Chapter 2: First Lessons
Sakura stared at the chamber before her that was to be her new home. It was filled with all sorts of equipment and other things – three tables filled with bottles, beakers, test tubes, jars, and other glass holders filled or partially filled with various liquids, and ingredients filling multiple containers on multiple racks and bookshelves. One corner of the room was filled by three bookshelves loaded to almost overflowing with books, and a desk sat near the center of the chaos with dozens of papers sitting on it, a lone chair at it, a clock ticking away the time on the wall behind it. She also saw sitting stools, one at each table. To the back were two more doors in addition to the one they'd come in, and near them a small recliner with a small lamp table next to it. Atop this table was a lit lamp, a small glass, half-filled with a reddish fluid, and something that made her eyes light up in happiness.
"Kitty!" she squealed, letting go of her new "parent's" hand and dashing over to the table, reaching up and petting the blue furred cat snoozing quietly on the end table. The cat also boasted a clear pink ridge from the top of it's forehead to the base of it's tail following the feline's spine, but Sakura simply accepted this as part of the cat's alien breed. She giggled happily, and the cat opened it's yellow eyes, staring lightly at the child petting it, and to Haggar's surprise it mewed contentedly, briefly stretching itself out before recurling itself and reclosing it's eyes, not once rejecting Sakura's attentions.
"Well, we know one thing at least," Haggar mused. "You have a definite touch with animals, Cova normally doesn't let anyone but me touch him, let alone get that close without my permission. I almost feel betrayed."
"Am I not allowed to pet him?" Sakura asked, still petting the cat.
"Oh, it's quite alright, dearie," Haggar said, putting down her staff and moving over to retake the girl's hand. She lead the child away to the right side inward door. "But for now it can wait, we have other things to do, starting with getting you cleaned up, you clearly need a bath." With that she opened the door, revealing a simple yet opulent bathroom. Haggar lead Sakura straight to the bathtub, put the stopper in, turned the nobs to start it filling, then had her hold up her arms so she could pull off the sundress. Sakura wanted to protest that she didn't need a bath, but a quick glance in a nearby full length mirror told her even her real mother wouldn't be fooled by such a thing – even her pretty dress was all dirty! Haggar then got her to remove her panties, pulled off her hair ties and set them aside, then turned and shut off the water. She then lifted Sakura up and placed her in the water, retrieving the soap and proceeding to bathe her new apprentice.
Being the child she was, Sakura didn't make it easy, taking any and every opportunity to splash Haggar, laughing merrily at her fun. Haggar kept herself calm and kept to her task, knowing from having once accidentally walked in on Zarkon attempting to bathe Lotor at a similar age what she was signing up for when deciding to take little Sakura in as her own, and also knowing that Sakura would mature out of it in time. She finally concluded by soaking Sakura's head, washing her face, and then squeezing an amount of shampoo from the bottle atop the child's head and lathering her hair clean, quickly advising Sakura to close her eyes while she did so. Once she'd rinsed the shampoo out, she flipped a wet strand of hair out of Sakura's face, her own showing only amusement at the girl's antics.
"Now, stay put a moment, and try not to drown, I won't be long," she said, scooping up Sakura's clothes and quickly heading to her main door, noticing Cova had awoken and was sitting at the bathroom's entrance. "Cova, be a good familiar and watch her for me until I get back." The cat looked less than happy at the thought of having to get any nearer to the water, and Sakura giggled, splashing a little more in her merriment. Haggar quickly walked over to her entrance, and summoned a nearby guard, handing him the filthy clothes. They were arguably too "happy" for planet Doom, but there was no point in disposing of them until they were outgrown.
"Take these and have them cleaned and then returned to my quarters," she instructed. "And send me the castle tailor, I'm going to need her to produce a small wardrobe of additional clothing for the girl." The guard nodded and headed off to complete his tasks, Haggar closing her door and returning to the bathroom, Sakura still sitting in the tub, amusing herself by making small waves with the water. Haggar plucked her from the tub, pausing briefly to reach in and pull the stopper so the water could be released to the sewers, then grabbed a towel and began to dry the child off.
"Couldn't you use magic to do that?" Sakura asked, pointing at the tub.
