Serenity closed her eyes and focused on expanding her sixth sense. While Aura Sensing was never her best subject, she had a handle on enough of the basics to distinguish between a handful of people. She could see seven large auras within her mind's eye and a couple of small ones perhaps belonging to critters. The auras were all thankfully all different colors. This would make them easier to distinguish.

The critters' aura accompanied a vibrant pink one. The aura pulsed with an unwavering confidence, but she could see a blue tint that would flash from time to time. This person probably experienced a tragedy that may never heal.

A swirl of light blue and orange aura was not too far from the pink aura. She could detect high energy from this one. Based off this person's aura, they were loyal to a fault. A similar tinge of sadness similar to the pink aura underlay this one as well.

She moved onto a wallflower colored aura on some floors below the aforementioned two. This one gave off a more nervous, cautious energy but pulsated with a vitality that Serenity wish she had herself.

A green aura resided in the room next to the yellow one. This one was a lot calmer. It gave off a feeling similar to a spring breeze, but she detected spikes of a restless frustration in the emerald energy.

Near those auras were two more: one crimson red and another sapphire aura. While the red one burned like a flame that you could not put out, the blue one swirled like ocean waves shrouding its inhabitants in a watery barrier. While these seem to contrast each other like night and day, they actually had more in common upon a closer inspection. The crimson aura pulsated with a promise to ward off danger to those held in its protection and the sapphire aura had the potential to be unrelenting if in pursuit.

The moon princess concentrated on the last aura. It was a swirling mass of black energy, akin to a tornado. A mysterious pink-purple hue flashed through the mass like lightning skirting across stormy skies. While the chaotic and constant flux of the aura made it hard for Serenity to read it, she recognized a familiar tendril of melancholy that she had seen in the Champion's eyes when she first awoke in the Galran ship.

This was it. There was no doubt about it. This aura belonged to the Black Paladin. He was a couple of floors above her in the castle. She maneuvered through the corridors and floors, past countless rooms until she finally reached his.

The blonde Lunarian stood in front of his door, taking a few deep breaths. She had never before carried malicious intent towards anybody in her life. Not allowing her rationality or fears to increase her hesitation, she opened the door to Shiro's cabin.

The room was the typical size of accommodation for one person. It had sparse decorations and furniture. The cabin was dark with streaks of blue lights illuminating the darkness. The black-and-white haired pilot lay at the other end of the room on a twin bed built into the wall.

Serenity scanned the unlit room, desperate to find a weapon. Even with her body healed, she knew she did not have the physical strength to take on Shiro barehanded. Luckily for her and unluckily for the Champion, she found a small dagger hanging on the wall next to her. Her legs stepped closer and closer to the weapon, trepidation making each of her footsteps heavy.

The dagger had a leather-like handle and its blade was the length of her hand. It was light but heavy enough in her palm to have the reality of what she was about to do pool into her grip. All her senses shifted to focus on the weight of the weapon in her hands. Slowly, she made her way to the still dormant Paladin with quiet, deliberate footsteps.

When she reached the edge of the bed, she gingerly climbed onto it, placing her knees on both sides of Shiro's waist. At this point, she was surprised she hadn't woken the black-and-white haired man up yet. The Lunarian was by no means a skilled or an experienced assassin. When she looked down to examine his face, he noticed that his expression was scrunched up in either pain or uncomfortability-she couldn't tell. Perhaps he was having a nightmare.

"Maybe all your victims are coming back to haunt you," the blonde snidely thought.

She examined his face again. He had a strong jawline and a scar running horizontal across his nose bridge. Perhaps if they hadn't met each other as a result of both their cruel fates, she would have admitted that he was quite attractive and fawned over him in secret. Maybe, if she were just a common Lunarian, and he, a space explorer, they would have had a different story. They wouldn't have ended up on the Galran ship, scarred beyond recognition.

The blue-eyed royal shook her head to erase her fantasies. Now was not the time. With the dagger grasped in both hands, she raised it high, directly above the Black Paladin's jugular. This was it. This was the moment she would take revenge for Shura.

Shura. Her beloved, lost mentor. Would she have approved of this? Would she have protected Serenity all this time if she knew that the future of the princess entailed blood on her hands?

"Shura wouldn't have wanted this," a voice she thought she had snuffed out grew louder in the back of her mind.

"You're not a killer, Serenity. You can stop this now."

"Be quiet!" She tried to fight back against her own voice of reason. "He killed Shura. He deserves this. My hands will be stained with blood, but his were stained first."

"All you are doing is enabling for the cycle of tragedy to persist. The Galra pillaged planets. He, like you, was just another victim in their tyranny. Neither you nor him had control of your fate back then. But now you do. Would your mother and Shura be satisfied dying in your name if they knew a murderer would live to continue the Lunarian legacy?"

