The next day, Nova was sat enjoying a hot drink at the dining table as the paladins trained.

"Great days training guys. We're really getting the hang of forming Voltron." Shiro's voice echoed through the corridor.

Four out of five paladins walked into the dining room.

"Hey, Nova!" Hunk sat next to her.

"Good Voltron workout?" She asked.

"Yeah! You should have seen how far I was able to kick a part of the Galra ship… must've been well over a mile!" Lance boasted.

"That's be great if we were being challenged by the Galra to a soccer match!" Keith deadpanned.

"You're just jealous."

"No, I'm not! That kick caused us to fall over."

"That was Hunk's fault."

"Hey!"

Nova bit back a giggle.

Shiro sat down. "Any update on the Castle? Coran, you and Allura managed to fix it up enough for us to leave this planet?"

Nova cleared her throat. "Just about, just a few more tests and such."

Just as the words left her mouth Coran walked in.

"Will the tests take much longer? I feel like we're just sitting ducks her on Arus." Shiro added.

"Not too long if everything goes as planned. Meanwhile, I have made you an authentic paladin lunch!" He opened the lid and a pungent odour emerged from underneath it.

"Coran! That's disgusting!" Nova voiced their thoughts.

"Smells gross." Hunk agreed.

"That means it's good for you." Coran looked pleased with himself.

"Okay, Coran, by royal decree or something… you are barred from the kitchen." Nova nipped her nose with her fingers.

"Here here!" The boys cheered.

"Now… I gonna go and make real food." Hunk announced and headed to the kitchen.

Nova sighed, sipping her drink.

Shiro looked to her. "Where's Pidge?"

"Probably waiting for the escaped prisoners... they wake up soon." She replied.

Shiro nodded and stood up. "I'll go and see them too."

"Oh no, you don't!" Coran scooped up some of the gross food and held it towards Shiro. "Down the hatch!"

Shiro stared. "No... just no..." And he walked away.

Nova stretched.

"How was your session on the training deck?" Lance asked.

"Alright. Think I may have to ask Pidge or Hunk to update the bots though. They're slower than I remember."

"Slower?!" Lance laughed.

"Well... yeah." She scratched the back of her head.

"I've watched you practice. You are quick on your feet." Keith injected.

She raised a brow. "What were you doing watching me?"

He cleared his throat. "Waiting for my turn to train." He looked down.

"Next time, join in. it might be fun, there's more than one bot you know." She added.

"Maybe I will."

"Okay guys!" Hunk placed bowls of delicious looking food in front of them.

"Wow!" Nova's eyes sparkled.

"Eat up!" He smiled.

The three didn't need told a second time.

Allura walked in. "So, I see they like the paladin lunch."

Coran huffed. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Well I have good news, I've just gotten the final nebulon booster working, we should be able to leave this planet soon and take the fight to Zarkon."

Suddenly all the alarms went off.

The paladins and Nova all jumped to attention.

Allura quickly brought up a screen that was streaming the feed from the entrance camera.

What they saw was definitely not what they were expecting.

"Awwh! It's so cute!" Nova fawned.

"What is it?" Keith asked.

"I don't know, maybe a local?"

The small creature ran from rock to rock, swinging his tiny sword about.

"It's approaching the Castle."

"Awwh..." Hunk smiled.

"Doesn't look too dangerous."

Nova nodded, agreeing with Lance.

"You never know." Keith mumbled, summoning his bayard.

"No, Red. Altean's believe in peace first."

"My name is Keith." He said looking to Nova.

"I know." She replied.

Allura suppressed a giggle. "Nova is right. Lets go welcome them." She headed out first.

"Its adorable!" Hunk quickly followed.

Lance looked to Nova. "Hey, maybe we can knit him a little sweater."

She put her hands together. "Yes!" She followed him out.

Keith sighed. "I'm not taking any chances..." He gripped his bayard and followed.


Outside, everyone stood in front of a bush where they knew the creature was hiding.

Nova stepped forward first. "Hey, we know you're there." She crouched down.

"No harm will come to you." Allura assured, standing just behind her.

Without warning, the little Arusian leapt out of the bush, waving his sword about.

Nova toppled backwards onto her rear, she stared at the creature.

Lance stepped forward to pull her to her feet by her underarms. "You alright?"

She flashed a smile. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Awwh!" Hunk cooed at the creature.

"Wait." Keith jumped forward. "He could be dangerous..." He glared down at the Arusian. "Drop your weapon."

"No one takes Klalzap's weapon!" The little one spoke.

Nova grabbed Keith's hand that held his bayard. "Red, put that away." She ordered.

He met her gaze. "It's Keith." He lowered his bayard anyway.

"I know."

He huffed.

Allura rolled her eyes at their antics. "Please good sir, accept our humblest apologies." Allura bowed a little.

