2-
Kale ventured down to the White Lion's hanger as silently and quickly as he could. Everyone else was asleep and he did not want to wake them up. He slipped into her hanger and walked up to her glowing silvery white barrier. He gently touched it and whispered a soft,"hey girl, I'm here."
Her eyes lit up and the barrier died down. He entered her cockpit and when he sat upon the chair, the barrier was, once again, up.
His surroundings faded back into that beautiful night with a starry moon. Kale stood and smiled up at Musyn.
So, how does this work?
She purred within his mindIt is good to see that you actually came, that means you truly care
Of course, I came. I wouldn't skip learning from a giant space Lion for anything
Amusement flowed through the bond.
Close your eyes, Paladin. Tonight, I will be teaching you how to see through my eyes. But first, I wish to share some rules and regulations, as well as what every Lion and their Paladin is meant to do.
Kale nodded and listened carefully to what she had to say.
The first rule is to always protect your fellow Paladins over yourself, especially if my siblings and I cannot.
The second rule is to never kill in cold blood, if it is an accidental killing, or a killing in self-defense, then that is fine.
The third rule is that you must always wear your Paladin armour when you are in battle or during training. Especially if you are in your Lion. The armour is equipped to protect you from damage that could kill you.
The fourth rule is to always have some sort of plan, even if it is a terrible one. With a plan you can improvise, without one, you will fail and die.
And finally, the fifth rule. Always, I cannot stress this enough, ALWAYS, trust your Paladin's and Lion's above anything else. And NEVER make the others feel like an outsider, no matter the race or ethnicity.
Do you understand, Paladin?
I do, Musyn.
Good. Now for the Paladin and Lion roles.
Black, Kloa, is our leader, so is his Paladin. You must follow their lead, unless if it is stupid, then you and I can take command.
I, Musyn, am the second in command and the Queen of Voltron. You are the second to the Black Paladin and, as I informed you before, can take command if you find an order as unjust. We are also there to keep order and to protect the young.
Red, Fiar'e, is the third in command, his role is to take control of the team if something happens to both Kloa and myself. He and his Paladin are my second's, and the leaders of any air support if needed.
Green, Fira'rn, is the smartest out of all of us. She is our tactics officer, and her Paladin is the one who hacks into enemy mainframes as every one of us protects their backs.
Yellow, Silaow, holds us up, but not together. He encourage's us when we are down, and his Paladin is similar.
Blue, Ara, is the youngest of us all. She and her Paladin are the hearts of Voltron. They are the ones who hold us together. They are the most loyal of us all.
Now, for our training. Close your eyes and concentrate. This will take some time.
…
Kale sat in White, listening to everything she said and heard, feeling everything she felt and seeing everything she saw. There was only one word to describe it: Amazing.
He and She; They were connected for most of the night. Learning from one another, teaching and training.
That was when the alarm's sounded.
"Everybody up!Zarkon's attacking! The Castle's about to be destroyed! Go, go, go! We need Voltron now!"
Kale and White were zooming out of the hanger barely a second later. Both began circling the castle, scanning for the ships and looking for damage. They found nothing.
Hurry! We can't survive much longer!"
Kale frowned and activated the comms.
"Princess Allura, are you sure? White and I cannot find anything. Nothing is attacking"
"Oh, no! Allura is dead!Aaaah! it's horrible! Her head fell off! Wait! What? Her severed head is trying to speak to me! What is it, Allura's head? What are your final words?"
Kale jumped slightly before huffing and bringing White to a stop.
"This was a training exercise, wasn't it?" the boy demanded.
"Yes, Kale. Please return to the Castle" Allura called.
Kale rogered and flew the White Lion back to her hanger before leaving her and heading to the main room. When he entered, Allura looked him up and down before speaking.
"Only two of you were ready in full armour, Kale why did you go to the Lion's instead of right here?"
Kale spoke casually and in a snarky tone, "you said we were under attack, I believed that we were supposed to defend the Castle, not stand around talking about it"
Allura looked startled before nodding, "that makes sense"
Kale hummed, "so glad you agree"
Lance finally made his appearance. The Blue Paladin let out a yawn as he walked in, he was fully rested.
"Good morning everyone, what's going on?"
"We're getting yelled at for being unuse to the Paladin way even though we were here for barely a day" Kale responded with a shrug.
Allura gave him a glare, Alita looked worried.
"Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order. We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed"
Kale scowled but remained silent.
"You got to sleep for ten thousand years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird Castle. That's a lot to process in, uh... I don't know. What day is today?"
"Tuesday, and we fought Zarkon's general, not Zarkon himself" Kale pointed out.
"Right, thank you, Kale" Hunk sniffed, "it's a lot to take in, okay?"