The former royal felt hot tears starting to form. It blurred her vision of Shiro. Her grip on the weapon slackened and she was shaking as fear and regret pulsated through her body. Not realizing it, one lone tear ran down her face and fell onto Shiro's.

xxxXxxx

A warm sensation slid down Shiro's cheekbone. It reminded him of the countless laser beams that he would narrowly dodge time and time again. This sudden hot tingle along his face ignited his other senses and he realized that he was not alone. The dull haze of sleep was quickly replaced with a hurried alertness as he felt the weight of someone above him. This realization jarred the Voltron pilot awake to the sight of a dagger inches away from his face. Instinctively, he knocked the weapon out of his unknown attackers' hands and it flew across the room, out of both his and the assassin's reach. He used his body's momentum to cause the unidentified figure to lose their balance and flip their positions. Now with the upper hand, it was Shiro who was straddling his assailant. The former Galran fighter quickly moved to pin the stranger's hands atop their head.

Now fully awake, he scanned the attacker's face. To his surprise, it was the Lunarian he had saved from the wreckage! How was this possible? Did she release herself from the cryogenic pod?

Another thought streaked across his mind. Was she working for the Galra? Had the Galran planted an assassin, knowing that the Voltron Paladins would undoubtedly save her and allow her to infiltrate the Altean castle? Shit! He cursed, wondering about the damage she had already caused.

His gripped on her hands tightened painfully as his eyes darkened. If she had hurt his friends, there was no way he could show her mercy now.

As he moved to interrogate her about her motives, he saw the hot tears streaming down her face. Framed with her golden hair spread out on the bed, the former Galran prisoner continued to sob. Bewildered at such a sight, his grip on the Lunarian princess slackened.

"Just kill me," she tearfully pleaded in a soft whisper, "I don't deserve to live anymore."

The anguish in her voice hit him like a freight train and his countenance lost all of the harsh accusation it had.

"Before we decide anything, tell me why you're here," the leader of Voltron inquired in a gentle voice in an attempt to calm the moon princess.

Hearing this question, the anger quickly surged back into the blonde. Her brows furrowed in fury. "Because you killed her. You killed Shura!" the blonde accused in a mixture of despair and outrage.

"Who-What are you-" the Voltron leader sputtered. The rest of his question could not follow because a blinding headache paralyzed Shiro at that moment. Releasing his hold of Serenity, he drew back his hands to press them against his temple in a futile attempt to stop the pain.

"Shura. Shura. Shura," he started chanting the name like a mantra.

He moved to sit on his calves, waiting for his episode to pass. Princess Serenity, confused by the sudden turn of events, pushed herself up and stared at the Black Paladin as he chanted the name of her departed caretaker.

xxxXxxx

Shiro was aboard the Galran ship and uproarious cheering surrounded the Earthling, deafening him.

"Champion! Champion! Champion!" one side of the crowd chanted.

"Shura! Shura! Shura!" shouted the other.

Shutting out the noise of the arena, he stepped to the edge of the ring and lifted himself up. Across the battlefield was a tall, muscular woman with copper skin and white hair. Even from where he was, he could distinguish an unwavering set of violet eyes staring back at him, unwilling to back down. He took a deep breath and braced himself. One more fight in an endless series of battles. This was just one more.

The future Black Paladin had been here for almost a year now. It was growing harder to tell between the days but he knew he could not lose hope. Not if he wanted to escape.

He quickly came back from his thoughts when the Galran referee swung down a flag, signaling the start of the fight. Instantaneously, the crowd increased their jeers and taunts. The crowd had Galran soldiers and captured slaves alike, relishing in the sight of pitting the ship's inhabitants against each other in a cruel attempt at leisure. He knew that many of the slaves in the crowd and on the battlefield had lost their minds due to their endless imprisonment. It was like being tossed in a slow cooker, knowing that the end was inevitable but never knowing when the timer would end its count. Eventually, a prisoner ended up insane due to the unrelenting war between their self-preservation instincts and their desire, moreso inability, to end it all.

Shiro and the white-haired warrior met in the middle of the ring. Without any hesitation, the two fighters began their assault. These battles more than likely ended in death or incapacitation. Shiro preferred the latter, no matter how large of a killing intent emanated from his opponent.

However, there was no killing intent from the violet-eyed woman. He could only detect an intense determination, as if she had something or someone to protect. He knew the feeling. He had took it upon himself to injure Matt to prevent him from entering the battle arena.

He solidified his goal to only knock his opponent out, wishing he could have relied on certain pressure points to do so. But when it came to a ship full of aliens, Shiro was none the wiser about their unique anatomy. With his opponent's speed, he knew he couldn't have had the time to experiment on which area led to immediate unconsciousness.

He decided then to draw the fight out, to exhaust his opponent to the point when they could not hold out any longer. Minutes into the battle, he held back much of his attacks, intentionally not landing his punches on the warrior. The black-haired fighter could tell that his contender was slowly losing energy, her movements becoming sluggish.

As she tried to hit Shiro with an uppercut, she finally asked in a perplexed tone, "Why are you holding yourself back? I have read your movements and you are purposely not landing punches. Do you pity me?"

Unable to stop his movements lest he make the Galran officers suspicious, he replied, "I don't want to fight you. And I can tell you don't want to fight me."

His response only furthered her confusion. "It seems you are not as cruel and bloodthirsty as rumored."

