It was a clear night, Pidge observed distractedly. Not a cloud in the sky, just the stars and thin sliver of a moon shining over the empty park.
A breeze swept through the park, but she didn't feel it, thanks to her armor's heating system. What she did feel, however, was the light tap on her shoulder.
Pidge jumped and spun around, pointing her new bayard form at whoever snuck up behind her.
Angela's green eyes were wide and bright in the flickering electric light from Pidge's sword. Her hands shot up in surrender. "Woah, woah, hey, it's me."
Pidge grit her teeth and didn't lower the sword. "What are you doing here?"
Angela eyed the sword warily. "I couldn't sleep. I saw you leave."
Pidge's grip tightened. "So you thought to follow me?"
"I'm sorry," Angela took a step back. "I thought you were going to get hurt."
They faced each other in silence for a few moments before Pidge finally sighed and lowered the sword.
Of course Angela had followed her. Always nosing into her business and going to places she didn't belong. Why had Pidge ever said yes to her staying with them? She cursed her empathy for making her feel bad enough for the girl to let her stay. "Go back to the house, Angela."
The other girl shook her head, her loose red hair bouncing. "No, you're going to do something to get yourself hurt."
She wasn't too far from the truth, but Pidge wasn't going to admit that. She grit her teeth. "Fine, stay. Just don't get in my way."
Angela frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but at that moment a Pidge heard the unmistakable sound of a pod landing behind her. To confirm her suspicions, Angela's eyes went wide and she took a step back. Pidge whirled and came face to face with Throk, stepping out of the pod.
He stood alone, wearing his own armor and holding a long, hooked sword, almost like a scythe. A purple gem shone on the hilt, embedded in it. He grinned at her, his eyes dangerously bright. "I suspected you would be here, green paladin, but this other one? Not so much."
Pidge's bayard elongated in her hand, almost on its own. The new weight of it was different, but not uncomfortable. "She's not here to help me."
Throk's grin grew wider. "A spectator then?" He spun his sword. "A nosy one at that."
Pidge lifted her sword. "Can we just get to the part where we fight?"
Throk laughed and, without another word, launched himself at her. Pidge barely had enough time to jump out of the way as he charged past, his blade a hair's breadth from her face. Angela screamed and jumped behind a tree.
Pidge whirled and swung her sword in a wide arc. "Give me back my brother!"
Her sword clanged against his, and they began a sort of dance, their blades colliding but never touching the people holding them. Throk pressed forward, steadily backing Pidge closer to a tree. Before he could corner her, Pidge ducked under his sword arm and ran. Her bayard shifted back to its grappler form, and she spun and shot it at Throk. It wrapped around his leg and pulled him down.
She sent a shock through it, and he screamed, but it barely slowed him down. As soon as she shifted back to her sword, he jumped up and sprinted towards her.
Pidge barely had time to block his next blow, and the crash of metal on metal clanged through her bones. Throk didn't miss her hesitation and used his free fist to slam into her sword arm. Pidge stumbled, and he twisted her blade out of her hand and across the grass.
In a panic, Pidge scrambled for her discarded bayard, but Throk slashed at her side, at the point where the armor broke for fabric. Her under suit tore, and blood welled from the gash now on her side. She cried out and stumbled again. Vaguely, she was aware of Angela screaming her name from across the park, but she hardly took notice. All her focus rested on the bayard just a few feet away.
A kick from Throk to her back sent her crashing to the ground. Her side screamed in protest. She rolled over and tried to get up, but Throk put one foot on her chest. With one shove from his sword, her helmet was off and rolling across the grass to join her bayard.
Pidge saw stars before she felt the pain. It took her a few seconds to register that Throk had slammed his hilt into her head. Spots danced in her vision, and the world tilted under her. She reached towards the direction she hoped her bayard was in, but Throk stepped on her hand. She cried out as something crunched where the heel of his boot rested.
This was going wrong. So, so wrong. She needed to get to Matt, rescue Matt, but she couldn't organize her thoughts. Her vision swam. Throk's grin swayed back and forth, blinding white.
Angela. Where was Angela? Maybe she could call the team, they could come save her. But as Throk leveled his sword at her throat, the tip touching the perfect killing spot, she knew there'd be no time.
"A fitting death, don't you think?" Throk teased. "On your back while your little fan watches."
With all the strength she could gather, Pidge spat up at him. It was half blood.
Throk grimaced and dug his heel into her broken hand. Against her will, she gasped in pain. "I wanted you all dead at once, but I guess picking you off one by one works just as well."
He raised his sword, and Pidge braced herself. Time stretched out before her. She saw Matt, spinning her around on her clumsy four-year-old legs in their living room as children. She saw Angela and Chris and the rest, shoving her off the playground so hard her wrist broke when she landed. She saw Matt getting accepted into the Garrison, leaving for Kerberos, and disappearing. She saw her tears, her mom's tears, her infiltration attempts. She saw the paladins meeting for the first time, finding the lions, and saving the universe.
