A/N: I hope you all are having a great week. I am having an interesting one. But anyway, hope you are enjoying the story! Please comment and review! Love ya!
Episode: "Changing of the Guard" and "Red Paladin"
Linna stands in the hangar, staring at the Black lion. She feels the pain swelling up inside of her as she remembers what Shiro told her. He said that nothing was going to happen. Everyone was going to make it out of the battle alive. She glances over towards the empty space where the Red lion should be. She knows that Keith is out searching for him.
Linna turns towards the Black lion again when she senses something within the Black lion. She walks over and places a hand on the lions head when her mind appears before Shiro.
"What happen?" Shiro states to Linna.
"Shiro..." Linna looks around the world that she is in and realizes what has happened. "You not really here."
"What is going on Linna?" Shiro asks her with panic in his voice.
"Your soul is within the Black lion." Linna states to him with tears forming in her eyes. "You body is gone, but your mind is here."
"What do you mean?" Shiro wonders to Linna.
"It means that you are dead in the real world." Linna tells him when she runs to him and wraps her arms around him. "You're dead."
"This can't be." Shiro speaks with shock in his voice as he wraps his arms around Linna. "How am I able to see you here then?"
"I am connected to the lions are a very spiritual and personal level. The Black lion must have wanted me to know that you are here for some reason." Linna informs him.
"How are the others?" Shiro questions to Linna when they release in their hug.
"They aren't good. Keith is wondering the galaxy trying to find you." Linna informs him. "I am going to somehow have to explain this to everyone."
"Linna..." Shiro whispers to her with a serious tone in his voice now.
"Yes," Linna looks at Shiro in the eyes as she wonders if she could bring him back somehow.
"I don't want you to tell anyone about this." Shiro states to her with his serious fatherly voice.
"Why?" Linna says to him with confusing in her voice. "They need to know that you are gone for good."
"Linna..." Shiro glances around him. "How are you going to explain this?"
"I have to tell them that you are dead Shiro." Linna tries to fight with him. "They need to know."
"Linna, do this for me. I don't want them worrying more. I want them to live, and I want Keith to take over for Voltron. I know that he is a great leader. He needs this moment to show that he has the power to lead." Shiro explains to Linna before she lowers her face towards him. "Can you do that for me?"
Linna shakes her head towards him before glancing up to him with even more tears down her face to him. "I told you that something was going to happen." She cries out towards him. "I told you that something bad was going to happen and you just ignored me. You said everything was going to be okay."
"Everything will be alright."
"Look what happened to you! Look where you are at!" Linna screams at him with the tears hitting the ground. "You are dead!"
"Linna..." Shiro whispers her name before she opens her eyes to the hangar again.
"Shiro..." She whispers when Red appears through the doors.
Linna looks up to the Red lion before turning away and walking out of the hangar. Keith leaves the lion but stops to watch Linna run out the doors with tears in her eyes. He lowers his head to the floor before looking up towards the Black lion.
Linna walks through the halls when she remembers that the leaders are coming to meet with the paladins and Allura. Linna really didn't want to go to the meeting so she declined the offer. Linna heads towards her room and lays on her bed. She has to rest after that battle with Zarkon. She looks at her markings that have doubled since the last time she looked at them.
"I know my time is coming." Linna whispers when she hears his call. "I know that I used to much energy during that last battle."
She listens to him inform her of the limits of their powers here. Linna understands what he is trying to say to her, but she had to do something. She had to try and save them.
"Will he be alright?" Linna wonders to him. "I mean his soul is trapped until Allura takes it out when she gains that knowledge."
He doesn't really answer her for that question. All he does is stay silent in her presence. Linna sighs with disappointment as she rolls over in her bed. She understands why he went silent. She just didn't want that answer. Linna closes her eyes to her heart slowly beating as she remembers her past in her dreams.
Linna's past:
Linna walks through the wall of the great White Lion. She senses his power of life and death. She opens her eyes to Oriande before her. She remembers what Alfor told her about the Lion.
"Welcome..." The White lion appears before Linna. "You are different from others that have come here."
"You are something that I have never seen or heard of before." Linna replies to him.
"I see that you seek for something that has been lost to you." The White lion tells her with concern in his voice.
"I seek for someone." Linna answers him. "I watched them die before my eyes. I want to find them again."
"That can not be possible unless." The White stares into Linna's eyes. "I see."
"Yes." Linna answers him because she knows that the White lion can see through her disguise. "Will you help me?"
"I don't know." The White lion steps a side from her. "I want to see if you will pass my test before I will agree to anything."
"Alright." Linna agrees to his terms as she walks into the temple with determination in her expression.
Linna soon walks out of the temple with the power of the Alchemists for Altea. The White lion bows before her with respect as he sees that she has completed his challenge.
"I will help you with your journey. However, you don't have the time of the world on your side." The White lion informs her. "Those markings on your body are from the real you, as you grow more will appear. The more you are with the person that you want to save, the faster they will appear as well."
"I understand." Linna tells him. "As long as they don't die in my arms again."
