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Pidge sat on the steps as Shiro stood by, both waiting for the survivors to emerge from the cryopods.
He tried doing small talk with Pidge but the Green Paladin was too high strung to pretend to care about the weather. Not really wanting to force that sort of conversation he settled with silence. And with very little else to do he was left with his thoughts.
They finally formed Voltron.
In hindsight he could see that Allura had been provoking them. He hadn't been able to stop the shake of his head when she had lifted her goo covered head and smiled so widely at their teamwork, even if it had been against Coran and herself. He felt his mouth twitch upwards in memory. He had been perplexed by her high handed attitude leading up to the food fight but now it made sense. The small smile quickly drifted downwards. But the situation she created in order for them to bond together...
"We're not some prisoners you can play around with!"
"Oh the princess of what?! You're no princess of mine!"
He ran a hand through his hair. Allura made herself an enemy they could fight against. Was that true bonding or was that just another 'fight or flight' situation? He eyed the top of Pidge's head, recalling the venom the youngest paladin had spewed out to Allura. They had all been frustrated, he'd grant that. But...
"Do you have a problem with Princess Allura?"
"What?"
"At dinner the other night."
"You mean when she was calling us whiners and threw goo in my face?"
"Pidge."
Pidge winced a little at the heavy sarcasm that came out of her mouth. "Sorry. I'm not trying to be difficult." She patted her lap and Rover came down into it. "It's just been kind of stressful lately." She twisted her lips a little. "But it does annoy me how she acts sometimes. It's 'Paladins, do this, Paladins do that.'" Pidge turned her head up towards Shiro. "I mean, we have to call her 'Princess.' But she's not really a princess anymore and we're not people under her heel so why bother?"
There was a sound by the doorway. They both looked up but saw nothing there. Shiro's eyes lingered for a couple more seconds before turning his attention back to Pidge. With a sigh he lowered himself down to sit next to the younger teen.
"We're all adjusting. I get it. But Pidge, we're using the Altean's lions and living in their castle. So by default that means we are under Princess Allura."
"...Like when you go to another country and have to follow their rules."
Shiro nodded his head.
"I guess that makes sense." Pause. "But the whole Princess title -"
"It's a peculiar situation," Shiro allowed, "but it's their culture and I'll respect that. Now," he lightly grinned, "Will I pay taxes to the Crown? Probably not."
Pidge grinned back.
He lifted his right arm to hang over his raised knee. The action made her look at his prosthetic for a moment. It was a source of horror and fascination for her. The technology imbedded into one limb, how smoothly the fingers moved and that incredible glow that he could call forth -
Shiro tilted his head in question. She adjusted her gaze to his shoulder with an internal scold for staring at his arm so blatantly. She was sure it was the last thing she'd want people to do every time they saw her.
"Shiro...do you remember anything about why you're called Champion?"
The title made his mind drift. He could faintly recollect dirt, jagged rocks, screams, thundering cheers, clashes of metal on metal, feel flesh give way and something liquid slide over his hand as a warm spray of that same fluid hit his face, stinging his eyes and filling his nose with the sickly scent of distorted iron -
"Nothing concrete." His gaze turned to the pods. "But maybe they can fill the gaps."
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The battle was over.
Robot Myzak was in two pieces on the Arusian earth thanks to Keith's sword. Shiro could hear the others cheering over the victory and exclaiming over their new ability. He wanted to congratulate Keith as well but the complete flashback of Myzak, the living creature, would not be ignored anymore. He sucked in as quiet a breath as he could as the memory clawed itself in...
"Shiro?" came Keith's voice.
He let out the breath he was holding. "Good job team." He could feel the sweat run along his temple. "Let's disband and meet in the common area."
Sounds of agreement came over the mics before Voltron was separated. He watched as they took to the skies before turning his lion towards the robot. The face was so similar to Myzak. Had it really been him in it? He wouldn't put it past the Galra to figure out a way to do it...
"Are you alright?"
It was Allura's voice this time. "Fine."
