Chapter 3: Trust Me
-()-

"And you just…found this?" Princess Allura asks her confusion apparent on her face.

"Yeah?"

"Coran, can this be real? I've never heard of it." Princess Allura says handing the parchment to Coran. His lower lip twitches while he reads, eyebrows scrunching together. "I don't see why it wouldn't be…"

"But the tale…I've never heard of it." Princess Allura argues. Coran straightens up, "There may have been…an old Altean wives' tale…there wasn't much proof to it of course." His fingers were twirling the ends of his moustache as Hana was beginning to notice he does whenever he was having anxiety or feeling self-righteous. A funny feeling told her it was the former especially if she has Princess Allura looking at her the way she was at Coran.

"But…whenever Voltron was first constructed…many, many years ago, there were tales of a sixth paladin whom led the White Lion. It was also known as the heart of Voltron." Coran continues.

Princess Allura frowns, "Why wouldn't Father mention it?"

"Because that's unbelievable power. Can you imagine the chaos if it fell into Zarkon's hands?" Coran asks. The princess's frown deepens, "I thought you said you didn't believe it?"

"Princess, it's right here. This is all the proof we need," Coran grabs the parchment from her hands, handing it to Hana. Once more the writings starts to glow.

"What does it say, Coran?"

Coran frowns, thumb still twiddling the ends of his moustache, "It appears to be a riddle of some sort. 'At night it comes without being fetched. By day it is lost without being stolen.', and a number sequence 8325."

"What do you think it means?" Shiro asks. Pidge adjusts her glasses on the bridge of her nose, "'At night, it comes without being fetched.', what was the second line?"

Coran repeats himself. Hana looks between the two of them, feeling her anxiety growing stronger with each passing tick.

"It could just be a hoax." Hana snatches the parchment from Coran's hands. "I mean, you would think if there was a giant White Lion lurking around the castle, we'd have noticed it by now. Or at least, you would have." Hana gestures towards Princess Allura. "In any case, we should…should focus on getting the lions we do know exists. Shiro, Pidge." Hana nods brusquely, leaving the room.

This time footsteps did follow her out.

"Hana, wait…"

"Keith…what…"

"I think you should keep looking." He interjects stunning Hana. Blinking slowly trying to buy time to make sure she hadn't misheard him, "You…can't be serious? You saw how Allura was back there. She clearly doesn't believe in it."

"But you do." Keith insists. "Judging from your descriptions, it sounds like this thing does exist. It's somewhere in the castle, it has to be. Those Lions call out to us-…"

"I don't even know where to begin."

"Neither do I." Keith reaches out to grip her shoulders in an assuring manner. "But if Allura thinks I can find the Red Lion, I think you'll be able to find the White Lion."

Hana shrugs his hands off her shoulders, forcing herself to look anywhere but Keith.

"I'm going to see if I can find a library in this place." Hana says choosing to walk off in a random direction. Anywhere was better than being in close proximity to Keith. These feelings weren't something she was expecting to happen in a long time.
Not after…

Hana shakes her head trying to rid herself of those memories.

"We're supposed to be looking for our lions." Keith said.

Hana smiles, "You mean your lion. I don't know if mine even exists…which is why I'm going to the library. If I learned anything from the Korean education system it's that books can never fail you."

-()-

Coran said the library is on the 45th floor.

It would help if each floor wasn't three times the size of a soccer field, Hana scowls finding herself in another dead end. Sighing she presses her back against the wall concentrating on the cool sensation instead of the low throb of frustration pulsating around her temples. A rustling sound causes her to open her eyes. She had momentarily forgotten about the parchment containing the riddle she'd hastily stuffed in her pocket. Smoothing out the creases on the paper, Hana examines it once more hoping to find an overlooked clue other than the riddle and number sequence.
Coming up with nothing she sank onto the floor, sitting in typical lotus position pondering on the riddle.

At night it comes without being fetched. Darkness? No. What creates darkness? Shadows? Shadows can't exist without light. It could relate to the second line, by day it disappears without being stolen. How does a shadow and the white lion relate? Because the sixth paladin is as mysterious as a shadow?

