**Authors note: Ha ha so yeah, this fanfic is definitely not gonna be done until after New Years. I've got a lot more editing to do for the next few chapters plus I'll be heading back to work in the next few days so...yeah (-_-) But I'll continue to upload when I can so hang in there! And Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!
**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!
As soon as the dark purple particle barrier began to descend, Mari scrambled to get underneath it. She slammed into the outside of the castle-ship just as the protective energy dome collided with the ground, trapping her and the Castle underneath it. Her senses going on high alert, she steeled herself and activated her weapon, holding it at the ready as she began to cautiously make her way back to the front door of the building. Was this a Galran attack? Or maybe the Castle was just malfunctioning? She couldn't be sure, but she hoped it was the latter.
Finally making it to the entrance, Mari peeked around the corner before letting out a sigh of relief. There were no Galran sentries stationed anywhere in sight, thank goodness, and taking a deep breath, she prepared to head inside.
"Mari!"
She almost jumped at the sudden shout and she whipped her head around to see Keith and Allura trapped on the other side of the barrier. They had been banging their fists against the forcefield uselessly and immediately stopped as Mari approached them.
"Allura, what's going on? Where is everyone?" she asked, trying to keep the worry out of her voice. If the princess was outside the Castle, then who was operating it now? Surely it wasn't Coran, he'd never lock Allura out.
"The Galra destroyed the crystal that powers the ship," Allura began to explain hurriedly. "Lance was injured and is in need of medical assistance, but we couldn't put him in a cryo-pod because there's no power. Hunk and Coran departed not too long ago to retrieve another crystal from a nearby Balmera, and Keith and I just came back from the Arusian village because it was supposedly under attack."
Mari blinked at the princess in confusion, not registering half of what she had said. Keith rolled his eyes in mild annoyance and summed up, "The Galra attacked and they've split us up to thin the Castle's defenses."
"Well, where are Pidge and my brother?"
"Shiro should still be inside the Castle with Lance," Allura said. "As for Pidge…"
As if on cue, the Green Paladin's voice piped up over Keith and Allura's comms. "Keith, can you hear me?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Pidge, is that you? Where are you?" Keith exclaimed.
"I'm inside the Castle," he replied. "Sendak has taken over and he's preparing for launch. He's got Lance and Shiro."
"Pidge, listen. If they've started the launch sequence, then we don't have much time before liftoff to stop it," Allura said.
"What do I have to do?"
"You have to get down to the main engine control panel and disconnect the primary turbine from the central energy chamber. If you can do that, Sendak will have to reset the whole system. That might give us enough time to find a way to stop them," the princess instructed.
"I'm on it," Pidge confirmed before his side of the line went quiet.
"Mari, change into your suit and turn on your comms," Allura ordered next, turning to the Earthling girl. "I'll give you instructions on how to shut off the particle barrier."
Mari couldn't hide her grimace and she looked at the princess hesitantly. "Allura, I'm terrible with technology. I don't think I—"
"You must, Mariko," she insisted, refusing to take no for an answer. "The safety of Voltron depends on you and Pidge! I know you two can do it."
Allura was right. The team was at a huge disadvantage right now, and they needed her and Pidge to do this. The fate of the whole universe depended on them stopping Sendak from stealing the Castle. She had to do this.
A new surge of determination washing over her, Mari nodded in agreement. "Okay," she relented. "Just tell me what I have to do."
After quickly changing into her suit and putting on her helmet, Mari tapped into the comms just as Pidge stopped the ship from taking off.
"There's not much time before they get the ship running again," Allura was saying through the link. "Mari is already heading down to the particle barrier generator to shut it off. It's beneath the main hull."
"What? Mari's inside too?" Pidge inquired, a hint of dismay in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm inside. Do you have a problem with that?" Mari couldn't help but hiss back in reply.
"Quiznak…why'd it have to be you of all people?" he grumbled.
"Look, you need all the help you can get right now, so just shut up and deal with it," she huffed in annoyance.
"Whatever," Pidge muttered. "I'll meet you at the generator."
"Fine."
"Fine."
As soon as his side went silent, Mari sighed in frustration, a pool of guilt settling in her stomach. She knew she should just apologize to Pidge. He hadn't done anything wrong wanting to help his family. And…he had been right about her: she really hadn't done anything to try and find out what happened to Shiro.
Being pulled from the Garrison—her dreams vanishing in an instant right before her very eyes—had more than crushed her. For the first few weeks she refused to even leave her room, she was so tired and unmotivated all the time. She hadn't even thought about Shiro and his disappearance until her parents dragged her to his funeral. And her mother had said those awful things…
"It should have been Mari instead."
Despite the harsh meaning behind her own mother's words, hearing that had gotten Mari to move again. She couldn't believe he was dead; she just wouldn't accept it. She pestered the Garrison officials until they banned her from campus. But thinking about it now, she wished she had kept going back until they threatened to arrest her. At least then she could say she really did try her hardest to find Shiro.
But no; she had given up her search too quickly. Still, she had never given up on her brother. There was no way he was dead. He couldn't be, not someone as strong and influential as him. In denial and unsure of what to do with herself, Mari had distanced herself from her family and friends, distracting herself by going to races and taking long drives and hikes through the deserts that lasted for hours and hours.
