A/N: Hello, and welcome to Face the Day. To all new and old readers, this is the 9th story within my series featuring Mariko Shirogane and Scarlett. If you'd like to catch up or recap what's happened so far, please read the first 8 stories: Rise of Voltron; Turmoil Begins; Fights and Flights; Scarlett and the Blades; What's Been Lost, What's Been Found; Beneath the Sand and Stars; Rifts and Realizations; and A Fallen Star (in that order). I'll be posting chapters for this twice a week (get ready, cuz it's a long one). I hope you enjoy!
**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender (duh)
"I'll see you later, Keith," Mari said with a small smile. He chucked his bag into the cockpit and hopped into the pilot's seat, watching her carefully as she processed the second half of what he'd said. "Wait, you'll think about what?"
Keith paused, internally debating whether or not he should elaborate. "What you mean to me. And how I feel about you," he finally decided, his heart racing despite the cool smirk he cast her way when her eyes widened in realization. "And maybe I'll give you an answer when I'm ready."
.
.
.
Keith had thought about it. He'd had two whole years traveling through the Quantum Abyss to think about it. What Mari meant to him and how he felt about her.
Initially, he'd put the issue on the back burner. He'd caved and worn the Quintessence Ring she had given him, but he'd had to remind himself that they were in the middle of a war. He had to focus on other things. Then Lotor had entered the scene, killed Zarkon, and made fighting for their cause a lot easier as he and most of the Galra Empire joined forces with Voltron and the Blade of Marmora.
But there was still work to be done. There were still the Galra warlords roaming about and causing trouble. There was still that strange quintessence line the Blades had discovered. And that, of course, had led him to meeting his mom and getting launched into a two-year-long journey on his way to discovering Lotor's Altean colony. But during that time, getting to know Krolia and growing to understand her past and his heritage, Keith had been left to reflect on his other personal connections and the foreign feelings he'd been shoving aside.
Mari was stubborn, infuriatingly so. She was quick to anger, not always level-headed, and she constantly strove to prove herself. She wasn't anything like Shiro and it still shocked Keith that they were related. But when she wasn't pissed and smacking you upside the head, she did have a fiercely soft and kind and comforting side. She was loyal. Brave. Daring. She made sure the people she cared about were okay, putting their safety and well-being before her own. Such a habit got her hurt on multiple occasions, but she always bounced back stronger than ever. It was admirable, in a way. Whenever they fought alongside each other, Keith knew she had his back. And he had hers.
He'd noticed that when he thought about the other paladins, his heart didn't skip a beat. He didn't want to impress them or seek them out for a late night talk. When he thought of Shiro, he wanted to smile. His motivation would surge. He felt like he could take on the universe if it meant it would help Shiro. The warmth he felt for him was similar to the comforting heat he felt whenever he thought of his dad or his mom or even his wolf. They were all his family. Shiro was his brother and he loved him.
But whenever he thought of Mari, the word "sister" never came to mind. That was more applicable to Pidge or Scarlett or even Allura. His chest ached whenever he looked at her, the heat in his core burning hotter and hotter. The way her eyes sparkled as she stared up at the stars, the way she laughed with pure joy as she took flight, even the way she scowled or grinned as she put her all into their sparring matches, made him feel more attentive, more alive. She was like a burning flame, dangerous and unpredictable, but brilliant and warm and out of his reach.
Keith didn't know when such confusing feelings had first ignited. He didn't know how to process them for a long time either. But the longer he thought about them and the more he had discussed them with his mother during their long journey, he'd finally come to a conclusion about how he truly felt about Mari. And now that Lotor was defeated and the war with the Galra Empire had ceased for the time being, he was ready to give her an answer.
That being said, his personal feelings had been put on hold again when he and his mom had discovered Romelle and the Altean colony. Then when they'd returned to the Castle of Lions, defeating Lotor and fighting Shiro — clone Shiro — had naturally taken priority. And after the Castle had been sacrificed to close up all the rifts in reality Lotor had created with his Sincline ships, they had to transfer Shiro's — real Shiro's — consciousness from the Black Lion to the clone's body. And after Keith had made sure Shiro was healed and in a stable condition for travel, he and the others had prepared to begin their journey back to Earth so they could build a replacement for the Castle of Lions. And after (sorta) fixing the crap job Lance had initially done at separating their extra passengers, they were finally on their way home…
…Only for Lance to disrupt their voyage again just a couple vargas later.
"We've gotta stop by Vurelle," he blurted out the moment they'd entered the sandy planet's star system. "We have to tell Mari we're going back to Earth."
"Agreed," Hunk was quick to chime in. "She said when we were ready to go home, she'd be with us."
"We haven't seen her since the alliance ball," Allura murmured almost to herself. "We should tell her what's happened with Lotor as well."
