Pidge's green lion glided over the asteroid field with ease, it's trajectory unwavering and steady. Within the lion, Pidge sat cross-legged on her chair and gazed down at her tracking device for guidance.
"Matt's signal is getting stronger," she murmured to herself. "He must be around here somewhere."
She glanced up at her destination. Her lion's screen zeroed in on the demolished, fragmented planet before her.
"There!" she exclaimed.
Upon taking in the view of the shattered planet, her eyes widened.
"Oh no. This… this can't be right."
Her face tightened to a grimace. She HAD to find him.
She steered her lion towards the planet, descending through the shrouded, misty atmosphere, speckled with stray rocks hovering in the air.
"This place… it's completely destroyed."
She glanced down at her tracker to confirm her fear.
"But it says he's here."
Sure enough, she was at the right destination.
As her lion flew over the summit of one of the various mountains around her, she saw an odd formation in the distance. Landing her lion at the base of the structure, she walked up to the structure depicting creatures of all species and races pushing two walls together. Upon noticing the platform in front of her, she read the inscription. Or rather, her helmet translated the foreign language into English for her.
"In honor of the 127,098 brave warriors that stood against tyranny, the quest for freedom is won through sacrifice."
Her eyes widened and began to water. Her mouth fell open.
No, no, i-it can't be!
Panting, she sprinted through the memorial.
"No, please no!"
Lightning boomed in the atmosphere, but Pidge didn't register it. The pulse of her own beating heart was too loud.
She exited the monument, finding herself at the edge of a large cliff overlooking a vast, expansive cemetary that went on for miles, the edges of the graveyard lost at the border of the horizon.
"Oh no." she whispered.
Gritting her teeth, she slid down the steep cliff, grunting as she tripped and fell onto the rocky surface. Pushing herself back up, she continued to run towards her demise.
It was getting harder to breathe. She checked her tracker to make sure she was at the right place one last time.
Suddenly, her memory betrayed her. Memories of family dinners, her brother comforting her with her favorite cake, and staying up late at night with her older sibling on the roof to gaze at the stars and talk with her dad filled her mind.
No.
The scared look on her face revealed the reality of her situation and the most likely outcome.
No. I've come too far and gone through too much to not have him in my life.
More flashbacks of his brotherly smirk resurfaced.
No!
Suddenly, the tracker signalled that she had found her brother.
An image of her brother smiling back at her burned into her retinas.
Before her stood his grave.
Falling to her knees, her glazed eyes focused on the inscription.
Again, her helmet translated the unknown language for her.
"Matthew Holt, 04.04.28."
Katie Holt didn't hear the robotic voice in her helmet.
She began to cry. All of her frustration, longing, and overall sadness were released.
"I'm so sorry; I was too late," she sniffled.
She curled up into a ball in front of the metal gravestone marker.
Pidge screamed.
"NOOO!"
Today would have been his 19th birthday. She would have gotten him a new set of USB data loggers. He would have used them to download the logs he would send her while he was away. Now, all she had were his old logs back on Earth.
She stayed crouched for about an hour, her mind still attempting to grasp the fact that Matt was dead. She heard Shiro's voice coming in through her helmet.
"-idge? Are you there?"
"Y-yeah." She murmured.
"Are you okay? You didn't check in with us earlier, and you don't sound too good. Did you find Matt?"
"Yes," she choked, attempting to get her breathing under control. It was no use. Hearing his name caused her to cry a bit more.
"He's… dead."
Shiro gasped.
"Katie, I-I'm so sorry. We're coming to get you; don't go anywhere."
Bursting into tears, Pidge hugged herself.
The castle arrived 5 dobashes later.
Shiro sprinted towards the huddled green form in the distance.
So many graves…
Upon finding Pidge's small body, he immediately kneeled down next to her and rubbed her back. Her breathing hitched.
"S-Shiro?", her voice cracked.
"Shh, it's okay. I've got you."
Slowly, he helped her stand up, guiding her through the maze of graves and towards the castle.
They eventually took off, beaming the green lion into the ship, seeing as Pidge was in no condition to be flying it.
Hello dear reader! This is my first Voltron fanfiction, so I hope it was enjoyable! Please favorite and follow this story and me, for I will be continuing this story and perhaps publishing a few others. I hope to publish roughly every fortnight, but I can't be certain. Please review and guess how Pidge will cope with the death of her brother and how everyone else will react. Until next time,
Serafina Aster