Hana frowns, crumpling the parchment in her fist. She gasps as a gust of wind that came out of nowhere whips it out of her hand. Springing forwards, she makes a number of fruitless attempts to recapture it and stops suddenly realizing that the paper had completely unfolded itself and was glowing in that soft familiar way Hana associates with the first time she'd unfolded it.

Again, another strong drought releases the parchment from her grasp. The paper flutters in the wind, spinning and dancing down the corridor. Hana desperately tries to jump, even standing on her tiptoes but each time she thought she had it, it would make a jarring sharp turn as if sentient and purposefully avoiding her.

"Get…back…here…" She mutters under her breath, frustrated. Hana watches in amazement as the parchment flew through the air right through a crack between the floor and…a pair of elaborate baroque-style doors. Hana blinks a couple of times to assure herself the door wasn't a figment of imagination.
She presses her palms against the door, it held firm proving that it was real. Slamming a fist against the door, it also meant the doors are locked.

"Hana! Where are you?! The intruder alarms have been set off, I need you both to be on stand by while Coran and I investigate." Princess Allura's voice reports over unseen speakers, or whatever it was in Altean.

"So…if you don't mind me asking, why did you drop out of Garrison?" Hana eventually asks after walking silently beside Keith for the past several minutes. She felt the warmth spread across her cheeks before she even notices his gaze on her, "I'm only asking because…well…it seemed like the best thing…space exploration." Hana rubs her upper arm trying to find distraction in the scenery around them. "-and I mean…" she waves a hand across the greenery on Arus. "-this is so far from home." A sound that could be described as disbelief escapes her parted lips.
She feels his gaze on the back of her head causing her to spin around on the balls of her feet, "You're not very talkative, are you?"

"This is the first time we've met. I barely remember who Lance is, let alone know-"

"Exactly. We're on the same level. A clean slate." Hana crosses her arms, sighing. "I don't see Princess Allura or Coran anywhere, do you?"

"I don't know. I think they went down that path there." Keith points to their right. He leans against the castle his arms crossing the same way she has. "I just wished I knew how to get in contact with the Red Lion. I mean, how am I supposed to bond with something I've never met?"

Hana purses her lips, "Maybe…close your eyes? I've always found meditation helpful."

"Meditation?" His facial expression was enough to convey his doubt. Hana deepens her frown, "Maybe try it before you dismiss it?"
She didn't know if it was the glint from the sunlight but Hana thought she saw the ghost of a smirk on his lips.

Princess Allura came running back her silver eyes bright with excitement, "There are other beings on the planet!"

Immediately Hana reaches for the keys to her mech. If she couldn't get to the White Lion now it didn't mean she didn't have something super bad ass up her sleeve.

"What-…" Keith stammers as the Mecha unfolded from her keys. The gleaming white sheets of MEKA armor made her grin already the thrill of getting into another fray coursing through her veins.

"No, no, no. They're peaceful! We're going to make an alliance against Zarkon." Princess Allura grabs Hana's arm before she jumped into the pilot's seat.

"Oh." The fight went out of her, shoulders dropping immediately.

"There's going to be a Galra spaceship heading our way in a couple of days. I'm sure there will be plenty of battles ahead." Keith said. She feels his hand on her shoulder. Hana bites her bottom lip.
"Did I startle you?"
"No...I just…stop…why are you looking at me like that?" Hana tries desperately to keep the warmth of her cheeks from flaming over – the curse of having a permanently pale complexion. Hana forces herself to look in Princess Allura's direction, "Do you need us to go back with you?"
"Why yes, they have…uhm…some type of welcoming ceremony for us." Princess Allura said. Clearly this was embarrassing her as well, her pointed ears were twitching more than usual.

"Hey pretty girl, why are you sitting by yourself?" Lance asks.

Hana shared Shiro's tense feelings about having an open-house in the castle for the Arusians while Sendak might still be out there. Hana didn't think she'd feel safe until she sees Sendak's body in the ground. Obviously Coran and the Princess felt otherwise from the way the Arusians were milling around in the grand hall. Shiro had volunteered to run the first patrol of the grounds which meant Hana had a whole lot of nothing to do on her hands.

