Author's Note: Ok so I kinda went into what this one's about a touch in Voltron Lives but I kinda feel like I didn't go into it enough. So here I am, hope you enjoy it. I own nothing.

Prejudice

Kathy knew that it would always be this way. Even if they managed to unseat Zarkon and dissolve the Galra Empire there would be that fear under the skin of every other race in the universe. The fear that the Galra would rise up and take them over again, that everyone with gold eyes and purple skin was evil. That anyone who was even related to the Galra deserved to die.

She'd told Allura it was a bad idea for her to come down here alone. She'd told her that Zarkon's troops had wiped out most of the people on this planet when an open rebellion had begun. The people who remained had rejoiced when Voltron and the Castle Ship had shown up and defeated the troop ships that remained around the planet. But her protests had fallen of deaf ears, she needed to work on her people skills, all the paladins needed to be able to be diplomats as well as fighters. Well she'd never had much luck with diplomacy before but usually that meant that she would have to knife someone in the throat but she'd been told to leave her weapons at the castle. She'd protested again but Allura and Coran had insisted on that while the other paladins did a quick search of the surrounding planets for supplies and hidden troop ships. And that was how Kathy ended up stripped of her armor, in a literal dungeon, with no weapons and many a bruise while the residents of this world tried to find a 'worthy' paladin for the red lion.

She couldn't help but wonder if the others had found something. Most likely they had or they would have wondered where she was by now, not that she would know if they were, the guards had taken her helmet. But she was not expecting a rescue anyway. The Blades, as close as they had been, would have left her behind for something so stupid. Everything on the Castle Ship worked so differently to the Blades, at times like this it was frustrating. At least with the Blades she was sure she'd have to get out on her own. She closed her eyes and reached out for the red lion. She could feel her. The lion was not at all happy.

She had put her particle barrier back up because the residents of this planet kept trying to present themselves as her Paladin. She already had a Paladin. A paladin who was bruised and kept telling her not to take action against the people of this planet. She let out a frustrated grumble. Kathy heard the door to her cell open and opened her eyes.

The being before her was tall, dark green skin covered in slightly lighter markings. He wore a badly forged crown and was accompanied by three other men all of whom carried weapons. One carried a long sharp tipped whip, another had a set of knives that he carefully set on a small wooden table. The last one held what was clearly an executioners axe. Kathy refused to let any fear show. The crowned one, she honestly hadn't bothered to remember his name since the minute she'd taken off her helmet he'd set his guards on her, spoke.

"Tell us what you did to force the red lion to be yours and your death will be swift." Kathy let a small smirk cross her face.

"You can't force a lion into making a connection."

"Liar!" The guard with the whip cracked it across her chest leaving a gash. She refused to even flinch, pushing the pain down, burying it under distain and anger. "A lion of the legendary Voltron would never choose a filthy beast to be its Paladin!" Another crack of the whip, this one across her face, too close to her eyes for comfort. The next blast of pain pulled an unwilling howl from her throat as one of the knives the second guard had been fiddling with flew into her tail, slicing into it. There was a rumble outside but Kathy wasn't paying attention to it as the whip cracked across her stomach, once, twice, three times.

She didn't hear the sounds of the other lions landing around the red one, of Shiro demanding to know what was going on. She growled lowly as one of the guards forced her to face the crowned being.

"Tell us how to make the red lion choose a new Paladin! Now!" Kathy shook her head. There was no way to force a connection to a lion but these people were never going to believe her. The snarl on the man's face was a twisted desperate thing. He snapped his fingers and the one with the executioners axe stepped forwards. Panic spiked in her mind and she heard a loud cheer from outside. The crowned one smiled.

"Sounds to me as if the Red Lion has decided it is better off without you. So you officially have no use." He nodded to the executioner who smiled. As he stepped forwards the whole building shook. Two of the guards fell as a roar shook the walls and stone began to crumble. Kathy was very confused until large metal claws dug their way into the dungeon. The nose of the red lion poked into the room then a loud metallic growl echoed around them as the lion pulled her head up hard and fast taking most of the castle ruins with it. Several figures raced up to the newly made hole in the ground and Kathy spotted all of the other Paladins along with Allura who gasped at the sight before her. Shiro looked practically murderous. Lance leveled his gun at the executioner who'd somehow managed to keep his feet.

