**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!
By the time the sun had completely risen, Mari was back at the Arusian village, accompanied by Shiro and his lion. They landed just outside of the small town and found Klaizap and the elderly Arusian woman waiting for them there.
"Mari-kooooo!" Klaizap bawled as she descended the Black Lion's ramp, and he ran up to meet her, jumping up to hug her as he got closer.
"Hi, Klaizap," she chuckled, returning the embrace before Klaizap let go of her and recomposed himself.
"You are healed now," the elder noted, coming to stand beside the warrior. "I am most relieved. How do you feel?"
"Much better now, thanks," Mari nodded. "Sorry for making you worry. We just came by today to return this."
She held out the Putaverunt Crystal to the woman, and her eyes lit up in recognition. "My relic!" she exclaimed. "It has been fixed!"
"That relic is a special type of crystal," Shiro explained as the Arusian took the object into her hands. "If someone is distressed when they touch it, it will copy and hold their memories."
The elder looked momentarily alarmed and her brow furrowed as she stared at the crystal. "And this is what happened to Mari-ko?" she inquired. "It held her memories?"
"Yeah," Mari nodded. "But don't worry, we've removed all my memories from it. Despite all the pain it caused, this thing actually proved to be pretty helpful."
She shared a knowing smile with Shiro and the elder's expression softened as she watched them. "You have changed," she noted simply. Then holding out the crystal to the human, she said, "I want you to have this, Mari-ko."
Mari looked back at her in surprise. "W-What?" she spluttered, rather taken aback. "No, no, I can't. It's your family's antique, I can't accept this."
"It is a gift," the old woman persisted. "I can tell it has helped you greatly, more than it could ever help my family. Please, take it."
"I really shouldn't…" she began to refuse once more, but the old Arusian shook her head before gently taking her hand.
"This is to remember us and your time here," she said warmly, placing the smooth crystal in her palm.
"It is a great honor to receive such a wondrous gift from one of our elders," Klaizap piped up, as if to help convince Mari, and she felt her cheeks grow warm. These Arusians just weren't going to take no for an answer.
"Okay," she relented, smiling as she clasped the orb firmly in her hand. "I'll keep it. Thank you so much for the gift."
Suddenly, Shiro's helmet comm beeped and Allura voice could be heard by the four of them. "We're ready to launch, Shiro," she relayed. "Please hurry back to the Castle."
Klaizap's face immediately fell. "You and the paladins are leaving today?" he inquired.
"Yeah, we are," Mari admitted sadly, kneeling down so that she was at eye level with him.
"Can you not stay a bit longer?" he pleaded and Mari shook her head.
"As long as we remain on Arus, you and your people will be in danger. And the last thing we want is for any of you to get hurt."
Klaizap's eyes watered and he sniffled, seemingly on the verge of crying, and Mari instinctively wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry, Klaizap," she said quietly. "But I'm sure we'll see each other again. Continue to protect your people, okay?"
The small warrior took a deep breath and nodded in confirmation. Pulling away from her, he quickly dried his tears and put on a brave and determined face.
"I understand. I will not let you down, Mari-ko," he said. "May you and the Paladins of Voltron stay safe on your journey."
He thrust out one hand to her and Mari blinked in surprise at it for a moment. Then chuckling, she took it and gave it a firm shake.
"It was fun spending time with you," she beamed. "Until we meet again, goodbye, Klaizap."
It had been almost a full varga since the Castle of Lions launched from Arus, taking to the skies for the first time in ten thousand years. Now as they glided past the twinkling stars, cutting through the inky blackness of space, the team trained their sights on the Balmera and prepared to face the Galra forces that awaited them.
Mari stood alone in front of a memory unit, the particles inside dimly glowing blue and floating around listlessly behind the glass. It was weird seeing them, her memories in a physical form, and she was amazed by the magic of the Putaverunt Crystal. The troublesome rock had ended up helping her face her inner demons, and she now understood why the Alteans had been so intent on finding a way to preserve and view memories. Not only did the crystal's powers conserve memories, but it shared an individual's history, explaining how they became the person that they were and how they could be helped if need be, changing them for the better.
I wonder what we'll do with these now, Mari thought, her eyes following the lazily swirling orbs. The idea of just getting rid of them and letting them disappear completely disturbed her to a degree; it would be like she was throwing a part of herself away. But she couldn't possibly imagine why they'd need to keep them unless she somehow got total amnesia, not that they would help much anyways since the ones inside the unit were only a small fraction of her memories. Maybe she could ask Coran to transfer them back into the crystal; then she could keep them in her room as a keepsake of sorts. Yeah, she'd ask him to do that the next time he was available.
Behind her, the door to the room slid open silently and she glanced over her shoulder to see Keith decked out in his paladin armor.
"I thought you'd be on the observation deck and taking in the view," Keith said as he came to stand beside her. "What are you doing in here?"
"I was there for a little while after we launched," she replied. "Then I came here to do some reflecting."
"Reflecting?"
"Yeah. A lot has happened in the past few days."
"I'll say," Keith nodded and she grinned. The two were both quiet for a moment, and Mari's smile slowly faded as she thought about what to say next.
"Keith? I…I know I don't remember what happened on that cliff, but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," she said finally. "I'm sorry for worrying you."
Keith blinked at her in surprise and frowned. "I wasn't worried!" he began to protest, but she was staring right into his eyes, her expression so sincere and intense it made him a bit uncomfortable. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and crossed his arms before looking away.
Sighing, he muttered, "It's okay. What happened doesn't really matter now anyways." He paused for a moment before barely uttering, "But I'm sorry to you too. For leaving you by yourself like that. There, we're even now."
"I forgive you," Mari said, smiling again. "Besides, you were trying to help me. That's why you left, right?"
