Chapter Nine

Mara had no idea what time it was when she woke up in the middle of the night. She had successfully fell asleep earlier but now she kept on waking up constantly. At first, Mara thought that she maybe needed to go to the bathroom. But after the third time she woke up, she figured that it could not be because of her bladder that she kept waking up. So, she tried the next thing that came to mind, which was going into the kitchen area for a little snack. As she walked passed the other rooms of the castle ship, Mara wondered to herself how the other Paladins were handling their sleep. It's always strange to find yourself sleeping in a strange place, and sometimes you really just wish you were back home on your own bed. But Mara figured that she would probably get used to the accommodations on the castle ship, seeing that they would not be heading back to Earth anytime in the near future.

As she entered the kitchen area, the lights automatically switched on. For a second Mara's eyes blinked rapidly to adjust to the sudden light source. She then made her way to the left side of the room, and began to look for something resembling a refrigerator or a cupboard to look for food. Mara soon realized that she had no idea where anything really was or how to operate any of the Altean technology, and sighed to herself. She would have to ask Coran the following morning about everything in the kitchen, or another option was that maybe she could ask Hunk to show her the ropes.

Mara slowly began to walk out of the kitchen and head back to her room. She passed the main control room, and was greeted by a full view of the Arusian night time sky, complete with thousands of stars. It made Mara think back to her time on Earth, when she and Keith were out in the desert. You could see so many stars compared to if you were looking at the sky in the city, due to all of the artificial lights. But looking at the Arusian night time sky was completely different, since most of these were stars she had never seen before. As she admired the stars, Mara was completely oblivious to another presence behind here. "Can't sleep?"

Mara couldn't help but jump at the sound of someone else's voice. She quickly turned around to see that it was Shiro who had spoken. Mara placed her hand over her chest to try and calm down her heartbeat.

"Yeah...I was just feeling restless." Shiro nodded, and slowly made his way over to her side. A moment of silence passed between them as they both gazed up at the night time sky above them. "The stars out here are beautiful, aren't they?" Mara glanced at Shiro out of the corner of her eye. The expression on his face was total admiration and amazement for the stars. And in that moment, Mara couldn't help but notice the twinkle in his eye... And the fact that Shiro was just wearing a tank top and sweatpants right now in front of her.

A small blush began to manifest on Mara's face, as she couldn't help but look at Shiro's exposed arms. The other day they had been covered by his sleeves, but now? She saw just how define and huge his muscles were. After a few too many seconds of staring, Mara quickly shook her head to get out of her trance.

Mara quickly looked forward to the stars to avoid eye contact with Shiro, as she softly responded to his question. "Yes, they are... I just never thought I'd be out here... In space."

It was true, Mara had always expected that Keith would be the one up in space and exploring it all. She would just remain on Earth and try to finish exploring each and every square inch of it. As another moment of silence passed between them, Mara began to fidget with her hands. Now that Shiro was here with her and they were by themselves, she wondered if now would be a good opportunity to see what exactly had happened during their training yesterday with the Gladiator. "Shiro... Can I ask you something?" Shiro looked away from the sky and glanced at her. "Sure, what is it?"

Mara nodded and took a deep breath before she spoke. "What did you see earlier when we were fighting the Gladiator?"

Shiro visibly stiffened up a bit upon hearing the question that had come out of Mara's mouth, even to the point of taking a step back from his previous position. His gaze feel to the floor and Mara noticed that his hands were constantly forming and de-forming into fists. Maybe this was not a good idea to bring up, since it was clearly causing him distress...

However, after a few seconds Shiro began to speak about the experience, much to Mara's surprise. "I was having a flashback to when I was captive on the Galra ship... How I tried once to escape and the Galra chased after me in the massive hallways... I was terrified and felt so vulnerable."

Mara looked down at the ground, she was unable to look at Shiro's face as he was describing his flashback, because it was full of fear and pain at the memory of it all. "I can't even imagine what you must have gone through when you were there... I'm so sorry you had to see all of that again"

Mara then took a step closer and hesitated for a moment, before she placed her hand on Shiro's shoulder.

"If you ever want to just... Talk about it to someone, to get it out of your mind... I don't mind being there to listen... A-And I know K-Keith would listen too."