"Put down the axe! Now!" The man did not listen, instead deciding to follow his masters orders. He took a swing at Kathy who was chained to the wall unable to move. She closed her eyes waiting for the cool bite of steel, but it never came. Instead there was the sound of a laser blast and a heavy thud. She opened her eyes and blinked. There was a perfect hole between the executioner's eyes. Shiro appeared at her side, using his Galra arm to yank off the chains. Two more shots were set off from the ridge where the rest of the Paladins stood. Two more loud thumps sounded. Hunk and Lance had taken out the other two guards. The crowned on was shouting but Shiro ignored him as Allura made her way down the newmade crater wall. She looked like she was about to kill the man in front of her. Kathy couldn't say she'd blame her but she knew it would do nothing to help their mission so as Shiro hauled her past Allura she grabbed her arm.

"Remember the mission." Allura looked a little shocked but nodded. Kathy was having problems getting her feet under her, there had to have been something on the whip or the knives that was effecting her balance. She patted red on her leg as Shiro handed her off to Lance so he could head back down and join Allura in verbally tearing into the last man standing.

"Good kitty." Lance put away his Bayard and gently guided Kathy into the Blue lion taking off for the castle ship, followed closely by the red lion. Coran was waiting for them and soon Kathy was in a healing pod, blissfully unaware of her surroundings.

A few hours later Allura, Shiro, Pidge and Hunk returned to the Castle ship. Allura stormed out of the Black Lion and quickstepped off to her room. She couldn't let her Paladins see her break down. When she reached her room she flopped down on her bed and screamed into the pillow. She had not expected Kathy to be as accurate as she had been, the woman was overly cautious at the best of times. Allura had not expected one of her Paladins to be punished simply for being what she was. The fear she understood, Quiznack she even understood their hatred. But to attack a diplomatic envoy was something that had been nearly unheard of and would, under more normal circumstances, been a declaration of war. But they could not afford extra hostilities. She and Shiro had done their best to not attack the new made king of the planet, but he would not listen to them, refusing to work with Voltron while 'That beast' flew the red lion. Allura was rather amazed that she had kept her cool after that, Shiro had not kept his however.

He had snapped at the man, going just shy of slamming him into a wall to force him to listen. He had detailed everything Kathy had done to help then since he'd met her, including risking her life on multiple occasions to free prisoners from the Galra. In the end though no agreement could be reached and they left the planet to its own devices with no signal to call them. They had refused to take it. Allura took a deep breath, calming her nerves once again. Then she stood, straightened her hair and went to find her Paladins. They were where she expected them to be, sitting around in the med bay watching the ticker on the healing pod containing their injured teammate. She took a deep breath and spoke.

"So, we will continue on to see if we can help another planet, perhaps we will have more luck with the next one." Pidge nodded and spoke.

"Yeah maybe the next one won't be full of murderous racists." Lance nodded, Hunk agreeing vehemently. Shiro nodded watching the ticker. Allura smiled, glad they were all on the same page.

"Get some rest Paladins. Coran, if you wouldn't mind keeping me updated on Kathy's condition I will be on the training deck." Coran smiled and nodded.

"No problem at all Princess." He was currently going around making sure the Paladins all had something to eat and drink while they waited. He frowned to himself slightly as he checked over Kathy's vitals. Lance was the only one who noticed.

"Everything alright Coran? She's gonna be ok right?" That caught the other Paladins' attentions. Coran nodded.

"She's going to be fine, she'll be out in a few Dobashes. I have just never been a fan of senseless violence." They all nodded and turned back to the healing pod. When Kathy did wake up she would be showered with worry and affection and praise for handling the situation well but Shiro for one was going to make sure she knew that her life was just as important as the mission. She was the right arm of Voltron, they would not be able to do this without her.