"Yes," Haggar replied. "But it is best to do simple things like that, and this, by hand. You must never rely on magic for everything, or else you will become too dependent on it, and forget how to live without it, something that can be very bad should you be cut off, even if only for a short while, from your powers." Haggar briefly reflected on how this had been her very first lesson under her own master so long ago, and how she had wisely taken it to heart. Somehow, it warmed her to pass this knowledge on to a new generation, and Sakura nodded in understanding, or perhaps just acknowledgment. When she considered that the girl was dry, she wrapped her in the towel, and walked her back into the main lab, picking her up and sitting her on a stool at a table, clearing a space and then retrieving a pad of paper and a pencil.
"Are we gonna draw pictures?" Sakura asked, her little eyes lighting up.
"No, we are going begin your first and most important lesson," Haggar said. "I'm going to teach you how to write and read the alphabet of the common tongue."
"Why do I need to know that?" she queried.
"Because if you are to be a good witch, you must be able to read the spells and potion recipes of those who came before you," Haggar explained. "And you must be able to write down those of your own creation for those who are to follow you."
"Those of my what?" she blinked.
"The spells and potions you make up yourself," Haggar clarified. "All good witches do this, always have, and always will. This is how magic, and all other things, really, progress and improve." Haggar knew she may be pushing things a little, but in the same token she didn't want to waste any time if at all possible. And besides, reading and writing were arguably a simple thing, and she fully intended to take as long as necessary with each step. "Are you ready to get started?"
"Kay," Sakura said, though her tone and face clearly showed her nervousness. Haggar simply grabbed another stool from the next table, sat down, and began taking her through the alphabet one letter at a time, not surprised to find Sakura's scrawl was a little wiggly, and tended to fail to stay on the lines. About twenty minutes or so passed when a knock came at the door, Haggar standing up and going to answer it. Sakura watched as a Galran woman who looked about her mommy's age wearing a simple green and brown dress stepped in. She had brown hair done up in a long pony tail down her back, and pretty blue eyes that looked the same as her blue skin. The front of her dress had pockets containing measuring tools and a pad of paper, a pencil behind her right ear.
"Is this her?" the woman asked Haggar, carefully appraising the towel clad child, and Haggar nodded, leading her in.
"She'll need a complete wardrobe, including shoes," Haggar said, then addressed her student while lifting her to stand up on the stool for the moment. "This woman is Rahsheen. She's a tailor, a clothes maker, and she's here to take your measurements so as to make you some new clothes of your own. Understand?"
"Uh huh," Sakura nodded, and giggled a little when Rahsheen wrapped a measuring tape around her tummy. Rasheen wrote down the measurement then moved the tape to the girl's chest, then measured her arms and her inseam. Once all those were jotted down, she had Haggar return her to her sitting position, and pulled out a foot sizer to measure Sakura's feet, taking care to measure both on the unlikely chance they were different sizes.
"How old is she?" Rahsheen asked, as she jotted down the last bit of information.
"She told me that she's three," Haggar answered.
"Mm hmm, and her birthday?" Rahsheen inquired.
"April fools day," Sakura answered brightly. Rahsheen blinked, lightly confused, but Haggar quickly supplied a follow up answer, able to to quickly make the conversion in her head.
"The third of Trenath in our calendar," she said, and Rahsheen gave a nod of understanding, jotting down the information on her pad.
"She'll be needing replacements roughly every three to seven months for the next four or five years then," she commented.
"Yes, sounds about right," Haggar replied. "They do tend to grow fast at this age. It may in fact be more regular than we think."
"True," Rahsheen agreed, and stowed the foot sizer and her pad in her pockets, the pencil back behind her ear. "I'll be off then. I should have the first few done by the day after tomorrow, so you won't have to worry about her being a nudist long."
"Yes, very good," Haggar acknowledged. "And could you have someone bring down a cot for her to sleep on tonight? I imagine it'll take the carpenters at least a day, maybe two, to finish her proper bed...oh, damn, I forgot to send that order to them!" Sakura tried not to make a face at Haggar's bad word as she escorted Rahsheen to the door. Before she could say something about Haggar's use of profanity, though, Sakura's stomach rumbled loudly, causing the two women to turn and blink at her, Sakura giggling at the reaction.
