?'s POV (Flashback(?))
"You have to go with them." I told the Black Lion to follow the other four lions, though I can still sense her disapproval matching the others' vocal objections to this plan.
"It's the only way to keep him away from you." I reasoned, fully confident that Marmora and the others would protect her as they flew away before the Galra fleet could trap the lions. I placed my forehead against the cool metal.
"I'll be fine." I reassured her, "And I'll find a way back to you. I promise."
Hearing this, the Black Lion reluctantly took off and joined the others. I watched with bated breath as the fighters closed in on the four lions until a wormhole appeared and flew through seconds before the wormhole closed again. I smiled in relief knowing that they'd gotten away.
Hearing footsteps rapidly approaching, I turned around and felt a strong kick to my back, sending me flying until I rolled on the ground.
"It is futile to delay me." Zarkon said, "Kushana made a mistake convincing me to let you take my place as the head of Voltron." I gritted my teeth as I got back on my feet; this was not my predecessor– he never disrespected his friend, my queen, like that.
Zarkon attacked me again, causing me to barely avoid the attack before summoning my bayard.
"I can't let you lead Voltron again after everything you've done!" I stood my ground, "You will never pilot the Black Lion as long as I live! You're no paladin!"
"You dare lecture me?!" Zarkon roared as he unleashed another barrage of attack. I kept dodging his attack with various degrees of success until I saw an opening; this fight would have ended had Zarkon not dodged at the last second, leaving him with a large cut on the left side of his face.
I watched in shock as the cut quickly healed itself until it became a scar, realizing that this was a side-effect of quintessence poisoning. I readjusted the grip on my bayard as I braced for another attack from my former predecessor; earning me cuts that I quickly healed, only to feel a searing pain bloom across my lower right abdomen.
A hunched figure approached Zarkon, clad in a cloak; but I couldn't make out the details as my vision began to blur a bit. I shook my head as my hand instinctively touched the pulsing gorge, only to feel the offending energy emanating from the glowing wound.
"Haggarium…" My mind panicked as I realized that I couldn't use quintessence to heal myself without spreading the poison, that witch must have been working with Zarkon. He'll take the bayard the second I'm…
The Bayard. Zarkon's trying to take my bayard– so he can use his connection to usurp control of the Black Lion! I can't let that happen. My time is numbered, but maybe I can use that to my advantage by speeding the process… I focused on my hand holding the Bayard as crystals began to form around it and my hand.
"No!" I could hear Zarkon yell, but I couldn't care. If it means keeping the Black Bayard out of his hands… I closed my eyes in acceptance of my fate. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise." I just hope that she would understand and accept my sacri—
An agonized scream suddenly escaped my throat as a sharp excruciating pain shot through my arm. My eyes snapped open to see crystal shards on the ground and my right arm stopped a little below my shoulder where a layer of crystal prevented me from bleeding out. I look up too late to see Zarkon using the Black Bayard to send me off a cliff.
Shiro's POV
My eyes shot open as I sat up in a panic. I instinctively looked down to see my robotic arm, realizing that it was just that nightmare again. But death didn't happen at that moment… I shook my head, trying not to recall the nightmare. I looked around at my sleeping quarters and realized what happened in the past few days wasn't a dream.
Shiro's POV (Flashback)
Coran had already given a proper tour of the castle before we took the lions to their respective hangar and had our first… dinner, I think… consisting of the green goo from earlier. At Hunk's insistence, we ate the goo. It's surprisingly not bad– once I got past my initial gag reflex from the texture, but I try not to show it. Not only would it be rude to our Altean hosts, but it was also due to an old habit where I had to set an example for Keith.
A couple hours… or vargas as Allura and Coran would say, has passed. Everyone else had retired for the night, except for the two of us; and Coran who'd decided to get started rebooting the castle's systems from that attack.
"Are you sure you don't need any help?" I asked as Allura and I walked down the hall toward the extra sleeping quarters where Keith, Pidge, Hunk, and Lance were; hopefully asleep by now since it's been a long day.
"Thank you. But Coran and I have things under control and will retire for the night shortly. Tomorrow will be a busy day, so you should get some rest.," She replied as we stopped in front of a closed door; the second the princess typed in the passcode to open the doors, my mind flashed back to the Galra ship where a guard opened the door to my cell.
"–iro?" My muscles felt stiff, I couldn't move.
"–hiro." It was so hard to breathe, until I felt a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"The doors don't lock, Shiro." A quiet and reassuring voice spoke, snapping me out of it. I notice that I'm on Arus with Princess Allura looking at me with concern in her eyes.
