**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!
The next night, a celebration was held in honor of Voltron's defeat of the Robeast and in honor of the new alliance with the Arusians. With the Castle doors left wide open, the locals could come and go as they pleased throughout the party.
Hovering in the hallway, hidden from view, Mari peered out at the partygoers, anxiously shuffling from foot to foot as she scanned the crowd. Unlike the guys, who were allowed to wear their armor, Allura had forced her to wear something nicer than her regular attire and had provided her with a deep lavender dress with matching sandals. It was a rather plain, sleeveless garb with no frills, the hem just brushing her knees. And it was easy to move around in, but that didn't stop her from feeling embarrassed. Even with her weapon hanging at her side she still felt vulnerable in such an uncomfortable outfit.
I can't even remember the last time I wore a dress, she thought to herself, clutching her skirt nervously. Ugh, I feel so stupid in this thing! If any of those idiots make fun of me, I swear I'm gonna—
"What are you doing?"
Mari jumped in surprise and turned on her heel so quickly she nearly gave herself whiplash. Like a freaking ghost, Keith had silently crept up behind her, and he looked her up and down for a moment before raising an eyebrow.
"And what are you wearing?" he asked with a small smirk.
"What does it look like? It's a dress, ya jerk," Mari glowered at him.
"Never expected to see you wear one."
"Allura forced me into it," she grumbled, crossing her arms before turning to peer out at the crowd once more. Behind her, he let out an almost inaudible snort and her eye twitched in annoyance. "If the next thing that comes out of your mouth is snide, I swear I'm going to to punch you in the face," she warned.
"I wasn't going to say anything 'snide'," he rolled his eyes. "I was going to say it actually suits you pretty well."
He had barely mumbled that last part, but Mari had heard it. She frowned at him suspiciously, unable to read his stoic expression, before she said, deadpan, "Stop yanking my chain."
"Hey, hey! Whatcha guys hiding in the shadows for?" Lance asked, waltzing over and butting into their conversation. When he realized what Mari was wearing, he gasped in surprise. "WOW! You look so girly! You should dress like this more often."
"Never again!" she denied him, her face growing red from embarrassment. "Ugh! I'm done with this! I don't care what Allura says, I'm changing out of this stupid thing!"
"Oh, come on, lighten up a bit!" Lance grinned, taking her by the wrist and dragging her out into the crowd of Arusians. "You never dress up so now's the time to show it off!"
"Whoa," Hunk said as Lance and Mari approached, followed by Keith. "You look nice, Mari."
"Isn't she so cute?" Lance beamed, poking her cheek. "Aw and she's pouting! Adorable!"
"Touch me again and I'll break all your fingers," she threatened darkly and Lance's hand quickly dropped to his side.
"Not adorable! Not adorable!" he yelped, immediately backing off.
Mari huffed in annoyance and crossed her arms, looking around the room for better company. Allura was far away on the balcony, watching the Arusian partygoers and conversing with the Altean mice; Coran was speaking with several Arusiasns and applying nunvill to his cherished mustache; and Pidge and Shiro were nowhere to be found. Sighing, she headed towards the opened doors of the Castle, the lively sounds of the celebration growing fainter behind her with each step.
The night air was cool and calming, a refreshing atmosphere compared to the stuffy party she had just escaped. The moon hanging in the darkening night sky was absolutely gorgeous, emitting beams of silver light that caused the blue waters beneath the Castle to sparkle like a million gemstones. Climbing up onto a nearby boulder, Mari sat down and gazed up at the brilliant celestial object, captivated by its immense size and mystical glow. Arus's moon was definitely larger and brighter than Earth's, she noted, and she was tempted to sleep in the observation deck for the night just so she could look at it longer.
"Enjoying the view?"
Mari stiffened involuntarily as Shiro came to stand beside her. After their conversation on the first day of training, she had been avoiding him, afraid that he would try to continue their talk. And up until now, she had been doing a fairly good job of dodging him for the past few days. How did he find her so quickly?
"It's all right, I guess," she replied nonchalantly.
"It's just all right?" he smiled, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.