Upon hearing this, Shiro looked up from the ground and gave Mara a small smile. "Yes, Keith has been like a brother to me for so long... I can't imagine what it must have been like for him when I was gone."

Mara slowly nodded, confirming Shiro's thoughts. "Keith took it pretty hard. But it was also then after he got so involved with finding the Blue Lion and ended up reaching out to me for help".

Shiro's eyes widened for a moment as a question began to form in his head. "Mara, why did you come back to help Keith?"

Mara shrugged her shoulders almost right away in response. "Besides ancient looking cave markings being right up my alley of expertise? I felt bad for not contacting him after so long, and I just wanted to see what he had done with his life while I was away". Shiro slowly nodded, beginning to understand Mara's way of thinking. He could remember once or twice back at the Garrison that Keith had spoken about a childhood friend who had moved away for university and that they had lost contact.

Another moment of silence passed as Shiro made a quick glance back up at the sky. "Well, I'm going to try and go back to sleep again. You should probably do the same, I wouldn't be surprised if the Princess puts us through another workout tomorrow". Mara let out a small laugh at that. "You make a good point there, I'll walk with you".

Mara and Shiro found themselves wandering down the hallway that contained the other Paladin's rooms. They could hear Hunk's loud snoring, and the soft mumbling coming from Lance. Mara couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the thought of Lance talking in his sleep, it was pure gold. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Shiro was even smiling at the situation. They heard no noise from Keith or Pidge's rooms, and assumed that they must have been fast asleep. Mara nodded to herself, pleased that neither of them was staying up late like she had suspected they did the previous night. The pair walked until the came to a stop in front of Mara's door, which opened with a light hissing noise. Mara couldn't help but look down at her feet, unsure what to say to Shiro at that moment. After a few moments of awkward silence, Mara cleared her throat. "Well... Goodnight I guess?"

Shiro quickly nodded, and gave Mara a small wave as she began to disappear into her room. "Yeah, goodnight."

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The next morning, all of the Paladins (minus Pidge) walked down the hallways and into the dining hall feeling good about their most recent training session. "Great job training today, guys. We're really getting the hang of Voltron" Shiro said, giving praise to each of them for their performance.

Lance had a huge grin on his face and turned to face Hunk. "Seriously, how far do you think my lion kicked that broken alien ship? Must have been like a mile!" Just before Hunk was about to respond, Keith let out a scoff at Lance's words. "Yeah, that'll come in handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match". Lance slowly turned his head towards Keith and sent him a glare. "Hey, I did something cool and you can't handle it. I get it!"

Keith rolled his eyes. "It's not about doing something cool, your kick ruined our balance, and we fell over."

Lance turned away from Keith and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well that falling part was Hunk's fault!" Hunk turned around quickly in surprise at Lance's accusation. "Hey!"

Shiro let out a small groan at hearing the others argue. Mara on the other hand, was trying to hold back a smile as she shook her head. "All right, save your energy for fighting Zarkon" Shiro said, as he took a seat in one of the chairs around the table. Mara followed behind Shiro, taking a seat to his left side, next to Hunk. She breathed a sigh of relief at being finished with training for the morning. She was still struggling a bit with her piloting skills, but she was doing better than on her first day.

Keith's hands gripped the back of Mara's chair as he leaned down to speak to her. "How are you feeling about today, Mara?"

Mara looked up towards Keith and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm slowly getting more confidence when I'm piloting my Lion. You and Shiro have really been a big help for me so far".

Suddenly the automatic doors hissed open and Coran waltzed into the room carrying a tray of some kind of food. "Hello, guys! How was the Voltron workout?" Coran asked, with a pleasant

Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose before he looked at Coran. "We're getting there. Are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet? I feel like we're sitting ducks here on Arus".

Coran's eyes lit up in response as he quickly nodded, as he placed the tray on the table in front of them. "We're just about ready. In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats you're worried about, I made you guys an authentic ancient paladin lunch!"

Coran then lifted the cover off of the tray, revealing and yellow and green blob of sorts that had a... Interesting smell to it. All of the Paladins groaned and turned away from the sight of the so-called 'food', and Mara could have sworn she heard Lance gag behind her.

Hunk was not pleased with what was in front of him and turned to face the chef in question. "Coran, you just got me hooked on that goo and now you're switching it up?"

