A/N: I do not own Voltron, its characters or settings. Anything new is mine.
Hi people, I'm back! Bet you thought I was dead or something, huh? Nope, just vacationing. That's the last one for a few weeks, though, so I promise I'll be better about updating. I've decided to put my other stories on hold until this one is finished, because otherwise it's just too difficult to update them regularly. I'm sorry the last chapter was so brief. I think my mind was already on vacation and I just threw something together. Hopefully this is better.
Thank you to Yamatoforever, RedLion and Sylvie for the reviews!
"A Roe Beast?" Lissa asked, surprise in her voice.
"Yes, a monstrous soldier of Planet Doom, usually created by that mad witch Hagar," Allura replied. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. The team will need me to form Voltron."
"Of course," Lissa answered, and the princess turned and ran from the hall, leaving the other woman alone with her thoughts and fears.
This was what Lance did, then. He battled Roe Beasts. And he'd been doing it for years. She knew this because she'd spent a good deal of the previous night looking up all the information she could on her beloved pilot. He was a very good fighter, from what she'd read, and the team had faced many perilous dangers in the past. But that still didn't soothe her anxious heart at the moment. She didn't like sitting around waiting, knowing the man that she loved was engaged in battle and could die at any moment.
She made her way through the castle to the control room, hoping to get a better view of what was going on outside.
The minute the alarms started ringing, Lance headed for the control room. He wasn't surprised by the attack. He'd been expecting it for the last day or two. It wasn't in Zarkon's nature to plan patiently and bide his time. He preferred the direct, brutal approach. And he never seemed to learn that it didn't work against Voltron. Lance's mind briefly flitted back to Lissa, who was somewhere in the castle, and a surge of fear touched his heart for the first time in years.
She could be hurt. It wasn't likely, of course. Roe Beasts rarely even made it near the castle. But the thought of her being hurt or even killed by one of Zarkon's filthy beasts made his blood turn to ice. He had never felt this way before, never known such unreasoning fear and worry. It wasn't that the people of Arus weren't important to him. Lance had always been concerned that innocent lives might be lost during the numerous battles between Voltron and the Roe Beasts. But those people were strangers, not friends. And certainly not the one person that Lance could never handle losing to death.
Oh, he loved the rest of the Voltron Force and would lay down his life for theirs in a second, but for the most part they were putting their own lives on the line for the sake of duty. Lissa was an innocent bystander. If she were harmed… Well, Zarkon would die. No more of this waiting around for Lotor and his goons to attack. If something happened to Lissa, Lance would say to hell with strategic war and charge against Planet Doom with laser cannons blazing.
He raced through the courtyard to where Red Lion sat waiting, not far from the sleek shape of Black Lion. He could just make out Keith climbing into the cockpit of the lead lion as he ascended to Red Lion's head. He quickly started the Red Lion's engines and within seconds the robot was airborne, close on the heels of the Black Lion. Lance was relieved to see that the Roe Beast had landed in a relatively secluded area. There wasn't one house in sight, which meant they didn't have to worry about looking out for innocent victims. All they had to do was concentrate on killing the Roe Beast.
Hagar's latest creation looked like something out of a farmer's nightmare. It was vaguely humanoid, with a massive bull's head and wicked, barbed horns. Its hands ended in cruel claws, but its feet were those of a bull. The monster's tail was wide and covered with lethal looking spikes, and danced behind it with surprising agility, more like a scorpion's tail then a cow's.
Lance could see the Green, Yellow and Blue Lions approaching from behind him, and he called out to Keith, "Hagar's getting pretty desperate for ideas on new Roe Beasts. This one looks like he came from the dinner table!"
Keith gave a short laugh and said, "Come on, team, get into field formation!"
The four Lions positioned themselves around the Black Lion in perpendicular fashion, forming a square with the Black Lion as its heart. The Roe Beast was apparently as dim witted as the bull it had been made from, because it immediately charged them, not even bothering to set up a strategy of any kind, just lowering its head and running.
"That idiot isn't even watching where he's going," Allura cried.
Keith was about to make a comment when Pidge suddenly yelled, "My god! Will you look at that?"
Lance glanced in the direction the Green Lion was facing, and felt his blood run cold. There, on the horizon, was his Lissa. Flying straight into the face of danger instead of staying where she'd be safe. How very typical. She wouldn't rest until she'd given him an ulcer, it seemed. Then again, why should she stop there? Might as well aim big and try to give him heart failure.
And then he noticed what everyone else was staring at, and his eyes widened in disbelief.
Lissa had tried to calm the rising tide of anxiety that swelled within her the moment the alarms started sounding in the castle. She'd told herself Lance did this kind of thing every day. But it was funny how logic had no power in the face of love at times like this. Telling herself he killed a Roe Beast a week still didn't change the fact that this might be the one day his luck and skill failed him, and he died. She wasn't about to stand by and let that happen.