Klalzap explained that he had come for answers, worried that they had angered, who he called the Lion Goddess, in some way.

Allura told him who they were and offered to meet with Klalzap's leader to explain things properly.


At the village, the Arusians offered a dance of apology.

The small female Arusian danced in front of them.

"An apology is really unneeded." Allura spoke.

"Oh no... they don't like the dance... light the sacrificial fire!" The leader ordered. "We must throw ourselves in!"

Nova threw her hands out. "No! No sacrifices either!"

"So we can continue with the dance?"

Allura met Nova's gaze before nodding. "That's much better."

The dancer continued. When the dance was over, all the village bowed low at them.

"Really, thank you all for your hospitality. Voltron and it's Paladins are here to defend and save the universe" Allura announced.

They all cheered and ran towards them, hugging them.

Nova smiled a little. "They're such a happy bunch." She remarked, patting one on the head gently.

Keith sighed, before receiving a hug around the waist. "I'm not really a fan of hugs... but I guess..." He returned the hug. "You're really cuddly aren't you."

"Thank you." The Arusian replied in an unexpectedly deep tone.

Keith's eyes widened in surprise.

Nova started laughing at him.

Keith met her gaze. "Looks like you have half a dozen suitors there, Princess." He gestured to the circle of male Arusians gazing up at her.

She glared at him, heat creeping across her face.

He smirked. "Be sure to invite us to the wedding."

"Shut it, Mullet." She snapped.

His eyes widened a little. "Oh... that's new... pick it up from Lance?"

"Matter of fact, yes." She pouted.

He rolled his eyes.

Nova had to blink to stop staring. The new eye enhancement made things clearer and detailed. Quaznack! His eyes are pretty...

He raised a brow, seeing the rosy hue in her honey coloured skin.

Allura looked over to the pair. She smiled softly, happy to see Nova finally opening up to the paladins properly. Even though it was some more than others.

Suddenly there was a rumble.

Nova, who was being bombarded with gifts, lost her balance and fell onto her rear due to the ground shaking. "What was that?"

"Team come in! Where is everyone?!" Shiro's voice sounded over the intercoms.

Nova looked upwards. "Allura!" She pointed upwards. Her eye trained on the object entering the atmosphere. "It's Galra!" She stood up and used her eye to analyse it. "Get to the Lions now!" She looked to the paladins.

They nodded and helped usher the locals to safety.

"Stay inside and stay down!" Nova ordered.

Hunk ran past her. "I'm on it."

"Not you," Keith dragged him back. "Lets go." He looked to Nova. "You coming?"

Nova blinked. "Yeah, sure." Before following him and the other Paladins.

"Okay, who's taking Nova?" Lance asked.

"I'll have her!" Hunk suggested.

"I'm going with Red!" Nova replied as they ran towards the castle.

Keith frowned. "Why?"

"The Red Lion is the Black Lion's right hand." She said.

"Awwh, I wanted to take you!" Lance whined. "Lucky Mullet."

"Lucky?! You can have her for all I care!" Keith snapped.

Nova felt a prang. I know we don't really get along... but he can't hate me that much, right?

They got to there respective elevators.

"Okay..." Keith breathed, aware of how close they were in the small elevator. "How do you get into the Lion?"

She raised a brow. "Same way you do."

"But... the zip line... there's one."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Great, you can count."

They got to the zip line.

"So...?"

"You grab the handles and I hang on to you, duh."

"So that's why Lance wanted you in his Lion." He grumbled. "Alright, here we go." He jumped for the zip line handle.

As she explained she wrapped her arms around him as they travelled down to the Lion.

They got in to the Lion.

"See, wasn't so difficult."

Keith looked down at the Altean princess sat on his lap. He cleared his throat. "So... this is how it goes every time you board the Black Lion?"

She got off him. "Pretty much." She dusted herself off. "C'mon, we're wasting time!" She stepped behind him.

He nodded and they took off.


When they arrived at the crash site, both the black and the green lions were taking big hits from a giant robot with an energy orb emitting from its hand.

"We need to provide covering fire to give them a chance to get out!" Keith yelled, firing his canon towards the giant robot.

"On it!" Lance shot a laser from the Blue Lion's tail.

"Watch this! Yellow Lion head butt!" Hunk charged into the side of the robot, knocking it down to the ground.

"Are you two alright?!" Nova asked.

"We're alive, for now!" Shiro replied. "Keith, looks like you stole my co-pilot." He joked.

Keith huffed. "Dunno how you put up with her."

Nova pouted. She leaned forward a little, trying to get a good view of the monster. "It's definitely Galra tech... I've never seen anything like it." Her eye scanned it. "His main boost is obviously that orb, but it seems to need a break between a number of attacks to charge up..."