Coran simply nodded, before he looked down at his creation. "You see this? It's packed with nutrients to help keep your bodies moving!"

Hunk slowly inched his way closer to the plate, and decided to take a sniff of it. "Oh, it smells disgusting!"

It was then Coran's turn to lean forward and inhale the scent of the food for himself, and then let out a pleased sound from his mouth. "I know! That's how you know it's healthy!"

Hunk shook his head and stood up from his seat, before placing a hand on Coran's shoulder. "Coran, we're on a planet now with fresh herbs, spices, and whatever this thing is. A tuber? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back to the kitchen and spice things up". And with that, Hunk went through the automatic doors and into the kitchen, with a determined look on his face. Lance and Keith decided to finally sit down, with Keith now occupying the seat that Hunk was in.

Shiro took a glance around the entire room for a moment. "Where's Pidge?"

Coran grabbed a forkful of the food and began to chew it inside of his mouth. "He's probably checking on those prisoners we rescued from Zarkon. They'll all be waking soon in the infirmary". Shiro nodded and began to get up from his seat to walk out of the room, but Coran got in front of him and held out a forkful of the food to him. "Open the hatch. Food lion coming in!" Coran slowly moved the fork closer and closer to Shiro's mouth, and even went as far as to imitate airplane noises. Shiro groaned and leaned back in response to get away from the food. "No. Just... no".

Mara couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing as she saw Shiro quickly walk out of the room to go and find Pidge. Coran frowned and held his fork out towards the door, practically pointing it at Shiro. "You don't know what you're missing!" Coran turned around and let out a sigh, before he realized that he had a few more possibly willing participants in the room with him. He looked down and saw that Mara was seated in the chair to his right, and decided that he would approach her next. "Mara, would you like to try some?"

Mara's eyes widened as the forkful of food was practically shoved right in front of her face. She tried her best to hold back her sounds of disgust and quickly thought of a way out of the situation. "Uh... Oh what was that?" Coran tilted his head in confusion. "Huh? What is it?" he said, as he looked back and forth throughout the room, trying to hear what Mara had heard a moment ago. Mara began to stand up from her chair and slowly walk towards the automatic doors. "I think I heard Hunk calling my name in the kitchen!" Coran raised one of his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes at Mara's response. "That's odd, I didn't hear anything..."

And just as Coran was about to follow up with another question about the noise, Mara bolted out of the room, leaving a stunned Coran behind.

Mara breathed a sigh of relief as she decided to actually make her way to the kitchen, where Hunk was. She thought back to last night when she had tried to find a snack in the middle of the night but did not know how or where things were in the room, and thought that Hunk would be just the right person to ask for help. The automatic doors hissed open once again and Mara saw that Hunk was already busy preparing something new for the Paladins to eat. Mara walked over and observed him working over his shoulder. Hunk had a straight face and was skillfully using the tools before him to cut and mix various ingredients. "So Hunk, what are you going to whip up for us all?"

Hunk looked over his shoulder for a moment, not seeming surprised by the fact that Mara was now with him in the room. "A variation of the Paladin Lunch that Coran made for us...Hey over to your left, could you please bring me some of the food goo from inside of the fridge?" Mara nodded and went right over to grab the item Hunk had requested. As she opened the chrome door, she was greeted with a cool breeze that signaled this was indeed, a refrigerator. She reached for a container of food goo and brought it over to Hunk, who nodded in thanks. Over the next few minutes, Hunk would ask for Mara to retrieve a tool or ingredient from various cupboards and drawers in the room, to which Mara complied with. And every time Hunk would nod in thanks, and then get right back to his work. Clearly he had a passion for creating and making new food dishes, which made Mara think back to how Lance had mentioned in passing one day that Hunk was a very skilled engineer back at the Garrison.

"It's nice to know where everything is now, just in case I get hungry in the middle of the night again...

Hunk quickly nodded in agreement with Mara. "You get the midnight munchies too?" he asked her, with a bit of excitement in his tone of voice.

Mara smiled at Hunk. "Of course I do! Well I'm assuming last night that it was hunger, because it wasn't my bladder..." she trailed off, as she saw that Hunk had gone right back into super focus mode. He now had everything he needed in front of him and was now being very silent as he worked. Mara figured that it must have helped him concentrate. As the minutes went on, Mara realized that he probably didn't need her help anymore and she didn't need to be in the room anymore. So, she slowly walked towards the automatic doors and exited the room, leaving Hunk to finish his cooking in the peaceful quiet of the kitchen.

