Prologue
He stared warily at the large dome and wondered, despite his young age, what the future had in store for him.
The earlier crowd had considerably thinned by now; leaving him and a handful of others either already heading in or bidding their families one last "good-bye."
His parents already left him knowing that he was capable of entering the massive structure on his own. The adults were discouraged from accompanying their children or wards inside anyway, as part of protocol.
It was the first day of the Galaxy Garrison Summer Camp - eight weeks of trainings, activities and tests catered to children aged eight through twelve.
Harsh as the regimen sounds, almost every child dreamed of taking part of it.
He took a deep breath and continued his slow but confident walk towards the entrance. The area was virtually deserted now; the others in his line of vision already running. He was about to start scurrying himself when a voice from behind caught his attention.
"I changed my mind. I don't want to go!"
He stopped then turned and saw a sobbing girl clinging to, whom he assumed was, her mother.
The young woman stroked the child's long, black hair and tried to calm her down. "Shhhh. Now, dear, you promised you were going to try this before saying, 'no.'"
"But you're going to leave me here! I don't want to be all alone."
He didn't know who she was, and yet, the boy found it odd how easily he sympathized with her.
The man standing beside the two females sighed and reached to touch the girl's shoulder. "You will be fine. I am sure that you will make friends."
The little girl shook her head and looked up at him. "But daddy, what will happen if they're all mean to me?"
"I'll protect you."
The family of three looked at the raven-haired boy who they didn't notice until then standing only a few feet away from them.
The father gave his daughter's shoulder a squeeze before asking the intruder, "What's your name?"
"I'm Keith."
The woman smiled and tugged gently at her child. "Now, aren't you going to introduce yourself?"
The girl eyed the boy while wiping her tears away. She sniffed, hiccupped then answered, "My name is Lisa."
He nodded his head once to show that he had heard her, despite her shy, quiet tone.
"We may have just met, Lisa, but I promise that I won't let anything bad happen to you."
She stared at him for a while before looking up to meet her mother's eyes. "I believe him."
Strangely enough, even Lisa's parents seemed convinced.
Keith extended his hand. "It's time to go in. You wouldn't want to be late, now, would you?"
For the first time since they got there, Lisa finally let go of her mother. She gave her father a hug, accepted his offered handkerchief then hugged her mother again.
After saying their farewells, she walked away and took Keith's hand.
And together, they entered the garrison grounds.
Author's Note:
I'm probably one of the few who believes that a man and a woman can genuinely be just friends - best friends, even. I also believe in the idea of "soul mates". And although current (internet) research has 'told' me that 'soul mate' is actually synonymous to 'kindred spirit', I will stick to my decade-old reading that says a kindred spirit is not the same as a soul mate but simply a familiar or possibly even, a familial spirit - someone you have had a special bond with in your past life/lives. It was an old book in our college library; the cover was faded, the pages yellowish. I never found it again.
Yes, this fan fic is actually over a decade old and overdue but computer crashes through the years have stopped me from sharing, let alone, finishing, it.
I was only recently re-inspired to have another crack at it with the emergence of the Voltron Force on NickToons.
No, this is not going to contain the new elements found in the series; I'll be following the D.O.T.U. -verse for this story.
Titled Choices 2 for lack of creativity, because it's a follow-up to Choices and is still a story about making choices.