"Yeah…"
She raised a quizzical eyebrow at him, but he said nothing more. There was clearly something more to their moment on the cliffs that he wasn't mentioning, and it was nagging her to no end that she still had no recollection of the event. Her gaze fell on the unit in front of her and she wondered if the crystal had managed to copy her memories of the incident before she'd dropped it and fallen. Curious, she pressed the center button on the control panel and the unit flickered on.
"What are you doing?" Keith asked, a hint of concern in his voice as a projected image slowly began to come into focus against the wall.
"Just checking something," Mari replied nonchalantly and his eyes narrowed at her suspiciously. But before he could question her again, the door suddenly opened and the rest of the paladins entered the room.
"There you two are," Shiro sighed in relief. "We're heading to the bridge to figure out a plan to free the Balmera."
"Yeah, what are you guys doing in here goofing off?" Lance huffed impatiently. "Come on! We've got a planet to sa—Whoa! Who are those two girls?!"
The machine had begun displaying short snippets of memory, picking up where it had left off after the funeral scene. The new images were fragments of a drift race that Mari had participated in, and after winning, she was seen being hugged by two girls at the finish line. One was petite with straight and short black hair while the other was taller, curvier, and had long blonde locks. Lance was promptly ogling both of them, and when the scene changed he groaned in disappointment.
"Those are my friends, Jia and Magdalena," Mari explained, smiling sadly at the thought of them. "We've known each other since elementary school."
"Do you know if either of them are single?" Lance asked, giving her a hopeful grin.
"The last time I talked to them they both were."
"Think you could introduce us sometime when this is all over?"
"Not a chance," she immediately denied him and he gave her an angry pout.
When the next set of projections came into focus, Mari was standing in the Blue Lion cave, snapping photos of the carvings on the walls. When she had finished, she casually packed up her belongings and slung her bag over her shoulder before abruptly bolting for the back of the cave. She hid behind a group of boulders just as a familiar individual came into view.
"Hey, this is when you met Keith!" Hunk realized and Mari nodded just as her past self tackled the boy in question, pinning him to the floor of the cave.
"Ha ha, she took you down like it was nothing," Lance chortled and Keith glared at him in irritation.
"She caught me off guard!" he snapped defensively and Pidge snorted.
"Excuses, excuses," she snickered as she readjusted her glasses, and Keith bristled.
"Well, you two certainly met in a much more hostile way than I imagined," Shiro chuckled. "No wonder it's memorable."
The image shifted again, and this time Mari's heart nearly stopped at what was displayed. Hunk yelped in surprise and Lance gasped loudly; Pidge was grinning from ear-to-ear and Keith was just staring at the picture with wide eyes; Shiro's jaw had dropped open and he stood there numbly in shock. Being projected on the wall was a teenage boy with ruffled brown hair sitting next to Mari—and he was kissing her right on the lips.
Mari slammed her hand on the shut-off button so fast and with so much force it made the entire control panel shake, and the projection immediately disappeared as the memory unit powered down. The room was silent as everyone stared at her, and she could feel her cheeks growing warmer and warmer with every passing second.
Finally, Shiro spoke, his features contorted into a grimace and his right eye twitching ever so slightly. "Mariko…" he said lowly, his tone sending a chill down her spine. "Care to tell me why you were kissing Aaren?"
"H-He kissed me first, I swear!" she stammered, holding up her hands in defense. "We were talking and he just leaned in with no warning! I didn't want him to do it all, I promise!"
"Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Who the heck is Aaren?!" Lance exclaimed, pronouncing the name as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. "And how the heck did you manage to get your first kiss before me?!"
"Looks like you've got a lot of explaining to do," Pidge drawled out gleefully with a mischievous smirk.
"There's nothing else to explain!" Mari insisted just as Allura spoke over the Castle's loudspeakers.
"Paladins and Mari, you are needed on the bridge. Please report here immediately," she ordered, not even bothering to mask the annoyance in her voice.
"Well, you heard Allura," Keith said, nodding towards the door. "Let's go."
"But Mari's boyfriend…" Lance whimpered just as she snapped, "He's not my boyfriend!"
"We've got more important things to be thinking about right now, Lance," Keith rolled his eyes.
"He's right," Hunk nodded in agreement. "We've gotta focus on how we're going to save Shay and her people."
As they headed for the exit, Shiro matched Mari's pace and smiled wryly. "So, can I expect Aaren to be coming over for dinner when we get back home?"
"No!" his sister blushed and she nudged him playfully. "There's nothing going on between us. I don't even like him that way. His feelings are completely one-sided."
"All right, I believe you," Shiro laughed lightly. Then nudging her back he added, "You're not allowed to have a boyfriend just yet anyways. He has to meet all my standards and pass the worthiness tests that I give him."
"Okay, dad," Mari said, rolling her eyes but beaming nonetheless. Despite the fact that they were going to be heading straight into battle, she couldn't help but smile. Years and years of pain and loneliness had been lifted off of her shoulders and she felt like she could finally breathe easy for once. She was flying through space with her brother and a new family that truly loved her and cared about her. She hadn't felt this happy in a very long time, and she couldn't wait to see what the future held for her and the rest of Team Voltron.
**Author's note: Ha ha I can't believe I originally said (at the beginning of chapter 1) that this story would be done by around Christmas. And now it's well into February xD All of that editing and rewriting took a lot more time and thought than I expected. Anyhow, that wraps up the second story in this series. I should be able to upload the first chapter of the third one sometime this weekend, but after that I won't have a set uploading schedule (because schoolwork has been eating up more and more of my free time as of lately -_-).
But please feel free to drop a comment/review down below. They're always appreciated and I'll do my best to reply to them. Thank you all for your continued support and I hope to see you (...hear from you? idk) soon in the third story featuring Mari and the rest of the Voltron crew! :D