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Around twenty minutes later, Hunk emerged from the kitchen with the new version of the Paladin lunch. As he placed the dishes on the table, Lance's face lit up with excitement at the sight of the more appealing food in front of him, as he began to dig into the food. Keith was right behind him, as they both ended up fighting over some of the dishes. Mara gave Hunk a pat on the back and smiled at the antics between Keith and Lance. Coran stood off to the side, displeased with the fact that his food was not as well received as Hunk's was.

The automatic doors hissed open and Allura ended up at Coran's side. She observed that Keith and Lance were practically devouring the food before them, while Hunk and Mara were on the other side of the table eating their food slowly, appreciating each bite. "They like the paladin lunch!"

Coran turned to face the Princess and let out a scoff. "I don't want to talk about it" he muttered to himself, causing Allura to tilt her head in confusion. She quickly shook her head to focus on what news she had to bring to Coran. "I just got the final nebulon booster working. We should be able to leave Planet Arus tomorrow and take the fight to Zarkon!" Coran's eyes widened and a smile was on his face again with Allura's good news. And just as Coran was just about to congratulate the Princess, the alarm started to sound off all over the room, with the lights flashing red. "Huh?"

Everyone got up from their seats and looked around the room, ready for action. Allura waved her hand and a large screen appeared in front of them all, revealing a security feed from outside near the entrance to the castle ship. They had just managed to see something scurry across the ground and hide behind a rock. Allura decided to zoom in on the image just as a small creature popped its head out to look around.

"What is that?

"I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a local Arusian?"

"What is he doing?

They all went back to staring at the screen again, as the small creature once again scurried across the ground to hide behind another rock, yelling the entire time.

"He appears to be approaching the Castle"

The creature repeated its actions once again, but was now much closer to the entrance than it was a few minutes beforehand, giving them all a better chance to look at it. It popped its head out from the rock, and Hunk couldn't help but comment on how adorable it looked. "Aw!"

Lance shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't look too dangerous..." he said, as he further observed the creature on the screen. "But you never know..." Keith muttered, as he began to reach for his bayard. However Allura was quick to stop him from activating it. "No. Alteans believe in peace first. Let's go welcome them!" Everyone but Keith nodded and began to follow the Princess out of the room, excited about meeting the creature and further commenting on how adorable it was. Keith was the last one remaining in the room as let out a sigh, before placing his bayard at his side. "I'm not taking any chances..."

As the group walked down the hallways to the castle entrance, Mara couldn't help but think out loud to herself. "Well this is a sharp contrast to how many societies meet for the first time..."

Lance titled his head in confusion at Mara's words. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, and seemed to also capture the attention of the Alteans with his question. Mara cleared her throat before she began to speak. "Well, typically when one society meets another, things don't go peacefully at first... There is a language barrier, and sometimes everything just starts with violence and fighting. But it makes me happy to see that Alteans might behave differently than us humans..." Lance stopped in his tracks to think about what Mara had been referring to, while the Alteans just simply nodded and continued walking. After noticing that Lance was lagging behind, Keith jogged back to him and dragged him by the back of his suit to catch up with the others. "Easy with that grip, Keith!"

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In a few minutes, the group reached the entrance to the castle ship, and the large doors began to open.

A loud gasp was heard on the other side, making them assume that the creature had been taken off guard by the doors actually opening. But when they looked ahead, they saw nothing before them. Maybe the creature had decided to hide? Coran noticed that the leaves on a nearby bush were rustling, so he pointed the group towards it.

"Greetings. We know you're there. No harm will come to you" Allura softy proclaimed, as they all waited for the creature to emerge from the bushes. In a split second, the creature tumbled and flipped out of the bushes right in front of them, grunting as he pointed his sword at them. Once again, Hunk saw how adorable the creature was. "Aw!"

But Keith did not see the cuteness behind the creature's actions, and quickly stepped in front of the Princess. "Wait! He could be dangerous. Drop your weapon!"

The creature looked taken aback at Keith's request, and decided to stand up to him. "No one takes Klaizap's weapon! No one!"