"Okay, it's really beautiful," she relented with a slight grin. "It's freaking gorgeous! Why can't Earth's moon look like this?"
"That sure would be something if it did."
"Yeah. The night sky out here is awesome. I can't wait to see stuff like this all the time." She paused before adding, "Don't be surprised if I start moving my stuff into the observation deck."
Shiro laughed and Mari chuckled a bit despite only half-joking about what she had said. Once their giggling had died down, the two were silent for a while as they took in view. After a few moments, Shiro spoke up. "Still not much of a party person, huh?"
"Nope. I see you're still not one for them either," she said, casting him a wry look and he shrugged.
"I just came out here to do a perimeter check," he explained lightly.
"Sure you did," she drawled out.
"What? I'm being serious!" he insisted with a slight laugh and Mari snickered.
"So did you find anything during your 'perimeter check'?"
"Other than you, no," he said. "But who knows when Zarkon could attack again? It's better to be safe than sorry."
"I guess."
"There you guys are."
Shiro and Mari turned to see Pidge approach them, a melancholy frown on his face. The reprogrammed Galra drone, Rover, hovered at his side and it beeped in greeting as they stopped in front of the siblings.
"Pidge, what's wrong?" Shiro asked, immediately picking up on the Green Paladin's distress.
"I…I need to talk to you," he replied hesitantly. Then glancing up at Mari he corrected himself, "Actually, I need to talk to all of you."
Once Pidge had assembled the majority of the team—minus Lance and Coran who were nowhere to be found in the general vicinity of the party—he relayed his decision to leave the group in favor of finding his family.
"Pidge, no," Shiro pleaded, his expression shocked.
"The download from the Galra ship was enough to at least get me in the right direction to start my search. I have a pod all ready to go," Pidge shook his head, refusing to be persuaded otherwise.
"You can't leave," Keith intervened, staring down the youngest paladin, and Pidge frowned at him in dismay.
"You can't tell me what to do!" he fired back and Keith's glare deepened.
"If you leave, we can't form Voltron. And that means we can't defend the universe against Zarkon. You're not the only one with a family," he said through gritted teeth and Pidge looked away guiltily. "All these Arusians have families. Everyone in the universe has families."
"You don't need me to form Voltron," Pidge muttered. "Just have Mari pilot the Green Lion."
"The lions choose their pilots," Allura piped up sadly. "And the Green Lion chose you, Pidge. It will not accept anyone else."
Pidge grimaced and looked to Mari with pleading eyes. "Can't you at least try?"
"I don't think it'll work, Pidge," Mari admitted. "I'm sorry, but Allura's right. You were chosen for a reason to pilot Green. And…I really don't think you should leave either. The universe needs you here."
His face immediately contorted in anger. "Oh, and my family doesn't need me?" he scoffed.
"No, that's not what I meant," Mari began but Pidge wouldn't let her continue.
"Finding them is my first priority!" he snapped. "I thought out of everyone you'd understand that."
"I do understand," Mari said, struggling to keep a cap on her increasing anger. "We both lost our family to Zarkon and this past year has been…unbelievably painful because of that. But right now isn't the time to be splitting up. We have to stay focused on taking down Zarkon. That's our best chance at finding your father and brother."
"No," Pidge shook his head, a pained grimace on his face. "No, you really don't understand at all! Taking down Zarkon could take months, maybe even years, and I can't wait that long. If I leave now, I know I can find them. I won't stop until I do!"
"Pidge, please. You just have to be patient and wait a bit long—"
"Shut up!" he shouted, and Mari stiffened as he took a threatening step towards her. His fists and jaw were clenched in anger and his eyes glistened with tears. "You just sat around for a whole year, doing nothing to find out what happened to Shiro! You didn't do anything to try and find your family! Well, I'm not like you. I'm not waiting anymore. I'M NOT JUST GONNA SIT AROUND USELESSLY LIKE YOU WHILE MY FAMILY IS WHO-KNOWS-WHERE IN SPACE!"
