Aboard the Castle-ship, travelling away from the Balmera.
Nova looked to the paladins. "Looks like your first mission is a success."
"Thanks to you!" Hunk grinned.
She smirked. "You're the one who had a way to take out the lasers."
"Yeah, but you're the one who sent lightning through the thing!" Lance exclaimed. "Anyone else would've been toast."
Allura turned to look at Nova. "How exactly did you get your staff to connect with the beast?"
Nova gave a nervous laugh. "Oh, you know..."
"Jumping out of her fighter, launching herself towards the monster and hit it with her staff."
"Hunk... not helping!" Nova gave him a look that said 'Shut your mouth!'.
"Well then Keith caught her before she was blasted into space." Lance continued.
Allura's eyes widened a little. "Nova..."
Nova looked to her.
"A little reckless?"
Nova smirked. "Nothing compared to what you did. You risked your life too to protect the innocent." Her eyes softened. "Isn't that what we, as leaders, are supposed to do, put other people's lives above our own."
Allura smiled.
"You should get some rest. That ceremony took a lot out of you." Nova looked around at the paladins. "You all need rest."
"Yes, but so do you." Allura took Nova's hand. "I can still almost feel the electrical waves coming off you."
"I'll be fine. A few hours sleep and I'll be all okay." Nova assured. "Now go to bed."
Allura giggled. "Yes, you go soon." Before leaving to her quarters.
"I will."
Shiro walked by Nova, giving her an affectionate pat on her head. "Goodnight, Nova. You were amazing." He headed to bed too.
"Nova, before you sleep, can I quickly run tests on your eye?" Pidge asked.
Nova nodded and sat down in Shiro's vacant chair. "Will it hurt?"
Pidge shook her head. "Just a bright light." She proceeded to scan Nova's bionic eye. "The electricity seems to have stimulated nerves and muscles." She muttered.
"Well that's good right?"
"Most likely. If you don't mind, could I take a blood sample too?"
Nova frowned but nodded. She had changed into a casual tank top and jeans, with a jacket over. She slipped the jacket off to expose her arms.
Keith sighed, stretching in his chair, Hunk and Lance had long since called it a night. "Why do you want her blood?"
"I just wanna check something." Pidge responded, using a needle to draw a phial of blood. She put it into a pouch when she was done. "Not to be rude, Nova. But you're saying your mother is human, yet that was ten thousand years ago. Seeing Allura and Coran's reaction when we found them, they'd never seen a human."
Nova gave a glare. "Are you saying it can't be true? That I'm lying? I'm only telling you what my Uncle told me. My mother died soon after I was born."
"Whoa there, Princess." Keith stood up, sensing the electricity around them.
The waves that hadn't left Nova's body were dancing, waiting to strike.
"I'm sorry, Nova! I'm just really curious how an Altean and a Human met ten thousand years ago, we don't even know if humans existed then." Pidge dropped her head and stood up to leave. "I'm really sorry." She walked off, feeling guilty and a little upset by Nova snapping at her.
"Princess..." Keith stepped up to Nova, who was still sat in Shiro's chair.
She felt her heart hurt thinking of the things she had said to Pidge.
"Pidge meant no harm. We're all curious."
Nova bit her lip, feeling it tremble a little. "Red..." She cupped her face in her hands as the tears began to spill from her eyes.
"Hey! It's alright..." He panicked. How do you deal with a crying girl?! He knelt beside her and spun her chair around. "Hey..."
She peaked out of her cupped hands at him.
He looked concerned.
"I hurt her." She sniffed.
"Don't worry too much, Pidge is tough." He chuckled. "Just apologise later and you'll be fine."
Nova wiped her eyes with her sleeves. "Really?"
"Really. Pidge likes you a lot, I doubt she'd be mad at you."
"Thanks, Red. You've helped me a lot today." She averted her gaze. "Sorry to be a pain."
"Don't be stupid." He stood and did something uncharacteristic of him, he reached out and ruffled her hair. "You can trust me, you know." He mumbled.
Her gaze met his. "What made you think that I didn't already?" She tilted her head to the side.
Oh crap! Keith blushed a little, turning away from her and started pacing the room. She's not meant to know that it's been bothering me.
She stood up to. "Hey!" She moved to in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.
He scratched the back of his neck. "Well... I was under the impression that you didn't like me all that much, especially not as much as the others."
She frowned. "How?"
"Well... you just call me 'Red' for a start."
"You really don't like that?" She pouted.
He looked to her face again and bit back a laugh. Heck, she's cute... wait... what..?
"Hey?"
"No... well... do you really call me that because you don't like me?"
She raised a brow.
"What you said down in the mines... that you liked Lance so that's why you don't call him silly names."
"Idiot."
He blinked.
She smiled widely. "I call you 'Red' because I like you. It was the first thing I called you and it stuck... sorry about what I said, it must've sounded bad. I really didn't mean to hurt you. I thought you wouldn't care."
He felt a smile creep across my face.
"I thought you didn't like me much either. So I didn't want to be too obvious that it got to me." She stated.