"My tummy's hungry," she explained, and Haggar and Rahsheen both chuckled lightly.
"I'll see to my work and that cot then," the castle tailor said, and left, Haggar then summoning over a guard, and relaying her previously forgotten order for a new bed for Sakura to be produced by the carpenters.
"And have the chef's send down a meal," she added. "One fit for a very young princess." She paused, then added, "And some paper towels." She then returned to Sakura's side. "Some lunch will be down shortly. In the meantime shall we see to a few more letters?"
"Okay," Sakura said, and did her best to replicate the next couple of letters of the alphabet. A short while later another knock came, and Haggar returned to the door, this time returning with a plate of food and some utensils, moving the paper and pencils aside for now. Haggar quickly helped Sakura remember how to use the utensils, something that, no surprise to the old woman, had not been supplied for the somewhat rare meals proffered on the slave ship. She also helped Sakura regain some of her lost table manners. Either way it was fine by Sakura, who by the end of the meal was fuller than she'd been since she was taken from her home...her old home. It also did not surprise Haggar that she wound up soiling all but one, no, one-half of one of the paper towels she'd requested with the meal keeping Sakura's small face clean. Haggar again quietly reminded herself that she'd known what she was getting into with this!
A little while, and about six or seven more letters, after that the first guard returned with Sakura's cleaned sundress and panties, and Haggar finally was able to redress the child. A few moments after that the cot arrived and Haggar directed the guard with it into the bedroom, setting it up to one side. After that the afternoon went on, Haggar continuing to work with Sakura on her letters for a while longer before finally taking the child into the bedroom for a nap. Sakura quickly glanced around the bedchamber, finding a simple yet expensive bed against the wall, the blankets and sheets shiny and nice looking, a stand up lamp next to it. To the left of it against the adjacent wall was a simple closet, the door to it closed, and just next to that a small chest of drawers. Haggar had set up the cot along the opposite wall, and had already fitted it with a sheet and a blanket and pillow, and laid Sakura down into it. On the one hand she didn't really want to waste time, but on the other she also knew Sakura couldn't learn anything if her brain failed from exhaustion. She was hardly surprised when Sakura passed out practically the moment she hit the pillow.
As Haggar returned to her lab and went over a few potions she'd set brewing and boiling earlier in the day, moving the boiling one off its burner to cool, she contemplated her work thus far. While one could argue she hadn't really made any progress at all, and that she should just start stuffing magical knowledge into the girl without delay, she knew she was taking the right path on this. She had gained the child's trust, and while some might say she was dawdling, she had been fully honest when she'd told Sakura the importance of reading and writing. More to the point, the girl was completely unaware that Haggar had subtly cast a small weave of magic upon her, beginning the far more lengthy, yet all too necessary, process of molding Sakura's morality away from whatever "good" her family had been ingraining in her, and moving her, albeit slowly, toward Haggar's definition of "good", the true pure good of evil!
As she finished her checks, Haggar found herself thinking of Sakura's query about drawing pictures, and realized that as much as she wanted to push Sakura's training along quickly, the girl would require occasional entertainment. And since it could take years until her morality was sufficiently molded to where it needed to be, watching a stirring round of "feed the hapless slaves to the robeast" in the arena would only result in her being horribly psychologically traumatized, and might even cause her to lose Sakura. For the time being, she would need more age appropriate entertainment. She also realized that eventually Sakura would require her own, private sleeping chambers.
"Fortunately," she mused aloud to Cova, who had hopped up onto a table for attention, "We of Planet Doom are not so dispassionate to our children as the galaxy would like to believe." She gave her familiar a scratch behind the ears, and then collected her staff, departing the room. "Do keep an eye on her while I'm gone," she called to her familiar over her shoulder as she left.
Sakura yawned as she stretched herself out, feeling more rested than she'd been since her capture. She'd dreamed about her family, her mommy telling her to run, run as fast as she could, to run for her life, which didn't make any sense. She was safe now, Ms. Haggar had promised, and was gonna teach her to read and write and do magic! That was a good thing, wasn't it? At that thought she blinked awake completely, briefly stretching again, and taking another look around the bedroom, wondering where Haggar was. She got up out of the cot, and walked over to the bedroom door, giving it a push. Fortunately, Haggar had not closed it completely, and it creaked open for her, allowing Sakura to step back into the lab.