Mari didn't register what she was doing until she felt the palm of her hand collide hard with Pidge's cheek, the impact causing his head to snap to the side and sending his glasses flying off his nose. The group was cast into shocked silence, the only sound the soft clatter of the spectacles falling onto the floor.
Blinking several times, Pidge's hand slowly pressed against his reddening cheek. He whipped his head around, fully intending to pounce on the older girl in retaliation, but he froze as he noticed the tears streaming down her face. Her whole body was shaking and she inhaled sharply before completely losing it.
"What was I supposed to do?!" she cried, her dark gray eyes flashing angrily. "Don't you think I wanted to find out about what really happened to the Kerberos crew? Don't you think I tried to figure it out? I begged and begged and begged Iverson and Montgomery and all of those stupid hard-ass officials to tell me what happened to my brother until they banned me from campus! And I couldn't just hack and sneak my way back into the Garrison to steal information! I'm not a tech wiz like you, dammit!"
"Mariko! That is enough!" Shiro shouted, bringing his sister's rant to a halt. He had grabbed her by the arm and pulled her behind him, preventing her from getting any closer to Pidge. He held her in place by her shoulders, his eyes narrowed and unwavering as he stared her down.
"This new attitude of yours needs to stop," he said lowly, almost threateningly. "We're a team now, Mari, a family. I won't have you lashing out at teammates."
Mari took a shaky breath and brushed some of the tears from her face before she glared back at him. "They're not my family," she muttered coldly. "And I'm not a part of this team. Not really, anyways. I can't form Voltron and I can't operate this dumb ship."
Her eyes flicked to Pidge and the boy stiffened beneath her watery gaze. "You were right, Pidge," she said quietly. "I really am useless."
Regret immediately flashed across his eyes and next to him Rover beeped unhappily. "Mari," he began. "I-I didn't mean—"
But she didn't let him finish. Roughly pulling away from her brother, she briskly turned away and bolted for the front door. The air of the Castle had suddenly become suffocating, everybody's stares of pity and her own encroaching memories beginning to choke her. She needed to get outside and just be left alone.
As her feet pounded against the Arusian soil, she didn't even feel the tremors of an explosion that came from within the Castle.
"Why…why did it have to be Takashi, my poor baby? Dammit! Why?! Why, why, why, WHY?! Why did it have to be him?"
"It should have been Mari instead."
Brushing the tears from her eyes, Mari pulled her legs tightly to her chest and sighed, trying to ignore the echoing voices inside of her head. She sat numbly atop of another boulder— this one nestled in the back of the Castle and overlooking the ocean—her only companion the brilliant moon that hung silently above her head in the darkened Arusian skies. It had been at least thirty minutes since her little fight with Pidge and she was vaguely surprised that no one had come to find her. Shiro had always let her blow off steam after fights in the past, but he never left her alone for this long. Maybe something was wrong? Or maybe her brother was fed up with dealing with her. The thought of Shiro ignoring her, throwing her aside in favor of the rest of the team, made Mari's eyes sting and she huffed angrily.
Geez…what was she doing? She was seventeen years old, for gosh sakes! She was supposed to be able to handle these sorts of situations like a mature adult. Yet she had slapped Pidge—an innocent kid—out of anger and had a breakdown in front of everyone. And now she was sulking all alone, just like the temperamental and closed off teenage that she really was. She hadn't even meant half of the things she'd said…
Troublesome little—
"Shut up!" Mari hissed as her own thoughts. "Just shut up!"
The voices quieted as she glared up at the moon, and Mari sighed miserably as she listened to the faint crashing of waves against the cliff side. She couldn't hear the muffled din of Aruisans laughing and chatting away as they enjoyed the party, and even the calming hum of the Castle had stopped. There wasn't a single sound other than the rippling ocean below her.
…Since when had it gotten so quiet?
Suddenly, the ground vibrated slightly and Mari looked up in alarm just in time to see the Castle's exterior lights flicker to life—when had the Castle lost power? But instead of giving off their usual soft blue glow, they radiated a horribly familiar purple light. The Castle thrummed with a renewal of seemingly sinister energy, and a feeling of dread overcame her.
Something was definitely wrong.