Voltron: How The Wedding Bell Toils
Chapter one: Horrible Awakening
Kimberly's eyes glowed into his, just as they had before. Her hands felt warm and soft in his, instilling that same pride and confidence that he'd had the night he popped the question. Joyful tears shimmered from her eyes and waterfalled over her cheeks with a delicate finesse he'd gotten used to. This moment was too perfect for him to let go of. And Shiro had not thought of anything else during or since that magical night. It seemed to him that Altea was correlating with his decision; because as soon as it had happened, it seemed to celebrate with a prideful release of its own sort of confetti in the form of fireflies and sunset rays. He could vaguely hear the cheers of his friends, as they once again came to congratulate them for their engagement. Suddenly his world entered into slow motion as Pidge jumped in to hug Kimberly excitedly and Keith to come to his side. Keith's hand touched Shiro's shoulder, but for some reason; it felt distant. Like he wasn't even there. Was he as spirit? Or was he going mad? Or maybe it was he, himself, who wasn't actually there. Just the same Keith smiled; his lips moving in the form of words that were so slow, he barely understood them. About halfway through Keith's drawn out sentence, he began to turn black; like he was merely a photo being burned away from behind. Keith lifted his hand off Shiro as the darkness grew more and more until it spread all around him. One by one, each of his friends melted away in this darkening abyss, Shiro reached out, but even Kimberly was burned away; her laugh fading away as she did.
Now left in the darkness alone, he searched for them. As though this were some trick, and his friends would emerge at any moment to tell him that it was. But this did not happen... instead a sinister laugh echoed around him; putting the admiral on high alert, having recognized the voice. Two eyes appeared through the darkness, and a moment later a blade shot forward from it!..
Shiro leapt upright; his bayard materializing on right hand, ready to attack. Shiro's breaths were intense and harsh as he began to calm down again. He retracted his bayard to set his hand down at his side, holding himself up better. He sighed deeply and looked to his right. There, on the nightstand, a photo of his bride-to-be resided. Her silvery blue eyes held an infinite glow of her personality and seemed to be alive even from the photo. Her beautiful golden hair curled together in a full ponytail, her blue shirt and tan pants boldly colored by the brightness of the sunlight glowing down on her in this frozen portrait of time. This slice-of-life moment which seemed to pave the way for this very day. Shiro looked away from the photo of Kimberly's smiling face and closed eyes with a sigh.
XXXX
The door to the ship's bridge slid aside allowing Shiro to enter. The pilot of the Galra-tech craft glancing back around to him.
"Hey, thanks for coming on this mission." Keith told his brother, as Shiro came to sit down in the co-pilot seat next to him. "I know how busy you've been lately."
"Yeah." The Black Paladin sighed. "Kimberly's family will be arriving soon. And Colleen and Pidge have been working with Kimberly a lot lately on starting the preparations for the wedding."
"And what about you?" Keith asked, briefly glancing at him from the corner of his eye. "The Garrison has been kinda quiet lately. Not much to do. How's everything going?"
"It's been ok." Shiro responded simply, gazing straight ahead at the open space in front of him.
"Pidge is nearly finished her little robot Chip and says he's nearly bug free. And Sam has been developing new weapons using alien technology. Ryner has come by often to help along with some of her Olkari. They're even working on a new ship that'll help us on space missions to the other planets of our solar system." He finally broke his gaze to look at Keith. "What about you?"
"The Galra empire has been improving." Keith smiled. "Krolia and Kolivan have been selected to be the heads of the Galra representatives and have turned the Empire around for the better. Quintessence is being traded versus being taken and things are going great. Allura's doing really well with ruling her people. I mean, it's only been a few weeks, but she's settled into her role better than expected."
"That's good." Shiro half smiled. "I'm glad Allura is settling ok. I'm sure it's a bit strange to return to life to find Altea and Daibazaal restored. And to see how much has changed since our battle against Honerva ended over a year ago."
"Yeah. It's been a bit rough." The half-Galra sighed. "But Lance and Allura are closer than ever. I think he might do it at some point too." Shiro half chuckled.
"I wouldn't blame him." He said. "I'd heard they'd just officially gotten together when we began our fight with Honerva."
"Yeah. And Axca has kinda become more than a friend to me too." Keith admitted, only slightly embarrassed to say.
"Thinking it'll go further?" Shiro implied thoughtfully.
"Maybe." Keith half shrugged. "Right now I guess I'm still kinda learning how our relationship works."
"I get that." Shiro returned tenderly. "But I'm sure that you two will work it out. Figure out what it is. The best thing I can tell you is to be patient. Things'll work themselves out eventually."
"Yeah, I know." Keith half smiled, gazing ahead mindfully.
XXXX
Shiro slung a bag over his shoulder and Keith shook hands with the alien leader.
"Thank you for generously donating these supplies for those in need." The Red Paladin told him. "The new Galra Empire will be sure to put them to good use, helping the aliens formerly under Galra enslavement."
"It is our pleasure, Paladin Keith." The leader said. "Our people are fortunate to have recovered from the war against the old Galra empire and the Altean witch. We are always willing to help so long as we continue to have an abundance of supplies."