It was the same as when she'd gone for her nap, save that Haggar wasn't there, and nor was the old woman's staff. The blue cat, Cova, was sitting on a stool, waiting patiently. She walked over and gave him another pet, the familiar mewing happily in response. She then grabbed a second stool and climbed herself up to look at all the stuff on the table. She saw that the fluids in the beakers, tubes, bottles, jars, etc. were of multiple colors. She reached out and took hold of a circular pyramid beaker with a tall straight neck filled with something green, looking at it and sniffing carefully.
"Hmm, smells like apples," she said, and started to go to take a drink when something sharp pressed into her small hand, causing her to jerk and drop the beaker back to the table. Her eyes glanced down to see Cova, the claws on his left forepaw extended, the cat mewing negatively.
"What you do that for?!" she said angrily, and Cova in answer picked up a pencil that had gotten to the point it was more stub than writing utensil, and dropped it into the beaker. The moment it hit the fluid, the fluid bubbled as though boiling, and the pencil, what little there was of it, melted away into nothingness. Sakura's little eyes widened in surprise and fear, just grasping what trying to drink this would have done to her.
"Good kitty," she petted Cova apologetically. "Sorry I yelled at you." She then glanced at some of the other liquids in the various containers on the table, this time keeping her hands off, wanting to wait until Haggar could tell her which ones were safe and which ones weren't. She marveled at the array of colors, some blue, some red, some pink, some purple, some orange, and some various shades in between. Just then she heard the door open and she turned to see a man with a robot eye in place of his original right one and gray-blue skin walk in. He wore a predominately red uniform and a red cape, with splashes of yellow here and there. He also had on red boots and gray-black pants, and a red glove on his left hand. But what really got her attention was that his whole right arm was metal!
"Hey, old witch, where are you?" he called. "Zarkon says you were supposed to be in the throne room hours ago...who the hell are you?" Sakura couldn't help but shiver, the true yellow eye simply staring at her in curiosity while the red cybernetic one seemed to bore right on through her small body and out the other side.
"I...I...I'm Sakura," she managed to stutter out.
"And what in the hell are you doing in this room?" the man asked, his mouth scowling.
"I...I...I...live here, now," she squeaked, just wanting the man to leave.
"What?" he raised an eyebrow, his voice disbelieving.
"Th...th...that's what Ms. Haggar said," she answered.
"That I did, and it is the truth," Haggar's voice cut in. The man turned and Sakura's eyes lit up in relief and joy at the site of her savior's return as the older woman pushed past the man, a bundle in her left arm. Sakura hopped off the stool and dashed over to her, hugging Haggar in relief. "I see you've met my new apprentice, Captain Yurak," Haggar commented as she set her staff to the side and gave Sakura a return hug.
"Apprentice?" Yurak blinked in surprise. "Since when did you have an apprentice?"
"Since today," Haggar replied. "The girl has much potential, and I intend to mold her in my own image." Yurak just stared for a moment, then shrugged it off.
"It'll be interesting to see the results," he commented. "Are you sure you can handle it?"
"Well, we'll see, won't we?" Haggar answered.
"Well, as I was saying when I came in here looking for you, where the hell have you been?" he asked. "Zarkon's been gnashing at the leash waiting for you to arrive!" Haggar looked at him in curiosity for a moment, then her face lit up in an "o" of surprise.
"I missed the board meeting, didn't I?" she asked. "I've been so busy getting her settled in I just completely forgot all about it!"
"Actually, most of the Governor Generals arrived late, through no fault of their own, so they only just got ready to start twenty minutes ago," Yurak stated. "They're just waiting on you."
"Alright then, tell Zarkon I'll be there shortly," Haggar said. "I just need to take care of one little thing first."