"You must understand the stakes of our mission," Allura brings up a map of the universe from the Castle's computer and displays a large amount of distress beacons.
"Over the last ten thousand years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations. So, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe," Allura moves the map to the Milky Way where it appears barely out of Zarkon's reach, "Earth is here. An attack on your planet is inevitable"
Kale felt sick; all the other Earthians looked pale and Saoirse whimpered. Kale wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She buried her head in his chest to try to hide from the horrible realization.
"Our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so, we can begin fighting Zarkon" Allura continued.
"The Princess is right, let's get our Lions and start training" Shiro speaks.
"Wait. I want to speak to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship"
"Negative, Number Six. I have you ranked by height, okay? The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow" Coran denied Pidge.
"That's right, now go get to your Lions" Allura agreed to the orange-haired male.
Kale used the zip-line than the speeder, just like he's done the night before. Musyn was already waiting for him, her head bent and her maw open. Kale leapt out of the speeder and into her mouth. They were connected and out of the Hanger within thirty seconds.
The two, into one, landed and waited for the others. Keith and Fiar'e and Shiro and Kloa were out next; Fiar'e landing first due to his faster speeds. Pidge and Fira'rn came out a minute later. Now, they were just waiting on Hunk and Silaow.
They waited almost five minutes before the two made a show.
Apologies my kin, my Paladin was stuck.
The other Lions let off soft laughter, not harsh merely amused.
It is fine, Silaow, it could have happened with any of our Paladins.
"All right, guys, let's just fly in tight formation until we're totally in sync" Shiro commed.
"You can do it Paladins; I believe in you" Allura looked way too cheerful, "Feel the bond with your Lions and your fellow pilots until six units become one unit and you form Voltron!"
Kale followed the others as they took off.
They flew in formation; just as they have before and just as they have seen in the visions. Kale slipped easily into the connection but, like before, couldn't feel the other humans.
They flew for hours, losing enthusiasm as each moment passed.
"Woo" Hunk pretended before asking them, "am I the only one still pretending to be excited?"
"This isn't working" Kale sighed, slowing Musyn as they all slowed to a stop.
A chorus of "yeah" filled the comms. Kale felt the Lions disappointment.
"Let's set down and think about this" Shiro stated.
"Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up" Keith suggested after a moment of silence.
"What do you mean?" the Black Paladin quizzed.
"I mean, let's try literally building Voltron, like, stacking on top of each other"
"Like a cheerleader pyramid?" Lance let out an amused snort.
"You got a better idea?"
"It's worth a try" Shiro looked excited to at least have a suggestion to do.
Whelp, that didn't work Kale thought to the Lions.
It turns out, Hunk thought he was the head and Kale was hovering above Silaow, unsure on where to land.
"Hunk, you're the leg" Kale tried to reason when the others failed, "and where am I supposed to land?"
"I... all the time?" Hunk sounded off-put.
"How about we just try it my way, okay?" Shiro asked.
Hunk sighed, "oh, alright..."
Kale let out a sigh of relief. He pulled Musyn so that she hovered higher as the others repositioned themselves. He landed gently on Kloa's back, making sure his wings were not touched or bent. They stayed like that for almost half an hour before getting impatient.
"This is not working" Kale leaned back, stretching his hands out in front of him as he bent backwards in a stretch.
"Why was this so much easier before?" Lance asked, a frown on his face.
Shiro sighed, sounding tired, "let's take a break"
"Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help. Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle" Allura said after popping up on screen.
"Yeah" Pidge chirped.
"I'm listening" Hunk said.
"You're right" Shiro looked relieved.
"Yeah, I guess" Keith replied.
Allura beamed, "perfect. Because I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle's defenses. This should help!"
The Castle of Lion's fires from its particle barrier, bombarding the Lions and their Paladins. The Paladins scream and flee.
Musyn and Kale flew up high while the others continued to run on the ground. Their panicked screams filled the commlink and Kale turned off the sound, rubbing his temple from the upcoming headache.
"Allura, What Are You Doing?!" Keith yelled.
"Motivating you" Allura smiled happily, "I believe in you, Paladins! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!"
"Forget this!" Lance turned Ara and they ran towards the castle.
"Lance the Par-" Kale winced when the Blue Lion slammed into the Particle Barrier and crashed feet away from it, "never mind"
Hunk begged for mercy as Kale dodged a few blasts and shot others.
"Do you honestly believeZarkon will show mercy?! He is probably on his way right now to kill us all!"
Kale rolled his eyes, overdramatic much.
Musyn laughed inside his head.
They became one and fought the beams as one, dodged the beams as one, flew and ran as one.
The beams stopped coming and the two hovered, watching as four of the others flew back in and Kloa followed soon after.
…
Turned out, Allura was not happy that five out of six Paladins went inside instead of continued trying. They had the others join Kale in the sky and Coran had them nose-dive their Lions.