"So... what do we do? Shoot at it with everything we got... take out it's weapon, call it names?" Lance asked.

"If you wanna take it down, there's only one way to do it..." Nova gripped the back of Keith's chair, not having her own seat in the Red Lion's cockpit.

"Nova is right." Shiro chuckled. "Are you secure there?"

Keith gave a snort. "She's safe with me." He glanced behind him. "Just hold on tight, Princess."

She gave an annoyed grumble.

"I'm trusting your word, Keith. Lets go, form Voltron!" Shiro ordered.

"You alright?" Keith mumbled after Voltron had formed.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Nova breathed.

"Then... can you let go now?"

Nova looked down and realised she had her arms around Keith's shoulders. "Yeah... uhh..." She let go and returned her hands to the back of his seat. "Sorry."

"Let's go!" Shiro yelled.

Keith thrust the lever forward, causing Voltron to throw a punch towards the monster.

"See, this is why I shotgun black!" Nova exclaimed, clinging to his seat.

Keith laughed. "You're the one who said you wanted to ride with me."

"It was the obvious choice at the time, that's all!"

Pidge threw a punch too.

The monster stumbled back, so everyone gave it their all in another attack.

The monster summoned his orb back, which resulted in it crashing into the back of Voltron, causing them to face plant the ground.

Nova landed on her knees in the cockpit, still clinging to Keith's seat.

"Hey?" Keith reached out behind him to pull her back up.

"I'm fine... move!" She yelled.

Everyone looked up to see the orb coming for another blow.

Voltron rolled out of the way this time.

"I thought Voltron was the most powerful weapon in the universe!" Keith grunted as they flew a away.

Nova stood up again.

Keith glanced back to make sure that she was alright.

"So how's this monster kicking our butts?!" Hunk yelled through the intercoms.

The monster body slammed into Voltron.

They landed a few miles away from the Arusian village.

"Guys! We need to get it away from the village!" Nova called. I feel useless in here...

Voltron turned back to the monster to be met with another blow from his orb, sending them flying backwards, even closer to the village. Missing it by kilometres now.

"That was close!"

Voltron raced forwards, passing the monster.

"Okay, we've got them away from the Arusians... but we can't take him down." Pidge noted.

"Shiro!" Nova called.

"Yes, Nova?"

"Can you see a big white button..?" She panted a little.

"Yes?"

She turned around and went to the Red Lion's mouth. "Red, open up!"

"Are you insane?!" Keith called back.

"Maybe a little."

The Red Lion opened it's mouth.

Keith frowned a little, considering he didn't push any button for the Lion to do so.

"Shiro! Push the button now!" She jumped out of the Red Lion's mouth.

"Nova?!" Lance yelled.

Shiro pushed the button.

To everyone's awe, Nova's fighter jet flew out of Voltron's chest plate.

Nova skydived towards it and manoeuvred into it, just in time to pull it up from crashing into a rock. "That's more like it!" She exclaimed. "Now... I'll distract the monster whilst you figure out what to do!"

"Okay... when did you hide that in the Black Lion?" Shiro chuckled.

"Never mind about that... watch out! He's serving another round!" Nova added,

"I got an idea. I'm gonna power kick that orb thing!" Lance said.

"We fell over the last time you did that!" Keith argued.

"Jeez... stop living in the past!" Lance sighed. He proceeded with his move.

Voltron missed the orb and got hit in the face with it.

"Owch... that's gotta hurt." Nova cringed. She noticed the monster racing towards them, she flew around it. "Hey, big guy! Take this!" She shot lasers at it.

It swung it's arms around, trying to hit her.

"Pidge, fire lasers whilst it's distracted!" Shiro ordered.

"Okay!"

The Green Lion prepared to shoot... then suddenly the shield flew up.

"Whoops!"

"No... lasers!" Shiro panicked.

Nova was busy dodging blows. "Guys... you need to hurry up with a plan here!" She swerved another hit.

"Hang on!" Lance called.

"It's summoning it's orb again! I don't think Nova's fighter could take a hit!" Pidge exclaimed.

"Nova, get out of there!" Shiro ordered.

Nova gritted her teeth, her stubborn nature bubbling.

"Princess! We'll take the hit, just get out of its range!" Keith called.

She sighed and flew out of the monsters range, just in time for the orb to come flying back, hitting Voltron in the process. "Are you guys okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, somehow."

"Seems like every time you focus on the orb, you're blind-sighted by the monster." Nova stated.

"Yeah and every time we focus on the monster, the orb hits us." Hunk added.

"Then what do we do?" Lance whined.

"Orb!" Nova warned.

Voltron was hit again. They landed, back against a rock.

"That's why I was trying to distract the monster, so you guys could focus on the orb."

"But you're more likely to get killed!" Keith said.

