Paladin at Heart

Day 1: Sword and Shield

Pidge was in trouble and she knew it. She'd let her guard down and had been backed into a corner, with no way out but to fight her way through the army of Galra sentries that blocked her path. The odds were very much against her.

Panic threatened to bubble over as she summoned her bayard to her hand, activating the small blade, but she wouldn't let it consume her. She couldn't. She was a Paladin of Voltron and she wouldn't let herself be cowed by her enemies, no matter how bad it seemed. Pidge had gone through too much, had overcome so much, that to give into her fear would be an insult to herself and the people she loved.

All she needed was an opening.

She tightened her grip as she slid into an appropriate stance, the hum of her bayard loud in her ears. One of the sentries moved towards her.

And then there was an explosion above her, collapsing a chunk of ceiling and taking out a good number of the Galra sentries. Through the smoke and debris, she could spot a lithe form in black dropping down, curved blade in one hand and a familiar shield in another, slicing through the robots without preamble.

It took Pidge a full five seconds before she shook off her surprise and threw herself into the fray. Her bayard left behind a glowing green blur as it whirled through the air, easily cutting through the metal of the sentries and wrecking the vulnerable insides. One leaped in the air toward her and she shot the blade of her weapon into its chest, using its momentum against it to redirect its path into a pair of sentries heading towards her masked friend.

The resounding crash had him glance away from his fight for a brief second, watching just long enough to see her make her way to him so they could fight back to back.

"So whose plan was explosives?" Pidge asked once she was close enough.

"My mom's, actually."

The casual admittance took Pidge by surprise and she fought the urge to turn around and stare at him. A thousand questions rolled through her mind, starting with: "You found your mom?!" but she held them at bay for a more appropriate time.

It distracted her just long enough for one of the sentries to knock her off her feet and send her flying several feet away. Her head slammed against something – hard – and if it weren't for her helmet she knew she would have been knocked out cold. It was still bad enough to make her see stars.

"Pidge!"

He blocked a strike from the nearest sentry with his shield and then took it's head using his sword. With an angry snarl he made quick work of the final three as he rushed to her side. She felt gentle fingers tugging insistently at her helmet, lifting it away so he could check for injuries.

"I'm fine," she murmured as he ran his hands through her hair. "I'm fine. A little shaken, but okay. Glad to see you're putting your new shield to good use."

It was her new favorite accomplishment. She'd taken the schematics of the shields incorporated into their paladin armor and retrofitted it to the gauntlet of Keith's new Blade of Marmora uniform. She made her own improvements, of course, like changing the color from light blue to a less noticeable violet, but the important thing was that it still resembled its original self.

It was a reminder that he would always be a Paladin.

Keith softly exhaled, finding no worrying injuries. "I wish you'd use yours more often."

"Gets in my way too much," Pidge responded. She pushed herself forward, kissing him on the lips in hopes of distracting him from the topic. It was their longest running argument: her lack of desire to use her shield while in battle. It was just easier for her to dodge attacks than try and block them, especially when that usually resulted in her flying across the room.

Keith drew back slightly, searching her face for something. He then sighed and pressed his forehead to hers. "Thank you, Katie."