Kale smiled as he watched the world blur past, only to almost have a panic attack when the world disappeared into darkness.
Calm Musyn reassured through their bond, this is an exercise to see how well Lion and Paladin trust one another.
Kale relaxed and closed his eyes, following what Musyn taught him the night before into looking through each other's sight.
Two became one once more. And they tilted their angle before crashing to fly up.
They tilted their head before flying across the sky's, getting used to the merge while moving. They lost track of time, loving the sights, smells, heat and cold as they flew farther and farther from the Castle. They flew for what felt like hours, only to come back to themselves when their comm blinked online.
"Kale, Shiro, good job on gaining enough trust between you and the Lion. Now, come back in, you six will be doing the maze"
Kale opened his eyes and regarded Coran; they were learning to look through their Lion's eyes and Pidge and Hunk had already failed for having panicked over Lance and Keith crashing after a competition. Shiro and Kale were still going.
Kale grabbed the control sticks before directing the White Lion of Voltron towards her hanger.
He left the hanger and headed to the main room, uniting with the others, where Allura and Coran awaited them. The two led them to the Training Hall and began with Keith and Lance doing an invisible Maze.
Kale entered next with Shiro as his guide. Left, right, forward two paces, turn right, forward, stop, etc...
Kale only got shocked once and was paying more attention since. Not wanting that to happen again. It hurt.
.
Soarise stared at the beautiful maid, feeling a pull towards her, almost the same pull as she felt towards Kale that faithful day.
"Do you need my help with something?" her voice sounded of light and life and no evil, unlike those who experimented on her.
"Can we play something? I'm bored"
Alita looked at the bedding in her arms, contemplating.
"I can help you finish the laundry if you want" Saoirse smiled sweetly.
Alita smiled back, she nodded and Soarise beamed before taking some laundry from her and followed the Altean.
.
"Two, two, one, two. Okay, listen up. The Paladin code demands that you put your team members' safety above your own. A swarm of drones is about to attack. It's up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team."
Coran's voice carried from the watch deck as the six new Paladins stood in a circle.
Little sphere-shaped droids flew down from the ceiling and the Paladin's created shields. Hunk was impressed and asked if everyone got one.
Kale blocked attacks aimed for Lance and Pidge. Hunk dodged a laser on instinct and Kale barely managed to block Pidge, but he was unable to stop the laser from hitting the Samoan/African American.
"Protect your teammates or no one will be there to protect you!"
Pidge yelped and ducked at a laser aimed for her head, it hit inbetween Shiro's shoulder-blades and he fell through the floor.
"Pidge, you have a shield!" Kale shouted over the madness and Pidge blushed slightly.
The four came closer together, backs against each other as they protected each other. Kale's only focus was on the beams, using his training to protect his comrades.
"Time to increase intensity" as Coran said this, the drones sped up.
Kale believed they were doing well, until Lance tried to bait Keith and missed the moment to move. Kale shifted his shield to protect the Latino, causing Pidge to be struck in the leg and fall into the floor like all the others.
The Japanese American cursed softly, and they went into a triangle-like shape.
"Will you two stop fighting each other for more than two minutes?!" the male hissed.
The two murmured apologies and Kale huffed, blocking an attack aimed for Keith's shoulder.
Kale's focus wavered when he heard Pidge's voice through the glass, shouting that they could do it. His waver costed him dearly and his instincts forced him to duck a laser and it hit Keith before another hit him and Lance.
Kale cried out as he was swallowed by darkness. He fell and fell until he landed on something soft, his muscles relaxed for a split second before something heavy fell on top of him.
Lance groaned and Keith murmured curses as Kale pushed Lance off and rolled off of Keith. He followed them down the dark corridor to a lightened area where all of the other Paladins, and Coran, were.
They returned to the Training Center through a door, this time holding specialized headsets that Coran gave them. The six sat in a circle near the middle of the room while Coran spoke over the intercom. The headsets covered their eyes, but did not blind them.
"Now the most important part of Paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron. Everything else has to fade away. This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron"
Kale closed his eyes, concentrating on his Lion and only his Lion, ignoring everyone else's thoughts. He felt five presences in his mind, and he had to keep focus on forcing himself to not lash out.
He put forth memories, times of his family and friends after... after. He listened to Coran's speech and cleared his mind of everything. The presences faded slowly, and Kale flickered the memories back to where they were before he called them forth.
He stayed perched in a sitting position; his mental link flittered away briefly to help him connect with the others and that's when it happened. One of the other's presences slipped through and touched the mentally locked box with all his past-past memories. It snapped and his memories hidden flooded his mind like a tsunami, making him gasp at the pain they provided.
A much younger Kale held a baby boy as his parents watched with smiles on their faces.