Standing behind him in the cockpit of the Black Lion, Keith could feel Shiro tense. His jaw was set and his tired eyes swirled with a mixture of worry and hope. He remained oddly quiet though, allowing Keith to make the final decision.
"We'll stop by and see if she wants to come with us," he said, expertly keeping his voice neutral despite the way his heart beat began to quicken. His newfound confidence didn't stop his nerves from acting up as they set a course for Vurelle, where she and Scarlett and their other coalition allies would be waiting.
When they were about ten minutes away, Pidge prepared to call the Vurelle base in advance. "This is Pidge of the Voltron Green Lion. The lions are swinging by for a visit," she said with a slight grin as she chucked all formality to the wind. She paused, waiting for her message to go through and for either Mari or Scarlett to reply. But she was met with an eerie silence.
"Vurelle base, do you copy?" Pidge asked, and Keith could hear the frown in her voice. She was quiet for a long moment before she said, "I know our power levels are low and it's affecting our broadcast distance to Earth. But Vurelle is basically right in front of us. Our signal should reach them."
"Maybe they're just ignoring us?" Hunk hesitantly wondered. "I mean, the last time we saw them, we did kinda separate on a bad note. Mari's probably still mad at us."
"You mean mad at Lance," Pidge corrected him, almost accusingly, and Lance made a miffed sound in the back of his throat.
"I know, I need to apologize," he admitted. "But I wasn't the only one who ticked her off. Shiro made her cry."
There was an awkward beat of silence, and when Keith cast a glance at Shiro's expression, it was tight with pain. Realizing his blunder, Lance fumbled to correct himself.
"Sorry, Shiro, I-I didn't mean you," he quickly stammered. "I meant…you know, he made her cry."
"I know, Lance," Shiro said, tired but understanding. He kept his gaze rigidly forward as they drew nearer to their destination.
"Once we explain what was really going on, she'll understand," Keith tried his best to reassure him. "She won't be mad at you. If anything, she'll probably be more mad at herself for not realizing you were a clone."
Shiro cast him a small and appreciative smile, but it didn't last long as Vurelle finally came into view. The desert planet was just as Keith had remembered it: orangish-gold and sandy. He hadn't visited since they'd dethroned Anka, but he knew the Vurelleans and the rebel fighters had done plenty to restore and expand the planet's resources and connections with the outside world since then. And along with Ellosh, Mari was the leader of it all. After two long years, he'd be seeing her again, although for her it would seem like no time at all had passed.
As they broke through Vurelle's atmosphere though, his sparking anticipation was instantly snuffed as it became clear that something was very, very wrong. Where the Vurellean's aboveground civilization once stood was a scene of destruction. The landing port was practically nonexistent, the platform having been covered by blowing sands and the burnt remains of cargo crates and ships. The marketplace had been ripped apart, with broken bits of wood, metal, cloth, and miscellaneous goods scattered everywhere. The thin and disintegrating frames of homes had replaced the village. Cannons and the ring of particle barrier machinery had been obliterated. The ancient palace that had taken the Vurelleans so long to construct now sat crumbling and half-caved in, the roof of the connected arena once more collapsed. The base where the rebels operated had been completely razed, leaving nothing behind but a massive pile of rubble.
"What happened here?" Hunk was the first to break the horrified silence that had enveloped them, his question just a whisper. "An earthquake? A Vurelle-quake?"
Pidge furiously worked to scan the planet. "Vurelle doesn't get heavy seismic activity," she said. "This looks more like…"
"A Galra attack," Krolia provided, her expression grim. She pointed to the charred gashes scarring the planet's surface. "Those are strikes from a cruiser's ion cannons."
"No…No, no, no!" Lance cried, his tone rising in his alarm. "The Galra couldn't have done all this. Mari or Scarlett or someone would've called us for help!"
"We need to land and check for survivors," Shiro instructed, unable to suppress the urgency in his command. Keith could see the panic in his eyes, could practically hear his frantically palpitating heart. Or maybe that was his own heartbeat escalating in his rising dread.
Without further delay, he led the lions to land in a relatively flat space near the main oasis. Bayards held at the ready, they departed from their ships and made their way towards the ruins of the Vurellean city.
The heat was scorching. They passed the remains of exploded ships, both of Galra and rebel origin, half-buried in the sand. Everything was eerily quiet as they walked through what was once a bustling market, the space empty and devoid of life with not a single person to be found. Cautiously entering the palace, they jumped over chunks of rock debris and made their way down the halls to the throne room. A large hole had been punched through the ceiling, taking out half of the far wall with it. The relief of Dehofa and Kivia had been splintered behind the fallen thrones, the image of the two Vurellean heroes missing several pieces and on the verge of falling apart completely.
