SPOILER WARNING: General Season 3 spoilers, specifically episodes 2-3 ('Red Paladin' and 'The Hunted').
Pink was the colour of our souls. That didn't change when Shiro disappeared and I became the new Paladin of the Blue Lion.
It didn't immediately register with me that I was a real Paladin Voltron. For a long while, I felt like I was lucidly dreaming—like I could do a few loop-de-loops, send Blue into a wall, take the Galra head-on, and still be okay at the end of the day. It was oddly surreal, sitting in the seat of the Lion that both Blaytz – the original Blue Paladin – and Lance had sat in, piloting the same Lion as they had. To be in the same space as both boys had battled against the universe in; to share the same link to Blue as them…it was like a dream come true.
I didn't fully understand Blue until my first close call with death, thanks to Lotor. Up until Lotor leading us into the planet we later recognised as Thayserix, it seemed like Blue was merely tolerating me, as if she needed a stand-in pilot and I was the only one barely capable of supplying that. Though her blue light surrounded me, her controls didn't respond in the same way the Castle did. Instead of cooperating with me, Blue did the opposite: her sensitive controls crashed us into the other Lions on more occasions than one, and firing her lasers proved to be a problem when they missed more often than not. With both Keith and Lance in new Lions, more than half the team was out of their comfort zone. We were a disorganised mess; a conglomeration of four in-training pilots and one princess who had been in a Lion for less than a quintent.
Though we didn't understand it at the time, Thayserix was a planet made of dense gases—red syntian nitrate, to be precise. It is universally known to react violently to light, creating an explosive combustion reaction in response. In addition, the planet's absurd polarity interfered with our Lions' sensors because they were unprepared for the heavy change in atmosphere, so communication between each other became inadequate and sparse.
This, coupled with Keith's inability to stray away from his personal morals and properly lead the team, resulted in Lotor further ripping the tears in the already damaged fabric of our team. If he was anything like his father, then he was set out to disband our team and capture Voltron for himself. Our feelings were insignificant in the eyes of that wretched Galran; we couldn't expect him to care and spare us. He found loopholes in our cooperation and took advantage of the fact—just like any true villain would. And I couldn't blame him.
It seemed like everything was going wrong: Keith was being impatient and impulsive; he, Lance, and I were adjusting to our new Lions; Lotor was hot on our tails. The hunters were becoming the hunted, and I was doing nothing to help the team. Blue wouldn't properly listen to me, and it seemed that neither would Black nor Red to Keith and Lance. Pidge and Hunk were the only ones with their own Lions, but that was no help when our means of communication was rendered redundant.
Lotor backed all our Lions into an outward circle, keeping us on edge. I could make out Keith's growling through the broken static of the radio, and I could tell the others wanted to leave as soon as possible. But with Lotor outsmarting us and Keith as our new leader, we couldn't.
"As soon as you see him, fire with everything you've got," was what Keith told us to do. I knew the others – including myself – disagreed with his 'leadership', but we had no choice. The moment we caught a glimpse of the dark Galra spaceship, Keith yelled, "Now! Fire!"
But the red syntian nitrate wasn't having any of that. If we hadn't have fallen into Lotor's trap, we would have known that upon fire, the light of our Lions' lasers would react with the gases and cause huge explosions. Alas, we didn't. We took the bait—and we paid for it.
I was the one Lotor came after. The blasts our Lions created separated me from the others, so I was the easiest target. Recuperating from the blast, I immediately trembled with fear as his ship stared Blue and I down. I acted fast, frantically finding a little cavern to hide in. There was an incessant pounding in my head and chest as if I was about to burst. But I couldn't afford to be spotted; if I was, there was no doubt I'd be killed on the spot.
In my position in the little hideout, I could hear the low rumble of Lotor's fighter ship circling the area I was sat in. He flew by painfully slow, the monotonous droning beginning to resemble the repetitive pattern of one of Coran's tickers. An irritation was building up inside of me, one that spread from my stomach to the back of my throat. I may have sat in Blue for less than five dobashes, but it felt more like a million decapheebs. Time passed by slowly, torturing me with the fact that I knew my friends could be in trouble and I wasn't there to help them. Even Blue's lights within herself seemed to dim down, just like my own self-belief.
"Stay calm, Allura. Think," I breathily muttered to myself. What would anyone else do in my situation? What would a capable, non-Altean princess fighter pilot do if stuck in the Blue Lion with the son of Zarkon encircling them?
What would Lance do?
He would…he would flirt. With the Blue Lion.
I took a deep sigh and put one hand on my hip, leaning towards Blue's walls. With a faux, shaky grin, I stammered the only pick-up line of Lance's that I could remember.
"Hey there, Blue Lion! You know, you're really activating my particle barrier right now."
When Blue made no response, I groaned loudly with frustration. I gripped the main levers that controlled the movement of her paws extra tightly, hanging my head.
"Nothing works!" I grunted. I closed my eyes, feeling tears well up behind my eyes. I didn't mean to, but I began talking to Blue out of desperation. "I've tried asking you nicely, and I've tried commanding you. What do you want from me?" I choked back a sob, my chest heaving. "I can't do this. Everyone depends on me. The universe depends on me, but I can't control everything. I need your help."
With another sigh, I gritted my teeth. Nothing happened. I let go of one of the handles to wipe away the tears that had formed in the outer corner of my eyes. Maybe I wasn't meant to be a Paladin of Voltron. If Lance was there, then—no, it wasn't his fault. He was piloting the Red Lion just fine. But if Keith hadn't—no, not his fault, either. Although his means of leadership was questionable, I couldn't place the blame on him. Then, if Shiro was here, then…
Shiro. My goodness. He hadn't crossed my mind ever since I hopped in Blue. My tongue involuntarily pressed against the roof of my mouth as more tears welled up in my eyes. How weak. If Shiro were here, he wouldn't give up. He would believe in himself; he wouldn't let this get him down. He would…
He would fight.
Suddenly, Blue began to vibrate. I opened my eyes—and as soon as I did, they widened, for I was no longer seeing the thick, musky, orange layer of gases before Blue and I; instead, I was seeing…something. I didn't know what it was; there was nothing like it on Altea. There was some kind of bright blue liquid that filled my vision, waves of white and other hues of blue washing about. The waves all toppled in one direction: towards a layer of golden yellow, brighter than the Yellow Lion. The waves washed onto the shores of the yellow substance, discolouring it slightly. Humans dotted the yellow surface, some sitting under parasols to shield themselves from the sun. They were all half-dressed, some with peculiar dark glasses covering their eyes.
I didn't know what I was seeing, but it sure was beautiful.
But just as quickly as the vision had appeared, it left. The images of waves and the humans and yellow surface disappeared right before my eyes. I was confused for a moment, but I quickly came to realise that I was back in the Blue Lion—and that vision wasn't mine. No, it wasn't a vision; it was too vivid. It must have been a memory. But if the memory wasn't mine, then…
There was no doubt about it. It couldn't have been Blaytz's, for he had never seen a human in his entire life. The memory was Lance's.
The vibrations started again, this time more violently than before. Before I could say anything, Blue began to move on her own. Her neck raised up and she roared loudly. The blue lights that surrounded me became incredibly vivid, and I felt my spirit brighten with it. With relieved tears in my eyes and a wide grin, I gasped.
"I can hear you!" I cried.
Blue. Blue had heard me. Finally, she heard me.
Author's Note: Hey, so I've written half of the sequel! I didn't want to make this an actual series, so the next half of the sequel will be out soon. Hope you enjoyed!