"Oh... are my piloting skills really that bad?"

"Oh, your skills are great... but he's like ten times bigger than your fighter." Lance covered.

They heard Keith snort on the intercoms.

"You guys need to move! He's preparing another attack!" Nova informed.

"Shiro?!" Keith yelled.

"Hey?" Nova felt worried, Shiro was quiet for longer than she felt comfortable with.

"That sound... I recognise this monster from my time in Zarkon's prison..." Shiro announced suddenly. "I know how to beat him!"

"Great! Now, Move!" Nova yelled.

Voltron moved just in the nick of time.

"So what's the plan?" Nova asked.

"You remember saying it seems like it needs to charge after a few attacks?"

"Yeah?"

"It's three attacks before it needs to charge... it makes a loud sound when the orb returns to his hand. Every third time it needs to charge up..."

"That's when it's at it's weakest point... that's when you strike..." Nova finished.

"Exactly!"

"Okay... so what do we do in the meantime?" Hunk asked.

"Defence!" Shiro exclaimed. "Pidge... get the shield up!"

Pidge did as they were told.

The monster threw his orb towards Voltron, who shielded easily.

"One!" Nova called as she dodged the orb as it flew towards her.

"Two more..." Shiro mumbled.

"Here it comes!"

The second round hit their shield again.

"I don't think we can take much more!" Hunk exclaimed.

"C'mon, just one more..." Nova breathed.

The third attack whizzed around.

"Last one! Brace for impact!" Shiro called.

The third hit destroyed their shield.

The orb returned to the monster.

Nova's eye clocked it. "Now!" She yelled.

Keith shot a laser from the Red Lion's mouth.

It hit the monster directly in the chest, sending it flying backwards.

"Nice hit!" Nova cheered. Flying closer to the land site. Her celebration was short lived. "Uhh... guys?! It's getting up!" She pulled her fighter upwards just in time to dodge the orb.

"Now what?!" Lance yelled

The orb hit them, causing them to fall again.

"When I attacked him before... I had a sword!" Shiro said.

"Orb!" Nova yelled.

It hit them again.

"That's number two." She added. "I don't think you can take another hit..." Her eye scanned Voltron. "You're heavily damaged... you need to think fast!" She bit her lip. From what I can remember... Voltron was able to equip a sword last time...

"Guys... I think my Lion is telling me what to do."

Nova blinked. "Well... hurry up and do it, Red... trust your Lion!"

"And quickly, he's about to fire his third shot!" Lance added.

It was too late, the monster threw the orb towards them, knocking them down again.

"If you're gonna do something, do it now when its vulnerable." Nova said.

"Alright!" Keith yelled, slamming his bayard into the port.

Voltron summoned a sword and swung it towards the oncoming monster.

Time seemed to stand still, until the monster exploded.

"Yeah!" They all cheered.

"How did you do that?!" Hunk asked Keith.

Keith chuckled. "Whoa... thanks, Red."

"I knew I could remember him having a sword!" Nova remarked.

"Yeah? Why didn't you say sooner?" Keith snorted.

"I've been asleep for ten thousand years! Give me a break, jeez." She huffed.

Keith smiled a little to himself.


They all returned to the castle, Black landed in front of the doors to his bunker.

Nova manoeuvred her fighter underneath the Black Lion, which opened its door on it's belly, and levitated in. She walked down the ramp of the Lion's mouth and was greeted by the five paladins.

"You sure know how to pilot a fighter!" Lance patted her shoulder.

She gave a small smile.

Shiro sighed. "Next time, you ride with me." He stated.

Keith huffed a little. "Next time, a bit more of a heads up before you leap out of my Lion."

She saluted. "Yes, Red!"

He smirked.

They all went into the castle to take a well earned rest.

"Nova! How could you do something so reckless?!" Allura walked into the common room an hour later, after she had assured the Arusians that they were safe.

Nova met her gaze. "Being reckless is what has kept me alive." She stated.

"Being reckless is what almost caused you to lose your sight!"

Nova rolled her eyes and stood up to meet her cousin at eye level. "But I was also able to save many lives because of it... I even ended up being able to see better than before."

Allura huffed.

"Nobody gets anything done if they're too cautious. It's better to leap in head first and deal with the consequences as they come."

"You're gonna end up getting yourself killed."

"I've survived this long haven't I?" Nova brushed past Allura and headed for her room. "I'm taking a nap."

Shiro sighed. "Sorry, I shouldn't have released the fighter for Nova."

Allura looked around and smiled softly. "Nova can't be told no. If she believes she can help, she'll do anything to."

Keith rested his chin on his fist. "I didn't even press the button to open Red's mouth... he did it on his own when she asked."

Allura chuckled. "Yeah... I think Red knew she was safer and more useful in her fighter."