.
"Cannan, Slow Down!" The brothers ran through the falling snow, Cannan laughing as Kale struggled to catch up.
"No!" the child giggled and took a hard-right turn, going past the towns well.
.
Nine-year-old Kale coughed as he shivered, his mother gently wiped the sweat with a cool rag, her eyes were soft and kind.
.
Kale bounced in excitement as his father led him to his first training lesson.
.
Kale walked into his home, Cannan excitedly talking to his older brother. He looked up and both brothers froze, their eyes widening in horror as-
.
Kale ripped his headset off and threw it at the ground, panting heavily as he stumbled to his feet and fled backwards. Memories of the old times flooding his mind, filling him with emotions he long-since tried to stop feeling.
"Let's take a break" Shiro said, looking at the 17-year-old with worry.
Kale ducked his head, avoiding the other's gaze as he returned to his spot on the ground.
.
The seventeen-year-old thanked Coran as he took the drink and sucked on the straw. The 'water' was sweet with a slightly bitter aftertaste. He looked up when he heard the training room's door slide open and sighed when he saw Allura stalking over.
"What are you doing lying around? You're supposed to be training!" She shouted, angry.
Coran tried to explain but Allura wasn't having any of it.
"What do you mean, 'can't push too hard'? Get up, you lazy lumps-!"
A screech left her lips as a dagger barely missed her and hit the wall behind her. Seven pairs of eyes stared at Kale with shock and horror as he balanced the tip of an identical blade on his pointer finger.
"Allura, we have been working, non-stop, for almost seven hours. We are taking a five minute water break to rehydrate; I don't know about your species, but a dehydrated human can die." Kale hissed; eyes dark.
Allura sniffed, holding his glare with her own, "it's time for you to face a Gladiator"
Shiro stiffened, turning a pale white.
Kale let out a low growl and stood up, anger burned inside of him like a wild fire from her disregard of her subject's emotional and mental state. He stalked forward, pushed Allura against the wall and held a dagger to her throat. Ignoring all of the shouts behind him.
"Listen up, Princess" the boy spat out the word 'princess' with venom, "I do not know why you are being a dictator, but it needs to come to a stop."
"I'm not-"
He pressed the dagger closer to her throat, drawing a drop of blood and she silenced.
"We are not soldier's and we are definitely not your toys to play with and break as you see fit. We are human children who have only been in the field on a Simulator situation. We have been performing tasks that are taxing on our bodies, we are weaker and have worse reaction time, as well as reflexes, than what you remember of the Paladins before us."
Kale shifted the blade away from her throat, but keeping it in hand.
"I understand that you wish to avenge your father, your family, really I do, but breaking us is not the answer. That is how you lose every war. We need rest, five minutes at most, I promise."
She stared at him, everything and everyone was silent.
"Fine. Five dobashes. But no longer"
Kale nodded and backed off watching as she stiffly left the room.
.
Five minutes had passed and right on the dot, Allura marched back in and called for the new Paladin's to train once more.
Now, the six stood together as they waited for the Gladiator to drop.
.
Saoirse giggled as she and Alita played hide-and-seek. Alita was currently it and Saoirse found the perfect hiding place; the air vents. The two played many different games in the hours after finishing up the chores, both having a wonderful time.
.
The Gladiator, with a staff, got dropped from the ceiling and attacked them almost instantly. Kale charged along with Hunk, Pidge and Keith while Lance stumbled back and aimed his Bayard gun and Shiro tried to activate his glowing arm.
The Gladiator slammed the staff at Kale, but he dodges, it was swung back before he could react, and he let out a pained cry as it hit his side. He felt his ribs crack before being thrown into a wall.
Kale blinked away the pain and spots in time to see Pidge get thrown into Hunk by the humanoid robot. His instincts took hold, and he grabbed his sword instead of his Bayard before charging at the Altean 'Training Dummy'.
He twisted just as he got in front of the robot and blocked the attack. His eyes glowed with protectiveness as he pushed back on the Gladiator before roundhouse kicking it. The kick only caused it to stumble, but that was all Kale needed. He lunged on top of the droid, stabbing it inbetween the shoulder-plating and the neck, tearing the sensitive wires before ripping out the sword in an arch which tore the head clean off of its shoulders. The boy flipped backwards, landing in a crouch and watched as the Gladiator collapsed to its knees before falling to the ground completely. It sparked out of the wounds.
Kale's panting could be heard in the quiet room; his muscles gave the satisfying ache they usually did when he was on an adrenaline high. He stood straight and stiffened, finally remembering about the others. The American-Japanese male turned and saw their surprised looks. Kale bit his bottom lip, glancing away, not wanting to see the surprise turn to horror, then to disgust like everyone else. They were his friends, and he didn't want them to look at him with those looks. The only one who hasn't, was Saoirse.