"I'm thinking about the riddle. The story about the sixth Paladin. Why did he just disappear? Did King Alfor knew about him?" Hana asks resting her chin in her hand while letting her gaze wander over the heads of their guests.

"Look, I know you're feeling like you're being left out but-…"

"Lance, don't even…" Hana turns to look at him fixing her stare into his dark brown one. "-I left MEKA to be a part of something. By some turn of fate, I ended up meeting Pidge the first day, no wait, the first couple of hours and now I'm fucking knows how far away from home and I'm still…" She unclenches her first, physically at a loss for words.
"You had a choice, Hana. You wanted to come with us." Lance reminds her.
Hana shakes her head, "And maybe I made a mistake." She stands up but Lance catches her wrist. His warm fingers on her wrist felt assuring for an unexplainable reason and for a fraction of a second, she hesitates.
That was all Lance needed. "You're frustrated. I get that. Trust me, we'll figure this riddle out. If the last couple of days has taught me anything is that our definition of 'real' doesn't always stand true."

Hana pulls her hand and walks away without a comment.

-()-

She found herself wondering the same corridors she had earlier that afternoon. Hana faces the locked baroque-style doors, frowning. It did cross her mind to just blast through them with her double cannons on her mech but she didn't think Princess Allura or Coran would be too appreciative of her efforts. Especially if Pidge could easily find a way around it, Hana sits on the floor not taking her eyes off them.

The two girls hadn't a chance to have a private moment where Hana could ask her for help. If Pidge even believes in it, Princess Allura made it clear that she doesn't.
Keith does, Hana reminds herself. A smile appears on her lips.

She rests her weight on her palms, leaning back from the lotus position she'd been in. Hana fights the urge to smack herself in the forehead, silently berating herself for not seeing it before.
Right there hidden within the intricate baroque patterns were elaborate numerical hidden partially by the moldings. Standing up, she examines the individual numbers. When she touches the number '7' secreted behind a giant ivy leaf to her extreme shock and surprise, it began to glow the same white light as the parchment had. When she pulls her fingers back the luminosity immediately stops.
All at once the number sequence on the parchment made sense. She pats her pocket finding it empty. The parchment…it had disappeared between the crack. Hana tries her hardest to recall the numbers but the only thing that came to her mind were a certain pair of heliotrope eyes. She smacks her forehead muttering under her breath, "Damn it Hana, it isn't like he's the first guy you've met."

She sits back down in lotus position, taking a deep breath. Concentration, that's all she needs. Closing her eyes, she imagines the parchment in her hands, doing her best to recall the texture, the slight stale smell of being locked away for a long time, the faded cobalt ink…
She could see it now, the characters making up the Altean language, then the number sequence…

Hana stands up, eyebrows creasing as she gently presses the according sequence: 8-3-2-5.

A loud click resounds in the hallway, the door swung inwards releasing the scent of aged paper and something else…almost, ashy. Hana's eyes immediately focus on the elaborate chandelier in the middle of the circular room. Several levels ran around the room and Hana catches sight of the moving ladders that would help her reach them. She was more curious to see that she couldn't discern the ceiling the chandelier was connected to, instead what covers the ceiling is a sort of darkness that makes her think she was looking right out into space. Squinting Hana was certain that the glittering dots across the ceiling were in fact, constellations.

The doors swing close behind her, a definite slam that makes her jump.

The room, or library, brightens suddenly its sconces jumping to life and Hana sees the hundreds upon hundreds of books that had been hidden by the shadows. A strong gust of air lifts her hair and she hears it, the sound of paper rustling by her feet. Picking up the parchment that started it all Hana tries to read the Altean but she was repeating what was already ingrained into her memory instead.

"Leaves without being stolen." Hana murmurs under her breath.

A loud boom from somewhere else in the castle disturbs her thoughts, followed seconds later by the floor shaking beneath her feet.