this is for your own safety." Alfor put his hands on the 24-year-old and cupped her cheek with one hand.

"But Dad, you're leaving me! I don't want to be left alone again! I don't know when I'll wake up! When we wake up, I have to take care of Allura! She hates me, you know that! She'll blame me for-" he cut her off by hugging her tightly.

"You are strong Mae. Stronger than you know. As my eldest child, I need you to be strong for Allura and Coran. I need you to be there for them both." He pleaded and when she saw the desperate protectiveness she finally relented.

"A-alright Dad…. I'll do it…" she said quietly, hugging him back and breathing in the familiar, calming scent.

"Goodbye Mae. Don't forget that I love you."

"I love you too Daddy, goodbye." She sniffled, stepping into the cryopod and closed her eyes as he kissed her forehead one last time and stepped away. She pressed her hand to the glass as it fogged over and everything went black.