"Kale-" Allura and Coran entered and Kale was relieved, for he did not want to hear the words Hunk would have said.
"You were supposed to fight together!" Allura raged, her eyes blazing and her hands clenched into fists.
Kale remained silent as Allura scolded them; she went on and on for multiple minutes. Kale finally had enough and grabbed his Beretta Model 92 and fired it into the air, silencing the Altean.
"How about you stop scolding us and acting like we grew up on Altea, and instead, you help us get better" the male sassed, putting his gun back in its holster.
Allura scowled at him before huffing and telling the Voltron Paladins that dinner was almost ready. They followed the Alteans to the dining hall and sat down. Kale sat at the left end of the table.
Coran smiled at them as he spoke, "Ahoy, young Paladins! I've whipped up a big batch of focusing food. After this meal, you'll be forming Voltron six times a movement and twice on the astral conflux!"
"Smell's great, thanks Coran" Shiro smiled.
The Paladins were about to eat when their wrists were linked together with Altean handcuffs.
"Hey!"
"What the-!"
"I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you're still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day."
"Coran, I want you to think about what you're doing" Hunk threatened.
Coran beamed not at all worried about the threat, "Oh, this one's a classic. You get to feed each other, like a pack of Yalmors!"
They struggled to feed each other. Somehow, Lance's fingers ended up in Hunk's nose and mouth; Kale's hand ended up on Shiro's plate, which he apologized for.
Saoirse ate peacefully next to Alita as Allura was cringing at the complaints and noise.
"Do Earthlings ever stop complaining?"
"No" Kale murmured too low for the others to hear.
"Can't you just give us a break? Everyone's been working really hard today" Shiro asked, exhaustion in his voice.
Keith readily agreed, "Yeah! We're not some prisoners for you to toy with, like... like..."
Lance jumped in, "like a bunch of toy prisoners!"
"Yes! Thank you, Lance!"
Coran shouted back at them "You do not yell at the Princess!"
Pidge lost her cool, "Oh, the Princess of what? We're the only ones out here and she's no Princess of ours!"
Kale saw sadness and hurt flicker in the princess's eyes and turned to glare at Pidge.
"Pidge-"
Green food-goo flew passed Kale and hit Pidge in the head. There was silence before an all-out food-fight occurred.
Many minutes passed before they were panting, the six looked at each other and began laughing.
"Enough! Do you see what you're doing?! You're finally working together as one!" Allura beamed.
They looked at each other before:
"Hey, she's right!"
"I actually don't hate you right now."
"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Let's go form Voltron!"
"Yeah!"
"Actually, I was thinking dessert. But, yeah! Let's do it!"
Hunk cheers but ends up making everyone fall over because they were still handcuffed. They all groaned and Hunk apologized, claiming he forgot that they were handcuffed.
The six were unhandcuffed and quickly made their way to their Lions, ready to form Voltron. Kale lightly ran his hands across Musyn's dashboard in greetings and she purred in his mind. He grabbed the joysticks and the two synchronized as one as they flew out of the hanger and met the others near the front doors. Everyone got there around the same time.
"Is everyone ready?" Shiro asked and was met with a bunch of agreements, "then let's do this! Form Voltron!"
The Paladins took off and flew in formation. Kale concentrated and felt the others much clearer than the first time. He felt a light tug from all of them and pulled at them; he felt the flow of energy that he had felt before flow through him and his Lion; he felt the connections grow before being pulled together and becoming one.
Voltron was formed for the second time.
.
Saoirse stared in awe at the metal giant from her dreams. It was much more wonderful than anything she has ever seen.
"Pretty" the young girl cooed.
.
Kale grinned, he felt the emptiness he has always had be filled. He never felt more real, more whole, more like himself.
He closed his eyes, smiling as his head rested against the seat-head. He inhaled the metallic scent of the Lion as he relaxed. He felt his lion sway back and forth as Lance and Hunk moved the legs of Voltron.
His mind drifted to his favorite spot; the overhang just outside his birth village, that overlooked the serene forest and nearby bodies of water, with a view of close-by mountains. He held the image, smiling as he felt his body relax as it did whenever he was there. He focused on remembering the breeze and the chirping of spring-time birds, he remembered the whistling of leaves and the scent of fresh, pollution-free air. He felt more relaxed than he had since that day.
"Ready to disengage?" Shiro's voice asked through the radio.
There were sounds of agreement and Voltron returned to six individual lions and they headed to the castle.
Kale left Musyn, bidding her farewell as he went to meet up with his teammates in the lounge room. He was the second to last person to get there, Hunk entered last and, in embarrassment, claimed that he made a wrong turn. After everyone got were there, the six sat on the round sofa and talked excitedly.