"I can not promise that, but I can aid in helping you see them for as long as you can." The White lion walks over towards Linna before placing his head upon hers. "Please remember this talk. I don't want to see you in anymore pain."
"Thank you."
End of Linna's Past:
Linna wakes up to someone knocking on her door. She slowly gets up to see another mark that has a appeared on her chest this time. She covers them up before opening the door to Keith anger but sad at the same time.
"Keith..." Linna whispers to him with concern in her voice as he stands there, quietly before her.
"Can we talk?" Keith wonders to her with worrying in his voice.
Linna walks out of her room as the door shuts behind her. "Sure."
"Come on." Keith says to her as he guides her towards the Lions' hangar.
"I thought the big meeting is today." Linna says to him as they enter the hangar. "Isn't?"
"Yeah," He states to her.
"You can't miss that you know." Linna replies to his response.
"It is in a few hours." Keith informs her. "I want to talk to you about something."
"What is it?" Linna wonders to him as the stop in front of the Black lion.
"Do you think he is still out there?"
Linna stops breathing for a moment. She looks towards the Black lion as she remembers what she promised to Shiro just this morning. She lowers her gaze before speaking to Keith.
"What do you think?"
"I believe that he is. He is out there, waiting for us to find him." Keith states to her.
"Then he is out there." Linna agrees with him even though she knows other wise.
"Then why does Allura want us to get another pilot to pilot the Black lion?" Keith wonders ot Linna as she looks up towards him now.
"Allura wants to replace Shiro?"
"She says that we need to form Voltron so we have to think about changing the role of our leader to someone else." Keith states to Linna. "It's like she already believes that he is dead."
"Keith..." Linna places a hand on his shoulder. "I want you to think about something."
"What?" Keith turns to face Linna now.
"I want you to think about what would happen if Voltron didn't form? I want you to think about the universe just like Shiro did before you bond with one another."
"What are talking about?" Keith starts to get anger and backs away from Linna for a moment. "Shiro is alive."
"I know!" Linna yells at him with tears developing in her eyes. She looks up towards the Black lion before looking back to Keith. "But... I want you to remember that the Galra are still out there. I want you to think about one question. Because I will never stop looking for him."
"What is the question?"
"What would Shiro do if you were the one missing?" Linna states to him before walking towards the hangar down and stopping as they open. "If we change who the leader is, then I will continue the search for Shiro."
Linna walks out of the door as she leaves Keith to his thoughts. She darts towards her room once again before running into Pidge. Pidge and Linna both fall to the ground after the impact of each other.
"Linna?" Pidge wonders when she sees the tears in her eyes.
"I am fine, Pidge. I just need to go lay down." Linna informs her as she gets up quickly and closes her room door before locking it.
Linna places her back against the door while her body slides down the frame with her hands covering her face. Tears continue to travel down her cheeks as she stares at the journals that lay in her room. She falls to her butt when her knees pull close to her chest. Linna lays her head against the door while she remembers the person she wants to stay with lays in her arms again. She remembers them dying in her arms as her heart stopped beating at the memory. Linna closes her eyes to the memory before as her heart aches with agony.
"I can't have that happen to me again." Linna whispers to herself as she stays there in silence with pain in her heart.
Next Day:
Linna walks to the Lions' hangar after eating breakfast to think. She had that same nightmare last night. She sees his face but has no idea what his name is. Linna walks over towards the Black lion to see if she can talk with Shiro once again, but the lion won't let her in.
"Come on!" Linna whines to her. "I don't understand this nightmare."
The Black lion stays quiet in response to her. Linna crosses her arms over her chest when she senses the other lions getting restless. She understands what is happening. They are figuring out who is going to pilot each lion again.
"It really isn't that hard of a decision is it?" Linna wonders to them.
The lions lay their heads down to her in response to 'yes'. Linna smirks at them for that response. She understands them to well. Linna looks over towards Blue, Red, and Black because she knows that Green and Yellow are not going to give up their paladins.
"Lance is ready to pilot Red, and you know that Allura is ready to pilot you Blue." Linna smiles at them before looking at Black. "You know that Shiro wants Keith to pilot you."
The lions roar at her response towards her when she smirks at them. She knows that they are trying to ignore her, but they know she is right. Linna sits in the middle of the floor with them just to listen to their hearts beating like machines or even animals. She can feel their pain and sadness at the lost of Shiro. They are hurting just like the rest of them.
"I understand." Linna says to them as she opens her eyes to the paladins, Allura, and Coran before her. "Hey, guys."
"Hey," Everyone says to Linna except for Keith.
Linna tilts her head to everyone though because she sense somethings off about them. "What's up?"
"Well," Allura starts off very slowly with answering. "We are going to see if the Black lion will chose one of us to fly her to form Voltron."
"Oh," Linna says with a smile as she looks over towards the Black lion. "That's fine."
"Okay," Lance replies when he walks over closer to Linna and stares at her intensely. "You already know who's going to pilot her, don't you?"
"Yep." Linna states back to him with a grin.
"Can you tell us?" Coran and Allura ask her as they approach her closer.
"Nope." Linna replies to them. "That is for you to fine out."