He looked away. "Sorry."
"Hmm?"
"I guess... I didn't want to... get hurt..."
"What do you mean?"
He met her gaze. "You're not the only one with trust issues."
She cleared her throat, holding out her hand. "Well... Keith, Paladin of the Red Lion, will you be my friend?"
He stared at her hand, an amused smirk on his face. He took her hand and shook it. "Only if you'll be mine."
"Agreed." She grinned.
Keith felt like his cheeks were roasting. "Well, ah..." Now what?! Why am I so happy about this?
"I need to go and see Pidge. To be honest... what she said had me curious. I don't know much about my mother, my father died when I was four years old and Uncle Alfor didn't tell me much."
"Will you be alright?" He asked.
She nodded. "Thanks, Red." She patted his shoulder, she walked past him and proceeded to trip over nothing.
Keith threw out his arm and stopped her falling. "Well... the clutzy Princess is back in the building." He teased.
She blushed. "Shush." She pulled away. "Thanks, you always seem to catch me." She flashed a brilliant smile before heading towards the sleeping quarters to find Pidge.
Keith stared after her. What is this warm fuzzy feeling? I mean... I have friends... He looked at his hand. Well... I guess none of them are quite like her.
Nova arrived at Pidge's room and knocked. "Pidge?"
"Door's open." Pidge mumbled back.
Nova let herself in. She looked around in awe. "Your room is amazing."
Pidge was sat on her bed, using her laptop. "Yeah, I guess."
Nova swallowed and sat beside her. "Pidge... I am truly sorry for biting at you earlier." She said.
Pidge stopped typing and closed the laptop, before turning around to face Nova. "It's alright, I hit a nerve, I understand." She bowed her head.
"I still have no right to go at you. You've helped me so much since meeting you. For everything that you've done, I am truly grateful." Nova reached out and took Pidge's hands. "I hope we can still be friends and forget about it."
"Of course!" Pidge grinned. "Nova... I've never had a sister... now I kinda know what it's like to have one."
Nova's eyes welled up as she launched herself at Pidge, giving her a big bear hug.
Pidge froze for a second before returning the hug.
After a few minuets the pair parted.
"Pidge..."
"Yeah?"
"About what you said, testing my blood..."
"Don't worry, I'll scrap the idea since you were so offended." Pidge replied.
Nova shook her head. "Now that I've thought about it... how did the human food end up on our ship? How did my father meet my mother when according to you, its virtually impossible? Maybe I am not half-human after all... maybe I am something else."
Pidge watched Nova as she stared at her hands.
"Please test it? I want to know if what I've been told is a lie or not. I want to know who my mother could have been, and if she was indeed human... how did it happen?"
"I'll get right on it. Do you think Allura would give me some blood to cross-match with yours to see which part is Altean?"
"I'm sure it'll be alright. Just ask her in the morning, she needs her rest."
"You do too. The electrical energy remaining in your body needs a chance to dissipate, but with you being physically and mentally active it's feeding off you."
Nova nodded, standing up. "Yeah. You get some sleep too, and thank you. You really are a wonderful friend." She smiled before leaving the room.
Halfway down the corridor towards her quarters, one of the doors opened, and whoever walked out walked into her, causing her to land on her rear. "Hey!" She hissed, looking up.
"I am so sorry, Nova!" Lance held out his hand.
"What are you doing?" She let him pull her to her feet. "You should be resting."
He scratched the back of his neck. "I...ah..."
She raised a brow, waiting for an answer.
"I can't sleep... I..."
"You miss home?" She asked.
He nodded. "I know I shouldn't be saying it to you, because at least I have a home to go back to..." He swallowed, fearing he'd hit a nerve.
Nova sighed, reaching out and placing a hand gently on his cheek. "I'm here if you need a shoulder or an ear."
Lance hesitated before wrapping his arms around her, hugging her with his face buried in the nook of her shoulder, hiding his face. "Thank you..." He whispered.
She chuckled, patting his back. "Thank you, too."
Keith walked along the corridor to his room door, which was next to Lance's. He stopped in his tracks, seeing Lance hugging Nova tightly. What's with those two? He shrugged. Nothing to do with me. He unlocked the door.
The two jumped apart with the sound of Keith unlocking his door. They looked to him then to each other.
Lance blushed.
Nova patted his arm. "You know where I am, now go to bed." She shooed him away.
Lance nodded and went back into his room.
"What was that all about?"
Nova looked to the red paladin. "Oh... he was missing home and needed a shoulder." She explained simply. "Where were you? I've been with Pidge for a while, I thought you were going to bed ages ago."
"Yeah... well I got a few levels in on the training deck."
"Idiot, you'll burn out." She stepped towards him, folding her arms, giving him a stern gaze.
"Says the Princess who literally turned into a lightning bolt." He shot back.
"Are you gonna let it drop?"
He sighed. "Probably not any time soon. It was the coolest thing I've ever seen."
She barked a laugh. "Well, get to sleep. You never know what will happen next. Sleep well, Red." She waved before turning to reach her original destination. Bed.