"Man, that was cool! I'm so charged up; I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight" Lance commented, a huge grin adoring his face.
Keith countered with a sweep of his hand as he spoke "not me. When my head hits the pillow, I'm going to be lights out."
Hunk's eyes were slightly wet as he hugged Keith, Kale and Lance close to his chest, "I just want you to know that I realized when we were in Voltron, we're brothers, man. You know? Like, we're totally connected. No secrets, no barriers, no nothing. Brothers all the way. I love you guys"
Kale patted the big lug with uncertainty in his eyes.
Keith laughed slightly, "G-forces mess with your head a little bit?"
Hunk smiled sheepishly, "yeah, maybe a little. I-I don't know. It's been a tough few day"
Hunk let out a large yawn and this caused a chain-reaction. The group bid each other good night and headed off. Kale went over to his non-biological sister, who was playing patty-cake with Alita, and told her it was time for bed.
"Okay" the little girl chirped and grabbed his hand, waving bye to the young woman with her free hand, "bye-bye Alita"
"Have good dreams Saoirse"
.
Kale gently tucked her into bed and lightly kissed her head. He stood to leave when she grabbed his sleeve, he looked back at her in curiosity.
"Tell me a story?" Saoirse begged, giving him her adorable puppy-dog eyes.
Kale nodded and began his story, pushing his own exhaustion to the back of his head to help his charge to get to sleep.
"Once upon a time, in a small village, there was a small family; a beautiful mother, her strong husband and their perfect baby girl. One day, the family were attacked by a group of savages, the father held them back telling his wife to grab their baby and run.
The woman was tearful as she took their newborn into the dense and dark woodlands close by. She ran for almost an hour; the sun had already set and the Winter cold began to set in.
The woman was cold and used her body heat to try and keep the child warm. Soon, her walking began to taper, as her legs went numb. She sat down against a tree, holding the crying baby closer to her stomach.
The first snow began to fall and the woman's eyes grew heavy. She prayed to the Gods that her baby girl would survive in this harsh weather. As her strength left her, her eyes slipped close, the last thing she saw was glowing golden eyes of a wolf."
Saoirse let out a gasp, "what happened next? Did the child and mom make it?"
Kale chuckled, "you'll see"
He cleared his throat and continued.
"The woman was surprised when she awoke the next day, she thought that the freezing cold of the night would take her. As she regained felling in her body, she felt something laying on top of her, breathing. Panicked, the woman opened her eyes and was stunned to see a breath-taking white wolf with stunning one golden and one ice blue eye draped over her, keeping her and her child warm.
The wolf stopped licking her child and looked at her. The wolf gave a small bark and nuzzled the woman. The woman shifted to sit straighter and the wolf got off. As the woman stood and adjusted her grip on her child, the wolf grabbed her dress hem and tugged, asking her to follow.
She did so, as her instincts told her to. The wolf led her back to her home and she was shocked to see those who have attacked were all slaughtered. Her husband was calling her name and she responded. The two raced to each other and reunited. As the woman looked back to the white wolf, it was gone."
Kale lightly ran his hand through Saoirse's hair as he continued.
"When the little girl became ten, her father was sent to war against the enemy to the West. The father gave his daughter the family heirloom, a red diamond in the shape of a fang.
The day after her father left, her mother was at work and told her three rules.
Rule 1: Do not speak to strangers
Rule 2: Stay on the path in the woods if she were to venture in them
And finally, Rule 3: If you see a white wolf, bow your head in respect and thanks, but do not get too close for it is still a wild animal
The little girl stayed in the house for ten minutes before getting bored and heading out. She went into the forest, staying on the trail as she headed to her favorite place. Half-way there, a man approached her and asked where her parents were at. She became uncomfortable and tried to get past him. He grabbed her wrist and demanded her to answer, shaking her as he did so. She was scared and began to cry, right as the first sound of distress left her, a white blur tackled the man away.
The girl collapsed and continued to cry. The man's screams vanished and a soft and wet nose nudged her. She looked up and stopped crying, for it was the white wolf her mom told her stories of. The two stared into each other's eyes, feeling a connection of kindred spirits.
The two continued to stare, not noticing another person creeping up until a silver blade was shoved into the wolf's side. The wolf howled with pain before turning and biting the woman's hand, tearing flesh. She yelled, revealing sharp fangs. The wolf did not stop there, it tackled her and tore out her throat.
The girl watched as the woman was mauled like the man had been.
The wolf returned to her and checked her for signs of wounds. Finding none, the wolf gave her a slobbery lick on the cheek and gestured for her to climb onto its back. The girl and wolf headed back to the village. Halfway there, the wolf collapsed and the girl grew worried. She noticed the blade still inside the wolf. She went to pull it out, hoping that would make the white canine better, but was stopped by a paw.
