Canis Major | Keith Kogane

14

Average people dream to become a legend. Those people seem to think small of their hardships and focus more on their success. Legends don't focus much on their time after, their stories build up to their greatest triumph and leave it in that high note. Everyone perceives that after their greatest moment, their lives are simple and happy. Writers that focus on human society like to think on the times after that, they think about corrupted heroes, imperfections that used to be glossed over. Warriors, defenders, allies, and soldiers all have their battle scars and their stories are told through them. A nick on the eyebrow, a slice on the forearm, a burn on the finger. These are all scars that Elle has on her body. They speak of her past, but her actions determine her future.

To be great, she used to think that you had to be fated in order to become a legend. That's still the case as she sits in the cold ship, still gazing out in the stars. It's not much, but the view is amazing. She sits for a minute, then a minute turns into hours. Just like the deep ends of space, her thoughts are endless. The weight of the universe rests on her shoulders and the rest of her team. Together, they try their best. Sometimes their best isn't enough. As she thinks back to the events before, she wonders where it all went wrong.

A quick survey of the area suddenly turns into a rescue mission. Suddenly a kingdom that she never knew existed is her top priority. As Elle looks at a princess, her heart beats against her rib cage like a captive animal trying to escape. The princess' face is familiar, but she doesn't want to make to association. The sudden responsibility of an entire kingdom had suddenly fallen into her lap and personal fleeting feelings of the heart shouldn't be involved in it.

The world seemingly crumbled from the outside in. The planet shook as the blasts from Galra ships rained down on the world. The other paladins were fighting to give Elle some cover to make it back to her ship but the unsteady terrain made it hard to find a path back to her ship. The air was dry and hot, it seemed to slowly sip the life away from her body.

The ground was sandy and unstable, a wrong step and you could slide 50 feet away from direction you tried going in. There were also long, skinny craters that would occasionally breathe out a hot, red gas that would create a large combustion if it was hit by any laser of sorts.

The princess was around Elle's height, making it a little easier as she tried finding her way back to her lion. If she called her lion forth, she feared it might sink away into the far unknown of the planet. Clouds of gravel, chunks of dirt, and red mud would appear and vanish. The communications were filled with her team yelling at each other to watch out for the ground below and to drive away the Galra, but this planet was at the center of trade and commerce. The location was ideal and underneath there were valuable resources.

Relentlessly, a loose fighter ship took aim at the field where Elle and the princess stood. Elle covered the princess with her body, but explosions from hitting a crater blew them away from each other.

Ringing. A red tinted sky from all of the red gas that was filling up the air around. So much red. A suit of red and white armor.

Words spoken but unheard. The princess lay down, in the care of a black and white suit. She didn't move. Elle looked up. All she saw was white.

In the ship, all she was surrounded by was blue. The technology simply radiated blue around itself. She didn't know how, but Elle was inside a healing pod again. Elle could hear again. The quiet hum of the ship, subtle footsteps that tiptoed quietly around her, and the deafening silence that filled the room. Keith, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Shiro, and Coran all sat down.

"Where is she?" Elle asked.

"Sit down," Shiro said.

Elle complied, the air was heavy.

"She's dead, isn't she?" No one moved.

"They won't hold anything against you."

"Why did she look like someone I knew?"

"Their race can take on the form of someone you love, in this case she wanted you to want to save her. To save her like your friend."

Elle stayed silent. "I just watched a girl I loved die twice, then."

The air seemed to be crushing everything in the room. It was awkward, no one knew what to say. Elle got up and left. The healing pod could heal her wounds but the scars on her heart still hurt the most.