A/N: -claps hands together- This is going to be a very angsty start to what will hopefully be a fairly humorous story. Except for the ending. This story begins and ends with angst.
This story was posted earlier, but I removed it due to two people claiming to be from Critics United saying that I had broken the Terms of Service. I have checked with a legitimate CU member, who informed me that my story is perfectly fine and that the two reviewers were not part of the CU.
"No! Please, no!"
Black walls loomed up on either side of Pidge as she ran, as ominous as the horrifying possibility that the memorial had put in her mind. She ground to a halt when the wall ended, staring across the plain of 127,098 markers.
"Oh, no."
Pidge leaped and skidded down the hillside, tripping on the last few feet and crashing to the ground. Ignoring the jar throughout her body, Pidge shoved herself to her feet and sprinted down the lane. Her breath echoed raggedly in her helmet.
The transponder beeped rapidly. Matt was close.
But there was no living thing on the horizon.
"Matt!" Pidge screamed, feet speeding up.
It couldn't be true, it couldn't! Her mind flashed back to their time back on Earth.
The whole family around the dinner table. When Matt brought her cake when she was bullied. The times they hid on the roof past their bedtime to watch the stars. Their joy when Matt was accepted into the Garrison.
The transponder blared, the screen turning red.
Matt, smiling and cheery, in his new Garrison space suit...
Pidge's hands tightened, silencing the transponder. She looked up, having already unconsciously stopped. A black marker with glowing red words met her gaze.
No.
A surge of weakness sent Pidge to her knees. Her shaking helmet picked up the glowing words, and the cold, computerized voice translated.
"Matthew Holt."
The voice went on, listing his date of birth and death, and Pidge couldn't hold back any longer.
Her body clenched forward, hands coming up to catch herself as she let the tears she had been holding back for months flow free.
"I'm so sorry," Pidge sobbed. "I was too late."
Pidge's arms gave out, and she collapsed to the ground. The computer's voice ended, leaving Pidge to only hear her broken sobs.
"No!" Pidge screamed at the ground.
Pidge pounded the ground, screaming until her voice broke and she choked. Heaving for breath, she curled into a ball. Rain drops splattered against her suit, but still couldn't bring herself to move.
Matt was gone.
Eventually her body fell still as, exhausted from her tears and pain, Pidge fell into a restless sleep.
The rest of the team found her there six vargas later.
Shiro took one look at her fetal position on the muddy ground, and knew what the marker meant. Ticks later, gasps from the others signified that they had realized the same.
"Matt," Shiro whispered brokenly, putting his hand on the marker.
Hunk sniffled and wiped uselessly at his helmet. "Let's get her back to the Castle."
Hunk started forward, but Shiro waved him off. He crouched and gently scooped up the smallest paladin.
Pidge stirred at being disturbed, and her bloodshot eyes crept open. She didn't move for a moment, eyes sliding back-and-forth as she tried to remember what had caused her to feel so heavy and tired.
"Hey, Pidgey," Lance said, trying to smile. "How do you feel?"
"Tired," Pidge mumbled, voice creaky and strange. "Wha' happened?"
Shiro turned before Pidge could see the way Lance's face twisted, responding with, "It's been a long day. Let's get you back to the Castle."
Pidge murmured incoherently, wanting to go back to sleep. But then her eyes fell on the markers around them. Pidge stiffened.
"Pidge?" Allura said, stepping so that her body hid most of the markers from view.
"Matt," Pidge said with a sniffle. "H-he's gone."
"I'm sorry," Shiro said, holding Pidge closer. "We wouldn't have let you go alone if we had known…"
"Shiro, he's gone!" Pidge wailed.
"I know, I know," Shiro murmured. He started to walk, wanting to get Pidge away from the gloomy site.
"The Galra killed him. They took my brother away from me!" Pidge cried. She had thought that her tears were spent, but fresh tears began to stream down her face. "Why?!"
"I don't know," Shiro murmured.
"I can't stand the Galra. I hate them!"
Shiro didn't respond verbally to Pidge's screams, only sped up until he was running. Inside, he was a turmoil of emotions.
Since meeting the Blade of Marmora, the team had come to the realization that not all Galra were evil. But then something like this happened, and it was suddenly hard to remember that fact.
Galra had taken Pidge's family. Killed her brother. Dashed her hopes.
Shiro hugged the sobbing, shaking paladin tighter. She was practically a child still. Far too young to face what the girl had.
All the team could hope was that someday she could recover.
A/N: I was trying a new type of prologue for this. After this, Pidge will only be viewed from an outsider's perspective.
This story started in my head a while ago. It began as a "What if Matt didn't leave coordinates" AU, but it's since evolved into something much more complicated. Wicked long A/N explaining this in the next chapter