She looked at the wolf and was shocked to see the wolf's form begin to change. The wolf was now a human boy! The boy had pale skin, platinum hair and eye colors that matched his wolf-side.
"Don't" the boy gasped, "you'll only make it worse"
"You're a boy!" she gasped, "and a wolf!"
The boy nodded, "I'm known as a werewolf, half human, half wolf"
"Whoa" she breath before remembering the wound, "how do I help you?"
He breath heavily before speaking.
"I need a healer, but I cannot walk"
"I'll be right back" the girl said, standing before racing off, back to her home.
Mr. Bridal, the village healer was working on a new poultice when the girl burst through the door.
"Mr. Bridal, there is a boy in the woods who's injured!"
The healer gathered his first-aid supplies and followed her to the injured. She led him there and he got to work. The healer and girl carried the boy to the healers hut after stemming the bleed and removing the knife.
The girl was to wait outside as the healer worked. She waited almost seven hours before being allowed inside. The healer went off to explain to her mother what has happened as she raced inside.
She sat next to the werewolf until he woke up. The two had conversations until she asked his name.
"My name is Peeta, and you?"
She smiled kindly, "I'm Thrush"
"Nice to meet you Thrush"
They continued to speak; sharing their life stories.
Thrush had been in her village for her entire life and rarely had adventure. Peeta explained that a group of vampires had attacked his home, killing almost everyone he cared for, and a werewolf came and killed most of them before subcoming to her wounds. He explained that he made a promise to the werewolf to protect her family and make sure the vampires never get the Blood Crystal.
"What's the Blood Crystal?" Thrush asked.
"The Blood Crystal is one of the most dangerous artifacts. It can cause the end of the world as we know it-""
Kale stopped talking when he heard a soft snore come from Saoirse. He looked down at her and smiled. She looked so peaceful when sleeping. The 17-year-old lightly kissed her forehead before getting up and leaving, heading to his room to get some sleep.
He opened the door and stripped before getting into his pajamas and laying on the bed. He curled up and closed his eyes, listening to the silent hum of the castle as he slipped into sleep.
.
Saoirse mumbled and curled up tighter as she slept on.
A stranger wearing cloth and a face-mask raced through the halls of the Castleship as the Paladins ran after them. Keith sliced his Bayard down but the stranger blocked it with a sword with a weird symbol.
A large explosion shook the Castleship as the power went out. Lance laid unconscious on the ground as Coran shakily stood up.
Shiro fought against many clones of himself, getting injured in the side by one of their attacks.
Hunk and Pidge worked on a giant purple crystal when the gravity failed and they began floating, panic flaring through their faces as this happened.
Keith awoke with a shout and looked at his knife, staring at his reflection.
Allura smiled at a group of rock-like people as they talked excitedly.
Coran explained how the Castleship's systems worked to the engineers.
Pidge and Shiro sat outside of the Castleship, conversing about family.
Keith held a bleeding and heavily burnt Lance close, Lance looked at him with bleary eyes.
Kale and Alita sat in the lounge room, talking as they played a retro Earth game.
Allura and Coran stood on the bridge, side-by-side.
Hunk and the Space Mice stood in the kitchen, Hunk cooking and the Mice watching.
Alita hummed softly as she placed a soft-looking blanket on a well-made bed.
Alita raced up to Kale and pulled him into a deep kiss, in which he gladly returned.
Kale fought Galran soldiers as they dragged him through a forest and away from the downed White Lion. They dragged him into a small Galran ship. His struggles tapered out as one of the Sentry's hit him hard with their gun. Kale blinked, trying to get the dots to leave and when he finally regained focus, one of the Sentry's had addressed a large purple Galran.
The Galra turned, revealing a heavily furred face with a scar across the right eye, when addressed and gave a shark-like smile at the White Paladin, "well, this is going to be interesting"
Kale tore his Bayard out of a drone's chest, he limped down a hall while holding his other arm close to his chest. He staggered heavily, blinking rapidly and used the walls as support. Blood ran heavily down his side.
Kale screamed as electricity thrummed through him, his captor laughed as he held the button down mercilessly.
Saoirse screamed as she snapped awake and sat up. She had tears in her eyes as she ran down the halls and towards her brother's room. She knocked on the door, her breathing heavy and the tears finally leaving her eyes.
The metal door opened to show a disgruntled Kale. Saoirse had her arms wrapped around him before he could comprehend who awoke him.
"Sao'? What's wrong?" the boy asked, as he wrapped his arms around her and lightly brought her inside the room.
The girl stammered over her words as she tried to explain her dreammare to him. He lightly rubbed her back as he sat her on his bed and listened attentively to her rambles. After she finished, she hiccupped lightly as sobs bubbled up. He gently laid her down so that her head was on his lap and soothingly began to sing.
