((Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has reviewed etc. so far! I'm really enjoying writing these short stories and will continue for as long as I can! Remember to keep suggesting stories too!))


Chapter Six: Beneath the Surface

"Wow, that was awesome!"

"We were like BLAM! WHAM!"

"We certainly showed those Galra who's boss!"

"You can say that again!"

The five lions swooped back into the castle and landed with dull thumps on the metal floor before walking slowly to their hangars. It always amazed Pidge just how much the metal beasts acted like their Earthen counterparts when they weren't in battle, lazing around like big cats. Each had an individual personality, too. The black lion was more of a strong, silent type and could even be described as 'snooty' with anyone but Shiro. Blue was energetic, always ready to swoop and soar through space, whereas Yellow was more laid back. Red was the most protective of their paladin, constantly on alert to check where Keith was. Then there was the green lion; Pidge did indeed have a bond with her lion, just as the others did, but she felt that bond wasn't as strong as it could be. Sure, she heard her lion's voice – well, more of a deep purring feeling – when they were in battle but somehow she knew there was more to unlock.

For almost five hours the paladins had been in battle with a small fleet of Galra ships. They had fought them off valiantly and even formed Voltron when necessary until eventually they had defeated the aliens and sent them packing. Of course it had been a strain on everyone, forming Voltron alone was enough to drain their energy, but Pidge felt as though the utter lack of energy she now felt was on a larger scale than the boys. On the way back to the castle they had been bickering and joking and she could barely keep her eyes open, limbs sore and brain overworked.

"Who's hungry?" Hunk asked as the five paladins walked through the silver hallway towards the food hall.

Lance stretched and rubbed his stomach, "Ooh! I'll have some of that world famous food goo if you're offering!"

"Me too, I'm starved," Keith popped off his helmet and scratched his head, messing up his mullet.

Shiro rolled his right shoulder and something crunched under his skin, "I think I'll do some quick training first."

"What about you, Pidge?" Lance asked as he, Hunk and Keith entered the dining area.

No response.

"Pidge?"

She blinked up at him, confused as to where she was for a moment, and then nodded, "Food. Yes. Good."

She suppressed a yawn and followed the boys into the room before plonking herself down at the table. The voices of the three other paladins filled the room and lulled her into a sense of safety, already their familiar tones sounded like family, like home. Hunk slid a plate under Pidge's nose but she pushed it away inconspicuously, too exhausted to think about eating.

"So, what're we going to do now?" Lance asked as he shovelled the last of his goo into his mouth, "I'm way too pumped to just sit around."

"Same here," Hunk said, spork raised, "I feel like I could punch a mountain or something."

"Why would you punch a mountain?" Keith asked, a serious expression on his face.

"Shut up, Mullet," Keith opened his mouth to retort but Lance had already turned his attention to Pidge, who sat upright when he said her name, "Pidge, you're hyped too right? What do you think we should do?"

"Sure, um..." she blinked rapidly in an attempt to keep her eyes from drooping shut, "What about the pool?"

Why she mentioned the pool she had no idea. Maybe it was because she was thinking about floating silently and calmly through sleep and her brain had associated it with water. Much to her regret, Lance's face lit up at the idea and the four made plans to head to the pool after getting changed out of their armour.


In her room, Pidge changed into her swimsuit – provided kindly by Allura – like she was on autopilot. Her arms and legs didn't feel attached to her body but at the same time her muscles were sore and aching. Her mind felt fuzzy, like her head was full of cotton wool and she almost tripped on her towel coming out of the bathroom because she was so out of it.

Somehow Pidge made it to the elevator where the others were waiting, along with Shiro, with big smiles on their faces and anticipation in their eyes. They hadn't successfully used the Altaen pool yet and Lance was excited to find out how it actually worked. When the doors pinged the five paladins stepped inside the small metal box and waited patiently as it rose through the castle-ship. Lance started to tell them of the time he and Keith had shimmied up the elevator shaft but the red paladin soon put and end to that particular tale with a slap to the back of Lance's head.

"Almost there," Shiro said as he watched the blinking lights rise higher on the door panel.

The boys were all in swimming trunks with their towels around their shoulders and for the first time since joining the team, Pidge felt her cheeks flush a little in the confined space. The distinct aroma of boy filled the elevator, reminding her of Matt and she paled a little at the memory. She was soon thrust back to the present, however, as the doors slid open and they stepped into the pool room.

"Still weird," Lance remarked as he looked up at the water on the ceiling.

It was indeed strange. The Altaen swimming pool was located on the ceiling; somehow the water stayed in the rectangular shape and not a drop spilled onto the floor below.

"How do we even get up there?" Hunk asked, tugging on his yellow trunks.