"I'll give Zarkon the message," Yurak nodded, then kneeled down to Sakura's eye level. "I'm sorry I growled at you before," he said apologetically. "Castle security is part of my job, and Haggar hadn't told me about you yet. It won't happen again, I promise. I look forward to seeing how you use Haggar's magics." He briefly lifted her chin with his index finger, then stood up, giving a small wave as he left the room. Haggar took Sakura back over to the table, set down the bundle, and then lifted Sakura back up onto the stool. She then opened the bundle to reveal multiple drawing pads and children's puzzle books with a set of crayons and colored pencils. Sakura's eye's lit up in joy as Haggar set a pad and the drawing items before her.
"I thought you might like something fun to do, but you'll have to stay here by yourself again for awhile while I go to the meeting," Haggar told her.
"Do you have to?" Sakura asked.
"Yes, I'm afraid so, dearie," Haggar replied. Sakura nodded, then got a curious look on her face.
"Haggar, how come I could understand mister Yurak?" she asked. "And miss Rahsheen before, too. It sounded like they was talking like people do back home."
"That's because I've placed a powerful translation spell on this room so you can keep up," Haggar explained. "In time you'll learn the Doom language, the way our people talk, and the spell will be removed, but for now it will stay up. Now I need to go to the meeting. No worries, I'll be back. In the meantime, don't touch any of the potions, some of them are dangerous."
"I know," Sakura said, pointing to the green fluid filled beaker. "I was gonna take a sip but Cova stopped me and dropped a pencil in it to show me why it was bad." Haggar blinked in surprise, then chuckled lightly and gave the cat, still sitting on the table, a quick scratch.
"Good kitty," she told him, the cat mewing at the praise. Haggar then retrieved her staff again and headed off to the meeting, silently praying Zarkon wouldn't take her arm off for being late!
Coming up to the doors of the throne room, Haggar saw Yurak just outside, waiting. They nodded to each other as she reached the doors.
"Tell me, Yurak, why did you apologize to the girl?" she asked. "It's not like I told you what I had in mind."
"Wasn't hard to figure out," Yurak replied. "It was pretty obvious you're going to start by making her trust you before working on turning her to our side."
"Yes, indeed," Haggar agreed. "Out of curiosity, what did you tell Zarkon?"
"I told him you got absorbed in a new project and completely lost track of time, which is arguably the truth," he said. "I figured that you would want to tell him about the girl in your own time, in your own way."
"Yes, I do," she agreed. "Well, I better get in there, and hope Zarkon doesn't give me an unneeded, and rather unnecessary, punishment." With that, she opened the doors, and stepped into the meeting with the Governor Generals and Zarkon.
Sakura focused on the last few details of her picture, wanting it to be just right. Cova sat on the table next to her, purring quietly while he watched her, because he knew keeping her safe meant his mistress would be happy. And a happy mistress was a safe mistress! Haggar then entered, carrying a covered tray in her hand, looking worn out. She set down her staff and walked over to the table, setting down the tray and placing her hand lightly on Sakura's shoulder to get her attention. Sakura looked up, her eye's lighting up in joy as Haggar took a seat. Her joy paused when she saw how tired Haggar looked.
"Are you okay?" she asked, concern in her voice.
"Just a little tired," Haggar admitted. "It's not the first time one of these meetings wore me out a bit, and it'll be far from the last." She then removed the cover from the plate to reveal two plates of food, Sakura smiling in approval. "I brought some dinner. Hungry?"
"Yeah!" Sakura agreed, and Haggar moved her drawing aside and put a plate of food and a fork before her, Sakura digging right in. Haggar then took the other plate, picked up her own fork, and began to feed herself as well. They ate quietly for the next few moments, then Haggar paused, setting down the plate for the moment, and picking up Sakura's picture to have a look. It showed a green grassy field, upon which walked a person drawn in brown with a dark blue face and hands holding a walking stick in one and the hand of a little girl with peach skin in a yellow dress in the other, a blue four legged something at their feet. In the sky above them was a yellow sun, and to the other end of the picture floating in the sky were three more people, a man in glasses with brown hair, a woman with kind eyes and brown hair, and a little boy with black hair and a small scowl on his face. All three were dressed in white, and had pure white wings coming from their backs. Haggar looked at it for another moment, then picked up a moist towelette and gave Sakura's face a quick wipe down. She then glanced at the picture again.
"Tell me dear, who are these people?" she asked, holding up the picture so they could both see it. Sakura smiled, and leaned a little closer to it.