She closed her eyes and concentrated, drawing on her inner connection with her Familiar to locate him. Fire Storm was in the courtyard, tension vibrating in his body as the alarms rang in his ears. No one had told him what was going on, and he had decided to go outside to keep watch. No harm would befall the castle if he got a visual of the threat first.
He immediately sensed Lissa searching for him through their link.
"I am in the main courtyard," he said. "Just inside the gates."
"Wait there," she ordered him, breaking into a full run.
"I will," he replied. And then, after a moment's hesitancy, "I suppose this means we're going to join the fray?"
Though his words were laced with disapproval, she sensed the excitement flowing through his veins, and smiled to herself. He had an inherent love of action, and the past few weeks of inactivity had been maddening for him. "Yes."
"You do realize that such action is unnecessary, and most likely in violation of-"
"Yes, I know," she cut him off abruptly as she slid around a corner and ran down the main entrance hall. "We'll talk about this later."
"Alright," he replied. "Although we could always say we felt it was our duty to protect the castle since Prince Ower is in it."
"My thoughts exactly," she answered grimly as she ran into the courtyard, pausing to examine the size of the place.
"I've already calculated the measurements of the area," Fire Storm said, breaking their mind connection and speaking out loud. "I'll have to go outside to change."
"Then do it," she said, her voice tense with fear and worry. "I don't want to waste any more time."
Her Familiar gave her a chiding look and said, "Your Lance does this all the time. I think he'll be okay for the next few minutes until we arrive."
Lissa gave him a piercing look and said, "If he isn't, it's coming out of your hide since you seem so intent on dragging your tail."
Fire Storm snorted at her, knowing her threat was an empty one, but feeling her fear through their link. "Don't worry so, Lissa. He will be fine."
Then he turned and slithered from the courtyard, past the moat, to the grassy area outside the great walls. He paused for a moment, lowered his head, and steadied his breathing. And then he began the change. Even after seeing the transformation countless times over the years, it never lost its beauty.
It started out simple enough. His body stretched, lengthening to a distance one might think was impossible, until he reached several hundred feet from snout to tail. Then his mass followed suit, muscles rippling and pushing out against the surface of his skin, threatening to break through the thin looking barrier. His chest broadened to accommodate a larger lung capacity, his stomach shortened and became curved, and a lower section of his body began to widen as hindquarters formed. The skin around his chest and hindquarters quivered and stretched until the skin tore, and four legs burst free, each one ending in razor sharp claws and armored with numerous curving spikes. His back shivered and then a tearing sound could be heard as two enormous bat like wings sprouted from his back. Twin horns erupted behind the ones already present on his head, and a dozen spikes jutted out from his cheeks, perfectly matching the ones that had risen up from beneath his skin, starting at the back of his head, following the length of his spine, and ending at the tip of his barbed tail. His skin then began to solidify, the soft scales of his snake form banishing beneath steel hard plates that covered every inch of his gargantuan body.
He gave a sigh of sheer bliss and then stretched, luxuriating in the tension that was released by such a simple action. "Ah, it feels good to be in my own skin again."
"But even as a snake, you are always in your own skin," Lissa replied as she moved to his side and climbed into the taloned foot he extended to her.
Fire Storm glared at her and said, "Don't be a smart ass, girl, or I'll be tempted to leave your lover boy to the whims of the fates. It would be a most convenient solution to a vexing problem."
"Don't even joke about such a thing," Lissa commanded as he raised her to the rise of his neck.
Fire Storm said nothing, but she knew very well he wasn't sorry for what he'd just said.
She settled into place behind the crown of horns on his head and said, "Now, find me that Roe Beast!"
Fire Storm took to the air in one smooth movement, the strength in his muscles launching him into the sky with ease. His great wings spread out to catch the wind and below them, the land was cast into shadow as his great form blocked out the light. His keen hearing located the Roe Beast almost immediately, because it was bellowing loud enough to wake the dead. He flew to it with unerring accuracy, and Lissa spotted the Lions facing the Roe Beast at the exact moment they became aware of her. She saw the Red Lion maneuver around to try and block her path, but she ignored him and called out to Fire Storm, "To the death we ride, Until we fall!"
"We fight with pride, Against all!" he answered.
"Our swords strike true, Our cause is just!" she sang, her voice rising as battle fever seeped into her nerves.
"Darkness pays its due, Until we are dust!" he roared, his eyes lighting with a berserker madness.
The Roe Beast watched them approach in terror, staring wide-eyed at the great white dragon that rivaled it in sheer size. In the distance, Lissa heard the roar of a Lion, probably Lance thinking to interfere with her, but she would not allow it, and urged Fire Storm on to the battle. The Cry of the White Riders had been sung, there was no thought of retreat in her mind. Only to save the innocent did a White Rider abandon a battle, for they fully believed in the phrase "to the death".