"I'm just guessing but maybe this has something to do with it?"

Keith was pointing at a large red button on the wall. There were no instructions or guidelines beside it but it didn't look too dangerous. As Shiro opened his mouth to list the number of things that could go wrong from just pressing a random button on an alien ship, Keith slammed his hand against it without a second thought.

Nothing happened.

Lance patted Keith's back, "Well done, you failed spectacularly."

"Oh, really?"

The red paladin raised a dark eyebrow and pointed towards the smallest of the group, who had suddenly lifted off the floor. Pidge floated for a moment, utterly baffled, and then began to flip upside down, her toes wiggling up at the ceiling.

"Um… A little help?"

She stretched her arms to reach for Lance's but they were out of reach, as were Hunk's. It was Shiro who managed to get on his tiptoes and grab the green paladin's wrist like she was his own personal balloon. It didn't matter, however, as the distorted gravity soon made itself known to the rest of the team and they all began to flip and turn as they floated towards the pool on the ceiling.

"That button must have reversed the gravity!" Pidge exclaimed, suddenly feeling a little more awake now that there was something to decipher.

After about thirty seconds, the humans made contact with the tepid water of the Altaen pool. Pidge entered it first, followed by Shiro who was still grasping her arm tightly, which he released once they were all in the water and he was sure they wouldn't just flop back to the floor like dead fish. Apart from the fact that they were upside down, the pool felt like any on Earth; the water was pleasant and Pidge felt herself relax a little as she floated on her back, letting the ripples decide her path. The tranquillity didn't last long with three adolescent boys in the water, however, and soon they were splashing and ducking about like maniacs.

Hunk dived onto Lance's shoulders and pushed him underneath as the Cuban gasped and spluttered and Keith dipped beneath the surface to pull on Lance's legs. Shiro yanked Lance back to the surface only to be pulled under himself by the red paladin. They splashed and dived about, laughing loudly like they hadn't cares in the world as Pidge tried her best to stay above the water. After the initial fascination with the gravity, she had once again been reminded by her body that she was indeed exhausted beyond description and as she had moved to the edge of the water to find some steps or a handrail to cling onto she had come to the realisation that there weren't any. There were no steps, no means of climbing out, even the walls of the pool had somehow slid back into the ceiling, leaving only the water itself in the shape of the pool. It was isolated in the centre of the ceiling with no means of escape. And that was exactly what Pidge felt she needed to do: escape.

She began to panic, a stupid thing to resort to when in an emergency situation, she knew, but something she couldn't control. Her heartrate increased as she kicked her legs harder to try and stay afloat and she attempted to find somewhere to plant her feet only to realise that the water was the same depth in the entirety of the pool, more than twice her height. Seeing only water and no way to get out, a sudden terror filled Pidge's world and she slipped beneath the surface, arms flailing wildly to try and pull herself back up. It was no use. She was too tired to kick her legs fully and she watched helplessly as the surface moved further and further away from her reach.

The next thing the green paladin knew she was floating atop the water with Shiro's hands looped beneath her armpits, keeping her afloat. She coughed and gagged when some water escaped her throat and squinted at her friends surrounding her.

"You okay?" Keith asked, concern in his dark eyes.

"Yeah-" she coughed again, "I couldn't reach the bottom and-" she stopped when she saw the look in Hunk's eyes, "What?"

"None of us can," Lance disappeared under the water for a moment and re-emerged a few seconds later, "It's too deep."

Pidge looked up at Shiro, who was still holding her weight, "Can we get out?"

He shook his head, "We tried but the gravity that's making us stay on the ceiling is also keeping us in the pool."

"We're gonna drown… In space," Lance slapped the water, making it splash.

"We need to contact the princess somehow," Keith swam towards the edge of the water.

It looked like the pool was encased in a glass frame but when Keith moved his hand to touch it, his fingers reached open air. That was all that he could manage, however, as the invisible force pushed him away from the edge with enough strength to wind him slightly. Defeated, he swam back to the rest of the group in the centre of the pool.

"So what do we do now?" Hunk asked, his legs furiously working to keep himself afloat.

"Yeah, I don't know how long I can keep swimming," Lance moved closer to Hunk and held onto his arm in an attempt to float a little better.

"Maybe we should just jump?" Keith asked, "If we can get out of the water maybe the gravity won't be as strong and we'll drop to the floor."

He ducked beneath the water and jumped up – or down, depending on your viewpoint – emerging from the water like some sort of merman. He managed to get his body more than halfway out but the gravity was just too strong. With an enormous splash, the red paladin connected with the water again. He tried once more but it was no use and just seemed to tire him out more than anything.

"What if we got on each other's shoulders?" Lance suggested, panting a little from the exertion of kicking his legs continuously.

