Chapter 10 – Red and Black
The Yellow Lion's elemental power turned out to be electricity.
It was helpful in their most recent fight against a band of rogues, as their ships were completely powered by electricity, and frying their circuits put down the whole system almost instantly. Caden had nearly gone crazy from nerding out, and insisted they all take a rest day so he could devote her time to figuring out the limits of this new power. Jesse and Will offered to help him.
Lance felt an emptiness in his stomach, and isolated himself because of it. He knew what the first part was. Why couldn't it be air? He didn't know how that would've worked out (and no one else would've understood the reference), but having Earth, water, fire, and air lions would've made his life complete.
And second. Hunk hadn't found out that power while he was Yellow's paladin, and while he wanted to be happy to see the new paladins growing, he couldn't help but miss his best friend even more.
Ari didn't make it easier.
"I read somewhere that the Black and Red paladins are supposed to be tightly knit. So I think we should train together."
Yeah, Shiro and Keith had been inseparable, even in death. He agreed.
She wasn't too bad with her bow, even though she'd only had it for a couple weeks. He figured she trained about as much as he did. The others weren't as keen on training with their weapons as they were getting to know their lions, so most of the time, the training room was empty.
"Simulation one, commencing."
Four drones and five sentries appeared. Lance tensed up, his grip tightening on the longsword. He heard Ari's bow snap behind him and sprung into action.
The first sentry—holding a blaster—went down quickly, but not so with the second one. It kept avoiding his attacks. At one point, he spiraled behind it, stabbing its back. He looked up, seeing Ari surrounded by the drones and viciously wasting her arrows on an especially quick sentry. Without thinking, he gripped his bayard as it turned into his sniper. He took out two of the drones and shot the sentry in the back. It faltered just long enough for her to take it out with an arrow.
They met back at the center, backs touching. She took about ten arrows to shoot down the last two drones while he took out a sentry with his gun. They faced the same way to take out the last two sentries. He used his longsword, and she snapped her bowstring around its neck.
"Simulation complete."
She held out her bayard. "You can change this thing?"
He breathed heavily. "I can. I don't know if you can. None of the other paladins did, but one day in training, it just happened. Naturally, I guess."
"Just gotta be better then the rest of us, don't you?" He stared at her, not quite believing that had just come out of her mouth. "I'm kidding. That was a joke. I'm joking."
"Sorry."
"No. My bad."
"Simulation two, commencing."
Together, they took about two minutes to finish the second simulation.
"You're doing really well," he complimented her. "Your footing is perfect for the bow."
"I was copying you," she mumbled.
"Yeah, the kick from the gun would be pretty similar."
"Did the other paladins have a bow?"
He shook his head. "Keith had a sword of some kind. But not a longsword."
"So…his name was Keith?" He froze, and she titled her head. "The last red paladin?"
"He wasn't the last one. But he was the best one."
"Sorry for asking."
"No, it's fine."
"I just—I don't want to—to—"
"What?"
"I don't know. Make you uncomfortable."
Lance sat on the ground, taking a drink. "You're fine."
"I just—I feel so confused sometimes. Like I have no idea what I'm doing. I know you're doing the best you know to do, but you don't even know everything about the lions."
He nodded. "It's a learning experience."
"I hate it."
"Me too. I wish the other paladins were still here."
She sat across from him, taking a quick sip. "If you don't mind me asking…what happened to them?" He didn't know what his face looked like, but she quickly drew back. "You don't need to answer that. Sorry."
"It's okay. I just—I don't really know." She leaned in. "We—all the original paladins, and then some—we were all on an undercover mission. I was there for drop off and pick up with Red. We weren't in our uniforms."
"Which is why we still have uniforms."
"And the bayards. Shiro told us to come unarmed." His throat stuck like stale peanut butter. "Everything was going to plan—until someone attacked. I don't know who. They were wearing masks, and we never did beat one. I couldn't get in to get them. A wormhole opened, and I went through it. I saw the Black Lion coming back, but when it got to the castle—" He coughed to hold back choking tears "—they were gone."
She looked down, silent. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault."
"I asked—because you seem really depressed. Except when we're Voltron, then you're okay. I just—I used to be like that. Until I met Will, and then I had too much on my mind."
"I'm—still working through it. I appreciate you looking out for me, but I'm really okay."
Liar.
"That's really weird, though. You'd think they were in the Black Lion."
"That's what I thought. But they weren't. I searched the whole thing."
"Did you find their bodies?"
Good God. "Ari, I don't really want to talk about this."
"I'm just—trying to understand. You're not going to get better until you get closure."
"I don't need to get better. That's the thing about being a paladin of Voltron—you don't matter. You have to keep your eyes on the big picture, or everything falls apart." He stood. "But thanks for checking up on me. You're a good friend."
She didn't smile, just kept her eyes on the ground. "Thanks. You too."