"Little Child Lay Down Your Head
And I'll Sing You a Lullaby
About the Grand Wars and the Love that Fell Between
I'll Sing You to Sleep with the Words of Freedom
I'll Carry your Burden and Keep you Forever Free
Sleep Little Child, Close your Eyes
For the Night Cannot Harm You
While You Sleep Next to Me
I'll Sing You those Days about the Songbirds
Sleep Little Child Lay Down Your Head
The Nightmares will End as the Dreams Begin
Sleep Little Child
Sleep Little Child
No One will Harm You
So, Sleep on and on"
Kale smiled softly at the sleeping girl. He proceeded in lightly shifting her so that she was on one side of the bed, the side closest to the wall, and he was on the other, the side closest to the door.
He watched her, making sure she was completely asleep before allowing sleep to claim him.
.
Today, or tonight, they were training into being more trusting with each other.
Musyn and Kale did this via flying in sequence while having sudden commands shouted at them from an automatic AI that Musyn somehow created.
Kale had his eyes closed and his mind open as he saw through his Lion's eyes and flew around planets and moons. Musyn purred softly as she showed her kitten the amazing things in space.
The large, metal Lion changed directions and flew towards a blue sun.
This is beautifulKale breath.
Thank you KittenMusyn purred.
She changed course again before granting Kale complete control. She whispered into his mind on the correct maneuvers on how to fly her without using his limbs.
.
Kale opened his eyes after leaving White's landscape and let out a gasp. He was in his old house, his first house. He was so shocked, that he did not notice the woman walking up over to him from behind.
"Kale" the boy jumped and turned, letting out a soft, pained gasp at the figure before him.
"Mom" he breathes in disbelief.
His mother, Kairi, was a kind woman with the same-colored skin as him, black hair that stopped at her shoulders and warm brown eyes.
"Kale, it's been a while" she smiled softly, "how are you, my son?"
Kale shook his head and backed away, "n-no, it can't be you, you died"
Her smile saddened and she gave a small nod, "yes, but my memory lives on in you"
Tears fell from the boy's eyes and he sobbed. Kairi walked forward and gently pulled him into a hug, lightly shushing and comforting him.
"I miss you momma" the boy cried.
"I know baby, I know. But I am always with you, even if you can't see me"
Kale slowly stopped crying, but continued to cling to his mother.
"What, no love for your baby bro?" a young voice cut in.
Kale looked over and another gasp left him, he let go of his mother and raced to his blonde-haired, brown-eyed brother.
"Cannan!" he engulfed the youngling into a hug and the two landed on their knees on the ground.
"I missed you, big bro"
"I missed you too, little bro" Kale whispered.
They held each other for what seemed to be hours, only to stop when Kairi called for their attention.
"So, Kale" Kaili brought the attention back to her, "tell us what has been going on with you"
Kale hesitated before doing so, ringing his hands together in nervousness as he recounted the last few years. At the end of the accountment, Kale looked down to avoid eye contact.
"Kale, we are so proud of you, not only did you save someone from being experimented on, but you save so many other people as well and you are now saving the universe. I am so, so proud of you."
Tears, once more, welled up in Kale's eyes at each word. He had often wondered what his family would think about his other life, he was scared to find out. But it seemed that the fear was just his overactive mind playing out the worst-case scenarios.
"My big brother is the best hero! Watch out Galra!" Cannan did his signature fighting stance, "he's going to beat the snot outta you!"
Both Kale and Kairi gave him an amused look.
The small family spoke for hours, getting to know each other once more. Kale took Cannan outside and they played while their mother watched. The two played Tag and Hide 'n Seek in the town square. Kairi joined in later on, as well as their father. Soon, the entire courtyard was full of the Haruno family. They were all playing with the two children.
~Galra Command~
-Zarkon's Ship-
At the Central Command, Zarkon watches the prepare to be launched.
"This beast will allow us to destroy the Paladins. And then, Voltron will be ours" the tyrant purred as his trusted second stood beside him.
The Robeast is launched into space as the two watched.
"Lord Zarkon" A high-level Galra spoke up calmly, "I have gotten reports that the new Paladins failed in killing some of Sendak's utility."
"Good, inform them to await my orders"
The Galran bowed, did the Vrepit Sa, and left.
"Sire, Voltron will be invincible with the White Lion and Paladin together" Haggar, a Druid Altean and the Second, informed him.
"That was with the last White Lion's Paladin" Zarkon looked down at her, "however, your concern is noted. We will test out the strength of Voltron with and without the White Paladin. If they prove problematic, we will remove them ourselves"
She bowed her head and swept out of the room and headed to her Druid Room. She proceeded in using her magix to start creating a trap to capture the White Paladin, and in turn the White Lion.