"Can't you see?" she asked, then pointed to the two on the ground. "That's you, and that's me," she said, then pointed at the blue thing at their feet. "And that's Cova." Cova perked up at the mention of his name and glanced at the picture, then gave a small mew of indignation.
"Oh, don't be like that, kitty," Haggar said, "It's pretty clear she isn't quite finished with you yet, she still needs to add your eyes and your spinal ridge." She glanced back at the other three in the picture while Cova curled back up, a realization coming to her. "Sakura, who are the others?"
"That's daddy and mommy and my nii-chan, Touya," she said, indicating each one. "They're watching us from heaven, 'cause they're dead now, that man in green from the space ship shot them and they died." She started to tear up a bit, and Haggar reached one arm around her, giving her a reassuring hug, doing her best to soothe her. Haggar noted quietly that she would have to do a little work with Sakura to help her through the emotional trauma, but that could wait for later. Haggar thought for a moment as to who the "man in green" Sakura referred to was, then realized there was really only one candidate. Sakura took a breath, then continued, "But they're happy now cause you came and saved me and you're gonna take care of me now." Haggar nodded in agreement, then glanced again at the picture, and how Sakura had drawn her brother with a scowl.
"Sakura, why is your brother scowling?" she asked. Sakura looked up, wiping the tears from her eyes with her little hands.
"Cause he always looks like that," she said. "He's always being mean and telling me a robeast will come and eat me if I'm bad and calling me a monster and stuff." Haggar couldn't help her chuckle of amusement, causing Sakura to pout a little.
"I'm sorry, dear, that's just the first time I've heard of that idea," she explained. "Robeasts coming to eat bad little children, that's a new one on me. As to his other behavior, have you considered that maybe he was a little jealous of you?"
"Jealous?!" Sakura blinked. "You think?"
"It's not uncommon for older brothers and sisters to be jealous of their little sisters and brothers," Haggar responded. "So, yes, I think he might have been." Sakura thought about that a bit, and Haggar set the picture down and finished her meal, Sakura finishing her own, Haggar wiping her face clean a few more times. Afterward Haggar cleared the plates, setting them back on the tray, and taking it over to set it next to the door so as to be retrieved in the morning. She then took Sakura to the bathroom to wash her up properly, then took her back to the table to finish her picture while she checked her potions. Everything seemed okay, and she moved some from their beakers to proper jars and bottles, placing a small cover over those that had to sit overnight where they were.
"There," Sakura said, showing her picture to Cova again. "All done. See, it looks just like you!" Cova glanced at it, and gave another mew of indignation, clearly not convinced. Haggar came over and had a look, and agreed with Sakura; now the cat in the picture did look like Cova, at least as much as a three year old was capable of drawing, at any rate. Haggar fetched the pad and pencil from earlier, moving the drawing supplies to the side.
"Shall we practice some more letters, dear?" she asked.
"Kay," Sakura replied, and took the pencil in her hand. Haggar took her through a few more letters, before long reaching the end of the common language's alphabet. As Sakura practiced the letters a few more times, Haggar went over to the desk and sifted through a few of the papers, realizing she was behind on some of her latest reports. She occupied herself on that for a few hours while Sakura stuck to her practice, eager to master her first lesson. After a while, though, as can be expected, Sakura grew bored, and climbed slightly up onto the table to reach one of the puzzle books, flipping it open and glancing through a few of the pages till she found a dot-to-dot, and started connecting. Just as Sakura was finishing the puzzle, Haggar completed the last piece of paperwork she was willing to stare at for the day, setting down her pen and getting up from the desk after dropping the paper on the 'done' pile. She glanced at the time, and went over to Sakura, who glanced up at her and showed her the finished puzzle.
"Look, it's a doggy," Sakura smiled, showing off her squiggly 'masterpiece'.
"So it is," Haggar replied. "It's very nice, dearie. Now come, it's getting late and I think it's time we both went to bed."
"But I'm not sleepy," Sakura said, then yawned.
"Of course you're not," Haggar smiled, lifting Sakura down and taking her to the bedchamber. "But I am, so we're going to call it a night." In the bedchamber Haggar again plucked the sundress from Sakura, setting it on the chest of drawers from which she picked out a simple, plain short sleeved shirt she wore on occasion. She then placed this shirt on Sakura, which on the child looked almost like a dress in and of itself.