"The Galactic Coalition thanks you, Shinzar." Shiro told him, shaking hands with the alien; holding the bag over his shoulder with the other.
"It is our pleasure!" Shinzar beamed. "Until next time." Then he gave them a respectful bow. Keith and Shiro bowed their heads in response; and, with that, headed on their way again.
XXXX
"I'm really glad we had this time to catch up. Things have been kinda messed up lately." Keith stated as they jetted off from the planet.
"Yeah. Me too." Shiro half smiled. The two fell silent, though this didn't last long.
"You know... now that I think of it." Keith ventured. "We haven't been keeping up on our weekly meals together, with the rest of the team like we used to. We did for a couple weeks after Allura's coronation. But after that we really haven't for a few weeks.
"It was only a month ago." Shiro reminded him. "And things have been a bit rough in transition with Allura returning and taking on a new role, and getting engaged has encouraged some change too. And I'm sure things are still changing with everyone else too. I imagine it will for a while until we all settle in to our new lives. The battle with the Galra, and then Honerva has caused major change throughout the universe. It'll take time for it all to settle down again."
"I guess that's why getting the Galactic Coalition fully operational has become such a priority." Keith guessed.
"Yep. And why some of our personal life things take up the rest of our time and we forget about it." Shiro added.
"Well-... I say we change that when we get back." The Red Paladin decided. "What do you think Shiro?" He asked, peering over at him.
"I think that you're right." The admiral responded thoughtfully. "We haven't really had much time to catch up lately. It'd be good for us to get the team back together again."
XXXX
The wormhole flashed and when it decimated Shiro was standing there having stepped right through its vortex to arrive here.
"Welcome back Shiro." Sam greeted from the controls. Kimberly strode up to meet him. Her golden hair pulled back into a long flowing ponytail; the breeze pulling at it ever so delicately.
"Hey you." She smiled, wrapping an arm around his back from the side, as his arm lifted to circle around behind her to her hip. Her other hand went to his chest as she momentarily laid her head against him. "So'd ya have fun?" She asked him tenderly.
"Yeah." The admiral and Black Paladin replied. "It was quite relaxing actually." He had to admit.
"Well I'm glad. Because my folks are thinking about coming a couple weeks sooner than we thought. I hope that doesn't interfere with anything." Kimberly's eyes searched his worriedly.
"Not at all." Shiro responded calmly; putting her worry to rest. "We are expecting them in any case. A couple weeks sooner won't change much."
"Oh, good." Kimberly sighed, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "For a second I thought you'd be freaking out. I know you're always so calm, but somehow I feel like this wedding business is already making you anxious."
"Why would you think that?" Shiro asked innocently, a half smile on his face.
"Well-.. this is a big step... for anyone." Kimberly emphasized. "And I know that you, especially, have had a lot going on in your life for the last few years; and this new change may be a bit overwhelming."
"Hey, don't worry about me." Shiro told her, turning to place his hands on her shoulders. "I'll be fine. Let's just focus on creating the wedding that we wanna remember for years to come. Let's make this one of the best days of our lives." Shiro grey eyes, reflected the sincerity of his words and it instilled something positive into Kimberly just by the infectious look in them. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and headed off on her way. Shiro looked over to his left to find Sam still there.
"You two make a fine couple." The commander commented knowingly. "I can already see the dedication you have to one another."
"Thank you, Sam." Shiro smiled. Sam eyed him slightly.
"Are you alright?" He asked the admiral. "You seem distracted."
"Yeah, I think so." Shiro returned simply. "It's probably just the stress of everything going on."
"Your PTSD can often cause extra stress." Sam recalled. "Are you sure your mental state has recovered? I mean you were kinda having a rough go last month during our journey back into space to restore Oriande."
"I.. think so. I mean, I never really did recover from our imprisonment." Shiro told him. "I still relive moments of it from time to time."
"Oh I hear ya." Sam concurred. "I may not've experienced what you did; with the gladiator arenas and the experimentation, but I understand where you're coming from. I was usually the one doing the experiment, and I never saw the test subjects. And it pains me to say that my methods may have been used on you at some point."
"You were a prisoner just like me..." Shiro reminded him; placing a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't have a choice."
"True." Sam realized. "But I, too, still hold onto that guilt, and have nightmares at times just like you... but what I'd give to take yours away from you."
"I know Sam. We all wish that." Shiro agreed. "But all we can do is deal with it in the best way we can." The two men exchanged smiles and headed on in to the Garrison.
Alrighty! Here is the first chapter of my sequel! Can't wait to see what you guys think of it!! For those of you who don't know, this story(as indicated above and in the description) is a sequel to my story A New Legend Begins(which I recently finished). This story may not be as long as ANLB, but I hope it is just as enjoyable!
Also for those of you who have not read it be sure to get on over there to do so(which hopefully by now you have)!! But for those of you who have read it. Read on and witness the next stage of my season eight afterstory unfold. And to everyone who reads this... thank you sooo much and enjoy!! Thx!!!