"W-what?" I asked, my voice sounding a little too vulnerable.
"Not unless you want them to. And the key's in your hand. You won't have to type in the passcode." She gently elaborated, "The room is yours. You are free to do as you wish."
I was surprised to hear this, but I am grateful for the princess' actions and words.
"Thank you, Princess."
Allura nodded her head, "Of course. Goodnight, Shiro."
"Goodnight, Princess."
Shiro's POV
I shook my head as I focused on the present. The princess did say that today is going to be busy, after all. While I don't know what time it is, I figured I got into my armour– just in case, and decided to do a workout routine. A few minutes in, I was in the middle of doing push-ups when the castle's alarm suddenly went off.
"Everybody up! Zarkon's attacking!" Allura's voice sounded throughout the castle's PA system. I quickly got up and made my way toward the bridge, "The Castle's about to be destroyed! Go, go, go! We need Voltron now! Hurry! We can't survive much longer!"
The princess sounded anxious. Sendak must have reported before the ship was destroyed; otherwise, Zarkon wouldn't be here. I still don't know how we formed Voltron last time, but we must make do.
"Oh, no! Allura is dead!" Coran's voice suddenly took over. What?! No! If I come across Zarkon… a familiar buzzing broke my train of thought, causing me to notice that my hand activated again. I shook my hand to get it back to normal– it apparently reacts to either my thoughts or emotions, maybe both. Pidge and I need to have my arm analyzed; but right now, Zarkon has to be stopped. For her.
I ran into the bridge, only to stop short at the sight before me. Coran with his back facing the door and on his knees, asking 'Allura's head' about her final words; and Allura. She's okay… I looked over to see that I wasn't the only one who came here: Keith, Pidge, and Hunk. However, I have a feeling that Hunk had just woken up.
"Coran." I turned to see Allura trying to get his attention. My hand almost activated again with my annoyance with Coran for his stunt.
"Oh, yes, Princess, I'm listening." He's completely immersed in his 'acting'.
Allura's POV
"It's over." I said when the alarms finally deactivated; Coran and I may have agreed to test the Paladins at the same time as the Castle's alarms, but did he have to overkill it by saying that my head fell off?
"Oh, I know!" Coran groaned as he turned around, "If only Voltron had been formed." He opened his eyes and noticed that four of the five were standing here when he was asking my severed head about my 'final words'. "Oh! Time!"
"I guess this isn't an actual attack." Shiro said, though I thought that I heard a slight annoyance with a hint of worry in his voice. My heart almost ached at the thought that I accidentally made him worry before shaking my head. I need to have words with Coran later. But now's not the time.
"And it's a good thing it wasn't because it took you…" I began before asking Coran.
"Seventy-five degrees." He replied, he was using the meat thermometer?! I thought that he was using the ticker, but I couldn't blame him since he and I were up for vargas now. Coran apologized for the mix-up.
"However long it was, it was too long." I spoke up again, "You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you! Only Shiro's in uniform. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, where are your bayards? And where is Lance?"
Normal POV
As soon as Princess Allura asked, the bridge doors opened– and the said missing Paladin walked in feeling refreshed.
"Good morning, everybody." he yawned, "What's going on?"
"Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order." Allura lectured, "We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed."
"Hey!" Hunk spoke up before yawning, "You got to sleep for 10,000 years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird castle. That's a lot to process in, uh… I don't know. What day is today?"
"It's the third quintant of the Spicolian movement." Coran replied, "Hump day!"
"It's a lot to process." Hunk reiterated.
"You must understand the stakes of our mission. Over the last 10,000 years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations." Allura explained as she activated the universe map, with the majority of the systems turning from blue to orange. "So, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe."
The princess moved the map to an area that hadn't turned orange yet, "Earth is here. An attack on your planet is inevitable."
"Oh, no."
Shiro's POV
"Exactly. Our mission is to free all those planets." The princess continued, "Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon."
"The Princess is right." I agreed; if we are to keep our home and loved ones safe– the sooner we learn how to form Voltron, the better. "Let's get to our lions and start training."
"Wait." Pidge speaks up, "But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship."
"Negative, Number five. I have you ranked by height, okay?" Coran interrupted, "The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow."
"That's right. Now, get to your lions." Allura agreed before pointing each of us to where we'd go down our respective elevators that would take us to the lions. I walked to where mine was and descended.
