A/N: Hello, and welcome to Mariko Shirogane and the Seven Paladins. To all new and old readers, this is a side story for my series featuring Mariko Shirogane and Scarlett. If you'd like to catch up or recap what's happened so far, please read the 10 stories within the main series: Rise of Voltron; Turmoil Begins; Fights and Flights; Scarlett and the Blades; What's Been Lost, What's Been Found; Beneath the Sand and Stars; Rifts and Realizations; A Fallen Star; Face the Day; and The Light at the End (in that order). In the timeline of things, this story takes place during Part 7 of the series, Rifts and Realizations. I hope you enjoy!
**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender (duh)
Mari was confused.
Upon opening her eyes, she found herself neatly tucked in a fluffy bed in a spacious and cozy cottage bedroom. The morning light streamed through a pair of lattice windows, revealing a landscape of green fields and lush forests and blue mountains outside. The sky was blue and decorated with fluffy white clouds. The birds were chirping. The sun was shining. It was a gorgeous day, perfect in every way.
It was all wrong.
She was supposed to be in the Castle of Lions. She was supposed to be on Olkarion, helping their team expand the Voltron Coalition. How had she gotten here? And where was 'here,' exactly? She shot up in bed, furiously racking her brain for an answer, but she couldn't remember. Her thoughts were fuzzy, slipping from her grasp like a fish in her hands. The last thing she could recall was…
Suddenly, the door burst open, making Mari jump. To her relief, it was Coran who waltzed in. His eyes widened as they locked onto her and he gasped loudly before rushing towards the bed.
"Oh, thank the ancients!" he praised, clasping her hands in his. "You're finally awake! How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, I think?" Mari managed, a little taken aback by the relieved tears starting to pool in his eyes. "Coran, what's going on? Where are we? And what's up with that outfit?"
He wasn't wearing his usual jacket, now donned in a rather lavish coat and vest that looked straight out of a fantasy film. It certainly wasn't something in the Altean style, nor had she ever seen him wear it before. Maybe it was a fancy garment he had acquired on some alien planet during his old days traveling the universe with King Alfor and Queen Melenor.
"You mean you don't remember?" Coran was frowning at her now, his brow knit with worry. "It seems that witch's magic took more of a toll on you than we thought. Don't worry, princess. I'll have Allura and Scarlett examine you right away."
"What?" Mari blinked at him, unsure if she'd heard him correctly. "Did – Did you just call me a princess?"
"Of course!" he chirped. "Don't tell me you've forgotten your own title too?"
Her title? What was Coran going on about?
"Did you hit your head or something?" Mari wondered, a hint of a nervous chuckle escaping her lips. "Allura's the princess, not me. You're her advisor, remember?"
"What? Me? An advisor to a paladin? Ha ha! Ah, good one, princess. It's good to see your sense of humor is still intact," Coran laughed. When she didn't respond, his smile faded. "I've been serving you and your brother since you were just children," he said, a sort of pleading lilt to his voice. "Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe is the one and only remaining advisor of Crown Prince Takashi Shirayuki and you, Princess Mariko Shirayuki."
Crown Prince Takashi? Princess Mariko?
Shirayuki?
Mari stared long and hard at Coran, her concern escalating by the second. "Huh?"
"Oh, dear. I'd better get them up here quickly," Coran fretted. He promptly hopped to his feet, making for the door. "I'll inform your brother as well. He'll be thrilled to see you awake!"
"Wait, Coran!" Mari scrambled to stop him. He had yet to answer any of her questions, leaving her more confused than before he'd arrived. "I don't know – "
He slipped through the door, shutting it with a firm THUNK, and she scowled. Shoving off the covers, she slid out of bed to go after him only to freeze as she realized what she was wearing. Someone had forced her into a pair of yellow pants, a blue laced bodice with puffy sleeves, and a red hair bow. She gawked at how ridiculous she looked in the mirror. Then, her irritation flaring, she yanked the frilly accessory out of her hair and threw it across the room, only to startle when she turned back to the mirror to see it had returned to its original spot. It neatly tied her short, dark locks into a half-ponytail, as if she had never removed it at all.
Something weird was definitely going on here. Coran was acting and looking funnier than usual. They were in this strange cottage on a strange planet. And she apparently had an extraordinary hair ribbon that wouldn't let her be without it. This had to be some kind of wacky alien magic at work. Or a dream! Yeah, that would make a lot more sense.