She saw her life, too short and too tragic, but wonderful.
She was Katie Holt, a sister, daughter, and friend.
She was Pidge Gunderson, Paladin of the Green Lion, and a hero.
She met Throk's gaze.
She would not die with her eyes closed.
He raised the sword higher.
An ear-splitting roar broke through the night.
Something in Pidge's mind flicked on then. Something powerful and ancient.
Green.
Throk's sword dropped an inch. "What-"
The ground shuddered so hard that he fell, and there was Green, massive and wonderful and angry. Pidge felt it in her soul, the anger twining with her own emotions. The green lion was furious, angrier than Pidge had ever felt before. It flooded Pidge's broken body with strength she didn't know she had.
She pushed herself up, the anger from Green covering up the pain. She retrieved her helmet and bayard. With her good hand, she aimed the grappler at Throk, now a small distance away. "Give me my brother." The words tasted like blood.
"He's not here," Throk said.
Pidge's grip tightened on the bayard. "Then I'll find him after I kill you."
But before she could fire, Throk pressed something on his wrist, and a robot whizzed out of the trees. He grabbed on and they took off. Pidge fired at them, but it fell short, and she watched as Throk sped off into the night.
A wave of pain washed over Pidge then, enough to make her double over in pain and vomit up what little food she had in her stomach. And then again.
When she'd finally emptied everything in her stomach and then some, she looked at Angela, now staring up at the massive lion. "Come on, let's-"
The words died in her throat. The world swayed and tilted. Angela became a blur of red hair and pale skin. Pidge took a step towards her, reaching out, but her knees gave out. Everything went black.
When Pidge woke, it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust. She was in a dark room. It looked like her own, but she couldn't quite tell past the throbbing pain in her head. Someone dozed in a chair next to her. Keith.
"Keith," she said. The word was a rasp. Her mouth felt like it was filled with cotton.
He heard it, though, and jumped awake. "What? What is it? Are you okay?"
"Water," Pidge rasped.
Keith grabbed a glass on the bedside table and shoved it into her hands. Pidge gulped down the water greedily, not bothering to take small sips like she should. When she drank her fill, she looked up at Keith, who watched her worriedly. "What happened."
"We don't really know. One minute Green was flying away, and next she was returning with you passed out inside and Angela screaming about Throk." He laced his hands together in his lap. "You've been out for a while, almost nine hours I think." He nodded towards her hand, braced in a hard cast. "Coran did what he could without the castle."
Pidge stared at the cast, ashy black against her white and blue striped sheets. She swallowed against the memory of the blinding pain as Throk crushed the bones beneath his heel. Her dominant hand, out of commission.
"It's shattered," Keith explained. "You have a pretty nasty concussion too, but Coran can treat that better than the hand. Your side isn't in great shape either, but much better than when you got here. You lost a lot of blood."
Pidge noticed the bandages then, wrapped around her abdomen. The memory of Throk's sword tearing through her under suit and skin like it was paper made her shudder.
"What were you thinking Pidge?" Keith asked, concern bleeding into his voice. "You could've died. You almost did."
Pidge shook her head. "I don't know." She stared at the cast. "I just wanted Matt back."
"God, Pidge," Keith said, and pulled her into a gentle hug, careful not to touch any of her injuries. He stroked her hair. "You didn't need to do that. You didn't need to go alone."
Pidge didn't know what to say, so she just nodded.
They stayed like that for a while before Keith pulled away. "Come on, the others want to talk to you."
Gently, he helped her stand. She had to put most of her weight on him just to walk, but they made it to the living room without her collapsing. The others waited there, tense and quiet as they watched her limp to the couch and sit.
Not a second after she sat, the room erupted in panicked questions. Some were demanding to know why she did it, others asking if she was okay, but Pidge could hardly make out anything coherent. Her head pounded, and she squeezed her hands over her ears to block out the sound. Would they just be quiet?
"Be quiet."
It was her dad, his authoritative voice silencing the room without protest. "Katie, are you alright?"
Pidge shook her head. Her head hurt so damn bad.
Someone placed a hand on her shoulder. Keith, probably, doing what he could to comfort her. She swallowed past the pain in her head and looked up. "I wanted Matt back. I knew Throk would come if I was alone." She met each of their eyes. "I couldn't let him die."
Lance nodded. "I understand. If it were my siblings…" he shook his head. "I don't know what I'd do to get them back."
Pidge gave him a weak smile. Thanks for understanding, she wanted to say, but every word felt exhausting, and she couldn't break herself to speak.
"Pidge, we understand," Allura began, "but you can't risk your life like that. Without the castle's healing system, it's a big risk."
"I know," Pidge said. "But we can go after him now. We can get Matt. Green is awake."
The other paladins shared a look, and a bolt of anxiety shocked through Pidge. What was it? Did Green power back down? Was her only chance of saving Matt gone again?