"Yes, that'll do as a night shirt for now," she said, hoping Rahsheen would remember to include a set of proper pajamas for the girl as she put Sakura to bed in her cot. She then undressed herself and changed into her own gray pajamas.
"Tell me a story," Sakura said as Haggar reached for the light, causing the old witch to pause. She thought for a moment, then lit upon a good one for the child, and a means to further mold her young mind.
"Alright, have you ever heard of Voltron?" she asked, and Sakura shook her head no. "Well, a long time ago, almost twelve thousand years according to some accounts, a group of mighty but evil warlocks and sorceresses and scientists crafted a wonder of magic and technology, and named it Voltron, a mighty robot whose hands and feet resembled the heads of four mythical lions. They sent it out to destroy good magic users and their worlds. The ones Voltron was sent against conjured giant beasts and machines to try and defeat him, not entirely unlike our robeasts, but of a far different ilk. But despite the conjurers' best works, Voltron reduced all those who came before him into so much chopped pieces with his vicious "Blazing Sword" and his dark elemental powers of fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning."
"What happened?" Sakura asked, her eyes wide. "Did the ones who made him take over everything?!"
"Oh, no, dearie," Haggar replied. "Something unexpected happened. Voltron awoke, came alive as you or me, and turned on his masters, wiping them out. But even with them gone he could not be stopped, and now he refused to be controlled. He actively sought out more great beasts, to prove his strength. And so powerful was he, that before long none could challenge him, which made him grow restless. Then a miracle happened. A goddess appeared before him in space, and in his arrogance Voltron challenged her to battle. 'My,' she said to him, 'Aren't we full of ourselves. I think someone needs a helping of humble pie.'" Sakura giggled at Haggar's supplied 'dialogue', and Haggar smiled at her success at making the girl smile, then continued. "She then seized Voltron with her powers, and shattered him. Now, this is where various different versions get a little confused. Some say he was utterly destroyed, never to rise again, but others say he was just broken into several pieces."
"Which one's the right one?" Sakura asked.
"Well, I looked into it once, and it is my considered opinion that the latter is the correct one," Haggar answered. "I believe she broke Voltron into five pieces, and cast him down onto the nearest planet, where the pieces were buried deep into the earth, and cast into a deep sleep. It is even possible that someday one or more of the pieces will be dug up again, and it may even be that Voltron can be reassembled, though when or how I cannot say. For now, though, he is broken, and sleeps until the day of his return."
"Wow," Sakura awed. "Do you really think Voltron could be put back together again?"
"It is certainly possible," Haggar said. "But first you'd have to find him, and to do that you'd need to figure out which planet he's buried on. He has been searched for on many planets by archaeologists, but as yet none have located him." She paused as it occurred to her that Sakura might not know what an archaeologist is. "Um, an archaeologist..."
"Archaeologists study and dig up the past," Sakura said, surprising her. "My daddy's one."
"Ah, I see," Haggar nodded, and tucked Sakura in. "Time to sleep now." Sakura nodded, and laid her head down on her pillow. Haggar then went to her own bed and climbed in, reaching her hand up to the lamp.
"Haggar?" Sakura's small voice carried across the room.
"Yes?" Haggar asked, hoping she didn't want another story.
"Can I...can I call you...mama?" she asked shyly, surprising Haggar, who froze for a moment in shock. She had never really expected to be asked such a question, and wasn't really sure how to answer it. On the one hand it could help to further endear the child to her, solidifying the girl's trust in her. 'But on the other hand,' a distant voice deep within her cried out, 'it could also cause you to care more for the girl than you're supposed to! It could lead to your doom!' Haggar contemplated these arguments in her head for a few moments, then gave Sakura a truly warm smile.
"Of course you can," she said. "I'd like that." Sakura smiled, then rolled over in her cot. Haggar switched off the light, laid down, and went to sleep herself.
To be continued.
Okay, from here we're going to do a few time jumps to speed things along because, frankly, watching Haggar work with a three-year-old Sakura is gonna get real boring! And the real meat and drink of this is when she's older, anyway.
Scorpinac.