They tried just that. Hunk made the base of the stack, furiously kicking his legs and waving his arms in the water to stay afloat as Shiro climbed onto his broad shoulders. Next was Keith on the black paladin's shoulders – Shiro winced as Keith's foot brushed his right shoulder but held him steady nonetheless. Lance climbed the human totem pole until he could perch atop Keith's bony frame and finally Pidge started to make her way to the top. They wobbled and wavered a little as she climbed and Keith tried not to fall backwards as Pidge's foot connected with his face but finally she made it onto Lance's shoulders. Tilting her head backwards, she looked down at the floor. It looked so far away and Pidge wondered just what would happen if this plan did work and she ended up hurtling towards the ground with speed. She shook away the thought and slapped her cheeks to refocus herself before leaping away from Lance towards the ground.

For a brief moment Pidge felt herself free-falling through the air. Her stomach lurched and her hair flicked around her face wildly as gravity seemed to shift around her. Then, like an invisible lasso had been tied around her waist, the green paladin tumbled back up into the pool, landing with an almighty splash in the middle of her friends. Lance fished her out and held her hands to keep her afloat as she coughed and spluttered.

"Well, that didn't work," Hunk panted, already feeling his muscles beginning to seize up.

"We need to relax," Shiro closed his eyes and tried to ignore the grinding sensation in his shoulder as he moved to float on his back, "Panicking will just make it worse. We can float about and reserve energy until Allura or Coran figure out where we are."

"Okay, okay, you're right," Lance flipped onto his back and floated along the surface of the water, "This is actually pretty nice."

The others joined in but Pidge found that she wasn't able to completely relax her body and kept flailing now and then, her tired limbs desperately searching for something to keep her afloat. Once again she felt as though the boys were just better at coping with situations like this than she was. She was scared and tired and lonely and somehow they just didn't seem to feel the same way. It worried her and made her feel a little inadequate but most of all it annoyed the young paladin and there, floating in the upside down pool of no return, it seemed like as good a place as any to take out her frustration.

"UGH!"

Four pairs of eyes turned to look at Pidge as she slapped the water angrily.

"How can you all be so calm?!" she rubbed aggressively at her tired, sore eyes, "Why aren't you freaking out or showing some sort of emotion? Aren't you scared? Aren't you tired?!"

"So tired."

"Exhausted."

"I'm pretty sure I already died and now I'm just a corpse floating about."

"Pidge," Shiro swam over to her and put his arm around her waist gently so as to pull her closer, "We're all exhausted and scared. We just don't show it."

"Yeah," Lance grasped his elbows and shuddered, "Imagine seeing Shiro freaking out, I'd have nightmares for weeks."

"Or Keith acting all scared," Hunk added, "That'd be so weird."

"Hey! I get scared!" Keith pouted a little, making Pidge smile.

"But you weren't tired after the mission," Pidge whispered as she clung onto Shiro's arm a little more to keep her head above the water.

"I was!" Lance raised his arm and immediately regretted it as his head dipped under the water.

"Me too," Keith admitted quietly.

"We all were," Shiro smiled down at Pidge warmly, "Maybe we should actually say what we're feeling instead of trying to be all macho about it, huh?"

The green paladin nodded and a huge yawn contorted her features. They were all feeling it; their muscles throbbed and burned and it was becoming more and more difficult just to stay afloat. A couple of times Hunk had to yank Lance's half asleep body to the surface and eventually they all decided to hold onto one another just to make sure no one drowned. Just as they were starting to panic and shiver from being in the water for so long, a familiar redhead Altaen face appeared beneath them on the ground. Coran looked up at the pool and the five paladins and cocked an eyebrow.

"What in the blazes are you doing up there?!"

"Drowning!" Lance yelped.

Coran put his hands on his hips, "Why the quiznak are you using it upside down?!"

The paladins just stared at the Altaen blankly as Coran twisted the red button that Keith had pushed earlier. As he turned it, the entire room began to turn too, gravity shifting so that Coran's feet were constantly glued to a surface. He walked slowly along the floor, then the wall and finally the ceiling as the room was completely flipped upside down and the pool was located on the floor like any ordinary swimming pool. The five paladins climbed out one by one, shivering as they did so. Pidge had somehow ended up sitting on Shiro's shoulders but he didn't shake her off, instead letting her hold on tightly as he climbed out.

"Thanks, Coran," Hunk grabbed his towel and started drying himself off vigorously.

"So we were using it wrong, huh?" Keith asked no one in particular.

Team Voltron gathered their towels and slumped back to their rooms, more than ready for the warm, dark comfort of their beds.

Coran just stared after them, totally baffled.

"Humans," he sighed.