They both paused to catch their breaths. Their cessation caused a cacophony of boos. Before they could pause for another moment, two Galran officers at each corner lashed at the two contestants with a bullwhip as punishment for stopping.

"Hurry up and continue the fight! We don't have all day here!" the taller of the two callously dictated.

Instead of advancing, Shura fell to her knees. The whip, which had viciously licked her back, jostled one of the broken rib fractures to pierce her organs. A searing pain flared from her left abdomen and she coughed up blood. The unhealed damage from the warrior's relentless battles was catching up to her. She was bleeding out internally.

Growing impatient at the female warrior's refusal to move, the Galran officer continued his abuse, ensuring to make each lashing harder than the last.

Ignoring the angry cries from the crowd and the curses from the Galran soldiers, Shiro raced to the white-haired warrior's side. He cautiously laid her across the floor of the ring, propping her neck on his hand. Gingerly, the male grabbed her hand and held it within his grasp.

She let out a strained breath, blood gurgling in the back of her throat. Tears streamed down her face, "I cannot do this anymore. I'm dying. I can no longer protect her."

"Protect who?" questioned Shiro, wanting to allow her to have her last words with him and not with some cold-blooded Galran underling.

"The princess. She was captured along with me," her face twisted in sorrowful regret, "I couldn't protect her."

Devastated by the agony in her voice and not knowing what else to say, he made an empty promise for the first time in his life, "I'll do it. I'll protect her in your place."

Shura let a small smile grace her face at the gesture of kindness Shiro had just offered. The dying guardian knew that this vow was fruitless. But in her last moments, she truly wanted to believe that he would carry out his oath and free her beloved princess from her prison.

Her final thoughts were of finding a young Serenity in a wide field of flowers. The young rebellious princess had somehow managed to use the transporter to teleport to Earth. A colorful plethora of flowers engulfed her. Instead of chiding the moon princess for her recklessness, the violet-eyed protector kneeled down in front of Serenity. She bowed her head to allow the small girl to don her with a crown of flowers, deeming her the "Most Beautiful and Strongest Warrior in all of Lunarian History."

The hand Shiro held grew slack as the life in Shura's body seeped out of her. Before he realized it, the two Galran underlings had climbed onto the stage and ripped the two contestants apart. He heard the sickening smack of Shura's head against the cement floor and all the blood drained from his face.

The smaller Galran soldier kneeled down to put his hand in front of the fallen warrior's nose. "She's not breathing anymore. Looks like she's gone. Damn, the bossman will be pissed to hear this."

Hearing the affirmation of the white-haired warrior woman's defeat, the taller soldier grabbed Shiro's fist in his own hand and raised it high above their heads.

"THE WINNER IS SHIRO, THE UNDEFEATED CHAMPION! NEXT WEEK HE WILL FACE THE INDOMITABLE GLADIATOR!"

The crowds jumped out of their seats, causing a pandemonium in the arena with their shouts. Shiro didn't hear any of it. He had finally lost the last seed of hope, which had held back the collapse of his sanity.

He had to escape. He just had to.

xxXxx

Slowly, the wave of memories that hit Shiro abated, and his mind returned to the present. The Black Paladin let his hands fall from the sides of his face to at lay both sides of his thighs. He eyes were cast downwards, crestfallen.

"You're right," he murmured, "I let her die. I couldn't save her. And that's the same of being responsible for her death."

He raised his eyes to look at Serenity's unreadable face. Tears began to run down the contour of his face.

Serenity, stunned at his admission of guilt, was immobilized. This wasn't the cold, bloodthirsty killer who she had imagined taking the life of her bodygaurd. This was a man, barely keeping afloat in a sea of his sorrows, traumatized beyond repair from his time in the Galran ship.

Gradually, all the resentment and anger dissipated, only to reveal the grief and pain that had lain underneath.

The moon princess delicately placed her hand on the space explorer's tear-stricken face. Shiro paused but then slowly lifted his hand to situated it on top of her own, relishing in the warmth seeping into his cheek.

"I'm sorry," she could not pinpoint exactly what she was sorry for. For taking her anger out on him and trying to take his life? For the guilt unfairly placed upon him by being a witness to Shura's death? For all the countless tragedies he had faced and the more to come because of the Galra? She didn't know anymore. All she knew right now was that the least she could offer was her company.

Slowly but surely, she inched closer to the Black Paladin. She moved the hand that was placed on his cheek to the cusp of his neck and lifted her other arm to wrap around his shoulder in what she hoped Shiro would interpret as a comforting embrace. The Lunarian rested her chin on the Voltron fighter's left shoulder. Next, she willed her aura to wrap the both of them in a calm and soothing warmth.

Shiro, at first surprised at her apology, but now thankful at the Lunarian's olive branch, gradually melted into her embrace. He started to feel an unnatural, but pleasing warmth blanket him. Unconsciously and sleepily, he brought up both of his arms to encircle Serenity and drew the both of them down to the bed.

They lay there, wrapped in each other's arms, falling asleep to the rhythm of their intertwined heartbeats.