"Come on Linna!" Everyone whines except for Keith who is hiding out in the back.
Linna gets up from the ground as she shakes her head to them whining. "Nope."
"Fine." Everyone pouts to her as they look back at the Black lion.
"So who is going first?" Hunk wonders to the group.
"Should be draw straws?" Pidge asks them.
"I have it! I am thinking of a number between one and 50." Coran says out of the blue. "Allura, you go first. Pidge is second and then the others."
"Wait, don't we get to guess the number?" Lance whines to Coran.
"But I already know the number." Coran states back to Lance.
"Allura just go." Lance says with disappointment on his face.
Linna giggles a little as Allura walks over towards the Black Lion. Linna looks over in the direction of Keith. She sees him thinking about something. Linna walks over to him before placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Have you thought about my question?"
"No." Keith replies to her immediately.
"I would." Linna tells him before walking out of the room, leaving him to think about the question she had for him.
The Lions are sent out on their mission:
Linna walks into the main hall where Allura and Coran are operating the Castle towards a planet. Linna sits in Keith's chair when finally Allura notices that her friend has appeared.
"You knew that Keith would fly the Black lion didn't you." Allura wonders to Linna.
"Yep." Linna states to Allura still looking out the window. "The Black lion told me."
"Then why didn't you tell us?" Coran asks her.
"Because I wanted them to see that Keith is the leader we need right now." Linna replies to them when Lance comes over the mics.
"My lion's not responding to me!"
"Well, figure it out and catch up with us as soon as you can." Keith orders him and the line cuts out.
Suddenly a large Galra ship appears before the castle. Linna stares at it when she senses his presence. The man from her nightmares. Linna gets up from her seat when his voice comes through the Castle.
"Attention, Paladins of Voltron. This is Prince Lotor, Son of Zarkon, Emperor Pro Tem of the Galra Empire. Surrender now, or you will be destroyed." Lotor tells them.
Linna stares at the ship with fear in her mind as she stops moving her body. She remembers her nightmares of him coming and killing her and her friends. Linna soon hears Pidge come through the mics with panic in her voice.
"We've been set up!"
"Evasive maneuvers! Everyone, watch your back!" Keith yells through the mics.
"Coran, we have to get there immediately!" Allura orders him. "Lance, we need you! The lions are being attacked."
"I'm trying!" Lance cries through the coms.
"I am gonig to see what is keeping him." Allura tells Coran and Linna.
She runs out the door as the Castle moves closer towards the ship. Linna stares at the ship with fear still in her eyes. She remembers him. Linna finally is able to move her feet as she walks over towards the pillars where Allura was just at moments ago. Coran looks back to see Linna on the main area.
"Linna?" Coran wonders when Linna turns on the intercom.
"Hello, Lotor." Linna speaks through the mics as everyone continues to fight.
"Is that Linna?" Lotor comes through the coms now with hunger in his voice. "I haven't heard from you in ages."
"I see that Zarkon has brought you out of banishment." Linna replies to him.
"I am shocked that you remember me." Lotor begins telling about her past. "If I remember correctly, the witch stole you memories."
"Linna?" Coran whispers at what Lotor just said.
"She did." Linna states back to him. "However, you can't get rid of a nightmare."
"That's funny." Lotor chuckles at her response. "I will get you back again. You knowledge on the comet and the lions are very useful."
"Over my dead body." Linna answers him when she cuts the line of communication.
Coran looks over towards Linna with worry in his expression. Linna waves him off when they finally hear that Lance is piloting the Red lion. Linna smirks at the mention of that. She realizes that the Lions did listen to her.
"Coran," Linna smirks at his worried face for her. "Make sure to hit them with everything we got."
"Alright!" Coran answers her as he begins to fire upon Lotor's ships.
"Thanks Coran!" Keith answers him.
Suddenly, the ship begins to fire upon the Castle with a full blast of incredible power. Linna and Coran struggle to stay on their feet. Linna places her hands on the pillars to see the amount of damage that the Castle is taking for every hit.
Allura finally appears in the Blue lion with joy in everyone's hearts. Linna smirks at the happiness that she senses before looking back at Lotor's ships. She now remembers who he is. She watches as his ship quickly vanish after Allura appeared in the Blue lion, allowing Linna to take her hands off the pillars and look over towards Coran with a smile.
"So she is going to pilot the Blue lion." Coran whispers with happiness in his voice.
"She will do a magnificent job." Linna answers him with a smile on her face before walking over towards the door.
"Linna!" Coran yells her name that causes her to stop and look back to him. "You know our new enemy?"
"Yes." Linna replies to Coran. "He was in charge of me while I was in the Galra prisons."
Linna walks out the door when she tells Coran that. She doesn't want to have to say anything else tonight. She feels her body start to turn heavy and nausea is settling in her stomach as she wobbles to her door. Her door opens as she falls into the room. Linna grabs a trash can and throws up at the memories appearing before her with Lotor. She feels the tears falling down her face as she places her head against the door and locks it so no one can come in. She looks at her room once again before closes her eyes with exhaustion as Lotor's face appears before her again.