"How could this have happened so quickly," Lance murmured, staring forlornly at the cracked artwork. "We were just here the other day."
"This damage doesn't look new," Krolia said, taking note of the thick layer of dust and sand that had accumulated on the now weather-worn tables. "At the latest, this must have happened right after your friends returned from your party."
Hunk's foot knocked into a fist-sized chunk of an obliterated relief. He carefully picked it up and examined the piece, revealing the image of half a Vurellean's face. "Why didn't they call us?" he asked no one in particular, his voice thin and full of confusion. "They know Voltron would've helped."
"Maybe their signal was jammed by their attackers?" Pidge weakly provided.
Allura's frown deepened. She marched out of the throne room, determined to find answers that weren't going to be found just by standing around. The others hurried after the princess, following her back outside the palace and towards the remains of the arena.
"Coran, are you sure the Castle did not receive a distress signal from Vurelle in the days before our fight with Lotor?" she asked of her trusted advisor.
"I'm positive we didn't, princess," Coran replied. He hesitated before slowly adding, "But…there is a possibility the, erm, clone's kill protocol disrupted our ability to receive any incoming messages."
Shiro's hand, the only one he had left, curled into a fist at his side. "Pidge, are there any lifeforms underground?" he asked, a barely contained desperate and almost pleading edge to his inquiry.
Pidge frowned at her gauntlet readings, the device beeping rhythmically as she surveyed the tunnel systems beneath their feet.
"There's no one underground either," she reported. "Maybe they evacuated off-world."
Allura inhaled sharply and brought their group to a sudden halt as they rounded a corner. "Not all of them," she whispered, low and horror-stricken as they surveyed the cemetery that now laid next to the ruins of the arena.
Rows and rows of carved rocks and, in some cases, the scorched metal sheets blown off from destroyed ships, stood erect in the ground, signifying the final resting place of some poor refugee or Vurellean soul. The majority of them were unnamed. The only thing that decorated the makeshift gravestones was a single inscription etched in crudely written letters: May the Ancients guide this precious soul to an eternity of peace and rest.
Hunk's eyes pooled with fresh tears. Pidge bit her lower lip, her hands falling limply to her sides. Lance looked like he'd been punched in the gut, his face twisting in disbelief. Keith's heart nearly froze in his chest. His mind went blank staring at the grave markers and all they implied.
The brave mask Shiro had been struggling to uphold cracked and fell away at the sight of the burial lot. He stumbled forward, unbalanced with only one arm. He went from slab to slab reading the inscriptions, muttering to himself as he desperately searched for a familiar name.
"No…No, no, no…Not like this…" His movements were quickly becoming ragged and frantic in his rising hysteria. "No, Mari…please, no, no! No!"
When he'd reached the last of the graves, he collapsed, sinking to his knees in defeat and slamming a frustrated fist into the ground. He had just been brought back to life only for his whole world to come crashing down again. Choking on kicked up dust and overflowing grief, he coughed and wheezed, unable to stop the tears from flowing. The others were by his side in an instant, their own sobs threatening to bubble forth. The friends that they had left here were all gone, having either fled to who knows where or been buried six feet under. Ellosh, Korlis, Treble, Mitsubishi, Scarlett, Mari…It was impossible to tell who had lived and who had died here. Any one of them could be buried beneath them, unclaimed and forgotten to the universe.
Keith's wolf nudged his arm, snapping him out of his crippling thoughts. He affectionately nuzzled his nose into Keith's palm before staring up at him with those big intelligent eyes, waiting. It took him a moment to remember that he still had his ring on. Hidden away beneath the fabric of his Blade of Marmora suit, he'd hardly taken it off in the last two years unless it was absolutely necessary. The glow of the quintessence it carried had never once flickered in that time. But ever since they'd discovered the colony, he hadn't even given it a second thought. He'd been so focused on saving Shiro and fighting Lotor and preparing to go home that he hadn't bothered to look at it since.
Dread pooled in his stomach as he removed the glove of his paladin armor. The thunderous pounding of his heart rushed in his ears as he stared at the band wrapped comfortably around his finger. At some point, it had stopped glowing, the familiar blue light having died out. It could've meant Mari had taken hers off for a long while, but why would she have all of a sudden when the light hadn't ever flickered on his before, at least not to his knowledge. She had been adamant about keeping their promise. She had been determined to live and work hard for the coalition.
But she couldn't control everything. Death is merciless and unforgiving to all, and it will strike whenever it pleases. No one is immune to the ultimate end. Not even her.
A/N: Cjknight – I'm so glad to hear that! :D I love their moments too, it's fun seeing them interact.
**Check out my tumblr to see some cool art: pufftheninja
