Chapter 12: Planning Ahead(Marinette's POV)
Marinette stretches last night had been so much fun. Playing those festival games with Lance and earning prizes…She wished that the fun didn't have to end, once the Mayor had announced that the Festival was coming to a close.
"It is with great pleasure that I announce that this Clear Day Festival has been one of the best Clear Day's we have had in years, thanks to the presence of Voltron. This gives me hope for the future and for this accused war to finally end!"
Thousands of Sandieans cheer, while she and her teammates stand on the big stage with the mayor.
"Now with a heavy heart I must announce that Clear Day is coming to an end, but I hope that this Clear Day has given you hope for the future of the Universe. Voltron again thank you for coming and I give my luck to beating those Galra scum!"
Again the Sandieans cheer and Marinette goes up to make a speech. "Thank you, all of you for having us. I assure you we had a good time and that we beat the Galra no matter how long it takes. Soon the Universe will be freed! And soon the whole Universe will know safety and peace!"
Cheering erupts from the Sandieans again, but much louder. Almost to the point where it made Marinette's ears hurt from the loudness of the cheer.
The memory dissolves and Marinette smiles. Yes, such a fun time. Her promise of peace, freedom and safety for the Universe that she made to the Sandieans(and for all the other planets out there) is daunting, but she knows that she and her fellow teammates can keep it.
Though staying up that late and walking around for hours has made her muscles sore. Which is why she is stretching right now. Bending over she sighs in relief, stretching her back feels really nice.
It isn't hard to stretch without her computer to play a video that would outline a routine. Since being Ladybug she was nearly stretching all the time to loosen her stiff muscles. There were those weird Altean phones, but she doubted the Alteans had something like stretching videos back in their time, as she assumes most of them were more into tech, then sports.
Suddenly a knocking sound is heard, which startles Marinette. After the shock has passed, she says, "Come in."
Coran enters with his arms carrying a bunch of blueprints and papers. "Sorry to bother you Marinette, but I just wanted to let you know of the plans I have for the future of the Voltron Tour."
She smiles, "Go ahead. After all we are working on this together, are we not?"
Coran nods and bends down, letting his pile of papers cascade onto the floor. She scans the papers, all seem to be fine.
"Also I was thinking of doing the last three shows at the Space Mall…."
"Because that way more people from different planets would see us. That's brilliant!" Marinette interrupts Coran. Now all they need to do is get scripts for the rest of Voltron, cover as many battles we've fought in as possible and end it with a big finish. And maybe not go into the future like with the Ember Island Players episode Avatar did, which recapped every single episode, and headed into the future of where Aang failed. Though since the Galra aren't doing this the future would be bright, but Marinette didn't really want to show the whole universe a future where Voltron will succeed.
As of right now she doesn't have the ability to see into the future and be certain they can win this war.
Mairnette pushes those thoughts aside, they will make it through and get home to Earth safely and see their other friends and their families again.
"Anyways, Coran. We have a day before the first scheduled performance, so we need to figure out for this first show how we're going to open the Legend of Voltron. Since we do not have Keith…"
"Ah, about that, I was thinking you could stand in for him. After all I'm sure we don't want to confuse the masses that there have actually been three red paladins since Voltron has reappeared. And you helped in the battle against Zarkon where we defeated him. So we'll just write Keith out."
"But that's changing history! And Keith has helped in all the…"
"It's not the documentary of Voltron, it's the Legend of Voltron. Which means we don't have to be 100% accurate as to what exactly has happened up to this point. And directors are allowed to have artistic interpretations, are they not?"
Marinette swallows, "Well yes but…"
"Then it's settled. To the public you'll be the first red paladin there ever was! Ah this show is going to be a blast."
She sighs, she regrets giving Coran the definition and the job a director has. As apparently they had no such thing as movies on Altea. Keith has become her idol of sorts when it comes to Voltron. So hearing that Coran planned to cut him out, kind of broke her. Since the only paladins, other than Keith, who are dead or gone somewhere are hardly talked about.
Since all they know is that Alfor and Zarkon used to be a part of the first Voltron team.
Nothing else. And since Keith is gone and everyone looks up to him and remembers him as this legend, well it was kinda hard not to idolise the guy, kind of like the designers she idolises back on Earth.
But she has learned that Coran can be stubborn and does not back down easily when he sets his mind to something.
Shiro's POV
Shiro looks at the Astral Plane. He sighs, his friends just went to a Festival, meanwhile he's still stuck looking at them or just looking at the Astral Plane's stars. Sometimes the Lions come to talk to him, but rarely.
Looking at Coran and Marinette figured out ideas for the next three Voltron shows, made him miss them that much more. He wishes he could be in that room helping them, because maybe it would distract him from all the thoughts he's been thinking.