But this place felt so real. And as she pinched herself hard on the arm, she realized this was real. She'd felt the pain. She was tangible, physically present in this world. She hadn't woken up, meaning this place…was somehow her reality.
"What the hell…" she muttered, inching away from the mirror just as a knock came at the door.
"Pardon the intrusion," Allura's muffled voice announced before she and Scarlett stepped inside.
They too now wore strange clothes: Allura was decked out in a set of white armor accented with pink and gold designs, while Scarlett was clad in a white coat and clunky tool belts. Even stranger, Allura's tiara was gone. In all the time Mari had known her, she'd never gone anywhere without it. Still, she was glad to see more familiar faces, and she hurried over to them.
"Oh, thank gosh. Guys, where the heck are we? Is this some new planet?" she asked, hoping to get some sense out of two of their team's more logical members. "Also, I think Coran's got a screw loose. He's calling me a princess and he thinks my last name is Shirayuki."
Allura smiled gently at her, but there was no missing the flash of concern in her sparkling eyes. "Princess…Coran told us you were suffering from some memory loss?"
"Noooo…not you guys too," Mari groaned. "Has everyone lost their minds here?"
"You're confused, princess," Scarlett said, patting her consolingly on the arm. "You suffered from a very dark spell, you shouldn't be up and about just yet."
A spell? So magic did have something to do with all this weirdness. "Is Haggar behind this? Or a Druid?" Mari asked, a pit of fear forming in her stomach.
She hadn't faced the witch and her minions since their fight in the Komar. And before that, her torture in the lab on Zarkon's command ship. Mari was sure they hadn't met since then…at least not that she could recall. The thought of having to deal with Haggar again sent a chill down her spine, and she already dreaded the nightmares that would come.
"Good. So you remember Haggar, then?" Scarlett asked.
How the hell could she forget her? "Of course I do!" Mari snapped, almost exasperated that she was even asking such a thing. "She's the psycho right-hand witch of Zarkon who tortured me!"
Scarlett hesitated, her moment of relief fading. "...Zarkon?"
"Queen Haggar is the most powerful sorceress in the land. She has never worked for anyone else before, let alone someone named 'Zarkon,'" Allura said, and for some reason, the Galra emperor's name sounded unnaturally foreign rolling off her tongue. "I have never even heard of this Zarkon."
Mari gaped at her. "What? Allura, you can't be serious! He destroyed your home planet and killed your family!" she desperately reminded her. "He was ruling the universe for ten thousand years. Voltron just defeated him a few months ago!"
"Home planet? Killed my family?" Allura raised a brow at her. "Princess, I appreciate your concern, but I assure you my father and mother are still alive and well. We've always lived here, in the Kingdom of Voltron."
"Kingdom…of Voltron?" Mari repeated, incredulous. "What the – There's no such thing! Allura, you were the princess of Planet Altea. Zarkon destroyed it. Voltron is the giant robot weapon he was searching for. It's the universe's legendary hero, made from the five lions that your father built. You pilot the Blue Lion, for god's sake!"
Allura and Scarlett stared at her as if she'd grown a second head. They exchanged a glance, a silent conversation passing between them, before gently taking Mari by the arms and guiding her back towards the bed.
"Here, princess, let us inspect you," Scarlett urged, forcing her to sit. "Don't worry, we'll fix you right up."
"What? I don't need fixing!" Mari hissed, wriggling out of their grip and smacking their hovering hands away. "Will somebody just please tell me what the hell is going on?"
Suddenly, the rapid stomping of steps sounded outside, growing closer and closer until the door burst open again. Shiro stood panting in the doorway, his eyes bright with a hopeful light. He too wore white armor accented with black and gold designs, but his hair and face…they had changed. The tuft of hair that had turned white during his time as Zarkon's prisoner was now black, and the scar that ran across his nose had disappeared. He looked like he had before he'd left on the Kerberos mission.
"Mari! Oh, thank the heavens!" He rushed towards her, and she stiffened as he threw all respect for personal space to the wind as he wrapped her in a tight embrace. "I was so worried. I feared you would never wake up!"
"T-Takashi? What the hell happened to you?" she stammered, shocked by his new appearance. She squirmed in his hold until he released her, allowing her to get a better look at his face. "Your hair and your scar, they're…How are they gone? You're back to normal!"
Shiro smiled as he sat beside her. "I've always been like this, silly," he chuckled, taking her hand in his and giving it a light squeeze. His Galra prosthetic was gone too, she realized, the original flesh and bone arm now returned.