Then she had found the Blue Lion's cave. And then she had met Keith. And being with him had felt…right, in a way. She felt like she needed to stick with him, to stay by his side and help him decode the lion markings no matter how many times he tried to push her away. Mari supposed that in this way she had helped to find Shiro, but she hadn't been consciously looking for him.
She couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if she hadn't stayed with Keith at all, if she had let him block her out. Mari was sure Keith would've been able to figure out the carvings himself eventually. So why…Why was she here? The Blue Lion's energy had reached out to her for some reason, persuaded her to work with Keith. She was supposed to be here with everyone. She was a part of this team, this family full of such wonderfully diverse people. They all had their assigned roles to play in this war against the Galra Empire. So what was hers?
Several squeaking sounds brought Mari back to reality, and she started as the four space mice climbed up onto her shoulder. They cheeped in greeting and bounced up and down excitedly as they gestured for her to continue moving down the hall.
"Mari, I've lost contact with Pidge," Allura piped up over the comms. "But I've managed to contact the mice for help. They'll provide you with assistance in any way that they can."
How much help are four little mice gonna be against armed Galra soldiers? Mari thought dryly to herself. "Okay…I'm almost to the generator. I'll try to contact him." She switched over to her link with Pidge before continuing, "Pidge? Pidge are you there? What's your status?"
There was static on his end for a moment, before ragged breathing cut through the white noise.
"I'm…here," Pidge panted. "The generator's being guarded by sentries and they chased me way off track. I'm circling back to the main engine control room to buy us more time. You're gonna have to shut down the barrier yourself."
"Okay," Mari nodded to herself. She hesitated. "Pidge?"
"What?"
"I…I'm sorry that I hit you. And I'm sorry for yelling at you," she apologized quietly, regretfully. "I didn't mean to. I was just…"
Pidge was silent for a good long minute, and for a moment she thought he had switched off his comm. But then he sighed and said, "No, you…you don't have to apologize, Mari. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said all of that stuff to you. You had every right to hit me or whatever."
Mari was quiet and Pidge took her silence as a cue to continue. "How about we settle on us both being in the wrong here. Both of us were just being stupid and acting without thinking. Does that work?"
"Yeah," Mari smiled to herself and the mice squeaked happily. "Yeah, that works."
"Good," he seemed to sigh in relief. "Okay, I gotta stop this guy from rebooting the main engine. You shut off the barrier and then we'll meet up outside of the bridge. Let's take these guys down!"
There was only one Galran sentry defending the particle barrier generator, the android dutifully pacing up and down the catwalk with its blaster held at the ready. Ducking back behind the door frame, Mari turned to the space mice.
"Okay you guys," she whispered. "There's only one guard. Shouldn't be too hard to take him down."
Chulatt, the smallest mouse, squeaked in opposition and Mari frowned. "What? You don't think I can take down one sentry?"
He shook his head fervently and made a tiny blaster with his paws, pretending to shoot Chuchule. Said pink mouse let out a gasping cheep as the invisible laser hit its mark, and he fell over dead. Chulatt gestured to the 'deceased' mouse before pointing to Mari knowingly.
"I'm not gonna get shot," she rolled her eyes, and all four mice gave her worried looks. Although she hated to admit it, they did have a point. Her suit wasn't exactly armor and a laser blast would easily be able to penetrate the fabric. Plus she had no shield.
"Okay, fine," she relented. "You distract that thing and I'll attack it from behind. Does that sound like a plan?"
They squeaked in agreement before scurrying up the wall and disappearing into the air vent. Peeking around the doorframe again, Mari watched as the mice emerged from the shaft in the ceiling and nimbly hopped onto the top of one of the generators emitting purple bolts of lighting. They waited several seconds for the sentry to pass underneath them, its back turned to the doorway, before they jumped down on top of it.
The robot stumbled as the mice crawled all over it, biting it and banging on its metal limbs. It frantically tried to brush the vermin off, not even noticing when Mari charged from behind. With the blade on her weapon released, she cut through the android like butter, slicing off its blaster-wielding arm before impaling it in the chest. The gaping hole in the robot's torso sparked and smoked dangerously and she quickly flung the thing off of her staff, sending it over the side of the catwalk. It exploded as soon as it made contact with the lower part of an energy arc and Mari and the mice took several steps back to avoid inhaling the smoke from the detonation.
"Nice! Great work guys," she grinned and the mice chirped in victory as they mounted her shoulders once more. They approached the nearby panel that controlled the particle barrier generator, and Mari stared at the glowing Altean symbols hesitantly. "Um…"
Chulatt squeaked encouragingly and gestured to the center icon, a slowly rotating circle that sat next to a symbol representing the Castle of Lions. Mari lifted one hand, ready to press it and end this nightmare of a mission, when the crackle of electricity followed by Shiro's agony-filled screams suddenly rang out over the room's loudspeakers.
"Takashi?!" Mari shouted as pure terror and panic began to flood her system, and a shiver involuntarily ran down her spine as Sendak's chilling laughter came through the speakers.
"Step away from that control panel, pathetic human girl," he growled, his voice deep and threatening. "Turn yourself over to me immediately or I will kill your precious teammates right here and right now, starting with your leader."