Allura shot a glare at Keith and placed her hand over his bayard. "Keith, put that away!" She then turned to face Klaizap and gave him a soft smile. "Please, kind sir, accept my most humble apologies".

"Huh?" Klaizap seemed surprised by the Princess' sudden kindness, and lowered his weapon. "I am Klaizap, bravest of our warriors. Our village is over Gazrel Hill. I come seeking answers as to why the Lion Goddess is angered with her followers".

"Followers?" Coran and Lance said as they raised their eyebrows in confusion, while Keith and Hunk narrowed their eyebrows. "Lion Goddess?"

Klaizap nodded, and gestured towards a slab of material to his right. "The one the ancients spoke of". They all looked at the slab that they had not noticed before, and a gasp was heard. Mara eagerly ran over to the slab to take a close look at it for herself. "Oh! Look at those hieroglyphics!" Her eyes sparkled as she looked at every detail and every marking that was depicted. Klaizap looked pleased with Mara's excitement, as did Allura. The others however were slightly confused at just how much excitement Mara was getting out of the moment. Keith just shrugged his shoulders, signaling them that this reaction must have been common for Mara. "I can't believe I didn't notice them before!"

Allura looked from the slab to the creature in front of her. She then turned to face Klaizap. "What makes you think she's angered?" she asked

"Destruction is everywhere. In the past few suns, fire has rained from the heavens and a giant has danced in the sky!" Klaizap replied, as he motioned and gestured the actions he was speaking about. Hunk looked back and forth for a moment before leaning towards Lance to whisper loudly in his ear. "I think he's talking about Voltron!" Keith pinched the bridge of his noise and Lance rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I got that..."

Allura slowly shook her head with a small smile on her face. "Do not worry, for you have not angered the Lion Goddess". However, Klaizap seemed unsure about her response and frowned at the Princess. "How can you be certain?"

Allura couldn't help but smile in response. "Because I am Allura and this is my Castle".

Klaizap gasped loudly, before dropping his weapon to the ground. "A reincarnation of the Lion Goddess!" he exclaimed, as he got down on his hands and knees to bow before Allura. The term 'reincarnation' got Mara's attention once again, as she walked away from the slab and closer to Klaizap. "Reincarnation? Have you met the Lion Goddess before?" Mara asked

Klaizap nodded and pointed towards the slab once again. "A long time ago our ancestors met with the Lion Goddess herself, it is the truth!" Mara slowly nodded, and looked between the slab depicting the Lion Goddess and Allura, who Klaizap seemed to be certain was a reincarnation. Sure, the hieroglyphs showed similarities between the two, but some details were different. As Mara took an even closer glance, she noticed that the figure on the slab had white, triangle markings underneath its eyes, similar to the markings that Coran and Allura had. Was it possible that this ancient Lion Goddess was an Altean?

"Please, bravest warrior, take us to your village so that we may meet our neighbors" Allura said, as she extended her hand to Klaizap. Mara quickly joined Allura at her side, her face beaming with excitement. "And to learn more about your history with the Lion Goddess". Lance and Hunk nodded in agreement, right before Keith decided to speak up. "But what about our mission to get off this planet and fight Zarkon?" he asked, with a serious expression on his face. Allura softly smiled as she turned to face Keith. "Part of the paladins' mission is to spread peace and diplomacy. Arus has been our host for 10,000 years. These people deserve our thanks" she said, as she began to walk behind Klaizap towards the Arusian village, with Mara following eagerly behind her followed by Coran and Hunk. Keith sighed to himself when Lance came up to his side. "She does have a point there..."

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A/N: I know most of the Paladins think the Arusians are cute, but in MY OPINION, the little trash puffs from season two are the cutest aliens we see in the show. Or as one of my favorite youtube videos calls them "studio Ghibli looking motherf*ckers". If you want to see THAT video, just search for 'voltron season two in a nutshell' by Alastair Casey.

The next chapter will have a bit more background about Suroa. In case you forgot, Suroa first made her appearance back in chapter four, where she talked to Mara through a recorded message inside of the White Lion. Suroa is the second original character in this story, but there are other original characters who will be appearing over time (the next one won't appear though until mid-way through season two).

I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my own original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.

So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.