"It's not just Green," Coran said. "It's all of them. They all woke up."
Pidge's anxiety evaporated. "Wait… you mean…"
Coran nodded. "When you woke the green lion, she sparked them all back to life. The full power of Voltron is back with us."
Pidge couldn't speak. She didn't know what to say. In all her wildest dreams, she'd never imagined that all of Voltron would wake back up in time. They didn't just have the force of the green lion now, they had them all.
"We can attack Throk," Shiro spoke up. "The lions can pick up his ship on their scanners easily, and from there we can rescue Matt." Shiro gave her a look. "We just need someone to get inside the cruiser without being spotted."
"That's me, then," Pidge said.
Allura shook her head. "You won't be healed enough. You have to stay in the green lion."
Pidge wanted to argue, but she knew it was no use. With how she felt now, she knew to send her in after Matt would be a death sentence.
"I'll get him," Shiro said. "You're going to drop me off, and then I'll take it from there."
Pidge nodded. It was a solid plan really. If Throk had a full fleet, they'd know it already, that much they'd agreed on when he first showed up. Really, they only had to face three or four ships max, and Voltron could easily take down that many. The riskiest part was getting Matt out.
They talked for a bit longer, working out the details, and soon they had a full plan. The best plan they'd had since Matt went missing.
By the time they finished, Pidge was exhausted. Her whole body ached, and every movement felt like she was being torn apart by tiny glass shards. When the meeting dismissed, she gratefully limped back to her dark room.
Except, it wasn't empty. Angela sat in the chair beside her bed, tapping her leg anxiously. When Pidge entered, the other girl shot up. "Hey."
Pidge just looked at her, too tired to say anything. She closed the distance between them and collapsed onto her bed.
"Are you okay? I was really scared after what happened in the park. I thought…" Angela swallowed. "I'm glad your… ship… came."
"Green," Pidge said.
"What?"
"Her name is Green. She's a lion."
Angela nodded slowly. "Okay. Well, are you okay?"
Pidge looked at her. "Do I look okay?"
"…No."
Pidge sighed. Maybe she was being too hard on the other girl, but she couldn't help but be annoyed by her presence. All she wanted was to be alone. "Angela, why do you care about me all of the sudden?"
Angela looked taken aback. "I- what?"
Pidge forced herself into a sitting position. "Why do you care about me? You've hated me for years."
Angela opened and closed her mouth a few times. "Well… you're a hero. You save the universe."
Pidge sighed and scrubbed her face. "We aren't friends, Angela. You've treated me like shit since I was seven. I can't forget that, and I'm not exactly sorry for it." She turned to the other girl. "We can be acquaintances, we can be on good terms, but the only way we could've become friends is if you had come to like me as Katie, not as a paladin of Voltron."
To her credit, Angela didn't look shocked. "No, no, I get it." She chuckled. "I guess… for so long I hated you, and then karma came around. Look at you." She swept her hand at Pidge. "Saving the universe while I sit in high school. It's made me realize that I was a bitch."
Pidge had to laugh. "Yeah, you were."
Angela laughed too. It was weird, to laugh with someone she'd hated for so long. She still didn't like Angela, and she could never forgive her, but Pidge couldn't bring herself to hate the other girl. She was a kid, and kids do stupid things. Pidge had done plenty of stupid things, until being a paladin forced her to grow up. And, if she was being completely honest, she still had a lot of growing up to do.
Angela's laughter faded. "When all this is done… the world is going to know, yeah? About you guys."
Pidge nodded. They'd discussed this in their meeting. There was no way to hide Voltron from the Garrison if they were going to attack Throk outright. It was time to face the world.
"I'll support you. I'll explain what you do to the others too. Chris, Grant, and Layla," Angela promised.
Grant and Layla. That's what their names were. "That's nice of you," Pidge said.
Angela nodded and stood. "I'll let you rest now. You need it."
Pidge nodded and laid back down, sleep already pulling at her body.
Angela paused at her door and turned around. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
"Thank you," Pidge said.
Angela nodded once and left.
Well, it's been a few months. I'm sorry for the super delayed update, but I have valid reasons.
I had auditions! I made the all-state band for the third year in a row, and I tried out for four different music schools. So excited to say that I was accepted into all four, and now I just have to choose the one I'm going to go to next year.
Applying for college is hard.
This chapter was hard to write for a lot of reasons. I didn't know how I wanted the fight to go, and Pidge's near-death experience wasn't easy to get onto paper. It genuinely made me sad when I wrote it, and I revised the wording a bunch to get it just right. That, and Angela and Pidge's talk wasn't easy either. I've forgiven my old middle school tormentors, but I can't be friends with any of them, so conveying those feelings just right was important to me. Pidge and Angela were never meant to be friends at the end of the story, and it is staying that way.
As always, please leave a review. They're great to see.
-Bip