"Your vitals say otherwise."
He turned his lion to look at the castle, as if he could see her from this distance.
"Heat of the battle."
"I turned the others' mics off."
"..."
"Was it a memory?"
"It helped us."
"But not you."
"It will pass. They always do."
"...How frequently do they come?"
"They come when they will." He prepped his lion for flight. "We'll need to leave Arus before Zarkon sends another robot."
"Coran and I are working on it."
"Good." Pause. "Princess?"
"Yes, Shiro?"
He pointedly ignored her hopeful tone of voice. "Don't mute the others' mics again."
"...That's not up to you, Paladin."
The line was cut off. He took to the skies.
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The "conversation" with Allura came much later than Shiro had been expecting.
He was attempting to sleep when he heard something scratching his door. His arm glowed as he cautiously approached then dimmed out when he opened it and saw the mice. The yellow one had a note tied around him. He took it, half knowing what it was going to say.
'Observation deck.'
He crumpled the note and slid his door closed. The mice scampered off ahead of him, done with their task. The castle air was cool and the floors smooth under his feet. The wall lights hummed to life as he walked on. He hoped it didn't wake anyone else up. He looked back and was satisfied to see the lights behind him dim back down.
What earth scientists wouldn't give to study Altean technology.
Pidge was going nuts over it.
The windows of the observation deck were dark. The land of Arus was quiet, the skies were speckled with the soft lights of the stars. The further in he walked he could see quite clearly how much of a contrast the calm scenery was compared to the look in Allura's eyes. It was only an afterthought that he registered that she was in her sleepwear as well. This must have been bugging her too much to wait for the morning.
He'd been caught up in an icy space storm before. He doubt his experience would help now.
"Prin-"
"You do not dictate what I do."
He crossed his arms at that. Straight to it then. "I will not have secret conversations behind my team."
"What is this then?" she drawled. "May we continue or shall we call the others first?"
"This is a disagreement, not a conversation. I don't need the team seeing this."
"Afraid they'll lose respect for you?"
He bit back something harsh. Meaningless bickering will get them nowhere.
"No," he slowly murmured, "They need to see unity, not division."
The conversation she had accidentally caught between Pidge and Shiro unwillingly filtered into her mind. 'She's not an actual princess...so why bother?'
"...You're not on my level."
"I'm not," he agreed. "I'm a pilot from earth."
"You're a Paladin of Voltron," she corrected. Her mouth pursed a little. "Or are earthlings so fickle?"
He closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I agreed to help fight this war," he opened his eyes with some exasperation, "is my word not enough?"
Allura sized him up and then turned away.
"I didn't say I doubted your word."
He relaxed his stance a little. "I want to work with you Princess. But trust is something this team needs. If we start cutting people out from conversations...We won't get very far. That's all I meant."
How true those words were. "...There are times when separate conversations are needed."
"One on one conversations are fine."
She turned back to him with her chin raised. "Then why am I unable to inquire after your state of mind?"
He gave her a half grin, half exasperated look. "Because that's something I don't delve into with anyone. Equally."
His sleepshirt was sleeveless. She could see the damaged skin that connected with metal. Along his collarbone there were a couple of scars just visible above the relaxed collar. He always covers his neck and arms. Her eyebrows eased their frowning.
"You could talk about it."
"If I choose to," he easily agreed.
She hummed to that. On my terms, were the words she heard from him. Just as she had boundaries regarding how they spoke to her, he had boundaries of what he wanted to reveal. She could understand that.
"Fair enough."
"Is that all or do we need to address more?"
"Nothing that can't wait."
"Good night Princess."
After she replied he turned around, revealing his back. As she stared at the burn across his shoulders she realized that perhaps he was saying more than she initially thought. He came as he was, scars exposed but still standing tall.
Perhaps our communications do not always have to be verbal.
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AN: Did anyone else kind of feel like Allura rubbed Pidge the wrong way? At least in the beginning. XD Or I'm just seeing issues where there aren't any. XD