"It sounds like you are confusing him with Shiro," Allura said, carefully watching the two siblings. "I don't blame you though. He and His Highness Takashi do look frighteningly similar."
Mari blinked at her. She had never heard Allura call Shiro by his first name before. No one did, except for her, their parents, and Adam. Heck, not even Keith called him Takashi, and they were practically brothers. Why had she suddenly decided to address him as Takashi now? And why was she acting like Shiro and Takashi were two totally different people when they were one and the same?
"But he is Shiro," Mari said, pointing at him. "That's his nickname. You guys all call him that."
"No, Shiro is the one with the nose scar and strange hair. I know they look alike but they are definitely not the same person," Scarlett huffed, insistent. "Geez, that cursed comb really did a number on you."
A cursed comb? What?
Mari was getting really tired of this spiraling situation. The questions she had managed to ask had only produced nonsensical answers that raised even more questions. And to make things worse, her friends were clearly not themselves and were coddling her as if she were a sick and helpless child. Any more of this and she would actually start to go mad.
"Okay, what the actual fuck is happening?" she demanded, infusing as much authority into her voice as she could muster. If this was some sort of prank at her expense, she wasn't having it. Leaping from the bed, she put on her most chilling scowl and stood in front of them with her arms crossed, waiting.
Allura and Scarlett didn't respond, completely at a loss for words. Shiro – Takashi, hesitated before breaking their tense silence.
"Mari…When you were training in the Dark Forest several days ago, you met a traveler," he explained, slowly and carefully, speaking each word with caution. "She claimed to be a comb seller, but it was Haggar in disguise. She gave you one of her wares to try. But it was poisoned, and you became very close to death. If Allura hadn't found you and revived you with her magic…you would be gone."
Mari's glare deepened, skeptical. "For one, I'm not that gullible and naive," she said, more certain of it than ever. "And two, we were just on Olkarion helping with the coalition. Haggar would never go there by herself. What you're saying never happened."
"It did, though," Scarlett pressed. "And before that, you were fooled by her ruse as an old peddler. She pounced on you and nearly suffocated you with a ribbon."
"This is the second time you've been tricked by Haggar," Takashi said, his brow furrowed in honest concern. He stood and placed his hands on Mari's shoulders. "Please, you need to be more careful. I don't think I could live with myself if something else happened to you under my care."
"As Paladins of Voltron, we do our best to protect and train you. But our protection would go a long way if you expressed more caution," Allura chimed in, her tone firm if not slightly scolding.
Mari scoffed and turned away from them. What protection? What training? Ever since they had landed on Olkarion to establish it as the Voltron Coalition's home base, they'd all been flooded with their own personal work.
The paladins and Coran had been busy with the aerial shows and freeing more Galra-occupied planets. Keith had made himself scarce training more and more with the Blade of Marmora in the hopes of finally tracking down Lotor. Scarlett had holed up in her lab with Mitsubishi, working on her secret project. And when Shiro wasn't meeting with coalition leaders, he was managing the paladins and their missions. Mari had progressed in her training and completed missions all on her own, transporting refugees and supplies to newly liberated planets. The others had no time for her, Shiro least of all if their short conversations and his new icy attitude were any indication.
She sighed, dragging a hand down her face. What was she going to do? Did they get sucked into a different reality when she wasn't looking? Really, what was all this bullshit about her being their precious princess?
Mariko Shirayuki…
Shirayuki.
Snow White.
Then, all at once, it hit her like a ton of bricks. A poisoned comb. A suffocating ribbon. An evil queen with dark magic. The name Princess Shirayuki. They were all crucial elements to that wretched story.
"Oh, no." Mari whirled on the trio, panic starting to claw at her heart. "Please don't tell me there are seven dwarves living in this house with us."
"I don't know about dwarves, but along with your advisor, Coran, and our doctor, Scarlett, the Seven Paladins of Voltron are here, myself and His Highness included," Allura provided, gesturing to herself and Takashi. "We are all sworn to protect you and this kingdom."
"What. The hell." Mari swallowed thickly, her stomach churning with her rising unease. This couldn't be happening. Why was this happening?
Somehow, she had gotten herself trapped in a fairy tale. Her least favorite fairy tale, at that. And she, unfortunately, was its main lead.
**Check out my tumblr to see some cool art: pufftheninja