Like how to escape the Astral Plane. Black said he would be able to go back when his friends needed him the most. And since he couldn't see the future he had to guess and speculate what that could possibly mean.
And looking at his friends brought those thoughts to the forefront.
He closes his seeing portal thing, and lays on the reflective ground of the Astral Plane. He never felt hungry or thirsty, or felt the need to go to the bathroom. Like time stopped only for him.
This is s angonzing! Waiting and waiting forever in this eternal abyss, that leads to nowhere but can open portals/windows to where his friends are.
And then he thinks about Keith. Memories flood in his mind, and he wishes he could see how Keith is doing. But whenever he tried to open a portal, it wouldn't. So all he has is his memories of Keith to remember him by.
And sadly as time passes on those memories will get less clearer every day.
Shiro sits up and sighs. These are the thoughts he has had for weeks. They aren't helping him, only making him more depressed as time passes on. And being able to see his friends, but not Keith only deepens his sadness.
Again these thoughts help him with nothing.
Suddenly he sees Red in front of him.
"I miss Keith too, you know. But you're never going to see him again if you keep moping and complaining that your thoughts and feelings aren't going to help you."
He looks at the lion, "it's just.."
"It's just nothing!" Red spat. "Don't make excuses. You've succumbed to your emotions just like everyone else who gets trapped here. And I for one am disappointed."
"Disappointed?! Why should you be disappointed?"
"Because you've succumbed to your emotions. Letting them flood your body, instead of using them to give you the determination to get out of here!"
Shiro just stares, shouldn't Black be the one giving this…
"My words are wasted on you. I only thought to give you the push so you can start using your hidden talents instead of wallowing in sadness."
"Why? Black should be chastising me…"
"Hah! Black wants his paladins to be indepent to think things out of themselves. As what leader would they be if they rely on their lions thoughts and suggestions too much. Or if they need to depend on their lion to get themselves out of situations. He's always been that way, calm and stoic. Hardly ever acts on emotion."
Confused, Shiro looks at the Red Lion. Why is she telling me this? But before he can think further Red continues," So do my sisters. I am the only one who acts on emotion, and the only one to really get mad or protective of the people I bond with, as they have earned my respect and I know them. Us lions when we bond with you and when our bond grows deeper, we know every thought, we feel your physical pain, we feel your emotions and so on."
Red then stops, and looks directly at Shiro, "I am telling you this, because I know emotions more than my brother and sisters. My sister Blue is a push over most of the time, as she tries to be humble. Black is calm and stoic, and never lets rarely anything except calmness and stoicness show. Yellow thinks she can take on the whole world because of her strength and often is fearless. Green is intelligent and often answers problems of any kind with logic and reasoning."
"Me however, I am extremely protective of those I love, and because of that I am known as the most temperamental of the lions. I am sharing this with you to let you know there are many ways for emotions to take hold."
Why? Why share the personalities of her brother and sisters to him? It doesn't make any sense, unless,
"You want me to use my emotions that I am feeling to motivate me to find a way out of this place for when my friends need me." Shiro says finally understanding.
Red purrs, "Glad you understand. There are things you have yet to discover about yourself and the Astral Plane."
"Discover about myself?"
"You will see in time. Now start discovering, as your friends might need you sooner than you think."
Red starts to shimmer and Shiro calls out, "Wait!"
"Oh, and don't worry about Keith. I feel that he is fine and don't worry everything will reveal itself in due time." Red adds as an afterthought, though she disappears soon after leaving Shiro alone.
Red thank you, Shiro thinks. Red finally gave him the push to finally start figuring a way out and finally made him stop moping and do something instead of wasting his time. That's when he starts to think and then he smiles as he thinks about the window portals that allow him to see his friends. If he can do that, what else can he do?
Author's Note: So sorry for the long time in between chapters. It's just that this Voltron Show mini arc is a lot harder to write for and think of ideas for than the other parts of this arc. Also Happy Very, Very Late Easter. I decided to include Shiro being in the Astral Plane as I do want to write about his experience there before he comes back later in the story so I don't have to do any flashbacks( As flashbacks are kind of annoying to write, for me anyway when the flashback is taking up time that could be used for other story beats). Anyway, note there will be three more chapters after this and the first too will just focus on the before and after the shows and the Third will delve more into the show(mainly the final act) as I want to write other things and I think that this story structure for the next three chapters will help with my flow more. And after those three chapters it's back to Miraculous for some of their shenanigan's. Long tangent, but I felt I had to write it anyway. Hope you enjoyed these two chapters and hopefully this week I'll get to the Miraculous side of things:)