Once it stopped, I noticed a zipline. I leaped out and grabbed it. The wind rushed past me as I held on, along with the feeling of déjà-vu. A panel in the approaching wall opened, revealing a circular chute. Timing carefully, I swung myself into the chute and slid down to some sort of speeder. Following my instinct, I got the speeder going. The lights of the tunnel blurred past me until I stopped at the end of the tunnel, where the floor beneath the speeder began to move up toward the Black Lion. Once I was at the controls, she launched out of the castle and landed on the other side of the bridge. Pidge, Keith, and Lance landed soon after.
Normal POV
"Should someone go in after him?" Lance asked before the Yellow Lion flew out of the castle from its hangar.
"Hi, guys. Sorry, everybody." Hunk apologized for his tardiness as he landed beside Pidge, "Seriously, though, can't they park these things, like, a little closer to the bridge?"
"All right, guys. Let's just fly in tight formation until we're totally in sync." Shiro spoke up before Princess Allura opened a transmission to the Paladins' screens.
"Feel the bond with your lions and your fellow pilots until five become one unit and you form Voltron!" she encouraged, with the Paladins taking off enthusiastically. But as they flew in formation, their enthusiasm diminished over time.
"Whoo…" Hunk said weakly, "Am I the only one who's still pretending to be excited?"
"Clearly, this isn't working." Shiro replied, "Let's set down for a little bit."
"Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up." Keith spoke up, piquing his brother's curiosity. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, let's try literally building Voltron," The Red Paladin pitches his idea, "like, stacking on top of each other."
"Like a cheerleading pyramid?" Lance asked.
"You got a better idea?" Keith countered.
"It's worth a try," Shiro agreed before landing the Black Lion, with the other four following suit.
Allura's POV
I had just finished talking with Coran and decided to focus on the bridge to reboot the Castle's defenses– as well as the check on the Paladins' progress, only I stopped short at the most peculiar sight. The Blue and Green Lions were on the ground, with the Red Lion on top of them. The Black Lion balanced its back paws on Green and Blue, and its front paws were on top of Red. And the Yellow Lion was balancing on Black's wings.
My hands instantly went to my mouth as I tried not to laugh, before activating my earrings to listen in on the Paladins.
"Hunk, what are you doing?" Shiro asked, though I couldn't help but wonder who came up with this idea.
"What do you mean?" Hunk asked innocently.
"You're supposed to be the leg," Shiro replied. "over there."
"What? No. No, no, no." Hunk denies, "I'm pretty sure that when we did it last time, I was the head. Right?"
"You yelled, 'I'm a leg!'" Lance spoke up.
"Yeah, I was yelling a lot of things." Hunk countered.
"Shiro's the head." Keith said, defending his brother's position.
"All the time?" Hunk asked.
"Let's just try it my way for now." Shiro spoke up, sounding done with the shenanigans.
"Okay, but next time I call head."
I briefly deactivated my earrings, so that I could laugh without the Paladins hearing me. I watched with amusement as the lions got themselves out of the 'lion-pile' before rearranging themselves; Blue and Yellow on the ground, Red on top of blue, and Green on top of Yellow. I reactivated my earrings when I saw Black taking off before hovering over the new 'lion-pile'.
"Okay. Arms and legs… and I'll form the head." Shiro said to himself as he carefully landed the Black Lion on top.
"Feel the bonds with your lions." Shiro instructed, "Now, channel your energy into forming Voltron." I watched them stay like that with Shiro saying 'Focus' twice before asking if everyone is bonding and focusing.
"Why was this so much easier before?" Lance asks before Shiro sighs and suggests taking a break as the lions get themselves out of their second 'lion-pile'. I figure I've been a silent watcher long enough as I activate an open transmission.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help." I spoke up, "Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle." This got the Paladins' attention with Pidge, Lance, Shiro, and Keith acknowledging it.
"Perfect. Because I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle defenses." I informed them as I mischievously activated the defense system and had it focused on the lions, "This should help!"
Normal POV
The Castle's particle barrier suddenly activated as lasers fired out toward the lions, causing everyone to make a run for it.
"Allura, what are you doing?!" Keith demanded as he and the other Paladins dodged the bombardment.
"Running a diagnostic test on the Castle defenses and inspiring you!" Princess Allura said innocently, "I believe in you, Paladins! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!"
"Forget this!" Lance said after narrowly avoiding a missile, "I'm heading back to the Castle!" he guided his lion toward the castle, dodging every laser blast until the Blue Lion jumped toward the barrier– only to get repelled by it.
"Please stop!" Hunk pleaded as he desperately dodged the bombardment, "Please! Have mercy on us!"
"You think Zarkon is going to have mercy on you?" Allura asked, "He's probably on his way right now to destroy us all!" And with that, she pressed the screen before walking away.
*Auto-lock-on engaged.*